In the courtyard, Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin were pacing back and forth beneath the persimmon tree. When they saw Chen Wenzong, Chen Wenxiao, and Zhang Xia behind Mister Feng, their eyes nearly split open in rage.
Old Yao had brought out a chair and was resting his mind with his eyes closed. Upon hearing Mister Feng's voice, he didn't even lift an eyelid.
At this moment, a young man beside Zhang Zhuo charged forward as if he had gone mad. "Animal, let my younger sister go! If you have a problem, direct it at the male members of the Zhang Family! Why make things difficult for a woman?!"
Quietly watching the young man charge forward, Mister Feng showed absolutely no intention of dodging. He slowly raised his hand, preparing to strike with a palm at that very instant.
At the critical moment where success or failure hung by a single hair, Chen Ji took a step ahead, blocking in front of Mister Feng and delivering a punch to the young man's abdomen.
The young man suddenly curled up his body like a shrimp, vomiting incessantly.
Chen Ji said in a cold voice, "You dare be disrespectful to Mister Feng? You are courting death."
Patting Chen Ji's shoulder, Mister Feng praised, "You actually have quite a bit of tact and discernment. Step aside; I need to have a word with the two lords."
Having said that, his gaze swept across the faces of Zhang Zhuo, Chen Liqin, and Old Yao one by one, finally returning to Zhang Zhuo. "Lord Zhang, this humble one has always heard that your chess skills are unparalleled. I wonder if you would be willing to play a game with me? I'm only afraid that after today, I will never have the chance to play chess with Lord Zhang again."
Supporting his incessantly vomiting son, Zhang Zhuo said in an annoyed tone. "What time is it now, and you still have the mind to play chess?! What you should be doing right now is properly protecting your mother!"
Mister Feng was stunned, then burst into loud laughter. "You civil officials ah... even your cursing is full of twists and turns. Not straightforward enough."
Acting as if no one else was present, he sat down at the stone table in the courtyard and looked up at She Dengke with a smile. "Young man, please trouble yourself to pour me a cup of tea. I've been rushing about relentlessly all day and haven't even had a sip of water."
Acknowledging the request, She Dengke hurriedly entered the side building of the Flying Cloud Courtyard to pour water.
Supporting his son to the side, Zhang Zhuo sat down opposite Mister Feng with a swagger and questioned him. "I heard you also entered officialdom as an Advanced Scholar. Why waste your ten years of arduous study by the cold window to conceal your name and identity and do this kind of head-losing work?"
Off to the side, Chen Liqin said in a cold voice, "Back when you were at the Donglin Academy, the teachers also frequently praised you. How could you willingly degenerate like this today, acting as a domestic slave for the Liu Family?"
Mister Feng sighed with emotion. "Donglin Academy ah... Back when I was at the academy, I envied you guys."
"Envied what?"
"You guys could go out for spring outings, drink wine and compose poetry, and get dead drunk in brothels. And when you came back, you would still be the treasures in the teachers' eyes."
Chen Liqin frowned. "These are all commonplace, ordinary matters. What is there to envy?"
Mister Feng began calculating accounts on his fingers. "Going on a spring outing requires hiring a carriage. Even a poor-quality, worn-out horse carriage costs thirty copper coins for a single trip, while a better carriage requires over a hundred coins. In the taverns, the wine you guys normally like to drink easily costs hundreds of copper coins. My ability to attend Donglin Academy was only acquired by selling my family's farmland to scrape together the Tuition Fee. How could I waste money on such things?"
Zhang Zhuo retorted, "My background is equally poor, but that is not a reason to become someone else's domestic servant."
Mister Feng ridiculed, "If Lord Zhang hadn't married a daughter of the Xu Family, would you be where you are today? So what if you held the noble status of Top Scorer back then? Weren't you still suppressed amidst piles of books by Elder Xu to serve as an Editorial Director for several years? Alright, alright, let's not talk about these old, stale matters anymore. We should discuss serious business."
Zhang Zhuo asked in a heavy voice, "Taking us into custody—what exactly do you intend to do?"
Mister Feng said calmly, "This humble one would like to ask the two of you to write an Anti-Rebel Manifesto."
"Denouncing what rebels?"
"Xu Wenhe, Wu Xiu, the Directorate of Ceremonial, the Eunuch Faction!"
Zhang Zhuo was no fool. Once the Anti-Rebel Manifesto was written, the Xu Family and the Chen Family would be bound to the Liu Family's war chariot. The people of the world would only assume that their two families had rebelled together with the Liu Family!
He immediately asked with a grave expression, "You intend to march on the capital under the pretext of 'clearing the emperor's side'? You want to drag the Xu Family and the Chen Family down into the water with you?"
Mister Feng smiled but said nothing.
She Dengke brought over the tea. Mister Feng chugged a cup and handed it back to She Dengke. "I truly am thirsty. Please help pour some more."
Looking at Mister Feng's calm and composed behavior, Zhang Zhuo grew somewhat angry. "Do you know that if I write this Anti-Rebel Manifesto, I will also become a rebel?! If your undertaking fails, I will also lose my head along with you."
Mister Feng said frankly, "I know. But if you don't write it, you will lose your head right now."
Zhang Zhuo sat up straight. "If you want to offer us amnesty and enlistment, you have to negotiate terms, right? You can't possibly expect us to just write whatever you tell us to write."
Mister Feng said sincerely, "Lord Zhang, if you write the Anti-Rebel Manifesto for me, I will spare the lives of your entire family, young and old. How about it?"
The Flying Cloud Courtyard abruptly fell completely silent. As the freezing cold wind swirled through the courtyard, the atmosphere instantly became fraught with murderous intent.
However, Zhang Zhuo gave a cold sneer. "Mencius said: 'Life is what I desire; Righteousness is also what I desire. If I cannot have both, I will sacrifice my life and choose Righteousness.' I will not write it. There are no spineless cowards in the Zhang Family; they will not write it either. Kill us."
Shaking his head in disappointment, Mister Feng turned his gaze toward Chen Liqin. "Lord Chen, what do you say?"
Chen Liqin said solemnly, "My Chen Family passes down books and Propriety as heirlooms. How could we associate with an evil crowd like you lot?"
Mister Feng gave an "Oh" sound. "It seems both of you are types who won't shed tears until you see the Coffin... Lord Chen, your son Chen Ji is in my hands. The moment I give the order right now, his head will fall to the ground. I will give you ten breaths to think it over. After ten breaths, you will have one less son."
Chen Ji was slightly stunned before realizing that Mister Feng was bluffing Chen Liqin.
Mister Feng counted down. "Ten, nine, eight... three, two, one."
With a dark expression, Chen Liqin remained silent.
Turning his head cheerfully, Mister Feng said to Chen Ji, "Zhang Yuan, go kill Lord Chen's Concubine's Son."
Cupping his hands, Chen Ji said in a muffled voice, "Yes."
Before Chen Ji could step away, Zhang Zhuo suddenly spoke up. "Hold on!"
Mister Feng turned his head in surprise. "Oh? Lord Zhang has something to say?"
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Zhuo said, "That Chen Ji fell out with the Chen Family long ago. He has lived in the Taiping Medical Clinic for years without ever returning home. What does this matter have to do with him? You lot want to 'clear the emperor's side' and boast of being righteous figures, so why commit such heaven-wounding and reason-destroying acts by implicating the innocent? Physician Yao, wouldn't you say so?"
Sitting on the chair in the courtyard, Old Yao finally opened his eyes and said slowly and methodically, "Mister Feng, how about I write this Anti-Rebel Manifesto for you? My handwriting is quite passable."
Mister Feng was left speechless.
After a very long time, he said, caught between tears and laughter, "You guys have completely confused me. How is it that his own father hasn't even opened his mouth to plead for leniency, yet the two of you are actually more invested than he is? Physician Yao, an Anti-Rebel Manifesto written by an imperial physician is useless, so don't join the commotion."
Old Yao shot him a glance. "At the very least, I am a proper seventh-rank official."
Mister Feng was amused. "If I took an imperial physician's Anti-Rebel Manifesto to execute rebellious factions and rally support under a great banner, I'd probably have my teeth laughed off by the world. When that time comes, the storytellers in the teahouses will all mock me: 'This Feng Wenzheng ah, isn't too bright'."
Zhang Zhuo raised an eyebrow. "Then you shouldn't make things difficult for a lowly medical clinic apprentice either. This is the conduct of a petty villain."
"Indeed," Mister Feng's gaze shifted as he ordered Chen Ji, "Bring Lord Chen's Legitimate Son over."
"Yes," grabbing Chen Wenxiao, Chen Ji brought him to the stone table. "Milord, what do I do?"
Mister Feng sniffed the air. "Wait, what is that smell?"
He looked down, only to see urine continuously dripping down from Chen Wenxiao's trouser leg.
Lifting his hand in disgust, Mister Feng fanned his nose. "Pull him further away. Cut off one of his fingers."
As if Struck by Lightning, Chen Wenxiao cried out in agony, "Dad, save me!"
Chen Ji dragged Chen Wenxiao beneath the persimmon tree and pressed him down. Then, peeling the other party's fingers apart one by one, he pinned them to the ground and secured them firmly under his foot.
Drawing his waist saber, he raised the blade, about to chop down.
Chen Liqin suddenly took a step forward. "Hold on!"
Mister Feng's eyes lit up. "What do you say?"
Chen Liqin remained silent for a long time. "I can write the Anti-Rebel Manifesto, but I will only write it to denounce the Eunuch Faction. I will ignore absolutely everything else."
Mister Feng began to applaud. "Good, good, good! The Eunuch Faction has harmed the country for far too long; every person of high aspirations in the world has the right to execute them! Compared to Lord Zhang, Lord Chen is the true person of insight and discernment! However... a Concubine's Son is a Concubine's Son after all. Everyone says our dynasty does not distinguish between legitimate and concubine-born, but the great Confucian scholars have always been one way in their words and another in their hearts—one way to people's faces and another behind their backs. It's only when matters truly come to a head that we find out whether or not there truly is a difference."
Off to the side, Zhang Zhuo said in a cold voice, "Chen Liqin, think this through carefully! If you act like a spineless coward today, others will have leverage against you in the future, and you will never be able to hold your head high for the rest of your life. You normally cherish your unblemished reputation even more than I do—what has gotten into you today?"
Chen Liqin turned his head aside without saying a word.
Mister Feng smiled at Zhang Zhuo. "Lord Zhang, each person has their own aspirations. If this campaign to 'clear the emperor's side' succeeds, Lord Chen's name will also go down in history, will it not? Lord Chen is already writing it. Are you not going to write it?"
Zhang Zhuo turned his head to look at his son. "Should I write it?"
Zhang Zheng said angrily, "Write my motherfucking balls!"
Zhang Zhuo turned again to look at Zhang Xia. "Daughter, what do you say?"
Pursing her lips, Zhang Xia said, "You cannot write it."
Zhang Zhuo gave a loud laugh. "This son and daughter of mine aren't bad. At the very least, they are better than Lord Chen's!"
Mister Feng stood up and walked outside. "No matter. Having Lord Chen's Anti-Rebel Manifesto is enough. Take Lord Chen and his family dependents away."
An armored soldier asked in a low voice, "Then what about the remaining..."
Mister Feng said casually, "Kill them all."
Chen Ji's heart jolted in shock!
(End of this chapter)