A Moment of Benevolence
Mu Huaying said wearily, "Even if it wasn't, it wouldn't be far off. At that time, for the Northern Qiang, their chief spy, Lady Huachi, had disappeared, and their intelligence network was completely paralyzed. My Court of Justice and the Heavenly Prison were operating at full capacity at the time, and they were willing to kill the innocent rather than let the guilty go free. You can imagine that even if there were still Han spies, they dared not send any more messages to them."
Since Pei Yuanli's death, Mu Huaying's hair had turned quite gray. But at this moment, A Qiu was shocked to find that she looked extremely haggard, as if she was forcing herself to answer her questions.
A Qiu quickly realized the reason after another thought.
Mu Huaying was known as the "Handsome Judge" for a reason. When the Court of Justice under her command established the Dayan Kingdom, it implicated and purged people cruelly. As she said, "It is better to kill the innocent than to let the guilty go free," which was probably a helpless move.
For example, nowadays.
Her act of kindness in choosing to trust Mo Yi Bi Shuang not only saved her from Mo Yi Ming Yue, the son of a lurking enemy, but more importantly, it exposed such a vast intelligence network. And this network might just be the true core of Mo Yi Bi Shuang's operations.
If she were to follow her usual way of doing things, she should separate Mo Yi and her son, subjecting each of them to extreme torture, so that they would restrain each other. She should use her love for her son to break down Mo Yi Bi Shuang's mental defenses, continuing the torture until she is dead, and forcing out all the clues.
Even if that didn't work, he had at least done his best as the Minister of Justice.
But most likely, if Mo Yimingyue dies tragically and Mo Yi Bishuang loses all hope, then this network will be left unused and no one will operate it anymore, so it's better to hand it over.
This is the true face of a "Handsome Yama".
Mu Huaying's current state of turmoil and collapse is the result of all her beliefs being severely challenged.
The challenge is this: she was wrong.
She shouldn't have shown mercy in the first place. She shouldn't have assumed that human compassion could exist outside the law.
We should not believe that there can be exceptions in the world.
No one should be trusted except in this case.
Xie Lang's rebuke was correct. Xie Lang's rationality was also not wrong.
That child shouldn't have been let go.
Now, a grave mistake has been made.
Seeing Mu Huaying's face constantly changing and her swaying precariously, A Qiu knew that she was having an internal struggle. She was originally considered her enemy, but now, for some reason, she was very afraid that Mu Huaying might do something rash.
Mu Huaying bore the heaviest bloodshed and shadows of the dynasty's founding.
She was not only Pei Yu's mother, but also the one who saved her second senior brother's life.
She finally reached out and gently patted Mu Huaying's shoulder, saying firmly, "Madam, it's alright. No matter how inescapable the trap is, we will uncover and dismantle it."
She knew that Mu Huaying was resolute and rational, and must have a clear understanding of the consequences of her mistakes. At this moment, any comforting words would be empty and would not comfort her in the slightest.
Therefore, she had to take action, have confidence and courage to tell this senior that no matter what mistakes you made back then, we don't blame you.
Whatever mistakes you made back then, we'll make amends.
Besides, some things can't even be considered wrong.
A Qiu said nothing more, and led Lie Changkong and Gongye Fusu away from the dungeon, leaving Mu Huaying alone without disturbing them.
After being slapped by her, Mu Huaying looked up in a daze after a moment, staring in the direction she had left.
After experiencing numerous upheavals and setbacks, Mu Huaying had only one thought in her mind at this moment.
The Grand Master of Music does indeed resemble Gu Yi somewhat.
Therefore, it was not wrong for Gu Yi to entrust his affairs after his death to her.
The three left the desolate forest where the dungeon was located. They had tied their horses to the left side of the road when they came, and now the three horses were resting leisurely.
A Qiu mounted his horse and heard Gongye Fusu say, "I really don't understand why Hulü Guang didn't destroy that clump of Frost Vine before he left. Anyway, he probably already knew the message that the Frost Vine was trying to convey, so there was no point in keeping it."
Lie Changkong interjected, "In any case, this move is to our advantage, otherwise we wouldn't have known so quickly that Lady Huachi still had remnants in the Southern Dynasty."
A Qiu calmly said, "It's not that he didn't want to, but there wasn't enough time. At that time, the Junior Master Charioteer had already rushed in to investigate, and then his helpers quickly entered and fought with the Junior Master Charioteer. Frost Vine grows extremely slowly, so its texture must be extremely hard. Without metal knives or daggers, it probably wouldn't be so easy to destroy. Hulü Guang had nothing in the prison, and if he made a big fuss, it would only attract our attention. Therefore, he took a chance and only had time to cover himself before he was rescued by their people."
Gongye Fusu, however, said, "There is another possibility."
A Qiu and Lie Changkong both turned to look at him in surprise and asked, "What else is possible?"
Gongye Fusu remained calm and mounted his horse, riding alongside the two men. He said, "That's because he couldn't bear to!"
Seeing A Qiu looking at him with disbelief, Gongye Fusu explained, “I was judging others by my own standards. To be honest, when I first saw the Frost Vine, I felt as if all the events of the Central Plains capital were like a dream, because it represented my childhood memories of my home. Later, Luoyang fell and was looted, and then there was the war. I'm afraid that even if I returned to the capital now, I would hardly see a single Frost Vine. Under such circumstances, to suddenly see the Frost Vine appear in the land of the Southern Dynasty, I almost wished I could dig it up by the roots and enshrine it in my Wanxiang Kingdom as a way to remember my homeland.”
Lie Changkong, both amused and exasperated, said, "Then why didn't you ask Madam Pei for it just now?"
Gongye Fusu smiled bitterly and said, "Look at her heartbroken and infatuated appearance, how could she possibly part with me? She was originally a disciple of Shuanghua Hall, and upon seeing her former student again, she would never part with him."
A Qiu thought that although Gongye Fusu was a cunning and shrewd "merchant," he still had the unique passion and obsession of a genius in the art of incense, and could be considered a man of true feelings.
She smiled bitterly and said, "Young Master Fusu, don't assume that everyone has the same deep affection for flowers and plants as you do. At least in my opinion, this Hulü Guang is an utterly heartless person. I don't think he would have such refined taste and deep affection to be so reluctant to destroy vines. He just probably didn't have the time."
As she mentioned this, a scene suddenly flashed through her mind: Hulü Guang writing the four characters "天下一家" (All Under Heaven is One Family) in the style of Shangguan calligraphy, using the ink-wash brush technique.
Back in Lanling Hall, my master Wanqiqing once said, "One can know a person by observing their calligraphy." People can deceive each other, but the skill and state of mind in calligraphy cannot be faked.
Hulü Guang's brushstrokes clearly demonstrated considerable effort. And no one understood the importance of the "heart-to-heart" connection between master and disciple better than A Qiu.
Mastering any skill takes at least three years. If the master and apprentice are not of one mind and are constantly testing and arguing with each other, the skill will be difficult to learn. Unless one is as cunning and wicked as a master of disguise.
Even if Hulü Guang was a heinous villain, Mo Yi Bishuang was no pushover either. After three years of living together day and night, Hulü Guang's cunning could not possibly deceive this master of criminal law.
If, unexpectedly, he were to suddenly appear under the frost-covered vines in the dungeon and try to feign madness and cry, then his performance of "self-discipline" would be far too dedicated.
Moreover, considering Hulü Guang's intentions and behavior, A Qiu also had another guess.
Will Mo Yi Bi Shuang be passed down to future generations, and will the person awaiting her next generation not be her second senior brother Mo Yi Ming Yue, but her student Hu Li Guang?
From the fact that Hulü Guang recognized the Frost Vine, we can guess the clues behind it.
Logically speaking, the study of criminal law is a crucial teaching for the Han people in governing the country and establishing authority, and should never be passed on to foreign tribes. Therefore, if Mo Yi Bi Shuang still harbored even a shred of loyalty to the Han dynasty, there would be no need for her to teach Hulü Guang the tokens of a Shuanghua Hall disciple. Furthermore, Hulü Guang, ambitious and the second most powerful figure in the Northern Qiang, would certainly not be a disciple of Shuanghua Hall.
Then there is only one possibility: he is the successor of Shuanghua Hall chosen by Mo Yi Bishuang.
The life that her second senior brother, Mo Yimingyue, and Mo Yi Bishuang had chosen for him was originally one of freedom and unbridled adventure in the martial world. She did not want her son to follow the same path she had taken.
When A Qiu thought of this, he couldn't help but change color.
Seeing her expression change, Lie Changkong hurriedly asked what had happened.
A Qiu had no choice but to voice her guesses. Of course, she omitted the fact that Mo Yimingyue was her senior brother, and only said, "I think the path that Lady Huachi chose for that child was not the court, and she would never want that child to be involved in these things again."
After hearing this, both Lie Changkong and Gongye Fusu were speechless, their faces solemn.
At this critical juncture when the two countries are about to go to war, if this Hulü Guang were to inherit the legitimacy of the Mo Yi family's Shuanghua Hall and have the power to rally the disciples and old friends of Shuanghua Hall in the north and south, there would be no doubt that they would have already lost more than half of the battle without even having to fight it.
Because the Shuanghua Hall's lineage is very similar to Mo Yimingyue's Xingfeng Hall, both are openly about judging right and wrong, distinguishing black from white, and convicting and executing, while secretly they are informants and spies, listening to rumors and gathering information to weave an intelligence network.
For example, the Minister of Justice, Mu Huaying, had the authority to conduct judicial investigations and convictions in the open, and to secretly maintain surveillance, guards, and underground prisons.
At this tense moment when a great war is about to break out, if such an unpredictable force were to be lying in ambush within the Southern Dynasty, capable of poisoning, assassinating, sending messages, and sabotaging, even if it could be prevented, it would still require a great deal of effort. Moreover, the Frostflower Hall has been virtually invisible for years; no one in the martial arts world, the common people, or the imperial court has ever heard of its existence. Finding these people would be no easy task.
Lie Changkong smiled bitterly: "Young Master agreed so easily in front of Madam Pei. But the legacy of Shuanghua Hall has been silent for decades since the destruction of Zhongdu and the ruin of Mo Yi's family. Where are we supposed to find it?"
As the three talked, their horses did not stop galloping. They had come all the way from the outskirts of the city and could already see the city walls of Jianzhang and the Golden Gate.
Aqiu stopped his horse and said calmly, "I suddenly remembered something. The three of us can split up and act separately."
Lie Changkong, unaware of the situation, asked, "How do we split up?"
A Qiu pointed with his whip and said, "Chief Lie, after you enter the city, go to the West Market to investigate the whereabouts of the group of Western Region people that Madam Pei mentioned. We need to verify whether these people are the ones who rescued Huli Guang. As for Young Master Fusu, I ask you to use all the resources of the Gongye family to find out which places in Jianzhang City might still have Frostflower Vine growing."
The two understood. Now that the Frost Vine had appeared in the dungeon, as Mu Huaying had said, the mark left by Mo Yi Bi Shuang could not have been limited to just one place. Although the mark was hidden, it was certainly not without a trace, otherwise later generations would have had difficulty finding it.
Most likely, the place where the Frostflower Vine is planted belongs to a member of the Frostflower Hall, or has some kind of agreement with Mo Yi Bi Shuang to work together.
Entrusting this task to Gongye Fusu, the ruler of Wanxiang Kingdom, was the most appropriate course of action. This was because the Gongye family had the most legitimate pretext to enter and exit other people's gardens and parks. At least half of the powerful and wealthy families in Jianzhang City purchased rare flowers and exotic trees from the Gongye family every year for their back gardens.
Gongye Fusu said, "May I ask someone to accompany me? It would be more convenient to handle this matter."
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