Minglan is reborn, this time with no regrets!

Langya sneaked into the camp while it was dark and no one was noticing.

General Xie's tent was easy to spot. It was the largest in the entire military camp, and unlike the other small tents, it was not crowded with people. Langya quietly knocked out a sergeant, stripped him of his clothes and put them on, then quietly slipped into the tent. As soon as he entered, he felt a warm air coming towards him, which was in stark contrast to the cold night outside. Langya was originally very cautious not to make any noise, but he found that General Xie was sleeping like a dead pig and could not even notice someone approaching him. Langya stuffed the letter he had prepared in advance under General Xie's bed, and then sneaked out without anyone noticing.

The next day, a patrolling sentry found his comrade who had been knocked unconscious nearby. His clothes were intact, but his weapons were missing. The sentry was worried that it was the work of bandits, so he reported the situation to the general, but General Xie believed that the bandits were afraid of them and fled, so he still held his ground.

On the third day, an arrow flew from nowhere in the daytime and hit the tent of General Xie in front of everyone. There was a letter stuck on the arrow, which cursed General Xie for going back on his word and not giving the promised things. Several literate officers read the letter, and then it was passed to General Xie. After reading it, General Xie cursed, "What a mess!" and burned the letter. He thought it was nothing, but rumors had already spread among the soldiers.

On the fourth day, a fellow villager who lived nearby fished out two dead fish from the river. In the fish's stomach, he unexpectedly found a silk handkerchief with words written on it. The fellow villager thought it was amazing, but he couldn't read, so he took the handkerchief to show it to the village scholar. The scholar saw that the handkerchief was written with "Xie Jiangjun Wang". Thinking of what the fellow villager said, it was found in the fish's stomach, he shouted "Someone is trying to rebel!" and immediately reported it to the police...

The governor of Jianghuai was worried about the recent rampant bandits. When he heard someone come to report that there were reports of "books hidden in fish's bellies and wild wolves howling at night" in several places under his jurisdiction, they were all saying that "General Xie Wang" was in the Jianghuai garrison.

The advisor beside the prefect pondered and said, "Isn't the general surnamed Xie in the Jianghuai garrison Xie Bi? He actually wants to be king?"

The prefect slammed the table and yelled, "Xie Bi, you are so vain, you want to imitate Chen Sheng and Wu Guang and rise up in rebellion!"

He was just worried that no one would take the blame for the chaos in Jianghuai Prefecture, so he strode out of the government office and cursed at the air: "I have already given enough face to the Xie family. It was Xie Bi who was greedy and ambitious, so you can't blame me for enforcing the law impartially!"

The next day, the prefect of Jianghuai led a team of soldiers to search the Jianghuai garrison camp. They found a letter from Xie Bi to the bandits under his bed. The letter stated that he would offer the lives of the entire garrison to the bandit leader as a token of his allegiance, and that he would not leave a single soldier behind. He only asked to be granted the title of king of a different surname after the success. As soon as the letter came out, the whole camp was in an uproar. The soldiers cursed Xie Bi, saying that it was no wonder that he had been unwilling to send troops to suppress the bandits. Many soldiers came out to claim that they had seen the bandit's letter being burned by Xie Bi... With all the evidence, Xie Bi had no way to refute it.

Old friends of the Xie family ran around in the court for Xie Bi, shouting that the incident was strange and someone was deliberately plotting to murder him. In the end, Xie Bi was sentenced to suspension for investigation and was not directly nailed to death for "treason", but this was enough for the people of Jianghuai. At this time of unrest, peace or chaos is only a matter of a moment. The Jianghuai garrison must replace it with a general with real talent and knowledge. If Xie Bi is allowed to continue to act recklessly in the army, the consequences will be disastrous.

The prefect of Jianghuai had thought about this as a trap, but he had also tolerated Xie Bi for a long time. Xie Bi had no talent at all except for his ability to curry favor with the rich and powerful. He was able to become the general of the garrison army because of the money and connections of the Xie family. The prefect of Jianghuai knew everything about this matter, after all, he was "conquered" in this way. If it weren't for the fact that the Xie family was powerful, he would not want to work with this idiot. The bandits were becoming more and more arrogant. If he didn't quickly replace them with capable generals to fight the enemy, Jianghuai would be in danger! By then, not only would he lose his official hat, but he would also lose the lives of dozens of his family members.

Soon, the court sent a new general over. The new official took office in a position that was at the center of public opinion, so naturally he did not dare to be careless. The soldiers stationed in Jianghuai were all afraid of being regarded as the legacy of Xie Bi, so from top to bottom they put in their utmost effort, and all the bandits in Jianghuai were wiped out.

It was half a month later when Shitou and Langya returned to the Sheng residence. At this time, Xie Bi had just been executed and the Sheng family had already received the news.

When Langya returned to Minglan, Minglan was listening attentively to the adults discussing a strange case in the Jianghuai garrison.

When Sheng Wei talked about the "books hidden in the fish's belly", the whole family was amazed. Sheng Minglan, who started it all, also pretended to be surprised, which made Langya want to laugh.

"It's so refreshing!" After Sheng Wei finished speaking, his youngest daughter Pinlan rolled up her sleeves and clapped her hands in admiration.

"You naughty boy, do you behave like a girl at all?" Sheng Wei's wife couldn't help scolding her.

"Mom, aren't we ordinary people hoping that masters with both moral integrity and talent can hold those official positions? People like Xie Bi who are unworthy of their positions should be condemned by everyone!" Pinlan argued.

The old lady of the first house smiled and put her arm around Pinlan's shoulders: "My granddaughter is right. Those who are unworthy of their positions should be scolded by the common people."

The eldest wife of the first house said: "Mother, please don't spoil her. She is so old, but she is still so reckless. If she marries someone else, she will suffer."

The old lady in the first house suddenly turned cold and said, "She is not good like this, is your eldest daughter Shulan good like this?"

The words in the eldest wife's throat were suddenly blocked. She lowered her head and dared not say a word.

The old lady in the first house sighed and said, "Don't think I don't know if you hide it from me. A few days ago, Sun Zhigao and Shulan had a fight again, so you two gave two more shops to the Sun family."

Sheng Wei also lowered his head.

The old lady of the first house said: "The Sun family knows that our Shu'er is weak. She will make trouble when she is short of money, and you will give her money when she makes trouble. I know you want to spend money to buy Shu'er peace, but can we fill the pit of the Sun family with money?"

The eldest lady of the first house said: "This time it's not for money... The son-in-law of the Sun family said that our Shu'er has not had any children for three years and wants to take a concubine."

The old lady in the first room said, "Hasn't he already taken several wives? Including the concubines he has crammed in, he must be eighteen now, right? He hasn't conceived any children. Is it Shu'er's problem or Sun Zhigao's problem?"

The eldest lady of the first house blushed and quickly glanced at Old Lady Sheng and Minglan who were sitting beside her, and said anxiously: "Mother, be careful with your words. Aunt and niece are still here..."

The old lady of the first house said: "Your aunt has seen more of the world than all of you in the house combined. Why do you need to avoid her? As for Ming girl," she looked at Minglan lovingly, "such a good child, she should be shown the faces of those mean people, so that she can stay away from them in time in the future."

Old Madam Sheng then spoke up: "That's right. If you want to avoid jackals, you must first know what the wealth wolf looks like."

Minglan nodded obediently and said nothing.

The eldest wife of the first house felt humiliated, but could not avoid it, so she whispered: "Then we can't go around saying bad things about our son-in-law..."

The old lady of the first house said: "Then they can slander our daughter's good name everywhere? Haven't you heard that people in the streets and alleys of this county are saying that our Shu'er is infertile?"

The eldest wife of the first house slapped her thigh in anger: "Shameless!"

Pinlan also got angry when she heard this: "It was obviously Sun Zhigao who was greedy for women, but he dared to throw dirty water on my sister! His family was so poor at that time that he relied on his widowed mother to make a living. If it weren't for my family's support, they couldn't even afford the tuition for their studies, how could they be where they are today? Now he has turned against me and is mistreating my sister!"

The eldest wife of the first house was a little short of breath and said, "But he is a scholar after all, and our family is just a merchant..." In this era, scholars had a very high status. Once they passed the imperial examination, even if they were just scholars, they did not have to kneel when they saw the county magistrate, and they had more conveniences when they went out. Merchants in this era were the lowest of the lowest. No matter how big their business was, they were the most despised.

Pinlan spat on the ground, "Scholar? He passed the exam to become a scholar when he was twelve, and he's still a scholar now that he's twenty-five. What else can he do except recite a few sour poems? He can't pass the exam to become a juren, and he doesn't know how to make a living either. If it weren't for my sister's dowry, his family would have starved to death eight hundred times. What right does he have to look down on my sister?"

The old lady of the first house said: "So, some people cannot be treated with courtesy. The more polite you are to them, the more they will take advantage of you. In my opinion, I should not have arranged this marriage for Shu'er in the first place."

The first wife of the first house finally burst into tears: "But I thought he was a good person at the beginning! He passed the imperial examination at the age of twelve. Who in Youyang County praised him as a god at that time? Didn't the fortune teller say that he was destined to become a prime minister? At that time, seeing that his family was an orphan and a widow and were poor, I thought of marrying Shu'er to him, hoping that he would remember our kindness in the future when he became rich. But who knew..."

The old lady of the first house said: "Who would have known that once they became rich, they would forget everything else and take advantage of your daughter's weakness to torture her like a dehumanizing person. I'm afraid you don't know that a few days ago, Shu'er was beaten by that Sun Zhigao!!"

The eldest wife of the first house was so shocked that she fell down on the chair: "This... How is this possible? Shu'er... Shu'er didn't come back to tell me, how did mother know?"

The old lady of the first house snorted, "Minglan's maid went to the street to buy things and overheard the old woman next door from the Sun family saying that Sun Zhigao beat Shu'er so badly that her crying could be heard through the wall."

Pinlan pulled Xiaotao over and asked anxiously, "Is it true? Did you really hear their mother-in-law say that?"

Xiao Tao cast a questioning look at Ming Lan, who nodded slightly. Xiao Tao then answered, "Yes, but I didn't know it was our daughter at first. It was the maid on the street who said the daughter-in-law's surname was Sheng. I came back and asked and found out it was our cousin."

Pinlan slammed the teacup to the ground and yelled, "I'm going to kill that Sun Zhigao!"

The eldest wife of the first house burst into tears and stepped forward to stop her: "What are you doing? What are you doing? If you kill him, what will happen to your sister in the future?!"

Pinlan: "My sister married into their family, not sold to them. Why should she be beaten by that filthy bastard? My sister has never been beaten by my parents at home!"

The old lady in the first house said: "That's enough. We are just arguing here, but we don't know what Shu'er thinks. Daughter-in-law, send someone to the Sun family to tell Shu'er that I am sick and want her to come home to see me. We can ask Shu'er face to face when she comes back."