Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

Wu Wang Residence.

Wu Wang, with a serious face, was in the courtyard fiddling with a super-large telescope, constantly adjusting it, twisting left and right.

Beside him stood the steward and a delicate maid.

The steward was constantly narrating something.

Wu Wang's movements suddenly stopped, and he straightened up and said, "So, Liu Xun is dead."

The steward replied, "Yes, Your Highness. What should we do with Liu Xun's son now?"

"He's useless now, bury him."

"Heh, that fool Liu Xun really thought this king appreciated him. I had already told him not to provoke Fang Zheng Yi."

"He insisted on seeking death himself."

Wu Wang leisurely walked back into the hall, wiping his hands with a handkerchief as he walked, saying, "Clean up the loose ends and don't let anyone catch wind of it."

"Let's halt the private salt trade for a while. Don't move on it recently."

The steward hesitated and said, "Your Highness, then Taoyuan County wants to buy salt..."

"Sell it to them. All transactions with Taoyuan County should proceed as normal."

Wu Wang sat back in his seat, picked up his teacup, and took a sip: "Fang Zheng Yi is already a nuisance. Once he returns to the capital, this king plans to meet him."

"Remember to help this king invite him when the time comes."

"Oh, right, release that spy from Taoyuan County."

The steward hesitated slightly and asked, "Your Highness... is it alright to just release that spy like that?"

Wu Wang suddenly looked at the steward with cold eyes, slowly saying, "What, did you use torture?"

The steward broke out in a cold sweat, anxiously saying, "No... I wouldn't dare. Without Your Highness's orders, I wouldn't dare use torture."

Wu Wang slowly nodded: "Since the other party didn't manage to pry out any information, then release him."

"Fang Zheng Yi is a man who holds grudges and is fiercely protective of his own."

"He will be this king's man sooner or later, don't offend him."

Saying that, Wu Wang suddenly chuckled lightly: "With Fang Zheng Yi not in the capital, the city is truly boring."

"This king can't wait to meet him."

"Has anything interesting happened in the city recently?"

The steward honestly replied, "Reporting to Your Highness, no."

The maid beside him suddenly spoke up: "Your Highness, this servant does have some interesting news."

"Oh? Tell me about it?" Wu Wang looked at the maid, his eyes filled with curiosity, clearly very interested.

The maid then took out a piece of paper from her sleeve as if presenting a treasure.

She looked at Wu Wang with anticipation, happily saying, "This servant bought a 'Number One Scholar' ticket and won the top prize!"

...

...

The curiosity in Wu Wang's eyes slowly disappeared, and he stared at the maid, saying blandly, "Han Yao, how long have you been with this king?"

"Five... five years..." The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and Han Yao was somewhat at a loss.

Wu Wang slowly got up and walked to the maid's side, placing a hand on her shoulder, "...Take it away."

As soon as he finished speaking, the steward beside him drew a short knife from his sleeve with lightning speed!

He sliced through Han Yao's hand holding the 'Number One Scholar' ticket with extreme speed.

The severed hand fell instantly.

Immediately, a pillar of blood spurted from the severed arm.

Han Yao raised her severed arm, staring blankly at the spraying blood, clearly not yet having reacted to what had happened.

The next second, excruciating pain began to spread throughout her body from the severed arm.

The whole person immediately fell to the ground, wailing, "Your Highness... ah.... Why... it hurts......"

"..It hurts... Ah..."

Soon Han Yao's body was covered in blood.

Wu Wang watched Han Yao rolling in the pool of blood with a blank expression.

"Five years, you've been with this king for five years."

"You should know that this king hates those fools the most."

"Being by this king's side and yet doing such foolish things, are you insulting this king?"

No one responded to Wu Wang.

Han Yao, lying on the ground, had stopped wailing and fallen into a coma.

She tightly gripped her severed arm with one hand, but blood was still gushing out from the wound.

Wu Wang glanced down and said, "Bury her as well, and clean this place up."

"Yes!"

............

Inside the Zangxiang Pavilion, Luo Ningxin sat blankly in the room.

Beside her, Sister Chun was holding a stack of white paper filled with words, constantly muttering.

"Ningxin ah! At least give those young masters outside some face and meet them, it's not like it's anything."

"If you don't show your face again, the reputation of Zangxiang Pavilion will be ruined!"

"These poems are so well-written. Didn't you like reading these things before?"

Luo Ningxin looked at the stack of poems and curled her lips.

For some reason, after reading those letters written by Fang Zheng Yi, reading these poems always felt incredibly bland.

She didn't know what was wrong with the things Fang Zheng Yi wrote.

She felt uncomfortable all over if she didn't read them for a day, and felt uncomfortable for a day after reading them.

It put her in an awkward position.

The key thing was that Fang Zheng Yi wasn't in the capital now and hadn't written to her for a long time.

"Sister Chun, I can't stand it. Take these bland poems away! I don't want to read them!"

Sister Chun frowned deeply: "Give them some face, Ningxin. These young masters are all here for you!"

"What's going on? You suddenly don't like poetry anymore?"

Suddenly, Sister Chun seemed to remember something, a smile appearing on her face as she whispered: "Oh, I know."

"Is it because the poems Fang Zheng Yi wrote for you are so much better than these people's that you can't stand ordinary stuff anymore?"

Luo Ningxin's eyes twitched a couple of times.

Then she got up and took out a stack of letters from the cabinet in the room and handed them to Sister Chun.

"These are the poems Fang Zheng Yi wrote. You can read them!"

Sister Chun looked at Luo Ningxin with a mischievous smile, took the letters, and started reading.

But after just glancing at them twice, she immediately felt unwell!

"Ugh! What the hell is this?!"

"I almost threw up my dinner from last night. I've never seen such disgusting poems in all my years working in a brothel. Is this called poetry?!"

"Even the village idiot at the entrance of our village could write better if he could read!"

"No wonder you're not eating or drinking. I understand!"

Sister Chun disgustedly threw the letters on the ground.

"Hey! Don't throw them around."

Luo Ningxin hurriedly bent down to tidy them up.

Sister Chun sized up Luo Ningxin, puzzled: "You don't... like reading this stuff, do you?"

Luo Ningxin's pretty face flushed red, and she silently turned around and put the letters back into the cabinet.

Did she like them? Not really, but after reading them every day, she felt like she had been brainwashed.....

Seeing that she didn't answer, Sister Chun said, feeling sorry for herself: "Alas, Master Fang is gone, and Brother Biao has gone with him. I don't know when Brother Biao will be back. I should have gone with him."

"When Brother Biao comes back, I'll have him redeem me."

"But that Master Fang is not bad either. A man who can subdue Brother Biao, you definitely can't go wrong following him."

Luo Ningxin was immediately speechless: "What's so good about that Zhang Biao who is all brawn and no brains? And don't you have money? It's not like you can't redeem yourself. Why wait for a man to redeem you!"

Sister Chun chuckled: "It's more than just brawn, Brother Biao is a beast among men. You're still young, you don't understand!"

"Women need a sense of ritual. Is it the same if I redeem myself or if a man redeems me? If Brother Biao is willing to redeem me, that means he has feelings for me!"

"If Brother Biao redeems me, do you think he will marry me? Love came too suddenly, I'm not ready yet.. hehe he..."

Luo Ningxin: "........"