When he went out, he realized that the situation was much worse than he had expected. After the Thirteenth Madam hanged herself, the Ninth Madam also hit the stone pier at the gate of the courtyard. Now she was surrounded by people and her life or death was unknown.
In all these years, the Liu family has never experienced anything like this.
They are honorable in front of others and respected behind their backs. People in the clan have always supported each other, given each other face, and lived in unity and friendship, and they always discussed things together.
Don't treat anyone harshly or praise anyone just because of your relationship with them.
It is also because of this that the Liu family has been able to gain the support of many people in Rongcheng and have been able to gain a foothold for so many years.
But now, things suddenly changed.
Everyone's trust in Liu Biping and the elders of the clan was completely exhausted because of the death of several children.
Old Master Liu himself was also feeling bad - one of the dead was a Jinshi, and in the future he might be another Liu Biping, the hope for the family's future.
He himself also spent a lot of time and effort on them, hoping that they could carry forward the family.
Tears gradually welled up in his eyes, and after a while he let out a long sigh. He was supported by servants as he staggered, and stomped the cane in his hand.
But the crying and shouting were too loud and no one heard it.
The housekeeper looked at his expression and shouted hurriedly, "Masters and ladies, please stop making trouble. If you continue like this, what will happen? The old master is here. If you have any problems, please tell him. He will always make the decision for you!"
In the past, some people would have believed this, but who believes it now
The ninth master of the third house knelt down with tears in his eyes and kowtowed not far from Old Master Liu. His voice was still choked with sobs: "Old Master! Please be fair. For so many years, we have done our best to serve the clan..."
He couldn't continue, and cried for a while with his face covered before he managed to speak: "But now, look at us, we raised our child with great difficulty, and now he's gone without even an explanation!"
How many twenty years does a person have in his life? He spent twenty years raising himself, and finally became a young scholar selected from thousands of people, but he was gone in the blink of an eye.
The clan must give him an explanation!
People started crying one after another. Old Master Liu looked at them with some difficulty. He knew that this matter would not be easily resolved. He sighed and said slowly: "Biping has gone to Qinghe County to deal with the pirates. When he comes back, I will make him give you an explanation..."
As he was talking, a man who looked like a servant suddenly ran in from outside, walked straight up to the Seventh Master, and said to him loudly: "Master! The Sixteenth Master has gone back! The Sixteenth Master has gone back!"
Everyone was stunned.
Except for a few people who were really useless, who were arranged to take care of the business and some illegitimate sons, the rest of the six to twenty-two people in the clan went to the dinner at the inn.
The Sixteenth Young Master is one of them.
It was said before that several people died, but the Sixteenth Young Master was not among the recognized ones, which means that he is indeed still alive.
But Shen Chen was watching the man very closely, how could he let him go so easily
Old Master Liu was stunned and asked hurriedly: "Really?!"
The servant nodded his head: "It's absolutely true! He really went back. They went to pick him up in person from the post house!"
Old Master Liu was stunned.
Mr. Liu also looked back at them in surprise, not knowing how to react.
It was the Seventh Master who grabbed the servant by the collar and asked him, "What exactly is going on?! Can you explain it more clearly? Is it only the Sixteenth Young Master who came out? Where are the others?!"
His own son was also there, the youngest, and was brought by his brothers to watch the fun.
He was originally a scholar who didn't care about anything. If his youngest son hadn't been involved, he wouldn't have come to make trouble today.
The servant responded, nodding breathlessly: "Only the Sixteenth Young Master came out! I heard, I heard it was because... because the Sixteenth Young Master asked the good man Xu for help, and through Xu's connections, he met the Imperial Envoy, and somehow the Imperial Envoy agreed to release him..."
There was a brief silence in the whole courtyard.
Asked the Xu family for help
What a joke, in Rongcheng, the Liu family actually had to ask the Xu family for help one day, waiting for the Xu family to find a way for them? !
Old Master Liu felt a chill in his heart and knew that it was over.
It's all over.
Once this precedent was set, the clansmen would think that Liu Biping was useless, that the Liu family was useless, that they could not protect the younger generation, and that they could not protect people with the surname Liu. But for the imperial envoy, all they had to do was beg him and say something nice.
In comparison, isn't it obvious who is more worthy of trust and who is more worthy of flattery
No parent would be willing to gamble with their child's life.
It's not like Liu Biping didn't know about this before, but what was his reaction after he found out? Besides doing something to anger Shen Chen and make him kill more people, what else did he do
He ran to Qinghe County and chose to turn a blind eye to the incident.
Believe him
Old Master Liu smiled bitterly and didn't believe it himself.
Sure enough, after the servant finished speaking, the Seventh Master swallowed his saliva and looked at Old Master Liu.
Then, without saying a word, he suddenly knelt down and kowtowed three times to Old Master Liu.
Everyone was stunned, and the yard was filled with unspeakable silence and awkwardness.
Not long after, the Seventh Master stood up again in silence, helped up his wife who had already cried so hard that her voice was no longer heard, and they slowly walked out of the yard together.
Their departure seemed to be the beginning of something, but after a while, the crowd that had been so noisy just now gradually quieted down, and from time to time some people followed them out.
Old Master Liu closed his eyes in sorrow and didn't say a word for a long time.
Not until most people had left did Mr. Liu and Mrs. Liu hurriedly call out.
Old Master Liu waved his hands, smiling helplessly and mockingly, looking at the empty yard, then at Master Liu and Madam Liu, and asked them, "What else can we do now? Can we keep them here? If we keep them, we'll become enemies!"
Yes, they themselves had no ability and no desire to help them save their son. Now if they just go and beg Shen Chen, their son will come back. If the Liu family tries to stop them again, I'm afraid the clansmen will immediately become furious, causing a huge conflict.
But now, although there is no conflict, people's hearts have become uncontrollably scattered.
Liu Biping...
Liu Biping, the young man he once had the highest hopes for, now seems to no longer be the young man he loved the most. He has become so unrecognizable that he can't even recognize him.
Madam Liu sobbed quietly. She was really discouraged. In all these years, she had never seen the Liu family so helpless.