Lady Hou is reborn and, by pampering her illegitimate son, reclaims her life of wealth and privilege

"Drag her away." The old lady, fiddling with her newly strung Buddhist prayer beads, suddenly reached out and grabbed the maid's chin. "These features are strikingly similar to Chunxing, who died suddenly in the laundry department." Her long nails, stained with balsam juice, traced the vermilion birthmark on the maid's neck. "What does Fenghui think?"

Wei Fenghui's sword hilt struck the jade bracelet on the old lady's wrist with a clang: "Grandmother, be careful what you say!" As the jade shattered and scattered, Jiang Huaiyu suddenly caught a glimpse of the words "Established in the Third Year of Chengping" engraved on the inner wall of the bracelet—the year the late emperor passed away.

"Such a fiery temper." The old lady touched the red mark on her wrist and took out a bright yellow silk handkerchief from her bosom. "This morning, the Empress summoned me to the palace, saying she wanted to bestow a marriage upon Feng Hui." She unfolded the handkerchief, revealing half of a mutton-fat jade pendant engraved with a phoenix pattern. "The eldest daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei will come of age around the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Jiang Huaiyu's silver needle pierced her fingertip from her sleeve. Ten years ago, when the Zhenbei Army mutinied, the late Duke Wei had brought this jade pendant to the palace to plead guilty, but returned with only half a broken sword in a sandalwood box. She suddenly chuckled, her bloodied fingertip tracing the crack in the jade pendant: "It's kind of the Empress to remember this, but Feng Hui already accepted the armlet gold from the Li family of Longxi yesterday."

A thunderclap boomed outside the window, and a blood-soaked figure crashed into the flower hall amidst the torrential rain. Wei Fenghui's lieutenant struggled to spit out half of a tiger tally: "Young General... Xuan Tie... is in Mangshan..." Before he could finish speaking, the old matriarch slammed her prayer beads heavily onto the blood-stained tally: "Well done, the Duke of Wei's mansion! Privately forging weapons is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family!"

Jiang Huaiyu pulled out the gold-inlaid jade hairpin, its pointed end aimed directly at the old lady's throat: "When you used this trick to bring down the eldest son of the Duke of Protectorate, did you ever consider that the Wei family might also be among your nine clans?" She suddenly turned to her tense son, "Hui'er, show the old lady what you've hidden in the sword sheath."

Wei Fenghui pressed his thumb against Ya Zi's left eye, and half of a yellowed marriage certificate popped out from the sword hilt. When the old lady saw the four characters "Chao Shi Shu Yuan," the wrinkles on her face suddenly twisted like centipedes: "You dare...you dare to dig out..."

"Dig up your half-sister who was buried alive in the western suburbs villa forty years ago?" Jiang Huaiyu brought the marriage certificate close to the candlelight. As the flames leaped up, the sound of a bowstring vibrating suddenly came from the downpour. Wei Fenghui swung his sword and cleaved off three crossbow bolts, the peacock gall bladders on the arrowheads scorching white smoke on the blue bricks.

The old lady's prayer beads scattered on the ground. Staring at the swaying shadows outside the window, she suddenly burst into wild laughter: "Tonight at midnight..." Before she could finish speaking, Jiang Huaiyu's silver needles had already pierced her mute acupoint. Suddenly, the sound of a rapid wooden clapper rang out from outside the courtyard wall, mixed with the shouts of the military commander, growing ever closer.

“Mother, the Xuan Tie is actually…” Wei Fenghui’s sword tip was still dripping blood when he saw Jiang Huaiyu pick up the broken bracelet from the ground, revealing a hollow inner layer—half a bronze tiger tally, gleaming with a cold, eerie light. The copper bells on the eaves suddenly rang, carrying the scent of the frontier winds and sand.

……

A gilded candlestick flickered, and Jiang Huaiyu's nail guards gently caressed the rim of the celadon cup. "Sanlang has been suppressing bandits in Yunzhou for over three months. His letter the other day said he'd found a jade vein." She glanced at Old Madam Chao's suddenly tense wrist. "He said he wanted to present it to the Imperial Concubine to make a set of headdresses."

Wei Fenghui's black iron wrist guard suddenly slammed onto the table: "Third brother said in his letter that the mine is in Wild Wolf Valley?" He dipped his finger in wine and drew a crescent shape on the table. "Last month, the Northern Di bandits disappeared right there."

The amber prayer beads on Old Madam Chao's wrist cracked with a "crack": "I remember, thirty li east of Wild Wolf Valley..."

“This is the very place where Duke Wei was ambushed back then.” Jiang Huaiyu suddenly poked a hole in the plum blossom pattern on the teacup with her red nail polish. “Sanlang, this mine map is so detailed, even the underground river at the bottom of the valley is clearly marked.” A shard of porcelain grazed her fingertip, and a drop of blood dripped onto the cinnabar mark on the mine map.

Wei Fenghui suddenly drew his soft sword from his waist, the blade lifting the sandalwood prayer beads of Old Madam Chao: "This string of sandalwood, Third Brother, you hunted it in Yunzhou last year, didn't you?" The eighteen beads spun on the tip of the sword, revealing the Northern Di runes engraved on the inner wall.

Old Madam Chao gripped the corner of the table with her withered hands: "Hui'er is joking, this was a gift from the Imperial Concubine..."

"The Imperial Concubine's grace is inscribed with the prayers of the Northern Barbarian priests?" Jiang Huaiyu suddenly opened the gilded food box and took out a bowl of blood bird's nest. "Just like this bird's nest, which is said to be a tribute from Siam, but is actually stewed with wild honey from Yunzhou."

Wei Fenghui's sword flashed, cleaving open the blood-red swallow's nest. Inside, nestled within, was a bronze key, its teeth marks fitting perfectly against the lock of the Ministry of Justice's prison. Jiang Huaiyu chuckled, "The Northern Di envoy that Sanlang intercepted last month confessed that this key can open the Yanmen dungeon."

A sudden clap of thunder boomed outside the window. Old Madam Chao staggered to her feet, and the jade pendant that bound her waist suddenly fell to the ground. Jiang Huaiyu's armor stepped on the jade pendant first, and the back was clearly engraved with Wei Fengyao's birth date and time.

"Grandma, is that jade pendant carved with the wolf god of the Northern Barbarians?" Wei Fenghui pressed the tip of his sword against the jade pendant's pattern. "My third brother had this birthmark on his chest when he was an infant."

The torrential rain pounded against the windowpanes. Jiang Huaiyu suddenly tore open a secret letter hidden in her sleeve. The sealing wax was imprinted with a phoenix pattern reminiscent of the Imperial Concubine, but the letter paper was soaked in pine soot ink, a specialty of Yunzhou: "The Imperial Concubine seems to know more about Sanlang's background than I, his mother, do."

Old Madam Chao suddenly coughed violently, blue blood seeping from the corner of her handkerchief: "Your Majesty is also thinking of the Duke of Wei's mansion..."

“Three years ago, the Duke was ambushed. How could the enemy have known he would sneak into Wolf Valley at night?” Jiang Huaiyu threw the secret letter into the incense burner, and the Northern Barbarian script appeared in the firelight. “Unless someone planted a wolf god's seal to guide him when he was an infant.”

Wei Fenghui suddenly ripped open his shirt, revealing a wolf head tattoo on his chest, its color tinged with vermilion red: "Son, how come this birthmark is the same as my third brother's..." Before he could finish speaking, Old Madam Chao's Buddhist beads suddenly exploded, and poisonous powder flew straight at his face.

Jiang Huaiyu rolled up her wide sleeves, and the twelve Hunan-embroidered screens collapsed with a crash. Wei Fenghui's soft sword shredded the wooden frame of the screens, revealing a yellowed swaddling cloth in a hidden compartment—embroidered with the eagle and wolf totems of the Northern Di royal family.

"Does the Dowager still remember the congratulatory gift that the Imperial Concubine sent back then?" Jiang Huaiyu's nail polish brushed against the bloodstains on the swaddling clothes. "This blood is from the midwife."

Suddenly, Old Madam Chao let out a laugh like an owl, her withered fingers tearing open the skin of her face. Beneath the human skin mask, the tattoo on the Ministry of Justice's wanted poster was clearly visible: "The Lady of the Duke of Wei truly lives up to her reputation."

Wei Fenghui's sword was already pressed against her throat: "The Northern Barbarian's number one disguise master, Ghost-Faced Rakshasa."

Suddenly, the fake old lady shot out poisoned silver needles from her sleeve, and Jiang Huaiyu spun around and threw out twelve gold-inlaid jade bracelets. The moment the jade bracelets shattered the silver needles, Wei Fenghui's soft sword had already pierced open the other's clothes—the wolf god tattoo on his chest was exactly the same as Wei Fengyao's birthmark.

"Does Third Brother know that his birth mother is still alive?" Blood seeped from the tip of Wei Fenghui's sword. "Or perhaps, Her Highness the Princess of the Northern Barbarians?"

Amidst the torrential rain, Jiang Huaiyu suddenly struck the bronze chime. The hidden door opened in response, and the real Old Madam Chao was dragged out, chained and gagged with the poisoned pearl.

“Enough with the acting.” Jiang Huaiyu tossed the swaddled baby onto the table. “Sanlang, with the tungsten mine map, should be at Yanmen Pass by now.” She suddenly chuckled. “Do you think the Northern Di King will be overjoyed to see his grandson’s surrender gift?”

Wei Fenghui's sword grazed the fake old lady's cheek: "I must thank you for teaching me the art of disguise. My third brother, disguised as a refugee, was so convincing that even I almost didn't recognize him."

As thunder cleaved the night sky, Jiang Huaiyu stroked the bloodstains on the swaddling clothes. The blood-written letter that the midwife had given her on her deathbed twenty years ago was now fully revealed—"Twins, those who bear the mark of the Wolf God shall be abandoned."