Chapter 386

Liu Rushi heard Su Qiao's words, her beautiful eyes shimmering with light, carrying an unusual expression.

"Alright, you need not worry; we shall rest and simply wait for news."

"Mm!" Liu Rushi nodded obediently.

However, Su Qiao was not so arrogant as to prepare nothing.

After all, even a cornered dog jumps over a wall!

Moreover, Su Qiao currently had only a dozen or so people around him, and today he had offended not just one or two officials.

What if one of them, with a poor mind, suddenly developed other thoughts?

As the saying goes, caution ensures a ship sails for ten thousand years; Su Qiao also needed to make some arrangements.

He summoned Ma Kui, handed him the troop deployment token, and instructed him to notify nearby stationed soldiers to come immediately if anything changed.

Additionally, he sent Sun Youxu to the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Nanjing headquarters, namely the Southern Surveillance Office, to requisition a group of men.

One could say that only Su Qiao could freely mobilize both the army and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Even a Grand Secretary like Sun Chuanting did not possess such authority.

On the other side, Zhao Xifang and others individually escorted Lin Heng and the others to the Damenkou of their homes.

They were truly thrown from the carriages directly onto the Damenkou, then departed with a flourish.

It was simply unbearably arrogant.

The others were fine; at most, they were beaten until their whole bodies ached and they bared their teeth in pain.

Only Lin Heng had the foulest mouth and suffered the heaviest injuries, after all, having had a leg broken.

After being thrown from the carriage onto the ground and seeing Zhao Xifang and the others leave, Lin Heng immediately began to wail and scream in agony.

He could finally cry out!

His face was pale; he had dared not cry out before and had endured it for a long time.

The gatekeeper and servants inside Lin Fu heard the commotion, hurriedly opened the main gate, and saw Lin Heng collapsed on the ground, wailing miserably.

"This is the Young Master; it's over, quickly notify the Master, hurry!"

Seeing Lin Heng in such a miserable state, the gatekeeper and servants were instantly frightened and rushed frantically to fetch people.

Before long, a large crowd came rushing out from the inner residence.

Lin Heng was also carefully carried by the servants into the bedroom and placed on the bed.

Sitting beside the bed was an old Physician, calmly taking Lin Heng's pulse.

The dignified middle-aged man and the beautiful middle-aged woman standing nearby looked at Lin Heng on the bed, their eyes revealing expressions of concern and heartache.

After a long while, the old Physician, having finished taking the pulse, finally spoke: "Minister Lin, Lady Lin, your Young Master's leg is indeed broken, and although he previously suffered some flesh wounds, he has no internal injuries; this broken leg is easily set, there is no major issue, so please rest assured."

"Can he return to normal?"

Lady Lin asked anxiously, pressing further.

The old Physician nodded confidently, "Correct, he can recover exactly as before, but it requires three months of subsequent recuperation."

"Good, thank you; please prescribe medicine."

"No problem."

Just now, with outsiders present, Minister Lin Fu had not been able to ask.

Now that the Physician had left, his face immediately turned dark as he looked at Lin Heng and asked: "What exactly happened today? Tell me the details; if you conceal anything, I will absolutely not help you."

"Master..." Lady Lin was somewhat displeased; her son was clearly the aggrieved party.

"Silence!" Lin Fu glared at her, cutting off her subsequent words.

He had actually received a report this afternoon.

It said that today Lin Heng had a conflict with someone on the embankment of Qinhuaihe, and the opposing party seemed to be Liu Rushi, the courtesan who had married into the capital.

Those who had the conflict with them were Liu Rushi and the man Liu Rushi had married...

Others might not know much about Su Qiao.

But Lin Fu knew some rumors about Su Qiao.

One should say that not only Lin Fu, but most officials in the Nanjing court knew some rumors about Su Qiao.

After all, it had not been long since Qian Qianyi's incident.

It was heard that Qian Qianyi had offended Su Qiao in the capital, which led to his late years being compromised, and he was directly arrested by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and thrown into the Imperial Prison.

Thus, Su Qiao gave the Nanjing officialdom the impression of being someone who held a grudge against even the slightest slight.

This was also why Lin Fu's expression was so Solemn and he did not immediately promise revenge for Lin Heng.

Seeing his own father's demeanor, Lin Heng felt extremely uneasy in his heart.

Before returning, he had thought about how to exaggerate the story and then have his family help him teach Su Qiao a severe lesson.

Now he could only honestly recount The course of events.

When he heard Lin Heng say that Su Qiao had asked him to deliver a message to himself, demanding an explanation before tonight, his eyebrows jumped, and a sudden sense of ominous foreboding surged in his heart.

Lady Lin could no longer hold back and spoke at this moment.

"Is this how one bullies people? Not only beating someone, but also clamoring for an explanation; we should be the ones demanding an explanation!"

"Silence!"

Lin Fu glared coldly at Lady Lin, "A doting mother spoils her child; if you had not spoiled him as usual, how would such a thing have happened? So many people together, yet it was specifically our son whose leg was broken; do you think you are very capable?"

The person in charge of this household was still Lin Fu.

Lady Lin only dared to occasionally explode and interject because she was heartbroken for her child and relied on Lin Fu's doting and her status as the First Lady.

Now that she saw Lin Fu was truly angry, she did not dare to speak recklessly.

Lin Fu roughly understood the situation and secretly calculated something in his heart.

He was not the only one who had offended Su Qiao; if it were only him, he might be relatively passive.

But they had gone together as a group, these colleagues being some of lower status than himself and some of equal rank.

Su Qiao might possess considerable influence in the capital.

But this is Nanjing!

Besides, on what grounds did he dare to brazenly threaten all of them?

What backing did he have?

Lin Fu was pondering these very questions.

Lady Lin and Lin Heng dared not disturb him from the side.

241, what a fright!

This was the situation at Lin Fu; other families were much the same.

Very little was known about Su Qiao's background; he did not serve in the court, and it only seemed he had a good relationship with Your Majesty.

His influence was great, and he could even contact the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The rest was unclear.

As for the matter of Su Qiao dealing with the Korean envoy Cui Linyu before leaving the capital, Zhu Youjian had directly placed it under the hands of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

In any case, Su Qiao did not hold an official post in the court, and moreover, being far too young, if he showed his talents too openly, he would easily become a target.

Out of protective intentions, Zhu Youjian had directly erased all traces of Su Qiao.

Su Qiao naturally did not refuse; on the contrary, he was quite pleased.

Standing in the front is easy to expose oneself; how wonderful it is to hide in the background!

Regarding the news of Su Qiao's good reputation, this group naturally could not rest easy; they involuntarily all came to Lin Fu to inquire.

After all, there was still some time before evening, and they needed to discuss and inquire about the news.

After all, Lin Heng had suffered the heaviest injury, having his leg directly broken in public.

The others had merely been beaten, which was still bearable.

Lin Fu's attitude determined their attitude for the night.

Everyone might not say they were of one branch and one stem, but one could say they were advancing and retreating together over this matter.

The heads of each family visited one after another and sat down in the main hall; after the maids and servants served tea, they closed the doors and quietly left.

Lin Fu lifted his tea cup and took a light sip, waiting for them to speak first.

"Brother Lin, I wonder what your view is on this Su Qiao?"

Lin Fu glanced at the few people sitting in the hall and cursed inwardly that an old fox was using him as a cannon fodder.