Chapter 68 Broken Mirror

It was the first time Guan Father saw a woman with such a wild and uninhibited style that even his usually calm expression couldn’t be maintained, and he struggled for a long time before he looked at his daughter, wanted to say something but hesitate. The old madam was also embarrassed, lowered her head and coughed for a moment, looked up at the sky for a while, and then turned her face to stared at the manly back of the princess, until it disappeared around the corner and she let out a sigh of relief.

There were no skylights in the corridor, only a few candles were lit on the wall, and it was full of strong smell of tung oil mixed with long-lasting blood, making people dizzy. Guan Suyi was too impatient to stay in the prison for a long time, and took the lead to walk forward, slowly saying, “Her Highness Grand Princess is a person who cherishes flowers, but she doesn’t have the tendency of grinding mirrors*ancient term for lesbian, it’s called like this because one of their sexual method was grinding each other’s bodies, and because they have the same body structure it seemed that a mirror was placed in the middle. T/N: I read historical chinese novel for so long and only now find out the term for lesbian LOL, you can rest assured.”

The old madam’s cheeks flushed and she couldn’t speak for a while. Guan Father nervously looked at Zhao Chunxi and Zhao Wangshu, and scolded, “What are you talking about, why don’t you go in and visit your husband!”

“Mom, what is grinding mirrors means?” Zhao Wangshu asked stupidly, but his sister covered his mouth and glared at him fiercely.

Guan Suyi felt numb all over. No matter how many times she listened to it, she still couldn’t stand Zhao Wangshu’s incomparable intimacy and nasally “mom”. Was it bad to call her mother or Guan shi like in her previous life? She forcefully pulled her lips and said lightly, “It means polishing the bronze mirror. Okay, let’s go in and see your daddy.” It was indeed her mistake to say such inappropriate words in front of the children, and she must pay attention next time.

“Yeah, Daddy is still waiting for us, hurry in.” Zhao Chunxi dragged her brother away.

Passing through the narrow and dark corridor, there was an open underground hall at the end, with many compartments built on all four walls and surrounded by iron fences. Each compartment contains prisoners, ranging from one or two, to as many as dozens. Before seeing their dad, Zhao Chunxi and Zhao Wangshu first saw Liu shi, Song shi and others who were taken away yesterday.

They were huddled together in a cell, all disheveled and ragged, the originally bright fabrics were now stained with blood, as if they had been tortured. Song shi’s appearance was the most miserable. The outer layer of clothes had been stripped off, wearing only a single shirt soaked in blood. She laid dying in the corner, her cheeks turned to the direction of the corridor, and all the light in her eyes had dissipated, leaving only death.

Even for someone as ignorant as Zhao Wangshu, just by looking at her, he immediately realized that this person was about to go to hell.

“Xi’er, Wangshu, you are here? Hurry up and save your grandmother!” Seeing the two grandchildren, Liu shi rushed to the cell door and shouted, and the others also got up and kowtowed, with Ye Fan’s voice vaguely mixed in, “Xi’er, Wangshu, I am engaged to your daddy, even if I haven’t passed through the door, I’m also half the Zhao family, you can’t leave me alone! Old madam, mother-in-law, please save me. In the future, I will definitely serve Chen Guang and take care of two children, and I’ll be a cow and a horse for you…”

The sound of crying, begging, and cursing rang out, like a ghost wailing and wolf howling. When the devil sound pierced through the ears, it scared the siblings to death, they couldn’t help but shrink into the corner and shivered. Guan Suyi walked past without even looking, and said lightly, “The sins caused by oneself cannot be escaped. One pull and one step on have already cleared up the debt. From now on, the Ye and Zhao families have nothing to do with each other. Just go in and see your daddy.”

The two seemed to feel reassured, and hurriedly fell behind their stepmother, imitated her appearance and looked straight ahead, walked calmly, and finally saw their father in the deepest prison.

Zhao Luli had already heard the cries for help one after another, and knew that his family had come to visit him, so he stood by the door and looked out. He never expected that in addition to the thirty-two charges impeached by the Emperor Teacher, Master Ye had committed numerous crimes, big and small, and it also involved the prince and Xue the Thief of the previous dynasty, also secretly plotted to seize the imperial treasure. He actually had insatiable greed and extremely daring.

He didn’t know about these things until he turned himself in to the Department of Justice, and immediately broke into a cold sweat. When he heard that the general who led the team to search for the treasure map was Zhou Tian, he felt even more and more desperate. Originally, he was just doing his part for the “dead wife” maiden’s family, but he didn’t want to bring disaster to his family. If there’s any mistakes, even he died ten thousand times he also couldn’t escape the blame. If he couldn’t be a good husband, couldn’t be a filial son, and couldn’t be a qualified father, what was he doing alive? It’s better to die in jail!

In his panic, he thought of the new madam who had not passed the door for a long time, and thought of her arrogance and awe-inspiring righteousness, and could not help but lift his spirits. That’s right, Madam had already divided the mansion, and she also said that she would open a main entrance on the other side and hung up another plaque. In this way, the fate of the Zhao family was not tied to him alone, but also involved his second brother’s name. The Marquis of Zhenbei had collapsed, but second brother was still the dignified General Zhengbei, so Zhou Tian had to give him a little face no matter what.

It turned out that dividing the mansion was not only to get rid the Ye family, but also to avoid possible disasters. Didn’t she warn him at that time, saying that the Ye family’s womenfolk might also be involved with the case, and asked him to send them away quickly. But he insisted on going his own way, and eventually affected his family and children.

How could he be so confused? If there was no Madam, afraid all of his family would be killed!

Fortunately, Guan Suyi had led a group of people to come near. He quickly wiped the corners of his red eyes and said hoarsely, “Madam, you are here.” Seeing the old madam and Guan Father, he hurriedly bent down and bowed, “Son have seen mother, son-in-law has seen father-in-law.”

Guan Father glanced at him up and down, and unhappily said, “The emperor only ordered to let you assist in investigating the case, not to be imprisoned, but you made a big disaster in your early years and attracted many grudges from the past. Someone deliberately imprisoned you for torture, even when I tried to put things in order, I still couldn’t completely excuse it. You should count the sins you have committed yourself, and stay here in peace, and when the case is over, they will let you go. ”

Zhao Luli ashamedly cupped his hands and said, “Troubling father-in-law to done everything for this son-in-law, son-in-law is very thankful. In the future, he will repent his sins, renounce evil and turn to virtue. This son-in-law’s sins are so deep that the Marquis Zhenbei’s title should not have been obtained, nor should enjoyed the glory and wealth. And now he is imprisoned and severely punished, surely have redeem one or two. People live in the world, comes clean and go clean, but I made a lot of mistakes, and my hands are full of blood, so I have no complaints in my heart when I end up like today. But there are regret, there are shame, regret for not treating Madam well, ashamed for not taking care of the whole family. After going out of prison, I should let go of the past, cherish the present, and look forward to the future to support the Zhao family again. Hope father-in-law can be the witness for son-in-law.”

Guan Father said with relief, “If you can really make it right, it’s not in vain for Yiyi to manage things inside out, feeling worried and frighten. I will watch how you behave in the future, if you make trouble again, I will not forgive you. Well, it’s rare for your family to be reunited, so hurry up and chat for a while, I still have something to do, so I will go first. Old madam, please.” He politely saluted the old madam.

The old madam hurriedly returned the salute and kept thanking him, she sent the person to the end of the corridor before walking back while wiping away her tears. When he met Ye Zhen, her son was unlucky for half his life, when he married Suyi, the extreme sorrow was turned into joy, Heaven had really opened his eyes!

Zhao Luli wanted to grab Madam’s hands very much, but when he saw his dirty fingertips he retreated timidly, spoke full of shame, “Yesterday Zhou Tian raided the Zhao Mansion, Madam wasn’t frighten, right? Madam’s every words are gems of wisdom, it’s just so hateful that I closed my ear and didn’t listen, obstinately went my own way and almost killed you. I’m guilty!”

Before Guan Suyi could speak, Zhao Chunxi and Zhao Wangshu had both squeezed to the cell door, reached out to hug him, and cried, “Daddy, it’s not your fault, it’s the Ye family’s fault. You don’t know, they are really cruel, they want to let our family fill the pit for Brother Hao…” The two of them explained everything that happened yesterday clearly.

Zhao Luli broke out in a cold sweat, stunned for a long time before he slowly knelt down, bowed his head and kowtowed, “Madam’s great kindness to my Zhao family, not to mention the next life, I will smash my body and break my head in this life, and repay it with all my strength.” After kowtowing he ordered the two children, “Why don’t you thank your mother?”

Zhao Chunxi and Zhao Wangshu were not reluctant at all, they knelt down and kowtowed three times, crying “mom” with tears in their eyes. The old madam was extremely relieved, and the hatred towards Zhao Chunxi disappeared a lot, her mouth kept mumbling, “Knowing mistakes can make a big difference, and the broken mirror*metaphor for broken marriage can also be reattached”, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

For the first time Guan Suyi experienced the taste of being helpless. She would rather this family alienated her, treated her coldly, or even persecuted her like in her previous life, and could not bear their sincere repentance and earnest approach. She could differentiate sincerity and hypocrisy, so it became more and more awkward.

She couldn’t do anything to a group of innocent people, not to mention two of them were half a child. If she could really disregard morality and throw a stone at people who had fallen, what was the difference between her and the Ye family? Burying her conscience for the sake of hatred, even losing her nature and abandon herself, how could she be worthy of the Guan family’s reputation? How could she lived up to the legacy of her ancestors? How could she shouldered on the four words “having a clear conscience”?

Alright, if they truly repented, she would do her duty and keep the house safe; if they harbored ill-conceived ideas, she would fight back and not give in an inch. Everything still depends on time.

Thinking like this, Guan Suyi finally regained her composure, pulled Zhao Chunxi and Zhao Wangshu with mixed feelings, avoided Zhao Luli’s kneeling and asked the servant to put medicine on him, bandage him, and arrange the food.

—-

When the grand princess came out of the prison, she planned to return to her mansion. After thinking about it, she handed over the sign to the palace to face the emperor. As soon as she stepped into the imperial study to make a salute, she saw the emperor’s dark blue eyes staring straight at her, and finally stopped at her fingertips.

She grinned and said in a bad tone, “Why, This Palace’s fingers is not made of gold, for the emperor this sort of rare?” In the end, she raised it to her nose to take a sniff, and said intoxicatedly, “Delicate face, the soft jade is warm and fragrant*describe the delicate fragrance of a woman’s skin, a peerless beauty capable of causing the downfall of a country! Hunnar, you really have a deep brotherly love, you robbed someone else’s wife and gave him a better one, when you become an emperor, you become more open-minded, This Palace admires you!”

Emperor Sheng Yuan had already received the secret report, knowing that Zhao Luli had been reconciled with his wife, and the Zhao family’s old madam kept saying something like “broken mirror is reattached, happy family” and other words, making him anxious, jealous, unbearable, and suddenly the idea of killing people and stealing a wife arose.

Now that he was stabbed by his elder sister with a few words, the anger he had suppressed for a long time almost erupted, eager to burn himself and others to ashes. But he was an emperor after all, he understood the principle of not showing happiness and anger on his face, and he endured and endured before he could barely suppress his violent mood, and said solemnly, “Whether the imperial sister believes it or not, Zhen have never robbed his wife. At that time Zhen made a surprise attack on Yanjing, and took a rest at Zhao’s village on the way, then met Ye Zhen and recognized that she was the woman who saved Zhen, so said a few words. Not know how it was discovered by Old Marquis Zhao, and misunderstood by him. You also know his temperament, he is the same as Ye Quanyong. He actually bribed the soldier and stuffed Ye Zhen, who was not wearing an inch of thread, when packing the bag. The next day, the camp was attacked, and in the evening we had gone thousand of miles away, and when camped again, Zhen found that there was a woman in the tent. Imperial sister, do you think Zhen should return her or throw her away?”

The life-saving grace must be repaid, and the brother’s wife must not be contaminated. No one knew how annoyed Emperor Sheng Yuan was at that time, and how he was in a dilemma with no room to advance or retreat. These past events, which he had never told to anyone, now had to be mentioned.

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