After being demoted, my 300,000-strong army trampled the imperial city!

Chapter 786: Lady Shi's Tribulation

Chen Futu returned to the shop, his gaze unconsciously falling on the powerful calligraphy on the wall, which read: "In the three thousand mortal worlds, do as you please, defy your true self, and you will find it hard to become an immortal."

"I wonder who left these words..."

Chen Futu stared at the handwriting for a long time, then went out to Liu's Restaurant.

When they arrived, they saw a man surnamed Cao grinning at the customers behind the counter, but Liu was nowhere to be seen in the bustling lobby.

Chen Futu asked, "Master Cao, where is Lady Liu?"

"What's it to you? What's your relationship with my concubine?" Master Cao's face turned cold in an instant, looking down on him for meddling in other people's business.

Chen Futu naturally brought up Old Liu's dying words, but Master Cao sneered, "Since she has remarried, she is now a member of the Cao family, so the old woman's last words are no longer valid, and there is no need for Boss Chen to take care of them anymore."

"Yeah, Old Chen, why are you worrying so much? Would Boss Cao ever mistreat that mother and daughter?"

One of the guests, who was familiar with Chen Futu, said this, and the others joined in the commotion.

Chen Futu was speechless and could only leave in anger. He was already unhappy, and this only made him angrier.

Since Liu did not show up, Chen Futu had no reason to interfere, so he simply waited for her to come.

However, after waiting and waiting, Liu did not appear. Two months later, the bad news came that Liu had died of illness.

"What did you say!"

Chen Futu stared at Shi Xiaoya in astonishment. Shi Xiaoya said, "It's absolutely true. The body was placed in the coffin just now."

"So it was that man surnamed Cao who plotted to seize the family property?"

"Yes, but unfortunately there's no evidence."

"Go over and have a look."

Chen Futu hurried to the restaurant and saw white mourning clothes fluttering in the air. In the crowd, a ten-year-old girl was pointing angrily at Cao Yuanwai, shouting, "You scoundrel, you killed my mother to seize my family's property! I'll fight you to the death!"

This girl was Xiaoyu. She was like a furious little wild beast. Before the sword could even strike, she was captured by the strongmen around Master Cao and pinned to the ground, unable to move.

"Stop it all!"

Chen Futu squeezed through the crowd and shouted loudly.

The two martial arts figures holding Xiaoyu were full of disdain. "Hey Chen, you'd better not meddle in other people's business. A scholar like you who can't lift a finger or carry a load, I'll take you down with one slash!"

"You guys take the young lady back to her room. I'll come and talk to her myself later."

Master Cao waved his hand, and Chen Futu could only watch helplessly as Xiaoyu was dragged into the restaurant. As she was being led away, she was still screaming hysterically: "You surnamed Cao, I will definitely kill you, I swear!"

Chen Futu wanted to go forward, but Shi Xiaoya grabbed him and shook her head secretly, "Don't go, you'll die."

Master Cao glanced at Chen Futu with disdain, wanting to continue the funeral arrangements, but Chen Futu slapped Shi Xiaoya's hand away and said in a deep voice, "I want to ask the coroner to examine the body!"

These words immediately sparked a lot of discussion among the neighbors.

There are indeed suspicious circumstances surrounding Liu's death, and now that someone has brought it up, everyone wants to see the outcome.

Surprisingly, Master Cao agreed. When the coroner arrived to open the coffin and examine the body, it was found that the person had died of illness, not poisoned as rumored.

"impossible!"

Chen Futu was about to step forward when a group of fierce-looking officials blocked his way. "Boy, are you looking for death?"

"The examination results are clear, and the burial can proceed."

The coroner announced the results in public once again.

Master Cao raised an eyebrow at Chen Futu and said, "Boss Chen, you always slander me. Do you have designs on my deceased concubine?"

"You ant, do you want to die?"

In his shock and anger, Chen Futu blurted out a sentence that silenced the entire street.

Shi Xiaoya and many others who knew Chen Futu were dumbfounded. Everyone knew Chen's temperament: he was serene and otherworldly, and always gentle and refined. Why was he suddenly so agitated?

Even Chen Futu himself was stunned. He didn't know why he would call someone an ant, and with such a big tone!

"I'm an ant? I'll show you today who's the ant between us! Beat him up!"

Master Cao gave the order with a gloomy face.

In an instant, a group of wicked servants pounced on Chen Futu, punching and kicking him. Shi Xiaoya tried to stop them, but was slapped to the ground, leaving a shocking red handprint on her face.

Many people watched this farce. Chen Futu was eventually carried back to the shop with some minor injuries. If it weren't for the neighbors pleading for him and Master Cao not wanting to make a big fuss, he probably would have beaten him to death on the spot.

“I told you, don’t be so impulsive. Even if Master Cao poisoned Liu, so what? What can you do? That coroner is obviously one of his men. The Cao family has close ties with the gentry in this city. There’s nothing you can do.”

Shi Xiaoya cooked a bowl of herbal soup and handed it over.

Chen Futu stared at his own face in the medicine, and in a daze, as if possessed, he saw himself slaughtering the entire city and killing everyone.

"I am ultimately just a mortal, only capable of delusions."

In the days that followed, Chen Futu recovered quickly. He did not go to that shop again, but he knew that the eldest wife of the Cao family went to the shop to check the accounts and left with a happy and playful expression.

As for Xiaoyu, I heard that she went back to the academy. Anyway, Chen Futu went to look for her, but he couldn't find her even when he went to the academy. It seemed that she was deliberately avoiding him, feeling that her uncle couldn't protect her mother, which caused a rift between them.

Chen Futu felt uneasy and stopped actively searching for him.

Several years passed in the blink of an eye. Chen Futu had not seen Xiaoyu again during these years. Occasionally, he would ask Shi Xiaoya about her, but Shi Xiaoya could not explain it clearly. Her competition for the title of courtesan was becoming increasingly fierce, and she was about to be removed from the list and become a woman who could be married to anyone.

Chen Futu wanted to help her in some way, but apart from some poems that popped into his head out of nowhere to support this courtesan who should have been past her prime, there was nothing else he could do.

That autumn, Shi Xiaoya ultimately failed to outshine the new courtesan, and she was expelled from the list.

Chen Futu watched helplessly as she was placed in an exquisite cage and carried by a group of men to the backyard of the flower room.

Through the magnificent cage, Shi Xiaoya smiled sadly, two lines of tears sliding down her cheeks. She waved her hand, indicating that she would never see him again.

"mortal……"

Chen Futu stared intently at the spot where she had disappeared, feeling utterly powerless. The rage that had been building up inside him for many years made his hands tremble violently. It was as if a demon within him had broken free of its chains, wanting to slaughter countless heads and create a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

"It shouldn't have been like this, it shouldn't have been like this..."

"who am I?"

"what can I do?"

Thinking of this, Chen Futu hurriedly returned to the shop, took a large amount of gold coins, and went back to the flower room to buy Shi Xiaoya to redeem her from her servitude.

The brothel madam said arrogantly, "Boss Chen, I'm sorry, but so many eyes are on Madam Shi. I dare not ask for her name, otherwise you might find my corpse in Lujiang."

"Why can't I buy my freedom? Isn't that the rule of the flower shop? I have money!"

"No means no. If you want to be a guest of honor, you'll have to wait in line."

The madam, swaying her hips and grinning, went to greet the distinguished guests.