Magical Water Margin: They all call me brother

Page 78

"Where is Vanus? Hasn't she come?"

The Imperial Guards did not answer but instead asked a question.

“I have nothing to talk to you two about. You’re wearing some kind of intelligence gear and you’re talking to me like that. I want to explain the situation directly to Vanus.”

The two assassins were silent for a moment. At that moment, the sexy and beautiful figure of the leader, planner, and schemer of the Six Doors action team quietly emerged in the darkness.

"Are you suggesting there's some deeper meaning behind this surrender and retreat? Or is there some intelligence from above that you haven't told me yet?"

Vanus looked at her coldly, wanting to see what explanation the guards would have, but the guards said nothing—"You've all gathered together, I can just close the net, can't I?"

Suddenly, the golden-armored imperial guard took out a scroll, casually tore it open, and revealed a scroll filled with shimmering dust. Instantly, countless points of light burst forth, filling the entire outhouse. The three assassins cursed inwardly, realizing it was a trap, but it was too late.

Even as they vanished into invisibility, the swirling dust particles still outlined the silhouettes of all of them within the narrow, enclosed room. Each dust particle was as dazzling as a small sun, so bright that the three assassins couldn't even open their eyes!

"Catch them! Don't let a single one escape!!!"

Seeing the signal from the Imperial Guards, Liu Hong roared and led all the Liangshan heroes out of the ambush. They rushed forward and captured the last three assassins, then threw them all into the dungeon, resulting in the complete arrest of this small team from the Six Doors.

"Great Sage, I have already pledged my allegiance."

The imperial guards breathed a sigh of relief as they looked at the six assassins who had been captured alive.

"Then what about our agreement..."

"No problem, I'll burn down the granary tonight!"

Liu Hong nodded in agreement.

"Excellent! I'll go back and report to the Commander-in-Chief right now! I'll make sure to clear a safe passage for everyone so that the Great Sage can calmly burn all the grain and fodder!"

The imperial guard was overjoyed. He handed the token commanding the Six Doors squad to Liu Hong and returned safely.

That night, after the third watch gong sounded twice, a sudden northwest wind whipped up a sky full of green leaves, which frantically lashed against the watchtowers of the soldiers' granary. The three Ruan brothers led three hundred merfolk across the water and landed on the shore. The three hundred merfolk swayed their elegant and sexy waists, their long and powerful fish-snake tails leaving alluring trails on the ground.

At that moment, the soldiers guarding the grain supplies were complaining about the moldy millet when suddenly Ruan Xiaoqi pierced their backs with a spear. Another soldier, terrified, didn't even have time to call out to each other before a chain wrapped around his neck. Ruan Xiaoqi hung him in mid-air and strangled him to death!

Meanwhile, the other merfolk began to act under Ruan Xiaowu's orders. After landing without anyone noticing, they launched surprise attacks on various outposts. Harpoons silently tore through the darkness, piercing through with precision and killing the guards in the chests. Flying stones extinguished the lamps, gradually extinguishing the firelight north of the granary.

"It seems the Imperial Guard was right. The guard force is more than ten times weaker than usual. Let the others come over as well."

Zhu Gui looked around and issued new orders. After the three Ruan naval forces launched a surprise attack and successfully captured a landing site, Liu Hong, Li Cunxiao, Lin Chong and others personally led two hundred cavalrymen to land here by boat. Each cavalryman had ten torches stuck in the back of his horse.

The real fire attack began. Two hundred cavalrymen roared in the darkness and launched a devastating charge, heading straight for the Song army's granary! It was too dark, and the attack was too sudden. The commander of the Imperial Guards had already transferred most of the troops here, and the remaining men knew they were outnumbered. Seeing the Song cavalrymen in the darkness, they were terrified and had no idea how many were coming. Their first reaction was to flee in panic. The two hundred cavalrymen rushed to the outside of the granary's walls and began frantically throwing torches inside!

Flames soared into the sky, engulfing everything in a raging inferno. Bundles of horse feed and cartloads of grain burned under the licking flames, and sparks, igniting the accumulated chaff and dust in the granaries, instantly set off a chain reaction of explosions. The towering pillars of fire turned the surface of Liangshan Marsh blood red, and the scattered millet grains carbonized in mid-air into arrow-like black spikes!

However, the supervisor sent by Gao Qiu was quite capable. He immediately closed the gates, organized firefighting, and created a vacuum zone. The grain and fodder fortifications built by the Imperial Guards were indeed sturdy. Liangshan only had three hundred naval troops and two hundred cavalrymen at the moment, and they could not break through the fortress in a short time. They could not throw torches in either, and could only set fire to the outer granaries.

But it doesn't matter. Just watch as Liu Hong and Li Cunxiao flap their wings and charge into the battlefield from above! Liu Hong is fast and flies over first, dropping a bag full of gunpowder onto the granary below.

Li Cunxiao slowed down slightly and threw a series of torches down towards the granary below. Under the horrified gaze of the supervising officer, in an instant, bags of gunpowder were ignited by the intense heat of the flames! The shockwaves from the explosions sent raging flames and piles of millet soaring into the air, like a raging torrent of fire and grass. The billowing smoke and flames transformed into a meteor shower, setting most of the warehouse ablaze! The rammed earth walls were even shattered by the chain reaction of gunpowder explosions, and the spilled wheat was carbonized by the sulfurous flames before it even hit the ground, forming towering, apocalyptic walls of fire!

As the military rations were burned, the dark sky was ignited into a terrifying red by the burning granaries. Sun You and Liu Hong put on a spectacular show for the generals. The army that originally wanted to put out the fire discovered that Liangshan was actually to the north. Taking advantage of the situation, they launched an attack, forcing Sun You to send all the fire-fighting troops to the north to block the Liangshan army and confront them across the river. They missed the best opportunity to put out the fire, resulting in all the grain and fodder being burned to ashes. The terrifying fire burned in the darkness for a whole night, and the frightening flames could be faintly seen in the distant Yuncheng County.

After the Liangshan troops retreated, Sun stopped acting and used the pretext of burning the grain supplies to capture the supervisor who had been half-burned and made him a scapegoat. He then ordered everyone to disband, with those returning to Qingzhou going to Qingzhou and those returning to Kaifeng going to Kaifeng. The battle was over, and the escape, retreat, selling out, and fleeing were all done in one go.

Chapter 193: Cai Jing's Wrath in Kaifeng

The imperial court's second siege against Liangshan came to a hasty end. Liu Hong also released Qin Ming as agreed, and Sun also gave Qin Ming five hundred soldiers, telling her to act as if nothing had happened and return to Qingzhou. As for where these five hundred men came from and what their fighting strength was, it was better not to know.

After returning to the imperial court, everything proceeded according to Sun You's plan. He kept the minor defeats a closely guarded secret. The biggest problem with this retreat was that the supervisor sent by Gao Qiu was incompetent, allowing five hundred Liangshan bandits to break into the supply rations and burn them to the ground, forcing everyone to give up and infuriating Gao Qiu.

However, Sun You also had powerful backers and connections in the imperial court, and his behind-the-scenes boss was Grand Commandant Su.

If such a person makes a mistake, Gao Qiu will definitely persecute him to death; even Grand Commandant Su wouldn't dare to protect him, since he's in the wrong.

However, in this battle, there was a very obvious scapegoat. Sun You appeared to have done nothing wrong, which made Gao Qiu, who was in the wrong, dare not actually dismiss him. He had no choice but to reluctantly admit that the supervising officer was the main culprit and behead him. Although Sun You had no fault, he was guilty of poor military management and misjudging people, so he was punished as an accessory and fined half a year's salary. Only then was the matter settled.

However, for those who reached the rank of Commander of the Imperial Guards, their salary was never their main source of income, so there was not much difference between being punished and not being punished.

After everything settled down, it was Cai Jing and Gao Qiu's turn to have a headache.

They originally thought that Liangshan was nothing but a bunch of chickens and dogs, and that once the Song army arrived, the entire Liangshan would surely surrender. But they never expected that Liangshan would be so difficult to defeat.

For a moment, both of them hesitated and were unwilling to send troops to attack Liangshan.

For Gao Qiu, Liangshan was dispensable. The Imperial Guards kept Lin Chong's whereabouts completely hidden. As the most dedicated and powerful instructor among the 800,000 Imperial Guards in Tokyo, all the Imperial Guards recognized her as their master. Respect for teachers was ingrained in everyone's bones.

For Cai Jing, his birthday banquet cost a total of 500,000 strings of cash, and the birthday gifts he received totaled 2 million strings of cash. The 100,000 strings of cash birthday gifts sent by Liang Zhongshu were only one-twentieth of the total number of birthday gifts.

Compared to the Cai family's entire wealth, this 100,000 strings of cash is insignificant, just a drop in the ocean. This attack was merely a way to vent their anger.

However, this defeat has already affected his position in the court. The impact of losing a battle is too severe, and he will also be impeached and attacked by his political enemies.

If I am 100% confident that I can defeat Liangshan, then I will definitely fight them.

But since the odds of winning are not high, I really don't need to risk losing the battle and being impeached by my political enemies for a mere 100,000 strings of cash for birthday gifts.

Emperor Zhao showed no concern about the failure. He continued writing and painting as usual, not taking it to heart. After all, it was Cai Jing's birthday tribute that was intercepted, not his own flower and stone tribute, so it didn't matter.

In Qingzhou, Hua Rong, Qin Ming, and others led their troops back to their territory. However, Prefect Murong of Qingzhou was unaware that his elite troops had been wiped out by Liangshan Marsh, with not a single prisoner released. While the number of returning troops was correct, their quality had plummeted. He was currently oblivious to the severe impact this would have on his future. Meanwhile, the bandits of Peach Blossom Mountain, Erlong Mountain, and Qingfeng Mountain, upon discovering the weakness of the Qingzhou forces, would commit some terrifying acts.

As for Jeju Island, Zhang Shuye felt like he was going crazy. Although the defeat was not his fault, Liangshan Marsh was still within his territory!

With the government troops retreating, the morale of the entire Liangshan bandits soared. Everyone who had joined Liangshan was celebrating this victory with wild abandon—"We made the right choice joining Liangshan! Look at these government troops, they're so pathetic! They even sent the Qingzhou soldiers and the Imperial Guards, but what good did they do? They couldn't even cross our eight hundred li of marshland! Didn't they just slink away with their tails between their legs? If you ask me, our Great Sage's face is that of an emperor!"

The people of Jeju were overjoyed. Although they had followed Liu Hong's land policy, killing the landlord, distributing the land, and finally becoming people from slaves with their own property, they had lived in extreme fear, walking on thin ice. They were terrified that one day Liangshan would be destroyed by the government army, and the landlord and government would return to take everything back. Or worse, they feared that the government would start a massacre and kill everyone who had received favors from Liangshan and had informed them of their plans.

Therefore, before this battle, the attitude of all the people of Jeju was, "I stand with Liangshan, but I don't want the government to know that I stand with Liangshan."

Now, seeing that the Imperial Guards have been driven away, the morale of the people of Jizhou has skyrocketed. Everyone believes that Liangshan is destined for greatness, and everyone is completely on Liangshan's side. Many people have even given up their land and possessions to join Liangshan! Farming? What's the point of farming! Now, we should find a way to become soldiers under the command of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. The future wealth and glory will be much greater than farming.

At this point, the entire Jizhou was in complete chaos. The sight of this caused Zhang Shuye, the prefect of Jizhou, to vomit blood overnight. The administrative capacity of the Song Dynasty government could only be effective within the city walls of a few counties. Outside the safe city walls, let alone Zhang Shuye's official seal, even an imperial edict stamped with the Imperial Seal of the State was no different from a piece of waste paper. It was not as useful as a message from the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.

There was no other way. Zhang Shuye hadn't slept for three days straight and had devised a detailed plan to suppress the bandits. Liangshan couldn't be left unpunished, but it couldn't be suppressed too quickly either; it had to be done slowly. We could use the same methods we used against the Western Xia to deal with Liangshan Marsh. That is, we would build a large number of forts and strongholds around Liangshan Marsh to form an encirclement and blockade, blocking all land and water routes so that the Liangshan bandits couldn't leave the marshland, thus slowly starving them to death.

If this tactic succeeds, even if Liangshan Marsh, which Liu Hong just founded, is not destroyed, it will suffer a severe blow.

However, at this moment, the excellent separation of powers mechanism of the Song Dynasty came into play.

Zhang Shuye only had administrative power over Jizhou. The Jizhou Defense Commissioner, who was in charge of the troops, disagreed—Liangshan was too terrifying. You, kid, are hiding in the safe Jizhou, but you want to throw me next to Liangshan Marsh to build and defend a fortress? No way, no way.

The transport commissioner in charge of money and grain disagreed even more—"You make it sound nice, but where's the money? Where does the money come from?" Of course, this money-manager wouldn't tell Zhang Shuye: "Right now, the taxes for the entire Jeju Province are being paid with the help of Liangshan. Am I crazy to use the money given by Liangshan to fight Liangshan? Right now, the lowest-level wealthy landowners in Jeju Province have been uprooted, our grassroots control has completely collapsed, and we're relying entirely on Liangshan to take our place."

Grand Tutor Cai wants to fight Liangshan to the death, and I can't stop him.

But if you really want to fight Liangshan to the death, I must use all my power to stop you! If Liangshan is gone and the taxes in Jizhou can't be collected, I'll be the one who loses my head, not you!

Thus, Zhang Shuye's work, which indeed posed a fatal threat to Liu Hong, was cut short and perished before he could even leave the Jizhou government office.

Chapter 194: Investigating the Current Status of Wu Song Across the Four Seas

At this moment, Liangshan, having experienced a surge in morale during the war, was developing at an unstoppable pace. The number of farmers, craftsmen, and merchants living in Liangshan had reached a staggering 30,000. Liu Hong also selected 3,000 strong men from among them to form six battalions of soldiers.

Firstly, the number of men has already expanded to three hundred, and is still slowly increasing, with plans to expand to a standard cavalry battalion of five hundred. The commander is Lin Chong, the instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards.

Following them were five infantry battalions, commanded by Liu Hong, the Great Sage of Chaos; Chao Gai, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King; Yang Zhi, the Blue-Faced Beast; Suo Chao, the Vanguard; and Liu Tang, the Red-Haired Devil. Although some of them were former cavalrymen, there weren't enough cavalrymen available, so they would make do for now and gradually adjust their ranks as the organization grew.

Then came a 500-man merman camp, and mermen from other villages also came to join them, causing the Sanruan naval force to expand rapidly, eventually reaching a size of 500 men. The commander was the Living Yama Ruan Xiao Er, and Ruan Xiao Wu and Ruan Xiao Qi were her deputies.

Faced with this underwhelming victory, Chai Jin, far away in Bohai, laughed heartily and sent a large amount of medicine, gold, and silver as congratulatory gifts. He even came to Liangshan Marsh in person to have a small gathering with the brothers, just in time to catch Liu Hong's victory celebration banquet. The entire Liangshan group got drunk for three days and drank heartily all night long to celebrate this glorious victory.

Even more remarkably, Wu Yong finally deciphered the information about the teleportation portal, discovering that one person had been teleported to Mengzhou in Henan and another to Qingzhou in Shandong.

However, these are the locations they just came out of; their exact location still needs further investigation.

“Perfect timing. I need to send Thunderbolt Qin Ming back to Qingzhou. So, I’ll go to Qingzhou first to scout things out. Zhu Gui, gather all the intelligence agents from Kaifeng Ghost Fanlou and go to Mengzhou to investigate and find the other person’s location. Hopefully, they haven’t gone far.”

Liu Hong, who was in charge of managing the stronghold, first politely saw Chai Jin off, then sent Zhu Gui to Mengzhou to gather information about who had gone there. Finally, he left Lin Chong to guard the stronghold, while he himself, along with two valiant generals, Lü Fang and Guo Sheng, accompanied Qin Ming to Qingzhou to gather information about another person.

Qin Ming didn't refuse. She was a straightforward person. After being imprisoned in Liangshan for a while, she drank heavily with Liu Hong and others and was quite surprised by the size of Liangshan's lineup.

Who are these people? Chao Gai is the head of the largest landlords in Yuncheng County; Wu Yong is the infamous "Desire Demon" who was ranked first in the imperial examination but failed the palace examination; Suo Chao is a regular soldier in Daming Prefecture; Yang Zhi is the grandson of Yang Linggong, one of the Five Marquises; and Lin Chong is an even more important figure, the instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards. If these people were in the system, they would be friends that one would need to make, or even superiors that one could not afford to associate with.

The Great Sage Equaling Heaven even addressed Lin Chong as his sister and brother, as if he were her junior brother. Was the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's teacher the Iron-Armed Zhou Tong?!

And now, this group of people, each with terrifyingly high status, are sitting with Qin Ming, drinking and eating meat, chatting and venting their anger at the imperial court.

Qin Ming and this group were all from the same circle; they were all military officers who had all been disgusted by the Song Dynasty's constitution and bullied by civil officials. Talking about this immediately woke them up, and they quickly bonded over.

After the Imperial Guards withdrew, Qin Ming was even more furious. She was already utterly disappointed with Sun You's decision, and seeing her entire army wiped out and replaced by a bunch of inexplicable bandits and convicts from the Qingzhou Camp made her so angry that she wanted to vomit blood. She even had the urge to kill someone! At the dinner table, the group chatted about everything under the sun.

"By the way, Commander, I have an older sister who went missing in Qingzhou. I can't find her. Do you have any connections in Qingzhou that I could ask you to help?"

Liu Hong asked a few questions.

"Looking for someone? No problem! I may be completely clueless in Jeju, but in Cheongju, hey! I can even dig up a mouse in the ground for you!"

Qin Ming, having drunk too much, patted his chest to assure everyone that everything was fine. After being released, he took Liu Hong, Lü Fang, and Guo Sheng with him and returned to Qingzhou to search for his sister who had been stranded there.

Meanwhile, in Jeju, Zhang Shuye was driven to the brink of collapse and resignation by the tripartite division of power in the Song Dynasty. At the same time, Shi Wenbin in Yuncheng County breathed a sigh of relief. Good heavens, the Liangshan incident had finally been covered up. His colleagues in Yuncheng who had ties with Liangshan were also celebrating. They didn't care about the rule of the Song Dynasty, they only cared about living comfortably.

After finally dealing with this mess, Song Jiang herself breathed a sigh of relief. Dealing with the mess involving Liangshan Marsh and the Imperial Guards for the past few months had almost driven her crazy, and now she could finally have some peace and quiet.

At this moment, a matchmaker named Wang from Yuncheng seized the opportunity when Song Jiang relaxed his guard and introduced him to a concubine. This woman was a singer in Fanlou who was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and was extremely good at serving people. She wondered if the old man would be willing to take her as a concubine.

Song Jiang thought about it for a moment. Anyway, she wasn't a wife he had married through proper channels. She was just a concubine, a sex slave. He could marry one and that would be a good way to release the pressure and desires he had accumulated over the past few days. So he nodded in agreement, took out ten taels of silver, and redeemed the woman named Yan Poxi from Fanlou. He also bought a house in Yuncheng, furnished it, and hired servants to serve Yan Poxi.

At this moment, Yan Poxi was flattered and overwhelmed. Who in Yuncheng County didn't know the name of Song Jiang, the Timely Rain of Shandong? She didn't know what good fortune she had encountered to become his concubine!

In her daze, Yan Poxi suddenly saw the owner of Fanlou enter. She instinctively shuddered, and her beautiful face revealed a look of fear. Seeing the owner of Fanlou, she was like a mouse seeing a cat.

There was no other way; one had to bow one's head when under someone else's roof. He was staying at Fanlou, eating and using their food, and the money he earned each day was barely enough to pay the rent. Sometimes he would even owe a little. As a result, he was scolded by the landlord every day, forcing him to sing and play instruments in front of the guests to earn money.

But today, the owner of Fanlou forced a smile and stopped calling her a "lowly thing" or a "singer." Instead, he fawned over her and called her "Madam Ru."

Those customers who usually listened to her sing, upon hearing that this woman had been taken as a concubine by Song Jiang, their lewd and arrogant expressions vanished instantly, replaced by awe as they looked at Yan Poxi. Even the most unrestrained customers dared not lay a hand on Yan Poxi.

Yan Poxi was momentarily dazed, staring blankly at the usually arrogant and domineering master, the benefactor who had always bullied her, who was now treating her with such respect. For a moment, she felt her blood surging and a huge sense of vanity filling her chest.

From this day forward, I am no longer a courtesan, but the concubine of Shandong Timely Rain!

Chapter 195: Endless Desire Leads to Po Xi's Affair

Taking a concubine doesn't require much effort, nor does it involve the complicated ceremony of marrying a wife. Song Jiang simply prepared a house, paid the money, and took Yan Poxi into the house he had just bought the day before, just like taking goods. Afterwards, he invited Zhu Tong, Lei Heng, and other friends to have a meal, and introduced Yan Poxi to everyone like a pet.

Yan Poxi stood there stunned the whole time, overwhelmed by happiness, which made her feel like it was all unreal.

Yesterday, she was an unknown singing girl in Fanlou, working tirelessly every day, playing the zither and singing until her fingers were red from the strings and her voice was hoarse. The money she earned was barely enough to fill her stomach, and she was often taken advantage of by her patrons. She was exploited daily by the wealthy man, and even the tips from her patrons were taken by him. She was left to live pitifully in a small, dilapidated room in Fanlou, barely surviving. She was truly a woman at the very bottom of society.

Let alone important figures like Zhu Tong and Lei Heng, Yan Poxi would have to bow her head and give way to any soldier she encountered on the road.

Today, the two captains of the Yuncheng County militia are bowing and toasting Yan Poxi! And she herself has escaped that pitiful little cubicle and moved into a small two-story building, where her living conditions and spiritual world have been greatly satisfied.

Yan Poxi was completely unaware that the two men were toasting Song Jiang, not her at all. But at this moment, her vanity and ambition were swelling rapidly like a balloon. She was just still thinking about Song Jiang's good deeds and was quite grateful to him. It was this violet-skinned drow elf, Hei San Niang, who had enabled her to achieve a leap in social class.

The only drawback is that Hei San Niang is too enthusiastic about her work. Even at this moment, at the banquet where her colleagues and friends are congratulating her on taking a concubine, she does not forget to drink with her brothers and sisters, talk about relationships, make friends with powerful people, toast each other, and finally get drunk. Yan Poxi's wedding night was spent in bed with the drunken Song Jiang. What a workaholic!

In the following days, Yan Poxi was fully prepared to give her body to Song Jiang, but it was as if she were casting a spell on a blind man. Song Jiang seemed to have inexhaustible energy, endless friends, endless drinking parties. Every day he was drinking with different government officials, making new friends with heroes, and meeting up with friends for drinks.

Furthermore, Song Jiang never brought this concubine to Song Family Village; he simply placed her in a newly purchased house in Yuncheng County. As a result, Yan Poxi could not see Song Jiang for a long time, and marrying him felt like living as a widow!

Song Jiang didn't care about Yan Poxi at all. He had only two reasons for marrying her: first, he heard that the girl was in a bad situation and felt sorry for her, so he wanted to redeem her from Fanlou and give her a better life.

Secondly, he wanted to buy sex slaves to relieve some stress, but after a few days of having a good time with his brothers, he felt much better and became addicted to power again, forgetting all about marrying Yan Poxi.

For this drow elf, power is the best aphrodisiac.

Although Song Jiang was just a minor official, everyone in Yuncheng had to give her face. Even the county magistrate had to consider her feelings. Everyone obeyed her every word! With a wave of her hand, she could command the wind and rain. From the county magistrate of Yuncheng down to a garrison soldier, everyone was willing to stand up for Song Jiang.

The exhilarating feeling of being revered as a leader by hundreds or thousands of people, commanding everyone in a county with every gesture, is far more captivating than mere physical lust.

After Song Jiang ignored her for several days, Yan Poxi's thoughts changed.

If someone like Song Jiang is willing to take me as a concubine, doesn't that mean I'm actually very outstanding? Very capable? Only someone like Song Jiang is worthy of me, Yan Poxi! Before, I was just a pearl hidden in the dust, buried in obscurity. Fortunately, I received Song Jiang's favor, and only then did I return to my rightful place.

A few days later, Yan Poxi could no longer bear Song Jiang's neglect. She used to sing and play music at the best restaurant in Yuncheng, which was lively and bustling every day. Now, she was so lonely that she lived alone at home. Song Jiang would occasionally stay at her place for one night because he was working too late and could not return to Song Family Village. But he would go straight to sleep after returning home. He was already busy with official duties and working overtime until late at night, so he naturally had no energy to do anything else.

A few days later, Yan Poxi's thoughts changed again. After a good meal and drinks, she began to indulge in lust. Her greatest ambition when she sang in Fanlou was nothing more than to redeem herself.

But now that Song Jiang is willing to take me as a concubine, does that mean I deserve better? I have no shortage of food, clothing, and shelter, and my material needs are greatly met. I also have the right to pursue love and spiritual fulfillment!

A few days later, Song Jiang overheard the surrounding officials whispering among themselves. One of them, bold and fearless, approached Song Jiang with a worried expression and told her a shocking piece of gossip.

"Clerk, it seems your newlywed concubine is having an affair with your clerk, Zhang Wenyuan! We've seen that guy sometimes sneaking into your bridal chamber when you're not around!"

"Exactly! That kid is so ungrateful! The clerk gave him the opportunity to be a clerk, but he repaid kindness with enmity!"

"And your concubine too! It was clearly the clerk who redeemed her from the brothel, allowing her to live a life that others could only dream of, and she repays you with this!"

Several minor officials stood up for Song Jiang, feeling indignant on his behalf.