September 16th dawned overcast. At the Cao mansion, workers were covering newly erected shelters with oiled cloth, struggling against the strong wind. As Ming Shu approached the main gate, her eyes met those of Zhan Yi, the head chef for the banquet and Jiao Chunlu’s confidant.
Zhan Yi was discussing the weather with the Cao family’s steward, suggesting they work through the night to finish preparations before the expected rain. The steward agreed and left to inform Lady He.
Zhan Yi subtly nodded to Ming Shu as she entered the mansion.
Meanwhile, on a road about ten miles from Lin’an, a group of horsemen suddenly veered onto a side path, stopping in a secluded area near Raven Forest. One dismounted to present a map to their leader.
“General, this is Raven Forest. Jiao Chunlu’s men are likely hiding there, ready to assist their accomplices fleeing the city,” he reported.
Cao Hai, examining the map, spat on the ground, his eyes flashing with anger. He cursed before asking, “Chen Yong, are our men all here?”
His deputy, Chen Yong, replied, “As ordered, we’ve gathered troops from around Jiangning. They’re positioned south of Raven Forest, ready to trap Jiao Chunlu and his allies on your command.”
“Remember, this isn’t Jiangning. Avoid attracting official attention,” Cao Hai warned. “Capture them and eliminate them on the spot. Leave no survivors.”
Cao Hai then ordered most of his men to accompany him into the city, instructing them to seize anyone they encountered at his mansion, except his family, and to kill if met with resistance. He added, “Remember, keep Jian Ming Shu alive!”
As dusk fell, lanterns lit up the Cao mansion and the surrounding area. Workers paused their shelter construction to eat, planning to resume work later.
Inside, servants delivered meals to various chambers. The food seemed particularly abundant today, with meat and wine included.
Ming Shu was dining with Madam Cao in the meditation room adjoining the prayer hall, along with an elderly maid and a young servant girl. They enjoyed a vegetarian meal, chatting pleasantly.
Suddenly, Madam Cao felt dizzy. The elderly maid, attempting to assist, also became disoriented and collapsed. The young girl, alarmed, called out but received no response. Ming Shu calmly suggested the girl seek help, but she too collapsed before reaching the door.
Ming Shu surveyed the unconscious figures, adjusted her clothes, and stepped out of the prayer hall. The night was dark and silent, the mansion eerily quiet.
Outside, the street lamps had been extinguished, leaving the alley in darkness. The workers had vanished, and the mansion’s gates were tightly shut. Two armed men guarded each of the three entrances.
Zhan Yi and his team had meticulously planned this moment, having studied the mansion’s layout, guard rotations, and the family’s routines for days. Their plan: drug the Cao family on the night of the 16th, allowing Jian Ming Shu to exact her revenge undetected. They would flee at dawn on the 17th, meeting Jiao Chunlu’s men in Raven Forest.
“Brother Zhan, the Cao family members have been tied up in the prayer hall for Jian Ming Shu. The rest are blindfolded and locked in the west wing. I’ve counted heads; it’s all accounted for,” reported a man in work clothes.
Zhan Yi nodded, “Post guards around the prayer hall to prevent Jian Ming Shu from escaping. The rest, come with me to retrieve the treasure.”
He stepped into the third branch’s courtyard, intent on recovering the Jian family’s stolen wealth while Jian Ming Shu exacted her revenge.
As the light gradually brightened inside the Buddhist hall, someone lit the candles on the seven-tiered copper candlesticks on both sides, illuminating the Cao family members sprawled on the floor beneath the Buddha shrine.
After the last candle was lit, Ming Shu, holding her candle, approached the shrine. She picked up three incense sticks and lit them. As thin white smoke rose and sandalwood fragrance wafted through the air, she gently fanned out the flames at the tips of the incense. Standing before the shrine, she bowed respectfully three times to the jade Guanyin statue enshrined above before inserting the incense into the burner.
People began to wake up. As their blurry vision cleared, they discovered their hands and feet were bound, and they were lying in the Buddhist hall. Terrified, they tried to scream, but their mouths were stuffed with cloth. They could only whimper, looking up at Ming Shu standing beneath the shrine with fear in their eyes.
Ming Shu wore plain clothes without any unnecessary colors. Her usually smiling face was now expressionless, exuding a chilling aura in the candlelight. Her gaze was cold as she looked at the people sprawled on the floor.
Those on the ground were waking up one by one, each predictably shrinking back in terror. Ming Shu wasn’t surprised; she had already given them incense balls laced with an antidote to wake them up.
“Now that you’re awake, kneel,” Ming Shu said coldly, looking at the mostly conscious people.
Someone mumbled and tried to crawl towards the door. The door burst open, but outside, a flash of icy blade light sent the person scurrying back inside. The door closed again.
“Don’t think about escaping,” Ming Shu said coldly, ignoring the attempted escapee.
Terrified whimpers and cries filled the room as the Cao family members, not knowing what was happening, huddled together in fear.
“Kneel!” Ming Shu suddenly shouted.
Her sharp voice cut like a knife. Several of the Cao family members, frightened beyond measure, trembled as they knelt before the shrine.
Old Lady Cao woke up last. As she groggily opened her eyes, Madam He was crying beside her.
Ming Shu walked up to the old lady, crouched down to remove the cloth from her mouth, and then stood up again. Looking down at Old Lady Cao coldly, her face no longer bore the ingratiating smile of the past.
“Shu’niang… you…” Old Lady Cao, her consciousness gradually clearing, asked with a deathly pale face.
“My name is not Shu’niang. You’ve all heard about the family massacre in Jiangning last year, haven’t you? I am the only daughter of the Jian family in Jiangning, and the sole survivor. Apart from me, all thirty-seven members of the Jian family… are dead. Old Lady, do you know who the real culprit is?” Ming Shu said slowly.
Old Lady Cao looked at her in terror, then at the Cao family members either kneeling or lying on the ground. Realizing something, she trembled and said, “Shu… Miss Jian…”
“Yes, Old Lady, you’ve guessed correctly. The real culprit is your third son, Cao Hai,” Ming Shu said, seeing that she couldn’t answer.
“No, impossible. My son fought on the battlefield, earned merits, and received praise from the emperor. He’s the general stationed in Jiangning by the court. He couldn’t possibly… couldn’t possibly commit such a crime… You must be mistaken…” The old lady shook her head, her cloudy eyes filled with disbelief.
She didn’t believe Ming Shu’s words.
Ming Shu turned to look at the Guanyin statue on the shrine, her eyes slightly red, but her tone still icy: “Old Lady, you’ve been worshipping this Guanyin statue for half a year, but you don’t know its history, do you? Let me tell you. This Guanyin statue was carved from a precious jade stone that my father, Jian Jinhai of Jiangning, spent a fortune to acquire. It was carved, stroke by stroke, in the image of my mother. It was a gift my father gave to my mother years ago. After my mother passed, this statue was placed in my father’s room. This is… my mother’s jade image.”
As she spoke, she reached out to touch the hem of the jade statue’s robe, then turned and said, “What you’ve been kneeling and praying to day and night for the past half year is my mother, not some Guanyin Bodhisattva! But you’re not wrong to kneel. Your entire family should kneel before my mother, before the thirty-seven souls of my family!”
“Impossible… This can’t be…” the old lady mumbled, suddenly turning to Madam He beside her and demanding, “Third daughter-in-law, this Guanyin statue was brought by you. Did… did you know its origin?”
Madam, He could only shake her head desperately, tears of fear streaming down her face.
Ming Shu stepped forward and pulled out the cloth from her mouth. Only then did she cry out shrilly, “I don’t know anything. I know nothing. This Guanyin statue was something Cao Hai acquired from the market in Jiangning. There must be some misunderstanding! Miss Jian must have misunderstood…”
“Misunderstanding?” Ming Shu didn’t need to mention the collusion with officials or the maintenance of private armies. She only brought up one thing, “Third Madam Cao, the things hidden in your courtyard, that’s not a misunderstanding, is it? Even if you were unaware, how could you accept so many chests of treasure with a clear conscience?!”
Madam He suddenly fell silent, staring at her with an ashen face. After a long while, she said, “I don’t know, I don’t know… Those were… were…”
“Were they brought back by Cao Hai for you to keep? Why didn’t you wonder how Cao Hai, a mere military official, could amass such enormous wealth? His annual salary is barely enough to cover basic needs. Old Lady Cao, why didn’t any of you wonder where Cao Hai got the money to support your lavish lifestyle these past three or four years? Your ancestors left no fortune. Where did all this silver come from? How could you live so comfortably without questioning its source?”
As Ming Shu spoke, her voice grew fierce, and her red-rimmed eyes seemed ready to shed blood.
“Old Lady, you speak of gods and Buddha, but do you know that the Guanyin you’ve been worshiping day and night, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, even the first coin you used for your so-called good deeds – they’re all stained with my family’s blood! What kind of good deeds are you doing by building bridges and paving roads? What kind of virtue are you accumulating? If the gods and Buddha have eyes, they would be ashamed to accept your offerings!”
These accusations, word by word, made Old Lady Cao slowly collapse, her breathing becoming rapid. Beside her, Madam He cried out, “You schemed your way into our family and brought us here. What exactly do you want to do?”
“I want you to kneel before my mother, to kowtow to her, to kowtow to the thirty-seven people of my family who died!” Ming Shu said fiercely. Seeing them still cowering, she became furious. “Kneel and kowtow!”
As the sky darkened, the wind continued to blow fiercely. Two bandits guarding the west corner gate shivered, clutching their collars tightly. They cursed the weather and began to speak lewdly about the young women in the Cao mansion. Suddenly, they were silenced from behind, hands covering their mouths and noses. A flash of cold steel, and a spray of blood, and both bandits fell limply to the ground, eyes wide open.
The corner gate creaked open cautiously, admitting a group of people who had been waiting silently outside. At the forefront was none other than Cao Hai.
This group wasn’t large, numbering less than ten, but they were well-trained elites. Not only were they agile and skilled, but they also had rich combat experience. Ordinary mountain bandits were no match for them. To deal with the ragtag group currently in the Cao mansion, these men were more than sufficient.
Under the cover of the night, Cao Hai led his men quietly into the compound, systematically eliminating the bandits on watch at various points.
The courtyard of the third branch had been turned upside down. The Jian family’s wealth, hidden in a secret cellar within the yard, was now being carried out box by box. Zhan Yi was overseeing his men as they loaded the treasure onto carts, ready to be transported to the east corner gate where people were waiting to move it to a secret location.
“We’re almost done loading, Brother Zhan. It’s getting late, we should make our move,” a man beside Zhan Yi reminded him.
Zhan Yi nodded, about to give the order when suddenly, in the pitch-black night, came the faint sound of something cutting through the air. An arrow unexpectedly struck the man beside him. Zhan Yi’s face changed drastically as more arrows followed in quick succession. Without thinking, he pulled the wounded man in front of him as a shield.
The man, whose initial arrow wound wasn’t fatal, now became a pincushion and died. Terrified, Zhan Yi shouted for the surrounding bandits to retreat while he slipped into the darkness. He tossed aside the dead man and rushed towards the Buddhist hall, not bothering with anything else.
Behind him, arrows rained down and screams erupted.
—-
In the Buddhist hall, all the candles remained lit, illuminating the people kneeling on the floor.
Ming Shu’s eyes were red with emotion.
Old Lady Cao, kneeling on the ground, pleaded, “Miss Jian if it’s truly my unfilial son who committed this atrocity, I’ll atone for his sins. I’m willing to pay with my life… but please spare the others. Although they’re Cao family members, they’re innocent. Please spare them, spare them…”
“Innocent? Then weren’t the thirty-seven members of my Jian family even more innocent? What did they do to deserve being completely wiped out by Cao Hai? Let me tell you, tonight the mansion is surrounded by bandits. The tragedy that befell my Jian family, I want the Cao family to experience it too!”
“Miss Jian, I’ll pay with my life, I will! It’s my fault for not raising my son properly. If you must kill someone, kill me. I beg you to spare them. There are… there are children among them!” The old lady kowtowed desperately.
Madam He also knelt nearby, pleading, “Have mercy, please spare… spare my two children…”
The others whimpered and sobbed as well.
Ming Shu looked down at Old Lady Cao’s graying hair, at the old and young in the room, and large tears began to fall from her eyes.
Just as she was about to say something more, there was a sudden crash at the back window of the Buddhist hall. Someone broke in through the window, catching Ming Shu off guard and lunging towards her with bare hands. Ming Shu, unable to react in time, could only retreat hastily towards the door. Two more people climbed in through the back window, their attire suggesting they were military men.
Had Cao Hai’s men arrived?
As she stood there shocked, a commotion erupted outside the door. Suddenly, a figure was thrown against the door, splattering it with blood. The door burst open, and flashes of cold steel crossed in the air. Ming Shu had no time to think; with Cao Hai’s men closing in behind her, she could only duck her head and rush out of the Buddhist hall.
Outside, two groups of men were already engaged in fierce combat. The bandits were retreating towards Ming Shu while fending off Cao Hai’s men. Ming Shu heard Cao Hai’s voice from afar: “Don’t use arrows, capture Ming Shu alive.”
She frowned and fled towards the end of the long corridor outside the Buddhist hall.
The bandits, now greatly outnumbered, couldn’t hold off Cao Hai’s men. They fled in panic, being driven towards Ming Shu.
Ming Shu found herself cornered, surrounded on all sides by Cao Hai’s men.
Cao Hai’s unrestrained laughter rang out: “Stop running. If you’re smart, hand over Ming Shu, and I might let you die quickly.”
Ming Shu stood still, looking fearfully at the torch lights rising around the Buddhist hall.
Unexpectedly, a hand suddenly gripped her wrist, pulling her backward. A figure darted into the flower bed outside the long corridor, forcefully twisting Ming Shu’s arms behind her back and holding her firmly in front. The other hand held a long knife to Ming Shu’s throat.
“Brother Zhan!” a bandit cried out in surprise.
The man’s face was covered in blood, and he stood in the shadows, making it hard to see his features. He wore Zhan Yi’s clothes, so it was likely Zhan Yi himself.
“Cao Hai, order your men to stand down. If you dare come any closer, I’ll kill her! Then none of us will find those 30,000 taels of gold!”
A deep, hoarse male voice rang out in the night.
Ming Shu’s back trembled, but she bit her lip and remained silent.