Compared to many others nearby who remained unmoved, Ding Yun, to ensure she had enough strength for her plan, finally reached for the bowl of last meal and began to eat.
Only then did the jailer turn and leave, satisfied.
After a few more minutes passed, Ding Yun hadn't even finished her meal when a loud bang suddenly echoed from beside her, followed by the screams of many other women.
Turning her head, she saw that someone had already committed suicide.
They had died by crashing into the wall.
At the same time, Ding Yun also saw someone pull out their own sash and ask someone nearby to strangle them.
This was because they did not want to be dragged to the execution grounds in their prison clothes, their bodies torn apart, unable to even preserve a whole corpse.
The reason they hadn't done this earlier was that the final decree had not yet been issued, and they feared that their suicide might further enrage the Emperor, increasing the punishment for their families and making the situation even worse.
But now, since the entire family was to be executed.
Why should they still have any reservations?
In any case, they were all going to die, so it was better to die sooner and be reborn earlier.
And once one person took the lead, many others naturally followed. However, the original owner's relatives were not among them. This case, the太子造反案 (Crown Prince's Rebellion Case), involved many families, and the original owner's family was just one of many whose property was confiscated.
The prison was almost full, so how could they arrange a separate cell for their family? It was considered a favor by the prison guards that men and women were separated.
Regarding this, Ding Yun did want to persuade them.
But she didn't know how to persuade them.
She could only close her eyes, out of sight, out of mind.
Because even if her plan succeeded, she couldn't guarantee that she could save her own family, let alone these people from other families. Those who couldn't hold on and committed suicide prematurely could only blame themselves for making the wrong choice.
She was not a savior, she couldn't save everyone.
However, while Ding Yun didn't intervene, the nearby jailers did. Although the women imprisoned here were not as important as the men, if too many died, leading to only a few being executed, it would still have an impact, and they might all be implicated. Therefore, upon discovering this situation.
They immediately began to intervene.
Their primary method was threats, such as saying that anyone who dared to commit suicide again would be stripped naked and thrown out to feed the dogs.
To deter everyone.
They even dragged out a newly dead corpse from inside and, as mentioned above, demonstrated it in front of everyone. Then, some people fainted on the spot, almost crying to death. At the same time, indeed, no one dared to find ways to commit suicide at this time.
Afterward, there was undoubtedly still crying or silence.
Some were worried about whether their bodies would be thrown into a mass grave after death, or if loyal servants would help them collect their remains.
Some cursed the immortal temples on the spot.
Saying that they donated so much money and burned so much incense every year.
Why didn't they protect their entire family?
There were even some who recited various scriptures for the souls of the departed, as if they were reciting them for themselves in advance.
This was because they believed no one would recite them for them after death.
Ding Yun paid no attention to any of this. After eating and drinking her fill, she began to meditate with her eyes closed, internally scrutinizing her plan for any major flaws and estimating its success rate, and considering how to adapt if something went wrong.
After nearly two more hours.
The outside began to become noisy.
Cries, shouts, and pleas of innocence, mixed with male and female voices, were a headache. But regardless of these sounds, they were eventually taken out one by one, tied together like dogs or cattle, a large string of people tied together.
They were being led to the execution grounds.
Executing corrupt officials and heinous criminals was different from executing those who had taken the wrong stance in the imperial court. The former might involve a parade, while for the latter, firstly, too many people were involved, and there was no time to parade each one individually. Secondly, some among them did not commit crimes that would incite the public's outrage.
A parade might cause the opposite effect.
It might even make some commoners feel that they did not deserve to die.
Therefore, Ding Yun and the other women, along with the men of their households, were directly dragged to the execution grounds to be beheaded at the appointed time, with no other extraneous operations or procedures.
After another half hour of stumbling walk.
They all finally arrived at the execution grounds.
In front, executioners had already begun their work.
Facing this situation, Ding Yun quickly began to survey the approximate positions of her family members. After noting their locations, she immediately took out the energy-gathering magnifying glass and selected the extreme solar energy absorption mode.
Immediately, the area within a radius of more than twenty li centered on Ding Yun plunged into darkness, into an absolute darkness where not a single ray of light could be seen, and even the temperature dropped to that of the dead of night. As this absolute darkness descended, everyone present became panicked.
The executioners were so terrified that they dropped their knives. The officials responsible for the executions on the platform were also greatly frightened and did not know how to control the situation.
At the same time, some people shouted that it was an eclipse and told everyone not to panic, while others shouted about divine retribution, saying that it was definitely because the Emperor's killing had been too heavy, and even heaven wanted him dead.
At this moment, Ding Yun naturally immediately broke free from the ropes binding her and quickly ran towards the direction of her family members she had noted earlier, helped them untie their ropes, and loudly called for everyone to leave together.
The other people facing death were not foolish.
Who would willingly die if they could live?
Therefore, they all naturally broke free and tried to escape.
Even in complete darkness, they were trying to escape.
It could be said that less than half a minute after the absolute darkness descended, the execution grounds were in complete chaos. Not only the execution grounds were in chaos, but the entire capital city was in turmoil.
Because the extreme range Ding Yun created, a radius of twenty li centered on her, already encompassed the entire imperial palace and nearly half of the capital.
Such a large area plunging into absolute darkness, and not in the traditional eclipse mode, would naturally shock anyone, whether they were within the darkness or not but suddenly saw a region not far from them turn completely black.
The gradual darkening of an eclipse could frighten many people, so how much more so this sudden darkness, which was so dark that even candlelight could not penetrate it.
In the midst of the chaotic darkness, Ding Yun did not know if she had found the right people, nor did she know if she had found all her family members. So she could only pull people along and ask, asking them if they were so-and-so.
If they were, she held on tightly.
If they said no, she would let go for the time being.
After much effort and tossing and turning, Ding Yun finally managed to gather most of her family. The "most" here mainly referred to her immediate family. As for relatives like her second and third uncles, whom the original owner was not very familiar with.
Ding Yun couldn't pay attention to them.
She had at least created an opportunity for them to escape.
Whether they could escape depended on themselves.
As the people she was looking for were gathered, Ding Yun immediately hugged her younger brother, whom the original owner had particularly instructed her to look after, and held onto her mother, while calling for the people behind them to follow quickly.
Then, following her memory, she fled towards the outside of the execution grounds.
As she moved, the scope of the absolute darkness also shifted slightly, but the execution grounds were still within the covered area, so for the time being, there were no problems.
However, after another quarter of an hour, the energy-gathering magnifying glass had completed its charging and reached its limit. The sunlight began to dispel the darkness and once again enveloped the capital area.