Chen Ye's move against the Gao Family had caused too great a stir to conceal.
Before long, news that the Gao Family had been wiped out spread throughout Qinghe Prefecture.
Zhao Wenyuan was the first to hear. He stared in disbelief, unable to understand why Chen Ye had done such a thing.
"The Gao Family are all dead?"
His servant replied, "Every last one. Not only is Gao Boyan gone, not even a fly escaped the Gao Family estate."
Zhao Wenyuan drew a sharp breath and said nothing for a long while.
He recalled attending the banquet with Chen Ye yesterday. The man had seemed courteous and proper, treating him with every politeness. He had not looked the least bit bloodthirsty.
How, then, had he wiped out the entire Gao Family in the blink of an eye?
Zhao Wenyuan knew nothing of the sordid dealings between the Gao Family and the Xie Family. The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.
Meanwhile, once the news spread, the other prominent families of Qinghe Prefecture could no longer sit still.
Some came knocking on Zhao Wenyuan's door that very night to ask what had happened, leaving him with a headache of his own.
They discussed it at length but reached no firm conclusion.
One thing, however, was certain: the newly arrived General Pacifying the North was not a man to cross.
From now on, they would have to tread carefully under him.
As the whole city buzzed with rumors, Chen Ye did not let them run unchecked.
He ordered the evidence of the Gao Family's years of collecting "human materials" in Qinghe Prefecture and refining living people into Human Pills to be made public, one crime after another. An uproar erupted.
Public opinion reversed overnight.
Many felt that a