The guard still didn’t know exactly what had happened outside. All he knew was that this disaster was growing bigger and bigger. In a hurry, he ran to find Xiao Jingzhao.
At that moment, Xiao Jingzhao was already extremely irritated by Tian Bozhi.
Tian Bozhi wouldn’t listen to a word—he was completely fixated on dragging Xiao Jingzhao to the Empress Dowager to demand an explanation.
Zhou Wang was standing nearby, already feeling a headache from hearing all this. He felt Tian Bozhi was utterly out of control.
Now he finally understood why Tian Baoci had become so lawless—he was rotten from the root.
Just look at Tian Bozhi!
Never mind that Xiao Jingzhao had said he only hit Tian Baoci a few times in anger—when he left, Tian Baoci was still perfectly fine.
Even if Xiao Jingzhao had really beaten Tian Baoci to death, to be honest, there wouldn’t be much to say.
Just look at that dog arena!
Look at how many people died today! How many were injured?!
Tian Baoci was simply beyond redemption!
Zhou Wang could no longer hold back. He grabbed the still-yelling Tian Bozhi by the collar, his face full of fury: “Are you insane?! Do you realize what time it is and you’re still harping on this?!”
With such a huge scandal, Tian Baoci’s death was practically a blessing.
Once a person dies, everything ends with them—better to pin all the crimes on Tian Baoci and be done with it.
No matter how far this thing spread, the Tian family would never come out looking good.
Xiao Jingzhao, on the other hand, clearly had real skill.
The way he handled this incident was incredibly smooth and calculated—it was hard to believe this young man had spent all his time in the palace studying, never once involved in politics.
He was practically a seasoned political veteran.
Even if this reached Emperor Yongchang, the emperor would only praise his grandson for being clever and capable.
But Tian Bozhi shoved Zhou Wang aside. By this point, he wasn’t listening to anyone anymore.
Staring at his son—temples swollen, ears bleeding—he nearly rushed at Xiao Jingzhao shouting: “Even if he committed the greatest crimes, you could have reported him! Had someone arrest him! You shouldn’t have killed him yourself!”
Xiao Jingzhao was completely fed up.
He no longer bothered giving the Tian family any face. With a cold sneer, he said: “Duke Chengen, do you know how many bones are buried under that dog arena outside? Do you know where they came from? Your son deserved to die!”
Neither side would back down. Zhou Wang was so furious his chest physically hurt.
Luckily, just then, Xiao Jingzhao’s guard ran in, no longer caring who else was present. Choking on his words, he cried: “Your Highness—Miss Feng—Miss Feng was killed by the dogs too!”
The room fell silent.
Zhou Wang’s expression changed drastically.
Feng Caiwei wasn’t just Empress Feng’s grandniece—she was also the future Princess Consort of Nanan County Prince.
Her status was anything but ordinary.
And now, she had been killed—by Tian Baoci’s dogs!
He reacted immediately, dragging Tian Bozhi out. Once outside, he gritted his teeth and snapped: “Tian Bozhi, are you insane?! No matter how powerful your family is, can you overpower the royal family?!”
Tian Bozhi was stunned.
He truly hadn’t expected that Feng Caiwei would be killed by the dogs.
Zhou Wang clutched his chest in pain and pointed angrily at him: “You—you pampered your son like you were raising a little tyrant! Now you’re still chasing after Nanan County Prince, and for what?! You’d better figure out how to clean up this mess!”
He was done.
This had nothing to do with the Zhou family anyway.
Luckily, the incident had blown up before the wedding. Otherwise, if Commandery Princess Luochuan had married into the Tian family—never mind whether Tian Baoci would have treated a dog better than his wife—just this whole mess today would’ve doomed the entire Tian clan.
And who would’ve suffered? His daughter.
He closed his eyes, let out a long breath, clutched his chest, and turned to leave.
Tian Bozhi remained where he was, staring at the villa.
Back then, Tian Baoci’s health had been poor, so the family had specially bought this hot spring estate for him—to soak in the springs, ride horses, and hunt.
Later, when Tian Baoci became obsessed with raising dogs, they scoured the land to find all sorts of breeds for him.
But he didn’t like pets. He only liked hunting dogs.
And among those, his favorite was the sighthound.
Beautiful, fierce—majestic during hunts.
How did things end up like this?
Tian Bozhi crouched on the ground and wept from heartache.
He knew his son had done wrong.
But he couldn’t help it.
This son had not come easily. All his brothers’ sons had died—this was the only child left, raised like a treasure to this age.
Even if the boy had asked for the moon, he would’ve climbed up and plucked it for him.
Let alone something as small as…
Just a child being childish.
It was all Qi Yuan’s fault!
All Qi Yuan’s fault!
He wiped his face, furious and gnashing his teeth.
If Qi Yuan hadn’t challenged Baoci—if her dog hadn’t killed Baoci’s dog—none of this would have come to light.
And if it hadn’t been discovered, none of this would’ve happened.
That Qi Yuan—just like Li Changqing said—a walking disaster, wherever she went, calamity followed.
Why was she still alive?
Why did she have to win?
If only she had lost, everything would’ve been resolved.
He suddenly stood up, wiped his face, and asked a guard nearby: “Where’s the Qi family?”
The guard quickly answered, “Still over at the dog arena.”
Ah, yes—he remembered now.
Zhou Wang had sent Qi Zhen to the Capital Garrison to bring men and clean up the corpses at the arena.
Expressionless, Tian Bozhi said coldly, “Let’s go. Back to the capital.”
Back to the capital?!
The guard was stunned. “Duke—what about this mess? We’re just leaving?”
This scandal was enormous. With so many bones found, surely there had to be some kind of explanation.
Shouldn’t they coordinate with the local officials, find someone to take the fall?
Why leave now?
Tian Bozhi shot him a cold glare. “Go. Bring Sixth Young Master’s body—we’re going back to the capital!”
The guard, seeing he wasn’t acting like a madman, hesitated, then hurriedly responded. He fetched help to carry Tian Baoci’s corpse, found a carriage, and loaded the body inside.
As for Tian Bozhi himself—he didn’t even say goodbye to Zhou Wang. He mounted his horse and galloped off with his entourage toward the capital.
Zhou Wang had originally gone with Xiao Jingzhao to inspect the site. The moment he saw it, he couldn’t help but close his eyes.
He muttered: “This is just too cruel.”
What kind of dogs had Tian Baoci raised?!
They were monsters!
He thought Xiao Jingzhao had killed him too late—he should’ve killed this scourge long ago.
Xiao Jingzhao, however, remained expressionless.
He stared coldly at Feng Caiwei’s corpse, not a single ripple of emotion in his heart.
People like her—who did evil without considering consequences—for them, human lives were worth less than ants.
