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Chang’an City, the Lu Family
On this day, Lu Desheng received two letters, delivered by courier.
One of them, he could tell at a glance, was written by his younger son. He set that aside, not in a hurry to open it. The other, upon closer inspection, turned out to be from Zhang Xian, the County Magistrate of Tonghua County in Gunzhou.
Lu Desheng thought for a moment and recalled, Zhang Xian, a disciple of Yan Hua, the one he had tricked badly. But why would he be writing to him?
Moreover, his younger son had gone with his younger daughter, and he was sending a letter from Gunzhou. This meant his daughter and son had reached the Gunzhou area. But why would he write now? Could something have happened that they couldn’t handle?
Thinking about this possibility, Lu Desheng hurriedly opened Zhang Xian’s letter.
At the beginning of the letter, Zhang Xian talked about Lu Mingzhi’s actions, praising him profusely. He called him a worthy son of a great father, saying he had his father’s spirit at such a young age.
Lu Desheng held the letter, raising an eyebrow. Was this really about his younger son? It sounded more like his daughter’s wording.
He continued reading, and when he got to the end, where Zhang Xian subtly mentioned that he would need his help with the next step.
Lu Desheng: ???
What kind of help did he need? Had this little rascal, Lu Mingzhi, gotten him into some trouble?
He then opened his younger son’s letter. Finally, the truth was revealed. As for his daughter’s promise to Zhang Xian? No problem, he’d take care of it!
But there was one thing he couldn’t tolerate. He picked up his pen and wrote a full page, scolding his younger son.
What was wrong with him carrying the blame for his elder sister? Why was he whining like that? He couldn’t be this afraid of responsibility.
A man, whether in his studies or work, should be mentally prepared to carry the blame for his superiors, otherwise, he wouldn’t amount to anything. What kind of status did he have? He was just a junior, why would he fight for the ‘clear conscience’ with his superiors? Back then, how many times did he take the blame for Emperor Kang Cheng?
The second half of the letter was written in his daughter’s voice. He understood. It wasn’t convenient for his daughter, so they shared the same piece of paper.
His daughter first inquired about their health, then briefly explained the situation, finally mentioning that she had taken on a troublesome matter for him and asked her father to help.
Of course, he would. He was free anyway.
After putting down the letters, Lu Desheng thought about it. Zhang Xian’s matter wasn’t difficult to handle. He had eliminated Qinglong Bandits, cleverly conducting a public trial of the bandits in front of the entire county, boosting his reputation among the people.
He returned with great accomplishments.
Lu Desheng picked up his pen and wrote a suggestion, advising him to avoid meeting anyone upon his return to Chang’an, and to directly go to pay respects to Yan Hua, then visit the ministers who had shown him kindness.
The four Grand Ministers were already forming alliances, realizing that continuing to fight alone would make them easy targets for the new emperor, and they could be easily attacked by the other three.
The court would be divided into three factions, a situation that would likely last for some time.
The new emperor was in need of talent, and Zhang Xian, an official who had been away for ten years, had no connection with the four Grand Ministers in Chang’an, no entanglement, and appeared clean to the new emperor. He had also shown great ability, and there was a high chance of being recruited.
Furthermore, his visit to Yan Hua’s grave upon returning to the capital would show his vengeful and solitary nature, which would increase the possibility of him being promoted. Vengeful, it showed that he valued loyalty and revenge. The new emperor’s promotion and trust would be a favor to him. Which emperor didn’t like ministers who remembered favors?
Next, what he needed to do was to find a way to let the new emperor know about this person without leaving any traces. Ah, this was all work.
Later, Lu Desheng told his wife about the letters from their daughter and son, saying, “I’m going to be busy. These two children still need the support of their father.” As he said this, he looked pleased with himself.
Madam Jiang just waved her hand at him, telling him to go away and not disturb her from doing the accounts.
Lu Desheng touched his nose and went to the side.
In fact, Lu Desheng was not as free as he claimed to be.
Because of Lu Desheng’s rise to power, everyone knew the limit of the capabilities of the imperial censor, and now the Imperial Censorate had become a battleground for military strategists.
How Lu Desheng climbed to his position, how he became a close confidant of the emperor, was clear to everyone. As long as the person who stuck their neck out wasn’t from their own faction, it was fair game to attack them.
Even some high-ranking officials from the court secretly approached him, asking for guidance privately with good conditions. But he did not agree. This led to many officials looking at him with disdain. But did Lu Desheng care?
As Song Li and her group left Tonghua County, the Xie and Zhao families had just arrived in Xiangyang.
At this point, both families had suffered severe losses, with very few children under five and elderly people over forty-five left. The atmosphere in the group was both gloomy and tense.
The bailiffs and runners were divided into two factions, with four or five runners already dead, and even one bailiff had died.
The current situation was the result of both sides playing their cards.
Initially, the bailiffs and runners were unfriendly towards them, and after only half a month of travel, several people from the Xie and Zhao families had died.
At that time, Xie Zhan felt that they couldn’t continue like this. So he used a seduction tactic to divide the group of bailiffs and runners, especially targeting those who enjoyed tormenting people, and got rid of them using his tactics.
The seduction tactic involved sending out some ordinary-looking girls from the Xie and Zhao families. He kept the ones with exceptional looks to protect them for future use.
Xie Zhan’s strategy was undoubtedly successful, but he was not in a good mood. These bailiffs and runners, whom he would have never even glanced at in the past, now he had to deal with them. Ignoring them would make him feel stifled, and there was no sense of accomplishment in defeating them.
Xie Zhan harbored the belief of returning to the peak of power. Even though he had suffered torture in prison, with the care of his family, he was in relatively good condition, composed like a dormant famous sword.
On the other hand, Zhao Yutan’s condition was very poor. Although she had not been subjected to any severe torture during her time in Da Li Prison.
She looked at Xie Zhan now as if he were a stranger.
Because on the way to exile, she had another premonition dream, which almost drove her crazy.
She dreamed that the Qin family rebelled, Qin Sheng became a respected young general, and Qin Heng led his troops westward, eventually reaching Chang’an. She even dreamed that her current husband Xie Zhan, as a model official, was the first to open the city gates.
Her dream abruptly ended there, and she woke up, but she was on the verge of going crazy!
The Qin family took over the Song family’s territory! They became the biggest winners! It wasn’t the emperor’s amnesty as she had thought, that allowed the Qin family to return to Chang’an with this grace!
On the day she had this dream, she couldn’t eat anything. She didn’t take care of Xie Zhan anymore because she was being tormented by her own regrets.
She knew too well what this dream meant! It meant that she was giving up the gifts of fate, giving up the easily attainable glory and wealth! In fact, she didn’t need to do anything at all, just wait quietly for things to happen and for things to end.
If this dream is real, then what was she doing all this for? The key is, after all the turmoil, she still couldn’t escape the fate of exile! What she found most unacceptable was that all this effort might end up being in vain!
Was God playing a trick on her? Why make her go through all this! It would have been better not to have the precognitive dream in the first place!
And along this journey, there was no longer that young man who protected her with his own body. At the beginning, because she was tired from walking for so long and the road was too difficult, she walked a bit slower, and then the constables ruthlessly whipped her twice. Those two lashes landed on her arms, and it really hurt, but no one cared for her, and no one shielded her from the lashes.
Her heart was truly bitter.