Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 676 Dead
The situation is different now than last night. Last night, Yang Jun was only thinking about escaping, but now that he's out of danger, he can finally calm down and think things through carefully.

Yang Jun was always thoughtful and meticulous, but the sudden appearance of the troops disrupted his thoughts, which is why he panicked so much.

He began to question his decision last night; this outcome was not what he wanted to see.

With his men arrested, even if he trusted them implicitly, some of them might succumb to torture and confess, so he could no longer hide.

What should we do now? Should we simply leave Daliang? Or try to salvage the situation?

Yang Jun felt as if he were in complete darkness, unable to see what lay ahead. He clenched his fists, resentful that Xie Yizhi hadn't sent anyone to deliver a message to him.

"Could the person from last night have been He Tan?" a general beside Yang Jun whispered.

Yang Jun frowned. Just as he had thought, Xie Yuyan's move out of the Wang family would make the situation even more complicated. A widow was easy to deal with, but the Wang family was different; they had too many pawns at their disposal, making them difficult to guard against.

It could be He Tan, or it could be any official who has pledged allegiance to Prime Minister Wang.

If Xie Yuyan can call him by name, why wouldn't the Wang family investigate him?
He simply couldn't figure out whether the Wang family was preparing to attack him or had already laid a trap. It was about how he should escape: should he quietly leave by boat with his men, or should he gather more people to fight against the imperial army that came to capture him?

Yang Jun was unable to make up his mind in a short time.

Despite his suspicious nature, he still felt that Xie was likely unaware of anything and might be deliberately trying to distract him so that he would reveal himself.

“Go investigate again,” Yang Jun said. “We must get to the bottom of this within two days.”

He had two days to make a decision, or it would be too late to do anything.

……

the other side.

Xu Shu persevered through the night's journey.

Xue Er and her followers urged her to stay and recover from her injuries, but at this critical juncture, even if she hid, it would only be a temporary way to survive.

Xue Er led his men to find Xie Yuyan, while Xu Shu followed behind, her whole being filled with an unwavering determination.

Around noon, Xu Shu finally prepared to rest. Her leg injury, caused by her running around, showed no signs of improvement; in fact, it appeared even more swollen than the day before.

After re-bandaging her wound and taking a few pills, Xu Shu leaned against a tree trunk and closed her eyes to rest. Half an hour later, she managed to stand up again and ordered everyone to continue on their way.

After another day of this ordeal, Xu Shu finally dismounted to rest in the evening.

The day's journey had exhausted her. She was helped to lie down on a haystack and drifted off to sleep. She vaguely dreamt of her days as a young woman in her boudoir.

Auntie prepared a table full of food and also brought out the pastries that Old Madam Xie had sent. She thought the chrysanthemum cakes were especially delicious and also envied her sister's marriage to Xie Yisong.

Later, she inquired about the Xie family and mentioned that she had met Xie Yizhi when she visited the Xie family. Her older sister even jokingly teased her.

She always felt that everything that happened to her older sister today would happen to her someday. The only thing she could surpass her older sister in was marriage; she married the eldest son of the Xie family, and her older sister would have to call her sister-in-law.

Unfortunately, before the marriage could be formally discussed, her father had an accident, and everything naturally came to nothing.

She went to her older sister to cry and ask her for help. But a few days later, her older sister advised her that "the two are not a good match" and told her to give up the marriage.

From then on, she hated her older sister, always feeling that her sister was just laughing at her and didn't want her to marry into the Xie family at all, nor did she try to help her.

The older sister also said that she would find an even better husband in the future. She knew perfectly well that this was not comforting, but sarcastic.

But today's dream was clearly different from the usual one.

She clearly saw her sister's slightly furrowed brows and hesitant expression when she mentioned Xie Yizhi, which obviously showed that she had a lot of doubts about Xie Yizhi.

How could this be? Her older sister's actions were so obvious, how could she not have noticed before...? Perhaps her older sister really was thinking of her?
The phrase "Qi Da Fei Ou" (meaning "not a good match") was not meant to satirize her background as the daughter of a disgraced official, but rather to complain that the Xie family or Xie Yizhi, when it came to the crucial moment, thought of marrying someone of equal social standing.

Xu Shu frowned, trying to see clearly and figure out what was going on, but the dream gradually faded away, and her sister's figure disappeared, leaving behind only the broken corpse hanging in mid-air.

Xu Shu struggled to wake up, her forehead and body covered in cold sweat.

"Your Excellency."

The voice rang in her ears.

It was almost dawn, and I could already see my surroundings clearly.

"Xue Shifa has found us, and... he brought back a few people with him."

Didn't Xue Er go looking for Xie Yuyan? Why did he suddenly come back?
"Who did they bring back?" Xu Shu asked, recalling several elders in her mind.

Elder Zhou couldn't wait to speak and said, "It's Madam Xie."

Xu Shu was startled. She heard the sound, but her mind couldn't process it for a moment. Just as she was about to ask again, her gaze swept out of the woods and a figure immediately came into view.

The figure and face suddenly overlapped with the person in her dream.

She suddenly realized she was still not fully awake. As the person drew closer, Xu Shu instinctively called out, "Sister."

Sister.

The older sister who used to walk hand in hand with her, laugh and talk, read books and tune the piano together.

The older sister she resented and envied.

The elder sister who died tragically in the mountains, her body left incomplete.

Her older sister often appeared in her dreams, always smiling as she looked at her.

Xu Shu's unfocused gaze finally refocused, and her elder sister's face transformed into a familiar yet unfamiliar one.

She felt familiar because she resembled her older sister, but felt strange because she had never seen her before.

“Xie Wenjing,” Xu Shu said, “you are Xie Wenjing.”

Xie Yuyan shook his head: "Xie Wenjing is dead. The people you sent did not kill her, but hid her in Jiao Da's carriage, hoping to let her leave Bianjing quietly. Unfortunately, she was discovered by Jiao Da on the way. The two of them were seriously injured when they fought against Jiao Da. Afterwards, she was sold to the Yang family as a corpse for a ghost marriage."

"Here you are, your elder sister and brother-in-law, and their children, all dead as you wished. Do you feel satisfied? By killing their entire family, have you gotten everything you wanted?"

Xu Shu's expression changed immediately, and she said sternly, "You're not dead."

Xie Yuyan said coldly, "After waking up, I forgot everything from before. I don't know who I am or where I came from. No grudges or affections have left a trace in my mind. The past ten years or so are as if they never happened. I know nothing about Xie Wenjing."

"I won't feel joy or resentment because of anyone connected to her. How could I be Xie Wenjing? Xie Wenjing has long been buried, hasn't she?"

Xu Shu shook her head, wanting to refute, but when she looked up at Xie Yuyan, she only felt that Xie Yuyan's gaze was indifferent, and there was really no emotional fluctuation.

You shouldn't look like that when facing the person who killed your whole family.

and so……

Xie Yuyan was right, Xie Wenjing is dead.

"You killed all your 'enemies,' yet you've ended up in this state," Xie Yuyan said with a hint of mockery in his eyes. "So, who is the real culprit?"

(End of this chapter)