Chapter 307 – Do You Want Me To Lend You A Few Sticks?
Chapter 307 Do You Want Me to Lend You a Few Sticks?
“Vice Minister Qu, was this marriage arranged for Fourth Lady Qu?” Pei Yuanjun sneered with a strange and bloodthirsty look in his eyes, which made Qu Zhizhen’s heart tremble.
“Yes… It was indeed for her.” Qu Zhizhen tried his best to maintain his dignity as a Vice Minister and steady his breath.
“How could you still arrange a marriage for Fourth Lady Qu?” Pei Yuanjun sneered, which reminded Qu Zhizhen of the bloody scene he had just seen.
“Why… Why not?” Qu Zhizhen asked with a forced smile. He lowered his head, not daring to look at Pei Yuanjun’s extremely beautiful face.
Pei Yuanjun asked lazily, “Mr. Qu, didn’t you know that Dowager Consort Qu invited Fourth Lady Qu to her place and sent her a Discipline Granny?”
“I know.”
Pei Yuanjun sneered, “Fourth Lady Qu bumped into me in Eastern Palace. After that, Dowager Consort Qu summoned her into the palace and sent her a Discipline Granny. Mr. Qu, didn’t you think of anything?”
Qu Zhizhen clenched his fists under his sleeves and looked up at Pei Yuanjun in shock. “Your… Your Highness…”
Pei Yuanjun looked at Qu Zhizhen and asked with a smile, “You still don’t understand. Then why do you think Fourth Lady Qu was invited to the palace?”
Qu Zhizhen looked at Pei Yuanjun in disbelief. He opened his mouth but could not say a word.
Pei Yuanjun asked lazily, “Mr. Qu, do you think you can still arrange a marriage for Fourth Lady Qu?”
Qu Zhizhen asked tentatively, “Your Highness, do you mean…”
Pei Yuanjun waved his hand elegantly and said, “It’s not my idea. It’s the palace’s idea. Mr. Qu, since you could be a Vice Minister, you should be somewhat clever and talented. Do you still need me to explain it clearly?”
Qu Zhizhen looked at Pei Yuanjun in bewilderment. Although Pei Yuanjun seemed to be casual, he didn’t seem to be joking. Moreover, such a person would not joke with him on this.
Qu Zhizhen hurriedly said, “No… I… I get it.”
“You finally get it. But it seemed that your son didn’t get it. He might lose his life because of something like this in the future. An official has to have a pair of clear eyes. The wider his vision, the broader his future. If he only pays attention to the matters in the inner yard, it will be useless no matter how talented he is. I believe you don’t need my further explanation on this, right?”
Pei Yuanjun narrowed his eyes.
Qu Zhizhen suddenly stood up, the hair on his back standing up. “Your Highness, my son is just young and ignorant.”
“He is ignorant? Even your youngest daughter has a proposed marriage, yet he is still young and ignorant? Just when could he be sensible? How about I help you teach him a lesson?” Pei Yuanjun asked lazily, as if he was not going to deal with a person but a cat or a dog.
Qu Zhizhen hurriedly said, “Thank you, Your Highness. But there’s no need to bother you. I will teach him a lesson when we return to our mansion.”
Pei Yuanjun asked with interest, “Oh? How?”
“I will have him beaten according to the family rules.” Qu Zhizhen said fiercely, gritting his teeth. If Pei Yuanjun was to deal with Qu Mingcheng, Qu Mingcheng would be seriously injured even if he didn’t die. Since Pei Yuanjun said that, Qu Zhizhen knew this matter wouldn’t be over so easily, and he couldn’t help but get angry at his son.
How could he not know what his son was up to? Qu Mingcheng said that he went to He Mansion to seek justice for Qu Moying, but it was clear that he wanted to make the proposed marriage between Third Young Master He and Qu Moying known to the public to ruin Qu Moying’s reputation. He might even want to tie Qu Moying to He Mansion and let her suffer with Third Young Master He.
If it was in the past, Qu Zhizhen would at most scold Qu Mingcheng. As for the rest, he would just let it go. Although he had more expectations for Qu Moying than before, she could not compare with his son.
But now, Qu Zhizhen no longer dared to look down on Qu Moying.
Nobody dared to be negligent when it came to matters related to Lord Yun.
“That’s the best. But I heard that the sticks used for punishment in your mansion are not big enough. Do you want me to lend you a few of West Prison’s sticks?” Pei Yuanjun asked with a smile. His tone sounded kind.
How could ordinary people undergo West Prison’s sticks? Thinking of the blood-stained sticks he had just seen, Qu Zhizhen felt his scalp going numb. He hurriedly said, “Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. I will definitely teach him a lesson when we go back. I will never let him do such a thing again.”
“That will be the best. Guards, go and invite Second Young Master Qu over.” Pei Yuanjun laughed, stood up, and pushed the water lotus in front of him. “Vice Minister Qu, I will have to trouble you to send this jar of water lotus to Fourth Lady Qu. It is not easy for me to plant such a beautiful flower in the prison. It needs a lot of nutrients!”
Pei Yuanjun sighed. His words were vague, but Qu Zhizhen looked over at the jar of water lotus in shock. What nourished it? Where else could it get its nutrients in West Prison?
Pei Yuanjun walked towards Qu Zhizhen, patted him on the shoulder, and left with a smile.
Qu Zhizhen stood there stiffly, feeling a faint chill on his shoulder as if a ghost had just touched him. It took him a long time to come to his senses. His back was covered in a cold sweat. He hoped that he would never need to come to West Prison to see Lord Yun. Even if nothing happened, he felt a terrible chill.
Another scream came from afar. It was so shrill that it didn’t seem to be a human’s voice, but after listening clearly, he found that it was clearly a human’s voice. His hair stood on end. West Prison was indeed a living hell.
“Father!” A slightly trembling voice came from behind. Qu Zhizhen turned around and saw a guard standing in front of him with a person. It was Qu Mingcheng.
Qu Mingcheng’s face was as pale as snow without any color. After seeing Qu Zhizhen and calling him, he felt like he finally came to life.
“Father…”
“Let’s go!” Qu Zhizhen calmed down and went forward to pick up the jar of water lotus. With a cold face, he turned around and walked out. He could not stay here for a moment.
Qu Mingcheng’s legs were a little weak. Although he also turned around, he couldn’t catch up with Qu Zhizhen. He staggered and almost fell.
He wanted to call Qu Zhizhen again, but seeing Qu Zhizhen walk out without looking back, he did not dare to delay and hurriedly followed him.
When they came out of West Prison, Qu Zhizhen took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Looking at his son staggering behind him, he couldn’t help but get angry. He raised his hand and slapped Qu Mingcheng hard in the face. It was so hard that Qu Mingcheng’s face turned to the side.
Qu Mingcheng looked at Qu Zhizhen in disbelief. “Father…”
He had never been slapped in the face by his father.
“Let’s go!” Qu Zhizhen snapped as he walked towards the carriage parked outside.
Qu Mingcheng covered his face and followed Qu Zhizhen aggrievedly. This slap woke him up a little, and he was no longer as weak and flustered as before.
The two of them got on the carriage and went back home.
Qu Zhizhen got off the carriage with the jar of water lotus in his hands. He gave his son a cold look and headed to the study. Qu Mingcheng followed behind him dejectedly.
Qu Qiuyan had been waiting at the door of the study for a long time. When she saw Qu Zhizhen and Qu Mingcheng coming from afar, she was overjoyed and hurried forward to bow, “Father…”
Qu Zhizhen flung his sleeve and almost threw it on her face. He snorted, ignored her, and went into the study.
“Brother…” Tears welled up in Qu Qiuyan’s eyes. She looked at Qu Mingcheng, who was walking over. But Qu Mingcheng couldn’t even protect himself now, so how could he bother to talk to her. He followed Qu Zhizhen into the study with a pale face.
Qu Qiuyan wanted to enter the study but was stopped by a lad servant outside the door. “Third Lady, Master and Second Young Master have something to talk about. Please don’t go in now.”
Thinking of Qu Zhizhen’s expression just now, Qu Qiuyan did not dare to be rash. She could only grit her teeth and wait outside the door. When her father finished dealing with her brother’s matter, she could complain to her father.
Inside the study, Qu Zhizhen placed the jar on the desk in front of him. He sat down behind the desk, looked at Qu Mingcheng, who followed him in, and snapped, “Monster, kneel down!”
“Father…” Qu Mingcheng did not understand why his father, who had always been gentle to him, suddenly became so serious.
“Kneel down!” Qu Zhizhen picked up the teacup at hand and smashed it down at Qu Mingcheng’s feet. Qu Mingcheng was so scared that he fell to his knees with a “plop”.
Thinking of what happened in West Prison just now, Qu Zhizhen felt humiliated. He pointed at Qu Mingcheng and scolded, “How dare you go to He Mansion to ask about Moying’s marriage? Since when did you take charge of Moying’s marriage? Do you think you are qualified?”
Qu Mingcheng was confused by the scolding, but he still argued, “Father… I… I was doing that out of good intentions. He Mansion lied to us. They have to give us an explanation.”
“Explanation? For what? Who told you that He Mansion wanted to marry Moying but not your third younger sister?” Qu Zhizhen sneered. Qu Mingcheng still wanted to deceive him at this time. If this happened in the past, Qu Zhizhen would ignore it because he didn’t care. But now, he could not ignore it anymore.
Qu Mingcheng looked up in surprise and said, “Father, Qiuyan will definitely be a member of the royal family in the future.”
“Moying could also be! Speaking of which, Qiuyan is inferior to Moying in every aspect. Why do you think Moying couldn’t compare with her?” Qu Zhizhen was about to be pissed off. Qu Mingcheng and Qu Qiuyan both thought that they were outstanding enough, but they never thought that Qu Moying was even more outstanding than them. Therefore, both Qu Mingcheng and Qu Qiuyan were conceited.
“Father… Father, I don’t understand what you are talking about!” Qu Mingcheng looked up, his mind in a mess.
Qu Zhizhen snapped, “You don’t need to understand. You just need to be punished. Guards, beat him!”
A guard came over with a big stick. Seeing this big stick, Qu Mingcheng was about to faint. He used to be beaten up when he was a child, but he had never been beaten with such a big stick. Was his father going to cripple him or beat him to death?
The problem was that he still did not know why things had come to this point.
“Father…”
“Guards, pull him down and beat him hard twenty times!” Qu Zhizhen gritted his teeth and said ruthlessly. He had to beat Qu Mingcheng because if Pei Yuanjun knew that he didn’t beat Qu Mingcheng, Qu Mingcheng would suffer much more than this!
RECENTLY UPDATES
