The next day, the moment Gu Xingzhao opened her eyes and saw the crowd surrounding her bed, she was so startled that she nearly rolled off the bed.

Wiping away cold sweat, she remembered that seven days had passed. This projection was far too realistic.

The dense crowd around her chattered noisily. The prisoners, dressed in convict uniforms, were shackled at their hands and feet. Some were seated in prison carts, directly escorted from the imperial prison. Once they left the city, they would be forced out of the carts to continue on foot, among them was Lu Qing.

It wasn’t just the Lu family being exiled this time; there were also many others whose families had been confiscated for various crimes.

Not far away, a woman with a tearful expression was holding the hand of a four- or five-year-old girl.

“How strange, isn’t that the Liu family’s daughter-in-law? She even brought her child along. The Liu family has been exiled and their property confiscated, so why is she still around?”

“That’s no longer the Liu family’s daughter-in-law; she was already divorced a few days ago.”

“I heard that the day before Censor Liu was executed with a court stick, this Liu family’s son had already divorced his wife. By some stroke of fate, she managed to avoid disaster.”

“Why did he divorce her?”

“They had been married for seven years and still hadn’t had a son, so she had to be divorced.”

“I heard she couldn’t even return to her maiden family. The future looks bleak for her and her child.”

A man dressed in convict clothes clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, his nails digging deep into his flesh. His gaze was fixed on his wife and daughter, who had come to see him off, as if he wanted to etch their images deeply into his mind.”

Censor Liu’s death was truly unjust…”

“Shh! Don’t speak nonsense. Censor Liu rebuked the emperor in front of the entire court for the Lu family’s sake. It’s already a great mercy that his nine clans were spared. Watch your tongue!”

“But wasn’t the Liu family always at odds with the Lu family? Why would Censor Liu sacrifice his life for them?”

On the prison cart, Lu Qing’s expression changed dramatically when he overheard these discussions, disbelief clouding his eyes.

Gu Xingzhao shifted her gaze from the mother and daughter to the small, elderly man on the prison cart.

In her memory, the Lu family and the Liu family had no dealings in private.Although they were both officials in the same court, Lu Qing never got along with Liu Chengye, that stubborn old man. The two elders quarreled whenever they met in the court, and Lu Qing had even fallen ill from anger once. They would glare at each other whenever they crossed paths.

It was likely that even Lu Qing himself never imagined that after such a disaster, the political adversary who had once clashed with him on the court would stand up for him, even at the cost of his own life.

At this moment, Lu Qing’s rough sleeve was clutched tightly in his hand, and his cloudy eyes glistened with tears. Liu Chengye… that stubborn old man who always walked with a stooped back and never showed anyone a kind face… had died from a court stick?

Ridiculous… too ridiculous!

Gu Xingzhao worried that Lu Qing might be overwhelmed by anger and speak out in defense of Liu Chengye at this moment. After all, they were still in the territory of that wretched emperor, and they couldn’t afford to cause any more trouble.

“Lu Qing, as long as the green hills remain, there will be wood to burn.”

No matter how much injustice there was in his heart, only by staying alive could there be hope for change.

Hearing his ancestor’s reminder, Lu Qing covered his face with his sleeve, his frail body trembling uncontrollably.

Gu Xingzhao sighed. Perhaps the two old men had always admired each other after all, but they had never had the chance to have a proper conversation in this lifetime.

The members of the Lu family, now part of the exile procession, searched anxiously in all directions. When they finally saw the raggedly dressed Lu Qing being taken down from the prison cart, their eyes filled with tears. Their gazes met, and tears began to fall like rain.

The eldest son, Lu Zhou, said in a deep voice, “When the trouble started at home, I immediately sent word through Xingyao to stay out of it if the Lu family fell into misfortune.”

Lu Xingyao, the eldest grandson of the Lu family, was 22 years old, renowned for his talent. If not for the Lu family’s misfortune, he would have been taking the imperial examination this year.

Gu Xingzhao suddenly understood why no one had come to see off the Lu family. She followed their gazes and saw a young man in his twenties, full of youthful vigor. Even in the face of such a great upheaval, he still stood tall and straight.Lu Qing nodded. “You’ve always been steady and thorough in your actions.”

“Cough… cough… cough!”

A fit of suppressed coughing drew everyone’s attention. It was the youngest son, Lu Xingyan, his face pale—clearly, he had not fared well in the cold, damp prison.

Lu Qing felt a pang of guilt. Having a son in his old age should have been a blessing, but his youngest had always been frail. For more than twenty years, he had been nurtured with herbal medicine at home. Now, his son was being dragged down by him, his father, and he wondered how the boy would survive the long and treacherous road to exile.He wanted to reach out and pat his son’s shoulder, but his hands were shackled. “It’s my fault for dragging you all into this…”

Lu Xingyan, seeing the varying degrees of bloodstains on his father’s body, felt his throat tighten. “Father, don’t say that. We’re family, there’s no such thing as being a burden.”

The second son, Lu Yang, chimed in, “That’s right! As long as our family is together, what burden could there be?”

The eldest daughter-in-law, Madam Song, wiped her eyes quietly, tears falling.

Seeing Lu Qing’s battered body, and remembering the rumors he had heard on the way—that his father had been starved for several days in prison—Lu Zhou frowned, unable to hide his worry. “Father, are the injuries on your body still bearable?”

Lu Qing responded, “I took some medicine in prison. My injuries aren’t serious.”He had received medicine from his ancestors, as well as food. Since no one had come to beat him in the last couple of days, he could endure just fine.

But the children and grandchildren of the Lu family, hearing his words, assumed the old man was trying to comfort them. Their hearts ached even more, filled with resentment at the imperial prison, which was notorious for its brutality and lack of mercy.

Lu Qing, however, marveled in his heart at the efficacy of the ancestral medicine. The pain and weakness he had felt before were gone, and the few pills he had taken in recent days made him feel as if he had been brought back to life.

He couldn’t help but wonder how such miraculous medicine was made. If it could be passed down, who knew how many people suffering from illness could be saved? If only he could obtain some of this medicine for his youngest son…

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. The road to exile was fraught with danger. He immediately addressed the younger generation before him. “Listen to what I have to say.”

“There are many people on this journey, and the road is long. Do you know how many of us from the Lu family are being exiled?”

Lu Zhou was taken aback. “I haven’t counted yet… I’ll do it right away!”

“Make sure everyone recognizes each other and stays together. Don’t let anyone get separated.”

Lu Qing continued to instruct his second son and two daughters-in-law on various matters, even giving some instructions to his eldest grandson. Only after he had explained everything did he feel a bit of the heavy burden lift from his chest.

With the head of the family taking charge, the more than twenty members of the Lu family finally felt a sense of security.

At that moment, relatives from the Song and Xu families arrived. Song’s parents, seeing their daughter, were filled with sorrow.

Madam Song, moved and guilt-ridden, with tears in her eyes, said, “Father, Mother, didn’t I tell you not to come?”If anyone found out that the Song family was still involved with the Lu family, who knew what kind of trouble it could bring?

Her father, who was usually a straightforward man, didn’t care about such matters now. “I’m just a schoolteacher. At worst, I’ll pack up and move back to the countryside. I’m not afraid!”

Her mother, on the other hand, gently smoothed her daughter’s disheveled hair, her voice choked with emotion. “Who knows if this is the last time we’ll see each other? How could I not come to say goodbye?”

This touching scene brought many to tears.

Gu Xingzhao’s attention, however, was drawn to the Xu family members standing nearby. The Xu couple, dressed in luxurious clothes, were speaking with the official in charge of the proceedings. After a long while, they finally approached their daughter, speaking in hushed tones, clearly not wanting anyone else to overhear.