"This case is decreed by the Emperor!"
Even though Cai Jing's body was extremely frail, he stubbornly straightened himself and gritted his teeth, spitting out these words.
However, despite his efforts to remain calm, his voice still carried a hint of fear.
"Hahahaha, decreed by the Emperor? Do you truly believe that just because everyone calls him the Son of Heaven, he is truly the Son of Heaven? These nine heavens above are vast and empty. Have there ever been dynasties that lasted for centuries, with emperors who never died? Since the founding of our Great Song, barely over a hundred years have passed, and we've already had eight emperors. What are you talking to me about the Son of Heaven? He is but a mortal flesh and blood. Can he not make mistakes?"
By the last few sentences, the agitated Han Mo was practically roaring.
In the darkness, illuminated by the faint light from both shores, Cai Jing, despite his years of experience, felt a tremor in his body as he looked at the cold glint in Han Mo's eyes.
"Han Mo! How dare you utter such treasonous words!"
Often, extreme fear can transform into courage, just like Cai Jing now.
"Hahahaha, you are on the verge of selling out your ancestors and the nation, and yet you scold me for a few treasonous words? The nation has nurtured scholars for over a century, surely for this very day? Does the current Great Song realm not even tolerate a few honest words?"
Meeting Cai Jing's gaze, Han Mo spoke without fear.
"Cough—cough—cough—"
After a violent coughing fit, Cai Jing slumped into the boat cabin like a deflated ball.
In the dark cabin, both men fell silent almost simultaneously, their labored breaths filling the space.
"Light the lamp!"
After a long pause, Han Mo took a deep breath and shouted towards the door.
"Yes, sir!"
Gao Shun, trembling with fear, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead before carefully entering the cabin with a fire starter and relighting the candle.
He glanced at Cai Jing, who sat on the ground with a ashen face, and then at Han Mo, whose complexion was grim. He dared not say a word and quickly bowed and exited the cabin.
"The boat is nearing the shore, please make your decision quickly, sir."
After taking several more deep breaths, Han Mo regained his composure, his voice returning to its usual tone.
If his voice hadn't been slightly hoarse, Gao Shun might have suspected he had hallucinated.
"After I die, can you spare Cai Tao?"
After a long hesitation, Cai Jing finally compromised.
The stir Han Mo had created was too immense, and his scheme had been in motion for too long. The Cai family had taken in too much, and it was too late to disgorge it.
First, almost all of their spice distribution network, then the gold mines in Wa, followed by experimental cotton cultivation in Fujian. Each step had become a noose, tightening around the Cai family's neck.
Even though he was still the Prime Minister, he couldn't force his descendants to give up such substantial gains. Even if he agreed, his sons would not.
Moreover, he was already at the twilight of his life, and now gravely ill. If not for medication, he would have passed away long ago.
Using his remaining few days to secure the future of his family's lineage no longer seemed so difficult to accept.
Yet, at this moment, his final lingering concern was for Cai Tao.
"After your death, I can guarantee Cai Tao's safety once, but only this once. It will not be repeated."
Cai Jing's suicide and his death from illness were two entirely different matters. Cai Jing knew this, and Han Mo knew it too.
To "commit suicide" was essentially to have Cai Jing confess everything he had done in his final testament, especially concerning Liu Fa.
Otherwise, why would Han Mo have gone to such lengths?
"Have the boat dock..."
Looking at Han Mo's young face, which filled him with despair under the candlelight, Cai Jing finally let out a long sigh and slumped down like a defeated rooster, completely devoid of spirit.
"After you finish your final memorial, please send someone to wait outside the Directorate of Transmission. Once this memorial reaches the Emperor's ears, someone will surely arrange for Cai Tao to return home to attend the funeral! As long as he doesn't court disaster, three years will be enough for everything to pass peacefully."
"My Cai family..."
"I can only guarantee the continuation of your family's lineage, sir. As for external possessions, you should understand, what comes around goes around."
"Alas, better to return, better to return..."
Wiping the last two turbid tears from the corners of his eyes, Cai Jing slowly stood up and, with trembling steps, returned to the table, tucking the purple jade bottle into his embrace.
"Han Zhigui is fortunate to have such descendants. How blessed the Han family is!"
Finishing the remaining half cup of wine in the cup before him, Cai Jing slowly uttered these words.
"You flatter me, sir!"
"Remember your promise today!"
After saying his final words, Cai Jing closed his eyes again, quietly awaiting the moment the pleasure boat would dock.
"Han Mo will surely uphold his promise and ensure the continuation of the Cai family's bloodline!"
"Sir! Sir!"
When Gao Shun carried Cai Jing back to the Cai family's carriage, Cai Jing's attendants rushed forward.
"Someone, light the lamps and prepare ink and paper!"
Waving Gao Shun away, Cai Jing slowly instructed his attendants.
"Sir, sir..."
Upon hearing Cai Jing's words, the Cai family's attendants were stunned. In the past, Cai Jing's vision was so poor at night that he could hardly see anything. Now, it was nearly midnight, and he was preparing ink and paper?
Moreover, they were on the street at this moment!
"I said, prepare ink and paper!"
A sweep of Cai Jing's gaze sent the attendants trembling, almost falling to their knees.
Decades of official life and over ten years of the Prime Minister's authority were not something these servants could withstand.
Helplessly, several attendants quickly retrieved brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from the portable chests they carried, carefully helped Cai Jing into the carriage, and placed the writing materials on the small table inside.
"You all may leave. When you see the lamp extinguished, send me home..."
The clamor of the Imperial Street grew louder. Outside the carriage, the east wind gradually strengthened. Inside the carriage, Cai Jing took out the pair of spectacles Han Mo had given him from his sleeve, unfolded a small booklet, and began to write his final memorial of this life...
"My Emperor, your humble servant Cai Jing writes this memorial with tears of blood. In the first year of Xuanhe, during the third month of spring, the eunuch Tong Guan sent a letter to your humble servant saying: Tong'an is deep within Xia's territory, and obtaining it will allow us to control the Xia people..."