In the mountain forest, not a single raindrop had fallen. The ground was dry.

By the stream, the three sat casually, enjoying the rare tranquility.

Xie Zhifei held a tender grass blade in his hand. “Bu Liu, with the Late Emperor’s sudden death, the plan to dispatch troops against the Tatars—will it be shelved?”

“Probably can’t be shelved.”

Bu Liu shook his head. “The Tatars grow increasingly rampant at the border. Recently the Ministry of War received several urgent reports. I estimate in the next few days, the new Emperor should summon us to discuss military affairs.”

“With the new Emperor’s ascension, General Bu, will your position change?”

Yan Sanhe’s sudden question stumped Bu Liu. He quickly looked at Xie Zhifei with his eyes: This girl even understands court power struggles?

This girl understands everything!

Xie Zhifei suppressed his pride and answered for Bu Liu: “No matter who ascends, a military officer like General Bu who speaks only through military merit will always be valued highly. He…”

The words suddenly stopped.

Yan Sanhe looked up and discovered his face had turned deathly pale.

“What’s wrong? Where don’t you feel well?”

Xie Zhifei rubbed his chest, forcing out a smile for Yan Sanhe. “My chest just felt like something stabbed it hard. Pain!”

The word “pain” was drowned out by urgent hoofbeats. Bu Liu stood up on tiptoe and saw it was Zhang Kui.

Zhang Kui didn’t wait for the horse to stop before leaping down.

“Boss, news just came from the capital—Old General Zheng’s surrounding walls were all struck down by lightning.”

“What?”

Bu Liu’s expression changed drastically. He rushed over and grabbed Zhang Kui’s front. “You damned—say it again, whose, whose walls…”

“Old General Zheng Yu.”

Bu Liu’s eyes immediately reddened. He retreated several steps, turning his head, his gaze fixed on Xie Zhifei:

“How, how, how could…”

Xie Zhifei’s eyelids wouldn’t stop twitching. The pain in his chest surged in waves. He couldn’t speak a word.

Heaven’s thunder and lightning strike?

The Zheng Family was actually struck by heaven’s thunder and lightning?

Why?

A small, cold hand pressed against his forehead.

Xie Zhifei hastily raised his head. Yan Sanhe looked at him quietly. “Hearing is false, seeing is true. Let’s go back and look.”

“Go look!”

Bu Liu pushed Zhang Kui aside, snatched the horse from behind him, impatiently leaping onto it. “Third Master, Bu Liu is leaving first.”

Yan Sanhe’s hand moved down, grabbing Xie Zhifei’s arm and pulling hard. “We’re leaving too!”

…

Xie Zhifei had always thought that after so many years, he would have forgotten at least a little about the Zheng Family matter.

He never imagined the wound in his heart had never healed even one day. Peeling it open to look, inside remained full of pus and blood, still vaguely aching.

He drove the carriage almost madly, racing the entire way, using only half an hour to reach the city gate.

Suddenly, someone rushed out from the side.

Xie Zhifei pulled hard on the reins, his tiger eyes widening, shouting at the arrival: “What is it?”

Ding Yi jumped onto the carriage, taking the reins from Third Master’s hands, saying in a low voice:

“Master, Young Lord Pei hasn’t emerged from the palace even now. The old master sent Steward Xie to the yamen to find you, telling you to send people to maintain order at the Zheng Family. Zhu Qing has already arranged…”

“Head to Four Lanes first.”

What Young Lord Pei, what maintain order—Xie Zhifei couldn’t hear any of it. In his mind was only one thought—

Why?

Why were the Zheng Family’s walls struck down by lightning?

In the carriage, Yan Sanhe lifted the curtain slightly, looking at Xie Zhifei’s back, brows slightly furrowing.

Very strange.

After hearing the news of the Zheng Family walls collapsing, his reactions seemed several times more shocked and fearful than if the Xie Family ancestral graves had cracked.

…

The carriage hadn’t yet reached Four Lanes when it had to stop. There were too many common people watching—even the road was blocked.

Xie Zhifei jumped from the carriage, raising his official badge high, shouting loudly: “Five Cities Commandery handling a case—make way!”

The voice wasn’t loud but carried an official’s natural authority. The common people retreated to both sides, each yielding half a body’s width.

Ding Yi quickly rushed ahead to clear the path. Although anxious in heart, Xie Zhifei still steadily protected Yan Sanhe before him.

The further Yan Sanhe walked inward, the stronger an eerie feeling grew beneath her feet.

As if she’d arrived before an enormous tomb, and those collapsed surrounding walls were the split-open coffin.

Why would she have this feeling?

Doubt appeared in her calm eyes.

The three reached the front and discovered the common people watching had already been blocked several zhang away. People from the Five Cities Commandery and Embroidered Uniform Guard completely surrounded the entire Zheng Family residence.

A Commandery subordinate saw his superior arrive and quickly came forward. “Commander Xie, you’ve come. We’ve inspected the scene—very strange…”

But in Commander Xie’s eyes remained only the broken walls and ruins before him.

Collapsed.

All collapsed.

He stared blankly. Upon seeing the charred courtyard of the Begonia Garden, his eyes gradually lost focus. His legs weakened, nearly collapsing to his knees.

A large hand steadily supported him.

“Young master, hold on.”

Bu Liu pressed close to Xie Zhifei’s ear.

“I just inquired—they weren’t struck down by lightning, but after several thunderclaps, the walls boomed and collapsed on their own.”

Not struck by heaven’s lightning?

Xie Zhifei’s pitch-black pupils stared fixedly at Bu Liu for a long while. His legs, which had gone soft as cotton, suddenly stood firm and steady.

He came back to life!

Just then, Zhu Qing also saw Xie Zhifei and strode over. “Master, there are three eyewitnesses in total.”

“Bring the eyewitnesses back to the yamen for questioning. Drive away the watching common people. Instruct the subordinate brothers and the Embroidered Uniform Guard—without orders from above…”

Xie Zhifei said coldly: “Temporarily, not one step into the Zheng Family residence.”

Zhu Qing: “Yes!”

Everything arranged, Xie Zhifei turned to ask Bu Liu: “Why would perfectly good walls collapse?”

Bu Liu shook his head. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he fundamentally wouldn’t believe what lay before his eyes could be real.

“Perhaps it’s those one hundred eighty ghosts crying out their grievances.”

The voice was low, but each word rang with conviction. Xie Zhifei and Bu Liu both looked toward Yan Sanhe simultaneously.

Yan Sanhe’s face showed neither sorrow nor joy, exceptionally calm.

“In this world, where are there truly any secrets? All will have their day of breaking through the earth.”

These words shook Xie Zhifei violently. Looking back at the Zheng Family’s broken walls and ruins, for a moment his heart was filled with mixed feelings.

The walls collapsing, the Zheng Family tragedy buried beneath high walls and years was once again pushed before the world.

The timing of the wall collapse was chosen for Qingming.

Indeed, it seemed exactly like one hundred eighty ghosts crying out their own grievances.

Then, would the new Emperor reopen this case?

Before knowing Yan Sanhe, Xie Zhifei could have said with certainty that the new Emperor definitely wouldn’t reopen this case.

After all, the case was jointly tried by four departments, with the Late Emperor making the final determination.

But now, after resolving four heart demons together with Yan Sanhe, especially after experiencing the crow heart demon, Xie Zhifei understood one thing:

Before many matters occurred, there were definitely omens—

The Late Emperor’s sudden death;

The coffin had strange sounds;

Among thirty thousand mourning bell strikes, dozens failed to sound;

The new Emperor’s ascension—the final celebration bell also failed to sound;

The Zheng Family’s surrounding walls suddenly collapsed…

Matter by matter, step by step—were those one hundred eighty wronged souls forcing the new Emperor to reopen this case?

If so, Xie Zhifei’s worried gaze looked toward the person beside him.

That person wore spring robes, hair black as ink, pupils like stars.

How could her identity remain hidden?