After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 973 The Lu Family Falls
The Lu family used to have some weight in the camp of the Sun family's followers.

The head of the Lu family helped the Sun family and his son to do many bad things, and he also took the opportunity to climb up. Because of his shameless style of doing things, he is quite conspicuous in the official circle. Now that his family sees the fall of the Sun family, they have taken the initiative to join the new emperor's faction, but they are not thorough enough. Even if they betray their old companions, they hide it everywhere, which makes people annoyed. His family is now in a dilemma and disliked by both sides. When both sides need sacrifices, his family naturally becomes the best candidate.

The old Sun faction members were eager to cut ties with the Sun family, refusing to be seen as the Sun family's lackeys. They changed their name to the Reformists, intending to classify the conflict between themselves and the new emperor's faction as a conflict of political ideas. They wanted to kick out those who were too loyal to the Sun family and those who had committed crimes, so as to show that they were innocent and loyal. People like the Lu family, who had a bad reputation and solid evidence of their crimes, were naturally the best candidates for the pledge of allegiance.

The cabinet members who stood on the side of the new monarch also knew that the current situation was delicate and that the court should focus on stability. They could not wantonly purge the Sun faction to avoid causing unrest in the country. However, if they let go of their former political enemies and only eliminated the Sun family, they would not be able to swallow this breath in their hearts. They needed more sacrifices to serve as the chicken to warn the Sun faction "monkey". The Lu family was a sacrifice pushed out by the so-called reformists, so they naturally had to accept it with a smile. In addition, they wanted to kill a few more chickens to let the so-called reformists know that the current court was not something they could easily fool. If the reformists could abide by the law, there was hope that they would live in harmony with the officials in power in the future; but if they dared to make small moves, today's Lu family would be their role model!
Both parties had their own plans, and in this situation, the Lu family was soon pushed to the forefront and slaughtered. The head of the Lu family and his two sons were sentenced to be executed in the autumn. However, the head of the Lu family had lived a life of luxury for many years and could not withstand the environment of the imperial prison. He died of illness in prison a few days after the verdict was issued. His two sons will have to stay in prison until the autumn of next year before being executed. During this period, they will probably suffer a lot.

The head of the Lu family also has a brother and two cousins ​​from the side branches, who were sentenced to dismissal and exile, and are expected to leave after the beginning of next spring. Their homes were all raided, their slaves were sold, their adult descendants were all exiled, and their female relatives and children under the age of fourteen were sent back to their hometowns to become civilians. Relatives and clansmen who were not involved in the crime were not implicated. But they can make a living in such a prosperous place as the capital, all thanks to the support of the main branch of the Lu family, which is rich and powerful. Without the support of the Lu family, how can they live a good life in the capital? It is better to go back to their hometown, at least there is the family land to ensure food and clothing.

This was already a show of mercy from the palace and the cabinet. Perhaps Tao Ge Lao and the Wu family old man who presided over the trial also had some regard for Lu Bainian. The Lu family's children were not banned from taking the imperial examinations. Although, apart from Lu Bainian, a veteran Jinshi, only two young men in the family retained their status as scholars, and all the other family members with official positions were stripped of their titles, at least the family's descendants could study and take the imperial examinations again and make a comeback. However, considering how unpopular the Lu family is in the officialdom now, it is easy to imagine how difficult it would be for the Lu family's descendants to revive their family.

These days, it's not that no one came to the Hai family to look for Lu Bainian. But most of them came to the door, hoping that Lu Bainian could come forward to find Tao Gelao, to intercede for the Lu family, and save the official position or life of the head of the Lu family and others. This was unacceptable to Lu Bainian. He stood by and watched, allowing the family to decline and relatives and friends to suffer. Even if relatives and friends scolded him, he was unmoved.

The head of the family and his son just deserved it. No matter what kind of punishment they received, it was what they deserved. If the relatives and friends of the clan felt that returning to their hometown was a great suffering, then when he was implicated and exiled to the northwest for no reason, wasn't it even more painful? Back then, they asked him to "be patient", and today he would also advise them to "be patient". When he was abandoned by his family, no one spoke up for him. If he didn't speak up for his clan today, his relatives and friends would not have the right to run to him and say that he was heartless and ungrateful.

After all, the Lu family returned to their hometown to live, which is not far from the capital, and they have a lot of family land. They don't have to worry about food and clothing, and they can reunite with their relatives and depend on each other. Compared with his exile alone, it is simply a world of difference! As long as they can cultivate one or two seed of learning, the Lu family still has hope of making a comeback. What is there to complain about? I just hope that when they teach their children and grandchildren, they can use the elders who were convicted of serious crimes as counterexamples to teach the younger generations to learn how to be a real person and an official!

Lu Bainian calmly watched his relatives and clansmen being convicted and exiled, and ignored the crying women as they prepared for their return trip, asking for help from relatives and friends, hoping to get help from relatives to avoid the pain of returning home, but they were rejected everywhere. He just stayed quietly in the Hai family, discussing with his old friends how to build houses, plan gardens, and arrange courses for the future school...

He had completely given up on his family. For the rest of his life, all his energy would be focused on school. He had no time to care about others.

His old friends all had mixed feelings when they saw him like this, but what else could they do except pretending nothing had happened and discussing school matters with him?

Cao Gengyun had already found jobs for his two sons, and was waiting to send them out of the capital in the spring of next year. The Cao family's children were reluctant to leave, but after seeing the fate of the Lu family, they immediately stopped complaining. They were still very filial to Cao Gengyun, and were determined not to let him return to the Hai family to live, but they did not dare to stop him from going out. They could only continue to serve him carefully and attentively, and they would do whatever Cao Gengyun said. Xie, Cao, and Lu jointly opened a school. Even though the Cao family was short of money, they had to generously support it. They almost sold the dowries of several daughters-in-law, and it was Cao Gengyun who stopped them after knowing about it.

It's not like he has no money in his pocket, so he wouldn't have to sell his daughter-in-law's dowry!

After Cao Gengyun gave his grandchildren some money for marriage, he stopped asking about the family finances. He knew his sons were short of money, but so what? He didn't expect them to support him in his old age, and they couldn't expect to get money from him! He found jobs for them, which was his responsibility as a father. If they made any mistakes in the future, like the Lu family, he would not help them - he felt ashamed to have such shameless children and grandchildren, and would rather not recognize them!
Although Cao Gengyun has not moved back to Haichang to live permanently, he comes here every few days to stay for a short time, and his mind is focused on the future school. Although he can enjoy the happiness of family at home, compared with his own children and grandchildren who have their own thoughts, it is more reassuring to have old friends who have depended on each other for decades.

Haijiao looked at the grandfathers pretending to be cheerful and focusing all their attention on their future schooling, and he actually felt a little uncomfortable.

But he could do nothing, so he could only privately instruct his little sister Haitang: "Take good care of them. If there is anything I need to do and the elders are reluctant to ask, you can speak for them, but don't make it difficult for the grandfathers!"

Haitang smiled: "Don't worry. Can I still let the old man suffer any injustice?"