Jiang Mother wore plain white clothes draped with hemp mourning garments as she knelt before the palace gates. Before her sat a brass basin in which several sheets of yellow paper were burning.

The coarse yellow paper was devoured by flames, spiraling upward with the cold wind. The noses of everyone kneeling at the palace gates stung from that unique smell of burning spirit money, making their eyes water.

“The wife of the late Marquis Chengyang, Jiang Qingzhou, requests an audience with His Majesty!”

Throwing a stack of yellow paper into the brass basin, Jiang Mother cried out hoarsely, “The mother of Marquis Chengyang Jiang Yi requests an audience with His Majesty!”

There had already been quite a commotion outside the palace. Earlier the palace gates had still been open, but as more and more people seeking imperial audience arrived, the palace ordered the gates tightly shut and dispatched eight hundred Imperial Guards to strictly guard the area. Tears streamed from Jiang Mother’s eyes. Each time she threw a stack of spirit money into the copper basin, she would cry out loudly once more requesting to see His Majesty.

The crowd at the palace gates grew larger and larger. Lin Jiayue pulled Jiang Xing along as they huddled in a half-open general goods shop at the street corner.

Behind her, servants from the Marquis Chengyang residence were continuously printing handbills.

“Sister Jiayue, is that Minister Song, Song Fu?”

Lin Jiayue craned her neck to look outside the shop, and indeed saw Song Fu, with whom she’d had a few encounters.

“It’s him. It seems Song Lan’an was truly among those who entered the palace earlier.”

The moment she had left the palace today, she had hurriedly sent people from her shop to the Song residence to find Ming Xiang and inform her about Song Wan’s token and the Suo River matter.

From the looks of it now, the Song residence had already taken action.

Since her birth, Jiang Xing had never left the Marquis Chengyang residence. Today was her first time going out, and encountering such a scene naturally made her somewhat timid. Huai Su stood behind her, gently stroking Jiang Xing’s hair and softly saying that Fifth Miss needn’t be afraid.

“Huai Su, go tell the old madam not to shout herself hoarse like this. Just make a show of it—we still need to draw more common people here.”

She feared Jiang Mother’s body couldn’t hold out and would collapse before dawn.

Huai Su nodded gently. After thinking for a moment, she picked up the hemp mourning clothes and filial piety hat that Lin Jiayue had prepared earlier and put them on.

Just as she was about to walk out of the shop, Huai Su stood at the threshold and looked back at her. “Miss Lin, you became acquainted with the Marquis at the Suo River. Could you tell Huai Su what kind of place it is?”

“What kind of place?”

Lin Jiayue withdrew her gaze from the palace gates and looked at Huai Su with furrowed brows. “It’s a desolate, poor place. The food and lodging are terrible—far worse than the capital.”

She didn’t know why Huai Su was suddenly asking about this. Feeling impatient, she continued craning her neck to look outside.

Then she called to the steward behind her, “Go, go find me funeral troupes in the capital—the ones who do white mourning affairs. Bring me all those who wail, blow horns, play suona, and perform funeral music.”

“If the Emperor doesn’t dispatch troops to reinforce the Suo River for even one day, no one in the entire capital should expect to sleep!”

Her face was solemn, vowing to force the dog Emperor out to give the Marquis Chengyang residence an explanation.

“What is Miss Lin planning to…”

“Why ask so many questions? Consort Jiang died tragically at enemy hands—can’t our residence hold a memorial for her?”

With one hand supporting her belly, Lin Jiayue used her other hand to forcefully stuff already hardened pastries into her mouth.

These days she grew hungry quickly but couldn’t eat. Just as she was choking uncomfortably, Jiang Xing handed her a cup of warm tea and gently patted her back. Huai Su frowned. “Your condition is serious now. It would be better if you returned to the residence to rest soon.”

“Can’t worry about that now.”

After swallowing the pastry in her mouth, Lin Jiayue began directing the servants printing handbills to gather everything into bamboo baskets. With the sky dark, this was the perfect time to find a high place and scatter them over the capital.

The wind was strong now. She hoped that by early tomorrow morning, the dog Emperor’s crimes would be spread across every street.

Seeing that she was too busy to be freed, Huai Su smiled faintly and turned to walk toward the palace gates.

“Old Madam is tired. Let this servant take over.”

She knelt beside Jiang Mother and took the spirit money from her hands, throwing it piece by piece into the brass basin.

Huai Su said, “Miss Lin is right. If we don’t cause some disturbance, His Majesty won’t take this seriously and won’t dispatch troops to the Suo River to rescue the Marquis.”

Jiang Mother’s voice was hoarse and rough, her face appearing exceptionally aged from crying out all night.

“His Majesty wants to sever the roots of my Marquis Chengyang residence!”

“It won’t happen.”

Huai Su’s tone was gentle as she softly comforted Jiang Mother.

“There will always be a way.”

More and more people gathered before the palace gates. Earlier some had still doubted the words on those paper notes, but the palace remained completely silent. Those officials who had arrived late and couldn’t enter the palace had been requesting to see Consort Jiang outside the palace, yet no one came out to respond.

The palace gates grew increasingly quiet. Gradually everyone came to understand that the rumors were probably true.

From a distant alley suddenly came harsh sounds of scripture chanting and funeral processions. Huai Su heard the cacophonous sounds drawing closer and closer. She turned around and said, “The Marquis Chengyang residence has shown Huai Su kindness, and Huai Su has no way to repay it. Today…”

“Please consider this Huai Su’s fulfillment of that debt.”

Jiang Mother looked up in shock. Huai Su smiled faintly. “If the Marquis returns, could Old Madam help this servant convey a message to the Marquis?”

“Speak.”

Tears had already fallen on both their faces. Huai Su looked at Jiang Mother, ten thousand words in her heart yet not knowing which sentence to begin with. After a long while, she finally said softly, “I hope Madam can tell the Marquis on Huai Su’s behalf that Huai Su… has no regrets.”

She stood up and walked toward the commanding general guarding the city, crying out loudly, “Concubine of the Marquis Chengyang residence, Yu Shi of the Jiang family, requests an audience with His Majesty!”

The Imperial Guard commander barked sharply, “The palace gates are forbidden ground. Unrelated persons may not approach!”

“Concubine of the Marquis Chengyang residence, Yu Shi of the Jiang family, requests an audience with His Majesty!”

With each sentence, Huai Su pressed forward one step. The gate commander drew the sword at his waist. Cold light reflected on Huai Su’s face, yet it didn’t stop her in the slightest.

“Concubine of the Marquis Chengyang residence, Yu Shi of the Jiang family, requests an audience with His Majesty!”

“Halt!”

“My Marquis Chengyang residence has loyally served the court for a hundred years. The late old Marquis died in battle at the border fighting the enemy. This concubine’s husband battles the enemy nation, his life or death unknown. For the sake of empty fame, His Majesty would exterminate the entire family of loyal ministers and capable generals. My Marquis Chengyang residence…”

“Has been wronged!”

The woman’s piercing cry split the sky. The crowd before the palace gates instantly fell silent.

Having finished speaking, Huai Su suddenly rushed toward the palace gates. The gate commander raised his blade and brought it down. In an instant, Huai Su’s head fell to the ground, leaving only hot blood pooling everywhere.

As the night wind swept in, carrying a thick smell of blood, an explosion of sound suddenly erupted from the crowd pressed before the palace gates.

“Huai Su!”

Jiang Mother wept bitterly, crawling on her knees to Huai Su’s corpse and wailing endlessly.

“The Emperor is muddle-headed and immoral, chilling the sincere hearts of all scholars under heaven, inciting divine wrath and popular resentment. Shen Congyi is unfit to be ruler!”

Among the group of students from Jingshan Academy, someone was the first to shout this treasonous statement. This cry was like a basin of cold water poured into boiling oil—instantly it crackled and exploded, and the crowd before the palace gates could no longer suppress the indignation in their hearts.

Su Xie watched Jiang Mother kneeling and kowtowing, her head bleeding profusely. His heart couldn’t help but feel compassion.

His throat moved, and he roared again, “We are students under the Son of Heaven! The palace guards dare not move against us! Charge! Today, even if we must lie dead here, we are determined to see His Majesty!”

“We represent all the scholars under heaven in asking His Majesty—what exactly do the lives of we Dongning people amount to in his heart?”

After Su Xie finished speaking, the group of students pressed tightly forward, squeezing until the numerous Imperial Guards at the palace gates all retreated together.