Sunburst Slash

Wenyuan Pavilion is located in the southeast corner of Kyoto, which is not a particularly good location.

But in the past fifty years, not only has theft and fighting not occurred here, but even quarrels have never happened.

Because the Grand Secretary Yang Qinghe lived here.

Noon.

The sun pressed down on the eaves, and the cicadas chirped incessantly in the Wenyuan Pavilion. The door to the reception room was closed, but the window was half-open.

Commissioner Chen An stood in the room with his hands hanging down in front of him, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.

He had been waiting for half an hour.

After the case was closed, an old man sat there with a wooden box that had been delivered in front of him. The evidence inside the box was taken out and laid out page by page on the table.

Yang Qinghe translated very slowly and didn't say a word the whole time.

Chen An had worked in the Office of Transmission for over twenty years and had witnessed the Grand Secretary reviewing the official gazette. The Grand Secretary would always glance at it, then quickly grasp the crux of the matter and set a course of action with a single sentence.

But today is different.

Those few pages of copied text didn't actually contain many words, yet the Grand Secretary looked at them for so long, as if he had encountered some difficult problem and needed to think about it carefully.

Therefore, Chen An didn't even dare to cough, for fear of interrupting the old man's train of thought.

Another half hour passed.

Yang Qinghe finally put down the last page and looked up.

"Who else knows what's inside the box?"

"Your Excellency, only this humble official and his adjutant have opened and read the contents of the wooden box."

Chen Angong immediately lowered his eyes.

Yang Qinghe then asked, "What about Su He?"

"He has been detained in the Ministry of Justice prison."

"How do you plan to handle this?"

"I have drafted the execution warrant. Tomorrow, I will transfer it to the Ministry of Justice for review and to complete the procedures. The execution can take place tomorrow afternoon."

Chen An dared not hide anything and answered truthfully.

"The reason." Yang Qinghe's voice held neither anger nor approval.

Chen An's forehead was covered in even more sweat, and he hurriedly said, "Su He has been arbitrarily striking the Dengwen Drum, spreading rumors and misleading the public, and making unfounded accusations against the Yan Ancestor. This crime is already serious. In addition, most of what he said was pieced together from unofficial history and cannot be taken as fact."

Yang Qinghe did not respond.

Chen An glanced up, then quickly lowered his eyes again, and continued to explain: "The people respect Yan Zu, and the soldiers also respect Yan Zu. Respect is one thing, but if the story of someone dying and coming back to life gets out, people with ulterior motives will use it to make a fuss."

Yang Qinghe: "Continue."

The room fell silent. Outside the window, a sparrow landed on a branch and then fluttered away.

"Bang." Chen An's knees buckled and he knelt down, the bluestone bricks thudding with a dull thud as his forehead hit the bricks.

Chen An was somewhat confused.

Although the Grand Secretary has never interfered in the matter of Yan Zu, everyone knows that he now firmly controls the court. Unless the founding emperor returns to Yan, no one can break this situation.

But is that possible...? Of course not.

Things that are impossible should not be spread casually.

Therefore, even though the Grand Secretary had not issued any orders, all officials in the Yang faction tacitly agreed to an unspoken rule.

—Suppress matters related to Yan Zu if possible, to prevent anyone from using them as an excuse to cause trouble.

But today...

Things didn't go as Chen An had imagined.

The Grand Secretary's attitude offered no praise whatsoever...

Chen An, with a sense of unease, knew that trying to be clever would be pointless, and frankly said:

"Your Excellency's insight is profound. Besides the reasons mentioned above, I am also worried... worried that Su He is a pawn, part of a scheme set up by the one on the dragon throne, and that spreading rumors about the Yan Ancestor is detrimental to you..."

These words were utterly disrespectful, but Chen An was even more unwilling to displease the Grand Secretary.

After he finished speaking, he pressed his entire face against the blue brick.

"This humble official is not knowledgeable enough to determine whether it is right or wrong. I can only report to Your Excellency and ask for your wise judgment. This humble official is loyal to you and has never had any disloyal intentions."

The room fell silent again.

Yang Qinghe lowered her eyes and looked at the few sheets of paper on the table.

After a moment, he said, "The execution scheduled for tomorrow will be changed to ten days later."

Upon hearing this, Chen An's doubts resurfaced.

The Grand Secretary neither said to release him nor to execute him immediately. What does it mean to delay the execution for ten days?

Chen An dared not ask.

"Yes, I understand."

"Go."

Yang Qinghe picked up another page of paper.

Chen An kowtowed and got up. When he reached the door, his legs were still a little weak. The servant waiting outside bowed and led the way. He walked out of the side gate of Wenyuan Pavilion. The sun was shining brightly. Only after the sedan curtain was lowered did he let out a long breath.

"Go back to the Chief Secretary."

The sedan chair bearers responded and lifted the sedan chair, closing the wooden door behind them.

Yang Qinghe was left alone in the reception room.

"What a coincidence."

He turned his gaze back to the secret letter, and finally murmured something.

He said no more, just leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, like a wealthy man who had stolen half a day of leisure.

Until dusk.

"Whoosh."

But another figure appeared in the room.

A girl in gray clothes appeared out of nowhere.

She looked young, with her hair tied in a long, thick braid. Her eyebrows were like distant mountains and her eyes like the bright moon, but she had no posture. At this moment, she was holding a large stack of yellow paper in her arms.

The ink on the yellow paper was still wet, emitting a faint fragrance.

She put the paper on the table and casually dragged a chair over to sit down.

"Old Yang, I haven't seen you in such a hurry in many years."

The girl crossed her legs and said with a grin, "I thought Chengtian Prefecture was about to collapse. I ran up and down the mountain after receiving your message, only to find out you were investigating an ordinary person?"

If Chen An heard this form of address, he would probably be terrified on the spot, but Yang Qinghe showed no displeasure whatsoever.

He didn't reply, but picked up the top sheet of yellow paper.

The paper shows Suhe's birth year and place of origin.

The rest of the book is about Su He's life, down to which shop he bought unofficial histories, what his grandfather said on his deathbed, and the five taels of silver that Wu Huaiyi lent him.

The girl clicked her tongue: "No cronies, no powerful backers, no corruption, doesn't even go to brothels, penniless—this kind of official is rare indeed. And he dares to beat the petition drum; he's really got guts."

Yang Qinghe suddenly said, "There's new news about Yan Zu."

The lazy smile in the room vanished instantly.

The girl suddenly stood up.

Her gray clothes billowed, and the stray hairs at her temples were lifted by the powerful energy. At the same time, the paper windows of the entire room bulged outwards, and the pages on the table flipped up with a rustling sound.

"boom--"

A sound like thunder and lightning exploded within her body, a thin crack appeared in the teacup on the table, and the porcelain vase on the shelf shattered into powder.

In the next instant, this reception room will be turned into dust by that energy.

"Yes."

Yang Qinghe tapped the table, and the room returned to silence.

The girl's vitality was forcibly suppressed back into her body, her gray clothes fell down, and her braids fell back behind her shoulders.

"calm."

"How can you expect me to calm down?" the girl asked, pointing to the paper on the table.

Yang Qinghe said, "It can't be taken seriously yet."

The girl's eyes still held a hint of urgency: "I'll go find out myself."

Before she finished speaking, her figure began to fade, as if she were being swallowed up little by little by the sunlight.

Yang Qinghe said, "No rush."

The girl stopped; half of her body had gone limp, then solidified again.

"Aren't you in a hurry?"

"You should first leak Suhe's matter to the inner court."

"Why let that useless emperor know?"

The girl frowned her beautiful brows.

Yang Qinghe did not answer.

"People like you always like to make things mysterious. Fine, I won't ask."

The girl picked up a small stack of papers from the table, thought for a moment, and then pulled out the page about Su He's imprisonment. "Old man Yang, if you dare to hide too much from me, I'll really tear your house down next time."

After saying that, his figure vanished.

The afternoon sun streamed in through the half-open window, pressing down on Yang Qinghe's back.

His back was somewhat hunched.