Using the ladder that Ding Wu had just used to scale the wall, Wei Caiwei climbed down from the wall into the neighboring courtyard...
Ziyu Pavilion.
The impostor Wang Daxia was tied to the waterwheel. By the fifth rotation, he couldn't bear it any longer.
He had underestimated water torture, thinking his swimming skills would suffice—holding his breath when submerged and breathing when the wheel lifted him out.
But in reality, being bound to the wheel like a kite, the constant up-and-down motion made his body unbearably uncomfortable, and he couldn't hold his breath for long.
By the sixth rotation, Wang Daxia's fake coughs turned real. The river water irritated his throat, and he thought, "This summer, I'm never swimming again!"
By the tenth rotation, his mind buzzed with only one thought: "Commander Lu, save me! I don't want to die—I haven't even married yet!"
Inside Ziyu Pavilion, Yan Shifan played the guqin. The artificial rain carried away the summer heat. On Dragon Boat Festival, he had drunk realgar wine and now amused himself with music.
If all went smoothly, he would hear news of Ding Rukui's death tomorrow.
This threat had to be eliminated.
That night in the death cell, Ding Rukui's gravely ill appearance had initially fooled Yan Shifan into thinking he had consumption and wouldn't survive the summer.
But Yan Shifan wasn't easily deceived. Ding Rukui had been sentenced to death for ten years without execution. The emperor reviewed death row prisoners annually but never approved Ding Rukui's execution, leading Yan Shifan to suspect the emperor was keeping him alive to maintain political balance.
The Jiajing Emperor had always operated this way. Residing in the Western Park to cultivate immortality and refine elixirs, he hadn't held court for over thirty years. To maintain absolute power—aside from relying on his milk-brother Lu Bing—he excelled at political balancing. He favored Grand Secretary Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan but also elevated Grand Secretariat minister Xu Jie to check the Yan family's influence. The two factions contended, each undermining the other, while the emperor manipulated both sides to prevent any from becoming too powerful or being completely destroyed.
Thus, Yan Shifan long believed the emperor spared Ding Rukui to restrain him and his father. So he approached his in-law Lu Bing, suggesting they shouldn't wait for the emperor's approval—many death row prisoners died in prison, and Ding Rukui could too.
Lu Bing neither agreed nor refused, stating Ding Rukui was too ill to rush matters.
But Yan Shifan's cautious nature was key to his role as the "Yan Faction's" strategist. Though seeing is believing, he wanted confirmation.
However, Lu Bing's loyal subordinates were tight-lipped. Even Masked Wu, the warehouse keeper, never divulged office secrets when drunk outside the Imperial Guard Office, sealed tight as a clam.
The Imperial Guard Office was impenetrable under Lu Bing, but the palace was different! Yan Shifan targeted eunuchs, coercing and bribing them until they revealed Lu Bing paid them annually to deliberately bury Ding Rukui's files at the bottom.
Yan Shifan was furious.
"You treacherous in-law! Even actors aren't as deceitful as you! So for ten years, you've been obstructing and secretly protecting Ding Rukui, all while pretending he's critically ill to my face!"And that niece of yours, Lu Ying—are you and your father playing me for a fool?!
In that case, don’t blame me for turning ruthless!
Yan Shifan wanted Ding Rukui dead, but his influence couldn’t yet reach the Imperial Guard Office. So, he ordered close surveillance of every move the Embroidered Uniform Guard made. Eventually, his men spotted Ding Wu—Ding Rukui’s son, who should have been exiled to Tieling—being brought to the Imperial Guard Office.
The opportunity had arrived!
Yan Shifan devised a clever plan to use Ding Wu to force Ding Rukui into committing suicide.
The first step was to kidnap Ding Wu, which proved somewhat difficult. Lu Ying had secretly assigned people to keep an eye on Ding Wu, even setting up a tea stall in Sweetwater Alley as a covert lookout. She had also warned Ding Wu to lay low and avoid even going to the bathhouse. Yan Shifan’s men struggled to find the right moment to strike.
When Ding Wu went to the bathhouse to inquire about Wang Daxia’s background, Lu Ying’s spies followed him all the way there. Yan Shifan’s Death Warriors were also present. It was there that the Death Warriors noticed the small golden seal hanging from Ding Wu’s neck, which he refused to remove even while bathing—a clear sign of its importance to him.
This minor detail was reported to Yan Shifan. Cunning and calculating, Yan Shifan immediately conceived a plan to force Ding Rukui to swallow gold and take his own life.
After all, Lu Bing was the Jiajing Emperor’s milk brother. If forced to choose, the emperor would undoubtedly trust Lu Bing over Yan Shifan. While Yan Shifan wanted Ding Rukui dead, he had no intention of openly breaking with Lu Bing.
A fallout would be a lose-lose situation. If things went south, his political investment in forming a marriage alliance with Lu Bing’s family would be wasted.
Yan Shifan felt trapped—deceived by Lu Bing yet forced to feign ignorance. He wanted Ding Rukui dead but needed to create the illusion that Ding Rukui had taken his own life, with no connection to him, to avoid straining relations with his in-law.
Being a villain was hard: accomplishing the deed without ruining relationships.
It wasn’t until Wang Daxia invited Ding Wu and Wei Caiwei to watch him row a dragon boat on the city moat that Yan Shifan felt the opportunity had finally arrived.
Over the years, Yan Shifan had cultivated many Death Warriors. He ordered one skilled in disguise to impersonate the disfigured Masked Wu and infiltrate the Imperial Guard Office. The real Masked Wu had already been drowned, drunk and submerged in water.
Another group disguised themselves as vendors selling chilled desserts and onlookers. They first drugged the Embroidered Uniform Guard spy monitoring Ding Wu under a tree with a telescope by lacing his chilled dessert. Then, a vendor pushing a cart intercepted Ding Wu, who wanted to buy a chilled dessert, while other Death Warriors, posing as passersby, surrounded him, forming a human barrier. With a swift blow to the back of his neck, they knocked him unconscious, stuffed him into an ice bucket, and removed the small golden seal from his neck.
The golden seal was delivered to the fake Masked Wu at the Imperial Guard Office, while Ding Wu himself was swiftly transported to the Duke Yansheng’s villa at the Goldfish Pond—a place even Lu Bing dared not raid with troops.
The fake Masked Wu inserted the golden seal and a note into a zongzi, using a cricket as a diversion to deliver it to Ding Rukui.
With the mission accomplished, the fake Masked Wu couldn’t return home. While outsiders might not recognize the impersonation, family members would likely see through the disguise. So, the fake Masked Wu deliberately bought a jar of realgar wine, removed his mask to drink, and let all the swimmers witness “Masked Wu” drinking and frolicking in the water—laying the groundwork for a drowning scenario.
This way, the truth would die with the evidence. Even if Lu Bing suspected foul play in Ding Rukui’s suicide, his suspicions would only extend to Masked Wu, with no proof leading back to Yan Shifan.Yan Shifan's goal was Ding Rukui's death, not an open confrontation with Lu Bing. After all, in the grand political scheme, having one more ally was better than gaining another enemy.
Masked Wu jumped into the water, his disguise washed away. Having completed his mission and switched identities, he returned to Yan Shifan to report.
The entire plan was nearly perfect. Now it all depended on how much Ding Rukui loved his son and whether he was willing to die for him.
Truthfully, Yan Shifan wasn't absolutely certain he could force Ding Rukui to his death. If Ding Rukui feared death more than he loved his son and prioritized his own survival, Yan Shifan's plan would come to nothing.
It was ironic—the wicked Yan Shifan was actually pinning his hopes on human goodness and the profound bond between father and son. He leaned toward the belief that Ding Rukui would choose self-sacrifice.
But Yan Shifan couldn't be one hundred percent sure. Anxious and irritable, his cunning mind devised a creative method: tying Ding Wu to a waterwheel for water torture.
This way, while Yan Shifan suffered the torment of anxious waiting, Ding Wu endured physical agony. Seeing Ding Wu choking and struggling, wishing for death, made Yan Shifan feel slightly better.
Such was the nature of a great villain—his joy fed on others' suffering.
Yan Shifan casually played a tune called "The Drunken Madman." Through the artificial rain curtain, he watched the "Ding Wu" on the waterwheel, looking like a dead dog, and felt a surge of pleasure.
Picking up a jug of wine, Yan Shifan stepped out of the self-raining pavilion, with an attendant holding an umbrella over his head.
The waterwheel turned slowly, and "Ding Wu" emerged from the water, coughing violently as if his lungs would burst.
Yan Shifan approached, savoring "Ding Wu's" agony. There was no helping it—this man seemed to feed on pain. His corpulent body had absorbed countless people's suffering and tears, including those of Lord He's family. But the He family was too insignificant; they wouldn't even make the queue for revenge.
Yan Shifan treated the painful coughing as a side dish for his wine. He took a sip and said, "You want release, don't you?"
"I want it too. Only when your father dies can you be freed. I'll give you a quick end, and I can finally put this matter to rest, curing a decade-long heartache."
Yan Shifan patted his massive chest. "This heart disease has plagued me for ten years." Your father simply refuses to die. I have no choice but to take it out on you. You have to understand me."
Wang Daxia thought to himself: Understand my ass! Just you wait! We had no grudge before, but today we've formed a deep enmity! Don't bully the young and poor—one day, I'll repay every bit of today's torment!
But Wang Daxia only indulged in these thoughts for mental relief. Soon, the waterwheel submerged him again, and he held his breath, trying to avoid inhaling the cold water.
At that moment, Lu Ying had swum underwater again. She cut the ropes and dragged Wang Daxia away.
The two swam to the lotus clusters in the goldfish pond to catch their breath. As the waterwheel turned, Yan Shifan held a torch, waiting for "Ding Wu" to reappear. He planned to play a game of ice and fire with "Ding Wu" as a diversion during his anxious wait.
Yan Shifan wanted to ask Ding Wu: Which hurts more, the burn of fire or the choke of water?
But Yan Shifan didn't see Ding Wu. He quickly ordered his men, "The ropes might have broken! Surround the goldfish pond! Fish him out!"A circle of guards holding lanterns immediately lined the shore of the Goldfish Pond, with some diving in to rescue people. Over a dozen orchid boats glided across the pond's surface, soldiers aboard holding lanterns to search for Ding Wu.
Under this comb-like screening, both Wang Daxia and Lu Ying were discovered hiding among the lotus clusters.
The sudden appearance of two extra living people, while Ding Wu remained missing, infuriated the guards. One raised a whip to strike Lu Ying, but Wang Daxia stepped in front, chuckling, "Well now, the flood washes over the Dragon King's temple—family doesn’t recognize family! Open your dog eyes wide and see—this is Vice Minister Yan’s relative, the own younger brother of your Second Young Madam Yan!"
When the guards remained skeptical, Wang Daxia shouted toward the Self-Rain Pavilion where Yan Shifan was, "Vice Minister Yan! Your nephew Lu Ying is here! Your Second Young Madam is still carrying your precious grandson—if you beat her brother, oh dear, if she finds out and it harms the pregnancy, that would be terrible!"
Hearing this, Yan Shifan immediately ordered the two trespassers brought before him.
"It’s you?" Yan Shifan stared at the pale, drenched Lu Ying in disbelief. "Did your father send you?"
Lu Ying, being straightforward, was about to answer when Wang Dasia cut in, "Of course! Who else in the Embroidered Uniform Guard could command our Commander Lu? Release us now—Lord Lu is on his way."
Cornered by juniors, Yan Shifan turned his questioning to Wang Daxia, who had spoken the most: "Where is Ding Wu?"
Wang Daxia replied, "Drowned in the Goldfish Pond, feeding the goldfish, no doubt. You’d better send more people to fish him out."
Enraged, Yan Shifan—unable to directly harm Lu Ying—vented all his fury on Wang Daxia. He grabbed a torch and thrust it toward Wang Daxia’s mouth. "I’ll give you one chance. Where is Ding Wu? If you don’t speak, this mouth is useless. Why not taste what a torch feels like!"
Author’s Note: Caiwei, come quickly and save your devilish husband! With such a handsome face—don’t let him become a second Masked Wu!
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