How had Zhongzhao become the richest and most powerful country amongst the five powers of the Central Plains?

First of all, Zhongzhao had a very unique and beneficial geographical advantage. They were only bordered by other Central Plains nations, and they’d had no disasters caused by foreign ethnic groups.

Second, Zhongzhao was the first one established among the five nations. It had seized a lot of wealth from the former dynasty and attracted many citizens from among famous families and noble clans.

With no foreign ethnic groups eyeing Zhongzhao, and with the wealth accumulated by the aristocratic families as their foundation, it made sense that Zhongzhao became the leader of the five nations.

It was just that excessive ease and comfort gave rise to internal strife.

The Zhongzhao of the present had followed in the footsteps of Dongqing, and the struggles between the parties had become increasingly savage.

In addition to internal strife, a rich, extravagant, and comfortable life had also distorted the thinking of some people who had tried their utmost to get up to all sorts of trouble.

It was just as the man in gray clothing had said. It was purely because too few people had died people that Zhongzhao had given rise to so many troublemakers.

If they were to produce a bunch of enemies who were fierce as tigers and terrible as wolves for Zhongzhao, never allowing their borderlands to have a moment of peace, they would see countless young, robust men desperately sacrificing their lives and the number of newborns decreasing with each passing year. Let’s see if they would still make a fuss about the so-called “Four Self-Accomplishment Classics for Women” then. Prohibiting widows from remarrying, restricting women to protect their chastity…

Heh, this had to be the biggest joke in the world.

The man in gray left the tea house and followed his memory to find the location where the drowning ceremony was held.

When he arrived, a bunch of idle commoners who had come to watch the fun had gathered in front. They stood beside the water and gesticulated.

Noisy comments mixed with crying. The man in gray clothes glanced down and followed the sound of crying. The crying children were not very old. The boy was older, about seven or eight years old, and the girl was young and thin, only three or four years old. Both of them were dark and skinny.

Beside them was a young man in his twenties. This man’s expression was fierce as he guarded the children. He rushed towards the crowd, snarling and shouting.

By combining the comments at the tea house with the conversations of the villagers who stood around in a circle to watch the drowning, the man in gray was able to sort out the events of the story.

In short, a twenty-three-year-old young widow could not bear the loneliness anymore and had “stolen” a man from the same village. She was caught and then drowned.

The man in gray took two steps closer. With the convenience provided by his tall figure, he immediately saw a pale woman’s body beside the pond.

By the time he’d arrived, she had been thrown into a cylindrical bamboo cage used to transport pigs and drowned in the pond.

It didn’t take long for the crowd who was there to watch the show to disperse. Their faces still carried the strange and creepy joy of violating a taboo. It was so ugly that it nauseated him.

The man in gray was about to leave, but he saw the young man crying into the water as he scooped up the half-submerged body of the woman, ready to carry it home on his back.

He looked down and paused in his footsteps, taking out some loose silver to give to the children beside him.

Looking at the youth’s attire, he did not seem to be a rich man. There was no way he would be able to provide the woman with a decent after-death appearance.

The young man bit his lips tremblingly and his eyes filled with tears. After a long time, he said in a thick accent, “Thank you, fellow brother.”

The man in gray took the opportunity to ask a couple more questions and hear another version of the story.

The woman was the most beautiful girl in the neighboring village and she had married into this village a few years prior. Her belly did not swell even though she had been married for a few years. When she conceived with much difficulty but gave birth to a daughter, her in-laws were extremely disgusted with her. Her husband died after her daughter was born and the young woman was widowed at a young age. The in-laws then treated them even more harshly as they felt that their granddaughter was born as a jinx. They’d even thrown her daughter into the mountains when she was not paying attention. Her daughter was nearly eaten by wolves.

The young man had been hunting in the mountains and happened to rescue her daughter. The two got to know each other and grew to have feelings for each other after some time.

One was a widow who had lost her husband, leading to a difficult life with her only child. One was a widower who had lost his wife and was raising a small son. The two had a favorable opinion of each other and they could have been considered a match made in heaven. As time passed, they broke through the barriers between them and were getting ready to live as partners and support each other.

However, the woman’s in-laws couldn’t accept it. They scolded her severely for being cheap, for not staying faithful to the memory of their son. They even slandered the two, claiming that they already had an improper relationship early on. The couple made such a fuss to the patriarch, hoping to drown the unclean woman so as not to dirty the family’s reputation.

The young man hunted all year round and relied on brute force to scare away the people who came to catch her.

He had protected her once or twice, but how could he protect her for the rest of their lives?

That morning, the woman had discovered that her daughter and step-son were missing. She was afraid that the children were kidnapped and sold by slave traders, or that her in-laws had thrown them into the mountains as food for the wolves, so she’d rushed out to search for them. Who would have thought that this was an evil plan to lure her away from her home? Caught by her clansmen who waited in ambush, she was forcibly captured and drowned in the pond.

By the time the young man realize that something was wrong and hurried back, it was too late.

Hearing this story, the man in gray sneered.

It was the most ridiculous thing in the world…

A woman who slept around was righteously demanding that all women in the world should maintain their chastity even after the deaths of their husbands!

“Take these silver taels and move away. If they remember to one day, they will come back to catch this baby girl…”

The young man cried and sniveled. He had suffered the greatest of grievances, but he did not accept the goodwill of the man in gray.

To him, the man in gray had not come forth to revile him and the woman, which was already the greatest kindness.

The man in gray sighed lightly and gave the money bag to the boy. He couldn’t help but stroke the hair bun on the girl.

“What’s happening to this world…”

The young man sobbed and whimpered as he carried the drowned woman’s cold and swollen body.

“Oh, the wicked will reap what they have sown.”

The man in gray said this and departed silently.

That night, the imperial city was brightly lit.

The pleasure houses everywhere were bustling and the sounds of various musical instruments lingered in one’s ears. The outlines of the crowd blended together. Gentle and graceful postures provoked fanciful thoughts.

Music poured out of the palace too. An extravagant and luxurious air permeated the entire place.

The man in gray snuck into the palace using his connections and, with the support of his secret agents, arrived at Tianfeng Palace where the empress resided.

A black horizontal inscribed board made of Chinese cedar and threads of gold hung above the grand entrance with its red double doors. Three large characters were written in a flamboyant script on the board, Tianfeng Palace.

Candlelight flickered in the palace. On the interlocking wooden brackets on the arched eaves carved from sandalwood were phoenixes spreading their wings, about to take flight.

Inside the sleeping quarters, beams of sandalwood were hung with screens made of pearls. A huge phosphorescent stone hung from the arched roofs of the hall, glistening brightly. It looked as if the moon had been brought into the palace. It was like a fairyland on earth. The ground paved with white jade shone gently. It was also inlaid with precious stones, gold, and pearls. Lotuses were chiseled into the floor, vividly depicted. The petals were lively and exquisite, the stamens detailed and easily recognizable. Smoke rose in spirals from a gold-plated incense burner in the center of the room.

It was so extremely luxurious.

The man in gray had changed his attire. He walked straight into the palace hall but did not meet any of the imperial handmaidens along the way.

“Attendants, do this for me….”

Inside the palace, a woman in imperial dress was kneeling in front of the dressing mirror and putting makeup on.

Upon a closer examination, the gem-studded mirror must not have been made of copper because it could clearly reflect one’s image. It was so bright that it seemed to be a demonic mirror.

Through the reflection on the mirror, the woman in the imperial dress saw a man standing behind her. His face seemed to have weathered the ups and downs of life. This person’s features felt very familiar… This person… looked like someone she was familiar with… A shock ran through her body. Only now did she realize that there were no attendants waiting on her in the palace.

She suppressed the terror in her heart and pretended to be calm. Twisting around, she asked him, “Who are you?”

“I see, an eminent persona is prone to forgetfulness. I’m the person you conspired to murder ten years ago. Xie Qian, do you remember?”

As he spoke, he revealed a spear wrapped in cloth and immediately raised it, lunging toward the woman’s heart.