Chen Ruyi led her people away first. The Ministry of Justice Chief Secretary Shen Bochi also worried about unearthing a massive scandal that the entire Ministry of Justice couldn’t handle, so saying he would return to the ministry to issue arrest warrants and have all prefectures and counties assist in searching for suspicious persons, he too hurriedly departed.
After respectfully seeing off Chen Ruyi, Shen Bochi, and the others, with the sky darkening, Wei Zhen walked back to the sickbed and looked at Shang Wensheng’s pallid face from excessive blood loss, not knowing what to say.
The court ministers had recommended Shang Wensheng to replace Shen Yang as magistrate of Guangde Prefecture, a position equivalent to provincial governor, which seemed like a plum assignment. However, having personally witnessed the rise of the Chishan Army, watched them settle hundreds of thousands of women and children in the three counties of Guangde, Langxi, and Anji, and witnessed Shangjia Fort being crushed and captured by the Chishan Army, Wei Zhen understood very clearly in his heart that someone wanted to use Shang Wensheng’s hand to stir up some trouble in Guangde Prefecture.
If the Marquis of Qianyang had hidden schemes in Guangde Prefecture, or worried that Shang Wensheng harbored old grudges and might suppress the women and children settled in Guangde when serving as magistrate there, there was complete motive to secretly dispatch someone to assassinate Shang Wensheng.
Moreover, the assassin’s identity could now be said to be utterly obvious.
Speaking of this Han Donghu, Wei Zhen also had an impression of him—he fought extremely bravely and was once promoted by the Marquis of Qianyang to be a cavalry battalion military officer. He was even bestowed the surname “Han” by the Marquis of Qianyang, a treatment only the most trusted of the trusted could enjoy. He could be said to be the Marquis of Qianyang’s house retainer.
Although Chen Ruyi said similar builds were insufficient as evidence, if this really was an assassin dispatched from Xuzhou, how would this matter evolve?
Would His Majesty hold his nose and pretend this incident never happened?
Thinking of this, Wei Zhen’s heart tightened slightly. He glanced at Shang Wensheng and said, “Lord Shang, recover well from your injuries. I believe His Majesty will certainly give the Shang family justice.”
With the sky already dark, Wei Zhen did not stay overnight but quickly led over ten bailiffs back to Lishui City through the darkness.
After Wei Zhen and the county officials left, Shang Wensheng lay on the sickbed staring fixedly at the canopy above. After a long while, he seemed to finally gather a bit of strength. He gestured for Chen Xiang, who was also wounded but still guarding beside the sickbed, to come closer and asked hoarsely:
“When the assassin broke into the fort, besides myself, my wife, and Zhongjie, besides one person who went to report to Lishui City, there should have been thirty house soldiers. How is it that when the assassin broke in, only ten people ended up dead or wounded in the end? Where are the others?”
Under Shang Wensheng’s sinister stare, Chen Xiang hesitated for quite a while before reporting truthfully: “The Second Young Master killing流民 in his urgency was nothing unusual in itself, but Madam’s words seemed to give some people certain ideas. When the Second Young Master was assassinated, there was quite a commotion in the outer residence. This humble one was in the western courtyard at the time and also heard the disturbance, but besides He Chong and Chen Jingmin who were guarding the Second Young Master, and He Jin and Old Shang Han who were guarding you and Madam at the time, in the end only nine people came with this humble one from the western courtyard with weapons to fight the assassin. Only after the assassin had climbed over the wall and escaped did the others gradually emerge with weapons to give chase, but the assassin had already disappeared into the woods. They were more familiar with the passages in the residence and the dense forest behind the mountain than we were, otherwise we wouldn’t have lost the trail…”
“Where is Su Lie!” Shang Wensheng demanded.
Although Shang Wensheng was merely a Bureau Director in the Great Chu’s Six Ministries, that was only because Emperor Tianyou had no intention of heavily employing the prominent clans of Jinling’s counties. In terms of the Shang clan’s power, most of the Great Chu court’s nouveau riche noble families could not compare.
Su Lie was a young swordsman he had taken in years ago when he was not yet the Shang family head, when he was serving as a clerk in Huzhou representing the Shang clan for the Great Chu court.
When he took in Su Lie, Su Lie was only twelve years old, dependent on his widowed mother. When his mother died and he had no money for burial, Su Lie sold himself on the street to bury his mother.
He funded the burial of Su Lie’s mother and kept Su Lie by his side.
Su Lie’s blade skills were exceptional, his arm strength tremendous—he was the foremost among the Shang family’s hundreds of house soldiers.
Over these years, Shang Wensheng had always kept Su Lie by his side as a personal guard. When the Anning Palace fled north across the river, it was also Su Lie who first subdued the battalion commander supervising them, then coerced this person to lead his subordinates to escape with them back to the southern shore to join Emperor Yanyou.
It was also because he knew his second son Zhongjie had ambitions to revive Shangjia Fort that Shang Wensheng had transferred Su Lie to serve him—when Zhongjie tortured and killed the captured refugees at Shangjia Fort, Su Lie had rushed overnight to Langxi to report it to him when he couldn’t stop it.
Shang Wensheng thought that although the assassin was martially formidable, as long as Su Lie wasn’t ambushed in the first moment, with his skills he shouldn’t have been killed so easily.
Chen Xiang said, “Others say that when the Second Young Master was assassinated, Su Lie heard the commotion first and rushed over, even exchanging several blade strokes with the assassin, but he was no match for the assassin and quickly fell into defeat, yet he wasn’t injured at all—additionally, this humble one heard these people discussing privately that this Shang Hu coming to assassinate the Second Young Master was very likely for revenge for the Young Madam, and some people even said the Second Young Master killed the Young Madam because she had some involvement with this house slave called Shang Hu…”
“Nonsense! These damnable wretches are cowards who fear death and want to insult my family’s reputation?” Shang Wensheng cursed hoarsely.
Chen Xiang stood to the side, not daring to make a sound.
Shang Wensheng’s expression alternated between light and dark as he thought for a good while. He figured that Su Lie having no injuries yet falling into defeat basically meant he was unwilling in his heart to continue risking his life for the Shang family. His chest filled with towering hatred, he said through gritted teeth: “Since these wretches don’t remember my past kindness to them and harbor disloyal thoughts, I have no need to keep them either.”
“My lord, you mean to…?” Chen Xiang looked over in shock, not even daring to finish asking the question.
Lying on the sickbed, Shang Wensheng thought about how among the house soldiers only thirteen were still willing to risk their lives for his Shang family in the end. Excluding the seven killed by the assassin, among the remaining six, three were severely wounded—not enough to detain those house soldiers who had developed disloyal thoughts. Moreover, among those with disloyal thoughts was Su Lie.
Breathing heavily, he instructed Chen Xiang: “Find a reliable person to go to Liyang to report to the Eldest Young Master. Tell him that among the remaining seventeen men, there may very likely be people secretly colluding with the assassin. Have him bring people back to deal with these men—this will also handle all the previous matters cleanly. But these matters, you few must keep buried in your bellies. Even when meeting the Eldest Young Master, don’t mention them. Just treat as if these things never happened. The Young Madam’s matter especially must not be mentioned—you understand?”
Chen Xiang was puzzled for quite a while before understanding the family head’s meaning. He nodded and said, “This humble one understands—it would be more secure if this humble one personally makes the trip to Liyang to see the Eldest Young Master.”
“Good. Make absolutely certain no word leaks out—now that Zhongjie is also dead, I have only one son left at my knee. There’s no one else beside me I want to wholeheartedly support. When you return, you can become my adopted son!” Shang Wensheng said.
“My lord’s grace, Chen Xiang will never forget.” Chen Xiang kowtowed once before the sickbed, then walked outside.
After Chen Xiang left, Shang Wensheng endured the pain of his wounds and drifted off to sleep again in a daze. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he heard noisy sounds from outside. Opening his eyes, he saw the large candle in the room had somehow been extinguished—pitch darkness. He called hoarsely toward the door: “Has Dalang returned?”
Then the door burst open with a loud “crack” as someone violently pushed it from outside. It struck the wall and bounced back.
Many people holding torches burst in. Looking at those faces illuminated by the torchlight—ferocious and twisted—who else could they be but those house soldiers from around Zhongjie?
Leading them was Su Lie, who had the ability to lead the house soldiers to intercept the assassin but had retreated midway.
Shang Wensheng was suddenly shocked. Disregarding the severe pain of his wounds, he struggled to sit up and demanded sternly: “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Since my lord doesn’t want to let us live and wants to kill us to silence us, we don’t want to die, and we still have wives and children in Lishui City. Now we can’t escape even if we wanted to. We really don’t know what to do, so we can only come find my lord to ask your advice!” Su Lie was a youth of twenty-five or twenty-six with a short mustache on his lip. He stared at Shang Wensheng on the sickbed.
“Who said I want to kill you to silence you? Why would I kill you to silence you?” Shang Wensheng endured the severe pain under his arm and denied it outright.
Su Lie’s gaze suddenly became fierce. He reached out to grab someone from the doorway and violently pushed him down before the sickbed. Somehow Chen Xiang had fallen into the hands of Su Lie and these rebellious house soldiers, now dragged in bound hand and foot.
Su Lie took a torch from behind him. Without paying attention to Shang Wensheng lying there like a dead dog, he stared at Chen Xiang and said: “Master Chen, I also respect you as a real man, but we’ve risked our lives fighting desperately for the Shang family all these years, yet in the eyes of the lord and madam we’re still lowborn wretches, not even worth as much as a dog. Even in death they’d wish to stomp on us a few more times—if you were in Master Chen’s position, would you really be willing to risk your life for them?”
At this time, five more people bound hand and foot were pushed in from outside. Shang Wensheng saw clearly they were all retainers who had rushed over first to intercept the assassin and were still fairly loyal to his Shang family. He hadn’t expected they would all be detained by Su Lie leading the other rebellious house soldiers.
Shang Wensheng nearly fainted directly. Only now did his heart realize that when Zhongjie had cruelly stabbed to death over fifty refugees without sparing even women and children, and his wife had confidently urged him to conceal this matter, especially those words she’d spoken venting the hatred in her heart, it had caused Su Lie and these people to develop disloyal thoughts, to develop rebellious intent.
However, thinking of how he usually treated these lowborn slaves fairly well, yet these lowborn slaves showed no gratitude and developed disloyal thoughts over those unrelated refugees, Shang Wensheng’s chest filled with both anger and hatred.
“Su Lie, the lord’s kindness to you has been as heavy as a mountain. That you didn’t wholeheartedly save the Second Young Master may have been because there wasn’t time, but you must not continue this foolishness…” Though bound, Chen Xiang still struggled to persuade Su Lie, whose eyes already revealed killing intent.
“What fine words—’kindness as heavy as a mountain’! My lord funded my mother’s burial—I’m grateful for that in my heart, and I’ve served him and his son loyally without leaving all these years. Even when we make small mistakes and are either beaten with rods or cursed, that’s nothing. However, we thought that after all these years at the Shang family, we have feelings for the Shang family, so surely the Shang family has some feelings for us too? Today we’ve finally completely understood—we’re lowborn wretches for a day, we’re lowborn wretches for life, and our children and grandchildren will all be lowborn wretches, not one bit different from those fifty-six lowborn wretches the Second Young Master cruelly stabbed to death one sword stroke after another!” Su Lie’s rather handsome face became ferocious and twisted at this moment. “Not to mention the Second Young Master cruelly murdering the Young Madam, he also cruelly murdered so many unarmed people. Master Chen, you tell me, how could we still desperately try to save him from the assassin’s hands? My lord only thinks about his own official hat, resents us for failing to save our master, thinks about covering up the truth that the Second Young Master murdered the Young Madam and was then assassinated, and thinks about covering up the truth that the Second Young Master slaughtered fifty-six women and children, so he wants to kill us to silence us. Master Chen, are we supposed to bind ourselves up and let my lord and you take up swords to pierce through our chests one by one—only then would it not be foolishness?”
“That day when you returned from the Vegetable Garden Wine House saying you met an old friend, so that person was Shang Hu! The Young Madam’s death—you also tipped off Shang Hu, so although the assassin wore a mask, after fighting him a few times you recognized him?!” Seeing Su Lie speak with such certainty, Chen Xiang suddenly understood.
“…” Su Lie ignored Chen Xiang and turned to address Shang Wensheng instead: “We have no choice but to do this, but we won’t kill my lord. Once we retrieve our families from Lishui City tomorrow, we’ll leave on our own. From then on, my lord and we will go our separate ways under vast skies, each to our own fate, with no further connection. We also hope my lord will not think of us in the future, and pray that the Eldest Young Master doesn’t yet know of the changes at Donglu Mountain and won’t rush back to Donglu Mountain to force us to do things we don’t want to do and are unwilling to do…”