Chapter 120 Prison: “He’s not someone to entrust your life to.”

Chapter 120: Prison: "He is not a man worth trusting."

Bo Ge and Nanny Chen did not realize that Tian Qin was already under Xie Tanwei's dangerous surveillance and manipulation, and were still happily preparing for the wedding. In fact, every time Xie Tanwei appeared, he left no trace, pressuring her to choose to leave Bo Ge and Nanny Chen.

It was hard for Tian Qin to escape from the inferno, so how could she approach a viper again? She would never comply with Xie Tanwei's wishes, and was determined to see this marriage through, even if the marriage itself had flaws.

Tell me, where in the world is there absolute perfection? If she fell for Xie Tanwei's seduction, she would fall into an even more inescapable abyss.

Their wedding was simple: they set out a table of dishes and invited the neighbors.

Tian Qin put on a newly tailored fiery red wedding dress. Bo Ge pinned a large red flower on his chest, cheerfully prepared wine, and bowed three times to heaven and earth. From then on, they were a poor couple sharing hardships, never to abandon each other in life or death.

However, on the day of the wedding, complications arose.

The playboy Zhang Xia, who had previously coveted and bullied Tian Qin, came with government officials to accuse Bo Ge, accusing him of violating the government ban by secretly harvesting the forbidden Jiulongpan.

Jiulongpan, a rare medicinal herb similar to salt, was under government control. Three years ago, the government posted a notice banning private harvesting of Jiulongpan, with severe penalties for violators, including exile or execution.

The crucial point was that Zhang Xia had not falsely accused him. Bo Ge had indeed secretly harvested Jiulongpan to make Tian Qin's wedding dress.

The Jiulongpan that Bo Ge had privately sold was now glaringly presented as evidence, and the buyer turned out to be the Zhang family—caught red-handed. From beginning to end, this was a sinister scheme to lure him into a trap.

The constable lawfully arrested Bo Ge.

Nanny Chen tried to stop them but wept bitterly, her hoarse voice nearly breaking, and fainted from grief.

Tian Qin, clad in her heavy wedding dress, was a frail, blind woman, powerless to intervene.

She knew that this was largely orchestrated by Xie Tanwei, because Zhang Xia, who had been leering at her a few days earlier, was now obsequious and respectful, almost in awe towards her.

The poor were like ants, unable to withstand a light squeeze from those above.

Tian Qin bit her lip until it bled, and said firmly, "I want to see Lord Xie."

Zhang Xia indeed understood without asking which Lord Xie, and promptly escorted her to a luxurious tavern, saying, "Lord Xie is waiting for you in the private room on the second floor."

He paused, then added, "If you had said earlier that Miss Tian is Lord Xie's woman, you almost got my whole family killed!"

Initially shocked by this revelation, Zhang Xia guessed that Tian Qin was a caged bird raised by a wealthy household, but he never expected her to be from the Xie family. Even if the Xie family had thrown something away, it wasn't for a lowlife like him to claim.

Now he could only try to be respectful to this woman, hoping she would put in a good word for him with Lord Xie.

Tian Qin's face was pale as ash.

Leaning on her cane, she was helped by the tea master up to the third floor. The surroundings were open and the view exquisite. The east wind cut like a tailor's scissors, carrying a chilling breeze, drifting and fluttering with snowflakes, refreshing the mind, as if the host himself were as pure as ice.

As soon as she arrived, the windows around were closed, preserving the warmth of the charcoal fire.

A simple incense burned quietly, with a serene Zen atmosphere, permeated with the scent of gardenias. The indoor light source was single, casting long shadows. The fierce winter wind outside, in the utter stillness, became more clearly heard, empty and cold, grating on the nerves.

It was she who came to seek him today, so Xie Tanwei did not exchange pleasantries.

Tian Qin sat with her head down in the dim yellow lamplight. "You..."

Xie Tanwei said coldly, "Why grace me with your presence on your wedding day?"

"The great joy day has gone up in smoke, and Bo Ge has been arrested." Her unfocused, pale eyes were full of questioning, her tone colder than his. "Let's go our separate ways. When will you stop hounding me?"

Xie Tanwei sat still as if in meditation, gave her a faint glance, and said with an unreadable expression: "First, take off your clothes."

Tian Qin was still wearing the glaring red wedding dress.

She was silent for a moment, then relented, unbuttoning the dress one by one, filled with disgust—this hateful wedding dress had ruined her wedding and caused Bo Ge's imprisonment.

Xie Tanwei's tone was lazy as he sipped his tea.

After a long pause, he slowly explained the reason.

"He is not a man worth trusting, as I told you."

Tian Qin, clutching her undergarments in shame, retorted, "Whether he is worth trusting is not for you to decide. Can't I just refuse your kindness?"

Xie Tanwei sighed indifferently, "You are as stubborn as ever. We can't see eye to eye, so why come to me? Get out."

His tone was genuinely cold and indifferent; her family's lives mattered less than the snow outside.

Tian Qin felt as if frozen in place.

The tea master came to escort her out, but she couldn't leave.

So she spoke bluntly, "Release Bo Ge. Name your conditions."

Xie Tanwei crossed his long legs, with no hint of violence or even lust. His clear voice created an invisible pressure, and his calm breathing showed he was absorbed in the pure white snow scene. He said:

"I think you've misunderstood. I have no conditions."

"Bo Ge was caught by the government, and the government is after his life. You should go to the county magistrate. What can I do?"

"The theft was committed by Bo Ge himself; the informant was Zhang Xia. His hands were completely clean throughout."

Tian Qin couldn't tolerate his cruelty and cold-bloodedness. Not only did he drag her down, but he also wanted to trample her into the mud and completely destroy her dignity.

He also needed to prove that he was not a womanizer. When she begged him, he put on an aloof and uncooperative attitude—Tian Qin didn't even have the right to ask, "What more do you want?" because he hadn't done anything at all.

Tian Qin rose and left resolutely, stumbling, her blind eyes unseeing.

...

At home, grief was everywhere.

Her biological son had been taken to that hellish place and sentenced to death. Nanny Chen wept day and night, shedding tears of blood, refusing to eat or drink, and was almost blind. With the loss of the family's able-bodied man, their poor household was precarious, teetering in the freezing wind and rain.

They couldn't even file a petition for justice because the government was acting according to national law, leaving no loopholes. The village was near the deep mountains, and every year there were those who secretly harvested forbidden herbs like Jiulongpan and were beheaded. Bo Ge had become one of them.

Flies don't land on eggs without cracks. If Bo Ge hadn't been greedy and broken the law to harvest Jiulongpan, how could Zhang Xia have had the chance to report him? Even if they petitioned the emperor, it would be all on the government's side.

Things had come to this; even Nanny Chen, slow-witted as she was, realized something was wrong. Having once served in a wealthy household, she asked bitterly, "Tian'er, is it from Lord Xie..."

Tian Qin remained silent.

Xie Tanwei intended to take the lives of their entire family.

Nanny Chen wept even more bitterly. She, more than anyone, knew what kind of person the Lord was. "What kind of sin is this!"

It wasn't that they had the audacity to defy the Lord. The Lord had first abandoned Tian Qin, drawing a line and driving her out of the house. Only then did Bo Ge take her in and marry her. They had been honest and law-abiding, yet they had suffered such an undeserved disaster.

Nanny Chen cried until she went blind, and Tian Qin was also blind. Wan Cui was still young, leaving only Zhaolu to handle things at home. Zhaolu went to the yamen several times, requesting a prison visit, but was mercilessly expelled by the constables, without even a glimpse of Bo Ge. It was said that such clear-cut cases of illegally harvesting Jiulongpan were treated like salt smuggling, and that within three days, Bo Ge would be sent to the execution grounds with other criminals.

Tian Qin sat in the bridal chamber. The once soft and happy wedding satin had faded, and the longan, lotus seeds, and peanuts scattered all over the bed had rotted. They only served to make lying down uncomfortable. The marriage candles that lit the bridal chamber had burned out, nearly causing a fire due to being unattended for so long. The family was on the verge of collapse. In despair, Nanny Chen tearfully begged Tian Qin, "Tian'er, please save Bo Ge. I beg you. Go find the Lord again. He is a sage, a great Confucian; he can't be that heartless."

Tian Qin was cold and hard, filled with detachment: "Nanny Chen, if I go to him, you know what will happen."

A woman once a concubine or servant seeking out her former patron again—the implication was obvious.

Nanny Chen often considered herself a mother-in-law; Tian Qin and Bo Ge were already betrothed, just one step away from the wedding ceremony. Sending Tian Qin to Lord Xie was akin to delivering a lamb into the tiger's mouth, personally offering her daughter-in-law to another man's bed.

But Nanny Chen could no longer care about that.

Compared to chastity and reputation, saving Bo Ge's life was far more important.

Nanny Chen weakly buried her head in her hands, saying, "Go, go. There's no other way, is there..."

People would be killed and beheaded right then and there. In three days, at the execution ground, their family would watch from below as Bo Ge's hot neck blood splattered onto them.

This was Tian Qin's last value as a blind woman.

Zhaolu and Wan Cui both wept in Tian Qin's embrace. Neither of them could save Tian Qin.

Tian Qin once again arrived at the same tavern from that day, her eyes bound with a thick white silk blindfold, two maidservants at her side. The landlady frequently glanced sideways, finding it strange that a blind, frail girl would come to such a pleasure house, until Tian Qin was invited into Lord Xie's private room.

A similar scene, a similar private room, but people's attitudes had completely changed.

Inside the private room, two music girls knelt in the corner, strumming the strings of a zither, the crisp tones flowing like a mountain stream—a piece Tian Qin used to love to play, "Thoughts of You." Back then, he had held her, saying the lingering melody suited a rainy night, paired with a cloying incense that etched itself into the soul, remembered by lovers for lifetimes.

That day when Tian Qin fled, she had vaguely sensed that she would return here in the future, in an even more difficult predicament.

When she came, Xie Tanwei did not stop the clear zither music. With her, the zither player, gone from his side, he had already found others. She had returned of her own accord, but he showed no sign of relenting; the conclusion was already sealed.

That he was willing to see her now was the greatest courtesy.

Tian Qin stood like a pillar for a moment, as if she were invisible, ignored by master and servants alike. There was an empty zither on the bamboo mat, and Tian Qin sat down without invitation. Her ten fingers, stiff and covered with chilblains, fumbled blindly, producing a stream of notes far inferior to the musicians'.

Xie Tanwei listened for a while, then ordered the musicians to withdraw, fixing his full attention on her.

Tian Qin could not strike the correct notes. Her vision was filled with darkness, and she was not wearing fingerpicks. Soon, the sharp strings cut her fingertips.

She still did not stop, playing with bloodstained fingers.

Xie Tanwei gently pressed down on her fingers and said, "Enough. You're bleeding."

He did not call for a physician to dress the wound, but lowered his head and licked the blood from her fingertip, not minding the roughness and dirt from her years of hard labor at all.

Tian Qin shuddered, as if suddenly understanding an unspoken message. Silently, she accepted the hint, letting him stop her bleeding. It was ticklish, the _Love Gu_ gathering at her fingertips, an unbearable numbness and pain spread through her limbs.

She yielded, and he tacitly accepted her concession. Perhaps there was a sliver of hope for Bo Ge's life.