Love Lock

Chapter 216 The Revenge of Killing My Father

At this point, she suddenly choked up, and rainwater mixed with tears streamed down her thin chin.

Mingyue crawled over from the water and tugged at Princess Chang Le's sleeve: "Princess, please go back! The rain is so heavy, you'll catch a cold if you do..."

"Shut up!" Princess Chang Le kicked Mingyue away, leaving a muddy mark on Mingyue's shoulder with the embroidered shoes she bought from Jinxiufang.

"My father was murdered by villains! My aunt clearly said that I would always be the most honored princess of Dajing! You dog slaves cannot stand in my way."

As she spoke, she suddenly widened her eyes and grabbed Li Zhongxin's front, the jade bracelet hitting the old eunuch's bony collarbone.

"Go and tell His Majesty that I wish to see him. Go now!"

Li Zhongxin frowned slightly as he gently pried open Princess Chang Le's icy fingers.

"Princess, you should go back and not come again. His Majesty is very busy and has no time to see you."

"You're talking nonsense! Even if His Majesty is busy, he still has time to rest. I've come so many times, but I've never been able to see His Majesty. You always make up excuses to fob me off. It must be you, you dog servant, who's up to this. If you don't report this soon, do you believe I'll have you beaten to death right here and now?"

Princess Chang Le was furious, her eyes bloodshot, and her angry, distorted face looked exceptionally ferocious under the rain.

Li Zhongxin flicked his whisk and sighed, "Princess, don't you understand? His Majesty simply doesn't want to see you. You may leave now, and don't ever come to the palace again. This old servant has said all I have to say."

Li Zhongxin said no more and turned to walk back into the palace path with its red walls and green tiles.

"You dog, don't go! Come back!"

Princess Chang Le's voice trailed off, but Li Zhongxin's figure had already gradually disappeared into the rain.

She cried and screamed for a while, but when no one paid any attention to her, she finally squatted down and cried bitterly.

From being kidnapped by bandits and having her entire family blown up, to losing the Empress, the pillar of the Su family, one thing after another happened.

Now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, her title of princess is no longer valid, and she can't even enter the palace.

The Su family members in the court were no longer valued, and those important positions were replaced entirely by people from the Wei family. The Su family had completely declined...

She didn't know what she had done wrong, but in just three or four months, she experienced the ups and downs of life.

The rain was still pouring down, and the icy rainwater washed over Princess Chang Le's lonely body.

She crouched on the ground, covering her head, while Mingyue stood behind her, her cheek swollen, without saying another word.

The guards at the palace gates watched them coldly. Outside the magnificent palace, the figures of the mistress and servant appeared exceptionally desolate and forlorn in the rain...

...This is a dividing line for asking for votes...

Tang Xiaotong returned to Fufeng County from Ganluo County and stayed at the Tang family residence for two more days, but still couldn't find Han Lei.

Having been away from the capital for over a month, and with Jinxiufang in the capital needing to continue operating normally, he could no longer stay there and decided to return to the capital first.

He left a letter for Zhao Ling'er, asking her to give it to Han Lei when she met her.

In his letter, he mentioned the matter of communicating with the Turks, but he also understood that it would be very difficult to implement and could not be accomplished overnight.

After all, the long-standing hatred between the Turks and the people of Dajing was also a major obstacle.

Tang Xiaotong led the horse, looked back one last time in the direction of the Turkic grasslands, sighed deeply, mounted the horse, and headed towards the capital.

The August sun baked the stone-paved roads of Qingshui County until they were scorching hot, and the air was filled with the unique aroma of herbs and ripe grains.

Tang Xiaotong tightened the reins, and fine beads of sweat on his forehead glistened in the sunlight.

He raised his hand to wipe his sweat for the third time, his gaze sweeping over the four strong and powerful characters of "Cangzhou Hospital".

This place used to be the grand mansion of the Wei family. Now, the vermilion gates are wide open, and people come and go, completely devoid of the solemn atmosphere of the grand mansion of yesteryear.

"Young master, if you need to see a doctor, please queue in the east wing," the servant maintaining order at the door kindly reminded him when he stopped and looked around.

Just as Tang Xiaotong was about to reply, he suddenly saw a group of people walk out of the courtyard.

The woman at the head of the group walked with light steps, wearing an indigo tracksuit, her long hair tied up in a simple bun on her head. She appeared playful and lively, completely different from the woman from Dajing.

She was talking to an official beside her, but because they were far apart, he couldn't hear what they were saying. But he recognized her at a glance; it was Han Lei, the Princess Consort of Cangzhou, whom he was looking for.

Tang Xiaotong was overjoyed and quickly dismounted.

He searched for Han Lei three times in Beiguan, Fufeng County, and Ganluo County but failed, wasting a lot of time. Unexpectedly, he ran into her here.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" Tang Xiaotong blurted out, her voice trembling with excitement.

Han Lei looked up at the sound, her eyes, which had been slightly squinting in the sunlight, suddenly widened. "Xiao Tong?"

She strode quickly toward the door, her light steps like dancing musical notes: "What are you doing here?"

Tang Xiaotong led the horse and ran to Han Lei in three steps, her lips moved but she couldn't speak, she only felt something pounding in her chest.

After more than a month of searching and three near misses, Han Lei, who was standing in front of him now, was even more dignified than he remembered, but the familiar gentleness still lingered in the corner of her eyes.

"Who is this……"

Luo Hai, who was following behind Han Lei, stepped forward half a step, his gaze shifting back and forth between the two of them.

“Uncle Luo, this is Tang Xiaotong, whom I often mention.” Han Lei came back to her senses, her voice regaining its usual composure. “The actual operator of Jinxiufang in the capital, my right-hand woman.”

She then turned to Tang Xiaotong and introduced him, "Xiaotong, this is Prefect Luo Hai of Cangzhou."

Tang Xiaotong quickly bowed and saluted, beads of sweat sliding down her face.

"This humble servant greets Lord Luo. I have long admired your diligence in governing and your love for the people. It is my great honor to meet you today."

Luo Hai stroked his beard and smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothing out.

“Young Master Tang, you are young and promising. Miss Han often mentions your business acumen in the capital. A considerable portion of the funding for the construction of this Cangzhou Hospital came from the profits of your shops in the capital.”

Tang Xiaotong was taken aback upon hearing this and couldn't help but look at Han Lei. The latter had a faint smile on her lips, and her eyes seemed to hold a deeper meaning.

Only then did he realize that this "Cangzhou Hospital" was actually a large medical clinic.

The scene in front of the hospital was bustling with people: women holding children, elderly people with canes, and young people carrying medicine bags, each with a hopeful expression on their face.

Here, you can also have your medicine decocted on the spot, and the bitter aroma of angelica and astragalus mixed together wafts from the distant pharmacy.

"Xiao Tong, what brings you to Cangzhou?" Han Lei asked. "Your Highness, I came to Cangzhou specifically to find you. I've been to several places but couldn't find you. I didn't expect you to be in Qingshui County."

Tang Xiaotong said, a look of relief on her face. If she hadn't decided to return to the capital to take care of the business first, she might have missed out on Han Lei again.

"Looking for me? Is something wrong with your business in the capital?" Han Lei was surprised. Apart from business matters, she couldn't think of anything else that would make Tang Xiaotong travel all the way from the capital to Cangzhou to find her.

“Uh…Your Highness, I think…” Tang Xiaotong frowned and hesitated, organizing her thoughts in her mind.

Seeing him hesitate, as if something was on his mind, Han Lei glanced at the sun and said, "It's too hot here. Why don't we go back to the prefectural government office and talk about it there?"

The three of them then returned together to the prefectural government office, which was formerly the Qingshui County Magistrate's Office.

Inside the study, agarwood burned quietly in a bronze incense burner, its wisps of smoke rising and tracing winding paths in the slanting sunlight streaming through the window.

Luo Hai had intended to leave the study to Han Lei and Tang Xiaotong to discuss matters, and was about to leave when he suddenly heard Tang Xiaotong call out from behind him, "Prefect, please wait."

As Luo Hai turned around, a gentle breeze stirred his sleeves, causing the candlelight on the table to flicker softly.

He saw that Tang Xiaotong's eyes were exceptionally bright at that moment, as if she had made up her mind.

"This matter... may require guidance from the Prefect."

Tang Xiaotong's voice was a few decibels lower than when they first met, and his fingers were unconsciously stroking the hilt of the sword at his waist.

"Need my guidance?" Luo Hai was taken aback and stopped in his tracks.

Han Lei put down the celadon teacup in her hand, the porcelain and sandalwood striking each other with a crisp sound.

She noticed Tang Xiaotong's unusually solemn expression today, and her heart suddenly tightened.

"Xiao Tong, is it the influence of the capital...?" Seeing Tang Xiao Tong's solemn expression, Han Lei couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Your Highness, please rest assured." Tang Xiaotong forced a reassuring smile. "Before leaving the capital, I had already arranged the business of Jinxiufang. I came to Cangzhou to... to ask Your Highness to send a merchant caravan north to the Turks. To... exchange goods with the Turks."

Upon hearing that the problem wasn't with the business in Beijing, Han Lei felt slightly relieved.

She and Luo Hai exchanged a glance, both puzzled as to why Tang Xiaotong would have such an idea.

"Manager Tang's suggestion is quite unexpected." Luo Hai strolled back into the room, pulled up a chair, and sat down. "I wonder why you suddenly had this idea?"

Tang Xiaotong took a deep breath, her wrist trembling slightly beneath her sleeve. "Because His Majesty has cancelled the marriage alliance with the Turks."

He bit his lip and continued, "When Princess Yujia returned to the grasslands with her delegation, she said... the two million dan of grain and cloth promised by His Majesty had also vanished. Princess Yujia's people did not have enough grain to survive the winter, and I am very worried. I also do not want to see Princess Yujia looking so depressed."

The study suddenly became so quiet that you could hear the sound of incense ash falling.

Han Lei noticed that when Tang Xiaotong said the words "Yujia", his Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily, as if he had swallowed something bitter.

"So...you want to help Princess Yujia? But what does this have to do with you?" Han Lei stared at him, picked up her teacup and took a sip.

Tang Xiao shook her head. "No! Your Highness. I have no relation to Princess Yujia. It's just that when Princess Yujia was waiting for her marriage in the capital, she often patronized Jinxiufang. Over time, I developed feelings for her. I didn't want to see Princess Yujia exhausted and depressed because of the hunger and cold of her people."

"Oh!" Han Lei understood, raising an eyebrow with amusement. "So you've come to plead for your beloved woman. But she's just a woman from another race, and you haven't even married her. Is it worth it for you to travel all this way for her?"

"worth!"

Tang Xiaotong nodded fiercely, a flash of pain in his eyes. He suddenly knelt on one knee, the sword at his waist striking the blue brick floor with a clang.

He abruptly ripped open the sleeve binding his left wrist, revealing a hideous scar that looked like a burnt pancake on his skin.

“My home used to be in Beiguan. When I was a child, every year during the autumn harvest, the Turkic cavalry would break through the defenses and rush to Dajing to burn, kill, and plunder in order to obtain food and supplies for the winter.”

Those past memories surfaced in her mind like scars torn open, filling Tang Xiaotong's eyes with pain.

“My father also served in the army to defend against the Turks and lost his life in a major battle. It was a fellow villager who served with my father who brought back my father’s sword from the battlefield, but… he could not bring back his body. My father’s grave is still just a cenotaph.”

As Tang Xiaotong spoke, she sobbed as she took a knife from her waist and held it in her hand.

There were several obvious cut marks on the scabbard, which showed that the person who wielded the knife had experienced a fierce battle.

Tang Xiaotong's fingernails dug deeply into the slash marks. "This knife... is the only keepsake my father left behind."

Luo Hai's gaze suddenly sharpened when it fell on the scabbard. He recognized it as a goose-feather saber, the standard issue for the Northern Border Army, with the three small characters "Xuanjia Camp" engraved at the end of the scabbard.

The "Xuanjia Camp" seemed to be the elite force he had heard of being wiped out in the Yinshan Valley when he first arrived in Qingshui County as magistrate.

Tang Xiaotong's voice interrupted Luo Hai's thoughts: "In front of my father's cenotaph, I swore an oath to kill all the Turks."

His voice seemed to come from a very far place, “But that day at the Brocade Shop, Princess Yujia used broken Mandarin to gesture with the shop assistant in order to buy a piece of cloud-patterned brocade… When she laughed, her eyes were like the brightest stars in the night sky.”

"Snapped!"

Luo Hai suddenly slammed his hand on the table, making the teacups clink.

"absurd!"

He frowned. He had initially quite liked this shrewd young businessman, but now his gaze towards Tang Xiaotong held a hint of disgust.

He pointed at Tang Xiaotong and rebuked her coldly: "I truly misjudged you. Since you know your father died at the hands of the Turks, you should hate the Turks more than any of us. But you... why do you still talk about exchanging goods with the Turks? Just because you admire Princess Yujia, can you forget the hatred of the Turkic cavalry for killing your father?"

As he spoke, Luo Hai's hair and beard stood on end, and the pained anger in his eyes was almost bursting forth.

"Tang Xiaotong, since your home is in Beiguan, do you still remember the scorched earth outside Yong'an City? Do you still remember the helplessness your father felt when he left home? How can you face the heroic spirit of your father who died on the battlefield?"

Faced with Luo Hai's barrage of questions, Tang Xiaotong silently lowered her head.

He bit his lip hard, his fingers tracing the unusually grotesque scar on his wrist, the bowl-sized scar gleaming dark red in the sunlight streaming through the window.

Han Lei wanted to rebuke Tang Xiaotong for forgetting her father's murder for the sake of a woman from another race, but she remained silent.

Having spent several months with Tang Xiaotong, based on her understanding of him, she felt that Tang Xiaotong was not the kind of person who would be blinded by love.

Moreover, trading with an enemy with whom they have been at war for many years is no small matter. If not handled properly, it could be seen as colluding with or aiding the enemy, and Tang Xiaotong is not the kind of person who doesn't know the gravity of the situation.

Therefore, she believed that unless there was some special reason, Tang Xiaotong would never have traveled all the way to Cangzhou to talk to her about this for a woman.

Tang Xiaotong touched the scars on her wrist, her eyes filled with even more pain.

He took a deep breath, slowly raised his head to look at Luo Hai, his tone filled with excruciating pain.

"Lord Luo, you are wrong. The Turks not only have a blood feud with me for killing my father, but also... the blood feud with killing my mother and the blood feud with killing my brother."