After Becoming the Cannon Fodder Live-in Spouse A (GL) - Chapter 41: The Forty-First Day

Chapter 41: The Forty-First Day

When the Imperial Guards surrounded the Xu family, everyone except the Minister of Rites had not yet reacted, especially Xu Leyao, who was even still alone in her room pondering why her new friend Ye Ying, whom she had just met a few days ago, had promised to appear on the day of the metropolitan examination to see her off but had broken the appointment.

Now the examination had already ended, and she still had not appeared.

If she had known this, she would definitely have asked about Ye Ying’s family background in advance; now in this vast Yong’an City, she could only go to the places she used to frequent every day to wait and see if she could bump into the little girl going out again—

Had she been grounded by her family?

Xu Leyao had not yet reached a conclusion when she saw a row of black-armored guards bursting into her courtyard with a clatter, each with an intimidating presence, even releasing a very strong Qianyuan fragrance that suppressed her so much that she could not move, and easily placed their blades on her neck.

“Candidate Xu Leyao? Someone has accused you before the emperor, identifying you as colluding with examiners and engaging in favoritism and fraud; His Majesty has ordered us to assist Prince Qi in thoroughly investigating this matter. Come with us.”

The leader said this.

A rare trace of bewilderment appeared in her eyes.

Until she was escorted from the bird-and-flower-scented Xu family residence, amid the cries of her mother and servants, all the way to the damp and dim prison of the Horse and Step Army Division before the palace, the beautiful dream of riding horses through the streets with friends after passing the examination and picking flowers together had not even had time to burst.

Then she was like a quail unable to resist, pressed onto the torture bench.

Before the intimidating staff fell, not even one person came to ask her if the accused events were true, so she had no opportunity to defend herself, unable to cry out a single “unjust,” and those beautiful dreams were shattered by this terrifying punishment.

…

In front of the damp dungeon.

Someone from afar held a torch to light the way, bringing the scorching temperature a little closer and dispelling the chill. Until a pair of ochre boots embroidered with fish patterns entered the half-conscious Xu Leyao’s eyes, she moved her eyelids and reflexively thought that the one coming to interrogate her was a general, and generals all liked to use severe punishments; was she done for?

Then she heard the surrounding soldiers bowing respectfully: “We pay respects to Your Highness.”

It turned out to be Prince Qi.

Yes, the Imperial Guards who had come to arrest her earlier had said that this case was being handled by Prince Qi.

The torture staff holding her was released, and she slid uncontrollably to the ground, the bl00d staining her robes soaking the floor. She raised her hand to grab Shen Jinglan’s robe corner, and spurred by the pain, spoke unclearly that she was innocent, only to hear the surrounding soldiers angrily scold her, “Insolent!”

She was so startled by the rebuke that her whole body trembled in fear, and only then did she hear a casual voice falling from above:

“No harm.”

This bit of force was completely insufficient to affect Prince Qi’s steps. She walked to a thin wooden table and chair by the wall of this interrogation room, lifted her robe and sat down, propping her chin with one hand, examining the person in the torchlight who was disheveled with sweat and bl00d mixed all over, the scholar’s hat askew, hair strands disheveled.

She was just a little girl in her early twenties, with delicate skin and tender flesh, clearly one who was pampered at home on ordinary days.

Thinking this way, amid the respectful inquiring gaze from the clerk recording the interrogation beside her—”Should we beat her another round?”—she shook her head very slightly, her fingertips moving slightly under her robe, signaling the clerk to start the interrogation directly.

Thus, the majestic questioning words immediately resounded in this small interrogation room.

Facing the court’s inquiry, Xu Leyao wished she could recount every single action from opening her eyes to closing them over the past half month in her memory, but unfortunately, she was now injured, and the pain on her body still had a strong presence, so her words were not very fluent, let alone recalling more details of her interactions with her father.

Her heart was full of panic and unease; several times she noticed that the clerk’s gaze meant using torture, but because Prince Qi at the head said nothing and gave no order, they could not overstep, so she escaped the ordeal.

“Then who is this Ye Ying again? Why do you not explain clearly?” The clerk’s voice thundered.

Xu Leyao kept her head low, enduring the pain and kneeling crookedly. Hearing this, she smiled bitterly, “My lord, that is just a friend that this commoner happened to meet; even though she can recite some poems on ordinary days, she is utterly ignorant of the classics, histories, subcommentaries, and collections, and has not even registered for this spring examination; she has absolutely no relation to this matter.”

Shen Jinglan, who had been sitting without moving, now lazily lifted her eyelids.

She had not expected this younger generation of the Xu family to be one who valued loyalty and righteousness.

And it was precisely because of this lift of her gaze that Xu Leyao felt a spark of hope. When the interrogation ended and the chief interrogator rose to leave this damp prison, she boldly knelt and spoke out:

“Your Highness.”

“I have long admired Your Highness’s prestige. This commoner’s entire family has been accused this time; it is truly a false charge. I hope Your Highness will investigate clearly and render justice.”

Shen Jinglan stopped her steps and turned back to look. Actually, this matter was neither too big nor too small; it mainly depended on how the emperor wanted to judge the case. The one accusing the Xu family was from the Censorate. The Yang family was a rising star in Yong’an; Yang Bo’s background was not comparable to those aristocratic families like Huan, Li, and Wang, and he was dissatisfied that the court was always controlled by Wang Xuyao and Huan Ling.

So Yang Bo had set his sights on the Ministry of Rites.

Shen Jingming had ascended the throne as the new emperor, and the rivers and mountains were not yet stable; he still needed to use the examinations to add talent to the court. The Ministry of Rites was responsible for the imperial examinations and recruiting talent; if he could place his own people in that position, in the next five to ten years, the imperial academy scholars and successful candidates would have those who could acknowledge him Yang Bo as their teacher.

This case was ambiguous and vague. If the Son of Heaven trusted the Xu family and was willing to listen to Xu Yi and Xu Leyao’s defenses, their family could extricate themselves from this lawsuit—

It all depended on whether the emperor wanted to give Yang Bo, this upright minister, an opportunity to contend with Huan and Wang.

–

Those considerations merely flashed through Shen Jinglan’s mind in an instant.

She lowered her eyes and responded indifferently, “This case concerns the fairness of the examinations; it is not for this prince to decide.” When she heard Shen Jingming complain to her that this was a struggle among civil officials, she would not take his words “entrust it entirely to you” as true.

They were all pieces of the emperor; whether to raise someone up or pull them down was not up to her will. The reason for pushing her to judge the case was so that when the final result fell, the defeated side would have someone to resent.

The light in Xu Leyao’s eyes dimmed a little.

However, she still kowtowed toward Shen Jinglan and made a request to her, saying that her father was elderly and frail, unable to withstand the prison punishments. If there were places where torture was needed, could she substitute and receive it?

She kowtowed heavily many times.

Shen Jinglan gave a glance to the person beside her, not letting her continue. Stepping on the bloodstains remaining on the bricks, under the escort of soldiers holding torches, she walked out of this area toward the place where Xu Yi was, only having someone go ahead in advance and not letting that round of intimidating staff be administered.

She only said, “Minister Xu is elderly and can be considered a pillar minister of the court; before the Son of Heaven issues an order, he cannot be mistreated in the prison.”

After listening to both interrogations and walking out of the Horse and Step Army Division Prison before the palace, the bright moon was already high outside, while the damp cold and bloodstains in the prison followed her all the way back to Prince Qi’s mansion like maggots clinging to the bone.

The lanterns illuminating the mansion were hung high. Because before leaving, she had instructed someone to watch Ye Fuguang, lest that little rabbit who liked to escape run away at this time, so as soon as she stepped over the threshold of the mansion, she spoke out and asked:

“Where is she?”

Yu Qing thought for a moment and relayed, “She said she wanted to apologize to Your Highness with boughs of correction, so she took Jixiang and Ruyi to look for suitable thorn branches in various gardens, but after half a shichen, she still has not found a single one.”

Shen Jinglan: “…”

She sneered coldly.

Apologize with boughs of correction?

That little rabbit?

It would be good if the thorns did not prick her to tears.

Shen Jinglan, enduring the smell of bl00d all over her body, pressed her tongue against her teeth, fully understanding that Ye Fuguang was completely unwilling to confess the truth, and immediately said, “Since the princess consort has the mind to do so, let her wait for this prince in the Plum Garden.”

Pausing, she added, “The weather is still cool; do not let her kneel on the ground.”

If she caught a cold from the wind, she would turn around and pretend to be unwell for ten or eight days.

…

When Shen Jinglan finished washing up and changed into a soft satin middle garment before walking into the main hall of the Plum Garden, she saw that streak of gold kneeling on the bed, wilted and dejected.

The embroidered pattern of ginkgo leaves was sewn with gold thread, making the person appear exceedingly noble. No matter which family’s girl wore it, it could add a few points of color, let alone a vase like Ye Fuguang who was gilded with particular refinement.

When the little princess consort saw her, the corners of her eyes drooped, clearly kneeling on the soft thin quilt, and having waited for less than the time of one incense stick, as if she had suffered a great grievance. Pursing her lips, she called out to her, “…Your Highness.”

Shen Jinglan walked to the bedside and casually touched the side of her leg with her finger, discovering that she had no symptom of trembling legs, and that it indeed did not hurt her, then spoke out, “Guess why this prince went to bathe first?”

Ye Fuguang: “?”

She blinked her eyes and turned her head to look at the woman standing at her side, just about to cooperate when Shen Jinglan casually removed the gold hairpin from her hair.

Because the little princess consort disliked solid gold hair ornaments as too heavy, Jixiang and Ruyi had specially gone to a jewelry shop in Yong’an City to custom-order several sets of hollowed-out ones with exquisite patterns that did not weigh down the head; this set happened to match the clothes perfectly.

Before Ye Fuguang could speak, Shen Jinglan lightly patted her palm with that long hairpin and slowly gave the answer, “Because the clothes and shoes were all dirtied.”

She maintained this action and leaned down to say in Ye Fuguang’s ear, “Especially your Elder Sister Xu; after just twenty heavy strokes of the staff, she could not stand up, with bl00d flowing all over the ground.”

Ye Fuguang: “!”

Her breath was so frightened that it stopped.

The back that originally could not kneel straight was now straight enough to measure with a ruler.

But Shen Jinglan had not scared her enough yet; after a slight thought, she said to her, “In the memorial participating the Xu family for fraud in the examinations this time, you were also mentioned. By rights, anyone implicated in such a major case must be dragged in for questioning. Thanks to you, this time they were indeed imprisoned in the Horse and Step Army Division Prison—”

“As everyone knows, this prison uses many tortures; guess how many you could endure?”

–

Ye Fuguang was directly frightened to tears.

Crying more miserably than every time before, she had not expected that she only wanted to follow the plot and incidentally find an opportunity to save Ye Yuge, but ended up pitting Xu Leyao so badly. The other had taken her as a friend, and she originally could have advised Xu Leyao not to take the exam.

But she had instead urged her in the direction of the plot’s development, and even deliberately blew wind in Shen Jinglan’s ear, causing her to be locked in a prison that required torture. If in the original work she and Ye Yuge were not imprisoned in this place, or if the ones inside could not escape, would she not have harmfully ruined her out of arrogance?

And now she had to send herself in as well.

“Wuwuwu… I’m sorry… I didn’t, didn’t think…” She cried so much that her words were incoherent, not knowing if she was apologizing to Shen Jinglan or to Xu Leyao who was miserably imprisoned in the jail, “I, I really… didn’t want to harm her… I was wrong hic, it’s my fault…”

If previously she had accidentally awakened Shen Jinglan by mistake, giving her a bit of the arrogance of a transmigrator who could casually change the plot, then this time’s events slapped Ye Fuguang hard.

So what if she was a transmigrator?

She was not immortal, nor did she have any power surpassing other ordinary people.

As long as she was in this world, she was still like a floating duckweed; if she made the slightest mistake, she would implicate herself, and she did not even have the halo of turning danger into safety like the male and female leads.

The child who originally knelt unwillingly now could only clutch Shen Jinglan’s sleeve robe and cry, tears dripping down to wet the soft quilt under her knees, her trembling lips confessing like a crushed monthly rose.

Shen Jinglan had guessed she would cry but had not expected her to feel such guilt and fear because of Xu Leyao. Prince Qi had originally prepared to question the matter clearly no matter how Ye Fuguang cried tonight, but now she was again troubled by her crying.

…In the past, when she administered military law to soldiers, she had never been this soft-hearted.

She casually placed the hairpin in her hand on the small table beside her and touched the little girl’s head, lowering her head again, “So, what exactly is your relation to this matter?”

“N-No relation…” Ye Fuguang kept shaking her head, as if afraid Shen Jinglan would not believe her, stuttering to add, “I, I just read about it; this matter really has nothing to do with me…”

—How was reading about it not just reading?

Pausing, she confessed again with that teary-eyed expression, “N-No, if I could tell her not to take the exam, she would not be imprisoned… Wuwu, it’s my fault; I did wrong…”

…

What exactly did “read about” mean?

Shen Jinglan thought for a long time, not knowing if she had heard Shen Jingming talk too much about absurd things like “joy-bringing union,” but now she superstitiously automatically found a reason for the little princess consort—

“Could it be that kind of prophetic dream?”

Just like what the histories recorded of emperors in previous dynasties, either seeing immortals in dreams or killing snakes in dreams; in short, to ascend the throne and present themselves as someone with heaven-sent divine mandate, they had to fabricate such things.

Shen Jinglan remembered that when Yan Wang was about to be crowned, her second brother also had strategists offering stone steles dug from some place, inscribed with catchy rhymes, and some fish stuffed with paper slips, jade stones with strange but auspicious natural shapes, and the like.

At that time, her personal guards had deliberately teased her, saying that for such flowery tricks, one still had to look to the second young master; General, we are really inheriting that in this aspect—is this a whole nest of blockheads?

Then Shen Jinglan had kicked the person two li away.

And now, she pressed her head, and as Ye Fuguang nodded like a little chick pecking rice following her words, Shen Jinglan made her recount the content she had seen once more.

Thus, the little princess consort sobbed and recounted the part where Xu Leyao would be imprisoned.

Actually, it was not many words.

And she could not say that afterward she would bring her little sister to break out of prison, after all, she could not fathom Shen Jinglan’s current thoughts. What if this number one general of the sect was a foolish minister, firmly supporting her brother, and turned around to have people patch up the Horse and Step Army Division Prison, fortifying it into a big iron barrel?

After finishing, she clutched Shen Jinglan’s sleeve tightly, crying and asking, “Your Highness, I really did not know about this matter; can you not take me there? Wuwu, I do not want to be beaten.”

“S-Save… save me… I am super obedient; I did not cause trouble…”

–

Shen Jinglan absent-mindedly agreed, touching Ye Fuguang’s face and saying she would not send her in.

After casually wiping the tear stains for the little girl, she examined the face she had stroked in her palm and felt that Ye Fuguang seemed to still have things she had not confessed.

Thus she asked, “Do you have anything else to say?”

The child’s eyes flickered, and she shook her head.

Thus Shen Jinglan smiled again. This time she sat on the edge of the bed; even though she was a bit shorter than the kneeling person, her presence was undiminished. She slowly parted her lips, “Although there is no staff from the Horse and Step Army Division Prison, guess what punishment the military generally likes to use?”

Her slender fingertips slid down from Ye Fuguang’s fair and flawless neck, stopping near the collar when her words also rang out, “For those hard-mouthed ones, generally first use a whip with barbs, dipped in salt water; the first strike can make one split flesh from skin—”

That pair of phoenix eyes had no warmth, making Ye Fuguang feel that her gaze had already become that terrifying, life-taking whip. With her fingers stopped there, she trembled severely.

And Shen Jinglan, still deeming it insufficient, added the latter half, “For one as tender as you, it has to be stripped to beat.”

This was completely deceiving her.

Because in the military, when punishing soldiers this way, it was usually to avoid fragments of clothing sticking into the wound and mixing with the torn flesh, which was not conducive to the military doctor cleaning the wound nor to subsequent healing.

Then she heard her own little princess consort cry even louder, basically to the point of wailing loudly.

The frightening effect exceeded expectations and was achieved; by rights, at this point, she should stop, give a sweet date to let the child缓 over, and give her some time to tell the truth.

But Shen Jinglan discovered that as she spoke those words, the corresponding images floated in her mind, especially the beautiful scene she had seen that day when bathing together with Ye Fuguang in the suburban manor—skin so white, as clean as the snow rising under her fragrance, turning bit by bit from pale to red, seeming even more beautiful.