In the dark prison cell, someone had once desperately pleaded with him: “Official Shi, I beg you to hold a trial, I beg you to judge our crimes, I beg you to give the Guan family justice!”

However, at that time, Shi Youxin had stood haughtily outside the cell and coldly sneered, “General Guan has already committed suicide out of guilt. What more justice do you want? The verdict has been decided. Just wait for your death!”

When matters don’t concern them, people can always calmly, even with a touch of schadenfreude, observe various injustices. Many people live without fear, believing karma doesn’t exist. After all, if it did exist, why do so many bad people still live well?

However, when retribution truly arrives, their expressions become particularly interesting.

“That wasn’t my fault! The entire court wanted the Guan family destroyed. There was no way around it!” Shi Youxin’s lips trembled, his eyes full of a desperate desire to live. “Even if I failed General Guan, I had no choice, no choice at all!”

What a fine excuse for having no choice! Feng Yue coldly laughed. She turned to ask those standing and sitting around: “Do you want him dead?”

“Yes!” The unified response rang through the room, stunning Shi Youxin.

“You see, I also have no choice.” Turning back to look at him, Feng Yue said, “Enjoy these final days of your life. When public anger reaches its peak, that will be the day you descend to the Yellow Springs to atone for your sins.”

When people don’t know when they’ll die, they feel little fear. But once they know and can’t escape it, they become like chickens and ducks in restaurant kitchen cages – utterly desperate and constantly terrified.

Shi Youxin broke down, screaming: “I am the Imperial Court’s Judge! You mountain bandits, do you not value your lives? If someone finds me here, you’ll all be beheaded! Your entire families will be executed!”

“Sorry, but I’m the only one left in my family.” Standing up and kicking the cage, Feng Yue narrowed her eyes and said, “Not only will those worthless officials never find you, but even if they do, you’ll die by my hand first!”

“Ah—” Eyes bulging with rage, Shi Youxin grabbed the enormous dog cage with both hands, shaking it violently. The iron cage clanged loudly, accompanied by his mad howling, bringing great satisfaction to those listening.

“Keep screaming, keep screaming.” Feng Yue smiled. “When you’ve no strength left to scream, that’s when you’ll die~”

The light, lilting voice paired with that sinister expression terrified Shi Youxin into screaming even louder. The people in the room covered their ears as they left to begin printing his list of crimes.

Standing in the courtyard, Feng Yue looked at the sky and felt the Wei Kingdom’s sky had rarely become so clear, instantly improving her mood.

Helan Changde was dead, and Zhao Xu was also dead. After dealing with Shi Youxin, she could probably contact Yan Qing to enter the palace.

Just as she was thinking this, she heard Lingxu run in to report: “Master, there’s someone outside wearing a crane robe who looks like an immortal. He appears to be only in his thirties and says he’s looking for you.”

They were staying in a farmhouse at the foot of Zhaoying Mountain, and by rights, no one should have been able to find them. But hearing the description of this person, Feng Yue smiled: “I have something to ask him. Quickly invite Master Yan in.”

Yan Qing, the former Eastern Palace steward, was a friend she had met by chance. After the Guan family’s downfall, he resigned from his palace position, saying he would return to his hometown. However, he had remained in Liou, working for her.

“Master Yan.” Looking at the leisurely approaching Daoist-like figure, Feng Yue smiled and asked, “Are the palace arrangements ready?”

Yan Qing had heard that Shi Youxin had been captured and came to see the excitement, but upon hearing this question, his face immediately fell, his Daoist hat tilting: “Why are you in such a hurry? Emperor Wei’s health has been poor since the assassination attempt. Perhaps you won’t need to risk yourself; he might just…”

Raising an eyebrow, Feng Yue smiled, “If he dies on his own, I won’t be able to live in peace.”

“…” Sighing deeply, Yan Qing shook his head: “After all these years, the obsession in your heart hasn’t lessened but has grown deeper. It seems those by your side haven’t properly counseled you.”

Rolling her eyes, Feng Yue didn’t even acknowledge the joy of reunion with an old friend, instead grabbing his clothes and narrowing her eyes: “Counsel me about what? Counsel me to lay down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha? Bah! Every time you come, you have to say these grand principles. What’s the point? You still help me seek revenge, don’t you?”

Held in her grip, Yan Qing instantly lost his immortal-like bearing, his eyebrows drooping as he said good-naturedly: “I’m just saying the proper things. Calm down, calm down! We haven’t seen each other for so many years, can’t we sit down and have some tea first?”

“No tea!” Feng Yue wrinkled her nose: “First tell me if everything’s ready. I’m counting on you to get me into the palace!”

Speaking of this matter, Yan Qing couldn’t help but think of certain events from three years ago, and his expression immediately became serious as he asked in a low voice: “If you truly assassinate the emperor, how will you face the Prince of Xiaoan?”

Face Yin Gezhi? Feng Yue raised an eyebrow: “Why should I face him?”

After everything was done, she would likely not survive anyway, so there was no need to consider such questions.

Looking at her in surprise, Yan Qing whispered: “You were privately betrothed to him after all. One usually only hears of men being unfaithful, not women being so indifferent…”

Moreover, three years ago, Guan Qingyue was different from other girls who entered the Eastern Palace. She hadn’t wanted to be Yin Gezhi’s concubine at all; she had truly liked him.

Touching her brow, Feng Yue was straightforward, nodding: “I admit, I used to like him quite a lot, even did some shameless things, but that feeling drowned in the blood that flowed from the Guan family. I can’t blame him or hate him, but I also can’t love and respect him like before. We’re just using each other now. Once everything is done, we’re destined to become enemies, never to meet again.”

Yan Qing stared at her like she was some kind of monster.

How could any woman be so ruthless? Being ruthless to others was one thing, but she was planning mutual destruction!

“Don’t look at me like that.” Scratching her face, Feng Yue said: “I figured this out long ago, from the moment I first saw him. You don’t need to worry about me. I know what I’m doing.”

She was quite shameless. By rights, now that she was back in the Wei Kingdom, if she were settling scores with everyone, she should include Yin Gezhi, since even though it was unintentional, he had directly led to the Guan family’s disaster.

But thinking of Yin Gezhi’s abnormal martial arts skills and deep scheming, it wasn’t that she was cowardly, she just couldn’t sacrifice her brothers’ lives again.

Let him live well alone then, carrying his hatred for her and revenge he could never achieve, just live well.

Sighing deeply, Yan Qing tossed his whisk onto the table and sat down resignedly: “I never know what you’re thinking, but Qingyue, don’t say I didn’t warn you – even if the Prince of Xiaoan has grievances against his father, he absolutely won’t stand by and watch Emperor Wei be assassinated. So your plan had better be put off for a while longer, think it through carefully.”

Feng Yue fell silent, sitting down with him at the table, staring at the tea leaves in her cup lost in thought for a while. Then with a serious face, she asked: “If I were to use feminine charms on the Prince of Xiaoan, do you think there’s any chance I could disable him first, then enter the palace for the assassination?”

Yan Qing’s gaze instantly filled with doubt: “If you couldn’t seduce the Crown Prince more than three years ago, where does this confidence come from now?”

Feng Yue: “…”

It wasn’t confidence, she wasn’t stupid. She could feel that Yin Gezhi treated her differently. Who had ever seen the dignified Prince Yin bend down to kiss a woman? And he had kissed the back of her hand that was covering her mouth – how strange no matter how you looked at it! Perhaps someone as outwardly proper as Yin Gezhi didn’t actually like proper ladies, but preferred her bewitching type?

“However…” changing tack, Yan Qing frowned and said: “To say you didn’t seduce the Crown Prince three years ago isn’t necessarily true. After all, it’s been nearly four years, and he’s been constantly sending people to find me. If I didn’t have such broad connections and hadn’t hidden well, he would have dug me out long ago. He wouldn’t have any other business with me – of all the work I did in the Eastern Palace, everything except your matter was officially recorded. If he wanted to know about anything else, he could just check the records.”

In other words, the person he had been searching for over three years was actually just to find out who that woman was who had served in the Eastern Palace for half a month.

Feng Yue was stunned, staring at Yan Qing, pointing at her nose in disbelief: “You mean, he’s been looking for me all this time?”

“Yes.” Rolling his eyes most inelegantly, Yan Qing shook his head: “He didn’t choose any of those refined young ladies, how did he come to fancy someone as crude and unruly as you?”

Her heart suddenly warmed, and Feng Yue opened her mouth wide, reaching up to wipe her face.

All these years, she had thought she was just one-sidedly admiring Yin Gezhi, not only failing to win his affection but having her entire family executed under his supervision. Just thinking about it made her feel pitiful – offering up a pure and innocent heart of spring love, only to have it shattered, trampled, and thrown back.

Now she suddenly discovered that wasn’t the case at all. It wasn’t just her one-sided love. Yin Gezhi, or rather Yin Chenbi, though he had always been cold towards her three years ago, in his heart, he had reserved a place for her.

Yes, that person was cold on the outside but warm inside, always taciturn and stern-faced. In her youthful ignorance, she had taken that for dislike. Looking back now, any woman sent to the Eastern Palace, whether favored or not, only stayed for one night. The only one who stayed for half a month was her, wasn’t it?

Grinning, Feng Yue met Yan Qing’s strange gaze and chuckled: “I’m not happy about anything else, just happy that I wasn’t the only fool back then. This makes me feel a bit better.”

Is that the case? Yan Qing shook his head – there are indeed love-struck fools in this world, being foolish themselves yet laughing at others’ foolishness!

As she laughed, Feng Yue couldn’t laugh anymore. Thinking of what was destined to happen in the future, she lowered her eyes, silent for a long while.

When she raised her head again, her eyes were full of determination. Looking at Yan Qing, she said seriously: “Sir, please arrange my entry into the palace as soon as possible.”

The wind blew through the courtyard, brushing across her brows and eyes, curling as it passed over the courtyard wall, making the white clothes of those standing outside flutter violently.