Dungeon, dark, damp.
Xie Ping has been locked up here for three full days. Even if the mouse is right next to her feet, she doesn't react at all.
She has been thinking about why she ended up in such a situation... After all, she was too greedy. She wanted to move up, become a princess, and stand at the top, but she didn't expect that if she fell, she would be Such pain.
She still remembered that before confirming the marriage, her mother asked her if she really wanted to marry to the palace.
Her mother said that if she was given another chance to choose, no matter what she chose, her mother would always stand by her side.
But now, why is my mother not here?
She really wanted to see her mother, and wanted to ask her mother what she should do...
Xie Ping hugged her knees and cried silently.
At this time, she heard footsteps in the distance, and she sat leaning against the wall without any reaction.
Those imprisoned here are all extremely vicious prisoners, and several of them are pulled out and beheaded in public display every day.
She didn't know when it would be her turn.
"Clang!"
The sound of unlocking was in my ears.
She looked up and saw two men in black cloaks walking into her cell.
The two men took off their hats.
Surprise suddenly appeared in her eyes: "Father! Brother An! You finally came to see me!"
Xie Jingyu looked at her: "You have suffered a lot, haven't you?"
Xie Ping's tears fell instantly: "It's too painful. It's too painful here. Father, please find a way to take me out. I don't want to stay in this ghost place anymore."
"Sister, here are some of your favorite dishes and snacks." Xie Shi'an opened the food box and placed it on the ground. "We have half an hour to talk. Sister, eat first."
After Xie Ping was imprisoned, she only had one bowl of porridge every day, and it was moldy porridge. It was hard to swallow. She was starving.
She didn't care about etiquette, she picked up the food and put it in her mouth. She wolfed down the food and drank a lot of water. After having food in her stomach, she finally felt better.
"Ping'er, Prince Anjing's charges have been proven. As a princess, you cannot escape unscathed." Xie Jingyu said, "After the funerals of Prince Anjing and Concubine De are over, your execution will be day."
Xie Ping cried and said: "Father, I don't want to die. I am only thirteen years old and my life has just begun..."
"I just want to ask you one thing." Xie Jingyu's throat was hoarse to the extreme. When he spoke, his throat hurt, but he had to say, "Are you willing to live an ignoble existence, or do you want to die a worthy death?"
Xie Ping froze suddenly: "What do you mean by this?"
"Prince Anjing is dead. As the widow of a traitor, do you think you can live well?" Xie Shi'an looked down at the mouse in the corner, "Believe it or not, even if the emperor spares your life, Prince Anjing's The rest of the party will not let you go, and the people from Concubine De's family will also make things difficult for you, and the spittle in the public is enough to drown you. From now on, you can only live like a mouse in the darkness, lingering."
"So, what you are saying is that I should die?" Xie Ping's tears were still on her face, but a smile appeared on her lips, "You are my closest relatives, do you really want me to die early?"
"De Concubine committed suicide. Not only was she not convicted, the emperor also retained her title and was buried in the imperial mausoleum according to her rank. People said that Concubine De was a great love and righteousness." Xie Jingyu looked at her, "Concubine De is a role model. You should imitate her."
Xie Ping pointed to the clean food on the ground: "I have no choice at all. You...have already poisoned it?"
Xie Shi'an shook his head: "The Xie family's killing you has a different meaning than your taking the initiative to die to express your ambition."
"Ping'er, I still remember that on the day you were born, a lot of magpies flew to the house. When you were born, I experienced the joy of being a father for the first time." Xie Jingyu said softly, "The first time you opened your mouth, you called me daddy. I held your hand and learned to walk, and it was I who taught you how to read people at the beginning... You are my most beloved child, and the same blood flows with me. In this world, the person who loves you most is me... ...However, when a person lives, he cannot only care about his own children. Family is the foundation. The Xie family has finally reached the capital and cannot collapse...Ping'er, you are a good boy. As a father, you will definitely do the right thing. s Choice."
Xie Ping had tears streaming down her face.
"Okay, it's getting late, so we'll leave first."
Xie Shi'an supported Xie Jingyu and walked out of the prison, the footsteps getting farther and farther.
Xie Ping covered her lips, sobbing and crying.
She was afraid of pain, she was afraid of death, she was extremely scared, but she had no second choice...
She touched the hairpin on her head with trembling hands, but suddenly remembered that the hairpin was taken away by the prison on the day she was imprisoned...
She looked at the porridge bowl on the ground, smashed the bowl with a bang, picked up a fragment, and pressed it against her neck. As soon as she pressed it down a little, she started crying in pain.
She worked on herself mentally over and over again.
Before I knew it, it was daybreak.
There were footsteps at the door, stopping in front of her cell. The door lock was unlocked, and two guards walked in and pulled her up.
"What are you doing?"
Xie Ping's voice was shaking.
Are we going to drag her to the Meridian Gate to behead her now?
She should have died bravely instead of having her head and body separated and dying so miserably...
"Be honest!" the jailer said coldly, "The emperor has given an order to send you to guard the mausoleum of Prince Anjing. You will never take a step outside the imperial mausoleum forever!"
Xie Ping struggled violently: "No, I don't want it!"
After the death of the previous emperors, many concubines were sent to guard the imperial tombs, but they could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide.
Why are they humiliated? First, they live a poor life. Not only are they not guaranteed three meals a day, but they also have to do everything themselves. Those concubines are all wealthy people raised with money, how can they endure such suffering?
Second, because the imperial tombs have been under construction for generations, the people there are all men, either eunuchs or guards. The women who guard the tombs have no one to protect them, so they will naturally be bullied.
The concubines who guarded the late emperor's mausoleum all ended up like this. As the widow of a traitor, she was afraid that she would encounter even more cruel and inhumane things.
"You can't help but don't want it!"
Two jailers dragged her out of the prison and put her into a carriage.
The news that Xie Ping guarded the imperial mausoleum for Prince Anjing quickly spread back to the Xie family.
Xie Jingyu was so angry that he smashed a cup: "She really couldn't bear to commit suicide. I should strangle her to death with a rope, so as not to embarrass the Xie family...cough cough cough!"
"Sir, calm down." Tingyu quickly gave him medicine, "Take good care of yourself first, and then take care of these things..."
Xie Jingyu drank all the medicine in one gulp.
Originally, his illness was almost cured, but something happened at Prince Anjing's palace. His energy and blood surged, and his illness relapsed again, making him very weak.
He really didn't have the energy to worry about these things, so he drank the medicine and fell asleep.
Tingyu covered him with a quilt and went to Shengju to find Yunchu worriedly.
"Madam, your master's illness seems to be getting worse..." She frowned with sadness, "Madam, why don't you ask that old doctor Qin to come and take a look?"
Yun Chu put down the account book, raised his eyes and said, "Aunt Yu, do you know how much money it costs to hire an old imperial doctor?"
"How much money does it cost to treat it?" Tingyu lowered his head, "If the money is gone, you can make more money, but if the people are gone, there is nothing."
Yun Chu threw the account book over: "Aunt Yu, take a closer look, how much money is left in our Xie Mansion's public account?"
Ting Yu was the eldest maid of the General's Mansion, so she naturally knew how to read and count. When she saw the end, she was shocked to find that the Xie family only had more than a thousand taels of silver in their account.
The entire mansion's monthly expenses amount to several hundred taels of silver, plus firewood, rice, oil and salt, which means that the monthly expenditure is at least one thousand taels. In other words, the Xie family's money is only enough to support another month.
