The Marquis Is Innocent

From the end of last year, this battle for supremacy in the Yellow River region between Wei Shao and Xing Xun became the attention of the world’s lords.

Spies traveled east to west, north to south, sending the latest news to the lords as quickly as possible.

Qiao Ping was more concerned about the battle than anyone else. He had never heard Wei Shao call him ‘father-in-law’ even though his daughter had been married to him for so long. All of Qiao Ping’s impressions of his son-in-law are still only relying on the words of others. But from the bottom of his heart, he had unconsciously started to feel affection for the son-in-law whom he had never met. In several correspondences with his daughter, when she mentioned this man, her tone was slowly no longer like before, merely a vague name. Her emotions mixed in between her lines of words.

Qiao Ping was an excellent scholar and military man. Except for military affairs, he was a great scholar and loved his daughter genuinely. His heart was much more sensitive than the average father’s. Even if his daughter did not explicitly say it, he could feel she should have agreed that this man had become her husband. Not to mention that now, she was about to have a child. He naturally paid close attention to the changes in the war.

He sent scouts, which sent the latest news about the war to the East County every few days. There was never any delay.

But after he finished the battle at Juye and returned to the East County, the latest news was still the same as half a month ago; because of bad weather, Wei Shao and the allied forces of Xing Xun and Le Zheng Gong continued to confront each other at the Yellow River. Wei Shao was at a disadvantage.

Both this news and the matter of the late return of the scouts made Qiao Ping feel uneasy. He sent out new scouts.

While anxiously waiting for the latest news this day, they were celebrating Qiao Yue’s birthday and the triumph of Qiao Ping’s father and son.

The Qiao family generals and soldiers gathered at the banquet hall tonight. During the banquet, people were so excited that before it was over, some people were sent out drunk one after another.

All the people in the room were cheerful except Qiao Ci. He drank sullenly and remained silent. Zhang Pu smiled and said: “We are happy to win the battle. Moreover, it is Lord’s birthday. We should not return tonight without getting drunk, but why is young master depressed?”

Qiao Ci ignored him.

Zhang Pu saw the crowd looking at him, slightly embarrassed, pretending nothing had happened, and laughed again: “I have good news. I guarantee that young master will be happy to hear it.”

Coughing, he cleared his throat and said, “Wang Ba, the Marquis of Zuodu, is an important minister from the Han family. His family has a beautiful daughter who is at the age of maturity. The Marquis of Zuodu heard that you are young and heroic, interested in betrothing his daughter ……”

The hall gradually quieted down. But his words have not yet finished, only to hear a “pop,” Qiao Ci slammed the wine bottle in his hand on the desk, sneering: “Who are you? Although my mother is dead, my father is alive. When do I need you to decide my marriage for me?”

The hall was suddenly silent.

Zhang Pu snapped, his eyes turned to Qiao Yue.

Qiao Yue’s face sank slightly: “Ci’er is rude! How can you talk like that? That is my intention. You have reached the age of marriage and are the only heir of my Qiao family. It is time to consider the matter of marriage!”

Qiao Ping said, “I accept your kindness on behalf of Ci’er. I am afraid that Ci’er may not be able to climb high. We can’t accept the kindness of the Marquis of Zuodu. Tonight is a rare gathering. It is not appropriate to discuss this matter here. We should drink our wine!”

Qiao Ping knew when he was fighting Zhou Qun, Liu Yan was crowned emperor by a group of old Han ministers in Langya, titled Zhengguang. As the rightful Han emperor, he ordered all the lords to attend to the king and attack the rebellious court in Luoyang to restore the Han dynasty.

At that time, Wang Ba, Dong Cheng, Dou Wu, Deng Xun, and others ran to name their voices. Hearing the news of Wang Ba’s intention to connect with marriage, Qiao Ping was stunned and subconsciously refused.

Qiao Yue looked disappointed and wanted to speak again. Qiao Ci suddenly got up and said straightforwardly: “Uncle, my marriage is not urgent. It is not too late to discuss it later. I need to ask you. General Green Eyes has helped our Yanzhou. No need to mention the past, but Yanzhou has received attacks twice this time. We would not know what would happen to Yanzhou today if it were not for General Green Eyes. But why is Uncle not willing to see and accept him? I don’t understand.”

Juye’s battle was fierce, and Zhou Qun died because of General Green Eyes’s strategy, which convinced all the Qiao family members. Unexpectedly Qiao Yue did not accept him. They did not dare to speak out because of Qiao Yue’s position, but they were somewhat puzzled.

At this time, Qiao Ci suddenly spoke out, seemingly speaking out of his heart. The crowd turned their attention to Qiao Yue.

Qiao Yue still had a sullen face and did not make a sound.

Zhang Pu said: “How can you be so disrespectful to the Lord? Bi Zhi was just a runaway slave of the Qiao family. Lord does not punish him is already merciful. Won’t we become a laughing stock if we accept him again?”

“I only know that the times create heroes! The time has come to accept such heroes, but instead of accepting them, we are pushing them away based on their origin! No wonder Yanzhou has fallen to this state and has to rely on sending women to others to save their noses!” Qiao Ci laughed coldly.

The moment these words came out, the atmosphere suddenly froze.

Qiao Yue’s face changed.

“How dare you! The older you get, the more disrespectful you are! How dare you blatantly challenge me for a horse slave!”

Qiao Yue was so angry that he struck his palm on the face of the desk and shouted sternly.

Qiao Ping was helpless about his eldest brother’s insistence on not accepting Bi Zhi as his son-in-law. He could only slowly persuade him again.

Qiao Ping knew that his son had just sent Bi Zhi away and was in a depressed mood, so he spoke out against Qiao Yue, but he could not bear to scold him. He said, “Ci’er is drunk. Withdrew!”

Qiao Ci stared fiercely at Zhang Pu, got up from the seat, turned around, and walked out of the banquet hall.

Qiao Ping said, “Please don’t blame him, elder brother. Ci’er has received kindness from General Green Eyes. General Green Eyes helped Yanzhou to solve its difficulties, yet he couldn’t even enter the gates of East County. He drank some wine just now, so I think he was upset, and that’s why he caused trouble. I’ll talk to him when I get back.”