That night, a fire suddenly broke out in an abandoned courtyard in the Chen residence. By the time the steward came to report to his masters, the fire had already spread to the point where it could not be extinguished.
What terrified the Chen family even more was that there was wind that night, so by the time they finally extinguished the fire, the whole night had passed and dawn was breaking.
Around that small courtyard were two secluded courtyards belonging to the Chen family, which were usually considered forbidden areas by the people in the mansion. That night, they were both burned down to become two abandoned courtyards.
Meanwhile, strangely enough, the eldest, fourth, and fifth sons of the Chen family were all burned severely, leaving them looking neither human nor ghost.
The Chen family spent the whole night putting out the fire. When they saw that the fire was finally out at dawn, and that the three seriously injured brothers had been bandaged and treated, the whole family finally breathed a sigh of relief. Exhausted, they went back to their rooms to wash up and rest.
However, before they could even catch their breath, the Imperial Guards arrived.
The entire Chen residence was surrounded. The commander of the Imperial Guards, the General of the North, the Junior General, the General of the South, the Junior General, the General of the East, and the General of the West—the generals of the four major generals' mansions—received the imperial order and, in coordination with the commander of the Imperial Guards, came to capture the entire Chen family.
The procession was extremely grand, which also demonstrated the Emperor's concern for the Chen family, who were spies from another country.
The Chen brothers and their patriarch were arrested before they could even resist. They angrily asked why.
The commander of the Imperial Guard, along with several generals, rushed directly into the two courtyards that had been burned to the point of near ruins, and dug out a great many things from the underground chambers.
The evidence is as complete as it gets, including the identity plaques of the Chen royal family members, clothing symbolizing their status, seals, correspondence, and more.
This time, not only the men in charge of the Chen family, but also the women, children, and servants were all taken without exception.
Even the dog kept by the young master of the Chen family and the chickens raised by the servants were imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice's jail, and interrogated and searched one by one.
The three sons of the Chen family who were burned in the fire were also imprisoned. Without medicine to clean their wounds, the wounds began to rot, and they were half-dead, living a life worse than death.
The entire capital city was suddenly abuzz with discussion, schadenfreude, and the rush to deal with items that had dealings with the Chen family.
Even more outrageous were those who were related to the Chen family by marriage, busy divorcing their wives, busy writing letters of severance from their daughters, and even going to the government office to get them stamped, as if afraid that the severance wouldn't be clean.
At the same time, the Jingzhao Prefecture also received a complaint from Madam Yu against the Chen family, accusing them of harming her parents. She also produced evidence to prove that her father was the youngest son of the Nan family, but was intentionally adopted, abused, and finally killed by the Chen family after they were all wiped out.
The Prefect of Jingzhao, Lord Zhong, accepted Lady Yu's complaint. Given that the Chen family had now been arrested and brought before the Ministry of Justice, he also presented the case to the Emperor.
The case presented by the brother-in-law had to be tried by the emperor, especially since the criminal was a spy from an enemy country, and the aggrieved party was the former General of the East, the Nan family.
In one fell swoop, the Nan family's case was easily cleared and their name was restored. Madam Yu also established the Nan Mansion in the capital, honoring her parents as Master and Madam. She held a memorial service for her parents at Xiangguo Temple in the capital and set up an incense hall for them. She would come to offer incense and worship for her parents every year, hoping that their souls could rest in peace in the other world.
She then erected an ancestral hall in the mansion to enshrine the memorial tablets of her parents, and also retrieved and erected the tablets of her grandparents and uncles. Next, she began searching for the missing descendants of the Nan family.
These events took about six days to unfold.
As the saying goes, money and power make things easier. With the clues provided to Yang Rui by Madam Yu, the Chen family was dealt with very quickly.
As for the Southern Mansion, it wouldn't be difficult for Madam Yu to buy back the mansion she owned back then; she just needs to pay more money.
Therefore, six days later, Madam Yu had already moved into the South Mansion with Li Mai, Zhou Quanyan, and the other two.
Lady Yu changed her name again to Nanling. The character Ling was a word given to her by her husband, who said that it was very similar to her temperament. Although Lady Yu did not think so, she liked the word given to her by her husband, which was why she used this character when she changed her name.
After discussing it with Yan Yu, she adopted him as her younger brother and renamed him Nan Yu. Although the name was a bit funny, the siblings felt there was nothing wrong with it, so they kept calling him that.
Moreover, Madam Yu also took her younger brother to the Nan Clan Ancestral Hall to pay respects to their ancestors and parents and to offer a formal prayer. Nan Yu was the eldest son of her father's family, and she was the eldest daughter.
Yang Rui, the young general of the Zhenbei General's Mansion, was greatly praised by the emperor for discovering the feud between the Chen family and Madam Yu, and ultimately exposing the Chen family as a ravenous wolf. He was rewarded with many good things and was also granted the position of Left General of the Imperial Guard, a military rank of second grade, only one rank lower than his maternal grandfather.
His maternal grandfather was a second-rank general in the Northern Garrison.
The Chu couple were grateful to Li Mai, as their son's promotion was all thanks to her. They immediately arranged for another cartload of fine goods to be delivered to Li Mai's residence by Chu Yan.
Fabrics, spices, clothes, shoes and socks—basically everything they could think of, they arranged for Li Mai. They had heard from Chu Yan and their master that she had a three-year-old daughter, so the Chu family had prepared quite a lot for the child this time.
General Yang, the General of the Northern Garrison, attributed Li Mai's kindness to Prince Yun. He knew that Li Mai was Prince Yun's adopted sister, as Yang Rui had told him.
He planned to recommend Prince Yun to the Emperor again for reinstatement once Prince Yun recovered. Only when Prince Yun was powerful and had more authority could he better protect Li Mai's family.
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