In Bianjing, as the weather grew hotter, even rumors seemed to spread more quickly.
Just as people were still rejoicing in General Ling’s revival, a horrifying incident occurred in Bianjing – the Li and Feng clans, two great families, vanished overnight. Over 600 servants from both families were brutally murdered.
Among the dead were children from both clans. Unlike the servants who were hacked to pieces, they died of poison. However, even over ten imperial physicians together could not determine the exact poison used.
This major case shocked the entire court and country. For several days, everyone was speechless before finally reacting.
Upon hearing this news, Mei Tingzhu rushed to Meihua Lane overnight to see Chu Dingjiang.
“Mr. Chu, someone has cracked the Konghe Secret Manual!” Her voice trembled as she spoke. Even someone as calm as she felt chilled to the bone with fear at this moment.
Chu Dingjiang had already known this news. “You should immediately take all the Mei clan members to Hexi County to find Mo Sigui.”
Mei Tingzhu gripped the armrests tightly, her face pale. “What if…”
What if the poison in their bodies is triggered halfway? Mei Tingzhu’s mind was in chaos, unable to think of any solutions. Only two clear words remained – It’s over!
Like prisoners already on the execution ground, beheading was only a matter of time. Hoping for someone to rescue them from execution was too naive, the chances were extremely slim, and they wouldn’t be so lucky.
“If they could control all the Konghe families at once, they absolutely wouldn’t do it in two stages,” Chu Dingjiang calmly analyzed for her. “First, we don’t know how to trigger the toxicity. But judging from the current situation, it’s highly likely that the poison in the blood of the four families is not the same type. They haven’t made a move against the Mei and Lou clans, probably for three reasons: First, triggering the toxicity might require paying a price, and the remaining numbers of the Mei and Lou clans are too small to be worth that price. Second, triggering the toxicity might require a specific list of every individual, and they haven’t obtained the Mei clan’s genealogy. Third, there are still people or matters in the Mei and Lou families that they want to make use of.”
Listening to his words, Mei Tingzhu gradually calmed down. Her thoughts became clearer. Although her face was still pale, her eyes no longer showed panic. She pondered for a moment, “You’re right. I think all these possibilities exist. The remaining fighting strength of the Mei and Lou clans indeed isn’t worth their effort to trigger the toxicity. But it’s not entirely so. The Lou clan has Lou Xiaowu, while the Mei clan has Mo Sigui and Mei Shisi.”
The abilities and lethality of these three people were several times stronger than the remaining assassins of both Mei and Lou clans combined. After triggering the toxicity, they would lose their original thinking, and these three top talents would become thoughtless killing puppets. Especially Lou Xiaowu, whose combat ability would be even worse than a third-rate assassin.
“The current strength of the Mei and Lou families should be like chicken ribs to the mastermind behind this, but these three are different,” Mei Tingzhu’s thoughts gradually became clearer.
If Mo Sigui didn’t understand medicine, his strength wouldn’t be considered top-tier. Lou Xiaowu needn’t be mentioned. More regrettably, if Mei Shisi lost her spiritual power, she would just be a fragile external cultivator, unable to shoot the Startling Bowstring! The reason why the mastermind hasn’t rushed to make a move is probably because they want to use other methods to control these three people.
Chu Dingjiang said, “Since you’ve calmed down, think carefully about the key to controlling these three people.”
Mei Tingzhu frowned, a name flashing through her mind. “Lou Mingyue!”
Chu Dingjiang nodded slightly.
“But I’m still a bit confused, Lou Mingyue doesn’t have any relationship with Shisi, right?” Mei Tingzhu asked.
“Controlling Lou Mingyue is equivalent to controlling Lou Xiaowu and Mo Sigui, and controlling Mo Sigui means they can manipulate An Jiu. No one understands An Jiu better than him,” Chu Dingjiang had to admit that Mo Sigui understood An Jiu better than he did. Both physically and psychologically, Mo Sigui was her most knowledgeable doctor.
Mei Tingzhu only knew that Mo Sigui and An Jiu were close friends, but didn’t understand the deeper entanglements. Although she still didn’t fully comprehend, she didn’t continue to ask. She understood that if Chu Dingjiang said it was credible, that was enough.
“So what we need to do now is find Lou Mingyue,” Mei Tingzhu clasped her hands together, looking expectantly at Chu Dingjiang. “Will you be coming with us, sir?”
Chu Dingjiang ignored her look. “You go first. I need to prepare some things and will catch up later.”
Mei Tingzhu stood up and bowed slightly. “Farewell.”
“Take care,” Chu Dingjiang had a fairly good impression of this young lady. She had a clear mind and acted decisively, quite similar to An Jiu’s style.
A faint smile appeared on Mei Tingzhu’s pale face.
Chu Dingjiang stood up and walked to the window with his hands behind his back, admiring the apricot blossoms blooming vigorously in the courtyard.
After a long while, he lowered his head and took out two notebooks from his wide sleeve to look through. Suddenly he smiled and said softly, “An Jiu, I’ve sent all the people to you. Do well.”
His spiritual energy turned the two books into dust, which danced with the east wind, accompanying the apricot blossoms shaken down by the residual force of the spiritual energy, forming a fluttering snowfall. The words “Konghe Secret Manual” seemed to still be in his hand.
Only he knew clearly that the reason the mastermind hadn’t moved against the Mei clan wasn’t because of the one, two, or three reasons he had analyzed, but because he had recreated the “Konghe Secret Manual”, erased the methods to trigger the poison for the Mei and Lou families, and then “coincidentally” let it fall into the hands of Yelü Jingli’s forces…
How important was the “Konghe Secret Manual”? How could Chu Dingjiang not look through it carefully after finding it? And how could he allow others to obtain other more important content? Of course, when he initially left this item behind, he didn’t have a clear purpose. It was purely out of a strategist’s intuition, believing that this thing could be useful in the future. Later, when An Jiu said she wanted to rebuild the Dragon Guard, he came up with a plan to tightly bind the Mei and Lou clans to An Jiu. Even if they couldn’t be completely at her disposal, they could play an important role in her initial stages.
Initially ignoring the Mei clan’s plea for help was partly because Chu Dingjiang had no intention of scheming, and partly because he was laying the groundwork for future calculations. The more indifferent he appeared to this matter, the more the Mei clan would believe he had nothing to do with it. How could he, Chu Dingjiang, miscalculate to the point of passively allowing the Mei clan to negotiate terms with him?
When Chu Dingjiang was laying the groundwork, he hadn’t decided exactly what to use the Mei clan for. It was just his nature to always prepare a little extra, as it never hurt. At worst, it would just be a wasted effort.
The highest realm of scheming is to dig traps even when there’s nothing to scheme about, just to see who might fall in. Uncle Chu could be considered a model in the world of schemers.
Hidden so deeply, causing a shocking major case with just a light touch without leaving any trace, this Mr. Chu now looked at the falling flowers outside the window with a heart full of melancholy, developing a deep sense of inferiority – Indeed, he could only play small tricks, how he envied those unparalleled statesmen!
One wonders how the Konghe family members would react if they knew the true mastermind’s thoughts. In any case, Mr. Chu was truly deeply mired in feelings of inferiority, unable to extricate himself for a long time.
If asked whether he felt any regret for causing such major bloodshed with so many deaths, the answer would be absolute: No!
He did this not purely to satisfy An Jiu’s personal needs, but because he believed that what she was doing was meaningful. The Great Song needed a truly cohesive and combat-effective army. In the process of weeding out the weak and keeping the strong, sacrifices were inevitable. This had been played out countless times in history, and such sacrifices were already within his expectations.
An Jiu had always hoped to be someone standing on the side of justice, so Chu Dingjiang didn’t mind doing some of these dark deeds for her, bearing the debt of lives sacrificed in this process for her.
His feelings for her were never just in words, nor limited to places she could see.
Chu Dingjiang took out the letter he received yesterday from his bosom. Looking at the strongly personal style of expression on it, all those feelings of inferiority and dissatisfaction in his heart dissipated.
He was naturally gifted, far surpassing ordinary people. From childhood to adulthood, his ambition had always been to become an unparalleled statesman, like Shang Yang who could support a collapsing edifice and turn the tide. For someone with such lofty aspirations to suddenly realize that while he was clever enough, he lacked that kind of breadth of mind – the blow was immense.
It’s easy to see reality clearly, but accepting it is an unimaginably painful process. It took him two lifetimes, and even now when he thinks about it, his heart still feels blocked.
As wise as he was, he didn’t need decades to see the facts. Looking back, he had understood what kind of person he was long ago but was just stubbornly deceiving himself. Now he admits it and gradually accepts it because of one person.
This person showed him another kind of life.
“An Jiu, thank you for appearing in my life,” Chu Dingjiang murmured.