Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 703 A bright future
Cao Yu's heart sank. He instinctively wanted to pull his wife and daughter away, but then he heard the sound of the door closing behind him.

He was always very careful at sea, which allowed him to make some money under the noses of the demon cult, merchants, and pirates. But this time was different. He was only here to gather information, thinking that even if someone noticed something was wrong, they would have time to react, and by then they might have already left.

Little did they know that the woman in this courtyard was so direct; one moment she was talking to his wife, and the next she was attacking them.

Seeing that they couldn't leave, Cao Yu stepped forward, shielding his wife and daughter behind him, his eyes fixed on Xie Yuyan and Xue Er.

Xue Er met Cao Yu's gaze and sighed helplessly in his heart. Before he could even speak, this man already seemed to want to kill him as soon as possible.

Moreover... he has experienced quite a few things like this in the past two days.

Whenever the imperial court arrested someone, Wang Yan would have someone take him and Elder Zhou to identify them.

Those who had killed people and whose hands were stained with blood were all put in heavy shackles. Ordinary believers were imprisoned in ordinary cells. As for the elderly and children who came with their families just to make a living, they were temporarily locked in an empty courtyard.

With such separate detentions, it's easy to imagine that the final sentences would differ.

Even if some prisoners wearing heavy shackles were not sentenced to death, they would still be exiled three thousand miles to Lingnan, a place shrouded in miasma. Prisoners going to such places, even if they did not die on the way, would be half-dead by the time they arrived. Coupled with the torture of cruel officials and heavy labor, most of them would only live for one or two years.

Ordinary believers are different; most of them end up doing hard labor, but they will eventually come out alive.

As for the elderly and children... they might be exempted from punishment.

Those who were imprisoned understood this point. What he and Elder Zhou did was tantamount to deciding their life or death. How could those who were to be sentenced to serious crimes get away with it? They not only cursed him and exposed their crimes to the court, but they even fabricated some charges against him.

Those pairs of resentful and fierce gazes fell on him, as if they wished they could devour him alive.

But he and Elder Zhou had no choice but to do so.

They followed Xie Yuyan all this way, hoping to fight for a way to survive for the people of the sect. Now they have made some contributions, but these contributions are not enough to grant everyone a pardon, so there must be some distinction.

Xue Er could understand all of this, and the court was bound to do so.

But he didn't want to do these things himself, yet that was precisely Wang Yan's condition.

Because no one knows the situation in the church better than they do.

This is also Wang Yan's brilliance: using the people of the Holy Cult to deal with the Holy Cult. This way, he can truly eliminate those who support the Holy Cult, making it difficult for the Holy Cult to make a comeback, without getting too many innocent lives on his hands, and thus reducing the people's resentment towards the court.

In short, if they wanted more people to survive, they had to do as Wang Yan ordered.

Wang Yan had already stated beforehand that he and Elder Zhou dared to act out of personal favoritism, so the idea of ​​making amends for past mistakes was dropped.

He dared not gamble. Besides him and Elder Zhou, there were also Xu Lai and Master Wu. Wang Yan would definitely have them act separately. As long as their identification results did not match, Wang Yan would personally intervene, and they would surely be exposed.

Those are the parents, wives, and children of many believers. If he really caused their deaths, even if he died a hundred times, he could not make amends.

Having figured all this out, he had no choice but to accept his fate and obey Wang Yan's orders. If he was unsure about something, he would consult his close associates within the sect. He dared not make any arbitrary distinctions. He no longer seemed like a prisoner, but rather like Wang Yan's dog.

The chain around his neck was personally delivered to Lady Xie by him. Xue Er now understood that Lady Xie and Wang Yan were truly a perfect match; there was no one in the world more shrewd than them. They weren't tired of scheming, but they should at least think of people like them and give them a break.

They had just escaped one wolf's den only to fall into another.

I haven't finished dealing with things in prison, and now I have to come here...

Xue Er looked at Xie Yuyan: "These two did not join Manichaeism, but Cao Yu has several boats, which he and the villagers acquired together. They usually buy goods from Sanfoqi and transport them ashore to sell."

“We’ve clashed with them several times. Cao Yu and his gang are very united and willing to fight to the death. We’ve put in a lot of effort, but we still haven’t been able to get rid of them completely.”

At this point, Xue Er glanced at Cao Yu again, his gaze complicated. He had previously sent people to deal with this group, but now he had to testify for them.

This is an outcome I could never have dreamed of.

"They don't buy or sell much, and getting entangled with them will only cause the Holy Church to lose more." They're like flies buzzing around, hard to swat.

"Fortunately, they can't accomplish anything significant, so we might as well just leave them be."

Xie Yuyan nodded: "How many cases are like theirs?"

Xue Er said, "They are not the only ones who smuggle goods at sea without relying on the Holy Sect or working for the government. There are also a few other villagers, but they don't have many boats."

"The merchants of Srivijaya deliberately muddied the waters so that they could sell their goods at higher prices. In order to get the goods, these villagers had to tell Srivijaya about the trading activities on the shore, acting as spies for the Srivijaya merchants. There were also some people who were not content with just earning a living and sought the support of Srivijaya. They had many boats and powerful weapons and dared to attack ships at sea, making them no different from pirates. Sometimes they would even land on the shore to rob women and valuables."

"Due to the situation in Srivijaya, we haven't taken any action against those people for the time being." Xue Er took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He had originally thought there would be plenty of time, but who knew that something would happen to the Holy Church.

After a pause, Xue Er looked at Xie Yuyan and said, "Many villagers also work for those people. I don't know whether Cao Yu has any spies around him."

Only then did Cao Yu realize that everything was out of his control. He had thought he could glean some information from Lady Xie, but instead he was imprisoned. He expected to be thrown in jail, but Xue Er had instead told the truth. What exactly was Lady Xie up to? He was completely baffled.

Xie Yuyan looked at Cao Yu: "Is what Xue Er said true?"

Cao Yu remained silent for a moment, then nodded. Since Xue Er had confirmed that they were not members of the demon cult, his worst fears would not come true.

If they are not involved with the sorcery cult or corrupt officials, the imperial court will likely give them a lenient sentence.

Because they can say they were forced into this situation and had no other choice.

Xie Yuyan then looked at Zhou Lanqi: "You refused to turn yourselves in to the yamen because you were afraid of being severely punished as members of a heretical sect. Now that this matter has been resolved, do you still have any worries?"

Zhou Lanqi was about to reply instinctively, but she restrained herself and reached out to tug at Cao Yu's sleeve.

It sounds like Madam Xie did all this to help the couple, but they may have misunderstood her.

The tense atmosphere eased a bit, and Cao Yu then took a closer look at Xie Yuyan.

(End of this chapter)