novelSusiti Chapter 6 So they're tied to the ship now?
Chapter 6 So they're tied to the ship now?
"Father, these two, father and son, are disloyal to you. Today they demonstrated their magic, choosing not to do it anywhere else but right here in Longjie's army. I'm afraid they have ulterior motives."
In Han Tong's residence, Han Tong's only son, Han Wei, looked at Han Tong with a solemn expression.
"Well, the two of them found me today and asked me to take them to the Imperial Guard to see if their magic could do anything. I didn't think much of it and took them there."
"We clearly went to Hu Jie's army first, but that Taoist priest only talked about some pharmacology, examined some soldiers' families, and said some trivial things."
But after they arrived at Longjie Army, they suddenly used the art of ashes and silk, clearly with ulterior motives.
Han Tong agreed with Han Wei's statement. The father and son were both cunning, but not very sophisticated. He could see through their tricks at a glance.
"What do you think I should do with them?"
"Hmph, this father and son have absolutely no loyalty to their father. In my opinion, it would be better to imprison them in the mansion and force them to make medicine for the Han family day and night, including that miraculous linen water."
Judging from their appearance, neither of them seemed like tough guys. With a knife to their throats, I wasn't afraid they wouldn't comply.
Upon hearing this, Han Tong rolled his eyes speechlessly, and couldn't help but look at his only son with a hint of disdain.
"You... sigh~, never mind."
Han Tong had originally intended to tell Han Wei how capable he was and give her some pointers, but he swallowed the words back down.
Forget it.
His son is mentally challenged and born with a disability; he has a limp and can't be a military officer. With that kind of brain, he'd be played to death if he tried to be a civil official.
Forget it.
Do whatever makes you happy. As long as you don't collapse, you can support him for life.
Why am I asking a stupid son who keeps urging me to kill Zhao Kuangyin?
"Go and call your fifth aunt and Lingmei here."
"Huh? Oh."
A short while later, Han Tong's fifth concubine, Yunniang, came over with her daughter, Ling'er, holding a dirty tiger-head doll in her hand: "My lord, did you call us?"
"How old is Ling'er this year?"
"Sixteen, my lord."
"Hmm... I've found Ling'er a good family. Let's make some preparations, and the wedding will take place in the next few days."
"what?"
The mother and daughter were both taken aback.
"Just these few days? That's a bit rushed, isn't it? Who are the groom's family? There's no time for matchmakers and betrothal gifts. My lord, although Ling'er is born out of wedlock, she is still your son, Grand Commandant Han's daughter. We should at least..."
Han Tong slammed his hand on the table and glared at the table, saying, "What the hell is this about asking for a matchmaker and betrothal gifts? In this chaos of war, who has time to think about all that?"
I'm just a rough guy, why would I need all this trouble? Asking his mother about a matchmaker? Things could go wrong if I wait too long. I think we should prepare tomorrow and get married the day after.
"The day after tomorrow?"
Yunniang was filled with grievances, but seeing Han Tong glaring at her, she didn't dare to speak for a moment. Although she knew it wasn't her place to agree, she still lowered her head, pouted, and dared not say a word.
Seeing this, Ling'er placed the tiger-head doll in Yunniang's hands and used her slender hands to massage Han Tong's neck, saying:
"Father, don't be angry. It's not that Mother disagrees; it's just that things happened so suddenly that she wanted to ask. The family you've found for me will definitely be good. What do matchmakers and betrothal gifts matter? As long as the people are good and we live a good life together, that's the most important thing."
Upon hearing this, Han Tong's tone softened slightly, and he said, "The family your father found for you is naturally good. Although it's a second wife, that Master Wang is truly capable."
Although you have a son, there's no mother-in-law. Once you marry into the family, it will just be the three of you. For my sake, they certainly won't treat you badly. Alright, prepare well, and you'll be married off the day after tomorrow.
"After you get married, you will still live in our house. The father and son have just arrived in Kaifeng and have nowhere to stay yet. Getting married and not leaving home means you can see your mother and me anytime. How can this not be a good thing?"
Upon hearing this, Yunniang knew he was just a wandering swordsman without even a house of his own, and with a son to care for. Her heart ached even more, and her face grew increasingly grim. She mustered her courage and wanted to argue with Han Tong, but Ling'er immediately became overjoyed:
"Thank you, Father, for arranging such a good marriage for me. This way, I can stay at home and serve you forever."
Yunniang: "…………"
Han Tong, though a rough and unrefined man, was decisive and efficient. He married off his daughter without hesitation, and that very night, the entire Han household began preparations. However, they didn't even have time to inform Wang Jun.
The next day, Wang Jun noticed red decorations everywhere in the mansion and was surprised. When Han Tong, beaming with joy, came to see him, he asked, "Is there some happy occasion in the mansion?"
"It's a happy occasion for my sixth child and you."
"what?"
Han Tong slapped Wang Jun into his arms and pulled him close, saying:
"We are currently in a period of national mourning, so we cannot be too ostentatious about happy occasions. Therefore, we will keep everything simple. We will make the arrangements and send out invitations today, and you will hold the wedding ceremony and enter the bridal chamber tomorrow. Then you will be my son-in-law, Han Tong! Hahahaha, in this vast city of Kaifeng, who will dare to bully you?"
Wang Jun was completely bewildered.
It took him a while to realize what Han Tong was talking about, and he repeatedly declined, saying, "Grand Commandant, please don't joke. I have nothing of value; how could I be worthy of your noble lady?"
Snapped!
Han Tong slammed his large hand on Wang Jun's shoulder: "What, is my daughter, Han Tong's daughter, not good enough for you? You don't want to be Han Tong's son-in-law?!"
As he spoke, his large eyes stared at him like two copper bells, his imposing manner suggesting that if Wang Jun dared to utter even a single word of dissent, he would immediately chop him up.
"No... I wouldn't dare. How could I possibly look down on the Grand Commandant's daughter?"
"That's settled then, hahaha, from now on we're family, hahaha, by the way, this is my dowry, Lao Han."
As he spoke, he forcibly put a gleaming Rolex gold watch on Wang Jun's wrist.
"As expected, it's an old item from the Taoist priest. It fits your wrist perfectly, like it was grown on. Hahaha, this can be considered returning it to its rightful owner. Hahaha."
Wang Jun looked down at his watch, which he had just recovered, his mind blank and buzzing.
Han Tong's son-in-law, no matter how you look at it, seems to be destined to have his whole family die, right?
With this identity, even if he were to submit to Zhao Kuangyin now, would Zhao Kuangyin still trust him? Would he have no future in officialdom in the Northern Song Dynasty?
Also, I'm getting married?
This is absurd and ridiculous!
However, Han Tong clearly didn't give him any room to refuse. He came over, gave him the watch, said only a couple of words, and then turned and left.
Only two maids were left behind to help Wang Jun take measurements and make him a wedding suit, which had to be finished by tomorrow night.
Wang Jun sat back in the room, dumbfounded, and stared at Wang Lu and his son. Their heads were buzzing, and neither of them knew how to react.
After a long silence, Wang Lu sighed and said, "This Han Tong is truly decisive. He gave away his daughter without a second thought. Father, you..."
"Oh, it's not your fault. Don't worry about it. I promise I won't tell my mom when we get back. Let's just pretend it was a dream."
Wang Jun was both amused and exasperated: "Is this the time to worry about your mother? Now that I'm Han Tong's son-in-law, can we even go back and see your mother again?"
"Whose fault is it? I asked you to demonstrate your value, but who told you to? If it's that valuable, you could have improved the spinning wheel or something, but why did you teach them how to rehydrate hemp? Don't you know that technology is revolutionary?"
"You still have the nerve to blame me? Who said that the Longjie Army was Zhao Hongyin's old unit, nominally under Han Tong but actually under Zhao Kuangyin, and told me to leave my special skills in the Longjie Army to use? See, it's caused trouble now!"
"That's because you were too obsequious to Zhao Kuangyin. I don't even want to say anything to you. Just look at how fawning you were when Zhao Kuangyin showed up yesterday."
"What kind of eyes does Han Tong have? They're as sharp as a ghost! Didn't he just expose all our little schemes right away? Didn't you always tell me that to do great things, you have to keep your emotions hidden?"
"Hello, you saw Zhao Kuangyin yesterday, and you weren't excited or obsequious? How much better are you than me?"
"I am a child."
"Your child is already five years old. Are you even a real child yourself? Why are you pretending to me?"
"That's still better than you. You're a sixty-something-year-old old man, and tomorrow you're going to marry a sixteen-year-old girl to be my stepmother. Sixteen years old! In today's world, that's a middle school student. It's illegal, you know? You really have the guts to do that. Sixteen years old! That's animalistic."
"Is she someone I wanted to marry?! Didn't you just say you had no choice but to marry her?!"
The father and son exchanged a few words, then turned away from each other and ignored each other.
"Well... there's no need to be so desperate," Wang Lu said after a long while.
"Do you have an idea?"
"Things have come to this point, what ideas are there left? In the end, it's still the Fifth Dynasty. The Grand Commandants in the army have even figured out how to cook people. He's willing to throw his daughter out to lure you onto his ship."
Although you're born out of wedlock, if you dare refuse to accept him, he knows we won't serve him, and he can kill us if he wants to. You're at his mercy; you have no choice but to marry this stepmother.
"But in the end, Han Tong's relationship with Zhao Kuangyin was no better than Yuan Yan's. His influence and prestige in the army were just so-so, not as good as Zhang Yongde's. In terms of prestige, he couldn't compare to Fu Yanqing's at all. Even in terms of arrogance, he couldn't compare to Guo Chong."
"Zhao Kuangyin could tolerate Yuan Yan, Zhang Yongde, Guo Chong, and Fu Yanqing, so what's wrong with tolerating Han Tong as well? At least so far, Han Tong and Zhao Kuangyin haven't fallen out."
Wang Jun immediately realized what was going on: "When did they break off relations?"
"Han Tong had a son named Han Wei. Historical records say that this man was very intelligent and saw early on that Zhao Kuangyin was disloyal to the Zhou Dynasty and harbored rebellious intentions. He repeatedly advised Han Tong to kill Zhao Kuangyin, but Han Tong disagreed."
Once, when Zhao Kuangyin came to Han Tong's house for drinks, Han Wei took it upon himself to secretly arrange for executioners to kill Zhao Kuangyin. Zhao Kuangyin discovered this and fled.
Wang Jun was speechless. During the Five Dynasties period, did he even need to think that Zhao Kuangyin had rebellious intentions? Surely no one really believed that a seven-year-old emperor could hold onto the country.
What kind of influence did Zhao Kuangyin have in the army that he would resort to assassination? What was he thinking?
This person is not smart at all; they are utterly stupid.
"In fact, during the six months following Chai Rong's death, Zhao Kuangyin was clearly very conflicted about whether or not he should become emperor; he probably genuinely didn't want to be emperor."
During the Five Dynasties period, being the emperor wasn't an easy job. It was only after this incident that Zhao Kuangyin's resolve hardened. From then on, Zhao Kuangyin and Han Tong became mortal enemies, but before that incident, things were alright.
"So you mean that Han Tong was actually killed by his stupid son? If it weren't for this Hongmen Banquet, Zhao Kuangyin would have tolerated Han Tong. If Han Tong hadn't died, even if I were Han Tong's son-in-law, I wouldn't have been implicated?"
"As long as Han Tong doesn't do anything stupid on the day of the Chenqiao Mutiny, everything should be fine. Dad, it's too late to jump ship. Han Tong's move has directly tied us to the ship. Let's save the ship."