Chapter 202 Returning Victorious Frightens the Empress and Taizi [1]
Xie Yunzhai cried even sadder. “Then my daughter sent me a letter and told me not to visit. She wrote that the people in the capital disdained Nanjiang people. So, I dared not come even more because I was afraid to bring trouble to my daughter. It’s not that I was maintaining my distance from my daughter and ignoring her.
“After Dier’s mother left, you don’t know how much I wanted to see my daughter and granddaughter. But then I received news of my daughter’s death…… You’er, it isn’t that Waigong didn’t want to find you. I just didn’t dare to for fear of bringing you trouble!”
He didn’t finish speaking before he started to cry loudly. His sorrowful expression made the other senior generals in the house couldn’t help but sympathize with him.
Even Zi You shed tears in grief. When she was in India, she had heard her grandmother and mother talk about how her Waigong’s original wife was married to him by virtue of a marriage contract set when they were babies. They had no feelings for each other. The woman was arrogant, domineering, selfish, and mean. Waigong had married her for only three days before leaving for Nanjiang.
Waigong’s family had been selling jade items, but no one was more talented than Waigong. Waigong had been in Nanjiang for three years and had expanded the original jade business several times over. This was also the reason why he had gone to India.
He had gone to India to expand his business. He had heatstroke and met Waipo [maternal grandmother] who saved him. They fell in love at first sight. Waigong lied to her and said that he had no family.
After he brought Waipo to Nanjiang, Waigong had always proclaimed that Waipo was his wife. He had never married concubines and had even sold the two tongfang yatous whom he had.
Waigong was very loving and doting on Waipo and Dier to the point where Dier couldn’t even believe it when Waigong’s wife and child came. She then realized than he had deceived her and her mother.
She had angrily run away from home and went into the mountains. Then she had met the Mu army, Mu YingYi, and Old General Mu.
Later, Dier went with Old General Mu and Mu YingYi to Great Yan. She had then found out Great Yan’s disgust and disdain for people from Nanjiang. So, she was even more afraid to reveal her true ident.i.ty.
Waigong had always been afraid to find her because he was afraid to bring trouble to Dier and Old General Mu.
Her Waipo still deeply loved Waigong. Waipo had cried when she was telling Zi You about her Waigong in India. “If he finds you, you should reconcile with him if you can. He is a good person and very wealthy. When I gambled on stones with him, his acc.u.mulated wealth could be said to rival a nation’s. He always said that he would leave his property to you and your mother in the future.”
Zi You wasn’t greedy for riches, but she believed her Waipo’s words. She knew that her Waigong was a good person and only wanted to make up with his loved ones.
Shangguan LingRan saw Zi You crying and immediately guessed what she was thinking. He grew distressed and went over to help Xie Yunzhai sit down in a chair.
Then he went over to Old General Mu to whisper, “Grandfather, I know that you’re unhappy, but if you don’t let YouYou make up with her Waigong, YouYou will be sad. Can you let your precious granddaughter be sad?”
“Of course I can’t!” Old General Mu immediately scolded Xie Yunzhai. “Ai! You’re useless as a man. I just said some words and you’re crying like a woman? Your granddaughter is over here. And no one is stopping you from making up with her. So why are you crying?”
As soon as Xie Yunzhai heard this, he instantly cried even harder in excitement.
Zi You went over to nudge him. She said, “Don’t cry anymore, Waigong. We’ve finally met. We should be happy!”
“You’er, my treasure.” Xie Yunzhai hugged Zi You and cried.
It would be false to say that he wasn’t sad. The heavens knew how much he loved Namisha and Dier. Their departure almost left his heart like ash.
Now, he could finally see his granddaughter whom his precious daughter had given birth to.
When Zi You and Shangguan LingRan followed Waigong to his fu, they then found out how wealthy he was.
When the door to large underground treasure room in the elegantly furnished and low-key luxurious fu was open, the sparkling and dazzling jewelry and jewels really blinded the two people.
Even Shangguan LingRan, who had seen a lot of treasures in the Palace’s treasury, was stunned. “You…… Your Waigong…… is really wealthy!”
Xie Yunzhai placed the key to the treasury in Zi You’s hand in a fawning manner. He said lovingly, “You’er, this is all yours. Some of this is accredited to your Waipo. She helped me successfully gamble on stones. Everything is all yours now.”
Zi You had never thought that she would have a day when she would become wealthy. But the thing that made her happy was that she could take action more easily if Waigong helped her grandfather.
Xie Yunzhai gave his huge fu to the army to live in and his huge fortune to Zi You. Old General Mu no longer eyed and targeted Xie Yunzhai.
The two old men soon became like a family and hit it off. Xie Yunzhai had been a businessman for many years. He was very experienced with management and mining. Old General Mu would ask him for advice. They got along more and more harmoniously.
As a result, Zi You, Shangguan LingRan, and Mu YingYi could leave without any worries.
They stayed in Nanjiang for another month. When Old General Mu and Xie Yunzhai got along with tacit understanding, everything was on track, and the n.o.bles and ethnic tribes didn’t make any more trouble, Zi You, Shangguan LingRan, and Mu YingYi then started to return to the capital.
With their departure for Great Yan, the 2,000 soldiers who went with them into the mountains as well as ten female medical team members led by Rong Yunhe and Darong Ka came along too.
The 2,000 soldiers were not only loyal, but they also had particularly outstanding martial arts. They were going to be used by Zi You and Shangguan LingRan at a crucial moment against Taizi, the Empress, and the Emperor.
Before they left, they interrogated Darong Ka alone and found out some secretive matters in the capital.
Darong Ka told Zi You and Shangguan LingRan, “Mu furen’s legs were originally completely wasted. The Empress told me to heal her. I healed one. The Empress said that we should pay attention to anyone related to you and Old General Mu. We have to help your enemies and never let go of your friends.
“So, I also cured Duke Yongnan Shizi’s drug addiction. Duke Yongnan furen and Duke Yongnan Shizi scolded you incessantly. But Duke Yongnan said this wasn’t your fault because you had warned them that Xiaoyao Powder couldn’t be over-ingested since it would become addictive.”
No wonder w.a.n.g Yiping and Zhao HongXiang were fine. So it was the Empress and Taizi supporting them from the back. As such, when Zi You returned, she had to let the Empress experience the feeling of death was better than living. Let’s see who could save the Empress at that time.
Before Zi You and the others left, Old General Mu wrote a letter to the Emperor. He had always been writing bad news and never any good news. “Mu YingYi led 30,000 troops into the mountains and hadn’t been heard from since.” “Darong Ka deceived Chen. He led Chen and 10,000 soldiers into the swampy areas to rescue Mu YingYi. The army suffered heavily casualties.”
“Darong Ka is a spy. He led the 30,000 soldiers under YingYi’s command into the swamps. More than half are injured or dead.”
Only when Zi You and the others were going back to Great Yan did Old General Mu wrote another letter to Xuanwu Emperor stating that the army had invaded Dali. 14,000 soldiers were left to occupy Nanjiang.
Of course, by the time the messenger had delivered the letter to the Emperor, Zi You and the others had already arrived.
Xuanwu Emperor seethed with anger when he saw the letter! He thought that Mu Junyuan and Mu YingYi had already fallen into the swamp and died. He didn’t expect that they not only escaped from the swamp, but they even successfully pacified the rebellion and completely occupied Nanjiang. It even became a county of Great Yan and not just an affiliated country anymore.
He should have been happy with the expansion of territory, but he was not only unhappy, but he also felt very uneasy.
That was because the letter said that the spy Darong Ka had been executed. But did Darong Ka give him up? If he really gave him up, what would Mu Junyuan and Mu YingYi do if they knew that he was trying to kill them? Would they not come back? Would they wait until Nanjiang grows in strength and then suddenly return?
But they were coming back now. However, they didn’t listen to him and left the army in Nanjiang. What were they doing?
But the thing that made him stifled was that he couldn’t charge Mu Junyuan with a crime of defying an imperial edict. That was because his edict hadn’t been sent and Mu Junyuan had already returned without receiving the edict.
Moreover, he had a very good reason: “Chen was trapped in the swamp for seven days. Although Chen’s granddaughter arrived in time to rescue Chen, Chen is still very weak. Nanjiang weather is humid and not suitable for Chen to recuperate. If Chen keeps staying here, Chen would most likely die in Nanjiang. So, Chen didn’t receive Emperor’s edict and returned ahead of time. Please punish Chen, Emperor!
“Chen also left more than 14,000 soldiers in Nanjiang to protect the fruits of our victory. We’ve just occupied Nanjiang and the commoners are unstable. In order to prevent them from rising up in rebellion again, Chen made a decision without Emperor’s consent. Please punish Chen, Emperor!”
A “Please punish Chen, Emperor” on the left and a “Please punish Chen, Emperor” on the right. What could he do? Was he really going to punish Old General Mu, who had just successfully pacified the rebellion and became severely ill? How chilling would that be for the soldiers?
Immoral matters should be done secretly. The Emperor couldn’t publicize them.
Therefore, not only could he not punish him, but he had to reward him. He also had to apologize to Mu Junyuan for trusting the wrong person and bringing huge losses to the army.
Xuanwu Emperor was depressed for a long time. But then he thought that Zi You was back and saved the soldiers stuck in the swamps. He felt a little better then.