The old man's small boat reached the shore. After an unknown amount of time, he slowly woke up, feeling confused. However, upon seeing that Sun Jian was gone, he felt like celebrating with firecrackers.
"I killed a rebel and I'm still alive, heaven truly blesses me!" The old man immediately prostrated himself and kowtowed heavily. "Heaven bless me, let me kill a few more, and avenge my son."
Having done so, the old man gently clapped his hands and strode towards the small village. The villagers staring at the unusually acting old man were even more baffled.
"Old Zhang, Old Zhang!"
After being called a few times, Old Zhang turned back haughtily. "What do you want, calling me?" He hastily showed off, "I killed an enemy today, so I'm in a good mood and won't bother with you."
"We say, Old Zhang, you struggle to kill a chicken, and even need help. You want to kill people? You must have senile dementia."
"Who's to say you're wrong? I heard those enemies were fierce, one of them could take on two or three of us."
"Him, Old Zhang, wanting to fight, is hilarious!"
Old Zhang ignored the gossip. Now that he had killed an enemy, he was a hero. How could a hero bother with jealous women? After a long while, he managed to retort, "You all have a woman's perspective!"
"Alright, alright, Old Zhang. From now on, if anything happens at home, you handle it yourself. Don't let my son help you!" a woman said sarcastically, "Who doesn't know that you, Old Zhang, are a hero now!"
This sentence was like a knife deeply stabbing Old Zhang's heart. Everyone knew how much he valued his reputation, but it was his son who suffered greatly. His broadsword was stabbed from behind, and he didn't know how many people pointed fingers at his back and cursed him.
Old Zhang squinted his eyes, recalling the stories he had heard from storytellers, and tried his best to imitate them, "A tiger father has no dog son. I am a hero, and my son must also be a hero."
"Alright, alright, your son is a hero!" The woman laughed a few times. "He only remembers his son is a hero."
Old Zhang, unable to come up with anything better than "women are narrow-minded," strode away. In less than half a day, the news of Old Zhang killing an enemy spread throughout the small fishing village.
"Old Zhang, is what you said true? How did you do it!" a young man asked with interest, "Were they as ugly as the storytellers said!"
Old Zhang scratched his ears and chin, thinking for a long time, and nodded heavily. "Who's to say they weren't? Your old man picked up the boat oar and hit him hard on the head a few times. He instantly became obedient!"
"Wow!" Listening to the young man's flattery, Old Zhang became animated and said, "If you follow your old man, I'll let you see my might then!"
"Then, old man, do you have any proof that you killed the enemy? We don't believe you!" a young man hurriedly exclaimed.
"Your old man..." The water Old Zhang was drinking nearly spurted out. He froze for a moment before saying, "The body is still at the bottom of the river. Your old man will retrieve it now to prove it to you!"
"Good!" Old Zhang, holding a fishing net, swaggered towards the outside. Many young people followed with great interest, forming quite a spectacle.
"This Old Zhang must have a problem with his brain. What is he up to now?"
"His aunt, stop your work. I heard Old Zhang is going to retrieve the body. Hurry and follow to see!"
The few people exchanged glances and hurriedly dropped their work, heading towards the riverbank. As soon as they reached the riverbank, before they could even speak, some officials glared coldly at the small boat. "Is this your boat?"
The onlookers, who were just there to watch the fun, denied it, shaking their heads. This displeased the officials. Upon seeing Old Zhang swaggering over, two sabers were instantly placed at Old Zhang's neck.
"Officials, I haven't done anything wrong!" Seeing the situation, Old Zhang whimpered and knelt on the ground, weeping and wailing. "You must give me justice!"
Everyone knew that Old Zhang had run into trouble, and no one was willing to speak up for him. Old Zhang gritted his teeth and defended himself, "My lords, you can't blame me. Who would want to ruin their livelihood if not to kill a villain!"
The officials were confused, and the crowd's babbling made their heads ache. They couldn't help but curse, "Enough, speak one by one, what's the hurry."
Seeing the situation change, Old Zhang didn't care about anything else and explained the whole story in a flash.
Well, not only was he not at fault, but he had merit. The officials hurriedly helped Old Zhang up. "Please rise quickly. Is what you said just now true?"
"If I have told a single lie, may lightning strike me dead," Old Zhang quickly pleaded. "My lords, not a word I said is false!"
"Of course not, we believe you. However, if there's evidence, perhaps we can even get you a hero title!" the official said with a smile. It had been many years since anything significant had happened in their small fishing village. This was truly the first time in history, and perhaps they could also benefit from it.
Everyone saw the officials' reactions. Who would dare to mock the current Old Zhang? That would be suicidal. They all began to flatter him incessantly.
Amidst the compliments, Old Zhang felt his self-esteem greatly satisfied. More importantly, with this title, who would dare to call his son a coward.
Old Zhang slowly moved to the riverbank and unhesitatingly threw down the fishing net. After fumbling for a while, Old Zhang frowned, then his face suddenly lit up. "Got it!"
Seeing Old Zhang struggling to pull, the two officials quickly went to help. As the black-clothed figure began to appear, they were overjoyed. "Old man, we're helping you this time, don't forget."
"Don't underestimate this old man, though I'm eighty years old, I'm fully capable of doing these things, don't worry, I know what I'm doing!" Old Zhang's words made the two officials work even harder. Soon, the body was brought to the shore.
"You thought you could stir up trouble in Jiangdong, daydreaming. Did you really think we were fools!" The black-clothed man's back was to the crowd. Seeing the official who had bullied them for so long, they had no patience left and quickly began to strike him a few times.
In an instant, someone went to report the good news to the officials, and the body was forcibly tied up and paraded through the streets.
It was unknown how many vegetable leaves and rotten eggs were stuck to the body. Finally, they arrived at the county yamen. The magistrate hurried out to greet them. Old Zhang lounged grandly in a chair. "Your Honor, don't rush, this body isn't going anywhere!"
The officials circling the body stared at its face and then sat down on the ground, "This, this is a disaster!"
After a while, they hurriedly got up and cupped their hands to everyone, "Everyone, everyone, please leave. I, this official, am enough here!"
Old Zhang squeezed forward and winked at the official, "Your Honor, I know you want to take the credit, but there's a share for me too!"
The official raised his hand and slapped Old Zhang across the face. Old Zhang spun around several times before stopping and sobbing, "Your Honor, this, this..."
"If this fortune was given to you, would you want it!" The official leaned closer to Old Zhang and cursed, "Do you know who he is?"
Old Zhang's heart leaped with joy. Could it be that he had captured a high-ranking official? Just as he was about to speak, the official hurriedly said, "He is Sun Jian of the Sun family in Jiangdong. He is dead, how will you account for this!"
Old Zhang instinctively wanted to escape but was forcibly held down by the officials. The official sighed heavily, "I can only report this matter, but remember, he was not killed by you, but drowned!"
The news spread, causing an earthquake in Jiangdong. That was Sun Jian, the de facto leader of Jiangdong. Now he was dead, what was going on!
"It's absolutely true!" This scene appeared in countless homes. Some people sat down on chairs, stunned, and said, "Perhaps the sky of Jiangdong will also change!"
On the other side, in the city of Liangzhou, the bell rang six times. Diao Chan slowly let go of Ye Feng and said tenderly, "My King, why do I feel something is not right!"
"More than not right, I fear something major is about to happen!" Ye Feng quickly got up and gently patted his collar, saying solemnly, "Emperor Ling is in trouble!"
"Dong dong dong!" The door was knocked three times heavily, then increasingly urgently. Qin Shu slowly opened it, and a small eunuch rushed in.
"Someone, catch it! Someone trespassed into the Prince of Chu's mansion. How audacious!" Qin Shu hurriedly issued orders. "Catch it, quickly!"
Suddenly, many strong guards rushed out and surrounded the small eunuch. Ye Feng happened to come out and said slowly, "Let him come, he's one of us!"
Seeing the small eunuch, Ye Feng's heart sank. After all, he hadn't yet revealed his relationship with Song Jingang. To bring this relationship out into the open showed the urgency of the situation!
"No hurry, speak slowly," Diao Chan glanced at Ye Feng, brought out a cup of tea, and handed it to the small eunuch. "Have some tea!"
The small eunuch didn't care about anything else and drank the tea completely. Just as Ye Feng picked up his teacup, the small eunuch said, "Prince of Chu, it's not good, His Majesty, His Majesty is probably not going to make it!"
The teacup in Ye Feng's hand suddenly fell to the ground. He immediately got up and asked, "How many people know about this!"
"The Old Ancestor is attending to His Majesty, and several others have already spread the news. I'm afraid everyone knows by now!"
For the first time, Ye Feng felt so powerless, slumping into his chair. The small eunuch quickly kowtowed to Ye Feng. "Please, Prince of Chu, make a decision soon!"
One wave has not subsided, another has risen!
This is not the well-ordered Western Zhou Dynasty. Once those powerful aristocratic families know that Emperor Ling is in trouble, they will surely become restless and might even pin the blame on Ye Feng.
In this case, the precarious situation that had just stabilized and the peaceful Liangzhou might fall into war again.
Diao Chan was about to gently massage Ye Feng's temples when Ye Feng suddenly stood up and said decisively, "Beauty, send someone to tell Lu Zhi to hurry to the palace. I'll go first!"