The Zhang Family father and sons followed He Tianshang and left. Zhang Liang turned back and solemnly bowed to Yun Ye. This bow made Yun Ye’s nose tingle with emotion—not out of pity for Zhang Liang, but because he felt this era was too dangerous. Families were destroyed and clans exterminated at the drop of a hat. A family that was joyful and harmonious yesterday could become broken ruins in the blink of an eye. Everyone lived in crisis, all thinking that climbing to the highest position would allow them to avoid such tragic fates. Little did they expect that upon reaching the heights, they would discover it was even more dangerous there.
Tigers were destined to only befriend lions, or perhaps become relatives with crocodiles, colleagues with eagles, forming what seemed like a solid living circle. Everyone ate meat, so they could herd sheep and catch cattle together. But if you accidentally stepped on a crocodile’s eggs, your future life would be filled with challenges—passing by even a small pond, you’d have to guard against some log-like fellow lying in ambush there. Making the crocodile hate another tiger instead was a very meaningful endeavor.
Zhang Liang refused help from the Emperor and the government. Military families also had their own dignity. If he couldn’t smear his enemy’s blood on his face, then smearing his own would do just as well. He borrowed fifty flying claws from the Qin Family, fifty mo-dao from the Cheng Family, and fifty powerful crossbows from the Yun Family. Taking his sons and personal troops, he went hunting in the Qinling Mountains.
From nightfall, Yun Ye stood in the garden pavilion gazing into the distance toward the Qinling Mountains. Though he clearly couldn’t see anything, Yun Ye’s eyes were filled with flames, his ears full of sounds of slaughter, wailing, and clashing weapons.
Tonight the moon was a beautiful crescent shape, hanging close to the earth. Some constellation must have erupted with a meteor shower—seven or eight brilliant meteors with trailing tails whooshed past overhead.
It looked like many people were dying. If people truly were stars in heaven, at this moment meteors should be falling like a rainstorm, clattering down. Old Cheng had said that no matter how capable Zhang Liang was, including the assassins, this battle wouldn’t see fewer than four hundred deaths. There was a huge difference between soldiers and assassins. If battle formations were properly arranged, fifty soldiers could kill a hundred-plus assassins. But without coordinated formations, ten assassins could easily kill a hundred-plus soldiers, and do so without dying themselves.
Zhang Liang had chosen the wrong time and wrong place to avenge his family. The only thing he could rely on was superior weapons. He feared that delays would bring complications. Yun Ye understood clearly—if handed to the Emperor, the matter’s direction would be beyond his control. For certain interests, the Emperor might even release the assassins. Zhang Liang wanted to personally tear the assassins to shreds.
Li Anlan lay in Yun Ye’s embrace, Xinyue leaned against his back. The family of three gazed at the sky full of stars, swaying left and right—quite comfortable, yet also quite somber.
“Husband, why have the celestial phenomena been so chaotic lately? The Imperial Observatory says an inauspicious star invaded the Purple Tenuity, and a great star fell in the far north. Everywhere people are clamoring in chaos, saying great calamity is descending. As a result, the entire Zhang household was slaughtered, Cen Wenben nearly died, Madam Cheng was going to buy land and had even put down a deposit, but now doesn’t dare mention it again. The Hua Family’s daughter had set her wedding for tomorrow—we’d already received the invitation—but today they sent their steward to apologize, saying the date was inauspicious and they’re postponing it two months. When will this widespread panic end?”
Hearing Xinyue chat about household matters, Yun Ye was pleased. He withdrew his hand from Li Anlan’s embrace and pointed toward the Qinling Mountains, saying to Xinyue, “The days will soon return to tranquility. After tonight passes, everything will be fine. No matter how Zhang Liang’s revenge goes, the Zhang Family is finished. If their last elite forces are lost in the Qinling Mountains, aside from a title, the Zhang Family will have nothing left.”
“You seem to have much more sorrow today. Didn’t the Zhang Family try to bully Na Rimu when you weren’t home? The two families have such great enmity, yet you’re feeling sorry for them. In this concubine’s opinion, such people dying out completely would be best.”
“I don’t care whether Zhang Liang lives or dies. What frightened me was the deaths of his family members. Nowadays people do things with fewer and fewer bottom lines. No matter what schemes exist, they’ll use them and dare to use them. For momentary satisfaction, they don’t care at all about the life or death of family or nation. I’d very much like to know what Yeon Gaesomun’s mood will be when he learns his scheme was exposed.”
Li Anlan laughed delicately, “Don’t worry about Goguryeo people. I’m about to return to Lingnan—you should think more about me, about what I should do when I return. Rong’er’s future all depends on your planning. I’ll also take those three wild people who’ve gone crazy playing along with me. In just this one month, you’ve already gone to the magistrate’s office three times to collect them. They gave a shopkeeper three copper coins demanding to take a pair of white jade bracelets. The shopkeeper said it wasn’t enough, so they gave him two grapes. Oh my goodness, it made me laugh so hard.”
“Ha ha ha, Shouyang, they’re the ones truly living—living simply, living purely, living freely. Eating when it’s time to eat, playing when it’s time to play, doing whatever makes them happy. I want to live such days too. If you weren’t all pulling me back, I’d probably have long ago taken Wang Cai to wander the world.”
“That won’t do. You just stay home nicely with Wang Cai. This concubine will serve you well so you can enjoy your blessings. In earlier years, traveling up mountains and across seas with Master—haven’t you wandered enough? Now that you’ve returned, you haven’t had enough time at home enjoying blessings. Born with a laborious fate—leaving us to wander alone, that absolutely won’t do.”
Time passed quickly as the three spouses chatted and laughed. Before they knew it, it was already the third watch. Wu She suddenly appeared on the wall. Liu Jinbao beside him had prepared a ladder early on. Seeing Wu She return, he quickly helped the old man down from the wall. The old fellow now had quite the airs—he could jump onto walls but absolutely wouldn’t jump down in front of others.
The three quickly went to greet him. They saw the old fellow first drink deeply from his small teapot, then order Liu Jinbao to refill it with water before saying, “Tragic, truly tragic. Five were captured alive, the rest had their heads chopped off and bodies dismembered. When Zhang Liang first interrogated those few, they could still hold out. But when Zhang Liang sliced meat from their bodies piece by piece, skewered it with forks, roasted it over fire, and ate it half-cooked—after roasting two people, the third fellow spilled everything. He said he didn’t know who the mastermind was, only that he’d participated in slaughtering a great household. Zhang Liang looked like a demon—even this old man felt chilled seeing him. That fellow killed the murderers. The remaining three, I estimate he’s preparing to offer at his family members’ graves.”
“Do you know, that temple was built by Silla people. After Zhang Liang killed the murderers, he also slaughtered all the monks in the temple clean. One old monk said the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva wouldn’t forgive Zhang Liang.”
“Zhang Liang’s men also suffered heavy casualties. If not for the powerful crossbows, heh heh, they might have perished together. Boy, why did you lend him crossbows? If both groups had died together completely, wouldn’t that be fine? You had to leave yourself future troubles. Judging from Zhang Liang’s viciousness today, you wanting to reconcile with him—the possibility isn’t great.”
“Spending time with the old masters, I’ve understood a principle—people can’t walk paths to their absolute end. When you reach the dead end, that path has no more changes. Each path is actually a kind of change. We live on these paths and should always see different scenery, different people. Change is always good in the end. Though sometimes not entirely satisfactory, no matter what kind of change it is, having change is better than having no change. Let’s watch how Zhang Liang changes—whether for good or bad.”
Finding Yun Ye’s words interesting, Wu She stretched lazily and muttered, “This old man’s disadvantage is having read too little. A group of old fellows all look like saints—only this old man is a killer.”
Seeing Wu She off to rest in his room, Yun Ye also prepared to return to sleep with his two wives. Xinyue had been frightened by Wu She’s words tonight—Zhang Liang actually ate people! Too terrifying. She needed her husband’s embrace to dare fall asleep…
After dawn, Yun Ye rose early. The case was closed—he needed to report to the Emperor, and incidentally tell him the Yun and Zhang families needn’t brandish their weapons for battle. His Imperial Majesty needn’t look forward to watching a monkey show.
He Tianshang, as usual, was savoring the Yun Family’s breakfast with relish. He especially loved eggs fried medium-rare. Bringing his mouth close, with a gentle suck, the yolk would entirely enter his mouth. Watching him tirelessly prepare to suck his sixth egg, Yun Ye couldn’t bear it anymore. Wiping his mouth with a handkerchief, he said, “People should only eat three eggs a day. Any more is useless.”
“There’s such a saying? But I watched corpses for half the night last night and also watched people roast and eat human flesh. My body is severely depleted—eating two more eggs to replenish myself is good.”
“How was the situation last night? If Zhang Liang achieved his great revenge, we’ll enter the palace to report to His Majesty, saying the assignment is complete. I’ll return to the Academy to teach, you’ll report to the Ministry of Justice, and we’ll part ways—wouldn’t that be splendid?”
“I won’t mention last night’s events. You know very clearly—don’t tell me your family didn’t send experts to watch. Last night while Zhang Liang was slaughtering, in the distant darkness, who knows how many experts were crouching. Watching us struggle ourselves to death killing people without offering help—all watching the spectacle. Tell me, among you noble families, are there any good ones?”
“Don’t overturn a whole boat with one pole. There are good families—for instance, mine is very good. Last night my wife heard about the man-eating and was frightened, making me coax her for half the night. Listen—truly a rare kind and virtuous family.”
“Fine. A timid woman who uses a guillotine blade to chop people’s thighs is indeed rare. Alright then, let’s go now. Also pack me a basket of pastries and such—my old mother asked some time ago why there haven’t been any delicious pastries.”
Riding Wang Cai to the city gate, Yun Ye was still greatly shocked by what he saw. Both sides of the gate were densely hung with a long row of heads—by visual estimation, no fewer than three hundred. Pedestrians passing through the gate all covered their noses—the strong bloody smell made people want to vomit.
Those with hair were tied by their hair and hung. Those without hair had iron hooks casually hooked through an ear and hung on iron poles like pig heads, swaying in the wind.