Zhou Cangyue was not exaggerating, he really did take some time out from his busy schedule to come here. When he learned that Duke Dingguo's surname was Jing, he did not want to come in person, but asked his Beggar Gang brothers in Jinling to investigate. The reason why he knew about Jing Laosan was because the Beggars' Gang found out. However, the rules in Duke Dingguo's Mansion are extremely strict, and Old Lady Meng and the Duke's wife run the Mansion like an iron barrel, so the information that the Beggar Gang can find out is really limited. That night, he slapped his forehead and made the decision to come to Jinling in person. Zhou Cangyue had a feeling that he might be able to find out his own background from Duke Dingguo. He guessed that his adoptive father knew, but he never told him until his death. He didn't care at first. Whether he was a child of the Zhou family or a bastard in the eyes of others, he didn't care at all. But perhaps because he had grown up, he began to wonder whether his biological father was also a bad person like himself in his dreams. Like all teenagers of his age, he is curious about everything unknown.
Earl Yan'an is not very smart, otherwise he would not have made such a mess at home and outside. But many times, people can unleash unlimited potential in critical moments, and that is what is happening to Earl Yan'an now. In such a short time, he actually came up with a solution. Although the imperial court repeatedly prohibited officials and their families from lending money at high interest, such imperial regulations could only restrict newcomers to the officialdom with no background. For the Earl of Yan'an, it was just a fart and nothing would happen. Since the first year that the Earl of Yan'an arrived in Nanjing, he has been secretly lending money at high interest rates. Just last month, he learned that Yuan Mengzhi, a famous talent in Jiangnan, not only borrowed money from him at interest, but also failed to repay it on time. For this purpose, Yuan Mengzhi had sent him two calligraphy and paintings. Unfortunately, although Yuan Mengzhi was famous, he was not famous enough to be worth a fortune for a single painting while he was alive. The wealthy and powerful Earl of Yan'an did not even look at these two calligraphy and paintings. The Earl of Yan'an had his eyes on the garden that Yuan Mengzhi owned by the Taihu Lake, but unfortunately Yuan Mengzhi refused to give it up. If a lot of things had not happened in the court recently and the Earl of Yan'an had not been free, he would have spread the news of Yuan Mengzhi's failure to repay the money to all the major academies, making Yuan Mengzhi lose his reputation. Now, the Earl of Yan'an has set his sights on Yuan Mengzhi. Yuan Mengzhi was a child of aristocratic family. Both Yuan Mengzhi and his father were talented men, good at poetry and prose, proficient in the six arts, romantic and unrestrained, and spent money like water, but they just didn't know how to make money. Yuan Mengzhi's father could still live a life of luxury and debauchery with the ancestral property, but by Yuan Mengzhi's generation, they could only make a living by selling the ancestral property. Yuan Mengzhi borrowed money from the Earl of Yan'an in order to redeem the two courtesans. These two courtesans, one in Jinling and the other in Gusu, are both stunning beauties. But the two of them couldn't forget each other after they met once. Because they had no choice, they could only write poems to comfort their lovesickness. After Yuan Mengzhi learned about this, he decided to redeem them, but the two were worth a lot of money, and in the chaos of war, their houses and land were worthless. Even the selling prices of antique paintings were far below their value. Yuan Mengzhi sold a painting by the former dynasty's painting master, but still could not raise enough money to redeem the two beauties. He had no choice but to borrow money from a loan shark. Now both beauties have been redeemed and became his eighth and ninth concubines. They are inseparable every day, but Yuan Mengzhi can no longer pay the usury. But Earl of Yan'an was a reckless person, and Yuan Mengzhi was really worried that Earl of Yan'an would spread the news everywhere and talk nonsense. Today he was painting for his two beautiful concubines when a maid came in and told him that Earl Yan'an had asked him to meet her. Yuan Mengzhi immediately felt a headache, but he had to go because the Earl of Yan'an said that if he didn't come, he would tell others that he had borrowed money and didn't pay it back. Yuan Mengzhi always compared himself to the generous Mengchangjun, saying that he owed money and didn't pay it back, doesn't he have any face? Although Yuan Mengzhi didn't know why the Earl of Yan'an invited him to a tavern, he didn't dare to ask more questions and came here eagerly.
Half an hour later, Yuan Mengzhi walked out of the tavern, his depressed mood swept away, and now he turned back into the elegant and talented man with great literary talent. Dingguo Gongfu. Ever since the emperor was imprisoned, Duke Dingguo seldom returned to the palace. When he occasionally came back, he would discuss matters with his staff in the outer study room and sleep in the front yard at night. The Duke's wife had not seen him since the couple had a bad conversation that day. As usual, the wife of the Duke went to Chunhui Hall to pay her respects to Old Madam Meng morning and evening. When Old Madam Meng asked about Duke Dingguo, the wife of the Duke responded with a smile. But as she walked out of Chunhui Hall, the smile on the Duke's wife's face disappeared. When she returned to her courtyard, the maid came to tell her that the third young master had gone out. The Duke's wife was stunned. Although Duke Ding did not explain, she instinctively thought that at this time, Jing Lao San should stay at home and not go anywhere. "Do you know where he went?" asked the Duke's wife. The maid said, "I heard that someone had an appointment, and the Third Master was very happy when he left." The wife of the Duke sighed and thought, forget it. Although Jing Lao San was registered under her name, Duke Ding had never let her take care of the child since he was a child, and she didn't want to do so either. Now that he was out, it had nothing to do with her, but she didn't chase him out with a stick. What does it matter to her whether he is dead or alive? Jing Laosan went on a date with Yuan Mengzhi, and the date location was of course still in that deserted tavern. Since arriving in Jinling, Jing Laosan has wanted to make friends with those famous talents in Jiangnan. Unfortunately, although the Dingguo Mansion is a first-class family in the capital, in the eyes of scholars in Jiangnan, it is far inferior to those famous families in Jiangnan. Not to mention Yuan Mengzhi, even those who are not as famous as Yuan Mengzhi are not worthy of Jing Laosan's attention. Now that Yuan Mengzhi took the initiative to invite him, Jing Laosan ran over without thinking. Worried that the servant would betray him to his father, Jing Lao San didn't even bring the servant with him. It turned out that the son of the Duke's Mansion came alone. The idea was proposed by Earl Yan'an, but when he saw Jing Laosan coming so quickly, Earl Yan'an was still a little bit unbelieving. Duke Dingguo would never have imagined in his dreams that his son, who was so cunning and sly, could be so easily fooled. At this time, Jing Laosan was sitting in the tavern. Sitting opposite him was not Yuan Mengzhi, whom he admired, nor the Earl of Yan'an, but Zhou Cangyue. Zhou Cangyue looked at him with a smile, and Jing Lao San felt uncomfortable when he looked at him: "Who are you? Where is Mr. Yuan?" Zhou Cangyue: "I changed my mind." After saying that, he stood up and shouted to the outside: "Someone come!" Two people immediately rushed in from outside the door, and Zhou Cangyue pointed at Jing Laosan and said, "Take him with you, let's go!" Earl Yan'an couldn't believe that Zhou Cangyue actually took Jing Laosan away, and left without hesitation. The Earl of Yan'an looked puzzled. At this time, the proprietress came over and said with a smile, "My Lord, please go back. Oh, don't think of wiping us out. We are beggars. We don't have much, but we have a lot of people. Guess how many days it will take for the news of you kidnapping the third son of the Jing family to spread all over the world?" Earl Yan'an's heart sank. Even if the Tiger Army was completely wiped out one day, the Beggars' Gang could not be wiped out. Not to mention spreading throughout the world, if he makes the slightest move, believe it or not, by tomorrow morning, the news that he tricked Jing Lao San out will spread throughout the streets and alleys of Jinling City. That's why Zhou Cangyue was so confident and took Jing Laosan away in front of him. Yan Anbo laughed dryly: "Madam, there is no reason to chase guests away. I just come here to drink. You should at least let me have another drink."
Duke Dingguo did not learn about Jing Laosan's disappearance until three days later. He has been in the palace for these three days. There was no other way. The military situation was urgent. Since he had imprisoned the emperor, he had to take on the heavy responsibility. In fact, the Duchess's wife noticed something was wrong that night. But she didn't send anyone out to look for him until the next morning. After searching for three days, he checked all of Jing Laosan's friends and the places he often went to, and made sure that he couldn't find him. Then he sent someone to the palace to tell Duke Dingguo about the matter. Duke Dingguo became anxious when he heard this. He intuitively felt that the Duchess's wife was behind this, but he had no evidence, so he could only return home and smash all the porcelain in the room. The Duke's wife looked at him coldly without saying a word. Duke Dingguo stepped on the debris on the ground and walked towards her step by step. He suddenly grabbed her arm and said viciously, "Ms. Ding, you'd better burn incense and pray to the Buddha to bless San'er to come back safely. Otherwise, don't blame me for not thinking about the love between husband and wife." After saying this, Duke Ding threw the Duke's wife to the ground and walked away. The maidservant beside her hurriedly helped the Duke's wife up from the ground. She was shocked to see blood flowing from her palms cut by the broken porcelain pieces, but the Duke's wife seemed to feel no pain. She laughed at herself and said, "Did you hear that? The love between him and me for decades, and my children, are all not as good as a child born out of wedlock, haha." The old woman had been with the Duke's wife since she was a child, and she had long known that the Duke and his wife were not on good terms, but at this moment she could only bite the bullet and persuade her: "Madam, the Duke was just speaking in anger. He has been dead for so many years, how can he compare to you? Just wait until the Third Young Master comes back." The Duke's wife raised her lips slightly and smiled strangely: "It's better for him not to come back, and it's better for him to die outside. If he comes back, our family and my children will be taken away by that bastard sooner or later." Needless to say, the bastard the Duke's wife was talking about was the Duke Ding. The old woman didn't dare to speak and could only treat the wound silently. That night, Duke Dingguo still did not come back, and several of the young masters of Jing were sent out to look for Jing Lao San. Everyone in the Duke's Mansion was in danger, and the huge house was silent. At the second watch, the four young masters dragged their exhausted bodies back to the mansion. The Duke's wife asked someone to call all four of them over. After thinking for a moment, she asked someone to call her youngest daughter Jing Qianqian over as well. After dismissing the servants around her, the Duke's wife said to her children, "There is one thing I feel I should tell you now." The children had a vague guess as to what was going on, and they all held their breath and listened to what the Duchess's wife said. The Duke's wife said, "The third child is not a bastard's child, but a child born out of wedlock, a child your father brought back from outside. At that time, the third child was only three months old, and the second child was seven months old. The day before the third child was brought back, your father returned to the mansion and looked at the second child's face for a long time. He was sure that a three-month-old child could not pretend to be a seven-month-old child. Only then did he give up the idea of letting the third child replace the second child. " Jing Laoer's face changed drastically. Among the brothers, only he and the third brother were close in age. Therefore, they grew up together and were the closest. He never dreamed that he was almost replaced by the third brother. The Duke's wife sneered, "When he was looking at the second child, I knelt on the ground and kowtowed to him, begging him not to do this. He didn't even look at me, and muttered to himself, saying that it would be better if this child could be born a few months later." The Duke's wife laughed until tears came out of her eyes: "From then on, there was no more love between him and me as husband and wife. For the sake of the third child, he spent a large sum of money to buy a woman of good family background to be his biological mother, giving him a respectable background. He also asked me to register him under my name, giving him the status of a legitimate child. You all practiced martial arts and sought military positions, but the third child was sent to school by him since he was young to learn the knowledge of governing a country. He had much higher expectations for the third child than for you legitimate sons."
All four sons lowered their heads. How could they not feel their father's love for the third child? It's just that due to the pressure from their father, they dare not say it. Jing Qianqian was worried. When her second brother was seven months old, her parents no longer had any love for each other. But later they had their fourth brother, fifth brother and her. No wonder her mother always favored her eldest and second brothers and was indifferent to the other three. At this time, Jing Lao Er asked, "Mom, who is the third child's real mother?" Before the Duke's wife could speak, Boss Jing spoke first, "Is it Princess Huishan?" The room was silent again, and even the Duke's wife asked hesitantly, "How did you know that?" Boss Jing said coldly, "Once, I learned that my father was red-faced and went to find trouble with Liu Shanhe. I knew that Liu Shanhe was cunning and treacherous, and I was worried that my father would suffer, so I chased him. At that time, they met in a private room of Qinhuai Restaurant. When I went over, I heard them arguing inside, and my father mentioned Princess Huishan." As the eldest son of Duke Dingguo, Boss Jing had his own connections. He felt something was amiss and asked someone to investigate. It turned out that the long-dead Princess Huishan was just a stand-in. The Duke's wife sighed and said, "Yes, the third child's biological mother is Princess Huishan. Princess Huishan was kidnapped on her way to marry far away. She was pregnant at the time, and that child is the third child. Liu Shanhe was determined to improve the Liu family's bloodline and wanted Princess Huishan to give him a child. In order to make Princess Huishan willing, he had no choice but to agree to let her give birth to the child. Your father was very powerful. He knew that Liu Shanhe would definitely take action against this child, so he bribed the midwife and substituted a dead baby for the child. He secretly raised the third child in a farmer's house and brought him back to the mansion three months later." Boss Jing thought for a moment and asked, "Is the third brother's biological father really my father?" The Duke's wife sneered, "He dreams of being the third child's biological father, but it's not the case. Although he had an affair with Princess Huishan, it was in the past. He is not the third child's biological father. Over the years, he has been willing to raise other people's children!" Jing Qianqian, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly interrupted: "Hey, my father locked up the emperor, could it be because of my third brother? He wanted my third brother to be the emperor?" The Duke's wife's voice became colder and colder: "Yes, your father sacrificed our entire Duke's Mansion for that bastard. Our family is not far from being confiscated and exterminated." Jing Qianqian's heart moved, and her eyes sparkled. (End of this chapter)