Chapter 157: The Situation of Repeated Jumps (IV)
When Lao Ba came home from court, he could not help but sigh when thinking about what happened today. Lao Ba's wife saw Lao Ba like this, but she did not say anything and silently ordered people to prepare wine and food for Lao Ba.
It was late April in the lunar calendar, and the weather was no longer cold. The couple sat at the table, you served me food, I poured you wine. It was very warm. But Lao Ba's wife was a woman after all, and after a few glasses of wine, her eyes suddenly turned red and she started to cry.
Lao Ba quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe Fu Jin's eyes, but Fu Jin pushed Lao Ba's hand away and cried, "Prince, why don't you just divorce me? I won't have to bring guilt to you when I return home!"
After hearing this, the muscles on Lao Ba's face twitched a few times, and he stood up and walked to Fu Jin, hugging her in his arms. For so many years, Lao Ba's Fu Jin had not given birth to a child, but the couple supported each other and had a deep relationship. Feeling that Fu Jin's figure in his arms was the same as when she married him, Lao Ba felt pain in his heart and said loudly: "I won't let you go, I want you to follow me, and die together!"
When Fu Jin heard this, she hugged Lao Ba and burst into tears. As Lao Ba's legal wife, Lao Ba treated her very well. But as a daughter-in-law, Fu Jin was miserable. On October 4, 1708, Kangxi said: "Yin Si has always been controlled by his wife... She allowed him to be jealous and do evil, so Yin Si has not given birth to a child so far."
This evaluation for a daughter-in-law is like asking her to die. Even if it is not mentioned, even for a woman, this is the greatest malice. If it were not for the Eighth Old Man's efforts to protect her over the years, Fu Jin would probably have died.
After the reign of Emperor Kangxi, rumors have recently spread that Emperor Yongzheng has brought up the issue mentioned by Emperor Kangxi. He has repeatedly spread rumors that there is something wrong with Prince Eight's wife, that she is not a good woman, that she is jealous and a troublemaker, as if Prince Eight's current situation is all caused by this wife.
At this moment, the couple didn't want to talk nonsense. They just hugged each other tightly with tears in their eyes.
The Eighth Prince's wife has always been well-liked and popular among the royal family. She even has a good political vision. The Eighth Prince has survived until now, partly because of the support from the wife.
Yongzheng cut off the power of the Eighth Prince in the court and dealt with all those who were close to the Eighth Prince. Since the Eighth Prince and his wife, birds of the same forest, still insisted on being one in the face of great adversity and refused to fly away separately, Yongzheng would personally cut off the wings that were connected to the Eighth Prince's heart.
After shedding tears for a while, the couple felt relieved. They washed their faces side by side, and then they looked at the moon in the sky, which was missing a large piece. Fu Jin said, "My Lord, can you sing something for me?"
Lao Ba thought this was a good request, and stroked his wife's hand and said, "Let me think about it, I'll sing something for you..."
However, there are always people who don't know what's good for them. Lao Ba's personal servant ran in and said, "Your Majesty, someone has delivered a letter."
Lao Ba felt a little regretful. But the personal servant was trustworthy and would definitely not be ungrateful. Just as he was about to speak, Fu Jin persuaded him, "Your Highness, go ahead. I'll wait for you here."
However, after waiting for a long time, the wife did not see the eighth son return. She sent someone to check, but found that the doors and windows were closed and the couple was still talking. The wife did not disturb them and went back to sleep. Thinking that the couple's resistance to Yongzheng might have come to an end, the eighth son's wife put down the burden in her heart. As long as she could die with her husband, she would have no regrets.
Late at night, Lao Ba returned to the room. Fu Jin felt something was wrong, looked up at her husband, and saw that Lao Ba's face was sad and happy, but also seemed to have made a great decision.
Ten days later, on the third day of the fifth month of the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, Huo Chong had an unexpected guest. Even Huo Chong's subordinates felt that it was difficult to handle this guest on their own, so they left it to Huo Chong to deal with.
Huo Chong looked at Mr. Ding and was also very puzzled. Mr. Ding had been an official, but because he was close to Lao Ba, he was found to have done something wrong and was dismissed and sent home.
This is nothing. After Yongzheng came to power, he was very ruthless in his treatment of officials, but the Qing court had always held an attitude of using and discarding officials. Yongzheng was just particularly fierce.
The truly amazing thing is that this Mr. Ding was on Huo Chong's list. Many people tried their best to escape from Huo Chong, but he was the first one to fall into his trap.
Huo Chong annihilated Li Shude's troops in Linzi and "rescued" some civilians who had been tied up and beaten by the Qing army. They thought they were victims of the Qing army's atrocities, but they were accused by the Qing army captives as colluding with the Qing army.
After interrogation, it was discovered that this was actually true. And Mr. Ding had a very close relationship with some of these people.
To put it more bluntly, Mr. Ding was one of the many masterminds who colluded with the Qing army in the territory controlled by Huo Chong.
Huo Chong was very busy at the moment and didn't want to waste time talking nonsense. He simply asked directly: "Mr. Ding, you are not coming to surrender, or to seek refuge with me, right?"
"Why not?" Mr. Ding answered readily.
Huo Chong was a little annoyed by this answer, and he replied unhappily: "Don't talk nonsense. If you come here just to say such nonsense, I will order people to drag you out and kill you."
After saying this, Huo Chong was afraid that his confidence would waver, so he called Qian Qing in. When it comes to killing people, it must be said that Qian Qing's courage in this regard is trustworthy.
"Mr. Huo, I was also asked to do this. If you want to kill me or chop me up, wait for me to finish. But could this lady please step aside for a moment?"
"Tsk. If there's something she can't listen to, then I can't listen to it either." Huo Chong was very disdainful.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Ding stopped talking nonsense and asked directly, "Mr. Huo, when you first met Prince Yong, you knew that you could not escape his clutches, right?"
"Oh? Mr. Ding. Do you know that after I answer this question, it is unlikely that you will be able to return alive?"
Mr. Ding sighed slightly, "Alas, the revenge of my emperor and father must be avenged. I came here without fear."
Since Mr. Ding was so aware, Huo Chong answered readily: "Yes. You are right. The first time I was with Yongzheng, I knew he would not let me go."
"Does Mr. Huo know the Eighth Master?"
"Um."
"Have you ever heard of the killing of an eagle?"
“I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know.”
Mr. Ding briefly told Huo Chong about the killing of the eagle. After Huo Chong thought for a while, Mr. Ding asked, "Who do you think did it, Mr. Huo?"
"Tsk. Mr. Ding has said this much, there's no way it was Kangxi who issued the order. At the very least, it was the prince's party who did it."
Hearing Huo Chong calling him Kangxi, Mr. Ding's face showed anger. But after a moment, he praised with an unhappy look on his face: "Sure enough! Based on Mr. Huo's knowledge, Mr. Liu is definitely not Mr. Huo's master. This matter cannot be wrong."
Huo Chong saw Qian Qing reaching out to touch the revolver at his waist. Although it was a little late, his apprentice understood that if Mr. Ding said anything too unreliable or too reliable, he would die.
