The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1198 - 1177: The Final Farewell

Chapter 1198: Chapter 1177: The Final Farewell

Libationer Kong also felt that Bai Shan couldn’t keep skipping classes. After waiting several days and noticing that the Empress Dowager’s illness hadn’t improved at all, with the sentencing of the Prince of Yizhou also temporarily put on hold, those implicated in the matter began to be investigated.

Moreover, it was heard that Yizhou had already started to escort the rebel leaders to the capital.

Libationer Kong calculated that even if they set out immediately, it would still take about ten days to reach the capital.

Therefore, he thought it over and, while assigning some additional homework to Bai Shan through the teacher of Class A3, he pondered whether to let Bai Shan return to school.

Mainly because it had been three days since Bai Shan and his company were released from prison, and no one seemed to be looking for trouble with them.

It appeared that to avoid suspicion and not give the Imperial Censors any handles, even the Empress Dowager hadn’t picked on them.

Libationer Kong always felt that if he kept allowing Bai Shan to take leave and not attend school, it would seem as if the Imperial Academy were afraid of the Prince of Yizhou.

Moreover, Bai Shan’s reputation would be damaged if he kept hiding like this.

Hiding for three to five days could be justified by his recent release from prison and the need to recuperate, but hiding for three to five months would become a joke.

Thus, Libationer Kong planned to make a trip to the palace, but before he could head there, the Emperor summoned him to the palace instead.

Together with important ministers such as Wei Zhi and Tang Hui.

Upon entering the palace, it was discovered that members of prominent clans, including Ms. Zhao, were discussing the matter of the Prince of Yizhou with the Empress Dowager, summoned by the Emperor.

The palace was filled with many attendees. The Empress Dowager lay on her sickbed, weeping with the Emperor for a long while, and various clan leaders and high officials also took turns to console...

After exiting the palace, Libationer Kong then instructed his servant, "Tell the teacher of Class A3 to notify Bai Shan to come back to class."

The servant asked, "Not hiding anymore?"

"Hide my ass. The private soldiers have been seized, the people arrested; His Majesty wants to display filial piety, this matter is likely to be left unresolved."

Since it will be left unresolved, Bai Shan and Zhou Man, being the victims, would not be harmed by the Prince of Yizhou harboring resentment in his heart at this time.

The Empress Dowager, to block the criticizing mouths, would likely have to bestow favors upon them in the end, so there was no need to hide anymore.

At this time, Bai Shan and his companions had just returned from Elms Alley. They had just received the new assignments delivered by the teacher and hadn’t even had time to sigh when they turned around to receive the message to go back to school.

Bai Shan was confused and looked towards Yin Huo. Yin Huo stood up and said, "I’ll go back and ask my grandmother, but since my father is not in the capital at the moment, the news at home might be a bit delayed."

Bai Shan and Manbao, among others, saw him out, "Then we’ll be counting on you."

After Yin Huo left, Manbao asked, "Are we still going to the Sky Prison tomorrow?"

After a moment of contemplation, Bai Shan nodded, "Yes, start and finish what you begin. Although I don’t know what has happened, since we’ve started this play, let’s complete it."

Because they thought it would be their last visit, despite not being very fond of Bapo, Bai Shan and Manbao still prepared a very generous meal for him. Of course, they also gave one to that female prisoner.

Receiving such a generous gift, Bapo was stunned for a moment before asking, "You won’t come again?"

Bai Shan nodded, sat down opposite him through the prison door, and said, "I’m going back to school tomorrow."

Bapo then looked at Manbao.

Manbao said, "He’s going to school, and I’m about to begin my shifts at the pharmacy. We thought that meeting is a matter of fate, so we prepared some extra delicacies for you today."

Bapo then glanced at the food box of the female prisoner diagonally opposite and lifted his chin to ask, "There are so many people in this prison, why only give to the two of us?"

Bai Shan was quite honest and said directly, "We give it to her out of sympathy, feeling that her crime does not warrant death, but the law is such, and we are powerless to change it. We give it to you because you have been of some help to us."

Bapo then laughed, "Didn’t she tell you that day that I was deceiving you?"

"We know," Bai Shan said with a smile, "From the beginning, we knew you were fooling us, but whether you were deceiving us or not, we still had to come and see you, so that people outside had something to do."

Bapo curled his lip, "You scholars sure talk in roundabout ways."

He didn’t care much about that and just took out the stewed chicken and tore it open, swallowing his saliva before starting to eat. As he ate, he sighed, "After today, it will be back to eating chaff and swallowing vegetables."

The food in the prison was terrible, the buns were mixed with chaff, and a lot of rice porridge was made from old rice. Without being properly rinsed, it always had a strange smell.

Manbao said indifferently, "In a few days, aren’t you going to be executed? Then you’ll get to eat something delicious."

Bapo choked, feeling that the stewed chicken in his mouth had lost its flavor. He stared at Manbao with his muddy eyes and then suddenly smiled, "Do you find me very disagreeable, young lady?"

After thinking for a moment, Manbao shook her head, "Not exactly, just dislike is all. The books I’ve read always say that there’s always a reason for someone to commit a crime, so I’m curious about what your reason is?"

Bapo didn’t answer but instead asked, "Why were you guys put into the sky prison? And in the neighboring cell that’s so spacious, your family must be high officials, right?"

Manbao said, "My family is poor, very poor. I used to have three brothers, and the family was worried that they wouldn’t be able to find wives. Now there’s still one brother left, and even though he’s of age, he hasn’t found a wife yet."

Turning his head to Bai Shan, Bapo nodded in affirmation of Manbao’s words, "Her family was very poor before."

"Poor?" Bapo looked Manbao up and down with a face full of disbelief.

Without changing his expression, Bai Shan said, "But she is smart, the master liked her a lot, so he took her as a disciple, and my grandmother also liked her very much, so she studied together with me."

Bapo then said, "The young lady is quite lucky. As a commoner, if it’s not a crime of murder, how could you have been locked up in the sky prison and still receive special attention from officials?"

"Probably because we sued the Prince of Yizhou, which caught the eye of many, so we received such attention." The person across was about to be beheaded; there was no harm in speaking the truth. Manbao was more curious about the process of his crime, so she simply sat cross-legged opposite him and spoke frankly, "You see, we have answered your questions, why don’t you answer ours too? Why did you kill people?"

After a moment of silence, Bapo tore off a piece of chicken and stuffed it into his mouth, saying, "To survive, I guess. They were going to denounce me, to kill me, to take my life, so naturally, I could only kill them. What did you sue the Prince of Yizhou for?"

"It’s nothing much, he killed our parents and was plotting rebellion. We found out and sued him," Manbao said, "Because of theft? Being caught for theft should only lead to exile, so you killed to avoid exile?"

"Pfft," Bapo said, "Exile is worse than beheading. Being sent to the frontier to become a slave soldier, or to the mines to dig, that’s truly worse than death. If I had escaped, I would have been safe, so of course I had to kill them."

Manbao then sighed.

"Hmph, don’t feel that I am cruel. The ones I killed were not good people either."

"The family that gave you food, they weren’t good people either?"

Bapo fell silent for a good while, then said, "Her son was a deserter, what kind of good person is that? I never intended to kill her; it’s just that she stumbled upon me killing her son and started screaming, that’s when I had to act and kill her."