Wen Taojun nodded. “When that day comes, no matter what the outcome is… if you die, I’ll go collect your body. If you live, I’ll bring you home. But I won’t be returning to that home.”
In truth, it was not only the Meng family she could no longer return to.
She could not return to the Wen family either.
Meng Yi nodded. “I know.”
Wen Taojun rose and left. Meng Yi suddenly called after her. “I’m sorry.”
Wen Taojun came to a halt.
Meng Yi’s voice was hoarse, filled with remorse. “I’m the one who destroyed the happy future you and Wen Qian should have had. I wronged Wen Qian, I wronged you, and I wronged Uncle and Aunt.”
He was the one who had committed evil deeds, yet still shamelessly clung to life.
Wen Taojun continued on her way.
Early on the morning of the execution, Yan Tongshu arrived at the entrance to the Kaifeng Prefecture dungeon and waited.
She had done everything she could. There was nothing more left to do.
Now, everything depended on fate.
Just then, Xu Qiu came rushing over, his face deathly pale and his expression frantic. “Lord Yan, Lord Yan…”
He ran as he spoke, shoving past everyone in his way. “Lord Yan, something’s happened!”
Yan Tongshu sprang to her feet. “What is it?”
Xu Qiu gasped for breath as he spoke. “General Meng… General Meng knocked down the guards, seized a saber, and tried to kill himself.”
Yan Tongshu hurried to the dungeon. Meng Yi had already thrown the saber aside. Wearing shackles, he had resumed sitting cross-legged on the floor.
“What happened?” Yan Tongshu asked.
The jailer on duty that day answered fearfully, “R-reporting to you, Lord Yan. We came to deliver General Meng’s breakfast as usual. We were going to escort him to the execution grounds after he finished eating. General Meng has always been polite to everyone, so we didn’t take many precautions. Who would have thought he would suddenly seize me and snatch my saber, then try to slit his own throat? Fortunately, after your reminder yesterday, all our sabers had been replaced with ones that weren’t sharpened.”
“Understood.” Yan Tongshu motioned for the jailer to rise, then asked Meng Yi, “Why did you try to kill yourself?”
Meng Yi looked up at her. “What do you think, Lord Yan?”
As usual, his answer was vague and evasive.
Yan Tongshu walked over to him. “Meng Yi, if you truly consider yourself a real man, then summon the courage to face the consequences you deserve. Don’t run away.”
She turned to the jailer on duty. “Who has come to the dungeon these past two days?”
The jailer replied, “Aside from Madam Meng, who came to bring him food, Lord Cen Xu came by yesterday morning. He spoke with General Meng for a while, then left.”
Ever since Meng Yi had been convicted, Madam Meng had come almost every day to deliver his meals. There was nothing unusual about that.
Then it had to be Cen Xu.
Yan Tongshu ordered Zhang Jiu and Li Fulin to take joint responsibility for everything that followed concerning Meng Yi, then walked out of the dungeon.
At this hour, Cen Xu should have been at the Ministry of Justice.
She did not ask Jinbao to bring the carriage. Instead, she mounted a horse and hurried to the Ministry of Justice, heading straight for the office where Cen Xu was on duty.
Yan Tongshu deliberately arranged her features into a somber expression. The moment Cen Xu saw her, he assumed Meng Yi was already dead.
He invited Yan Tongshu into a small room next door and rose to pour her tea.
Yan Tongshu got straight to the point. “Does Meng Yi’s death have anything to do with you?”
Scalding water poured from above into the teacup, churning the tea into a deep red brew.
Steam curled upward, damp and clinging in the air.
Cen Xu placed the freshly brewed black tea before Yan Tongshu and sat down across from her. “I tried to persuade him yesterday.”
“His Majesty?” Yan Tongshu narrowed her eyes.
“No.” Cen Xu shook his head. “I acted on my own.”
Yan Tongshu remained suspicious.
Cen Xu lowered his gaze, his voice slow and lonely. “I heard what you said to His Majesty.”
Yan Tongshu frowned. What she had said to the Emperor?
Had Cen Xu heard their conversation at the Kaifeng Prefecture?
She racked her memory. Had there been someone outside the study at the time?
Had he heard everything?
Cen Xu said softly, “I didn’t want you to clash head-on with His Majesty, nor did I want the Divine Guard to turn against you. So I went to see Meng Yi. I laid out the pros and cons for him. I told him that as long as he remained alive, the Wen family could never let go of their hatred or accept Madam Meng. Madam Meng would never be able to return to the Wen family. She would lose every one of her loved ones and suffer for the rest of her life.
“Then I told him that His Majesty had already made his position clear. He would never grant Meng Yi a pardon. If His Majesty wanted to purge the factions at court, he couldn’t show favoritism. I cut off every last hope he had of surviving.
“I told him that once he was executed, the Meng family would grow estranged from His Majesty because of him. Duan Duo, with his impulsive nature and habit of acting without regard for the consequences, had already prepared troops and horses. The moment Meng Yi was escorted out of the Kaifeng Prefecture, Duan Duo would launch an attack to rescue him. By then, the Kaifeng Prefecture and the Divine Guard would be drenched in blood. Meng Yi would never be able to restrain Duan Duo, much less control the situation. And Meng Yi himself would be guilty of rebellion.
“If Meng Yi rebelled, then the Meng family would be branded as rebels as well. I kept asking him: with the Meng family, His Majesty, and Madam Meng locked in this stalemate, what did he think he should do? How could this impossible situation be resolved? I kept asking him that.”
Yan Tongshu’s gaze turned cold. “Why?”
She could not understand why Cen Xu had taken matters into his own hands.
After a moment’s thought, Yan Tongshu said, “You serve His Majesty. What you did benefits him the most.”
“No.” Cen Xu denied it without hesitation. His voice remained unhurried. “I don’t belong to anyone. Not Prince Ming, and not His Majesty. I’m merely an ordinary man who easily yields to reality and compromises with circumstances.
“If Meng Yi died, the Meng family would think that had His Majesty issued a pardon a little sooner, Meng Yi would never have died. What becomes of the Meng family’s relationship with His Majesty in the future remains unknown.
“Early the day before yesterday, I saw Duan Duo mobilizing the Divine Guard. He had already made preparations to surround the Kaifeng Prefecture, rescue Meng Yi, and kill anyone who stood in his way. Duan Duo is highly skilled in martial arts and deeply loyal to his friends, but he’s impulsive and acts without considering the consequences. All these years, it was only because Meng Yi kept him in check that he was able to faithfully serve as Deputy Commander of the Divine Guard.
“If we had truly waited until the hour of execution, and Meng Yi had been escorted out of the Kaifeng Prefecture, Meng Yi would never have been able to stop Duan Duo. Once the Divine Guard charged into the Kaifeng Prefecture, they would certainly have used you as a sacrificial offering.”
Yan Tongshu clenched her fists. During her recent dealings with Cen Xu, she had always felt that there was something elusive about him. Even now, she still had that same feeling.
Yan Tongshu said coldly, “I’m asking why you did this.”
Cen Xu slowly lifted his head. His complicated gaze settled on Yan Tongshu. “What if I said I did it to protect you?”
Yan Tongshu’s expression froze for a moment before the corner of her mouth began to twitch violently.
Could he not make jokes like that during a serious conversation?
Cen Xu smiled. “Does Lord Yan still remember? Eight years ago, after my elder brother got drunk, he stripped the servants in his household naked in the middle of the street, tied them up with ropes, and dragged them along the ground, leaving one of them severely injured. You impeached my elder brother, submitting thirty-two memorials of remonstrance and risking your life to do so. You forced the late Emperor to punish him severely, strip him of his office, and exile him.
“On the day my elder brother was sent away from the capital, I met you and said, ‘My surname is Cen, and my name is Xu. I’m two years younger than you—twelve years old this year. Just wait. When I’m fourteen, I’ll also place first in the imperial examinations. Then we’ll see who’s better.’”
Yan Tongshu nodded.
But all this time, she had believed that by “see who’s better,” he meant that he intended to seek revenge against her.
Cen Xu’s eyes revealed a trace of sorrow. “The servant my elder brother dragged along while drunk was named Hao Jin. I called him Uncle Hao. My mother died young, and he was the one who raised me. He treated me as his master and regarded me as his own son. The principal wife of the Cen family had no children her entire life. After she died of illness, my elder brother’s mother became the second wife, and for a time, she was the most powerful woman in the household. Later, as I grew older and began to display exceptional talent, my elder brother’s mediocre nature was exposed instead. Out of jealousy, he repeatedly suppressed me.
“The truth is, that day he was only pretending to be insane from drink. He did not really want to punish Uncle Hao when he dragged him along. His true purpose was to hurt me and destroy my will—to make me utterly despondent, reduced to a stray dog with no home. When I learned that you, Lord Yan, had sought justice for Uncle Hao, I was truly grateful. When you rode to the Cen residence, dressed in bright clothes and mounted on a spirited horse, I thought to myself: When I grow up, I want to become someone like Brother Yan.”
Cen Xu pressed his lips together. “But it was too difficult.”
He gave a self-deprecating smile. “When I truly entered the political world at seventeen, I discovered that I was not a good person at all. I am skilled at calculating people’s hearts. I am skilled at sowing discord with just a few words and destroying everything. I seem to be a terrifying person with no bottom line or principles. I always submit to reality, always compromise with circumstances—always!”
Cen Xu drew a deep breath, forcing down the emotions surging within him. “I can’t be as upright as you, Lord Yan, as fearless and unstoppable. Because I am always looking ahead and behind, always assessing other people’s value, always unconsciously seeking to maximize my own interests. I am too perceptive. I can always detect the subtle desires in other people’s hearts, and I know too well how to magnify those desires.
“These desires, so small and unspeakable, can easily determine whether a person lives or dies. They can sow discord among a group of people until they slaughter one another. Terrifying, isn’t it? I think it’s terrifying too. But even as I find it terrifying, my blood begins to boil, and my soul begins to howl.”
“And then, that day…” Cen Xu’s voice carried a frightening stubbornness. “I went to the Xianlin Academy to see you. I watched you from a distance. I was afraid of myself, so I imposed a principle and bottom line upon myself—that principle and bottom line was you, Lord Yan.
“Back then, I thought: You’ll never leave the Xianlin Academy in this lifetime, so I might as well pretend that I have a principle and a bottom line. Pretend that I’m human, that I have principles and limits. But you came out, and I could no longer keep pretending. I had to protect the principle and bottom line I had set for myself.”
That was why he had wanted to protect her.
After hearing everything, Yan Tongshu did not know what to say.
She wanted to tell him that she was not nearly as upright as he imagined. That was merely a persona she had adopted to deceive people.
But in the end, she said nothing.
Perhaps Cen Xu himself knew how absurd it was to artificially impose a principle and bottom line upon oneself. Yet he could not find his own principles or limits. He was afraid that he would sink endlessly into the abyss and fall into a frightening form, so he had forcibly drawn a line for himself.
A line that marked the boundary of being human.
He needed such a line to restrain his own destructive desires.
That line could be a rule, a person, or an object.
As luck would have it, the two of them knew each other. As luck would have it, when he needed one, she was at the Xianlin Academy. She could not leave, and therefore would not interfere with him. He could pretend that he had a principle, pretend that he was a normal person, and then do whatever he wanted.
And so he had made her that line.
By coincidence, she left the Xianlin Academy and became a wall he could no longer avoid facing.
Cen Xu truly was as clever as he claimed. He had merely stated the pros and cons to Meng Yi. He had not forced Meng Yi to die, nor had he given him the means to commit suicide. He had committed no crime and broken no law. No one could do anything to him.
Cen Xu gazed deeply at Yan Tongshu. “Lord Yan, no matter what I say today, don’t believe me. Never believe me. Because I don’t even believe in myself.”
After saying this, the two of them remained silent for a long while.
Yan Tongshu rose, her voice gentle. “Thank you for wanting to protect me… But Meng Yi is still alive. Judging by the time, he should already have been taken out through the back gate of the Kaifeng Prefecture office and escorted to the execution grounds at Caishikou by the Divine Strategy Army.”
Cen Xu’s pupils contracted sharply.
“…But if you truly want to become a person with principles, then from now on, do not make decisions on behalf of others without permission. And never do something like this again. Never—ever do it again.”
With that, Yan Tongshu walked out of the room.
Cen Xu sat in the chair for a long time. Then, suddenly covering his face, he broke down in tears.
…
Meng Yi was transported out through the back gate of the Kaifeng Prefecture office ahead of schedule. Under the escort of the Divine Might Army, Qin Yi went to see him one last time.
Meng Yi had once saved his life. Qin Yi had promised to grant him a special pardon, but now that pardon was gone. Since he had broken his word, it was only right that he personally tell Meng Yi.
Meng Yi bowed his head and knelt. “This subject has failed to repay His Majesty’s grace.”
Because he had learned long ago that Duan Duo had mobilized the Divine Guard Army without authorization, the Divine Strategy Army had sealed off every road near the Kaifeng Prefecture office. Duan Duo waited at the entrance for a long time, but no word came.
Meng Yi was executed ahead of schedule.
The Divine Strategy Army opened a passage.
Before the time it took to burn a stick of incense had passed, news of Meng Yi’s death had spread throughout the capital, Bianjing.
Meng Zheng and Wen Taojun hurried to the execution grounds with the entire Wen family. Duan Duo also led the Divine Guard Army there, hastily forming ranks before the execution grounds.
The man who had once been mighty and powerful, the general who had once commanded awe, was now a lifeless corpse lying quietly upon the cold stone pavement.
All glory was nothing more than smoke and clouds.
When the smoke of battle cleared, only desolation remained.
Meng Zheng’s knees struck the ground heavily. He threw himself before Meng Yi’s body, a heart-rending cry bursting from his throat. “Father!”
Wen Taojun stood to one side, her face as pale as paper, two silent trails of tears sliding down her cheeks.
Duan Duo’s eyes were bloodshot. Leading the massed Divine Guard Army behind him, he bowed heavily three times before Meng Yi’s corpse.
Then he sprang to his feet. With a clang, he drew the sword at his waist and shouted, “The entire Divine Guard Army—”
“Here!” The sound of armor scraping against armor and the soldiers’ answering cry erupted at once.
Duan Duo raised his sword, its cold edge pointing toward the Kaifeng Prefecture office. His chest heaved violently, and just as he was about to speak, Meng Zheng cut him off in a frigid voice.
“Uncle Duan, lower your sword.”
The veins in Duan Duo’s neck bulged, and his eyes turned vicious. “Yan Tongshu killed your father. Today, I’m going to kill her and offer her head as a sacrifice to raise our banner.”
Meng Zheng knew that Duan Duo was fiercely headstrong and could not be persuaded. He slowly rose to his feet, his gaze like a blade as it swept across every grief-stricken face behind Duan Duo.
“Lower your swords! This is the foot of the imperial city, the Kaifeng Prefecture office! Do you want to commit treason? Is this what my father taught you when he was alive? His body is not even cold, and you already want to make him bear the charge of rebellion?”
The soldiers of the Divine Guard Army glanced at one another.
Seeing them hesitate, Meng Zheng shouted, “My father is dead. Does that mean the Meng family can no longer command you?”
One person lowered his sword first. Then, one after another, the entire Divine Guard Army lowered theirs.
“If they won’t go, I’ll go alone.” Duan Duo’s face was livid, the knuckles of the hand gripping his sword standing out sharply. “Let it be a personal grudge between Yan Tongshu and me.”
“You are not allowed to go either.”
Wen Taojun suddenly spoke. Her voice was hoarse, yet exceptionally clear.
Duan Duo gave a scornful laugh. His eyes were filled with resentment as he looked at Wen Taojun. “You caused the general’s death, and now you still want to order me around?”
Wen Taojun’s heart was filled with grief, but she forced herself to remain composed. “This was Meng Yi’s order.”
Duan Duo’s pupils contracted. “Impossible.”
Wen Taojun took the letter Meng Yi had given her from inside her robe, opened it, and held it out before Duan Duo.
It was the suicide letter Meng Yi had left behind—
I, Meng Yi, have received boundless grace from His Majesty above and devoted care and instruction from my parents below. I should have served my country loyally until death. Yet, because of one moment of poor judgment and the corruption of selfish desires, I committed the grave crime of murder and took innocent lives. My sin is beyond measure, and a hundred deaths would not atone for it. I have failed the trust of the Emperor, shamed the kindness of my parents, and have no face to meet my comrades in the army or the people of this realm.
My sins are mine alone, and no one else is to blame. Yan Tongshu handled the case according to the law and committed no wrong. My death is the consequence of my own actions, and proof that the law of the state stands supreme. Let my descendants take me as a warning. They must guard their hearts, remain loyal to the Emperor and the nation, uphold integrity, and discipline themselves. They must never place personal interests above public duty or abuse their achievements to act recklessly. Nor should they resent or mistreat others because of the wrongdoing of one man—myself.
My younger brother, Duan Duo, is forthright by nature, but impulsive and stubborn. I hereby issue one final military order: For the rest of his life, he is forbidden from seeking revenge against Yan Tongshu for any reason. Unless he is investigating a case, he must never set foot inside the Kaifeng Prefecture again. Should he violate this order, he will be severely punished under military law and expelled from the Divine Guard.
Duan Duo reached out to snatch the letter, but Wen Taojun immediately moved out of his reach.
His chest heaved violently. His eyes were filled with confusion over Meng Yi’s decision, but he could not disobey his brother’s order. Thus, he vented all his anger and grief on Wen Taojun instead.
“What right do you have to hold our eldest brother’s final letter? Huh? Wen Taojun, you’re my eldest brother’s wife and the mother of his child. What right do you have to stand here?”
He took a step forward, each word stabbing into Wen Taojun’s heart.
“It’s all your fault. If it weren’t for you, my eldest brother and Wen Qian would still have been on good terms. He never would have laid a hand on Wen Qian…”
“Duan Duo, shut up!” Meng Zheng shouted furiously.
Duan Duo’s entire body radiated viciousness. He pointed angrily at Wen Taojun.
“You’re the real culprit, the root of everything! It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you, you wretched calamity, Wen Qian and my eldest brother would still be fine! If it weren’t for you, Wen Qian wouldn’t have died! If it weren’t for you, my eldest brother never would have confessed to killing Wen Qian! Twenty-six years have passed. The evidence had long since vanished. When all is said and done, this is all your fault!”
Bang!
Meng Zheng’s fierce fist slammed into Duan Duo’s face. Duan Duo staggered back two steps and fell to the ground.
Meng Zheng stepped in front of Wen Taojun. “Duan Duo, I’m warning you. If you dare insult my mother again, I will not let you off.”
Duan Duo turned his head and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. He glared venomously in Yan Tongshu’s direction, then turned and walked away.
The terrified constables nearby hurried forward and shakily handed Meng Zheng and the others the corpse-transfer documents they had prepared in advance, allowing them to take Meng Yi’s body back to the Meng residence.
Meng Yi had already been sentenced to beheading, so his coffin had been prepared several days earlier.
Meng Zheng carefully placed Meng Yi inside the coffin. He and Wen Taojun walked at the front, while members of the Meng family carried the coffin behind them, their steps heavy and slow.
After the coffin left the Kaifeng Prefecture, Duan Duo silently led the Divine Guard, bringing up the rear in formation.
The massive procession made its way toward the Meng residence.
Yan Tongshu walked out of the Kaifeng Prefecture and stood in the middle of the street as Meng Yi’s coffin passed before her.
The procession stretched as far as the eye could see, every person wearing an expression of grief.
Upon hearing the news, Wen Shouan and Wu Yao hurried over as well.
The elderly couple looked at the endless procession and the heavy black coffin. Their feelings were complicated.
There was the satisfaction of seeing their great enemy brought to justice, the sorrow of watching the son-in-law they had loved for so many years die so suddenly, and the relief that no pardon had been granted.
Meng Zheng’s gaze swept past Yan Tongshu before he firmly turned his eyes toward the road ahead.
Later, Yan Tongshu heard that Qin Yi had gone to the Meng residence to pay his respects.
Three days later, Meng Yi was placed in his coffin and buried.
Two-thirds of the officials in the imperial court went to the Meng residence to see Meng Yi off on his final journey.
Yan Tongshu did not go.
If she had, the Meng family would have thrown her out on the spot.
Rather than arguing and disturbing Meng Yi’s funeral, it was better for her not to go and allow him to depart this world in peace, without further turmoil.
However, on the second day after Meng Yi’s burial, Yan Tongshu felt uneasy and went to visit Wen Taojun.
Wen Taojun sat in a warm room, skillfully using a sharp knife to split a bamboo strip in her hand into fine strands. Her expression was calm as she made a lantern.
Yan Tongshu walked over. “Madam Meng.”
The knife in Wen Taojun’s hand did not stop. “Just call me Aunt Wen.”
Yan Tongshu nodded and sat down on the small stool beside her. Her voice was soft and clear. “Aunt Wen.”
“Did you come here for something?” Wen Taojun asked.
Yan Tongshu tried to brush it off. “I… heard that you know how to make lanterns, so I came to learn a thing or two.”
“Are you afraid I’ll kill myself?” Wen Taojun set down the knife and looked up at Yan Tongshu.
Yan Tongshu straightened her posture. “Aunt Wen, Duan Duo was talking nonsense. Don’t take it to heart.”
“I haven’t taken it to heart.”
Wen Taojun smiled faintly. Her eyes held both sorrow and determination.
“It’s strange. These past few days, Zheng’er has stayed by my side every moment, afraid that something might happen to me. Only after I repeatedly assured him that I absolutely would not kill myself did he finally go report to the Divine Guard’s main camp. By the way, His Majesty has promoted Zheng’er to Deputy Commander of the Divine Guard. Did you know?”
Yan Tongshu nodded.
With Meng Yi, the Divine Guard’s Commander, dead, Duan Duo would naturally be promoted to the position of Commander. As for Meng Zheng’s exceptional promotion, perhaps Qin Yi felt guilty and intended it as compensation for the Meng family. Perhaps it was meant to appease them. Or perhaps he had some other plan. In any case, everyone could see that Meng Zheng’s next step would be to inherit Meng Yi’s position.
Wen Taojun spoke gently. “After I spend this New Year with Zheng’er, I’ll move out of the Meng residence. I’ll return to Yinzhou for a while, and then come back.”
Yan Tongshu nodded.
Wen Taojun looked at her seriously. “So, I will not kill myself.”
Yan Tongshu blinked. “What?”
Wen Taojun’s gaze was firm.
“I don’t know why you and Zheng’er both think I would kill myself, but I truly won’t. Magistrate Yan, I have not violated the law, betrayed my principles, violated morality, or harmed any innocent person. Why should I kill myself? Meng Yi is dead, and I am deeply saddened, but life is precious. It should be devoted to things that are more meaningful.
“I am Zheng’er’s mother, the daughter of my aunt and uncle, and, most importantly, my own person. Though I cannot understand your way of thinking, I can promise you that I absolutely will not kill myself. If I ever die, it will only be because my allotted years have come to an end.”
Yan Tongshu froze for a moment before suddenly understanding.
Those ridiculous television dramas had misled her. They blamed everything on themselves at the slightest opportunity, constantly declaring, “I’m the one who caused all of this,” and then killing themselves.
How could there be so many people determined to blame themselves for everything?
If two people fought over gold and killed each other, no one would blame the gold and destroy it afterward.
How toxic.
Yan Tongshu suddenly smiled, radiant as fireworks.
“Mm.”
Her answer was crisp and clear. “You’re right, Aunt Wen. I was the one thinking irrationally.”
Wen Taojun couldn’t understand why Yan Tongshu and Meng Zheng had thought she was going to take her own life. She still didn’t understand Yan Tongshu’s sudden change either, but as long as he was willing to believe her, that was enough.
Yan Tongshu rose to his feet and bowed deeply to Wen Taojun, saying from the bottom of his heart, “Aunt Wen! You’ll definitely live to be a hundred!”
Amused by this childish side of Yan Tongshu, Wen Taojun smiled. “I know. I’ll take good care of myself and do my best to live to a hundred.”
“Mm.” Yan Tongshu was about to leave when Wen Taojun suddenly called out, “Lord Yan.”
Yan Tongshu turned around. “Yes?”
Wen Taojun’s eyes curved into a smile. “A lot of things in life are at the mercy of fate. We may not be able to change what fate has in store for us, but as human beings, we can choose where our lives will lead. You and Zheng’er are good friends. I hope you’ll continue to get along well in the future.”
Yan Tongshu pressed his lips together and nodded lightly.
But in truth, although she had nodded, whether she and Meng Zheng could remain friends was up to Meng Zheng—not her.
