Chapter 152 - Helped Xiao Hanzheng to take the blame
Chapter 152: Helped Xiao Hanzheng to take the blame
Ge Chunru woke up and saw Xiao Yuanshi sitting by her bed.
She hurriedly got up, but was stopped by Xiao Yuanshi’s embrace. “The doctor said that you are at risk of having a miscarriage. Be careful.”
Ge Chunru was stunned when she heard this. “What? Are you saying that I’m pregnant?”
Previously, in order to give Xiao Yuanshi sufficient reason to demote Mdm Kong to a concubine, she could only use the foetus in her belly as her bargaining chip.
However, the moment the child was aborted, she was heartbroken and hated Mdm Kong even more.
Yet, she did not regret it.
If not for that incident, she would not have been Xiao Yuanshi’s legal wife.
She was of course pleasantly surprised when she was suddenly expecting.
Xiao Yuanshi looked at Ge Chunru’s belly with a gentle expression. “Not bad, we’re going to have a child.”
He was looking forward to this child very much.
Ge Chunru was delighted at first, but her expression suddenly changed.
She grabbed Xiao Yuanshi and asked, “General, was I dreaming just now? I dreamt that the housekeeper said someone chopped off my younger brother’s leg. That’s not true, right?”
Xiao Yuanshi hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should tell his petite wife the truth.
After all, the doctor said that she had just withstand great shock, so her foetus’ condition wasn’t very stable.
However, when he hesitated, Ge Chunru understood as she knew him very well.
“Where’s my brother? Where’s my brother?” She anxiously tugged at Xiao Yuanshi’s clothes as she asked.
Xiao Yuanshi sighed. “I asked the physician to bandage his wound. He has already fallen asleep after drinking the medicine.”
Previously, when his brother-in-law had cried out in pain, he had asked the imperial physician to give him some anaesthesia.
Ge Chunru lifted her blanket. “I want to see him.”
Xiao Yuanshi also knew how much his wife valued his younger brother, so he helped her up. “I’ll bring you to see him.”
The two of them went to Ge Chunyi’s courtyard.
As soon as they entered the room, Ge Chunru smelled the stench of blood.
When she saw her brother lying on the bed with a pale face, her heart ached so much that tears welled up in her eyes.
She lifted the blanket with trembling hands and saw that her brother’s left leg was gone.
The cloth wrapping his leg was stained red with blood.
“Ah!” She could not help but scream in anger.
Xiao Yuanshi immediately went over and hugged her. “The imperial physician said that he would be fine.”
Ge Chunru turned her head and looked at him with a face full of tears. “He’s fine? His leg was chopped off by someone. This is called fine?
“Who did it? Tell me, who did it?” She was about to lose her mind.
In the previous dynasty, the Ge family held a high social status, but after the war, they were forced to live in seclusion in the countryside.
She was born in a village, but she often heard her father sharing about their family’s glorious moment.
So her father decided to go to the battlefield in hope of using his military merits to climb up, but unfortunately, he passed away while carrying his duties.
Before her father went to the battlefield, he grabbed her hand and made her promise to take good care of her younger brother.
She should let her younger brother carry the Ge family forward and become more prosperous.
The other members of the Ge family had all died during the war and strife.
Now, only the three of them were left.
Her younger brother was the only male member of the Ge family and also the Ge family’s only hope.
She still wanted to wait for her younger brother to return with outstanding military merits.
She wanted to slap the faces of those in the capital who said that her younger brother’s conduct was immoral.
But now, it was over. It was all over.
After losing a leg on top of a crippled right hand, be it going for the imperial examination or pursuing a career in the military, these were all impossible.
This was what caused Ge Chunru to lose her composure.
There was an unprecedented madness on her face.
Xiao Yuanshi could not help but frown slightly. “My people said that after they left the capital, they met a group of businessmen on the road.
“Your brother displayed a look of disdain towards them. This upset them and they called your brother a gigolo.
“Then, your brother led his men and started the fight with them.
“Who knew that in a fit of anger, someone actually pulled out a knife from the ox-cart and chopped off your brother’s leg.
“Those people probably did not expect that his leg would be immediately chopped off, so they ran away even without taking their belongings along.”
According to the person he had sent to accompany his brother-in-law, Ge Chunyi was the one who started this matter.
If you are in a hurry, why do you look down on others? You even bring your people to start the fight after quarrelling with them. You are just asking for others to chop off your legs.
He also knew that his brother-in-law had been holding back his anger recently as he was expelled from the academy and had an injured hand from Xi Rui.
His brother-in-law probably felt that they were lowly-valued businessmen, so he couldn’t help but vent his anger on them.
Who knew that they were a group of ruthless people and would cause him to lose one of his legs.
At the same time, he also sacrificed his future.
It wasn’t easy for him to arrange for his brother-in-law to be in an appointment to gain military merits easily.
Unfortunately, his brother-in-law had lost the opportunity to redeem his future.
Xiao Yuanshi was also very angry about this.
All his previous investments were in vain.
Ge Chunru pulled Xiao Yuanshi back. “Have you caught them?”
Xiao Yuanshi’s expression was a little ugly. “They had all escaped.”
Ge Chunru cried, “Why are the people you sent so useless? They couldn’t even catch them.
“They must have done it on purpose. They must have been sent by someone else to deliberately harm my brother.”
Her hair was messy, her face was pale, and her eyes were red and swollen.
She grabbed Xiao Yuanshi with a crazed expression. “Was it Xi Rui who did it? Or Xiao Hanzheng?
“You must avenge my brother!”
Xiao Yuanshi frowned when he saw her craziness. “Xi Rui has already crippled your brother’s hand, so he shouldn’t attack again.
“It’s even more impossible for Zheng’er to do so. He’s just a young scholar. Even if he wants to do something like this, he doesn’t have the ability to.”
Ge Chunru looked at Xiao Yuanshi and hissed, “Then it must be Xi Rui. Only the Xi family has such the capability to do it.”
Although she had lost her composure, she still had a sound mind and did not say that she had plotted against Xi Rui.
This was also why she directly suspected Xi Rui to be behind this.
After all, Xiao Hanzheng really did not have the ability to know when her brother would leave the capital, the route he would take and find someone to do such things.
But the Xi family was different.
Most importantly, she had plotted against Xi Rui not long ago.
If the Xi family had found it out, they had the motive to do so.
Xiao Yuanshi was unhappy that his wife had lost her composure because of his brother-in-law. Deep down in his heart, he believed that he should be the most important person to Ge Chunru.
She had always said similar words to him in the past – she worshipped and loved him. He was also her lifeline and was her most important pillar of support.
However, when he thought that she was pregnant, he did not blame her.
Instead, he hugged her in his arms. “I will check it out. Don’t worry.
“Take care of your health first. Don’t worry about these things. Leave it to me.” he comforted her.
At this moment, Ge Chunru had calmed down a lot.
She hugged Xiao Yuanshi and said, “Go and check on the Xi family. I think it was Xi Rui who did it.
“There is only one man left in our Ge family. How am I going to explain this to my deceased parents?” She sobbed on purpose.
Sure enough, the discomfort that Xiao Yuanshi felt when he heard this was gone.
“Okay, I will investigate.” He patted her back gently.
In fact, he also felt that this was not an accident.
After all, those businessmen ran too fast. Even his men could not catch up.
It would make sense if they came from the Xi family.
No matter what, he was ready to investigate.
Xi Rui was really narrow-minded.
He had crippled his brother-in-law’s hand and still refused to let it go.
This made him very angry.
He would find a chance to settle the debt next time if the Xi family was responsible for this.
For the sake of his brother-in-law, he could not just storm into the public administrator house.
Xi Rui was currently drinking and cracking dirty jokes with the emperor’s uncle.
At this moment, he still did not know that he had taken the blame for Xiao Hanzheng…