The wooden door was kicked open with great force from outside, and the three people inside were somewhat startled. They probably didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

"Take him away." Tang Xian commanded the guards behind him expressionlessly.

"What are you doing? Don't touch my young mistress!" Suiyù cried out in alarm, trying to stop the Imperial Forest Army with her frail body, but it was like a mantis trying to block a chariot.

Ge Siyan didn't even resist. What use was there in resisting?

But the woman was terrified. She hadn't even had time to see her family for one last time, how could this be so fast?

The Emperor of Chengde looked at the kneeling woman, so angry that he couldn't speak.

"Father, this!" Tang Xian presented the pattern Fu Jiu Jiu had drawn to the palace maids, who were ordered to make masks.

Although it is confirmed that Ge Siyan has not been infected with smallpox, precautionary measures should still be taken when interrogating her.

Emperor Chengde glanced at the bright yellow mask and put it on. This little girl is really thoughtful. Now she's locked herself up at home, unable to go out, and not bothering anyone. She's such a well-behaved child.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the minister deserves ten thousand deaths!” Ge Da’s head heavily slammed against the ground. “The minister deserves ten thousand deaths.”

"Ge Hanzhong!" the Chengde Emperor gasped for breath with his mouth wide open.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. It is my daughter who is unruly. I am willing to die to atone for her sins. Please show mercy and, considering the loyalty of our Ge family, spare them."

"Your Majesty, this is a matter I alone must handle." Ge Siyan said, her resolve unwavering.

"What a man who does things himself takes responsibility for them. Good!" The Emperor Chengde directly threw the letter in his hand, Tang Xian immediately recognized it as Tang Xiu's handwriting.

“Thanks to the fourth son’s remembrance of your kindness to him in his childhood, he couldn't help your son and allowed me to pay extra attention to you. But you're good for nothing! Saying that I have failed to teach my daughter properly is an accusation worthy of burying all the people in Beijing with you. Ge Hanzhong, what do you say… how can I forgive you? Your whole family deserves to die.”

"Yes, yes, yes!" Ge Hanzhong kept bowing his head, tears streaming down his face.

How could he have such a pair of troublesome children.

The son's wrongdoing is his own, he should bear the consequences alone. But a daughter's mistake implicates the entire clan.

"Your Majesty, please show mercy! I am willing to die. Please spare my family, they are innocent and know nothing of this. It is all the fault of this wicked child."

"Your Majesty, this servant girl only asks for death." Ge Siyan said.

“You died? You deserved it!” The Emperor Chengde roared. “Ge Hanzhong, Ge Hanzhong, you have raised a good daughter indeed! For her own selfish desires, she disregarded the lives of the people in the capital. And yet, she is so sure that even if something happens, I cannot punish your clan by killing nine generations and exterminating your entire family.”

Geshiyan remained silent. Geshanzhong lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me."

The Chengde Emperor shook his head. He could have had all the Ge family members killed, but the Ge family's nine clans included important ministers he valued. Besides, doing so would drive a wedge between him and his fourth son and grandson.

Could such a scheme really have been devised by a young lady from a noble family?

The reason why the Imperial Forest Army was deployed instead of directly letting the Ministry of Justice handle it was because according to the law, the Ge family could not be killed.

The only consolation was that Fu Jiujiu discovered it in time and prevented the condition from spreading. She also took timely measures.

"Ge Siyan, is that it?" The Emperor Chengde gazed at her coldly. As an emperor, he disliked being controlled and even more so, being schemed against. "You want to die? I won't let you."

Ge Siyan had already prepared to die, but now, for her, death was no more frightening than living.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty beyond forgiveness. Please grant me death. Please," Ge Hanzhong cried out, smashing his head against the ground even harder than before.

"Bring her in. She is the daughter of Ge, guilty beyond forgiveness. Considering the Ge family's long line of loyalty and valor, her death sentence can be spared. She shall be sent to the Ministry of Teaching and Music as a lowest-ranking female performer."

That would make her an official courtesan, or even the lowest of official courtesans. Siyan's purity and the Ge family's reputation would be ruined.

Ge Hanzhong knew that Emperor Chengde must be furious to issue such an order. "Your Majesty, please, let her die! Let her die! She is unforgivable."

"Dead?" The Emperor Chengde sneered, "Ge Siyan, you dare to commit suicide, then I will bury your entire Ge family! Only your family, remember that!"

"Your Majesty, please show mercy and grant her a quick death."

In an era where fame supersedes life, for a lowly courtesan like Ge Siyan to be subjected to such humiliation is worse than killing her and granting her release.

"Ge Hanzhong, you failed to educate your daughter properly. You are stripped of your official position."

Ge Hanzhong knew he could no longer serve in office, which was to be expected. However, the punishment Emperor Chengde inflicted upon his daughter made her life worse than death, yet she couldn't die.

"Your Majesty..."

"Drag him down!" Emperor Chengde waved his sleeve and said coldly, no longer paying attention to Ge Hanzhong's plea.

……

When Tang Xian brought this news to Fu Jiujou, Fu Jiujou was leisurely eating melon seeds. Life at home was comfortable with food and drink, so she didn't have much to worry about. She just asked Tang Xian to bring her whatever she needed.

He always manages to deliver it precisely into her hands.

When Tang Xian told Fu Jiujiao that Ge Siyan had also entered the Imperial Entertainment Agency, where she would be stripped of all her pride and self-respect, it would be more agonizing than killing her.

So far, Fu Jiujiu and everyone else haven't gotten sick. It's probably because the spring water worked, and also because of the preventive medicine she's been brewing these days. In a few days, if they don't get sick and have passed the incubation period, the Fu family can reopen their doors.

"Tang Qigong, did that woman say where these symptoms came from?"

Tang Xian shook her head. “It was the Ministry of Punishment who interrogated her. The woman bit her tongue and committed suicide the night after she confessed, probably afraid of the Ministry of Punishment’s instruments of torture.”

Fu Jiujiu thought things were not that simple, pulling out the radish and bringing out the mud. "Tang Qichi, you have someone check where else there are symptoms of smallpox."

Tang Xian nodded. "Mmm, I got it. But wait, aren't you faster at searching than me?"

Fujujiao giggled, "What do you mean I can't get out? Okay, okay, stop teasing me."

Three days later, Tang Xian told Fu Jiujiu that there was no one with smallpox in Li Chao's territory. As for other countries, she didn't know.

"What about Ge Siyan? Did she say anything either?"

Tang Xian shook her head. "She said it was that woman who did it. That woman is dead, and there's no one to testify against her. Now she's in this situation, so either she's telling the truth or things will get even worse."

Fu Jiujiao nodded her head, she felt the latter possibility was more likely.

Could it be that Yan Song, desperate and cornered, is trying to shift the blame of treason onto the Ge family?

No, in two days she can go out.

She must go and see Ge Siyan.

She always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't say what exactly was amiss.

In short, this matter is not that simple.

First published on Traditional Chinese Novel Network