Chapter 217

Chapter 217

Shen Qinglan naturally could not agree to the proposal from Shen Qingquan and Chai Wenxuan.

Not to mention that this exile was something his siblings had orchestrated in the first place; even if he were truly in dire straits, he would never abandon Han Zhang at this critical juncture.

As for the talk about "once you escape, you can work on the outside to pull strings"—the Emperor was no philanthropist who would sit idly by while a newly absolved husband immediately turned around to aid the family of his disgraced husband.

So Shen Qingquan's words were merely sweet talk to coax him; the real purpose was nothing more than pulling Shen Qinglan out of this mess.

Shen Qingyue also couldn't stand to see her younger brother suffer and softly echoed:

"Lan'er, Quan'er makes a good point. Only if you stay safely outside will the Han family have a better chance of survival, right?"

"Even if you can't bear to leave your husband, think about the child. The journey into exile is long and perilous. If something happens to you... what will happen to little Xiao Tao'er without his father?"

Shen Huairen also said: "Big Brother is finally showing some conscience here. If you don't seize this chance now and actually go with the Han family to the frontier, Big Brother won't bother with you again. Think long and hard about it!"

If not for the bond of blood and the fear of being branded heartless and cruel, given his nature, he truly wouldn't have risked getting involved in this brother's business.

But those four words—"born of the same mother"—meant that all the siblings were destined to remain connected no matter what, like bones that cannot be separated from sinews.

No matter how harshly they spoke to each other on a normal day, when it came to life-or-death matters, no one could truly go that far—unless there was a mortal grudge.

Seeing his elder brother, elder sister, and younger brother anxious for him, even though Shen Huairen's words were harsh, Shen Qinglan still felt somewhat moved.

No matter what Big Brother and Fifth Brother had done in the past, the fact that they were stepping forward to offer help in times of need—he was grateful for that.

But in the end, he would have to disappoint them.

"Big Brother, Elder Sister, Fifth Brother, there's no need to persuade me further. In this life, I belong to my husband in life and in death. Even if the road ahead is hopeless, I will not leave him."

Shen Qinglan refused firmly.

This left Shen Huairen and his siblings exasperated by his stubbornness.

Shen Qingquan couldn't help but curse, his eyes reddening:

"Why are you so stubborn? Who was it back then who scolded me for being foolish, throwing away brotherly bonds for a man? And what is this now? Throwing away your own life for a man!"

"It's easy to say that now... but once you're actually on the road, eating gruel and wild greens day after day, being whipped by the guards, with the soles of your feet ground raw and bloody—then you'll regret it!"

But no matter how much he cursed, Shen Qinglan remained unmoved, his heart set solely on Han Zhang, refusing to turn back.

In the end, the siblings had no choice but to give up trying to persuade him for now and go back to making arrangements for the Han family's journey into exile.

After all, given the current situation, there was absolutely no way Han Zhang could be cleared of his crimes. The only outcomes were execution or exile.

And Emperor Taixuan and the Crown Prince only wanted Han Zhang dead!

However.

Han Zhang naturally wasn't about to be manipulated so easily. He had long since devised a way out. Before the Ministry of Justice could hand down its verdict, he contacted officials from the aristocratic factions and presented the "cowpox" technique as a merit to offset his crimes.

The aristocratic factions had profited greatly over the years from Han Zhang's backroom strategizing and the sweet potatoes he had provided, and had long since set aside their old conflicts with him. They had no desire to see him die.

So the aristocratic factions actively lobbied on his behalf, pleading before the court:

"...Your Majesty, regarding the disaster relief in Yunyang, Yanzhou Prefecture, Lord Han's unauthorized use of military grain stores was certainly wrong, but it was also excusable."

"The disaster in Yunyang was devastating at the time, and the relief grain was truly exhausted. Lord Han's actions were a case of 'the general in the field is not bound by the sovereign's orders.' Had he waited for the imperial decree, Yunyang would have long since become a field of bones. Then refugees would have risen and threatened the capital—that would have been the real danger to the state."

"However, the unauthorized use of military grain cannot be easily forgiven. This is a matter of upholding the laws of the court, and no precedent should be set."

"As they say, merit should be rewarded and faults punished. Lord Han did great service in governing Yunyang, and his use of military grain was not for personal gain. Now he has also presented the cowpox technique. We humbly beg Your Majesty to show leniency, lest you break the hearts of those who have served the realm well..."

"We concur!"

The officials of the aristocratic factions came forward one by one. Though it bordered on coercion, their arguments were reasonable.

This left Emperor Taixuan and the Crown Prince looking grim.

If it were only the people of Yunyang pleading for him, they could still pretend not to know and have Han Zhang executed. But with the aristocratic factions getting involved, if they insisted on killing Han Zhang, that would give the factions an opening to stir up public opinion and shake the throne.

Fine, fine, fine. Han Zhang really was his good minister, wasn't he?

He had originally thought that Han Zhang's earlier decision to make the aristocratic factions abandon their revenge was merely a bit of cleverness and some exchange of interests.

He never expected the man to have thrown in his lot with the aristocratic factions and actually won their acceptance. What audacity, what skill!

Emperor Taixuan rarely lost his composure, but this time genuine killing intent was plain to see in his eyes.

After a long moment.

Only then did Emperor Taixuan suppress his fury and speak with an expressionless face:

"All my ministers make valid points. Lord Han's unauthorized use of military stores is a capital crime! However, considering his great service during his tenure in Yunyang, and his presentation of the cowpox technique benefiting countless people, his merits outweigh his crimes. He is spared the death penalty, but he cannot escape punishment!"

"As of today, Han Qinzhang is stripped of his rank and conscripted into the army, with his three clans exiled one thousand li to the frontier. Carry this out immediately, without delay!"

The "three clans" referred to the paternal clan, maternal clan, and wife's clan.

At these words, Shen's father was dumbfounded and inwardly cursed: Han Qinzhang, that bastard, actually had the nerve to deceive him!

So this was the so-called escape plan?

The Han family indeed avoided execution, but his own Shen family would be exiled along with them!

Though he had long prepared to leave the capital eventually, being exiled, of all things, was far too taxing on his old bones.

Shen's father roared inwardly, but kept a panicked look on his face as he knelt and began wailing:

"Your Majesty! I've been wronged, Your Majesty! The Han family's matters have nothing to do with me. I beg Your Majesty to consider my humble service and hard work over the years and spare me..."

But such useless words naturally fell on deaf ears as far as Emperor Taixuan was concerned.

People are experts at shifting blame. The death of Jiayou Chang Gongjun was a grudge that Emperor Taixuan and his son could never let go of against the Han and Shen families.

...

When news spread that Han Zhang had been spared execution and instead sentenced to exile along with his three clans—

The implicated Shen family was once again in an uproar.

The concubine-born branches who had already been separated from the family, such as Concubine Song and Concubine Mei, naturally felt both lingering fear and smug satisfaction.

"We always advised Father to disown Second Brother, but he wouldn't listen. Now look—he's really been dragged down by Second Brother! Let's see if Father still plays favorites after this."

"In the old days, the principal wife used to say Second Brother was a blessed person whose fortune was confirmed by a great master. Now the man is about to be exiled—what kind of blessing is that?"

"Indeed, so what if my husband doesn't take concubines? If we're to live on scraps and be exiled to the frontier, that's still worse than our lot!"

Shen Qingshuang and Shen Qingbai, who had always been jealous of their elder brother, gloated, finally feeling vindicated.

As for the other concubines and concubine-born children of the Shen family who were implicated, they definitely had regrets.

The hardships of exile, even if not witnessed firsthand, were well-known—it could kill you.

But.

Those who stayed either were truly loyal or had no choice but to rely on the Shen family. So, though they cried and complained, they had to accept reality.

Even the acerbic eldest brother's wife, Lv Shurou, though she constantly bad-mouthed her brother-in-law as a troublemaker, blamed her father-in-law for being spineless, and nagged her husband for being incompetent, never considered leaving him.

First, her own family was now run by her elder brother and his wife, and going back would be no picnic;

Second, as a mother, she couldn't bear to leave her kids.

Unaware that her children, whom she thought had "died" in the household strife, had actually been sent away by Old Master Shen for protection, Lv Shurou had recently given birth to another child, a baby in swaddling clothes.

Though she was mean and petty, as a mother, she found it hard to give up her baby.

The second sister-in-law, Li Huilan, had no children of her own now, but she and Shen Huaizhi were deeply in love, so leaving him was out of the question for her as well...

However, things got complicated with Shen Qingquan and Shen Qingyue.

The matriarch of the Jinyang Marquis household, displeased with Shen Qingquan for having once stolen her son's fiancé, held a grudge against this daughter-in-law.

Now that the Shen family had fallen, she naturally wanted her son to have his wife sent packing and find a new one.

But as mentioned earlier, Chai Wenxuan was a compassionate soul; he didn't even mind raising his concubine's ex-husband's child, so he wouldn't dump his wife now.

Thus, the Jinyang Marquis household was at each other's throats.

But Shen Qingyue's situation was less optimistic.

She had originally married into the Wenxiang Marquis household as a second wife to benefit her father. Her mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and stepchildren were all difficult to get along with, and her husband was a cheating, cold-hearted bastard.

Now that the Shen family had fallen, the marquis household feared being implicated and saw her, a daughter-in-law without a family to fall back on, as a burden, so they kicked her to the curb.

But Shen Qingyue wasn't a pushover.

She had grown tired of the chaotic household; leaving was fine, but she refused to accept being divorced—she demanded a divorce by mutual consent and insisted on taking her kids with her.

No way the marquis household would agree to that!

If they let a divorced daughter-in-law take the children, how would they save face?

After a lot of back-and-forth.

It was Shen Qingquan, who had nothing to lose, who won out, forcing the marquis household to hand over the children and cut all ties completely!

"Mom, we're coming with you."

The two kids, as sons of the second wife, got the short end of the stick. Their grandparents doted on the first wife's children, and their dad favored the concubines' kids. They were stuck in the middle.

Though following their mother out of the household might mean hardship and losing their titles as young lords and ladies of the marquis household, they still chose to go with her.

After all, even if they stayed, with no one to look out for them and their dad and grandparents not caring, what good could come of it?

In the end, the exile laid bare everyone's true nature.