Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 166
Chapter 166 - Xie Jingyu Demoted
The He family, having vanished for over twenty years, instantly became the talk of every street and alley in the capital.
"That fifth-rank Master Xie of the Xie family actually had children before his marriage to the eldest young lady of the Yun family! I heard those children were born to the daughter of a convicted traitor."
"You probably don't know the half of it yet! The children born of that traitor's daughter—one became the Princess of Anjing, and the other made it into the Imperial College! Truly formidable, isn't it?"
"The Prince of Anjing had only been married to his princess for less than a month before he plotted rebellion. It's hard not to suspect that his princess was whispering poison in his ear."
"If the Eldest Young Master Xie had stayed at the Imperial College much longer, wouldn't all the students there have been influenced to murder their own fathers and mothers?"
"A person like him doesn't deserve to be a son, doesn't deserve to study, and doesn't even deserve to live."
"The Xie family is harboring a house full of evil spirits; it's utterly revolting."
"Poor Madam Xie, kept in the dark and implicated in all this. She is truly pitiful..."
"..."
Countless people swarmed around the entrance of the Xie Manor, hurling rotten leaves, smelly eggs, and small stones...
The main gates of the Xie Manor remained tightly shut.
Inside the manor, even the servants were gossiping animatedly.
Over this recent period, the Xie family's silver reserves had run completely dry, and their monthly allowances had been delayed by several days. Every one of them had long harbored discontent toward the Xie family.
Now that disaster had struck the Xie household, aside from a few loyal servants, the rest gathered together to whisper about details they had never noticed in the past.
"No wonder Concubine He was so close to the young masters and young lady..."
"No wonder the Master treated Concubine He so unusually..."
"I said long ago that Concubine He's death was extremely suspicious..."
A few concubines huddled together, exchanging glances in mutual disbelief, unable to process what they were hearing.
"I suspected long ago that Concubine He was the biological mother of the Eldest Young Master, Second Young Master, and Eldest Young Lady..." Tingyu spoke up. "Though that matter is no longer important now. What matters is that the Eldest Young Master is the offspring of a convicted traitor and committed matricide! I'm afraid..."
"Then what will happen to our Xie family?" Concubine Jiang's face turned deathly pale. "Will the Master be implicated?"
Concubine Tao clutched the child in her arms, her face contorted with bitter hatred: "That He woman was truly a bane! Why did she have to seduce the Master? Why did she have to ruin our Xie family..."
The three of them were merely concubines with no right to join the family discussions, leaving them to wait outside the ancestral hall in anxious dread.
Inside the ancestral hall, Xie Jingyu was kneeling on the cold floor.
Xie Zhongcheng had forced him to kneel before the ancestral tablets, demanding that he explain the entire affair clearly from beginning to end.
Xie Jingyu's body was exceedingly weak, slumped halfway in a kneel and halfway in a sit, his voice hoarse to the extreme: "When I first met her, I truly did not know she belonged to the He family..."
"Then when you later learned her surname was He, why did you continue your entanglement with her?! Why did you bring her into the Xie Manor?!" Xie Zhongcheng roared, his head spinning with fury. "Why did you hide such a monumental matter from me?! Why was I kept completely in the dark?! How on earth did things reach this point today?! Jingyu, Shi'an, speak up, both of you! What do we do now?! What are we supposed to do?!"
Xie Shi'an lay prostrate on the ground.
As clever as he had always been, he could not come up with a single solution now.
He did not know what kind of eloquent tongue could possibly convince the Emperor to accept the descendant of a convicted traitor into the Imperial College.
"W-Wife..." Xie Jingyu turned his gaze toward Yun Chu. "You knew long ago that Concubine He was from the He family, yet you were still willing to stay in my Xie family. I know you must have a way to resolve this..."
The eyes of everyone present fell squarely upon Yun Chu.
Yun Chu stood there with aloof indifference. Her gaze swept over the Xie family's ancestral tablets before she slowly shook her head: "I cannot resolve this matter."
With those words, she turned and walked right out of the ancestral hall.
"Chu'er, don't leave..." Lady Yuan grabbed hold of her sleeve. "You're the only sensible person left in our Xie family now! You can't just abandon us! Chu'er, quickly think of a way, help Brother An pull through this crisis first before anything else..."
Yun Chu pulled her sleeve free, took a step, and continued walking outward.
"She's just afraid of being dragged down by our Xie family! She's afraid the Yun family will be condemned by the public too!" Xie Zhongcheng bellowed in rage. "Look at her indifferent expression—she has surely set her mind on a divorce! Jingyu, let me tell you, no matter what, do not give her a letter of divorce! Not even a letter of repudiation! She will be tied to the Xie family's sinking ship for the rest of her life!"
Walking outside, Yun Chu heard those words and let out a soft chuckle.
The people of the Xie family still failed to see the reality of the situation even now...
Several members of the Xie family talked inside the ancestral hall for an entire night, yet failed to reach any coherent conclusion.
The next morning, Xie Jingyu arranged a carriage, intending to send Xie Shi'an back to their ancestral hometown in Jizhou immediately to lay low and avoid the storm.
As long as the green hills remained, one would never lack firewood; it was best to weather this tempest first.
However, just as the carriage was prepared, a loud knocking resounded at the main gates of the Xie Manor.
Xie Jingyu's body swayed violently: "The imperial court wouldn't act so swiftly. Don't scare yourselves."
He stepped forward, though his left leg had long lost function. Dragging his useless left leg with his right, he trudged with great difficulty to the main gates and ordered the servant to open them.
Greeting them at the entrance was a young eunuch holding an imperial decree in his hands.
"Members of the Xie family, hear the imperial decree!"
The group hurriedly dropped to their knees in the courtyard.
"By Grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: The eldest son of the Xie family, Xie Shi'an, concealed his identity as a descendant of the He family to gain entry into the Imperial College, committing the crime of deceiving the sovereign. He shall be cast into prison pending further trial!"
Two imperial guards stepped forward from behind, forcefully pinning Xie Shi'an down. They locked a heavy wooden stock around his neck and began dragging him outward.
"Brother An! No!"
Lady Yuan broke into a loud wail, scrambling to her feet to give chase.
"The imperial decree has not been fully read! Rising mid-read is a grave disrespect to His Majesty!" the young eunuch barked coldly. "Xie Jingyu, Director in the Ministry of Revenue, took a daughter of the He family as a concubine and concealed the fact without reporting it for over a decade, violating the laws of the realm... According to the law, he is stripped of his official rank, demoted to a commoner, and fined thirty thousand taels of silver! Furthermore, the offspring of the Xie family shall be barred from participating in the imperial examinations or entering officialdom for life! Respect this!"
The young eunuch rolled up the imperial decree and said icily: "If thirty thousand taels of silver are not gathered within one month, Master Xie will be required to go to the border cities to build city walls to work off his debt."
"Pfft!"
Clutching his chest, Xie Jingyu spat out a mouthful of dark blood and fainted dead away on the spot.
"Yes, yes, yes, we will definitely gather the silver!" Lady Yuan wept bitterly, asking, "Eunuch, may I ask where our Brother An will be imprisoned? Can we visit him in prison? Is there any room for turnarounds in this matter?"
"He committed the crime of deceiving the sovereign. The fact that he wasn't sentenced to beheading is His Majesty's mercy!" The young eunuch was full of mockery. "Had you known this day would come, why act as you did before?"
The heralds left, taking Xie Shi'an along with them.
A massive crowd of onlookers lined the streets, showering Xie Shi'an with rotten vegetable leaves and smelly eggs.
Xie Shi'an's face was completely numb.
He had thought that by forcing his biological mother to her death, the secret would remain forever hidden, allowing him to step onto the court hall without any lingering worries.
Yet he was wrong...
One wrong step had led to every subsequent step going astray.
His entire life was ruined...
Lady Yuan covered her mouth in agonized weeping, while Xie Zhongcheng, a grown man, also felt his eyes redden. Seeing Xie Jingyu lying motionless on the courtyard ground, he barked coldly, "What are you all still standing around for?! Quickly lift him up and go fetch a physician!"
The group of servants exchanged glances with one another, and as if by unspoken agreement, threw up their hands and walked away.
The Xie family had fallen to such a state; why should they stay here any longer? Were they waiting to have their monthly wages docked?
As one servant packed their belongings and departed, the rest followed suit. In the end, only one or two trusted confidants beside the master and mistresses remained.
The only exception was Sheng Residence—from the first-class maidservants down to the rough-work elderly maids at the gate, every single one of them remained in orderly ranks.
It was glaringly obvious that the servants of Sheng Residence and the servants of the Xie Manor had seemingly always existed in two entirely different worlds…