Favoring a concubine and destroying the wife? I'll abandon my husband and children and wipe out

Not only have officials joined forces to demand severe punishment, but public resentment is also boiling over.

Those who died were mostly poor people, and almost all of them were refugees. They had traveled thousands of miles from their hometowns to other places, hoping to live a peaceful and good life.

But now they realize that they also had the opportunity to settle down in their hometown. It was those corrupt officials who stole their hopes and even used those hopes to drive them to their deaths!

No one could accept such an outcome.

The refugees still in Beijing were even more furious. Led by someone, many of them rushed to the gate of the government building, demanding justice!

In light of this, after confirming that the evidence was conclusive, the imperial court quickly issued a ruling that Vice Minister Lu and his associates should have their homes confiscated, be imprisoned, exiled, or beheaded, and the notices were posted and made public in a short time.

On the day the house was searched, the people all went to watch.

When those officials and their families were brought out in shackles and handcuffs, countless rotten eggs and vegetable leaves were thrown at them, and the people angrily cursed them.

They continued cursing for several blocks, and some refugees, who were so filled with hatred, even caused a riot. They then took advantage of the chaos to rush towards the prison van and punched and kicked the officials who were holding them, and they couldn't be pulled away.

Only the intervention of the officials was enough to stop them.

On the second floor of a restaurant not far away, Song Yanlan stood silently by the window, gazing out over the railing.

His eyes were dark and unreadable, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder.

Song Yanlan snapped back to reality, her eyelids twitching slightly as she turned her head to look.

Lin Lanzhuo came in at some point, leaned against the windowsill, glanced at him sideways, clicked her tongue triumphantly, and said, "How about it? It feels pretty good to have your revenge, right? From now on, you won't have to worry about your former enemies sending people to kill you again, and you can sleep peacefully."

He waved his hand, "No need to thank me, young master. I'm just that kind-hearted. I can't stand seeing someone with their enemy right in front of them, unable to take revenge, and forced to swallow their anger and endure their open and covert harassment."

Song Yanlan was also from the Ministry of Revenue, and he was extremely busy for the first two days after taking office.

Although Lin Lanzhuo didn't say it, he had carefully observed that most of the official duties Song Yanlan performed were actually outside his job scope.

In other words, someone deliberately pushed so many things onto him.

In the Ministry of Revenue, Song Yanlan was somewhat ostracized. Other officials almost never took the initiative to befriend him and treated him coldly.

Unfortunately, Song Yanlan was a fool. Not only did he not realize it at all, he was also foolishly immersed in his official duties, looking like he wanted to do everything perfectly.

Every time Lin Lanzhuo saw her, she would mentally curse her as stupid.

Now that Vice Minister Lu and the others are gone, no one in the Ministry of Revenue will cause trouble for Song Yanlan anymore, and he can be a more comfortable official.

Lin Lanzhuo was thinking happily, not noticing that Song Yanlan was staring at him intently, his eyes sharpening slightly as he asked ambiguously, "So, Brother Lin found out about Minister Lu because of me?"

"Yes!" Lin Lanzhuo said without thinking, but then felt a little guilty.

Regardless, he genuinely considered Song Yanlan a friend, so he truly stood up for Song Yanlan and readily agreed to push Song Yanlan to investigate Minister Lu.

Thinking this way, Lin Lanzhuo became more self-righteous again, but still did not look directly at Song Yanlan.

Song Yanlan's gaze grew increasingly calm and sharp, carrying a hint of danger.

However, when his gaze shifted to Lin Lanzhuo's profile, Song Yanlan inexplicably recalled the first time he met Lin Lanzhuo, when the other party descended from the sky to save him, and he remembered that same profile.

The second time was the same.

Without hesitation, the other person saved him. With his last bit of strength, he grabbed the other person's clothes and begged for help. When he looked up at him, he saw the same profile.

Profoundly profound.

Song Yanlan's gaze shifted downwards, catching a glimpse of the undisguised joy in Lin Lanzhuo's eyes, which was probably partly genuinely a feeling that his enemy deserved what he got.

...Never mind, at least the fact that I saved him is real; and the time we've spent together these past few days is also real.

Song Yanlan withdrew his gaze, but then suddenly said, "After Vice Minister Lu's case is closed, my senior and I will be leaving the capital to return to my hometown. My senior has already asked His Majesty for leave."

"Huh?? When are you coming back?" Lin Lanzhuo was caught off guard.

Song Yanlan said, "At least twenty days from now."

Upon hearing this, Lin Lanzhuo replied without hesitation, "I'll go with you!"

"It's not very convenient," Song Yanlan politely declined. "When I go back with my senior, we need to hold a formal apprenticeship ceremony and bring my grandmother to the capital to live with us. In addition, my senior also needs to return to the academy. There are many trivial matters to attend to, and the return date is uncertain. This will take too long and may interfere with Brother Lin's other important matters."

Lin Lanzhuo blurted out, "But I only have one important thing to do, and that is to follow you!"

Song Yanlan was stunned for a moment.

Lin Lanzhuo, completely oblivious, continued, "If you don't want me, won't I have nowhere to go? Even if I continue to live in your house, I'll be so lonely. I won't even be able to go out for late-night snacks and drinks with you. I don't want to! You have to take me with you!"

Song Yanlan remained silent for a moment before refusing, saying, "Brother Lin, how could you have nowhere to go? You can take this opportunity to go home and discuss with your father what to do next. I... I also need to think about it some more. I hope that when we return, we will both have thought it through."

Lin Lanzhuo actually thought about his father, just as he suggested.

His father's order to him was to stay with Song Yanlan. When they met the other day, his father said that the recent events in the capital had caused too much of a stir, but there wouldn't be any other problems for the time being, and he would take this time to calm down and wait for things to pass.

So it's definitely okay for him to go back now.

"My father doesn't want me," Lin Lanzhuo said shamelessly. "Anyway, you have to take me with you. You said you wanted to repay a debt of gratitude, you can't just leave it halfway through, right? Besides, I'm good at martial arts, so I can protect you and Senior Wen along the way, right? If we encounter bandits or something, you don't need to worry with me here!"

Song Yanlan's expression immediately became complicated: "You, do you really not understand what I'm saying? Or do you not want to understand and are pretending to be deaf and dumb?"

Lin Lanzhuo was displeased by these words: "I know, you're starting to get annoyed with me and don't want to see me anymore because you gave up halfway through repaying my kindness, right? How can you be like this? Just say it directly, do you have to say it like that!"

He got angry as he spoke.

"It's not that I have to follow you. If you don't want me, I, Lin Lanzhuo, won't pester you. Goodbye!"

After saying this, Lin Lanzhuo turned to leave.

Song Yanlan clenched her fists and suddenly called out to him.

"No, Brother Lin, you've misunderstood. It's just that you're leaving the capital with me like this, don't you need to tell your family?"

"Is this what you mean by 'discuss'?" Lin Lanzhuo turned around and looked at him suspiciously.

Song Yanlan seemed to have resigned herself to her fate and nodded at him.

Lin Lanzhuo looked at him with disbelief, but seeing that he really didn't seem to be faking it, her expression improved, her anger vanished, and she became happy again.

"No need to tell my dad, he's busy right now and won't care about me! Besides, I'm all grown up, why do I need to tell him everything?"

"Let's talk about you. When are you and Senior Wen planning to leave? Have you packed your bags yet...? You're not planning to leave this afternoon, are you? You weren't planning to say goodbye and just leave me behind, were you?!"

Song Yanlan: "...No, I originally planned to leave tomorrow."

"I only found out you were leaving tomorrow, and you still say you didn't hide it from me?!"

Lin Lanzhuo got angry. "Let's go, we're not watching the show anymore. Let's go back and pack our bags now. Song Yanlan, let me tell you, if you've booked a carriage, go and get a bigger one now. Also, prepare some dried meat for the journey. I need to eat something good, otherwise I'll keep arguing with you!"

As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed Song Yanlan, pulling her away.

Song Yanlan looked at him and listened to his incessant nagging about what he needed to prepare for the journey, and sighed in agreement.