On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

In the evening of the next day, horse hooves stepped on the country road leading to Xilin Village in Cangzhou Prefecture, raising light dust.

Lin Zhen and Cheng Xuan arrived at their destination exhausted.

The leader of the Cangzhou secret guards had already received the secret letter and was just waiting for Lin Zhen to arrive.

Led silently by two inconspicuous men in gray, the two men avoided the official roads and busy places and headed straight towards the east of the village.

They were still some distance away from the village, and before they could even see the outline of the village, a huge and particularly conspicuous stone archway standing in the wilderness suddenly came into their sight!

The entire archway is carved from hard blue-gray granite and is more than ten feet high. Eight thick pillars support the heavy horizontal lintel and flying eaves, casting a huge, oppressive shadow in the afterglow of the setting sun.

On the stone plaque in the middle of the archway, there were engraved a few large characters that were already a little blurred but still eye-catching:

"Patricide and adultery are forsaken by both men and gods!"

The signature is clearly the official seal of Cangzhou Prefecture!

What was even more frustrating was that the archway was located at the entrance to Xilin Village, which should have been an important gate. However, upon looking at it now, the two sides of the archway had been completely blocked with adobe and stones!

The east entrance of the village has been completely closed!

The villagers apparently opened up new roads into the village in other directions farther away in order to avoid the suffocating archway.

A stone carving that symbolizes the government's "enlightenment" is regarded by the villagers as a source of great shame and fear, and they avoid it as much as possible!

Lin Zhen pulled the reins of his horse, his eyes fixed gloomily on the glaring archway in the distance that looked like a poisonous sore.

He raised his hand and pointed at the huge shadow. In a tone that was a mixture of heaviness and a kind of deliberately calm, he said to Cheng Xuan who was still looking around beside him:

"Xiao Xuanxuan, did you see that thing?"

"Xiao Xuanxuan?!" When Chengxuan heard this disgusting name, she immediately rolled her eyes at him in disgust, and then looked in the direction of his finger.

She was stunned at first when she saw the tall stone archway, blinking in confusion. "Huh? That's, an archway? It's so tall... What's written on it? ...Patricide and adultery, condemned by both humans and gods?"

She tried hard to decipher the words on the stone plaque, her pretty face filled with confusion and curiosity. "Who is this for? Why are such vicious words engraved on it?"

"For whom?" Lin Zhen's voice suddenly turned cold, as cold as ice in the coldest days of winter. Every word sounded like a needle dipped in poison. "For Youmeng's parents."

"What?!" Cheng Xuan was struck by lightning in an instant. She turned her head abruptly, and all the color drained from her pretty face. Her mouth opened into a round "O" shape because of extreme shock!

"You... Sister Youmeng's parents? How could this happen? Why?"

She couldn't understand how Youmeng's parents, who were as cold and tough as she was, could be linked to such a vicious "crime"?

Lin Zhen looked at her shocked reaction, his face as heavy as water.

Sitting on his horse, he briefly but clearly recounted the heart-wrenching story that Youmeng had told Wan'er last night - the defilement by the old beast, his father's unjust death, his mother's humiliating execution, and the endless shame brought about by the archway.

As Chengxuan listened, her clear eyes widened wider and her little fists clenched tighter!

When she heard the old beast's beastly behavior and threats against Youmeng's mother, her pretty face turned red with anger!

When she heard that the foolish county magistrate had framed her parents without asking any questions and had them beaten to death, her eyes were already burning with rage!

When I finally heard that this humiliating memorial archway had been deliberately erected at the village entrance, the corpse exposed to the public, and the villagers regarded it as filth and sealed the entrance...

"Beast!!!" Cheng Xuan suddenly let out a sharp and extremely angry scream!

The voice broke through the sky, filled with deep hatred!

"That old bastard! Is he worthy of being a father?! He's worse than an animal! He deserves to die! He deserves it!"

Her chest heaved violently, her eyes nearly spitting fire as she gritted her teeth, "Hmph! It's a good thing he died so early! If I had ever run into him! I would have hacked him into pieces! Cut his body into pieces, grind his bones into dust! People like him don't deserve to live! They don't deserve to live even one more day in this world!!"

Her eyes were red, and an uncontrollable rage instantly burned away all her rationality!

I just want to smash this stone tablet full of sin and humiliation into pieces right now!

“Clang!”

Cheng Xuan almost drew out the sharp sword from her waist without thinking!

The sword reflected a cold light in the setting sun!

Without any hesitation, she squeezed her legs against the horse's belly and rushed towards the huge stone archway like crazy!

She screamed, "I'll smash it! I'll smash this disgusting thing!!"

"Cheng Xuan! No!!"

Just as she was about to charge out on her horse, Lin Zhen's pupils shrank and he attacked like lightning!

He flew up from the horse's back like a big bird, somersaulted in the air and landed precisely in front of Chengxuan's horse!

At the moment when Cheng Xuan's horse was about to hit the archway, his strong and powerful right hand grabbed Cheng Xuan's sword-holding wrist like a pair of steel pliers!

"Ah!" Cheng Xuan felt pain in her wrist, and felt like her bones were about to be crushed, and her momentum of charging was forcibly curbed!

Her face, twisted with anger, turned to Lin Zhen, her eyes filled with rage and incomprehension: "Why are you stopping me?! Lin Zhen! Get out of the way! It's a shame to keep this thing! I'm going to smash it! Smash it to pieces!!"

Lin Zhen held her wrist tightly, letting her sword tremble violently in his hand with anger.

His face was as gloomy as a cold pond, his eyes as sharp as knives, piercing straight into Cheng Xuan's eyes that were blinded by anger. His voice was low and powerful, with unquestionable majesty:

"Smash it? If you smash it, our trip would be in vain!!"

His voice suddenly rose, like a thunderclap: "Do you think that smashing this stone will solve everything?! Why didn't You Meng do it for the past twenty years?! She is the world's top assassin, smashing a stone is easy for her! Is it because she doesn't want to?! Do you think she can't smash it?!"

He asked questions repeatedly, like a heavy hammer hitting Chengxuan's heart!

Cheng Xuan was stunned by the question, and the rage in her eyes was like a flame blown by a strong wind, swaying in an instant.

yes……

With Youmeng's skills, it would be easy to flatten this archway...

Then why...why did she let it stand there for so many years?

Lin Zhen watched as her momentum finally dissipated, but the strength in his hands did not loosen at all. However, his tone softened a bit, as if he was counseling a lost and angry little beast:

"Many things in this world can't be completely resolved by just a sword or the smashing of a plaque! Just like the way of heaven in the past, can you just rush into the palace and kill an emperor just because you know he's incompetent? No! That will only bring greater chaos! What we can do is change!"

He looked at Cheng Xuan with a burning gaze, and as if penetrating through her, he looked at the huge archway that symbolized injustice:

"What we need to do is get the governor of Cangzhou, the governor of Jizhou, the prefect of Hebei Province, and even the current emperor to personally acknowledge the injustice they suffered! Issue a decree in person! Clear the name of Youmeng's parents! Make it known to the world!"

"Only in this way can we truly wash away the horrific stigma of patricide and adultery, etched deep within Youmeng's parents and in the hearts of everyone who knows this story! Only in this way can we allow all the villagers who have misunderstood us, and all those who remain ignorant of the truth, to truly understand the injustice we suffered! It's not about secretly smashing a cold stone! That would only make people think you're venting your anger, and only reinforce your guilt. Do you understand?!"

Every word he said was decisive and full of power, clearly pointing out what true "clearing of injustice" means!

The anger in Chengxuan's eyes gradually subsided, replaced by a sense of confusion, shock, and a deep sense of powerlessness after being awakened.

Yeah... So what if the archway is smashed?

The words carved on the memorial archway, the stigma of official judgment, have long been etched into history and into the memories of countless people. Even if the stone tablet is smashed, the prejudice in people's hearts cannot be shattered.

She was like a popped balloon, and the rage and power that had surged into her just now were instantly drained away.

The wrist that was tightly gripping the hilt of the sword just now was trembling slightly under Lin Zhen's powerful grip, and the whole body felt a little limp.

"You...you hurt me." She turned her face away, her voice no longer sharp, with a hint of weakness and imperceptible grievance.

Even the strength to break free was much weaker.

Lin Zhen felt the changes in her body and slowly released his right hand that was holding her wrist.

Cheng Xuan silently put the sword back into the scabbard, his movements a little slow.

She raised her other hand and gently rubbed her wrist, which was red and slightly painful from being gripped by Lin Zhen. Several red marks were clearly left on her fair skin.

She lowered her head, her long eyelashes trembling, her expression could not be seen clearly, but the frustration and helplessness in her expression were clearly audible.

"Then..." She rubbed her wrist and asked sullenly, "Where are we going now?"

Lin Zhen jumped onto his horse, his gaze fixed on the direction of the sealed East Gate not far away, and he uttered two words calmly:

"Into the village."

He shook the reins and added:

"Find some elderly people in the village and ask them what happened back then." He needs to dig out the details that were covered up that year through the mouths of eyewitnesses and accumulate the most direct evidence to overturn the case.

The two horses rode side by side again, no longer rushing towards the shameful archway, but bypassing it and following the path newly opened by the villagers.

The clatter of horse hooves knocked on the ruins of the long-closed east gate of Xilin Village, and they stepped into the village that carried Youmeng's most unbearable past.