Plum Blossoms Twice: Whipping the Treacherous Bones, Foiling the Plot and Scattering the Ministers' Souls in Terror

"If His Majesty finds out, forget us officials—even the old and young, the servants, everyone in our households, more than a hundred lives apiece, will lose their heads!"

A Chu-affiliated official slumped in his chair, both hands clamped around the edge of the table. His knuckles were so white they looked ready to sink into the wood.

His official hat sat crooked, revealing a topknot soaked with sweat. His teeth chattered as he spoke, his voice thick with tears.

Nearby, an elderly minister paced with his hands clasped behind his back. His boot soles squeaked against the blue bricks, and his beard bristled with agitation.

"Lord Changping! Please, think of something! Should we run? Or... or fight to the death?"

"Run? Where to?"

Someone else gave a cold laugh, though his voice shook so badly he could barely speak. "The Blood-Clad Army has all four gates of Handan under guard. We couldn't fly out of this city even if we turned into birds!

"I say we should... we should go beg Zhao Cheng.

"We are Qin officials, after all. We're of some use to him. If we promise to put him first and obey his every command, perhaps he'll spare our lives..."

"Beg him?"

Someone immediately objected, his face drained of color. "Have you forgotten the whipping outside Handan?

"Have you forgotten the mountains of corpses and seas of blood from Han and Zhao?

"That Blood Butcher has a heart of stone!

"We'd be better off begging Yama for mercy!"

The panicked clamor stabbed at Lord Changping's eardrums like countless needles.

He had just managed to catch his breath after choking on blood, but his head was still swimming. The people before him drifted in and out of focus, as if seen through a veil of mist.

Despair rose from