The Double

Jih Minghan never guarded against Yin Zhan, perhaps because he could never imagine a reason why his sworn brother would want to kill his wife. He had shared the clues he had uncovered with Yin Zhan, who gradually realized the crisis at hand. Although it didn’t currently implicate him and Lin Roujia, as time passed, their connection with the matter would inevitably emerge.

As for Yin Zhan, his own safety was one thing, but Lin Roujia could not die, for Lin Roujia was pregnant.

In the palace, Lin Roujia had been accused of framing the favored consort. To prove her innocence, she volunteered to go to the distant Red Mountain Temple to reflect and pray to Buddha, but in reality, she was there to nurture her unborn child. If Jih Minghan discovered any hint of what was happening, and if Yin Zhan and Lin Roujia’s affair came to light, those to die would be not only him and Lin Roujia but also their innocent child. Yin Zhan placed his greatest hopes in this unborn child and would sacrifice anything, including Jih Minghan, to protect Lin Roujia and their child.

He lied to Jih Minghan, claiming he had found evidence of the real murderer, and noted the issue was grave, but that he was currently at the Red Mountain Temple, and requested Jih Minghan come to him. At the temple, Yin Zhan had laid an ambush with a hundred archers, and to ensure certainty, he had poisoned their arrows with Molan’s deadly toxin that worked upon contact with blood.

It was a cold, bitterly cold spring night. To this day, Yin Zhan didn’t understand why the wind on that spring evening felt so icy, as if it could pierce through bones, as though the lake would freeze over at any moment. Jih Minghan approached with complete trust, with no defenses up, and walked straight into the ambush.

It was like the operatic scene where "the hero challenges several generals in the Han camp. Alas, the enemy was numerous, and I few, making victory elusive."

The drama "Ambush from Ten Sides," familiar to the soldiers in the tent, was well known; one should not vainly learn from the Overlord. Yet when caught within it, there was no saying like "victory or defeat is a common occurrence in military affairs." There was no second chance to make a comeback; winning was winning, and losing was losing. Yin Zhan watched with his own eyes as Jih Minghan charged into the ambush like a cornered beast. Despite being outnumbered, he showed unexpectedly valiant bravery. Jih Minghan was very clever; once he realized he was ensnared, he did not continue to fight but instead focused on escaping.

Yin Zhan, from his higher vantage point, fired a critical arrow at the one person struggling to break through the encirclement.

The arrow hit Jih Minghan in the back. Just as Yin Zhan was about to pursue, a different sound suddenly filled the sky, forcing him to halt. He couldn’t risk making too big a movement; otherwise, if the anomaly at the Red Mountain Temple was discovered, and Lin Roujia’s situation was exposed, what then? But he was certain that Jih Minghan wouldn’t survive the night; the poison on the arrow was fatal. Since Jih Minghan had been hit, his death was certain. Thus, he quietly sent his men to search for Jih Minghan’s body.

But Jih Minghan disappeared.

For a long time afterward, Yin Zhan asked about Jih Minghan’s whereabouts everywhere. He even tried various ways to probe the members of the Jih family, but to no avail. Jih Minghan had vanished from the world. Jih Heng was growing up in the Duke Residence; if Jih Minghan was still alive, he surely would have come to see Yu Hongye’s son. But he didn’t.