Chapter 283: Real Winner in the Family Feud (1) Translator: Iris

Human feelings were like running water. The affairs in the world were like the clouds.Everythingwasin constantchange.

Four Old Master and Fifth Old Master had neverexpected 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 scantyhair, were still able to assert eloquently while citing thestory of Shang Yangissuingthe '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 haslived with the Fourth and Fifth family? Well, after one's parents die, itis reasonable for him to live with his brothers whoare close to him. However, one coulddepend on his parents, uncles or brothers, but itis unreasonable for him to depend on his nephew.

Well, you said that Old Madam Qinis still alive? Old Madam Qinis much younger than Fourth and Fifth Old Master. Don't say that you two don't want to leave because youhateto part with your sister-in-law.

You said that Gu Tingyu hasalso lived with his uncles? That was because he was too weak to govern the whole mansion. Itis fair that the elders havehelped him in the mansion. However, Gu Tingyeis still alivelyman right now.

Thegreat achievementsMarquis Ningyuan's mansion hasmadeare inseparablefromFourth and Fifth uncle's hard work. Thanks for your support, help andcare over the past decades.Nowitis time for youguys to retreat. Your glorious image and virtuous characterwould be remembered forever.

Goodbye, see you,takecare.

Fifth Old Master shivered in anger and got limp on the armchair. Fourth Old Masterpounded on the table and stood up right away, I'll stay or leave when I want to.Youhave no rightto 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 headslowered, cursing, You barefaced guys! Informer days, you clung to me like theplasters and livedonthe allowances I gave to you. Now you just kick meout 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 wordsinanimposing 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 andstampedhis feet for a while, heslumpedinto his chair dejectedly and stopped arguing.

Theturn was not very unexpected. Minglan didn't even need to inquire about the inside story since the people of the Fourth familyhad given it away by themselves.

Gu Tingbingwouldbe banished to a place three thousandmiles away from his family. However, three thousand milestothe north and to the west were extremely different. Three thousand miles north to the capitalwas the border of the country which was covered with ice and snow andutterlydesolateand might be invaded by the soldiers of the JieCountry from time to time. The people who were exiled to that place would never live a peaceful life.Itwouldevenbe luckytocomeback 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 theFen Yuan region were basically at peace and the government's decades of work started to payoff.Thelands had been cultivated, the soldiers had been sent to guard thebordersand lots of villages and counties had been builtonthe west of the area. Except for the entertainment industry (The average age of the prostituteswas above thirty-five), the other industries all developed well.

Therewas still room for discussion aboutwhere theconvictswere about to be banished unless the emperor had pointed out the place of exile(Poor Lin Chongcould onlyblamehis bad luck). Due to that reason, every year when the convicts were about to be banished,theMinistryofPenalty and You Si Yamen would be quite busy. People would scramble tofillthe vacanciesin the two departments(perfectworkopportunitiesfor sure).

Gu Tingxuan was a good brother. These days he hadbeenout 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 assumption, Gu Tingbing didn't need toput on the chains and could ride onahorse or sit in the sedan. Also, his destination wouldbeapeacefulcountyon the northwest where he didn't need to endure the hardship or live the life of a savage. However, asGuTingxuan was about to achieve that result, something went wrong.

At that time,lots of the noble famileswereimplicated in the Guilty Prince's case, some of whichwerein the same situation as the Gu family. What theydidwas more than fawningonthe 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'swrongdoingas well.

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

Generally speaking, in therigidly 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 thefolk-land on the horse orevenwentcorrupt.At most,yourheadwould bechoppedoff. 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 crimesmentioned above,youwould 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 thisperspective, the sentence to the Gu's family was a bit light.Afterall, 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 someof their male members to the prison. Gu Tingbing would be exiled for three years, but theterm of penalty of other guilty men wasat least ten years. So, the other families would surely feel unfair.

What? The Gu family had only helped buysome 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 prostitutes? That was just unreasonable! The families who had boughtmaleprostitutes for the guilty princewere also unhappy with the result! That was pure discrimination forpenis! The female and male prostitutes should be of the same use!

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

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

Although the emperor had settled the lawsuit, the Ministry of Penalty should beincharge of sentencing. When the officials of the Ministry of Penaltyreceived the emperor's order, theyconsideredthe emperor's intention and gavea light sentence to Gu Tingbing. However, nowIf this thing wentseriousand a few imperial censors got interestedinthis (the officials in the Ministry of Penaltymighttreatothers according to their positions), the Ministry of Penalty would run into lots of trouble.