C160

After a night of heavy rain, the situation on the riverbank that was "on the verge of collapse" became even more urgent.

Although the Magistrate Zeng was greedy, he didn't want to see the riverbank really collapse and the river water flood into the city.

It was just dawn, so he did not care about the rain. He went to check on his wife, told her to take good care of him, and then led his subordinates and the few people sent by the Ministry of Works to rush to the upper reaches of the Huai River.

Almost as soon as he left Lady Zeng's courtyard, a figure slipped in.

There were quite a few soldiers guarding outside the courtyard. It could be said to be the second most heavily guarded place apart from the dungeon.

However, there weren't any guards inside the courtyard. There were at most ten servants inside.

Xiao Jingyue finally found the location of the study, and just as he was about to go in, a peaceful looking lady walked over.

According to the news, Zeng Ce's parents were dead, and his in-laws did not enjoy many days of blessings after he became a governor of the Tong Huai Manor. There were many relatives like the Third Aunt and the Sixth Madam, but they rarely got to know each other.

From the looks of it, the lady in front of him was definitely Madam Zeng.

However, it was rumored that Madam Zeng was frail and sickly. She had been coquettish all year round, and her complexion was not as rosy as the lady in front of her.

Xiao Jingyue was suspicious, he leapt up onto the roof and hid himself.

"Wait here." After Madam Zeng finished her orders, she pushed open the door and entered alone.

The two maidservants that followed her over stood guard at the entrance, looking straight ahead without blinking.

Xiao Jingyue lowered his head to look at Green Snake who was wrapped around his wrist, and then pointed at the servant girl standing the furthest to the right.

Green Snake seemed to understand his words. He nodded his head and rubbed the back of his hand a few times with his tongue. Then, he climbed to the top of the servant girl's head.

After finding a good position, he flicked his tongue at Xiao Jingyue once again.

Xiao Jingyue nodded.

In the next moment, he suddenly appeared in front of the other servant girl.

His movements were as fast as a shadow, the moment his hand touched the ground, the servant girl could not even utter a single syllable before falling limply to the ground.

On the other side, Green Snake was tightly strangling the servant girl. The servant girl wanted to say something, but her throat was so tight that she couldn't utter a single syllable.

When she wanted to kick the door to create a disturbance, Xiao Jingyue had already walked in front of her and knocked her out with a palm.

"Who?!"

Madam Zeng's shout suddenly came from inside the room.

Xiao Jingyue calmly wrapped Green Snake back onto his wrist, and pushed the door open.

When Madam Zeng saw him, she was momentarily stunned. She asked uncertainly, "General Xiao?"

Ever since the middle class teachers of the General Xiao returned to the capital, there were many portraits of him in the people.

After a few months, the portraits had spread far and wide, and even people from Tong Huai Manor had started to sell portraits of generals.

According to the rumors, the General Xiao could suppress the evil spirits.

His son had admired the General Xiao ever since he had entered the academy. Occasionally, he would walk past them on the street, but once he met one who sold paintings, he would directly buy all the paintings and hang them all over the bedroom. It would be hard for her not to see them.

Xiao Jingyue nodded slightly, "Madam Zeng."

Madam Zeng looked at Xiao Jingyue, she did not shout for the guards to come over, and did not question why he was here either.

He sat down by the table and poured two cups of tea. He pushed one of the cups across the table and said in a warm voice: "General, please sit."

Xiao Jingyue lifted his clothes and sat down, lowering his eyes as he looked at the tea in front of him.

Madam Zeng said, "I believe that the general has already arranged for those two girls to be served tea. If the general does not like cold tea, he will not drink it."

Xiao Jingyue did not make a sound. He held up the cold tea in front of him, and after warming it with his Qi, he switched it with the cup of cold tea in front of Madam Zeng. He said indifferently, "I heard that Madam Zeng has a weak body, that the weather is cold, and it's best not to drink cold water."

Madam Zeng lowered her head and looked at the tea that was rising in spirals. Her expression suddenly became complicated, "Ever since I started lingering around the sickbed, even the servants had brought warm medicines during the heat of the summer heat. It's been many years since I've tasted ice water down my throat. And now …"

At this point, Madam Zeng sighed. Her eyes were slightly moist as she continued, "I can walk freely without the care of others and without any worries. I just don't know what it feels like to be cold and hot anymore."

Hearing that, Xiao Jingyue raised his head and looked at the middle aged woman sitting opposite to him.

It was said that Madam Zeng was weak and had been married for seven or eight years before obtaining a son. She then became ill for several years.

If one were to look closely at her appearance, which was much older than her actual age, then it was likely that at least seventy to eighty percent of the rumors were true.

Xiao Jingyue was silent for a moment, then asked, "Is there anything hard to say about Lady Ceng?"

Madam Zeng shook her head. "Things have already come to this point. There's no point in speaking any further."

Pausing, she stared at the young man in front of her with sunken eyes and asked: "I wonder what is this trip of General Xiao, and why is it so called?"

"Speaking of which, I am ashamed. This general came to Tong Huai Palace to assist the Emperor in investigating the collapse of the riverbank, and was led to a cave in the middle and lower reaches of the Huai River by the Magistrate Zeng a few days ago.

After Xiao Jingyue finished speaking, he looked at Madam Zeng with a sharp gaze and his voice turned cold, "The reason why this general escaped from prison this time, is to find out the truth behind the river bank's collapse, as well as the money that was secretly hidden near the river bank."

Because of Xiao Jingyue's words, the study room became so quiet that the sound of a needle dropping could be heard.

As if she knew what Magistrate Zeng was doing, Madam Zeng was not surprised.

She stayed silent for a long time and said softly: "Today, this humble woman has never seen General Xiao and this General Xiao has never come to this place either."

Xiao Jingyue understood.

Even though she knew that her opponent was weak, she did not act rashly.

He gave Madam Zeng a deep look before leaving without a second thought.

Just as he was about to step out of the doorstep, he heard the voice of the woman: "In the past, at Tong Huai Palace, this humble woman had been saved by Southern Guarding Prince's concubine, and lived for dozens of years. The current object was man-made, but the kindness was still there. It doesn't matter if you believe me or not, this humble woman dares to warn you, this general is a heaven warping talent, it is a pity that he is too sharp, although he has the Southern Guarding Prince Palace as his support, if you do not have any grand ambitions, then it would be better to stay far away from the imperial court, and take over the support of the previous generations, and secure a safe place for the future.

When Xiao Jingyue heard the four words "Southern Guarding Prince's Consort", his eyes flickered slightly.

After hearing what Madam Zeng had to say, he turned around and asked, "According to what Madam Zeng said, what happens if you have great ambitions?"

However, she only said: "Southern Guarding Prince's Consort is not a person from Tong Huai Manor, but grew up in Tong Huai Manor. She is a renowned beauty, General has lost his mother since childhood, if anyone is curious about the matters regarding Southern Guarding Prince's Concubine, they can come to the southeastern tea house in the east side of the city and ask the supervisor."

After a moment of silence, Xiao Jingyue turned and faced Madam Zeng as he cupped his hands and bowed.

In the blink of an eye, it started to rain again.

Xiao Jingyue stroked Green Snake's head and looked towards the east of the city.

After a while, he suddenly turned around and headed in the opposite direction.

Not long after Xiao Jingyue left, Madam Zeng stood up and removed the candle from the candlestick.

In order to hold the candle in place, there was usually a metal needle about half a finger long where the candlestick was placed.

After the candle was removed, a sharp iron needle appeared in the center of the candlestick.

The two maidservants were still unconscious, lying on the floor in a mess.

Madam Zeng walked up to them and raised the candlestick in her hand. She fiercely thrust the sharp iron needle into one of the maidservants' temples.

Gritting her teeth tightly, she ruthlessly pierced the two maidservants' bodies over ten times.

After confirming that they were all dead, the candlesticks in his hands fell off powerlessly.

Then, his legs went weak and he sat down on the floor.

The youth, who was covered in wind and rain, came to find Madam Zeng when he saw this. He cried out involuntarily, "Mother!"