Jiang Yuanjun, who had remained silent throughout the burial of the loyal bones, suddenly spoke: ...
Emperor Kang Le fell ill. On the day the Observatory collapsed, Gao Jian hanged himself in prison, Li Yuanda's family was confiscated and he was exiled, Li Yuanda's wife, Miao, perished in the fire, the Crown Prince presented the Li family's jade pendant that had been "hidden for many years," and the evidence in the Qin family's three bones case was conclusive, his health began to deteriorate, and he did not attend court for several days in a row.
A few days ago, Emperor Kang Le wrote a sentence on Li Sheng's crime. Then, his throat tightened, and under the watchful eyes of his ministers, he vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed onto the dragon table.
He kept repeating: Xu Zhi, Cheng Ji.
The ministers saw that the emperor's eyes were filled with tears.
A few days later, on a rainy day, the official in charge of supervising the execution was Xu Lin, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. A few days earlier, he had ordered a platform to be built in Gulou Street and ordered the Beijing Martial Arts Academy to send hundreds of people from the yamen to surround the execution ground to prevent anyone from taking the prisoner hostage.
However, the male members of the Li family had all been exiled to the border many days ago, and the female members were mostly women and children who lived in seclusion in their homes. So, who would come to abduct them at the execution ground?
Qin Weixi, dressed in a snow-white long dress, was hidden in the crowd, holding an umbrella. She saw Li Sheng standing on the execution platform, looking ashen-faced.
He overheard the conversation of some people in the capital: "What a tragedy! Even if they become government slaves, they are still human beings! Let alone young children."
Li Sheng followed the sound and began to gasp for breath, crying out in a hoarse voice. Suddenly, he trembled; in the crowd, he saw a pair of chilling eyes, sharp as blades, staring at him.
He thought the face looked somewhat familiar, but assumed he was hallucinating. He closed his eyes and then opened them again.
The woman gave him a cold smile, then held up an oil-paper umbrella and looked up in the direction of the observatory.
He followed her gaze.
Stargazing Tower!
A sudden clap of thunder sounded, and the rain intensified. He shivered violently.
On the day of the Medicine King Temple Fair, he was drinking with a group of young men from prominent families in a restaurant. Several of them got quite drunk and began to talk about their family backgrounds, then wanted to go elsewhere for entertainment. Because of the imperial examinations that would be held again in three years, his father had been keeping him at home lately to urge him to study. Therefore, he suggested that they finish their drinks and go home.
The city began to light up. Someone wearing a ghost mask shoved him from behind. He instinctively turned around, and the person quickly stepped on his newly bought brocade boots as he swayed. He was furious and was about to slap the person when the person apologized repeatedly, "Young master, I'm so sorry. I'm in a hurry to go stargazing." The voice was melodious and pleasant, like the song of a nightingale in spring.
He stood there, stunned, his outstretched hand frozen in mid-air. A group of drinking buddies started to jeer, and Lu Zhan, the son of the Imperial Academy Chancellor, came over to tease him again, asking if he wanted to shut himself away and become a well-behaved scholar in the capital.
He sneered, reaching up to smooth his meticulously combed hair. Just then, he saw Zhao You, the son of the Earl of Qingping, carrying a lantern and walking hand in hand with a woman, looking radiant and carefree. Lu Zhan began to jeer, saying that Zhao You had already passed the imperial examination and was working in the Hanlin Academy, so why didn't he take the exam next year to become the top scholar? Or at least the second-place scholar, since Zhao You was the third-place scholar last year.
He remembered kicking Lu Zhan and saying to him, "When I rise to power, I'll see you all kneeling down begging for mercy. Come on, let's go to the Star Gazing Tower. I'll take you to the top to observe the stars!" Then he ordered Lu Zhan to drag and pull Zhao You along, and the group headed towards the Star Gazing Tower.
However, the guards said that climbing to the top floor had been restricted for several days. He had his servants give money to bribe a few guards to go out for drinks. As the alcohol took effect, they grabbed Zhao You and climbed up to the third floor.
Zhao You, however, wanted to leave the Star Gazing Tower and rebuked him, saying that he did not expect to associate with someone like him.
He was furious and, emboldened by alcohol, wanted to show his cronies how arrogant he usually was. So he grabbed Zhao You by the neck and slammed him against the railing.
What did he say back then?
He seemed to say, "Zhao You, don't think you're the only one so righteous. Back then, when Liang Xu led his men to attack Penglai, I personally saw you return from outside the city, acting suspiciously, and then you fell seriously ill. What? Did you foresee Liang Xu's plan to capture Qin Shuoguang? Or did you witness Liang Xu's murder of the once-glorious heir of the Duke of Dingguo? And regret not informing him? Zhao You, you also contributed to the tragic death of that treacherous minister of the Qin family in Penglai."
His servant reminded him not to hurt anyone at this time, as there would be many people and distractions at the temple fair.
But Zhao You mocked him, asking how he knew everything so clearly. Could it be that he was used to stealing chickens and dogs and was monitoring him that day?
Lu Zhan tried to mediate and stop him, but he wanted to take Lu Zhan down with him. The three of them immediately started fighting, followed by a raging fire. The pillars began to collapse, and the eaves began to crumble. The group of people on the roof panicked. He lost his balance and tried to escape downwards. He was filled with immense fear. In a daze, someone seemed to push him, and he pushed Lu Zhan back. Then he saw Lu Zhan fall backwards and disappear from his sight.
Someone exclaimed in alarm and said that Lu Zhan had fallen down, implying that he had killed Lu Zhan.
Some people defended him, saying that Lu Zhan was unsteady on his feet and accidentally fell.
His head was throbbing with pain. He looked up at Zhao You's utterly contemptuous gaze. Enraged, he staggered drunkenly, and as the rooftop began to crumble and the crowd scattered, he impulsively pushed Zhao You off the building as well...
The torrential rain pierced the air, and Li Sheng shivered, snapping him back to reality. Then, he saw the woman smiling at him, a smile filled with coldness and mockery. A man in brocade robes approached from a short distance away, held up an oil-paper umbrella for her, and stood beside her, silently watching the execution platform.
Luo Ling!
No, that's not right!
His face was deathly pale, and he was cold to the bone. He tried to scream, but everything went black before his eyes, and the executioner behind him raised his knife and brought it down...
A few miles outside Beijing, the rain gradually subsided. Tao Qingyun, Jiang Yuanfu, and Jiang Yuanjun were already waiting inside the small pavilion. The Qin family's cemetery was located here. After the case of the Duke of Dingguo was settled in the capital, Emperor Kangxi still granted the Qin family the right to return to their roots and be buried in the family cemetery.
The Qin family ancestor, with the intention of ensuring the well-being of his descendants, placed the tombs of his descendants above those of his ancestors, symbolizing that they could rise step by step under the protection of their ancestors.
The tomb of Qin Shuoguang, the eldest grandson of the Qin family, is located among these tombs. However, they did not enter the tomb complex. Instead, they poured a jar of clear wine and a pot of clear tea onto the yellow earth from afar, and offered several bundles of zongzi (a type of offering), before paying their respects to each of the tombs.
Feng Hua took a box from the carriage, and Qin Weixi opened it, taking out the adorable, pot-bellied clay doll and placing it in the box. Ever since returning to the capital and first visiting Penglai, she had never dreamed of that child again—that child who should have been her brother's, the child her sister-in-law Zhu Ruo had carried for ten months, the child the Qin family had been hoping for to be born.
Tao Qingyun brushed the raindrops off her face, clasped her hands in a fist salute, and said on behalf of the group, facing the tomb complex, "Brother Ashuo, we won't go in, so as not to disturb the spirits of the Qin family ancestors. We've brought you your favorite Qiulu Bai and Guzhu Zisun teas."
Luo Ling went outside the cemetery and cleared away the tall weeds with a hoe. Jiang Yuanjun gazed at the distant, misty hills, while Jiang Yuanfu instructed Zishu to place the pastries she had brought from the palace on the ground, saying, "Second Brother, I don't know what you like to eat, but I've seen you often eat a piece or two of mung bean cake when you go to the palace. These were freshly made in the small kitchen this morning."
Qin Weixi looked at the mung bean cake with a somewhat indifferent expression, thinking of the emperor inside the Wanchong Gate.
My elder brother didn't like mung bean cakes. However, when he was sent to the palace to meet the Emperor, the current Emperor often invited my brother or father to dine with him. The imperial kitchen would then serve some pastries. The current Emperor disliked the sticky, dry taste of mung bean cakes, but during the sweltering summer, his grandmother, Zhao, earnestly persuaded him to eat a few pieces, saying they were cooling and could relieve the heat. The current Emperor frowned and always pushed them to the side of the table.
My brother doesn't crave delicacies or meat. If he has any preferences, they are the Autumn Dew White tea brewed during the White Dew season and the Guzhu Purple Bamboo Shoot tea produced in the Guzhu Mountain area.
One year, she accompanied Afu to the summer palace. A table was laden with palace pastries, but her brother didn't reach for the ones on the inside; he only ate two or three pieces of mung bean cake in front of him as a sign of respect. Later, she saw the Emperor push a cup of hot tea in front of her brother: "Ashuo, this Mengding Mountain tea is my uncle's favorite. Because my father loved it so much, I like it too."
"A-Shuo, what kind of tea do you like?"
The older brother smiled and replied, "It's all good."
The emperor pushed the plate of mung bean cakes in front of him again, and said with a smile, "I've noticed you've eaten quite a few pieces lately. Since you like them, I'll have the imperial kitchen make more for you when we get back to the palace."
The elder brother replied again, "Your Majesty, I am not greedy for food; these are quite good."
During family dinners, my brother is much more at ease. He will eat some of his favorite foods at the table and occasionally drink a small pot of Qiu Lu Bai wine at home during his days off.
She recalled what her father had said outside her parents' courtyard when her grandfather passed away: "Born into a noble family, his brother will probably not be able to act recklessly in this life. I only wish that this daughter can still live a carefree and happy life."
However, the elder brother's law-abiding life was cut short by a single sentence of stubborn resistance, and he died at Penglai Xiaoding, passing away in the prime of his life in the Qin family tomb.
Her feud with the Liang family was unresolved, and this hatred gradually grew and spread over the past ten years. From the capital to Jiangnan, and then back to the capital, the journey of over a thousand miles accompanied her for more than three thousand long days and nights.
Luo Ling brushed the dirt off her hands, walked closer to the group, and then asked her, "Would you like to kowtow to your brother Ashu? You haven't been back to the capital for so many years, he probably doesn't even recognize you anymore."
His voice was gentle and warm; it was my elder brother, Luo Ling'a! His voice was always pleasant to hear.
A swallow flew overhead, its glossy black feathers fluttering as if a single feather had gently drifted down and brushed against her heart.
So she lifted her skirt, knelt down, and performed a kneeling bow.
Looking up again, it seemed as if yellow sand filled the sky, and as far as the eye could see, corpses littered the ground. Behind the Qin family cemetery, it seemed as if an endless line of nameless tombstones belonging to the Qin family members appeared.
The Qin clan could be buried in the Qin family cemetery by imperial decree, returning to their roots. However, the more than one hundred personal guards who had fought alongside their grandfather on the battlefield did not meet a good end. They were all thrown into a mass grave and then burned to ashes.
She turned her gaze toward the myriad gates of the capital, her sorrowful eyes replaced by an icy chill.
Jiang Yuanfu glanced back and said in a low voice, "I knew Fourth Brother wouldn't come. Eldest Brother, I think he went to the palace this morning."
Luo Ling nodded: "His Majesty summoned him to the palace today."
Qin Weixi listened silently from the side. Last night, that guy had gone mad, taking her on horseback through the street towards the Luo residence, then laughing as he rode away. She dismounted, her hair disheveled, and he even scratched her head haphazardly. The night breeze was cool, but she felt warm all over. She remembered being in his arms then, draped in a black cloak over a red shirt, holding her tightly, feeling no chill at all. Her brother hadn't asked anything after returning home, only telling her to rest early.
Thinking of this, her ears twitched slightly, and then she suddenly felt a burning sensation in both ears. Feng Hua, standing beside her, couldn't help but look on with suspicion.
At this moment, Jiang Yuanjun, who had been silent all along, suddenly said, "Heroes are always buried in the yellow earth, whether they are here or in the remote borderlands."
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