You think that by inviting bandits, he won't be able to find out?

Gu Chengyan, you want to compare your wisdom with your third uncle? You're not even as good as a speck of dust beneath his feet.

The former Marquis's mansion, now the Earl's mansion, is nothing without your third uncle! You still dare to try and persecute him?

Who do you think you are? How could I have given birth to a son like you?

Gu Boyu started to cry.

He wept for his filial impiety, for the misfortune of the Earl's family, and for his own retribution.

Finally, he sat up straight and said to Gu Chengyan, "Didn't you want to know where Aunt Yue went? Let me tell you, I killed her!"

You harbored fugitives, and you fed poison pills to the Crown Prince and His Majesty. Executing nine generations of your family would be the least of your punishments; you'd be executed by slow slicing!

"I am a scoundrel, but I cannot bear to see my entire clan implicated and executed!"

Gu Boyu stood up and looked out the window. The midday sun was shining brightly, aggressively streaming in through the window, and it was a bit dazzling.

"Gu Chengyan, look at the Pingyang Marquis's mansion. Your grandfather risked his life on the battlefield to build it."

I failed to protect it, and you, in fact, thoroughly dug up our ancestral graves.

We, father and son, both deserve to die!

He gazed greedily at the intense sunlight, the most beautiful time of April, but sadly, he would never see it again.

"The person who poured tung oil on your mother's coffin and shattered her bones to scatter ashes was sent by me!"

Gu Boyu said, "You are where you are today because of my failure to teach you properly, and also because of the selfish and self-serving ideas your mother instilled in you."

She is a sinner of the Marquis's family and does not deserve to be buried in my Gu family's ancestral tomb. I will never allow her to be buried in the Gu family cemetery.

After Gu Boyu finished speaking, he locked the window, pulled out the stopper from the tung oil jar, and kicked it over.

The entire study was instantly covered with tung oil.

He quickly picked up the tinderbox on the table and lit it.

Gu Chengyan cried out in terror, "Father, what are you doing? What are you trying to do?"

"Gu Chengyan, you must die!"

The fire instantly leaped ten feet high, but Gu Boyu calmly sat back down at the table, tidied his hair, and straightened his clothes.

He smiled calmly and said, "My son, let's go to hell together. I'll take you with me. This is the last little thing I can do for the Earl's family."