Meng Xiangyang’s blood and vital energy churned within him. The room full of concubines wept in a cacophony.

“Enough — a pack of women who know nothing but weeping and wailing. What use are any of you? Get out, all of you.” Meng Xiangyang’s face was dark with fury. The force of his shouting made him spit out another mouthful of blood.

“Master, please take care of yourself.”

“Master, this family cannot do without you.”

Meng Xiangyang felt only a buzzing in his ears and lacked the energy to drive out these flies of women. After a long moment he closed his eyes and let out a slow, long breath.

“All right, all of you go out. Tell Wang Yuan to come in.”

Wang Yuan was Meng Xiangyang’s adjutant — and also his most trusted confidant.

Meng Madam, seeing this, immediately shot a glance at the concubines. “All of you, out.”

Si Yitai, emboldened by her favored status, pushed back: “Does that mean Madam doesn’t need to leave either?”

Meng Madam’s face fell at once. “Watch the way you speak first, and remember your station. I am the mistress of this household; you are nothing but a lowly concubine.”

“Master!” Si Yitai dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief, a picture of aggrieved weeping. “Listen to what Madam just said — I am the concubine Master personally chose, yet she calls me lowly. Isn’t she calling Master’s own judgment into question?”

Under normal circumstances, Meng Xiangyang would certainly have stood up for this cherished concubine of his. But at a moment like this, hearing them squabble and vie for favor, he felt only utter exhaustion.

“Out.” Meng Xiangyang opened his eyes and turned a low, dark look on Si Yitai.

The look on Meng Xiangyang’s face — livid, with eyes wide with fury — gave Si Yitai a violent start. She was a newly arrived concubine, and still at the peak of his favor; he had never shown her this kind of expression before.

Si Yitai felt profoundly wronged and let out a wail, crying and calling out at once: “Master, what’s come over you? You promised you’d treat me well for the rest of your life. Master, are you saying you don’t want me anymore? Boo-hoo-hoo!”

Meng Xiangyang heaved a sigh and, pressing through the throbbing at his temples, called out loudly: “Wang Yuan, come in. Drive all these people out for me.”

Wang Yuan, waiting outside, heard the commotion and quickly pushed the door open. Seeing Si Yitai bawling her eyes out, he shook his head with a helpless expression.

“Madam, please go out as well,” Wang Yuan said diplomatically. “The situation is this serious now — please don’t add to the Director’s troubles, neither you nor the other ladies.”

Meng Madam wasn’t pleased to hear that, but considering the Meng Family’s circumstances, she decided to swallow her feelings for now.

Only when the room had finally quieted down did Wang Yuan say, “Director, what do we do now?”

“The Marshal intends to eliminate the Meng Family.” A black tide surged in the depths of Meng Xiangyang’s eyes. “Once the prey is caught, the hound is boiled; once the birds are gone, the bow is put away. If we don’t resist now, we’ll end up ruined and homeless.”

“What does the Director plan to do?”

“Go at once and inform Liu Qingnian — tell him to muster all his troops and stand by in readiness outside the city.” Meng Xiangyang clenched his fist. “Inform Gao Qingyou and Liu Hetian — have them deploy covertly within Shun Cheng. I’ll make other arrangements.”

“Understood.” Wang Yuan looked at Meng Xiangyang’s grave expression. “Director — have you thought this through? If you summon Commander Liu back, that is an outright declaration of war against the Marshal’s government.”

Wang Yuan thought: if fighting truly broke out, it would be a civil war the like of which had never been seen before.

But given the current situation, the troops Meng Xiangyang commanded clearly outnumbered the Marshal’s forces. Even without Meng Xiangli’s self-defense corps in Shun Cheng, which had already been seized, relying on Liu Qingnian and the others alone was enough to take Shun Cheng.

“Do I have any other road left to walk?” Meng Xiangyang gave a long sigh. “You’ve seen it yourself: first the Marshal took Xiangli, now he’s detained Xiangchen. I’ll be next. If I don’t fight back, I’m just waiting to die. The Meng Family has served the Shi Family across two generations and has never harbored the slightest thought of treason. That I’ve been driven to this point today is truly out of desperation, and desperation alone.”

“Then what about the mistress — should we inform her as well?”

“The nest is destroyed and no egg survives unbroken — have someone go and tell her. Just say I’m gravely ill and ask her to come back to check on me.”

Yan Qing heard that someone from the Shi Family had come, and vaguely guessed what it was about.

“Did the Meng Family say that Meng Xiangyang is gravely ill and is asking Madam to make a trip back to the Meng Family?”

Jing Zhi was somewhat surprised. “How did Miss know?”

“Meng Xiangyang wants to rebel.”

“Meng Xiangyang wants to raise an army and revolt?” Jing Zhi was shocked. “Wouldn’t Shun Cheng be headed for disaster then?”

It was soldiers who fought wars, but in the end it was ordinary people who suffered. Shun Cheng had enjoyed peace for so long — would it now be plunged into flames?

Apart from those in power, probably no one wanted a war. The moment a war broke out, prices soared, people were displaced, and untold numbers of families would be torn apart.

“Don’t worry — it won’t come to that.” Yan Qing smiled. “Meng Xiangyang is far too arrogant. He has no idea that his strength has long since been hollowed out by the Marshal. The people he can still use right now are Liu Qingnian, Gao Qingyou, and Liu Hetian. Liu Qingnian goes without saying — Gao Qingyou has already been won over to the Marshal’s side. That leaves Liu Hetian, who wavers back and forth without a firm position. Just watch: if Meng Xiangyang tries to rebel, Liu Hetian will be a reed in the wind — he won’t commit his forces first but will sit back and observe. If he finds out that Liu Qingnian and Gao Qingyou have already turned against Meng Xiangyang, would he be foolish enough to fight alone and outnumbered?”

“So what Miss means is: this war won’t happen, and Meng Xiangyang is destined to lose.”

“If the Marshal didn’t have this much confidence, he wouldn’t have pushed Meng Xiangyang into desperate straits like a cornered dog.” Yan Qing picked up her teacup and turned it slowly in her hands. “Meng Xiangyang knows that once the Meng Family rebels, the Shi Family will never keep Madam Shi. So he wants to take Madam Shi back first as a precaution.”

“Then once Madam leaves, she won’t be coming back, will she?”

“That depends on herself. If she wants to remain in the Shi Family, she ought to know that without the Meng Family’s backing, she would struggle to take a single step in this household. So the likelihood of her choosing to return to the Meng Family is fairly high.”

Madam Shi wasn’t foolish. The moment the Meng Family moved toward rebellion, she would know which side to choose.

And indeed, Madam Shi returned to the Meng Family on the pretext of going home to visit her gravely ill elder brother.

In the days that followed Madam Shi’s return, the residents of Shun Cheng continued to go about their daily lives in peace and contentment. The streets and lanes remained lively with entertainment and commerce. But beneath this painted surface of calm, a storm was quietly gathering its currents.

Yan Qing arrived at the military police department. Everyone had just finished lunch and was chatting and amusing themselves during a brief rest — nothing like the atmosphere of an active case.

She had just received Shi Ting’s message asking her to come by. She had assumed there was a case — but the military police staff from top to bottom looked entirely at ease, nothing suggestive of one at all.

She went to Shi Ting’s office and found him standing at his desk, gazing intently at several objects laid out on it.

“Why the sudden summons? I thought there was a case.” Yan Qing walked to his side and followed his gaze toward the same spot.

“Do you remember when we were in Jiuyang Village, the old object we found in Zhang Dexi’s house? Look at this painting — it has the same pattern on it, with just one difference in the center. The round disc in Zhang Dexi’s house had a bird in the center, while the center of this painting has a bat.”

This painting had been discovered in the Xu Family’s sitting room. At the time, Shi Ting had found it somewhat unusual and made a mental note of it. Had he not found a nearly identical pattern in Jiuyang Village, he would never have known where the strangeness lay.

“The pattern really is the same — just different animals in the center. Could it actually be a family crest?” Yan Qing studied the painting carefully.

“And not just this painting — look at this ornament.” Shi Ting picked up a circular decorative piece that was also round in shape. Carved on it was an exquisite pattern — and that pattern was identical to the one in the painting, except that the center held a rabbit.

A hazy suspicion began to form in Yan Qing’s mind. “Surely this ornament wasn’t found at the Chen Family massacre scene?”

Shi Ting nodded. “We’ve been looking all along for the connection linking these three massacre cases, but our investigation kept showing that these three families had no contact with each other during their lives. Now it seems they simply had no contact over the past twenty years — twenty years ago, they all lived in what was once the site of Jiuyang County: Zhiqing County.”

“No wonder we’ve never been able to trace the connection. It turns out it was as far back as twenty years ago.”

“I found a record about Zhiqing County — have a read.” Shi Ting handed Yan Qing a small booklet. “This Zhiqing County was once very prosperous. Later, a warlord’s army swept through there, burning, killing, and plundering before finally setting it ablaze. According to accounts, the fire burned for seven days and seven nights. When it finally went out, Zhiqing County had been reduced to rubble.”

“What happened to the people in the county?”

“Some died; others fled.”

Yan Qing had never lived through a war, but she had learned from books of its brutality. She opened the booklet in her hands and began reading carefully.

“The day after tomorrow is Zheng Yun’s birthday — everyone’s getting ready to go to his place and celebrate.” Shi Ting sat across from her and pushed a cup of tea toward her hand.

“Zheng Yun would want to celebrate his birthday?” By her impression of him, Zheng Yun didn’t care for fanfare.

“It was Bai Jin’s idea — Bai Jin took the initiative to organize it and even offered to foot the bill. Zheng Yun agreed.”

Yan Qing laughed. “Bai Jin has too much free time and is always looking for something to do. But since he’s willing to put in the effort and the money, we can just show up and enjoy ourselves. As for a gift, though, you know Zheng Yun better than I do — I won’t prepare yours for you.”

“There may also be people outside the military police department that day.” Shi Ting watched Yan Qing, who was reading attentively, with a meaningful look. “If you’d like to invite someone, you’re certainly welcome to.”

Yan Qing heard this and paused, then looked up with a smile. “You noticed?”

“My wife made it so obvious — if I still couldn’t see it, I’d have no business sitting in this position.”

“Well then, what do you think? Any chance it might work?”

“The master leads you through the door; the cultivation is up to the person themselves.”

Yan Qing laughed. “Is that really how that saying is used?”

With that, she lowered her head and continued reading the booklet. When she reached a particular diagram, she suddenly furrowed her brow.