Late that night, the Commander-in-Chief's Assistant Commissioner's Residence blazed with light.
Zheng Yu stood at the gate, a young figure beside him.
"Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Zheng, His Lordship requests your presence."
They entered the courtyard and followed a guard to the study to wait.
Jia Huan looked around. The study was extravagance taken to its utmost extreme.
A canopy bed fashioned from solid gold!
A decorative screen painstakingly carved from Hotan jade!
Brilliant pearls inlaid across the floor!
This study alone was worth no less than five hundred thousand taels of silver!
Half a cup of tea later, a refined, dignified man in casual clothes entered the study. He was thirty-five or thirty-six.
"Zheng Yu, who is this?" Cui Sheng asked in puzzlement.
Jia Huan tore off his human-skin mask.
Cui Sheng's pupils contracted sharply. He was about to scream for help when his acupoints were sealed.
Terrified and furious, he looked at Zheng Yu with eyes brimming with venomous hatred.
Zheng Yu's expression remained cold. Had the Cui Family father and son not dragged him into this mire, he would never have suffered this calamity.
"Young Grand Secretary, that Jurchen named Wanyan Hezhe has already fallen into Lord Jia's hands."
"All your crimes have been exposed."
An overwhelming sense of helplessness seeped into Zheng Yu's voice as he spoke.
How terrifying must Jia Huan's abilities have been, to track down Wanyan Hezhe directly from Vice Minister Wei's death alone?
Terror filled Cui Sheng's eyes, and he sank into utter despair.
Jia Huan stepped out of the study and made a circuit of the courtyard.
He swiftly felled thirteen guards, every one of them at the Profound Insight Realm or above.
He returned to the study, drew his saber without a word, and sliced off Cui Sheng's right ear.
Cui