bastard returns

Seeing that Pang Song fell silent, Sikong Xu continued: "I have already said that the daughter of Da Da, my concubine, is taking care of the affairs of the house for me in my mansion. shrew."

The corners of Pang Song's eyes twitched. He knew what Sikong Xu was thinking of him. His daughter became like a stinking beggar. She must have suffered a lot in the fourth prince's mansion. If you admit that the person in front of you is Pang Qiushui and the fourth concubine under the eyes of everyone, then the relationship between him and Sikong Xu will be completely torn apart, and it is tantamount to splashing dirty water on the face of the royal family in front of the emperor.

The majestic four princes and concubines have become neither human nor ghost. It would be terrible if this word spread out. When the emperor was furious, he might punish Sikong Xu, but he Pang Song made the royal family have a bad reputation, and the guilt would definitely not go away.

Pang Qiushui yelled at the front, which naturally aroused the emperor's idea. After hearing what she yelled, the emperor also turned his head and frowned at Sikong Xu: "Is this person really your concubine?"

In fact, the emperor should recognize all the princes and concubines, but for Pang Qiushui, the emperor only met on the day of the wedding, and because Pang Qiushui's face has become really scary, the emperor naturally will not pay attention to it In addition, after marriage, Pang Qiushui was kept under house arrest by Sikong Xu, and he was never brought into the palace to greet the emperor, so the emperor couldn't recognize the crazy woman with the same ugly face in front of him.

"Father, of course not. The concubine was reprimanded by the empress and is recuperating in the mansion. This person is a beggar who came from somewhere. He is just talking nonsense." Sikong Xu said frankly: "If the emperor If you don’t believe me, you might as well ask Pang Da.”

The emperor's eyes fell on Pang Song again, and Pang Song gritted his teeth, nodded and said, "Your Highness Fourth is right, this person is not a concubine."

Pang Qiushui, who was far away, couldn't hear what they were talking about. She just escaped with difficulty. Seeing Pang Song, she was so excited that she wanted her father to save her. Little did she know that Pang Song had already killed her for his own fame and fortune. sold.

The emperor got the affirmation from Sikong Xu and Pang Song, and also concluded that the woman in front of him was a lunatic causing trouble, so he ordered the eunuch beside him to send her away, but who knew that at this moment, the imperial guards who blocked Pang Qiushui Suddenly, a gap was accidentally exposed. Pang Qiushui, who was petite, broke through the soldiers' obstruction like this, and plunged into the emperor's guard of honor.

"Protect the emperor! Protect the emperor!" The emperor's guards immediately shouted nervously, and the guard of honor turned their backs on their backs. Pang Qiushui dragged his lame leg, dodged left and right, and finally rushed to Pang Song's horse, his hands tightly locked Grabbing Pang Song's leg and crying: "Father! I am Qiushui, father! Don't you recognize me!"

There was a moment of struggle in Pang Song's eyes, and at the end, he gritted his teeth, kicked Pang Qiushui away, and shouted: "Where is the crazy woman who dares to pretend to be my daughter and corrupt the fourth princess?" Fame, what a guts!"

"Father..." Pang Qiushui was kicked and fell to the ground, staring at Pang Song in disbelief, "Father, don't you know me...Father..."

"Come on, this crazy woman is here, hurry up and catch her, so as not to scare the holy car!" Sikong Xu's voice came from the other side, pointing at Pang Qiushui and shouted.

The guards around listened to the order, and immediately surrounded them, and grabbed Pang Qiushui. Pang Qiushui struggled hard, looked up at Sikong Xu who was constantly giving orders, his eyes turned red, and he cursed angrily: "Sikong Xu, you! This goddamn bastard! I am the concubine of your famous family! You are afraid that I will lose face, so you put me under house arrest and don’t give me food or clothing. Father dare not recognize me! Since I escaped today, I must expose your treachery to the world!" Then, Pang Qiushui took a deep breath, and screamed in a higher tone than before: " Your Majesty! I have been wronged, Your Majesty! I am the fourth concubine! I..."

Before Pang Qiushui could finish his sentence, his voice suddenly stopped.

The soldiers who had grabbed Pang Qiushui released him with pale faces, and took a step back in unison, but Pang Qiushui still maintained the posture of being held, and even the expression on his face seemed to be frozen She froze there, the only difference was that there was an arrow piercing through her head between her eyebrows, the arrow not only pierced her head into a chill, but her tail feathers were still trembling slightly, as if she could still recover. Moving on generally.

"Father... Dear..." Pang Qiushui spit out the last two words, with an unbelievable look in his eyes, and finally his body fell limply to the ground with a bang, stirring up a circle of dust.

On the other side, Sikong Xu put down the bow in his hand, and said with a sneer, "I returned from hunting without success today. I thought I would have no chance to use the bowstring, but it turned out to be a sharp weapon for escort." Come on, he turned to look at Pang Song , "What do Pang Da people think?"

Pang Song's lips were trembling slightly, his eyes were fixed on Pang Qiushui's corpse, he wanted to speak, but he couldn't speak. After a while, he pulled the corner of his mouth stiffly, showing a dry smile, "Your Highness said..."

"This crazy woman ran into her father, the emperor Longjia, and she committed a crime against her superiors. She is a big treason, and she deserves to die." Si Kongxu let go of his voice and shouted to the surrounding people. It is true that running into the emperor is a dead end, but he can't be counted as a random murder .

It was just that a "crazy" beggar died, of course the emperor would not pay too much attention to it, and even looked at Sikong Xu with admiration, as if praising her for being decisive and not causing any more trouble.

Soon, a team of guards pulled up Pang Qiushui's body and dragged it away without looking back. Pang Song felt dizzy watching this scene, but anyone who was executed for colliding with the holy driver would be dead Those who have not been buried are mostly taken to mass graves and lost. Poor Pang Qiushui was tortured like that during his lifetime, and he can't rest in the ground after death.

But what can he do, his daughter is already like this, so it's possible that he still has to get himself involved.While thinking about it, Pang Song squeezed the rein tightly.

"Pang Dao, don't think too much." The team started to move again, and Sikong Xu said beside him again: "If you give me the daughter who didn't ruin her face like that from the beginning, then everything will be in vain today." It won't happen, but don't worry, since you are so knowledgeable today and saved me some face, I won't be ignorant of flattery, and in the future, I will also value you as a big man." After finishing speaking, Sikong Xu sneered With a sound, the whip went first.

"You...why...kill her..." Pang Song gritted his teeth and said this almost after Sikong Xu's back was gone.

A few days later, the Fourth Prince's Mansion announced the news to the outside world that the Fourth Prince's Concubine was suffering from a serious illness, and many treatments were ineffective. The prince's mansion fasts for half a month, and at the same time, it opens a wide range of doors to buy food on credit. All the lonely and widowed people in Beijing can come to receive a bucket of rice.

At the same time as the news came out, Pang Song's residence also closed their doors to thank the guests. They only said that Pang Daren lost his beloved daughter.

But soon someone discovered an unusual thing, that is the fourth prince Sikong Xu. Originally, Sikong Xu lost his wife and made a fast in the mansion. It should be very sad for this matter. In the end, Pang Qiushui hadn't even passed his first seven days, and he actually came to Ningguo's mansion with a post to propose marriage to Ning Shanshan, the only lady in the mansion.

When the post came, Ning Yuan happened to be playing chess with Ning Guogong. After Ning Zhongkun took the post to explain the purpose of the other party's visit, Ning Guogong twiddled the chess piece in his hand for a long time, but he insisted on not falling.

"The Fourth Highness also sent a gift list." Ning Zhongkun saw that Ning Guogong did not speak, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and said: "The grandson also brought it, and I want to present it to my grandfather."

Ning Guogong waved at Ning Yuan, "Go read and listen."

Ning Yuan understood, stepped forward and took the gift list from Ning Zhongkun, opened it and glanced at it, and said in a soft voice: "300 taels of gold, [-] pieces of Su embroidery, one pillow for Nuan Yuxin Ansheng, and a piece of Hanyu A pair of Yu Ruyi..." The gift list was very long and there were so many things, Ning Yuan read it for a while before finishing it, and then he closed the gift list and handed it back to Ning Guogong.

"Forget it, I haven't figured out how to break your game after thinking for a long time, and I lost this game again." Not only did Ning Guogong not take it, but he said something, as if he was thinking about the game from the beginning to the end, and didn't care at all. Sikong Xu's gift list is average.

Ning Zhongkun looked downcast, "Grandfather, should you tell me something about this matter anyway, the people from the Fourth Prince's Mansion are still waiting outside."

Only then did Ning Guogong slowly take the gift list from Ning Yuan's hand, opened it, glanced at it, and sneered, "I don't know how much of it is the dowry of the former four princes and concubines, this bloody thing, I don’t dare to accept it, so as not to offend the family.” After a pause, Ning Guogong said again: “What does your grandmother say about this matter.”

"Grandmother said she has no objection." Ning Zhongkun said quickly.

This Wu family is really interesting.Ning Yuan pursed his lips and smiled, Sikong Xu just passed away his wife here, and came to propose marriage before the bed had cooled down, let's not talk about the meaning behind it, I am afraid that any normal parents would not agree even if it was to avoid bad luck Such absurd things, but the Wu family is different. For a long time in the past, this Duke's wife has been worried about the marriage of the only concubine in the Duke's mansion.

In the past, Ning Shanshan was well-known for her beauty and high family background, so she really didn't worry about marrying at all, so the Wu family was not in a hurry, and she was very ambitious. When Ning Shanshan married into the imperial family, it would be best if she could become a crown prince and concubine. In the future, her mother would honor the world, so as to preserve the glory of the Duke Ning's family. After coming out, and being sent to a nunnery again, Ning Shanshan's reputation was turned upside down in the blink of an eye. The formerly famous "No. [-] beauty in Huajing" became "the No. [-] poisonous woman in Huajing". , This time, Wu Shi was dumbfounded.In the past, Ning Shanshan had a high vision, which was capital, but now, not only did no one come to ask for marriage, even Wu took the initiative to find a matchmaker, but no one accepted her favor, which made Wu even more anxious. Because Shanshan's vision is too high, she has been procrastinating from getting married, and she is already quite old. If she continues to procrastinate like this, she will grow old and lose her reputation. Wouldn't she be a widow for the rest of her life?

But at this moment, Si Kongxu came to ask for marriage, Wu Shi could not care about the other party's concubine who had just died, and only wanted to marry Ning Shanshan as soon as possible, so don't take it seriously as an old widow and make people laugh.

Hearing that the Wu family was meaningless, Ning Guogong nodded, then looked at Ning Zhongkun and said, "Then have you asked what your sister means? Or do you also want your sister to marry?"

"Grandfather..." Ning Zhongkun said with a bitter face, "It's not like you don't know about my sister. If she doesn't seize this opportunity to marry herself off, with her reputation, I'm afraid..."

"I don't want to marry!" Before Ning Zhongkun finished speaking, Ning Shanshan suddenly rushed in, tore up the post in Ning Zhongkun's hand and smashed it to the ground, angrily said: "I don't want to marry! I am dignified Ning Guogong's daughter, are you going to pick up that ugly broken shoe of Pang Qiushui!"

"Sister!" Ning Zhongkun was anxious when he heard that, "Pang Qiushui is dead, why do you care about this, you also know that grandma has been worrying about your life-long affairs recently, and now the Fourth Highness wants to marry you, so she gave you a gift. With so many things, this is a perfect opportunity, otherwise if the other party repents..."

"Why should I marry? The Fourth Highness has a crush on me, but I still can't see him!" Ning Shanshan seemed extremely excited, "I feel disgusted when I think of him marrying an ugly monster, how could I be ashamed?" To serve such a man, and I know that the Fourth Highness has been married twice, and both times his wives died miserably. Maybe he is a lone star who restrains his wife and children, so let me marry him. In the past, didn't you push me into the fire pit!"

"Shanshan, you..."

"Enough." Ning Guogong interrupted the argument between the two with a low voice, coughed a few times, then looked at Ning Zhongkun and said, "Didn't you see that your sister said that she didn't want to marry? Let's send it back first, the princess and concubine have just passed away, so it's really not unreasonable for the Fourth Highness to act like this."

Ning Shanshan immediately saluted Ning Guogong cheerfully, then gave Ning Zhongkun another look, and then turned and left the room. Seeing that Ning Guogong didn't agree, Ning Zhongkun looked slightly annoyed, and went out after bowing.

"It's getting late, and my nephew and grandson are also resigning." Seeing that Ning Guogong seemed to be in a bad mood, Ning Yuan cupped his fists, "Uncle, please rest well and take care of yourself."

"Wait a minute." Ning Guogong stopped him, looked straight into his eyes and said, "Now there is no one else in the room, what do you think about this matter, can you tell me?"

Ning Yuan straightened up, and said with a trick: "Nephew and grandson are dull, I don't know what uncle means?"

"Okay, you kid, don't pretend to be garlic in front of the old man, it's too tender." Ning Guogong took a sip from the teacup beside him, "Just say it, the old man wants to hear it too."

"Since my uncle wants to hear it, then my nephew is just talking nonsense." Ning Yuan bowed again, and said, "It seems to my nephew that the reason why the fourth prince came to propose marriage so suddenly is not hard to guess. secondly, to eliminate the displeasure brought about by the emperor's concubine's passing away, and thirdly..." At this point, Ning Yuan raised his eyes to see Ning Guogong's expression, and then continued: "Thirdly, given time, the entire Ningguo Mansion will be completely turned into a chess piece under his hands, so as to seize the opportunity to seek power and profit in the future."

"Continue to talk." Ning Guogong was still drinking tea, and did not show any displeasure.

"The grandnephew felt that His Highness the Fourth Highness should have had the intention of marrying Miss Shanshan long ago, and had planned for it for a long time, but because the Marquis of Changsheng got in on him, it almost disrupted his position. Fortunately, the prince concubine Sudden death, he is afraid that things will change again, so he can't wait to come to the door to propose marriage."

"The Fourth Highness once came to marry Miss Shanshan many years ago, but was rejected at that time. Although the nephew and grandson are not familiar with the Fourth Highness, they have met him a few times in Jiangzhou before, and know his temper. He Since Miss Shanshan's thoughts were touched before, then these thoughts should not have changed over the years, and he chose to propose marriage at this time, except that Miss Shanshan's reputation was damaged, and there was a great possibility of marrying him. The bigger thought is to turn the entire Ningguo Mansion into his pocket."

"Uncle, please forgive my nephew and grandson for talking too much." Ning Yuan said while bending down, "Cousin Zhongkun seems to have become the son of the Duke's mansion now, and uncle is already old. Given time, the foundation of the Duke of Ning's mansion will be built sooner or later." It will fall on the shoulders of cousin Zhongkun, and with his aptitude, let alone being able to take on this responsibility, even being the lord of the city would be a bit of a stretch."

Ning Guogong slightly frowned.

"If the Fourth Highness really marries Miss Shanshan, the two families will become relatives, and if Cousin Zhongkun's mind is weak and deceived by others, then the Fourth Highness will have sufficient reasons to take over the huge Duke's mansion. Now, this is probably the biggest thing that His Highness Fourth Highness wants to plot besides Miss Shanshan's beauty."

In fact, Sikong Xu's thoughts are not difficult to guess at all. Yuebi and Ning Huayang died one after another, and he also knew that because of Pang Qiushui's incident, Pang Song and him seemed to be at odds with each other. Sikong Xu had returned to the original situation of isolation and helplessness. In order to deal with this situation, he naturally turned his ideas on Ning Guogong's mansion.

Ning Shanshan's reputation is so bad now that no one dares to marry her. Mrs. Guo's wife is already worrying about her marriage. Now that he marries her, he can not only exhale and raise his eyebrows, but also express the shame of being rejected and humiliated when he proposed marriage. , and when Ning Guogong dies, Ning Zhongkun will definitely be at his mercy and become his puppet, and Ning Guogong's mansion will also become his biggest backer.

This backer is not only thicker than Pang Song's side, but also much better at manipulating than Pon Song's old fox.

"Even you can see through things, but my own grandson can't see through. He looks like he is happy to let his sister marry off. You say he is reluctant to guard the city. I think it's better to praise him." After listening to Ning Yuan's words, Ning Guogong sighed softly, and put down the teacup in his hand a little dejectedly, "Shanshan is married, and in the future, the Duke's mansion will become the puppet of the Fourth Prince's mansion. If Shanshan doesn't marry...with Zhongkun's intelligence, I'm afraid the Duke's Mansion won't even be able to save her name..."

After a pause, he suddenly raised his eyes again, looked straight into Ning Yuan's eyes and said, "Forget it, I wanted to ask you a long time ago, looking straight at your temper doesn't seem like a submissive one, and I'm thinking about what happened in the past. I have been unable to ask about things, but now, seeing so many wolves, tigers and leopards outside staring at the foundation of the Duke’s Mansion, I can’t do without asking... Do you have any plans to become an official?"

****

Ning Yuan left the gate of Duke Ningguo's mansion and got into the carriage to go home.

He closed his eyes in the car and rested for a while. After a while, he probably felt that the street outside was too bustling, so he put some more incense into the incense burner in the car. After a while, the car was filled with the calming scent of sandalwood .

"The old man knows that you were condemned by the emperor because of your teacher Gao Yu, and you will never be able to take the imperial examination. If ordinary people want to become officials in the court, the only way is the imperial examination, but you are different. If you have reasons, as long as you have The old man recommends, and I can immediately find you an official position."

"This old man would make such a suggestion mainly because he saw how talented you are. It's a pity to bury it here. It would be great if you could go out to serve the people and seek the well-being of the people. This may be your always gloomy idea. Of course, the old man also saved it. Some selfish ones, given time, if you really can make a difference in the court, I hope you can remember the love you have received from the old man, and also remember your ancestor's surname. If Zhong Kun gets into trouble, I hope you will help him, don't Let the reputation of Duke Ning's mansion and the foundation passed down from generation to generation of Ning family ancestors be ruined by Zhong Kun's generation... Otherwise, even if I am under Jiuquan, I will have no face to face the ancestors of the Ning clan... ...!"

What Ning Guogong said before rang in his ears again, Ning Yuan opened his closed eyes again, touched his nose and smiled.

Become an official?When he first entered Huajing, he really thought about it. After all, he has no other abilities, and after coming to Huajing, his household is all the money he brought from Jiangzhou. Although it is quite rich, but There is always an exhausting day, instead of sitting and eating, if you want your mother and sister to live a good life, becoming an official in the court is indeed a good shortcut.

In other words, if he could really pass the examination for fame and become an official, he would probably be happy with it, but Duke Ning's proposal today made him hesitate.

If you agree to Ning Guogong, it is equivalent to agreeing that he will help Ning Zhongkun and Ning Guogong's mansion, but in Ning Yuan's view, he has no need or responsibility to help Ningguo's mansion, in other words In other words, even if the Ningguo government really collapsed one day, it has nothing to do with him at all.