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

Chapter 54: The Past of the Five Kingdoms City

Zhang Quwei took out an identical, chipped copper coin from the inside of his raincoat and placed it on the table.

The two copper coins are placed side by side, and the missing arcs match up perfectly.

"In the seventh year of Shaoxing, when Zhijia handed this coin to the old servant, he said something."

"If the person who brings you this copper coin in the future is the one who will carry the flag with you after the wind rises, is that person His Highness?"

"He's talking about the wooden bird recognizing its master." Qin Keqing's voice was very soft. "My master told me before he was arrested that the day the wooden bird recognizes its master is the day the wind rises."

Zhang Quwei was silent for a moment, then nodded, as if he had finally confirmed something that had been destined long ago.

He sat down, rainwater still dripping from his raincoat.

"The Empress Dowager has been in Wuguo City for sixteen years, and this old servant accompanied her for the last five years."

When Lao Nu was exchanged for a prisoner and taken to the Jin Kingdom in the seventh year of Shaoxing, the Empress Dowager had already been imprisoned for eleven years.

When I first saw her, she was as thin as a piece of withered wood, with a head of white hair. She was only forty-three years old that year.

But while serving her as she washed and dressed, the old servant discovered something: she had been hiding a shard of porcelain under her bedding, wrapping it in a corner of her clothes every night and holding it in her hand as she slept.

Those shards of porcelain were relics left to her by Emperor Huizong in Wuguo City. Three days after his death, she sharpened them overnight.

The study was so quiet that only the sound of rain hitting the tiles could be heard.

"This old servant served as a eunuch in the Five Kingdoms City for five years, accompanying the Jin prince, the Jin noblewomen, and all those who could kill the Empress Dowager."

The reason this old servant was able to return alive was not because he stubbornly endured it, but because he learned to read people and situations by smiling and flattering others in that place.

The Empress Dowager learned far more in the Five Kingdoms City than I did.

She learned the language, rules, and patience of the Golden Men, then concealed all her emotions, waiting for the right moment.

Zhang Quwei's voice suddenly lowered.

"And during those long periods, the only thought that kept her alive was hatred."

She hated the Jurchens, hated Qin Hui, and hated the peace treaties that brought shame upon the Song Dynasty.

His words stopped there.

"In the seventh year of Shaoxing, before I set off from Lin'an for Wuguo City, I met Qin Hui once."

Qin Hui handed an old servant a letter, instructing him to deliver it to the Empress Dowager.

"I don't know the contents of the letter, but I do know that after I delivered it to the Empress Dowager's quarters, she tore it up in front of me, shredding it into pieces."

Zhang Quwei reached out and measured the area between his thumb and forefinger.

"Then she put the scraps of paper in her mouth, chewed them up, swallowed them, and said something to the old servant."

He raised his eyes, his voice hoarse and slow, "Go back and tell Qin Hui that the suffering I endured for him in the north will be repaid to him one by one when I return to Lin'an."

Zhao Bozong's fingers gently lifted and fell on the chair armrest, and he saw that Qin Keqing was also holding her pen without moving.

This information is so sharp that, if it is not verified and isolated, it could pierce the most vulnerable connection point in the entire document intelligence network.

Zhang Quwei continued, "Three days before the Empress Dowager returned south, she received something in Wuguo City."

The imperial messenger sent a letter to welcome the emperor, bearing the official seal on the envelope. The messenger said that the negotiation was completed only after Qin Hui drafted a letter requesting the return of the coffin and the Empress Dowager.

After reading the letter, the Empress Dowager put it into an ebony box.

He pointed to the spot next to the chipped copper coin in front of Zhao Bocong, as if describing something that everyone would have to face sooner or later.

"In the same ebony box, there was an even earlier letter."

In the seventh year of the Shaoxing reign, the emperor wrote a letter to the Jin dynasty pledging allegiance and seeking peace. The letter was drafted by Qin Hui, and the emperor personally copied it and affixed his imperial seal.

There was a sentence in the letter that I remember every word of: 'Your subject Gou says: Having received your gracious permission, how dare I disobey? Your subject now wishes to present this memorial, acknowledging your submission to the Great Jin Emperor.'"

Zhao Bocong took a slow breath.

This was exactly the same as the historical records he had read before he traveled through time.

But the words in history books are dead; every word spoken by Zhang Quwei carries the chill of Wuguo City.

"How did this letter end up in the Empress Dowager's hands?" Qin Keqing's voice was steady, but her fingers holding the charcoal pencil had stiffened.

"Back then, the emperor sent someone to deliver this letter seeking peace to Wuguo City. When the messenger passed through the Jin capital, he was detained by the Jin people, and the letter fell into the hands of the Jin royal family."

The Jurchens later used this letter as a tool to humiliate the Empress Dowager, reading it aloud word by word in front of her and Emperor Huizong at the Jurchen Marshal's Mansion.

At that time, Emperor Huizong was still alive, and he was so angry that he vomited blood on the spot. From that day on, the Empress Dowager sought an opportunity to hide the letter.

Zhang Quwei's voice was hoarse and hoarse, as if his throat had been worn raw by these memories. "On the first night that the Empress Dowager returned to the palace with the ebony box, she opened the box and said to the old servant: 'I will take out this letter sooner or later.'"

Zhao Bozong stood up, walked to the window, and watched the rain hitting the window paper, making it bulge and then dent.

"What is the Empress Dowager thinking now?" He asked softly after a long while, his back to Zhang Quwei.

"The Empress Dowager always had a scale in her heart."

Zhang Quwei paused for a moment, as if he was organizing his words, "Sixteen years of captivity in the north made her realize what kind of person Qin Hui really was."

She didn't produce the secret letter not because she was afraid of Qin Hui, but because she was afraid of harming the Emperor first.

The letter was written in the Emperor's own handwriting. When this was exposed, all the officials were shocked, and the Emperor's throne became unstable.

"But if things ever calm down and Yue Fei's case is overturned—" He gave Zhao Bocong a meaningful look, "then this box will be her backup plan."

Zhao Bozong's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

He turned away from the window, his gaze landing on Zhang Quwei's face. "When the Empress Dowager spoke of Yue Fei, was she talking to herself or to you?"

"Talking to herself." Zhang Quwei's voice was very low. "At first, I thought she was just old and occasionally lost in thought, but later I found out that wasn't the case."

Every time Qin Hui sent something to Cining Palace, no matter what it was—silk or ginseng—the Empress Dowager would recite Yue Fei's name twice in a very soft voice after burning incense that evening.

It sounded like someone was saying a name, or like someone was reciting an unfinished sentence; this old servant dared not ask.

Zhao Bocong remained silent for a long time.

Then he made a judgment that even Qin Keqing was slightly taken aback.

"The Empress Dowager wasn't reminiscing about Yue Fei," he said, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk, his voice low. "She was reminding herself that Yue Fei's hatred was also her hatred."

She had been instilled with hatred by the Jin people in the Jin Kingdom for sixteen years, and this hatred needed an outlet.

Yue Fei wasn't her outlet; he was just an excuse she used. She needed a scapegoat, and Qin Hui was the scapegoat she chose.

Qin Keqing understood Zhao Bocong's meaning. "The Virtuous Consort wants to take action against Qin Hui, but she cannot use the Emperor's letter to do so."

That letter was too fatal. If it were made public, it would not only hurt Qin Hui, but also the Emperor more severely. Therefore, she needed another reason.

As Zhang Quwei watched the two young people complete the deduction in perfect harmony, a faint light appeared in his eyes.

He spent five years in Wuguo City, and when he returned to Lin'an, he found a court that was being controlled by Qin Hui.

Aside from the Empress Dowager who burned incense by his side day after day, he thought there was no other clear-headed person in the court.