Chapter 40

Su Jinyuan’s eyes were filled with cold sarcasm. “You claim to be wronged? And what about my Xiao family? What about my sixth brother?”

“How exactly have we offended you? That you’d stoop so low as to harm our Xiao family—to beat my sixth brother into incapacitation?”

She suddenly stepped forward and seized Xie Yunyan—who lay unconscious on the ground. Pointing at his leg, where the bone was twisted and blood drenched his flesh, she tore open his clothes to reveal the horrifying wounds, where skin and muscle were grotesquely exposed.
The injuries were a chaotic mess of blood and flesh, with fresh wounds overlapping old ones so completely that hardly any unscarred skin remained. The heavy stench of blood made everyone involuntarily gasp in shock.

“We have already lost enough of the Xiao family—must an interrogation be conducted in this manner?” she cried.

“Your Majesty, look at what they’ve done! My sixth brother merely refused to go along with Luo Yu’s scheme to frame the Xiao family—and now he has been injured to this extreme. They’re out to take his life!”

Emperor Qing’s gaze fixed on the youth’s pallid face. When his eyes landed on the exposed, bone-touching wound, his pupils contracted in horror.

With tears glistening in her eyes, Su Jinyuan sobbed, “Even if the Xiao family is guilty, death would be the worst fate one could suffer. Yet they have tortured my sixth brother and disgraced the Xiao family—what monstrous sin could the Xiao family possibly have committed to deserve such treatment?!”

The girl wailed bitterly, her face etched with sorrow and indignation.

Old Madam Xiao’s eyes reddened as she added, “If anyone truly cannot stand the Xiao family, then Your Majesty, please kill me instead—spare Ah Yan…”

Emperor Qing’s brow throbbed with anger. In the past, he might have pretended not to notice such words, but now, hearing Old Madam Xiao’s utterance, it struck him at his very core.

After ordering Feng Huan to personally help Old Madam Xiao to her feet, Emperor Qing fixed his gaze on Xie Yunyan’s battered body and took a deep breath. “Guards! Summon the Imperial Physician!”

When the physician arrived and surveyed Xie Yunyan’s injuries, his heart sank at the wretched state before him—it seemed the sight of the wounds had painfully awakened him.

Xie Yunyan collapsed on the ground and emitted a muffled groan, drenched in sweat. As fresh blood surged out, one could almost discern the white bone of his leg. Several court officials could hardly bear to watch and averted their eyes.

In a somber tone, Emperor Qing asked, “What is the condition of his injuries?”

The physician replied, “Your Majesty, Master Xie’s injuries are extremely severe. Not only is his leg bone broken, but he has several wounds damaging vital areas. Had someone not applied medicinal treatment in advance, I fear he would have long since perished. He is running a fever, and in parts, the wounds have started to suppurate. Without prompt treatment, he may suffer permanent disability.”

Xie Yunyan’s injuries nearly confirmed the matter of Luo Yu’s personal vendetta mingling with official duties—and that letter has almost condemned Luo Yu to death.

No one even asked whose hands had crippled Luo Yu’s limbs, nor did anyone care why he had come to be in such a state. Everyone knew only this: Luo Yu was finished.

Duke Yu, gazing at Emperor Qing’s gloomy face and the ashen, crumpled form of Luo Yu on the ground, suddenly fell to his knees. “I beg Your Majesty’s forgiveness. It is my fault. I was foolish enough to trust Luo Yu without verifying his past enmity with the Xiao family.”

He then glared fiercely at those gathered, “Luo Yu, how could I have so misplaced my trust in you? I entrusted you with interrogating Xie Yunyan, and yet you used that chance to vent your personal anger, injuring him so severely. You have utterly disappointed me!”

“My Lord—” Luo Yu opened his mouth as if to respond, but Duke Yu roared, “Don’t call me that!”

“I have known you through my father, and your grandfather was a man of unassailable integrity. It was precisely because I trusted you that I handed over the interrogation to you. I never imagined you would stoop to mixing personal vendetta with official duty in such a despicable manner. Do you not fear that your actions will drag everyone in your household down with you? Had I known you would let personal animosity and grudges distort justice, I would never have allowed you to handle the Xiao family’s case!”

The blood drained from Luo Yu’s face. The words he had meant to speak died on his lips. “Father…” He thought of his family.

Duke Yu fixed Luo Yu with a long, sorrowful look, then turned to Emperor Qing and said, “Your Majesty, I am at fault. I failed to discern the malice in Luo Yu’s heart and, in my folly, allowed him to meddle in the Xiao family affair. I beg Your Majesty to punish me accordingly.”

Emperor Qing fixed a hard stare at Duke Yu before speaking coldly, “Luo Yu forged the imperial edict and unauthorizedly mobilized the garrison, intending to plot against the Xiao family.”

“Guards! Drag him out and beat him to death with your clubs!”

Luo Yu instantly panicked and cried, “Your Majesty, spare me… Your Majesty, spare me…”

Clearly, His Majesty wanted to hold the Xiao family accountable, but the Duke said that His Majesty could not touch the Xiao family, which is why he dared to act so ruthlessly.

“Your Majesty, I was wrong! Please have mercy on me…”

“Seize him now!”

Feng Huan stepped forward, covering his mouth, and ordered the men outside to drag him away. Outside the hall, the sound of beating clubs could be heard. Amidst the muffled, stifled screams that filtered in, both Old Madam Xiao and Su Jinyuan maintained impassive expressions, while Xie Yunyan—being half-supported by palace attendants as the imperial physician applied medicine—cast his downturned lashes in a hint of scorn.

Luo Yu was merely a garrison captain; how could he possibly have the gall to harm the esteemed Xiao family? If Emperor Qing truly believed that the Xiao family had been wronged, he should have spared Luo Yu’s life for further interrogation—to unearth those behind the plot. Instead, he ordered the man to be dragged out and beaten to death.

Hmph!

None of those present were fools. Lord Jian’an’s heart surged with anger; just as he was about to speak, Bo Ying pulled him aside and shook his head. Lord Jian’an pressed his lips tightly, his face drawn with discontent.

Not a single soul dared mention that there were others behind Luo Yu—or suggest that Emperor Qing’s order to beat him to death might cut off leads. It was as if everyone tacitly agreed: the brutal coercion in questioning and the secret plotting against the Xiao family were both Luo Yu’s doing.

Eventually, the sounds from outside faded, and there, before the hall, Luo Yu was beaten to death.

Emperor Qing then commanded those returning with the Linchuan contingent to be summoned into the hall as well. Meanwhile, Duke Yu looked on in dismay as events raced in a direction entirely contrary to what he had intended, unable in the least to stop them.

Although one of the rebel soldiers had once bitten and killed Xiao Jin in league with them, Feng Kui later recanted his words. He declared that Xiao Jin had never committed treason nor colluded with rebellious forces—the defeat at Linchuan was solely due to reinforcements arriving too late.

“It is I who have wronged the General. I was ordered to go out and meet the reinforcements but was ambushed and captured halfway. I could not withstand the harsh torture, and overcome by greed, I framed you as colluding with the rebels—even though you have never consorted with the enemy.”

“They defended Linzhou City ferociously for half a month, only to be betrayed by Prefect Jiang Zicang, who lured in the Southern Yue army, circumnavigated the city, and encircled it from behind. Only after an agonizing half month—without receiving any reinforcements—were they ultimately trapped and left to perish within Linzhou!”

“General never colluded with the enemy, nor did the Xiao family ever attempt rebellion!”

With one arm missing and his face streaked with tears, Feng Kui kowtowed before Old Madam Xiao, pleading, “I have wronged the General! I am sorry for the young general as well…”

Smack! Old Madam Xiao struck him hard across the face, turning his head sharply to the side. “You owe no apology to Xiao Jin or the Xiao family—you have only betrayed yourself!”

Think back on it: tens of thousands of fallen souls—the entire legacy of the Xiao family, whose heroes once fought shoulder to shoulder with him on the battlefield—were sacrificed. He knew full well that Jiang Zicang had betrayed Linzhou City, that even as he led his troops to encircle it, he watched them march to their deaths. And what of the innocent townsfolk of the city? How blameless they were…

With her eyes bloodshot, Old Madam Xiao cried out, “What you have betrayed is not the Xiao family—it is your brothers with whom you once shed blood; it is the tens of thousands of citizens of Linzhou. How can you stand by and watch them suffer, without fearing that those tens of thousands of vengeful souls will hound you every night, demanding retribution?!”