Chapter 5 - Confiscation Of The House

 The two maids outside the wall were talking about the affairs of the Ye family. When they saw Ye Chuyan suddenly fall from the sky, they were stunned. No matter how the Ye family confiscated the house, as long as Ye Chuyan was still the princess, the rules could not be broken.

The two reacted instantly, knelt down together, and said, "Meet the princess."

Ye Chuyan asked anxiously, "Is what you just said true? The Ye family's house was confiscated?"

The two maids looked at each other and dared not speak.

Ye Chuyan was anxious, grabbed one of the maids by the collar, and roared, "I ask you if what you just said is true? What happened to the Ye family?"

Ye Chuyan has been in the mansion for three years and rarely loses her temper with servants. Everyone is used to the gentle and tolerant princess, and now seeing her murderous and red eyes, they realized that the princess is also one of the best martial arts masters.

The captured maid was frightened and paralyzed, fearing that Ye Chuyan would throw her to death, and stammered: "Princess... Princess... The Ye family has betrayed the country... The family has been confiscated... All men have been lingchi(death by a thousand cuts), and all women have been exiled to Ningguta. Today... Today they will be executed at the entrance of the vegetable market... I didn't lie..."

Ye Chuyan was like being struck by lightning, she was shaky, and after letting go of the maid, she was shaking so much that she almost couldn't stand. She bit her tongue hard and forced herself to calm down. She had only one thought in her mind: this maid must be lying. She wanted to go to the market to see for herself. She didn't believe her father would be colluding with the enemy and selling out the country, and she didn't believe that the Ye family would be raided.

She ran out. The guards at the gate of the palace saw Ye Chuyan running out of the palace like a gust of wind. Thinking of the prince's instructions not to let the princess leave the palace, they all went up to stop her. The guards were only ordered to stop the princess and did not dare to kill her. Ye Chuyan's moves were fatal, and the guards were soon all knocked to the ground. Ye Chuyan ran out of the palace and saw that the streets were full of Ye's confession letters. She tore off one, and every word on it hurt her eyes.

[Ye Jin was a traitor to the enemy, and his crime was unforgivable. He was tortured to death on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the ninth year of Deyuan! I hope the people of Dafeng will always remember that the laws of Dafeng cannot be violated and the foundation of the country cannot be disturbed! 】

Ye Chuyan was in a trance, as if she had fallen into a lotus pond again. The icy water rushed into her ears, nose, and mouth, making it impossible for her to breathe. The only sound in the world was her own heartbeat, and she could no longer hear any sound from the outside world. She clenched her teeth, grabbed a passerby's horse on the road, and rode straight to the vegetable market.

※

Today is Laba, and it is snowing heavily. In such a cold season, the vegetable market in Kyoto is crowded with people.

Ten days ago, the emperor was stabbed and injured. The emperor's guards found a handwritten letter from Houguogong Ye Jin and a hand-drawn palace defense map on the spy. The letter said that the spy should give the defense map to the second prince of Beirong and make sure it is delivered safely. The spy got the defense map and wanted to take credit, so he sneaked into the palace to assassinate the emperor, but was caught instead, with all the evidence.

The Dafeng Dynasty and Beirong have been fighting for nearly a hundred years, which can be said to be a feud. The action of the Duke of Hou Guo angered the public. Someone in the court soon wrote a letter saying that the Duke of Hou Guo had accepted many students in the name of teaching over the years. One of the students changed his name and became a retainer of the second prince of Beirong. The second prince led the army to a great victory over the Dafeng Kingdom two years ago. The retainer of the second prince was the accompanying military advisor.

In just three days, the memorials to the Duke of Hou Guo piled up like a mountain, and each of them testified that the Duke of Hou Guo had long been plotting a rebellion. Someone complained for the Duke of Hou Guo and wrote a letter saying that the Ye family had been loyal for generations and would never rebel. He hoped that the emperor would be discerning and not blindly believe. The court was in a mess over this.

The emperor was heartbroken. Hou Guogong was the empress dowager's brother and the emperor's teacher. Unexpectedly, just one year after the empress Dowager's death, Hou Guogong couldn't wait to start a rebellion. The emperor was kind and could not bear to punish Hou Guogong because of his relationship with the emperor's teacher. He even lost his appetite for this. In the end, the matter was handed over to Qing Wang Pei Xiuyan to handle. Pei Xiuyan neatly imprisoned all those who wrote to ask for mercy forHou Guogong's rebellion and announced that anyone who wrote to ask for mercy would be punished.

The court suddenly became quiet.

Next, Pei Xiuyan acted vigorously and quickly sentenced Hou Guogong Ye Jin to treason and collaborating with the enemy. In order to set an example, he immediately began to publicly execute the sentence after the conviction, and he personally supervised the execution.

At this time, Pei Xiuyan sat in the center of the high prison platform, looked up at the flying snowflakes, and was thoughtful.

The onlookers talked about it.

"I heard that Prince Qing married the daughter of the Ye family against his will, and he has always been unhappy about it. Now, Prince Qing is resentful and has not only personally tried the case of the Ye family but also personally supervised the execution."

"How can you say that? If Prince Qing had not married his wife voluntarily, he would have divorced her long ago."

"Yes, the Ye family has made up such a big crime, but Prince Qing did not divorce his wife at this time. He can be regarded as a model gentleman."

"This, Ye Jin, is really something. He has students all over the world, and his status and power are among the best in Kyoto, but he actually did treason."

"So what if he has the best power? Can be compared with the emperor. As the old saying goes, people are greedy and want to swallow elephants."

"But I heard that the Ye family was framed."

"Yes, think about it. It has only been ten days since the incident. There is not enough time to investigate the evidence. How can the sentence be determined so quickly? Even ordinary criminal cases take several months to investigate and close, let alone such a big case."

"Stop talking, don't say that. Be careful not to be sentenced as an accomplice."

Seeing that the time was about to come, Pei Xiuyan's eyes swept around like hawks, and the discussion in the crowd immediately died down.

"Ye Jin, the emperor treats you well, but you are colluding with the enemy and selling out the country. Such behavior is disgusting. Do you have anything to say when the execution is carried out today?"

Pei Xiuyan said coldly to Ye Jin in the audience.

All the men of the Ye family who were to be executed were gagged with cloth strips; only Ye Jin was not gagged. He was nearly fifty years old, and after days of torture, his clothes were already in disarray and bloodstained, but these did not affect his elegance. His eyes were clear, and he knelt slowly towards the direction of the palace without being humble or arrogant.

He said loudly, "The Ye family has been loyal to the country for generations, but was framed. Today, the heavens have eyes, and heavy snow has fallen to cover the filth in the world. I, Ye Jin, have no shame to the heavens, no shame to my heart, and no words to say!"

After that, he kowtowed three times in a proper manner, then straightened his back and stopped talking. This speech caused a boiling of excitement below. Some days ago, there were rumors that Ye Jin was framed for the house raid, and such a hasty conviction was to prevent the case from being overturned. Is this true?

Pei Xiuyan looked at Ye Jin with complicated eyes, frowned, and pursed his lips without saying a word.

Zhang Qingman, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice who was in charge of supervising the execution, saw that the people were talking louder and louder, and was afraid of accidents.

He whispered in Pei Xiuyan's ear, "Prince Qing, it's almost time; why don't we start early?" Pei Xiuyan glanced at Zhang Qingman and said, "It's not time yet; why are you in such a hurry?" 

This look was so sharp that Zhang Qingman felt uneasy. He thought of Pei Xiuyan's cruelty when he interrogated Ye Jin. A man who can be cruel to his father-in-law is definitely not a good person. He dared not say anything more and just went back to his position in a proper manner. 

Ye Chuyan rode hard all the way. Because she was wearing thin clothes, her lips had been frozen purple, her ribs were broken again while riding, and her lower abdomen was sore as if it had been blown. She could not feel any of this. The huge fear made her lose all perception of the outside world. Why did the market entrance seem as far away as the ends of the earth and not arrive for a long time? Finally, he arrived at the market entrance and saw the people outside crowded together. Words about the Ye family, the palace defense map, spies, and collusion with the enemy were heard everywhere. Ye Chuyan got off her horse when she heard this. Her legs went weak, and she almost collapsed.

She pushed through the crowd and rushed in like crazy.