Half a month later, Wei Yan sent word from the palace to the Ling residence.
The one who delivered the letter was Wei Yan’s medicine apprentice, Tian Dong.
Madam Ling the Elder had waited this long and had finally received news from Wei Yan, and she was overjoyed. She quickly ordered someone to reward Tian Dong handsomely, and without even waiting for Tian Dong to take his leave, she broke open the letter.
After reading the letter, Madam Ling the Elder looked both sorrowful and grieved, her lips quivering as though she wanted to say something, yet tears welled up and spilled over.
Ling Wuye at her side asked urgently: “Mother, what exactly does this letter say? Can our younger sister be saved or not?”
Sun Shi and the others also wore expressions full of anxious anticipation.
Li Shi, who had been cold-shouldered by Ling Wuye these past days and had long lost her former air of pride, now also put on a look of urgent concern.
Madam Ling the Elder wept: “The Court of Judicial Review has already concluded the case. His Majesty personally issued an imperial edict ordering Lu Ping and Lu An, those two brothers, to be beheaded. The date is three days from now!”
Although everyone had long known that the Lu An brothers could not escape death, hearing this dreadful news still caused their hearts to sink.
Ling Xiao let out a breath of relief: “Grandmother, since you say it that way, it seems only our uncle by marriage and Second Uncle of the Lu Family will be beheaded. Surely our aunt and Cousin Qian’s lives can be spared.”
Madam Ling the Elder wiped away tear-streaks with her handkerchief: “Wei Yan wrote in the letter that the Emperor, in a fit of rage, had originally intended to execute the entire Lu household. It was only after Wei Yan spoke up to plead for clemency, with Her Highness the Empress also adding her own plea, that the Emperor showed exceptional grace. Only those two are to be beheaded; the remaining members of the Lu Family may be spared from the death penalty, but cannot escape corporal punishment — they are all to be exiled a thousand li away to the bitter cold lands beyond the frontier pass. For the rest of their lives, they are forbidden from ever crossing back through the pass…”
As she spoke, she burst into wailing sobs: “My poor daughter! In this lifetime, I shall never see you again.”
Ling Wuye tried to console her with reddened eyes: “Mother, don’t grieve too deeply. This outcome is already far better than we had hoped. At least our younger sister still has her life, and Lu Qian has also kept his.”
“That’s right! If not for Wei Yan working on our behalf, the entire Lu household would have been executed. That is over a hundred lives!” Sun Shi also chimed in to agree.
With Wei Yan’s efforts alone, so many lives had been saved. There was nothing to complain about, no matter how generous the dowry prepared for Ling Jingshu.
Everyone spoke in turns to comfort Madam Ling the Elder, and after crying for a while, she slowly grew calm.
Ever since hearing Madam Ling the Elder’s words, Ling Jingshu had been in a slight daze.
How could things have turned out this way?
When she had sent that letter to Wei Yan previously, she had already clearly hinted at her intentions — she had told him to merely put on a show, that there was no need to genuinely plead on behalf of the Lu Family. How had it come to this?
Wei Yan had truly intervened and saved the Lu Family…
Tian Dong quietly made his way to Ling Jingshu’s side.
“Young Miss, this is a letter that the Imperial Physician Wei specifically instructed me to deliver to you.” As Tian Dong murmured softly, he swiftly drew a letter from his sleeve and pressed it into Ling Jingshu’s hand.
Ling Jingshu received the letter from Tian Dong’s hand, her brow furrowing ever so slightly.
…
Back in her room, Ling Jingshu immediately broke open the letter.
“A’Shu, I hope you are well upon receiving this.”
“I made this decision without consulting you first. The Emperor did indeed intend to execute the entire Lu household, and I spoke up to plead for clemency on behalf of the Lu Family. Since you are now reading this letter, you must already know everything. I hope you will not blame me for acting on my own judgment.”
“In our past life, you suffered untold torment and misery. Lu An was the chief culprit, and Lu Ping fanned the flames — those two must die without question. I know you despise the Lu Family’s household, and you would not mind seeing them all executed together. However, the Lu household is connected to you by blood, and your grandmother personally came to me and asked me to spare her life. If I stood by and did nothing, your grandmother would certainly place the blame on you. You are after all a daughter of the Ling Family, and you cannot avoid dealings with your family home in the future. By exerting effort today to spare the Lu household, Lu Qian, and the rest of the Lu Family, I have done a great service for the Ling Family. From now on, everyone in the Ling Family will hold you in high regard, and no one will dare treat you with contempt.”
“For the Lu household, living on in pain, enduring suffering and wretchedness, is in truth a harder ordeal than death.”
“As for Lu Qian — his transgression in our past life lay in his obsessive devotion to you; though he had no intention of driving you into ruin, he ultimately brought you harm. Let him keep his life, and let him live on in endless regret and self-reproach. That is the greatest punishment for him.”
“Beyond them, the other members of the Lu Family are not guilty of crimes deserving death. If over a hundred lives were truly lost in this manner, you would be unable to avoid guilt and unease when you think back on it in the future. So I pleaded with the Emperor to spare them as well.”
“All of this was decided on my own authority after careful deliberation. I hope you can appreciate my earnest intentions and not be angry.”
Signed: Yan.
Ling Jingshu silently read through the letter again and again.
There was no denying that when she first laid eyes on the letter, she did feel somewhat vexed and displeased.
But after calming down and thinking it over carefully, she had to admit that what Wei Yan said made a great deal of sense.
Ling Xiao could not possibly sever all ties with the Ling Family, and she herself could not avoid dealings with the Ling Family in the future either. By intervening now to save people and bestowing favor upon the Ling Family, Wei Yan had also been thinking and planning for her sake.
For the Lu household to live on each day steeped in painful torment — would that not be worse than death?
She disliked Lu Qian, but she had not hated him to the point of wishing him dead. As for the other members of the Lu Family, they were even more innocent bystanders caught up in the affair. If they had truly all been executed, could she truly turn a blind eye to those hundred-odd lives?
These past days, she had been so intoxicated by the joy of her great vengeance being fulfilled that she had not given any of this a thought. Yet Wei Yan had been far calmer than she was, and had considered everything far more thoroughly.
Such considerate and tender-hearted devotion — what woman in this world could remain unmoved?
Once Ling Jingshu had worked it all through in her mind, the last trace of vexation in her heart dissolved away like smoke.
…
Three days later.
The execution ground was carrying out a sentence today, with the brothers Lu Ping and Lu An to be beheaded.
The capital was the foot of the Son of Heaven’s throne, and serious criminals and major offenders from all over the realm were escorted to the capital’s Ministry of Justice for trial. Every year, this spectacle of decapitations and executions occurred at least ten or eight times. Among the capital’s people, there was no shortage of bold souls, and every time a sentence was carried out, the area outside the execution ground was packed with onlookers.
Today was no exception.
The common folk who had come to watch were held back outside the wooden barriers. Each and every one of them stood on tiptoe, craning their necks to peer inside, while the more gossipy idlers clustered together to chatter away.
“Have you heard? This Lu Ping was originally an official in the Ministry of War — his rank was apparently quite high too. He gave his wholehearted allegiance to Prince Yan, working tirelessly to serve him. And now he’s dragged his entire family down with him!”
“He’s still counted among the fortunate ones — only he and his elder brother are being executed. The rest of the Lu Family at least kept their lives.”
“If the entire Lu household had been sentenced to execution, this execution ground today would hardly be enough to hold them all.”
Just as they were chattering away, a commotion suddenly broke out from behind.
The crowd craned their necks in curious wonder, and what they saw was a group of men and women clustered around an aged elderly woman, pressing forward. Among this group were both men and women — the men were dressed in fine and costly attire, while the women all wore veiled hats — and one glance was enough to tell they were not ordinary commoners.
What drew even more attention was that all of their faces were etched with grief and sorrow, making it plain that they were the friends and family of the Lu brothers who were to be executed.