Ling Zhiyan arrived at the gate of Wan Lin’s residence carrying two last canisters of tea. The men guarding the gate for the Wan Family of Qingzhou were not ordinary household guards but burly, powerfully built retired soldiers. When they saw Ling Zhiyan, they were greatly surprised and quickly went inside to announce him. It was not long before Wan Lin came bellowing out in his booming voice: “I said so, with the magpies chattering away this morning — turns out there’s an honored guest at the door! Ling, my younger brother, you’re being far too polite; with the friendship between us two, you should just come on in — what did you need to bring gifts for—”

Ling Zhiyan didn’t even get the chance to deliver his prepared pleasantries before Wan Lin had dragged him into the study, immediately busying himself with boiling water, brewing tea, setting out pastries and fruit, all in a great flurry of activity.

Ling Zhiyan felt thoroughly guilty. “Elder Brother Wan, don’t go to all this trouble — I came today because I have something to ask.”

Wan Lin promptly dismissed the servants and closed the door. “I can tell from your look, Younger Brother Ling, that you’ve run into another thorny case. Whatever help you need from me — just say it. Up the mountain of swords or down into the sea of flames, your Elder Brother Wan will get it sorted for you!”

With these words, Ling Zhiyan felt considerably reassured. He took a few deep breaths and, steadying his voice, said: “I, along with Lin Niangzi and Hua the Fourth, have recently been investigating an old case — one that involves the Wan Family of Qingzhou. So I’ve come specifically to ask whether Elder Brother Wan might have any leads.”

Wan Lin was startled. “What old case?”

“The Qin Family Army treason case from the twenty-seventh year of Xuande.”

The smile on Wan Lin’s face vanished at once. The aura around him shifted entirely. In that instant he was no longer the easy-going, forthright elder brother — he was a soldier who had crawled out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield. A terrifying, murderous, battle-hardened ferocity surged from his entire body; a thick stench of blood permeated the whole room.

“How do you know about this case?!”

Ling Zhiyan’s eyes sharpened like frost. “This case is a grievous injustice!”

“What injustice?!”

“Hua the Fourth has obtained the testimony of Zheng Yongyuan, former Works Adjutant of the Andu Prefecture offices. This man’s real name is Xu Baishui — the sole surviving descendant of the Xu Family of Liu’an, the former military equipment administrators. He admitted with his own mouth that the accusation of the Qin Family Army embezzling military funds was a complete fabrication.”

“I have also uncovered the circumstances leading up to the Qin Family Army’s supposed act of treason: it was said that because the embezzlement of military funds was exposed, Qin Nanyin was forced into a desperate position and fled toward the Tuzhan Kingdom. In other words, the embezzlement case was presented as the precondition for the Qin Family Army’s treason — but since that precondition does not exist at all, the treason charge against the Qin Family Army is naturally open to serious doubt.”

Wan Lin’s eyes stretched wider and wider; the whites were covered in a web of bright red bloodshot lines. “Is what you’re saying true?!”

“Xu Baishui’s confession is in Hua the Fourth’s hands right now.”

Wan Lin clenched his jaw tight. The red rims of his eyes filled with a glimmer of moisture; this man, who had not made a sound when four of his ribs were broken on the battlefield, stood there dazed as tears began to fall.

Ling Zhiyan was astonished. “Elder Brother Wan, what is this—”

Wan Lin covered his face with both hands and wept without restraint. He yanked a crumpled handkerchief from his sleeve and blew his nose into it, then suddenly erupted in a torrent of furious curses. “His grandmother’s leg! I knew this case was the most colossal injustice under heaven! What a load of rubbish — a so-called three-tribunal joint trial! Complete and utter horseback nonsense! Even if the sky came crashing down, the Qin Family Army would never commit treason! These despicable, shameless small-minded creatures — they were simply jealous of General Qin, jealous of the Qin Family Army’s reputation, so they slandered them and framed her! A bunch of worthless trash! They all deserve to die!”

It was the first time Ling Zhiyan had ever seen Wan Lin so agitated. He was stunned for a moment. “Does Elder Brother Wan know something about the inside story?”

“I damn well know everything! I went into battle for the first time at the age of eleven — and it was at Yicheng in the twenty-seventh year of Xuande!”

“Why have you never mentioned this before?”

“What’s there to say? That great victory—was nothing but—was nothing but—” Wan Lin shook his head, almost unable to continue.

Ling Zhiyan patted Wan Lin on the shoulder. “Elder Brother Wan, this case is difficult to investigate. Could you tell me in detail what the situation at Yicheng was actually like at that time?”

Wan Lin wiped his face. “That was the twenty-fifth day of the eleventh month. Grandfather received the imperial order to ride to the relief of Yicheng. Every member of the Wan Family, young and old, man and woman, whoever could pick up a weapon, donned their armor, mounted their horses, and rode day and night. We made it to Yicheng within seven days.”

“At that time, Yicheng had already been locked in a standoff against the Black Cavalry of the Tuzhan Kingdom for over a month — out of ammunition and provisions. When we arrived, they had just beaten back one wave of attacks. Severed limbs and remnants of bodies lay all over the ground; human heads floated in the blood-red moat before the city walls; the gates and walls bristled with arrows. I remember clearly — two battered wolf-tooth boarding planks hung from the city walls, iron nails strewn all over the ground.”

“Once we entered the city, it was desolation as far as the eye could see. The ones picking up the pieces were not soldiers — they were the elderly, the weak, women, and children. There were no able-bodied men. Not until we climbed the walls did we discover: half the soldiers manning the city walls were the city’s own common people, and the other half — what remained of the Qin Family Army.”

“I had grown up hearing the legends of the Qin Family Army — how they were the Tang Kingdom’s most valiant warriors, invincible and unconquerable. But what I saw that day was a Qin Family Army with tattered armor hanging from their bodies like rags; not one of them was uninjured. Legs severed, arms gone, only one eye remaining, a shoulder half-missing — blood-soaked bandages were piled alongside the rocks used for siege defense, giving off a stench of rot. They lay strewn about in every direction, backs against the city walls, eyes closed, barely breathing.”

“Yet even so, their hands still gripped tightly to their sabers and their bows and arrows. Grandfather called out several times — they didn’t move. I thought they were all dead — then the sound of hoofbeats rose from beyond the walls; the Tuzhan Kingdom’s cavalry launched another assault.”

Wan Lin paused at this point. “You could never guess what happened next—”

Ling Zhiyan’s throat tightened. “What…?”

Tears fell from Wan Lin’s eyes. “I heard singing…”

Ling Zhiyan: “Singing?”

Wan Lin’s tear-streaked eyes carried a smile. He began to hum, low and faltering; the melody surged and lamented at once, like a smoke signal dissolving in the wind across a vast, desolate desert. The pronunciation of the lyrics was very peculiar — like some dialect. At first it was unclear, but as he listened on, a few familiar sounds broke through, and Ling Zhiyan was struck with sudden recognition: this song was the military marching song recorded in the Collection of Haojun’s Lyrical Works!

[Bright iron armor, long blades at the hip; hoofbeats ride the wind and go — long is the road, long, when shall we return? Soldiers through a hundred battles, clad in the same garb side by side; without fear of life or death, on the day we come home — the moon shines bright over our homeland, a thousand years of peace beneath the sky—]

Wan Lin’s voice began to tremble. “The singing grew louder and louder. Those soldiers of the Qin Family Army — each one of them, one by one — those who had barely a breath left in them — stood up, raised their sabers, drew their bows. The blood-stained bowstrings rang out through heaven and earth; ten thousand arrows were loosed at once. The Tuzhan cavalry beyond the walls screamed and raged in fury — yet they dared not advance — as it turned out, those invaders had long since been scared out of their wits by the Qin Family Army; they were nothing but spent arrows at the end of their flight—”

“Grandfather and Father led us charging out of the city gates, throwing ourselves into a fight to the death against the Tuzhan Kingdom’s Black Cavalry. That was the first time I ever killed a man. Very soon came the second time, the third time… in the end, I lost count of how many I had killed. I only felt that the blood on my hands weighed heavily upon me.”

“We fought from dawn until dusk. Snow began to fall from the sky. A red evening sun shone down on the snowflakes drifting through the air — like a rain of blood. And it was at that moment, from the vast expanse of the open plain, that a single rider came charging forward, plunging into the midst of the enemy — a black horse, black battle armor, and a horse-cleaving blade that seemed capable of splitting the heavens apart!”

“The snow was too heavy — we couldn’t make out the figure clearly. We could only see that wherever the saber light swept, blood sprayed and anguished cries shook the sky. Someone around me seemed to cry out ‘General Qin!’ — but no one among the Wan Family dared confirm the identity of the rider. At that point, Qin Nanyin had been missing for more than a month; no one knew where she had gone. What we were seeing — perhaps it was just a vision seen by men whose eyes had gone red from killing…”

“Suddenly, I heard a tremendous battle cry rise behind me. Those wounded soldiers of the Qin Family Army — the ones with severed legs, the ones who had lost eyes — rode horses over us, and together with the swirling snow and that horse-cleaving blade, drove into the enemy formation… that was the last time I ever saw their backs—”

Wan Lin drew a long, deep breath and steadied his voice. “We fought for three full days. When dawn broke on the fourth day, we had finally won. Later, everyone said that the great victory at Yicheng was purchased with the lives of half the Wan Family clan — but what no one ever knew was that in that battle, every single member of the Qin Family Army died in combat. Not one survived.”

Ling Zhiyan closed his eyes and forced down the soreness rising in his throat. “And after that?”

“After that?” Wan Lin gave a cold laugh. “While Yicheng was still in danger, everyone had run as far away as possible, not wanting anything to do with it. But once Yicheng had won, all those fawning, scheming creatures crawled out to seize the credit. And not only to seize the credit — they also had to sling mud, claiming that the catastrophe at Yicheng had been caused entirely by the Qin Family Army secretly colluding with the enemy. The Xu Family of Liu’an insisted that the reason the city’s siege equipment had grown old and broken was because Qin Nanyin had embezzled the military funds! And higher up it was said that they had received some secret report — that a deputy general of the Qin Family had personally witnessed General Qin defecting to the enemy forces! Utter and absolute rubbish!”

Ling Zhiyan: “Who was that deputy general?!”

“Who knows where he crawled out of!” Wan Lin cursed. “When we arrived at Yicheng, all the senior officers of the Qin Family Army had died in battle; only a handful of subordinate officers were barely holding on. Where in the world did some deputy general come from?! He must have been an impostor! What’s even more absurd is that the three tribunals actually just believed this outrageous testimony — and issued a conviction based on it!”

“Grandfather and Father were furious. They submitted several memorials to the throne on behalf of the Qin Family Army, petitioning to overturn the verdict — all of them were rejected. Word came from the three tribunals that the case had been sealed as iron-clad, and that anyone who dared question it further would be charged with the same crime as the Qin Family Army!”

At this point, Wan Lin let out a heavy sigh and fell silent.

Ling Zhiyan frowned. “When was the verdict in this case finalized?”

Wan Lin: “Around the second month of the twenty-eighth year of Xuande.”

Ling Zhiyan rapidly sorted through the timeline in his mind: in the first month of the twenty-eighth year of Xuande, the Noble Consort, who came from the Jiang Family of Taiyuan, and the Second Prince had suddenly died; in the second month, the Qin Family Army treason case was convicted; in the fourth month, the late Emperor of the Xuande reign passed away and the previous Emperor of the Xuanming reign ascended to the throne; the Empress Dowager hailed from the Jiang Family of Ganzhou… and thereafter came decades of confrontation between the Jiang Family of Ganzhou and the Jiang Family of Taiyuan.

When old and new emperors changed hands, the court was at its most unstable — and it was precisely when petty, scheming men could most easily make their move.

A terrifying thought suddenly struck Ling Zhiyan: the Qin Family Army and Qin Nanyin had been used by the Jiang Family of Taiyuan as nothing less than funerary sacrifices for the Noble Consort and the Second Prince.

The thought sent a cold sweat breaking out all over Ling Zhiyan’s body.

Why had Qin Nanyin suddenly and inexplicably disappeared?

Where had she gone?

The figure who appeared on the battlefield in the end — was it truly Qin Nanyin? Or had she actually died long before, and what they had seen was only the returning spirit of the dead…

Wan Lin watched Ling Zhiyan’s expression with some concern. “Younger Brother Ling, are you truly going to investigate this case?”

Ling Zhiyan snapped back to himself. “Yes.”

Wan Lin: “It’s been so many years, and this case is so… Ah. Will Chief Justice Chen agree to it?”

Ling Zhiyan: “Elder Brother Wan, do you remember the case of the Feng clan’s civil examination fraud?”

“Of course I remember — but what of it?”

“Chief Justice Chen and the Feng clan are actually relatives by marriage.”

Wan Lin let out a surprised “Ah.”

“During the interrogation of the Feng clan, quite a few people came to speak on their behalf — all of them were scolded off by Chief Justice Chen. At the time, some people said the Chief Justice had no human feeling, that he wouldn’t even protect his own in-laws. I recall that the Chief Justice replied with a single line: he said that the Bureau of Judicial Review is a place for discerning truth and upholding justice, and that no matter who commits a crime, there is absolutely no possibility of private favoritism within the Bureau of Judicial Review.” Ling Zhiyan’s eyes were firm and resolute. “I believe the entirety of the Bureau of Judicial Review will help me bring the truth of this case to light!”

“Chief Justice Chen hasn’t grown that bald head for nothing,” Wan Lin remarked with feeling. He thought for a moment and then added: “When you investigate this case, you must be careful. Bring more people along when you go out as a rule, and don’t go off alone.”

Ling Zhiyan was taken aback. “Why do you say that, Elder Brother Wan?”

Wan Lin hesitated for quite a while. “To tell you the truth, I’ve long suspected that my aunt’s death may be connected to this case.”

“You mean Wan Leyi of the Wan Family of Qingzhou?”

“The truth is, my aunt didn’t die suddenly — she disappeared.” Wan Lin said. “Thirty-one years ago, she said she had found the memorial tomb of General Qin near Yicheng and wanted to go pay her respects. She left and never came back. Later, your sixteenth uncle Ling Xiuzhu was entrusted by my grandfather to go and investigate — and he also vanished. Which is to say, in this matter, the Wan Family truly does owe your Ling Family a debt!”

Ling Zhiyan’s fingers gripped tight in a fist.

He knew that Wan Leyi and Ling Xiuzhu were both names on that scroll belonging to the Jiang Family of Taiyuan, and he had a general idea of how they had died.

But how could he possibly tell the Wan Family of Qingzhou?

“Adjutant Wan,” called the guard outside the door with a knock, “Archivist Bai from the Imperial Archives Bureau requests an audience.”

Wan Lin gave a start. Ling Zhiyan’s eyes lit up. “He must be looking for me.”

And indeed, Bai Ruyi had come looking for Ling Zhiyan — and had brought with him a piece of good news.

“I went through the former family head’s daily journals once more and found an entry,” Bai Ruyi said, pointing to the scroll. “On the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the twenty-sixth year of Xuande — Mid-Autumn Festival — I attended the banquet held by Huang Shanqing, the Chief Justice of the Bureau of Judicial Review, for the formal acceptance of a new disciple. This new disciple has an upright and forthright nature; though still young, his temples are already sparse of hair, which I found quite amusing.”

Ling Zhiyan was astounded. “Could it be that the disciple of the Chief Justice two terms ago was—”

Bai Ruyi flipped through a few more pages. “It’s mentioned later: the family name is Chen, the courtesy name Zhongyan.”

Wan Lin: “Isn’t that Chief Justice Chen!”

Ling Zhiyan leapt to his feet. “I’m going back to the Bureau of Judicial Review!”

Andu City. The Hua Clan’s Eight Residences.

Lin Sui’an sat up on the eaves of the building, craning her neck and straining her ears. Not far away, in the open pavilion, the two Hua brothers were in the midst of a serious-looking heart-to-heart conversation.

Hua Yihuan: “After all that rambling, what exactly are you trying to say?”

Hua Yitang took a deep breath. “If we investigate this case fully, the Jiang Family of Taiyuan will certainly not let the matter rest and will look for an opportunity to take revenge on the Hua Family. So before anything else, I felt I had to come and ask for Elder Brother’s thoughts—”

Hua Yihuan picked up his tea bowl, took a sip, and set it down again. “What are you worried about? Are you worried that the Hua Family of Yangdu will end up like the Qin Family of Taiyuan — exterminated to the last member — or like the Su Family of Suizhou — devoured without even the bones left?”

Hua Yitang clenched both fists and didn’t dare make a sound.

Hua Yihuan let out a contemptuous snort. “Hua Yitang, are you an idiot?”

“Huh?”

“The Hua Family of Yangdu is now the wealthiest family in the Tang Kingdom, our fame spreading far and wide. Even without the enmity between you and Jiang Dongyi, even if you weren’t investigating this old case, we would already long since have been a thorn in the side of the Jiang Family of Taiyuan. The reason they haven’t moved against our Hua Family yet is simply that they haven’t found the right opportunity. If they ever find one, they will certainly wipe us out without exception — just as they did with the Qin clan and the Su clan!”

At these words, Hua Yihuan’s eyes turned sharp and cold. “The marketplace is a battlefield. It’s either your death or mine. Now that you have something this enormous on the Jiang Family of Taiyuan, of course you should strike first — finish them off, and not just finish them off but root them out entirely, grind their bones to dust and scatter them to the wind! Hah — are we supposed to keep this kind of trash around for the New Year? Even now, you’re still wavering and hesitating — have you forgotten every word of the Hua Family’s ancestral precepts?!”

Hua Yitang was dumbstruck. “Our family’s ancestral precepts aren’t just — ‘act with independent character’… are they?”

“It’s ‘act with independent character, pay back every debt to the last drop’!”

“…When did that second part get added?”

“I just added it.” Hua Yihuan’s lips curved upward. “Besides, you’ve been saying these words every day until they’re known from one end of the world to the other — whether they’re ancestral precepts or not, they are now.”

Hua Yitang stood dazed for a moment, then broke into a radiant smile, his eyes bright and shining. “Elder Brother is absolutely right!”

Hua Yihuan gave Hua Yitang a sharp rap on the head. “In the future, you don’t need to consult me on small matters like this — just go ahead and handle them yourself. Your elder brother has important business to attend to; I need to leave the city for a few days.”

Hua Yitang was taken aback. “What could possibly be more important than the matter of the Jiang Family of Taiyuan?”

“Why, the marriage of your second sister, of course!” Hua Yihuan stood up. “We’ve delayed so long in Andu City without accomplishing a single proper thing. I’ve had the carriage prepared — today I will go to Sanhe Academy and have a meeting with that He Sishan!”

With that, he strode out in a brisk and purposeful manner — then stopped after a few paces and turned back. “When the Qin Family of Taiyuan was wiped out, you and I had not yet been born; we never had the chance to witness the valor of the Qin Family Army. Now that this case has fallen into your hands, you must investigate it to the very bottom. Loyal and courageous ministers should not meet such an end.”

Hua Yitang rose and gave a solemn bow. “Hua Yitang takes the Family Head’s command to heart!”

Hua Yihuan gave a nod and departed.

Hua Yitang stood watching the retreating figure of his elder brother for a long time, then let out a long, slow breath.

Lin Sui’an leaped down into the pavilion, hugging Qian Jing with deep feeling. “No wonder Elder Brother Hua is the family head — far-sighted and magnanimous as always.”

Hua Yitang nodded. “Elder Brother is, as ever, Elder Brother. I cannot compare.”

The two exchanged a smile, sat down, poured their tea, and continued to piece together the threads of the case.

Hua Yitang: “The outline of the case is now clear enough. There’s only one link still missing in the middle.”

Lin Sui’an: “Who exactly was this eyewitness? Where are they now? Could they already be dead?”

“Even if they’re not dead, they’ve likely changed their name and identity, just as Xu Baishui did, and become someone else entirely.”

“If that’s truly the case, then with the clues we have now, finding them would be like searching for a needle in the ocean.”

“Has anything come from Ling the Sixth and Bai the Thirteenth?”

“Jingmen hasn’t received a letter from the Eastern Capital in three days. I wonder if Director of Justice Ling has also hit a dead end — if only we could find someone who had contact with the case files from the old case, someone who knew more of the details…”

“Why don’t we go over everything one more time — perhaps we’ll spot some other clue.”

“Hmm.”

The sky grew pale and gentle; the sun slipped toward the west. Mu Xia brought in a brazier for warmth, hung up the windscreen curtains, and delivered the evening meal to the pavilion. Lin Sui’an and Hua Yitang talked from dusk until the lamplight bloomed across the city at nightfall. As the night deepened, when the drums of the Hai hour rang out, Jin Ruo brought the latest news from Andu City.

“The person who secretly reported to the court that Qin Nanyin was in collusion with the enemy was a deputy general of the Qin Family?” Hua Yitang was surprised. “What was his name? What exactly was his rank and position?”

Jin Ruo shook his head. “Ling the Sixth’s letter didn’t say.”

Lin Sui’an: “Is that all?”

“There’s one more thing — here.”

Jin Ruo pointed behind him — and it turned out to be a dust-covered disciple from the Jingmen Eastern Capital branch.

“I pay my respects to Lin Niangzi and Adjutant Hua. Director of Justice Ling entrusted me to bring the two of you a verbal message.” The Jingmen disciple was in his early twenties, with an honest, round-faced look about him. He completed his bow, planted both fists on his hips, gathered his breath from his lower abdomen, and proceeded to sing at full volume. The voice was quite loud, the spirit was willing, the vigorous sound was there — but the pitch was hopelessly, catastrophically off-key. None of the words were intelligible.

Hua Yitang, Lin Sui’an, and Jin Ruo were all struck dumb.

When the song ended, silence fell over the room.

Lin Sui’an could barely decide whether to laugh or cry. “My brother, that voice of yours is quite something!”

The Jingmen disciple looked pleased with himself. “I learned it from Adjutant Wan of the Capital Prefecture — he sings exactly like this.”

Hua Yitang pressed a hand to his forehead. “So what song is this supposed to be?”

“Adjutant Wan said it’s the Qin Family Army’s military marching song.” The Jingmen disciple produced a letter. “This is the lyrics written out by Director of Justice Ling.”

Hua Yitang quickly took it and read through it carefully, then passed it to Lin Sui’an.

Lin Sui’an looked at the lyrics, recalled the hopelessly off-key melody from just a moment ago, and felt a peculiar sensation rise in her chest. “I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before—”

Hua Yitang paced back and forth a couple of times; his eyes lit up. “At Sanhe Academy! When He Sishan was gravely injured and barely conscious, he was humming this very tune!”

“No — even earlier than that.” Lin Sui’an closed her eyes and rapidly cast her memory back. Images flashed through her mind in rapid succession — Yicheng, the woodblock print, Yun Zhong Yue, Andu City, the welcoming banquet — and then she snapped her eyes open. “At the welcoming banquet, when Prefect Jia was drunk, the song he sang was also this one!”

The color drained from Hua Yitang’s face. Jin Ruo was thunderstruck. “You’re saying who—”

Before the words were out, a tremendous explosion of sound shook the air, and a column of fire blazed up in the southwest, lighting half the night sky.

The three of them were horrified.

Jin Ruo: “That’s the direction of the Andu Prefecture offices!”

At the same moment, in the Bureau of Judicial Review’s document hall in the Eastern Capital.

Chief Justice Chen Yanfan stared at the Collection of Haojun’s Lyrical Works, his brow furrowed deeply. “This phrase in ‘Elegy for the Ages’ — ‘treacherous ministers and wicked bandits, croaking like toads in a cesspool, their testimony filthy’ — I don’t think this is the author cursing someone. I think it’s describing the physical appearance of the witness…”

Ling Zhiyan: “What?!”

“My teacher — the Chief Justice two terms before me, Huang Shanqing — many years ago, after he’d had too much to drink, let something slip by accident. He said the deputy general who had secretly reported Qin Nanyin’s alleged collusion with the enemy was not much to look at — thin as a single tendon, with an enormous mouth, like a frog. The man was nicknamed ‘Big-mouthed Frog’ throughout the army. He also mentioned this man’s courtesy name — what was it… Jiaming? No… Jiayu? No, not that either; I think it had something to do with sheep or cattle. Ah, now I remember — it was Jiamu. Yes, that’s right — Jiamu!”

“Jiamu… Jia Mu… Jia’mu…” Ling Zhiyan’s expression shifted to one of shocked dread. “The Prefect of Andu is also called Jiamu — written with different characters but the same sound!”

Chief Justice Chen: “What a coincidence?”

“I suspect it’s no coincidence at all!” Ling Zhiyan spun around and bolted for the door. “Hua the Fourth and Lin Niangzi are in danger!”