After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine Chapter 81
“What’s the matter?” he anxiously asked.
Only after a short while did Huo Wujiu open his mouth. When he did, his voice was hoarse.
“Pang Shao copied this?” he asked.
Jiang Suizhou nodded. “Yes, is something wrong?”
Huo Wujiu stared fixedly at that seal, his eyes ablaze, as if wanting to burn those letters.
“It’s Liang’s crown prince’s personal seal,” he slowly said.
“Without flaw.”
Jiang Suizhou blinked, puzzled.
Liang’s crown prince?
The current Northern Liang emperor’s heir was weak. There were only three sons altogether, two of whom died on the battlefield. It was the Battle of Xunyang that nearly wiped out the Liang army, causing Huo Wujiu’s father and Emperor Zhaoyuan’s two sons to die, as well as leaving Emperor Zhaoyuan’s whole body with old injuries. Henceforth, he remained weak.
And his only remaining son Huo Yuyan also fell ill on the battlefield. Less than two years after his accession, he would die because of the illness, dying just as he passed the age of thirty.
In other words, this seal was Huo Yuyan’s.
“Then?” Jiang Suizhou continued to ask.
Huo Wujiu stared at that seal and opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
He couldn’t utter a word. This seal was his tangxiong’s* personal seal, it was usually used for confidential letters that were extremely important.
*tang xiong – older male cousin (son of father’s brother)
When they were young, the two brothers were garrisoned in different positions. When Huo Yuyan sent him letters, he would always stamp using this seal. After his shufu* ascended the throne, his tangxiong became the crown prince. This seal was frequently used to pass on messages to his subordinates outside the area.
*shu fu – uncle (father’s younger brother)
So…how could Pang Shao copy this seal?
That day, Jiang Suizhou didn’t get a straight answer. Huo Wujiu looked at the letter for a moment, then said he wanted to keep it, and that he would inform him if he found anything.
Jiang Suizhou somewhat trusted him. Hearing him say that, he told him to keep the letters safe, then left it with him.
Afterwards, in his residence, he quietly devised strategies.
Ten days later, the palace suddenly fell into chaos.
Something happened to Qi Min.
Allegedly, when Qi Min’s student Zhao Dunting was chatting with him in Qi Min’s study, he suddenly saw something he shouldn’t have. After he left, he rushed into the imperial palace to meet the emperor. Tears streamed down as he spoke, saying that his own teacher was confused for a while, having done something he shouldn’t have, and begged the emperor to spare his teacher’s life.
He cried so much that the Hou Zhu was baffled, so he simply sent people to check Qi Min’s residence. Unexpectedly, one thing was ascertained after the investigation, they found Qi Min’s letters colluding with another country.
A senior minister to three emperors actually had a mutual exchange with Northern Liang!
Everyone believed, this disciple who was filial and treated Qi Min as his own father would never frame him, and when Qi Min faced this disciple in the court, he was also speechless.
He only gazed at those letters that were found from the search, as well as Zhao Dunting who knelt crying on the side, saying that he was confused. His face ghastly, he didn’t speak for a moment.
Much later, he crouched on the ground, deeply giving three loud kowtows to the Hou Zhu.
Meaning, he had nothing to say.
For a while, the court and the common people were in great shock, and the Hou Zhu also flew into rage, immediately wanting to pull Qi Min’s whole family for a beheading. Luckily, many ministers held him back, told him that he should confine Qi Min first, thoroughly investigate this case, and ascertain if there were other accomplices, especially finding out those people collaborating with the force outside.
When handling Northern Liang matters, the Hou Zhu always dealt with extraordinarily stupendous energy.
So, he forcefully swallowed his fury and locked Qi Min’s whole family in prison, waiting for a clear result before deciding how he should die.
For a period of time, all the imperial court officials were in a mess, only Jingwang Manor was peaceful.
Huo Wujiu looked outside the window for the third time.
He knew Qi Min’s case had caused great trouble these few days. After he discussed the plan with Jiang Suizhou, Jiang Suizhou sent people to handle it.
Today was the day when this case broke out. Jiang Suizhou hurried to Xu Du’s place early in the morning, waiting for information from the spy.
“General?”
He heard the call from the side.
It was Li Changning. He and Wei Kai were gathered around in front of his bed, looking at him with gleaming eyes.
“General doesn’t need to worry, just try,” Li Changing said.
Huo Wujiu withdrew his gaze, turning his body over to get out of bed, his feet placed on the steps in front of the bed, slowly exerting strength.
And came a familiar feeling that had left him for a long time.
His meridian still hurt, but there was a surging strength he had not felt for a long time amidst the pain. The muscles of his legs were stiff, but there was strength along his meridian, linking all the way until his toes.
He clumsily yet steadily stood up.
The two people around him immediately gave out surprised cries.
Huo Wujiu tried to lift his legs, but he still couldn’t really walk. Nevertheless, it was the first time in two months that he stood up.
Joyful cheers rang in his ears, he could even see the glistening teardrops in Wei Kai’s twinkling eyes. But Huo Wujiu was not as happy as he had imagined.
He raised his eyes for the fourth time, looking outside.
The doors of Anyin Hall’s main house were open. People went in and out, but its master was not inside.
Huo Wujiu paused, withdrew his gaze, and sat back on the bed.
This was the first time he realized: joy, it turned out, must be shared with other people to be truly be set free.
And, it also must be with a specific, certain someone.
The servants who went to pick up Huo Wujiu to move courtyards arrived when Doctor Zhou was administering medicine to him.
When Huo Wujiu married, he came alone, so there was no dowry luggage to move. Hence, at this moment, only two maids and a tall brawny manservant went.
The two maids should have been assigned to serve Huo Wujiu. When they came in, their faces looked surly. They looked down and indifferent.
Seeing that Doctor Zhou was applying medicine to Huo Wujiu, one of the maids opened her mouth and said, “Doctor Zhou, how much longer will it take you to treat him?”
They didn’t look at Huo Wujiu in the slightest, much less salute him, as if they didn’t see him.
While bandaging Huo Wujiu, Doctor Zhou replied, “Hold on, ladies. He’ll be ready in no time.”
The maids grunted, turned around, and said, “Then be quick. We’ll wait outside.”
After saying that, the few of them turned around and went out.
They went out of the room but didn’t close the door, and left it ajar instead. The maid who didn’t say anything before spoke up, “How annoying. If we wait a little longer, it will be noon, and we will have to walk in the sun again on the way.”
The other maid said, “You don’t say. We’re unlucky.”
Hearing this, the maid laughed a couple of times and said, “Unlucky? The sun is not bad luck. We’re only unlucky that we were assigned to this job.”
“Right? Who wants to come and serve a disabled enemy? It’s just not our luck today.”
They made no effort to tone down in the slightest, as if they were afraid that the person inside the room couldn’t hear them. The sharp, clipped voices of the girls reached Doctor Zhou’s ears.
Doctor Zhou’s legs started to tremble.
Others might not know, but he knew that the man sitting in a wheelchair in front of him was the King of Hell, who could kill without batting an eye.
Doctor Zhou was so petrified that he broke out in a cold sweat and carefully raised his eyes to look at Huo Wujiu.
He only saw him sitting in place. There wasn’t a lift in his eyes, nor a bit of reaction, as if he hadn’t heard anything.
The sunrays fell gently onto the side of his face.
Perhaps the sun was so bright that it gave the impression that the motionless cripple in front of him should be an extremely proud man.
Doctor Zhou dared not say more. He swiftly withdrew his gaze and bandaged his legs properly.
“Afterward, you mustn’t let your wounds get wet. The dressings must be changed once every three days. I will report this truthfully to His Highness,” Doctor Zhou said.
Huo Wujiu made no response.
The doctor then packed up his medical kit and retreated.
Not long after, the two maids came into the room. They instructed the brawny manservant to push the wheelchair forward, so they could take Huo Wujiu away and send him to his future residence.
The wheelchair was in no way easy to push.
The wheelchair was originally large and heavy, and because it was for Huo Wujiu, it was only a tool for transporting prisoners. The wheelchair was terribly rough, and the two wheels on the chair taken from a prison wagon were barely installed.
From the room to the backyard where the wives and concubines live, they had to pass through the gardens of the King’s residence if they wanted to take a shortcut. The gardens in the sunny south have always been a sceneric place for strolls. There were streams and ponds everywhere, and small bridges or gravel paths were built for people to walk on.
The two maids loathed their job and didn’t want to bake in the sun, so they insisted on walking through the garden. Even if the manservant was strong, pushing the wheelchair took great effort.
After walking for a while, he couldn’t keep up with the two.
The two maids only cared about moving forward, and only a while later did they turn around and find that Huo Wujiu had fallen behind.
They have long been resentful because they were assigned to serve Huo Wujiu. He was not only a cripple, but an easy target to bully. Hence, when their master did not say a word from the beginning to the end, they became increasingly presumptuous.
One of them turned around and said to the manservant, “Why are you walking so slowly? Is it because she is a lady of an eminent family, so you’re afraid of dirtying her embroidered shoes?”
The manservant pushing the wheelchair was simple and honest. Upon hearing this, sweat dripped down his forehead in anxiety, and he hurriedly explained, “Sister, it’s not my fault. The road is really bumpy…”
The other coldly retorted, “Who’s blaming you? Hurry and keep up.”
Since it wasn’t his fault, then whose was it? There was no fifth person present.
The manservant did not dare to say anything and could only diligently push the wheelchair. The wheels were not sturdy enough to move steadily. In his nervousness, his hands lost control, and the wheelchair suddenly tilted down and was about to tumble to the ground.
But then the man in the wheelchair, who remained silent the whole time, raised his hand lightly and pressed it on the armrest.
The wheelchair stabilized.
The manservant promptly bowed to apologize and thank his master, but out of nowhere, he heard a mellow voice from the front.
“What’s all the noise about?”
When the manservant looked up, he saw two people standing under the weeping willow by the pond ahead, followed by a group of servants. One of them was dressed in green, with pale, delicate and pretty features, looking as gentle as jade. The other one was utterly gorgeous. He was a man, but was naturally enticing. He was dressed in red.
They were the two concubines in the mansion.
The manservant hurriedly followed the two maids and saluted, “Good day, Madam Gu. Good day, Madam Xu.”
The red-clad Madam Gu waved his hand and told them to get up. He stepped forward and said in a lazy voice, “I thought it was someone. So it’s the new Madam Huo who joined the household yesterday.”
As he spoke, he walked up to Huo Wujiu and stopped in his tracks.
But Huo Wujiu acted as if he didn’t see the man.
“How old are you, Madam Huo? You must be 23 years old, right?” He spoke. “You’re a few years younger than me, so just call me elder brother in the future.”
With that, he smilingly stood in front of Huo Wujiu. His stance suggested that he would block the path and wouldn’t go away if Huo Wujiu ignored him.
Huo Wujiu did not lift a single eyelid.
