Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 428 will include a farewell drink.
Yang and Yan Song were husband and wife since childhood. Apart from being unaware of his adultery with Wei, Yang knew everything about the family's affairs throughout their lives. The Yan family offended countless people in the world, not only because of their wealth accumulation, but more importantly because they eliminated countless dissidents.

Now that the Yan family has fallen, how could those so-called upright and dissident factions who had long harbored secret hatred not swarm forward?

So Yan Song certainly never expected that this medicine would end up in the hands of his wife, with whom he had spent half his life!

This medicine was ultimately prepared for her!
Yang cried.

Through my blurred vision, the scene of the Yang family members being killed suddenly appeared.

To vent his anger, Yan Shu secretly ordered someone to disembowel Yang Tingfang's old wife. He then had several men imprison Yang's eldest daughter-in-law with him for the entire night.

Yang's second daughter-in-law came from a military family. Despite being pregnant, she still held knives in both hands and vowed to die rather than submit. In the end, Yan Shu was furious and had her tendons in her hands and feet severed before being thrown into the moat.

When Yan Shu returned and recounted all of this, Yang Shi didn't feel much at the time.

It wasn't that they were cruel; it was that the Yang family didn't have the ability to fight the Yan family, so the women deserved their fate.

But at that moment, she seemed to see Madam Yang, her face covered in blood, leading her daughters-in-law toward her!
Her hand trembled, and the pill fell into the bird's nest.

The Yang family at least offended the Yan family, while the Yan family has so many enemies. She is nearly seventy years old; if she were to be...

With trembling, withered hands, he picked up the bird's nest.

The elixir melted. Its vermilion color quickly dissolved in the soup. The wisps of red then transformed into Madam Qin, Shen Bo's wife.

Qin was bedridden and on the verge of death, but then she happened to meet a good doctor.

How could she not die? If she didn't die, her only son with Shen Bo, the eight-year-old boy Shen Yu who already had a deficiency, wouldn't die either.

If his wife and children hadn't died, Shen Bo, who was fighting on the frontier, wouldn't have been able to shake the morale of his troops. Without shaking the morale of his troops, he wouldn't have been defeated and beheaded by the emperor.

That night, Yan Shu invited the doctor back to treat her. She wasn't sick, of course, but the doctor couldn't leave either.

She and Yan Song sat in the warm pavilion with burning silver charcoal, holding warm bird's nest soup, taking sips now and then, and glancing at the eight-year-old child kneeling in the snow.

The next day, Yan Shu returned and said that Qin Shi had died.

After returning home, the child from the Shen family knelt on the ground and kowtowed until his head was covered in blood.

Later, they tried to kill the child countless times, but for some reason they never succeeded, only bringing back the child's blood a few times.

They're utterly useless. They can't even handle a child. Otherwise, how could the Yan family have ended up in such a state?

When Madam Qin died, her eight-year-old son kowtowed to her and attended to her funeral. Today, when Madam Yang dies, not even one person will come to collect her body!

Death? Is she, a noblewoman of the highest rank, really going to die?

She reacted as if she had been burned, and hurriedly put the bird's nest down again.

Then he suddenly stood up.

A wave of dizziness washed over me—wait, aren't those Jiang and Wei standing behind the Yang family women and Qin?
These two bastards are here too?

Yang stretched out his hands and slapped them.

But their shadows are flying.

No matter how hard she chased them, she just couldn't catch them.

She was so tired she could hardly breathe.

thirsty.

She picked up the bird's nest soup again, and this time without hesitation, tilted her head back and drank it down.

……

He Ping arrived with the imperial edict, but the Yan residence was already completely surrounded by guards.

He stood beneath the screen wall, watching as the Yan family guards, who were ordered to defend the area after the door was breached, still held their swords and did not rush inside.

Despite being on leave, a mess was suddenly thrown into his lap. The heir of the Earl of Guang'en, who had volunteered to personally lead the Imperial Guard to search the place, was trembling with fear: "My lord, Grand Commandant Shen has also sent General Qin to sit in the alley outside and wait to inspect the results. Shouldn't we... shouldn't we storm in now?"

He Ping said, "Do you know why those imprisoned in the Embroidered Uniform Guard always volunteer to die in the end?" The Heir Apparent of the Marquis of Guang'en: "...Why?"

"Knowing that you are doomed to die, but having no way to do anything about it, is a feeling that is worse than death itself."

Guang Enbo wiped away a bead of sweat.

"I'll count to ten. If the Yan family doesn't send anyone to receive the imperial decree, then we'll storm in!"

The heir of the Earl of Guang'en pricked up his ears.

"Let's go!"

He Ping took a step.

The Crown Prince of Guang'en, hastily drawing his sword: ...Didn't you say to count to ten?!

……

Yan Liang left Yangxinzhai and had to pass through three courtyards to get to the front yard. Every section of the road he passed was in a mess: flower stands knocked over in his escape, cats and dogs barking and running away in fright, and the pitiful cries of children coming from somewhere.

Beside the well at the corner, where the well wheel had been removed, there were still concubines and illegitimate daughters weeping bitterly.

Yan Liang slowed his pace, and screams came from ahead.

The young lady, who was stabbed to death by her birth mother, rolled over and fell against the wall.

Everything was beyond his control.

He is tired.

Looking up at his surroundings, he picked up his sword, turned a corner before reaching the front yard, and walked step by step toward the mourning hall.

The mourning hall, which used to be filled with the constant flow of incense offerings, was now deserted.

Oh no, behind the curtain, there was a young Taoist priest sweeping up the Jun porcelain tableware containing offerings. When he saw him coming, he was so startled that he knelt down on the ground.

The trees fell and the hozens scattered.

The wall fell and everyone pushed.

The Yan family, which used to be so secure that no one dared to touch even a single piece of paper, is now a place where anyone can take advantage of the chaos.

Yan Liang waved his hand, telling him to get up, and even picked up a red gold candlestick and handed it to him.

The young Taoist priest ran away in a panic.

Yan Liang knelt down on the prayer mat, lit three incense sticks, and then tucked the tinderbox into his robes. Footsteps approached rapidly behind him, and a troop of imperial guards surged in from the left and right flanks.

"Catch him!"

The centurion leading the group raised his sword and shouted.

"Respect for the dead is paramount. Please allow me to finish offering incense to my deceased mother. This won't delay the adults from doing their work, will it?"

He said this as he carefully inserted three incense sticks into the incense burner, and then stood up.

His gaze fell on the centurion's face: "Lord Hu? It's been a while. How was your son's business, which he took over from the Yan family's shop last month?"

The centurion's expression changed, and he glanced to his left and right.

Yan Liang said, "Don't be afraid. This is a small matter. As long as you share some of the spoils with them, they won't talk nonsense. After all, who doesn't have a wife, children, and elderly parents to support? With the Yan family, the Pang family, and the officials involved taking the lead, the court doesn't have time to deal with these trivial matters."

The centurion remained silent.

Yan Liang added, "With a situation like this today, I believe even a god couldn't escape. It's my good fortune to fall into Lord Hu's hands and have him earn some merit."

The centurion raised his head, cupped his hands, and said, "Young Master Yan, I thank you for your past kindness. However, we are currently carrying out orders and cannot disobey. Please forgive any offense caused."

"On the day of the execution, I, Hu, will do everything I can to offer you a cup of farewell wine."