Keeping a promise for a thousand miles
Lie Changkong said, "Yes. After Hulü Guang was thrown here, he slept for about an hour before waking up. Those listening could hear him pacing restlessly and calling out to test us, but he didn't respond. After about an incense stick's time, we suddenly heard him howl like a wolf, followed by the sound of him banging his head against the wall. Our people were worried that he had committed suicide, so they had to open the door to check on him. Just then, five masked assassins dressed in black broke in. No matter what our people said, they didn't say a word and simply broke down the door to rescue him."
He hesitated for a moment, then said, "I wasn't there at the time, but based on their descriptions of the other party's martial arts style, and after Madam Pei's reminder, I judged that these assassins should be from the Western Regions."
Mu Huaying said coldly, "Presumably, after Huli Guang woke up, he discovered this Frost Vine here. Although I don't know why, his outburst of crying must have been because he deciphered some information left by Senior Sister Bishuang."
She looked up at the sky and sneered, saying fiercely, "Senior Sister Bishuang, you are truly cunning, but also incredibly lucky! Who knew you could fool me one more time in the end?"
As soon as those words were spoken, the air seemed to freeze. Everyone could clearly hear the profound sorrow in Mu Huaying's voice.
Even when Pei Yuanli died, Mu Huaying, though determined to take revenge, did not experience such a mixture of grief and regret.
For a moment, no one dared to speak.
Of all the people here, only A Qiu knew that Mu Huaying had secretly released Mo Yimingyue, Mo Yi's only son, at Mo Yi Bishuang's request. As the highest judicial official, the Court of Justice, this was considered a grave offense of protecting a wanted criminal.
Mu Huaying stared into the void and said in a low voice, "Grand Master of Music, you probably know that the main reason I pursued Lady Huachi back then was to obtain from her the list of all the Northern Qiang's spies and informants in the Southern Dynasty, so as to destroy the Northern Qiang's intelligence network in the Southern Dynasty."
A-Qiu was surprised that she would reveal the whole story herself, and immediately replied, "Yes!"
It should be known that someone like Mu Huaying, if she doesn't want to talk about something, will never reveal a single word, not even if it's from Emperor Xie Lang, who is as close as a brother, or if she's subjected to severe torture.
Mu Huaying said, "I sent all my servants away and transferred her here for imprisonment. This place was dug temporarily, so no one else knows about it. She only handed over the list of informants to me after confirming that her son was completely safe."
Ah Qiu and the other two then understood why this dungeon had such a high level of secrecy yet such a simple scale. It turned out that it had been dug hastily to avoid attracting attention. However, because the prisoner was the famous Lady Huachi, Mo Yi Bishuang, from the former Huan Dynasty, and had been personally guarded by the Minister of Justice, Mu Huaying, it was classified as high-level.
Mo Yi Bi Shuang's network in Qian Huan was vast, with almost every aristocratic family at the time connected to her. Her arrest had far-reaching consequences. Mu Hua Ying's solitary imprisonment of her here was not only a precaution but also a form of protection.
Ah Qiu couldn't help but ask, "How did you confirm that her son was safe?"
Mu Huaying suddenly smiled and said, "That child is no ordinary person; he is extremely cunning and resourceful. After the Court of Justice released him, they lost track of him several times. Later, they dispatched three 'Sky Eye' cavalry units to track him day and night in shifts, which prevented them from losing track of him."
A Qiu couldn't help but wonder what her second senior brother must have looked like in his youth. Now that she thought about it, his behavior and mannerisms were probably quite similar to Mo Yimingyue's now. Although she knew that her second senior brother was safe and sound, she still couldn't help but ask, "Since you released him, why are you still following him?"
Mu Huaying said with a wry smile, "How could I, Su Shou Yama, go back on my word? It was Senior Sister Bi Shuang's request that my man must watch him leave safely before she would hand over the list."
A-Qiu asked, "How did you confirm that he was ultimately safe?"
Mu Huaying seemed lost in memories of the past. After a pause, she said, "My men followed him all the way to Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Qiang."
This time, it was A-Qiu's turn to be surprised: "You've been following him for so long?"
Leaving Jianzhang, crossing the Yangtze River, and entering the territory of the Northern Qiang, arriving at Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Qiang, would be no easy task, even for the people of the Court of Justice to follow them. They would have to change their appearance and identity.
This means that Mo Yi Bi Shuang survived for so long after being arrested, waiting for news of her son.
But who can say for sure whether this was Mo Yi Bi Shuang's scheming or Mu Hua Ying's deliberate attempt to prolong Mo Yi Bi Shuang's life?
Mu Huaying said calmly, "This is not only Senior Sister Bishuang's request, but also my responsibility. Although I agreed to release the child, I still need to confirm that the child is not involved in these matters before I can let him go. If the child is acting under Senior Sister Bishuang's instructions to pass on messages to someone, then of course I cannot let him go."
At this moment, A-Qiu suddenly mustered her courage and said, "That's not what you think. You just really want to make sure the child is safe. Because,"
She continued, "You say that you, the Yama of the Jade Hands, never regret your words, and Lady Huachi is naturally the same. Since she only asked you to save this child's life, she will never let the child do the same thing as her."
Mu Huaying was surprised that A Qiu, a junior, dared to point out her thoughts to her face. However, contrary to her usual behavior, she did not get angry and refute him. She simply said quietly, "According to the agreement, the court officials will not harm him along the way, but they will not protect him either. It is up to his own fate. But in chaotic times, a young boy, traveling alone by boat and horse, can encounter all sorts of things."
That was the journey of the second senior brother as he left his dying mother and embarked on his own path of growth.
Ah Qiu finally understood why, despite being from the same school, his second senior brother lacked the carefree and easygoing nature of his eldest senior brother, instead being ruthless and resolute, and making no optimistic assessment of human nature.
What she didn't know was that all the hardships Mo Yimingyue had experienced along the way were reported to Mu Huaying by the "Sky Eye Guards," who then relayed them to Mo Yi Bishuang in prison.
Every footprint of her son's journey was etched into her heart, and she watched him go.
What she couldn't hear was Mu Huaying coldly watching Mo Yi Bishuang, who was forcing back tears in the small dungeon, turning her back and saying again and again, "Senior Sister, why are you doing this?"
“If you truly care about the child, why not entrust him to me? With my abilities, I can certainly protect him.”
“I will make him inherit our family’s learning and become a new generation of legal experts in the Southern Dynasty, so that the Mo Yi family will not be without successors.”
"After the great purge I am currently leading, the things you have experienced and done will not be known to many people, whether I speak of them or His Majesty speaks of them. The Mo Yi family will remain one of the oldest and most respected Han-ruled families in the Central Plains, and a trusted and capable minister of state."
This is also my way of repaying the kindness of the once illustrious Mo Yi family in teaching me, and for the protection you, my senior sister, once showed me.
Ultimately, every time the child encountered human scheming and life-threatening dangers along the way, she, as the highest judicial officer of Dayan, was on tenterhooks.
Because she knew very well that if anything happened to the child, given Mo Yi Bi Shuang's current condition, she would probably have no more attachments and would immediately commit suicide.
Although this senior sister's death was inevitable after all the turmoil and corruption she had caused in the court, Mu Huaying still did not want to see her die of heartbreak and despair.
She has experienced enough in her life; fate should not destroy her last glimmer of hope.
Therefore, her final moments here were often spent in her repeated sighs of "Why bother?" and in Mo Yi Bi Shuang's silence.
A-Qiu broke the silence, saying, "Then how can this child be considered completely safe while drifting in this chaotic world? If he continues to wander like this, won't you never be able to obtain that list?"
Mu Huaying's usually cold and stern face showed a look of bewilderment for the first time. She said, "Yes. In fact, if things had really gone according to plan, none of us knew when it would end."
A list tied to the political landscape of the North and South, the fate of a noblewoman who once held immense power in both dynasties, is entrusted to a child's fate amidst the chaos of war. Time passes day by day, and Mu Huaying's heart, hardened to the bone, gradually becomes tinged with complex emotions.
At that time, she secretly vowed that if she had children in the future, she would do everything in her power to protect them and ensure they lived a life of glory and honor, never letting them experience such a tumultuous and uncertain life, or suffer the hardships and dangers of the world.
But what A Qiu didn't expect was that the cold and rational Mu Huaying would quietly stay by his side, waiting for an unpredictable ending.
In the final years of Mo Yi Bi Shuang's life, was she truly only after that list of names?
Mu Huaying smiled sadly, "Of course, it's not just for that. Senior Sister, in her final days, she imparted all her family's knowledge to me. She was the last descendant of the Mo Yi family. She didn't want her ancestors' learning to be lost."
She added, "But she would rather have the name of the Mo Yi family erased from the world forever."
When Mu Huaying recited the thirteenth and final chapter of the Criminal Law flawlessly, Mo Yi Bishuang finally turned around and smiled, saying, "That's enough."
This was the first time she had turned her face to speak to Mu Huaying since entering the dungeon.
Previously, whether she was teaching her or Mu Huaying came to tell her about Mo Yimingyue's recent situation, she never turned around to look at her.
In that instant of turning around, Mu Huaying was shocked to see that her once incomparably beautiful senior sister now looked haggard, and even her once black hair had turned mostly white. Only her eyes remained clear and bright.
Mu Huaying was suddenly stunned at that moment.
She wondered if it was due to the daily "reports" about the child she had been sending over the past month. Suddenly, she felt a wave of guilt, a guilt so overwhelming that it almost crushed her in an instant.
She didn't have to do that.
Tell her directly that the child may live or die, and that her resolute nature means she can accept any outcome. But she doesn't give her a quick resolution.
She took advantage of her senior's last bit of affection to force out her remaining value.
She didn't do it on purpose, but in the end, that's how it turned out.
Mo Yi Bi Shuang seemed to have noticed the dazed look in her eyes, and a faint smile flashed across her face. Mo Yi Bi Shuang repeated, "That's enough."
Mu Huaying suddenly understood what she meant, and her voice choked as she asked, "Is...it...okay?"
Mo Yi Bi Shuang's words "That's enough" mean that the Mo Yi family's teachings have been fully passed on to Mu Hua Ying, so there is no need to worry about having no successors.
Another meaning is that she can now set off.
Mo Yi Bi Shuang gently pulled out a piece of yellow paper from the already faded and frayed silk sleeve. She was provided with paper and pen in prison, and she should have already written down this list.
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