After Qingchen carefully pried it out little by little, the golden book and iron certificate were finally revealed in their entirety.

Under the golden sunlight, the gold-inlaid regular script on it shimmered slightly.

—This is hereby bestowed upon the founding heroes by imperial decree…no matter what their crimes, they will be spared death.

She had seen illustrations of such precious objects in history books, but this was the first time she had ever seen it in person and held it in her hands.

It's a bit heavy.

It carries the generations of loyalty and world-renowned glory of the Lu family. Those glorious years of bloodshed and those stories of harmony and close friendship between the emperor and his subjects are all contained in this small iron certificate.

Lu Shenyun erected this snowman on a snowy day, actually to hand over the golden book and iron certificate to her.

At the edge of the sky, the clouds were dyed crimson, and the aroma of glutinous rice balls wafted from the kitchen.

Holding the iron certificate, Qingchen felt a surge of emotion, both swell and sour. That person who couldn't speak had placed such a precious thing inside an inconspicuous snowman that could melt at any moment.

He's really both stubborn and straightforward.

But this thing is too precious for her to accept.

After a moment's hesitation, Qingchen went out again, and the carriage headed straight for the Northern Garrison Office.

Upon arriving at the Zhenfu Division's yamen, they did not find Lu Shenyun. Instead, they noticed two unusual red gauze lanterns hanging above the entrance—symbolizing reunion, peace, and celebration. In these chaotic times, even the usually indifferent Zhenfu Division had learned to offer prayers and wishes.

A familiar flag bearer quickly came out and told her, "Lord Lu has already set off for Guizhou."

"Guizhou?" She couldn't help but touch the iron certificate tucked in her sleeve. "When did you leave? Did you leave before the Lantern Festival was even over?"

"He left on the sixth day of the month," the man said. "He left in a hurry. He said the situation over there might not be good, and he had to go and see for himself. Lord Huang is waiting for him there."

Then, he took out a letter from his pocket and held it with both hands. "Lord Shen, this is a letter left for you by Lord Lu. He said that you will be coming to see him in the next few days and asked me to deliver it to you personally."

Qingchen took the letter, hesitated for a moment, and then took his leave. "Thank you."

Back in the carriage, she unfolded the letter in the last rays of sunlight. She seemed to have never seen Lu Shenyun's handwriting before; this was her first time. Each stroke was upright and precise, exuding his very essence.

I'm going to Guizhou, and I don't know when I'll be back. If the three judicial committees' judgment is unfavorable, you can use this to save Song Yue. It's just an iron plaque; saving lives is the priority, so don't hesitate.

Take good care of yourself.

Lu Shenyun

January 6th

One month later.

The already turbulent court was suddenly thrown into further turmoil.

It is said that the three judicial departments have collected enough evidence and witness testimonies, and have informed Emperor Zhu Rui that the trial can begin soon. They request the emperor to decide on the date of the trial.

Zhu Rui replied through the eunuch Huang Heng, requesting that the evidence be presented to him first—a situation that had not occurred before. Since the Emperor had already ordered the Three Judicial Offices to conduct a joint trial in front of all civil and military officials, the case should be fully entrusted to the Three Judicial Offices. After the Three Judicial Offices had completed their trial, they would naturally report the results to the Emperor, who would then pronounce the verdict and decide the life or death of each person.

A few days later, the eunuch Huang Heng, who was in charge of writing, sent the evidence back to the Three Judicial Offices, saying that it was a decree from the Emperor: "I think the evidence is not yet sufficient. I order another search, and the case will be tried after sufficient evidence is prepared."

The two high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate exchanged bewildered glances, wanting to pass a message to Zhu Rui through Huang Heng—as the high-ranking officials of the three judicial departments, they naturally knew what constituted sufficient evidence, and this… couldn’t be more sufficient.

However, Huang Heng did not give them a chance to speak. He ordered the eunuch to put down the evidence and then turned and left.

He couldn't be bothered to listen to their nonsense anymore—anyone who had been in the court for a while knew very well what kind of person Song Yue was. The result of the trial was that Song Yue had colluded with Zhang Mao to embezzle, while the Grand Secretary had only made a minor mistake of negligence in supervision, which led to someone putting grain into the granary. The result of the perjury was something even he couldn't bear to look at.

Moreover, Zhu Rui's meaning was already very clear: Xu Yan must be captured. How could the Emperor possibly judge such a small mistake? He could force a judgment, but it would be difficult for him to save face.

The two officials vaguely understood the implication, but were unsure, so they immediately reported it to Xu Yan, who was in prison. Xu Yan's face immediately turned frosty.

He had served the emperor for over twenty years. Others might not understand Zhu Rui's meaning, but he understood it perfectly.

The lack of evidence was nothing more than the Emperor wanting to abandon the Xu family. After this incident, the Emperor's intentions were crystal clear, and he should give up completely.

That night, Xu Yan wrote a letter and had the Minister of Justice deliver it to his son, Xu Silin.

—For the Xu family, there is only one path left.

...

Entrusted by Lu Shenyun and Shen Qingchen, Lord Luo of the Dali Temple learned that the group of lawless people had given testimony that was detrimental to Song Yue and were planning to hold a trial. So he immediately found an opportunity to inform Qingchen.

When the two met, the icicles under the eaves of the Thousand Steps Corridor had already melted, and only the occasional breeze still carried the chill of late spring.

He didn't waste any words, getting straight to the point: "The high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate are in cahoots with Xu Yan. If Xu Yan falls, they won't escape either. So they simply bribed witnesses and fabricated evidence. If the trial is held now, it will definitely be detrimental to Grand Secretary Song and others. At that time, I will be powerless to stop them, even if I have one vote against two. In addition, Zhang Mao is like a dying snake, biting Grand Secretary Song tightly and refusing to let go."

Qingchen was horrified. Faced with the blatant disregard for law and morality, she felt breathless. "Isn't the magistrate also ordering people to collect evidence? Is that not enough to counter those people's baseless lies?"

He shook his head. “Xu Yan has been operating for many years and is very cautious. If it were easy to obtain evidence of his crimes, your teacher wouldn’t have needed to resort to such a desperate measure… He didn’t say much when we talked to him, probably because he knew it would be difficult to prove his innocence. Sacrificing himself to bring down Xu Yan is something that no one else could do… I have to go back now. You guys discuss it and think about your options.”

Lord Luo has left. Qingchen strolls along the Thousand-Step Corridor, her mind filled with worries.

The sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly. Many poplar catkins fell on the Thousand-Step Corridor, and the tender green willow branches stretched out their tendrils, but she had no interest in appreciating spring at all.

Xu Dang and his gang of bastards are all rotten villains, not a single one of them is a good person!

As she was thinking this resentfully, she looked up and saw someone walking towards her.

He wore the same official robes and black gauze hat as her, and his black boots steadily stepped onto the stone path where the snow had melted. Under the warm spring sun, his face on the fur collar was both familiar and strange.

She immediately turned around and walked away, not wanting to run into him. But he strode over in a few steps and called out, "Qingchen... wait a minute."

She hesitated for a moment, then stopped and turned to glance at him.

Xu Silin quickly walked over, moistened his lips, and said, "...It's been a while. How are you?"

"I have other matters to attend to and don't have time for a chat. I'm sorry."

"Wait." He blocked her path, his brows furrowing, his dark eyes fixed on her. "Don't do this. It makes me uncomfortable."

"Feeling unwell?" She glanced at him indifferently.

Song Yue was imprisoned in the Dali Temple jail, while he helped Xu Yan instigate people to commit perjury. She tried her best to help in any way she could, but he easily dismissed all her efforts.

She had nothing to say to him, as he was trying to save his father. But since they were on different paths, why was he still coming to her?

"So what?" Qingchen said, his words laced with sarcasm.

At this critical juncture of life and death, he comes to tell her he's in pain?!

“I know…we’re on different sides now.” He blinked slightly, a hint of guilt in his arrogant eyes. “But I only wanted to save my father; I didn’t originally intend to sacrifice my teacher. However, I had no choice.”

“I know you have no choice,” she said.

That was his father; he couldn't leave him unsaved. He was born with the surname Xu, a fact that would never change.

She knew all along that his little stream would one day flow into the vast ocean of the Xu Party, whether he liked it or not.

"Then don't try to be Zhong Kui while you're already a ghost!" she said indignantly, her voice even trembling slightly. "Sorry, I'm leaving. We're not on the same page."

He reached out to pull her, his handsome face slightly furrowed, looking somewhat helpless. "Qingchen, listen to me—"

"Smack!"

She shook off his arm, but then slapped him across the face.

She had never hit anyone in her life; this slap was for her teacher.

"Please stay away from me."

Her angry figure slowly disappeared from his sight again.

The warmth of her palm still lingered on my cheek.

Xu Silin chuckled self-deprecatingly. The first slap he had ever received in his life was actually given to him by the woman he loved most in his life.

If there were wine at this moment, let us offer a toast to the foolish and delusional.

A toast to heartbreak.

By March, everything in the capital had come back to life, and wildflowers bloomed everywhere.

Unfortunately, the situation in the Ming Dynasty did not change like the capital city, but remained shrouded in the lingering chill of winter.

The White Lotus Sect had already reached Taiyuan, advancing with unstoppable momentum. The local government troops, who were waving the banner of bandit suppression, were unable to resist for long due to years of peace and the freezing weather, and surrendered after only two days of fighting.

Meng Gexing had money and food, and a strong ability to rally people. As a result, many people who were starving and freezing to death and wanted to change their lives joined him along the way, making the White Lotus Sect's ranks grow stronger and stronger.

The stronger they became, the less the resisting government troops could defeat them, and the more they felt they couldn't win, the faster they surrendered. For the White Lotus Sect, each day's fighting was like a snowball rolling downhill, growing bigger and bigger, but for the Ming Dynasty, it was a vicious cycle.

Inside the palace, Zhu Rui, whose illness was intermittent, finally panicked. After listening to the reports from various generals, including Lu Shenyun, he became even more furious and ordered a full-scale attack to annihilate them without leaving a single survivor.

Who does Meng Gexing think he is? The Ming Dynasty has always been a brave and fierce army; how could a mere soldier like him be easily provoked?

However, Meng Gexing proved with his actions what it means for a small fry to be triumphant.

After another two months of stalemate, by May, the Ming army was exhausted and on its last legs, suffering countless casualties. Meng Gexing was an extremely intelligent and adventurous man, and in his confrontations with the Ming army, he almost never suffered a loss—including a flanking encounter with Lu Shenyun.

Lu Shenyun is brave and can fight ten or a hundred people by himself, but he can't fight a thousand or ten thousand people by himself. If his subordinates are not up to par, his bravery is useless.

At this time, the land of Jin and Ji was ravaged by war, with limbs scattered everywhere. The people had abandoned their homes and fields and were forced to flee to all corners of the land, making life extremely difficult for them.

Inside the palace, Zhu Rui was no longer as confident as he had been two months ago. After a night of careful consideration, he summoned Lu Shenyun and others, and with a furrowed brow, issued an edict—let's go and offer amnesty.

Whatever conditions are requested, we will grant them as much as possible.

Anyway, it's better than losing the throne.

When the imperial court's document offering amnesty was delivered to Meng Gexing, he was warming himself by a fire in his tent, reviewing the battle map.

Dressed in a blue cotton winter coat with a fox fur shawl draped over his back, he grabbed the document offering amnesty, glanced at it, and slowly spat out, "You bastard, you grandson of a turtle..."

When the Ming Dynasty couldn't win, all they did was send people to negotiate amnesty. What was there to talk about?

Once he takes the capital, he'll cut off Zhu Rui's head to offer as a sacrifice to his parents, and then let's see what Zhu Rui has to say.

"That's right, if you're a man, lead the army and fight us. Hiding like cowards is no good. Boss, ignore them," one of the subordinates chimed in.

Meng Gexing casually tossed the amnesty document onto the ground.

He's been fighting from south to north for over nine months, and now commands over a hundred thousand men, all incredibly brave and eager to rise to power. The Ming Dynasty's army, pampered and privileged, has no chance against him.

“Go, tell them,” he said. “I only want Zhu Rui’s head and the throne beneath his ass, nothing else. There’s nothing to talk about.”

"Exactly!" someone else chimed in. "I heard there's some internal strife in the court. It's like heaven is helping us. Let Zhu Rui take his useless ministers to the underworld with him."

"Yes." The person who handed over the document was about to leave the tent when Meng Gexing suddenly remembered something.

"etc."

"Is there anything else you need, boss?"

Meng Gexing frowned, pondered for a moment, and said, "Let them send Shen Qingchen, and then I'll talk."

The longing in my heart is something I can't suppress.