FBC – Chapter 218 A Five-Year Grudge

But Gu Hua never expected that Qi Jun and several other commanders of the Mu family army would be thrown into the Ministry of Justice’s great prison the moment they entered the capital.

They all thought they had come to the capital to register their merits and receive rewards.

Gu Hua was dumbstruck when she heard the news.

“Why?” she asked.

Chi Yan’s face was grave. “They say there are spies inside the Mu army; the Ministry of War wants to interrogate them strictly.”

Gu Hua grew anxious. “There are spies — but it isn’t them! This is plainly accusing people without evidence. What about Ziyuan? What did he say?”

“The lord said only if they make a move will a flaw show up.”

Gu Hua clenched the brocade pouch hanging at her waist; inside was the ‘East Wind’ Mu Junyan had given her.

But he hadn’t said the East Wind was supposed to make those blood-soaked soldiers be punished!

“Is there no other instruction?” she asked.

Chi Yan, afraid she would fly into a rage, relaxed his expression a little and said in a softer voice, “Madam, do not worry. The lord has a plan. Qi Jun and the others are all battle-hardened generals — their mouths are like iron; they cannot be pried open.”

“That’s precisely why I’m worried!” Gu Hua’s face went pale.

What did this mean?

They were to be punished?

“Madam, calm yourself. They were only imprisoned today. If there’s no basis, the Ministry of Justice would not act recklessly.”

Hearing this eased her a little, but her anxiety soon returned as another possibility occurred to her.

She lowered her voice and asked, “Do you think every one of those arrested is loyal to Ziyuan?”

Chi Yan admired his lady again — she was no longer the timid girl of the household.

He hesitated a moment, unsure how to answer.

Human nature is hard to read.

Gu Hua widened her eyes. “You hesitated! Suppose — I say suppose — someone can’t withstand severe torture and starts babbling nonsense, what then?”

Chi Yan replied, “The lord said the East Wind is in your hands; even if there’s sometimes a headwind, it’s not to be feared. But — please only use it at the most crucial moment so its truth will be undeniable.”

She felt a little annoyed.

How the East Wind should blow, when it should blow — none of that had been clearly explained to her. Was that really for the sake of authenticity?

They thought too highly of her.

Flustered and unable to decide, she went straight to see the Old Madam.

The Old Madam, seeing her daughter-in-law’s pale face, quickly instructed Yi Niang to bring her a bowl of calming soup and told her to fetch Shen Li.

“Don’t rush into anything. If the sky falls, this old woman will hold it up for you,” the Old Madam said.

Gu Hua’s eyes reddened as she recounted what Chi Yan had told her.

The Old Madam asked, “I heard Mr. Min joined you?”

Gu Hua was taken aback — the Old Madam knew Min Dongsheng.

She nodded. “Yes. Mr. Min is ambitious; his goals align with Ziyuan’s, but he’s more radical — Ziyuan kept him restrained.”

Gu Hua told the whole story of how she had convinced Min Dongsheng.

“Then ask Mr. Min to come and discuss this,” the Old Madam said.

Gu Hua was surprised but quickly realized the Old Madam must know everything about Mu Junyan’s army.

Soon, Dong Hua brought Min Dongsheng. Shen Li arrived as well.

When Min Dongsheng heard Gu Hua’s account, he immediately grew excited. “The Duke has finally made his move! He should have acted earlier! Those filthy worms in the trenches — they should die!”

Gu Hua snapped, “Several generals are in prison — shouldn’t we think of how to save them first?”

“Of course we cannot save them. If we save them, it will confirm the Mu army’s intent to rebel. Someone might even be waiting for us to try a rescue.”

“What if they’re tortured?” she pressed.

Min Dongsheng shrugged. “That’s inevitable.”

Gu Hua glared at him. “You!”

The Old Madam nodded in agreement. “Mr. Min is right. You can’t spare the child and catch the wolf. We learned the lesson the hard way; we cannot repeat it.”

Gu Hua felt shaken.

Repeat it?

She glanced at the Old Madam and, weighing her words, said, “Mother, do you know about five years ago—”

“I know.” The Old Madam cut her off before she finished.

“Not only do I know, my husband and my sons know as well.”

Gu Hua was stunned. “You mean you knew that five years ago someone set a trap to frame them?”

The Old Madam smiled but anger simmered behind her eyes. “Yes, I knew. But evidence was lacking, and at the time Ziyuan had not yet inherited his title — we endured.”

She rose and went into an inner room. After a short while she returned carrying a bundle wrapped tightly in Shu brocade.

“Don’t be afraid, Hua’er,” she said.

Gu Hua nodded. “Your daughter-in-law is not afraid.”

She had been through brutal, bloody things herself.

The Old Madam carefully set the bundle on the eight-immortal table and unwrapped it. Inside were three bloodstained undergarments.

Gu Hua and Min Dongsheng were both stunned.

“These are—”

“They are the undergarments the old marquis and the first and second brothers wore under their armor when they died in battle,” the Old Madam said.

She unfolded one. Four large characters written in blood leapt out: “Serve the country with utmost loyalty.”

The second garment bore the blood-written words: “Purge traitors, punish the wicked.”

The third: “Protect our mountains and rivers.”

Three blood-soaked shirts with those glaring characters — the sight struck hard.

Gu Hua was speechless.

Under what circumstances would three generals write blood words on their undergarments?

Those blood words conveyed their sense of injustice and rage.

The Old Madam took Shen Li’s hand and said to Gu Hua, “Shen Li is not Dr. Shen’s daughter — she is the daughter of Dr. Shen’s younger brother. Her father fought alongside the second lord in that framed, deadly struggle and was gravely wounded. Ziyuan arrived with reinforcements and rescued him, but later he died at the hands of the traitors.”

Gu Hua looked at the cool, pale Shen Li in shock.

Hearing about her father’s tragic death again made her eyes sting.

The Old Madam continued, “Back then, when Ziyuan discovered a clue and wanted to find the truth for his father and brothers, he returned to the capital and had all the evidence he’d found, plus the testimonies written by the surviving old generals from that battle, handed through the Ministry of War to the inner cabinet and presented to the Sage.”

The more Gu Hua listened, the more shocked she became.

That the matter from five years ago was never clarified showed the Sage had not vindicated them — instead he forced Ziyuan and his mother to curb their edge: one refused to marry and have children, the other feigned madness.

The Old Madam’s tone was calm, but the suppression of anger could be tasted in her words.

“In the end, the old generals all died miserably…”

The Old Madam suddenly broke down; tears fell, choking her voice. She bit her lip and wept silently.

Yi Niang hurried to support her. Gu Hua, flustered, stroked her back gently, her heart aching like a knife.

Shen Li’s eyes reddened; she then said, “Jiang Shizi, while the Duke was in the capital, secretly carried out an imperial edict to Juzhou. Before the Mu army could react, he had the surviving old generals from that battle and my father thrown into the great prison on charges of colluding with the enemy and betraying the nation. They were forced to write confessions claiming the late Marquis and the two Mu generals colluded with the enemy — but they all refused. In the end they were tortured to death.”

The warm room felt like an ice pit; an oppressive suffocation pressed down on Gu Hua.

Her chest tightened painfully.

It was like this!

How could they do such a thing!

Shen Li held back tears and looked at Gu Hua. Seeing Gu Hua’s face pale, she took her hand, placed two fingers on her pulse, and said lightly, “Don’t get too excited. Anger and haste accomplish nothing.”

Gu Hua bit her lip hard to stop herself from crying, but the tears fell anyway.

She gripped Shen Li’s hand and, through blurred tears, looked at her who wore a cold expression.

Shen Li spoke in a calm voice, enunciating each word: “I was young then, my medical skills poor — I couldn’t save my father and the old generals. From that day on I vowed: I would only practice poisons; I would poison them all. Not one left alive.”

Suddenly Min Dongsheng understood. “No wonder. The Duke told me once that patience is the strongest counterattack. In the five years I was imprisoned, the Mu army was severely weakened. The Duke’s endurance, along with the Old Madam’s feigned madness, put the Emperor’s guard down, made certain people relax. After inheriting the title and returning to the south to promote new officers, he spent five years completely suppressing the southern border, then planned to return to the capital to avenge the blood of five years ago.”

Gu Hua understood too.

The current situation was actually the same as five years ago: the Jiang clan was doing everything they could to control Mu Junyan and seize the Mu family’s military power.

Only five years ago Jiang Shizi had secretly gone to Juzhou and killed a number of old generals.

Now, believing Mu Junyan dead and that the Mu family had no one to command the troops, they had brazenly tricked people into the capital and thrown them into prison.

“I understand,” Gu Hua said. “But I’m worried. Can I hand over what Ziyuan gave me? How can I make that thing become the East Wind?”

The Old Madam asked, “Child, what did he give you?”