A company of soldiers, wearing the scarlet and black colors of the Ji family army, and lead by General Han appeared late one morning.
While people on the street watched and speculated about what was happening, the leader of this company flashed an imperial token, and walked right into the Chen family home.
When the news reached Lu Yan in the backyard, Han had already reached the main study and was in conversation with Chen Wen, the head of the Chen family and Chen Hai's uncle.
The conversation lasted for a long time.
With the Ji family soldiers keeping watch, and the servants all dismissed from the courtyard, no one knew what was being discussed behind the closed doors.
Lunch time came and went, and still the study door remained shut.
Finally, in the later afternoon, the door opened and Han emerged.
Without any indication of what was going on, he left with the company of soldiers following him.
Lu Yan wasn't too worried about this meeting.
But other people in the Chen family were incredibly uneasy.
Han showing up with soldiers was never a good indication for the ones he was visiting.
---
After he left, the whole Chen family was buzzing anxiously like a hive of disturbed bees.
That evening, Chen Wen, the head of the family, called for everyone to dine together.
The Chen family had three branches. The first branch, lead by Chen Wen, had three sons all of whom were married with children. The second branch was lead by Chen Yuan since his father had died. The third branch lead by Chen Jian had two sons.
The banquet that evening was held in a big hall, and was packed with the more than thirty members of the Chen family.
Lu Yan sat at a table with the other women: the mothers, daughters, wives and daughter-in-laws of the Chen family.
She didn't speak much, but listened attentively.
Inevitably, the conversation turned to Han.
Since returning from the border, he had become a much discussed figure in the capital.
He was astonishingly competent: from being an ordinary soldier in the Ji family camp, he had managed to become one of the highest generals in the nation at a young age.
The women of the capital were especially interested in him.
He was handsome: dark eyed and dark haired, his face inviting second looks everywhere he went. He was vigorous: every movement filled with grace and ease that only top martial artists possessed.
In armor, he looked stern and commanding. In robes, his sharp edges seemed soft, especially when he let his hair down.
He seemed mysterious and tantalizing. He had no family, no wife and no concubines, only two younger brothers.
Many families wanted to make a marriage alliance with this right-hand man of the regent who didn't have any powerful family behind him.
For those in politics, he was a perfect wild-card holding untapped power.
As a result, even though he was not from a noble family, the general opinion was that he was superior to most noblemen in the capital.
Since returning from the border, the rumors about him had become more and more outrageous. His exploits at the border were legendary.
People said he consistently threw the Ji vanguard battalion into impossible battles and managed to get them out alive by the skin of their teeth. He was so practiced and efficient at killing that the barbarians called him The Butcher Han. Somehow, this nickname had also spread throughout the capital, though no one dared say it to his face.
The women continued talking in quiet tones.
"I heard that one time his battalion of five-hundred ambushed over three thousand barbarian soldiers. No one knows how they managed to sabotage the enemy's firewood with hallucinatory drugs. But that night, the barbarians were slowly driven out of their minds. The Ji vanguard lead by Han descended upon them and butchered them while they were unable to fight back. It took them only a few hours to completely wipe out the left army lead by one of the barbarian princes. Not one man survived."
In her heart, Lu Yan couldn't help smiling. Every time she heard these stories about Han's exploits, they seemed to get more and more fantastic.
Han was probably fanning the rumors himself.
After all, fear was a powerful deterrent.
---
As the meal drew to a close, the voices of the women eating grew quieter. No one could ignore the tension among the men in the room.
At the end of the meal, Chen Wen stood, and led the men of the family to the ancestral hall.
The women waited in the banquet hall, drinking tea, and trying to chat casually.
But Han's presence had shaken everyone, and as they waited, time seemed to drag, and everyone's nerves were overwrought.
Late in the evening, as Lu Yan was struggling to hold back her exhaustion, a message arrived from the ancestral hall: the elders had decided that Chen Yuan was to be expelled from the family.
Everyone, including Lu Yan, was shocked by this turn of events.
Her mother-in-law had not participated in the banquet because of her sickness. As Lu Yan walked alone back to her courtyard, the women of the Chen family all stared at her. Exiting the hall, she could hear the excited pitch of gossip rise behind her.
Lu Yan thought it over, and slowly understood.
Ji Jing had likely given the Chen family a choice: get rid of Chen Yuan themselves, or have the whole Chen family destroyed on charges of assassinating the regent.
Chen Wen didn't have much of a choice. But this choice would have severe consequences.
Once Chen Wen sacrificed his unfavored nephew following Han's visit, he would never again be completely trusted by Prince Rui's camp.
Even if they continued working together, it was only temporary: the seed of distrust had been planted.
Who knew what deal Chen Wen had struck with Ji Jing?
Moreover, when push came to shove, someone who sacrificed his nephew would definitely sacrifice his allies.
In the future, the alliance between Prince Rui and the Chen family would definitely collapse.
Lu Yan looked up at the sky in her courtyard.
Admiringly, she thought that Ji Jing was skilled at killing without shedding blood.
He could have wiped away the whole Chen family, but with this move, he would have the Chen family grabbed by the throat, cornered and isolated.
They would have no choice but to cooperate with him if they wanted to survive.
Thinking through the consequences, Lu Yan entered her room and sat at the vanity, slowly getting ready for bed.
Suddenly, her maid's alarmed voices came from outside.
Before she could react, Chen Yuan had pushed the door violently open and barged into her room.
She could see him in the mirror, his face was twisted with emotion.
Slowly, she stood up and turned around.
Standing before the wide-open door, he panted for a few moments before speaking poisonously.
"You treacherous witch! I know it was you who conspired to destroy me!"