Chapter 18-Após a Transmigração, Toda a Família Torna-se Fugitivos Coletivamente(Como ver a montanha)

By the time Wen Yan arrived, the Imperial Envoy had just finished reading the imperial decree. Gazing down at the sea of people kneeling on the ground, he commanded in a cold voice:

"Take them all into custody."

In an instant, accompanied by the chaotic and hurried sound of footsteps, a large number of soldiers surged in from the gate. They surrounded the Wen family, then drew their sabers with a series of sharp clangs, sealing off all avenues of escape.

The members of the Wen family looked up at this scene with confusion, unable to understand how they had suddenly become state criminals. The servants, oblivious to the cause, were so terrified that they collapsed to the ground, only remembering to cry out their innocence after a long pause.

Amidst the chaos, Father Wen, maintaining a semblance of composure, looked toward the Imperial Envoy:

"I beg you, my lord, to discern the truth. This official would never dare to betray the Emperor's grace by committing such a capital offense."

The Imperial Envoy remained unmoved by his words:

"Are you trying to say someone is falsely accusing you?"

Father Wen explained: "Ever since this official arrived in Xijiang City twenty years ago..."

"Enough. You need not say these things to me." The Imperial Envoy interrupted him. "If you have any grievances, take them to the Court of Judicial Review once we return to the capital. My duty is to announce the decree and confiscate your assets; the rest is none of my concern."

Refusing to grant Father Wen any courtesy, the Envoy dismissed him. With no further room for argument, Father Wen slumped his shoulders and fell silent.

After finishing with Father Wen, the Envoy inadvertently looked up and spotted a young woman standing not far away. His pupils constricted, and he immediately barked:

"Who are you?"

Wen Yan was not hiding; she had been standing there openly all along, though they had been so preoccupied they had failed to notice her. As she took two steps forward, the Envoy shouted:

"Halt!"

The soldiers immediately leveled their blades at her.

Wen Yan stopped and pointed toward Father Wen, her tone as casual as if she were inviting someone for tea: "I am Wen Yan, his daughter."

The Wen family members, jolted back to reality from the sudden nightmare by her arrival, looked at the soldiers and their blades, then at Wen Yan. Memories of that night resurfaced.

A shiver ran through them. An indescribable shadow loomed over their hearts, as if they were once again seeing the blood-soaked Wen Yan. In their minds, the pile of corpses at her feet was replaced by the Imperial Envoy and his soldiers.

Across the crowd, Wen Yan gazed at the kneeling Wen family. They stood stunned, the noisy clamor fading from their ears. The figures before them grew blurry, with only the tall, graceful Wen Yan remaining clearly in view. As the last sliver of light vanished from the horizon, the dimness of the encroaching night bred an inexplicable fear in their hearts.

Taking in their reactions, Wen Yan raised her hands, her slender, fair fingers touching the sharp, cold blades...

Father Wen suddenly stood up, gritting his teeth: "A-Yan, no!"

His voice trembled upon closer inspection. His temples throbbed, and he appeared even more discomposed than when he had received the imperial decree.

Wen Yan, however, smiled brilliantly: "Father, you have startled me."

"Audacious! Wen Youzhi, are you attempting rebellion?" The Imperial Envoy, startled by his movement, scolded with a darkened face.

As he spoke, countless blades were pressed against Father Wen's neck. Ignoring the threat, Father Wen stared only at Wen Yan, his throat bobbing as he spoke with a mix of caution and persuasion:

"A-Yan, do not act rashly."

Killing an Imperial Envoy was equivalent to treason, a crime punishable by the execution of one's entire clan. They had not yet reached that point.

"What does Father think I am about to do?" Wen Yan said. She held up her hands, gestured to a soldier holding shackles nearby, and said, "I am frail, please be gentle."

The soldier, who had been preparing to lock her, paused for a moment before binding her wrists. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he sensed a commanding tone in her voice.

Wen Yan was escorted over, behaving with complete docility, showing no signs of resistance. Father Wen did not know what expression to make. The thrilling, turbulent undercurrents remained known only to the Wen family; to outsiders, they were invisible.

The Imperial Envoy said with great dissatisfaction: "Your Wen family is truly defiant; you didn't even come forward to receive the imperial decree."

Father Wen remained silent. Seeing their eyes still fixed on her, Wen Yan could not help but roll her eyes. Did she really look like some brainless fool who only knew how to kill? Even if her path was a bit unconventional, she was a legitimate cultivator who never wantonly harmed the innocent, let alone caused trouble. She understood the situation perfectly well.

She was pushed down beside Wen Changning and sat obediently on the ground.

The soldier escorting her opened his mouth to order her to kneel, but upon meeting Wen Yan's half-smiling eyes, he chose to shut his mouth, pretending he had seen nothing.

Wen Changning looked at her with a strange expression, and Wen Yan looked back. Their eyes met, and eventually, it was Wen Changning who felt the pressure and looked away first.

Seeing that Wen Yan, the variable, had not caused any trouble, Father Wen secretly breathed a sigh of relief and resigned himself to his fate.

***

Before nightfall, the Wen family was temporarily detained in the prison of the Prefectural Government, while the servants were confined to the staff quarters.

With the people captured, the confiscation of property began. The charges against Father Wen in the imperial decree were numerous, the most fatal being the manipulation of the canal transport and the trafficking of private salt. When the Envoy saw the items confiscated from the Wen residence, his expression became incredibly grim.

The Wen family had three private vaults, each filled with priceless treasures. A rough calculation suggested it was nearly enough to rival the national treasury. With such wealth, how could they dare claim innocence?

The Imperial Envoy, sent from the capital, was a rare neutral party amidst the power struggles of the factions. He was upright and never practiced favoritism. Recalling how the elderly Lord Lu of the Ministry of Rites had come to plead for his son-in-law, Wen Youzhi, before he left the capital, he felt only resentment. This man was truly a disgrace to Lord Lu’s clean reputation and the honor of his title as a former top scholar.

It was destined to be a sleepless night. The Wen residence was ablaze with lights as the confiscation continued, and the Wen family members in the prison could not sleep either. The four female members were not held with Father Wen and his two sons, preventing them from gleaning any further news.

In a single night, the winds had changed. Wen Changning, who had been a wealthy young lady only an hour ago, was now a prisoner. Unable to recover from the shock, she leaned woodenly against her mother's chest. Wen Ruqing and Lady Lu were the same; one leaned against the wall with her eyes closed, while the other stared blankly at a spot on the ground.

Suddenly, a paper parcel was tossed onto Wen Ruqing's lap.

Wen Ruqing opened her eyes to see Wen Yan sitting cross-legged on the straw mat.

"Roasted beef, brought especially for you."

"No..."

*Gurgle...*

Wen Ruqing pressed her lips together, her hand resting vaguely on her stomach. They had been interrupted halfway through dinner and had spent the entire night in turmoil; it would be a lie to say she wasn't hungry. Lady Lu and Wen Changning's stomachs rumbled in succession.

Wen Yan rested her chin on her hand and gestured with her chin: "Eat."

Wen Ruqing clutched the parcel and whispered, "Thank you, Third Sister."

Wen Yan: "You're welcome."

Wen Ruqing opened the parcel and called her mother and sister over. Wen Changning came over immediately, but Lady Lu said coldly: "I'm not hungry."

The sisters tried to comfort her, but Lady Lu remained unmoved. She had already lost a lot of weight in recent days, and just as she had finally begun to smile again, they were thrown into prison. Coming from a prestigious family, she could not accept this reality. A lump of grief sat in her chest, unable to be released.

It was a miserable night for everyone, and Lady Lu's demeanor caused Wen Changning and Wen Ruqing to lose their appetites as well.

"What is actually happening?" Wen Changning's suppressed tears finally fell. She was sobbing, full of bewilderment, as if the sky had collapsed.

"Someone accused your father of manipulating canal transport and trafficking private salt to amass a fortune," Wen Yan said in a cool tone.

Wen Changning, still crying, burst into rage: "That is a frame-up! Father would never do such things. The money at home was earned by Second Sister." She looked at Wen Ruqing, "Second Sister, right? The money was earned by you!"

Wen Ruqing stroked her hair and wiped away her tears: "Yes, it was earned by me."

Wen Yan shrugged: "That is what your grandfather's letter said, and that is what the Emperor's decree says."

Wen Changning bit her lip and glared at Wen Yan: "You don't believe Father."

Wen Yan raised an eyebrow: "Are you glaring at me?"

Wen Changning instantly shrank back, averted her eyes, and whispered: "I wasn't. Third Sister must have mistaken it."

"Was that letter sent by your grandfather?" Lady Lu suddenly asked. She hadn't had a chance to see the letter before the decree arrived. "What else did the letter say?"

"It said he would try to mediate in the capital, and that things hadn't reached the worst state yet. The engagement was broken because those who accused Father have started to implicate the Lu and Wu families; they broke ties temporarily to avoid being dragged down with us." Wen Yan paused, as if remembering something, and added, "Right, that letter was supposed to be sent with the annulment letter, but something must have happened on the way, causing the delay until today."

Lady Lu: "Where is the letter?"

Wen Yan: "Burned."

Lady Lu's tense body suddenly relaxed. "Good, good, good." She said "good" three times, her eyes moist. "Ruqing, bring the food over."

Wen Ruqing hurried to bring the meat to her. With the weight lifted from their hearts, the three women realized they were hungry and sat together to share the beef.

However, before eating, Wen Changning's large eyes darted around, and she reluctantly handed a piece of meat to Wen Yan: "Third Sister, you eat too."

Wen Yan chuckled. Wen Changning was truly adept at reading the situation. She usually fawned over the other members of the Wen family, but as soon as her life was at stake, she came to fawn over her.

Wen Yan didn't take it: "No need, I was full before I came."

Wen Changning: "Oh." She paused, glanced at her mother and second sister, and muttered softly, "I wonder how Father, Big Brother, and Fourth Brother are doing."

*Fine then.* She even knew how to be considerate of everyone; no wonder the Wen family held her in their palms like a precious pearl.

***

Father Wen was to be sent to the Court of Judicial Review in the capital for trial. After only one night in the Xijiang City prison, he was taken out early the next morning and escorted to the pier outside the city.

The distance between Xijiang City and the capital was vast. To avoid delays, the Imperial Envoy had traveled by water, and they would return the same way. However, the person responsible for escorting them was not the Envoy, but a stranger—a burly, ferocious-looking man who appeared to be a martial officer.

He glanced at the shackled Wen family from a distance, then turned and whispered a few words to the Envoy. Even though it was just a glance, Wen Yan saw something familiar in it. Clearly, the journey to the capital would not be peaceful.

She lowered her eyes, turning several thoughts over in her mind before suppressing them all. *No need to rush.*

After the Envoy exchanged a few words with the martial officer, they escorted the Wen family through the streets to the pier. It had been an ancient custom for corrupt officials to be paraded through the streets before trial. Whenever this happened, the common people would curse and throw stones at the corrupt officials.

But this time, it was different.

The people of Xijiang City stood on both sides of the street watching the shackled Wen family pass by. Everyone was silent, their faces filled with unbearable sorrow. Later, it was unclear who started it, but the entire city's population, along with refugees who had rushed from outside the city, knelt on the ground and cried out for justice on their behalf.

Father Wen had served as the magistrate of Xijiang City for over twenty years, single-handedly turning a remote, impoverished town into the prosperous place it was today. The people had seen it all. They didn't understand politics; they only knew that whoever fed them and clothed them was a good official.

The Envoy was astonished by what he saw, but what happened next left him speechless.

Seeing that they could not change the fate of the Wen family, the people pointed at the Envoy and the martial officer, cursing them as "dog officials." Others brought food and daily necessities from their homes and pressed them into the hands of the Wen family. The soldiers along the way tried to stop them, but there were simply too many people to block.

Some offered clothes, some fed them water, some stuffed dry rations into their hands. As for the Envoy, they threw rotten vegetables, spat, and hurled stones at him. In short, the fate they had envisioned for the Wen family had fallen upon themselves.

Conversely, the people mourned Father Wen as if they had lost their own parents. They followed the Wen family all the way to the official ship, where they knelt and kowtowed, shouting:

"The people of Xijiang City send off Magistrate Wen!"

The voices of the entire city echoed endlessly, deafening and reaching the heavens. The Envoy watched the scene, unable to move for a long time.

A magistrate whose wealth could rival a nation, yet who was so deeply loved by the people—why was this?

Was Wen Youzhi truly guilty?