Chapter 90: Zhao Zongji (Requesting Monthly Votes!)

In the attic, there were naturally no lamps or candles.

The girl had been worried that these strong men might burn the books for light, but unexpectedly, they behaved properly, only pushing open the windows to let the moonlight shine in.

The windows upstairs were extremely small, only allowing air to pass through, not people. Therefore, the only connection between the second floor and the outside world was a staircase.

Letting Wulang guard the staircase entrance, Chen Ke leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, waiting for the other party to come for negotiations. Song Duanping sat on a book box, and the monk Xuanyu naturally sat on the ground in meditation.

After a moment of silence, Chen Ke broke the silence: "I'm sorry everyone, for putting you in danger..."

"If we were inside, would you come to save us?" Song Duanping asked him.

"Of course," Chen Ke replied without hesitation.

"That's settled then," Song Duanping spread his hands and said, "We are brothers, aren't we?"

"Right," Chen Ke nodded heavily, patted his shoulder hard, and then said to Xuanyu, "Monk, I've disrupted your practice."

"Amitabha," Xuanyu clasped his hands and said, "In these few days, I have indeed broken many precepts." After a pause, he cautiously added, "When you return to Sichuan, don't tell my master..."

"Damn..." The solemn atmosphere was completely shattered by this sentence, and Chen Ke laughed and scolded, "Are you practicing for your master or for yourself?"

"These days have been a bit confusing," Xuanyu said, "Perhaps this is the purpose of going down the mountain to travel."

"Ha ha ha, very good, very good," Song Duanping laughed, "If we had stayed in Sichuan all along, how could we have such exciting experiences?"

"This time, it's really exciting," Chen Ke smiled bitterly, "Actually, I just wanted someone to write a preface... At that time, I never imagined such an encounter."

"Speaking of which, this guy is definitely not a decent monk," Song Duanping changed the topic and accused Xuanyu, "Every tune you played, he could recognize the melody!" In the Song Dynasty, scholars were specifically trained in music, but it was unheard of for monks to learn music, especially erotic tunes.

"Can't a monk have personal hobbies?" Chen Ke defended Xuanyu, seemingly making things worse.

While they were joking, the girl and her maid heard the sound of a shattered fairy tale... Such a romantic form, such a beautiful atmosphere, was just a signal for bandits? When did bandits become so refined?

The truth was too cruel.

"Impossible!" The maid, who had been holding in her anger, finally burst out, "Just you bandits, you can't possibly play so many tunes!"

"Why not?" Chen Ke took out his willow flute from his chest and casually tossed it to the maid, "Here, play with it." However, his movement was too casual, and it missed by a lot, landing directly on the girl's chest.

"Try it out, sorry," Chen Ke said awkwardly.

The girl quickly hugged her chest, and her maid immediately became furious, "Rogue, scoundrel! Rascal!" Earlier, his dirty hands had pressed against her mouth and nose, and now he was taking advantage of the princess, which was truly unforgivable. However, her vocabulary for cursing was limited, and she kept repeating these three words.

"The windows are open, feel free to shout," Chen Ke said coldly, "The people outside might think you've been harmed."

"Shameless..." The maid puffed her cheeks in anger but dared not speak again.

"Sorry, ladies, for involving you," Chen Ke turned to the girl and said, "Don't be afraid, as long as we can leave safely, we won't harm you in any way."

"Thank you, brave sir." The girl's greatest fear seemed to be averted, and she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She thought, 'It seems we've encountered an elegant thief...'

As they were talking, Wulang, who had been silent, spoke up, "Brother, someone's coming."

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A guard captain, holding a lantern, climbed the stairs under everyone's watchful eyes and shouted loudly, "Bold ruffians, quickly release our young lady, or you'll be torn to pieces if you harm a single hair on her head..."

"Go to hell!" Chen Ke kicked him down the stairs before he could finish his sentence.

After a while, another person came, this time with a much more conciliatory attitude, "Gentlemen, our master says that as long as you release our young lady, everything can be negotiated."

"We need nothing, just to leave Hengyang safely," Chen Ke said solemnly.

"That's easy, we can prepare a carriage right away and escort you out of the city at dawn."

"Will the imperial guards agree?" Chen Ke asked coldly.

"You don't need to worry about that," the guard said proudly, "No one dares to stop our carriage."

"Big talk," Chen Ke laughed, "But this is a matter of life and death, you need to make me believe."

"..." The guard didn't know how to respond and had to retreat to report.

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"Father, let me go up," the young man said to the middle-aged man in fine clothes, "They can't solve the problem."

"Still, I'll go myself," the middle-aged man shook his head.

"If I can't, you go up," the young man insisted, his words few but firm.

The middle-aged man seemed to have great confidence in his son, and after some thought, he nodded, "Go, be careful."

"Yes." The young man took the lantern and went upstairs.

When he met Chen Ke, both of them were stunned, "It's you?" "How can it be you?!"

Wasn't this the chat companion he met every night on the boat?

Chen Ke was quite embarrassed, coughed dryly, and said, "Yes, it's me, what a coincidence."

"Can I see my sister first?" the man asked softly.

"Go ahead." Chen Ke had Wulang step aside.

"Leave the lantern," Wulang said gruffly, "This is a library."

"I was wrong," the young man handed the lantern to Wulang, marveling at the thief who cared so much about books.

When the young man went in, he saw his sister standing there unharmed and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry for worrying you, Second Brother," the girl said softly.

"Don't go to dangerous places in the future," the young man said coolly, then turned to Chen Ke, "Please release my sister, I'll take her place as a hostage."

"Brother..." the girl called softly.

"Shut up," the young man said sternly.

"Why don't you both stay?" Chen Ke laughed dryly, "I'm not sure if this brother is as valuable as the young lady."

"That's fair," the young man nodded and looked at Chen Ke, "Perhaps I should introduce myself."

"Very necessary," Chen Ke nodded.

"My name is Zhao Zongji, and I have a long list of official titles, but there's nothing to boast about. Because I am the son of the Duke of Beihai of the Great Song," the young man sighed, "Now you know how much trouble you've caused."

'Oh no...' Chen Ke opened his mouth wide, this time he had really gone too far, actually kidnapping a member of the imperial family. Wasn't that girl a princess? But he quickly closed his mouth, a barefoot person has nothing to fear from a shod one. Even the emperor could be pulled down, what was an imperial family member?

"Since you came, I'll introduce myself too," Chen Ke looked at the young man and said slowly, "My name is Chen Ke, and I have nothing to my name because my father, who was a county magistrate, has been sentenced to death."

"Are you Chen Xiliang's son?!" the young man Zhao Zongji was somewhat surprised.

"Do you think anyone would pretend to be me?" Chen Ke shrugged.

"How did you end up here?"

"I was captured, and it's partly your fault," Chen Ke subtly attacked, making the other person feel guilty.

"Your fault?"

"If you hadn't praised Yu Wenshu so much, I wouldn't have gone to complain to him," Chen Ke said with a frown.

"Complain about what?" Zhao Zongji asked.

"Since it's come to this, I might as well tell you," Chen Ke sighed, "My father was actually framed. He suffered this injustice because he was investigating the root cause of the defeat in Lingnan."

"Everyone is reflecting on the nation," Zhao Zongji said, "Why was he the only one to be framed?"

"Because your reflections are all in thought, but he took action," Chen Ke glanced at the moon outside the window and said softly, "As a result, he uncovered a massive corruption case involving the military and political officials in Hunan and Guangdong. Naturally, he had to be dealt with."

"..." Zhao Zongji was silent, listening to him continue, "We went through great efforts to gather the evidence, and with high hopes, we went to Yu Wenshu. The result... you've seen, I was placed under house arrest, and the case was suppressed."

"You should also understand Yu Wenshu," Zhao Zongji sighed, "He has to consider the big picture. Now is not the time to investigate cases."

"I don't know what the big picture is!" Chen Ke coldly interrupted, "I only know that if evil is not punished, this country will be full of evildoers, and if good is not rewarded, this country will have no good people!"

"..." Zhao Zongji was speechless.

"Yu Wenshu wants to win, which is understandable. But I've never heard of a commander winning with a group of corrupt officials!" Chen Ke poured out the words he had been holding back for a long time, shouting, "Even if he wins by some miracle, can you imagine the court pardoning those corrupt officials and letting them off scot-free, or even allowing them to continue their evil deeds? Even if one Nong Zhigao is suppressed, there will be Zhang Zhigao, Li Zhigao, and others they will create."

"I've heard that Nong Zhigao's power grew because many Han people in Lingnan joined him. Now, more than eighty percent of his army is Han. Why is this? Isn't it all because of those corrupt officials? Why should they be given face? Do they deserve it?!"

"Merit is merit, and fault is fault. Merit should be rewarded with honors, and faults should be punished with severe penalties. Both can coexist. Your family always likes to ignore the law and offset faults with merits, which is why the hearts of the people are so disheartened!"

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Third update, requesting monthly votes!

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