Bianjing.
As the weather grew increasingly hot, even the spread of rumors seemed to accelerate.
While people were still rejoicing over the miraculous return of General Ling, a horrifying incident occurred in Bianjing—members of the Li and Feng clans vanished overnight, while all their servants, numbering over six hundred, were brutally slaughtered.
Among the dead were children from both families. Unlike the servants who had been hacked to pieces, the children had died from poisoning. Yet, despite the efforts of over a dozen imperial physicians, the exact nature of the toxin remained undetermined.
The sheer scale of the crime left the entire court and populace in stunned silence. It took several days before people could even begin to process what had happened.
Upon hearing the news, Mei Tingzhu rushed to Plum Blossom Village that very night to see Chu Dingjiang.
"Master Chu, the Crane Controlling Secret Records have been deciphered!" Her voice trembled as she spoke. Even someone as composed as her felt bone-chilling cold and terror in that moment.
Chu Dingjiang, clearly already aware of the news, said, "Take all the remaining members of Mei Shi to Hexi County immediately and find Mo Sigui."
Mei Tingzhu gripped the armrest of her chair tightly, her face pale. "But what if—"
What if the poison in their blood was activated along the way? Her mind was in chaos, unable to think of any solution. Only two words echoed clearly in her thoughts— we're finished .
It was like being a prisoner already on the execution platform. Beheading was only a matter of time. Hoping for someone to storm the execution grounds was naive—such chances were vanishingly rare, and they wouldn’t be so lucky.
"If they could control all the Crane Controlling Families in one move, they wouldn’t have split it into two," Chu Dingjiang analyzed calmly. "First, we don’t know how the poison is activated, but based on the current situation, it’s likely the toxins in the blood of the four families aren’t the same. There are probably three reasons they haven’t acted against Mei Shi and Lou Shi yet. First, activating the poison may require some cost, and the remaining numbers of Mei and Lou are too small to justify that cost. Second, activating the poison might require a specific list of individuals, and they haven’t obtained the Mei clan’s genealogy. Third, there are still people or things within Mei and Lou that they wish to exploit."
As Mei Tingzhu listened, she gradually calmed down, her thoughts clearing. Though her face remained deathly pale, the panic in her eyes faded. After a moment of contemplation, she said, "You’re right. I think all these possibilities hold weight. The remaining combat strength of Mei and Lou truly isn’t worth the effort of activating the poison. But it’s not entirely that simple. Lou Shi has Lou Xiaowu, and Mei Shi has Mo Sigui and Mei Shisi."
The abilities and lethality of these three far surpassed the combined strength of the remaining assassins from both families. If the poison were activated, they would lose their original consciousness, turning these elite talents into mindless killing puppets—especially Lou Xiaowu, whose combat ability would then be weaker than even a third-rate assassin.
"The current strength of Mei and Lou is likely insignificant to the masterminds, but those three are different." Mei Tingzhu’s thoughts grew sharper.If Mo Sigui didn't understand medicine, his strength wouldn't be considered top-tier. Lou Xiaowu was even less noteworthy, and the most regrettable was Mei Shisi—without her mental strength, she was merely a fragile external cultivator incapable of firing the Startling String! The mastermind behind the scenes hadn't acted hastily precisely because they wanted to control these three individuals through other means.
Chu Dingjiang said, "Now that you've calmed down, think carefully about the key to controlling these three people."
Mei Tingzhu frowned, a name flashing through her mind. "Lou Mingyue!"
Chu Dingjiang gave a slight nod.
"But I'm still somewhat puzzled. Lou Mingyue has no connection with Shi Si, does she?" Mei Tingzhu asked.
"Controlling Lou Mingyue means controlling Lou Xiaowu and Mo Sigui, and controlling Mo Sigui means having leverage over A Jiu. No one understands A Jiu better than him." Chu Dingjiang had to admit that Mo Sigui knew An Jiu better than he did—physically and psychologically, Mo Sigui was her most intimate physician.
Mei Tingzhu only knew that Mo Sigui was close to An Jiu and wasn't aware of their deeper ties. Though she still didn't fully comprehend, she didn't press further, trusting Chu Dingjiang's judgment.
"So what we need to do now is find Lou Mingyue." Mei Tingzhu clasped her hands together, looking expectantly at Chu Dingjiang. "Will you accompany us, sir?"
Chu Dingjiang ignored her gaze. "You go ahead. I need to prepare some things and will catch up later."
Mei Tingzhu stood and bowed slightly. "Farewell."
"Take care." Chu Dingjiang had a rather favorable impression of this young woman—clear-headed, decisive, and somewhat reminiscent of his An Jiu's style.
A faint smile appeared on Mei Tingzhu's pale face.
Chu Dingjiang rose and stood by the window, hands tucked into his sleeves, admiring the apricot blossoms blooming vibrantly in the courtyard.
After a long while, he lowered his head and pulled out two booklets from his wide sleeve, flipping through them. Suddenly, he chuckled softly. "A Jiu, I've sent the people to you. Do well."
His protective energy reduced the two books to dust, scattering with the east wind like a flurry of snow, mingling with the apricot petals shaken loose by the residual force. Yet the words "Konghe Secret Records" seemed to linger in his grasp.
Only he knew the truth: the mastermind hadn't targeted the Mei Clan for the reasons he'd analyzed earlier. Instead, he had meticulously forged a new version of the Konghe Secret Records , erasing the Mei and Lou families' poison-inducing methods before "coincidentally" letting it fall into the hands of Yelü Jinglie's faction...
How could Chu Dingjiang not scrutinize such an important text as the Konghe Secret Records after retrieving it? And how could he allow others to obtain even more critical contents? Of course, when he'd deliberately left it behind initially, he hadn't had a clear purpose—it was purely a strategist's intuition that it might prove useful later. When An Jiu mentioned rebuilding the Dragon Martial Guard, he devised a plan to tightly bind the Mei and Lou families to her. Even if they couldn't be fully under her command, they would play a crucial role in her early stages.
Initially ignoring the Mei Clan's pleas for help served two purposes: first, Chu Dingjiang truly had no interest in scheming at the time, and second, he was laying groundwork for future plans. The more indifferent he appeared, the more the Mei Clan would believe he was uninvolved. How could someone like Chu Dingjiang ever miscalculate so badly as to let the Mei Clan negotiate terms with him?When Chu Dingjiang was laying the groundwork, he hadn't actually planned what to do with Mei Shi. It was simply his nature—there was no harm in preparing more groundwork, at worst it would just be wasted effort.
The highest realm of being scheming is when even without anything specific to plot, one still digs pits to see who might fall in. Uncle Chu could truly be called a model example in the scheming world.
This same Chu, who had hidden so deeply and caused such an earth-shattering incident with a light touch while leaving no trace, now gazed at the falling petals outside the window with deep melancholy, overcome by intense self-doubt—indeed, he was only capable of petty schemes, how he envied those unparalleled statesmen!
Who knows how the Crane Controlling Families would react if they learned the true mastermind harbored such thoughts. Regardless, Chu remained deeply mired in this self-deprecating mood for a long time.
If asked whether he felt any regret for causing such a bloody incident with so many deaths, the answer was absolute: none at all!
His actions weren't purely to satisfy An Jiu's personal desires. He believed what she was doing had meaning—the Great Song needed a truly cohesive and highly effective army. The process of eliminating the inferior to preserve the best inevitably required sacrifice, as history had shown countless times. Such sacrifices had long been within his expectations.
An Jiu had always wanted to stand on the side of justice, so Chu Dingjiang didn't mind doing these darker deeds for her, bearing the weight of lives sacrificed in the process.
His feelings for her were never expressed in words, nor limited to what she could see.
Chu Dingjiang took out the letter he'd received yesterday from his robe. Looking at its strongly personal style of expression, all his self-doubt and resentment dissipated like mist.
Exceptionally gifted far beyond ordinary people, he'd aspired since childhood to become an unparalleled statesman—someone like Shang Yang who could prop up a collapsing empire and turn the tide. For someone with such lofty ambitions to suddenly realize he had ample intelligence but lacked that breadth of vision was an immeasurable blow.
Seeing reality clearly was easy; accepting it was an unimaginably painful process that had taken him two lifetimes. Even now, the memory made his chest tighten.
With his wisdom, it hadn't actually taken decades to see the truth. Looking back, he'd long understood what kind of person he was—he'd just stubbornly deceived himself. Now he acknowledged and gradually accepted it because of one person.
This person had shown him a different kind of life.
"A Jiu, thank you for appearing in my life," Chu Dingjiang murmured. (To be continued...)
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