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Sparse starlight filled the night sky. Mandu Dalu rode his horse through the streets of Yunzhong Prefecture in the early hours of the morning. He even encountered patrolling soldiers along the way, and his two companions behind him produced a token for inspection.

After riding for a long time, he arrived at the long street on the west side of the city where his cousin and his wife lived. He pounded on the door, and his cousin rushed out and opened it.

"If I had been any later, I wouldn't know if he would still have eyes—"

The captive's maniacal laughter echoed in his mind. He had initially believed his family's child had been kidnapped by the Black Flag, but that was not the case. His cousin dragged him toward the medical clinic at the other end of the street, lamenting the events of the afternoon as they ran.

The previous afternoon, a carriage from an unknown origin had sped through the long street, and his eleven-year-old child's legs had been crushed instantly. The driver, as if mad, did not stop, and an iron hook hanging from the back of the carriage caught the child's right hand, dragging him through half the street before severing the rope on the hook and fleeing.

The child was dragged into a bloody mess by the carriage. He was hurriedly sent to the clinic and was still alive at that moment, but it was uncertain whether he would survive.

The child was indeed Mandu Dalu's.

Years ago, when he returned to Yunzhong as a constable, he had no backing and few avenues for promotion, so he had to work desperately. The customs of the northern lands were fierce, and the bandits who were active on the streets were often skilled veterans from the military, or even remnants from the fall of the Liao Dynasty. He wanted to make a name for himself, so he secretly sent his child to be raised by his cousin and his wife. He hadn't visited them often since.

In recent years, his status had gradually risen, and the possibility of harm coming to his family had diminished. But who could have foreseen that there would be such a crazed desperado among the Black Flag members?

They traveled all the way to the clinic. His cousin's wife, who had been guarding there, had already cried until her eyes were red and swollen. They had raised the child for many years and had developed genuine affection for him. Seeing Mandu Dalu's arrival, his cousin's wife grabbed him, telling him how hateful the culprit was and demanding that he capture the culprit and subject them to a death of a thousand cuts. Mandu Dalu couldn't speak. He followed the doctor toward the clinic, and when he reached the wooden door, he even hesitated slightly. After a moment of distraction, he stepped inside.

The doctor was describing the situation in his ear.

Mandu Dalu looked at the child covered in medicinal smells on the bed. For a moment, he felt the doctor was being verbose. He reached out and pushed him aside, but didn't manage to push him away. The people around him looked at him with confusion. Then, he drew his knife.

The eleven-year-old child on the bed had lost two legs, one hand, and his face had been dragged across half the street, and was already a bloody mess. The doctor couldn't guarantee that he would survive the night, but even if he did, he would only have one hand and half a face for the rest of his long life. Anyone who imagined such an existence would feel suffocated.

Mandu Dalu's blade pointed toward the child, but his feet involuntarily took a step back. His cousin's wife screamed and lunged at him, trying to wrest the knife from his hand. Her wailing echoed through the night sky.

The expression on his face was sometimes fierce, sometimes dazed. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to strike the blow. His cousin's wife cried out loudly: "Go kill the culprit! Aren't you the head constable? Go catch that damned culprit—that beast—"

Mandu Dalu was pushed out of the room, staggering. The people around him were still urging him through gritted teeth to catch the culprit. Mandu Dalu's mind flashed with that crazed face, that crazed face with the calm eyes.

"Did you kill Lu Mingfang?"

"...The matter of Lu Mingfang, we are even."

Last year, when they captured a Hua Xia Army member named Lu Mingfang, the person refused to surrender until death. They didn't figure out the person's identity at the time, and vented their anger after the fight, almost chopping the person into many pieces. Later, they learned that the person was the Hua Xia Army's head of operations in the northern lands.

Now, that corpse that had been chopped into pieces, and the appearance of the child still alive in the room, faintly overlapped.

"Ah—"

He opened his mouth and roared into the night, then he swung his knife and slashed it once, then put away the knife and stumbled out.

He mounted his horse and rode wildly, arriving at the small prison near the north gate. He drew his knife and tried to rush inside, to make the beast inside suffer the greatest pain before dying. But the constables guarding outside stopped him. Mandu Dalu's eyes were bloodshot, looking terrifying. One or two people couldn't stop him, so more and more constables came out from inside. Then Gao Puhu also came. Seeing him like this, he guessed what had happened.

A group of people rushed up and subdued Mandu Dalu...

Throughout the long night, the area outside the small prison never calmed down. Mandu Dalu's subordinates in the yamen came one after another, sometimes arguing and fighting. Gao Puhu also called for more people to guard the safety of the prison.

At this time, a terrible storm had already swept through the upper echelons of power in Yunzhong Prefecture. Those below were still unaware. Gao Puhu knew that Gu Shen was likely going down, and so was Mandu Dalu. He used to clash with Mandu Dalu head-on, but that was when he couldn't give in on official matters. Now that his side's objective had been achieved, seeing Mandu Dalu's crazy appearance, he had no intention of turning this matter into a never-ending personal feud. He simply sent people to secretly inquire about what had happened to the other person's son.

The dawn of April 16th faded, and the east revealed the morning light, followed by a pleasant, breezy sunny day. The streets and alleys seemed calm and peaceful, and passersby continued their lives as usual. At this time, a strange atmosphere and rumors began to permeate the middle ranks.

On April 17th, news about the "Han Madam" selling out the West Route Army's intelligence also began to appear vaguely. And in the Yunzhong Prefecture Yamen, almost everyone had heard that Mandu Dalu and Gao Puhu's contest seemed to have ended in a loss. Many people even knew about the fact that Mandu Dalu's biological son had been rendered half-dead, and in conjunction with the rumors about the "Han Madam", some things became unusual among these perceptive constables.

That afternoon, Gao Puhu took several subordinates and several yamen constables who had come to inquire about information from him to eat in the market street opposite the North Gate small prison. He privately revealed some things.

"...Damn it, that guy is a madman. I only found out the night before last...Damn it, I was played. This madman set up a trap before coming to die, and took out Mandu Dalu's biological son. Now that child is eleven years old, and only one hand can still be used. Damn it, I'd go crazy too if it were me..."

He recalled the initial period when he had captured the person, and everything seemed very normal. The person had cried and confessed after two rounds of torture, revealing a large amount of evidence. After that, he had shown himself to be a normal and dutiful "prisoner" in front of the six Jin princes. It was only after Mandu Dalu rushed in that Gao Puhu discovered that this prisoner named Tang Minjie was completely abnormal.

"Damn it...a madman...most likely a big shot in the Hua Xia Army...he's here to hand a knife to the east...he doesn't care about his life at all..."

He said through gritted teeth as he drank his wine.

A constable next to him said: "If that's the case, this person must know a lot of secrets. We can dig deeper."

"You think I didn't dig?" Gao Puhu glared at him. "That night I dragged him out and tortured him for another hour. His eyes...they're crazy. A damned madman, nothing extra can be pried out of him. His previous false confessions were all an act."

"Only an hour, isn't that not enough..."

"The information he revealed has already taken down Gu Shen. Next, the East Prefecture will take over, and I'll be promoted. Mandu Dalu's son is like that, you want your son to be like that too? This person will have to go to court next. Otherwise, you go in and continue the beating, and let everyone see your skills?" Gao Puhu said to here, drank some wine, "Wait and see...something big is going to happen."

Big things were happening.

That night, an urgent whistling sound of arrows came from the direction of the Yunzhong city walls, followed by the sound of gongs announcing a city-wide curfew. The army stationed east of Yunzhong Prefecture was moving in this direction.

In Zonghan's residence, a tense confrontation was taking place. Wanyan Chang and several other influential Jin princes were present. Zongbi waved the confession and evidence in his hand and shouted loudly.

"...Come on, Nianhan! Right here in Yunzhong Prefecture! Right here! You close the gate! Take us all down one by one! You can protect Xiyin! Otherwise, his matter is exposed! The evidence is conclusive - wherever you go, you can't justify it—"

"Hypocritical! Fame-seeking! In Shangjing, you all say you're doing it for the Jurchens! I gave you a step! I came to Yunzhong to play by your rules, and I played with you according to the rules! Now your own asses aren't clean! Come on! Nianhan, you've been domineering all your life, you're the boss of the Western Court! I came to your Yunzhong, I didn't bring troops into the city, I came to your residence, I'm not even wearing a thick coat today, if you have the guts to protect Xiyin, you kill me now—"

Zongbi shouted in front of Zonghan for a long time. Veins bulged on Zonghan's forehead. He suddenly rushed over and grabbed the clothes on Zongbi's chest with both hands, lifting him up. Wanyan Chang and the others also rushed over, and for a moment, the hall was in chaos.

But until the end, Zonghan was unable to actually beat Zongbi.

Behind closed doors, he could kill anyone in Yunzhong Prefecture. But from then on, the Jin Dynasty would be over...

**************

"...A wide river with rolling waves, the wind blows the fragrance of rice flowers on both sides..."

In the gloomy prison, starlight shone through the small window, and a song with a strange tune occasionally rang out at night.

Since the six Jin princes interrogated them together, the situation in Yunzhong Prefecture had been brewing and fermenting for several days. During this period, the four prisoners had gone to court twice more, one of which even met Nianhan.

The city experienced a curfew, but it was lifted the next day. The madman in the innermost cell would sometimes ask "Little Gao" about the outside situation, and Gao Puhu had become accustomed to this impudence and would casually say something. Of course, he didn't have access to high levels, and sometimes the appearances he saw were just scraps of high-level infighting.

Although news that the "Han Madam" had leaked information, leading to the failure of the southern expedition, had spread to the lower levels, the formal arrest or imprisonment of Wanyan Xiyin and Chen Wenjun had not occurred these days. Gao Puhu was sometimes uneasy, but the madman comforted him: "Don't worry, Little Gao, you'll definitely get promoted. You have to thank me."

Gao Puhu would then say:

"Then thank you."

He would hum that tune at night, always looking at the starlight from the window, not knowing what he was thinking. Although the other three people in the cell were implicated by him, they usually didn't dare to provoke him. No one would casually provoke a madman without limits.

When he hummed that song, he gave people the feeling of being relaxed. His thin body leaned against the wall, and although he still had all kinds of injuries on his body, in that pain, he gave people the feeling of having unloaded a mountain-like heavy burden, and was waiting for something to happen. Of course, since he was a madman, perhaps this feeling was just an illusion.

The four prisoners had not been transferred because the most critical process had been completed. What several Jin influential princes had already determined, even if the witnesses died, Xiyin would not escape this accusation in reality. Of course, the one nicknamed Mountain Dog among the prisoners was always uneasy about this, fearing that one night the prison would be set on fire, and they would be burned alive here.

Therefore, he couldn't sleep every night.

On this day late at night, he woke up as soon as those figures walked into the prison. Several people forced back the jailers. The person at the lead was a woman with half-white hair. She picked up the keys, opened the innermost cell door, and walked in. The madman in the cell was originally humming a song, but stopped at this time, looked up at the person who came in, and then, holding onto the wall, stood up with difficulty.

In the prison for so many days, Mountain Dog had seen the madman's appearance as very annoying and lazy. No matter who came, he would lie or sit on the straw pile. If he wasn't grabbed and pulled up, he seemed indifferent to everyone. But only this time, he had taken the initiative to stand up.

Of course, soon after, Mountain Dog also knew the identity of the person who came.

The two looked at each other in the cell for a moment. The madman's lips moved a few times, then he took the initiative to open his mouth, saying one sentence: "It wasn't easy, was it..."

The woman with half-white hair was dressed in noble clothes. After he finished saying this sentence, she slapped him hard across the face. The sound echoed through the prison, but no one spoke. The madman's head tilted, and then he turned back. The woman then slapped him hard again.

His head still shook. The madman named Tang Minjie lowered his head slightly, first bent one leg, then bent the other leg, and knelt down slowly and solemnly in front of the woman.

Next was the woman's third slap, followed by the fourth slap, the fifth slap... Tang Minjie knelt straight, letting her slap him one slap after another. After a while, the woman opened her mouth, her voice a little hoarse: "Have I...ever done anything to hurt you?"

"...No," Tang Minjie said. "...You have done me a great kindness."

"Have I ever done anything to hurt the Han people of the world?"

"...You have done...a great kindness to the Han people of the world."

"Have I ever done anything to let down your Hua Xia Army!?"

"...No, you are a hero, a hero of the Han people, and also a hero of the Hua Xia Army. My...Mr. Ning once specifically instructed that all actions must take ensuring your safety as the first priority."

Chen Wenjun slapped down again, heavily. Tang Minjie's mouth was full of bloody foam.

"Then why do this!"

"Only by removing Xiyin can we prevent the East and West Prefectures from forming a joint force from now on..."

Another slap fell.

"So I deserve this?"

"...Only in this way can we prevent the Jin kingdom from really treating confronting the Hua Xia Army as the first priority, as they say..."

Another slap.

"How many people have I saved these years? Don't I deserve a good end?"

"...In this way, we can avoid the Hua Xia Army from going north in the future, and the Jurchens from forming a strong resistance..."

Another heavy slap.

"How will your Hua Xia Army explain this to the world in the future! You bastard—"

"...We can end this battle a few years earlier, we can save tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of lives, I have no other way..."

"I don't ask for a good end, but my family, my children, they are, after all, my children..."

"...What I have done is an unforgivable thing..."

One slap, then another slap. Chen Wenjun spoke, and Tang Minjie's mouth also uttered murmurs. And at the moment when she spoke of her children, Chen Wenjun suddenly reached back, pulled out the hairpin from her hair, and swung the sharp point toward the other person's body. A look of relief flashed in Tang Minjie's eyes, and he welcomed it.

At the moment he made up his mind to do this, all the shackles on his body had fallen, and now, this was the last, unpayable debt left.

"Ah—"

Chen Wenjun had a sad roar in her mouth, but the hairpin still stopped in the air.

Tang Minjie waited slightly for a moment, then he stretched out his ten bloody fingers, gently grasping the other person's hand.

"The scene has already been gone through, Xiyin cannot escape the crime. You can kill me."

He said softly, pulling the hairpin towards his throat.

"...I know that I have committed an unforgivable crime, and I can never repay my crime in this life. We are in the northern lands. If I say who I most hope to die at the hands of, it is only you, Madam Chen. You are a true hero, you have saved countless lives. If there were any other way, even if I had to die a thousand times, I would not be willing to do anything to hurt you..."

In the prison, Chen Wenjun's face was filled with anger, sadness, and tears. Her life had protected countless lives in the wind and snow of the northern lands, but at this moment, this cruel wind and snow was finally going to take her life. On the other side, Tang Minjie was scarred all over, his ten fingers were bloody, and in his disheveled hair, both sides of his cheeks were swollen, and his mouth was full of bloody foam. Several of his front teeth had already disappeared in the torture.

In the past dealings, Chen Wenjun had seen his various exaggerated expressions, but she had never seen him like this before. She had never seen him really cry, but in this moment of calm and ashamed words, Chen Wenjun could see tears constantly flowing from his eyes. He didn't cry, but he kept crying.

He brought his neck towards the hairpin.

Chen Wenjun cried out "Ah—" and shook him off, then kicked him to the ground.

The prison was quiet for a moment before Tang Minjie slowly got up again.

"You kill me. I know this cannot atone for my sins... Please kill me."

Then came a kneeling, a heavy kowtow. Chen Wenjun stared blankly at all of this. After a while, her footsteps retreated backwards. Tang Minjie looked up, his eyes filled with tears. Seeing her retreat, he seemed a little scared and disappointed, and paused, then kowtowed again.

Bang—

His forehead slammed on the ground. There seemed to be a choking sound in his throat.

Chen Wenjun retreated from the prison. She had seen countless storms in her life, and had seen countless people, but she had never seen anything like this. Another bang came from the prison. She threw away the key and began to walk towards the outside of the prison.

Bang—

Bang—

Bang—

That was the sound of his forehead hitting the ground, one after another. But Chen Wenjun and the others finally left the prison. The jailer picked up the key, and someone went out to call the doctor. When the doctor came, Tang Minjie was curled up on the ground, his forehead was already covered in blood...

**************

Stopping the bleeding, bandaging... The prison was temporarily without the humming song. Tang Minjie was drowsy, and sometimes he could see the scenery of the south. He could see his long-dead sister, it was when she was very young, she gently hummed a childish nursery rhyme, he forgot what the nursery rhyme was humming.

Later, he followed Mr. Ning to study in Little Cang River. Mr. Ning taught them to sing that song, and the melody always reminded him of the nursery rhyme his sister hummed.

"...This is the great motherland, the place that nurtures my life, on that warm land..."

On that warm land, there was his sister, his family, but he could never go back.

Or perhaps, they were about to meet...

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