The newly issued government decree prohibited people from slandering the court with personal lies; anyone who dared to discuss nonsense would be executed; anyone who dared to publish books privately without court approval would be exterminated; in serious cases, the nine clan generations would be exterminated.

Yun Zhongjun wrote a book to satirize the present, made arrogant comments about the court, and despised the imperial power. He was punished for several crimes.

The homes of the nine generations were confiscated.

Shan Yu had only seen beheading scenes in books and on TV, thinking that the knife would rise and fall in just a moment.

Now that he had seen it with his own eyes, his feelings were different from what he had imagined.

The prisoners on death row who were about to be beheaded knelt together. Looking at them, the oldest had gray eyebrows, and the youngest was only a few years old.

The executioner carried a heavy ghost-headed sword and walked behind them. After killing one, he went to kill the second. When the edge of the knife curled, he changed to another executioner and continued killing.

Shan Yu’s face turned red, and he coughed several times. He squeezed Wan Qiu’s shoulders with his fingers and used a lot of strength to stand still.

He didn’t want to see the bloody scene in front of him, but he couldn’t control his eyes.

The executioner was skilled in his work. He cut off the spines of the condemned prisoners but kept a layer of skin attached. He did not allow their heads to be removed. He only raised his feet to kick the corpses down, causing all the blood in the chests to spurt forward. There was not even a drop of blood on his body. There was no splashing either.

The people standing in the front row were affected and stepped back in panic. Shan Yu was pushed, and he coughed several times and couldn’t control it anymore. He lost his center of gravity, and his vision went dark.

It was vaguely like a dream. Shan Yu was haunted by nightmares and couldn’t wake up.

He stood in the white mist and saw his family and friends. He happily ran over and wanted to go home with them, but another person held him back.

“Husband…”

Husband?

Shan Yu frowned. That title was so strange. How could anyone call him husband?

“Who are you? Why do you call me husband?”

Shan Yu got closer but still couldn’t see the other person’s face clearly. He could only vaguely see that there seemed to be a fiery red birthmark between his eyebrows, and he was holding a child in his arms.

“Husband, I am your wife, I am Wan Qiu!”

Wife? Wan Qiu?

Shan Yu shook his head subconsciously. He didn’t know Wan Qiu, and he didn’t have any wife. He wanted to leave, but the man named Wan Qiu in front of him pulled his sleeve tightly.

“Husband, where are you going? What will happen to me and the child if you leave? Don’t you want me, not even your son?”

Son? Why was there another son?

“I’m not married; how can I have a son?” Shan Yu was confused and pushed away the man who kept tugging. “I don’t know you, and I don’t have a son. Let go. I want to go home.”

“Ugh~ husband, you don’t want us anymore? Do you really not want us anymore?”

The man who fell to the ground cried bitterly, and the child in his arms also fell to the ground, whimpering and reaching out toward Shan Yu: “Daddy~ Wuwu~ Hug~ Daddy~”

Shan Yu subconsciously went to help him and suddenly saw the big and small faces clearly.

He kind of remembered…

“Wan Qiu… Wan Qiu…”

“Husband, I’m here, I’m here, wake up quickly!”

This was Shan Yu’s fifteenth day sleeping in bed. He had a high fever and kept talking in his sleep while pulling on the quilt. Wan Qiu only understood one sentence: Shan Yu was calling his name.

“Husband… ugh…”

Wan Qiu had taken care of Shan Yu without a rest. He had invited all the doctors in town and even the monks from the temple. He had tried every possible remedy, but Shan Yu showed no signs of waking up at all.

He had cried loudly in fear, his voice hoarse and his eyes nearly blind. And he finally pulled Shan Yu back from the dream.

“Wan Qiu…”

Shan Yu moved his fingers, as if to confirm something, and opened his eyes very hard to look at the person beside the bed, then closed his eyes again.

This time he didn’t sleep for long and woke up completely when it got dark.

Wan Qiu cried with joy. After giving Shan Yu a sip of water, he quickly pressed a Qingxin Pill under Shan Yu’s tongue. He wiped his tears and tucked Shan Yu into bed. He couldn’t stop choking and said, “Husband, you finally woke up. After so long, I thought…”

Shan Yu half-leaned in Wan Qiu’s arms, and the sick look in his eyes gradually cleared due to the pill in his mouth. He saw mug wort burning to ward off evil spirits in the house and a peach wood sword placed beside the bed. Speaking weakly, he smiled and said, “Do you think I was so frightened that I lost my mind and would never wake up again?”

“Well.” Wan Qiu had lost a lot of weight these days, holding Shan Yu in tears and crying, “If you were gone… how would my child and I survive?”

In fact, anyone could live without them. Didn’t they also live well before Shan Yu came? It was just a different way of living!

When he was oppressed by the original Shan Yu, Wan Qiu had to rely on himself for everything. He had lived a strong and unyielding life with a child in his arms. With Shan Yu, he instinctively began to cling to, rely on, and seek protection.

Just like dodder, it was weak but could overcome all difficulties. Even if the warm arms were not there, it could still be strong and do everything within its capabilities.

There was no doubt that Wan Qiu was weak, but his weakness also depended on the situation.

This was the shining point of his body, soft yet strong, which attracted Shan Yu to turn him into a soft and gentle person and also convinced Lian Zhou to put aside his prejudice and try to accept him.

“I made you worry.” Shan Yu was not very good at comforting people. Thinking of his sudden fainting on the execution ground, Wan Qiu must have been frightened a lot. He and Grandpa Yaba were both timid and fearful people, and it would have been the same under such circumstances. Feeling embarrassed, he squeezed Wan Qiu’s hand and said, “You can still take me home. You are getting better.”

When Wan Qiu heard this, he immediately smiled happily and did not take any credit. He told the truth: “It was Er Zhu who carried my husband back. He helped me a lot these days while my husband was ill…”

“Oh? Then I praised you in vain?”

“No, no, I’m not idle either…” Wan Qiu didn’t want Shan Yu to feel that he couldn’t do anything well, so he quietly took credit and said, “I have always been by my husband and taken good care of our child.”

Shan Yu smiled, nodded, and said, “Well, thank you for your hard work, my little wife.”

He rarely said such intimate words, and most of the time his attitude toward Wan Qiu was upright. Even if he was deeply in love, his emotions were very restrained.

Now the words ‘my little wife’ immediately made Wan Qiu smile. He held Shan Yu’s head in his arms and kissed him, his ears turning red. “It’s not hard work. Taking care of our child and husband is what I should do.”

The atmosphere was very good and warm. Shan Yu and Wan Qiu chatted about what had happened these days, knowing that everything was in chaos outside.

After the emperor ordered the burning of many literary and ideological works, including “A Dream of The Red Mansion,” he had also killed many cultural figures who went against the orthodox ruling ideas.

He had used absolute violence to impose a cultural and ideological dictatorship on the people, achieving the purpose of stabilizing imperial power.

And the Lian family was also among them.

Shan Yu thought of Lian Lou, whom he had met only once and who looked exactly like the eldest brother of the Lian family, and his heart ached. Of course, he was more worried about Lian Zhou.

How should he deal with a fiery person who dared to love and hate strongly?