Time Travel: Brothel Maid

Chapter 260 Parade in the Streets

"What's all the commotion? Everyone's asking for leave, and the steward granted it all?" Xiao Guo'er remembered that the steward wasn't one to grant leave easily.

Xia Lan shook her sleeves and used a duster to brush away the fine dust that had settled on them, somewhat surprised.

"Don't you know? The Zhu family was convicted the day before yesterday and paraded through the streets today. In a few days, they will be taken to the execution ground and beheaded."

"The Zhu family?"

"That's Zhu Zhouchuan, the Director of the Imperial Observatory. Don't you know him? He's an enemy of our Prince Zunyi's Mansion! I heard that he used to openly and secretly trip up our Prince in court, causing him to suffer a lot of hidden losses. But, fortunately, Heaven has eyes, and it was his own evil deeds that made him suffer!"

As the saying goes, "If you walk the night road too often, you'll eventually encounter a ghost!" He was even accused of illegally seizing land, oppressing the people, committing all sorts of evil deeds, and even condoning his son's rape of respectable women. The emperor was furious and ordered the Dali Temple to investigate thoroughly. But by sheer coincidence, they found paper effigies cursing the emperor in the Zhu residence—it was infuriating! He deserved his fate: confiscation of his property, exile, and beheading!

Qinghe took the duster and brushed the dust off herself. She leaned closer to the two of them and whispered, "I also heard that the Dali Temple discovered that this Lord Zhu was actually one of the Fourth Prince's men. Many of the astronomical predictions were actually made at the Fourth Prince's behest. This has touched the Emperor's sore spot. The Emperor hates the princes for forming cliques and engaging in corrupt practices, especially the Director of the Imperial Observatory, who has always been the Emperor's most trusted advisor. The Emperor was extremely angry that he was fooled, which is why he issued an imperial edict to behead all adult men in the Zhu family and exile all the other women and children."

Even the fourth prince was implicated. Although the emperor did not announce it to the world, he stripped the fourth prince of all his posts, making him a leisurely prince. It seems that he will have a hard time turning things around now.

This is incredibly good news for our Eighth Prince! The entire household is overjoyed for him. For such a wonderful occasion, as long as it doesn't interfere with their work, the steward has granted everyone leave so they can go out and enjoy the sights.

"Really? That's a good thing..." Xiao Guo'er pictured the face of a man in his forties with a long beard.

The last time she saw that Lord Zhu was at the Zhou family's wedding banquet. At that time, she could feel that the Eighth Prince's dislike for Lord Zhu was very obvious.

She vaguely remembered that at the Zhou family's wedding banquet that day, the Eighth Prince had said to that Lord Zhu, "To die peacefully in one's sleep without illness or disaster, rather than to die suddenly in the street or be framed and die an innocent and tragic death, can be considered a blessing."

Looking back now, could that statement have been something else entirely?

Are they all just coincidences?

While Lord Zhu was certainly despicable, his series of misdeeds were uncovered one after another and brought before the Emperor. Was there really no one involved in this?

What reason would the head of the Imperial Observatory have to curse the current emperor by sticking pins into effigies?

Even if it were so that the Fourth Prince could ascend the throne as soon as possible, they wouldn't be so foolish as to put that shameful evidence in a place that anyone could easily find through a search, right?

Even though she was sitting next to the stove, Xiao Guo'er suddenly felt a chill run through her body and she shivered.

"Go and take a look. If you go out now, you can still catch the excitement. If you go out in half an hour, you probably won't be able to see it anymore."

"Then I'll join in the fun, even if I'm late."

"Go ahead, go ahead, there are two of us in the tea room."

Xiao Guo'er shook off the goosebumps that had appeared on her body and walked unsteadily out of the Zunyi Prince's Mansion.

The streets were packed with onlookers as the prison van was paraded through the city.

They pointed and whispered among themselves, their faces filled with excitement and indignation. Every now and then, someone would push through the crowd, holding rotten vegetable leaves, and throw them at the man in the prison van like garbage.

"Bah! What a swindler! He's nothing but a big fraud!"

"This kind of person should be paraded through the streets so everyone can see his true colors!"

"Zhu Zhouchuan, you've finally met your match!"

……

A cacophony of curses and insults rose and fell, the words utterly vile and unbearable. Hearing these sounds, Xiao Guo'er felt a surge of sorrow.

The Director of the Imperial Observatory was a very important figure whom ordinary people would never see in their entire lives! In the past, he was high above them, and the people could only look up to him.

However, he is now being paraded through the streets for his crimes, and his former dignity and prestige have vanished in an instant.

The disgruntled people naturally wouldn't let this opportunity pass them by. They surged forward, eager to trample on this once-high and mighty figure, as if they could derive immense pleasure from it. After all, such opportunities don't come every day; if they missed this chance, they wouldn't get another.

Xiao Guo'er struggled through the bustling crowd and finally saw the prison van. The man inside was Zhu Zhouchuan, the director of the Imperial Observatory.

Zhu Zhouchuan was covered in rotten vegetable leaves, and his once neat robe was now tattered. His hair was disheveled and fell over his shoulders, stained with blood and dirt. His face, which once had a long beard, now looked so haggard and old, as if he had aged twenty years in an instant.

What's even more chilling is that on Zhu Zhouchuan's wounded and weathered face, his eyes, sunken and wrinkled from several days in prison, are terrifyingly empty and lifeless, revealing the despair of a dying man, like a walking corpse.

Who could have imagined that the spirited man we saw at the Zhou family's wedding banquet that day would turn into this inhuman, ghostly figure in just a few days?

Suddenly, for some reason, Zhu Zhouchuan seemed to have a sudden burst of energy before death, his eyes gleaming, and he roared to the sky: "I'm innocent! Zhao Yunrong, you'll die a horrible death!"

Little Guo'er was caught off guard and met Zhu Zhouchuan's bloodshot eyes, which were filled with despair and malice. It was as if a poisoned dagger had suddenly pierced her heart, and she felt a chill run through her body.

Long after the crowd of onlookers had gone with Zhu Zhouchuan's prison cart, Xiao Guo'er was still unable to recover from the shadow she had just witnessed. Her heart was pounding, and that sinister gaze had cast a thick shadow over her mind.

She was so scared...

She slowly moved her slightly stiff and numb legs, trying to suppress the fear in her heart, her brain, dulled by fear, struggling to think.

What should they do?

Could they, like Zhu Zhouchuan, suffer the same fate and be doomed if they are not careful?

Xiao Guo wiped the sweat from her palms onto her clothes, took a few deep breaths, and was about to step into the Tang family home to find Tang Jingchen when she caught a glimpse of a familiar face out of the corner of her eye.

She suddenly opened her eyes wide and quickly turned her head to look, but the familiar face seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace.

Little Guo looked around anxiously, not even missing a corner, but still couldn't find it.

She quickly broke out in a fine layer of cold sweat, her heart pounded like a drum, and her whole body was covered in cold sweat.

She must be right; that familiar face had appeared beside Shen Jing more than once before.

Why were the guards of the Prince Zunyi's Mansion near the Tang family's residence?

Xiao Guo'er stopped in her tracks as she headed towards the Tang residence; she couldn't put Jing Chen and the entire Tang family in danger.

She turned to leave, but at that moment, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed in Xiaoguo'er's mind.

As if thinking of something, Xiaoguo'er's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed. After her tense nerves relaxed, a cryptic smile slowly appeared in her cunning, grape-like eyes.

After taking a deep look at the bustling streets, Xiao Guo'er walked back towards the Tang residence.

The guard hiding in the shadows watched as Xiao Guo'er's figure disappeared behind the gates of the Tang residence before he finally breathed a long sigh of relief. What a close call! He had almost been discovered!