{"id":3991,"date":"2026-06-14T17:31:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T17:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/pursuit-of-jade-121\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T17:31:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T17:31:34","slug":"pursuit-of-jade-121","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/id\/chapter\/pursuit-of-jade-121\/","title":{"rendered":"Pursuit of Jade 121"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 121

As the sun rose higher into the sky, Tang Peiyi strode into the courtyard where Xie Zheng was staying.

A personal guard stationed outside the courtyard stopped him.

“General Tang, the Marquis drank too much last night and hasn’t gotten up yet.”

Tang Peiyi found this rather strange.

Xie Zheng’s alcohol tolerance was legendary throughout the army. He hadn’t even drunk much the previous night, so how had he gotten drunk?

Though he grumbled inwardly, he still cupped his fists and said,

“I heard from my men that Young Master Li seems to have left without saying goodbye and returned to the capital ahead of schedule. It struck me as odd, so I came to discuss the matter with the Marquis.”

Though he was a rough soldier, he could clearly see the power struggle between the Li faction and the Wei faction in court.

Li Huai’an’s sudden departure, especially after skipping the victory banquet, definitely suggested something suspicious.

Now that he had taken command of the troops in both Chongzhou and Jizhou, one wrong step toward either faction could easily doom him forever.

Rather than hastily choosing a side, it would be wiser to first establish goodwill with Marquis Wu’an, who had remained detached from court politics.

For one thing, the Marquis was technically his superior.

For another, compared to those civil officials who knew nothing of the hardships at the front lines, Tang Peiyi felt that a fellow military man like Marquis Wu’an would better understand the struggles of soldiers.

After hearing his reason for coming, the guard merely replied,

“Please return and wait for a while, General Tang. Once the Marquis is awake, I will report the matter to him.”

Tang Peiyi nodded and turned to leave.

Just then, he happened to run into Xie Wu carrying a neatly folded set of clean clothes toward the courtyard.

Tang Peiyi recognized him and immediately stopped him.

“Aren’t you Commander Fan’s personal guard? What are you doing here?”

Xie Wu’s expression stiffened.

Forced to improvise, he blurted out,

“The Commander drank too much last night and is resting in the west wing. I… I’m bringing her a change of clothes.”

Tang Peiyi said,

“The west wing is over there. You’ve walked all the way to the east wing.”

Xie Wu could only force a smile.

“I am rather foolish, sir. I’m unfamiliar with the manor and took the wrong path.”

Tang Peiyi waved him off.

“Alright, alright. Hurry up and take the clothes to Commander Fan.”

With no other choice, Xie Wu turned around on the spot and carried the brand-new clothes toward the west wing.

After passing through a flower gate, Tang Peiyi ran into Zheng Wenchang.

The latter immediately cupped his fists in greeting.

“Greetings, General.”

The previous night, Zheng Wenchang had drunk quite a bit while helping Fan Changyu fend off drinks. He had eventually passed out at the banquet and been settled in a guest room by the servants.

Tang Peiyi nodded.

“Wenchang, you’re only just up as well?”

Zheng Wenchang replied,

“I am ashamed to say I overslept after drinking.”

Tang Peiyi had not even eaten breakfast yet. Upon receiving the report from his men early that morning, he had come directly to see Xie Zheng.

Since he was now on his way to eat, he invited Zheng Wenchang along.

“Have you had breakfast yet? If not, come eat with me.”

Zheng Wenchang said,

“I already ate over by the west wing.”

Hearing that, Tang Peiyi laughed.

“That’s quite a coincidence. I heard Commander Fan was lodged there as well.”

Zheng Wenchang frowned.

“There are twelve rooms in the west wing, all occupied by generals from the Tiger Might Battalion. Commander Fan isn’t staying there.”

Tang Peiyi instantly recalled seeing Xie Wu carrying clean clothes toward Xie Zheng’s courtyard.

Combined with Xie Zheng’s unusual behavior the previous night, his expression became rather colorful.

Seeing that Tang Peiyi had gone silent for a long while, Zheng Wenchang asked again,

“Could General Tang have heard wrong?”

In the end, Tang Peiyi could only mutter,

“Then I must have gotten it wrong.”

\u2014

A breeze from somewhere stirred the bed curtains, filling the room with a warm, pleasant fragrance.

Pinned against the bedding, Fan Changyu found herself struggling to breathe under the fierce and overwhelming kiss.

All she could smell was the faint scent of blood mixed with the crisp fragrance unique to him, as cool and sharp as northern frost.

What had begun as a kiss born of emotional turmoil had somehow changed into something else.

Xie Zheng’s breathing had grown heavier.

No longer content with simply kissing her lips, he held her chin with one hand and trailed kisses from the corner of her mouth to her jaw, then down the vulnerable curve of her neck.

Fan Changyu’s neck was especially sensitive.

Perhaps because it was one of the body’s most vulnerable places, she could not stop trembling.

His lips lingered against the delicate skin there, close enough to feel the pulse of blood flowing beneath.

His gaze darkened further.

Unable to suppress the strange ache rising from deep within him, he finally bit gently at the skin and sucked hard enough to leave a red mark before stopping.

Fan Changyu was already dizzy from his kisses.

Her entire body felt hot.

When one of his hands slipped beneath her loosened robes and his warm palm brushed against the three-inch scar on her abdomen, she suddenly snapped back to her senses.

Immediately, she pushed him away and clutched her robes closed.

Xie Zheng was momentarily stunned.

Then he asked,

“You got this injury during the battle at Lu City?”

Fan Changyu silently nodded.

The scar was long, stretching from above her navel to the left side of her waist.

Most of the scab had already fallen away, but the remaining scar was obvious. It was much darker than the surrounding skin and twisted like a centipede.

She had never paid much attention to it before.

Yet the moment Xie Zheng’s hand touched it, she had instinctively shoved him away.

She couldn’t explain why.

She simply didn’t want him to see it.

The desire in Xie Zheng’s eyes vanished completely.

Quietly studying her, he said,

“Let me see.”

When he had visited her previously, her wounds had already been bandaged.

He knew she had been injured in the abdomen but had never seen how serious it was.

Feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, Fan Changyu lowered her eyes.

“Which military officer doesn’t have a few scars? There’s nothing worth looking at.”

As she spoke, she reached up to retie the strings of her robe.

Changing the subject, she added,

“I’m a bit hungry. I wonder if the kitchen left any food…”

Before she could finish tying the knot, her hand was caught.

Xie Zheng stared at her and repeated,

“Let me see.”

After a long silence, Fan Changyu finally released the robe strings.

Forget it.

She might be able to hide it from him for a while, but not forever.

The dark military under-robe slipped down to her elbows.

Her shoulders appeared slender but not fragile, like bamboo growing from barren cliffs\u2014lean, yet resilient.

A faint ring of teeth marks remained near her left collarbone.

He had left them there a long time ago.

Her chest was tightly wrapped in cloth, outlining soft curves beneath the bindings.

Below that, her waist was narrow and strong, with not an ounce of excess flesh.

It was a beauty entirely different from the willow-like waists of dancing girls.

Like aged liquor\u2014once tasted, no sweet drink could ever compare again.

Xie Zheng’s gaze settled on the centipede-like scar on her left abdomen.

He stared at it for a long time before finally reaching out to touch it.

“Does it still hurt?”

Her skin had grown cool after being exposed to the air.

The warmth of his fingertips brushing against the scar sent a strange tingling sensation through her body.

She unconsciously straightened.

Frowning slightly, she forced her voice to sound normal.

“The scabs have already fallen off. It stopped hurting long ago.”

She moved to close her robe again.

But Xie Zheng’s hand remained where it was.

His eyes were lowered, making it impossible to read his expression.

His calloused palm slowly traced the ugly scar.

“When you were injured, what were you thinking about?”

Fan Changyu briefly recalled that desperate battle.

After a moment, she gave a faint smile.

“There wasn’t time to think about anything.”

“There were too many enemies. Long blades, spears, axes\u2014everything was coming at me.”

“The soldiers who left the city with me fell one after another.”

“But I couldn’t save them.”

“I couldn’t even save myself…”

Before she could finish, the hand around her waist tightened suddenly.

The next instant, she was pulled forcefully into his embrace.

Her head was pressed against his shoulder.

She could clearly feel every muscle in his body tense.

The murderous aura around him grew so heavy that even the air seemed thinner.

In a hoarse voice, he said,

“I came too late.”

Fan Changyu froze.

Then she gently wrapped her arms around his lean waist in comfort.

Resting her cheek against his chest and listening to the steady beat of his heart, she replied softly,

“I never expected you to come.”

“From Kang City to Lu City\u2014it was too far.”

“When I left the city to buy time, I only thought that Lord He had held the line until reinforcements arrived, even in death.”

“If I could delay the enemy for even a moment longer by risking my life, then it would be worth it.”

“If I died beneath the city walls, even if I couldn’t clear my grandfather’s name, at least future generations wouldn’t think the entire Meng family were traitors who brought disaster upon the nation.”

The arm around her waist tightened further and further until her bones began to ache.

Xie Zheng pressed one hand against the back of her neck, pulling her closer still.

Fan Changyu could not see his expression.

She only heard him say,

“You won’t have to face things like this alone anymore.”

Joy and sadness surged together in her chest.

Looking up at him, she said seriously,

“I will uncover the truth about what happened back then.”

“Wei Yan murdered my parents. He must know what really happened in the Jinzhou massacre.”

“Now he’s colluded with the rebels and nearly caused Lu City to fall.”

“General Tang and the others all say the Wei faction is about to collapse.”

“When we reach the capital, I will reveal my true identity before the imperial court and force the Emperor to put Wei Yan on trial.”

“I’ll make the truth behind the Jinzhou massacre seventeen years ago known to the entire world.”

Thinking about what the Li family had done during the Battle of Lu City, Xie Zheng’s eyes darkened.

As he gently stroked her hair, he said,

“Wei Yan has schemed for many years. There is more to the Lu City affair than meets the eye.”

“The Li faction is currently condemning Wei Yan from all sides, but when the dust settles, it remains to be seen who actually falls.”

Confusion appeared on Fan Changyu’s face.

After a brief hesitation, Xie Zheng finally told her about how the Li family had deliberately allowed Wei Yan’s subordinates to collaborate with the enemy.

It was one of the Li family’s favorite methods.

Just like the flood relief efforts years ago.

The more miserable the people became and the more corpses piled up, the greater the crimes they could pin on Wei Yan.

Once they publicly denounced him, the common people would praise them endlessly.

Everyone spoke of the Li family as leaders of integrity and righteousness.

Yet no one knew that these so-called righteous officials had stood by and watched the suffering and deaths of countless people.

After hearing everything, Fan Changyu fell silent for a long time.

“So many soldiers died outside Chongzhou and Lu City.”

“How can they live with themselves?”

Only after a while did she finally speak.

Her fists clenched tightly at her sides.

Grand Tutor Li enjoyed an excellent reputation among the people.

Everyone said that while Wei Yan committed evil, only Grand Tutor Li truly cared for the common folk.

Now she realized that reputation had been carefully manufactured.

Suddenly, she looked up at Xie Zheng.

“What about Li Huai’an? Did he run away?”

Since Xie Zheng already knew about the Li family’s schemes, and Li Huai’an had not appeared at the victory banquet, the conclusion seemed obvious.

Xie Zheng nodded.

Seeing how angry she was, he added,

“I let him go on purpose.”

Fan Changyu frowned.

“Why?”

During their embrace, the bindings across her chest had loosened slightly.

When Xie Zheng inadvertently lowered his gaze, he caught sight of a tempting glimpse beneath them.

His throat tightened.

Quickly looking away, he replied,

“To lead my men to someone.”

Fan Changyu noticed nothing and asked,

“To whom?”

A cold light flashed in Xie Zheng’s eyes.

“Sui Yuanhuai.”

Then he added,

“Or rather, the Imperial Grandson Qi Min.”

The revelation contained far too much information.

For a moment, Fan Changyu couldn’t process it.

He knew the dead Sui Yuanhuai had been a fake?

But what did that have to do with the Imperial Grandson?

Questions flooded her mind.

Unable to sort through them, she simply asked,

“The Emperor doesn’t even have a son. Where did this grandson come from?”

She had once spent a fortune hiring advisors.

Although she could never remember the complicated network of marriages and teacher-student relationships among court officials, she had at least memorized the members of the imperial family.

Xie Zheng paused.

“The Imperial Grandson I’m referring to is a descendant of Crown Prince Chengde.”

Fan Changyu became even more confused.

“Didn’t that Imperial Grandson die in the Eastern Palace fire seventeen years ago?”

After thinking for a moment, she suddenly grasped the key point.

Looking up quickly, she said,

“Just like the dead Sui Yuanhuai wasn’t the real Sui Yuanhuai, the one who died in the Eastern Palace wasn’t the real Imperial Grandson either, right?”

As she straightened abruptly, the loosened bindings shifted slightly.

The shadow between them deepened.

Xie Zheng had intended to answer.

But the sight before him rooted him in place.

His thoughts became a complete mess.

His blood surged through his body, and a fierce hunger rose from somewhere deep within him.

At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to swallow the person before him whole.

Noticing the change in his expression, Fan Changyu lowered her head.

The moment she realized what he was looking at, she immediately clutched her robes shut.

Her face turned red as a boiled shrimp.

Embarrassed and furious, she warned,

“Don’t look!”

They had kissed many times.

He had even kissed her collarbone and shoulders.

But beyond that, they had never crossed any boundaries.

Earlier, he had only been looking at her scar, his eyes filled solely with concern.

That was why she had let down her guard.

Without saying a word, Xie Zheng pushed her back onto the bedding and kissed her thoroughly.

Only after calming himself somewhat did he raise eyes filled with desire and possessiveness.

“You’ll have to let me see sooner or later.”

Unable to hold back, Fan Changyu smacked him so hard that he tumbled straight off the bed.

The noise was apparently loud enough for the guards outside to hear.

One of the guards hesitated before knocking on the door.

Forcing himself to speak, he said,

“My Lord, a unit of the Blood-Clad Cavalry has returned.”

Xie Zheng seemed to have anticipated the report.

After climbing back to his feet, he handed Fan Changyu the soft armor she wore over her clothing.

Even though he had just been struck, he appeared to be in an excellent mood.

“Stop being angry.”

Then he smiled.

“I’ll take you to meet two people you’ve been wanting to see.”<\/p>","protected":false},"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"novel":[],"class_list":["post-3991","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3992,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3991\/revisions\/3992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"novel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/novel?post=3991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}