Just…
The two Embroidered Uniform Guards exchanged a silent glance. Astonishment and helpless amusement alternated in their eyes, as though something had struck a particular chord within them.
The two moved with perfect understanding. One stepped forward to block the gazes of those around them.
The other seized someone’s nimble little hand and swiftly pulled it back. As he withdrew his hand, he conveniently tugged down the sleeve that someone had rolled high, instantly covering the pair of longevity-and-prosperity bracelets on that snow-white wrist.
Then, as the cloth bag was cinched shut, he could not resist reaching out and rubbing the top of someone’s disheveled head, made messy from removing the gold bracelet. Without even looking at the dazed Chaochao, he carried the cloth bag over to Li Zelin, who had witnessed everything and was standing there dumbfounded.
The two Embroidered Uniform Guards raised the bag and pretended to be stern. “Hand it over willingly if you know what’s good for you. Don’t make us search you.”
Meeting their gazes, Li Zelin suddenly understood. “Ah, ah,” he answered hurriedly, and immediately began removing his things.
The jade he wore on his person, the sachet at his waist, the money pouch hanging from him, and the jade hairpin atop his head—all of them were taken off and placed in the cloth bag. Even the belt clasp inlaid with jade, Li Zelin honestly removed and handed over as well.
Satisfied with his cooperation, the two men did not harshly search Li Zelin. But they showed him none of the leniency they had shown Chaochao just now.
After looking up and down at Li Zelin, whose outer garment now hung empty and fluttered about, the two nodded. They passed the father and daughter and went straight toward the other members of the household behind them.
As soon as the men left, Li Zelin let out a long breath of relief. He hurried two steps forward and pulled his daughter into his arms. With a sweep of his broad sleeve, he covered the girl’s hands. Then, as he watched the weeping and shouting around him while the confiscation and body searches continued, his heart filled with gratitude toward the two figures moving through the crowd.
“Dad, Dad?”
Nestled in Silly Dad’s arms, Chaochao saw him staring off into space and gently patted her father’s shoulder.
Li Zelin came back to himself. He hurriedly withdrew his gaze, tightened his hold on his daughter, and lowered his voice.
“Chaochao, no matter what happens later, don’t be afraid. Even if you and I are separated, don’t panic. You must be good, and most importantly, you must protect yourself. Do you understand?”
Chaochao put on a solemn expression. Reaching behind herself, she comforted him instead. “Dad, don’t be afraid.”
“Hey!” Meeting his daughter’s concerned reassurance, Li Zelin gave a wry smile and lightly patted her back. “All right, Dad isn’t afraid. Dad is fine, and Dad won’t let anything happen to Chaochao either. Be good, Chaochao. Your dad is here. I’ll think of a way. I’ll protect our Chaochao.”
Nestled in her father’s arms, Chaochao watched him mutter incessantly, his gaze wandering as his thoughts galloped off somewhere. She rolled her eyes.
Mom had been absolutely right! Apart from having a handsome face, Dad’s mind was “not quite right”! When they had left, Mom had even told her to keep a closer eye on Silly Dad, lest he do something foolish.
And sure enough!
“All right, it’s getting late. This official still has to enter the palace to report back. Take everyone to the Imperial Prison.”
“What?”
“The Imperial Prison?”
“When the King of Hell cries and even ghosts dread it, blood runs through the Imperial Prison.”
“Mother, Mother, I’m scared…”
The Commander’s announcement that they were going to the Imperial Prison instantly shattered the father and daughter’s “tender moment.” The entire Earl’s residence was even more terrified. The uproar began anew: the women wept, the children panicked. Even Li Zelin’s hands trembled now, no longer as composed as he had been moments ago.
But the Embroidered Uniform Guard gave them no time to fear, nor would they stop because the people were afraid.
As soon as the Commander finished speaking, the Embroidered Uniform Guard swiftly divided into two groups. One continued searching and confiscating the Earl’s residence, while the other stepped out to drive the prisoners away and take them into custody.
“Get up! Stop howling! Move, move, move! Anyone who dares waste our time had better watch out—the blades in our hands don’t recognize people!”
Seeing the Embroidered Spring Sabers flashing with cold light as they were drawn one after another, the people of the Earl’s residence, who had never witnessed anything like this, shrank back in fear.
No matter how terrified they were of the Imperial Prison, none of them dared delay. They rose one after another: mothers pulled along their children, sons protected their mothers, husbands led their wives, and concubines followed behind. Each person rose in silence and dejection, heads hanging low as the Embroidered Uniform Guard drove them toward the gates of the Earl’s residence.
Li Zelin needed no driving. Seeing his mother being supported by his Eldest Brother at the very front, he paused, then carried his daughter and hurried after them.
Outside, the air was warm and pleasant. The autumn sun hung in the sky, radiating its heat. The moment he stepped out through the gates of wealth and honor, the road ahead became impossible to predict.
Holding Chaochao, Li Zelin could not help looking back at the plaque of Earl Wending’s Residence. It was still the same plaque, yet the people and everything else had completely changed. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, what awaited them was the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s shouts and prodding, the contempt of passersby, and the pointing and whispering of the common people.
Every one of these things cut into his bones and clung to him like maggots. Li Zelin considered himself a proper man, yet he was powerless to do anything. The only thing he could do was hold his daughter tightly in his arms and shield her from all the hostility around them.
“Chaochao, don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. Dad’s here. Dad will always be here…”
Lying across Silly Dad’s shoulder, Chaochao felt the tension in his body. She did not care about the gazes or disdain of the people around them. With the sigh of a little adult, she gently stroked her father’s back again and again, just as Mom used to stroke her and coax her to sleep.
Feeling the strength of the small hand against his back, the tears he had been holding back finally burst forth. Li Zelin buried his head in the crook of his daughter’s shoulder, allowing his tears to blur his vision, while determination surged in his heart.
Feeling the heat against her shoulder, Chaochao stiffened, and her stroking hand stopped.
Sure enough, Silly Dad was still Silly Dad. He had even started crying. Sigh!
Forget it, forget it. Dad was the dad Mom had left for her. No matter how foolish he was, she had to coax him through it even if she had to kneel.
Now a prisoner, Chaochao hugged Silly Dad tightly. They traveled down the long street, under the gazes of the Earl’s residence’s former allies and enemies, enduring the torment of the capital’s citizens pointing and whispering, until they finally arrived at the Imperial Prison.
They entered through the gates of the Imperial Prison and crossed a long plaza. One step carried them into an entrance bearing a plaque that read “Dungeon,” cold air pouring from within. They descended the steps and stopped in the interrogation hall of the Imperial Prison’s dungeon. The prison warden led his guards out upon receiving the news, and the two sides completed the handover.
“Males over seven go into the men’s prison. Those seven and under may follow the women into the women’s prison. Form your respective lines. Don’t make us urge you along…”
A thunderous threat rang through the hall. The group being escorted inside shrank back and began forming lines on instinct.
His daughter could not follow him into the men’s prison!
Li Zelin’s expression abruptly changed when he heard the command. He hurriedly carried his daughter over to his mother and Eldest Brother.
“Mother, Eldest Brother.”
The two turned toward him when they heard his voice.
The grief on Old Madam Luo’s face had not diminished, and her expression remained ashen and solemn as she looked at him. “What is it?”
A sharp light flashed in the eyes of Li Zelin’s older brother, Li Zecheng. He hurriedly asked, “Second Brother, have you already thought of a way to deal with this?”
Li Zelin froze, then gave a bitter smile. Ignoring his mother’s coldness, he cast his Eldest Brother an apologetic look before quickly setting Chaochao down and pulling her forward.
“Mother, Eldest Brother, I… Once we are divided between the prisons, I’m afraid I won’t be able to take Chaochao with me.
“The child is pitiful. She has no mother to care for her. If, if… Mother, I know you don’t like Chaochao, but no matter what, she is your own flesh-and-blood granddaughter. If she ends up in the women’s prison, I ask you, for your son’s sake, to please look after her a little.”
Every word of Li Zelin’s plea was wrung from his heart. Even after begging his mother, he was still not at ease, so he hurriedly turned to his elder brother.
“Eldest Brother, Brother! Your younger brother is useless, and I’m ashamed. I shamelessly ask you, for the sake of our shared blood, to ask your wife to take the trouble to look after Chaochao in prison. I will be endlessly grateful.”
Old Madam Luo was stunned. Only then did she come to her senses from her grief. Seeing the son of whom she had once been most proud think only of his own child during the family’s catastrophe—without clan, without brother, without kin, without father, and without even his own mother—her heart became a tangled mixture of emotions, churning with anger and agitation. For a moment, she was rendered speechless.
Li Zelin, however, noticed none of this. He merely kept looking toward his brother born of the same mother.
This was the first time in all the years since they had grown up that his younger brother had asked him for something. A trace of melancholy flashed through Li Zecheng’s eyes. He turned toward his wife, who stood two paces behind him, and said, “Madam, what do you think?”
Second Madam was Old Madam Luo’s niece. With her husband asking, and though her mother-in-law had said nothing, she followed the principle that a married woman followed her husband. After weighing it for a moment, Second Madam nodded to her husband.