64: Second Young Master, I will sell you too!

Zhou Zhiyao watched his elder brother's tragic state, almost scared to the point of Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, frantically struggling with tears and snot streaming down his face, desperately calling for help from his father.

Prefect Zhou looked at his youngest son's face, tear-streaked and contorted with fear,

Then slowly raised his head, gazing at the still burning, twitching, faintly sounding human-shaped charred remains on the high pole—his eldest son, Zhou Jingxing.

With such a thing happening, his official career was likely over!

But the matter had come to this, irreversible; he could only minimize the loss.

Prefect Zhou slowly sat down: "When a prince breaks the law, he is punished like a commoner, much less you!

What kind of person is Sword Saint Lu? What grudges do you have with him? Would he slander you? Even now, you're still stubbornly resisting, do you really think I can't deal with you?"

Saying that, he cupped his hands to Lu Jiuyuan: "Sword Saint, as the saying goes, catch a thief with the loot, catch adulterers in the act. Please present the confession and other evidence to make him give up!"

If not for the bloodstains from his recent vomit on his beard, even Lu Jiuyuan would have to commend his good Heart-Nature.

What a formidable man.

These words sounded pleasant, but under the gaze of the crowd, he was cornering me; since he claimed he was the Jade Faced Fox, he had to produce evidence.

If he couldn't produce evidence... then it was slander!

The Jade Faced Fox, like the Seven Wonders Langjun, disguised himself and left no traces. Without modern forensic methods, how could one identify him?

No victim knew his true face.

"Exactly, evidence, show us the evidence!"

Zhou Zhiyao shouted loudly: "Without evidence, how can you casually tarnish someone's innocence?"

"You disguise yourself..." Someone immediately shouted from below:

"What's wrong with disguising myself? Is disguising myself against the law? Which Great Ming Dynasty decree says one can't disguise themselves?" Zhou Zhiyao roared: "I like it, I'm willing, I disguise myself, what law am I breaking?"

Lu Jiuyuan's lips curled slightly upward. He pulled out an account book from his Pregnant and casually tossed it in front of Zhou Zhiyao:

"The Jade Faced Fox committed seventy-three crimes, always taking a personal item from the victim as a keepsake. This account book was found in a secret compartment under your bed. The one who helped was your attendant."

Lu Jiuyuan waved his hand, and a fellow wearing a bamboo hat walked out. He took off his hat, bent his waist, revealing a lewd face with a fawning smile: "My apologies, Second Young Master, I sold you out too!"

As soon as this person appeared, Zhou Zhiyao's face turned ashen.

"Fuquan?" Prefect Zhou slowly said: "I remember I treated you well!"

Fuquan shrank his neck, but still maintained that ingratiating smile: "Master did indeed treat this lowly one well, but it couldn't stop my sister from dying at the hands of the Eldest Young Master!"

"She was only thirteen when she died!"

"Who would have thought that the Seven Wonders Playboy Liu Yulang was actually Prefect Zhou's eldest son, Zhou Jingxing,

And the Jade Faced Fox was the second Young Master, Zhou Zhiyao?

Even when I found out this answer, this lowly one couldn't believe his own eyes!

With your son's noble status, what kind of woman couldn't he have? Why would he defile my sister?"

"Later, this lowly one understood, it was for the thrill.

The innocence and lives of common folk were not as stimulating as that one shudder in your sons' eyes.

The steward knew about this, Madam knew about this, only you, Master, did not."

"You are noble, your family's power is interconnected, county magistrates are ruined, prefects are annihilated. This lowly one originally thought of poisoning and sending your whole family to heaven directly.

But then I thought, wouldn't that be too easy for you? Your family would be dead, but your reputation would still be clean, how could that be right?

Until one day, this lowly one saw the four words 'kill the person, condemn the Heart-Nature.' Killing is easy, condemning the Heart-Nature is difficult.

And then I heard about the Sword Saint, so I secretly sent out the evidence I had collected.

Because this lowly one knew that the time had come for you to truly pay the price.

To witness this scene, this lowly one earnestly begged the Sword Saint, and today my wish has finally been fulfilled!"

Hearing these words, Zhou Zhiyao trembled all over, then suddenly burst into maniacal laughter:

"Hahaha... Good! What a Sword Saint Lu Jiuyuan! What a Fuquan avenging his sister, what a 'kill the person, condemn the Heart-Nature,' 'kill the person, condemn the Heart-Nature' indeed!"

He suddenly looked up, his eyes flashing with madness: "Father! Did you hear that? You are noble, you are upright, you are remarkable, but your sons are all beasts! They are all beasts you personally raised!"

Prefect Zhou suddenly stood up and walked over. He stared intensely at his youngest son, then suddenly drew the saber from an yamen runner's waist—

"Pfft!"

The tip of the saber pierced through Zhou Zhiyao's throat, and blood splattered onto Prefect Zhou's official robe, spreading into a dazzling red stain.

"Prefect Zhou!" Lu Jiuyuan shouted.

Prefect Zhou slowly withdrew the saber, letting his youngest son fall while clutching his throat.

"Whoever violates the king's law, no matter who they are, should be judged according to the law! If they deserve to die, they die; even if it's my son, there will be no exception."

He turned to Lu Jiuyuan, suddenly revealing a smile: "Sword Saint Lu, this subordinate has sacrificed his kin for justice in this manner, are you satisfied?"

"Not satisfied!" Lu Jiuyuan shook his head.

"Then this subordinate will put on another show to entertain you!" With that, without waiting for a response, he directly turned the tip of the saber and fiercely plunged it into his own abdomen! It emerged from his back.

"Master!" The secretary exclaimed, rushing forward.

"If a child is not taught, it is the father's fault; if teaching is not strict, it is the teacher's negligence!" Prefect Zhou knelt on the ground:

"Zhou Wenqing's lax teaching of his sons led them to commit great evil and disgrace the family, it is my fault as a father.

To cultivate oneself, regulate one's family, govern the state, and bring peace to the world—yet I cannot even clean my own house, what face do I have to speak of other things?

Man proposes, God disposes! Good is rewarded with good, evil with evil; it's not that there's no retribution, just that the time hasn't come.

The fault lies with Zhou Wenqing, the fault lies with Zhou Zhiyao, not with the Zhou family. The Zhou family's conduct is upright, it cannot be tarnished by me, Zhou Wenqing! Nor can our ancestors be disgraced.

My fellow villagers, Zhou Wenqing is here to apologize to everyone with his life!"

Prefect Zhou knelt in a pool of blood, looking up at the sky with unfocused eyes.

In a trance, he seemed to see his two sons studying in the courtyard when they were young... How obedient and adorable they were then!

"Jingxing... Zhiyao... Father is here... to join you..."

What's called 'pitting one's father,' this is it!

The torches at the execution ground crackled in the twilight.

Lu Jiuyuan stood on the tallest bell tower in Hangzhou City, looking at the white mourning banners rising from the direction of the Prefect's Yamen.

"Ninth Master." The man who had delivered the message earlier at the Rain and Mist Tower climbed up the stairs, "The Zhou family members have arrived and are collecting the bodies."

Lu Jiuyuan looked towards the yamen: "Zhou Wenqing's last words truly sounded like an upright official. He used his own life to cleanse the Zhou family's dirty water."

The man scratched his head: "Ninth Master, according to our investigation, the Zhou family never lacked money; they own thousands of acres of fertile land and dozens of shops, and their origins are quite clean.

Prefect Zhou indeed hasn't embezzled any silver these past years, it's just..."

"It's just that he was lax in teaching his sons." Lu Jiuyuan looked at the gradually lighting up myriad of household lights in the distance: "He raised two beasts, ruining the peace of an entire prefecture."

"Tell Commander Yu to set off for Taiyuan tomorrow.

Dugu Mei, who disowns all his relatives, appeared there; that beast even laid hands on his own niece and nephew's wife, he deserves to die!"

The man's eyes widened: "Ninth Master, but didn't you say that Ximen Chuixue invited you to Wanmei Villa to appreciate swords on the third day of next month?"

"Appreciate swords? Heh heh... It's to appreciate 'cheapness'!"

"Then let him wait."

Lu Jiuyuan leaped down from the bell tower, his green robe fluttering like an eagle in the night, "There's enough time; I'll keep the appointment after I've killed the person."

Where the lights were dim, the hoarse chant of the night watchman drifted:

"Dry weather—mind the fire—"