Nan Yun watched Nanxing’s departing figure and shook her head. “Honestly, what a hurry.”
She did not follow, but instead went to Xi Qingyue’s courtyard to inform her of what had happened.
When Xi Qingyue heard that the Duke of Anguo and the others had come again, her eyes turned cold. After hearing Nan Yun’s plan, she glanced toward Xi Weilan—and happened to see Xi Weilan draw the pistol at her waist and dash outside.
Xi Qingyue froze for a moment, then hurried over and grabbed her by the back of her collar. “Lan’er, what are you doing?”
Xi Weilan’s little face was full of fury. She shook the pistol in her hand. “Sister, I’m going to shoot them all and be done with it, so they can’t come causing trouble anymore.”
Nan Yun, standing to one side, felt the corner of her mouth twitch. She knew it—everyone could be offended except this little mistress.
With a smile, Xi Qingyue took the pistol from her raised hand and tucked it back into her waistband. She coaxed her gently, “Lan’er, if anyone is going to kill them, it should be me. Otherwise, what if you regret it when you grow up?”
She was not the original owner of this body and had no blood relation to those people. Killing them herself would be nothing, but she still did not want her little sister to get her hands dirty.
Then she looked toward Nan Yun. “Nan Yun, go with them. Give them a good beating, then dump them outside the city. Warn them that this is the last time. If they dare come prancing in front of me again, I’ll kill them no matter where or when.”
Nan Yun cupped one fist in the other hand and bowed. Then she immediately flew off.
After she left, Xi Weilan’s face was filled with confusion. “Sister, why won’t you let me go? I won’t regret it! I don’t even know them, and they never raised me. All I know is that they want to come and bully us.”
The only family she acknowledged had always been her mother and her sister. She had no interest in recognizing those random strangers.
Xi Qingyue smiled and rubbed her head. “It’s fine. This will be the last time. In any case, they were chosen by Mother. We’ll go inside and tell her later, so she’ll know in advance. If they come looking for trouble again, I’ll personally send them away.”
As for where she would send them, of course it would be underground.
At the county office, the Duke and Duchess of Anguo arrived with their people. The moment the two of them knelt down, Nanxing came out and kicked them both away.
“How dare you lay hands on the Duke!” the Duke’s guards shouted as they hurried forward to shield the fallen Duke and Duchess. The remaining guards moved to block Xi Daniu, protecting him from Nanxing.
Nanxing sneered inwardly. She had known these people were here to cause trouble, but she had not expected them to use such a self-pitying ploy to ruin the two Commandery Princesses’ reputations. They truly deserved to die.
Her expression turned icy, and she began raining punches and kicks down on the entire group.
When Nan Yun arrived with her people, she joined in as well. Before long, the ground was covered with people who were either unconscious or barely clinging to life.
Just then, two guards arrived, pulling two donkey carts.
Nan Yun ordered her men to throw all of them onto the carts, then cover their faces with a layer of oilcloth.
And so, the Duke of Anguo and the others were tossed onto the carts and hauled out of the city by small donkeys in a grand procession.
The scene outside the county office had happened so quickly that hardly anyone had noticed. When the townspeople saw yet another cart leaving the city, they assumed that the corpses from before had not all been taken away. No one paid it any attention.
Someone even muttered, “The mass grave outside the city must be piled high as a mountain by now.”
Nan Yun rode behind the carts at a leisurely pace. Only after reaching the mass grave did she order her men to slap the Duke of Anguo and the others awake.
“Agh!”
The moment he regained consciousness, the tearing pain throughout his body made the Duke’s face turn black as ink.
He had never been beaten so badly, much less suffered such humiliation. And to make matters worse, the humiliation had been inflicted by two children—his own descendants. The fury in his heart nearly broke free.
But the pain in his body and his remaining reason forced him to endure it. A true man knew when to bend and when to stand tall.
From horseback, Nan Yun looked down coldly at the battered Duke of Anguo and the others. “The Commandery Princess says this is the last time. You have no chances left. Do not appear in Xin’an City again. If you come looking for trouble one more time, you will be killed, no matter the occasion or the location.”
With that, she led her people away, not bothering to waste another word on them.
Xi Daniu’s face was swollen and bruised. With the help of a guard, he was lifted to a seated position on the ground. His expression was dark and terrifying, and the rage in his eyes erupted like a volcano.
Pointing at Nan Yun’s back, he cursed, “You heartless, deranged beasts! Sooner or later, you’ll get what you deserve! You even beat your own biological father—you’re worse than pigs and dogs! Xi Daya, you’ll go to hell! You all deserve to die!”
Nan Yun abruptly pulled on the reins and turned around. Xi Daniu’s voice came to an abrupt halt.
A flash of panic and fear crossed the faces of the Duke of Anguo and the others. They did not want to be beaten again, and even less did they want to die.
Nan Yun stared at Xi Daniu for a long while, wondering whether she should simply kill him on the spot and put an end to everything once and for all.
Slowly, she drew the pistol from her waist and gave Xi Daniu a brilliant smile.
Under the stunned gazes of everyone present, she suddenly fired.
Bang!
A bullet struck Xi Daniu in the arm.
“Wen Liang!” the Duchess cried out, rushing toward Xi Daniu.
Nan Yun looked at them calmly. “Anyone else want to keep insulting us?”
They were out in the wilderness, and these people were forbidden from entering Xin’an City. With no way to treat a gunshot wound, the injured person would be left to die. She refused to believe their lives were tough enough to withstand that.
Clutching his wounded arm, Xi Daniu sweated from the pain. He hated Nan Yun to the core, but he did not dare say a word. He could only glare at her viciously.
The Duchess held her son and sobbed bitterly. She shot Nan Yun a venomous look, but in the end, she did not dare make a sound.
Suddenly, one of Xi Daniu’s personal guards shouted angrily, “It was only a couple of insults! You’re being far too—”
Before he could finish, another bang rang out. A bloody hole appeared between his brows.
This time, it was not Nan Yun who fired, but Nanxing, who had been standing silently nearby.
Holding up her pistol, she addressed the others coldly. “The Commandery Princess has given you chance after chance. If you had simply lived your lives properly, why would you have had to suffer any of this? You brought it all upon yourselves. Now that you’ve used up all your chances, if you go looking for trouble in front of the Commandery Princess again, I will send you to hell before she even has to lift a finger.”
At that moment, the Duke of Anguo and the others all fell silent. Every one of them stood frozen in terror. Apart from the chirping of insects, not a sound could be heard throughout the mass grave.
Nan Yun gave a cold laugh and waved to Nanxing. “Xing’er, let’s go.”
The group then left the mass grave.
After watching them disappear into the distance, Xi Daniu’s howls and the Duchess’s sobs rang out at once, making the mass grave lively all over again.
The Duke of Anguo collapsed into the weeds, his face ashen. “Why? How did I, a dignified duke, end up in such a state? What sin did I commit to deserve this?”
After a long while, one of the guards cautiously stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “My lord, where do we go now?”
They could no longer return to Xin’an City. At least they were fortunate that they still had their banknotes with them, so they would not truly be reduced to beggars.
Duke Anguo glanced at Xi Daniu’s arm and sighed inwardly. His leg had yet to heal, and now he had another fresh injury. What a mess.
After thinking it over, he said, “Let’s go to Xuanzhou. Ruoshu is still there. We’ll take Wen Liang to find her, and first stop in one of the nearby towns to find a physician to treat his arm.”
With that, Duke Anguo and the others left the mass grave in a thoroughly bedraggled state.
