Jinghong Tower

There was panic in Fujian. Although there was no actual evidence, both the four great families and the harem had already determined that the Ran army was attacking.

And Zong Qi did not disappoint them. He attacked again three days later. This time, the target was another military port of the Fujian Division.

In this battle, the Fujian Division was defeated again.

At this time, Ruyan, who was still in Fuzhou, was also preparing for Ran Jun to go ashore.

Almost overnight, free morning papers, evening papers and comic strips appeared on the streets of Fuzhou, Quanzhou and other places.

Ran Jun has become the two most talked about words among the people.

In the palace, Queen Chen tossed and turned, she didn't know how long she could live in this palace.

But there was one thing she was very clear about: the small Later Zhou court was on its last legs and would not last long.

She knew better than anyone that she was useless.

She was an outcast of her family and the entire dynasty.

And all this started when she became an abandoned woman.

"Empress, the people around Concubine Shu were just hanging around the door."

Queen Chen smiled coldly. The Shufei was from the Du family, the Guifei was from the Jiang family, and the Xianfei was from the Huang family. In the harem, there were many other women like them who came from various aristocratic families. Regardless of their status, their fate was the same.

They are all abandoned pawns!
The queen said to the maid, "Go and invite all the masters of the palaces to come here."

The concubines had never come so quickly and in such an orderly manner as they did today. There was no more tension or intrigue between them. Everyone's eyes were filled with sadness.

There was a cry coming from behind. It was from a little girl of about twelve or thirteen years old. She was not yet fully grown and had a childish face.

Empress Chen remembered her, and her family gave her 10,000 taels to get her in.

Queen Chen waved to her and the little girl came over timidly.

"You haven't been favored yet?"

The little girl nodded. She had always been worried about being favored by the emperor. Fortunately, she had not seen the emperor since entering the palace.

Empress Chen looked at the women sitting or standing in the room and asked, "Is there anyone who has not been favored? Raise your hands for me to see."

Many people raised their hands one after another. In fact, the eunuchs also had records, but the queen was too lazy to check it.

The maid counted them and said, "Your Majesty, there are thirty-eight people in total."

For the first time in her life, Empress Chen felt that Emperor Yonghe was still a human being. He actually let go of so many innocent women under the heavy pressure from Jing Chongguang.

"Go back and pack your belongings and leave the palace now."

There was silence in the hall, and everyone couldn't help but open their mouths wide, with shock written on their faces.

Empress Chen sighed, "If your family can't tolerate you and you can't go back, then go to Tianyuan Temple together. I have donated a lot of silver there, and the abbess will accept you. Ah Shui, take them there."

A Shui was the most capable maidservant around Empress Chen. As early as after the little prince was born, Empress Chen donated a large sum of silver to Tianyuan Temple to pray for the little prince.

Not long after, Aunt Shui took the 38 women out of the palace. Some of them who were close relatives could return to their families, but most of them could not go back. Even if they entered the palace for their families, even if they were still virgins, their situation when they returned to their families would probably not be as good as when they went to Tianyuan Temple.

There are more than thirty people left, all of whom have been favored and their positions are much higher than those thirty-eight people.

Empress Chen looked at them and said, "Are there any of you who want to leave the palace? If so, I will allow you to leave the palace. You can also take away the things you are used to in the palace and the people who serve you."

After a long time, several people raised their hands cautiously. They didn't know what their situation would be like after leaving the palace, but they were still young and didn't want to be trapped to death in this palace. As long as there was a glimmer of hope, they wanted to fight for themselves.

Queen Chen kept her promise and had them taken back to the palace to pack their belongings.

Now including herself, there are twenty-eight people.

Queen Chen asked three times whether they wanted to leave, but none of the twenty-eight people answered.

Empress Chen stood up and said to them, "If that's the case, then you should all return to the palace and wait for news. You can still leave with dignity now, but after today, you won't be able to leave even if you want to."

Suddenly, the imperial concubine stood up and said, "I want to leave."

Everyone was shocked. The imperial concubine was from the Jiang family, and the Jiang family always valued rules. Could she really go home? She might be drowned if she went back.

Queen Chen nodded: "Okay, as you wish."

At this moment, an eunuch trotted in and said, "Empress, there is a man outside the palace. He said his surname is Zhu and he is here to pick up his sister."

Empress Chen frowned slightly, she didn't remember anyone with the surname Zhu in the harem.

Concubine Shu slowly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, that person might be looking for me."

"Your surname is Zhu? Aren't you a member of the Du family?" The queen was puzzled. The four great families are closely related. She has two cousins ​​with the surname Du. She knows all the relatives of the Du family very well, and there is no one with the surname Zhu among them.

Concubine Shu smiled bitterly: "Empress, at this point, I will not hide the truth from you. There is a branch of our Du family whose surname is Zhu, and I am that branch."

Although Empress Chen was puzzled, she no longer had the leisure to find out about these gossips. Which wealthy family doesn't have secrets? The Du family has secrets, and the Chen family has them too.

Soon, the imperial concubine left, and the concubine also left, but as for the others, no one came to pick them up and they had nowhere to go.

They will stay in this palace until someone comes to drive them out or kill them.

Looking at those desolate figures, Queen Chen sighed silently. If nothing unexpected happened, these people would probably commit suicide before waiting for people outside to come in.

Queen Chen looked at the servants around her again. Aunt Shui had already left the palace. She would stay in Tianyuan Temple and would never come back.

Empress Chen said to the others, "You all may leave. I do not need anyone to serve me anymore."

She took out a box and divided the gold, silver and jade items inside equally among everyone. Amidst the tears of gratitude, Empress Chen walked into the inner room and closed the door.

From that day on, Empress Chen never left that room again. Three days later, a eunuch hurried into Fengyi Palace. He came to report the death of his master who had hanged himself. However, Fengyi Palace was deserted and there was no one to be seen.

But at this time, Queen Chen, no, she was now Widow Liu, she sat in a mule cart and traveled very far.

The mule cart stopped in front of a village, she paid the fare and walked into the village.

Looking at the earthen building not far away, Widow Liu hesitated and dared not move forward.

At this time, two aunts came over, saw her, and asked, "Are you here to visit relatives?" Widow Liu was a little embarrassed and said awkwardly, "I'm looking for Liu Saner."

The two aunts looked disdainful: "Oh, you are not the young widow that Liu Saner was talking about, right? Tsk tsk tsk, you look pretty, how come you fell in love with a gambler? Don't you know that Liu Saner is probably sleeping right now? He gambled all night last night. He is so young and doesn't work, he just knows how to gamble. You can't have a man like that!"

Widow Liu blushed, it seemed that she was right, that Liu Saner must be him.

A moment later, Widow Liu saw Liu Saner. Liu Saner was barefoot, with one foot on the bench and a toothpick in his mouth. When he saw her come in, Liu Saner smiled.

"coming?"

Widow Liu nodded: "I am coming."

"How is it?" Liu Saner asked. This village has beautiful mountains, clear waters and nice people. The only bad thing is that it is too remote.

Widow Liu found a chair and sat down. "Jing Chongguang and his son are all dead. The Ran army has attacked us. Although the small court is still there, it is almost gone."

Liu Saner laughed out loud: "Good, really good, great!"

This was what he wanted to see most, Jing Chongguang finally died!

"How did Jing Chongguang die, and his son?"

Widow Liu said calmly, "I told him about the secret passage, and he hid in Fengyi Palace. He also gave his son to me, and he hid in the secret passage himself. I killed his son, and he died under Mingming's knife."

Liu Saner laughed again: "He deserves it for bullying me! He thought I was afraid of him, bah! Look, my woman can also make him childless and leave him without a burial place!"

He suddenly thought of something: "What about Mingming?"

Widow Liu looked at him and said calmly, "He's dead. He blew himself to pieces with those big firecrackers that can kill people."

Liu Saner took his feet back from the bench, sat down again, and sat upright.

Suddenly, he burst into tears, crying like a baby.

I don’t know how long he cried. He wiped his tears and his eyes were red and swollen.

"You are so cruel, so cruel, that I can't afford to offend you. If you pick any one of you who is so cruel, how can the Later Zhou Dynasty not perish? I won't play with them anymore. I have plenty of money, so what can't I do?"

Widow Liu looked around at the simple furnishings and the messy house. She asked, "So we're going to live here from now on? We're not going to go anywhere else?"

Liu Saner raised his eyebrows: "No, this place is pretty good. Both you and I are dead in this world. Now I am Liu Saner and you are my lover. Let's have children here. Don't worry, even if you eat meat every day, we can afford it."

Widow Liu felt warm in her heart and looked at the man in front of her with passion. She had never thought that this man would be so affectionate to her.

With such a husband, she would be willing to eat coarse food in the future.

But the next day, when Widow Liu woke up, there was no one beside her pillow, only a box with several large gold ingots and a short letter in it.

The man left and left the gold to her. In this remote little village, the gold was enough for her to spend for the rest of her life.

She can get married here or live on her own.

Widow Liu burst into tears. She knew that she would never see that heartless and ungrateful yet affectionate and loyal man again in this life.

Four months later, with the Fujian Division's complete defeat, Fujian no longer had the strength to stop the Ran Army from landing.

On October 30, Zong Qi led the naval officers and soldiers of the Ran Army to land in Quanzhou and planted the first large flag with the word "Ran" on it in Quanzhou Port!
In the capital, all the members of the Ding family and Zeng Ziqi were arrested. After a difficult interrogation, Ding Qian was the first to speak.

He is indeed Ding Qian, his background is true, and his orphan identity is not fake.

However, his so-called parents and brothers were fake.

Ding Qian admitted that it was Zhu Yanhe who was arrested for the case of killing four Yuhang trainee officials including members of the Su family, and that he was actually involved and had accepted bribes. It was just that his status was low and those people contacted him privately. Zhu Yanhe didn't even know that he was involved, so he escaped.

However, what he thought was unknown to everyone was still known to others.

Suddenly one day, a man who claimed to be his biological brother found him. That man was Master Ding. Master Ding threatened him with that incident, so he had to claim to the outside world that he had found his parents and brothers and was reunited with his family.

Later, one time, Master Ding said that he wanted to go to the capital to see the restaurant that Zong Qi was renovating. He didn't dare to disobey, so he found out the address of Qinghuanlou from his brothers in the gang and took Master Ding to Beijing.

They saw Han Yuzhu drinking alone in a pub next to Qinghuan Tower.

Han Yuzhu didn't know him at that time, but he had seen Han Yuzhu a long time ago.

In the gang, Han Yuzhu's status is equivalent to that of a princess.

Master Ding learned from him that this young girl was actually Zong Qi's sister and the biological daughter of the previous gang leader, so he became malicious.

Master Ding had Han Yuzhu taken away from the tavern and raped her in front of Ding Qian.

Afterwards, Ding Qian was very scared, and at that time the lookout outside reported that the Cao Gang members were looking for Han Yuzhu everywhere.

So Master Ding asked Ding Qian to drop Han Yuzhu off at the back door of Qinghuan Tower. Qinghuan Tower had not officially opened yet, and the back alley was deserted.

But just as he put Han Yuzhu at the door, Han Yuzhu woke up and saw the Cao Gang mark on his body.

What happened next was completely out of control.

Not long after, Han Yuzhu discovered that she was pregnant, and thought the child was his, so she sent people to look for him at the dock near the capital, and soon found him.

When he learned that Han Yuzhu was going to marry him, he was really scared, but Master Ding was very happy and asked him to agree to the marriage.

After he married Han Yuzhu, Mr. Ding moved into the Han family with his entire family. In less than three days, they were kicked out by Old Madam Han and moved into their current house.

Han Yuzhu knew nothing at first, but Ding Qian was at the dock all day and rarely returned to the city, so Master Ding took the opportunity to sleep with Han Yuzhu. After that, Han Yuzhu was completely desperate.

The neighbors thought that Han Yuzhu lived a secluded life, but in fact, Han Yuzhu had lost her personal freedom long ago and she was just a cover.

As far as Ding Qian knew, his so-called parents, brothers, and nephews were actually not related by blood. He knew that these people used his identity to stay in the capital and must be planning something big, so he had been trying to escape, but there were people watching him, and he was caught several times when he tried to escape.

Han Yuzhu was brought back to the Han family by Old Madam Han. The once beautiful girl had now become haggard and had a dull look in her eyes.

When Han Yuzhu learned that Old Madam Han had brought back her son Han Feng, she suddenly lost her temper. She grabbed Han Feng's neck, and Old Madam Han and the maidservant beside her had to use a lot of effort to snatch Han Feng from her.

A few days later, Han Feng was sent to a charity.

On the day when the news of the great victory in Fujian was delivered to the capital, a horse-drawn carriage left the capital, and Han Yuzhu went to the country farm and never came back. (End of this chapter)