"Father, are you all right?"
Seeing Dong Wenshu emerge from the City Lord's Manor, his children crowded around him, looking him over and asking questions.
Dong Wenshu glanced at the woman who did odd jobs at the hall, then shook his head. "I'm fine. Let's go home."
The family made their way down the mountain after their harrowing ordeal.
When they reached the entrance to the Book Hall, their neighbors surrounded them, all chattering away and asking what had happened.
The Dong family did not want to dwell on certain things. They said everything was fine, that it had been a misunderstanding, but the neighbors still came up with all manner of explanations for the wounds on Dong Wenshu's body.
At a time like this, the value of a good reputation became clear. None of them believed the Dong family could have done anything wicked.
The family went inside and immediately shut the door. After changing his clothes, Dong Wenshu gathered everyone for a talk and explained why they had been arrested: Wang Ping had implicated them.
The Dong children, who had not undergone interrogation themselves, were astonished. Could someone as harmless and free of worldly desires as Wang Ping really be a bad person?
With no knowledge of the truth, their ordinary understanding was that only bad people, or people who had done something bad, brought such trouble upon themselves.
Then Dong Wenshu took out a purse and pushed it toward the woman who did odd jobs. "Xianglan, our family doesn't want to go through something like this again, nor do we want to drag you into it. This is two months' wages. Please find another position."
That was something of an excuse, too.
The old man in black wanted to place a distant relative here, and neither sentiment