Chapter 10 The Emperor's Decree Arrives

  The iron gate creaked open, and a ray of autumn sunlight shone on Li Xuan's face. The dazzling light made him unable to open his eyes. He instinctively raised his hand to shield his face, and it took a while for him to get used to the bright sky outside the dungeon.

  In prison for less than half a month, Li Jiong had lost a lot of weight. Not only were his clothes dirty and worn out, but his face was also pale, with deep eye sockets, dark eye bags, and red bloodshot eyes, and there was even a patch of black stubble on his chin.

  This is not just due to the poor conditions in prison, but also mental pressure, but more because of leaving offspring.

  That night, Li Jiong drank the precious Tiger Whip wine brought by Yuanyuan into the prison, and it took a long time to calm down after much ado. Originally thought that this somewhat absurd matter was over, but did not expect that as soon as Yuanyuan left, another familiar yet somewhat strange woman came in. That was the third sister of Wang Liang, who had grown up with Li Jiong since childhood and was a neighbor. The reason why she was familiar yet strange was because Li Jiong now remembered being very familiar with the Wang family's daughter, but in reality he had never seen her before.

  Li Jiong still didn't know that after he was imprisoned, the Wang family had proposed another marriage to the Li family. Not only had the engagement between Wang Liang and Fourth Sister been settled, but also his own engagement with Third Young Mistress had been arranged. Madame Han let Ruan Er leave a seed for the Li family, and this matter was also known by Third Young Mistress Wang Guimeng. She proposed that she should be the one to do it, as Mother Wang was a traditional woman who thought that since her daughters were already engaged to Li Jiong, they could be considered part of the Li family. This seemed reasonable, but Wang Liang was unwilling. Earlier, he had agreed to revisit his sister's engagement because he wanted to smoothly arrange his own engagement with Ruan Jing. Now that their engagements were settled and Li Jiong was exiled, the Wang family had a good opportunity to cancel Little Sister's marriage.

  But Wang Guiniang was unusually resolute, and in the end almost made a scene to the point of hanging herself or jumping into a well. Unable to do anything else, Wang Liang had no choice but to let her have her way. After Ruan Er left, Wang Guiniang entered Li Xiang's cell again, and after a while, she was like a sea of bubbles. Li Xiang really wanted to refuse, but unfortunately the medicine wine at that time was too potent, and he was somewhat out of control.

  One night, I was taken by two women to extract sperm and was tossed around for almost a whole night.

  The next evening, Li Yu regained some energy and saw the two women again. This time, it was Wang Guiniang first, followed by Wan'er. This time, Li Yu had a somewhat desperate tone, perhaps because he knew that this time, once he left, he might not have many days to live. Li Yu affectionately spent some warm moments with these two nominal wives of his.

  For two consecutive nights, the two women took turns to do their work, almost exhausting Li Xuan. When they stepped out of the prison gate, they were like two different people compared to when they first entered.

  "Put on the cangue!" A military officer with a horizontal sword at his waist stepped forward and shouted loudly. Immediately, two prison guards came forward and put the seven-jin heavy wooden cangue around Li Xuan's neck. They also took out a pair of handcuffs and ankle cuffs and put them on Li Xuan's hands and feet. With this complete set of equipment, Li Xuan's body was slightly bent under the pressure.

  "We're about to set off, if you want to say anything to your family, hurry up, I'll give you half an hour." The military leader looked fierce but was actually not bad.

  Under the escort of the prison head and two guards, Li Jing walked out of the prison wall to the gate. There, he saw from afar that Han Shi, wearing a coarse linen skirt, had arrived with his two sisters-in-law, as well as several cousins from other villages who had also come to see him off.

  Li Jiong knelt down in front of Mrs. Han: "Mother, I am unfilial and can no longer serve you by your side. From now on, please take good care of yourself."

  Mrs. Han's tears flowed uncontrollably as she held Li Ju's face and said, "Son...". Before she could finish her sentence, she was already choked with sobs, unable to speak a word.

  The family members came forward one by one and bid each other farewell.

  When it was Yuanner and Guiniang's turn, the two 15- or 16-year-old girls had already changed their hairstyles to those of married women. Guiniang wore a "falling horse" hairstyle, while Yuanner wore a "盘桓髻" (a bun on top of her head). Originally still young and inexperienced, they suddenly became young wives.

  "Lang Jun." The two women almost spoke in unison.

  Looking at the two of them, Li Jing's heart was filled with mixed emotions. These two women were already considered his wives. But in reality, if he had to say it out loud, he actually didn't have any romantic feelings towards them. Fate played tricks on people, and now that things had come to this, who knew how they would spend the rest of their lives? He couldn't help but think of his two childless sisters-in-law - was the Li family going to add two more widows?

  Lifting up his shackled hands, Li Jiong gently wiped away the tear stains on both of their faces.

  "I'm sorry, I've let you down. From now on, if there's someone suitable, just go with them."

  "Can you, sir, say such words to hurt my sister's heart? Although we have not yet had a formal wedding ceremony, we have already engaged through a matchmaker. Moreover, we are already husband and wife in reality, can you still say such words to humiliate us sisters? Please be assured, sir, from now on, whether it is my sister who gives birth to the Li family's heir or I who give birth to your children, we will raise them well." Wang Guiniang said very solemnly.

  Li Jing sighed inwardly, although spring breeze came several times, how could it be so easy to conceive a child?

  Several people were speechless at the same time, but Wang Liang came forward.

  "Sanlang, should I call you brother-in-law or younger uncle?"

  Li Jing's eyes stared directly at Wang Liang, but Wang Liang's eyes dodged and did not meet his gaze.

  With this, Li Jing had already determined that his troubles this time would not be without Wang Liang's meddling in the background. Even if he wasn't the mastermind, he was definitely a behind-the-scenes instigator. "You two go back, I still have some words to say with Erlang."

  After Wan'er and Gui Niang left, Li Jing coldly stared at Wang Liang: "Wang Liang, aren't you afraid of heavenly retribution?"

  "What did you say?" Wang Liang said with some guilt, but instead pretended to be calm.

  "Don't you understand what I'm saying? Don't worry, I won't expose your ugly side here. Today, I only have one sentence to say to you: don't be ruthless in doing things, beware of retribution. Sometimes it's not that there's no retribution, but the time hasn't come yet. If you do too many bad things, there will eventually be a day when you'll get what's coming to you."

  "Thanks for your concern." Wang Liang half-turned his neck, not daring to look straight at Li Jing.

  "I'm not concerned about you, it's just that my fourth sister is going to marry you now, and I don't want her to lose her husband at a young age. Wang Liang, tell me the truth here, why are you doing this? Is all of this really worth it?"

  Wang Liang fell silent for a moment, then suddenly turned his head and glared at Li Jing, saying fiercely: "Why? You still ask me why? All of this is because your family was unkind first, don't blame me for being unrighteous later. Think back to the past, if it wasn't for your father dragging my father to Zhe Dong, who would have died in the chaos of war? Later on, your older brother was the leader of our village's grain transport team, but he led our entire team of over 50 people into the hands of bandits, not one person could return. And why did you refuse to accept Gui Niang, wasting her youth and causing her so much pain? Moreover, I came to your family to propose marriage, but your family knew that no one's household can afford grain now, yet still demanded two stones of grain as a betrothal gift from me. Tell me, is this the right thing for your family to do?"

  "Is this all? You want my life for just these things?" Li Jing said coldly.

  Wang Liang's eyes were filled with anger, and he approached Li Jing in a low voice: "Now that things have come to this point, I might as well tell you the truth. It was indeed because of these reasons. I'm not afraid to tell you that it was because I advised Zhang Kuoguan to capture you and seize your family's sixty mu of land that you ended up in this situation. Originally, your family's land had already fallen into Zhang Kuoguan's hands, and he had intended to release you. But it was I who persuaded him to change his mind and sentence you to three thousand li of exile instead. How about it? Do you hate me?"

  "Sixty mu of land? Didn't Zhang Kuoguan extort one hundred mu of land?"

  "Haha, to be honest, Zhang Ku only got 60 mu of land, and the other 40 mu that Wang Tiejiang and my family gave to your family actually all fell into my hands. I dug a hole and buried you, but your family still has to marry Fourth Sister to me, and even have to thank me for generations to come, haha, how's that? Didn't expect it, did you?"

  "You're even worse than an animal, you actually pushed your own sister into the fire pit."

  "That girl, born with a stubborn brain, I've figured her out. This lifetime, she's really determined to marry you and no one else. Since that's the case, I'm just helping her achieve her goal."

  Li Jing had thought of harming himself by Wang Liang, but he couldn't imagine that this kid would be so shameless.

  "You're saying all this now, aren't you afraid I'll say it all out loud in front of so many people?"

  Wang Liang sneered coldly: "Since I dare to say it, of course I'm not afraid. Do you think you'll still have the chance to say these things? As soon as I finish speaking with you, the bailiffs will immediately take you away and tell you that not far from the town, a group of thieves has recently arrived, killing and robbing without doing any evil. Heh heh, you understand."

  Li Jing's heart skipped a beat, he hadn't expected Wang Liang to be so ruthless and poisonous, not even satisfied with banishing him three thousand miles away, but also wanted to pretend to be a bandit and kill him outside the city.

  "You..."

  "Go ahead and shout, do you think anyone will believe you? You'd better think carefully about the safety of those women in your household." Wang Liang's eyes revealed pure madness.

  Li Jiong fell silent, what could he do even if he shouted? Wang Liang had already colluded with Zhang Kuoguan, and Zhang Kuoguan had taken sixty mu of their land in this matter. He definitely wouldn't stand on his side. The people he faced weren't good people, but a group of arrogant, shameless rascals.

  Forget it, let's think of another way, wait until we're on the road later and find an opportunity to escape.

  "The prisoner is on his way!" The officer shouted, and the two constables came over to hurry Li Jing along.

  A sudden loud rumbling sound of horse hooves striking the ground came from afar, and a knight galloped into the town.

  Li Jing and others were just about to set off when they suddenly saw the knight return, accompanied by Cui Zhenjiang, Wang Tuoquan and other military and civilian officials of the town.

  "The Emperor's edict: general amnesty for all under heaven!"

  P.S: 30,000-word chapter, seeking recommendation votes.