Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 87

“General Cang must be joking. How could the attack on His Majesty have anything to do with Lang’er?

“Besides, Lang’er remained with me at the hunting grounds all afternoon. He never left!” Xia Jinguang said stiffly.

“That is no obstacle. Whether there is a connection will become clear once we investigate,” Cang Chuli replied, neither hurried nor slow.

“Father! I didn’t do it! You know I didn’t!”

Xia Lang panicked. If Cang Chuli took him away, could anything good possibly await him?

“If you did nothing, then may I ask what your household’s carriage was doing inside the hunting grounds?”

Xia Lang choked. He turned his head slightly and looked away.

“…I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t matter. You may not know, but someone always will.”

Cang Chuli gave him no opportunity to argue.

“Bring them forward.”

Members of the Personal Guard marched four men forward. Xia Lang looked up, and all the color drained from his face.

What was going on? Had he not sent his manservant to check the area?

How could these men be here?

One member of the Personal Guard stepped forward and quietly spoke to Cang Chuli. After listening, Cang Chuli said calmly, “That manservant of yours fainted from fright just now, so I did not bother bringing him. In any case, you can see him later in the cells.”

Xia Lang’s eyes darted uneasily. His teeth sank unconsciously into his lower lip.

“Mercy, General! Have mercy!”

“We only left the women inside the cave. We absolutely did not kill them!”

“Second Young Master! We did exactly as you ordered! We never laid a hand on them to kill them!”

The men’s panicked confessions filled Xia Lang’s ears, along with the discussion of the other ministers and their families around him. He was both furious and terrified.

“What? Xia Lang has killed someone?”

“It sounds as though he tried to kill someone but failed.”

“Did Lord Xia Jinguang know that Xia Lang was killing people?”

“Most likely! If they dare murder people, perhaps they truly did intend to assassinate His Majesty!”

“Such audacity!”

“Hmph. What good could come from a man who casually buries his first wife?”

“I just heard that the entire household lives off women!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk!”

“You’re lying! All of you are lying! I don’t know these men!” Xia Lang shouted in denial.

That was too much for the coachmen.

They had done his dirty work, and now that they had been caught, he claimed not to know them?

“Second Young Master! How are we lying? Weren’t you the one who ordered us to knock those two maids unconscious and throw them into the wolf den?

“You specifically told us not to kill them ourselves, and to remember to sprinkle meat-scent powder over them before we left. You said it had to look as though the wolf pack had mauled them to death!

“We brothers even finished making the wolf tracks beside the water!”

“The money you paid us is still right here!”

One coachman pulled a banknote from his belt as he spoke.

“Exactly! I still have the meat-scent powder you gave us!”

Talking over one another, the men exposed Xia Lang’s entire plan from beginning to end.

“Enough!”

Xia Jinguang’s angry shout silenced their clamor. Then he slowly walked over to Cang Chuli.

“The General has seen the truth for himself. Lang’er merely played a little joke on his sister. This has absolutely nothing to do with the attack on His Majesty!”

With those words, he directly admitted it.

Xia Jinguang had no choice. Both witnesses and physical evidence were present. There was no way to deny the matter.

He could only admit it first and at least try to keep Xia Lang from being taken away today.

“Father!”

“Silence!” Xia Jinguang rebuked him.

Then he turned back to Cang Chuli. “Given the circumstances, could you release him for now?”

“Ah, yes! Exactly! Lang’er was only playing with his sister, wasn’t he, Heng’er?” Xia Yun quickly added.

He shot Xia Heng a warning look. She had better know what was good for her.

Xia Heng nearly laughed.

“Do you mean that because he did not assassinate His Majesty and merely tried to murder his own sister, there is no problem?” she asked.

“Hiss! Xia Lang always looked so refined and scholarly. Who knew his methods were so vicious?”

“Murdering his own elder sister? Unheard of! Utterly unheard of!”

Hearing the discussion around him, Xia Yun’s face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

“You wretched girl! Lang’er was playing with you! Look at the enormous scene you’ve caused! Hurry and explain it properly to the General!”

Xia Heng ignored him and asked firmly, “Lord Xia, you still haven’t answered me. What crime did my mother commit?

“While she was alive, she worked herself to the bone for you, poured her entire dowry into supporting Xia Mansion, and still had to endure your concubines and mistresses flaunting themselves before her.

“Yet after her death, she was denied burial in the ancestral grave? You did not even announce her mourning?

“You buried her hastily in a desolate wilderness without letting anyone know?”

Xia Yun avoided her gaze and mumbled wordlessly.

“Was it because you wanted to keep controlling me? Or because you wanted to openly occupy her dowry?”

“Bullshit!

“General Cang, I sent ten thousand taels of silver to your mansion, and this is how you treat me?” Xia Yun shouted at last, driven to desperate retaliation.

If Cang Chuli refused to let him live well, then none of them would live well!

“Those ten thousand taels were the dowry my mother prepared for me.

“What is wrong with my dowry being in my own hands? The silver is stored in the room opposite mine. Would Lord Xia like to come and look?”

Xia Heng refused to let up.

“You personally sent your daughter away. Who did you intend to give her dowry to if you kept it, Lord Xia?”

In three quick strides, she reached Xia Lang and tore the jade pendant from his neck, holding it up for everyone to see.

“Are the men of Xia Mansion incapable of supporting themselves? Must my late mother’s dowry be used to feed your precious nephew?

“Perhaps Lord Xia could explain why my mother’s white-jade peace buckle was hanging around Xia Lang’s neck?”

“Tsk. First the Purple-Gold Crown, now the peace buckle. Xia Lang, you truly have no shame,” Little Fatty Liang said, unable to remain silent.

At the Xiao Family’s banquet, he had initially thought Xia Lang was a decent fellow for speaking on his behalf.

Who could have known he was a fraud who used his late aunt’s property to make himself look impressive?

“My second uncle gave it to me!” Xia Lang snarled at Little Fatty Liang.

Little Fatty was not afraid of him. He merely asked in confusion, “How strange. He doesn’t cherish his own daughter, but cherishes his nephew?”

“What do you know? He is a boy—the hope of the Xia family! What can a girl possibly do?” Xia Yun shouted in reply.

“The ‘hope of the Xia family’ you speak of had his own sister knocked unconscious, sent her into a wolf den, and sprinkled meat-scent powder over her because he was afraid she might die with an intact corpse?” Xia Heng demanded, her voice rising with every word.

She could feel her body trembling slightly—with lingering fear, excitement, and fury.

“But… nothing happened to you,” Xia Yun said, sounding guilty now.

“Nothing happened because I was clever and capable!

“But Xia Lang is still human garbage who tried to murder his own sister!”

“…Heng’er, you have cursed him and vented your anger. That should be enough.

“You may belong to the General’s Mansion now, but you still should not slander a younger brother from your maiden family like this, should you?”

“Lord Xia, are you certain you want to bring up the General’s Mansion with me here?”

Xia Heng’s sharp gaze stabbed into Xia Jinguang.

He actually dared mention the General’s Mansion?

Fine. Let him explain in front of all these people how he had ordered his own niece to assassinate Cang Chuli!

Sure enough, Xia Jinguang remembered that matter too and could only close his mouth.

He ground his teeth in silence. Why had she not died? She should have been dead.

“What happened at the General’s Mansion?”

“What could it be? Look how guilty they are. It certainly wasn’t anything decent!”

Little Fatty Liang truly despised every man in this family now.

They stammered and swallowed their words, eating them only to spit them back out again. Who knew how many wicked things they had done?

“Take him away,” Cang Chuli ordered with a wave of his hand.

“General Cang! General Cang, this is only a quarrel between children in our family. There is truly no need to take it to the authorities!” Xia Jinguang cried anxiously.

“The authorities? Lord Xia Jinguang worries too much. Your son abducted more than one of my maids.”