Cang Lan Dao - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4.1
I’m Liu Xiniang

“Come and kill me!”

Luo Wanqing struggled frantically to pounce over. She didn’t think about anything. She indulged her emotions and hissed with all her might, “Jiang Shaoyan, you come back! Come and kill me!”

“Hold her down! Put a chain on her hands! Lock it on! Lock her up!”
The nearby jailers didn’t expect a young lady to have such strength and hurriedly rushed up.

“Gag her, gag her! Pull back to the cell!”

The surrounding people sprinted. They pressed her hands and gagged her mouth, clamping down on Luo Wanqing, who had completely lost her mind. Several people then lifted her together through the long tunnel, carried her to the front door of the cell, pulled open the barred door, and threw her entire body in, then hurriedly locked the chains and turned to leave.

Luo Wanqing rolled a few times on the ground. She got up and rushed to the door. Under the crowd’s curious and shocked looks, she grabbed the iron bars and shook them frantically, hissing.

“Open the door! Let me out! Let me see the Inspection Department!”

“My Luo family is unjustly accused! My father didn’t sell salt! I’m going to report to the Imperial Court! The Da Lisi(*)! The Inspection Department! It’s Jiang Shaoyan who framed my Luo family. My Luo family is innocent!”
T/N: Supreme Court

“Let me out! You dog officials! Let me out! Let me see Xie Heng! Open the door! I want to file a complaint! This case is unjust!”

“Wanqing, what’s wrong with you?”

Yao Zelan and Su Hui rushed over to her when she broke down and cried. They pulled her, but Luo Wanqing was unaware of it and kept trying to rush towards the iron bars. Next to her, Luo Wenshui was scared and cried out. The people around her started to whisper. Finally, Yao Zelan couldn’t stand it and angrily shouted, “Luo Wanqing!”

Being bellowed by her mother, Luo Wanqing’s movements stopped. For a moment, it was as if her three souls had finally returned. She froze and looked up, seeing Yao Zelan’s eyes full of worry.

Seeing her return to her senses, Yao Zelan hurriedly held her in her arms, comforting her, “It’s alright, Wanqing, mother is here.”

Hearing these words, Luo Wanqing’s hand holding the dagger relaxed slowly. She didn’t know what’s wrong with her. It feels like the suppressed aggression surges up instantly. She bit her lower lip and leaned on Yao Zelan. Her body trembled, and her teardrops fell like rain.

She sobbed softly. Next to her, Su Hui said worriedly: “Mother, let’s help Wanqing to go back first.”

Yao Zelan nodded. After coaxing Luo Wanqing, she helped her back to their place with Su Hui’s help.

The cell was a large room. Housing more than a hundred people, everyone has their territory.

After following her family back to their place, Luo Wanqing still cried. When she slowly returned to sanity, Su Hui, while holding the child, asked her worriedly: “Wanqing, what’s wrong?”

Luo Wanqing heard the question and paused. She didn’t know whether to tell the truth or not. She remembered that in her last life, the day her mother heard about her father’s death, her hair became white in one night. She couldn’t bear it in her heart. After hesitating, she weighed her words, “Jiang Shaoyan said that our family’s case is too big. He can’t do anything about it.”

“And?” Yao Zelan didn’t believe this was all, staring at Luo Wanqing closely, “What’s going on with Jiang Shaoyan?”

“He has someone else.” Luo Wanqing lowered her head, not daring to tell the truth, “He’s getting married to someone else and came to say goodbye to me.”

“He’s such a bastard!” Yao Zelan shouted angrily. Realizing that there were many people around, she held back her anger. She took a deep breath, held Luo Wanqing’s hand, and said in a suppressed voice, “It’s alright, Wanqing. Don’t be too sad. Your father has other good friends outside. I also have some connections. I don’t count on him. When we go out tomorrow, Mom will find you a good gentleman. Let him regret it!”

Luo Wanqing didn’t dare to speak, only nodding in agreement, temporarily placating Yao Zelan.

The female inmates next to them were quietly sizing them up. After the family quieted down, the cell began to come alive. Everyone was whispering, and even without intentionally listening, they knew they were talking about Luo Wanqing.

Yao Zelan was annoyed and hateful, but she could do nothing. Thinking that Luo Wanqing was the one who was the most upset, she wanted to relieve her. Yet she heard Luo Wanqing say, “It’s okay.”

Yao Zelan froze. Luo Wanqing turned her head, leaned against the earthen wall, and calmly said, “Mother, it’s not a big deal.”

It was only a few words. How big of a deal could it be?

In that dream world of hers, soon, the jailers would no longer care about them. The people in the cell started to bully them, and then they would go to Lingnan and die one by one in exile. That was the real suffering.

Thinking of the future, Luo Wanqing closed her eyes, forcing herself to calm down. After venting, everything should go back on track. It was an impulse to die together. She couldn’t kill Jiang Shaoyan. The most important thing right now was still her family. She hoped she could convince Jiang Shaoyan to save her family, but once her father died, there was no turning back for them. She couldn’t let Jiang Shaoyan live in this world, so Jiang Shaoyan would never let her Luo family have any possibility of turning around.

She couldn’t depend on Jiang Shaoyan. The Ministry of Justice was in cahoots with him. In this Yangzhou prison, the only thing left to change the outcome of the Luo family’s case was an official department, the Inspection Department.

The Inspection Department was set up by the emperor himself five years ago. They reported directly to the emperor himself, separated from the three divisions. They were in charge of punishment and investigating princes, princesses, lords, and officials. They also corrected the wrongdoing of the case. People even worshipped the Inspection Department’s staff as a demon. The authority of the master of the Inspection Department could be said to be under one person and above ten thousand people.

In that prophetic dream, the power of the Inspection Department continued to expand. Xie Heng assisted Jiang Shaoyan to the throne, and Jiang Shaoyan became Xie Heng’s puppet. But later, not knowing what happened, Xie Heng died by a thousand cuts.

But after his death, the Inspection Department’s power was unceasing, which let the second division’s master, Qin Jue, hold the power of Jiang Shaoyan’s empire before her death.

In that dream, Xie Heng was Jiang Shaoyan’s confidant. They were the best of partners, and perhaps because of this, she subconsciously used Xie Heng to irritate Jiang Shaoyan. Based on Jiang Shaoyan’s temperament, even if he didn’t care about him, there should be a dislike towards Xie Heng nowadays. It would have been better if only Jiang Shaoyan had been more impulsive and moved against Xie Heng.