Wife, Don't Be Like This!

Chapter 56 - The Vanishing Scalp

Clip-clop, clip-clop.

The horse's hooves trod on the road surface...

Songzhou city was quite prosperous. There were many pedestrians and no small number of carriages. Song Zhen followed behind unhurriedly and was not discovered.

His expression was cold, his fingers constantly caressing the jade pendant. It was unknown what he was contemplating.

He didn't like Yang Siyao.

No other reason, purely because Yang Siyao's looks were average. He liked beautiful women. Yang Siyao probably never would have thought that her seduction arts would lose their original effectiveness due to Song Zhen's absolute 'face-con' attribute.

But Yang Siyao was very smart, something he could not compare to at all. So when Yang Siyao told him that his current predicament was all because Song Yun was manipulating things from behind the scenes, although Song Zhen was very surprised, and although the reasons seemed more like Yang Siyao's subjective speculation to him, he still chose to believe.

Of course, he was no longer as reckless as before. He would not make a move in broad daylight under everyone's watchful eyes. As long as he could figure out Song Yun's residence, he would have as many opportunities to strike as he wanted.

The people were gradually thinning out!

Not far ahead was an intersection. Just then, the sound of hurried horse hooves suddenly came from behind, along with the creaking sound of a carriage's wheels spinning rapidly.

Subconsciously, Song Zhen turned his head to look behind him. He saw that a carriage had appeared behind him at some point. The horse seemed to have been spooked and was running wildly down the road, completely out of control, charging straight towards him.

Song Zhen's face changed drastically, but it was already too late to react. The carriage was bizarrely fast and had reached him in a flash.

Immediately after, he saw the burly driver wearing a bamboo hat pull on the reins. The horse's head instantly jerked to the side, missing Song Zhen's carriage by a hair's breadth. But under the force of inertia, the rear wheels of the carriage had already left the ground, and the carriage body was directly flung into the air.

Like two torrents, with a bang, the two carriage bodies crashed together.

At the moment of contact, the carriages tore each other apart, shattered, and disintegrated. Axles flew, and wood splinters exploded. Even the horses pulling the carriages couldn't withstand it, their four hooves flailing.

Song Zhen only felt his body tremble violently and he was thrown out. He seemed to smash heavily against a wall and then fall to the ground. He could hear a crackling sound in his ears, as who knows what kind of messy things all pressed down on him.

Perhaps it was the wooden planks from the smashed carriage, perhaps it was the earthen clods from the collapsed wall...

His vision went black, and his consciousness became a bit hazy. In the blur, it seemed someone was pulling his hair, trying to rescue him from the ruins.

A long time passed before the pain finally swept through his brain. His entire body began to convulse violently.

Ah~~~~

Hearing the noise, the driver finally rushed over, frantically pushing away the wooden splinters pressing down on Song Zhen's body. This driver had some skill; he had jumped out the moment the carriage overturned and wasn't crushed underneath.

Looking at Song Zhen again, the driver couldn't help but suck in a cold breath. Tragic, tragic, tragic. How could the word 'tragic' even begin to describe it?

His leg was fine, fixed by the splint, and although it had taken a shock, it wasn't too serious. But his arm had been accidentally crushed underneath him. The wound seemed unable to take the strain and had split open again. Patches of blood seeped through the white cloth.

His tall body, like a pathetic maggot, was bent and writhing.

His face was twisted together, layers of cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He bit down hard, turning his screams into muffled, grunting groans. He was about to shatter his teeth. Only his eyes were staring fixedly, the pupils full of scarlet, twisted, bloodshot veins.

He seemed completely unconcerned with what would become of his body. His only normal left hand was frantically digging through the ruins, until a jade pendant was once again grasped in his hand.

"Fifth Master, it was the Fang family's carriage. Should we go and demand an explanation?"

The driver supported Song Zhen's upper body. Although the contact was only for an instant, he had still seen the Fang family's flag on that carriage.

Song Zhen endured the pain and gasped for breath, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, and shook his head.

The Fang family is powerful.

Now is not the time to have a conflict with the Fang family. He has more important things to do.

Perhaps he should have listened to his mother's and Yang Siyao's advice. Some things should just be left to his subordinates to handle; there was no need to act personally... But that trace of unwillingness still lingered in his heart.

A sharp pain came from the side of his head. He reached up and touched it, and his hand came back covered in blood.

A small patch of hair, along with the scalp, had disappeared. Perhaps it was scraped off on the ground just now. Compared to the injuries on his arm and calf, this small wound was nothing to be concerned about.

On the other side, Song Yun heard the commotion but just turned his head for a casual glance before losing interest. It was probably just some young master galloping his horse recklessly in the street. This kind of thing happened often. For him, what was more important right now was how to design a plan to kill Song Yan and point the spearhead at Song Zhen.

Everyone was plotting, scheming.

And at this moment, Song Yan, who was at the center of the plotting, finally stopped his writing brush.

"...A lonely person stands alone, in the light rain, a pair of swallows fly. I remember first meeting Xiao Ping, her silk robe with two heart characters layered. On the pipa strings, she spoke of longing. The bright moon was there then, once shining on the colorful cloud as it returned."

Reciting the last line, Mingyue's voice gradually grew quieter. For a moment, she was completely entranced.

Cui Shi'an also had some literary taste. He shook his head and sighed, as if feeling that giving such a poem to that third sister of his was truly a bit of a waste. But he still obediently took out ten gold leaves.

If the atmosphere hadn't been inappropriate, Song Yan would have at the very least bitten one to see if it was real gold.

"Reading it makes one's soul ache, and beyond the rhyme, it is deeply moving." Old Zhao slowly let out a breath and sighed:

"This 'Linjiangxian' is the ultimate masterpiece of the graceful style. From now on, this 'Linjiangxian' tune pattern will probably be hard to write for."

In this world, ci poetry became popular relatively early, and the 'Linjiangxian' tune pattern also had many famous works. However, even if you added all of those many 'Linjiangxian' poems together, they still couldn't compare to this one.

Old Zhao and Old Lu were both quite accomplished in poetry and literature. For them to make the comment that a tune pattern would be hard to write for from now on was already extremely high praise.

Song Yan smiled and said nothing. With the reserves of knowledge in his mind, if he took it all out, let alone 'Linjiangxian', even 'Shuidiao Getou', 'Dielian', 'Yijianmei', and 'Xijiangyue', I'm afraid not a single tune pattern would be easy to write for.

"Lord Zhao overpraises me. I am merely standing on the shoulders of giants," Song Yan said.

"Hehe, young friend, a young man should have a young man's pride. With such talent, why must you hide it?" Lu Changqing shook his head, as if he didn't approve of Song Yan's attitude.

Song Yan spread his hands helplessly. He was telling the truth, but unfortunately, no one believed the truth.

"In short, it's best if this doesn't get out."

Cui Shi'an chuckled: "Brother Song has a good plan. That Song Yun neither admits nor denies it, letting everyone think he wrote this poem.

After he admits it, you will then produce this full poem, and you can directly ruin his reputation. It's just like me pretending to be poor and then, when he's at his most arrogant, throwing gold leaves in his face. I get it, I get it."

Song Yan was stunned. He hadn't expected this Cui Shi'an to have such a hobby. But looking at his flamboyant attire, which could rival a peacock's, pretending to be poor probably wouldn't be easy.

He shook his head: "How could Brother Cui think so poorly of me? I just don't want my elder brother to lose his reputation.”

"Then you two are certainly a model of brotherly love."

"You're not wrong. The bond between us brothers is indeed very good."

So good that one wants to kill the other, and then frame another. From this perspective, it's no exaggeration to say they have a meeting of minds.

Watching the two banter, Zhao Anze and Lu Changqing were all smiles. Suddenly, Zhao Anze said to Mingyue:

"Miss Mingyue, could you help us brew a pot of good tea?"

There was a tea stove in the room behind her, the tea water boiling hot. Mingyue was as sharp as ice and snow and naturally understood that the three of them had something important to say, which was not suitable for outsiders to hear.

She immediately smiled gently, her beautiful eyes lifting slightly. Her gaze towards Song Yan was so intense it could almost drip water. She gave a graceful curtsy and reluctantly turned to leave.

For some reason, she felt that there seemed to be some kind of inexplicable aura on this Young Master Song that was attracting her.

Having cultivated the way of Joyful Union for more than ten years, this was the first time she had felt this way from a man!