Chapter 7 - Unworthy Of Burial

 Ye Jin has always been kind and generous and has often helped some poor students. Many onlookers have received his favors.

Seeing him being tortured to death at this time and thinking of the rumor that the Ye family was framed, it was a bit unbearable.

Some people kneeled down and cried, shouting, "Farewell, Mr. Ye!"

For a while, the shouting gradually took shape, one louder than the other. Zhang Qingman was sweating slightly with anxiety. He was once a colleague of Ye Jin. Although he did not have much contact with Ye Jin, he admired Ye Jin's literary character from the bottom of his heart. The fact of collaborating with the enemy was so strange that he didn't know its depth.

At this time, seeing the people crying and shouting, he was worried about causing a riot. After thinking for a while, he said to Pei Xiuyan cautiously, "Prince Qing, how about we end it early?"

Early is a code word. Some families of Lingchi prisoners would bribe the executioner in advance and let the executioner cut the knife three inches deep not long after Lingchi started, so that the prisoner would be killed directly without suffering.

Pei Xiuyan stood calmly on the observation platform. Snowflakes fell on him and turned into a wisp of mist, making him look like a pine tree in the mist, blurry. His handsome face was expressionless. After hearing Zhang Qingman's words, he coldly spit out two words: "No need!"

Zhang Qingman shuddered immediately and felt that the person in front of him was more terrifying than a demon. He thought to himself that Pei Xiuyan was indeed from the royal family, and his cruelty was not inferior to that of the emperor.

 The heavy snow fell for three days, and Pei Xiuyan supervised the execution at the vegetable market entrance for three days. Most of the male members of the Ye family died on the first day of the execution. The two legitimate sons died on the second day. Ye Jin held on to the execution until the last moment. Before his death, he only said one sentence: My heart is like the moon, beautiful and dust-free.

Some onlookers burst into tears when they heard this. Some people volunteered to collect the bodies of the three Ye family fathers and sons, but Pei Xiuyan stopped them and declared: People who were tortured by slow slicing do not deserve to be buried. Then he ordered people to drag the three people's bones to the mass grave and throw them away. With the death of Ye Jin, the sensational case of the Ye family's treason came to an end.

On the fourth day, the sky was clear, and the sky and the earth were white. The bloodstains at the vegetable market entrance had long been covered by the white snow. The icicles under the eaves hung upside down, reflecting dazzling light in the sun. Kyoto was like a fairyland on earth.

 

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Ye Chuyan dreamed that Ye Jin was tortured by slow slicing, and blood flowed from her eyes. He roared at Ye Chuyan with bloody eyes, "You gave Pei Xiuyan the palace defense map; you should be tortured."

The scene changed, and Ye Chuqing was also lying on the ground, covered in blood. There was not a single piece of good flesh on his face, showing his sharp white teeth, and he said sinisterly: "Ayan, Gu Yan was exiled because of you. If she died, it would be two lives."

Ye Chuyan subconsciously shook his head desperately, wanting to say sorry loudly; it was all his fault. She shouldn't have loved Pei Xiuyan, and she shouldn't have asked for the palace defense map to please Pei Xiuyan.

She wanted to speak, but someone grabbed her neck. When she looked down, she saw a baby-shaped evil spirit. The evil spirit grabbed her and kept shouting, "Mother, since you didn't protect me well, why don't you come down to accompany me?"

Ye Chuyan gave up struggling and let the evil spirit grab her. She was thinking that if there is a hell, she is willing to go to the eighteen levels of hell and suffer all the suffering to atone for her sins.

Bai Zhi brought the medicine into the room and saw Ye Chuyan's eyes were closed, sweating profusely, and she was still holding her neck tightly. She was shocked, put down the medicine and rushed to pull Ye Chuyan's hand.

"Princess, wake up. Wake up quickly."

Four days ago, Ye Chuyan jumped over the wall and left the palace. When she was sent back, she was covered in blood, her ribs were broken again, her arms and jaw were dislocated, and she served by the bed without taking off her clothes. Although Ye Chuyan's jaw and arms were connected on the spot, the broken ribs and the cold after the miscarriage were extremely difficult to heal. Ye Chuyan had been in a coma for four days, with repeated high fevers, and she never woke up.

Bai Zhi tried to pull Ye Chuyan's hand away. However, Ye Chuyan was very strong, and Bai Zhi found that she couldn't pull it apart at all.

She cried desperately: "Come, is there anyone, save the princess. Come, save the princess..."

Bai Zhi's cries lingered in the courtyard, and they seemed particularly miserable in this silent night.

 

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Qing Palace, study.

Pei Xiuyan sat at the table, looking at the palace defense map drawn by Ye Jin in front of him, and the whole person became increasingly anxious. After he got up, he paced back and forth.

 Ye Jin's words before his death kept circling in his mind: My heart is like the moon, beautiful and dust-free.

The irritable mood turned into a beast, clamoring to break out of the cage. He punched the table hard, and blood oozed from his joints. This old guy died, and he became the villain! When he thought of Ye Chuyan's desperate eyes and thin figure on the execution ground, he always felt a little breathless.

"Your Highness." A low cry outside the door interrupted Pei Xiuyan's thoughts.

"Come in." The voice was as calm and low as ever.

Yan Xue entered the room and bowed.

"Your Highness, after I threw the bodies of the three Ye family fathers and sons into the mass grave according to your instructions, those people did not dare to show up yesterday, but they showed up as soon as it got dark tonight and took the bodies of the three Ye family fathers and sons away."

Pei Xiuyan nodded.

 "Follow these people closely and investigate their identities secretly. Don't alert them."

Those who dared to collect the bodies for the Ye family were the people who were loyal to the Ye family as Ye Jin said. He wanted to find out who these people were.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"How are the exiled women of the Ye family now?"

"I have arranged for people to protect them secretly, and also arranged for a female doctor to accompany them in disguise. The people in charge of escorting them have been arranged. There shouldn't be any accidents along the way."

Yan Xue answered everything.

"What about the incident that day when the news of the Ye family was revealed to the princess?"

"It was an accident. Two maids who had just entered the mansion were ignorant and gossiped outside the princess' courtyard. The princess heard them. I have dealt with them."

After Yan Xue finished speaking, he secretly peeked at Pei Xiuyan. Pei Xiuyan pursed his thin lips tightly at this time, his face was stern, and he did not reveal any emotion. He had followed his master for so long, but he could not guess his master's mind. While the master personally convicted the Ye family, he did not allow anyone to plead for the Ye family.

 While arranging people to take good care of the exiled female members of the Ye family, he also severely punished several servants who leaked the news to the princess. These actions made him completely confused about what the master's attitude towards the Ye family and the princess was.

Pei Xiuyan waved his hand, Yan Xue understood, and disappeared in the study. Pei Xiuyan walked out of the study and looked up at the night sky. The bright moon tonight was very bright, reflecting the unmelted snow on the ground, and the world was quiet and beautiful. He paced in the moonlight and unknowingly came to the gate of a courtyard. He looked up and saw the three words "Jianjiayuan" on the plaque, and he couldn't help but be a little speechless.

This is Ye Chuyan's courtyard, how could he walk here unknowingly?

Ye Chuyan was still under house arrest. The guards in charge of guarding outside the courtyard might be hiding somewhere because of the cold weather. Such a large courtyard, because the door was locked from the outside, seemed as if no one lived there, and it looked particularly desolate and desolate.

 Since the day they parted at the execution ground, he has been supervising the execution at the vegetable market for the past three days. He has been busy until now. Counting, I haven't seen Ye Chuyan for four days.

I wonder if she is well?

After this thought popped up, Pei Xiuyan was shocked by himself. When did he start to care about Ye Chuyan's health? He shook his head and dispelled his thoughts. Thinking of the promise he made to Zhao Yujiao to accompany her to appreciate the moon when he went out this morning, he raised his legs and prepared to leave.

At this moment, a woman's shrill scream was heard from the yard, as if she was shouting: "Save the princess".