Chapter 250: with translation of chapter title

Although the woman was walking with both hands and feet, fortunately she was very fast, even throwing Li Qingluo and Pan Li far behind.

When Li Qingluo and Pan Li had narrowly returned to the exit, their whereabouts were also discovered by Prince Su.

Duan Rongshi glared at her fiercely, his eyes seeming to say: "I, the prince, will settle the score with you later!"

Li Qingluo pretended not to see, because the dungeon behind had completely collapsed, even the secret passage entrance was smashed.

They could only be forced onto the stone stairs, waiting for the people from the Ministry of Justice here to keep breaking the door.

But when the Ministry of Justice people saw a mad woman suddenly rush out, someone, seeing her appearance so horrible, let out a low cry; that woman, however, suddenly lunged forward and bit the official on the mouth.

"Ah!!"

A miserable scream instantly threw the crowd into chaos.

"What thing—"

Zhui Yu and everyone around immediately drew their swords to kill that woman, but Li Qingluo shouted: "Don't kill her!"

She rushed forward, grabbed the woman and shouted sternly: "Shut up! If I had known you wanted to die, I shouldn't have saved you; hurry and let go!"

Hearing Li Qingluo's reprimand, the woman actually slowly released her bite, quickly stepped back, and then hid behind Li Qingluo.

Fortunately, although the official's neck was bitten, the blood vessels and flesh on his neck had not been torn apart; as soon as the woman stepped back, someone immediately grabbed a cloth band and tightly bound his wound.

He should not die.

At this moment there was no time to quarrel with Li Qingluo and them, because the dungeon behind had completely collapsed, and even the stairs began to rain stones and sink.

Duan Rongshi withdrew his gaze from that woman, grabbed Li Qingluo: "Come to my side."

Li Qingluo pulled Pan Li, and the three of them hurriedly hid beside Prince Su.

Here Zhui Yu and they were already shouting in unison: "One, two—break—!"

"Boom—" a loud sound, the iron door collapsed in response.

The huge stones behind also followed with "rumble rumble" and fell one after another.

Amidst the ashes and dust, Li Qingluo felt herself tightly embraced, she instinctively buried her head in it, and then was brought rushing out, seeing a glimmer of light…

"Pan Li!"

Li Qingluo, upon breathing fresh air, immediately turned back to search.

Pan Li coughed and raised her head.

She was brought out under the protection of Sha Lei and Zhui Yu.

Also, that abnormal woman was likewise pulled out from the ashes by someone.

She looked at the blue sky and white clouds outside, fearfully clutching her head and letting out a low wail: "Ah—ah—ah—"

Li Qingluo and Pan Li had just exchanged a smile when they noticed the woman's abnormality.

She seemed, very afraid of sunlight?

Prince Su: "Zhui Yu, take off your outer robe."

Zhui Yu let out an "oh", quickly took off his outer robe and draped it over the woman.

The woman immediately sat quietly in place, not daring to move at all.

"Luo'er! Luo'er—"

Li Qingluo hadn't even had time to see where she was when she heard a familiar shout.

She quickly lifted her head to look toward the sound.

"Grandmother?!"

Pei Lao Furen, wearing a full suit of armor, came striding over with red eyes; Li Qingluo's eyes also instantly reddened, and she sprang forward, running wildly toward Pei Lao Furen—

"Grandmother!"

Grandmother and grandchild tightly embraced before the ruins, and Pei Lao Furen couldn't help but shed tears.

Seeing this, Li Qingluo hurriedly fumbled to wipe her grandmother's tears, anxiously asking: "Grandmother, how did you come? You're dressed so majestically, Luo'er… Luo'er almost didn't recognize you."

Pei Lao Furen slapped her palm on her shoulder: "You little brat, Grandmother worried to death over you, even thinking something had happened to you."

"If you really had something happen, Grandmother would turn against the Pei family!"

"If Grandmother didn't come dressed like this, how could she intimidate them? And how could she even enter this Pei mansion?"

The Pei mansion and Pei Lao Furen had already cut off contact for thirty years; now, to find Li Qingluo, Pei Lao Furen has also gone all out.

This amounts to thoroughly offending the Pei mansion once again.

Hearing this, Li Qingluo felt deep guilt in her heart.

"Grandmother, Luo'er has made you worry again; Luo'er is unfilial."

She lifted her head to look at the sky, thinking: Indeed, a day has already passed. While she was unconscious, a night passed; she doesn't know how Grandmother spent this whole day.

If Grandmother went missing, I would surely want to overturn the whole of Jinling.

Pei Lao Furen: "Besides you, who else could Grandmother worry about? But you were indeed captured by the Pei family… How are you? Anywhere injured? Anything wrong?"

"Let Grandmother take a look, child, quickly turn around!"

Li Qingluo obediently turned around, letting Pei Lao Furen examine her.

"Grandmother, Luo'er is fine."

Seeing that she had no obvious injuries anywhere, Pei Lao Furen finally let out a heavy sigh of relief and showed a hint of a smile.

"Grandmother just knew, our Luo'er is a fortunate person who naturally turns danger into safety."

After saying that, Pei Lao Furen lifted her head to look at Prince Su, knowing that this time Luo'er's safety must also be related to Prince Su.

She quickly brought Li Qingluo forward: "Your Highness Prince Su, Luo'er has again been saved by you; this old official truly has no words to thank you, our Xiuli Jiangjun Fu once again owes you a favor. This is… truly, I don't know how to thank you properly."

Duan Rongshi: "Old General Pei, there's no need to be so polite. This time I happened to meet Miss Li; she also helped me greatly, we assisted each other, so it's not solely my achievement."

"This matter need not be mentioned again."

"Now Prince Su also needs General Pei's assistance; please, General Pei, take a look—could this place have been the residence of the late State Duke?"

Li Qingluo only then noticed that the place they escaped from the dungeon was the Pei family.

However, because the dungeon collapsed, the courtyards and houses above were also damaged, and at first one could not tell what this place originally was.

Pei Lao Furen bitterly nodded: "Yes. This truly is the courtyard where my elder brother once lived; although I have been away from home for over thirty years, I have always remembered the road I took when I came."

"Prince Su, Your Highness, before you emerged, my elder brother had already been taken away from here by the third son of the Pei household. Your guards have already taken a portion of men to pursue; the remaining members of the Pei household are here."

In an instant, everyone in the courtyard knelt: "Salute Prince Su, Your Highness, may you live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten ten thousand years."

Pei Lao Furen: "Bring him up, bring Lord Pei Bu up!"

With a low command, Pei Lao Furen and several others, all clad in armor today—including Zhang Mama—immediately brought Lord Pei Bu up.

Zhui Yu and Sha Lei, from somewhere, fetched a grand master chair and placed it before the ruins.

Prince Su swept his robe aside and sat down on the spot.

Evidently, today the Grand Justice of the Court intends to solve the case on the spot before the Pei manor's ruins.

Prince Su's eyes were sharp, like a blade honed from ice, staring at the usually meek and utterly mediocre Lord Pei.

"Bold Lord Pei, your Pei household secretly built a dungeon, for years have been slaughtering innocent women, feeding Lord Pei Lao with human blood to extend his life—absurd and utterly cruel. Do you admit it or not?"

"And the death of Pei Twelfth Lady—whether it is related to this, whether you know about it—why don't you summon her at once!"

Lord Pei stared ahead with a blank expression and coldly said, "I do not know what Your Highness is speaking of. I cannot understand, nor comprehend."

"I only know that my father, back then, fought for the nation, lost two younger brothers in succession, and returned from the battlefield wounded all over, already afflicted with a strange illness."

"He knew his body could no longer fulfill the role of Great General, so he resolutely relinquished the coveted military authority and made the Pei family go into low profile, no longer dealing with any high‑born families in Jinling City."

"He even ordered the court that his descendants must not rise to prominence before his hundred‑year death, to prevent any chance that the Pei family might again stir up trouble and harm the people of DaLiang."

"Moreover, my father always had his own physician; for years his illness troubled him, yet he scarcely left the courtyard, sparing me and my family further trouble."

"As for why there would be a dungeon beneath my father's courtyard, what atrocities were committed against innocent women, and the death of Twelfth Lady, my family and I truly know nothing at all."

"And that Third Son, who was beloved by my father since childhood, grew up by his side to handle affairs; that is nothing unusual."

"Today Aunt and Prince Su's party all rushed to our Lord Pei's manor; one, with an intimidating air, insisted that our granddaughter had been kidnapped by our manor for ransom, another claimed Prince Su was locked in a dungeon in my residence. Such absurdities, if not for my family seeing them for the first time, we would not believe them."

"Although Your Highness did indeed emerge from underground, you also destroyed our Pei manor's houses; so many people are shouting and demanding arrests here—are you oppressing my Lord Pei's manor, which now has no support, and thus resorting to such cruelty?"

"If that is so, then I shall go to the palace at once to plead my case before His Majesty!"

Zhui Yu bellowed, "Bold Lord Pei! The facts are right before us; your manor has a dungeon—how can you deny it? You bound Miss Li and Miss Pan of the Pan family; if we had not emerged together as witnesses, could you still refute this!?"

"As for the filthy deeds you have done over the years, they have nothing to do with the former merits of your Pei family!"

"You even invoke His Majesty, who is the saint that discerns right from wrong—does Prince Su now fear you?"

Duan Rongshi raised his hand, stopping Zhui Yu from continuing.

Zhui Yu huffed, "Humph," in irritation.

Duan Rongshi suddenly smiled: "Lord Pei, you have great backbone. I, the King, respect you as a true Lord Pei; recalling that your manor's past merits were unparalleled, bringing great blessings to the people of DaLiang, I have therefore always shown you three‑fold deference."

"Yet you disregard me entirely."

"A single dismembered murder case has uncovered countless blood crimes behind your manor that have taken lives; based solely on this charge, DaLiang law permits me, the King, to wipe out the entire Pei family!"

"You still try to feign ignorance before me, as if I were a vegetarian?"

"Bring them all, seize every member of the Pei family. Send them to the Ministry of Justice's prison, and have Zhang Yi interrogate them thoroughly for me. Do all of the Pei household truly know nothing about the blood case involving Old Lord Pei and the dungeon of the Pei manor?"

"How many maidservants have perished in the Pei manor?"

"How many innocent orphaned girls has the Pei manor captured?"

"And the recent series of missing palace maids—let me have them excavated, dig out the dungeon's corpses, and match each skeleton to confirm identity. I do not believe the Pei manor is unrelated!"

"Among these swarming servants, the master, the young master, the lady—someone will eventually break. Those who stay silent, punish them severely; surely one or two will speak the truth."

"Lord Pei, do you think my proposal is good or not?"