There was a long street in the northern part of the capital called the Road of Peace. This place was not far from the Imperial City, and after crossing the nearby Sanshe Bridge, one could reach the Vermillion Bird Avenue, making it very convenient to go to court. For countless years, this street had been inhabited by high officials and nobles. From the previous dynasty until now, nothing had changed. It was just that as the situation changed, the people living in the courtyards on the side of the street constantly changed.
In the era of the orthodox dynasty, the large courtyard with the best position on the Road of Peace, the one closest to the Imperial City, naturally belonged to the Tianhai clan. After the coup of the Mausoleum of Books, the Tianhai clan had not changed much, but several miles to the east, many courtyards had changed owners and were undergoing major renovations. This was because the Prince of Xiang, the Prince of Zhongshan, and ten-some other princes had already moved in.
The easternmost courtyard on the Road of Peace, the one closest to the scholar trees, was the Xue Estate. As the Tianhai Divine Empress's most trusted number one person in the Great Zhou Army, Xue Xingchuan naturally had the right to enjoy this sort of treatment. The Xue clan naturally could not continue to protect this courtyard. The new owner might be some prince or some Divine General, but who knew?
Madam Xue also did not know who the new owner of this courtyard was, but she knew that this was unavoidable. She had never had any extravagant hopes of continuing to live here, so she had long since made the appropriate preparations. She dismissed all the servants, and after the ceremony was over, she used the silver from her dowry to buy a small courtyard on the street outside Hundred Flowers Lane.
After doing all this, she originally believed that she could calm down, but when she heard the weeping at her side, she realized that peace was still an extravagant hope. She felt her head begin to ache, and she harshly asked, "Are you crying because you're in pain, or because you're crying because you're sad?"
The young lady of the Xue clan who had been driven out of the Assistant Minister's estate had remained in the Xue Estate the entire time, washing her face in tears. Today, when she heard the news, she cried even more. Madam Xue's question frightened her. Timidly raising her head, she asked, sobbing, "Mother, what's wrong?"
Her eyes had long since turned red and her voice had become somewhat hoarse. For some reason, her face was covered in wounds as if she had been beaten.
Madam Xue pointed at the bruises on her face that had still not disappeared and angrily said, "If you're crying because you're in pain from being beaten, then that means you're useless and unworthy of being your father's daughter. If you're crying because he's dead, then that means there's something wrong with your head. Is it worth it to cry for this sort of person?"
The news that Assistant Minister Wei of the Ministry of Rites had been killed by Chen Chang Sheng and Wang Po had already spread throughout the entire capital. Every time Miss Xue thought of her husband's ruthlessness and ruthlessness, she would be extremely angry, wishing for nothing more than for him to die. But when she suddenly found out that the man was really dead, thinking about all these years, she couldn't help but feel sad, feeling that her life was really bitter.
Listening to her mother's words, the eldest daughter of the Xue family also felt that she was really useless, but … why did President Chen kill him? Shouldn't he have beaten that man up and brought him to the Xue Mansion to apologize to him? Swearing to the heavens that he would treat him very, very well in the future, just like before …
An unexpected howl interrupted her messy thoughts.
The howl came from the courtyard next to the Xue Residence.
Soon after, there was the rumbling of countless collisions, and one could faintly hear the rumbling of wind and thunder. Then, the house collapsed and dust filled the air.
The eldest daughter of the Xue clan was stupefied. Her face was pale, and she no longer had the mind to grieve or weep.
Madam Xue's gaze fell on the dust rising from the neighboring courtyard, a look of doubt on her face.
The collapse of the neighboring courtyard had not affected the Xue Estate, but for some reason, she felt that it had something to do with the Xue Estate.
Many years ago, when the Divine Empress bestowed this residence on the Road of Peace to Xue Xingchuan, the courtyard that was one wall away also began to undergo renovations.
The gate to this courtyard opened in the south among the scholar trees. Normal people wouldn't even be able to discover it, and if one walked along the Road of Peace, they would only feel that this courtyard was a part of the Xue Estate.
The owner of this courtyard was very mysterious and never interacted with others. Even today, Madam Xue did not know who he was. She could only vaguely guess that it was related to her clan, because she had personally heard Xue Xingchuan make two corresponding arrangements and give the most severe warnings.
She had even once suspected that this mysterious neighbor might be the rumored Crown Prince Zhaoming. Of course, later on, it was proven that this conjecture was wrong.
The collapse of the house brought up countless clouds of dust. The broken bamboo was like a broken bow, breaking into pieces of emerald green bamboo that fell into the garden of the Xue Estate.
Madam Xue hugged her frightened daughter and softly comforted her.
The neighboring courtyard was still collapsing, rumbling incessantly as if someone had fallen from the courtyard onto the street. Madam Xue did not know why the neighboring courtyard had collapsed, but seeing this terrifying disturbance, she thought to herself that even if that person managed to escape, he would probably be injured. She ordered the steward to open the door and see if that person needed help.
The sky was approaching dusk and somewhat gloomy. Fortunately, the snow on the street was still so white, so one could clearly see that blood-covered person.
Even though that person's blood seemed to be black.
When the steward pushed open the door to the Xue Estate, the first scene that Madam Xue and her daughter saw was this gory scene.
The young lady of the Xue clan cried out in alarm, repeatedly yelling, "Quickly come and save him!"
After saying this, she saw a very strange scene.
A beauty in a palace dress appeared behind the bloody man without a sound.
The body of this beauty was also bleeding and covered in dust. It somewhat obscured her face, but it could not obscure her beauty.
Who was she? What was going on here? Just when the young lady of the Xue clan was in a daze, the beauty raised the broken sword in her hand and slashed at the bloody person.
A spurt of blood shot into the snow. It was not much, not enough to kill the bloody person on the spot, but not so little that it could not be seen.
"Murder!" the young lady of the Xue clan cried out in fear, and then her voice came to a screeching halt.
Madam Xue covered her mouth, her hand constantly trembling, but she used great strength to prevent her daughter from making a single sound.
She could clearly see that the beauty dressed in palace attire was Mo Yu, and that bloody person … Zhou Tong.
It turned out that the neighboring courtyard belonged to Zhou Tong.
She finally understood this point, and when she thought about how Xue Xingchuan had also concealed this matter from her, she couldn't help but become even angrier, her body trembling even more violently.
"It's Zhou Tong." Madam Xue's voice was somewhat indistinct and cold.
The young lady of the Xue clan stiffened. As she gazed at this bloody scene on the snowy street, her hands gradually clenched.
Zhou Tong was like a wounded beast on the verge of death. He let out a rather strange growl as he painfully crawled out of the snow and took a few more steps forward.
He knew that this was the Xue Estate, knew that the mother and daughter on the stone steps were his sister-in-law and niece, so he would not turn his head to glance in that direction.
He would not plead for leniency from them, as that would be seeking his own humiliation. He also did not want them to see him like a stray dog.
He wanted to leave as quickly as possible, but at this moment, a shrill gust of wind from a sword landed on his left thigh.
His flesh was cut horizontally, blood slowly flowing out like porridge from a pot. He heavily kneeled in the snow, snow splashing from his knees.
The young lady of the Xue clan once more cried out in alarm at this sight, but this time, besides fear, there was even more joy.
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