Chapter 147: One Hundred and Fifty-Four: Family Secrets

One Hundred and Fifty-Four: Family Secrets

As the young county magistrate finished speaking, the entire room fell into deathly silence.

A pin could be heard dropping.

Only one or two breaths in the room had suddenly grown heavy and rough.

Yan Beside Yan Liulang and the other constables, along with the Liu clan brothers, wore strange expressions.

Their eyes subtly drifted between Magistrate Ouyang Rong's earnest face and Liu Liu Ziwen, who bowed his head, gripping the bedframe, trembling all over.

Among these quiet glances, many also flickered, faintly, toward Liu Liu Zian, who sat uneasily between Magistrate Ouyang Rong and Liu Liu Ziwen.

The atmosphere was delicate.

This was not Magistrate Ouyang Rong's Qian Shi 's rule-of-law society; not to mention that in Jiang Nan Dao, where clan customs ran deep, many towns still practiced self-governance through local gentry, and royal authority rarely reached below the county level.

Thus, in most places, county offices adhered to the principle: "If the people do not file a complaint, the officials will not investigate"—the standard conduct of most officials in the Great Zhou.

Even though Liu Liu Ziwen had been attacked by assassins in broad daylight during the pause of the public trial.

As long as it did not occur within the county office or during the trial itself, and as long as Liu Liu Ziwen did not file a formal complaint, the Longcheng County Office had little legal grounds to intervene or pursue the true culprits.

Just as the atmosphere froze and the scene stalled.

Liu Liu Ziwen suddenly lifted his head, slowly.

The subtle motion instantly drew every eye.

It was impossible to describe what kind of face it was.

It was as if a year-old batch of dumplings, frozen solid in a refrigerator, had been dumped all at once into a boiling pot—suddenly, beneath the frost-hardened white skin, the rotting red filling oozed out.

At the moment Liu Liu Ziwen lifted his head, Liu Liu Zian broke the silence first:

"This case must be investigated. Brother, file the complaint—while the magistrate is here, let's report it!"

But Liu Liu Ziwen ignored Liu Liu Zian's sincere expression, and did not even answer Magistrate Ouyang Rong's question immediately.

His bloodshot eyes turned toward the quiet Liu Liu Zilin, his voice hoarse as a duck's:

"Have you also separated from the family?"

Liu Liu Zilin immediately shook his head, "No, Brother…"

Liu Liu Zian interjected again:

"Brother, neither I nor Third Brother will leave you. Though other branches of the clan have taken much of our ancestral property, and the trial has cost us dearly… but the Gu Yue Sword Workshop was built by you from nothing, and still belongs to our branch…"

Liu Liu Ziwen did not look at his second brother; he listened in silence.

His previously sickly complexion.

Suddenly grew calm.

He spoke to Magistrate Ouyang Rong, who watched coldly:

"No complaint. My lord, take your leave."

The young master of the Liu family, pierced by two blades, spoke slowly, each word deliberate.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Liu Lao Ye truly has a bodhisattva's heart."

He nodded, sighed to those in the room, and the others forced smiles.

Then, without delay, Magistrate Ouyang Rong did not even turn back—he left with Yan Beside Yan Liulang and the others.

But before stepping out, he dropped one last line:

"Liu Lao Ye must hold on. Don't die. I'll see you again in court. My lord and all the people of the county are waiting for you."

But the Liu family's young master, known as the "Wise Tiger," Liu Liu Ziwen, was already dead.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong knew.

Liu Liu Ziwen knew too.

Outside the clerks' quarters, along the long corridor leading to the courtyard where the Jade Vase Immortal was held.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong, walking at the front of the group, suddenly stopped and turned, curiously asking Yan Beside Yan Liulang and the constables:

"When alive, to watch with your own eyes the entire enterprise you poured your heart into, everything you cared about, being slowly destroyed before your face—what does that feel like?"

Seeing the same calm expression on the magistrate's face as he had worn when bidding farewell to Liu Liu Ziwen.

Yan Beside Yan Liulang and his colleagues exchanged glances; the former chose his words carefully:

"It must be… worse than death?

"As you told us after yesterday's trial, for Liu Liu Ziwen, brothers turning on each other, family collapsing—that's killing his soul, more than killing his body."

Yan Beside Yan Liulang grew more fluent as he spoke, recalling the face of the dying Liu Liu Ziwen on his sickbed, and couldn't help letting out a bitter laugh:

"You're truly brilliant, My Lord. Liu Liu Ziwen now looks no different from a dead man."

He sighed, unable to resist another glance at the young magistrate's face:

"Ah, that once mighty, arrogant Liu family head… he's gone forever. And it's only been two or three months—My Lord, you moved too fast."

Magistrate Ouyang Rong watched Yan Beside Yan Liulang and the others, saying nothing until the man finished.

"No. He felt nothing."

He shook his head.

"Felt nothing?"

Yan Beside Yan Liulang and the others stared, stunned. "My Lord, you're joking. To have your life's work destroyed, your legacy overturned—even a great man would feel something."

Magistrate Ouyang Rong turned his head, gazing at the rain gently washing the ancient green bricks, the carved floor tiles beyond the corridor, and whispered:

"Because what you described… is family business."

"Family business…"

Yan Beside Yan Liulang murmured, then pressed:

"Then what about you, My Lord? Suppose, just suppose, the Di Gong Dam and Zhe Zhe Yiqu failed to hold back the flood, and everything you built with us was wiped out—would you feel nothing?"

Magistrate Ouyang Rong turned, walked forward, and strode away.

"Then we build again."

Yan Beside Yan Liulang and the constables stared, dumbfounded, at the young magistrate's back.

One constable, from a wealthy family, suddenly recalled a line from a play he'd heard in a teahouse, and blurted out: "Private interests last a moment; public ones last forever."

Everyone turned, faces frozen.

…

After the young magistrate and the constables left.

Liu Liu Zilin also led the other Liu clan brothers out.

Inside the room.

Only Liu Liu Ziwen and Liu Liu Zian remained.

Liu Liu Zian heard the footsteps in the courtyard fade away, turned, stepped close, and whispered:

"Brother, don't blame me. A few days ago, when you collapsed, during the trial, I and Third Brother couldn't hold out. Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan clearly came prepared, with grounds to seize us, and put our entire family on the fire. We had to bleed, or we'd be destroyed—so we…"

"Though Master Wang protected us from confiscation, we've made too many enemies over the years. These past days, every petty villain has jumped out, all wanting to carve a chunk of fat from our family."

At this, Liu Liu Zian clenched his teeth, his face twisted with anguish:

"These clan brothers who returned for ancestral rites are all ungrateful wolves. Brother, you treated them so well, and now they've become traitors…"

"But don't worry, Brother. Thanks to Master Wang's intervention, I and Third Brother managed to preserve the Gu Yue Sword Workshop. Holding onto it through this storm is already a miracle. Right now, it seems Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan and his men haven't suspected it…"

He paused, then frowned:

"By the way, Brother, why didn't you file a complaint? Are you afraid Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan will turn the tables, use it as leverage, and strike back at us? That Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan is ruthless—not just cruel, but vile, sowing discord among brothers…"

As Liu Liu Zian spoke these words.

On the sickbed, Liu Liu Ziwen—who had calmly seen everyone off and listened in silence—suddenly surged upright.

As he had during the trial, he locked his gaze on Liu Liu Zian's stunned eyes, gripping his wrist tightly. The man on the bed, face contorted, growled low:

"Liu Liu Zian! I don't care if it was you who stabbed me—starting now, starting now! You will guard the Liu family, guard the sword workshop! If the sword isn't forged, if the Liu family dies under your hand, even if I become a vengeful ghost, I won't let you go—your ancestors for eighteen generations won't forgive you!! Cough cough cough…"

Overexcited, his movements too violent, he tore open his chest and lung wounds again; Liu Liu Ziwen erupted into violent, choking coughs.

Each cough sounded like blood being torn from his throat.

Liu Liu Zian trembled, his wrist shaking; his face filled with terror, innocence, sorrow—he shook his head hard:

"Brother, it wasn't me, I swear it wasn't me! We're blood brothers—how could I do something so treacherous? Brother, do you want me to cut out my heart and show you?"

His eyes were red, his face weary:

"And now isn't the time for suspicion. Rest, heal. We'll endure this together. After we forge that thing, we'll take back everything we lost—double it back, okay? Okay, Brother?"

Liu Liu Ziwen did not answer. Or rather, he did not hear Liu Liu Zian's pleas at all.

After his coughing subsided, he lay back on the creaking wooden bed, mouth full of blood, the fury on his face slowly shifting into a mixture of despair and grief:

"I don't care if you stabbed me, if you're pretending, if you're using me as a shield…"

"If the Liu family falls—if the Liu family falls—Liu Liu Zian, you are a disgrace, a traitor to the clan. You deserve ten thousand deaths."

Liu Liu Zian opened his mouth wide, staring dumbfounded at the motionless, half-dead Liu Liu Ziwen on the bed. His eyes filled with grievance, fury, and confusion—finally erupting into one anguished cry:

"Brother, the winged-bird poison did pass through my hands, yes—but Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan had it too! You yourself gave it to him during the ribbon-cutting ceremony…"

"And if I really did it, why would I be so stupid as to have the assassins shout out loud to Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan's men? Such a clumsy frame-up—any sane person could see through it after the fact! Would I, your second brother, do something so foolish?!"

The more Liu Liu Zian questioned, the heavier his breathing became; he clutched his chest, gasping, tears welling in his eyes.

But Liu Liu Ziwen did not look at him.

He kept staring at the canopy above the bed. After a moment, he spoke softly:

"Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan wouldn't do such a thing. He doesn't want to—and he wouldn't stoop to it."

Liu Liu Zian's tear-filled pupils contracted slightly as he opened his mouth in a soft gasp.

But Liu Liu Ziwen continued as if no one else were there, his eyes vacant:

"If he truly wanted to use underhanded tactics against me, Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan had countless opportunities and countless methods. Could he not have thought of what we thought of?"

"Yet he deliberately chose the most just—and also the most troublesome—path: exposing us before the entire county, publicly trying the Liu family…"

"Tell me, would a man like that hire assassins to kill me with underhanded tricks?"

Silence fell inside and outside the bed.

Liu Liu Ziwen's face was ashen, yet his voice was strangely calm:

"I lost. I lost, in the end. From the moment I used the underhanded tactic of hiring killers to behead someone, I lost. From that moment on, in Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan's eyes, I was no longer a worthy opponent."

"Yet he still didn't respond with the same brutal method—turning his own weapon against him, wiping us out completely. Instead, he still used the upright, public trial…"

He paused here, then suddenly shuddered violently on the bed, making Liu Liu Zian fall off his stool.

Liu Liu Ziwen stared wide-eyed, baring his teeth in a low roar:

"Damn it, damn it all, Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan—you're damned! Why, why didn't you die at Donglin Temple? With such a heart bent on destroying men, you deserve to die, you deserve to die!"

Magistrate Ouyang Rong's public trial was the greatest contempt and soul-destroying blow against him.

More unbearable than being stabbed to death by assassins.

Liu Liu Ziwen suffered all the more because he saw this too clearly—his heart felt as if slashed by knives.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong might as well have killed him.

When the man on the sickbed grew calmer, as if briefly revived by a final flicker of life, Liu Liu Zian could no longer hold back:

"If it wasn't Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan, could it have been Lord Wang…?"

"Enough. Shut up."

Liu Liu Ziwen suddenly cut him off, his voice weak and lifeless.

He lowered his dark eyelids, lips trembling as he asked:

"How much of the Liu family's wealth remains now?"

Liu Liu Zian lowered his head:

"If we obediently follow exactly what Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan said these past two days—county office confiscation, compensation to citizens and scholars, division among the branches—we'll have little left except the main mansion on Xiao Gu Mountain and the ancient Yue Sword Shop by the western bank. Oh, and perhaps a small portion of the water transport business might still remain."

Liu Liu Ziwen suddenly laughed: "Hahahaha… cough… cough… cough…"

Blood spurted from his mouth like a geyser gushing from his throat.

"Big brother."

Liu Liu Zian called out in concern, his voice breaking into a sob:

"Big brother, don't rage! As long as we still hold the sword shop, we still have a chance to rise again. That's what Lord Wang hinted at the other day. We can temporarily abandon the ancestral estates and property—first bow our heads, apologize to Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan and those unruly commoners, ride through this disaster…"

"It'll be fine, big brother. We're only enduring this for now… The furnace is still there—Liu family hasn't fallen yet!"

Liu Liu Zian tightly gripped Liu Liu Ziwen's icy hand:

"Big brother, endure this for now. Heal quickly. When all this is over, I, your third brother, and your wife will wait for you at home…"

Liu Liu Ziwen's voice, hoarse, interrupted: "You won't take me back now?"

Liu Liu Zian's face flushed slightly with awkwardness: "Big brother, you're still a criminal under indictment. We can't offend Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan…"

Liu Liu Ziwen suddenly asked:

"Do you want to become the Sword Lord?"

Liu Liu Zian looked confused: "What are you talking about, big brother?"

Liu Liu Ziwen fell silent.

After a few more words of comfort, seeing Liu Liu Ziwen's silence, Liu Liu Zian decided not to disturb him further and prepared to take his leave.

"Liu Liu Zian, remember what you said: protect the Liu family, lead it out of Longcheng. If you truly manage it in the end, you won't be a traitor."

As he was leaving, Liu Liu Ziwen spoke in a trembling voice.

Liu Liu Zian: "Big brother, I—"

"Remember Father's porridge stall. The stall must stay open. It must stay open… Go now."

Liu Liu Ziwen lay back flat, eyes closed.

Liu Liu Zian opened his mouth but held back, then bowed and left.

Only the empty room remained, and on the sickbed, a man who looked like a walking corpse.

How long passed, no one knew.

That night.

The room was pitch black.

Outside, a sudden gale and evening rain.

Suddenly, a violent wind howled—"Bang!"—the window burst open, then slammed shut again with another "Bang!"

Inside, only the soft patter of rain could be heard.

Beyond that, only Liu Liu Ziwen's faint, barely perceptible breaths from the bed.

Yet before the bed, a dark shadow had quietly appeared.

The human-shaped shadow seemed to have one empty sleeve, while the other hand gripped a long, rod-like object.

The armless swordsman stood motionless before the bed, as if watching something.

Moments passed.

"You…"

A sudden beam of snowy moonlight illuminated the entire room—Liu Liu Ziwen's voice cut off abruptly.

Then darkness returned, leaving only the rushing rain—and no breath, no sound of life.

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