Chapter 623: Punishment

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“Although all of you didn’t know what she did, you are still responsible for not monitoring her properly.”

Su Ying’s gaze turned to Meng Jiang, who had kept his head lowered ever since he entered. “Meng Jiang was even incited by her to do something stupid.”

The night before, the black-robed men interrogated Xie Rui again, and Xie Rui also revealed all his involvement with Wang Furong from the beginning to the end.

It turned out that before Meng Zi and the rest arrived at Sky Alpha City, Xie Rui had already sneaked into the Tiger Base and gotten in touch with Wang Furong.

He knew that Wang Furong was Meng Zi’s daughter-in-law, so he used all kinds of flowery language to coax her into being his spy.

Previously, Wang Furong had used a trick to get married to Meng Jiang even though she was unwilling to marry him. She looked down on Meng Jiang, but she had no other choice.

After Xie Rui appeared, her unsettled heart began wavering at once. In particular, after she found out that Xie Rui was the prince of the Jin State, she fantasized about her life after becoming an Imperial concubine.

Under Xie Rui’s coaxing, she told him everything about Tiger Base and Sky Alpha City.

It was also because of her that Xie Rui’s men were able to find the mine so quickly.

However, Wang Furong was not completely stupid. She knew that if people found out she colluded with Xie Rui, she would definitely die. Therefore, she tried to act smart and retained a way out for herself. And that was to give Meng Jiang drugs to make herself pregnant.

If she could successfully leave with Xie Rui, she would secretly abort the child. She believed that Xie Rui would definitely not know anything.

If things didn’t work out, she could still use the child in her belly to save her own life.

However, she never ever expected that Meng Jiang would strangle her to death without even giving any regard for his own child.

“I have been foolish. Please punish me, City Lord,” Meng Jiang responded.

Su Ying picked up the whip and lowered her eyes to look at him. “You have indeed committed a crime by setting fire for no reason. Today, I will personally punish you. If you can withstand the punishment, then I will no longer hold you accountable thereafter.”

“Meng Jiang is willing to accept any punishment… Argh!”

Before Meng Jiang could finish his sentence, the long whip in Su Ying’s hand lashed down viciously. The flesh on Meng Jiang’s back was instantly lacerated.

Meng Zi and his wife were aghast as they watched, but they did not dare to say anything to plead for Meng Jiang.

Thwack! Thwack! The only sound that could be heard in the entire main hall was the sound of Su Ying’s whip hitting flesh.

After ten lashes, Su Ying stopped.

“Meng Zi, you did not judge people well, and your supervision is not good enough. I take back your right to supervise the people from the Tiger Base. From now on, the people from the Tiger Base will also be merged with the areas under the jurisdiction of the Peace-keeping Bureau. Do you have any objections?”

Meng Zi didn’t even frown. “I accept your order, City Lord.”

Su Ying threw down her long whip. “You may leave.”

“Yes, City Lord.”

Meng Zi and his wife helped Meng Jiang out as they left. Although it was only ten lashes, the person dishing out the punishment was Su Ying. Ten lashes from her were more powerful than dozens of lashes from other people.

Meng Jiang was whipped, and Meng Zi’s authority had been taken back. This matter was considered closed.

As for the Tiger Base, Su Ying instructed the Black Guardian to bring some men there to guard it for the time being. That place was the only way to reach Sky Alpha City once one entered the northern wilderness, so they couldn’t abandon it.

Xie Rui followed Su Ying’s requests and wrote a letter back to the Jin State to his trusted aides, telling them to find a way to gather the things he wanted and send them to the northern wilderness.

The ruler of the Jin State didn’t know that Xie Rui was in the northern wilderness, and neither did Xie Rui’s maternal clan. It was Xie Rui’s own idea to go to the northern wilderness to snatch the mine. This also led to a situation where he had no way to ask his family for help after he got into trouble.

He could only place his hopes on his trusted aides. He could not sneak instructions into the contents of the letter as people were watching him. He could only hope that his men could discern his distress signal from there, find some clues, and thereafter, bring people to the northern wilderness to save him.

Su Ying returned to the palace. As soon as she sat down, a green-robed man walked in with the messenger eagle.

Su Ying looked at the thick stack of messages in the green-robed man’s hand and massaged the spot between her eyebrows.

Damn…

She seemed to have forgotten to send a letter to Xiao Jin for the past two days.

“City Lord, these are the letters from the Chu State.”

Su Ying murmured an acknowledgment and gestured to him to put down the letters.

After the green-robed man left, Su Ying opened the letters one by one.

Xiao Jin’s strong and powerful words leaped out before her eyes. There was no long sermon inside. He simply summarized his current situation in a few simple sentences, mentioned the children a few times, and finally asked her about her progress here.

When reading between the lines, a sense of calm was evident. Then, there was the last sentence. “There’s nothing happening here. It’s fine if you’re not in a hurry to return.” Why did these words seem to exude an intense stench of reproach?

It was true that she didn’t want to go back, but she would not say so!

Su Ying didn’t know why Xiao Jin had become so free after she arrived in the northern wilderness and how he could find time to write to her every day.

Even though she felt that there wasn’t much to say, Su Ying still replied to each of his letters diligently.

After writing her replies, Su Ying stretched languidly and told the Green Guardian to send the letters out.

“City Lord, Manager Qiao has returned to the city.”

After dinner, Su Ying was about to rest when she heard the green-robed man’s report.

Su Ying thought for a while and figured that the time was about right. “Send him in.”

“Yes, City Lord.”

After a short while, Qiao Yang entered, followed by a few team leaders of the Chu State’s soldiers.

Even though they were trying to keep their eyes still, the few leaders could not resist sneaking side glances all over the place.

When they came here, they never dreamed that there would be such a place in the northern wilderness.

However, this wasn’t what shocked them the most. What shocked them the most was Su Ying, who was sitting in the seat of authority.

She was actually the master of this magnificent city!

“Greetings, City Lord.”

The team leaders came back to their senses and knelt down with Qiao Yang. “Greetings…” For a moment, they didn’t know how to address Su Ying.

“Greetings, Your Imperial Highness.”

“All of you may rise.”

“Thank you, City Lord.”

Qiao Yang stood up and looked at Su Ying with eager eyes just like an elementary school student waiting to be praised.

Su Ying raised an eyebrow and kindly rewarded him with a roast chicken cooked by Uncle Murong.

The roast chicken was small, but what mattered most was it came from Su Ying.

Qiao Yang went off happily to eat the roast chicken.

“Your Imperial Highness, when did you arrive?” One team leader asked with a puzzled look.

Su Ying looked like she had been here for quite a few days. They had already tried their best to rush as fast as they could to get here. Even if Su Ying was fast, she wouldn’t be much faster than them.

“I arrived not long ago. It’s already late today. You guys must be tired from the journey. You can go and rest for the night. If there’s any matter, we can talk tomorrow.”

After entering the northern wilderness, the troops were on tenterhooks the entire journey. Previously, they had heard many rumors circulating in the capital city about the northern wilderness. They thought that this place was a man-devouring demonic lair, so they did not dare to let their guard down along the way.

They had indeed seen many corpses on the way, but the corpses were not as terrifying as they had imagined. However, they were indeed exhausted.

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness. We will take our leave first.”

Su Ying got the green-robed men to settle the troops down in a row of houses outside the palace.

Meanwhile, Xie Rui’s trusted aide had also received the message he sent back.

Xie Rui’s trusted aide was waiting at the border city. He was wondering why there was no news from Xie Rui these few days when this letter arrived.

However, after he read the letter, he did not feel good at all..