Gu Qiang was reminding him not to expose himself.
Fang Qian admired Gu Qiang a little more in his heart.
The strength in his hand decreased a bit, but he hit Gu Qiang harder.
"kindness."
The pain from the whip on her body made Gu Qiang groan.
Although Wu Dequan, who was watching from the sidelines, was relieved of his doubts, he always felt resentful about the fight in front of the house.
Shen Zhongbai had already spread the news that Gu Qiang was tortured in the clan mansion, but he never saw Shen Qianshan come once, even if he sent someone, which made Shen Zhongbai very suspicious.
Did he make a wrong move? Or is it that Shen Qianshan is actually taking advantage of Gu Qiang.
One problem after another gave him a headache.
"Your Majesty, the princess is kneeling outside again. Do you want to go out and take a look?"
A father-in-law walked in. Sensing that Shen Zhongbai was not in a very good mood, he spoke cautiously.
Shen Zhongbai rubbed his eyebrows, thinking of Shen Ruxue kneeling outside, and said, "He can kneel if he likes."
"Your Majesty, it's been several days..."
"Can't you hear what I said?"
The father-in-law wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Shen Zhongbai. The fierce momentum scared him to the ground.
"My slave obeys your orders."
After saying that, he quickly left the imperial study and walked to Shen Ruxue. He said to her kneeling on the ground: "Princess, you'd better go back. The emperor is dealing with state affairs and has no time to see you."
As if she hadn't heard what he said, Shen Ruxue shouted to the imperial study: "Father, my daughter will not marry Zhou Ziyuan no matter what. My daughter likes Gu Suran. If you want to deal with him, Then let’s deal with the daughter together.”
Her cry startled the father-in-law, and he quickly covered her mouth.
"Princess, the Emperor is very angry. You have offended the Emperor like this. It is not something you or I can afford to be blamed by the Emperor later."
How could Shen Ruxue listen to his persuasion? She pulled his hand away and said, "If you are afraid, get out of here. If your father doesn't agree to it, I will kneel down until he agrees."
"What if I just don't agree?" Shen Zhongbai walked out at some point.
Hearing the voice, Shen Ruxue raised her eyes and looked up. When she saw Shen Zhongbai, her heart was still full of fear, but she still had the courage to say: "If you don't agree, I will come every day until you get impatient and agree." So far.”
Looking at the people on the ground, Shen Zhongbai felt a surge of anger in his heart. In his opinion, Shen Ruxue was just a chess piece, but she didn't listen to him, disobeyed his orders, and even attacked him for Gu Qiang.
However, he now wants her to marry Zhou Ziyuan, so she cannot die.
"You go back first. I will find out what happened to Gu Suran. As for your marriage to Zhou Ziyuan..." Shen Zhongbai paused and continued: "I keep my word, you still have to get married."
When Ben was still rejoicing that Gu Suran was saved, he heard that Shen Zhongbai wanted to marry her off, and Shen Ruxue felt even more reluctant.
"Father, you don't know what kind of person Zhou Ziyuan is. They say she is cruel and cruel and loves beauty. If my daughter joins in, she will not be bullied by him."
Shen Zhongbai glanced at Shen Ruxue impatiently. He was just comforting her, but he didn't expect that she would go even further. Could it be that he was too kind
"Don't you know what kind of person Zhou Ziyuan is? Don't you believe the rumors outside?"
After saying that, Shen Zhongbai didn't want to say anything more to her.
"Okay, you should go back to the palace first. Father still has many memorials that have not been approved."
After speaking, he turned and left without giving Shen Ruxue a chance to speak again.
Shen Ruxue, who had just opened her mouth to persuade again, could only close her mouth, stood up and left unwillingly.
After Wu Dequan returned from the Zongren Mansion, he locked himself in the study. He secretly sent someone to investigate the house. He had not investigated it before because he was sent by Mrs. Wu, but what happened today was too strange, and he had to take a closer look. Just do some research.
At night, in the dead of night, Fang Qian sneaked out of Wu Mansion and found Shen Qianshan.
"Your Majesty, my subordinate met the Second Young Master today."
After hearing that he said he saw Gu Qiang, Shen Qianshan asked, "Is she okay?"
Unexpectedly, someone suddenly knelt down in front of the room. This frightened everyone in the room and they all started to guess what was going on.
"I also ask the prince to punish the slave. I gave the second master thirty lashes today."
As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Shen Qianshan and saw that his face was gloomy and terrifying, but he continued to wait for the room to finish speaking.
"Today, I went to the clan mansion with Wudequan. In order to tell the second young master that I am yours, I went to ask questions. Then Wu Dequan asked me to give the second young master thirty lashes. The second young master asked the servant not to be exposed, so he took it. These thirty lashes.”
"Please also ask the prince to punish this slave."
After saying that, he did not forget to apologize in front of the house.
It would be unreasonable if Shen Qianshan didn't blame him. After all, he did give Gu Qiang thirty lashes.
Shen Qianshan glanced at him and said calmly, "What did the second young master say to you?"
"The second young master said that all this is the emperor's plan."
His words made everyone have to praise Shen Zhongbai for his good strategy. They excluded Shen Zhongbai from the beginning. If Gu Qiang hadn't discovered his strategy and told them, they probably wouldn't have thought that he was the one who designed it.
"You go and receive the punishment yourself."
Shen Qianshan said calmly.
"Yes." Fangqian took the order and went out.
"I didn't expect that Shen Zhongbai would have such a scheme. He has already known that Gu Qiang is Gu Suran. Now he is arresting her into the clan mansion to lure you there."
Chu Tiankuo analyzed this move carefully. It seemed that Shen Zhongbai had inserted it halfway, but in fact, it had been planned for a long time.
The maid beside Shen Ruxue before was probably arranged by him. In order to achieve her goal, she really didn't care about her daughter's life or death.
"Now that we know it was Shen Zhongbai who did it, it's time for us to take precautions."
However, when she thought that Gu Qiang was still suffering in the clan mansion, Shen Qianshan wanted to take her out immediately.
Chu Tiankuo naturally saw what Shen Qianshan was thinking, and he said: "We must rescue Gu Qiang first before we can fight back against Shen Zhongbai. If we do it too obviously, he will definitely do something detrimental to Gu Qiang. matter. "
Gu Huaian nodded, he was also very worried about his sister.
The next day, Shen Qianshan's men walked in with a man who was dirty, with slightly tattered clothes and scars on his face.
"Master, this is the man who beat the beggar."
The captured man looked up at the master he was talking about, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that it was Shen Qianshan.
I had heard before that Gu Suran had a good relationship with the Ninth Prince. Now that he was caught by the Ninth Prince, he would have to be shaved alive, especially since he also sent Gu Suran to prison.
"It's you?"
Shen Qianshan spat out two cold words, and before Shen Qianshan said what was going on, the man hurriedly denied it.
"It's not me, it's not me."
His words made Chu Tiankuo couldn't help but laugh.
"You said it's not you before I even asked you anything. It seems you know what we are going to ask you."
Zhang Qiang immediately knew that he had been exposed. He was frightened and regretful, but he still pretended to be stupid and said, "I wonder what you want to see me for?"
"That time you and those guys beat up a beggar at our door, right?"
"What, what kind of beggar, I don't know." Zhang Qiang's eyes flickered as he spoke.
Gu Huai'an didn't want to beat around the bush with him and said directly: "You also know that several of your companions are dead. Although you escaped by chance, if you don't tell the truth, you know what the Ninth Prince is up to. "
Zhang Qiang remembered that day when he and his companions went to the ruined temple. While waiting, he suddenly had diarrhea and left. When he came back, he saw the corpses of his companions, which scared him and fled there.
In the past few days, he had been hiding everywhere in order not to be discovered, but he always felt that someone was trying to kill him, and there was no place where he felt safe. I was accidentally caught while going to the latrine today, and my heart went cold at that time.
"Your Majesty, have mercy on me, Your Majesty, have mercy on me." The faces of his companions who died tragically appeared in front of him one by one. He was so frightened that he kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.
"Hurry up and tell me who ordered you to do these things."
Zhang Qiang looked at the people who were staring at him closely and said hesitantly: "Actually, I don't even know who the villain is."
"How could you not know?" Gu Huaian said angrily.
Zhang Qiang was frightened by his anger and fell backwards, fearing that Gu Huaian would reach out and beat him to death.
"I really don't know. The man covered his face and just asked us to do things according to his instructions. After we finished the things, we would go to the ruined temple to find him for money."
While dodging, Zhang Qiang did not forget to defend himself.
"Why are you destroying the temple?" Chu Tiankuo asked.
"I had diarrhea at the time, so I left for a while. When I came back, they were all dead, so I ran away quickly."
Listening to his words, Shen Qianshan felt that he was not lying. Now they have to protect him well and cannot let Shen Zhongbai know that such a person exists, otherwise they will fall short.
At this moment, the servants outside the door hurried over.
"Your Majesty, Master Rong is here."
Shen Qianshan was confused, what was Rong Lian doing here
"Take him down first and keep an eye on him. Don't let him escape." Shen Qianshan ordered.
Then he said to the servant who came: "Please invite Mr. Rong in."
After Rong Lian came in, he didn't care about the others and rushed directly to Shen Qianshan.
"Shen Qianshan and Gu Qiang have been beaten like that, but you still have the heart to drink tea here."
Shen Qianshan stared blankly at the man who was yelling at him. He had just spied on his princess, but now he actually came to trouble him. He was really brave.
Gu Huai'an didn't like Rong Lian at all. Seeing him yelling like this, he couldn't help but said: "My sister doesn't need you to worry about it. Master Rong should think about our cooperation."
Rong Lian became even more angry when he saw Gu Huai'an. If it hadn't been for him, would Gu Qiang still not know who he was