Jinghong Tower

He Ran listened carefully to every word Zong Qi said. She wanted to keep listening to every word as long as it was said by Zong Qi.

However, He Ran would occasionally interject: "When you returned to the Zong family the second time, did you bring brothers from the Cao Gang with you?"

"Yes, my adoptive father gave me fifty people." Zong Qi said.

"Did Boss Han adopt you as his adopted son?" He Ran asked. That was the boss of the Cao Gang. Even though He Ran was a superior, his eyes lit up when he mentioned the Cao Gang.

During this southward crossing, the Ran Army looked for the Cao Gang, but unfortunately for some reason, all the Cao Gang brothers at the docks were missing. In order to transport food and fodder, the Ran Army had to spend quite a bit of effort.

Zong Qi nodded and admitted it.

"What happened later? Old Master Zong was imprisoned for seven days. Was he still alive after he came out?" He Ran was curious.

Zong Qi: "You'll feel sick if I tell you."

"No, there's nothing I haven't seen." After two lifetimes of wandering, she is no longer the spoiled and domineering girl she used to be.

Zong Qi felt a pang of sadness in his heart. His younger sister in his previous life was still painting, practicing boxing and fighting when she was fourteen or fifteen years old. But when she went to the countryside to watch a pig being slaughtered, she said she couldn't accept it and refused to eat pork for half a year.

But the head of this life, He Da, had taken over the Jinghong Tower at the age of fourteen or fifteen. How many tragic scenes did she have to go through along the way before she could easily say "I have seen everything"?
Zong Qi suppressed the sadness that welled up in his heart and said in a calm tone: "You may not imagine what I saw when I opened the door seven days later. Haha, he was gnawing on the corpse, and the one he was gnawing on was his favorite servant."

"Where are Mr. Zong's son and his concubine?" He Ran asked again.

"Dead, all dead. I killed all his sons. Old Master Zong lived with the corpse for seven days without dying. When he saw his son's corpse, his blood rushed to his heart and he died.

As for Wu, since she kept saying that she couldn't bear to leave Old Master Zong, I let her die for him. She was starved to death.

I asked for a memorial archway for her chastity in the government office. The memorial archway was originally to be built in the Zong clan, but I was generous and had it built in front of her mother's house, so that the Wu family, who were accomplices to the evil, could see her memorial archway every day when they went out, so that they would know that I could build a memorial archway for the Wu family and also a tombstone for the Wu family."

He Ran's eyes lit up. Brother, this is really her brother. If she were in his shoes, she would do the same.

Zong Qi continued, “After I took over the eldest house, I found out that the Wu mother and son had promised them benefits long ago, and even hired assassins from the clan elders.

I spent another two years battling with the elders to take over the entire Zong family's business. Two years later, I officially took over the Zong family's business, not just the eldest branch, but the entire Zong family."

He Ran applauded. Her brother was now the head of the Zong family, the youngest head of the family.

She thought of the Cao Gang and asked, "When I went south, I learned that all the Cao Gang brothers at the major docks had withdrawn. Did something happen to the Cao Gang?"

Zong Qi nodded, "Yes, a few months ago, Liang Zhihou, the second in command of the Cao Gang, and the then Yangzhou prefect set a trap and killed my adoptive father and elder brother. When you went south, they learned that you were leading your troops south, so they evacuated all the people from the docks along the way. You couldn't find anyone, and of course you couldn't find the boat.

But at that time, the news of my adoptive father and elder brother's death had not yet spread, and the brothers on the dock did not know the truth. They still thought it was my adoptive father's order. "

He Ran exclaimed, no wonder, they couldn't find the Cao Gang's ship at that time. Ran's army asked at various docks but couldn't find out anything. So this was the reason.

"What's the situation now?" He Ran asked. The Cao Gang was responsible for water transportation. If anything happened to the Cao Gang, the entire water transportation would be paralyzed.

Zong Qi seemed to see her worry and said softly, "I have avenged my foster father and elder brother.

Liang Zhihou and his men were all killed, and as for the Yangzhou prefect, I want to thank you."

Liang Zhihou and his followers died in the rapids of Longhe River Mouth. When Zong Qi was preparing to take Yangzhou Prefecture, He Xiulong's army had already arrived outside the city of Yangzhou. Zong Qi could only avoid the attack and return to Huizhou.

He Ran smiled: "I hung the head of the Yangzhou prefect on the city wall for many days until it frightened the children to tears, and then I took it down."

"So I want to thank you on behalf of my stepmother, sister-in-law and stepsister." Zong Qi said.

He Ran's mind moved: "Who is in charge of the Cao Gang now? Is it the widow of the head of the Han family?"

Zong Qi shook his head: "My stepmother is frail and sickly, my eldest sister-in-law is weak, and my step-sister is young. Now the Cao Gang is in my hands. I am the new leader of the Cao Gang. After I meet you, I will go to Yangzhou to officially take over the Cao Gang."

He Ran did not hide her joy at all. Her brother would be the leader of the Cao Gang in the future. If she wanted to use the boat, wouldn't that be a matter of just saying a word?
Looking at his overjoyed sister, Zong Qi's eyes were full of doting. The person in front of him was not some big boss He, but just his little sister.

He had heard of the name He Ran a long time ago, but he thought it was just a coincidence. However, because of this name, he began to pay attention to this "rebel" far away in Jin. During those years, he quietly collected all the information about He Ran.

Unfortunately, the north and the south are separated and each has its own stance. Even if he relies on the Cao Gang, he can only get limited information.

However, from this limited information, he gradually formed an image of this traitor in his mind.

This time when going from Huizhou to Yangzhou, Zong Qi suddenly had an idea. He wanted to meet He Ran. Even though he knew that this person was not his younger sister, he still wanted to see her in person, not for anything else, just because of that name, the name that was closer to him than blood.

"Now it's time to talk about you. Why are you here? Did you die of old age?"

Although he did not have the last memory of his previous life, Zong Qi knew that there was almost no chance of survival in the plane crash and he must have died at that time.

So he instinctively thought that his sister also came here after dying.

He didn't even dare to ask his parents, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was afraid that he would hear bad news. His younger sister was dead and his other relatives must have passed away long ago.

He Ran sighed: "No, I didn't die of old age. I accompanied my parents to the beach. I was swimming in the bathing beach and I drowned. Then I ended up here."

Zong Qi was shocked: "You can drown? You've won the children's swimming championship!"

He Ran spread her hands. She really did drown, and that was only the first time. She drowned twice more afterwards, so that after that, she never went into the water again.

Because every time she drowns, her identity changes.

The first time she drowned, she changed from a female student in the Department of Architecture to He Jinghong, who was walking in troubled times.
The second time she drowned, she changed from the hermit He Jinghong to the silenced Lan Ruo;
The third time she drowned, she turned from a killer Lan Ruo into the real daughter among the real and fake daughters, He Ran.

The journey of the current head of the household, He, has been very difficult. She does not want to change her identity again. If she has to start over again and rebuild her empire, she will be either exhausted or angry to death.

"At least when I passed away, my parents were still alive, and my grandfather and great-grandfather were still living out their days in the retirement home."

The brother and sister remained silent for a long time. A family lost two children in succession. Even the strongest parents could not withstand these successive blows.

They knew nothing about what happened after that, but they could imagine how cold and bleak it was.

After a long time, He Ran broke the silence. She was different from Zong Qi. Zong Qi had just learned the news that his sister had unfortunately died, and he was extremely worried and guilty about his family.

As for He Ran, she has been here for two lifetimes. In the last lifetime, she tried every possible way to go back, but she was filled with endless worries and guilt. From her youth to middle age, this emotion haunted her for many years. In that lifetime, she thought of her parents and relatives almost every day. The longing for family affection made her soft-hearted towards Zhou Chi again and again, until she was heartbroken.

In this life, she has started over again, like a patcher, mending the regrets, shortcomings and unwillingness of her previous life.

In this life, her friends have all grown old, and some have even passed away. She has never encountered love, and no longer longs for family affection. She can face the children she raised in her previous life with coldness and utilitarianism, or she can face everyone rationally and calmly. Her memories of the modern world have gradually faded away with the passage of time.

"Brother, is the widow of Mr. Han in Yangzhou or Huizhou now?" He Ran asked.

"They will live in Huizhou in the future. The situation was very unfavorable to them at that time, so I brought them to Huizhou. But this time, they will go to Yangzhou with me and now live in Jinling." Zong Qi said.

He Ran nodded and did not continue asking about the Han family. She and Zong Qi both knew that it was inconvenient for her to meet the Han family. Even Zong Qi, at least for now, had to avoid everyone's attention.

"Brother, now that you are the leader of the Cao Gang, will you stay in Yangzhou in the future?"

Over the years, the Cao Gang's headquarters has been located in Yangzhou.

Zong Qi shook his head: "No, I still have a lot of things to do, but I will stay in Yangzhou for a few more days. When the Cao Gang is on the right track, I will leave."

He looked at He Ran again and asked softly, "People outside say that you are He Jinghong's apprentice, but they also say that you are from the Zhending He family, is that right?"

He Ran was a little embarrassed to tell her brother that she was actually He Jinghong.

“Yes, this is where I came from in this life.”

When she is away from home, she gives herself an identity. The apprentice of He Jinghong and the eldest daughter of the Zhending He family are the identities she gave herself.

Zong Qi said: "The He family is very dishonest. I guess you must have suffered a lot."

He Ran never suffered any hardship in the He family, but she made the He family suffer a lot.

"Fortunately, I only stayed at the He family for a few days. Before they had the chance to make me suffer, I went to Beijing."

He Ran laughed out loud. She still missed those days at the He family. They left many interesting memories in her life of war and battle.

Zong Qi thought of his younger sister's past deeds and smiled with relief.

During the few days my younger sister stayed at the He family's, she probably caused chaos in the family.

And as far as he knew, the He family had gradually declined since then, and now
I guess this is also my younger sister's work.

"By the way, I heard some rumors that the old lady of the He family gave herself to an old scoundrel named Yu after she came to Jinling. Do you know about this?"

He Ran smiled: "You heard about it too? I just found out about it these past two days."

Zong Qi asked, "Does it have any impact on you?"

He Ran: "I am not afraid of hundreds of thousands of troops. This little impact is nothing to me."

Zong Qi said calmly: "In this case, the person who controls this matter does not need to be handed over to you. I will handle it."

He Ran was surprised: "Ah? You found out? Brother, you are more powerful than the Jinyiwei, who are you?"

She handed the matter over to Zhong Yi, but after three whole days, He Shuquan has not been found yet, and even Old Man Yu's whereabouts are unknown, and the mastermind behind the scenes is even more unknown.

Zong Qi smiled: "This man's name is Qiao Xichang. He was originally an unknown seventh-rank official, but his sister is a beauty in the Qi King's harem, and just last month, she gave birth to a baby boy."

The King of Qi came to the throne illegitimately and had corrupt personal morals. Therefore, after He Ran arrived in Jinling, he issued two decrees. One was to confer the title of Lady Benevolence and Righteousness on Old Lady Meng, and the other was to find a place for the late emperor's coffin that was parked in a temple outside the city and bury him as a prince, without an imperial system and without a temple name.

This move is equivalent to deposing Emperor Zhou Chi!

Therefore, now Zhou Chi is not the previous emperor, but only the King of Qi.

He Ran frowned slightly. He Pan was once a maid named Bi Tao in the harem of King Qi. According to her, King Qi had no interest in any of the women in the harem. Even the Queen and the Four Concubines, he would only visit them occasionally and never stay overnight.

He Pan once mentioned a Lady Qiao, who, like the young lady she served at the time, was a virgin who had never been favored by anyone.

Could it be that after He Pan left, the King of Qi changed his personality and started to favor his concubines?

If we only look at the age, the son of Lady Qiao is a match.

But He Ran felt something was odd.

"The King of Qi is dead, and Jing Chongguang has established the Yonghe Emperor. Could it be that Qiao Xichang still wants to support a little emperor and become my enemy?"

Zong Qi said, "He is imprisoned in the dungeon. You can interrogate him yourself."

He Ran thought of Lady Qiao and asked, "Where are Lady Qiao and the child?"

"Qiao Xichang refuses to speak, and the truth has not been revealed yet," Zong Qi said.

He Ran smiled: "Okay, you give him to me. Oh, and Old Man Yu and He Shuquan, too. I will reunite their family."

Zong Qi smiled and shook his head: "Little rascal!"

As soon as the words came out, both of them were stunned, and then they started laughing together.

In the past, whenever she was naughty, her brother would call her "little rascal".

As soon as He Ran returned to Madam Renyi's residence, Qiao Xichang, Old Man Yu and He Shuquan were sent over.

Old Man Yu and He Shuquan did not suffer much, but Qiao Xichang was covered with scars. Zong Qi tortured him severely to make him tell the whereabouts of Lady Qiao and her son.

He Ran had Old Man Yu and He Shuquan locked up together with the He mother and son.

The family of four was finally reunited.

After recognizing who the two people thrown in were, Master He San slapped He Shuquan in the face: "You must have leaked it, you little bastard, I'll beat you to death!" (End of this chapter)