This time it truly went beyond Gu Chengyu's expectations; it was indeed a final letter. Yet the owner of this blood-written letter was not Xia Qing, but Xia Qing's disciple Zhang Shuo.
After his initial surprise, Gu Chengyu carefully examined the contents of the blood letter.
"Your subject is guilty!
This criminal subject already defected to Da Xing ten years ago, when I had just been promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Justice. That year, people from Da Xing came to me with gold and silver to tempt me. In a moment of foolishness I committed a wrong, and have long been tormented by guilt. Yet by now everything is too late; those people are ravenous wolves—how would they ever let me go?
Because of this matter, I even implicated my honored teacher. After my teacher learned of this yesterday, he wished to take the blame in my stead. It was I who recommended the Phecda Taoist to my teacher in the first place; my teacher had no doubts, and then recommended him to the Emperor.
