Chapter 46: How to Save Up for an Old Wife

  After Shi Wei left, several ropes hung down from the big locust tree. Several black-clad men with crossbows on their backs descended from the sky, led by Shen Qing.

  After landing, the men in black suddenly dispersed, leaving Shen Qing kneeling there alone.

  Qin Lei looked at him and asked in a low voice, "Do you have any questions?"

  Shen Qing nodded and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, why don't you kill this barbarian?"

  Qin Lei pulled him up and pressed him onto the stone bench. Sitting beside him, he smiled bitterly: "As I just said, we are now in a state of utter defeat, yet there is no one available to use. If His Highness had an abundance of fine soldiers and capable generals at his disposal right now, killing them would be a simple matter. Moreover, considering that I pardoned Ma Kui and the others back then in the Liufang refugee camp, it's only reasonable that I should pardon him this once."

  Shen Qing suddenly said: "It turns out that Your Highness was just scaring him."

  Qin Lei lifted his foot and pretended to kick, laughing and scolding: "Maybe at the time, I was so excited that I let you shoot. Go do what you need to do."

  Shen Qing retreated after listening to the words. The courtyard was left with only Qin Lei, the sun had already risen, and the cicadas on the large Chinese scholar tree were chirping loudly.

  The crown of the big locust tree completely blocked out the sunlight, and under the tree it was still cool and pleasant. Qin Lei gazed at the pale red clematis on the wall, lost in thought.

  Staring blankly, being distracted, and deep in thought. These were all new habits Qin Lei had developed since coming to this world.

  Shi Wei's news was brought by Ma Kui when he sent a letter to report his safety. Qin Lei received Ma Kui's letter three days ago, and surprisingly, Ma Kui had narrowly escaped from the killing situation with several of his loyal subordinates, fleeing all the way until they finally entered the continuous mountain ranges in the western part of the Qi State, where they merged with nearly 10,000 peasants who had arrived earlier, and smoothly became the Mountain King.

  Ma Kui wrote a letter mainly to report the current situation and then ask about the next step, after all, going into the mountains and falling grass was proposed by Qin Lei, and he should be responsible for it.

  As the first communication with Qin Lei after the separation, I naturally wanted to regain Qin Lei's trust. So I recounted everything that had happened in the Liumin refugee camp in detail. The focus was on how much I loved my soldiers like sons, how I couldn't bear to see them without a way out, and how I struggled with my thoughts. Of course, I also mentioned Shi Wei's issue. I told Qin Lei that after seeing everyone support the soldier's plea that day, Shi Wei didn't take any action, and even intentionally spoke up, reminding Ma Kui to arrest him.

  Ma Kui might just be trying to stir up trouble. But he didn't know that Shi Wei had a joint order signed by Shen Luo and Qin Lei in his pocket, which could restrain all the Qi Fu guards including Ma Kui at critical moments. This was also the reason why Qin Lei went to find Shi Wei as soon as he entered the camp that day.

  This was Qin Lei's secret move to guard against Ma Kui's possible change of heart. In the end, Shi Wei, who doubted Qin Lei's strength, feared that Ma Kui would turn against him and did not take action, instead choosing to coldly observe from the sidelines, even shamelessly luring Ma Kui into detaining him in order to clear himself of any connection.

  These details were already on the self-defense statement written by those officers that day, but no one knew what Ma Kui said or did after leaving Shi Wei alone. Moreover, due to the urgent situation at the time, this matter was temporarily put aside.

  In Shen Qing's view, it was Shi Wei's inaction that indirectly led to Ma Kui's repeated rebellions, ultimately resulting in the tragic outcome of being besieged by the Bai Sheng army at Zhu Lu River, with 53 dead and 22 wounded. Therefore, Shen Qing believed that Shi Wei's crime was unforgivable.

  Qin Lei was also very angry, but he himself had a responsibility in this matter. At that time, he rashly sent out a group of unprofessionally trained spies and overestimated Shen Luo's control over them, which was the root cause of what happened that day.

  So as time passed and circumstances changed, he didn't want to pursue why Shi Wei had betrayed his trust. He just wanted to wake him up so that he wouldn't make the same mistake again.

  All sorts of reasons ultimately allowed Shi Wei to escape under Shen Qing's arrow.

  Qin Lei finally withdrew his gaze and muttered in a low voice: "I don't know when this arrow will be shot."

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Qin Lei left Cang Jiao's small hut, got on the horse carriage, passed by Wuyi Lane, but instead of heading west to return to Dong Gong, he headed south. After passing through several streets, it finally stopped in front of a dilapidated large courtyard gate in the southern city.

  One of the guards got down and knocked on the door, after a while the gate opened wide and the carriage drove in.

  Qin Lei got out of the car and saw Shi Meng standing under the car to greet him, whom he had just mentioned with Shi Wei. Qin Lei didn't exchange pleasantries and asked directly: "Has it been recruited?"

  Shi Meng furrowed his brow and said: "These two women are very tight-lipped, and their skin is tender. Brothers, we can't bear to lay hands on them."

  Qin Lei laughed and scolded: "How can't you see that your grandmother is also fond of fragrance and beauty? Go, take a look."

  As he spoke, he walked to the west wing, Shi Meng hastily stepped forward and lifted the door curtain, welcoming him into the house.

  Inside the house, two people dressed as palace maids were tightly bound by ropes, looking dispirited.

  It turned out that they were the two palace maids who had been standing beside Nian Yao's bed when Qin Lei entered the house that day.

  Shi Meng moved a chair for Qin Lei, who sat down with a big knife and smiled at the two palace maids: "I'm very sorry to call you two over, but I have a few doubts in my mind. If I don't figure them out, I won't be able to sleep well. And if I don't sleep well, my mood will be bad, and if my mood is bad, I'll go around killing people randomly. You two wouldn't want your good heads chopped off, would you?"

  Two palace maids were frightened pale, but they tightly pursed their lips and did not utter a word.

  Qin Lei didn't get angry, and instead asked Shi Meng: "Mengzi, I've heard that our hundreds of brothers often visit brothels, spending all their money. Is this true?"

  "Your Highness, we brothers haven't married yet, and it's not good for us to have this habit. There's no way, there's no way."

  Qin Lei pointed at the two palace maids and smiled, saying: "I'll give you a money-saving idea. Take these two back with you, and whoever wants a woman can use them. Although this way you'll be more tired, but your wives will be saved."

  Shi Meng was initially delighted, but immediately became worried and said: "Your Highness, this idea is good, but there are many birds and few nests, I'm afraid we can't snatch them all."

  Qin Lei nodded, looking thoughtful for a moment before breaking into a smile. "You idiots, go back and make a schedule. Each of you will take two hours, and with 48 people, that's just enough to cover the whole day."

  Shi Meng burst out laughing and said: "Your Highness is indeed full of ideas, this settles it."

  Those two palace maids listened to the evil conversation between these two men, and as Qin Lei and Shi Meng elaborated on the details, it was as if they were really being lined up by a hundred stinky rascals, indulging in debauchery day and night.

  One of them could no longer bear the pressure in her heart and was about to speak when the other glared at her fiercely.

  Qin Lei kicked out with one foot and sent the palace maid who was staring at him flying three zhang away. He ordered Shi Wei, "Take this person out and keep her far, far away."

  Shi Wei picked up the palace maid who had fallen to the ground like a small chicken and carried her out.

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  600 recommended, add more if 700 is reached, hehehe.