Chapter 819: The Fall of the Han Family
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S T E L L A R C L O U D
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This duel had taken a tremendous toll on Long Yi.
It was not merely the back-and-forth of deadly combat that exhausted him. The agony he endured while suppressing the rampaging aura of slaughter, along with the temptation he had to resist, was beyond what any ordinary person could fathom.
That was what truly drained his vitality.
Long Yi panted heavily, tilting his head back to gaze at the endless sky.
Gu Jiao dismounted and walked over to his side. Turning to look at him intently, she asked, “Long Yi, what are you looking at? Are you recalling the past? You’re injured. You ride Black Wind King back.”
The next second, Gu Jiao was lifted up by Long Yi.
Her expression instantly darkened, and she hung upside down like a little rag doll, utterly resigned to her fate.
So he had just been catching his breath?
As expected, she never should have worried about Long Yi.
If An Hun's strength was monstrous, then Long Yi's could only be even more terrifying.
Long Yi carried Gu Jiao back to the Duke An Estate.
Meanwhile, the palace struggle had come to an end. Han Fu was captured alive by Wang Xu.
The imperial guards under his command, seeing their leader fall, lost their morale and surrendered without much resistance.
The only one left was Han shi.
After taking Han shi out of the imperial palace, An Hun had her placed into a prepared carriage while he stayed behind to eliminate Gu Jiao.
Unexpectedly, not only did he fail, but he was killed by Long Yi instead.
An Hun had been Han shi’s greatest trump card, even more crucial than the fake Emperor. Without An Hun’s assistance, how could Han shi have eavesdropped so easily on the imperial study’s secrets? How could she have enabled the fake Emperor to observe the real Emperor from the shadows without anyone noticing?
Even Shangguan Yan being sold as a slave back then had traces of An Hun’s involvement.
Han shi could afford to lose the fake Emperor, but she absolutely could not afford to lose An Hun.
Of course, she had complete confidence in An Hun. Even though he had once lost to that junior fellow disciple of his, he had grown even stronger because of it.
“As soon as An Hun kills Xiao Liulang, he will come to meet me.”
Thinking this, Han shi took a deep breath, leaned back against the carriage wall, and closed her eyes to rest.
But before long, her eyelids twitched suddenly.
An uneasiness flickered through her heart, as if something terrible was about to happen.
She frowned and muttered, “Did Xiao Liulang catch up? Impossible. With An Hun blocking him, he wouldn’t even know how he died.”
“I think the one dying is you!”
Gu Chengfeng descended from the sky, landing directly on Han shi’s carriage. He kicked the coachman off and unceremoniously dragged Han shi out of the carriage.
Although he was usually respectful to the elderly and kind to the young, he made an exception for this vicious old witch.
Gu Chengfeng was not one for restraint.
Han shi, pulled from the speeding carriage, tumbled across the ground several times before coming to a stop. Her hairpins fell out, her coiffure came undone, and her face was covered in dust, making her look even worse than a beggar woman.
Han shi howled in pain.
Gu Chengfeng clapped his hands disdainfully, then looked down at her with a sneer. “After committing so many crimes, you still think you can run? Do you really believe you can escape?”
By this time, Gu Chengfeng had already removed the Crown Prince’s disguise, revealing his true face.
Even so, Han shi recognized him by his voice. She lifted her gaze and gave him a cold stare. “So, you were the one impersonating the Crown Prince last night? Let me go, and I can—”
“Can my ass!” Gu Chengfeng prided himself on being a chatterbox, yet he had no patience to waste words on an old witch like her. Without further ado, he grabbed her and threw her straight into the Commandery Office’s prison cart, which had been prepared in advance.
Han shi sat inside the cart, clutching the wooden bars tightly. “You will regret this!”
Gu Chengfeng rolled his eyes and tapped her mute acupoint with two fingers. “Still running your mouth when you’re about to die? Let’s see you talk now!”
With Han shi taken into custody at the Commandery Office, the palace coup finally came to an end.
Zhang Dequan was summoned back to the imperial palace to assist the Twelve Supervisory Offices in cleaning up the wreckage in Zhonghe Hall and the outer court.
The magnitude of this incident alarmed both the court officials and the noble families, prompting them to rush to seek an audience with the Emperor.
However, the Emperor refused to see anyone.
He decreed a three-day court suspension and ordered both the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice to launch a joint investigation into the matter.
Investigate what?
Naturally, it was to uncover just how many shameful and unspeakable deeds Han shi, the Crown Prince Estate, and the Han Family had committed behind the scenes.
“Surround the Han Family and the Crown Prince Estate for Zhen! Not a single fly is to escape!”
“What was the former commander of the imperial guards doing? How could he let a mere deputy commander take away half the troops? Punish him severely for Zhen—no leniency!”
“And the Han Family’s military tally—confiscate it for Zhen!”
In the imperial study, the Emperor issued one shocking decree after another. No government office dared to delay, and each department carried out its assigned duties tirelessly, racing against time to fulfill the Emperor’s commands.
The moment they stepped out of the imperial study, everyone understood.
After standing tall for so many years, the Han Family was finally about to collapse. After fifteen years, Shengdu was once again experiencing a seismic shift in power. The ten great noble families were about to be reshuffled.
As the saying went: they watched as he built his grand tower, they watched as he held banquets for his guests, and they watched as his tower crumbled to the ground.
With the Han Family’s fall, their military power would inevitably be divided among others.
Whether the noble families felt gleeful or mourned the loss of a fellow aristocratic house, no one could say for sure.
……
At the Duke Estate, Gu Jiao was in high spirits.
An Hun was dead. Han shi had been captured. This meant that the three-year-long civil war, where kin slaughtered kin, would never come to pass.
From this moment on, the wheel of fate had begun to turn in a different direction.
Next would be the external wars with the States of Jin and Liang.
If those could be avoided as well, then that would be even better——
“Young master! Your Highness, the Eldest Imperial Grandson!”
Gu Jiao was tending to Long Yi’s wounds when Steward Zheng rushed anxiously into the courtyard.
He entered Long Yi’s room and, upon seeing Gu Jiao and Xiao Heng, gave a respectful bow before announcing, “A decree has arrived from the imperial palace. His Majesty summons the young master and Your Highness to enter the imperial palace at once!”
Gu Jiao finished wrapping the last bandage on Long Yi and sternly instructed him not to move around.
Then, she left with Xiao Heng to head for the imperial palace.
References
1. — The phrase “They watched as he built his grand tower, they watched as he held banquets for his guests, they watched as his tower crumbled to the ground” comes from The Peach Blossom Fan, a work by the Qing Dynasty writer Kong Shangren.Raz P.'s Thoughts
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Description:
In the suspenseful supernatural novel “Records of Mortals,” Jiang Baiyan, once a solitary and impoverished youth, finds refuge in the Shi family of Chang’an due to his extraordinary bloodline. With his clear and captivating peach blossom eyes, this seemingly innocent young man conceals a fanatical and malevolent lunatic within. Destined to succumb to darkness amidst hardship and degradation, he becomes a harbinger of chaos.
When Shi Dai suddenly transmigrates, she takes on the role of the Shi family’s young lady, the one who subjects him to countless trials, eventually leading to her demise.
The twist? She never got to finish reading the novel.
From what she knew of the plot, Jiang Baiyan was just a silent, timid, and often bullied pitiable character.
***
Jiang Baiyan had never encountered someone like Shi Dai.
After he had slaughtered all the evil creatures in the garden, the blood-stained young man, exuding a murderous aura, approached her step by step, his lips curling into a malicious smile, "Scared?"
Shi Dai responded, “You’re really amazing! I applaud you until I spin like a spiral and fly around the moon three hundred times! And also——you have dimples when you smile!"
Jiang Baiyan: ...?
—
After seeing her at a lantern festival with another man, Jiang Baiyan lowered his eyes, his fingers twirling her hair. He said in a mocking and sinister tone, "The mansion in the western suburbs...if I hide you there, no one will find you, right?"
Shi Dai replied, "Does it come with meals and lodging? Can I sleep in everyday? Oh, and your cooking is the best!"
Jiang Baiyan: ...?
—
Jiang Baiyan was supposed to dislike her, even hate her, but as their separation drew near, his eyes turned red and he grabbed her sleeve, pleading, "Don't abandon me, alri—”
Shi Dai responded, "Alright, alright, I’ll only have you. Mwah."
Jiang Baiyan: ...?
He hasn't finished his lines yet though…