While Yi 'an Junzhu was domineering, that was only because of her arrogance that had swelled after her rise. She had stayed in the small mountain village for many years and thought that just because she had the noble status of being the descendant of the emperor, everyone in the world would respect her. Right now, Yang Fan did not give her any face at all. She stood there without any ideas.
Ren Wei used the staff quickly, but his strength did not lessen at all. Because he used the staff too quickly, the pain had not been felt for long, so Wei Jie had not fainted yet. However, when Ren Wei finished his last strike and picked up the staff to leave, he had lost all feeling in his lower body. He could not even get up if he wanted to.
Yang Fan threw off his straw cape. After knocking Wei Jie off the horse, he smiled slightly at Pei Junma and raised his hand, saying, "Please!"
Pei Xun was extremely grateful. He was the son of a large family and had been arrogant since he was young. When had he ever been treated like this? Today, he had been cut by Yi 'an Junzhu on the street. It was a great humiliation. His heart ached even more when his beloved concubine's nose and tongue were cut off by Yi 'an Junzhu. He immediately took his horse and followed Yang Fan to the palace.
Yang Fan's military uniform was black. It was wet from the rain and shone slightly. It also had a metallic feel to it, causing him to appear ferocious on the horse. On the other hand, Yi 'an Junzhu wore a silk dress and embroidered robe. Her feet were bare, and her hair was disheveled. She appeared to be in a sorry state as she stood on the ground.
When Li Xinyu saw that Yang Fan had used violence and was protecting the junma with disdain, she did not know how to respond. She felt extremely wronged and could not help but shout, "Yang Fan! Remember, I will not let you off! "
Finishing, Li Xinyu left in tears. Wei Jie lay in the mud and called out weakly, "Yang Fan! Remember, I will not let you off! "
He and Li Xinyu did not know each other, but his words were extremely coincidental. He blurted them out right after Li Xinyu said them. However, his voice was weak and miserable, not as powerful as Li Xinyu's. Furthermore, he seemed to be imitating her, causing the surrounding crowd to roar with laughter.
Yang Fan didn't even turn his head as he escorted Pei Jun Ma straight to the palace.
As they traveled, Pei Xun couldn't help but weep when he thought about how his wife was so domineering and had been seen by so many people. If the scandal were to spread throughout the capital tomorrow, he wouldn't be able to raise his head in front of his friends and family. Seeing this, Yang Fan also felt that this young master of an aristocratic family who had married a daughter of the Imperial Family was somewhat pitiful. He couldn't help but say a few words of comfort.
Pei Xun choked with sobs as he said, "A few days ago, the Shu merchant Long Jiutao asked me to introduce him to Zhang Tongxiu. As a token of appreciation, he gave me four beautiful Shu girls. Considering the jealousy of my wife at home, I did not accept any of them! Which man lives as sullenly as I do? Qing Ya had been serving me since we were young. We loved each other and had long had an affair. I had originally planned to make her my concubine after taking her as my main wife. But because I married a junzhu, I could only go back on my promise and set her up in an outer residence. I had already made her suffer greatly. Now … "
Yang Fan was a little disdainful of his incompetence. He spoke so passionately. He clearly knew that Miss Qing Ya's nose and tongue had been cut off and tortured, but wasn't he afraid of Yi 'an Junzhu's power and didn't dare to return to the workshop to visit first? His mouth still had to go along with his words, "Jun Ma has such a wife, it is truly unspeakably bitter. But as a junzhu, there is no reason for her to divorce. Right now, it is best to ask the Emperor and the Prince of Luling to come forward and restrain her. Otherwise, in the future … "
When Yang Fan said this, he suddenly remembered that he had mentioned that there was a Shu merchant who had asked him to introduce him to Zhang Tongxiu. Zhang Tongxiu was Second Zhang's cousin. The people who wanted to befriend Zhang Tongxiu were most likely doing so to build a relationship with Second Zhang. But then again, the people who fawned on Second Zhang were mostly officials and definitely not merchants.
Even though most of the great merchants needed to befriend the government as a backer, Second Zhang, who had lived in the palace for a long time, was definitely not as helpful to the merchants as an official in charge of the court. Second Zhang came from a prestigious family, and now his status was beyond words. His appetite had also grown. Befriending Second Zhang required more than ten times the cost of a court official, but the effect was far less than a court official. Which merchant would make such an unprofitable transaction?
Also, this person was a Shu merchant. Even if he had business in the capital, his roots were still in Shu. In this era, a round trip to a different place would take a long time, at least half a year. The transmission of information was slow. Great merchants would not stay in a different place for long, so it was far less profitable for great merchants to open a branch in a different place than to ally with the local tyrants.
What did a great merchant of Shu want to do with Second Zhang, who was like the sun in the sky in the court but had no influence locally? Also, this Nine Sets of Dragons clearly had no connection to Second Zhang, and had no previous connection to the entire Zhang Family. Why did he want to do this?
If it was any other time, if Pei Xun said this casually, Yang Fan would just forget about it and would not take it to heart. However, for the past month, he had been planning the battle with the Hidden Sect, and his heart had been stretched taut. The more he pondered over Pei Xun's words, the more he felt that there was a profound meaning.
In a short while, they arrived at the palace. Although Pei Xun was the county horse, he did not have a palace pass. Yang Fan instructed him to wait at the gate while he went to the palace to have an audience with the Emperor.
It was raining today, and although the temperature had dropped, the entire place was wet with nowhere to go. Wu Zetian was playing chess with Zhang Yizhi on the Lovely Spring Stage to relieve boredom. When she heard Yang Fan's statement, she was instantly displeased. She immediately threw down her chess piece and instructed him to bring the county horse into the palace.
Most of the time, the relatives of the Emperor were not as favored as the close officials of the Emperor. How many relatives of the Emperor could be as favored as Princess Taiping, who could enter and leave the palace at any time? Many relatives of the Emperor had to go through a lot of trouble to ask someone to pass a message to them if they wanted to enter the palace. The Emperor might not even meet them, so it was not as good as the close officials of the Emperor who could speak at any time.
Since young, the members of the Imperial Family could not get along with each other day and night like the brothers and sisters of ordinary families. Their blood ties were thin, and it was even harder to meet them after they grew up. Furthermore, after being instigated by the close officials, there were plenty of people who hated them and did not want to meet them or even treated them coldly. Therefore, even if they were relatives of the Emperor, there were very few who were willing to offend the close officials of the Emperor. Only Princess Yi 'an, who did not know the immensity of heaven and earth, would be incomparably unyielding when she saw Yang Fan interfering.
Wu Zetian ordered Yang Fan to bring the county horse into the palace. After thinking for a moment, she also asked a servant to summon the Prince of Luling. The Prince of Luling had been living in the East Palace and was next to the Crown Prince's younger brother. It was obvious that he was waiting for his brother to make room for him. However, the Imperial Court was more concerned about reputation, and he could not find a suitable opportunity.
Hearing that the Empress had summoned him, the Prince of Luling hurriedly dressed himself and followed the young servant into the inner palace. He secretly stuffed some money into the young servant's hands and asked why his mother had summoned him. The young servant knew that he would definitely become the Crown Prince in the future, and then the Son of Heaven after that, so he did not dare to make things difficult for him. However, this young servant had been waiting outside the palace at the time, so he did not understand why the Emperor had summoned him.
The young servant thought for a moment and said, "This servant does not know either. I only know that General Yang Fan entered the palace for a while and then left in a hurry. The Saint then sent word to summon Your Highness. This servant noticed that the Saint seemed to be secretly angry. Your Highness should be a bit more careful. "
Li Xian's heart tightened when he heard this. "Mother is displeased? Just what could have caused Mother's displeasure? Yang Fan had just entered the Lovely Spring Terrace, and Mother immediately summoned me. Yang Fan must have said something. What could Yang Fan have said? Zhong Run said that Yang Fan and Wu Sansi have a close relationship, but … Guo 'er has already been betrothed to Prince Liang's daughter-in-law. Prince Liang will not harm me, will he? "
Li Xian arrived at the Lovely Spring Terrace uneasily. He humbly bowed to his mother and asked, "May I know what instructions Mother has for your son?"
Wu Zetian's expression darkened. "Sit down, we do not know either. We will speak again when your son-in-law arrives!"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Li Xian retreated to the side. A servant brought a brocade stool over and Li Xian sat down gently. He thought, "Son-in-law? I wonder which son-in-law it is, for Mother to be so angry. Could it be the son-in-law of the Wu family? If it is just a family matter, the situation does not seem too serious. "
Li Xian waited for a while as if he was sitting on pins and needles. Then, Yang Fan's voice came from outside the hall, "Your Majesty, Prince Pei has arrived."
Li Xian thought anxiously, "Prince Pei?"
Fortunately, although he had many daughters, only one was married into the Pei family. Li Xian immediately arrived at Pei Xun, "Is this Xin Yu's husband? Xin Yu has the worst temperament among the daughters. Could it be that she had a quarrel with her husband? But … what does this have to do with Yang Fan? Why is he the one reporting this? "
Just as Li Xian was thinking, Yang Fan walked in with Pei Xun. When he saw Pei Xun's appearance, Li Xian stood up in shock. He cried out involuntarily, "You … What happened to you?"
Pei Xun's hair was disheveled. His cheeks were red and swollen. There were even a few scratches on his face. He was wearing a set of undergarments. The undergarments were supposed to be white, but now they were black and yellow and covered in mud. The most ridiculous thing was that he was barefooted and his feet were also covered in mud.
Yang Fan bowed and said, "This subject saw Prince Pei on the streets. Because this matter involves the Emperor's family matters, this subject does not dare to act arbitrarily. Hence, this subject brought Prince Pei into the palace to be dealt with by Your Majesty. This subject will take his leave!"
Earlier, Wu Zetian had only heard a few words from Yang Fan and knew that Pei Xun and his wife had fought on the streets. This was not proper and it was a disgrace to the royal family. Thus, she was extremely displeased. Now that she saw the appearance of this grandson-in-law, even the usually valiant Wu Zetian was stunned.
After Yang Fan finished his report, Wu Zetian subconsciously waved her hands and didn't even bother to speak to him.
Just as Yang Fan was about to leave, he suddenly stopped and said, "Ah! This subject still has another matter to report. This official has another matter to report. On the streets, this official saw Yi 'an Junzhu riding on Pei Junma and slapping him incessantly. She also ordered her servants to tie up Pei Junma and wanted to cut off his hair as a substitute for his head. There were countless commoners watching and it was truly improper. When this official wanted to help Pei Junma out of trouble, there were soldiers of the Jin Wu Guards patrolling the streets. The general leading the troops seemed to be acquainted with Junzhu and thus received orders from Junzhu to obstruct this official.
For the sake of law and discipline, this subject flogged that general thirty times on the streets. "Wu Zetian didn't have the leisure to listen to him talk about this. She waved her hand and said impatiently," This is just a small matter. You can handle it yourself. Zhen appointed you as a sentinel to do this. There is no need to report this matter in the future. Leave! "
With a faint smile, Yang Fan nodded his head and said, "Yes!"
Li Xian still didn't know that the person Yang Fan flogged on the streets was his other son-in-law. He, the Prince of Luling, had two sons-in-law. Today, one had been beaten by his daughter and the other by Yang Fan. His face had already been completely lost. However, when he saw that Yang Fan hadn't even glanced at him from beginning to end, which was completely different from when he had escorted him back to the capital, he felt rather uncomfortable.
He also knew that this must be because his own family had deliberately distanced themselves from Yang Fan, causing the other to feel disgust. At this time, however, he didn't have the time to reflect. After Yang Fan withdrew, he anxiously asked, "Xun 'er, what happened to you?"
Pei Xun knelt on the floor of the hall and wailed, "Pei Xun's life is short and unworthy of a descendant of the Emperor. Your Majesty the Emperor, please have mercy and choose a better match for Junzhu!"
Yang Fan didn't care about how Wu Zetian would handle this family matter. After he left the palace, he immediately sent someone to the Ministry of Rites and sent a message to Shangguan Fei of the Ministry of Rites. "Quickly investigate the origins of the nine sets of identities of the Shu merchant dragon!"
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