Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 427 See You Again in the Underworld
Old Master He cried with tears streaming down his face: "Why won't you leave, young master?!"

"I cannot leave." Yan Liang raised his sword again and said slowly, "This outcome is entirely due to my instigation of my grandfather. I bear responsibility for the Yan family's current situation."

“I am the eldest grandson of the Yan family, and I am not a good person! But at least I cannot be a coward.”

Uncle He burst into tears.

Yan Liang shouted at him, "Get out of here!"

Uncle He knelt down with tears in his eyes, then stood up.

"Young Master! There's news about the Old Master!" The man stopped mid-sentence, wailing and kneeling down. "The Old Master has had both arms severed and has been imprisoned in the Embroidered Uniform Guard prison! He Ping has also arrived, and we are completely surrounded, inside and out! Including the alleys outside!"

Yan Liang felt as if his limbs had been pulled out, and he listened intently to the sounds coming from the other side of the wall. After a long while, he finally remembered to ask, "Who did this to Grandfather?!"

"I heard it's the Shen family father and son! They're all in the palace. The old master was tricked by them and fell for their trap! They're waiting in the Qianqing Palace with the Emperor for the old master to lead all the officials to their doorstep!"

Yan Liang took two steps back and tripped on the threshold.

The old servant helped him up, but he pushed him away and stood up straight: "Where are the rest?!"

"completely annihilated!"

Countless knives were slicing Yan Liang's throat.

He stood under the porch, his hand holding the sword raised several times but he couldn't lift it.

"Father."

Shan-jie shook his arm. "Where are we going?"

Yan Liang glanced at her and said to Uncle He in a hoarse voice, "There are people in the alley, and there are probably people in the side alley as well. At this point, they will definitely go to extremes."

"You take them and wait for me in the Nian'en Building behind the mourning hall. If I have the chance later, I will definitely come to find you. Wait for me to let you go before you leave."

Uncle He agreed with tears in his eyes.

"Father!"

Yan Liang did not turn back despite his daughter's calls.

Yan Qu, who had already reached the courtyard gate, said: "You keep saying you won't let me leave, yet you let your children leave?"

“If you had them, I would have let them go with me!” Yan Liang looked at him. “But you don’t, so now I’ll stay here with you! Are you not satisfied?”

Yan Qu was speechless.

He chased after them again, asking, "Are we really finished? Is the Emperor really going to execute our entire family? Would he really do that?"

His eyes were bloodshot as he followed step by step: "Why did it come to this? Just a month ago, we were living a life of unparalleled wealth! We were a powerful family that all the officials were trying their best to befriend! We were the Emperor's most trusted confidants!"

"enough!"

A crow on the treetop was startled and flew over the wall.

Yan Liang looked up at the sky and watched the crows land on the roof of the opposite house, and said, "This is our fate."

"Grandfather dug a river for his descendants, hoping that we would have water to drink for generations to come. But he used too much force, and the river overflowed. We were swept away by the flood and could not turn back."

"Throughout history, there have always been only two paths for those who have opposed imperial power: the victor becomes king and the loser becomes villain. I thought I had planned things thoroughly enough, but it is clear that we were a bit unlucky."

He slowly looked over:

"Now only you and I are left to support the family. Don't put your hopes on those people in the backyard. Go and take good care of Grandmother. We will meet again on the road to the underworld."

"Big brother!"

With a roar, Yan Liang ran out without looking back.

...Yan Qu staggered to the main room, and tripped and fell as soon as he entered.

Unlike the outer courtyard, the main house was still very prestigious, with the servants standing where they were supposed to. The thrushes on the bird stand remained silent. Madam Yang sat on the long couch where she usually sat, with her two eldest daughters, who had been raised in the main house since childhood, sitting on the foot couch below, facing her.

The moment Yan Qu entered, it was as if a stone had been thrown into still water, and everything came alive.

"grandmother!"

Yan Qu shouted and knelt down in the room. His two concubine daughters hurriedly stood up and reached out to help him up.

"Any news of your grandfather?" Madam Yang seemed to want to stand up, but after trying, she slumped back down. Her voice was hoarse. "No, is there? No doesn't necessarily mean there's no hope. He's been a powerful figure in the palace and court for generations, manipulating the imperial family with ease. He even managed to exonerate your father from such a grave crime... He..."

"Grandmother! Grandfather has had both arms cut off and is in prison!" Yan Qu finally burst into tears.

Yang's ashen face trembled a few times: "Both arms severed? Both arms severed?... He was a scholar!"

What difference is there between a scholar who has lost the hand to hold a pen and one who is still alive or dead? Not to mention that he has already been imprisoned by the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

"Is the Emperor really so heartless? The Yan family served him their whole lives, and in the end, he really is so cruel?!"

She finally stood up, shakily leaning on the table for support, and then forcefully slammed her hand on the flower stand.

Through her teary eyes, she looked at Yan Qu, who was still kneeling on the ground, and asked again, "Has the imperial edict arrived? Have He Ping and the others arrived? Are you sure there's no chance of a turnaround?"

Yan Qu shook his head, tears streaming down his face.

Yang's voice trembled: "I remember we have people in the Imperial City Garrison. Go to the treasury and get some valuables to bribe them! Also, all those people in the court who have benefited from the Yan family, go to the palace and beg them! They've been doing this for decades, one more time won't make a difference! The Yan family can't fall, we have to find a way quickly..."

“Grandmother,” Yan Qu raised her tearful eyes, “it’s too late! He Ping is already outside the door! Now we’re only relying on the guards to hold the gate open.”

Yang swayed and knocked over the hexagonal rose-purple glazed flowerpot from the Jun kiln beside her.

She looked at the shards of eight hundred taels of silver on the ground, then at her two young granddaughters, and gritted her teeth, saying, "In that case, go and fetch the white silk!"

"grandmother!"

The eldest granddaughter knelt down, weeping bitterly, and cried out, “I am engaged to the second son of the Zhang family, the governor of Zhejiang. I have made a vow with him that once I marry into the Yan family, I will no longer be a member of the Yan family. Please, Grandmother, grant me a way to live!”

"Grandmother! I am also childhood sweethearts with the eldest grandson of Grand Secretary Pang. He has said that he will not marry anyone but me! May I go to the Pang family to take refuge for a while?"

"Shut up!" Yan Qu shouted through tears, "At this critical moment for the Yan family, you're still thinking about your own marriages? The palace has already issued an edict to execute your entire families, and even the Pang and Zhang families are among those to be purged! Do you think leaving the Yan family will give you a way out? That will only make your deaths more miserable!"

The girls immediately collapsed to the ground.

The mansion was in mourning, and there was no shortage of white silk and other offerings. The old women quickly brought them over and presented them neatly to the mansion.

The two sisters cried their hearts out.

"Take them to the side room."

Yang instructed Yan Qu.

Yan Qu went out, and the door was closed.

The girl's cries faded into the distance.

With trembling hands, Madam Yang pulled a vermilion pill from her bosom. The old man had left it for her before he left early that morning, saying that there was a cunning and treacherous Consort Yi in the palace.

He said that the vile woman had deceived the Yan family for many years and had been secretly colluding with Li Quan and the Crown Prince; she should have died long ago.

Therefore, it will be useful after the previous dynasty's affairs are settled.

Ke Yang thought that the vile woman was so hateful, why waste this medicine?
It would be better to save it to feed Lu Jie!

That Lu Jie who has been deceiving them for years!