Chapter 176: I’ll Make It Hard for You to Run
Chapter 176: I’ll Make It Hard for You to Run
Head Shopkeeper Song, of course, knew this was a trap.
Although Concubine Su commited suicide and didn’t give the Fang Family the chance to torture her, but they had vaguely suspected that there was an insider. Who knew how much they knew if they had used the trick of the servant girl being pregnant?
Front foot catching the insider, back foot inviting him in, how could this not make someone suspicious and alert.
Of course, if something that big had happened before, of course they would have invited him. It would be suspicious if they didn’t.
But the Fang Family mother- and daughter-in-law had concealed the fake pregnancy. Obviously, they were suspicious of him.
He thought about how everything before had been to fool him.
Back then, Head Shopkeeper Song had still believed that the mother- and daughter-in-law were full of gratitude and trust for him. That was his folly.
This time, they had asked him to come to the Fang Family. It was catching a turtle in a jar.
At the same time they had leaked information about Fang Chengyu. They had really been suspicious of him.
That’s why it was like this now. Lady Fang had fooled him into coming here. If he would have asked to go see Fang Chengyu in the carriage, then the people inside would have jumped out and grabbed him.
They really took him as a three-year-old child.
“Of course, I knew this was a trap,” said Song Yunping.
He pressed down on his wounded arm, the intense pain making him feel woozy. He did not look at Old Lady Fang, but rather the densely packed horse riders surrounding him.
“But how could you mobilize soldiers? I could only…” he started.
His voice fell, covered by the sounds of horse hooves followed by a man’s rebuke.
“Song Yunping, you are a vile criminal. So you were actually so evil; a wolf’s heart and dog’s lungs.”
Song Yunping saw a middle-aged man wearing a bureaucrat’s robe.
It was the Yangcheng county magistrate, Li Changhong. Next to him was the deputy magistrate, secretary, clerk, and more.
“Lord Magistrate?” blurted out Song Yunping, his expression surprise.
“Honored Magistrate,” said Old Lady Fang. “Did you hear what Song Yunping just said?”
County Magistrate Li nodded angrily.
“I really did not think that he was actually this kind of person.” He looked at Song Yunping hatefully. “You can really know a person and their face without knowing their heart. Now put down your weapons and wait to be captured.”
Head Shopkeeper Song was surrounded by his attendants, the torches illuminating their scared faces.
Against the guards of the Fang Family, they had full confidence, but against these official soldiers, they had only a shred of a chance of victory.
Could it be that it was all going to end here?
Song Yunping looked like a trapped beast.
“Grab Lady Fang,” he shouted suddenly.
That’s right, if they grabbed Lady Fang now, they could use her as a threat and create a chance to escape.
His followers surged towards the courtyard like wolves and tigers.
The guards in the courtyard faced their great foe, while the people of the county magistrate outside looked nervous.
“Fire, don’t let them go,” Old Lady Fang shouted from the side.
“If we fire now, we might hurt Lady,” said County Magistrate Li with worry.
Old Lady Fang looked at the people engaged in battle, her expression grim but distressed.
“Mother, let them fire. Don’t worry about me.”
Came Lady Fang’s voice from within. She was standing in the middle of the guards and holding a knife. Despite an arrow whistling past her ear, she did not move at all; her gaze was fixed on Head Shopkeeper Song.
“If I die, then Father and Husband still have Chengyu to take revenge,” she said loudly, without fear or sadness. She only sounded excited. “Song Yunping, you’re not grabbing me, I will grab you.”
This crazy bitch.
Impatience filled his eyes.
“Grab her, hurry up and grab her,” he shouted. Without caring about his arm, he grabbed a sword and charged in.
Old Lady Fang saw Lady Fang fall in the mess of people but quickly get up. She concealed her worry and grief and looked at the county magistrate.
“Lord Magistrate, we mother and daughter-in-law have said that I set the bait in Yangcheng and she set the bait outside. No matter whose bait the old dog bites, we definitely will not let him go. Even if we have to give up our lives for this revenge, it would be better to die than let him live.” Her voice trembled as she spoke and she bowed. “Please, Lord, capture this murderer.”
These crazy women were much scarier than any man.
County Magistrate Li nodded and sighed.
“Officer Wu,” he called out.
Next to him stood a tall, military man wearing armor and a scarlet cape.
When he heard his name, he grunted.
“Please, arrest the criminal, Officer Wu,” said County Magistrate Li severely, pointing forward.
Officer Wu waved his hand.
“Fire!” he commanded.
Right after, countless arrows rained down onto the small courtyard. Pained shrieks were never ending. After the arrow rain stopped, the soldiers shouted ‘kill!’ while storming in.
The night had gone up in an uproar. Near and far, countless people were aroused, believing that the Jurchen were attacking.
But the hubbub did not continue for long. Head Shopkeeper Song’s men were unable to launch an attack against the soldiers. Over half were killed by the arrows from outside, and the other half got killed by the advancing soldiers. The remaining could only let themselves be captured.
Head Shopkeeper Song was seized from where he lay under several corpses. Fortunately, Lady Fang had only received a small bruise with no threat to her life.
“I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you!”
When she saw that Head Shopkeeper Song had been captured, Lady Fang pounced forward with disregard for her own wounds.
Old Lady Fang reached out to stop her.
County Magistrate Li also sympathetically soothed her.
“Lady Fang, don’ t worry. You will definitely get your recompense to the full extent of the law,” he declared.
“Old Heavenly Father will punish him.” Old lady Fang was holding onto Lady Fang as she looked at Head Shopkeeper Song codly. “We don’t need to dirty our hands.”
Lady Fang sobbed into Old lady Fang’s embrace.
Head Shopkeeper Song stopped his struggling.
“I don’t understand,” he said hoarsely to Old Lady Fang. “This is impossible. How could I have not known of your plans?”
He had known that they were suspicious of him so he had made preparations for this. He had someone watching Fang Family, so he had unrestrainedly ran over to kill Lady Fang.
How did they suddenly bring over soldiers from the county office; he had no knowledge of this at all.
“I said this was a trap,” Old Lady Fang stated blankly. “Your plans for the Fang Family took near twenty years, so what’s seventeen or eighteen days for me.”
Song Yunping looked at County Magistrate Li.
“Li Changhong, you dog official, my money fed you dog,” he spat out and cursed.
County magistrate Li’s face was red. He furrowed his brows.
“What are you saying,” he shouted. “I took your gifts before just to put you at ease. Could it be that I, an official, was supposed to let you flout the law because you gave me money?”
He smiled coldly.
“And that wasn’t your money, it was Old Lady Fang’s.”
Song Yunping wanted to curse again, but a clerk had already timely signaled for the soldiers to shut him up.
The soldiers pulled open his chin and stuffed a piece of cloth into his mouth.
When Old Lady Fang saw Song Yunping detained, she thanked County Magistrate Li as well as Officer Wu and his men.
“This is what we should have done,” County Magistrate Li said respectfully. Then he added with sorrow, “I really did not think that Song Yunping was such a deranged person.”
Old Lady Fang didn’t really want to think about that person anymore.
“This time, Our Fang Family will provide the compensation for those who had died or were injured.”
Not just this, but after daylight came, the entire Yangcheng knew what had happened because the Fang Family had paraded around the city three times while beating a gong before they sent a plaque with his crimes to the county office.
It had been publicly announced that Song Yunping had conspired against the three generations of the Fang Family, which sent the whole county into an uproar.