Chapter 15: Obediently, Keep Piercing!

He Jianzhong shook his head frantically. "I don't know! I truly don't! I have never heard of anyone behind them! To this day, the Du family has never revealed a single word about the source of their wealth, but I knew they already had extra riches long before the incident all those years ago!"

Yuetang looked at him indifferently, her blade sliding down to his throat. "If my Princess’s seal is in Du Minghuan’s hands, where do you think it would most likely be hidden?"

A flash of renewed terror crossed He Jianzhong’s eyes, and he quickly stammered, "The study! It must be the study!"

"How are the guards distributed around the study?"

His teeth chattered. "They are all hidden sentries, arranged according to the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. I don’t understand the specifics. But when the guard rotation happened last year, Zhang Shaode participated in the formation. He definitely knows!"

"Zhang Shaode?" Yuetang turned the hilt of the blade. "Is there a secret chamber in the study?"

He Jianzhong swallowed hard, not daring to move. "I only know he treasures a peony painting hanging in the study and forbids anyone from getting close to it. If there is a secret chamber, it must be behind that painting."

Yuetang curled her lips. "Is there anything else you need to confess?"

"No!" He shook his head wildly. "I swear, there is really nothing else!"

"That’s good," she said. "If there isn't, you can die now!"

As she spoke, she gripped Madam He’s hand and suddenly forced the blade onto his chest. As the sentence ended, she drove the tip of the blade, held by Madam He, deep into his chest with a soft thud.

How precise the strike was. And how powerful!

With just that single thrust, the blade pierced through the center of his heart and emerged from his back. He Jianzhong instinctively reached for his sword, but the second strike was already upon him. Then came the third, then the fourth. Each blow hammered the look of disbelief into his very pupils.

Yuetang gripped Madam He’s hand, forcing it down repeatedly amidst the woman’s screams, until he twitched a few times and could move no more.

Yuetang patted the back of Madam He’s hand. "There, there. Keep going. If you keep stabbing, Princess Yongjia won't come looking for you. She will forgive you."

She released Madam He, who was curled into a ball, clutching her head. Madam He stared blankly at the blade, then at the corpse, and truly began to stab it again.

Blood sprayed onto Yuetang, who brushed it off nonchalantly before checking Madam He’s pulse. Yuetang stood up, a smirk on her lips. "Useless creature. She was so greedy before, willing to incite murder without a hint of fear, yet the moment a blade is placed in her hand, she truly loses her mind."

She walked to the mirror, examined her face from both sides, and wiped away two stray drops of blood.

Little Huo glared fiercely at Madam He on the floor, then bowed and stepped behind Yuetang. "Princess, should we spare the rest of the He family?"

There were the other sons of the He family, various concubines, the children of He Xu’s brothers, and the Madam He currently before them.

"Spare them," Yuetang said, pulling a silk cloth from the table to wipe her blood-stained fingers. "If we kill everyone, it would look too staged, and the play that follows would be hard to perform."

Little Huo grunted, though he added bitterly, "They really don't deserve to live!"

"Go out now and have Hua Lin wait for me outside."

Yuetang set the cloth down, pulled out a token from the Imperial City Guard, and tucked it under He Jianzhong’s palm. She rose and added, "Once you have passed the message, let Zhang Shaode know immediately that He Jianzhong is dead. Find a way to make him rush here at once! Be quick—if we are too slow, the Du family might get there first."

Huo Yun vanished out the back window. Once he was gone, Yuetang stood straight and walked over to open the door.

The courtyard was still empty. Thick smoke billowed from the direction of the warehouse—that was where the He family kept their wealth. Everyone had gone to fight the fire. Even if one or two guards were still on duty in the main quarters, their minds were entirely consumed by the blaze.

Yuetang, covered in blood, walked out of the courtyard gate and began to shout, "Help! Someone help! The mistress has killed the master! Come quickly!"

Several people at the gate turned their heads simultaneously, and upon seeing her appearance, they panicked and rushed toward the courtyard!

Inside the room, Madam He was also covered in gore—no, because she had stood in front of Yuetang for every strike, she was covered in far more blood than Yuetang was. The maids saw her holding a bloody blade with both hands, stabbing it repeatedly into He Jianzhong’s body.

She was still muttering to herself, "I’m being obedient, I’m being obedient. I killed you, I killed you, the Princess will surely forgive me, she surely will..."

He Jianzhong lay on his side facing her, his wide-open eyes, like those of He Xu and Madam Zhang, filled with disbelief and terror.

"A ghost!"

Someone screamed, and soon, cries erupted one after another: "There’s a ghost, there must be a ghost!"

The superstitions that Nurse Li had suppressed yesterday suddenly resurfaced with a vengeance. No, compared to yesterday’s vague suspicions, this gruesome sight was far more terrifying and convincing!

Some of those who arrived fainted on the spot. Others tripped over the threshold. Some instinctively ran forward, only to stop halfway, paralyzed by fear.

Madam He turned her head and grinned at them. The crowd shrieked and fled.

Yuetang backed away from the crowd. "With so many people from the He family dying in such quick succession, who knows what sins they committed to be haunted by vengeful spirits like this? Aren't you afraid? Why aren't you running? Are you waiting to be the next victims under the blade?"

The crowd shuddered.

Yuetang stood outside the threshold. "Tell the He family that there is no need to pay my consultation fee. Farewell!"

She crossed the screen wall and strode toward the side gate. A yellow dog tethered under the side wall barked at the sound of her footsteps. She glanced at it, took two steps back, and stomped on its food bowl!

The large ceramic basin shattered into pieces. The dog was startled first, then let out a thunderous, angry howl from behind. Yuetang flashed a grin at it, then gathered her skirts and sprinted to the gate, kicked it open, and stepped out into the setting sun.

Outside the side gate, Hua Lin was already waiting by the carriage, and Lan Qin’s face appeared at the window.

Lan Qin quickly stepped down, shook out a cloak to wrap her in, and helped her into the carriage. "Are you injured?"

"I am fine. Do not worry."

The carriage immediately headed toward the North City. Yuetang used a mirror to wipe her face, then carefully peeled off a film as thin as a cicada’s wing from her brows and eyes, revealing a pair of double-swallow brows and almond-shaped eyes that were completely different from before.

She let out a breath and looked out the window. The streets were bustling with traffic and prosperous, no different from the capital three years ago.

Princess Yongjia, who had been declared dead after being forced off a cliff by bandits, had become an outdated topic of gossip. The Prince Duan’s mansion, once the most prestigious in the capital, had dwindled in numbers, with only the widow of the late heir left to guard the family gate.

The people of the capital now focused on the new cycle of imperial power and wealth, and the families that had grown strong by clinging to them.

Lan Qin took out a clean robe for her to change into. She tore off the blood-stained clothes. "When you return, prepare the food exactly as I instructed. Little Huo will deliver it to the prison as soon as he returns. He Jianzhong is dead. The next one is Zhang Shaode. Zhang Shaode is more cunning than He Jianzhong. We must give him a certain amount of time, but we must not give him too much time to react. At the latest, let him live for one more day and night."

Lan Qin looked at her. "Little Huo just said, regarding Zhang Shaode, perhaps you still have questions to ask?"

"Yes," Yuetang curled her lips. "I want both his life and his words!"