Chapter 193: Sudden Turn For The Worse
In Jingxin Ward, under the incitement of a few people, the clan members’ indignation had reached its peak. A first seven days memorial quickly turned into a rally to redress Lu Jian’s grievances.
“Everyone, we can shout ourselves hoarse here, but those people remain unmoved!” someone shouted loudly. “Let’s go to Sanwei Hall and plead Lu Jian’s case before the ancestral tablets. I dare them to keep pretending to be deaf and dumb!”
“Exactly, exactly!” the clan members roared in agreement. “Let’s go together!” With that, they crowded around a group of elders and marched grandly toward Sanwei Hall.
In Sanwei Hall, how could Lu Shang ignore the Elder Council’s actions? He had always had Lu Xiu keep an eye on the situation in Jingxin Ward. Thus, as soon as the clan members there set off, Lu Xiu hurriedly reported to Lu Shang. “Father, those clan members who don’t know the truth have indeed been stirred up by Lu Wen’s memorial essay. They’re heading to Sanwei Hall to seek justice for Lu Jian!”
“Hmph! They’re twisting black and white!” Lu Wei and Lu Xia flew into a rage upon hearing this. The two had been involved throughout in Lu Jian’s arrest and investigation, and the Elder Council’s distortion was a great slander against them as well.
“I’ll go block them right now. Let’s see who dares ignore the clan rules and gather a crowd to make trouble?” Lu Xia said coldly.
“Third Brother, just go. I’ll bring the retainers to back you up, ensuring not a single person gets into Lu Ward!” Knowing the Elder Council was up to something, they naturally had to prepare for the worst. Lu Wei, the Martial Guard Steward, had already assembled the retainers and was standing by behind Sanwei Hall.
“Everyone, stay calm.” But Lu Shang shook his head and said in a deep voice, “Don’t you think this has caused enough commotion already?”
“Yes,” Lu Xiu said worriedly. “The Great Elder’s intent is to pit the clan members against the Clan Leader. Being overly forceful now would only make that Elder Council bunch laugh their heads off!”
“But if we don’t act decisively, the Clan Leader will be roasted over the fire!” Veins bulged on Lu Wei’s forehead. He had finally fully realized the shamelessness of that Elder Council bunch—it was shamelessness at its extreme!
“Wait a bit longer,” Lu Shang said calmly, stroking his beard without panic. “What’s black is black; no amount of whitewashing can make it white. The lies will surely be exposed.”
“I’m afraid by the time the truth comes out, it’ll be too late.” Lu Xia said with furrowed brows.
“Not necessarily.” Lu Shang simply closed his eyes slightly, tapping his fingers lightly on his knee, as if waiting for something.
.
Just then, as the clan members exited Jingxin Ward’s ward gate, they saw on the street lines of mule-drawn carts loaded with grain coming in groups from Lu Ward’s dock. The first batch of clan members who had received their grain were already heading home.
The two groups met on the same street, and the fairly wide street immediately became jammed.
“Make way, make way!” The servants driving the carts hurriedly pulled hard on the reins while shouting loudly, fearing they might collide with these aristocrats and bring trouble to their master.
Beside those mule-drawn carts, the clan members who had gone to collect grain saw their brothers and kin and called out curiously, “What are you doing?”
“Perfect timing—come with us!” Their brothers and kin called back. “Let’s go demand justice for the Third Steward!”
“What’s wrong with the Third Steward? We just saw him.” The grain-collecting clan members asked puzzled.
“We’re not talking about Lu Xin—we mean Lu Jian!” their brothers and kin shouted loudly.
“Lu Jian?!” If they hadn’t mentioned it, it would have been fine, but at the mention of Lu Jian’s name, the clan members who had gone for money and grain immediately flared up in anger. “Demand justice for him? We should dig up his coffin, pulverize his bones, and scatter his ashes!”
“Hey, you’ve been deceived,” their brothers and kin explained excitedly. “Lu Jian was forced to death—he’s innocent!”
“Nonsense! I don’t care if he was forced or wronged to death!” The money-and-grain clan members roared even more excitedly. “We know he emptied the clan’s treasury and stole our monthly allowances, leaving us with not a single coin!”
“Ah! What?!” The clan members who had just been filled with righteous indignation and aggressive momentum were suddenly dumbfounded and hurriedly asked about what had happened at the dock.
In an instant, the clan members cast Lu Jian’s matter aside and all stopped to listen angrily as their money-and-grain kin recounted how Lu Jian had madly embezzled public funds, causing the clan huge losses and heavy debts, to the point where even monthly allowances couldn’t be paid!
As more clan members emerged from the dock, their back-and-forth accounts turned into furious denunciations! Lu Jian, who had just been wrapped in grievances, instantly became a villain who deserved his death!
The Elder Council members exchanged glances, all knowing things had gone south, but even the people they had arranged were now fully absorbed listening to the money-and-grain clan members… After all, whether they could get their monthly allowances was a major matter concerning every clan member. Seeking justice for Lu Jian or demanding accountability from the Clan Leader was nothing compared to that.
Although the elders didn’t need that bit of monthly allowance to live, they didn’t dare at this moment to go against the crowd’s anger and shut those clan members’ mouths. Several elders looked pleadingly toward the Great Elder at the rear.
Lu Wen’s face was ashen, saying nothing—clearly, he was out of ideas too.
.
By now, the money-and-grain people had finished recounting the events, and the atmosphere on the street fell into a deathly silence.
Moments later, someone yanked off the white cloth from his waist, threw it viciously to the ground, stomped it hard a couple times, and cursed, “Pah! To think I wore mourning for a dog like you—I’m blind as a bat!” Still not satisfied, he spat on it a couple more times.
“Exactly, how could such a damn dog be innocent!” Immediately, others followed suit, untying their waist white cloths and trampling them hard. “Dying like this is too easy on him—he should be cut into pieces and thrown into boiling oil!”
“The Clan Leader did right—what’s the point of keeping such a dog alive?!”
As the saying goes, taking people’s money is like killing their parents. From this angle, Lu Jian had essentially killed every clan member’s parents once… Soon, everyone untied their white waistbands, threw them viciously to the ground, and glared hatefully at those who had incited them to seek justice for Lu Jian.
“Don’t look at us—we were fooled by him too, okay?” Those people explained pallidly. “If we knew he’d done such despicable things, who the hell would speak up for him!”
“Sigh! What a mess!” The clan members were filled with indignation at having been fooled, wanting to vent but finding no target, and in the end could only stamp their feet hatefully and scatter like birds and beasts.
In the blink of an eye, the long street was left only with trampled, discolored cloth strips all over the ground, and the Elder Council’s elders. Even their arranged hands had all slipped away cleanly to avoid suspicion.
“Great Elder,” several confidant elders said with bitter faces, looking at Lu Wen. “What do we do now?”
“What do we do? Cool off!” The Great Elder’s face flushed alternately green and purple. Though those clan members hadn’t dared question him directly, they had all shot him angry looks. Clearly, his brilliant performance at Lu Jian’s spirit tablet had become, in everyone’s eyes, a joke full of lies!
He had painstakingly planned this to ruin Lu Shang’s prestige, but who would have thought it would end with him losing all face…
Lu Wen was practically exploding with rage. He glared fiercely at those elders, didn’t take the carriage, and walked back with hands behind his back. He wanted to hurry back to the Elder Council to avoid being pointed at by clan members.
But in his haste, he didn’t watch his step. He unwittingly stepped on both ends of a cloth strip with one foot while the other went into the middle. The seventy-or-eighty-year-old Great Elder, who had no martial arts left, was thus tripped hard to the ground, his entire face slamming onto the street.
“Aiya, Great Elder!” People nearby exclaimed, hurriedly helping him up and supporting the tight-eyed, shamefaced Great Elder into the carriage.
