Though there was nothing there, Thousand Household Chen felt as if a pair of iron-clamp-like hands were tightly gripping his neck, squeezing ever tighter.
Thousand Household Chen desperately clawed at his neck with both hands, his nails tearing several bloody gashes in his flesh.
His subordinates quickly restrained his arms from both sides, lifted him up, found the nearest medical clinic, kicked the door open, dragged the physician out of his bed, and forced him to treat Thousand Household Chen.
Seeing Thousand Household Chen in a state of delirium, half-paralyzed, and with a constricted throat, and hearing from others that his only son in five generations of single-line inheritance had been killed, the physician first diagnosed it as a stroke induced by shock. He used a three-edged needle to bleed the three acupoints: Neiguan, Shuigou, and the twelve Jing-well points.
After the bleeding, the physician noticed the blood was an abnormal dark color and concluded it was poisoning.
Zhou Xiaoqi, who had been attending to Thousand Household Chen at the yamen, stamped his feet in frustration. "Since the young master was killed, the commander hasn’t eaten a single grain of rice. No matter how much I urged him, he refused, only drinking a cup of tea in the main hall of the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen! The poisoner must be one of those present in the main hall!"
Hearing this, the Embroidered Uniform Guard immediately grabbed their weapons and rushed back to the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen to hunt down the culprit.
In the rush, the physician couldn’t identify the specific poison. He first attempted to force an emetic down Thousand Household Chen’s throat, but Chen was struggling to breathe, his jaw clenched shut, making it impossible to administer the medicine. The physician used a bamboo splint to forcibly pry his mouth open, even breaking two teeth in the process. By the time the medicine was poured in, Thousand Household Chen had already stopped breathing.
As Thousand Household Chen drew his last breath, the night watchman’s drum on the street struck three times, marking the midnight hour. Thousand Household Chen and Chen Dalao, father and son, had both departed for the western heavens on the same day.
The Chen family, hastily arranging the funeral overnight, had eagerly awaited their master’s return with the murderer’s head to avenge Chen Dalao. Instead, they received Thousand Household Chen’s corpse.
Originally, the Chen family had only a single male heir for five generations. With Chen Dalao killed, given Thousand Household Chen’s age, taking a few fertile concubines might still have allowed him to father another heir. But now, with Thousand Household Chen also dead, the Chen bloodline was completely severed.
With both father and son gone, the hereditary title of Embroidered Uniform Guard Thousand Household was left vacant. Chen clan relatives scrambled to put forward their own sons as adopted heirs to Thousand Household Chen, hoping to claim the title through succession.
On the day of the joint funeral for father and son, over a dozen Chen family members fought to be the one to smash the burial bowl and lead the mourning, even coming to blows. The funeral devolved into a farce, becoming a laughingstock throughout the capital. Of course, all this happened later.
Back at the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen, after the turmoil had settled, the witnesses returned home with the Pass Permits issued by Wang Niqiu.
Wang Commander tied his prodigal son, Young Master Wang, up like a zongzi, gagged him, exchanged a few polite words with Wang Niqiu, and returned to Wanping’s Tianshui Lane.
The Shuntian Prefecture Yamen finally returned to peace. Outside, the night watchman’s drum struck three times. Wang Niqiu said to his two advisors, "You’ve all worked hard today. Go back and rest; we’ll handle any remaining matters tomorrow."
Wang Niqiu stepped into his sedan chair. As it swayed along, he dozed off with his head tilted to the side, thinking that the only perk of being a capital official during the Jiajing era was the ability to sleep in—no need to rise at the fourth watch to attend morning court at the palace.
If it were the first fifty years of the Ming Dynasty, under the earlier emperors who were all full of energy, morning court alone wasn’t enough; there was also noon court. Capital officials had to get up at the fourth watch, braving extreme heat or cold, traveling by starlight to line up at the palace.
Truly, the Jiajing Emperor was better. Since the fifteenth year of his reign, he had stopped holding court altogether. For over twenty years, capital officials had been able to sleep soundly—
"Sir!"Commander Wu, who was escorting Wang Niqiu home, rode back to report, "The Embroidered Uniform Guard has returned!"
"Again? Are they determined to make endless trouble?" Wang Niqiu jolted awake in alarm.
The furious Embroidered Uniform Guard Zhou Xiaoqi charged directly toward the official sedan on horseback, showing no intention of stopping, aiming to kick the sedan door in a fit of rage.
But Commander Wu of the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen was no pushover. He had tolerated the Embroidered Uniform Guard's rampage at the yamen to seize the corpse earlier that night, but now even a low-ranking officer dared to assault the prefect—did they think they were dealing with dead men?
"Protect Lord Wang!" Commander Wu maneuvered his horse, drawing his blade to engage.
As yamen constables clashed with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Wang Niqiu, a civil official, cowered inside the sedan, clutching his head and refusing to emerge.
The Northern City Military Command, on night patrol, hurried to the scene upon hearing the commotion and witnessed a familiar sight.
Had the Embroidered Uniform Guard gone rabid today? Biting everyone in sight?
The Northern City Military Command had already been riled up from their earlier skirmish with the Embroidered Uniform Guard on West Drum Tower Street. Seeing them now overpowering the Shuntian Prefecture constables, even the even-tempered Officer Mu couldn't hold back, roaring:
"You ruffians dare assault a third-rank imperial official in the Northern City's territory! Is there no law left? Brothers, charge!"
With the Northern City Military Command joining the fray, the two-against-one fight instantly turned the tables.
Zhou Xiaoqi was dragged from his horse by Commander Wu and Officer Mu, pinned face-down on the cobblestone street. Pressed against the stone, he shouted, "Our Thousand Household Commander was poisoned at the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen and died from the toxin! It's clear your yamen and the Northern City Military Command are in cahoots, murdering Thousand Household Chen's entire family!"
Hearing that Thousand Household Chen was dead, Wang Niqiu, who had been feigning death in the sedan, finally spoke up, "Nonsense! It wasn't me, I didn't do it. The murder of an imperial official is a grave matter—our Shuntian Prefecture Yamen has no jurisdiction. It must be jointly tried by the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate, the three judicial offices!"
True to his reputation, even with the Embroidered Uniform Guard trampling all over him, Wang Niqiu's first instinct was to deflect blame and pass the buck.
Officer Mu almost regretted helping him.
Commander Wu couldn't stand it and reminded Wang Niqiu in the sedan, "Prefect, these madmen are spouting baseless accusations, slandering our Shuntian Prefecture Yamen for poisoning Thousand Household Chen and assaulting your convoy in the dead of night. Now that the Northern City Military Command has helped us capture them, how should we proceed?"
Wang Niqiu initially wanted to say, "Let them go—avoid trouble where possible." But then it occurred to him that if a mad dog like Zhou Xiaoqi ran to Lu Bing, the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander, to falsely accuse them first, the Shuntian Prefecture would be in deep trouble.
So he changed his reply: "Take them to the yamen first to record their statements. I will go immediately to the residence of Lord Lu, the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander, to knock on his door and clarify the situation."
Wei Caiwei, who had been keeping watch from the inn, had long extinguished her lights to feign sleep. Observing the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen, she saw the Northern City Military Command and the yamen constables escorting a group of Embroidered Uniform Guard members inside around the second watch of the night. The group was cursing loudly, with Zhou Xiaoqi—who had pursued Wang Daxia the previous night—being the most vocal.
In the deep silence of the night, the shouts were piercingly clear, and Wei Caiwei heard every word:
"The Commander died after drinking your yamen's tea! Shuntian Prefecture and Northern City Military Command—every one of you will be held accountable!""Don't think that just because our Thousand Household is dead, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has no one left! We still have Commander Lord Lu! He'll make sure you can't swallow what you've bitten off and have to carry it away!"
Wei Caiwei listened to the shouting as if hearing celestial music, thrilled: I've succeeded! On the third day of my rebirth, I've eliminated both enemies—Thousand Household Chen and Chen Dalao!
Father, sister, I've avenged you!
Wei Caiwei lay in bed, unable to sleep, until the fifth watch drum sounded and dawn began to break, when she finally dozed off.
She thought she would wake up after a short nap—in her previous life, she had been fifty years old, sleeping little and lightly.
But when she woke, the sun was already high in the sky; it was noon.
She had been awakened by hunger, her stomach growling in protest. If not for the hunger, she might have slept straight through to the afternoon.
Rubbing her empty belly, Wei Caiwei was still adjusting to her seventeen-year-old body—a time of growth, of course she could eat and sleep deeply.
After oversleeping, she washed up while recalling her dead husband's "brilliant" performance last night. At the time, she had wanted to castrate him herself.
But now, thinking calmly, this future eunuch was only fourteen years old now—like a wild weed growing under calm skies, untouched by storm or stress. Wang Commander had spoiled him into lawlessness, letting him grow wild.
At fourteen, Wang Daxia actually believed a brothel girl, selling his mother's dowry fields to rescue her from the red-light district, thinking she would repay him someday!
Later, as the powerful eunuch Chief of the Eastern Depot, Wang Daxia had no flaws or weaknesses except for his fear of his wife. He was inherently suspicious, clearly someone deeply scarred by society's cruelty.
This year, the Wang family would face great upheaval, and Wang Daxia would take the extreme step of self-castration to enter the palace. Wei Caiwei had never heard of this Miss Yingying repaying him or helping him out, nor had she ever heard the dead eunuch mention his youthful folly of rescuing a courtesan in his later years.
Clearly, Wang Daxia's naivety had been betrayed by Miss Yingying.
Thinking this, Wei Caiwei's anger faded considerably, replaced even by pity for the future eunuch.
In this life, I'll protect your carefree smile. I know what calamities will befall the Wang family—I'll resolve them in advance.
But first, I need to build a relationship with Wang Daxia, starting with friendship.
Wei Caiwei went downstairs to the inn for lunch. Almost all the diners were discussing the murder of Embroidered Uniform Guard's Thousand Household Chen and his son overnight. It was said the court and public were shocked; Shuntian Prefecture Governor Wang Niqiu had reported it to the emperor first thing in the morning. The Jiajing Emperor had personally endorsed the case, ordering the Embroidered Uniform Guard to take charge.
The tavern was plastered with "No discussing state affairs" notices, but living under the emperor's nose, nearly everyone fancied themselves politically savvy, seeing conspiracies everywhere. They spoke with flying spittle and earnest conviction:
"A father and son, both court officials, murdered—normally the case should go to the Three Judicial Offices: the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate. But the emperor wants the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate, making it an imperial case. I doubt it's just about finding the killer."
"Probably the emperor wants to move against certain ministers but lacks evidence. With a murder case, it's easier to fabricate charges..."
"I'm not so sure. The emperor hasn't held court for over twenty years—this might just be an excuse to warn the officials, keep them in line. Not holding court doesn't mean he's not governing. This empire will always be the emperor's."Wei Caiwei ate her meal in silence, paid for the room and food, put on her hat with its light veil to ward off willow catkins, inserted the two small flags reading "Miraculous Hands Restore Health" and "Gynecological Master" into her silk bag, slung it over her shoulder, and spun the fist-sized Tiger Crutch on her thumb.
The jingling bells echoed through the streets of Shuntian Prefecture. The capital was bustling and densely populated, and by the time Wei Caiwei reached East Drum Tower Street, someone had already asked for her medical services.
Wei Caiwei moved along, stopping occasionally, no different from any ordinary itinerant doctor—utterly flawless.
In one afternoon, she saw two women who had been infertile for three years after marriage, a young girl with irregular menstruation, a young woman with a skin rash, and even a pregnant woman with a large belly who asked if she delivered babies.
Wei Caiwei nodded. "I live at Dingzi Residence, Sweetwater Lane, West Drum Tower Street, Wanping County. But I’ll be moving in the next few days. I’ll leave my new address with the neighbors and have them pass it on—don’t worry, it should be somewhere near Sweetwater Lane, easy to find."
Wei Caiwei still needed to befriend her dead husband from her youth. As the saying goes, "a rabbit doesn’t eat the grass by its own burrow," but living nearby would make it easier to "nibble."
At dusk, Wei Caiwei returned to Sweetwater Lane. Near the sweetwater well not far from her door, Chen Jingji was sitting on the edge of the well eating watermelon. Spotting her from a distance, he quickly put down his half-eaten watermelon and hurried over, a key in his hand:
"Doctor Wei! Finally, you’re back! I was worried you wouldn’t be able to get in."
Chen Jingji handed the key to Wei Caiwei with both hands. "Wang Ershao asked me to give this to you. He said that since you spoke up last night and saved him from being shot by an arrow, you can live in this house. He hopes you’ll take good care of it, as the furniture inside was part of his mother’s dowry."
Money can make people change their tune.
Yesterday, it was "Wang Yanèi" this and "Wang Yanèi" that; today, it was "Wang Ershao." Chen Jingji was a businessman. With the five-tael brokerage fee finally in his pocket—a hefty sum for his future marriage—he instantly forgot how Wang Daxia had beaten him.
Unexpectedly, Wei Caiwei hadn’t anticipated such a genuine surprise waiting for her. Taking the key, she asked, "Where is Wang Daxia? Let’s have dinner together tonight, the three of us. This time, it’s my treat."
Chen Jingji pointed toward the high wall of the Wang residence. "Wang Ershao wanted to thank you in person, but he’s been grounded by Wang Commander and can’t come out. That’s why he asked me to pass you the key. He also insisted I wait here for you, so you wouldn’t end up like yesterday—renting a place but having no home to return to. My apologies."
Hearing this, Wei Caiwei felt a warmth in her heart, and her weariness vanished entirely.
It seemed her dead husband wasn’t entirely unreasonable after all.
For a scoundrel like him, could there still be hope for redemption?
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