A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 37.1

That year, when three volumes of the He clan’s military strategy were leaked, Li Yilian was ordered by imperial decree to supervise the investigation and clear-up.

On the day the imperial decree arrived, after discussing it with his family, Li Yilian decided to go to the residence of Sheng Xiuyuan, the Minister of War, to ask him to hasten the marriage arrangement between their children.

If something truly unfortunate were to happen, the Sheng family might be able to save his second daughter, Li family’s daughter.

However, the Sheng family was one step ahead of him. The messenger they sent broke off the engagement.

The betrothal between the Li and Sheng families had actually been called off once before. It was Sheng Yuan, through his persistent insistence, who persuaded his grandmother, made multiple visits to apologize, and reconciled the two families, allowing the marriage ties to be re-established.

But this time, not a single elder from the Sheng family came forward. They only sent their steward with a letter of annulment, which was extremely disrespectful and arrogant.

Li Yilian was angry, but he still swallowed his pride and went to the Sheng family himself. Unexpectedly, he was refused entry. Despite all his pleas, he was dismissed with a perfunctory, “The master and young master are not in today, Minister Li, please come back another day.”

Sheng Xiuyuan was at home; he was just hiding and unwilling to see him. Everyone knew this was a death sentence task; it could very well implicate nine generations of family.

By the time the matter fell to Li Yilian, the situation was already out of control. It simply required someone to be the scapegoat.

To put it bluntly, someone needed to sacrifice their life to uphold the dignity of the imperial court. Otherwise, how could the Crown Prince and the central ministers ever show their faces?

Li Yujing and her sisters were called together, and the reasons were explained clearly. Their mother, Madam Nie, held them and wept.

If their father were convicted, they wouldn’t fear a full execution; the entire family could keep each other company in the afterlife.

But if their property was confiscated and they were stripped of their status, the men might still have a slim chance of survival through demotion or military exile. The women, however, would be treated like objects. Whether they were sent into exile or made into official slaves or official prostitutes, what awaited them was degradation, being treated as playthings, and suffering until death.

They could not sit and wait for their fate!

Li Yujing forced herself to calm down, and with a heavy heart, she wrote a farewell letter to her former friend, which also carried a plea for help.

When Gu Xie received Li Yujing’s letter in Cangnan, she was in the middle of a literary debate with a group of students from Hanrong Academy, acting as the sole defender against them.

The topics were governance and policy analysis.

Gu Changxue, the Grand Tutor Gu, and Gu Heng served as chief examiners. Yao Jifeng set the questions, and the students answered using the format of the imperial examinations. The papers were sealed, their names covered with paper, and then the Grand Tutor Gu, Gu Heng, and Yao Jifeng individually graded them, finally selecting the three best essays.

As expected, the first place was still Gu Xie.

One student, unwilling to accept the result, said, “Grand Tutor Gu, Master Gu, and Master Qi — one is your grandfather, one is your elder brother, and one is your husband. Which of them doesn’t recognize your handwriting?”

A servant hurried in and handed Gu Xie the letter delivered by the courier, saying, “Miss, a letter from Yongdu.”

Gu Xie casually tucked it into her book. She disdained arguing but couldn’t stand such slanders. “If you lose the essay competition and then resort to such slander and fabrication, you should stop studying the classics for now and read more books by the Sages to purify your mind and character.”

Following this, she once again brought up her intention to turn Hanrong Southern Academy into a girls’ school to broadly accept talented female disciples from all over the world.

Naturally, this was vetoed by the Grand Tutor Gu yet again.

She was not discouraged, as if it was all within her control. After getting the undesirable result, she dusted the pages of her book and returned to her room.

Opening the envelope, she understood the plea for help in the letter. She picked up her brush to write a reply but halfway through felt it was inappropriate, so she crumpled the paper and threw it on the floor.

Li Yujing was very uneasy after sending the letter.

Disaster was imminent. Even the Sheng family had retreated to avoid trouble, prioritizing self-preservation and breaking off the engagement.

She and Gu Xie had corresponded often since Gu Xie returned to Cangnan, but they hadn’t seen each other for years. She was prepared for no reply, sending a letter so rashly at such a critical juncture.

Gu Xie indeed did not reply.

She rushed, without stopping her fast horse, from Cangnan to Yongdu, heading straight for the Li Mansion.

Upon seeing her old friend after many years, the two were stirred with emotion and exchanged greetings for a long time. Gu Xie then went straight to the point, informing Li Yujing that someone from the Crown Prince’s palace had requested the original manuscript of The Discourse on Women from Yao Jifeng, and that there was no intention of assigning blame or punishment.

Few people knew that Yao Jifeng, who changed his name to Qi Xiu, had been exchanged out of death row and gone to Cangnan. Besides the Gu family, only the Emperor and the Crown Prince were aware. The Emperor and the Crown Prince would not suddenly be interested in The Discourse on Women.

The two of them thoroughly analyzed the entire sequence of events and quickly concluded that the person who sent for the manuscript was Princess Jiangning.

“Find a way to request an audience with the Princess and ask for her protection!” Gu Xie urged.

As luck would have it, Xie Wenjun was out of the palace, observing filial piety for her mother at the Great Imperial Temple, so she was not within the palace forbidden area, making it easier to request an audience.

The next day, Li Yujing presented a thick stack of hand-copied Buddhist scriptures and prostrated herself outside the meditation room where Xie Wenjun was staying.

After announcing her name, she stated her purpose: “I beg Her Royal Highness to protect my family!”

The meditation room was quiet. Xie Wenjun was copying scriptures to pray for her mother’s blessings.

The bell of the Great Imperial Temple would ring three times every hour. Only after the ringing stopped did Xie Wenjun look up from her scriptures.

“Minister Li has not yet been convicted, so there is nothing I need to protect him from. Furthermore, even if Minister Li were convicted, the verdict and sentencing would be decided by the Ministry of Justice and the Grand Court of Judicial Review. This Princess cannot interfere with state affairs.”

Li Yujing said, “Your subject is willing to be at the Princess’s disposal. Whatever the Princess wishes to accomplish, your subject will surely be useful.”

Gu Xie saw things more deeply than she did and stated clearly: The way to seek help is through mutual benefit. A daughter of the imperial family like the Princess is already accustomed to pleas from the families of convicted officials. If you want her to step in and save you, you must have a reason that compels her to save you! You must be useful, ideally so suitable that no one else could replace you!

“Do you know what this Princess intends to do?” Xie Wenjun asked.

“Your subject does not know,” Li Yujing replied, “but your subject dares to guess that the Princess wishes to promote women’s education.”

Xie Wenjun was silent for a moment. “You should know that the case decided by the Ministry of Justice and the Grand Court of Judicial Review cannot be revoked or altered by my Imperial Brother. If you are convicted, this Princess cannot save you. It is not that I don’t want to or am unwilling to save you, but that I have no authority to do so.”

“Your subject understands.”

“Since that is the case, why have you come to see this Princess, and how do you expect this Princess to protect your family? In what way are you useful to this Princess?”

The trade of flesh has existed since ancient times, but brothels and courtesan houses are not ancient institutions.