Su Li Hangs Herself and Commits Suicide

Su Hong knelt to give his thanks, expressing his unwavering loyalty to Ren Tianye. He did this even though he knew that Ren Tianye would still trust him even if he said nothing at all; nevertheless, he felt compelled to make the gesture.

Then, under Ren Tianye's smiling gaze, he departed from the general's manor.

Standing outside the manor, he looked up at the grand gates—gates that had once opened wide for him, then firmly shut against him, and now practically allowed him to come and go as he pleased.

A myriad of emotions swelled within Su Hong's heart.

However, now that his wishes had finally been fulfilled, he did not feel the wild ecstasy he had anticipated. Instead, deep within his soul, a surging tide of excitement lay hidden.

It had been a very long time since he had felt such an emotion.

Now, it had arrived exactly as promised.

"Second Uncle!"

Not far away, Su Jin walked over, dressed in plain clothes and styled like a modest clerk. "It has been a long time, Second Uncle. You look haggard."

"It is nothing!" Su Hong replied with a smile, his eyes filled with nothing but admiration for his eldest niece. The Su family had managed to return from the brink of death and even secure an opportunity to climb to greater heights, and this eldest niece deserved a great deal of the credit.

Most importantly, this eldest niece was increasingly aligning with his expectations.

The anxiety and impatience that once plagued her had been smoothed away by the passage of time, leaving behind a gentle, jade-like temperament and an aura of profound calmness that lingered around her.

She was truly fit to be the pillar of his Su family!

"The Great General must have agreed to support our Su family from now on, hasn't he?"

Su Jin asked, "Should our Su family celebrate such wonderful news?"

"Right, should we tell Little Sister?"

By "Little Sister," Su Jin was naturally referring to Su Li.

During the days Ye Fan was causing an uproar in Yunji City, Su Li had been forcibly locked in her room—a form of house arrest meant to shatter her unrealistic and vain delusions.

However, once an obsession takes root in the human heart, one never knows where it truly begins, yet it inadvertently carves itself deep into the soul. What seems like a single fragile thread is actually an endless web of silk; how could it ever be easily severed?

"Perhaps we should just let fate take its course!"

Before Su Hong could respond, Su Jin answered her own question.

"Li'er probably does not care about these things anyway..."

Su Hong interrupted her. His tone was distant, carrying what seemed to be infinite melancholy, yet also a hint of relief. "There is no need to worry about Su Li anymore."

"She is dead."

"What?" Su Jin's body trembled violently.

Su Hong looked up at the sky, where the starlight appeared desolate. "Before Yunji City was to be attacked by the barbarians, I received advance notice and had people escort your little sister back to our hometown to recover."

"On the way back..."

"I do not know who told her, but someone said that the Great General had disposed of a man named Ye Fan, burning him to ashes and scattering his remains to the winds."

"Upon hearing this, your little sister took her own life when no one was watching."

"She left behind nothing but that half of a jade pendant carved with the character 'Fan'."

"However, after someone brought that pendant back to me, I smashed it to pieces."

Su Jin fell into a stunned silence.

In her mind's eye, she could still see the smiling faces of her second sister, Su Xiu, and her third sister, Su Li, but now...

One had vanished without a trace in Sifang City.

The other had committed suicide.

Her second sister's disappearance most likely meant she had met a grim fate.

It was perhaps for the best that the Su family remained ignorant of the exact details.

And now, her little sister was gone as well.

But...

Su Jin clearly remembered how, during the days Ye Fan was wreaking havoc in Yunji City, she had sat in Su Li's boudoir, earnestly trying to talk sense into her.

She knew all about the tangled grievances between her little sister Su Li and Ye Fan.

In truth, it could all be summed up in a single sentence.

Ye Fan did not remember her at all!

She had merely been a messenger passing words between her second sister Su Xiu and Ye Fan, yet somehow she had fallen inexplicably and deeply in love, unable to extricate herself. And now, she had even hanged herself to prove her devotion.

It only brought grief to her loved ones and joy to her enemies!

What on earth had gone wrong with their Su family?

Why were all the women they raised so disappointing, just like herself?!

Su Hong had clearly composed his feelings, or perhaps he was trying his utmost to suppress them. His face remained placid, though his eyes betrayed a hint of sorrow.

He and Su Jin walked along the street, heading back to the Su Manor.

Their pace was neither fast nor slow.

The streets on either side no longer looked familiar.

During the days the barbarians besieged the city, when siege equipment ran short, many civilian houses had been torn down. The area closest to the walls of Yunji City had suffered the most severe damage.

Among them was a jewelry merchant who had refused the compensation plan proposed by Sun Xiang, fighting desperately to protect his ancestral business. Now, the shop was in ruins, and the merchant's head hung from the city wall.

Walking past the rubble, Su Hong stared at the broken walls and suddenly began to mutter.

"Empty halls and humble dwellings, once filled with officials holding ivory tablets."

"Withered grass and dying poplars, once a stage for song and dance."

Su Jin looked up. "Second Uncle, what did you say?"

"Nothing!" Su Hong took a deep breath and said, "I was merely thinking that from now on, all the children of our Su family, whether clever or dull, must attend school and learn proper etiquette."

"No matter how busy I am in the future, I will personally oversee their progress!"

"Only with proper discipline can our Su family ever hope to become a mighty pillar in the future!"

...

The training of troops in Yunji City commenced with blazing speed the very next day. The primary task was to break up the original soldiers and reorganize them into new formations.

While maintaining their combat effectiveness, this was also to prevent any factions from banding together to seize power.

Although the probability of such an event was low, Ren Tianye would not take these matters lightly.

Furthermore, he had to handle these men personally in order to make the soldiers and officers obey his commands, leaving him dizzy with busyness. It was at this moment that a piece of news arrived.

"Report!"

"Great General!"

"There is a force, suspected to be barbarians, moving rapidly along the main road outside Yunji City. Judging by their numbers, there are about fifty to sixty thousand of them!"

"General Zhang Shi requests orders: should we intercept them?"

Ren Tianye's spirit jolted.

He immediately guessed that these were troops led by Tuoba Xiangtai.

Over the past few days, through his own analysis and the continuous stream of intelligence coming in, he had already deduced that a political upheaval had occurred within the barbarian tribes.

The barbarian king, Tuoba Ashina, and the eldest prince had most likely perished in the abandoned hunting village.

The barbarians were now under the control of Tuoba Xiangtai.

And Tuoba Xiangtai was leading a massive army south to the capital to find Empress Xiao Mingzhao!

This was the very scenario Ren Tianye had most wanted to see for a long time. He immediately ordered, "Command Zhang Shi to hold his position and let Tuoba Xiangtai pass."

"This is Xiao Mingzhao's order. As a loyal subject, I naturally must give Her Majesty face!"

After the messenger left to deliver the orders, Ren Tianye accelerated the deployment of his subordinate soldiers. The following day, he convened a military council!

"Gentlemen, judging from the continuous reports sent back by our scouts, the barbarians have already marched south. They are moving extremely fast, bypassing the northern counties and heading straight for the capital!"

"If my predictions hold true, a massive upheaval will soon shake the capital."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"I, your General, am certainly not willing to miss this chance to sit at the table!"

"Generals of the guards, are you willing to follow me and gamble on the destiny of this divine land, to see whose hands it ultimately falls into?"

Almost without hesitation, the crowd's morale surged wildly. Every single one of them was eager to immediately lead the army south and claim the empire of Great Yu as their own!

...