When the tragic missive announcing the death of the mighty Bahram Chubin reached the Khagan of China, a heavy veil of grief descended upon the realm. The monarch's eyes welled with tears of blood, and his face paled to the deep blue of lapis lazuli. Assembling his wisest counselors and veterans of state, he recounted the grim fate that had overtaken the heroic warrior. A mournful lamentation echoed from the high palace across the vast expanse of China, as if the hearts of the people were being roasted over unseen fires.
Having performed the solemn funerary rites for his beloved guest, the Khagan set out to uncover the instigators of this heinous villainy. When it was revealed that Qalun had committed the vile deed, leaving behind kin and two sons in Turan, the Khagan's wrath flared unquenchably. He ordered a roaring fire kindled, consuming Qalun's residence and his entire quarter. Qalun's two sons were cast headlong into the inferno, and all his worldly goods were surrendered to pillage.
Thereafter, the retribution fell upon Khatun, Qalun's wife. Dragging her from behind her privacy curtain by her long tresses, the Khagan confiscated her boundless treasures into his royal hall, paying no heed to whatever past labor or service Qalun had rendered. Fleet dromedaries were dispatched to every corner of the empire to hunt down Kharrad-i Barzin, yet the clever Iranian envoy eluded capture. Clothed in dark blue garments of mourning, the entire population of China wept alongside their monarch, who remained haunted by the stain of disgrace this treacherous murder had left upon his honor.