Chapter 588: with translation of chapter title

Lin'an, Wind and Wave Pavilion.

It was nearly noon, yet the sky was overcast as dark as dusk.

Lead-gray clouds hung low over a corner of Huangcheng, autumn wind sweeping up dead leaves, swirling as they swept across the small drill field paved with blue stone slabs.

In the center of the drill field stood a small, single-eaved hexagonal pavilion, silent and upright.

Under the eaves, the plaque bearing the three characters 'Wind and Wave Pavilion' was darkly lacquered, like congealed blood.

On the open ground before the pavilion, a temporary wooden platform half a person's height had been erected.

On the platform stood a gallows.

Below, armored soldiers formed a ring, spears and halberds like a forest, tightly sealing off the crowd that had heard the news and squeezed into the distant alleyways and behind low walls to watch, keeping them firmly outside.

The atmosphere was murderously oppressive, making it hard to breathe.

Qin Hui, dressed in purple official robes, sat upright behind a makeshift desk in the pavilion, his face stern and still as water.

To his sides sat the Minister of Justice, the Vice Minister of Punishments, and the Censor-in-Chief, the heads of the Three Judicial Offices.

Everyone wore blank expressions, eyes downcast, as if attending a routine affair rather than deciding the life or death of a famed general who once commanded the winds and clouds.

Further off, officials and gentry permitted to 'attend the ceremony' huddled in their seats, their glances darting, daring not to look more than a glance at the gallows.

"Bring the prisoner—"

The judicial officer drew out his voice, sharp and piercing.

The clatter of chains dragging on the ground came from afar and grew near.

Everyone's gaze involuntarily turned toward the drill field's entrance.

A squad of fierce Huangcheng Guard attendants escorted a figure in white prison garb, hair disheveled, walking slowly forward.

The prisoner's stature remained tall and straight; despite the heavy shackles, his steps were somewhat unsteady, yet one could still see the bearing of a former soldier.

But he kept his head deeply bowed, his disheveled hair hiding his face.

He was brought onto the wooden platform and pressed down beneath the gallows.

The executioner stood silently to the side, hand on the noose.

Qin Hui drew a deep breath, picked up a scroll on the desk, and began to recite Yue Fei's litany of crimes verbatim.

Colluding with the enemy, plotting rebellion, holding troops to assert authority, consorting with demonic bandits, practicing heretical arts……

Each item, each deed, sounded shocking to hear.

His voice echoed across the empty drill field, yet seemed to have been sucked away half by the gloomy sky, sounding hollow and weak.

In the distant crowd, a suppressed, rustling murmur arose.

Many faces showed disbelief, suspicion, even indignation.

But many more were numb silence.

The reading finished.

Qin Hui set down the document and glanced at the Minister of Justice beside him.

The Minister of Justice understood, and spoke mechanically:

"Prisoner Yue Fei, do you acknowledge the aforementioned charges?"

On the platform, the prisoner's body seemed to tremble slightly.

After a long while, a hoarse, muffled voice, as if squeezed from deep within the throat, sounded low:

"Guilt…… subject…… acknowledge……"

The voice was not loud, yet it hushed the noisy scene.

Deep in Qin Hui's eyes, a flash of cold light like relief passed.

He hesitated no longer, drawing a black command slip from the tube.

"Verify the identity, then execute immediately!"

The command slip struck the ground, emitting a clear sound.

The executioner stepped forward, together with the judicial officer, roughly hauled up the prisoner and dragged him beneath the noose.

Just as the noose was about to be placed around his neck.

The prisoner, summoning unknown strength, struggled violently and lifted his head!

His disheveled hair fell aside, revealing a face filthy yet still recognizable in outline!

Thick brows, square jaw, tightly pressed lips, and those eyes—though dim and lifeless—still showing the original sharp shape!

Like!

So much like!

In the distant crowd, an uncontrollable outcry burst forth!

Many who had seen Yue Fei's portrait, or glimpsed him from afar—common folk and even low‑level officials—widened their eyes in disbelief.

Could it really be Marshal Yue?

Qin Hui's heart also leapt, nearly making him rise.

But he forcibly restrained himself.

He knew who it was, or rather, knew who it 'should' be.

The Iron Crow Army had guaranteed it would not fail.

The noose, after all, was still placed.

The judicial officer stepped back.

The executioner pulled the mechanism.

"Uh……"

A short, strangled groan.

The body dressed in white prison garb convulsed violently in midair a few times, then gradually stiffened and lay still.

A breeze blew past, causing the corpse to sway slightly.

Before Fengbo Pavilion, there was utter silence.

Only the autumn wind wailed.

Qin Hui slowly rose to his feet, gazing at the hanging corpse below the platform, then toward the distant crowd, silent as cicadas in winter.

He cleared his throat, preparing to utter the pre‑written, decisive verdict.

However.

At that very moment.

Almost at the same instant.

At several crowded marketplaces and city gates within Lin'an.

Several swift horses came galloping!

The riders on the horses were not officials, yet each was fierce and capable.

Ignoring the shouts of the gate guards, they flung volley after volley of copied documents into the air, scattering them among the crowd!

Even more agile fellows brushed paste onto large sheets of the documents and slapped them—*pa*—onto the official notice boards, even atop the city gates!

"Marshal Yue's proclamation!"

"The true Yue Fei is here!"

"The foolish king and treacherous minister frame the loyal!"

"The one slain at Fengbo Pavilion is an impostor!"

Thunder‑like shouts, accompanied by sheets of paper fluttering like snowflakes, instantly exploded the just‑silenced Lin'an!

People stared in shock, picking up the papers from the ground or rushing toward the newly posted notices.

Those who could read recited them aloud; those who could not anxiously asked for explanations.

The proclamation, in Yue Fei's voice, is fervent and impassioned!

It denounces the Imperial Court's stupidity, traitorous ministers selling out the nation, and self‑destruction of the Great Wall.

It recounts the bloody battle at Yancheng, the desperate breakout, and the evil of heavenly envoys blocking the road to force surrender.

It reveals the existence of an evil influence called the Iron Crow Army, colluding with treacherous officials in the court, manipulating the frame‑up to exterminate the loyal and doom the land!

And most important of all is a passage within it that is extraordinarily clear, specific, and even tinged with the warmth of blood and tears:

"On my back are the four characters 'Jingzhong Baoguo' (Serve the Country with Utmost Loyalty), inscribed by my loving mother, Lady Yao, after the Jingkang calamity. Grief‑stricken to the bone, she personally took an embroidery needle, dipped it in pine‑soot ink, and tattooed them upon my back. The characters lie along the spine, starting three cun above and ending at the waist‑shu point; they are in Yan style, level and straight, with hooks on the left‑ and right‑falling strokes, each about half a cun wide and long; the dot inside the 'guo' character is offset to the right by half a li, a mark made by my mother's trembling hand in her sorrow—known only to my mother and me."

"Now I hear that treacherous villains have used a double to impersonate my name, intending to kill me at Fengbo Pavilion, to besmirch my ambition, and to deceive the world!"

"Yue Fei, I now declare with this body and this oath to all under heaven—"

"The characters on my back are unique in the world! Examine the corpse at Fengbo Pavilion—does its back bear these characters? Are they of this form? Is the dot inside the 'guo' character located half a li to the right?"

"If there is the slightest deviation, or if the characters are absent altogether—"

"then this corpse is a fake, the case a frame‑up, and the act at this pavilion a grand deception of heaven and earth!"

"If the Imperial Court still possesses a shred of justice, dare you publicly examine the corpse to discern truth from falsehood?!"

"Any righteous soul in the world who possesses courage may also demand an examination!"

"Yue Fei, I await on Mang Mountain, watching with bated breath!"

The proclamation spread like a prairie fire, instantly reaching every street and alley of Lin'an.

Those who had just witnessed the execution of "Yue Fei" clenched the proclamation in their hands, studied its exceedingly detailed description of the tattoo, and then recalled the fleeting glimpse of the "true visage" on the execution ground…

Doubt, shock, anger, sudden realization—various emotions erupted like a boiling oil pot exploding!

"Exactly! Examine the corpse! Check his back!"

"Mother Yue's tattoo—'Serve the Country with Utmost Loyalty'—is known to all under heaven! One inspection will tell true from false!"

"That person just now… looked like him, but we never saw his back!"

"Will the Imperial Court dare? Will they allow an examination?!"

The clamor grew louder and louder, faintly showing signs of breaking through the soldiers' blockade.

Inside Fengbo Pavilion, Qin Hui was struck as if by lightning; his face turned ashen as paper, and the hand holding the draft prepared to announce "the traitor has met his legal end" trembled violently.

Examine the corpse?

Tattoo details?

Offset half a li to the right?

He jerked his head toward the several judicial officials seated beside him, motionless like clay and wood puppets.

Their faces, too, could no longer remain calm, revealing panic and helplessness.

The Iron Crow Army only said the double needed to look alike, but they didn't mention… that even this tattoo detail, known only to mother and son, must be perfectly replicated!

They… never even considered examining the corpse!

What… what are we to do?

Qin Hui felt only a chill rising from his soles straight to the crown of his head.

He suddenly realized that what the Iron Crow Army had handed him was a script for "completing the ritual."

And the true Yue Fei on Mang Mountain, together with his mysterious companion Mr. Chen, had given him a question that directly points to the fatal flaw at the core of the script—a question that overturns the whole board!

The wind at Fengbo Pavilion seemed to have grown colder.

It set the bell at the pavilion's corner ringing, emitting a hollow wail.

It also swayed the wooden platform, causing the lightly twitching corpse—no one daring any longer to name it—to sway as well.

The debate over truth and falsehood was like a poison‑tipped blade, at this moment viciously thrust into the heart of this "perfect ritual."