Tomb of the Unknown
Su Musong just drank a few sips of water, and his wish to go with Xiao Luochen was not fulfilled.
Couldn't he even die? Su Musong suddenly felt a surge of anger in his heart, and he was about to punch the person who had interfered and saved him, but before he could swing his fist, his hand was clamped.
"Musong, Daddy will take you home."
Seeing that it was his father who saved him, Su Musong immediately lost his temper and buried his head in Su Maoyi's arms and cried bitterly.
Su Maoyi had received the news on his way here that the treason case had been settled, the Xiao family had been sentenced to extermination of their entire clan, and all the people involved had been beheaded in public.
Before setting off, Changsun Qinan told Su Maoyi about Su Musong's feelings for Xiao Luochen. Therefore, although he knew that Su Musong was sad because of Xiao Luochen's death, he did not know that Su Musong had also experienced the digging of graves, burning of corpses, and scattering of ashes.
After a long time, Su Musong finally stopped crying. Su Maoyi helped his son, who was walking unsteadily, up and carried him on his back with a sigh.
Su Musong didn't think it was shameful for such a grown-up to need his father to carry him on his back. He just felt that he had no strength left in his body. He fell on Su Maoyi's back and fell into a deep sleep soon.
He hadn't had a good sleep for over a month since he set out for Luzhou. Now that he had seen Su Maoyi and cried several times, the tension in his heart had finally relaxed.
On the way back to Yongjing, Su Musong behaved very well. He did not try to commit suicide, nor did he cry bitterly. Apart from the fact that he almost never said a word and was always in a daze, he was quite normal.
Su Maoyi knew that Su Musong was still sad about Xiao Luochen's death, so he let him go, thinking that he was sad at the moment, but he would eventually get better.
Although the weather was bright and clear, Su Musong felt that the sky above Yongjing City seemed to be shrouded in thick black air, and the people walking on the streets seemed to be worried, and the city had lost its former lively atmosphere.
This was not Su Musong's illusion. The Xiao family's treason case shocked the whole country.
The people of Yongjing City witnessed with their own eyes the extermination of the three clans of the once powerful Xiao family. The thick smell of blood around the execution ground lingered for seven days. Although it did not involve too many people, it was still horrifying enough.
In addition, Marquis Wuning died in battle in the northwest, and a grand funeral was held a few days ago. The emperor ordered that all weddings and banquets in the private sector be suspended for one month, and music be banned for three months to express condolences. Therefore, it is not surprising that the situation in the capital was what Su Musong saw.
When the news of Marquis Wuning's death reached the capital, Princess Jingyang learned that 200 of his personal soldiers had died in the battle to save Marquis Wuning. She then requested that a cenotaph be built for the 200 deceased personal soldiers next to Marquis Wuning's tomb to honor their loyalty.
The emperor approved Princess Jingyang's request and gave the mountain where the tomb of Marquis Wuning was located to the marquis's mansion to build a cemetery.
Although the Anguogong Mansion and the Wuninghou Mansion did not have a close relationship, Su Maoyi had always admired Wuninghou. Although he had not been able to attend the funeral, he still had to go to the cemetery to pay his respects. Therefore, after returning to Beijing, Su Maoyi took Su Musong to Zhongling.
Princess Jingyang brought Duanmin, who had just been canonized as a princess, to greet them at the cemetery.
This was the second time Princess Duanmin and Su Musong met. Almost at the same time, they both remembered the last time they met at the Lantern Festival.
At that time, Xiao Luochen, whom they both loved, was still alive, and the princess's father was still leading the troops in the northwest. But now they are separated by life and death. Although only a few months have passed, the situation at that time seems like something from the previous life.
After paying homage to Marquis Wuning, Su Maoyi did not stay for long, but when he was about to leave, Princess Duanmin called Su Musong. Su Maoyi thought it would be a good thing for Su Musong to meet his friends to relieve his mood, so he kept Su Musong and left on his own.
"I believe you already know about the Xiao family case..."
Duan Min knew that the Anguo family had left Kyoto long ago. Otherwise, given the friendship between Su Musong and Xiao Luochen, it would be impossible that the Anguo Mansion was completely absent from this case.
"Yeah. I heard about it when I was in Shenghuang."
"Brother Luo Chen..."
Speaking of Xiao Luochen, Duan Min choked up a little. Although Xiao Luochen rejected her and she decided to let it go, she was still in love with him after all. How could she just let him go?
"I came back from Luzhou..."
Su Musong couldn't continue. What could he say? Tell Duan Min that he had dug up Xiao Luochen's headless body in the mass grave? Tell her that Xiao Luochen's ashes had been scattered in the water, leaving nothing behind?
This was too cruel for a little girl who loved Xiao Luochen, so he had no choice but to say nothing.
Speaking of Luzhou, Duan Min understood that Su Musong had gone to find Xiao Luochen.
"Come with me."
Princess Duanmin led Su Musong through the tomb of Marquis Wuning and the cenotaphs of two hundred personal soldiers, and then passed through a dense bush and came to a lush woodland, where dozens of tombs were neatly arranged.
"After the Xiao family members were beheaded and publicly displayed, I couldn't bear to see Brother Luo Chen's family members exposed in the wilderness, so I pleaded with my mother. My mother has always respected Prime Minister Xiao and didn't believe he would collaborate with the enemy and commit treason, so she agreed to my request."
"I asked the Emperor to grant me this hill under the pretext of building a cenotaph. I built a mausoleum and secretly buried the remains of the Prime Minister and his family here. However, I can't erect a monument yet. I can only wait a few years until things have changed and I can handle this matter again."
Su Musong was deeply shocked. After seeing Xiao Luochen's remains in the mass grave, he understood even more clearly what Duan Min's action meant to the deceased members of the Xiao family. He was about to kneel down to express his gratitude, but Duan Min held him back.
"You don't have to do this. I just want peace of mind."
Although Duanmin downplayed it so lightly, the Xiao family was guilty of treason and the extermination of three clans. Families that had close dealings with the Prime Minister avoided them for fear of being implicated. There was probably no other family like Princess Jingyang and County Lady Duanmin who would bear the crime of deceiving the emperor and bury the Xiao family.
Although there were no tombstones, Duan Min wrote down the people buried under each grave. She pointed out each one to Su Musong, and Su Musong paid his respects to them one by one.
When it came time to pay respects to his fourth brother Xiao Luoqian, Su Musong finally couldn't hold back his tears.
I didn’t expect that the meeting at the Lantern Festival would be our final farewell. Then came my fifth brother Xiao Luokun and my sixth brother Xiao Luoyao.
Only then did Su Musong realize that he had made a big mistake in Luzhou. He was only concerned with finding Xiao Luochen, but did not bother to inquire about how the affairs of his sixth sister-in-law were handled. He wondered if anyone had buried her, and he felt even more guilty towards his sixth brother.
Finally, there is Xiao Luochen’s cenotaph.
The second and sixth brothers were escorted back to Beijing from the northeast and executed together with the other members of the Xiao family. However, Xiao Luochen was in Luzhou and the search was delayed for some time. He could not be escorted back to Beijing in time for his sentence, so he was executed in Luzhou. Duan Min had no choice but to build a cenotaph for him.
However, Duan Min could not obtain Xiao Luochen's belongings, so the cenotaph was nothing more than an empty grave. Su Musong buried Xiao Luochen's jade statue in the cenotaph himself, which made it truly worthy of the name.
Duan Min and Su Musong shed tears again in front of Xiao Luochen's tomb before getting up and leaving.
Before leaving, Princess Duanmin gave Su Musong a token.
"With this token, you can enter the cemetery unimpeded to pay your respects, but you must keep it safe and don't let anyone else know, lest you arouse suspicion."
Su Musong's heart was once again filled with gratitude towards Princess Duanmin, and he felt that Xiao Luochen's evaluation of her was absolutely correct.
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