Evening fell.
The earth-shattering news swept through the Divine Capital like a swarm of locusts, sending shudders through court and countryside alike. The people of the Capital scrambled to buy grain, flour, and smoked meat, then barred their doors, not daring to set a single foot outside.
Before a torrential storm, ants grew restless, carrying food in swarms and sealing the entrances to their nests, waiting until the rain passed and the skies cleared before venturing out to forage.
Before the vast affairs of court, ordinary people were mere ants, but even ants had their ways of surviving.
If even the illustrious Prince of Zhennan could die violently in the street, the court was surely about to drown beneath a sky-high flood!
With hearts full of grief and fury, the Imperial Clan Court gathered his remains and carried his coffin back to the Funeral Hall. The Empress Dowager wept until she nearly fainted, draped over the coffin and convulsing without cease. Had an Imperial Physician not been beside her, she might well have departed this world.
Civil and military officials rushed to the Funeral Hall. The grand secretaries at their head were beside themselves with anger, and one roared:
"Emperor Liezong passed away only days ago! His dying wish was that the Prince of Zhennan be looked after. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager personally issued an edict ordering the court to escort the Prince of Zhennan back to his fief!"
"Who committed such monstrous treason and murdered the prince? Who sought to make our state a disgrace in the Annals of History?"
"Our predecessors mocked the Sima clan with 'I humbly observe that the sacred dynasty governs all under heaven through filial piety.' Has our Great Qian now lost all propriety and filial duty, becoming worse even than the Sima