As Gu Yan Chen and Lu Nian Fu left, Li Chuan Hu couldn't wait to enter the house.
Seeing the slap mark on her face, well, there was nothing more to ask. He breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to touch Madam Li's face.
Madam Li gasped, but the pain was unspeakable. Li Chuan Hu patted her face, and the pain made her hiss and sob, yet he turned a deaf ear, "Little sister, if you had listened to your elder brother earlier and handed over the dyeing workshop, would your elder brother have had to be so cruel and let you lie there and take a beating without being able to fight back."
"Mmm, mmm, mmm..."
"It's too late to say anything now. Don't worry, your sister-in-law will come later and have her boil a few eggs for you to roll over your face. This redness and swelling will go down."
Madam Li's eyes widened, staring at him intently.
Li Chuan Hu, however, had already stood up. "This mansion is so large; it's too lonely for you alone. Besides, you're sick now and naturally can't do without family care, so you must be very happy to welcome your sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, right?"
Her well-maintained fingers clutched the bedsheet, and Madam Li's eyes were filled with anger and despair. But Li Chuan Hu paid no attention to her. "Oh, right, and your dyeing workshop. Don't worry, elder brother will manage it well for you. It's just a pity that Lu Fei is gone, so Shi Ji will have to help you manage the workshop. Didn't you always say you treated Shi Ji like your own son? You probably won't mind, will you?"
Madam Li was so angry that tears almost fell.
For so many years, she had poured her heart and soul into her elder brother's family, only to have her sincerity fed to dogs. If not for Lu Nian Fu, she would have even lost her son.
Li Chuan Hu left triumphantly, finding Lu Song to discuss the next course of action. Little did he know that his sister, whom he thought was completely under his control, had tearfully decided to sue him in court.
Even in Jiangnan, winter was quietly arriving.
The night wind was strong, making the official flags on the city walls flap loudly. Over a dozen dark figures threw grappling hooks and silently scaled the walls of Yancheng. The night watch soldiers were yawning, and before they could sense anyone approaching, their throats were slit with curved blades.
The dark figures descended the city wall and opened the east gate of Yancheng.
The thousands of Japanese pirates waiting outside surged into the city like wolves and tigers, and Yancheng was breached.
As the night patrol drums sounded, the east of the city was already engulfed in flames and smoke, with the shouts of killing and the cries of grief deafening. The magistrate of Yancheng had his head cut off in his sleep, and by morning, the prosperous city had completely fallen.
A man with a small mustache beneath his nose was caressing the magistrate's newly acquired concubine, laughing maniacally, "The men of Da Yin are indeed all weaklings, hahahaha! As long as this country is taken, the people of my Great Japanese nation will no longer have to go hungry. This wine is really good, Lord Tianbian, have a cup?"
"Thank you, General."
Yancheng was a county under Yangzhou Prefecture, and its prosperity was only slightly less than that of Yangzhou. Its defenses were not weak.
No one expected that it would be occupied by a group of Japanese pirates in just one night.
Upon receiving the intelligence, Prefect Feng almost turned white-haired overnight. A city had been lost under his administration. If Yancheng could not be recaptured soon, let alone his official hat, even his head would be hard to save.
Early in the morning, Gu Yan Chen was urgently summoned away. Lu Nian Fu was stunned when she heard the news.
Is this the beginning of a war?
She had always known that with the invasion of Japanese pirates, war between Da Yin and Japan was inevitable.
In her previous life, she was in the capital, and the war in Jiangnan was, at most, about donating money and grain when called upon. But this life was different. She was in Yangzhou, her home was in Yangzhou, and her husband was even a thousand-household commander of thewei suo.
With the decline of military officials in the wei suo of Jiangnan, the rank of thousand-household commander was the highest military rank in Jiangnan. If nothing unexpected happened, Gu Yan Chen would surely be on the front lines. Lu Nian Fu shivered and couldn't help but regret spending so much time on Madam Li earlier.
If she had spent that time earlier adding incense oil money to the temple and asking for a peace talisman for Gu Yan Chen, it would have been good.
Gu Yan Chen was gone for five days.
During this period, Qing Ya and Song Ming went to the wei suo to inquire about the news multiple times, but it was already under martial law. Even old acquaintances like Qing Ya and Song Ming couldn't get a single word of information. They only knew that many people seemed to be gone from inside.
Where those people went was obvious.