After hearing the whole story, the Fang family's father and son's faces turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
This is not just a slap in the face to the Dingbei County Prince's Mansion, it is a disregard for the law and a knowing violation.
To a certain extent, the law represents the imperial power. Moreover, Emperor Xuanren himself had intervened in this marriage. If this were to be coupled with another charge of provoking the imperial authority, the crime would be tripled!
Lord Fang himself was guilty of not managing his family properly and not educating his daughter properly. Emperor Xuanren might have dismissed him directly to appease Prince Dingbei. Miss Fang's brother rose to power by relying on Prince Dingbei, and the result was even more unacceptable.
One can imagine how angry the father and son were. On one hand, they cursed their wicked daughter, and on the other hand, they wanted to catch the boy who kidnapped their girl and break his legs. At this point, they didn't care about whether they were relatives or not.
Obviously, they were planning to pin the blame on the cousin, saying that he had bad intentions and abducted the ignorant girl from the Fang family. Anyway, they were trying to find ways to exonerate Miss Fang, saying that she was innocent and had been deceived.
It is clear that she not only wants to escape punishment, but also wants to preserve her marriage with the Prince of Dingbei's Mansion.
However, the Fang family is just an ordinary family, and it is not an easy task to conceal this matter. Apart from anything else, the embroiderer from the Ministry of Internal Affairs is still in the Fang family, rushing to make the wedding dress, and adjustments need to be made at any time, so Miss Fang needs to be there. If she is not here today, at this critical moment, how can it not arouse suspicion? Maybe the news has already spread.
Mrs. Fang, who was standing by, saw her husband and son trying to use her nephew and her mother's family to blame, and she wanted to defend herself. However, not only did her husband give her the cold shoulder, but her son also looked at her with cold eyes, and it was clear that he was blaming her. Mrs. Fang couldn't help but feel heartbroken, but she dared not say anything. She was a typical woman who put her husband first.
The Fang family continued to send people out to search for her, while at the same time going to Mrs. Fang's parents' home to ask for an explanation. At the same time, they finally remembered to stabilize the embroiderer at home. In short, they tried to make up for it as much as possible and wanted to put the matter over.
Nice idea, but unfortunately...
Mu Bei brought his people to the Fang family before it got dark. When he proposed marriage yesterday, he was very humble and gentle, not like a military general, which made the Fang family members feel a little flattered. But now, he had a cold face and a hint of murderous aura. Not to mention the servants who followed him, who were originally his personal soldiers, were so murderous that the Fang family members couldn't help but tremble in their calves. This huge difference in treatment made the Fang family members feel very uncomfortable, and their fear deepened.
Mu Bei himself is actually a very humble person. All his coldness and cruelty are directed at the enemies. Now, he is, after all, a prince and a commander of hundreds of thousands of troops. He has his own dignity and pride. How could he remain indifferent when the Fang family threw his face on the ground and stepped on it
Since the Fang family is his future in-laws, they will naturally give him enough respect and dignity. Even if he cannot give his wife love after she gets married, he will shoulder his responsibilities as a husband and will not do anything that is inappropriate for his status.
He was originally thinking about how to make up for it because he might have to go to Northern Xinjiang soon, but how the Fang family treated him...
Lord Fang was Lord Taishan yesterday, but today he has become a grandson. Yesterday he could even put on airs in front of Mu Bei, but now he is ready to kowtow to the ground. He stands trembling in front of Mu Bei, because he doesn't know how much Mu Bei knows. He doesn't dare to speak casually. He can only stammer and say something unexpected. Obviously, he still wants to be the father-in-law of King Dingbei.
Mu Bei just sat there with a big head, ignoring the tea placed beside him. He glanced coldly at everyone in the Fang family and said, "Bring the servant who will be traveling with Miss Fang today."
Whether the girl was contacting her cousin privately or eloping, it was impossible for her to do it by herself. There must have been someone helping her. It has to be said that she was very audacious.
There were quite a few people traveling with Miss Fang. Of course, it was impossible for all of them to be accomplices, but every one of them was controlled by Mrs. Fang, and no one could escape, regardless of whether they were innocent or not.
Mu Bei had no interest in interrogating them, so he told his men to take them to find the person, "If he's alive, we want to see him. If he's dead, we want to see his body."
There are clearly eight characters, but the feeling it gives people is that the last character “尸” (corpse) makes people shudder for no reason.
Of course, it wasn't just these people who went with him. Lord Fang also sent his own son along as well. Although he didn't say it explicitly, this Young Master Fang understood his father's intention very well. He found the person and tried his best to patch things up. It would be best if the marriage could go on, but if it couldn't, it would be best if Miss Fang could be removed from the situation.
It was only after the Fang family left the city that they realized that the people sent by Mu Bei were not only from the Prince's Mansion. There were hundreds of thousands of guards in the capital, and as one of the governors-general, he naturally commanded a large number of people. Under normal circumstances, he did not have the right to mobilize troops. At their level, they could occasionally mobilize a guard without an order. There were more than a thousand people in a guard, and at this moment only about two hundred people were mobilized.
As soon as Young Master Fang saw this situation, he knew it was all over. King Dingbei had no intention of covering up for the Fang family, so there was no way he could think about any future marriage. Now he could only pray that King Dingbei would be magnanimous and let the Fang family go.
Young Master Fang hated his sister to death. If she were alive, he would want to skin her alive, pull out her tendons and break her bones. She looked quite smart, but ended up doing such a stupid thing. If there were no laws, she would have been separated by her family, and it would be understandable that she wanted to fight back and do something unwise. But the laws have come out, and it is absolutely not allowed for blood cousins to get married. She still eloped. It is simply a hole in her brain.
Besides, on one side is a prince who holds a high position of power, and on the other side is a white-collar boy who is neither good at literature nor martial arts. The former is good-looking, and is not the kind of man who is playboy or lecherous with bad habits. The only good thing about the latter is that he is sweet-mouthed and can coax people. How could one of these two people, who are so different from each other, be so stupid as to choose the latter
Miss Fang had already made a plan, so she would not let anyone find her so easily. However, that was only for the Fang family. Mu Bei sent people in to search, and there were some excellent scouts there. In less than an hour, Miss Fang and her cousin were found. At that time, the two were hiding in a cellar of a farmer's house, huddled together and shivering.
Young Master Fang's face was very dark, and Mu Bei's people also had dark faces. After all, Miss Fang was still Mu Bei's fiancée in name, but she ran away with another man and hugged him in front of so many people. Even after being dragged out, they were still holding hands and refused to let go.
—In fact, it is because they are scared that they hold the other person tighter, seeking a sense of security.
The cousins were closely guarded and Master Fang was not allowed to get close to them, let alone to "collaborate" with his sister.
After they returned to the imperial city, it was naturally after curfew. However, Mu Bei had made arrangements in advance, so there was no obstruction to their entry into the city. When they met people from the Jiucheng Bingmasi on the way, they let them leave after they revealed their identities.
Mu Bei had been waiting at Fang's house. From the time he sent someone away to the time the person came back and arrived at Fang's house, it was only two hours in total.
The two men were pushed down in front of Mu Bei, and then they knelt there trembling in fear, not daring to get up at all.
Miss Fang was a typical pretty girl from a delicate and pretty family. Mu Bei had met her once before the engagement. After the engagement, the two families had contacts during the New Year holidays. However, even so, Mu Bei had only met her two or three times, and the only words they had spoken were basic greetings, nothing else.
Mu Bei is willing to assume the responsibilities of a husband, but to be honest, he is not very willing to deliberately cultivate feelings, especially when he knows that the other party will not be moved. Naturally, there is no such thing as taking the initiative to contact before marriage.
Mu Bei lowered his eyes and looked at her. Miss Fang didn't dare to look up at all. Under Mu Bei's gaze, she gradually began to tremble and couldn't help sobbing softly. She looked very pitiful. However, no one felt sorry for her now. Even her cousin who dared to take the risk couldn't care less. The other people in the Fang family didn't even dare to breathe.
After giving enough pressure, Mu Bei finally spoke, "Since you don't want to marry me, just cancel the engagement. Why do you have to do this?"
Mu Bei naturally would not ask why Miss Fang chose a man who was far inferior to him. Matters like feelings are hard to explain, and he did not think that he was a charmer who was loved by everyone. It could be said that he was quite rational in this regard. He just felt that the girl from the Fang family had chosen the stupidest way and made things the worst possible.
Miss Fang sobbed for a long time before she spoke tremblingly, "I thought about canceling the engagement, but my family wouldn't let me."
Mu Bei understood the Fang family's idea of not canceling the engagement, "If that's the case, why don't you just come to me directly?"
Miss Fang raised her head carefully and asked, "Your Majesty, will you agree?"
Mu Bei sneered as if he had heard a huge joke, "What do you mean? If a woman doesn't want to marry me, will I still cling to her? Are all women in the world dead, or are you so beautiful that I am dizzy, or are you so outstanding that people can't let go? Miss Fang, do you think too highly of yourself?"
Miss Fang felt so ashamed and angry after being insulted by Mu Bei that her face turned red.
In fact, Miss Fang had thought about looking for Mu Bei directly, but she knew that she was not as good as Mu Bei. If she proposed to cancel the engagement, he would be angry and embarrassed for being rejected by a girl from a humble family, and then do something that would scare her.
Miss Fang was afraid, but she also wanted to save face, so she explained hesitantly.
The mockery in Mu Bei's eyes became even stronger, "I just realized today that I am such a petty-minded person. But you are so 'smart' and thoughtful, how could you do such a thing as disregarding the entire Fang family and the law and eloping with your cousin?" At this moment, Mu Bei doubted his grandmother's vision in choosing people this time. If she is so stupid, she is not suitable to be the mistress of the Dingbei County Prince's Mansion.
Yes, why did she take the most unwise move? Oh, yes, she wanted to be with her cousin. According to the law, it was impossible for them to be together. The only way for them to be husband and wife was to go far away and live in a place where no one knew them.
If she canceled her engagement with King Dingbei, she would not even be able to leave the house. How could she get away so far
Under Mu Bei's gaze, Miss Fang gave a hesitant explanation.
So, to put it bluntly, this girl is just a love-brained person.
But in Mu Bei's eyes, it was ridiculous. This was a woman who was extremely selfish and only cared about her own love affairs and ignored everything else. Now he was a little glad that the marriage was aborted, otherwise if he married such a woman, he didn't know how much trouble it would cause him, and he might even have to lock her up for life.
The Fang family's faces were like a color palette. They just wanted to cover her mouth or beat her to death.
Mu Bei didn't want to say anything to her anymore. Finally, like giving alms, he cast his eyes on Miss Fang's cousin, "He doesn't look that good, but he's really brave. He even dared to elope with my fiancée."
"No, no, it was my cousin who came to see me. She said she was unhappy. She said she didn't want to marry the King of Dingbei. She said the King of Dingbei was not considerate, not gentle, and didn't understand romance. He was like a piece of wood..."
With a crackling sound, Miss Fang was completely betrayed by her cousin who was also her lover. She stared at her cousin with eyes wide open in disbelief. The blow she received seemed to be even greater than when she was caught, and her face looked devastated.
Mu Bei even stopped mocking him. Regardless of whether what he said was true or just something he made up to shirk responsibility, he was a brainless person to do such a thing.
Mu Bei stood up and said, "Someone will come to take back the engagement letter, engagement gifts and other gifts tomorrow." He then walked away.
However, everyone knows that things cannot be as simple as breaking off the engagement.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
"If Lord Fang has anything to say, you should wait until the Emperor asks and then tell him directly."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please have mercy on me, Your Majesty—"
Lord Fang was blocked by his servants and could not get close to Mu Bei.
Before Mu Bei had walked far, he heard screams and curses from behind, as well as people shirking responsibility and biting each other...
Mu Bei had a blank expression on his face. From the moment he got up and left, he had nothing to do with him anymore.
The servants behind him felt sorry for him and wanted to chop all the members of the Fang family to pieces, but they were afraid that the prince was in a bad mood, so they didn't dare to say anything, and naturally they couldn't do anything like killing people.