Lu An and Lu Ping were executed and their heads displayed publicly. The rest of the Lu Family were fortunate enough to keep their lives and were exiled together beyond the frontier passes.

On the morning of that day, all the members of the Lu Family were released from the Imperial Prison. The Ministry of Justice was short-handed, and escorting so many people beyond the frontier passes was genuinely taxing. So a considerable number of men were borrowed from the Ministry of War to assist.

Having been shut away so long without seeing daylight, the men and women, old and young of the Lu Family were all deeply agitated the moment they were released from the Imperial Prison. Then, thinking that from this day on they would be escorted to the harsh and bitter lands beyond the frontier passes and would never again be able to return to their homeland in this lifetime, a wave of grief washed over them, and no small number wept and wailed.

“Enough noise!” The escorting official leading the Lu Family convoy grew impatient. He called out with a cold face: “Anyone who doesn’t want to walk — I’ll oblige them right now and send them straight back to the Imperial Prison.”

Those few short sentences immediately silenced every single person.

As unbearable as exile was, it was still far better than being locked in the Imperial Prison day after day.

The group was divided and loaded onto prisoner carts.

The Ling family woman and Lu Qian rode in the same prisoner cart.

“A’Qian!” The Ling family woman clutched Lu Qian tightly, her eyes blurred with tears, weeping and laughing at the same time. “My child — I’ve finally seen you. I thought that in this lifetime, the two of us, mother and son, would be forever parted.”

Treason was a grave crime; even if His Majesty had ordered the entire Lu Family executed, no one would have thought anything of it. People would only have praised the Emperor for his wisdom.

While in the Imperial Prison, the Ling family woman had constantly reassured herself that her own family would surely do everything in their power to save her — yet deep in her heart, she had not dared to hold out much hope. She had never imagined that His Majesty would show such exceptional mercy, executing only Lu An and Lu Ping while sparing the lives of all the other Lu Family members.

Her husband was dead just like that, and of course the Ling family woman felt the grief of it — but she had steeled herself for it long in advance and had not fallen apart. At this moment, being reunited with her son Lu Qian was, instead, an unexpected joy.

“From now on, it will just be the two of us, mother and son, depending on each other.” The Ling family woman was immersed in the wild joy of finding her son safe and unharmed, and her words came out in a jumbled rush. “A’Qian, the fact that you are alive — it is truly wonderful. I never imagined we would be reunited like this…”

Lu Qian’s expression was wooden, his body rigid. He let the Ling family woman hold him as she wept bitterly.

Living like this — it was honestly worse than being dead.

He had been given another life. What had it amounted to in the end?

In his previous life, he had been obsessively infatuated with Ling Jingshu, yet he had never anticipated that this obsession would ruin her entire life. When she died, he had not wanted to go on living alone, and had finally found the chance to follow after her.

Then, when he opened his eyes again, it was a brand new life.

He had arrived in Dingzhou with excitement and joy in his heart, and had seen the young and beautiful Ling Jingshu. He had believed that this time, he would finally be able to love her properly and give her a completely new life.

What he had not anticipated was that she, too, had been reborn with all the memories of her previous life. She hated her mother, the Ling family woman. She hated her father, Lu An. She hated her husband from her previous life, Lu Hong. And she hated him as well.

He had tried to close the distance between them, yet the opposite had happened. He could only watch as the two of them grew further and further apart.

She had finally had her revenge. At this moment, she must feel very satisfied in her heart.

She was also going to be married — the Empress herself had personally arranged the match. That Wei Yan had outstanding family background and character, more than worthy of her. She would have a good life going forward. He no longer needed to feel worried or anxious on her behalf.

Thinking of it this way, there was nothing left he could not let go of. Accompanying his mother to endure the hardships beyond the frontier passes — let that be his atonement for the sins of his previous life.

……

Two hours later, the prisoner carts passed through the city gates.

The Ling family woman had wept for the full two hours, crying until her throat was parched and hoarse, barely able to get words out. The fear and dread of all these days had been released in large part, and her emotions finally settled into something marginally calmer.

It was only at this moment that the Ling family woman noticed that something was wrong with Lu Qian. “A’Qian, what is the matter with you? Why have you not said a single word this whole time?”

Lu Qian had always been slender, and after sitting in the Imperial Prison for so long, he had grown haggard and thin. His expression was blank and rigid — he looked as though he had lost his mind.

The Ling family woman was stunned, and then she began to weep again.

Lu Qian heard nothing.

The procession of prisoner carts suddenly slowed to a stop.

Ahead, several carriages were waiting by the roadside just outside the city gates. A middle-aged man of around forty descended from one of the carriages and spoke in a low voice with the escorting official. Then, swiftly, he pressed a bank note into the official’s hand.

The distance was too great; the middle-aged man’s features were somewhat indistinct.

Lu Qian’s gaze gradually sharpened, and a change came over his expression. He suddenly spoke: “Mother — it is First Uncle!”

The Ling family woman had been crying so hard she was gasping for breath, and at first she had not heard clearly.

Lu Qian repeated himself: “First Uncle has come to see us off.”

The Ling family woman’s sluggish mind finally caught up. “Your First Uncle… is it Elder Brother who has come?” She quickly wiped away her tears with her soiled sleeve and looked over intently.

When she caught sight of Ling Daye’s familiar figure and face, the Ling family woman burst into a wail at once. “Elder Brother!”

That cry carried far enough to reach Ling Daye’s ears.

Ling Daye followed the sound and looked over. When he saw how thin the Ling family woman and Lu Qian had become, his eyes grew warm. He clasped his hands together and said to the escorting official, “I ask for your kind accommodation. We have come to send my younger sister off on her journey.”

The escorting official had received a bank note worth one thousand silver taels and naturally had no intention of making things difficult. “I will give you the time it takes to burn one stick of incense. If there is anything important to say, say it quickly.”

……

Not only had Ling Daye come to bid farewell — Ling Old Madam, who was still unwell, had also forced herself to come. Everyone in the Ling household had come along as well.

Ling Old Madam, trembling, was helped down from the carriage. The moment she saw the Ling family woman, tears streamed down the old woman’s face. She called out “my child” one after another, weeping inconsolably.

The Ling family woman also wept with a grief that seemed to tear her apart.

Lu Qian’s gaze swept through the Ling Family members who had come to see them off, and it quickly found the familiar figure he was looking for.

Ling Jingshu!

She had come as well!

She must have come to see him off on this final journey.

She was seventeen this year. All the greenness of youth had fallen away, and her beauty was at its very height — like a peony in full bloom, dazzling and captivating.

A’Shu! Lu Qian moved his lips, silently shaping those two words without sound.

Ling Jingshu’s bright eyes turned toward him. In her gaze there was no joy of a wish fulfilled, no cold laughter or mockery — only calm and indifference.

Yes — to her, everything connected to the Lu Family had already become the past forever. They were no longer her nightmare. She could let go of it all and go live a completely new life.

Ling Jingshu walked slowly forward and said to Lu Qian: “Cousin Qian, the road ahead is long. Take good care of yourself on the journey.”

Lu Qian had thought he would never cry again. Yet hearing those few short words, tears welled up in his eyes. “A’Shu… it is we who wronged you.”

His voice was pressed very low, somewhat broken and indistinct. No one paid it any notice except Ling Jingshu.

“It is all in the past.” Ling Jingshu’s face remained calm and composed, her voice soft and pleasant. “If anything, I ought to thank you.”

Thank you, for never once revealing my secret to anyone.

Thank you, for having no resentment even now — even having fallen to the fate of exile beyond the frontier passes.

In his previous life, it was he who had wronged her. In this life, when all was said and done, it was she who had wronged the innocent Lu Qian.