Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

The autumn wind swirled the ashes of burnt clothes before Bai's lonely grave, like invisible fingers playing with unfinished stories. The Plum Blossom Taoist threw the last paper-cut jacket into the fire; the flames leaped high, illuminating her profile, which held a storm of suppressed emotion beneath its calm surface. Zhang Jingwei stood respectfully to the side, bowing slightly before the simple stone tablet.

Amidst the rising smoke, the voice of the Plum Blossom Taoist rang out, colder than the mountain wind, heavier than ashes: "I entered the Taoist path at a young age. Buddhism speaks of cause and effect, reincarnation, and retribution in the next life. But my Taoist school… speaks of 'inheritance.' The good and evil deeds of our ancestors are borne by our descendants. One's own karma is repaid in this life; this is the way of Heaven." She paused, her gaze sweeping over the tombstone and into the distant void, a chilling sarcasm seeping into her voice, "But the laws of the human world… human laws, sometimes don't speak of inheritance, only of strength. If the human heart is evil, it can deceive even ghosts and gods, devour even one's closest relatives, let alone mere laws?"

Zhang Jingwei remained silent for a moment, processing the resentment and sorrow in her words, before finally asking the core question: "I don't understand. Since you've found them and have the ability, why not just end Hu Sheng's life? He's terminally ill and doesn't have much time left. Why... why drag Rongrong and Jiaojiao, two children who have just lost their mother and are full of trust and reliance on you, into this bloody revenge? If Hu Jiao hadn't practiced martial arts and reacted quickly, that night in Hu Sheng's room, Hu Rong might have..."

"If he dies like that, how can I take revenge?" Plum Blossom Taoist abruptly interrupted him, turning to stare directly at Zhang Jingwei. Beneath the icy lake in his eyes, scorching magma finally surged. "That's too easy on him. I want him to be utterly disgraced, to die at the hands of the daughter he owes the most, to never find peace even in death, to have his grave dug up and his corpse exposed, to be cursed for a thousand years! I want him to taste what it was like for Bai Mei to be abandoned by her loved ones, to be looked down upon by the world, and to slowly die in despair! If he dies, how can this play be performed completely? How can his sins truly be 'beared' upon his own flesh and blood?!"

Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a knife, slicing through the silent forest. Zhang Jingwei stared into the flames of almost obsessive hatred and pain intertwined in her eyes, and a more hidden guess gradually became clear. He slowly said, "Your feelings for Madam Bai... are not merely out of kindness or friendship as fellow townsmen, are they? That persistence, that pain... must contain... feelings beyond the ordinary."

The Plum Blossom Taoist did not deny it. Her words seemed to drain some of her intensity, plunging her back into a deeper, quieter sorrow. She turned away, her fingers unconsciously tracing the rough edge of the tombstone, as if caressing a lover's hair, her voice drifting, as if traversing decades:

"Neither of us are from Gaoyang. We grew up in Huainan... She is the pampered young lady of the Bai family in Huainan, while I am just a young orphan in the Baiyun Temple outside the city, learning scriptures and alchemy from my master." A faint, bitter smile appeared on her lips. "By chance, she came to the temple with her family to offer incense, and that's how we met. She didn't care for those fine silks and satins, poetry gatherings and banquets, but preferred listening to me talk about the *Zhuangzi*, and loved the clear spring and wildflowers in the back mountain. Later... her family wanted her to marry into the Xie family, the most prestigious family in Huainan, but she refused, causing a huge uproar and offending the Xie family. The Bai family couldn't afford to offend them, so they had to flee north in panic, ending up in this border region of Yunzhou."

"Her father vented all his resentment over the family's downfall on her. In the north, she lived... worse than a pig or a dog." Plum Blossom Taoist's voice began to tremble. "Later, the Northern Rong invaded, and in the chaos of war, her family barely survived. Then, Yunzhou was restored, and the court purged them. Her father was convicted of treason for having briefly submitted to the Rong... Before his execution, whether it was a last shred of conscience or a desire to leave some lineage for the family, he hastily married off all the unmarried women. Bai Mei... was thus given to Hu Sheng, a coal miner covered in soot and illiterate."

Zhang Jingwei added in a low voice what he had heard in the village: "After she married Hu Sheng, she worked hard and gave birth to two daughters. But because she didn't have a son, Hu Sheng and his mean-spirited mother bullied her to the extreme. Before she died, Hu Sheng's mother forced him to write a letter of divorce... This matter is not a secret among the older generation in Huzhuang Village."

“Yes…it’s not a secret.” Plum Blossom Taoist’s teeth clenched so tightly her fingers dug deep into the cracks of the tombstone. “Everyone knows! Yet everyone just stands by and watches! Neighbors, clansmen, even…those seemingly kind-hearted gossipy old women, who truly said a word for her? Who offered her an umbrella when she was locked out in the rain? Who gave her a bowl of rice when she was so hungry she stole pig feed? No one! Not a single one!” She suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with overwhelming hatred. “I got the news and searched for her like a madwoman. When I finally found Gaoyang, found Huzhuang Village…all I got was news of her death!”

Zhang Jingwei frowned: "That's not right. Hu Rong and Hu Jiao were clearly taken in and raised by you; they said you saved them. If Madam Bai was already dead at that time, how could there be any 'entrustment' of their children?"

"That happened later!" Plum Blossom Taoist laughed bitterly. "The first 'death' news I heard was a lie Hu Sheng told the authorities in order to completely seize the small coal mine that Bai Mei had bought with all her dowry and even sold her jewelry! He claimed that his wife had died suddenly from an illness, and even... even planned to sell his two daughters, who were only seven or eight years old, to that greedy and lustful magistrate of Gaoyang County as maids, in reality, to make them his despicable concubines! That beast... taking advantage of Bai Mei's serious illness and inability to resist, he really... threw her into the mass grave in the back mountain! To let her fend for herself!"

"Calm down... calm down!" Zhang Jingwei shouted, raising his voice as he saw her lose control of her emotions again and her breathing become rapid.

Plum Blossom Taoist's chest heaved violently, and it took him a while to calm down, but his voice was like a poisoned icicle: "Later, I used some... extreme measures to find out the truth. I didn't report it to the authorities, but I started spreading rumors everywhere in Huzhuang Village, among the coal miners, and in Gaoyang City about Hu Sheng's shameful deeds of 'abandoning his wife and children, forcing his first wife to death, and selling his daughters for personal gain.' At that time, his business was just starting to pick up, and he wanted to save face. He was afraid that ruining his reputation would affect his business, and he was also afraid of the power of rumors, so he pretended to carry Bai Mei, who was still alive, back from the mountains and threw her back into the old house. As for his two daughters? He didn't care about them at all. They were left there with their half-dead mother to fend for themselves!"

"Why didn't you report it to the authorities from the beginning?" Zhang Jingwei pressed, though he already knew the answer.

"You mean officials? Sometimes, officials are nothing more than wolves in sheep's clothing, or... wolves' watchdogs." Plum Blossom Taoist sneered, full of mockery. "Lord Zhang, do you really think all officials in this world are like you? Perhaps there are some like you who are willing to take things seriously and cannot tolerate any wrongdoing. But you know better than I what kind of person the magistrate of Gaoyang County was back then! If I hadn't been secretly watching and taking timely action, using some江湖 (jianghu, the martial arts world) methods to intimidate him, and spending some money to bribe him, Rongrong and Jiaojiao would have been defiled by that corrupt official years ago! They were just children!" A trace of lingering fear flashed in her eyes, but it was then covered by a deeper resentment.

Zhang Jingwei remained silent, unable to refute. He had personally investigated the former magistrate's greed and cruelty, and the evidence against him was irrefutable, ultimately leading to the execution of his entire family. That was indeed a dark period in Gaoyang's history.

“So,” Zhang Jingwei’s voice deepened, laced with accusation, “your hatred for Hu Sheng, your hatred for that dark world, can be a reason for you to cruelly exploit two children who have just lost their mother and see you as their only support? To make them kill their father with their own hands, thus burdening them with a sin they can never escape for eternity? Master Plum Blossom, this is not the inheritance of karmic debt, this is… violence begetting violence, imposing a new tragedy on innocent people! They could have been your salvation, not pawns in your revenge!”

The Plum Blossom Taoist's expression wavered for a moment, but it was quickly replaced by an even firmer stubbornness. She avoided Zhang Jingwei's gaze, looked at the grave, and lowered her voice, yet it carried an eerie calm: "This is the retribution Hu Sheng is facing in this life. Just like your predecessor, that corrupt official, he ultimately hanged himself, seemingly ending his own life, but what was the result? His entire family was executed, his bloodline severed. This is the true 'karma'." She paused, "As for Rongrong and Jiaojiao... they have Hu Sheng's blood flowing in their veins, this is their 'karma'. I taught them skills, gave them a chance for revenge, and that's also giving them a way to... 'receive'. Besides, if Hu Sheng hadn't died, what good days could they have had in the Hu family, under the Liu family? Sooner or later they would have been devoured until not even bones were left."

"Stop blaming everything on some vague and ethereal 'Taoist karmic burden'!" Zhang Jingwei stepped forward, his gaze sharp as lightning, trying to pierce through her last pretense. "Admit it! Deep down, you dragged them in not just for the dramatic effect of revenge, not just because they are 'Hu Sheng's daughters.' They are your tools, the most crucial and least suspicious link in your ability to access Hu Sheng and carry out your complex revenge plan! You exploited their longing for their mother, their trust in you, and their anger at their unjust fate! You stained them with indelible blood, while you yourself... perhaps many years ago, at the moment you decided to fill your grief with hatred rather than redemption, you had already embarked on another path of no return."

Plum Blossom Taoist did not refute. She simply stood there quietly, letting Zhang Jingwei's words lash the silent air like a whip. After a long while, she suddenly smiled very slightly. The smile lacked the previous intensity, sarcasm, or sorrow, leaving only boundless weariness and a sense of relief after everything had settled.

She turned away from Zhang Jingwei, facing the solitary grave. She bent down, opened her arms, and gently embraced the cold, rough tombstone. Her movements were incredibly tender, as if she were truly embracing a long-lost lover. Her cheek pressed against the stone, she whispered softly, her love as deep as the sea:

“Bai Mei…look, the debts that needed to be collected are almost settled. This world is too dirty and too cold…don’t be afraid, your senior sister…I’ll be coming to join you soon. The road to the underworld is long, but with me holding your hand, you won’t feel lonely down there.”

She closed her eyes and gently patted the tombstone, as if soothing a sleeping child, or comforting her own wounded soul. The autumn wind swept by, the bamboo forest grove grove wept, and the ashes of the paper shrouded the ground, causing her moon-white Taoist robe and frost-like hair to flutter slightly, as if she were truly about to vanish with the wind, returning to eternal silence along with the "Bai Mei" she spoke of.

Zhang Jingwei stood there, saying nothing more. He watched her back as she embraced the tombstone, feeling no relief that the case was about to be solved, only a heavy sorrow.