Yun Ye stood in the fire scene waiting for the other guards to approach. Before long, voices came through. The guard commander took the lead, racing along the small path. When he saw his subordinate hanging from a tree branch, swaying in the cold wind, he immediately stopped. Only after all his subordinates had assembled did he begin moving forward again.
Seeing that not a single person along the way had been injured, the doubt in Yun Ye’s eyes grew even heavier. He looked sorrowfully at the talkative guard beside him and said: “Why wouldn’t you even spare your own comrades?”
The guard’s first reaction was to swing his blade toward Yun Ye, but with the crisp sound of crossbow bolts, he could only obediently fall to the ground. Three bolts were embedded in his left shoulder, driven deep into his body. Unwilling to accept this, he twisted his body trying to get up.
Yun Ye crouched down and said softly: “Know how you were exposed?” The guard woodenly shook his head. His own handiwork had been clean and efficient—he’d never failed. He was certain Yun Ye hadn’t seen him poison that companion, because the poison was in a wax pill that needed three hours to dissolve in the stomach. At that time, he and his companion would still be outside the garden while Yun Ye was sleeping. There was no way he could know.
He desperately wanted to know, but Yun Ye evaded the question. Only when the guard realized what was happening did Yun Ye smile and say: “I don’t care how you killed your brother. I only need you to have no time to commit suicide. Talking to you is just waiting for the anesthetic to take effect. That person truly can’t say anything anymore, but you can.” The guard very much wanted to close his mouth, but his whole body was numb without any sensation. The anesthetic developed by Sun Simiao came with quality assurance. When he said the effects would wear off after four hours, it meant four hours—not three hours or five hours. Yun Ye had never doubted Doctor Sun’s credibility.
By the time the guard commander reached Yun Ye, the fire had spread to the Qujiang shore, struggled one last time, and extinguished. Yun Ye said to the guard commander: “This person absolutely cannot die. Don’t even think about killing him to cover up and shirk responsibility. Once this person dies, I guarantee your entire family’s heads will be severed—perhaps even nine generations. If you keep this person alive today, I also give you a promise: afterward, no one will pursue your responsibility. At most, you’ll be exiled to serve in the frontier army.”
Beads of sweat rolled down the guard commander’s forehead. His knees weakened and he fell to the ground, silently begging Yun Ye to save his entire family’s lives. From the first day he was assigned to Qujiang, he knew there was something strange here and that there was an earth-shattering secret involved. These two years at Qujiang living in constant peril had been worse than death. The previous two commanders had inexplicably died with their entire families. Now that his own subordinate turned out to be a traitor, being executed along with nine generations wouldn’t be surprising at all.
“Get up. We’re all military men—I can’t bear to see soldiers suffer misfortune. After this matter is resolved, I’ll speak on your behalf before His Majesty. Go far away to be a colonel in the frontier army. Damn it, if we can save a few lives, let’s save a few. Let’s go ahead and see what kind of gift they’ve left for me.”
Hearing Yun Ye’s words, the guard commander felt as if granted amnesty. He didn’t want to do this damned assignment for even one more day. Forget being a colonel in the frontier army—he’d do it even as a captain.
Yun Ye’s crossbow bolts weren’t extracted—they were all embedded in soft flesh. Death wouldn’t come for a while yet. The guard commander personally carried the traitor on his back, treading carefully with every step.
The road wasn’t far—it would eventually reach its end. At the Qujiang shore, Yun Ye saw a grinning fellow. Though scorched by fire, his blackened face still bore intense mirth. He couldn’t help but smile—the corners of his mouth had been split open to his cheeks. Someone had literally carved a huge smiling face into his face. The flames on his clothing hadn’t yet extinguished. A burnt-meat stench drifted on the wind. Both hands extended forward in a posture of enthusiastic welcome.
Yun Ye had seen the awl-shaped wedge inserted in the chest before. He couldn’t help but jump up and down cursing: “To hell with the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu! To hell with the Nine Corpse Welcome! A bunch of perverted bastards! Can’t you welcome guests a bit more normally? Scatter some flower petals, arrange some beauties—even getting children to line the road in welcome would be more appealing than creating this ghostly appearance!” After looking at the welcoming corpse for a while, he ordered the other guards to find some dry firewood, pour oil on it, and light it—but absolutely no one was permitted to touch that corpse.
Everyone stayed far away. As the corpse burned, sometimes a cold arrow flew out, sometimes the sound of springs rang out, countless dense fine needles flew from the flames, and the flames even turned pale blue at one moment. Yun Ye couldn’t even figure out how many mechanisms had been installed on this corpse.
On the way back, Yun Ye had guards shoot a plump rabbit for his dinner. He’d only eaten two bites of the flatbread Empress Zhangsun had made all day. He couldn’t understand why this woman who cooked silver fungus and lotus seed soup so divinely didn’t know how to properly make flatbread. The dough was unleavened—at the very least, she should have scalded it with boiling water to make cooked dough! Unleavened flatbread wasn’t something you could just randomly knead into a dough ball and bake in the oven to eat. Looking at the teeth marks on the flatbread, Yun Ye helplessly tucked it back into his bosom, planning to braise it together with the rabbit meat and then eat it.
The evening bell rang one hundred and seven times. Apart from someone as bored and idle as Yun Ye, no one would count how many times the bell rang. Leaving the rain-catching urn, Yun Ye returned to his room to continue his existence. Two months was not so easy to endure.
When cooking, he didn’t use the readily available white snow outside but laboriously hauled back a large bucket from the Qujiang Pool. Normally he deeply detested the water in Qujiang Pool, but today he didn’t care at all. Compared to his life, being a bit dirty was acceptable.
Hearing a thudding sound outside, Yun Ye’s hand paused briefly before continuing to cut the rabbit meat. Rabbit meat had a heavy earthy smell that needed seasonings to suppress. He threw out several star anise grass seeds from the star anise. In later times, unscrupulous merchants sold this stuff as star anise. Once mistakenly eaten, mild cases resulted in nausea, vomiting, thirst, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, manic restlessness, hallucinations, arrhythmia, numbness of limbs, rapid breathing—severe cases resulted in unconsciousness.
The two were very similar, both growing many points. For an old foodie like Yun Ye, distinguishing them presented no difficulty whatsoever. The entire package of star anise contained only those seven or eight seeds—it seemed they didn’t want Yun Ye to sleep and never wake up.
“Marquis, a guard was just pinned to the wall by a javelin. Should we search for the culprit?” The guard commander consulted Yun Ye through the window. He deeply admired Yun Ye’s abilities. The traitor had been helped into the courtyard, and in the blink of an eye, he couldn’t find where the traitor had gone.
“You all withdraw. You can’t play this game. I have a guest tonight. Get me a jug of good wine. Remember, clearly tell the proprietor that I need it to entertain a guest. Otherwise, that jug of wine will be poisoned. Damn it, can’t Chang’an have any food that puts people’s minds at ease?”
Though the guard commander found this strange, as a smart person he asked nothing. He personally went to the Cheap Inn in the neighboring ward to buy wine, clearly telling the proprietor that the wine was for Marquis Yun to entertain guests. Under his suspicious gaze, the servant tremblingly brought over an unsealed jug of wine. As the guard commander left, he still glanced at the proprietor and servants in the shop, memorizing these faces. If the wine was poisoned, he would mercilessly arrest all these people and interrogate them in prison.
“Yun Ye is going to entertain a guest. Guanyin Maid, do you think he’ll meet that person?”
“Second Brother, are you still not satisfied with Yun Ye’s performance last night and today? This humble consort always feels he has something of your youthful composure—unmoving as a mountain. Last night with high winds and black darkness, crises everywhere, yet he could still sleep soundly. At daybreak his complexion remained unchanged. Gongshu Mu last year didn’t have such bearing.”
“Five wagers—as long as we win one more, all the truth will be revealed to the world. Old Master Yan won a round with fearlessness, Hong Funv drew a round with fortitude, Gongshu Mu lost in the study of mechanisms and completely lost confidence, Master Li lost in the way of poisons and forfeited his life. Perhaps Yun Ye can win this round with wisdom. This humble consort has great confidence.”
Emperor Li looked up at the sky and laughed loudly. His laughter was filled with unwillingness as he said viciously: “I am the master of all under Heaven! Why should I be toyed with by a mere commoner? If I cannot tear him to pieces, how can I swallow this anger?”
“You are the soaring dragon on high, while those people are merely mosquitoes and flies disturbing the peace. You have ten thousand measures of strength yet can do nothing about them. If two armies were contending, they would have long been trampled into meat paste by you. But they act in secrecy—years of investigation have yielded no trace. They hide among the myriad people. You are wary of harming the innocent, so you cannot root them out.”
“I know, I know. I’ve spent my life arranging wagers for others. Who would have thought I myself would be trapped in the biggest wager of all? This feeling makes food tasteless and sleep impossible.”
“Didn’t Yun Ye already give you clues today? The Nine Surnames of Zhaowu, the Nine Corpse Welcome—isn’t that enough to vent your anger? You’re merely blinded by rage. As long as the Bai Qi Si investigates according to these clues, there will be results.”
“I can’t wait any longer! Attendants, issue an edict! Order Hou Junji to launch a military campaign against the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu! Insignificant little states dare to play mysterious tricks—I want not a blade of grass left!”
“Your Majesty, reconsider!” Empress Zhangsun hurriedly knelt to remonstrate.
“No need to reconsider. Empress, withdraw!” Zhangsun could only bow and retreat into the curtains.
Emperor Li’s command traveled far out. Immediately, dozens of eunuchs emerged from every corner of the palace, along with two officials from the Secretariat. Without a word, the eunuchs held the imperial seal, command arrows, and various seals. The eunuch holding yellow silk immediately knelt before the Secretary, while a eunuch beside him offered a brush and stood holding ink.
“May I ask Your Majesty, what position shall General Hou hold?”
“Commander-in-Chief of the Congling Mountain Campaign!” The old minister’s brush moved like dragons and snakes. A decree condemning the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu was immediately drafted. A eunuch presented it to Emperor Li for review. Emperor Li made a sweeping stroke, eliminating all the miscellaneous reasons, leaving only one sentence: By imperial command, Hou Junji shall punish the disloyal!
After using his great seal, a team of fully armored soldiers shouldered the seals and rode off in rolling dust straight toward the western frontier.
By the time Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Li Jing, and others arrived at Wanmin Palace, they could only stand on the steps watching the departing dust cloud, looking at each other in bewilderment.