The Turncoat Makes His Move

Wei Yuan calmly picked up the memorial, unfolded it, and began to read it, his pupils suddenly contracting.

Without saying a word, he knelt down and cried out, "Your Majesty, I deserve to die! I have betrayed Your Majesty's trust. I only beg for death!"

Wei Yuan's attitude left the officials who were ready to stand up and criticize him, demanding that Emperor Yuanjing execute this scoundrel, speechless.

Emperor Yuanjing sneered, "You're quite frank, Wei Yuan. If you try to deny it today, I'll throw you into the imperial prison."

Wei Yuan lowered his head and remained silent.

Emperor Yuanjing coldly snorted, "The one who reported you was none other than Zhu Yang, the Golden Gong of the Nightwatchers's Office."

Wei Yuan remained silent.

The memorial contained evidence of the Nightwatchers from the position of Golden Gong to the position of Silver Gong. Some of the evidence was irrefutable, while some was pure slander.

This also includes a newly hired gong (a type of courtesan), whose crime is quite serious: in just one month, he used his position to amass thousands of taels of silver, and spent his days frequenting the Imperial Academy of Music and sleeping with courtesans.

At this moment, a supervising secretary from the Ministry of Justice stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Nightwatchers abusing their power for personal gain and knowingly breaking the law. I propose that Wei Yuan be executed to deter the Nightwatchers this Evil Qi."

Several ministers immediately seconded the motion.

Emperor Yuanjing glanced at Wei Yuan, who had confessed and accepted punishment, and said in a deep voice, "This case will be handled jointly by the Ministry of Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the local government. I want a result within three days."

The meeting has adjourned.

Nangong Qianrou followed Wei Yuan with a gloomy expression. After walking a few steps, she heard someone call out from behind, "Duke Wei, please wait."

The father and son stopped and looked back. The one who caught up with them was the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, who was wearing a crimson robe embroidered with clouds and wild geese, a high-ranking official of the Principal Fourth Rank.

Like the Prefect of the Capital, the Minister of the Capital Prefecture was an official whose position was not very high, but who wielded immense power and carried great weight.

In the capital, an official's status and influence are never determined by rank, but by the amount of power they wield.

Even nobles, who were above the official rank, were relegated to the fringes of power.

The elderly man, with gray hair and a gaunt face, smiled and cupped his hands in greeting, "This official would like to inquire with Duke Wei about the details of those wanted criminals on the list."

Wei Yuan nodded, showing no emotion. "I'll have someone send a copy to the Dali Temple later."

The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review nodded in satisfaction and said with a smile, "There is one more matter. I think Zhu Jinluo is a talented and upright man, and I would like to transfer him to the Court of Judicial Review. I will inform His Majesty later, but I have come to speak with Duke Wei first."

Seeing that Wei Yuan remained calm, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review took a few steps forward and said, "Duke Wei knows what I want."

Wei Yuan laughed, "It was a worthwhile exchange."

The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review stared at Wei Yuan's retreating figure with a gloomy expression.

Back in the carriage, Nangong Qianrou drove towards the Nightwatchers's office. Inside the carriage, Wei Yuan rubbed his temples and sighed.

"I made a mistake, I made a mistake!"

Nangong Qianrou sneered, "Godfather, you knew he might have ulterior motives, yet you still clung to old feelings. Now look what's happened; you've suffered far more than just a loss of troops."

In the Nightwatchers's office, besides stubborn people like Li Yuchun, there's also a rigid martial arts fanatic like Yang Yan, who has no interest in beauty or money.

Then there's the obsessive like Nangong Qianrou, who loves spending all her time in the dungeon torment death row inmates. She doesn't care about money, and as for women, are they prettier than me?

"Should we kill him?" Nangong Qianrou asked bitterly.

"We'll settle the score later in the fall," Wei Yuan replied calmly.

They drove in silence through the market and into a quiet street. She continued, "Although this wasn't because of that kid, he was the catalyst. You could have avoided this, Godfather. Is that kid really worth your utmost attention?"

"There are many successful people, but only one is as interesting as him. I look forward to his growth." Wei Yuan chuckled, then changed the subject:

"Our Emperor won't trust me to grow too powerful."

At this point, Wei Yuan finally showed a hint of gloom.

"The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review just wanted to use that list to exchange for the secret letter in my godfather's possession. Why did my godfather refuse?" Nangong Qianrou asked.

He knew that his adoptive father's last words, "It's a worthwhile exchange," did not mean he agreed to the exchange with the Minister of Justice, but rather that he had decided to painfully replace the gold and silver gongs, resulting in a lose-lose situation.

His response was silence.

This year has truly been a turbulent time; no, every Capital Evaluation is a major upheaval. The team that my adoptive father painstakingly cultivated is bound to suffer heavy losses this time. Nangong Qianrou sighed.

Every Capital Evaluation in the capital would produce winners, and the Wang faction rose to prominence in the previous one. But one thing was inevitable: all factions would suffer heavy losses after the Capital Evaluation Capital Evaluation. Even the victors would achieve a Pyrrhic victory.

"Once you get back to the yamen, go find Xu Qi'an and tell him to hide for a few days. I'll find a way to get him out of trouble."

"Yes." Nangong Qianrou nodded sourly.

At dusk, Xu Qi'an, who had finished looking at houses early, spent an hour shopping with Chu Caiwei, buying whatever looked delicious.

The big-eyed beauty was in high spirits and had a lot of fun, with a sweet smile always on her face.

Shopping is indeed more tiring than fighting; this kind of tiredness isn't physical, but mental. Xu Qi'an let out a breath. As long as he can make this woman happy, the fatigue is worth it.

I once heard a saying that there are 70 ways to win a girl's heart, one of which is shopping, and the other 69 are...

Since Xu Qi'an couldn't use the latter method, there was no way to verify it, but the shopping experience was indeed quite good.

Upon entering Cassia Moon Tower, Xu Qi'an ordered a sumptuous dinner worth five taels of silver. In order not to lose money, he ate his fill and challenged Chu Caiwei to a duel.

At that moment, a feeling of palpitations came over me.

He calmly stopped eating, took out a small jade mirror, and checked the information.

[Part 1: Something's happened at the Nightwatchers's office. Golden Gong Zhu Yang has reported Wei Yuan for corruption and abuse of power. This case involves four Golden Gongs, twelve Silver Gongs, and thirty Bronze Gongs. It's being handled jointly by the prefectural government, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review. Does this mean Wei Yuan is about to fall from favor and be ousted during the Capital Evaluation?]

Zhu Yang betrayed them. The whistleblower letter implicated so many people. Xu Qi'an stared at the text on the mirror, his heart filled with turmoil.

During this period, factional struggles in the capital were in full swing, with each side winning and losing. Xu Qi'an, lacking the necessary skills, usually treated it as mere gossip and paid it no mind.

I had thought that the Nightwatchers's special position would allow him to navigate this turmoil smoothly and avoid being ostracized, but it seems he still doesn't understand the political situation at court and the factional struggles.

"As the Golden Gong, Zhu Yang must have a lot of dirt on the Nightwatchers. Now that he has suddenly rebelled, the Nightwatchers will probably suffer heavy losses."

"If I'm not mistaken, it must be because of me. I heard that Zhu Yinluo was injured in his internal organs by that knife, leaving him with a chronic illness and no hope for his future Martial Dao. But not only am I unharmed, I was even promoted and received a raise."

"Indeed, if I were Emperor Yuanjing, I certainly wouldn't have allowed Wei Yuan to grow so powerful. From the tax silver case to the Sangbo case, and then to the struggles of this period, the civil officials have gone to great lengths, while the nobles have largely remained unscathed. But that's because they don't have enough power to back down and lack the confidence to fight back."

"Wei Yuan once told me that the Wang faction and the Nightwatchers are currently the most powerful forces in the court. Now that the Wang faction has suffered heavy losses, the eunuch faction, represented by Wei Yuan, will definitely need to be weakened."

"I, a mere nobody, deserve to die. Zhu Yang would never let me go."

As Xu Qi'an's thoughts flickered, the fourth messenger, a former official in the court, sent a message: "[Corruption and embezzlement are just a pretext. If we're talking about corruption and embezzlement, the Nightwatchers are kept in check by Wei Yuan. How can they compare to the despicable behavior of those hypocritical beasts in the court?"

[Emperor Yuanjing was merely using this opportunity to suppress Wei Yuan.]

Number Four, as expected of a seasoned official, analyzes things insightfully from afar. This is pretty much what I was thinking! With Number One's level of expertise, surely he can see through such a simple truth? Yet he asks such a foolish question. Xu Qi'an entered the information:

[If this is Emperor Yuanjing's will, then Wei Yuan is powerless to do anything about it, right? He'll have to abandon these subordinates no matter what.]

[Four: Hehe, that depends on Emperor Yuanjing and Wei Yuan's attitude. If it's just corruption, the punishment won't be too severe, but a number of people will definitely be expelled from the government.]

"Is this 'double regulation'?" Xu Qi'an suddenly worried about his future.

"What are you drawing and writing in front of the mirror?" Chu Caiwei, eating braised pig's trotters.

So women are all big pig trotters. Xu Qi'an put away the mirror and said, "It's okay, after we finish eating, we'll go check out that haunted house."

Regardless, let's buy the house first; owning real estate is more important than anything else.

I have a good relationship with Prefect Chen of the prefectural government. If I am really on the list, I am not afraid of entering the prefectural government, but I am afraid of falling into the Ministry of Justice's prison. I am sure I did not embezzle, but the truth is not important. If all else fails, I will disappear for a few days and ask Wei Yuan for arrangements tomorrow morning.

After leaving Cassia Moon Tower, Xu Qi'an handed the small jade mirror to Chu Caiwei: "Keep it safe for me for a few days."

"Oh." Chu Caiwei took it and casually stuffed it into the small deerskin pouch on her left waist.

After dark, they arrived at the haunted house and climbed over the wall to enter.

"Now you can tell me, right? Why did you come over at night?"

The sound of their footsteps echoed through the desolate, abandoned house. There was no wind tonight, and no insects chirped in the dead of winter; the silence was terrifying.

Holding a candied hawthorn in her hand, Chu Caiwei said in a clear voice, "During the daytime, the yang energy is abundant, so the female ghost in the well won't appear. To get rid of her, we must wait for her to come out."

"Furthermore, I suspect there's something strange at the bottom of the well, and I plan to go down and take a look later."

"Let's go down and take a look." Xu Qi'an, who suffered from thalassophobia, immediately chickened out, especially knowing that there was something strange at the bottom of the well.

As they waited and waited, the night grew deeper. Chu Caiwei asked, puzzled, "Let's just go downstairs. Are you coming or not?"

"I'm worried about you jumping into the well alone if I don't go."

Chu Caiwei nodded, braced herself against the edge of the well, and jumped in with a splash.

This silly girl was quite timid when listening to ghost stories. Xu Qi'an held the black and gold longsword in his hand and jumped into the well. The well water was icy cold. He saw a glimmer of light ahead, reflecting the light on the girl in the yellow dress. She twisted her waist in the water, like a graceful mermaid.

That gleam was from the Bagua compass at her waist.

After swimming for about ten minutes, Xu Qi'an suddenly saw Chu Caiwei stop. She took off the Bagua compass from her waist and seemed to be confronting something.

Xu Qi'an swam over and, following the light emitted by the Bagua compass, saw a woman in white lying at the bottom of the well.

She seemed to sense it too, and slowly looked up. It was a bloody, mangled face, with eyeballs hanging from the cheeks and maggots wriggling in the dark eye sockets.