Chapter 120

Before Fan Changyu could answer, he let out a low laugh.

“Li Huai’an, wasn’t it?”

He had sliced off one of the imperial eunuch’s ears, frightening the man so badly that he fled back to the capital without even opening the imperial decree.

The young Emperor needed to preserve his dignity, so the matter would inevitably be suppressed.

Since the decree had never been formally announced, the supposed marriage between him and the Grand Princess was nothing more than rumor. Even in the capital, the news had not spread widely. Fan Changyu was all the way in the northwest, yet she knew about it. The only possible source was Li Huai’an.

Momentarily stunned by the hostility radiating from him, Fan Changyu quickly met his gaze and said,

“It doesn’t matter who told me. You already have a marriage arrangement. You shouldn’t have said those things to me. What do you take me for? And what do you think the past we shared means?”

She had always been slow when it came to matters of the heart.

Yet as she spoke those final words, a sharp, sorrowful pain pierced her chest, and tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

In her heart, he had always been a good man.

Even if the hatred between their fathers meant they could only walk separate paths from now on, she still wished him a smooth life. She hoped he would continue to be admired by all, remaining the illustrious Marquis Wu’an whose military achievements shook the world.

Even if everything had changed, she did not want anyone to tarnish the beauty of what they once had.

Not even him.

Hearing her accusations, the hostility surrounding Xie Zheng abruptly stalled.

For a brief moment, he looked dazed.

The sun had risen higher.

A shaft of morning light slanted through the latticed window and fell upon him, coating half of his jade-like profile in warmth. His long dark lashes lowered slightly.

For just an instant, he looked as innocent as a child.

After a long silence, he raised his head and looked at Fan Changyu again.

His eyes were bloodshot from staying awake all night. His expression remained calm, yet that very calmness made him seem even more frightening.

As he stepped toward her, Fan Changyu instinctively retreated.

But she had already been standing beside the bed.

With that single step backward, her back struck one of the bedposts.

Every trace of panic and confusion in her eyes fell into the gaze of the man approaching against the light.

Xie Zheng’s expression remained unreadable.

He merely raised the hand still stained with blood and gently cupped her face.

Lowering his head until their eyes were level, he gazed at her with eyes threaded by crimson veins.

“Did Li Huai’an also tell you that I cut off one of the imperial eunuch’s ears and sent him back to the capital before he could even read the decree?”

Fan Changyu froze.

His bloodstained fingers gently stroked her cheek.

Then he softly asked,

“When we met again in Lu City, you kept your distance from me everywhere we went. Was it because of what Li Huai’an told you?”

The lump in Fan Changyu’s throat was so painful she could not speak.

Large tears rolled from her eyes.

Xie Zheng wiped them away with his thumb.

“Don’t cry.”

He was as gentle as he had always been.

The aching sadness in Fan Changyu’s heart made it hard for her to breathe. Tears streamed endlessly down her face.

Looking at him, she pleaded almost desperately,

“Don’t do this… Xie Zheng, don’t do this…”

Her heart was not made of stone.

It had taken her a very, very long time to heal the cracks in it, so that seeing him again would not leave her in unbearable agony.

She did not want his tenderness to tear open those wounds again—wounds that had hurt so much they left her trembling alone at night.

If they were destined never to have a future together, then he carried a tragic burden, while she carried injustice.

She had to keep moving forward.

Even if her bones were broken, she would crawl if she had to, inch by inch, until she uncovered the truth.

Seeing her like this, the redness in Xie Zheng’s eyes deepened.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and lowered his forehead against hers.

Stubbornly, he asked,

“Fan Changyu, can’t we go back to how things were before?”

The words struck her again.

Go back to how things were before.

All she felt was sorrow and helplessness, as though fate itself were dragging her along.

She fought desperately to steady her emotions.

“What about the truth behind the Jinzhou case?”

The moment the words left her lips, silence descended once more.

A silence as dead as a grave.

Fan Changyu could feel his grip tightening around her shoulders.

Blood from the wounds on his fingertips seeped onto her robe.

They were standing too close.

Even the scent of blood could not conceal the clean fragrance of soap lingering on him.

This was probably the closest she would ever be to him again.

Sadly, Fan Changyu closed her eyes.

Surrounded by his overwhelming presence, she struggled to control the trembling of her breath.

Then she heard his hoarse voice beside her ear.

“I don’t care anymore.”

The words sounded exhausted and shattered, as though they had been spoken through rivers of blood.

The ruthless determination behind them was chilling.

Fan Changyu’s pupils trembled.

Tears blurred her vision until everything became indistinct.

She forced her eyes open wider, trying to see the man before her.

Choking back sobs, she asked,

“Do you even know what you’re saying?”

Pain filled Xie Zheng’s bloodshot eyes as well.

Suddenly, he tightened his grip and pulled her fiercely into his arms.

His chin pressed against her temple.

In a hoarse voice, he demanded,

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“Fan Changyu, tell me. What am I supposed to do?”

He questioned her with desperate fury.

He tore open all his wounds and laid his battered soul bare before her like a beast driven into a corner.

Something wet rolled down from his jaw and dampened her hair.

It burned against her skin.

“I tried to let you go. I’ve tried every method I could think of. I really have no way left…”

He held her so tightly.

Yet his entire body trembled uncontrollably.

Like a drowning man clutching the only piece of driftwood left in the sea.

“I don’t care whether you’re Fan Changyu or Meng Changyu anymore.”

“Let’s just be together properly, alright?”

Tears clouded Fan Changyu’s vision.

A different kind of pain gripped her heart so fiercely that she had to gasp for breath.

A broken sob escaped her throat.

After two months and seven days, she finally allowed herself to cry freely in his embrace once again.

Warm sunlight streamed through the carved window lattice.

Dust danced through the golden rays.

The woman standing with her back against the bedframe was seized around the waist by the man before her.

Tilting up her chin, he kissed her inch by inch, deeply and relentlessly.

The lotus-patterned bed curtains hanging from their golden hooks were torn loose.

All resistance became futile.

She could no longer even cry properly—


—

An autumn rain arrived without warning.

Raindrops the size of beans crashed down in torrents, turning the yellow dirt road into a sea of mud.

A merchant caravan struggled forward through the storm.

When they spotted a dilapidated temple ahead where they could take shelter, the entire convoy hurried toward it.

The servants used broken temple doors as firewood and lit a fire inside. After clearing a clean patch of ground, they did not even bother drying their own soaked clothes. Instead, they hurriedly brought stools from the carriages and arranged them.

Only then did someone carefully help the passengers out of the carriage.

The brim of a large oil-paper umbrella concealed the face of the man stepping down.

Yet the dark blue brocade robe embroidered with cloud patterns he wore clearly marked him as someone of extraordinary wealth.

Though it was only September, a thick cloak was already draped over his shoulders, suggesting a weak constitution.

Another man descended from the carriage behind him.

Dressed in a light bluish-gray scholar’s robe, he appeared refined and gentle.

Before entering the ruined temple, he paused and looked back down the road for a moment before finally stepping inside.

The servants and guards remained outside.

Beside the temple fire sat only the cloaked man and the mute, deaf servant attending him.

Li Huai’an said,

“Your Highness should rest for a while. Once the rain eases, we must continue our journey. The Li family’s death warriors suffered devastating losses before we managed to shake off Marquis Wu’an’s Blood-Clad Cavalry. If they catch up to us again, things may become troublesome.”

Qi Min’s expression darkened as he stared at the elegant young man before him.

“My people must be brought back to me.”

After masquerading as Sui Yuanhuai for more than a decade, he had finally shed that identity.

He was no longer the useless cripple hidden away in the rear courtyard of Prince Changxin’s Manor after the fire had disfigured his face.

Soon, he would become the ruler of the realm.

Li Huai’an respectfully cupped his hands.

“The Imperial Great-Grandson and his mother will certainly be rescued. The Li family will spare no effort. But right now, Your Highness’s safety is the most important matter.”

The mute servant brewed hot tea over the fire and respectfully offered a cup to Qi Min.

Qi Min struck it from his hands.

The cup shattered on the floor.

Scalding tea splashed everywhere, and several droplets landed on Li Huai’an’s shoes.

The commotion immediately alerted the guards outside.

However, the imperial shadow guards under Qi Min’s command firmly controlled the temple entrance. No matter how concerned the Li family guards were about Li Huai’an, they dared not act rashly.

Li Huai’an calmly knelt upon the filthy ground.

“Please calm your anger, Your Highness.”

Qi Min stared coldly at him.

“It was your Li family that sent word saying Xie Zheng had been lured to Bieyue Manor and that I should depart for the capital immediately. But what was waiting for me on the road?”

His voice turned icy.

“Several hundred of Xie Zheng’s Blood-Clad Cavalry—and that lunatic Sui Yuanqing.”

The Blood-Clad Cavalry was already one of the most feared military forces in the Great Yin Empire.

As for Sui Yuanqing, consumed by vengeance for his mother’s murder, he fought like a god of slaughter determined to claim Qi Min’s head.

Half of Qi Min’s imperial shadow guards had been lost.

Nearly all the experts sent by the Li family had perished.

Only then had they managed to fight their way out with Qi Min.

Meanwhile, Yu Qianqian and Yu Bao’er had fallen into the hands of the Blood-Clad Cavalry.

After learning that Xie Zheng had not fallen for the trap, Li Huai’an had departed Lu City that very night.

Marquis Wu’an had the authority to mobilize all military forces in the northwest.

Once the Blood-Clad Cavalry returned with the Imperial Great-Grandson and his mother, he would never have another chance to leave.

Listening to Qi Min’s rebuke, Li Huai’an remained calm to the point of numbness.

Bowing again, he said,

“This matter is entirely my fault. I failed to realize that Marquis Wu’an was merely turning our own scheme against us, causing Your Highness to fall into danger.”

The game had already progressed this far.

Every decision he made now was simply the execution of the Li family’s original plan.

He had become too numb to even consider right and wrong anymore.

Yet the calmer he appeared, the harder it became for Qi Min to suppress his anger.

Suddenly, Qi Min leaned forward and seized Li Huai’an by the collar.

Though he was chronically ill and his pale fingers looked weak, the strength in his grip was no less than that of an ordinary grown man.

Perhaps only the imperial shadow guards knew the truth.

In order to free himself from his frail body, Qi Min had secretly trained in martial arts with them for years.

Other than those shadow guards, he trusted no one.

Not even the Lan mother and son who had served him for so many years.

Qi Min’s voice was terrifyingly cold.

“Do you think the Li family has already won as long as I safely reach the capital?”

“Xie Zheng may not dare rebel while he’s in the northwest. But now he has that child in his hands.”

A sinister smile appeared on his lips.

“Let’s see whether he still dares not rebel.”

At last, a ripple disturbed Li Huai’an’s otherwise emotionless eyes.

Qi Min released his collar and ordered coldly,

“I don’t care what methods the Li family uses. Either bring my people back completely unharmed…”

His gaze turned ruthless.

“Or kill that child and bring his mother back.”

At that moment, a thunderclap exploded outside the ruined temple.

Lightning flashed across the sky.

Its pale light illuminated the smiling Buddha statue before the altar, making it appear strangely cold and eerie.

Li Huai’an’s heart shook violently.

A gust of cold wind swept through the broken doorway, and only then did he realize how chilled his body had become.

Slowly lowering his head, he said,

“This minister obeys.”