C24

As night fell, the Marquis of Ji's Mansion was brightly lit.

In the backyard, Gongsun Zan stayed in, a family of three sat around a round table for dinner. Below the table was a large pot of burning charcoal, the temperature and atmosphere in the room were both very warm.

However, the Han Dynasty people still took the kneeling posture when they were eating: the Han people wore wide robes and big sleeves, they did not have any underwear to wear, it would be 'indecent' for them to sit on the ground. Other than those poor commoners who would sit and eat like this, rich and powerful families would never do something like this. Otherwise, they would be ridiculed.

The reason why Gongsun Zan's family surrounded the round table to eat 'traitorously' was because of Gongsun Xu's suggestion. Gongsun Xu had not been reborn for a long time, but it had changed many of the traditional habits in Marquis of Ji's Mansion. One of the reasons was because the family did not need maids to eat around the round table. He even argued that since they were a family, and since it was lively and enjoyable to sit together, it was mainly because he was not used to sitting on his knees. Gongsun Rui praised him greatly, and Gongsun Zan could do nothing but accept it.

Gongsun Rui finished eating a bowl of rice in twos and threes, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and stood up, "Father, Mother, please enjoy yourself slowly. Your daughter will take her leave first."

Gongsun Zan sighed: "Your actions are crude, without any trace of a lady, how can you marry out in the future?"

"Humph!" Gongsun Rui made a face, curled her lips and said: "If I can't marry, I won't! Your daughter will be with your parents for the rest of her life. "

Hou Yue asked indifferently: "The sky is already dark, where are you going?"

Gongsun Rui quickly flattered with a flattering smile, "Heh heh, mother is indeed amazing. I could already guess that my daughter was going out."

"Don't try that!" Hou Yue waved his hand, "Go back and rest, don't run around!"

"Mother!" Gongsun Rui hugged Hou Yue's shoulders and shook him vigorously.

"Tell me where you're going first!"

"Oh, Cui Er had an interesting rare animal a few days ago. I didn't expect that she would accidentally get injured. Daughter wants to go take a look." Father, please help me speak up for my daughter! "

"Alright, alright!" Gongsun Zan lovingly rubbed Gongsun Rui's head, smiled and said, "Madam, please let her go, otherwise, it'll be hard for us to eat properly."

"Old master, you only know how to spoil Rui Er!" Hou Yue rolled his eyes at Gongsun Zan, but he still agreed, "Bring a few more guards with you, come back earlier."

"Here!" "Thank you mother, thank you father. Your daughter promises to be back soon." Gongsun Rui smiled and curtsied, then turned and ran out.

Hou Yue sighed: "Seems like this child needs to properly teach etiquette!"

Gongsun Zan drained half of the bottle in one gulp and laughed, "Hehe, Madam, will you?"

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud bang suddenly came from outside, followed by Gongsun Rui's surprised exclamation and a man's apology.

"Aiyo!" How come you don't have eyes for walking? "

"I'm sorry! Please punish me, Young Miss. "

'It seems to be Zhao Yun's voice. 'Gongsun Zan was shocked, did something happen to the people in Changli again?

"What's going on?" Hou Yue asked the others.

The maidservant outside replied, "Reporting to Madam, I accidentally bumped into someone."

"Are you hurt?" Hou Yue was shocked.

"Alright, alright, stop bowing and apologizing! I'm fine, please go ahead. "

After Zhao Yun respectfully saw Gongsun Rui off, he came to the door and bowed: "This subordinate, Zhao Yun requests to see the Marquis."

Gongsun Zan said softly, "Zhao Yun definitely has something important to attend to. This old man will be meeting him right here."

Hou Yue nodded and stood up, walking quickly to the back of the screen.

"Come in." Gongsun Zan shouted.

The servant lifted the curtain and Zhao Yun entered with his head lowered, kneeling down in salute.

"Get up and speak." Gongsun Zan waited until Zhao Yun stood up before asking, "What's the matter?"

Zhao Yun took out a letter from his chest pocket and brought it over with both hands: "This subordinate has a letter from the Young Marquis here, and would like to invite the Marquis to read it first."

Gongsun Zan's heart relaxed, since this person was able to write back, he would definitely be fine. Thus, he opened the envelope and took out the letter to read. After reading a few paragraphs, he suddenly stood up and continued to pace back and forth as he read the letter.

'Master Hou is so shocked, just what has happened? ' Behind the screen, Hou Yue's heart tensed up, he had to endure for a long time before he could not open his mouth to ask, but unexpectedly, the very first sentence Gongsun Zan said after reading the letter made her extremely shocked!

"Where's Qiu Liju's head?"

"Reporting to the duke, it's at the door."

Gongsun Zan quickly walked to the door and took a look, only to see a one-foot wide wooden case wrapped in black cloth lying on the ground.

Zhao Yun quickly followed and pulled down the black cloth to open the box.

Inside the box was a huge head, it was beard and hair all opened, eyes wide, face filled with astonishment, it was the confused Qiu Liju who was beheaded.

Gongsun Zan laughed complacently. "Haha! Great! It really was this fellow! "Old Sixth!"

The robust guard who had previously investigated Gongsun Xu in secret quickly walked over and cupped his hands: "Please instruct me, Master Hou."

Gongsun Zan passed the letter over and sneered: "Give this letter along with Qiu Liju's head to old man Liu Yu, let that old man see what he has exchanged with his many years of affection for the Hu Clan!"

"Here!" The sixth brother took the letter and put it away, picked up the box and walked out.

"Zi Long, follow me in." Gongsun Zan walked to the doorstep and looked at Zhao Yun in admiration.

"Here!"

After Gongsun Zan entered the room, he sat back on the round stool and thought to himself: "Zhao Yun joined under my command a few years ago, but never did he perform any brilliant actions. He did not expect his people to place so much importance on him, and actually went to the extent of chasing after him overnight. If my son didn't recover Zhao Yun in time, wouldn't he have lost a great general? Something was not right! Zhao Yun had followed Liu Xuande for a long time, so how could the Big Ear Buster not know Zhao Yun's ability? He clearly knew that Zhao Yun was an exceptional general, yet he did not tell Yu Wu about it. Could it be that it is the darn Big Ear Buster, I have helped you many times while you were down, yet you think you can poach me? "How hateful!"

This person's ears were big and long, and looked as honest and straightforward on the surface, but his heart was as cunning as a thief. Thus, he was ridiculed by his classmates as a 'Big Ear Buster'. A few years ago, when Liu Bei was serving as the official of Gaotang County, the city was captured by bandits, and he had nowhere to go to Ji County.

Gongsun Zan happily accepted Liu Bei as his successor, gave him a lot of money and food, and even gave him the Pingyuan County to guard the army. Of course, Gongsun Zan did not have any good intentions in his actions, at that time, he was preparing to go to war with Yuan Shao, and Pingyuan County was a place Yuan Shao had to go to before he could go north, so Gongsun Zan gave up on Pingyuan County, wanting Liu Bei to use him as cannon fodder to fight a battle with Yuan Shao.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei was not fooled, he took the opportunity of Cao Cao Cao's attack to attack Xuzhou, and Xuzhou Mu Tao Qian came over to ask for help, using just his spear to trick Yuan Shao into going south, quickly gaining Tao Qian's trust. Tao Qian had asked the imperial government to bestow Liu Bei the title of Yuzhou (Liu Bei's Yuzhou Mu was from the remote region, just like how it was previously said, only doing the same for the Yanzhou Mu was a fake), and had even sent Liu Bei's army to the Xiao Pei to fight against Cao Cao. Not long after, Chen Gong and Lv Bu started to attack Cao Cao Cao's Yanzhou. Cao Cao quickly withdrew his troops, since then, Liu Bei had been living in the Xiao Pei.

Now that Liu Bei had over ten thousand elite soldiers, and even more than likely to take over from Tao Qian and take over the position of Xuzhou's Patriarch, Gongsun Zan felt a burst of anger whenever he thought of the 'Big Ear Buster'.

"Cough." Behind the screen, Hou Yue was anxious to know about her son's situation. Seeing that Gongsun Zan was deep in thought, she couldn't help but let out a light cough.

Zhao Yun was shocked, he never thought that there would be someone behind the screen, probably the marquis' wife, who had an even more respectful expression.

"Oh?" Gongsun Zan regained his senses, pointed to an embroidered block near the window and laughed: "Zi Long, sit down and talk."

"Thank you, Master Hou." Zhao Yun thanked him and then kneeled down.

There are some details that this old man does not know, and I would like to ask Zi Long to explain everything that has happened in Changli from the beginning to the end. "

Zhao Yun did not dare, and after thinking back for a while, he started to explain in detail from the day he arrived at Changli County City.

Gongsun Zan had been listening quietly the entire time, with no expression on his face. It was only when Zhao Yun talked about the Xianyu Fu brothers repeatedly provoking Gongsun Xu that he finally asked with a heavy face, "If this old man remembered correctly, those two thieves, Xianyu Fu and Xianyu Yin, were also promoted by Liu Yu, right?"

"Exactly." Zhao Yun hesitated before he nodded and replied.

"Humph!" If he is not of my race, then his heart must be different! Old man Liu Yu, however, didn't understand this logic. How foolish and laughable it was to talk all day about righteousness and morality with the Hu! What does Zi Long think? "

Zhao Yun hurriedly lowered his head, he did not dare and could not accept this topic.

"Go on." Gongsun Zan did not force Zhao Yun to answer and just waved his hand for him to continue.

"Here!" The young duke announced the plan when they went to the barracks afterwards.

After Gongsun Zan finished listening to what Gongsun Xu had to do in the army camp, he felt gratified but also relieved. Since this citizen had placed so many old, weak and handicapped people in the hands of Elder Liu Yu, it would be strange for this old man to not worry about vomiting blood! He proudly decided that if Liu Yu came to request for more military rations when he couldn't hold out any longer, he wouldn't agree to it no matter what.

Hou Yue, who was behind the screen, heard this and his heart finally stopped beating. It seemed that this matter had gone smoothly for his son! However, the question in her mind was even more intense: Since this subject did not do anything dangerous, how did Qiu Liju die?