Chapter 477 — Disclosure

"Then Empress Yi said: apart from the Duke of Dingguo, the Jiang family still has Jiang Zhusun and Jiang Lansun. Since you have decided to leave the Jiangs for the use of His Highness Prince Zhaohua, why not let them suffer a little first — the grown men exiled to Liaodong, the women and children reduced to commoners and sent back to their native place. The Jiangs still have their ancestral home and sacrificial fields. If they are grateful for the imperial grace, they will conduct themselves well. If they harbor resentment, then even if Your Majesty pardoned them now, they would still feel wronged and aggrieved. Thunder and rain, dew and lightning — all are the sovereign's grace. Take this chance to see whether the Jiangs are truly loyal or merely feigning it.

"The Emperor found Empress Yi's words reasonable.

"Before long the decree was issued. All Jiang males above the age of five were exiled to Liaodong; the women and children were reduced to commoners and sent back to Haozhou.

"As for the second and third masters of the Jiang family — I know that attendants from Empress Yi's side went to see Zhong Qiao. As for what was said, I did not dare ask Zhong Qiao."

Song Yan gazed at the cup in his hand, his heart steeped in bitterness. After a long while he said quietly, "If those ministers had not impeached my eldest uncle but instead cried out on the Duke of Dingguo's behalf, pleading for mercy — what would the Emperor have done then?"

Wang Yuan sighed. "Extermination of the whole household would have been the kindest fate. What I feared was the execution of three clans!"

Song Yan thought of Dou Yan.

If he had never met Dou Yan, what would have become of the Jiang family, and of himself?

He returned to the Hall of Cherished Aspirations. The child was already asleep, and Dou Yan sat beneath the lamp, sketching embroidery patterns.

Hearing the sound, she lifted her head and gave him a radiant smile. "You're back!"

Her limpid gaze was like spring water, reflecting the shadow of him alone.

It surged like a rising tide against his chest, leaving him so shaken he could not utter a word.

He stepped forward and took Dou Yan in his arms.

"Shouyuan, without you, what would I have become?" He closed his eyes and buried his head in her dark hair.

Were it not for her rebirth, in this life Song Yan would have been as lonely and embittered as he had been in the last.

Dou Yan's heart instantly melted into a puddle.

She patted Song Yan's shoulder soothingly and laughed. "Without me, you would surely have married a gentle, considerate wife, taken a few concubines of peerless beauty and talent, and fathered several lively, lovely children..."

"I would not," Song Yan retorted. "I like only you. I want no one else."

Would not—would not marry a gentle, considerate wife? Or would not take concubines?

Dou Yan laughed softly.

Whatever the case, Song Yan was now safe and sound.

Glory and wealth, high station and great power, a future bright as brocade!

She held him tightly and laughed. "Did you drink today? Shall I have the kitchen make you a bowl of sobering soup?"

Song Yan released her and shook his head. "Just call a maid in to attend me while I wash and change."

Dou Yan nodded and said, "All right."

After Song Yan had washed and changed, he drew Dou Chu up onto the large heated kang by the window.

Holding her hand, he told her of his meeting with Wang Yuan.

Dou Yan was startled, then fell into thought.

Song Yan had always valued Dou Zhiwei's feelings. Seeing her somewhat distracted, he said hurriedly, "What is it? Is something wrong?"

Dou Yan came back to herself.

"No," she said, pausing a moment. "I was thinking—if everyone had submitted memorials then, pleading for the Duke of Dingguo and crying out against his injustice, and angered the Emperor, would the Empress have added fuel to the fire?"

"She would not," Song Yan said calmly. "Before the Emperor she has always been virtuous and magnanimous. The Jiang family is already doomed to fall; she would not trouble herself to make fresh enemies for nothing. The reason she intervened this time is simply that, having already offended the Jiang family, she decided to go the whole way and destroy them root and branch, to forestall future trouble." At this he gave a cold laugh. "Truly a woman who accomplishes great things—she turns her face without a flicker of feeling. When my mother was frantic with worry back then, she was there comforting her, and my mother was endlessly grateful to her—never imagining that she was the one who had ruined my eldest uncle. Merely for not siding with the Prince of Liao, she could bring herself to such a vicious stroke. If one were to oppose her outright, would there even be a patch of ground left to bury one's corpse?"

So in the previous life, the Empress had not moved against the Jiang family!

Dou Yan felt her heart ease, and then another thought rose in her mind.

She weighed her words. "Yantang, have you ever considered—if the Duke of Dingguo merely declined to side with the Prince of Liao, and the Empress was willing to expend such effort, then for those who politely refused the Empress, would she not have to grind their bones to ash and scatter them to the wind before her hatred could be slaked?"

Song Chu was stunned.

Dou Yan said, "We all sensed the Prince of Liao's ambition, yet not one of us dared tell the Emperor—first because we had no proof, and second because we feared the Emperor would not believe us and we would end up in prison ourselves. But if the man who told the Emperor this were the Duke of Dingguo, tell me—how would the Emperor react?"

Song Yan's expression changed drastically.

If it were the Duke of Dingguo, then however much the Emperor trusted the Empress and the Prince of Liao, suspicion would still take root in his heart!

This was the true reason the Empress had to strike at the Duke of Dingguo and the Jiang family.

She feared that the Duke of Dingguo's death would drive Jiang Zhusun and Jiang Lansun to speak words that would harm the Prince of Liao.

Song Yan's eyes grew moist. "How hateful that my fifth uncle knows nothing even now—that he takes the thief for a father and lends his strength to the tyrant's cruelty!"

Dou Yan too was stirred to sorrow by her own deduction.

She said, "Should we drop a hint to my fifth uncle?"

Song Yan nodded and hurried off to the study.

Dou Yan gazed at the teacup that still held a trace of warmth and let out a long sigh.

One small change in this life had turned the whole of the previous life upside down.

This was something she had never anticipated when she first met Song Yan.

How many more such changes would she encounter hereafter?

Would the facts she had taken as certain in her last life still come to pass in this one?

Dou Yan was rather bewildered.

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Brothers and sisters, here is today's update.

O(∩_∩)O~

PS: I am working hard to restore the original update schedule.

※RS