She Came to Heal, Stayed to Conquer

”General, General.”

Only then did everyone start searching around. Unfortunately, after searching the entire council hall, they only found half a finger with an embedded jade ring and some shattered corners of clothing.

No need to say more, these things already prove that Su Qi was blown to death, and his body was in pieces.

The entire Jingzhou Camp immediately descended into chaos, no one knew what had happened.

Han Lei and her entourage had left the military camp a while ago, and just then, Su Qi was the only one in the council hall, making it even harder for anyone to guess the reason behind the explosion there...

Meanwhile, Han Lei and her companions were traveling along the official road towards Jingzhou.

From afar, hearing the explosion, Han Lei, sitting in the carriage, merely curled her lips slightly.

She had thought Su Qi might wait until the evening to relax and drink a few cups leisurely.

Unexpectedly, they hadn’t traveled more than two miles from the camp when that fellow Su Qi couldn’t wait to drink by himself.

Su Qi of the Su Family being blown up to death, Han Lei remained calm and composed as if this was the most ordinary thing, but the brothers of the Big Character Team all started cheering.

”Wow! It exploded so quickly?”

”It’s done, it’s done. Now let’s see how the Su Family can jump around.”

”We’ve succeeded again!”

”This time, he’s had his fill.”

”I told you, as long as the Princess Consort is involved, you can rest easy.”

”The Princess Consort surely achieved a double win? The Wei Family is out of luck this time.”

”Hmph! Do you think the Wei Family is good people?”

”The Su Family is even worse, not only withholding the pay of other camps but also their own, truly treating soldiers as less than human.”

”Exactly, Princess Consort, you didn’t see how the soldiers in the tent just now looked when they heard that Canzhou soldiers each could get two liang of silver, their eyes were shining.”

”Now the court should punish the Su Family, right?”

...

The brothers of the Big Character Team were all excited, but they only turned back to look at the smoke rising from the distant Jingzhou Camp without stopping their stride.

They were thrilled along the way, constantly chatting as they escorted Han Lei’s carriage forward...

In Jingzhou Military Camp, because General Su Qi was blown to smithereens, chaos reigned and they couldn’t take care of themselves.

Hundreds of miles away in the Capital City, it was shrouded in a cloud of sorrow and distress.

The Champion Marquis Mansion was after all related to royalty, and with the tragedy of the mansion’s obliteration, the minister of the Ministry of Justice and the Jingzhao Mansion officer couldn’t eat or sleep well these days.

Both would arrive at the government office at dawn, still reviewing case files late at night.

Under the pressure of Emperor Jing and the Empress urging three times a day, they had no choice but to post notices, offering a bounty of a thousand gold to collect clues from the public.

It was uncertain whether the bounty had succeeded, but first, Mr. Liu, the southern gate guard, came to report nervously, saying that on the night of the incident, he saw a fat nephew of Mr. Wei leaving the city hurriedly with a team of protectors.

Then, a resident in the city found debris of a parachute flare in their yard.

The nylon, burned more than halfway, and the blackened wire frame on the parachute were clearly not from the Capital City.

With those burn traces, both Jingzhao Mansion and the Ministry of Justice simultaneously determined that this must be left by the culprit.

In the Imperial Study Room, ambergris rose from the fragrant desk.

The Empress, having stayed at the Champion Marquis Mansion for two days, had just returned to the palace, sitting beside Emperor Jing, her face sad and gloomy, her eyes swollen like peaches.

Princess Changle fainted several times at the Champion Marquis Mansion and is now still resting there.

Emperor Jing listened to the report with a stern expression, his long fingers lightly tapping on the armrest, each sound sending a shiver through the hearts of the two ministers kneeling below.

”Interesting.”

Emperor Jing examined the parachute flare debris in his hand, suddenly chuckling, yet a coldness set in his eyes.

”First, someone fled overnight, then there are these burning debris. It seems my Champion Marquis was meticulously plotted against and murdered.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the teacup in the Empress’s hand dropped with a ”crash,” shattering on the ground.

This usually dignified matriarch at the moment had fiery eyes, her nails stained with red lacquer deeply clawing into her palm.

”Your Majesty! This is clearly...”

”Your Majesty!” A eunuch’s sharp voice interrupted the Empress from outside the hall, ”Mr. Wei seeks an audience!”

Mr. Wei almost stumbled into the Imperial Study Room. The usually composed old minister’s official hat was askew, sweat covering his forehead.

The three-day deadline given by Emperor Jing had passed two days ago, and Mr. Wei had sent urgent messages by carrier pigeon at night, informing all family members of the tragedy that occurred in the Capital City, urging them to quickly enter the capital to cooperate with the investigation.