I traveled back to the Southern Song Dynasty and was actually outmaneuvered by Yue Fei.

Chapter 020: Psychological Deterrence

The first month of the twelfth year of Shaoxing was drawing to a close when Qin Xi was demoted.

The imperial edict was issued at dawn and was very brief.

Qin Xi was demoted to Deputy Military Commissioner of Shuzhou for "acting carelessly and lacking decorum," and was ordered to leave the capital immediately without lingering.

The position of deputy commander of the militia was a sinecure. Shuzhou was in Huaixi, a thousand miles away from Lin'an.

This edict did not go through the Secretariat and Chancellery; it was issued directly from the inner court by Zhao Gou.

Qin Hui knelt outside the Chuigong Hall for half an hour, but Zhao Gou did not see him.

The people of Lin'an learned of the news even before Qin Xi. The Imperial Street was lined with people, not to see him off, but to watch the spectacle.

The incident at the Dali Temple gate on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, after being spread by word of mouth for several days, had fermented into a scandal known throughout the city.

Qin Xi read aloud the secret letter from Qin Hui regarding his collusion with the Jin dynasty. Upon reading the first line, he turned deathly pale and his hands trembled so much that he could not even hold the paper.

Those few sheets of paper are still circulating in Lin'an City. They have been copied again and again. Every word has been chewed up, swallowed, and spat out by the people of Lin'an, turning into spittle and spewing it on the lintel of the Qin Mansion.

It was just dawn when Qin Xi's car drove out of the side gate of the Qin residence.

A blue-curtained carriage, without any entourage or attendants, with only a coachman and an old servant carrying a bundle.

Qin Xi sat in the carriage, the curtains completely covering him, but from the outside, one could still see the figure inside, hunched over, head bowed, with his turban-covered leg twisted to one side.

The crowds on both sides of the Imperial Street remained silent. No one shouted, threw anything, or even pointed at anyone.

They simply stood and watched, silently escorting the carriage from one end of the Imperial Street to the other. The people of Lin'an were more ruthless in their silent insults than in their verbal ones.

The carriage drove out of the north gate, beyond which lay an official road. Qin Xi straightened his turban inside the carriage.

Once he leaves the city, he will no longer be Qin Hui's son. He will be a deputy commander of a local militia who has been demoted and sent away from the capital. If he is killed on the way, no one will hold him accountable.

He knew this, so he straightened his turban, adjusted his collar, and then lifted the carriage curtain.

"Hurry up."

The coachman cracked his whip, and the carriage began to bump along the official road, creaking and groaning.

By the time the carriage passed the first post station, the sun was already high in the sky.

The official road makes a bend here, and on the inside of the bend is a grove of withered bamboo. The bamboo stalks are scorched yellow and make a creaking sound when the wind blows.

The coachman reined in the horse because a young girl was standing right in the middle of the road.

Behind her was a coffin, and a chestnut horse was tied to a bamboo stake by the roadside, grazing on the withered grass.

Qin Xi recognized the coffin. He had personally pried open its lid on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month.

The coachman's hands were trembling. The horse snorted impatiently as it was being reined in. The old servant woke up, glanced at the people in the middle of the road, then at Qin Xi, and clutched the bundle even tighter.

Qin Xi stepped down from the carriage, his official boots making a crisp sound on the frozen ground of the official road. He stopped five steps away from Yue Yinping.

"Miss Yue." His voice was hoarse.

Yue Yinping looked at him, her face expressionless.

I won't kill you.

Yue Yinping held her spear, the tip planted on the ground, and looked at Qin Xi with an unreadable indifference in her eyes.

Qin Xi's tense body relaxed slightly.

"Go back and tell Qin Hui," Yue Yinping's voice was cold, like the tip of a spear poking into frozen ground, "that there are more than twenty-three people on the list."

List.

Qin Xi's expression suddenly changed; he knew there was a list. Qin Hui had uttered those two words while pacing back and forth in his study.

Qin Hui didn't know how many people were on the list, which government offices they were hiding in, or what they were waiting for.

All that is known is that Yue Fei made a list before his death, and the first person on that list, Zhao Bocong, lived in the Prince of Puan's mansion next door. Every day when he went out or came home, he would pass by his door.

Yue Yinping asked Qin Xi to pass on a message to Qin Hui—there were more than twenty-three. Not twenty-three, but more.

There were so many that Qin Hui couldn't count them all, so many that he didn't even know who else was by his side.

Qin Xi stood there, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't utter a word. Yue Yinping didn't wait for him to speak.

She pulled the spear from the ground, turned around, and walked towards the chestnut horse.

"Why don't you kill me?" Qin Xi's voice came from behind.

Yue Yinping didn't turn around. "If I kill you, who will relay my message?"

She mounted her horse without looking at Qin Xi again, and finally disappeared behind the withered bamboo forest at the end of the official road.

Qin Xi stood there, feeling a chill seeping into his bones.

He returned to the carriage, the curtains were lowered again, and the old servant held the bundle in his arms, not daring to speak.

The carriage continued on its way; the road to Shuzhou was still long.

But Qin Xi knew he didn't need to go to Shuzhou. He was going back to Lin'an, carrying those words with him.

Qin Xi returned to Lin'an late that night. He did not go to Shuzhou, but changed horses at the next post station and returned along the same route.

The north gate was already closed. He handed over the Qin family's token through the side gate. The imperial guards at the gate recognized him and let him pass without asking any questions.

The Imperial Street was deserted. Qin Xi pushed open the gate of the mansion and went inside.

Qin Hui was in his study. He sat behind his desk, a scroll of official documents laid out in front of him, and a cup of tea beside him.

Qin Xi stood at the door of the study but did not go in.

"You're back." Qin Hui's voice came from behind the desk. He knew Qin Xi would return.

Qin Xi stepped across the threshold, walked to the desk, and stopped. He had kept Yue Yinping's words to himself the whole way.

"Yue Yinping asked me to pass on a message to my father." Qin Hui's finger stopped on the official document.

She said—there are more than twenty-three people on the list.

Qin Hui reached for the teacup. His fingers were steady, just as usual, and when his fingertips touched the rim of the teacup, the teacup wobbled slightly.

It wasn't that his hand was shaking; it was that he used the wrong force when he touched the teacup.

The teacup slid off the desk, the sound of shattering porcelain echoing through the study. Tea spilled out.

Qin Hui stared at the broken porcelain on the floor, and the study remained quiet for a long time.

"She said more than that," Qin Hui's voice came from behind the desk.

"Yes."

She meant more than twenty-three.

"Yes."

Qin Hui withdrew his free hand and tucked it into his sleeve. "Before Yue Fei died, he wrote a list with twenty-three people on it."

I investigated for two months and found Zhou Sanwei and Wei Shun. Zhou Sanwei died, and Wei Shun died too. I thought those were the only people on the list.

Qin Xi lowered his head, looking at the broken porcelain on the ground.

She said there were more than twenty-three.

Qin Hui tapped his finger on the desk and stopped. "Who did Yue Fei see before he died? In the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Shaoxing, he spent less than a month in the prison of Dali Temple."

He Zhu interrogated him that month, Wei Shun guarded him, and Jiang Shixiong delivered his meals. I've investigated all of them, but who else is there?

"There are more than twenty-three people on the list." Qin Hui repeated the sentence, then fell silent.

"Pass on my message." Qin Hui's voice suddenly returned to normal. "From this day forward, investigate and prosecute all officials and clerks who have had contact with Yue Fei. Anyone who has spoken to Yue Fei, handed him anything, or stayed in the same room after the tenth year of the Shaoxing era must be listed and reported. No one should be missed."

Qin Xi raised his head. "Father, this area—"

"Not a single one will be missed."

Qin Xi looked at Qin Hui's face, which was devoid of any emotion, except that his eye sockets were deeper than usual.

Qin Xi left the study. The door closed behind him, and Qin Hui's shadow was still imprinted on the window paper, motionless.

At the end of the first month of the twelfth year of Shaoxing, the purge began.

Everyone who had ever been in contact with Yue Fei was taken away from the government office one by one.

The list contains more than twenty-three people. And the purge will never stop at just twenty-three.

Qin Hui didn't know if this statement was true, but he dared not gamble.

Yue Yinping asked Qin Xi to deliver this message not because it was true or false, but because she knew Qin Hui wouldn't dare to gamble.