The road from the Ji family to the city gates was long and arduous.
The wailing of the Ji family's female dependents shook the heavens and lingered for a long time.
Xie Jingqi, not far from the street, felt his heart filled with grief and indignation. He silently dismounted, watching the last journey of these heroes who had defended Yulin with their lives.
Xie Jinglan, sitting in his carriage in a nearby alley, also closed his eyes.
As Ji Zizhao helped her mother walk step by step, she happened to see the carriage in the alley.
Just as she had expected, everything that happened today was orchestrated by the Fourth Prince.
But thinking that the Seventh Prince had appeared twice in succession, Ji Zizhao silently averted her gaze again.
Although their earlier alliance had proven that the Fourth Prince was not involved in the Ji family's wrongful accusations, his profound scheming and meticulous planning were something that even the skilled actor, the Fifth Prince, could not compare to.
Ji Zizhao had no desire to be entangled with such a dangerous individual.
It wasn't that she couldn't afford to gamble.
It was that the Ji family couldn't afford to gamble.
The people of the imperial city were immersed in mourning for their heroes. Even the usually bustling main street was now filled with a suffocating desolation.
From a teahouse not far away, a woman watched the approaching procession of the Ji family, her gaze flickering.
Especially when she saw Ji Zizhao, walking ahead and supporting the First Madam, Lin Wanyun, her dark eyes flashed with an unconcealable sharpness and keenness.
The woman dared to stare at Ji Zizhao so openly and without concealing her thoughts because she was certain that Ji Zizhao would never notice.
Unexpectedly, just as the woman was full of confidence, Ji Zizhao, who had been looking straight ahead, suddenly raised her head in the woman's direction.
Their eyes met.
The woman was flustered for a moment, but quickly regained her composure and looked at Ji Zizhao with a faint smile.
After all, she didn't know her, so why should she be flustered?
Ji Zizhao indeed showed no other reaction. Even when facing the woman's slightly upturned lips, her expression remained calm, without the slightest flicker.
Only her dark eyes, under the rising sun, grew even deeper, like an abyss.
The woman, who had been calm and collected, found her smile gradually stiffen under Ji Zizhao's gaze. Even the hand gripping the railing on the second floor began to clench unconsciously.
Although Ji Zizhao showed no expression, the woman's blood still ran cold, and she broke out in a cold sweat.
By the time the Ji family's procession had disappeared into the distance, the woman's clothes were already soaked with sweat. Sudan Novel Network.
Those eyes were so deep, and so full of hidden sharpness.
It was as if everything could sink within them, or even be devoured without a trace.
It was also as if they could pierce through all hidden dealings.
The First Madam, Lin Wanyun, shivered from the cold aura emanating from Ji Zizhao. Mistaking it for her daughter's overwhelming grief, she quickly clasped Ji Zizhao's cold hand and asked with concern, "Are you unwell, Zizhao?"
Ji Zizhao looked at her mother's red and swollen eyes and gently shook her head. "Your daughter is fine. It is you, Mother, who must mind your footing."
The First Madam, Lin Wanyun, nodded warmly and continued to walk forward with Ji Zizhao's support.
Only when the Ji family's funeral procession had vanished from the main street did the woman in the teahouse seem to awaken from a dream. She raised her hand to her still wildly beating heart and let out a long, heavy sigh.
A figure emerged from a private room behind the woman. As the sunlight fully illuminated the figure, it turned out to be Gu Peilan, who had appeared before the Ji family's Old Madam the previous night!
Gu Peilan walked to the woman's side and asked softly, "Has the Ji family's funeral procession passed? Did you see the Old Madam?"
The woman nodded, then shook her head.
Gu Peilan finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled smugly. "I told you, that old hag cares more about us. Renran, you must think carefully about what you saw just now. When your grandmother comes later, you can mention it slightly, so she'll think you're filial. Even if your father doesn't acknowledge you, you'll always be honoring him."
Ji Renran nodded, then asked, "Why hasn't my brother come yet?"
Gu Peilan smiled dismissively. "Your brother is always busy. Besides, such flattering matters are not for men. Now your brother is the only heir of the Ji family. As long as you help your brother appease the Old Madam, our mother and daughter will just wait to return with your brother and enjoy a life of ease."
Ji Renran was pulled into the private room by Gu Peilan, but she couldn't help but glance back at the Ji family's funeral procession.
She must have been mistaken.
She and Ji Zizhao had never met, so how could Ji Zizhao possibly know her.
At the second watch of the寅 hour, the Ji family's funeral procession arrived at the city gate.
The guards at the gate, seeing the coffins carried on the shoulders of the Ji family's servants, also felt an overwhelming sense of sorrow.
The captain of the guards choked back several times, his loud voice changing tone. "Open the city gates for the men of the Ji family! Make way for the heroes of Yulin!"
As the five-meter-high city gate was slowly pushed open, a desolate cold wind rushed in.
The common people could no longer suppress their grief and slowly knelt on the ground, kowtowing to the coffins of the Ji family's men, commemorating the heroes they held dear in their own way.
The soldiers standing on either side of the city gate also lowered their swords and bowed their heads, showing the utmost respect.
The Ji family's female dependents, with tear-blurred eyes, followed the coffins out of the city gate. The sunlight shone on their faces, making their red and swollen eyes ache intensely.
However, no matter how much reluctance and attachment they felt, they finally arrived at the Ji family's ancestral graves.
Interment, filling the grave, and then offering incense and bowing...
Ji Zizhao, numb and bitter, followed everyone in performing tasks she had never done before, tears washing over her fair face again and again.
From this day forward, Yulin might still have the Ji family, but the Ji family would have no more men.
From now on, she would shoulder the heavy responsibility entrusted to her by her grandfather and carry the Ji family forward.
Even if it meant rowing against the current.
Even if it meant struggling upstream.
The sun of the辰 hour fully illuminated Yulin.
Xinlan, standing at the door of the woodshed, looked up at the clear blue sky, her face already wet with tears.
She estimated that by this time, the old master and the masters had already been buried. She wondered if Miss could hold up. She had already sent off the young master a few years ago, and now again...
Yongmei, locked in the woodshed, disliked Xinlan's tearful expression the most and said impatiently, "People will die eventually. That's why the living should look forward."
Xinlan was furious. Although they were servants to the young lady, in the past, whenever the old master or the eldest master came to visit the young lady, they never forgot to reward them with silver. One could aspire to higher things, but how could one forget their roots?
However, before Xinlan could say these words, she saw Luohong hurrying over. "Are you the maid serving the eldest daughter of the Ji family?"