“That’s right. Please trouble yourself to deliver this divorce agreement to Liu San. From today onward, I am no longer a member of the Liu family,” Madam Liu said with a smile as she pulled a sheet of paper from her sleeve and handed it to the Imperial Guard captain.
The Great Wei Dynasty had such a law: if a husband’s family was confiscated and ruined, a wife could request a divorce on her own without her husband’s consent. All she had to do was register with the local authorities, and she could establish her own household.
“You’ve all rebelled! All of you!” Old Madam Liu wailed helplessly.
But no matter how much she threatened and cursed, Madam Liu still left the Liu residence.
With her departure, the other concubines also became eager to try. They had never been the sort to share hardships with others; in a situation like this, the first thing they thought about was themselves.
“Sir, I’m only a concubine. Can I also sever my ties with the Liu family?” one rather attractive concubine asked first.
Liu Qingyu searched through the original owner’s memories and found that this woman was a concubine of the second branch of the family. In the novel, there had never been any divorces, so she had been imprisoned and exiled along with the Liu family.
She had suffered greatly on the journey and was eventually given away by Old Madam Liu as a “gift” to one of the guards escorting the prisoners.
“Yuzhu, don’t forget that you were my dowry maid. I still have your contract of sale. You want to leave? I insist that you suffer alongside me!” said Madam Jiang, her face bruised and swollen, sounding almost insane.
The moment the concubine heard Madam Jiang call her name, she shuddered instinctively and even took a small step backward.
Seeing this, Madam Jiang’s previous gloom vanished, and she felt refreshed. She cast Yuzhu a haughty glance.
Liu Qingyu looked at the somewhat timid Yuzhu and then at the triumphant Madam Jiang. The enemy of her enemy was her friend, so she decided to lend Yuzhu a hand.
“Sir, I’ve heard that after a family’s property is confiscated, the servants’ contracts become invalid. Is that true?” Liu Qingyu asked.
The Imperial Guard captain had never liked Madam Jiang to begin with, and seeing her still tormenting others in her current situation made his expression darken further.
Since someone had asked, he answered without hesitation.
“That’s correct. However, the servants will be sold again afterward.”
Yuzhu had thought there was no hope left for her, that she would suffer under Madam Jiang for the rest of her life. She had never expected there to be a way out.
She immediately knelt before the captain, tears streaming down her face.
“Sir, I’d rather be sold again as a servant than remain tied to the Liu family!”
Being a servant at least offered a chance to survive. If she were imprisoned and exiled, she might not even live long enough to reach the destination.
“Very well. Go stand with the maidservants over there,” the captain said directly. He was not a hard-hearted man.
Concubine Yu—no, Yuzhu—left with tears of gratitude.
With Yuzhu’s successful example before them, the other concubines became lively as well. Some of them even flirted openly with the Imperial Guards to secure their future.
“Sir, I don’t have a contract of sale. Can I leave directly?”
“Officer, this humble woman is twenty-two this year. I wonder if an officer might fancy someone like me?”
In the Great Wei Dynasty, the separation between men and women was not particularly strict, nor was chastity valued to an extreme degree. Many women remarried well even after divorce.
“Enough! If you want to leave, behave yourselves and stop trying those tricks,” the captain barked coldly.
The concubines could only obediently provide their information and wait for the soldiers to verify it.
Soon, like butterflies leaving their cocoons, the concubines departed from the Liu residence and went to begin new lives.
Liu Qingyu silently watched their retreating figures and thought that the plot was becoming more and more distorted. Yet she was looking forward to seeing what other unexpected events would occur.
After all, life was full of surprises because of the unexpected.
The members of the Liu family were soon escorted into prison by the Imperial Guards. The women were confined together, while the men were locked up across from them.
“Heavens, what are we supposed to do from now on?” Old Madam Liu cried in despair, tears streaming down her face.
Influenced by her, soft sobs rose from the nearby cells. Some lamented the unfairness of fate, while others worried about the life awaiting them.
Liu Qingyu kept peering through the cell door, observing the other prisoners, but she never saw her father’s figure.
“Mother, where do you think Father is now?” she asked softly, leaning against her mother’s shoulder.
Tian Chunzhu stroked her head and comforted her daughter.
“Don’t worry. Your father is clever; he’ll definitely be fine. We’ll surely meet him again when we’re sent into exile.”
Liu Qingyu nodded. Just as she was about to say something, she heard someone outside the cell calling for her mother.
“Which one of you is the eldest branch’s Madam Tian?”
A prison guard walked over. A long scar ran from the corner of his eye to his mouth, making him look extremely fierce.
The people in the cell stopped crying the moment they saw him. Some were so frightened that they even started hiccupping.
Old Madam Liu was afraid that the man had come to hold someone accountable, so she quickly said, “Th-that one leaning against the wall is Madam Tian.”
“That’s right, she’s Madam Tian,” Madam Jiang, her face still swollen and bruised, said gleefully, thinking that the guard had come to punish Tian Chunzhu.
However, Liu Qingyu and Tian Chunzhu immediately noticed the basket hidden behind the guard’s back.
Smiling, Tian Chunzhu walked to the cell door.
“Sir, I am Madam Liu Tian. What can I do for you?”
“This is food sent by the Ning family. Eat it quickly. Madam Ning said she would come to see you off on the day of your exile, and you can discuss things further then.”
Though the guard looked fierce, he was actually an honest man and hadn’t taken so much as a bite from the food.
After thanking him, Tian Chunzhu carried the basket back to the corner.
Liu Qingyu looked at the basket full of meat pies and swallowed unconsciously.
Ever since she had transmigrated, she had been busy preparing for exile and hadn’t had time to eat. She was truly hungry now.
Of course, she wasn’t the only one swallowing.
The people in her cell and even those in the cell opposite them couldn’t help gulping as well.
Before the guard had even left, Old Madam Liu was the first to make trouble.
“Girl Yu, now that you have food, why aren’t you quickly offering it to your grandmother? Are you trying to be unfilial?”
“That’s right, Girl Yu! You have so many meat pies. Why don’t you let us relatives have a taste?” Madam Jiang said instinctively, having long grown accustomed to bullying the timid eldest branch.
“Grandmother, you’ve always been used to fine clothes and fine food. I imagine you can’t stomach these ordinary meat pies. For the sake of your health, I won’t let you suffer by eating them. Isn’t that the height of filial piety?
“And Second Aunt, I really must say this: how can an elder compete with a junior for food? If word got out, people would think the Jiang family never taught you any sense of propriety or shame.”
Liu Qingyu rattled on without pause. As she spoke, she handed one pie to her mother and took one for herself, then bit into it fiercely.
The pies had clearly just come out of the oven and were still warm. The crust was crisp and delicious, while the filling was fragrant and savory.
Very quickly, the aroma of meat pies filled the small cell.
Gulp.
The sound of people swallowing their saliva echoed uncontrollably through the prison.
“Qingyu, it’s one thing if you won’t share with us, but how can you treat Grandmother like this? Our family is weak now, so we should unite and stand together.”