Jinghong Tower

Chapter 361 Zhou Chi's tablet has other uses

Although the blood-stained clothes on the corpse were in tatters, it was still clear that they were made of top-quality fabric.

The corpse's face was so bloody that it was impossible to tell its original appearance, but he only had one ear!

Duke Dingguo was trembling all over. He picked up the corpse's right hand, which was wrapped like a rice dumpling, and untied the layers of cloth. Surprisingly, there were only four fingers on the right hand!
Duke Dingguo could no longer hold on and collapsed!

Inside the Ran army's tent, He Xiulong listened to the visitor's report with a smile on her face.

She had someone arrange for the corpse to be there. In fact, if Duke Dingguo looked carefully, he could see that the corpse's ears and fingers had fresh injuries.

He Xiulong knew that this matter would be exposed sooner or later, but it didn’t matter. As long as the first glance was shocking enough, it was enough.

As it turned out, He Xiulong's plan, which was full of loopholes, succeeded.

This time, Duke Dingguo didn't just faint, he had a stroke!

Fortunately, Duke Dingguo was in good health and he was rescued, but he will not be able to lead troops in the near future.

Of course, after Duke Dingguo fell, it was confirmed that the body was not Jing Laosan. The ears and fingers of the body were cut off after death, which did not match the time when Duke Dingguo received the ears and fingers.

And this body was found on the battlefield today, so this was obviously He Xiulong's evil plot!

The next day, after Duke Dingguo woke up, his confidants could not wait to report the good news.

Unfortunately, Duke Dingguo did not feel happy at all. He opened his mouth and a stream of shiny saliva flowed down the corner of his mouth.

"kill kill"

Who is he going to kill?
Is it He Xiulong or Zhou Cangyue?

No one knew about this.

At the same time, another group of scholars gathered outside the government office. They held the statue of Confucius in their hands, with their heads held high and their chests puffed out, looking generous and calm. The leading student loudly condemned Duke Dingguo for surrendering the six counties of Anqing without a fight for his own selfish interests, and for being servile and shameless!
The official who went out to deal with the situation was already stunned. If he remembered correctly, these people in front of him were the same group of people who had sat here quietly a few days ago and asked Duke Dingguo to give an answer.

The scholars beat their chests and stamped their feet, crying to the sky. My Tongcheng, which is known for its best articles and is renowned throughout the capital, has actually been taken over by a beggar. It's so dirty, so dirty!
The bustle outside the government office was just an isolated incident. At this moment, this was the only bustling place in the entire Yangzhou city. All shops and houses were closed. The war had been going on for several days, and the people had been staying at home for several days.

But the battle is not over yet, and they cannot leave the house yet.

The next morning, the Ran army came to challenge again. This time, a tablet was hung in front of the city gate!
The tablet of Taizu Zhou Chi!
Since the Ran army is flying the banner of King Zhao, as long as He Ran has not deposed King Zhao, if the Ran army sees the tablet of Taizu Zhou Chi and continues to attack the city, it will be disrespectful to Taizu. Not only He Xiulong, but also He Ran will be criticized by the people of the world.

He Xiulong cursed: "You are so cruel, let's stop fighting today!"

Zhou Chi's tablet has been hung at the city gate for several days, but He Xiulong is not in a hurry. People outside the city can't get in, and people inside the city don't come out. It depends on who gets anxious first.

At this time, He Ran had already set off for Yangzhou.

The last time she came to Yangzhou was fifty years ago.

That year she chartered a flower boat and asked a few flower girls to drink with her on the boat. She was having a great time.

He Ran only brought Xiaoli and Liuxia with her. She did not go to meet He Xiulong, but went to a nearby village.

This village is more than thirty miles away from Yangzhou city.

They originally thought that since a war was going on, it might be difficult to find a family willing to let them stay overnight in the village. However, they did not expect that as soon as the six of them entered the village, they were surrounded by a group of aunts and sisters who came to watch the fun.

These days, there aren’t many young women who can ride horses.

"Hey, you guys can ride horses?"

"Are you going to the capital? You came at a bad time. I heard there was a fight in the capital."

He Ran smiled: "Yes, it's unfortunate that we can't go into the city for the time being. Aunts and aunts, is there any place to stay in the village?"

The aunts and ladies looked at each other, and then looked at the girls in front of them.

Xiaoli took out a silver ingot and said, "We don't live here for free."

When they saw the silver, the aunts and ladies' eyes lit up immediately. This was silver. They had never seen such a large piece of silver. They usually handled copper coins, and occasionally the silver was small change.

He Ran saw the little flames flickering in their eyes and thought that the next moment, they would rush to introduce themselves and invite them to stay overnight in their homes.

But He Ran guessed wrong. The aunts and sisters looked at the silver ingot and sighed at the same time.

Finally, an aunt couldn't help but say, "Girls, it's not that we don't want to entertain you, but the village head has told us that we can't entertain outsiders in the village at this time, even relatives."

He Ran understood: "I see. Then I won't bother you anymore. Goodbye."

After saying that, she waved her hand, and several people led the horses out of the village.

When the aunt saw them leaving, she felt as if her flesh was being cut.

"Wait, my family has a house outside the village. If you don't mind, I'll take you there."

Hearing this, the other aunts rolled their eyes at her, as she was the only one who had a house outside the village.

It turned out that this aunt's family had a fight with the villagers a few years ago and were driven out of the village. They had no choice but to build a house on a wasteland not far from the village, and the whole family lived there.

This year was not peaceful, with war and chaos everywhere. It would definitely be safer to return to the village than to live there. So the aunt and her family found the head of the village, said all the nice things they could, and paid ten taels of silver. Only then did they move back to the village, and the house became vacant.

Although this house has not been occupied for many days, it is not dirty and can be lived in after a little tidying up.

But all the bedding had been taken away, leaving only two old bed boards.

Xiaoli looked around and said to He Ran, "There is firewood in the yard, and there are clay pots in the kitchen, so we can cook."

The aunt hurriedly said, "If you are willing to pay me, I will go back to the village to move my bedding and bring you some rice, flour and vegetables."

He Ran smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll trouble you, Auntie."

The auntie smiled happily and trotted away. When she came back, she was accompanied by two young women, both dressed as women. They were pushing a wheelbarrow with several quilts, rice, flour and vegetables on it.

Xiao Li was very generous and paid the money in advance. The aunt was originally worried that they lived far away and would run away without paying the next morning. Now that the money was in hand, the aunt felt relieved and her tone became more cordial. She asked the two young women who came with her to help clean the house, and she sat down without hesitation and chatted with He Ran about family matters.

Only then did He Ran realize that the two young women were her daughter-in-law and her daughter.

Without waiting for He Ran to ask, the auntie spoke to herself, "Alas, my Ah Qiu is unlucky. She met a beast. After all, she is my flesh and blood. I couldn't just watch her being beaten and scolded by that beast at her husband's house. So last year, I gritted my teeth and took my two boys to bring her back from her husband's house."

At this time, the two women cleaned up the house and stood outside the door waiting. He Ran saw that one of the women looked somewhat similar to the aunt, and thought that this must be the aunt's daughter, A Qiu.

Although she was dressed like a woman, she was still very young, only eighteen or nineteen years old.

During dinner, Qiu came again, this time alone. She was holding a jar in her hand, and when she saw Xiaoli opening the door, she was a little embarrassed: "This is pickled cucumber, and my mother asked me to bring it to you to try."

The pickles in the Yangzhou area are very famous and are best eaten with porridge.

Xiaoli thanked her quickly and asked her to come in and sit down. Aqiu shook her head and said it was getting late and she had to go back early.

It was already dusk, and Xiaoli caught a glimpse of Qiu carrying a small bag on his back.

Didn’t you come here specially to deliver the pickles?
Why are you still carrying the baggage?

Xiaoli asked, "Miss Qiu, are you going out?"

Ah Qiu said hurriedly, "No, no, I just stopped by an aunt's house to pick up some newly cut clothes."

Having said that, the panic in Aqiu's eyes could not be hidden.

Xiaoli naturally didn't believe it.

"Miss Qiu, you'd better tell the truth. You left home under the pretext of delivering pickles to us. If anything happens to you, your family will definitely suspect us, and we will be the ones who get into trouble."

Aqiu obviously didn't think so much. When he heard Xiaoli say this, he was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say.

He Ran came out of the house upon hearing the noise and saw the two people still in a stalemate at the door. She walked over and saw A Qiu, who looked panicked, and the bag A Qiu was carrying.

"We are all women, Miss Qiu, don't mind. If you have anything to say, come inside and talk."

Ah Qiu shook his head, but refused to come in, saying without thinking: "I should go home now. I won't cause any trouble to you. I'm going home, really. I'm going back now and I won't come in."

He Ran gave a wink, and Xiao Li suddenly took action and pulled A Qiu in.

By the time Aqiu reacted, the person was already in the yard, and Xiaoli bolted the door.

He Ran smiled: "Since you are here, come in."

A Qiu wanted to say, I was going to leave, but he couldn't help but follow He Ran into the house.

After entering the house, He Ran motioned for Aqiu to sit down and asked Xiaoli to bring Aqiu a cup of tea.

A Qiu saw that the teacup was shiny and seemed to be made of silver. It was not her own thing, so she thought it must be theirs.

He carries a cup with him when he goes out. He must be a very particular person.

The tea was warm, but the tea leaves were not expensive. Most people in the south of the Yangtze River knew how to drink tea. Aqiu could tell that it was stale tea from last year. He had no idea who these girls were, as they were using such an expensive cup to drink stale tea from last year.

After drinking a cup of tea, Aqiu's anxious mood calmed down.

She was thinking about how to say goodbye, but she heard He Ran ask, "Miss Qiu, you ran away from home, aren't you afraid that your family will worry?"

Ah Qiu was stunned by her sudden words that touched his heart, but tears flowed out uncontrollably.

Xiaoli kindly handed over a clean handkerchief. Although Aqiu took the handkerchief, he still wiped away his tears with his sleeve, but the tears could not stop flowing.

He Ran did not disturb her. She just watched her wipe her tears silently. Her sleeves were soaked with tears. She then changed to a handkerchief.

After crying for an unknown amount of time, Qiu finally said, "Because of me, my brother's engagement was cancelled. I brought shame to my family."

He Ran understood that the woman who came with her during the day was her sister-in-law, and it turned out that she had an unmarried younger brother at home.

"You were divorced and came back?"

He Ran still remembered that her aunt said that she took her daughter back from her husband's home. At that time, she subconsciously thought that they had divorced.

Now that I think about it carefully, although this dynasty allows couples to divorce, the occasional divorces are all within the upper class circles. It is rare for ordinary people in the society to divorce.

If it's not a divorce, then it's a divorce.

As expected, Qiu nodded and said, "The day after my mother took me back home, he sent me a divorce letter."

The "he" that Aqiu mentioned was obviously that beastly ex-husband.

So, because Aqiu was divorced by her husband's family, her brother's marriage also fell through. When the girl learned that there was a divorced elder sister in her family, she simply cancelled the engagement.

This world is unfair to women.

He Ran has heard of and encountered many such things.

She looked at the small bag on Qiu's shoulder and asked with concern: "You want to leave home because you don't want to cause more trouble for your family, but now there is chaos and turmoil, where can you go?"

Ah Qiu raised her head, her eyes clearer after being washed by tears: "I heard that the Ran army is just outside the city, and the one leading the troops is a female general."

He Ran was stunned for a moment, then felt relieved. Whether in her past life or this life, she had seen many women who came to join the army. Some of them had no parents' home, some could not make ends meet in their parents' home, and of course there were also those like A Qiu who did not want to cause trouble to their parents' home.

"Do you know martial arts?" He Ran looked at Aqiu's figure. The girl from the Jiangnan water town was slender and soft. Even though she had lived in the countryside since she was a child, her every move exuded gentleness.

Ah Qiu shook his head: "I don't know martial arts, but I can light a fire and cook. I heard that there are firemen in the army who are responsible for cooking. I can go and cook. I don't want military pay, and I don't eat much. I just want a place to stay. I heard that there are many female soldiers in the Ran army."

He Ran smiled and asked, "How is your cooking skill?"

Ah Qiu didn't understand why the girl asked this, but she still said, "Everyone in my family loves the food I cook. We use the same ingredients, but the food I cook tastes better than that of my mother and sister-in-law."

He Ran said, "Then you stay and cook for me. The food they cook is not very tasty."

Xiaoli said angrily: "Big girl"

She and Liuxia were chosen for training since they were young. They learned how to kill, how to poison, how to detoxify, and how to spy on information, but they never learned how to cook a good dish.

He Ran laughed and said to Qiu: "What do you think?"

Ah Qiu never expected that the girl in front of her actually wanted to hire her. She stood up, a little at a loss. He Ran said, "Let Xiaoli take you back. Tell your family that you will leave with us tomorrow."

A Qiu returned home in a daze. When she told her family about this incident, she suddenly remembered that she didn't even know the girl's last name.

As expected, her mother was the first to object: "How can this be possible? It's a chaotic time right now, and only home is the safest place. Besides, those girls came here on horseback, and they don't look like good people. We don't even know where they came from. What if they sell you out?"

But her brother and sister-in-law thought differently: "Ah Qiu, did they tell you how much money they would give you? Do you want to sign a contract to sell your body? They are very generous, how about we go with you tomorrow and bargain with them?"

Her mother got anxious when she heard this: "Boss, what are you talking about? You want to sign a contract to sell her? Are you planning to sell Qiu off?"

Before he finished speaking, there was a bang, and the younger brother kicked over the bench on the ground and yelled at her mother angrily: "Shouldn't you sell her? Why do you want to keep her at home?"