nycdaug Chapter 331 His one life is not enough!
Chapter 331 His one life is not enough!
It is also difficult to comment on her various harsh treatments of her concubine sisters in the past. After all, no woman would be willing to accept the daughter of her father's concubine as a sister.
After all, they knew each other, so Zhong Ning immediately turned around and headed towards Murong Huan.
Murong Huan's eyes were red as he scratched the cell helplessly. He asked in a trembling voice, "Murong Ning, I want to know, my father..."
"Over the years, many people have died at his hands, don't you think?"
Murong Huan's body stiffened slightly, his eyes even sadder. "I know my father has made many mistakes... but my mother and everyone else in the mansion are all innocent..."
Zhong Ning interrupted her and said coldly, "Do you know how much stuff was confiscated from your house and Fangyuan? It would be worth about 20 million taels of silver..."
"This figure is half of the national treasury's revenue. You can imagine how much of the people's wealth your father has plundered over the years..."
"Among them, he seized over 300 acres of fertile farmland, beat to death at least 25 villagers, and abducted countless women. Furthermore, there were children who were abducted and sold, and the bodies of innocent people who were dumped in dry wells."
"Your father and brother have at least hundreds of lives on their hands..."
"Look at your palace, it's glittering with jewels and is utterly extravagant. You, the Princess of Anqing, have exquisite food and drink. Where do you think all this money comes from?"
"It's all blood squeezed from the common people!"
"The dignity of your entire Anwang Mansion is built on the foundation of countless lives. Which one of you is innocent... Tell me, which one of you is innocent?"
Murong Huan stared at Zhong Ning, tears streaming down her face. She lowered her head, clutching the cell door tightly with both hands, and tremblingly said,
"I know it's Prince An's Mansion that's wronged them. Last time you asked me to come to the Ministry of Justice, I saw with my own eyes those chaotically displayed corpses and the frightened eyes of those children. I already knew..."
"But..." Murong Huan couldn't utter a word of plea. Her years of arrogance had made her accustomed to being superior.
Even when facing Zhong Ning, she always held her head high, like a proud peacock, unwilling to bow her head easily.
Zhong Ning sneered and continued, "As the princess of a royal palace, you have been proficient in everything since you were a child. You are truly a jewel raised in a wealthy family. But what about those children?"
"Most of them are even younger than you, yet because of your father's greed and cruelty, they were forcibly taken to Kyoto, far away from their parents. At such a young age, their bodies haven't even fully grown yet, yet they are forced to use their bodies to entertain customers."
"If you disobey, you will be tortured in a dungeon at best, or your body will be left in a dry well at worst."
"They died at the hands of your father and brother at such a young age, yet you still have the nerve to question me with such arrogance."
"You said sorry so easily just now."
"But can a simple "I'm sorry" redeem them? Can a simple "I admit I was wrong" bring peace to those dead souls?"
"Absolutely impossible!"
"He wants to become a Buddha right away just by laying down his butcher knife? Dream on! I will make sure he's condemned and cursed by thousands of people while he's still alive, and even after his death, it will be recorded in history books. Prince An will be the first member of the Great Yong royal family to be expelled from the Jade Disc!"
"You..." Murong Huan's eyes were bloodshot. "Father has already been sentenced to death, why are you still doing this?"
"Why? Because one of his lives is not enough!"
Zhong Ning turned his head away and stopped looking at her, leaving only one sentence:
"Having said this, I will say no more. Don't worry, every wrong has its perpetrator. I will petition my father to show leniency to those of you in the harem. I can only save one life, but forget about anything else..."
Having said this, Zhong Ning was about to turn around and leave, but he only heard a barely perceptible "thank you" from behind him, and then no more sound.
Princess An did not utter a word from beginning to end.
She had cried many times long before the whole thing broke out and Fang Garden was filled with all kinds of beauties that Prince An had abducted from all over the country to win over court officials and to keep him fresh.
And today, after learning that Prince An had two other concubines and had two sons and a daughter, she finally lost her heart after shedding her last tear.
Even when Murong Chen was taken away by the imperial guards and thrown into death row, she did not react at all.
She should have known what kind of person she was marrying.
It’s a pity that the two children had to suffer such a disaster.
Fortunately, the emperor did not execute all of them, so her family was still saved. In addition, Princess Zhaohua would help plead for mercy, so at most she would be stripped of her title and demoted to a commoner.
She then breathed a sigh of relief.
After Zhong Ning left the cell, she remembered that there was still one and a half people in Prince An's mansion who had not been punished. Princess An said with some disappointment, "I didn't expect that she was so lucky!"
Murong Huan knew that the one Princess An was talking about must be Princess Anle Murong Lan, who was adopted by Concubine Wu and was praying for blessings at the Zhenguo Temple. A gleam of light flashed in his eyes.
Indeed, she is indeed a lucky person!
She was appreciated by the palace just for her face, and was given a title and a mansion. Even if a disaster happened in the mansion, the palace would take her mother out of the house for her sake.
He is really a capable person!
Murong Huan leaned against the prison railing and stared at the direction where Zhong Ning's back disappeared for a long time without saying a word.
After leaving the prison, Zhong Ning took her people back to the princess's residence first. She originally wanted to settle them in a house in the western suburbs first, but then she thought that it was not safe in the capital, so she had at least two eyes following her.
She needed to build a safe base for herself outside the capital, a place where she could not be discovered and where she could train these assassins.
After returning to the mansion, Zhong Ning took out the map of the capital. He found that a hidden villa could be built in the deep mountains of Futu Mountain outside the capital, about thirty miles away from Zhenguo Temple.
The villa should be mainly a mountain villa, hidden in the mountains, with protective facilities built around it. There should be hundreds of rooms in the villa, with separate mountains and rivers, and a large training ground... and it must be equipped with sufficient logistical personnel.
She drew a rough diagram of her idea, then snapped her fingers and asked Xue Ming to secretly find a few craftsmen who were good at building houses and creating mechanisms. Xue Ming had been bored recently, and now that he had something to do, he was naturally overjoyed.
"Most of the best craftsmen in the capital are in the Ministry of Works, but in the martial arts world, a relatively famous craftsman is a man named Fan Lou. It is said that he can build a palace in just a hundred days. Most importantly, he learned from a martial arts school and has some knowledge of mechanical engineering."
"Okay, that's him. Find a way to get him here and tell him I'm offering him a large sum of money and ask him to come to the capital."
Zhong Ning tapped the blueprint lightly with her jade fingers, and then continued, "If he refuses, just say that I will personally go with my troops to greet him!"
Xue Ming's mouth twitched slightly, and then he bowed and said yes!