Top Scholar

Chapter 533 Torturing the Old Imperial Uncle

"I am the Marquis of Jianchang! Whoever is in charge here, get out here!" A thunderous roar echoed throughout the entire Guanghui Temple.

"Oh no, Godfather! Speak of the devil! The Emperor's uncle is here! A wise man knows when to back down, so why don't you avoid him for now?" Xiao Qiang was so frightened that he trembled.

"You're spouting rhymes all the time, are you trying to pass the imperial examination?" Qian Ning glared at him, rolled up his sleeves, and said, "I'll teach you another one today, what does 'a loss may turn out to be a blessing in disguise' mean?!"

"Huh?" Xiao Qiang was taken aback, not understanding Qian Ning's thoughts.

"Get out of the way!" Qian Ning pushed aside Xiao Qiang, who was blocking his way, took a deep breath, and walked faster and faster toward the mountain gate.

Upon arriving at the gate, a fawning smile spread across his face. He bowed and scraped before the Marquis of Jianchang, saying, "So it's Your Excellency, the Marquis! This humble servant greets you. Our Western Depot is investigating an important case here..."

"Get the hell out of here!" Zhang Yanling didn't even let him finish speaking, and slapped Qian Ning hard across the face. "I'm the Emperor's maternal uncle, what do I care about the Western Depot or the Eastern Depot! This Guanghui Temple houses the memorial tablets of the Empress Dowager's father and the Emperor's maternal grandfather, it's not your place to run wild here!"

"Yes, yes, Your Excellency, rest assured, the memorial tablet of the Duke of Changguo has not been disturbed at all," Qian Ning hurriedly assured him with a smile.

"Then get out of here! I'm very angry right now, don't make me even angrier!" Zhang Yanling said with a ferocious expression.

Actually, his father's memorial tablet was secondary; the main issue was the land he had hidden under the name of Guanghui Temple. If the Western Depot confiscated it as 'unauthorized temple property,' where would he get it back?!

That's 2,500 hectares of farmland in the capital region. If each hectare yields ten taels of silver, how much would 250,000 hectares be worth? Do the math yourself!
This terrifying figure represents almost all the spoils he amassed during the entire Hongzhi reign, thanks to his sister's protection...

The Zhang brothers are known for their extreme stinginess, like a mythical creature that only takes in and never gives out. Now that someone has threatened their wealth accumulated over many years, it would be strange if they didn't go crazy!

But he happened to run into a stubborn guy. Qian Ning was full of New Year's greetings, but he just wouldn't budge.

"Yes, yes, what you say is true. We cannot disturb the spirit of the deceased lord, but I am only acting under orders. If I were to give way without orders, I would have no choice but to atone with my death!"

"Then I'll kill you right now!" Zhang Yanling slapped him hard again, and Qian Ning once again took the blow without dodging.

Although he was a master, he hadn't put his skills into practice, and his face was immediately swollen from being slapped...

Qian Ning covered his face, but a fierce glint flashed in his eyes. He stiffened his neck and said, "Even if the Marquis kills me, without orders from above, no one dares to let the Marquis in. Do you all hear me?!"

This last sentence was naturally meant for the Imperial Guards guarding the gate.

"Yes!" Seeing that the commander refused to back down, the Jinyiwei guards were naturally united in their hatred of the enemy.

"This is outrageous!" Zhang Yanling was completely enraged by Qian Ning's stubbornness and immediately ordered his burly servants, "Hang this damned fool up and beat him! Let's see how long he can keep up his stubbornness!"

The servants immediately swarmed forward, and the Imperial Guards drew their embroidered spring knives to try to stop them, but Qian Ning stopped them: "You are not allowed to be violent towards the Imperial Brother-in-law. Guard your gates!"

But Zhang Yanling's men showed him no mercy. Several strong servants quickly pinned Qian Ning to the ground, bound him tightly with leather ropes, and hung him upside down from a pillar in front of the mountain gate. They then began whipping him mercilessly, lashing him across the face. This was interspersed with punches and kicks…

Even though Qian Ning had trained his muscles and skin, he couldn't withstand such a brutal beating. Before long, his skin was torn open, and blood flowed down his neck and onto his face, dripping onto the ground.

He groaned in pain, but he clenched his teeth tightly and refused to let go!

"Beat him to death! I'll take responsibility if he dies!" Zhang Yanling became even more furious upon seeing this, acting as if he himself had been beaten.

"stop!"

Just then, a furious shout suddenly rang out. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw another group of Imperial Guards dressed in flying fish robes and with embroidered spring knives at their waists, escorting a young civil official dressed in the robes of a sixth-rank official, galloping towards them on horseback!

In the blink of an eye, the group of men arrived at the mountain gate. Seeing Qian Ning, beaten to a pulp, their eyes widened in horror. The leading civil official shouted, "Quickly, put Commander Qian down!"

Several Imperial Guards dismounted, broke through Zhang Yanling's servants' blockade, and rushed towards Qian Ning.

"Who do you think you are? How dare you interfere in my business?" Zhang Yanling turned and glared at Su Lu, his face contorted with rage. "Hang him up and beat him too!"

"I am Su Lu, the newly appointed top scholar!" the young sixth-rank civil official declared emphatically, deliberately stirring up trouble by saying, "Say it again if you dare!"

"Top scholar?" Zhang Yanling scoffed. "Is being a top scholar really that valuable? Only one appears every three years! Get out of the way, don't get in my way!"

No matter how arrogant he was, he wouldn't dare lay a finger on the top scholar, who had achieved the highest rank in the imperial examinations six times; otherwise, he would surely be reprimanded by the civil officials...

"I am acting under imperial decree. You are the one who should step aside!" Su Lu brandished a golden plaque that read "As if the Emperor were here in person" and declared loudly, "By imperial decree, Marquis Jianchang, Zhang Yanling, is ordered to leave immediately and is not to disturb the investigation!" "What decree do you have? I don't believe it!" Zhang Yanling retorted, "I am the Emperor's maternal uncle. How could he treat me like this? You must be the one causing trouble!"

"If you don't believe me, Lord Marquis, I will take you down to face the Emperor, and you can ask him yourself." Su Lu's tone was firm. Seeing Qian Ning beaten so badly, it was hard for a father to bear.

"I'm not leaving! If you dare touch a hair on my head, my sister will never forgive you!" Zhang Yanling stubbornly refused to budge. He knew perfectly well that this kid surnamed Su must have been acting on orders, otherwise he wouldn't dare to be so arrogant even if he had the guts.

But Guanghui Temple holds all of Zhang Yanling's wealth. Once he leaves, his estate will be completely out of his reach!
Of course, the main reason is that he is fearless... He dared to wear the late emperor's winged crown and rape the female officials of Kunning Palace. He was lawless and never suffered any punishment! How could he possibly back down this time?
No matter how outrageous his behavior gets, his sister always manages to smooth things over, and this time will certainly be no exception...

Su Lu frowned and was about to order the Marquis of Jianchang to be bound. Zhang Yanling couldn't bear the shame, so he had to stand up for himself and not lose face as the top scholar!
"Lord Jianchang, let's go, don't embarrass yourselves here." At this moment, a slightly hoarse, bubbly voice rang out, and Zhang Yong had no choice but to show himself. He couldn't let these two actually start fighting, that would cause too much trouble for the Emperor.

"Eunuch Zhang?" Zhang Yanling's pupils contracted. Upon seeing Zhang Yong, he knew that his nephew, the emperor, must have also arrived.

His gaze passed over Zhang Yong and, sure enough, he saw torches illuminating the sky in the distance. Surrounded by a large contingent of imperial guards, the young man in golden armor was none other than the current Zhengde Emperor.
Zhu Shou was also glaring angrily at Zhang Yanling, that damned uncle who had always been very rude to him since childhood.

It seems that his mother loves him more than she loves herself...

Zhu Shou really didn't want to face anyone from the Zhang family, especially since his maternal grandfather's memorial tablet was enshrined in the temple. That's why he didn't go forward immediately, but instead asked Su Lu to chase the fellow away.

Unexpectedly, Su Lu, holding his own imperial gold medal, didn't drive him away, which infuriated Zhu Shou, who had no choice but to send Zhang Yong instead...

At this point, Zhang Yanling was actually panicking—how could he not be afraid? The emperor was already nineteen years old, no longer the child he could bully at will.

But more than his fear of the emperor, he feared that if he backed down, all the wealth he had hidden in Guanghui Temple would be wiped out. Wouldn't all his years of saving and working hard to amass wealth have been for nothing?
He abandoned Zhang Yong and scrambled toward Zhu Shou, crying and shouting as he ran, "Your Majesty! Please come quickly! They're going to dismantle your grandfather's memorial tablet and extinguish the eternal flame! They're going to condemn your grandfather to eternal damnation! Waaah... Your Majesty, even if I die today, I will break in and protect my father's memorial tablet!"

Zhu Shou never expected that even after seeing him, Zhang Yanling would still dare to act so unruly and defy his orders!
They simply don't respect him, the emperor, at all!
This arrogant attitude completely ignited Zhu Shou's anger, and all sorts of old grievances were brought up one by one.

Once he got carried away, Zhu Shou no longer cared about his mother's reaction. He pointed at Qian Ning, who had just been put down, and his tone was as cold as ice.

"Bring that person here to me!"

Soon, Qian Ning was helped by the Imperial Guards to Zhu Shouma's side, where he knelt down heavily and kowtowed.

God knows how difficult it was for him to walk those few short steps from the Panda Palace to the Emperor's presence...

Zhu Shou looked down at him and said in a deep voice, "I remember you."

Qian Ning was overjoyed; the Emperor had finally remembered him, his adopted son! But then Zhu Shou continued:
“You did a good job investigating the case last time; Scholar Su even gave you special praise.”

"Ah, thank you for the compliment, young master." Qian Ning couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself. The Emperor really had forgotten the old me and only remembered the me from half a month ago.

That's okay...

Then Zhu Shou ordered, "If he dares to lay a hand on you today, you beat him back!"

Qian Ning was taken aback. You want me to beat up the emperor's uncle?! Even if you are the emperor, what if your mother doesn't settle things with me?

"What? You don't dare?" Zhu Shou frowned upon seeing this, his tone suddenly becoming more intense, his anger almost overflowing from his words.

He's already moved out of the Forbidden City, why should he still be overshadowed by the Empress Dowager?
"Dare!" Qian Ning suddenly looked up, a fierce glint in his eyes, and shouted back despite the excruciating pain.

"Alright! I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong." Zhu Shou nodded in satisfaction and tossed the riding whip to Qian Ning.

"Alright!" Qian Ning caught the dragon whip with both hands, instantly perking up as if all the pain in his body had been dispelled by the dragon whip.

He struggled to his feet, rolled up a bloodstained sleeve, grabbed a whip, rushed forward, and lashed it hard at Zhang Yanling, who was still rolling on the ground!

"Hit me! Hit me! I don't want to live anymore..."

Snapped!
"Ouch!" A whip lashed solidly across Zhang Yanling's buttocks, causing him to stand up instantly in pain, gasping for breath and grimacing as he jumped up and down.

P.S. I really need to read the next chapter tomorrow morning...

(End of this chapter)