Returning, Ding Yun still followed the process to submit the task and trial report, then continued to randomly select new tasks and new golden fingers, and entered new worlds.
...
[Client: Ji Haoyue
Commissioned Task: I do not hate my mother, but I hope to escape the heavenly prison, to protect my younger brother, to preserve the continuation of my Ji family, and if I can overturn the case and be acquitted, that would be even better.
Commission Reward: Twelve Soul Points]
As soon as she finished reading the commission, Ding Yun immediately felt a sharp pain in her neck and roughly understood that the original host had likely died of suffocation, or rather, had been strangled.
The perpetrator might even be her mother.
Therefore, even though Ding Yun had entered the original host's body, she still dared not move. Instead, she held her breath as much as possible while quickly sorting through the original host's memories.
To understand what had happened.
Soon, Ding Yun, using her mental power, rapidly reviewed the original host's experiences over the past sixteen years.
The original host's grandfather had held the official position of Shang Shilang, a fourth-rank official.
Her paternal uncle was a Jianyi Daifu, a fifth-rank official, and her father was a Taizi Zhongsheren, a subordinate official of the Crown Prince, also a fifth-rank official. The entire family were officials in the capital and could be considered part of the Crown Prince's faction.
Born into such a family, the original host was naturally a standard official's daughter, a lady from a prominent family, raised according to the standards of noble ladies from a young age.
She had a rudimentary understanding of poetry, song, chess, calligraphy, painting, needlework, and embroidery.
She could be considered a talented woman, at best.
Half a year ago, the original host had also been betrothed to Li Ang, the eldest legitimate son of the Li family, who held the title of Shang Qingche Duwei. If nothing unexpected happened, he would at least inherit the title of Qingche Duwei, which would be comparable to a fourth-rank official.
Everything had been going well.
However, an accident occurred half a month ago.
Half a month ago, the Crown Prince was accused of harboring thoughts of rebellion and usurpation, and even of privately storing imperial dragon robes and armor in his mansion. The leader of the Imperial Guards sent to investigate the Crown Prince's mansion indeed found such items.
Just as the leader of the Imperial Guards was preparing to arrest the Crown Prince.
And await the Emperor's judgment.
The Crown Prince, seeing this, directly rebelled.
To put it bluntly, even if he had been well-prepared, he might not have succeeded in rebelling. Moreover, to launch a hasty rebellion and force his way into the palace, the outcome was obvious. The soldiers led by the Crown Prince were easily suppressed.
The Crown Prince himself, in despair, committed suicide.
At this point, Emperor Minghui felt some regret, but he was even more angered that his son had actually rebelled. And because his son was already dead, it was difficult to vent his anger upon his corpse. Therefore, he could only direct his fury at the officials of the Crown Prince's faction, believing that the Grand Tutor and others had not properly educated the Crown Prince, and that the Crown Prince's subordinates and the officials of the Crown Prince's faction had led his son astray.
Thus, the Crown Prince's faction suffered.
The military officials and nobles who were assigned by Emperor Minghui to follow the Crown Prince, and who had not participated in the rebellion, or had even helped suppress it, were treated relatively lightly. Most were merely reprimanded and let go.
Officials who were not very close to the Crown Prince and not overtly part of the Crown Prince's faction were also mostly spared, with only demotions.
The truly unfortunate ones were primarily the Crown Prince's Grand Tutor, some of the lecturing officials who instructed the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince's subordinates.
For the Crown Prince's Grand Tutor and the lecturing officials, they were responsible for educating the Crown Prince. Now that they had educated a rebellious Crown Prince, it was difficult for anyone to defend them. After all, the common understanding was that a child's misbehavior was the father's fault, and a teacher's laxity was the teacher's fault.
The Emperor certainly would not attribute the fault to himself. Therefore, those truly guilty of leading the Crown Prince astray were naturally the Grand Tutor and the lecturing officials.
Most of the lecturing officials were directly sentenced to death. The most unfortunate was the one who lectured on the Classic of Filial Piety; his family was confiscated. Although it was not stated that his entire clan would be exterminated, it was likely worse than for others.
Due to the Grand Tutor having many disciples and some people interceding on his behalf, he was ultimately only dismissed from office. Compared to the outcomes of others, this was much better.
The truly most unfortunate were the Crown Prince's subordinates.
The existence of Crown Prince's subordinates, if the Crown Prince had ascended to the throne, they would have been among the Crown Prince's most trusted confidants. But now that the Crown Prince had not ascended but had rebelled and committed suicide, in Emperor Minghui's eyes, the Crown Prince's subordinates were no different from the Crown Prince's servants.
In many noble families, if a master made a mistake, it was usually the servants who were punished for not preventing it. If the master was injured, it was also the servants who were punished; beating them to death was not uncommon.
When a prince made a mistake during his studies, the lecturing officials responsible would generally not beat the prince, but the prince's companion readers.
After all, a prince was of imperial blood, how could he be beaten?
Even if the companion reader was the son of some noble family.
When they served as companion readers by the prince's side, they were essentially like servants, except they were not subjected to the same arbitrary beatings, scolding, and killings as ordinary servants.
Although the Crown Prince's subordinates were called officials, in Emperor Minghui's view, they were no different from the Crown Prince's servants. Therefore, they bore the brunt of his wrath and suffered the most tragic fate. All the Crown Prince's subordinates were subjected to family confiscation and imprisoned in the heavenly prison.
Regardless of whether they were aware, unaware.
Or whether they had participated in the rebellion or not.
As long as they were the Crown Prince's subordinates, all were treated the same.
Thus, the original host's entire family, within the span of a few days, plummeted from grace to become prisoners in the heavenly prison. Recently, news had spread that all male members of their family who were fourteen years or older would likely be executed, those under fourteen would be exiled to the frontiers, and all female members would be sent to the Jiaofangsi, where they would become public entertainers.
Of course, this referred to the younger ones.
The older ones would likely only be assigned menial tasks and serve as servants.
Upon hearing this news, most of the women in the female prison looked despairing. Some immediately bit their tongues to commit suicide, while others threw themselves against the walls. The original host's mother, tears streaming down her face, said she could not bear to see her daughter suffer such humiliation and wished to preserve her purity in this world, so she strangled the original host to death.
It was likely that she herself would have followed suit soon after.
Understanding this, Ding Yun still did not rush to open her eyes. Instead, she continued to check what golden finger she had randomly obtained this time and whether it would be of any help.
As she formally accepted the random golden finger, a bronze portal suddenly appeared in her mind.
Related information followed immediately.
"Two Realms Free Passage Gate"
[Function 1: Input accurate planar coordinates. If the plane itself does not resist, and does not object to the host entering it, a complete planar channel link can be directly constructed.
Then, the two planes can be freely traversed.
The Passage Gate can also perfect the host's identity information.
It also comes with a storage space, allowing the host to freely transport goods for trade between the two realms. Please note that intelligent beings other than the host will be annihilated when passing through the Passage Gate.]
[Function 2: Randomly communicate with planes, construct complete planar channels, and other functions as described above.]
[Note: The Two Realms Passage Gate can only store enough energy to construct one stable planar channel. Please choose carefully before deciding on the planes for free passage.]