Noble First Daughter-in-law

After breakfast, Yuwen Ye took Shang Ruyi out of the palace - now, they were in charge of everything inside and outside the palace. Naturally, they didn't need to get the emperor's permission to leave the palace as before. Everything was smooth sailing.

As soon as I walked out of the palace gate, there was a carriage waiting outside.

Shang Ruyi got on the carriage with him, and after hearing the driver's shout, the carriage swayed out of the palace gate and drove forward. Along the way, he could hear voices coming from both sides of the road from time to time. Shang Ruyi lifted the curtains and looked at the pedestrians outside. Although it was not as bustling as before, the city had more or less regained some of its former bustle and prosperity, and even the shops on the street had reopened.

She breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at the people around her.

Unfortunately, Yuwen Ye squinted his eyes, as if he was resting. She couldn't help feeling a little regretful. If only he could see these scenes. She hoped he could understand that the killing was enough.

Who knew that just as she was sighing in her heart, Yuwen Ye's voice suddenly rang out: "Why are you sighing?"

Shang Ruyi's breathing trembled slightly, and she immediately looked up at him, only to see that Yuwen Ye had opened his eyes, but was looking at her with half-closed eyes, with a hint of coldness in his expression.

Shang Ruyi said: "Nothing, I just felt a little emotional when looking at the scenery outside."

"Haven't we seen all this before? What's there to be sad about?"

Shang Ruyi glanced at him and said, "There were lightning and thunder last night. I thought there would be a violent storm. If that were the case, the city would be full of mud and mud today, and the people might not be able to walk freely like they can now."

"..."

"But I didn't expect that after a whole night of thunder and lightning, there was no rain."

"..."

“It’s really lucky.”

Yuwen Ye looked at her: "You call this lucky?"

Shang Ruyi said: "Everyone is used to it. After thunder comes heavy rain. But after thunder comes bright sunshine. That's luck."

"..."

Yu Wen Ye's eyes flickered, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he snorted and closed his eyes.

Seeing his noncommittal expression, Shang Ruyi sighed again in her heart.

The carriage moved forward and finally arrived at the Prince's Mansion after a while.

From the moment he entered this street, Shang Ruyi felt that the surroundings suddenly became quiet. It was naturally because this street completely belonged to the Prince's Mansion, and ordinary people did not dare to approach it easily. Moreover, since Yuwen Ye sealed this place and the Prince of Qi's Mansion the night before, even birds did not dare to land around here. At this moment, on the entire long street, except for rows of warriors standing with swords, there was only their carriage moving. The sound of the wheels rolling over the ruts was monotonous but a little frightening.

Finally, the carriage stopped at the gate of the Prince's Mansion.

The place had already been surrounded by soldiers in three layers, and there were two tall figures standing at the door. They were Shentu Tai and Shi Yutao. They were fully armored, with one hand on their waist and the other holding the sword on their waist. When they saw the King of Qin and the Queen get off the car, they immediately came forward to greet them with a greeting.

"Greetings to the King of Qin, and greetings to the Princess."

Yuwen Ye waved his hand calmly: "How is it here?"

Shentu Tai said, "I followed your Highness's orders and drove all the people from Prince Qi's Palace here. Food and tea were delivered to them. They were begging for mercy before, but today they are silent. They are just waiting for your Highness's decision."

Yuwen Ye nodded: "Open the door."

Shang Ruyi's breathing was a little tense, but he still followed involuntarily. After receiving the order, Shentu Tai immediately turned around and opened the iron lock on the door himself. The seal was also easily removed.

Just as he was about to reach out and push the door, three "bang bang bang" sounds suddenly came from the silent street.

The sound was very light, like the sound of a wooden stick hitting the ground.

There were almost no outsiders here except them, and the other guards had no sticks or other objects in their hands, so where did the sound come from?

Shang Ruyi subconsciously looked back, but saw nothing. He then looked at Yuwen Ye, Shentu Tai and others, and found that they also looked back around, and after finding nothing, they looked surprised.

Misheard?
Yuwen Ye said: "Open the door."

"Yes."

Shentu Tai stretched out his hand and pushed——

With a creaky sound, the door was opened.

Suddenly, a gust of deathly wind blew out from inside.

There were people sitting on the ground in the open courtyard behind the gate. There were men and women, old and young. Some were dressed gorgeously, some were dressed simply, some seemed to have injuries, and some were completely intact, but every face was filled with expressions of fear and helplessness, as if they were a group of lambs to be slaughtered, being penned here, just waiting for the fatal blow.

Shang Ruyi couldn't help but frown.

As soon as they saw the door open, those who had been sitting powerlessly on the ground all stood up, their faces full of hope. But when they saw that it was the King of Qin and his wife who walked in, and the two ferocious-looking generals behind them, they immediately showed expressions of fear and retreated one after another.

Only a few brave ones, seeing that they had nowhere to retreat, simply fell to their knees and kowtowed to Yuwen Ye: "Your Highness, the Prince of Qin, Your Highness, please spare us." "Your Highness, please spare us, please."

"We know nothing. We don't know what the prince did!"

"Please forgive us, Princess."

Yuwen Ye coldly scanned every unfamiliar face and said, "You, dare you beg for mercy?"

As soon as he spoke, everyone fell silent, looking at him pitifully without daring to breathe. Yuwen Ye stepped forward and sternly rebuked him: "You are originally officials of the East Palace, receiving salaries from the court, and you should correct the crown prince. However, you did not think about serving the emperor, but instead instigated the crown prince and the King of Qi to rebel and commit crimes. Your crime is unforgivable!"

When they heard the last few words, everyone turned pale and collapsed to the ground powerlessly.

Shang Ruyi's breathing also choked.

But the next moment, Yuwen Ye took a breath and said, "Yes, God has the virtue of loving life. Although the axe and sword cannot be abolished in the Spring and Autumn Period, the compassionate heart is not absent from thunder and lightning."

"...!"

Shang Ruyi's heart skipped a beat and he looked at him.

Yuwen Ye seemed not to notice anything and continued, "Besides, the Crown Prince is plotting a rebellion, and his subordinates are only serving their master, and they may not share the same evil. If all of them are implicated, it will inevitably harm the harmony between heaven and earth, and even damage the emperor's wisdom."

After hearing these words, the eyes of the people below all lit up, as if they had finally seen the light after walking in darkness for a long time. They immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, crying out with tears streaming down their cheeks: "Thank you, Your Highness the King of Qin! Thank you, Your Highness the King of Qin!"

Yuwen Ye said coldly: "But, the death penalty can be avoided, but the living crime cannot be escaped. All the people in the Eastern Palace will be exiled to Lingnan; the old office of the Prince of Qi will be exiled to Qianzhong."

Although being exiled to those wild and desolate places was unbearable, compared to the murder that everyone had expected in recent days, or even the possibility of implicated relatives, this was already great news. They all kowtowed to Yuwen Ye and said, "Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you, Your Highness!"

Yuwen Ye said coldly: "Take him away."

Shentu Tai and Shi Yutao were standing behind him and were also a little surprised when they heard these words.

Yesterday, they brought five hundred people to gather the people from the Eastern Palace and the Prince of Qi's Mansion together, and sealed off the Prince's Mansion. They almost thought that Yuwen Ye would kill everyone here, and they had already prepared for the massacre. However, they did not expect that he would change his mind after one night and exile these people instead.

As for the reason——

The two of them glanced at the Princess of Qin, who was standing next to Yuwen Ye with a gentle look on her face, and seemed to understand.

They immediately obeyed the order and took the people in the mansion out.

Shang Ruyi stood at the gate of the Prince's Mansion, watching those who had escaped death and were grateful coming out. Just when almost everyone had come out and they were about to turn around and leave, they saw a somewhat thin figure slowly walking out.

This is a young maid with disheveled hair and a haggard appearance.

The moment she walked out of the door, a gust of wind suddenly blew, blowing away the hair that fell in front of her forehead. Shang Ruyi saw at a glance that there was a scar on her forehead. It looked very new, probably because it was injured not long ago.

As soon as Yuwen Ye saw her, his brows immediately frowned.

Feeling his expression change, the girl's breath was choked, her foot sank as she stepped over the threshold, and she almost tripped over it.

Fortunately, Shang Ruyi reached out and supported her at this moment. The maid immediately knelt on the ground in fear and said, "Princess, I offended you carelessly. Please forgive me."

Shang Ruyi took a step forward, quietly standing between her and Yuwen Ye, and said gently: "The journey to Lingnan is long and the mountains are high, so you must take good care of yourself."

After saying that, he took out a piece of silver from his sleeve and put it into her hand.

The maid couldn't believe it for a moment, and hurriedly raised her head to look at Shang Ruyi. When she met the other's eyes full of concern and tenderness, her eyes immediately filled with tears. She took the silver, kowtowed heavily, then turned and left.

Shang Ruyi heaved a sigh of relief only after he saw her back disappear at the end of the long street along with everyone else.

At this moment, Yuwen Ye's voice rang out behind her: "Do you think I will kill her?"

Shang Ruyi's heart skipped a beat.

She turned to look at Yuwen Ye and saw that although he was cold, he did not exude any murderous intent. She also felt that she had been too cautious just now, so she said softly: "No, it's not."

"..."

"I just think that she is so young, she should live a good life - just like she did when she was sleeping in the snow."

"Humph."

Yuwen Ye didn't say anything, just flicked his sleeves lightly, then walked down the steps to leave.

Shang Ruyi also followed him. When the two were about to get on the carriage, suddenly, the three light "click, click, click" sounds were heard again. The two subconsciously turned their heads and were immediately shocked.

On this long street, two figures appeared at some point, slowly walking past the gate of the East Palace, singing as they walked: "The boundless heaven and earth, I don't know where to end, the sun and the moon cycle, over and over again..." (End of this chapter)