The pain Chen Daniu had been bracing himself for never came.
Heart pounding, he cautiously cracked open one eye. Standing in front of him was a woman dressed in green, a sword in hand. He had no idea when she had appeared. She was locked in combat with several men in black, her blade flashing with deadly precision. Within only a few exchanges, every last one of them lay dead at her feet.
Once the assassins had been dealt with, the woman calmly pulled a length of rope from her sleeve and bound Chen Daniu’s hands behind his back.
“My mistress wants to see you.”
Before Chen Daniu could even ask who this mysterious mistress was, she stuffed a cloth into his mouth, blindfolded him, then tossed him over the back of her horse. A moment later, she urged the horse into a full gallop.
Bent over the horse’s back, Chen Daniu felt as though every one of his internal organs had been shaken out of place. The pain in his legs made it impossible to think clearly. The alcohol in his stomach churned violently, threatening to come back up, but with his mouth tightly gagged, he could only force himself to swallow the nausea. His face quickly turned a deep purplish red.
He had no idea how long they rode before the horse finally came to a stop.
The woman in green unceremoniously threw him onto the ground.
Before he had even caught his breath, she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him along. His knee slammed painfully into a doorstep before he was hauled into what seemed to be a room.
The gag was finally removed.
Enraged, Chen Daniu immediately burst into curses.
“You shrew! Where the hell are you taking me? If you’ve got the guts, untie me! Let’s see if I don’t beat you until you can’t tell east from west…”
A woman’s amused chuckle drifted into his ears.
It was nothing like the cold voice of the woman in green.
“What an ungrateful wretch,” the woman said lazily. “Someone saves your life, yet instead of showing gratitude, you’re standing here spouting nonsense.”
The blindfold was removed as well.
The sudden light stabbed at Chen Daniu’s eyes. He blinked repeatedly, tears welling up as he struggled to adjust. After a long moment, his vision finally cleared.
He found himself inside a simply furnished room.
A single writing desk stood directly before him, with no other decorations to be seen.
Only one chair had been placed before the desk. Even the woman in green who had captured him remained respectfully standing to one side.
Seated in the chair was another woman dressed in luxurious robes, leisurely sipping tea.
Through the drifting steam rising from the teacup, the woman slowly lifted her gaze.
The faint smile playing at the corners of her lips made Chen Daniu’s heart skip a beat.
He recognized her.
She was the woman who had stood beside His Majesty during the Spring Plowing Ceremony, Consort Wen, daughter of Chancellor Wen.
Without hesitation, Chen Daniu threw himself onto the floor and repeatedly kowtowed.
“Spare me, Your Highness! Please spare my life!”
“Begging me?” Wen Zhiyi gently blew away the foam floating atop her tea. “I’m not the one trying to kill you. Besides, had my people not arrived in time, your head would already be separated from your body.”
“Your Highness is absolutely right! This lowly one… this lowly one is forever grateful for your great kindness. I’ll gladly serve you like an ox or a horse for the rest of my life to repay your life-saving grace…”
“There are plenty of people willing to serve me,” Wen Zhiyi interrupted indifferently. “I’m afraid it’s not your turn.”
She set down her teacup.
“I’ll ask you only once. Are you willing to confess who instructed you to frame Chancellor Wen?”
Chen Daniu’s eyes darted around.
“I… I…”
“It seems you’re not being honest.”
Wen Zhiyi’s voice turned cold.
“Lurao.”
The woman in green immediately stepped forward.
“Yes, Mistress?”
“Take him back to wherever you found him.”
“T-Your Highness, spare me! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”
Desperate to survive, Chen Daniu slammed his forehead against the floor over and over.
“The truth is… we never knew who actually drove us out of our village. A skinny middle-aged man with a goatee came looking for us. He told us those people had been sent by the Chancellor’s residence. Then he gave me twenty taels of silver and instructed me to accuse the Chancellor during the Spring Plowing Ceremony! Your Highness, please see the truth! I was completely deceived by that villain!”
A skinny middle-aged man with a goatee?
Wen Zhiyi took another sip of tea.
“Falsely accusing a high-ranking court official is a capital offense. For a mere twenty taels of silver, you were willing to gamble with your own head?”
“I… I didn’t believe him at first. But before the New Year, when the Chancellor’s residence was being renovated, my second uncle was lucky enough to work there for two days. He told me he’d seen that goateed man inside the Chancellor’s residence before, so… I thought it had to be true…”
A chill ran through Wen Zhiyi’s heart.
That man had once entered the Chancellor’s residence?
Lurao leaned close and whispered into her ear.
“It sounds like Deng Rui, the steward serving at Lord Tang’s residence.”
Wen Zhiyi gave her a meaningful glance.
Understanding immediately, Lurao opened the door. Before long, two servants entered and dragged the trembling Chen Daniu away to be locked up under guard.
In her previous life, after Chen Daniu had been murdered, the only witness was gone, leaving no one to testify.
Several officials had immediately impeached Chancellor Wen, accusing him of murdering a witness to silence him.
To avoid suspicion, Chancellor Wen voluntarily suspended himself from office, and the case was handed over entirely to the Court of Judicial Review.
Day after day, officers from the court patrolled around the Chancellor’s residence.
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Han Shuyan, had always been known for his fairness and incorruptible character.
With him overseeing the investigation, Chancellor Wen should have been cleared quickly, and the true mastermind should have been uncovered.
Instead, during the investigation of the Chancellor’s residence in her previous life, officials had discovered a collection of secret correspondence hidden inside Chancellor Wen’s study.
Letters proving collusion with the enemy.
Once those letters came to light, the evidence seemed irrefutable.
No one cared any longer whether the accusations of illegally seizing farmland were true.
Li Jinghuai likely feared that delays would only complicate matters. With overwhelming speed, he wiped out the entire Wen family.
Forging someone’s handwriting was not particularly difficult.
But to perfectly imitate not only a person’s writing, but also their usual tone, wording, and subtle habits that few outsiders would know, only someone who had spent years at that person’s side could accomplish such a feat.
Tang Huaiyuan, Judicial Secretary of the Court of Judicial Review, happened to be Chancellor Wen’s own student.
He had followed the Chancellor for more than ten years.
No one knew Chancellor Wen’s handwriting and personal habits better than he did.
Although Wen Zhiyi had always suspected there was a traitor inside the Chancellor’s residence, she had never once suspected Tang Huaiyuan.
Yet judging from Chen Daniu’s testimony, Deng Rui, the steward of the Tang residence, was deeply involved.
She could no longer ignore the possibility.
Wen Zhiyi rubbed her temples, a faint chill spreading through her heart.
The following afternoon, just as she had expected, villagers from Chen Village entered the capital to report that Chen Daniu had failed to return home overnight and was believed to have disappeared.
The investigating officers discovered a large pool of blood along the road Chen Daniu had taken home the previous day.
The signs suggested that his chances of survival were slim.
Panic immediately spread throughout Chen Village.
Some even speculated that Chen Daniu’s bold actions during the Spring Plowing Ceremony had angered Chancellor Wen, who had him murdered to silence him.
Although there was no concrete evidence pointing to Chancellor Wen, rumors spread rapidly. Repeated often enough, lies became accepted as truth.
Soon, gossip flooded the capital.
Furious, Chancellor Wen requested leave from court. Apart from cooperating with the Court of Judicial Review’s investigation, he shut himself inside the Chancellor’s residence and refused to meet anyone.
The Court of Judicial Review carried out its duties impartially.
Within three days, investigators uncovered an unexpected discovery inside Chancellor Wen’s study.
Several letters.
They had been written on sheepskin parchment, a specialty of the northern Beirong tribes along the frontier, something rarely seen in Great Qi.
Most shocking of all, each letter bore the unmistakable royal seal of the Beirong royal family.