The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 13: Thunder in winter, graves everywhere

Although Lang Jiuchuan's return home really made the Lang family look at him with new eyes, it did not attract much attention, especially the adults. A new head of the family like Lang Zhengping was even less free. He was also busy with his late father's funeral and was more concerned about his own future and that of his family.

The title of Marquis of Kaiping was originally hereditary when Taizu of Dadan founded the country. However, in the generation of Old Master Lang, just because he stood on the wrong side when the previous emperor was fighting for the throne, an excuse was found to change it. Although the title was not revoked, it was changed from hereditary to inherited. So starting from Lang Zhengping, it would be downgraded from generation to generation, unless promising sons and nephews made great contributions and regained the hereditary title.

The Lang family began to be marginalized and declined when the previous emperor held the throne. Fortunately, his reign was not long and he died soon. The current emperor ascended the throne. It happened that the Huns invaded the northern border. The second son of the Lang family, Lang Zhengfan, joined the army early, accumulated military merits, and was promoted to the fourth-rank General Anbei. The Lang family had the destiny of restoration, but the good times did not last long. Lang Zhengfan died in his prime, and none of the sons of the Lang family could take over his baton.

Now, more than a decade has passed, and the only one from the Lang family who can attend the court is the deceased Marquis Kaiping. The crown prince Lang Zhengping has only managed to get an idle position of the fifth rank and is not even qualified to attend the court. At the local level, there is the third son Lang Zhengwen, who was born out of wedlock and is a seventh-rank county magistrate. He is only a juren and is now in mourning.

Therefore, the next three years will be the darkest time for the Lang family. If he can inherit the title smoothly, he will still have a chance to be revived in the future. If not, the Lang family will be finished.

Marquis Kaiping may not have thought of this, otherwise he would not have ignored his old age and tried to build connections for his children and grandchildren during his lifetime.

This is also the reason why Lang Zhengping has no time to take care of the return of his niece. He has more important things to do, which is also a major matter concerning the fate of the family.

Old Zhao was one of the key contacts he wanted to make friends with and curry favor with, but he was given a big scolding by Lang Jiuchuan at the first sight. Although he was annoyed, he had to clean up the mess for her. He personally took a rare and treasured copy and asked his trusted steward Gao Cheng to deliver it to apologize.

He also hoped that Mr. Zhao would help him to take care of his father's funeral first, and then plan for the future. If there was a posthumous title for him now, he wouldn't have to worry.

As soon as Mr. Zhao returned, he received a gift of apology from the Lang family.

There was a funeral in the Lang family. Gao Cheng was a servant of the Lang family and did not enter the house. He just kowtowed a few times in front of the door, delivered the solitary copy and left.

Mr. Zhao took the rare copy, flipped through it, and sighed.

He understood what his nephew Lang Zhengping meant, and he also knew that the Lang family was in an awkward situation now. Originally, the second son of the Lang family had been promoted, and his military merits had been accumulating and moving up the ranks, so the Lang family might be able to return to the center of power. Even better, it was possible for the Lang family to have two marquises.

Unfortunately, the second son of Lang was short-lived and passed away early. What's worse, when he passed away, the Lang family had younger generations, but they were all young cubs, and there was a lack of young people. There was a real talent gap in the Lang family at that time.

My old friend, Marquis Lang, was able to attend court, but he had no real power and only attended court occasionally to hear government affairs. Now, more than ten years have passed, and the Lang family is just waiting for an opportunity to turn things around.

It's not like his old friend had not written to him to beg for help. Now that his old friend is gone, the Lang family is in even more trouble. He also thought that if he could help, he would do so. He had to let Lang Zheng inherit the title smoothly. With the title, he could plan for other things in the future. But inexplicably, a pair of bottomless eyes and her words appeared in his mind.

Boom.

There was a thunderous explosion.

Old Zhao shuddered, his heart pounding, and he looked out the window.

Thunder strikes in winter and graves are everywhere.

The dark sky darkened without anyone noticing, as if there was a bad omen.

Dong, dong, dong. There seemed to be footsteps coming from far away, heavy and a little urgent.

Old Zhao clenched the solitary copy in his hand and stared at the door. Someone rushed in. It was his eldest son, Zhao Kun, who came up to him in the wind and snow and lowered his voice.

"Dad, there's a fire at the old farmer Mo's house in Mojia Village in the western suburbs." Zhao Kun said in a hoarse voice, "The villagers put out the fire and carried out five bodies. They belong to the old farmer Mo's family. I checked and the child is indeed from the Mo family..."

It was from the Mo family, which meant that the child had escaped, and even they didn’t know where he had gone. Whose identity was he taking? And the person who set the fire…

Snapped.

The solitary copy in Mr. Zhao's hand fell to the ground.

If you save someone who shouldn't be saved, one life will be exchanged for another, and this life must be paid for by him.

Mr. Zhao's body bent instantly.

(End of this chapter)