Chapter Fifty-Six: The Regret of the Cui Family

Mansion of the General Defending the West!

Looking at the imperial edict before him, Li Hu broke into a strange grin, throwing his head back in a loud laugh.

Lady Cui, stripped of her noble title and having just learned that her father and brothers had been demoted, had already suffered a severe psychological collapse. Now, the husband upon whom she relied above all else, upon receiving the imperial decree, was behaving in this bizarre fashion, laughing uproariously at the sky like a madman.

For a moment, she was frightened into total rigidity, not knowing what to do.

It was instead Li Siming and Li Chengzheng, the two brothers, who were the first to recover their wits. They hurried forward in a panic to support their father's towering and robust frame.

"Father!"

"Father!"

The two brothers looked at him anxiously.

"Your father is fine." Li Hu reined in his wild laughter. Lady Cui was ruined just like that, without any fierce confrontation.

This clearly showed that when His Majesty the Emperor truly wanted to move against someone, that person stood not the slightest chance of resistance.

Fortunately, he had risen all the way from the ranks of a common foot soldier, carving his path through mountains of blades and seas of blood, and he still had his uses to the Emperor.

He was not like Cui Shanyue and Cui Shanling, who owed their official positions entirely to their father's patronage and could be dismissed with a single word.

"Take good care of your mother. Your father wants to take a walk alone and clear his mind."

Li Hu waved a hand, holding the imperial edict in both palms, and headed toward the inner courtyard.

"Youbai, Caiyun, your master is coming! From now on, the three of us will no longer need to sneak around!"

Beneath his receding, lofty silhouette lay a heart completely ready to cast off all restraint...

Yet he left behind a disgraced noblewoman, who was still gazing at her husband's retreating back in silent, bruised sorrow...

"Mother!"

Li Siming and Li Chengzheng stumbled as they gathered around Lady Cui.

Teashing her teeth with venom, Lady Cui spat, "It's all that little bastard's fault! He deserved to die, yet he still tried to drag my Cui clan down with him!"

Hearing their mother utter words completely devoid of any self-reflection, both Li Siming and Li Chengzheng felt a sense of unprecedented dread.

"Mother, you must not speak like this anymore. If someone were to overhear and report it in secret, I fear Father might lose his official post as well. Wouldn't our family be completely finished then?"

Li Siming's voice trembled. After all, being a few years older than his second brother Li Chengzheng, he understood the critical stakes of success and failure.

Hearing this, Lady Cui cast a somewhat flustered glance at her eldest son.

"But that little bastard deserved to die! He deserved a thousand deaths!"

"Mistress—"

Housekeeper Li Hui suddenly materialized behind Lady Cui, startling her.

Lady Cui cursed furiously, "Damned beast! Are you looking to die? Why did you sneak up behind me without making a single sound when you speak and move?"

Though berated, Li Hui dared not retort. Lady Cui might have been stripped of her noble title by the Emperor, but she was still the General's wife!

"Mistress, Elder Master Cui and Third Master Cui have arrived."

"My eldest brother and my third brother?"

Hearing this, Lady Cui hurriedly wiped away the tears of fear that had welled up in the corners of her eyes at some point. Pulling herself together, she looked at her two sons and said, "Come, let's go greet your uncles."

Though her lips were still cursing Li Wenxuan venomously, in her heart, she had already begun to admit her regret.

She regretted it bitterly!

After walking a few steps, Lady Cui could not help but resume cursing Li Wenxuan as a little bastard who truly deserved to die.

It was as if only through such curses could she minimize the terror and panic reigning in her heart.

Housekeeper Li Hui followed silently behind. He did not know that Li Wenxuan was not only still alive, but had also become an imperial son-in-law.

However, he knew very well that if he reported Lady Cui's current remarks, it would undoubtedly count as another merit to his name, and perhaps... it might offset the mistakes he had made?

Even if it could not completely offset his faults, it would at least lessen his punishment.

It was merely hateful that if the Third Young Master were still alive, and he had firmly clung to that powerful patron, how could he have ended up in such a passive state?

In an instant, Housekeeper Li Hui also came to loathe Lady Cui, this death-defying, foul woman!

If she hadn't been unable to accept losing, how could the Third Young Master have...

Sigh!

Foul woman, just wait and see. Once I report all the intelligence I've gathered over the years in one breath, let's see if you escape death!

Especially... the matters concerning the Second Young Master!

Housekeeper Li Hui suddenly felt as though the entire General's Mansion from top to bottom was glowing with a glaring, verdant green.

And the source of it all rested right upon the head of Lord General!

"Where is Li Hu! Tell him to crawl out here!"

No sooner had Cui Shanhai caught sight of his second elder sister than he roared in a blind fury.

This menacing posture of coming to settle scores frightened his two elder nephews so badly that they shivered and dared not utter a sound.

Lady Cui was also startled, and she let out a disgruntled hum. "Third brother, what has gotten into you?"

"Second sister, don't ask so many questions! Just call out that ungrateful, treacherous scoundrel Li Hu!"

Cui Shanyue maintained his fierce and relentless attitude.

Unexpectedly, at that very moment, Li Hu strode into the reception hall.

Naturally, someone who had seen the mistress stripped of her noble title had already quietly gone to tip off Li Hu.

"Li Hu! You despicable villain, treacherous scoundrel! Have you forgotten how my father promoted you? You actually went and informed on us, plunging the Cui clan into such a miserable plight!"

Cui Shanyue instantly burst into furious curses, completely ignoring the vast gap in their current social status.

Turning a deaf ear, Li Hu walked straight up to the main seat, turned, and sat down. Only then did he cast a cold glance at Cui Shanyue, sneering, "Cui Shanyue, according to the laws of our Great Wu Kingdom, for a mere commoner like you to fail to kneel upon seeing the Defender of the West is already a crime."

As for Cui Shanling?

Li Hu swept a provocative glance in his direction. A mere deputy garrison commander of the sixth rank—what did he amount to?

Before him, a Second-Rank Commanding General Defending the West, he wasn't even worth a fart.

A single fart from him could blow away a whole crowd of them.

If he had known that betraying... ah, no, reporting these traitorous officials to His Majesty could bring such a exhilarating feeling, why had he ever hesitated?

"And now, insulting the Defender is an even greater crime!"

Li Hu's towering, imposing bulk leaned forward slightly, instantly imparting a crushing, mountainous pressure of dread to everyone present.

Cui Shanyue's expression changed instantly, and Cui Shanling's face also darkened, his heart suddenly losing all confidence.

This Li Hu—was no longer the man of the past.

It truly was him turning his back on old ties and betraying them!

"However, considering that your second sister is my lawful wife, I will spare you this once today. But should there be a next time!"

Li Hu suddenly stood up, his eyes flashing like cold arrows, frightening Cui Shanyue so much that he nearly dropped to his knees on the spot.

"Even though you are related to me by marriage, the state laws are stern. How could I possibly condone or harbor you?"

"You—you—you..."

"Audacious!" Li Hu shouted in a voice that shook the souls of everyone present. "You must address me as Lord General!"

Cui Shanyue was frightened into speechlessness, his face turning ashen.

Cui Shanling still possessed some courage. Gritting his teeth, he stepped forward, cupped his fists in a salute, and said, "Lord General, my brother and I were abrupt in coming here today and disturbed your peace. We shall take our leave now."

Hardly had his voice fallen when he grabbed Cui Shanhai—whose head was still buzzing—and strode toward the exit, looking as though he had made up his mind never to look back.

If they didn't leave now, continuing this conversation would yield no good results.

Seeing this, Li Hu let out a mocking chuckle. Ignoring the dumbfounded trio of Lady Cui and her sons, and paying no heed to the nearly bulging eyeballs on Lady Cui's exquisite face, he turned to his eldest son, Li Siming, and said,

"As for that little matter between you and little Cui, you don't need to sneak around from today onward."

Hearing this, Li Siming turned pale with fright. "Father, I did nothing of the sort. Xiaocui and I are innocent."

"Siming! What have you done? How could you and a lowly maid..."

Lady Cui looked at her eldest son with exasperation.

Li Hu chuckled drily, "Put away that bizarre expression of yours. I am Li Hu's son—what is wrong with taking a woman or two?"

Hearing this, Li Siming felt an uncontrollable surge of joy bubble up on his face.

Father, you've finally grown a spine!

"Husband, what kind of talk is this? Siming he..."

Before Lady Cui could finish her sentence, she suddenly remembered her eldest and third brothers, who had been frightened away by Li Hu.

Staring at Li Hu with absolute horror, her lips trembled. "How can this be? If you reported all these matters to His Majesty, how could His Majesty ever spare you?"