Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved-Chapter 28 - Your Wife and Daughter are Still Alive

Chapter 28: Chapter 28 Your Wife and Daughter are Still Alive

The middle-aged man watched Murong Jiu with a wary and ferocious gaze that never wavered.

“Alliance Leader Chang, there’s no need to be nervous,” Murong Jiu said in a soft voice. “I bear you no ill will; I merely wish to make a deal with you.”

“Chang has long since retired from the jianghu and doesn’t meddle in idle affairs. Princess Consort Ling has found the wrong person.”

Chang Chonghai spoke coldly, an air of having nothing more to say.

“Is that so? What if I told you the whereabouts of your wife and daughter?”

Murong Jiu whispered in a voice only he could hear.

...

Chang Chonghai sprang to his feet from the ground in an instant, his eyes bloodshot, and he even gritted his teeth in anger, “My wife and daughter are already dead, Princess Consort Ling. Are you trying to threaten me with their corpses?”

She waved her hand and said, “You misunderstand, Alliance Leader. I am not that inhumane, and besides, your wife and daughter are still alive.”

Chang Chonghai’s expression changed dramatically, “What… what did you say?”

Murong Jiu walked to a secluded place, and Chang Chonghai, dropping his wine jug, followed quickly.

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She turned and said to him, “I told you, they are alive and waiting for you to find them.”

Chang Chonghai breathed heavily, “You’re not lying to me? What do you want me to help you with?”

She chuckled lightly, “Whether I’m lying or not, you can see for yourself. I simply want you to become my guard, help me with some affairs, for a period of three years. After three years, you can go wherever you like. I can tell you the address of where your wife and daughter are now, and once you’ve made sure they’re settled, you come back to find me. How about that?”

Chang Chonghai’s eyes were full of astonishment, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll run away?”

“I have confidence in the honor of Alliance Leader Chang. Besides, if you don’t treat the poison in your body and keep drinking like this, I’m afraid you won’t live to see your daughter grow up.”

Chang Chonghai’s gaze grew more guarded once again.

Murong Jiu explained, “I am a court physician, and I know from looking at your eyes that you’ve been poisoned, and I can cure it. There’s no need to be nervous, Alliance Leader, all I ask for is three years of peace.”

“If you’re worried that I might poison you when I cure you, I can write you a prescription, which you can have a court physician check before you get the medicine yourself.”

She voiced Chang Chonghai’s concerns directly, which made her seem even more sincere.

Yet Chang Chonghai was still full of doubts; he couldn’t understand how Princess Consort Ling found him, or how she knew the whereabouts of his wife and daughter. He had been separated from them when his enemies pursued him, and by the time he found his wife and daughter, they were already two corpses, bloated in the river.

Although he had avenged them, his wife and daughter were dead, and he no longer had the will to live; he had collapsed drunk in the street, and Xiao Wen, thinking he was a beggar, had tried to take him to the refugee camp.

Looking at Xiao Wen, he mistook her for his daughter and followed her here.

Once he sobered up, he lost interest in life again, drowning his sorrows in drink and occasionally helping Xiao Wen and her mother drive off hooligans.

Knowing that he had a deadly poison inside him, he couldn’t be bothered with a remedy. Dying would be a release, and it would allow him to join his wife and daughter in the Underworld.

He had seen Lady Yu entrust Xiao Wen to Princess Consort Ling a moment ago and hadn’t intervened because Princess Consort Ling didn’t disdain Xiao Wen’s dirty appearance, nor did her eyes show the slightest contempt for this place. She was different from other noble young ladies.

But he hadn’t expected Princess Consort Ling to seek him out and tell him his wife and daughter were still alive.

To believe or not to believe, he only needed to make the trip to verify the truth.

Murong Jiu waited quietly for his response.

In his past life, Chang Chonghai had been a guard by Jun Haoze’s side, a sharp blade, along with Yang Chuan.

Jun Haoze had threatened him with the lives of his wife and daughter, forcing him to do evil deeds. He was in great pain, and later, when he discovered that they had committed suicide by hanging after being violated by the men Jun Haoze sent to watch them, he suffered a mental breakdown. He tried to kill Jun Haoze, but instead ended up getting his own head chopped off.

His wife and daughter had not yet been found by Jun Haoze. They were taken in by a kind-hearted farmer’s wife and could be found as soon as Chang Chonghai went to look for them.

Not only Chang Chonghai, but Manager Chai and Lou Zixi had also become skilled eccentrics under Jun Haoze in their last life.

It was just a little later than now.

Lou Zixi scored top marks in the Imperial Examination the following spring, but because one of his legs was longer than the other, making it inconvenient for him to walk, he was eliminated before the palace examination.

Jun Haoze, seeing his talent, took him under his wing.

The truth, however, was that Lou Zixi’s leg was not an issue, for Prince Ling himself had a chronic leg injury. At that time, the Emperor still favored Prince Ling, so even if Lou Zixi had entered the palace examination with a limp, he would have certainly achieved fame and fortune.

It was Jun Haoze who, thinking that his talents were exceptional, deliberately prevented him from taking part in the palace examination.

Manager Chai had been casually given a job by Jun Haoze, but to everyone’s surprise, he excelled at conducting business and was gradually put in charge of bigger shops.

Murong Jiu remembered that the year Jun Haoze became the Crown Prince, which was also five years later, in just four short years, Manager Chai had helped Jun Haoze take control of all of Great Yan’s profitable industries into his grasp. At the same time, he also established the nation’s largest bank, with untold amounts of silver coin flowing in every day.

Of course, none of this was without the strategizing of Lou Zixi.

Murong Jiu once found out that the three of them had lived together in a refugee settlement for a while, which was during the continuous rainy season in the Capital City, exactly like now.

She hadn’t held much hope originally, but to her surprise, upon her visit, all three were present.

“Chang hereby promises you,”

After a brief hesitation, Chang Chonghai clenched his teeth and agreed, “But Chang has one condition: I won’t do anything like murder or arson that goes against my conscience!”

“Of course, if you really did that, I’d have to act for justice,” she said with a light laugh, relieved.

In order to protect her child, she desperately needed Chang Chonghai. This man was the former Hierarch of the Martial Arts Alliance, with profound martial arts skills, capable of protecting her from any harm by Jun Haoze and safely bringing her child into the world.

She was no longer under Jun Haoze’s control, and sooner or later, he would realize she was a stumbling block to him and swiftly remove her.

Murong Jiu quietly gave Chang Chonghai the address of his wife and daughter, informed him of the medicine needed for the antidote, and handed him several large silver notes.

“Once you have settled them, come find me at Prince Ling’s Mansion.”

Seeing the amount on the silver notes that could ensure his wife and children a lifetime of well-being, Chang Chonghai said in a deep voice, “If Chang truly finds his family, I will most assuredly return to ensure your safety for three years!”

A man of the martial world’s promise is worth its weight in gold. Murong Jiu understood his character and knew he would definitely come back, so she nodded smilingly, “Good, I’ll be waiting for Alliance Leader Chang.”

Watching Chang Chonghai leave, Murong Jiu returned to the tea house to talk with Manager Chai and Lou Zixi.

“I appreciate Manager Chai’s capabilities and Young Master Lou’s literary talent. I can not only give you a place to settle in the Capital City but also enable Manager Chai to continue running the stores and allow Young Master Lou to study in peace for next year’s Imperial Examination.”

She got straight to the point.

Both were surprised, not understanding why Princess Consort Ling would choose them among the many people in the Capital City.

But before they could ask any questions, Murong Jiu continued:

“Manager Chai, I will give you fifty thousand taels in silver notes. Help me buy up all the surrounding surplus grain at low prices within three days.”

Manager Chai was first astonished by her generous offer but soon advised:

“Princess Consort, I implore you to reconsider. In two more months, the autumn harvest will begin. If you stockpile grain now, it will be last year’s old rice, which won’t sell well in the second half of the year!”