The Wei Family Under Attack

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Something has happened at the moat!"

In the midst of the celebratory palace banquet, a guard suddenly rushed in, frantic with panic, and hurriedly knelt in the hall.

A clamor erupted!

"What happened?!"

The people present were startled and fell silent at once.

"What is it? Speak."

Di Yunqian, who had weathered great storms, remained utterly composed.

"A violent noise suddenly erupted from the moat, shaking heaven and earth and shattering the bridge. The people out on the streets were injured by the flying rubble. Stranger still, a great deal of blood suddenly gushed up from beneath the moat and from the stone stele guarding the bridge. It was terrifying and evil. A stone stele also floated up from the water, and on it, on it were written..."

Di Yunqian's voice turned cold. "What was written on it?"

"It said..." The guard bowed his head low. "Villains of the Du Clan, retribution never fails. Blood debts shall be repaid in blood; ghosts and gods shall exact their vengeance!"

"What? Such an ominous sign-could Heaven be sending us a warning?!"

"Such a perilous omen, shaking heaven and earth and bringing forth blood! Someone must have committed an evil deed that offended Heaven, Earth, ghosts and gods, and that is why Heaven has sent this warning!"

"The Du Clan? Which Du Clan in the royal city?"

An uproar broke out among the banquet guests, their faces filled with alarm.

Gunpowder had not yet been invented in this age.

The common people held gods and ghosts in awe, even worshipping and believing in them. Such a violent commotion could only make them suspect supernatural forces, and with such an obvious case of karmic retribution, they would be all the more convinced that Heaven was angry and issuing a warning.

Ghosts and gods?

Di Yunqian was startled as well. No human could muster the power to shatter a bridge in an instant, but the stele had specifically mentioned the "Du Clan." Such a pointed message immediately brought to mind the Du Family, who had run into trouble only last night.

"Silence."

Amid the uproar, Di Yunqian spoke a single word that cowed the crowd.

Everyone immediately fell silent as cicadas in winter.

"Vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review, go to the moat at once and investigate this matter thoroughly. The Censorate will assist in calming the people. Take imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Academy to treat the injured and maintain order. Today's Mid-Autumn palace banquet ends here." Di Yunqian swiftly issued his orders, then paused and swept a stern gaze over everyone present.

"Pass down my order: until the matter has been thoroughly investigated, no rumors or gossip are to circulate in the royal city. Anyone who disobeys will be arrested and imprisoned for spreading malicious lies to mislead the people!"

Most commoners were ignorant and believed in gods, and a warning from Heaven was the easiest way to shake their hearts.

His final words served as a warning to those who had spoken just now.

"Yes. Your Majesty is wise. Long live the emperor, ten thousand times ten thousand years!" Everyone immediately rose, not daring to say more.

The Mid-Autumn banquet was cut short, and the ministers and their families could only leave the palace early.

After giving the empress a few instructions on overseeing the guests' departure, Di Yunqian summoned several ministers to Xuanzheng Hall to discuss the matter.

Many people were destined to go without sleep or rest that night.

"Master, His Majesty has already sent the vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate to investigate thoroughly. He has also ordered that no one be allowed to discuss the matter recklessly, or they will be arrested for spreading malicious lies to mislead the people."

Having received the news, Chunzhi entered the rear courtyard to report.

Hearing this, Di Qingyu opened her dark eyes as she reclined on the cushioned couch and cast Chunzhi a languid sideways glance.

"Have all the things been cleared away?" Her tone was cold.

"Yes. When Shao Lan and the others withdrew, they took all the obvious explosive fragments and blood bags with them. Even if there were tiny traces left, the river washed them away." That was also why Di Qingyu had chosen the river as the site of the explosion.

"Since imperial father won't let people discuss the warning from Heaven, let them discuss who the 'Du Clan' in the royal city is instead. Perhaps one day someone will bring up the case of the family wiped out several years ago. The matter of Wei Ning's resignation a few days ago still hasn't died down, so the more of a stir this causes, the better."

Clearly, she meant to send people to steer the rumors toward the Du Family.

"Yes." Chunzhi nodded, then paused and frowned as she recalled something.

"Master, Wei Xin went to see the empress alone this morning. Last time, when you ordered Wei Ning to enter the palace at once and submit his resignation, he waited the time it takes an incense stick to burn after receiving the order before acting. I suspect the Wei Family harbors disloyal intentions."

"What does it matter whether he's disloyal? As long as he can be my chess piece, that's enough." Once he entered her game, she was the one moving the pieces.

Di Qingyu lowered her lustrous eyes slightly and gave a soft laugh, a calm confidence in her strategy showing in their depths.

"Since they're so disobedient, and the night is already so lively, this is the perfect time-everyone in the Wei Family is home. Tell Shao Chi to take some men to the Wei Family and have some fun. A little blood will do; there's no need to take any lives."

"All right."

By the time everything had been arranged, it was already the chou hour.

The full moon glowed with a ring of brilliant silver light, dazzling against the night sky with its thin clouds and sparse stars. The stars around it paled, and its radiance drew the eyes upward.

Moonlight illuminated the courtyard floor clearly. Sitting alone, Di Qingyu took in the beautiful scene, her exquisite face suffused with cold detachment and severity.

"Can the stars not contend with the bright moon? Then let's see who the bright moon is this time."

The curve of her lips deepened. She raised a hand, picked up a cup of tea from the stone table beside her, and slowly, elegantly poured it onto the ground.

The gesture was like an offering to someone departed.

"Son of destiny, you'd better appear soon..." she murmured meaningfully. Killing intent lay hidden in the gaze visible in her profile, along with a trace of excitement.

Indeed, gunpowder had not yet appeared in this age. In her previous life, when it had finally appeared, it was a simple explosive made by Gu Wenci's physician empress, Shang Lu, using knowledge beyond that of this world to help him unify all under heaven.

Di Qingyu's ghost, unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation, had wandered the mortal world watching the two of them until their deaths. Their words and actions had left a deep impression on her, and she had even learned more than half of what they knew. The explosives that had appeared early in this life had been made using the method from her previous life, after countless experiments by Di Qingyu.

She had died at Gu Wenci's hands in her previous life. In this one, she would see about using their own things to kill them first.

Late that night, before Di Yunqian had received the results of the investigation into the moat, he heard another piece of news.

"Your Majesty, the family of the vice minister of punishments was suddenly attacked by assassins late tonight. Lord Wei Ning was gravely wounded saving his son, and the old madam of the Wei Family fainted from fright. The Wei household is in chaos."

Di Yunqian rose from the dragon throne in an instant, his brows drawn together and his eyes cold.

"What did you say? The Wei Family was attacked!"

Why was this Mid-Autumn Festival as troubled as last year's, giving him no peace?

"Yes. If the vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review had not happened to be nearby with his men investigating the moat, and heard the commotion and brought them to save the Wei Family, something might have happened to them tonight as well."

But Di Yunqian was more concerned with something else. "Were those villains caught?"

In the royal city of the realm, beneath the Son of Heaven's very feet, someone had dared to be so brazen as to assassinate an imperial official. It was a slap in the face to him as emperor.

The guard broke into a sweat. "Your Majesty, not a single one..."

Crash!

At those words, Di Yunqian raised a hand and hurled the teacup on the table to the floor.

"A pack of useless fools. You can't even catch such brazen villains. What use do I have for you?" His tone showed no obvious fluctuation, merely a low, level voice, yet it exerted a formidable pressure.

"Your Majesty, calm your anger."

"Your Majesty, calm your anger."

Everyone in Xuanzheng Hall fell to their knees.

Di Yunqian's chest rose and fell as he drew a deep breath, suppressing the emotion he had just shown. His resonant voice was icy.

"Investigate! Have the minister of punishments come to the palace to see me at once. Go and investigate!"

Kneeling beside him, Li Peian carefully reminded him, "Your Majesty, the minister of punishments, Du Chengji, came to the palace only last night to beg forgiveness. You docked his pay and confined him to his home for seven days."

His head clouded with anger, Di Yunqian froze. Only then did he remember that Du Chengji was the newly appointed minister of punishments.

"Then find someone else to investigate. Among all my civil and military officials, is there not a single person I can use? Summon Zhu Juxuan, Gao Qian, Gao Shen, and Zhang Lingshen."

"Yes!"