Chapter 50: The Scapegoat Princess Consort Sentenced to Death (50)

As discussed earlier, information transmission was exceptionally rapid during this period. Therefore, the supervisor of Prince Lu’s Mausoleum, having spent an entire day digging and thoroughly confirming that there were neither wooden structures, bricks, nor ruins beneath the site—only shattered mountain stones—hurriedly contacted local officials and dispatched an urgent report via the postal relay stations.

This expedited dispatch had not yet reached the capital.

To be precise, while it was still midway, Ding Shui had already uprooted eight imperial mausoleums, including that of Prince Lu, and arrived at the capital. Without wasting even a single second, she drifted directly above the Imperial Ancestral Temple, once again slowly absorbing the temple into her inventory to simulate an earthquake, successfully scaring out all the eunuchs and palace maids on duty inside.

Once they had completely evacuated, Ding Shui hurled all eight mausoleums downward.

During the sudden descent of the eight mausoleums, which pulverized the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Ding Shui found herself rather busy. Because the combined volume of the eight mausoleums was somewhat larger than the Imperial Ancestral Temple itself, some eunuchs and palace maids were paralyzed with terror, watching blankly as eight tombs plummeted from the sky without the sense to flee, or perhaps simply too weak-legged to move. Had Ding Shui ignored them, they would have been crushed to death by those mausoleums even though they had already stepped outside the temple grounds.

Consequently, Ding Shui had no choice but to expend her mental energy once more, transferring them into her synthetic storage space before drifting to a safe location and releasing them all.

This inevitably caused quite a delay.

It also kept Ding Shui occupied for a good while.

By the time she finished settling the eunuchs and palace maids, the eight mausoleums had completely crashed down, reducing the entire Imperial Ancestral Temple to ruins. The commotion was immense, the sound deafening, causing minor tremors across nearly the entire capital, while the imperial palace itself shook as if in the grip of an earthquake. At that opportune moment, Ding Shui once again proclaimed to the capital:

"Shall he who initiated such practices have no posterity?

Zhu Yi, if you ever dare again to commit evil policies such as burying the living alive as sacrificial victims to harm the people, upon your death, I shall have the entire imperial clan, every single one of your children and grandchildren, buried alive to accompany you in death!!"

Ding Shui was truly angered to the core; she could not be bothered to parse words with Emperor Tianwu and directly resorted to an unvarnished threat.

Having said this, she drifted back to her natal home, the Duke of Shu’s Manor, to see if her younger sister was still there. As long as her sister was not cursing her at that very moment, Ding Shui felt she must spare her younger sister’s little life no matter what.

Leaving aside the reactions of others, including Emperor Tianwu, when Ding Shui drifted into the Duke of Shu’s Manor and found her younger sister, Meng Xuan was gripping their mother’s hand with a face full of joyous surprise: "Wonderful, Mother, did you hear that?

Am I saved? Do I not have to die after all?

I remember it clearly; this voice is the exact same one that avenged my elder sister and killed Prince Lu. Now she asks, 'Shall he who initiated such practices have no posterity?' Her words are fierce and forbid His Majesty from carrying out any more sacrificial burials. Am I safe now?"

She was merely a sixteen-year-old maiden, accustomed to a life of comfort where she lacked for neither food nor drink, living the carefree existence of a young lady of noble birth. Who in their right mind would ever wish to die? Thus, when she learned a few days earlier that she was to be sent to Prince Lu’s mausoleum for sacrificial burial, Meng Xuan had wept until her eyes were nearly blind, harboring the utmost resentment toward imperial authority in the depths of her soul.

She had simply suppressed it, too afraid of implicating her family to vent aloud.

Meanwhile, although the matriarch, Lady Zhang, wore an expression of faint joy, it was tempered by uncertainty, as she could not be certain whether the current emperor would truly compromise because of this.

Nevertheless, to reassure her daughter, she forced a smile and comforted her:

"Yes, indeed, you will surely be safe..."

Afterward, the mother and daughter chatted for a while longer. Meng Xuan, who had not slept well for days, finally drifted into a deep slumber, lulled by a profound sense of relief.

Immediately following this, Lady Zhang hurriedly sent out people to gather news, to find out what had transpired and what had caused the earlier tremor. At the same time, she rushed to find the Duke of Shu to discuss whether they could seize this opportunity to devise a way to save their third daughter, Meng Xuan.

Their eldest daughter’s case had already been finalized and cast into ironclad guilt by Emperor Tianwu’s scapegoating.

As for their third daughter, however, they still wished to put up a fight.

By this time, the Duke of Shu had already donned his full court attire, reasoning that with such a massive incident occurring, Emperor Tianwu would most likely summon them for consultation. Therefore, Lady Zhang encountered no difficulty and easily found her fully prepared husband in the Clear Creek Hall of the Duke’s Manor.

She went straight to the point and asked for his view on today's events.

Was there any possibility of leveraging this to rescue their third daughter?

"It is hard to say. I have already sent people to investigate earlier. Judging by the direction and the dust, it seems something happened at the Imperial Ancestral Temple, but the specific details remain unclear.

Besides, you know His Majesty's temper.

He is impervious to both soft and hard tactics; once he sets his mind on something, it is exceedingly difficult to alter.

Did I not attempt to submit a memorial a few days ago, stating that Xuan would be willing to take vows as a nun to pray for Prince Lu’s blessings and guard his mausoleum for the rest of her life, hoping thereby to spare her life?

It was summarily rejected yesterday. It is impossible to predict.

Whether there is any room for maneuver, I cannot say either. We must first understand what actually occurred. Next, it will truly be a battle of immortals, and it is hard to tell which side will prevail. Still, right now, I genuinely hope that anonymous immortal prevails. In any case, make sure our daughter eats and sleeps well; her health must not collapse before the execution even takes place. At least for now, there is still hope..."

When he received the rejected memorial yesterday bearing the imperial notation of disapproval, the Duke of Shu had already despaired, believing the matter was a foregone conclusion and impossible to reverse. He simply had not dared to speak so bluntly to his own daughter and wife.

It was only now, upon seeing a new glimmer of hope, that he dared to disclose the outcome of his memorial from days prior.

"What? The memorial was rejected?

He... are his children human, while our children are not human? Back when he had neither ascended the throne nor made his fortune, he used to proclaim that we were all brothers who fought the world together. Now... which brother would let his sworn brother's daughter be buried alive simply because his own son died?

And she is still unmarried...

Even when treating domestic slaves, we would not behave as he does, yet he pretends to be a scholar well-versed in books. I think what that goddess said was entirely correct: *'Shall he who initiated such practices have no posterity?'* Is this not a saying of Master Confucius? Has he never read it?"

Lady Zhang had already exercised great restraint. As she roared these words, she paused several times mid-sentence, and even after finishing, she continued to mutter discontentedly, still burning with indignation:

"When Marquis Heze’s only son, Liu Ying, lost control of his horse and accidentally killed a person, despite offering active compensation, he was executed mercilessly under state law. Yet when his own son caused the deaths of so many people, we heard not a single word from him about the ruthlessness of state law!"

"Two of his own imperial sons-in-law have already died; why does he not order his own daughters to be buried alive for them?"

"Enough! Beware of listening walls!"

The Duke of Shu hurriedly tried to silence his wife, not daring to let her continue. If she went on, there was no telling what treasonous remarks might slip out. Although most of the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been transferred away by the Crown Prince, one could never be certain whether spies remained lurking within the estate.

"Understood. If only the Crown Prince were to ascend the throne."

"Quiet!"