Only after entering did Tang Zhuyun see clearly. Tang Baixin knelt on the floor with his head lowered, looking ready to submit to any beating or scolding, while Tang Mingfan stood holding a rattan cane, his chest heaving with rage.
"Father!" Seeing Tang Mingfan's ashen face, Tang Zhuyun hurried forward to support him and help him catch his breath. "Father, please calm down. Your health can't take this. Whatever it is, let's talk it through!"
She had given him no end of worry before, but at least he had Tang Baixin, a son who had made something of himself.
Now she had only just come to her senses, and Tang Baixin had landed himself in a world of trouble.
Tang Mingfan was truly pitiful.
"A-Yun, get out!" Tang Mingfan said. "This has nothing to do with you."
She could tell he was struggling to rein in his emotions.
"Father, I'm your daughter and my eldest brother's sister. How could what happens to him have nothing to do with me?"
To put it bluntly, if the whole clan were punished, did she think she could escape?
After all the outrageous things she had done before, why hadn't anyone wiped her out? Because she was beautiful? No, it was because her father and brother had protected her.
They were all grasshoppers tied to the same rope, sharing in both glory and ruin.
Tang Zhuyun helped Tang Mingfan into a chair, then glanced at Tang Baixin, whose face was flushed red. She knew he was ashamed that she had seen him in such a sorry state, and probably felt guilty about the embezzlement as well.
"Father," she said, tugging at Tang Mingfan's sleeve, "could you let eldest brother get up before we talk? I can't have him kneeling while I stand."
"Let him kneel! Let him kneel there until he dies!" Tang Mingfan was breathing heavily, a rattling sound in his throat. He was clearly furious.
Tang Baixin said, "A-Yun, go out. This has nothing to do with you."
Tang Zhuyun was a little angry. Both of them kept saying it had nothing to do with her.
What, did they think she could escape it?
"Eldest brother, when I told you what the Prince of Jin said this afternoon, I thought it was ridiculous," Tang Zhuyun said. "Now I think it's even more ridiculous."
"A-Yun..." Tang Baixin looked embarrassed.
"Eldest brother, I'd sooner believe I lost my head and stole something than believe you would embezzle silver," Tang Baixin said. "Unless it was for me."
"No!" Tang Baixin said. "This has nothing to do with you, not in the slightest. Don't try to take the blame!"
He spoke quickly and urgently, stressing it again and again. "It has absolutely nothing to do with you!"
After a long while, he seemed to make a decision. He kowtowed heavily to Tang Mingfan. "Father, I've been an unfilial son. Please make your decision at once and cast me out of the family!"
Tang Mingfan's lips trembled, and he could no longer speak.
This was the son he had raised and taught with his own hands, the son he had always been proud of!
Tang Zhuyun took a deep breath and went over to pull Tang Baixin up, but she couldn't budge him.
"Eldest brother," she said, the words spilling out quickly and urgently, like beans poured onto a plate, "things have come to this, and Father is already so upset. Isn't that enough to get a single word of truth out of you? I don't know what you find so hard to tell us, but back then I sold myself to a pleasure boat for ten taels of silver and had a child out of wedlock. Could anything you've done be more outrageous than that?"
"Back then, you and Father protected me without question and arranged everything so I could start over. Now that you're in trouble, why won't you tell us so we can find a way together? You're driving a knife into our hearts!"
"It's easy enough to cast you out, but what about Father? What about Linlin? What about your future?"
"Eldest brother, I'm begging you. Please, just tell us the truth."
"Even if you really did lose your senses for a moment and do it, even if a thousand fingers are pointed at you, we'll bear it with you. It's all right. We can earn the silver back, and we'll help you atone... But all we want is the truth. Won't you tell us?"
Tears fell as Tang Zhuyun spoke.
With her predecessor's memories, she knew how much pressure Tang Baixin had borne for this family and for her predecessor, pressure he should never have had to bear.
A brother like him, so exceptionally gifted and responsible, shouldn't have his future ruined like this.
Tang Zhuyun wiped away her tears and looked at Tang Mingfan. "Father, under the imperial court's laws, what would happen for embezzling so much silver?"
Tang Mingfan said weakly, "At worst, beheading. At best, exile a thousand li away."
"What if we pay the silver back?"
"That's several thousand taels of silver, not a few hundred!" Tang Baixin said. "A-Yun, leave me out of it."
"Father, I'm talking to you."
Tang Mingfan said, "It depends on the emperor's decision. He might show leniency. But I don't know..."
His daughter had finally come to her senses, but before he had enjoyed more than a few good days, blow after blow had followed, nearly crushing this upright, incorruptible man.
He was only forty, yet more than half his hair had already turned white, making him look like a little old man.
Tears streamed down Tang Mingfan's aged face.
Tang Baixin kowtowed again and again, his forehead hitting the blue-brick floor with a bang, bang, bang. "I've been an unfilial son, an unfilial son. A-Yun will still be here to take care of you in the future. Let her take a husband into the family... I can rest easy about A-Yun now... A-Yun..."
"Enough!" Tang Zhuyun finally lost all patience and erupted. "Even now, you still won't tell the truth. Fine, I won't ask anymore. I'll go find the Prince of Jin!"
Since the Prince of Jin had threatened her, even if he wasn't the one who started all this, he at least knew the truth.
"You can't go!" Father and son spoke almost in unison.
Tang Zhuyun had already suffered a setback with the Prince of Jin. If she went now, there was no telling how he would treat her.
They were even more worried that the shock would turn Tang Zhuyun back into her old self.
Tang Zhuyun looked at Tang Baixin and sneered repeatedly. "If I go blundering around like a headless fly and anything happens, it'll be your fault. I can't just leave you alone, and I won't regret it, but I hope you won't blame yourself. Whatever I owe you, I'll pay it all back this time! I'll go find the Prince of Jin at daybreak. Whether he wants to kill me or flay me, whether he wants my body or my life, I'll give it to him!"
With Tang Baixin refusing to listen to reason, she had to use strong medicine.
"Don't say anything about leaving Father in my care. I won't accept it! I'm leaving Father in your care instead. After all, I'm the one who owes you both! Since we can't get through this without losing at least half our skin, let me go first! It's late. I'm going back to sleep!"
With that, Tang Zhuyun turned and headed out, her eyes resolute and her departing figure determined.
One, two, three... she counted silently.
She was gambling that Tang Baixin cared too much for his sister to stand by and watch her sacrifice herself for him.
Sure enough, she had only just reached "five" when she heard Tang Baixin say dejectedly, "A-Yun, come back. I'll tell you..."