Chapter 262 Bloodshed on the Long Street, Souls Lost, A Single Stone Stirs Up a Thousand Waves

The morning mist still clung to Vermilion Bird Street, and few pedestrians were about.

Former Censor Qian Bingqian, dressed in his official court robes and holding an ivory tablet, walked toward the Imperial Palace, step by step, with firm resolve.

His pace was not fast, but each step was steady and powerful, as if he were measuring out the final stretch of his life.

He had already prepared himself to die.

He intended to stand in the court, before the Emperor and all the officials, to recount the crimes of Superintendent Wang Yue, and then smash his head against the ground, staining the Golden Throne hall with his blood.

He believed that his death would awaken the conscience of the world and allow the Emperor to make the resolute decision to eradicate the cancer that was the Eastern Depot.

Just as he reached a street corner.

A runaway carriage suddenly charged out from a side alley like a mad beast.

The coachman, his face full of terror, pulled desperately on the reins, shouting, "Move! Get out of the way! The horses are spooked!"

The few pedestrians on the street scattered in fright.

Former Censor Qian Bingqian was advanced in years, and his reactions were half a beat slow.

It looked as though the carriage was about to crash into him.

In the blink of an eye.

Seven or eight men dressed in short tunics suddenly rushed out from the teahouses and shops on both sides of the street.

They looked like righteous passersby, shouting, "Watch out, old man!" as they rushed toward the carriage, while "protecting" Former Censor Qian Bingqian and pushing him into a more secluded alley nearby.

Before Former Censor Qian Bingqian could even react, he was shoved deep into the alley by many hands.

As for the runaway carriage, after overturning a peddler's stall, it miraculously came to a stop.

The coachman jumped off the carriage and bowed repeatedly to apologize to those around him; what appeared to be a narrow escape from an "accident" was thus resolved.

No one noticed what had happened in that secluded alley.

Deep in the alley.

Former Censor Qian Bingqian was pinned hard against the wall by those "kind-hearted" men.

Only then did he realize he had fallen into a trap.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

Former Censor Qian Bingqian demanded sternly, struggling to remain calm.

The leader, wearing a ghost mask, let out a cold, sinister laugh.

"Former Censor Qian Bingqian, don't you know who we are?"

He reached out, thrust his hand directly into Former Censor Qian Bingqian's robes, and pulled out the memorial filled with writing.

"At your age, you should be enjoying your retirement at home instead of meddling in affairs that don't concern you. Tell me, why bother?"

Former Censor Qian Bingqian's eyes split with rage as he watched his memorial being taken.

"You are the running dogs of the Eastern Depot! The lackeys of Superintendent Wang Yue!"

"In broad daylight, you dare to commit murder on the street and intercept a court official! Do you have any regard for the law?"

"The law?"

The ghost-masked man acted as if he had heard a hilarious joke.

"Former Censor Qian Bingqian, you are truly naively cute. In this capital city, we, the Eastern Depot, are the law!"

He unfolded the memorial, glanced at it roughly, and the smile on his face grew colder.

"Well written, every word drips with blood. It is a pity the Emperor will never see it."

He handed the memorial to a subordinate behind him and then drew a sharp dagger from his waist.

"Former Censor Qian Bingqian, our Superintendent said to send you, old man, on your way in peace."

The dagger glinted with a cold, icy light in the morning sun.

Looking at the approaching dagger, Former Censor Qian Bingqian felt no fear in his eyes, but rather, they were filled with contempt and disdain.

"With eunuch dogs in power, it is the misfortune of the nation! Though I, Former Censor Qian Bingqian, may die today, how could the mouths of the world ever be silenced by the likes of you!"

"I will wait in the underworld to see the day when you traitorous scoundrels are destroyed!"

He held his head high and bared his neck for the slaughter.

"Pfft!"

The dagger pierced his heart cleanly.

Fresh blood stained his brand-new court robes.

Former Censor Qian Bingqian's body slowly slid to the ground, his eyes still wide open, staring fixedly at the gray sky, filled with unwillingness and rage.

The ghost-masked man pulled out the dagger and wiped the blood on Former Censor Qian Bingqian's clothing.

"Clean it up."

He gave the order coldly, then turned and disappeared at the other end of the alley with the memorial.

The remaining killers skillfully dragged Former Censor Qian Bingqian's body to a dry well at the deepest part of the alley and threw it in.

They then fabricated some traces of a fight between vagrants at the scene before quietly leaving.

The entire process took less than the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn.

An upright and incorruptible old minister had vanished silently into the capital's morning.

However, what they did not know was this.

On the second floor of a restaurant across from the alley, a pair of eyes had seen everything clearly.

The Shadow set down the wine cup in his hand, his eyes calm and waveless.

The fish has taken the bait.

One hour later.

The news that "Former Censor Qian Bingqian had gone missing" began to circulate among the officialdom.

At first, no one paid it any mind.

But soon, someone spread the word that Former Censor Qian Bingqian had intended to go to court this morning to impeach Superintendent Wang Yue of the Eastern Depot.

Once the news broke, public opinion was in an uproar.

Immediately following this, even more explosive news arrived—a night watchman had discovered Former Censor Qian Bingqian's body in a dry well near Vermilion Bird Street!

The body had been stabbed multiple times, a miserable sight!

One stone stirred up a thousand waves!

Everyone knew this was no accident; it was a bare-faced murder!

An old minister preparing to impeach the Eastern Depot had been brutally murdered on the way to the palace.

Who the murderer was, went without saying!

The entire civil official faction of the capital was thoroughly ignited.

They might have had partisan disputes and conflicts of interest among themselves, but when facing the Eastern Depot's behavior of trampling on rules and slaughtering their own kind, they united as never before.

If they did not speak up today, then tomorrow, the one dying in that dry well might be one of them!

That afternoon, over a dozen censors from the Censorate submitted a joint petition requesting a thorough investigation into the murder of Former Censor Qian Bingqian and severe punishment for the killers.

Immediately after, officials from the Hanlin Academy, the Six Ministries, and various other government offices responded one after another.

Memorials with fierce wording flew toward the Imperial Palace like snowflakes.

All the memorials pointed their spears directly at the Eastern Depot!

Prime Minister Su Yuandao seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, personally leading dozens of Su Faction officials to kneel outside the palace gate, pleading with tears and sobs for the Emperor to seek justice for Former Censor Qian Bingqian and to purge the Eastern Depot.

For a time, the masses were incensed, and the momentum was immense.

The Eastern Depot was pushed to the forefront of the storm.

Superintendent Wang Yue became a rat crossing the street that everyone wanted to beat.

He sat in the secret room of the Eastern Depot, listening to the news coming from outside, his face so dark it could drip water.

He had not expected that killing a has-been old censor would actually invite such a massive backlash.

He had underestimated the cohesiveness of the civil official faction, and he had also underestimated the weight that old thing carried in the hearts of scholars.

He felt as if he had been used as a tool by someone else.

But now, it was too late to say anything.

He looked at the memorial in his hand, which had been searched out from Former Censor Qian Bingqian's robes, and a flash of madness flickered in his eyes.

You want to make trouble, don't you?

You want to impeach me, don't you?

Fine!

Then I will let you see what true madness is!

He carefully put the memorial away.

Then, he changed into a python robe, took the official seal of the Eastern Depot Superintendent, and walked toward the Imperial Palace alone.

He was going to see the Emperor.

He was going to tell the Emperor that these civil officials were all traitorous scoundrels who were forming cliques for private gain and trying to hollow out the imperial power!

He was going to use the "ironclad proof" in this memorial to make a high-stakes gamble.

If he won the gamble, he could take the opportunity to purge the court and wipe out everyone who opposed him in one fell swoop.

If he lost...

He had not thought about losing.

Because in his hand, he still held one last trump card.