Chapter 155 Private Schemes
As soon as the young magistrate finished speaking, the entire room fell into a deathly silence.
You could hear a pin drop.
There were only one or two sudden, heavy breaths inside the room.
The constables, including Yan Liulang, and the Liu clan members all wore strange expressions.
Their gazes lingered between Ouyang Rong, whose face was full of sincerity, and Liu Ziwen, who was bowing his head and supporting himself on the bed, trembling all over.
Among these discreetly observing gazes, many were also subtly cast upon Liu Zi'an, who seemed somewhat uneasy, standing between Ouyang Rong and Liu Ziwen.
The atmosphere was subtle.
The Zhou Dynasty was not the rule-of-law society of Ouyang Rong's previous life. Not to mention that in the Jiangnan region, where clan traditions were strong, there were still many towns and villages that adopted the tradition of local gentry deliberation and self-governance, and even the power of the king did not extend to the county level.
Therefore, many local county governments adhered to the principle of "if the people do not report, the officials will not investigate," which was the governing principle for most officials in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Therefore, even during the brief pause in the public trial, Liu Ziwen was attacked by assassins in the street right under everyone's noses.
However, as long as the incident did not occur within the county government office or during a public trial, and as long as the person involved, Liu Ziwen, did not report the incident, the Longcheng County government office did not have much legal grounds to intervene in the case or apprehend the real culprit.
Just as the atmosphere froze and the scene became tense.
Liu Ziwen suddenly looked up, slowly.
The subtle movement immediately attracted everyone's attention.
It's impossible to describe what this face looks like.
It's like dumpling that's been stored in a freezer for a year being dumped all at once into a pot of boiling water. With a whoosh, the red, spoiled meat filling emerges from under the hard, frosty white dumpling skin.
Just as Liu Ziwen looked up, Liu Zian broke the silence first:
"Of course this case needs to be investigated. Brother, let's report it to the authorities while the magistrate is here!"
However, Liu Ziwen ignored Liu Zian's sincere expression and did not even answer Ouyang Rong's question immediately.
His bloodshot eyes turned to the taciturn Liu Zilin, his voice hoarse like a duck's:
"You've separated from the family too?"
Liu Zilin immediately shook his head, "No, Big Brother..."
Liu Zian then interjected:
“Brother, my third brother and I will not leave you. Although the other branches of the clan have taken away a lot of the ancestral property and we lost a lot in the public trial... the Gu Yue Sword Shop was built from scratch by you, and it is still under our branch of the clan…”
Liu Ziwen did not look at his second brother and listened silently to the end.
His complexion was originally somewhat sickly.
Suddenly, everything calmed down.
To Ouyang Rong, who was watching coldly from the sidelines:
"I won't report it, sir. Take care."
The young master of the Liu family, who had two knives stuck in his chest, spoke slowly and deliberately.
Ouyang Rong raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Master Liu is truly kind-hearted."
He nodded, sighed to everyone in the room, and they all smiled in response.
Immediately, Ouyang Rong left without lingering or even turning back, leading Yan Liulang and the others out the door.
Just left a message before going out:
"Master Liu, you must hold on. Don't die. We'll meet in court another day. I and all the people of the county are waiting for you."
However, Liu Ziwen, the young master of the Liu family known as "Wisdom Tiger," is already dead.
Ouyang Rong knew.
Liu Ziwen also knew.
Outside the official residence, along the long corridor leading to another courtyard where the Jade Cup Fairy was imprisoned.
Ouyang Rong, who was walking at the front of the crowd, suddenly stopped and turned around to ask Yan Liulang and the other constables curiously:
"What does it feel like to see your entire career, the things you've poured your heart and soul into building, destroyed inch by inch right before your eyes while you're still alive?"
They saw that the Mingfu had the same calm expression on his face as when Liu Ziwen had just parted ways.
Yan Liulang exchanged glances with his colleagues, and the former carefully chose his words:
"It must be... worse than death, right?"
"Just as you said to everyone after the public trial the other day, for Liu Ziwen, the brothers fighting each other, the Liu family collapsing, is more important than killing him out of his heart."
Yan Liulang spoke more and more fluently, and as if recalling the expression on the face of the young master of the Liu family on his sickbed just now, he couldn't help but chuckle:
"Your Excellency's strategy is truly brilliant; Liu Ziwen looks no different from being dead now."
He sighed, and couldn't help but glance again at the young magistrate's face:
"Hey, it seems we'll never see that domineering and arrogant head of the Liu family again. It's only been two or three months. The Ming government is moving too fast."
Ouyang Rong watched Yan Liulang and the others without interrupting, waiting for them to finish speaking.
"No. I don't feel anything."
He shook his head and said.
"You don't feel anything?"
Yan Liulang and the others were stunned. "Your Excellency is joking. Even a great man would feel nothing if his life's work was destroyed and his career overturned."
Ouyang Rong turned his head, gazing at the rainwater gently washing over the blue bricks, ancient tiles, and patterned floor tiles outside the corridor, and said softly:
"Because what Liu Lang said was a private scheme."
"Secret schemes within the household..."
Yan Liulang murmured, unable to resist asking further:
"What about you, Magistrate? What if, by any chance, the Di Gong Sluice Gate and the Zheyi Canal fail to stop the floods behind us, and everything you helped us build is destroyed? Wouldn't you feel anything then?"
Ouyang Rong turned around, walked forward, and strode away.
"Then let's do it again."
Yan Liulang and the other constables stared blankly at the young county magistrate's retreating figure.
One of the constables, who came from a well-off family, suddenly remembered a line he had heard in a teahouse and blurted out: "Private matters are temporary, but public matters last forever."
Everyone turned around, their faces showing surprise.
...
After the young magistrate and the constables left.
Liu Zilin also took his cousins from various branches of the Liu family out with him.
inside the house.
Only the two brothers, Liu Ziwen and Liu Zian, remained.
As Liu Zian heard the footsteps in the courtyard fade into the distance, he turned around, leaned closer, and whispered:
"Brother, please don't blame me. After you collapsed a few days ago, my third brother and I simply couldn't handle the subsequent public trial. Ouyang Lianghan clearly came prepared and had an excuse to grab us, putting our Liu family on the spot to roast us. We couldn't afford to lose anything without drawing some blood, so..."
"Although Lord Wang is protecting us from having our property confiscated, we may still have offended too many people in the past. In the past few days, all these scoundrels have jumped out, wanting to cut a piece of fat off our Liu family."
At this point, Liu Zian gritted his teeth, his face showing deep remorse:
"These cousins who came back to pay respects to our ancestors are all ingrates. My elder brother treated them so well in the past, and now they've all become traitors to our family..."
"But don't worry, elder brother. Thanks to Lord Wang's intercession, my third brother and I managed to keep the Guyue Sword Shop afloat. It's truly remarkable that we survived this ordeal. And it seems that Ouyang Lianghan and the others don't suspect anything..."
Liu Zian paused, then frowned again:
"By the way, brother, why didn't you report it to the police? Are you afraid that Ouyang Lianghan, the thief, will cry foul and use it as leverage to make trouble for us? That Ouyang Lianghan is really ruthless. Not only is he ruthless, but he's also despicable and shameless, trying to sow discord between us brothers..."
Liu Zian had just finished speaking when...
On his sickbed, Liu Ziwen, who had calmly seen everyone off and listened silently for a while, suddenly sprang to his feet.
Just like on the day of the public trial, he stared intently into Liu Zian's shocked eyes and gripped his wrist tightly.
The man on the sickbed had a ferocious expression on his face and let out a low growl:
"Liu Zi'an! I don't care if you stabbed me or not, from this moment on, from this moment on! You better protect the Liu family and the sword shop! If the sword isn't forged, if the Liu family falls apart in your hands, not only will I haunt you as a vengeful ghost, but the entire Liu family's ancestors for eighteen generations will not forgive you!! Cough cough cough..."
Seemingly due to emotional agitation and excessive movements, which aggravated his chest and lung wounds, Liu Ziwen coughed violently, covering his mouth and chest.
It can be said that every word was filled with tears and blood.
Liu Zian's wrist trembled, his face filled with fear, innocence, and sorrow. He shook his head vigorously and said:
"Brother, it really wasn't me, it really wasn't me! We're brothers, how could I do something so heartless as to stab you in the back? Brother, do you want me to rip my heart out before you'll believe me?"
His eyes were bloodshot and his face showed exhaustion as he said:
"Besides, now is not the time for brothers to be suspicious of each other. You should focus on recovering from your injuries. Let's get through this together, and then work together to forge that thing and take back everything we've lost, okay? Okay, brother?"
Liu Ziwen did not answer, or rather, he did not listen to Liu Zian's pleading words at all.
After he finished coughing, he lay supine on the creaking, hard bed, his mouth full of blood. The ferocious look on his face gradually transformed into an expression mixed with despair and grief.
"I don't care if you stabbed me in the back or not, whether you were faking it or using me as a shield..."
“If the Liu family is gone, if the Liu family is gone... Liu Zian, you are an unfilial descendant, a sinner of the family... You deserve to die ten thousand times over.”
Liu Zian stared wide-eyed at Liu Ziwen, who lay on the bed, his silence more profound than despair. His eyes held a mixture of grievances, indignation, and confusion, which finally coalesced into a single, sorrowful statement:
"Brother, it's true that the poison of the Lovebirds passed through my hands, but Ouyang Lianghan also had it. You accidentally gave him the poison at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that day..."
"Besides, if I really did it, why would I be so stupid as to have my assassins shout at Ouyang Lianghan and the others? Anyone with eyes can see through such a clumsy attempt to smear them. It's a frame-up. Would I, your second brother, do something so stupid?!"
The more Liu Zian questioned him, the heavier his breathing became. He clutched his chest, panting, and his eyes were glistening with tears.
But Liu Ziwen didn't look at him.
Still staring at the canopy above the bed, after a while, he uttered a sentence in a flat tone:
“Ouyang Lianghan would not do such a thing, not only would he not want to, but he would also disdain to do it.”
Liu Zian's tearful pupils contracted, and he uttered an "ah."
But Liu Ziwen continued, seemingly oblivious to everyone else, his eyes vacant, and said:
“If he really wants to use underhanded tactics against me, Ouyang Lianghan has countless opportunities and countless methods. If we can think of them, surely he can think of them too?”
"But he chose the fairest, and also the most troublesome, path: to expose us in front of the entire county and hold a public trial for the Liu family..."
"You're saying someone like that would hire assassins to kill me?"
There was a moment of quiet inside and outside the bed.
Liu Ziwen's face was ashen, but his tone was surprisingly calm as he said:
"I lost, I lost after all. From the moment I resorted to the underhanded tactic of hiring someone to behead me, I was doomed. From that moment on, in Ouyang Lianghan's eyes, I was no longer a worthy opponent."
"But he still didn't resort to the same violent methods, retaliating in kind with ruthless extermination. Instead, he continued with a fair and just public trial..."
He paused here, and Liu Ziwen on the bed suddenly trembled, startling Liu Zian so much that he fell off the stool.
Liu Ziwen stared wide-eyed and growled, baring his teeth:
"Damn it, you really deserve to die, Ouyang Lianghan, you really deserve to die! Why, why didn't you die at Donglin Temple? You have such a murderous intent, you deserve to die, you deserve to die!"
The public trial proposed by Ouyang Rong was the greatest contempt and attempt to destroy his spirit.
It's even more painful than being stabbed to death by assassins.
Liu Ziwen was in particular pain and felt as if his heart was being torn apart precisely because he saw these things all too clearly.
Ouyang Rong might as well have killed him.
Once the man on his sickbed, who had seemed to be experiencing a final burst of energy before death, had quieted down a bit, Liu Zian couldn't help but say:
"Since it's not Ouyang Lianghan, could it be Lord Wang...?"
"Okay, shut up."
Liu Ziwen suddenly interrupted, his voice weak and listless.
He lowered his blue eyelids, his lips trembling as he asked:
"How much property does the Liu family still have left?"
Liu Zian lowered his head:
"If we follow what Ouyang Lianghan just said in the next two days... after the county government collects the confiscations, compensates the people, and divides the property among the families, there will probably only be the mansion on Xiaogushan Mountain and the Guyue Sword Shop on the west bank. Oh, and the water transport business might be able to retain a small part of it."
Liu Ziwen suddenly laughed: "Hahaha...cough cough cough..."
He coughed up blood, which gushed out like a fountain from his throat.
"Big brother."
Liu Zian called out with concern, then couldn't help but cry out in sorrow:
"Brother, don't be angry. As long as we still have the sword in our hands, we still have a chance to turn things around. This is what Lord Wang hinted at the other day. We can abandon our ancestral property and family business for the time being. We should first bow our heads and apologize to Ouyang Lianghan and those unruly people, and get through this calamity..."
"It's alright, brother, we just need to be patient for now... As long as the sword furnace is still there, the Liu family hasn't fallen yet!"
Liu Zian held Liu Ziwen's cold hand tightly:
"Brother, please bear with us here for now and get well soon. Once this is over, my third brother, sister-in-law, and I will be waiting for you at home..."
Liu Ziwen interrupted in a hoarse voice, "Aren't you going to take me back now?"
Liu Zian looked slightly embarrassed: "My elder brother is still under investigation, so it's not good to offend Ouyang Lianghan..."
Liu Ziwen suddenly asked:
"You want to become the Sword Master?"
Liu Zi'an looked puzzled: "What are you talking about, brother?"
Liu Ziwen remained silent.
Afterwards, Liu Zian comforted his elder brother for a few more minutes. Seeing that Liu Ziwen remained silent, Liu Zian simply said that he would not disturb his rest and prepared to take his leave.
"Liu Zian, remember what you said: protect the Liu family and lead the Liu family out of Longcheng... If you can really do that in the end, you are not a sinner."
Before leaving, Liu Ziwen spoke in a trembling voice.
Liu Zian: "Big brother, I..."
“Remember your father’s soup kitchen. The soup kitchen must be open, it must be open… Now go.”
Liu Ziwen lay flat on his back and closed his eyes.
Liu Zian hesitated, then took his leave.
Only the empty room remained, with the man lying on his sickbed like a walking corpse.
I don't know how much time has passed.
That night.
The room was pitch black.
Outside the window, there was a sudden gust of wind and rain.
Suddenly, a gust of wind howled, and with a "bang," the window was blown open and then slammed shut again.
The only sound inside was the soft patter of rain outside.
Apart from that, there was only the faint, weak breathing of Liu Ziwen on the bed.
But a dark shadow had appeared indistinctly in front of the bed.
The humanoid shadowy figure appeared to have one empty sleeve, while its other hand held something long and thin.
The one-armed swordsman stood silently in front of the bed for a while, seemingly watching something.
A short while later.
"you……"
For a moment, the pure white moonlight illuminated the entire room, and Liu Ziwen's voice abruptly stopped.
Soon, darkness returned to the room, leaving only the sound of hurried rain; there was no more breathing or human voice.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com