Chapter 477 : Paying Off A Debt (2)

Heshou looked at Yuchen and replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Surely, she would not admit such a thing.

In fact, over the years, Heshou had also regretted her rash actions that day; there were many ways to get rid of Han Yuxi back then, but she had used the most foolish method of all. Of course, Heshou did not want to admit that. Not only did she want to get rid of Yuxi back then, but she also wanted to get rid of Yuchen. In her last life, Yuchen was so happy that she made all the women in the world jealous, and she was no exception.

Yuchen chuckled and said: “Take revenge on you? I’m not here to get back at you. I’m just here to collect a debt. You have owed this debt for so many years, and it’s time to pay it back.” She hadn’t dared to do anything before, partly because she wasn’t strong enough and partially because the Crown Prince protected Heshou. But now, Heshou was of little use.

Looking at the airy Yuchen, Heshou’s heart sank. “What debt? I don’t know what you’re babbling about. Someone, come and see the guests off.”

Yuchen smiled. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember. I still do.” That night, not only did the Duke’s Residence lose a great deal of property, but so many people died. It was time to repay this blood debt.

After Mama Jin sent Yuchen away, she returned to report to the Crown Princess. “Niangniang1, Heshou Xianzhu2 lost her soul and dropped her spirit3 after Jing Wangfei4 left. I don’t know what Jing Wangfei4 said to her.”

The Crown Princess responded, “It must be because of what happened back then! Heshou was too arrogant at that time to even dare to commit murder and arson.” Committing murder and arson was not the most important point. The most important point was to commit the crime at the Duke of the State Residence. Even a skinny camel was still bigger than a horse5. Since Heshou had done such a thing, she couldn’t expect others to treat her kindly in return.

The Crown Princess originally wanted to win over Heshou Xianzhu2 and use her for her own benefit. But now that Jing Wangfei4 would deal with Heshou Xianzhu2, she thought it was time to consider it carefully.

Yuchen’s methods were much simpler and more crude than Han Jianming’s. In the afternoon of the next day, Qiao Meng came out of the restaurant after drinking with his friends. A man from outside the restaurant rushed up and stabbed him. The knife went straight through Qiao Meng’s heart, killing him instantly.

When Qingyang Gongzhu6 heard that her son was gone, she thought she had received the wrong news. Over the years, she had detained Qiao Meng, and his temper had become very restrained. Not to mention anything else, at least he would no longer do something as despicable as snatching an ordinary woman as his next concubine.

When Heshou heard that her brother was gone, she remembered what Yuchen had said yesterday and immediately cursed: “Han Yuchen, you are a vicious woman.” She did not expect Han Yuchen to attack her family.

The messenger trembled all over when he heard these words and wished he had not heard them.

Binglan interjected from aside, “Xianzhu2, we need to hurry back to the Gongzhu’s residence.” No one knew how heartbroken Gongzhu would be after the death of the Eldest Master!

Heshou gritted her teeth and said, “Let’s go.”

Since Qiao Meng was killed in the commercial district, it became a big deal. Han Jianming soon heard about this incident. He was so surprised that he asked the Chief Steward to find out what was going on.

It didn’t take long for the Chief Steward to return and report his findings to Han Jianming. “My Lord, the person who stabbed Qiao Meng deeply hated him.” In fact, the matter was simple. The magistrate caught the murderer and tried him. Even without being tortured, the murderer explained the entire sequence of events.

Seven years ago, Qiao Meng took a liking to the murderer’s daughter and wanted to force himself on her. Still, the daughter did not want to be humiliated and desperately resisted. So Qiao Meng strangled the murderer’s daughter to death in a fit of rage. Of course, this was not the only woman from a good family to die at Qiao Meng’s hands. But, the murderer only had this one daughter. After she died, his wife fell ill and passed away soon after. When he was left alone, only his belief in revenge had kept him going all these years. This was precisely what Yuchen said: that debt must always be repaid.

Han Jianming said, “It’s not that simple. How did that person know Qiao Meng’s whereabouts? And besides, Qiao Meng had so many guards around him, so how could he be stabbed to death so easily?” All of this showed that this was not a coincidence but was carefully planned by someone.

The Chief Steward looked a little hesitant.

As soon as Han Jianming saw this, he knew something was wrong. “What else did you find out? Tell me everything!” Thinking about it, he knew it wouldn’t be anything good.

The Chief Steward said: “Now people outside are saying that the mastermind behind the scenes is our Duke of the State Residence. In the capital, we are the only ones with a grudge against the Qiao family.” Many people still remember that Han Jianming targeted the Qiao family back then!

Han Jianming paid no attention to such rumours. He immediately smiled and commented, “As I recall, Qiao Meng still has a son!” Since they were already mortal enemies, it was only natural to cut off the roots.

The Chief Steward bowed his head and replied, “Yes, Qiao Meng has a son who is five years old this year.” Qiao Meng had only ever had this one son. He lost his virginity at the age of thirteen. After that, he became unreasonable in matters between men and women, leading to his lack of vitality later. Qiao Meng had to take a lot of medicine to have this child.

Qingyang Gongzhu was mourning the loss of her only son when she heard that her grandson had been strangled. The culprit was none other than Qiao Meng’s sixth concubine, Fang Shi. Her son and grandson had died one after the other. For Qingyang Gongzhu, this was nothing short of her being thunderstruck, and she immediately shouted angrily, “Bring that despicable woman to me!”

Looking at Fang Shi covered in blood with not a piece of good flesh left on her body, Qingyang Gongzhu asked hatefully, “Who instructed you to kill my Liu7-er? Tell me! If you don’t answer me, I’ll give you a fate worse than death.” Liu7-er was the nickname of Qiao Meng’s son.

Fang Shi spat out a mouthful of blood, but unfortunately, it didn’t hit Qingyang Gongzhu6. After spitting out the blood, she shouted: “It’s better for him to die. After he dies, he won’t be able to hurt anyone else anymore.” Qiao Meng accidentally saw Fang Shi while hunting and immediately snatched her away to be his sixth concubine. After spoiling her for two days, he left her in the backyard to fend for herself. If she hadn’t suddenly jumped out this time, everyone would have forgotten that such a person still existed.

Qingyang Gongzhu6 looked at Fang Shi with hatred and immediately stopped talking nonsense: “Drag her down and make her open her mouth.” As long as Fang Shi was not dead, there were ways to make her confess.

Before Fang Shi could be forced to confess, came the news of Da Nainai Qiao’s death and Qiao Meng’s jishi8’s primary personal maid had also committed suicide. What was there not to understand? This man was clearly a nail planted by Han Yuchen.

Qingyang Gongzhu6 fainted, and when she woke up, her hatred was so great that she gritted her teeth and screamed, “Han Yuchen, I won’t let you go.” To even poison her grandson, who was only five years old, was indeed ruthless.🤔

The maid rushed in, knelt on the floor and said to Qingyang Gongzhu6 in tears, “Gongzhu6, it’s not good. Fuma10, Fuma10, he…”

Qingyang Gongzhu6 had a bad feeling in her heart. The Momo beside her asked hastily: “Tell us quickly, what’s wrong with Fuma10?”

The maid knelt on the floor, unable to speak clearly as she was trembling: “After Fuma10 knew that Eldest Master and Eldest Young Master were gone, he also, also pass, also pass away…” After the exile of the Qiao family, Fuma10, the Fourth Master Qiao, had been depressed all these years and hadn’t been well. When he suddenly heard that his only son and grandson had passed away, he couldn’t catch his breath and followed in his son’s and grandson’s footsteps.

Qingyang Gongzhu6 and Fourth Master Qiao always had an excellent marital relationship, and when she heard this news, she spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground.

When Heshou heard the news, she rushed home.

When Qingyang Gongzhu6 opened her eyes and saw Heshou, she used all her strength to slap her and curse angrily: “It’s all because of you, it’s all because of you! It’s you who killed your father, your brother and your nephew! It’s all your fault!” If Heshou hadn’t done what she did back then, how could Han Yuchen have done such terrible things?

Heshou couldn’t care less about the pain on her face as she knelt in front of the bed and wept. “Mother, it’s my fault, it’s all my fault. It’s me who had harmed Father, my brother, and Liu7-er. Even if I die ten thousand times, it won’t be enough to repay them all. Mother, you can’t fall. If you fall, there will be no way to collect this blood debt.” The rest of the Qiao family were not close to her, so back then, when the rest of the Qiao family were sent into exile, Heshou didn’t feel much. But now it was different; those who died were her closest blood relatives.

Qingyang Gongzhu6 clasped Heshou’s hand tightly and said, “Yes, I can’t die. If I die, there will be no one left to avenge the three of them.”

Heshou nodded her head as she shed tears. “Mother, don’t worry. I won’t let Han Yuchen off the hook.” Who said that Han Yuchen was a heavenly fairy? There was no woman in the world more vicious than Han Yuchen.🤔

When the Momo beside them saw this scene, she hurriedly urged: ”Gongzhu6, if you want to take revenge, you must first take care of your health! You haven’t eaten for two days. If you go on like this, your health will collapse. If your health collapses, how can you take revenge?”

After hearing this request, Qingyang Gongzhu6 said, “Pass me the food.” That was right. How could she avenge her husband, son and grandson if she was in poor health?

Not long after dinner, Qingyang Gongzhu6 was persuaded by her Momo to rest. As a result, she fell asleep and never woke up again.

After Heshou learnt that Qingyang Gongzhu6 had died, she kicked the Momo, who had told her the news, to the ground and said with crimson eyes, “How dare you curse my mother! You are looking for death!”

But after she confirmed that Qingyang Gongzhu6 was genuinely dead, Heshou went mad: “Han Yuchen, I’m going to kill you! Han Yuchen, I’m going to kill you!”

When the Crown Prince learnt that Qingyang Gongzhu6 was dead, he also suspected that she had been murdered. Although he wasn’t fond of Qingyang Gongzhu6, she was still his elder and a member of the imperial family. If someone had really killed her, that person could certainly not be forgiven.

The Crown Prince referred the matter to the magistrate and ordered him to find out the cause of Qingyang Gongzhu6’s death. The murderer must be found and severely punished.

At midday, the magistrate returned to report the completion of his assigned task. “Your Highness, I have asked a female physician and a coroner to conduct an examination. Qingyang Gongzhu6 was not poisoned, and there were no wounds on her body. Chen12 also sent people to the Imperial Infirmary to check Gongzhu6’s medical records. It was discovered that Gongzhu6 had a history of heart palpitations. Both the female physician and the coroner concluded that the palpitations were the cause of Gongzhu6’s death.” This explanation means that Qingyang Gongzhu6 was not murdered but died of illness.

The Crown Prince asked incredulously: “Died of illness?” He did not believe that such coincidences existed in the world, but he also did not think that the Han family would attack Qingyang Gongzhu6. As for Heshou’s constant claim that the murderer was Jing Wangfei4, there was no evidence to support it, and one could not just jump to wild conclusions.

Heshou didn’t believe that her mother had died of illness and kept screaming that Han Yuchen was the murderer. However, it was useless for her to continue screaming because she had no proof.

Jing Wang13 even went to the Crown Prince for this to plead for his wife: “Imperial Brother, I know that my Biaomei14 is sad because of Gufu15 and Gumu16’s death, but she can’t just frame my Wangfei4.” Jing Wang13’s reason for approaching the Crown Prince was simple: he asked the Crown Prince to restrain Heshou and stop her from talking nonsense.

After all, Heshou had never offered anything of particular value since she had rescued the Crown Prince. This situation was actually quite normal. Although Heshou did not stay at home like Yuxi in her previous life, she was still just a woman in the backyard. Unless it was a significant event that shocked the Imperial Court and the common people, such as the assassination of the Crown Prince, which she knew about, she was unaware of other military and national events. Also, many things were different now than in the previous life, and even if she said them aloud, they might not be the same as back then. Therefore, for the Crown Prince, Heshou was like chicken ribs17, not worth eating but not bad enough to be thrown away18.

The Crown Prince assured him, “Don’t worry, I will keep her under control.” The way he kept Heshou under control was by prohibiting her from talking nonsense; otherwise, he would put her under house arrest and forbid her to go to the funeral. Heshou was forced to agree, and he also sent two mamas to watch her.