Wife, Don't Be Like This!

Chapter 54 - Song Yun Must Die

Well, since my mother-in-law is rebelling, I naturally have to support her, right? After all, I'm not familiar with the Ning Emperor. If by chance Luo Yuheng's rebellion succeeds, could she become the first female emperor on the Central Plains?

Then Luo Tianxuan would be the Crown Prince... no, the Crown Princess!

Then what would I be? The Crown Princess's Consort?

Thinking this, he found it amusing.

As the carriage swayed, they arrived at Song Prefecture.

After getting out of the carriage, before them was a luxurious mansion. Looking up, there were two large gilded characters on the plaque: Luo Mansion. Although it was not often inhabited, the courtyard did not appear desolate. It must have been regularly maintained.

Some Boston ivy was specially planted next to the courtyard wall. The emerald green vines were lush and verdant. From time to time, butterflies would fly over, and birds would also stand on the wall, preening their feathers. When people appeared, they all scattered.

Luo Yuheng did not rest. She just gave a few simple instructions and then left, perhaps to find one of her sisters.

Song Yan also didn't feel tired, so he went out with Gu Banxia. Luo Tianyi, who had been arranged by Luo Yuheng to guard him personally, was nowhere to be seen. But Song Yan knew that when he encountered danger, his younger sister-in-law would appear at the first possible moment.

Luo Tianshu and Luo Tianquan had no great interest in Song Prefecture, so they entered the Luo Mansion.

The last time he came was for the night market. This was the first time Song Yan had seen Song city in the daytime.

The surface of the Yi-Luo River was covered with a continuous stretch of story-boats and painted pleasure boats. The streets were filled with crowds. The sounds of snacks being hawked, acrobatic performances, and acquaintances greeting each other were constantly heard. There were also angry curses from people who had accidentally been bumped into.

It was indeed much livelier than Ningping County. Just by being in the crowd, one could feel the stuffy heat.

"You whelp, I've finally seen you again."

While strolling, he heard an old and somewhat familiar voice. Although it called him a whelp, it was said with a chuckle and had no hint of blame.

Turning his head to look, he saw two old men.

Dressed in magnificent clothes, although their hair and beards were white, they were full of spirit. Their builds were not tall, but they had a natural air of dignity.

Song Yan smiled. It was the two old men he had met on his second time out of the Duke's mansion.

From their clothing and aura, they must be people who had long been in high positions. And they were very interested in legal cases. They should be officials who deal with law and prisons, and their positions were not low. Who knows if it was Song Yan's imagination, but he felt as if there were still faint bruises in the old men's eye sockets.

Beside the two old men was a young master, twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age. Although he wasn't holding a folding fan, he was also romantic and dashing, handsome and suave.

Regardless of his appearance, just based on the two suet jade pendants at his waist, the six jadeite thumb rings on his fingers, the ivory hairpin securing his hair, and the threads of gold woven into his white long robe, if you called any random woman over, she would probably call him a fine young master in a turbid world, a graceful youth.

His whole body seemed to have written all over it:

I have money.

I have a lot of money.

I have a tremendous amount of money!

Noticing Song Yan's gaze, he gave a friendly nod as a greeting. He didn't have the usual arrogance of a rich young master.

Song Yan smiled and performed a deep bow in greeting.

"You two old sirs, do you now know what crime Zhang San committed?"

One of the old men's beard jutted out, his eyes glaring:

"How dare you, whelp! Do you know how much misery that Zhang San has caused the two of us old men?"

Song Yan was stunned: "Could it be that the two in the Yicui Pavilion who whored without paying, got beaten up, and then had the brothel sealed were you two?”

The two old men's faces flushed red, as if they had been greatly insulted.

"Nonsense! Do not slander an innocent man! How could us old men do such a filthy thing?"

The young man behind them became a shield and was forcefully pulled over. They stiffly changed the subject.

"This is Song Yan, the Luo family's son-in-law."

"This is Cui Shi'an."

"You two should get to know each other."

These two old men have investigated me. Thinking this, Song Yan cupped his fists towards the young man.

"Brother Cui."

"So it is Brother Song. I've long heard of your great name, long heard of your great name."

Cui Shi'an returned the greeting with a chuckle.

"Brother Song's line, 'A lonely person stands alone, in the light rain, a pair of swallows fly,' my third sister is very fond of it. She often mentions Brother Song's name. I wonder, is there a full poem?"

While the two were exchanging pleasantries, the two old men, one on each side, started pushing them.

“Let's go, let's go. Don't just stand here chatting on the road, pointlessly blocking other people's way. To meet today is fate. We happen to have some things to ask you."

Although these two old men had a combined age of a hundred and twenty, their personalities were not as tranquil as ordinary old men; instead, they were a bit impatient.

Song Yan and Cui Shi'an shook their heads helplessly. Along the way, they also learned the two old men's names. The taller, thinner one was named Zhao Anze, and the other, slightly shorter and plumper one, was Lu Changqing.

When they arrived at their destination, they found it somewhat familiar. A closer look revealed it was the Jade Gathering Garden again. But unlike a common brothel, the Jade Gathering Garden was a high-class place. It naturally wouldn't be like a common brothel with several prostitutes standing at the door, waving their handkerchiefs and saying in a cloying voice: "Customer, come and play!"

Luo Tianyang was like this, and so were the two old men. Why do these people always like to bring me to a brothel? Song Yan shook his head with a bitter smile.

“You two old sirs, since you know I am the Luo family's son-in-law, please don't get me into trouble. Is this a place I can enter?"

What's more, there's a younger sister-in-law watching in secret.

"Rest assured, rest assured. We're just drinking tea and listening to songs. We won't call for any girls. That doesn't count as soliciting a prostitute," Zhao Anze said.

Having spoken, the two old men no longer gave Song Yan a chance, pushing and shoving him inside. Although he was a martial artist, he didn't dare to act rashly at this time. After all, the other parties were too old. If one of them accidentally fell down, he was afraid he'd be extorted.

Gu Banxia just watched this scene with a smile. Her gaze swept over Zhao Anze and Lu Changqing, and then she untied the purse from her waist and stuffed it into Song Yan's hand.

"Young Master-in-law, please go ahead and rest assured. Banxia will explain things to the head of the household. Also, don't worry about the silver. The women in brothels are mostly vixens and are extremely snobbish. They'll look down on you if you don't have money."

Unless you're someone like Liu Yong...

Song Yan complained in his heart, and then saw Gu Banxia head to the teahouse next door. This attitude made Song Yan slightly stunned, and he became lost in thought.

As soon as he entered, he smelled a faint fragrance.

It wasn't the scent of women's perfume and powder.

Unlike the chaotic or even licentious scene he had imagined, the main hall of the Jade Gathering Garden was quite elegant. In the center, a zither rested on a zitan wood table with cloud patterns. Beside it was a Ru ware sky-blue suanni incense burner. The incense smoke curled up gracefully, like strands of clouds or mist.

A pure courtesan with a graceful figure and a light veil covering her face was plucking the zither strings in the main hall.

Song Yan didn't understand the zither, but he felt the music was clear and crisp, and very pleasant to listen to.

Perhaps because tomorrow was the Qixi Festival and a large number of scholars had gathered in Song Prefecture, or perhaps the reputation of the Jade Gathering Garden was just that famous, in short, there were no empty seats in the main hall. From time to time, a young master would send up a flower basket. This flower basket was equivalent to a tip, with one basket costing one tael of silver.

One tael of silver was enough for a commoner family's needs for a month. The brothel's reputation as a 'gold-melting den' was evident.

Scholars in groups of twos and threes were gathered around tables, conversing about something in low voices. Although the rustling sounds couldn't cover the zither music, it still seemed quite lively. Even with the addition of four more people, no one paid any mind.

Suddenly, a somewhat sharp voice attracted everyone's attention:

"Brother Song Yun, isn't that your younger brother? That illegitimate one?"

Following the voice, he saw several figures gathered around a table not far away, all dressed as scholars. One of them was Song Yun. The one who spoke was a young man sitting beside Song Yun, waving a folding fan, seemingly elegant, but his face was full of contempt as he looked at Song Yan:

"Putting on an act with the poem written by Brother Song Yun, swindling and bluffing, and he still dares to show his face here? Truly shameless. He has completely disgraced the face of us scholars."

Scholars valued their reputation the most.

And for spreading one's reputation, what could be better than a good poem? A top-tier poem could even be passed down through the millennia. This is why there is the rumor of the Tang Dynasty poet Song Zhiwen, who, for the line "Year after year the flowers are similar, yet year after year the people are different," used a sack of earth to suffocate his own nephew.

And once one is tainted by matters such as plagiarism or impersonation, one's reputation is ruined.

Once a scholar's reputation is ruined, his life is pretty much over. He would be looked down upon by all his peers. Any scholar who mentions your name would spit. Even when participating in the imperial examinations, one could be directly expelled by the chief examiner on the grounds of having a vile character. In this era, the importance of reputation and character exceeded that of talent.

And recently, to say which line of poetry was the most popular in Song Prefecture, it was undoubtedly that line "A lonely person stands alone, in the light rain, a pair of swallows fly".

Although it was recited by Song Yan, almost all the scholars in Song Prefecture did not believe that a fool like Song Yan, who had been imprisoned for ten years and had never studied, could write such a line. It was as if some force was pushing the waves from behind the scenes, pinning this line onto Song Yun's head.

Faced with these rumors, Song Yun neither admitted nor denied.

And so, another narrative was derived: the poem was written by Song Yun, but Song Yun was kind and couldn't bear to see his younger brother's reputation damaged, so he refused to admit it.

That young man's relationship with Song Yun must be quite good. He naturally couldn't bear to see his friend suffer such a grievance, which was why his voice was so loud. In an instant, it attracted the attention of all the scholars in the main hall of the Jade Gathering Garden. Pairs of eyes fell on Song Yan, most of them disdainful, their bodies leaning back, ashamed to be associated with him.

The zither music continued.

The performing pure courtesan showed a considerable degree of professional quality. Even with the young man's sharp voice, the zither music was not affected in the slightest.

Zhao Anze and Lu Changqing, the two old men, frowned. The eyes of Cui Shi'an beside them became a bit playful.

Even while being stared at by everyone with extremely unfriendly gazes, the expression on Song Yan's face did not change much. He smiled in their direction, and then his gaze turned to Song Yun. Just at that moment, Song Yun also looked over.

Their eyes met.

Song Yun's heart skipped a beat.

This was probably what they call a guilty conscience.

The poem, naturally, was not his.

Writing poetry requires inspiration. When you don't have it, scratching your head is useless. When inspiration comes, not even the gods can stop it. Even though Song Yan had not received a formal education, it wasn't absolutely impossible for him to recite a couple of lines of poetry when inspiration struck. But it was limited to that. Song Yan might have the inspiration to recite a line, but he definitely didn't have the ability to write a whole poem. Does he even know the rules of meter?

It was because Song Yan had no ability to produce a full poem to confront him that he dared to falsely claim this line.

They stared at each other silently like this for what was probably a few breaths. Suddenly, Song Yan gave Song Yun a friendly smile, then nodded and retracted his gaze.

Song Yun was stunned. Why was he smiling at him? Why this kind of attitude? Could the nod mean he was prepared to give this line of poetry to him? Was he trying to show goodwill?

After all, the people Song Yan truly hates should be Song Zhen and Yang Miaoqing. Song Zhen bullied Song Yan the most, and Yang Miaoqing killed Song Yan's mother. In comparison, there is no irreconcilable conflict between himself and Song Yan. Although he had also bullied Song Yan, it wasn't particularly severe. The most serious time was only when Song Yan bumped into his handmaiden, and he just ordered his servants to give Song Yan a few dozen strikes of the plank.

It was nothing.

Now that Song Yan has already offended Song Zhen and Yang Miaoqing, in order to avoid their revenge, it is quite normal for him to want to win him over.

Thinking this, Song Yun felt it was very possible. People are like this. When they have decided on something in their hearts, they will subconsciously look for all kinds of reasons to prove it. This makes them feel at ease, especially when you are greedily trying to possess something that does not belong to you.

"Hmph, shameless petty person."

Seeing Song Yan leave, that fellow student was still indignant. He turned his head to look at Song Yun.

"Oh right, Brother Song, that line 'A lonely person stands alone, in the light rain, a pair of swallows fly,' is there a full poem? Everyone is very eager to know."

"How could there be a full poem?" Song Yun said with a smile on his face. "It was just a fine line I happened upon by chance."

Hearing these words from behind him, a curve appeared on the corners of Song Yan's lips. Song Yun, oh Song Yun, you really can't let go of this fame, can you!

No one noticed that on the side of the road opposite the Jade Gathering Garden, a carriage was parked.

A pair of bloodshot eyes stared fixedly through the carriage window at the two figures inside the Jade Gathering Garden.

Just by looking at those two, Song Zhen's body couldn't stop trembling. A heart-palpitating resentment shot out from his eyes.

His gaze slowly moved from Song Yan and finally landed on Song Yun. Watching Song Yun laughing and chatting with his good friend, his body trembled even more violently, and sharp pains shot through his arm and right leg.

That hatred was even more intense than what he felt when he saw Song Yan, the one who had broken his arm and leg.

SONG YUN!!!

MUST DIE!!!