Human feelings were like running water. The affairs in the world were like the clouds. Everything was in constant change.

Four Old Master and Fifth Old Master had never expected that their relatives who had relied on them to live before would dare to talk to them like that.

The elders of the Gu family who had been invited here by Gu Tingye, with shaking teeth and scanty hair, were still able to a.s.sert eloquently while citing the story of Shang Yang issuing the "Living Separately" order as well as the laws and disciplines of all the dynasties. They said that the branches of the prospering families all needed to live independently. It was good for the prosperity of each branch and the members could still help each other in this way… Their long speech could be concluded by one sentence: After the family property was divided, each branch should live separately.

“You said that Old Master Gu has lived with the Fourth and Fifth family? Well, after one"s parents die, it is reasonable for him to live with his brothers who are close to him. However, one could depend on his parents, uncles or brothers, but it is unreasonable for him to depend on his nephew.”

“Well, you said that Old Madam Qin is still alive? Old Madam Qin is much younger than Fourth and Fifth Old Master. Don"t say that you two don"t want to leave because you hate to part with your sister-in-law.”

“You said that Gu Tingyu has also lived with his uncles? That was because he was too weak to govern the whole mansion. It is fair that the elders have helped him in the mansion. However, Gu Tingye is still a lively man right now.”

“The great achievements Marquis Ningyuan"s mansion has made are inseparable from Fourth and Fifth uncle"s hard work. Thanks for your support, help and care over the past decades. Now it is time for you guys to retreat. Your glorious image and virtuous character would be remembered forever.”

Goodbye, see you, take care.

Fifth Old Master shivered in anger and got limp on the armchair. Fourth Old Master pounded on the table and stood up right away, “I"ll stay or leave when I want to. You have no right to tell me what to do!”

He was a rude man after all. Then he started to act shamelessly while pointing to the people who sat at the back with their heads lowered, cursing, “You barefaced guys! In former days, you clung to me like the plasters and lived on the allowances I gave to you. Now you just kick me out when I am down! I"m telling you this, I won"t leave! I"ll see if Gu Tingye dares to drive me away by himself!”

He uttered those words in an imposing manner. Obviously, he had a great plan, but others had counterplans.

After a short while, Gu Tingxuan walked into the hall with cold sweats on his forehead and then whispered to his father. Hearing that, Fourth Old Master changed the look on his face right away. After he had gritted his teeth and stamped his feet for a while, he slumped into his chair dejectedly and stopped arguing.

The turn was not very unexpected. Minglan didn"t even need to inquire about the inside story since the people of the Fourth family had given it away by themselves.

Gu Tingbing would be banished to a place three thousand miles away from his family. However, three thousand miles to the north and to the west were extremely different. Three thousand miles north to the capital was the border of the country which was covered with ice and snow and utterly desolate and might be invaded by the soldiers of the Jie Country from time to time. The people who were exiled to that place would never live a peaceful life. It would even be lucky to come back home with a complete body.

Three thousand miles west to the capital was nothing like that. Ever since Emperor Wu had pacified Nu"er Gandusi, the Jin area as well as the Fen Yuan region were basically at peace and the government"s decades of work started to pay off. The lands had been cultivated, the soldiers had been sent to guard the borders and lots of villages and counties had been built on the west of the area. Except for the entertainment industry (The average age of the prost.i.tutes was above thirty-five), the other industries all developed well.

There was still room for discussion about where the convicts were about to be banished unless the emperor had pointed out the place of exile (Poor Lin Chong could only blame his bad luck). Due to that reason, every year when the convicts were about to be banished, the Ministry of Penalty and You Si Yamen would be quite busy. People would scramble to fill the vacancies in the two departments (perfect work opportunities for sure).

Gu Tingxuan was a good brother. These days he had been out the whole time with silvers in order to use his connections to make sure Gu Tingbing would have a peaceful trip. In Gu Tingxuan"s a.s.sumption, Gu Tingbing didn"t need to put on the chains and could ride on a horse or sit in the sedan. Also, his destination would be a peaceful county on the northwest where he didn"t need to endure the hardship or live the life of a savage. However, as Gu Tingxuan was about to achieve that result, something went wrong.

At that time, lots of the n.o.ble familes were implicated in the Guilty Prince"s case, some of which were in the same situation as the Gu family. What they did was more than fawning on the Guilty Prince, but not enough to be called collusion, and definitely far from rebellion. While the members of those families who were still in power made efforts to save their own people, they seemed to have exposed the Gu family"s wrongdoing as well.

Question: what is the most serious crime in the ancient times? Treason and Conspiracy.

Generally speaking, in the rigidly stratified society of the ancient times, if you were at the apex of power and had a powerful background, then it was not a big deal if you abducted a woman, tramped on the folk-land on the horse or even went corrupt. At most, your head would be chopped off. Perhaps your family property would be confiscated, and you families would be sold, but that was the heaviest penalty you could get (If you are the relatives of the Royal family, that penalty would also be skipped).

However, if you committed the two crimes mentioned above, you would definitely meet with the extermination of your whole family. Whether you would receive a Three, Nine or Ten Familial extermination all depended the emperor"s mood and moral character.

What the guilty prince had committed was exactly Conspiracy.

In this perspective, the sentence to the Gu"s family was a bit light. After all, they had truly run errands for the guilty prince.

Only one member of the Gu family had been sentenced, but other families who were involved in the case had to send some of their male members to the prison. Gu Tingbing would be exiled for three years, but the term of penalty of other guilty men was at least ten years. So, the other families would surely feel unfair.

What? The Gu family had only helped buy some beauties for the guilty prince? We also had only invited a few performers to act the plays! Did it mean that the performers did more harm than the prost.i.tutes? That was just unreasonable! The families who had bought male prost.i.tutes for the guilty prince were also unhappy with the result! That was pure discrimination for p.e.n.i.s! The female and male prost.i.tutes should be of the same use!

-All right. That was all Minglan"s imagination. After she had heard the rumors Xiaotao had told her, she slumped onto the bed right away and then thumped the bed violently while laughing like crazy.

The whole thing also gave the staff in the Ministry of Penalty a headache.

Although the emperor had settled the lawsuit, the Ministry of Penalty should be in charge of sentencing. When the officials of the Ministry of Penalty received the emperor"s order, they considered the emperor"s intention and gave a light sentence to Gu Tingbing. However, now… If this thing went serious and a few imperial censors got interested in this (the officials in the Ministry of Penalty might treat others according to their positions), the Ministry of Penalty would run into lots of trouble.