Chapter 115

Hearing that soft chuckle, Fan Changyu’s heartstrings trembled inexplicably.

But she concealed it perfectly. Not a trace of emotion appeared on her face as she maintained her salute and answered calmly,

“My Lord Marquis.”

After the words left her lips, silence once again descended.

The smile remained on Xie Zheng’s face, yet even a blind man standing here would have been able to feel the sudden drop in temperature around him.

The air inside the room seemed to grow thinner.

Sensing the subtle tension between them, Deputy General He inwardly thought something was wrong. He wanted to help Fan Changyu and opened his mouth, but he had no idea what to say to persuade Xie Zheng to leave.

Fortunately, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the courtyard.

One of Xie Zheng’s personal guards rushed in and cupped his fists.

“My Lord, the rebel Sui Yuanhuai has been executed. The concubine and only son who fled with him have also been captured and brought back!”

Fan Changyu’s bloodshot pupils contracted slightly.

The hand she held in salute tightened.

Yu Qianqian and Yu Bao’er had been brought back?

The families of traitors were subject to extermination.

Her thoughts instantly became chaotic, and she subconsciously looked toward Xie Zheng.

For some reason, Xie Zheng frowned upon hearing the news. However, no other emotion showed on his face. Capturing the remaining rebel forces was the most important matter at hand.

He cast one final glance at Fan Changyu.

His gaze lingered for several moments on her blood-red eyes and the wounds wrapped in bandages.

His tightly pressed lips moved slightly.

But in the end, he said nothing and turned away.

Watching his retreating figure, Deputy General He was eager to follow, but Xie Zheng’s earlier loss of composure had truly been abnormal.

Unable to resist, he asked Fan Changyu,

“Are you acquainted with the Marquis?”

Given the current situation, Fan Changyu did not want anyone misunderstanding her relationship with Xie Zheng.

She replied,

“I wouldn’t dare claim such a connection. I was merely fortunate enough to earn Grand Tutor Tao’s favor and be accepted as his adopted daughter.”

Deputy General He nodded.

“So that’s how it is.”

Yet he still felt something was strange.

Thinking about the blood feud between them because of their fathers, he dared not speculate further and didn’t continue questioning her.

After reminding her to focus on recovering, he prepared to leave.

However, Fan Changyu stopped him.

“General He, how will the rebels’ family members be dealt with?”

At present, aside from Xie Zheng, Deputy General He held the highest authority in Lu City.

She guessed he would know what fate awaited Yu Qianqian and Yu Bao’er.

Deputy General He replied,

“Naturally, they’ll be executed immediately.”

Hearing that answer, Fan Changyu’s heart sank even further.

She knew rebels deserved death.

Countless soldiers had perished because of them.

The common people throughout the northwest had been displaced because of them.

But Yu Qianqian and her son had done nothing wrong.

Yu Qianqian had never willingly followed that rebel.

Their crimes did not warrant such a fate.

Pressing her lips together, she asked,

“Is there no other possibility?”

Deputy General He gave her a strange look.

“The remnants of traitors must be eradicated completely. As for Prince Changxin’s concubines who never bore children, they might be exiled or sold off. Why are you asking about this, Commandant Fan?”

Fan Changyu improvised an excuse.

“I haven’t been in the army long and am still unfamiliar with such laws. I was merely asking out of curiosity.”

After Deputy General He left, Fan Changyu lay back down and stared blankly into space for a long while.

How could she save Yu Qianqian and Bao’er?

—

After leaving the courtyard, Xie Zheng asked,

“How were her eyes injured?”

The guard at his side had only recently arrived in Lu City and knew nothing of what had happened to Fan Changyu.

He quickly answered,

“This subordinate will investigate immediately.”

It was already dusk.

The wind caused the lanterns hanging beneath the eaves to sway continuously.

The bamboo ferns planted beside the low wall cast tangled shadows across the ground.

Xie Zheng stopped walking.

The lantern light did nothing to warm his pale face.

In a deep voice, he ordered,

“Find the best physician available and have her injuries treated. Also find Xie Wu and determine whether he’s still alive.”

Of course, he could guess that all her injuries came from the battlefield.

But for her to be wounded to such an extent, how brutal had the fighting been?

If he had not received Xie Qi’s letter and rushed here, would she have died in this city?

After the guard accepted the order and departed, Xie Zheng stood alone beneath the corridor for a moment.

Suddenly, he slammed his fist heavily into the stone wall.

The hard bricks cracked apart and fragments scattered across the ground.

The skin on his hand split open as well, and bright red blood emerged.

Several accompanying guards were startled by the sudden outburst.

Yet none dared speak.

—

By the time Deputy General He arrived, the coroner had already completed the examination.

Looking at the corpse covered by a white sheet—with only a corner over the face lifted—he asked,

“Are you certain this is Sui Yuanhuai?”

The coroner respectfully replied,

“Reporting to General, Sui Yuanhuai was reportedly disfigured during the fire at the Eastern Palace when he was young. Since then, he was said never to have left the prince’s estate. He was chronically ill and survived only through medicine. Because his face was supposedly hideous and terrifying, even many servants in the residence had never seen him.”

“This deceased person bears old burn scars. His fingers are long and free of calluses, indicating a life of privilege. His tongue coating is dark, and there is a lingering medicinal scent, evidence of long-term medication use. Therefore, this humble one concludes without doubt that this man is Sui Yuanhuai.”

Deputy General He studied the horribly burned face but couldn’t make sense of it.

He turned toward the man seated in the grand chair, whose expression was as cold as frost.

“My Lord Marquis, what do you think?”

An oppressive gloom surrounded Xie Zheng.

Upon hearing the question, he merely raised his eyes.

“The rebel remnants have been eliminated. That is cause for celebration.”

This amounted to acknowledging the corpse as Sui Yuanhuai’s.

With Xie Zheng’s confirmation, Deputy General He finally relaxed.

At last, the rebels who had plagued the northwest for so long had been completely eradicated.

Carefully, he asked,

“Then what about Sui Yuanhuai’s concubine and son?”

“Escort them to the capital and await the court’s judgment.”

Seeing how unpleasant Xie Zheng’s expression remained, Deputy General He ventured another question.

“My Lord doesn’t seem pleased?”

Xie Zheng replied with a cold smile.

“General Tang’s tens of thousands of troops surrounded Chongzhou. How did the rebels manage to reach Lu City?”

Fan Changyu and Zheng Wenchang had already explained how the rebels escaped Chongzhou’s encirclement.

After Deputy General He repeated their account, Xie Zheng merely sneered and instructed his men,

“Bring him in.”

The man dragged in by two guards was one of Sui Yuanhuai’s advisers.

Though tightly bound, he immediately began kowtowing frantically.

“My Lord Marquis, I was truly forced into serving Prince Changxin! I only sought a livelihood and became an adviser in the prince’s residence. After Prince Changxin rebelled, I wanted to flee, but he feared we would leak secrets. Anyone who tried to leave was killed. That’s why I didn’t dare escape!”

One of Xie Zheng’s guards barked,

“Sui Yuanhuai led the rebel army out of Chongzhou. Explain exactly how that happened!”

The adviser hurriedly answered,

“It was because Wei Yan colluded with Sui Yuanhuai! This humble one accidentally overheard Sui Yuanhuai and the strategist discussing it. Wei Yan’s agents within the army secretly helped them leave the city.”

Lu Dayi had indeed been recommended into the military by Wei Yan.

All evidence now seemed to point toward Wei Yan colluding with the rebels.

Deputy General He had never imagined that the disastrous battle at Lu City had actually been the result of political scheming.

His eyes reddened with fury.

“Scoundrels! General He was worked to death because of those villains’ conspiracy!”

He immediately knelt before Xie Zheng.

“My Lord, after returning to the capital, please seek justice for General He and for all the soldiers who died defending Lu City!”

Half of Xie Zheng’s face was concealed in the shadows cast by candlelight.

“This blood debt will be collected.”

Hearing those words, Deputy General He thought of He Jingyuan’s unjust death and couldn’t help wiping tears from his eyes.

Xie Zheng simply said,

“Please restrain your grief, General.”

His gaze settled upon the corpse beneath the white sheet.

His eyes were freezing cold.

The dead man was not Sui Yuanhuai.

But from this day onward, there would never again be a person called “Sui Yuanhuai” in this world.

Though the truth behind the Jinzhou tragedy seventeen years ago remained obscure, the massacre at Lu City alone was sufficient to completely destroy Wei Yan’s faction.

Yet it was precisely because the evidence was too perfect—and because he knew Sui Yuanhuai’s true identity—that he became even more suspicious of the truth behind the entire affair.

Sui Yuanhuai hated Wei Yan just as much as he did.

Why would he cooperate with him?

Perhaps this was another tragedy identical to the Jinzhou disaster from seventeen years ago.

The mastermind understood his hatred for Wei Yan and had deliberately placed the evidence in his hands, intending for him to become the blade that severed Wei Yan’s head.

Xie Zheng tightened his fingers and snapped the wooden armrest of the grand chair in half.

What he could never tolerate in this lifetime was precisely this sort of “scheme” that used the lives of countless soldiers as political bargaining chips.

—

Tang Peiyi’s army did not arrive until the Hour of Xu.

After entering the city and learning that Lu City had survived but He Jingyuan had died, the towering general immediately let out a grief-stricken cry.

Dropping to his knees before the newly established mourning hall, he blamed himself.

“It is this subordinate’s incompetence! I have failed the General! I have betrayed the trust he placed in me!”

Deputy General He and the other commanders who had once served under He Jingyuan all stepped forward to comfort him.

“General Tang, do not blame yourself. This wasn’t your fault. It was Wei Yan colluding with the rebels. His crimes deserve death!”

Filled with grief and outrage, Deputy General He recounted the adviser’s testimony.

The generals who had risen from battlefields valued loyalty and honor above all else.

Upon hearing that so many brothers-in-arms had died because of a villain’s scheme, they all erupted in furious curses and swore to bring down Wei Yan.

Li Huai’an had arrived in Lu City with the army.

Amid the loud condemnation, he silently stared at He Jingyuan’s coffin in the center of the mourning hall.

Complex emotions churned in his eyes.

Everything was proceeding according to the plan to bring down Wei Yan.

Yet he suddenly felt a heavy weight pressing on his chest.

Inside that coffin lay a good official.

A respected elder.

Yet he had died as part of the greater scheme to destroy Wei Yan.

Had the path he and the Li family chosen truly been the wrong one?

A general heavily slapped his shoulder.

Turning, Li Huai’an met a pair of grief-stricken eyes.

“Lord Li, you must submit a memorial to His Majesty and seek justice for General He and the soldiers who died in Lu City.”

Looking into those sincere, sorrowful eyes, Li Huai’an remained silent for a long while before replying,

“It is my duty. It should be so.”

Did he feel guilty?

Yes.

But neither he nor the Li family had any road left to retreat upon.

A disturbance suddenly arose outside the mourning hall.

The crying and cursing gradually quieted.

Li Huai’an looked up.

Xie Zheng was walking in from the darkness of night.

Cold moonlight illuminated his face, making him appear covered in a layer of frost.

The moment he arrived, everyone instinctively fell silent.

Li Huai’an only glanced over casually.

Yet his eyes happened to meet Xie Zheng’s.

The cold savagery within that gaze sent an indescribable chill racing down his spine.

It felt as though he had already become prey destined to die beneath a wolf’s fangs.

Forcing himself to remain calm, he frowned and looked again, trying to discern something.

But Xie Zheng had already walked past him.

An attendant handed over a lit stick of incense.

Xie Zheng accepted it, bowed three times before He Jingyuan’s spirit tablet, and inserted it into the incense burner.

After lifting his eyes to look once at the memorial tablet, he left without saying a single word.

He had arrived suddenly and departed just as suddenly.

Yet no one dared comment.

With the crying and denunciations interrupted, the hall full of hardened military men had no desire to continue weeping.

Deputy General He arranged shifts for keeping vigil and ordered the commanders who had rushed back from afar to get some rest.

Li Huai’an walked alone toward his temporary quarters.

Thinking back to the look Xie Zheng had given him, his brows gradually furrowed.

Had Xie Zheng already discovered something?

When he reached a small path ahead, he noticed a figure waiting in the waterside pavilion nearby.

He froze briefly.

Then he brought his hands together and bowed respectfully.

“My Lord Marquis.”