The truth behind Qin Hui’s death was that he died of illness.
Qin Hui eventually died of illness and lived to be sixty-five years old. In ancient times, sixty-five years old was considered a long life. Compared with the tragic ending of Yue Fei being executed by his entire family, Qin Hui's peaceful death made later generations full of hatred for him. After Qin Hui's death, the Yue Fei case was cleared of injustice. As the chief culprit, Qin Hui was made into a statue and knelt in front of Yue Fei's tomb. Since then, he has been repenting and atonement throughout the ages.
Qin Hui was a very knowledgeable man. He was a commoner and became rich after passing the first prize. Qin Hui was erudite and talented, and had a good reputation in his early years as an official. He was deeply loved by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, and was appointed as the imperial censor Taizuo Sijian. He served as prime minister for 17 years, and during these 17 years, he did not influence the prime minister.
Main Achievements
Qin Hui's calligraphy is exquisite, his writing is neat and stable, and he is good at seal script. Tao Zongyi once saw the three characters "Jade Rabbit Spring" written by Qin Hui on the middle railing of the Jinling Confucian Temple and called the characters "quite impressive". The shape and style of the calligraphy are mostly influenced by Huang Tingjian, a great calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty. The brush is stretched and the structure is steep in the upper right corner, which coincides with the strokes of yellow characters that are drawn from the side. However, Qin Hui's calligraphy seems to lack the "radiating" structure of the yellow character in which the central palace converges and the surroundings diverge.
Qin Hui is a man of literary talent and extraordinary discernment. While he is greedy for power, he also maintains a great interest in antiques and curios. While trying every means to collect antiques, Qin Huite built a "Getian Pavilion" in the backyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion to collect and classify them, and ordered his trusted servants to guard them day and night. The Qin Prime Minister's Palace contains 40 pure gold ingots, 4 high-quality ivory carved screens, 20-year-old Burmese jades and 10 calligraphy and paintings by celebrities from the Tang Dynasty.
Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia—Qin Hui