Yan Heng was sent home and fell ill that very day. Ming Yu, who had been ill himself, heard about the incident and couldn’t help but visit him despite his own illness. “You should change that temper of yours. Even if you want to remonstrate, this isn’t the way to do it.”

Yan Heng was disheartened and said in a heavy voice, “The General has changed. Power has blinded his wisdom. I should have known from the start—when Gou Chun attacked Zhao Hanzhang by surprise but wasn’t severely punished, the General’s heart had already changed.”

Ming Yu fell silent. After a long while, he asked, “What do you plan to do?”

Yan Heng lowered his eyes in thought for a long time. When he raised them again, they were much more resolute. He said, “I’m going to submit a written remonstrance.”

He continued, “One last time. If he can turn back and change his mind, I’ll assist him as before. But if… he’s still like this, then I’ll leave. From then on, I’ll retreat to the mountains and forests and never concern myself with worldly affairs again.”

Ming Yu frowned. “Remonstrating with a written memorial—this isn’t just verbal. If you anger him…”

Yan Heng didn’t care. “It’s not the first time I’ve angered him.”

He said softly, “I’ve followed him for fifteen years. All my life’s aspirations rest on him. I’m unwilling to give up. I’m so unwilling.”

Tears rolled down Yan Heng’s face. “My lord, my enlightened master, my general—how could he become like this?”

If he didn’t make one more effort, Yan Heng wouldn’t be reconciled.

Ming Yu didn’t object. He too was unwilling, so he said, “Write it then. If it doesn’t work, I’ll go into seclusion with you.”

Yan Heng climbed out of his sickbed to write the remonstrance.

He started from the past. How good Gou Xi used to be! He was just and impartial. Even when his cousin committed a crime and his aunt, whom he had always regarded as his own mother, knelt before him begging for mercy, he showed no leniency. He still executed the man as he should.

Then he wore mourning clothes and wept at the funeral, only saying: “The one who killed you was the Inspector of Yanzhou. The one weeping for his brother is Gou Dajiang.”

He was clean and honest, to the point of being incompatible with all the court ministers. But it was precisely because of this that when Prince Qi was questioned for his crimes, Gou Xi was pardoned. Yan Heng truly couldn’t understand why Gou Xi had changed today.

Yan Heng reminisced about the past, only wanting to stir Gou Xi’s fighting spirit and prevent him from forgetting their original intentions and their former character.

He hoped Gou Xi could dismiss the servants and slaves from his household, send the musicians back to their native places, and wear only plain clothes when entering the palace to serve the Emperor…

Yan Heng wrote prolifically, then revised through the night. Finally, with a pale face, he handed the finished draft to his servant, earnestly instructing, “Quickly deliver this to the General.”

In the past, when Yan Heng submitted memorials, Gou Xi would definitely open and read them immediately. But now, forget about the people around him preventing Yan Heng’s letters from spoiling his mood—even if no one stopped it, he was currently fast asleep and had no time to handle official business.

So Yan Heng’s illness grew worse and worse, yet he kept waiting for news. Instead, Zhao Zhongyu learned of what had happened between them.

Upon discovering that Yan Heng had actually submitted a written remonstrance to Gou Xi, he began pacing in his study.

He was extremely conflicted at this moment—on one hand wanting to seize the opportunity to fan the flames and have Gou Xi kill Yan Heng, thus losing an arm; on the other hand fearing this would weaken Great Jin’s strength and allow external enemies to exploit the opening.

After all, Gou Xi wasn’t Zhao Hanzhang’s primary enemy—the Xiongnu to the north were. If Gou Xi was strong, it was disadvantageous to Zhao Hanzhang and the Zhao clan. But if he was weak, it was equally disadvantageous to Zhao Hanzhang and the Zhao clan.

How should he choose?

Zhao Zhongyu paced back and forth, unable to decide.

Zhao Ji returned from outside with a dark expression. Zhao Zhongyu saw him, frowned slightly, and called out to stop him. “Where have you been again?”

Zhao Ji replied, “General Gou was hosting a banquet. I just returned from the feast.”

Zhao Zhongyu asked, “Was it an official banquet?”

“No, it was a private one,” Zhao Ji said. “Your son just went to join the excitement. It’s still lively over there.”

Zhao Zhongyu pricked up his ears and listened. The two households weren’t far apart, and he could faintly hear the sound of music coming from that direction. He pressed his lips together and made up his mind. Forget it—Gou Xi had already been blinded by profit and desire. If Yan Heng was killed on top of that, with no one left around him to restrain him, when the Xiongnu truly invaded southward again, who would resist them?

So it was better to let Yan Heng live.

Zhao Zhongyu pondered, clasped his hands behind his back, and slowly walked away, leaving Zhao Ji standing in place.

Zhao Ji pressed his lips together and turned to leave.

Zhao Zhongyu’s reach couldn’t extend to Gou Xi’s side, but he could use others’ strength. So he found an official and, during a drinking party, made contact with the colonel who had pushed Yan Heng into the water. “Colonel Zhen, I heard that after you pushed Yan Heng into the water, he submitted a memorial to the General the very next day.”

The colonel snorted coldly. “Now that he’s lost favor, the General doesn’t even trust him anymore.”

“Not so, not so. The General has campaigned north and south, and Yan Heng has contributed no small amount. Although he doesn’t hold a position at court, he’s always been the General’s confidant. Right now, Yan Heng’s words were just unpleasant, and the General was annoyed with him. Once this passes and the General remembers his good points, the two will naturally reconcile.”

He said, “At that time, Colonel Zhen, tell me—will the General stand on your side or his?”

The colonel’s expression changed. Naturally, it would be Yan Heng’s side.

Yan Heng was the General’s confidant who had once proposed killing the Great General’s own brother, yet Gou Chun still couldn’t do anything to him.

“Then what should I do?”

The other person said quietly, “The General’s moods are unpredictable now. Reporting to him isn’t easy, but finding a way to hide the memorial so the General doesn’t see it—isn’t that easy enough?”

“As long as the General doesn’t see that memorial, naturally he won’t think of Yan Heng and won’t blame you, Colonel, because of him.”

Colonel Zhen thought he was right, so he secretly bribed the clerk who sorted documents to have him hide Yan Heng’s memorial.

But hiding it was impossible. Gou Xi governed his army strictly. Even though he had fallen now, the rules remained. Every memorial that entered the records was counted. The clerk didn’t dare hide it privately.

Once discovered, given their general’s former severity, he would definitely be beheaded.

So although he accepted the money, that memorial of unknown content remained on the desk, just placed at the very bottom.

Every time a new one arrived, he placed it at the very bottom.

At Gou Xi’s current rate of handling government affairs, this letter might never reach Gou Xi’s eyes in his lifetime.

Neither he nor Colonel Zhen knew this was a memorial sufficient to cost Yan Heng his life.

But Zhao Zhongyu knew.

Yan Heng thought he understood Gou Xi, but what he understood was the former Gou Xi. In the past, seeing such a memorial, Gou Xi might have wept bitterly, then repented and reformed.

But the current Gou Xi, based on Zhao Zhongyu’s judgment, would only fly into an embarrassed rage and directly kill Yan Heng.

Anyway, judging others by himself, if Zhao Zhongyu’s advisors cursed him like this, he would definitely kill them. The current Gou Xi was as petty and narrow-minded as he was.

Zhao Zhongyu realized he had included himself in the scolding. He shook his head, driving these thoughts from his mind, and began composing a letter to Zhao Hanzhang.

He had to inform her. If she thought Yan Heng’s death would be beneficial, he could manipulate things further. Actually, even now he wasn’t certain whether Yan Heng living was more beneficial than harmful, or more harmful than beneficial.

Gou Xi was too powerful. Actually, if Yan Heng died, weakening his strength wouldn’t be bad either.

Wavering like this, Zhao Zhongyu simply wrote to Zhao Hanzhang and let her make the decision herself.