Jiang Yimian asked curiously, "What were you doing five years ago?"
She hadn't even been born yet; she must have just joined the organization.
He still trained with everyone with a sincere heart, but that sincerity gradually disappeared amidst various hardships and the departure of teammates.
What about Lu Cijian?
Lu Cijian paused, as if lost in memories, and after a while said, "I can't quite remember, but it was either training or completing a mission."
He didn't want to remember the past at all; he only wanted his mind to be filled with memories of Mianmian.
Seeing that he didn't seem to want to say more, Jiang Yimian didn't ask any further, but just smiled and teased, "I didn't know you could just casually meet such an amazing person. Aren't you going to explain who Song Er and the others are?"
Especially since this impressive person just said he liked her.
Lu Cijian smiled, knowing she was joking, and gave a soft "hmm". In his heart, Mianmian was much more capable than him.
All he has are material possessions, but Mianmian has many things he doesn't. She's an incredibly capable girl, second to none.
“Song Er and the others are all from the Ink Pavilion. Song Bingcheng is the Pavilion Master and also my half-master.”
We all grew up in the Mo Pavilion. You should know that the Mo Pavilion is an intelligence organization that also commits murder and robbery, but in reality, it's much more than that.
The Ink Pavilion has a wide range of interests, not limited to intelligence gathering, but also engaging in many business ventures like yours.
When it came to business, Jiang Yimian immediately became interested and asked curiously, "Where are Moge's businesses usually located?"
In the past, when I worked with the organization to crack down on the black market, we would always encounter some gangs, but most of them were small-scale operations.
She was curious about how powerful an organization of the size of Mo Ge would be.
Lu Cijian said, "They are found throughout the Great Jin Dynasty, and some neighboring countries may also have them, but they are relatively few."
Jiang Yimian was somewhat surprised and wanted to ask a few more questions, but then she suddenly remembered the first time she heard about the Ink Pavilion from Lin Zhaozhao, and the answer she received from Lu Cijian when she asked him out of curiosity.
The other person seemed very disgusted and didn't want to mention it at all.
Looking at the person in front of her, whose expression had turned colder since the mention of Mo Ge, she hesitated for a moment before asking, "Do you dislike Mo Ge?"
Lu Cijian looked at the person in front of him, thought for a while, and then said truthfully, "Yes, but not the Ink Pavilion itself."
What he hates are those things from back then. It's been so long, yet they're still so vivid in his mind. Those things he most wants to forget are like an inscription on his brain. Every time he thinks about them, it's like reliving them all over again.
Jiang Yimian opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. She didn't know what Lu Cijian had been through before, nor did she know how to comfort him.
Lu Cijian reached out and pulled her back, saying gently, "Mianmian, don't worry about it. Those things happened a long time ago, and I've almost forgotten about them."
If you want to know about the Ink Pavilion, I can take you back with me if the opportunity arises.
He would carefully hide all the dirty things and let Mianmian see the beautiful things.
Jiang Yimian just smiled and didn't dwell on the topic. Instead, she looked at the books filling the room and said, "Are there any books about the laws of the Great Jin Dynasty here? I'd like to take a look."
Lu Cijian frowned as he glanced at the several rows of bookshelves, and said helplessly, "You can ask me anything you want to know. It might be faster to find me than to look for the books."
Jiang Yimian smiled and nodded in agreement, then asked curiously, "What will the Ministry of Justice do with the concubines and maids on this estate?"
Not counting the girls who were there for people's amusement, there were more than forty concubines and maids alone, and with the girls who were there for people's amusement, there were nearly eighty people.
Not to mention the servants.
She wasn't sure whether these people had been kidnapped or bought from slave traders, but if they all had indentures with Zhu Shichang.
These people are all part of the Zhu family's property, and they will either be confiscated or beheaded.
Neither outcome is good.
They were both victims, yet they were forced to be buried with the Zhu family.
Lu Cijian remained silent for a moment before saying, "You want to save them?"
Jiang Yimian shook her head, then nodded. "I don't think so. I just don't want them to be buried with Zhu Shichang. They haven't even experienced the Zhu family's glory. They're trapped on the estate as tools for others' enjoyment, but in the end, they have to die with those who benefited from it."
I just feel sorry for them and think they're being treated unfairly.
Lu Cijian thought for a while before saying, "Generally, in prominent families whose property is confiscated due to treason, all male members, regardless of age, will be beheaded."
The fate of the female members of the family depended on the severity of the circumstances; if the circumstances were serious, all of them would be buried alive with the deceased.
If the offense is relatively minor, there are three possible solutions: exile, sale to a brothel, or sale to a landlord as a slave.
Most of the Zhu and Wan families were exiled, and the people on the estate were probably in the same situation; there's no way a fourth outcome could occur.
Jiang Yimian frowned and said with some regret, "Is there no other way? Wang Shuihua also helped us get into the mine this time."
If she hadn't sent a message to Old Man Wang, how would he have known that Steward Chen enjoyed the trust of the people on the mountain?
None of those three outcomes were good. The journey to exile would take at least several months, or even half a year, during which the traveler would endure wind and rain, sleep poorly, and be chained to make the journey.
Even if those girls can endure it, they might still be bullied.
Not to mention being sold to places like the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment brothel), which was no different from being kept on a estate for people's enjoyment, or even worse. The matrons in the Jiaofangsi would beat and scold the dancers who were sold, and they hardly treated the dancers as human beings.
As for being sold into slavery by landlords, once you become a slave, your life and death are not in your own hands; they are entirely at the landlord's disposal. The landlord can kill those slaves at any time, which is all in accordance with the law.
They were even lower in status than the indenture of ordinary servants.
That's hundreds of lives lost just like that. It's impossible not to be moved.
Jiang Yimian frowned even more, annoyed by her own increasingly softened empathy and resentful of this feeling of helplessness.
Seeing that she was genuinely troubled by those people, Lu Cijian thought for a while before saying, "I can exile the people on the estate as well. I will secretly help them reach the wilderness. As long as they arrive safely and don't have to endure the elements, with my people secretly helping them, they will definitely be able to survive there."
Jiang Yimian thought for a moment, then suddenly raised an eyebrow, a flash of inspiration in her mind, and asked curiously, "How is this landlord defined?"
Since all three paths lead to certain death, she'll create one that leads to survival.
Since these people are going to be sold anyway, I might as well sell them to her.
It just so happens that she was also planning to open a red-lacquered workshop, which was short of manpower at the time.
As long as these people are in her hands, she can make them do whatever she wants.
Although they were still slaves, she was now the one who could decide their lives.
If these people are willing, she will certainly not mistreat them and will treat them like ordinary workers.
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