Chapter 456: Heartbroken, Die with Unclosed Eyes
"Don't...think..."
Lu Chongyuan's expression was ferocious, and the vague voice came out of his throat, mixed with blood.
Tang Ning lowered her eyes: "So you choose to let everyone die with you?"
She chuckled: "Yes, you still have a way out after all."
"In your heart, even if the Lu family is destroyed, there's still Lu Jiuan. The lives of your nephews, nieces, and grandchildren, the women who married out of the Lu family, and the more than a thousand members of the Lu family are not as important as Lu Jiuan alone."
"It's a pity that Prince Pingshan's rebellion was exposed, and the money he used to store grain and buy horses has long been seized. Even his fiefdom is probably under surveillance now."
"Without the Lu family's wealth and support, and without the private soldiers you've kept hidden in your clan territory for years, let's take a gamble. Once the Lu family's rebellion is announced to the world, and King Pingshan knows that the Lu family has been exterminated, all the wealth and prosperity of the past century will go to the national treasury."
"Will he bear the charge of treason and protect Lu Jiuan, this burden, or will he hand him over and put all the blame for treason on the Lu family to appease the court and the kings?"
Lu Chongyuan's face turned pale after hearing Tang Ning's words, and his breathing became heavier. Tang Ning stood up directly, turned around and left without trying to persuade him anymore.
"ah--"
Lu Chongyuan made a vague sound in his throat and struggled desperately to get up, grabbing Tang Ning's cloak. His body was in great pain and he could not stand up, so he fell down with a "bang" and hit her side.
Tang Ning looked down at him: "Why, Mr. Lu, do you have anything else to say?"
"Then you better hurry up. What I feed you won't last much longer."
Lu Chongyuan felt as if the suppressed poison in his body was twisting his internal organs, and his throat was wheezing like a broken bellows. He stared at the woman who was standing in front of him condescendingly.
This was a child whom he had never taken seriously, a girl whom even the people in his house could manipulate at will. She had never dared to speak when she saw him, and always hid behind Lu Zhinian, looking at him with trepidation.
But now she no longer has any trace of her former fragility. Although she still has the same face, the words she speaks are like blades, so sharp that they can cut people's hearts alive.
Lu Chongyuan was scared.
He was afraid that Lu Jiuan would lose the Lu family and would not be able to capture King Pingshan. He was afraid that after his death, all the members of the Lu family would be buried with him, and the Lu family bloodline would be extinct.
Lu Chongyuan didn't dare to gamble, and he couldn't afford it.
Tang Ning watched as the struggle in Lu Chongyuan's eyes turned into helplessness, as if he had lost all his fighting spirit. A vague sound came from his throat, and he slowly lowered his head towards her.
She breathed a sigh of relief and it worked.
…
The cell was dark. Lu Chongyuan was lying on the ground, writing something with a pen. There were spots of blood on the ground, and the paper was not smooth, but he did not dare to stop for a moment.
He knew that he didn't have much time left. The suppressed toxins in his body were corroding his five senses. He wrote shakily, but at a fast pace.
Since he had surrendered and asked Xiao Yan to spare Lu's life, he had never thought of doing anything.
Tang Ning stood aside and looked at what Lu Chongyuan wrote. Some of the things she knew, but some she didn't. Every single one of them was a secret before Emperor An ascended the throne.
The more she looked, the more shocked she became, and she couldn't help but take a deep breath.
When Lu Chongyuan tried his best to write the last word, the pen in his hand fell to the ground with a "bang", staining half of the paper red. He vomited blood and stretched out his hand to leave a palm print.
After seeing him let go and collapse, Tang Ning carefully picked up the "confession letter".
The hem of her cloak was grabbed by someone. Tang Ning lowered her head and saw Lu Chongyuan, who had lost the effect of the medicine to suppress the poison and was facing another attack of the poison. He grabbed her robe tightly and looked up at her.
He was in so much pain that he couldn't make a sound. Dirty blood was flowing out of his mouth, and black blood was oozing from his nose and ears.
But Lu Chongyuan just looked up at her, as if waiting for her promise with his last breath.
Tang Ning put the confession scroll away into his sleeve, then lowered his eyes and said seriously, "Although my brother and I are not good people, we are not as vicious as you and Emperor An."
"After my brother completes what he is about to do, except for your three clans, the other Lu clan members and distant relatives will be exiled to the wasteland as guilty persons, and their crimes will not be prosecuted after three generations."
She paused, then remembered something and said:
"Those Lu family daughters who married out might not be able to keep their place, but as long as the collateral bloodlines behave themselves, after a few generations, if the imperial examination system is revived and no longer relies on aristocratic family backgrounds for recommendation, they might be able to get the chance to enter the court again."
Lu Chongyuan was stunned when he heard Tang Ning's words. He suddenly remembered what the handsome and noble Crown Prince said a long time ago when he stood in the court.
He said that the aristocratic families monopolized the official career, resulting in more and more incompetent people in the court, and the recommendation system had many drawbacks, making it difficult for truly talented people to display their talents.
The aristocratic families may seem glorious, but they are actually corrupt inside, and the court is in chaos. If the Wei Dynasty wants to be strong, it must first eliminate the corruption in the court and allow the children of poor families to have a way to rise. Only in this way can the Wei Dynasty be renewed and the children of the aristocratic families be forced to work hard to make progress and bring vitality to the court.
Lu Chongyuan was the best of the Lu family back then. He was extremely talented at a young age. He knew that what the prince said was right and that aristocratic families did have their drawbacks.
But he is from a noble family and was brought up in a noble family. He will never allow anyone to infringe upon the interests of the clan and destroy the century-long peace of their family.
Later, the prince died, and the He family, who agreed with what he said and betrayed the interests of the aristocratic families, were also exterminated. He thought that the Lu family could continue to prosper in his hands.
Lu Chongyuan never thought that the Lu family's century-old inheritance would end in his hands, nor did he think that the thing he had strongly opposed would become the lifeline for those lucky branches of the Lu family who survived.
Maybe fifty years, maybe a hundred years.
When the court changes and no one remembers the mistakes of the Lu family, they will still have a chance to turn things around. They can get the opportunity to enter the court through the imperial examination and support the Lu family again.
This was something he once despised.
Lu Chongyuan slowly raised his head and lay on the ground. He felt that Tang Ning's last word of "comfort" was the most heartbreaking. His face seemed to be crying and laughing. As tears fell, he loosened his grip on the cloak little by little, his eyes widened and he stopped breathing.
Tang Ning looked at Lu Chongyuan who died with his eyes open, bent down and dragged him back a little, making him return to the state he was in before dying from the poison. Then he picked up the things on the ground, put his hood back on his head with a calm face, turned around and left the prison.
"Girl?"
"Get out."
Jinyun nodded when he heard this and left quietly with Tang Ning.
Everything in the prison remained the same, and no one knew that anyone else had been here.
After a while, someone came in from outside and carried Lu Chongyuan's body out, and then someone came to check.
Xiao Yan glanced at them and then looked away: "You guys take care of things here. Take care of Lu Chongyuan's body. Move the rest of the Lu family to the death row for now. The specific punishment will be determined by His Majesty."
"What happened tonight should be kept to oneself. Anyone who talks too much will be exterminated along with his entire clan."
Everyone around hurriedly bowed their heads: "Yes, Lord Governor."
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