Category: Summoning the Soul

Chapter 66: Eternal Encounter Song (Part 5)-2

The wind made Ni Su’s ears ache. She spoke, “Uncle Fan, can you tell me how Qing Qiong’s mother knew about what happened back then?”

Fan Jiang looked at her, then at Qing Qiong, who nodded at him. He then slowly began, “The Governor’s residence caught fire and needed repairs. I was one of the carpenters hired. At that time, I had already chiseled away the talismans in the well, so A-Shuang could come out. She came with me to work at the Governor’s residence.”

Fan Jiang carefully wiped the tombstone as he spoke. “She’s a ghost and can conceal her form. She overheard Governor Yang arguing with Commander Miao. Commander Miao refused to withdraw half of the Yongzhou garrison, saying it was General Xu’s order. But Governor Yang didn’t listen, accusing him of delaying military operations. As they argued, A-Shuang listened from the side. Seeing that Governor Yang refused to obey General Xu’s order, she discussed going to Ju Han Pass to find General Xu with me after returning home. She didn’t allow me to go and left alone that night.”

“Later, she told me that when she arrived, General Xu had already led the Jing’an Army deep into Danqiu territory. She rushed to Mu Shen Mountain. General Xu’s Jing’an Army and the barbarian army were both severely weakened, corpses everywhere, blood staining the ground. She saw Lieutenant Xue Huai die with her own eyes, his body riddled with arrows. He fell and never breathed again. She searched everywhere for General Xu and encountered several barbarian soldiers who had crawled out from the piles of corpses. Remembering her own past, she lost control and burned them to death with her soul fire.”

“She didn’t know that doing so would alert Youdu. When she found General Xu, his eyes had been slashed by a barbarian’s golden knife. Amidst the mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, he was protected by his fallen soldiers. He was wounded by arrows, severely injured, and unconscious. She wanted to save him, but was restrained by Youdu, unable to move. Before she was taken to Youdu, she saw a group of people. They pulled General Xu out from the pile of corpses, and then…”

Fan Jiang suddenly stopped.

“And then?”

Ni Su’s palms were sweaty.

This was the first time Fan Jiang had mentioned this to anyone. He gripped the cloth tightly. “Then A-Shuang was gone. But I can sometimes hear her speak. She told me that she heard Lieutenant Xue Huai say before he died at Mu Shen Mountain that two other armies were supposed to come as reinforcements, but I don’t know why they didn’t. Then Ju Han Pass fell, Yongzhou was attacked by the barbarians, half the city was killed or injured, Commander Miao died in battle, and General Xu was brought back to Yongzhou, branded a traitor, tied to the execution platform…”

Fan Jiang’s lips trembled. “Dismembered.”

He had witnessed it with his own eyes.

Ni Su staggered back a few steps. Qing Qiong quickly supported her. Her gaze fell on the end of the inscription detailing Xu He Xue’s crimes:

Severely injured, endured one hundred and thirty-six cuts, died instantly.

Just as Qing Qiong had said, this tombstone wasn’t erected to commemorate him, but to use him as a warning to the people of the Great Qi: this is the fate of a traitor.

Ni Su’s eyes reddened, tears streaming down her face. Her breath hitched, unable to remain calm. Pushing Qing Qiong aside, she approached the tombstone, bent down, and grasped the rusted, broken spear, trying to pull it out of the mud, but she wasn’t strong enough.

Qing Qiong silently came to help her. Together, they finally pulled out the broken spear, covered in mud and rust.

Ni Su wrapped it in her cloak. A glazed lamp swayed on her horse’s back, its candle flickering. As she went to retrieve her horse, she saw several pairs of hostile eyes staring at the three of them from the dark green mountain path.

“Fan Jiang! You’re here again! I caught you once before!”

“You sweep his tomb, why don’t you sweep the barbarians’ tombs?”

They were indignant, holding sticks in their hands.

Yongzhou had suffered a great disaster. Most of the people living here had lost loved ones in the battle to defend Yongzhou sixteen years ago.

“I…” Fan Jiang had been beaten before. Seeing the sticks in their hands, he was afraid and pulled Qing Qiong into a protective embrace.

“You gave birth to a monster son, and you live in a well where people died, you…” A woman’s voice was sharp. She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening as she saw the object wrapped in the young woman’s cloak. She glanced at the tombstone. Indeed, the broken spear was gone.

Everyone stared at Ni Su.

“You want to take that away?” Someone asked accusingly.

“Can’t I?”

Ni Su wiped the mud from the broken spear with her cloak.

“How dare she take that thing…”

“These two have brought back another abnormal person…”

“Not afraid of being tainted.”

The people living near Sang Qiu stared at Ni Su with strange looks, murmuring amongst themselves.

“It’s not tainted.”

Ni Su looked up, holding the broken spear close, and stared back at them. “This spear has only tasted the blood of barbarians, not the blood of any of your loved ones.”

“You’re an outsider, what do you know?” Someone recognized her accent as not being from Yongzhou.

“I know more than you!”

Ni Su wiped her face with her sleeve, gritting her teeth. “I’m taking this today. If anyone stops me, I’ll fight to the death!”

“Miss Ni!”

Qing Qiong saw her approaching them and tried to stop her, but his father held him back tightly.

Ni Su led her horse forward, and the crowd retreated.

They held sticks in their hands, but hesitated, unsure whether to attack this woman like they did the Fan father and son.

She took a step forward, and they took a step back.

Tears welled up in Ni Su’s eyes. The glazed lamp swayed on her horse, its light almost blending with the crimson glow of the setting sun. She took out her dagger. Someone in the crowd called her a “madwoman.”

A child, held by an adult, threw a stone at her, and someone tried to snatch the broken spear from her hand.

Xu He Xue’s remains weren’t buried beneath the tombstone. They treated this broken spear as him, leaving it exposed to the elements, forever broken.

Seeing her surrounded by the crowd, Qing Qiong and Fan Jiang immediately rushed forward to help her. Ni Su was pushed to the ground, her hands scraped, but she still clung tightly to the broken spear.

Suddenly, the sky darkened.

The crimson glow faded. The wind blew, and fine snowflakes landed on Ni Su’s face.

A thick fog descended, and the anger on people’s faces was gradually replaced by fear. They couldn’t see the sharp, floating dust motes, but they felt something piercing their hands.

The excruciating pain forced those fighting with Ni Su for the spear to loosen their grip. They retreated in panic, dropping their sticks, no one daring to attack Fan Jiang and Qing Qiong again.

They scrambled away as fast as they could.

The wind howled on the cliff. Qing Qiong and Fan Jiang helped each other up and saw the fog dissipate. A frost-white figure stood before the woman, his back to them.

He bent down and took her hand.

The feeling of snow against her skin startled Ni Su. Fine snow fell like salt, swirling around them. His face was pale and flawless, his cold eyes seeming unable to see her clearly.

The glazed lamp on her horse’s back cast a faint light, some distance from him. He could only see her blurry outline.

He opened his lips to speak, but heard her crying.

He paused, then reached out tentatively, placing his hands on her shoulders and helping her sit up. Unexpectedly, she leaned against his chest.

Xu He Xue stiffened, lowering his eyes.

Her tears soaked his robes. He could feel them. He raised a hand to touch her cheek, but hesitated, finally gently brushing her hair.

“Did they hurt you?”

He couldn’t see clearly, unable to determine if she was injured.

“No, no…”

Ni Su sobbed uncontrollably, still clutching the broken spear, one hand gripping his robe tightly.

He was already dead.

But Ni Su knew that the punishment this world had inflicted upon him hadn’t ended.

Chapter 66: Eternal Encounter Song (Part 5)-1

After the thirteen northern prefectures fell into Danqiu’s hands, General Yu Jie, Xu He Xue, had once recaptured six of the Yan Pass prefectures. While he was there, Ju Han Pass was the Great Qi’s defensive line. Sixteen years after his death, Ju Han Pass fell, and the strategic fortress of Yongzhou became the Great Qi’s last line of defense in the north.

For sixteen years, this area had been frequently harassed by barbarians. Emperor Zheng Yuan had ordered troops to be stationed there for defense. Although the national treasury was depleted, military spending was never neglected.

There were two major clans in Yongzhou, the Qin and the Wei. The two families were connected by centuries of intermarriage, and they were also the two generals stationed in Yongzhou after General Yu Jie’s treason and execution.

General Qin Ji Xun of the Qin Army was the Defense Commissioner of Yongzhou. He and General Wei De Chang of the Wei Army became sworn brothers, jointly defending the border for sixteen years, earning considerable merit.

Ni Su left Yun Jing in early spring and arrived at the border city of Yongzhou just as summer began. Born in Que County in the south, she could never have imagined the rugged mountains and vast plateaus of this place if she hadn’t seen them with her own eyes.

After the start of summer, the temperature difference between day and night was significant. During the day, Ni Su followed the locals and wrapped her face with a gauze scarf to protect her skin from the sun. At night, she had to wear thicker clothes to stay warm.

“My dear, is my grandchild still alive?”

The old woman paced back and forth outside the curtain, listening to her daughter-in-law’s heart-wrenching cries of pain. She muttered anxiously.

Ni Su’s hands were covered in blood. She gently pressed on the baby’s head, but it remained motionless. Her heart sank. “You waited three days after labor started to seek a physician, how can the child still be saved?”

“Ah?”

The old woman almost fainted. Her unmarried daughter supported her as she looked at the busy figure inside. “Then what’s the use of us inviting you?”

“Aunt Wang, the stillborn child is stuck. If it’s not removed, Ping Niang will die!” The midwife emerged from behind the curtain, speaking to her kindly.

“When I gave birth to A-Feng, I wasn’t as delicate as her, why couldn’t she give birth?” The old woman complained.

“Every woman’s situation is different. If the pelvis isn’t open enough, the baby will get stuck in the birth canal. It’s not her fault she can’t give birth.”

The woman’s voice from behind the curtain was clear and resonant. The midwife saw her feed Ping Niang something through the curtain and hurriedly said, “Miss, the baby is already dead, you can’t give her medicine to open the pelvis at this time!”

“It’s not medicine to open the pelvis, it’s a pill to replenish her qi and blood.” After speaking, Ni Su comforted Ping Niang, who lay on the bed, drenched in sweat. “Don’t worry, if this medicine harms you, I’ll give you my life.”

Her words were directed at Ping Niang, as well as the distrustful old woman and midwife outside the curtain.

Ping Niang was in too much pain to speak, tears filling her eyes. Ni Su observed Ping Niang beneath her clothes. After a moment, she immediately called the midwife in.

After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Ping Niang, her voice hoarse and exhausted, gave birth to the stillborn child. The midwife, drenched in sweat, wrapped the baby in a cloth.

Ni Su also had beads of sweat on her temples. She cleaned her hands and emerged from behind the curtain. The unmarried daughter, seeing the blood on Ni Su’s clothes and recalling her sister-in-law’s cries, turned pale, realizing for the first time how painful childbirth could be.

“I’ll write a prescription. Please make sure you get the medicine to help her recover.”

Ni Su spoke, but seeing the old woman hesitate, not responding, she added, “They aren’t precious medicinal herbs. Childbirth is never easy for any woman. You must have also been in pain back then. She’s lost her child, her heart is also aching.”

Ni Su wrote the prescription and handed it to the daughter, then left with the midwife.

“Miss, have you really studied medicine?”

The midwife struck up a conversation.

“It’s a family tradition. I’ve learned it since I was young,” Ni Su replied.

“So you really come from a medical family. Miss, that pill of yours was truly effective. I thought it was for opening the pelvis, but it turned out to be for replenishing qi and blood.”

The midwife had never met a young woman like her, so young yet skilled in gynecology, treating everyone with courtesy and respect.

“I’ll give you today’s consultation fee, and I’d like to ask you for a favor.”

Ni Su paused and said.

“Tell me, Miss.”

The midwife didn’t expect such good fortune and beamed.

“I suspect that old woman won’t be willing to spend money on medicine for her daughter-in-law. Keep this money. Half is for Ping Niang’s medicine, give it to her sister-in-law, and keep the other half for yourself.”

The midwife hadn’t expected this request. She was stunned for a moment, then nodded after a while. “You have a kind heart, Miss, but there are so many cases like this, how can you possibly help everyone?”

“Life is never easy for the poor. My father often provided free medical treatment to farmers in the countryside.” Ni Su paused, then added, “I’d also like to ask you about the difficult cases you’ve encountered while delivering babies. I’m young and haven’t seen many patients. I want to hear how you solve these difficult problems.”

“You want to learn our folk remedies, Miss?”

The midwife was slightly embarrassed.

“As long as they’re effective, they’re good remedies. As a physician, one should be open to all methods.”

“What do you mean by ‘all methods’?”

The midwife was confused.

Ni Su smiled. “I’m asking you to teach me. I know you’re the best midwife in this area. If you’re willing to be my teacher, I’ll bring you a tuition fee tomorrow.”

The midwife had lived in this impoverished area her entire life, delivering babies for the poor. There were better midwives in Yongzhou City, serving wealthy families and enjoying a certain status and wealth. She couldn’t compare to them and had never been formally addressed as “Teacher.” She had only heard children in school address scholars that way.

“I’m not a teacher, Miss. Please don’t say that.” The midwife smiled, returning half of the consultation fee to Ni Su. “I don’t need that half. I’ll keep it to buy medicine for Ping Niang. If you want to know anything, just come to my house.”

Ni Su thanked the midwife and parted ways, heading towards Liu Alley in the west of the city. The setting sun painted the sky like crumpled gold foil. Before Ni Su reached the well at the end of the alley, she saw the wooden cover being pushed open from below. A cloth-wrapped head popped out, and a pair of dark eyes looked up, seeing her. “Miss Ni, I think my father is back!”

Ni Su had come to Yongzhou with Qing Qiong, but hadn’t met his father. He had left a letter in their home at the bottom of the well, the crooked handwriting legible only to Qing Qiong.

The letter said he had gone to a neighboring county for work.

His legs weren’t good, so he couldn’t travel far or do heavy work. He was probably making boxes and cabinets for people.

Ni Su and Qing Qiong had been in Yongzhou for half a month, but he hadn’t returned.

“There are candies on the table. He must have bought them for me.”

Qing Qiong climbed out of the well, covered the opening with the wooden board, and locked it. After his mother returned to Youdu, he and his father had moved to live at the bottom of the well.

The bodies at the bottom of the well had been excavated and buried by General Yu Jie years ago. His father, a carpenter, had carved out a wider space at the bottom, making it somewhat livable.

“Then where did he go?” Ni Su asked.

“Probably outside the city,” Qing Qiong guessed. “It’s almost dusk. At this time, there shouldn’t be anyone passing through Sang Qiu. My father must have gone to sweep General Xu’s tomb…”

He stopped abruptly.

His eyes met Ni Su’s.

“Why didn’t you tell me he had a tomb?” Ni Su quickly approached him.

Qing Qiong paused for a moment, then said, “That’s not a tombstone erected to commemorate him.”

How could the people here commemorate him?

Ni Su knew that sixteen years ago, the Emperor had ordered Xu He Xue’s execution, and Jiang Xian Ming, acting on public opinion, had him dismembered. The public opinion he followed was that of Yongzhou.

At the foot of a hill, on a rugged cliff face, stood a tombstone.

The cold wind whipped at Ni Su’s veil. She had learned to ride during her journey to the capital with a ghost. Now, sitting on horseback, holding the reins, she could clearly see his name engraved on the tombstone, even from a distance.

A broken silver spear was embedded in front of the tombstone. Qing Qiong said it was the one he had used in life. After sixteen years of wind and sun, the spear was rusted and disfigured.

“Father, don’t hide!”

Qing Qiong saw the figure hiding behind the tombstone.

Hearing his voice, the man peeked out, saw Qing Qiong on horseback, and another young woman on horseback beside him. He slowly emerged from behind the tombstone, cane in hand, holding a cloth.

“Are there more children here again?”

Qing Qiong saw the dirty cloth in his hand and knew he had been wiping the tombstone.

“Eh.”

Fan Jiang reacted slowly, then looked at Ni Su. “And this is?”

Qing Qiong dismounted and whispered to his father. Ni Su also dismounted, her hand subconsciously gripping the strap of the medicine basket. The closer she got to the tombstone, the more clearly she saw the childish scribbles in charcoal. The crooked characters for “bad person” hadn’t been completely wiped off by Fan Jiang.

“General Xu’s soul has returned?”

Fan Jiang’s beard trembled.

“Father, this is Miss Ni, the one who summoned him back.” Both father and son spoke slowly. Qing Qiong finally explained everything.

“Where is General Xu?”

“Father, General Xu has returned to Youdu.”

Qing Qiong tugged on his sleeve.

 

Chapter 65: Eternal Encounter Song (Part 4)-2

During the Qingming Festival, the rain was frequent. After paying respects to Zhang Jing’s tomb with Han Qing, Zhou Ting rode into the city, packed his belongings, and departed for Zezhou with Chao Yi Song and the others.

Riding past Nan Huai Street, Zhou Ting pulled on the reins, paused for a moment, then dismounted and walked towards the clinic.

“Huh? Miss Ni doesn’t seem to be here?”

Chao Yi Song knocked on the door several times, but heard no response.

Zhou Ting glanced at the closed clinic door, said nothing, and walked across the street to the herbal medicine shop. A-Fang was dozing off. Hearing footsteps, she turned around and saw the cold, dark eyes, jolting awake. “Who are you looking for?”

She felt like she had seen this man before.

“Miss Ni from the clinic across the street. Do you know where she went?” Zhou Ting asked.

The similar situation jogged A-Fang’s memory. Seeing the sword at his waist, she was slightly afraid and answered honestly, “She only said she was going on a long journey. I don’t know where she went.”

“Perhaps she’s returned to her hometown in Que County? And won’t be coming back?”

Chao Yi Song said from behind.

“I don’t think so…”

A-Fang said timidly. “I heard her say she would be back.”

“When did she leave?”

Zhou Ting asked after a moment of silence.

“A few days ago.”

“Thank you.”

Zhou Ting turned and left the shop. Chao Yi Song approached him. “Young Master Zhou…”

“Let’s go, to Zezhou.”

Zhou Ting mounted his horse, interrupting him.

The journey from Yun Jing to Yongzhou was long. Ni Su and Qing Qiong travelled together. After a few days, they were forced to stop at an inn in Cang County due to heavy rain.

Ni Su asked the waiter to buy a basket of incense and candles. Before it was completely dark, she lit several lamps and candles in the room, then sat down at the table to eat.

She had little appetite and ate very little, but Qing Qiong had a good appetite and devoured the food.

After bathing and washing up at night, Ni Su lay down on the bed, holding the medicine basket, and pulled the quilt over herself. The lamplight flickered in the room. She rested her cheek on the soft pillow, looking at the shimmering white light in the medicine basket. It had a fluffy tail. Whenever she reached out, it would nuzzle against her fingertip, its tail wagging.

She covered the medicine basket with the quilt, watching the light flicker inside.

The rain outside the lattice window was loud and chaotic. Ni Su hugged the medicine basket and closed her eyes. Occasionally, she would hear the faint shimmer of the dust motes. She had grown accustomed to this sound in the past few days.

And with this sound, she had a dream.

In the dream, she saw a figure from behind, wearing the clothes she had made for him, vermillion robes, a frost-white outer robe, the scarlet sash at his waist swaying in the wind.

Ni Su wanted to call out to him, but she couldn’t open her mouth.

She saw the clothes fall to the ground and dissipate. He transformed into a swirling mist of blood, floating alone amidst a lush field of silvergrass.

He seemed to be frantically searching through the silvergrass, soul fires flickering within, scattered by the light rain. They transformed into translucent human forms, each a stranger’s face as they drifted past him.

Only he remained a mist of blood, never taking shape.

“Don’t bother searching.”

Ni Su heard a voice. A figure stood in the silvergrass, his face that of a beast, but with a white, curly beard.

He stood before the blood mist, tilting his chin slightly, looking up at the dark, stormy sky. “Your teacher isn’t in Youdu. He’s gone to the place you refused to go.”

A clap of thunder jolted Ni Su awake.

She sat up abruptly, drenched in cold sweat. The details of the dream were blurry, but she remembered the blood mist, the old man with the beastly face.

Remembering that beastly face, Ni Su immediately took out the carved wooden bead from her robes. In the lamplight, the carved bead overlapped with the beastly face in her dream.

She looked to her side and realized there was no light beneath the corner of the quilt. She lifted the quilt. The medicine basket lay quietly beside her, but the shimmering white light was gone.

“Xu Zi Ling…”

Ni Su picked up the medicine basket, got out of bed barefoot, and frantically searched the room. “Xu Zi Ling, where are you?”

Her cries startled Qing Qiong in the next room. He immediately pushed the door open and saw Ni Su in her thin sleeping gown, her hair loose, searching for something in the room, calling out a name.

“Miss Ni, what’s wrong?”

Qing Qiong closed the door and saw Ni Su turn around, her eyes red-rimmed, clutching the small medicine basket. “Qing Qiong, he’s gone…”

“What?”

Qing Qiong approached and saw that the medicine basket was indeed empty. He was stunned for a moment, then touched his cloth-wrapped head. “How could this be? Did you do something? Or…”

“I didn’t do anything.”

Ni Su shook her head. “I just had a dream, and he was gone when I woke up.”

“A dream? What dream?”

Qing Qiong keenly grasped this point.

“I dreamt of a place with a vast field of silvergrass. I dreamt that he turned into a mist of blood, and an old man with a beastly face told him that his teacher had gone to the place he refused to go.”

Qing Qiong’s expression changed when he heard about the silvergrass. Then, hearing about the old man with the beastly face, he immediately said, “The place you dreamt of is the banks of the River of Resentment in Youdu.”

The River of Resentment in Youdu.

Ni Su was startled. She remembered Xu He Xue mentioning it.

The silvergrass field by the River of Resentment was where the souls of the deceased received paper money and winter clothes from their living relatives.

“I’m different from ordinary people. I often dreamt of a place when I was young, and that place was Youdu. The old man with the beastly face is the Earth Lord of Youdu. I guess General Xu has returned to Youdu to find his teacher, Minister Zhang.”

Qing Qiong carefully considered her words. The questions he had been pondering were finally answered. He looked at Ni Su and said seriously, “The souls of the deceased only have soul fire. That’s how my mother is. I couldn’t understand why General Xu’s soul fire was a shimmering white ball, like a formless mountain spirit. But based on what the Earth Lord said in your dream… Miss Ni, I guess General Xu is no longer a soul of Youdu.”

“What… what does that mean?”

Ni Su looked up at him.

“Didn’t I tell you? My father can sometimes hear my mother speak. I remember one day he heard my mother say that not all souls go to Youdu after death.” Qing Qiong walked to the window and pushed open the lattice. The lanterns outside had been extinguished by the rain. He pointed at the dark sky. “Some souls go there after death.”

Ni Su walked to the window and followed Qing Qiong’s finger.

“I knew it. Even if everyone in this world considers General Xu a traitor, Heaven sees his innocence. Such a good general, after death, should become a star in the sky,” Qing Qiong said.

“A star?”

Ni Su murmured.

“My mother said there are no deities in the sky. Nine pacts govern the Earth Lord below, and nine passes guard the tiger and leopard above. See how many stars there are on a clear night? They are all transformed from souls of great merit. The souls of Youdu reincarnate every hundred years, while the stars in the sky change every three hundred years. My mother said they possess power that the souls of Youdu don’t have.”

The sound of rain fell softly on Ni Su’s ears.

“I was just wondering why, when you become a ghost, you gain these supernatural abilities, yet Youdu punishes you for using them.”

“Because these abilities aren’t meant to be used here.”

On the night of the Lantern Festival, in the alley behind the entertainment district, Xu He Xue had answered her this way.

The waters of the mortal world couldn’t wash away his dust.

Besides the willow leaf water she boiled, only the bright moonlight could cleanse the dust and grime clinging to him. He wasn’t a ghost of Youdu; he was truly a star in the sky.

“Miss Ni? Miss Ni, what are you thinking about?” Qing Qiong called her several times before she blinked, finally reacting.

The night wind brushed her face, stirring the hair by her ear. She stood by the window, clutching the empty medicine basket, looking at the deep, rainy night. Youdu in her dream was also raining:

“I hope this rain stops soon.”

Otherwise, what would the fastidious Xu Zi Ling do?

Chapter 65: Eternal Encounter Song (Part 4)-1

During the Qingming Festival, the rain fell continuously.

Old Steward Liu Jia Rong knelt beside Zhang Jing’s tombstone, repeatedly tossing paper money into a basin. If someone came to offer incense, he would stand up and step aside, lighting the incense and handing it to them.

He Tong kept watch beside him, instructing the servants he brought to prepare the incense and candles. He had forgotten to shave, his appearance reflecting his deep exhaustion.

As Meng Yun Xian and Pei Zhi Yuan approached, they saw someone bowing and offering incense before the tombstone. Hearing their footsteps, He Tong looked up and saw Meng Yun Xian. He bowed. “Minister Meng.”

Straightening up, he looked at Pei Zhi Yuan beside Meng Yun Xian and nodded. “Minister Pei.”

The person offering incense turned around at that moment. Pei Zhi Yuan saw him dressed in a dark green brocade robe and a headcloth, his regular features weathered by time, no longer young, a short beard on his chin.

His eyes were filled with tears.

“Minister Pan.”

Pei Zhi Yuan concealed his surprise and bowed.

“There’s no need for formalities, Min Xing,” Pan You Fang wiped his face and looked at Meng Yun Xian. “Minister Meng, I wasn’t in the capital when you returned. It’s been over a decade, and only now have I managed to see you.”

“I was wondering when I returned,” Meng Yun Xian pointed to Pei Zhi Yuan beside him. “I asked Min Xing, why haven’t I seen Minister Pan? He said your father passed away, and you returned to your hometown for the mourning period.”

“Yes, three years of mourning.”

Pan You Fang looked back at the tombstone and sighed. “I heard about Minister Zhang on my way back to the capital. I hurried, but I missed the funeral. But at least, today is Qingming.”

Old Steward Liu Jia Rong timely lit the incense and offered it with a bow. Meng Yun Xian took it first. Pei Zhi Yuan, standing a few steps behind them, also took the incense and bowed.

After offering incense, Meng Yun Xian stared at the inscription on the tombstone for a long time before turning to He Tong. “Your eyes are very swollen. Didn’t your wife apply a warm compress?”

“It’ll be fine in a few days.”

He Tong’s voice was hoarse, his nose stuffy.

“Scholar He, my condolences.”

Pan You Fang looked over and offered his comfort.

He Tong lowered his head and murmured a response.

Meng Yun Xian wanted to stay longer, but Pei Zhi Yuan reminded him of unfinished business at the Department of State Affairs. He turned to walk towards the carriage parked nearby. Many people came and went, and those who recognized him bowed to him.

“Is Minister Pan also going to the palace?”

Meng Yun Xian stopped and looked back at the approaching Pan You Fang.

“Yes, I returned to the capital today and haven’t seen His Majesty yet.” Pan You Fang nodded, his eyes still slightly red. “Why don’t you come with me, Minister Meng?”

Meng Yun Xian said, “If His Majesty knows you came to pay respects to Chong Zhi as soon as you returned, I’m afraid he’ll be angry.”

“Many officials have already come. If I don’t come because of this, wouldn’t it be too heartless? Minister Zhang was the chief examiner when I took the imperial examinations. He personally graded my papers and recognized my talent.”

Pan You Fang’s expression was clear and composed. “Even if His Majesty asks, this is what I will say.”

“Come with me, Minister Meng. Don’t you have any questions for me?”

He said.

Meng Yun Xian paused. “What should I ask you?”

“About Yongzhou, about the incident at Mu Shen Mountain.”

Rain pattered against the umbrella. Pan You Fang tucked his hands into his sleeves. “Back then, Jiang Xian Ming was the Governor of Yongzhou, and I was the imperial commissioner sent to the border.”

“Of course I remember you were the commissioner. Chong Zhi recommended you,” Meng Yun Xian gestured for his servant to raise the umbrella higher. “I’ve already questioned you and Jiang Xian Ming about the military reports from Yongzhou, the testimonies of so many people. What else is there to ask?”

“But I don’t understand why Minister Zhang…”

Pan You Fang hesitated. He swallowed, his voice slightly hoarse. “I also heard about his dying words.”

“Who knows?”

Meng Yun Xian shook his head. “We parted ways in the past, now separated by death. Chong Zhi and I haven’t had anything to say to each other for fifteen years.”

“Let’s go, we’ll enter the palace together,” Meng Yun Xian said.

Pan You Fang nodded silently, walking alongside Meng Yun Xian under the umbrella. They soon encountered Jiang Xian Ming, supported by his servant.

Since Zhang Jing’s execution, Jiang Xian Ming had been seriously ill, confined to his bed for many days, only managing to come here today to pay his respects.

Seeing Pan You Fang walking with Meng Yun Xian, Jiang Xian Ming was surprised. He bowed to them. “Minister Meng, Minister Pan.”

“Are you ill, Censor Jiang?” Pan You Fang looked at him.

“Just a minor illness. I missed Minister Zhang’s funeral. I had to come today, no matter what,” Jiang Xian Ming said, coughing violently.

“Then you go ahead. Minister Meng and I will enter the palace first,” Pan You Fang said.

Meng Yun Xian hadn’t spoken to Jiang Xian Ming at all. Jiang Xian Ming straightened up with difficulty, watching the two ministers walk past him. He couldn’t help but call out, “Minister Meng.”

Meng Yun Xian stopped and turned around.

In the misty rain, Jiang Xian Ming took out a paper umbrella from his servant’s hand. “I have some questions for you, Minister Meng.”

Meng Yun Xian’s expression was neutral. He didn’t say anything, just glanced at Pei Zhi Yuan and said to Pan You Fang, “Minister Pan, it seems we can’t go together.”

“Why don’t I go with Minister Pan?” Pei Zhi Yuan suggested timely.

“In that case, Minister Meng, Min Xing and I will go ahead.”

Pan You Fang nodded.

Pei Zhi Yuan and Pan You Fang boarded a carriage. Meng Yun Xian watched the carriage drive away through the mud, then took the paper umbrella from his servant, who discreetly stepped back.

Amidst the lush, green mountains, Jiang Xian Ming and Meng Yun Xian stood facing each other, each holding an umbrella, silent.

“Censor Jiang, haven’t you been sleeping well?”

Meng Yun Xian finally spoke, staring at the dark circles under Jiang Xian Ming’s eyes. “Because of Chong Zhi’s dying words?”

Jiang Xian Ming didn’t deny it. “You and Minister Zhang were also close friends for many years, so I want to hear your thoughts on what he said before his execution.”

“Now, who in the court dares to speak the truth before you, Censor Jiang?” Meng Yun Xian’s lips curled into a sarcastic smile.

Jiang Xian Ming held the power to impeach officials based on hearsay. Everyone had to be extremely careful when speaking before him.

“What’s said today will remain between us. I will never use this against you.”

“But I have nothing to tell you, Censor Jiang. You were the one in Yongzhou, you personally ordered the execution of General Yu Jie. I was thousands of miles away, how could I know the reasons better than you?”

“Yes, indeed.”

Jiang Xian Ming threw away his umbrella, wanting to clear his confused mind. “I was also investigating the Daizhou grain supply case. Qian Wei Yin approached me first, not Minister Zhang. If I hadn’t hesitated, if I had submitted the memorial before Minister Zhang, perhaps he wouldn’t have died… He was someone I respected deeply, and I know the accusations of illegally accepting land and forming factions must be fabrications by those behind the Daizhou criminals. But I don’t understand why Minister Zhang said those words before his death. I was in Yongzhou. Everything I saw and investigated told me that I executed a traitor, a criminal who deserved to die!”

“Then continue to believe your evidence!” Meng Yun Xian stared at him from under his umbrella. “For sixteen years, haven’t you, Jiang Xian Ming, never doubted it? Just because of Chong Zhi’s dying words, you come to ask me? Then who should I ask?!”

Rainwater soaked Jiang Xian Ming’s headcloth. He was speechless.

“You are a close associate of the Emperor. If you were to submit a memorial about this grain supply case, your fate would be worse than Chong Zhi’s. I understand your hesitation, and I know you, Censor Jiang, are upright and just, not afraid of trouble.” The rain masked the surrounding noises as Meng Yun Xian approached him. “But today, I want to ask you, why do you think the Emperor regards you as a close associate?”

Jiang Xian Ming was an upright official, as was Zhang Jing. But Jiang Xian Ming was the Emperor’s upright official.

If Jiang Xian Ming brought up the grain supply case again, even with Qian Wei Yin as solid evidence, he would meet a bad end. Because in this situation where the Emperor’s edicts were absolute, he was a smokescreen presented to the world by Emperor Zheng Yuan.

Emperor Zheng Yuan used him to tell the world: See, I also have upright officials by my side, I am not a tyrant.

He was merely a figurehead, diligently serving the Emperor for over a decade, wholeheartedly devoted to him, mistakenly believing himself to be the Emperor’s ears and voice for the people.

When the Emperor didn’t want to hear him speak, he was nothing.

Jiang Xian Ming gripped the umbrella handle tightly, stunned, unable to speak.

“Censor Jiang, understanding your own situation is more important than anything.”

Meng Yun Xian said no more, turning and walking away along the muddy mountain path.

After Meng Yun Xian’s carriage left, Han Qing, the Director of the Yin Ye Si, emerged from the other side of the mountain path. He looked at Jiang Xian Ming, standing dazedly in the rain, and said to the young man beside him, “After you and I pay our respects to Minister Zhang, depart for Zezhou immediately. Don’t expect to extract anything different from those criminal officials.”

“Minister Zhang took Qian Wei Yin to the palace, and shortly after, Zheng Jian, the Hanlin Academy Reader, submitted a memorial to slander him. They’ve had enough time to fabricate the charges of Minister Zhang illegally accepting land and forming factions. Don’t interfere. I’m sending you there partly to avoid the trouble your father has caused you. How many times have you been assassinated recently? You’re covered in injuries. Go to Zezhou and recover.”

Han Qing sighed. “The Yin Ye Si serves the Emperor. Now, only by confirming Minister Zhang’s guilt can we suppress public anger. The Yin Ye Si cannot get involved in clearing his name.”

Han Qing’s heart was also filled with unspoken bitterness. Minister Meng couldn’t interfere with Minister Zhang’s case in court, and he couldn’t let the Emperor suspect anything, nor could he interact with Meng Yun Xian casually.

The Emperor had ordered the Yin Ye Si to send someone to Zezhou to supervise the local investigation and handling of the involved officials. The Yin Ye Si couldn’t disobey him.

“Rest assured, Director, Zhou Ting understands.”

Zhou Ting nodded.

 

Chapter 64: Eternal Encounter Song (Part 3)

“That day, I saw him beneath the execution platform. He threw himself forward, shielding his teacher. That’s when I realized he was Xu He Xue,” the young man said, gesturing with his thin hands. “I saw you take him away.”

His eyes moved slowly, his gaze fixed on the medicine basket she carried.

“What do you want?”

Ni Su cautiously took two steps back.

“He’s severely injured. Mortal medicine, incense, and candles can’t heal him.” The young man’s eyes clearly saw the shimmering white light through the woven gaps of the basket. “But I can.”

Ni Su’s heart stirred, but she remained cautiously observant of this mysterious young man who had suddenly appeared.

The young man pulled down his hood. A thin cloth was wrapped around his head. Beneath the cloak, his body was incredibly thin. His dark eyes stared at her. “Do you have any steamed buns?”

There were no steamed bun vendors on the street at this hour. Ni Su bought him a paper-wrapped package of flatbreads. He didn’t seem to mind the heat of the freshly baked bread, grabbing one and stuffing it into his mouth.

On the short walk from the food stall to the clinic, Ni Su climbed the steps and turned around to see the young man standing below, smacking his lips, the paper package already empty.

Ni Su had to turn back and buy him another one.

The young man sat under the eaves, devouring the flatbreads, his speech muffled and slow. “You gave me two steamed buns before.”

“That day, I saw him standing beside you. But at that time, I didn’t know he was Xu He Xue. I thought he was in Youdu.”

He said.

“Do you know him?” Ni Su sat down on the other side, tilting her head to look at him.

“No.”

The young man shook his head, taking a bite of the flatbread. Then he added, “But my mother knew him.”

“Who is your mother?”

The young man finished half a flatbread before wiping his mouth and saying, “My mother was from Daizhou. Eighteen years ago, on her way to Yongzhou to get married, she encountered a small group of barbarian soldiers. They killed everyone in the wedding procession, including my maternal grandparents. Only my mother was taken by them and used as a prostitute.”

“They were infiltrating the northern border to gather intelligence. General Yu Jie, Xu He Xue’s lieutenant, Xue Huai, discovered them and led his soldiers to eliminate them. That’s how my mother escaped.”

The young man continued, “My mother’s family was destroyed, and she had nowhere to go. Lieutenant Xue Huai brought her back to Yongzhou. But when the family who was supposed to marry her heard about this, they wanted to drown her in a well.”

He had heard from his mother that it was a bright, sunny day. The wind and sand in Yongzhou were strong, stinging her face. She was captured by her husband’s family, her hands and feet bound, and forced to the edge of the well.

“A defiled woman, especially one used by barbarians, how can our family accept her? After such a thing, you shouldn’t have come to Yongzhou!”

Her mother-in-law’s face was flushed from the sun, her eyes like hooks, digging into her flesh.

“Who would want such a bride?”

“Better to die and be done with it…”

“I don’t know why she even came here…”

The surrounding crowd murmured, their words sharp and cruel.

“I didn’t want to enter your family’s home again…” She trembled as she spoke, but the crowd was noisy, no one paying attention. She repeated, “I didn’t want to enter your family’s home again, I just… had nowhere to go.”

“You still want to live?”

Her mother-in-law was astonished, incredulous.

“Can’t I?”

She asked.

Her mother-in-law didn’t want to bother with her, her brow furrowed tightly. She gestured for the men to grab her and push her into the well.

A long spear pierced the air, embedding itself with a thud into the tree trunk beside the dry well. The spear vibrated, glinting with a cold, silver light.

The onlookers scattered in panic. They saw the young general in red robes and silver armor, a sword at his waist, holding the reins of his horse, approaching them. He looked down at the two men holding her shoulders, and they immediately went weak in the knees, shrinking back.

“Of course you can.”

The young general sat on his horse, his vermillion robes edged with silver scales. No one had answered her question, but he did, his voice clear and strong. “You haven’t been entered into their family registry, so they cannot bind you with their local customs. And frankly, I believe such customs shouldn’t exist.”

“Today, anyone who dares to throw you into this well will be sentenced to death.”

The woman stammered, “General, her family accepted our betrothal gifts, how can she not be considered…”

“Xue Huai, do you have any money?”

The young general turned to his lieutenant behind him.

“…”

Xue Huai reluctantly reached into his armor, took out a money pouch, and tossed it to the woman. “I don’t have much on me, General. Remember to pay me back.”

The young general grunted, stroking his horse’s mane, his cold eyes glancing at the woman. “Is that enough?”

“This…”

The woman weighed the pouch. It was actually more than the betrothal gifts she had spent.

“Xue Huai, untie her.”

The young general, no longer bothering to look at the woman, tilted his chin towards Xue Huai.

Xue Huai responded and stepped forward. But unexpectedly, the woman by the well looked back at the deep, dark well and suddenly threw herself in.

The well was deep. Everyone heard the heavy thud as she landed. No one expected her to jump in herself.

“My mother said that when Lieutenant Xue Huai rescued her from the barbarians, she thought she could still live. But that day, seeing so many eyes, hearing so many people say she should die, that she shouldn’t live, she felt she couldn’t live anymore.” The young man spoke slowly, even playing with the oily paper in his hands slowly.

“Then you…”

Ni Su hesitated.

The young man looked up at her. “You know what I am, right?”

“When General Xu ordered his men to retrieve and bury my mother’s body, they discovered countless bones buried in the mud at the bottom. It looked like mud, but underneath were the bones of women. From then on, he strictly forbade this cruel custom in Yongzhou. Under his rule, no one in Yongzhou or the surrounding towns dared to privately dispose of women in their clans, otherwise they would be punished by law.”

“Because of this, he offended many clans in Yongzhou.”

“Although my mother’s body was buried, the well still contained talismans left by families who had drowned their childless daughters-in-law, meant to trap their souls. My mother couldn’t leave the well because of these talismans, until my father, drunk, accidentally fell into the well.”

The young man scratched his head through the cloth. “Their story is a bit cliché. My father was saved by my mother, preventing him from falling to his death. Then, somehow, the living and the dead fell for each other.”

“And then, you were born?”

Ni Su finally found an opportunity to interject.

“Yes, and they both regretted it,” the young man nodded.

“Why did they regret it?”

“A ghost fetus… they didn’t know I would look like this, that I would grow faster than normal people, without any hair, and that I wouldn’t live long.”

Ni Su was startled. No wonder, according to him, he should only be seventeen or eighteen, but he looked like a young man in his twenties.

“Then why did you come to Yun Jing?”

She asked.

“My mother asked me to deliver a letter to Minister Zhang. It was the day you gave me the steamed buns. I happened to deliver the letter to him.”

“What letter?”

“She said that General Xu didn’t betray his country, and someone needed to know this. Not everyone in this world should condemn him, ruin him.”

“But Minister Zhang had been exiled for many years. My mother waited a long time for him to return to Yun Jing as an official. She asked me to deliver the letter to him. Although it wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the case, at least it could raise doubts in Minister Zhang’s mind, and perhaps one day, clear General Xu’s name.”

He said, his voice tinged with melancholy. “Unfortunately, Minister Zhang is also dead.”

Ni Su remained silent for a long time before asking, “What’s your name?”

“Qing Qiong. Battle blood stains my sword, this sword breaks the blue sky.”

His features weren’t as expressive as ordinary people, even his smile stiff. “My mother said this is General Xu’s poem.”

The youthful spirit of a young general was fully embodied in this poem.

Ni Su repeated it silently in her heart, lost in thought.

“Miss, if we want to save General Xu, we have to leave quickly,” Qing Qiong’s voice broke through her thoughts.

Ni Su looked up abruptly. “Leave?”

“My mother is now in Youdu, but my father can often hear her speak. He has difficulty walking and couldn’t come to Yun Jing with me. If we go back and see my father, there must be a way in Youdu to heal his injuries.”

Qing Qiong said.

Ni Su didn’t hesitate and immediately nodded. “Alright, I’ll leave for Yongzhou with you immediately.”

“You…”

Qing Qiong hadn’t expected her to agree so readily. “That’s the border. If you’re afraid, I can take General Xu there.”

“He was summoned by me, he can’t leave my side.”

Ni Su looked up at the eaves, the light gold paint shimmering like lacquer. “I want to save him.”

Qing Qiong watched her stand up and quickly walk into the opposite room. She came out shortly after, holding a pulse pillow, and walked towards him, gesturing for him to extend his hand.

Qing Qiong was taken aback, then said, “This isn’t an illness, you can’t treat it…”

Ni Su’s fingers gently pressed against his pulse. “Although you are a ghost fetus, your father still gave you a flesh and blood body. As long as it’s flesh and blood, I can at least alleviate some of your pain.”

Although Ni Su specialized in gynecology, she wasn’t limited to it. She had ways to alleviate his sensitivity to cold, poor circulation, and joint pain.

“As long as your mother can save him, I will buy you many steamed buns and flatbreads along the way. You can have anything else you want. This is my way of thanking you.”

Ni Su said.

Qing Qiong didn’t speak, looking at her after a while. “Aren’t you afraid of me?”

He looked strange, and no one dared to approach him like this.

Ni Su withdrew her hand, having a general understanding of his condition. “I don’t know why I should be afraid.”

She glanced down at the medicine basket at her side, the shimmering light flickering inside. She reached into the basket, and it nuzzled against her fingertip.

“Ghosts are not ghosts, humans are the real ghosts.”

“In this world, there’s nothing more terrifying than humans.”

Chapter 63: Eternal Encounter Song (Part 2)

Heavy snow blanketed Yun Jing as Zhang Jing was executed.

Emperor Zheng Yuan woke up the next day and, supported by Imperial Concubine Wu, stood by the window for a while. Snow remained unmelted on the green tiles, covering everything in a layer of white.

The Emperor suddenly coughed up blood.

“Your Majesty!” Imperial Concubine Wu was alarmed and immediately ordered Liang Shen Fu to summon the Imperial Physicians. She and the palace maids helped the Emperor back to his bed.

“Summon Zheng Jian…”

The Emperor’s chest heaved.

Liang Shen Fu immediately bowed. “Your Majesty, I’ll send someone right away!”

The Chief Imperial Physician arrived at Qing He Palace first and knelt by the dragon bed to take the Emperor’s pulse. Zheng Jian, the Hanlin Academy Reader, was brought in by Liang Shen Fu at this moment.

“Your subject, Zheng Jian, pays his respects to Your Majesty.”

Zheng Jian bowed outside the screen.

“You submitted the memorial about Zhang Jing illegally accepting thousands of acres of fertile land.” The Emperor lay in bed, his eyes half-open, not looking at the person behind the screen. “Minister Zheng, did you consider that your memorial would lead to Zhang Jing’s death?”

Zheng Jian’s heart tightened. Today’s situation was indeed unexpected. When he submitted the memorial, he never thought it would result in Zhang Jing being sentenced to death.

“Your subject… is apprehensive.”

Zheng Jian’s lips trembled slightly.

“You should be apprehensive.”

The Emperor sneered from behind the screen, then coughed violently. “Meng Yun Xian still has feelings for him, his student He Tong has always valued him as his teacher, and those young people who wept for him at the execution grounds yesterday, they probably all want to eat your flesh, drink your blood, and tear you apart.”

“Your Majesty!”

Zheng Jian trembled and knelt down.

The Emperor ignored him, simply raising a hand. Imperial Concubine Wu and the Chief Imperial Physician emerged from behind the screen and went outside.

Only Liang Shen Fu remained beside the Emperor, attending to him as he took a pill to alleviate his headache.

“Zhang Jing sought death. Your memorial merely gave him the opportunity. He defied me, he attacked me, all for the sake of dying. You thought you were manipulating him, but you didn’t know you were already his pawn. Now, rumors are spreading that Zhang Jing died unjustly, and that snowfall is the best proof.”

The Emperor’s voice was tinged with a weary hoarseness. “Someone must have remembered his dying words. He wanted to use his life to make those who believed in him also believe in his treasonous student.”

“Your Majesty, Xu He Xue’s betrayal with 30,000 Jing’an soldiers is irrefutable. When Censor Jiang executed Xu He Xue in Yongzhou, all the subjects of the Great Qi rejoiced. Now, based solely on Zhang Jing’s dying words, without concrete evidence, it’s simply not credible!”

Zheng Jian kowtowed. “Your subject believes there are also suspicious points in the Daizhou grain supply case!”

Silence suddenly fell upon the hall.

Zheng Jian was drenched in sweat, his heart filled with fear, time stretching out endlessly.

Liang Shen Fu carefully wiped the Emperor’s beard and stepped aside. Emperor Zheng Yuan finally opened his eyes slightly, looking at Zheng Jian kneeling outside the screen. His gloomy expression softened slightly, replaced by a hint of satisfaction. “Then interrogate Qian Wei Yin again. Go with the Ministry of Justice.”

The Emperor’s tone was calm, yet intimidating. Zheng Jian’s back was cold with sweat, his forehead pressed against the icy floor, his beard trembling. “Your subject… obeys the decree.”

The snow remained unmelted. Today’s cold was unlike late March.

Zheng Jian left Qing He Palace, feeling weak. Ding Jin, the Supervising Censor, who had been seeking an audience with the Emperor but hadn’t been granted entry, supported him as they descended the steps together.

Ding Jin lifted his robe slightly. “Is Minister Zheng already panicking?”

“His Majesty wants me to interrogate Qian Wei Yin with the Ministry of Justice.”

Zheng Jian’s face was pale. “What do you think that means?”

Hearing this, Ding Jin looked at him sideways. “Why ask, Minister Zheng? His Majesty has ordered you to interrogate Qian Wei Yin, so you interrogate him. Surely you know where your future lies?”

Zheng Jian was considered a close associate of the Emperor. The Emperor, having been manipulated by Zhang Jing, was now filled with uncontainable rage. The Emperor’s words today meant that Zheng Jian would bear the responsibility.

Zhang Jing’s death, yesterday’s snow, had sparked rumors throughout Yun Jing. Zheng Jian now had only one path: to make Qian Wei Yin, currently imprisoned, change his testimony.

As long as Qian Wei Yin admitted that the Daizhou grain supply case was fabricated, he could use that to overturn Zhang Jing’s previous memorial.

“I hope Qian Wei Yin knows what’s good for him.”

Zheng Jian sighed.

In late March of the twentieth year of Zheng Yuan’s reign, the Hanlin Academy Reader and the Ministry of Justice interrogated Qian Wei Yin, the criminal official from Fengzhou, for ten days. But to Zheng Jian’s surprise, no matter how severe the torture, Qian Wei Yin refused to yield.

“Qian Wei Yin! I am interrogating you under imperial decree! Why do you still refuse to confess why you gave false testimony?” In the dark prison cell, Zheng Jian slammed the table, glaring at the middle-aged official tied to a wooden frame, his body covered in wounds.

He deliberately mentioned the Emperor to exert pressure.

“The crime I confess to is not perjury, but embezzling official grain and silver…” Qian Wei Yin’s face was half-hidden by his disheveled hair. He breathed with difficulty, watching Zheng Jian’s face darken. He suddenly laughed, blood frothing at the corners of his mouth. He coughed, then spat. “Minister Zhang sacrificed himself for his beliefs, his heart and his virtue were pure and bright! I am a criminal official, misled by selfish desires for over a decade, unworthy of the Confucian classics I read, unworthy of being an official! But now I don’t want to be wrong anymore, and I don’t want Minister Zhang’s reputation to be tarnished after his death because of me!”

“Every word on the confession is true! I, Qian Wei Yin, confess to this crime, not to perjury! There’s no way to atone for my sins in this life, only death!”

Qian Wei Yin shouted, his eyes reddening.

If only he hadn’t been swayed by a moment of weakness back then. If only he had thought more about the Four Sentences of Heng Qu he had repeatedly read during his years of studying.

To establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish a life for the people. To inherit the lost teachings of past sages, and to create peace for all future generations.

These words of the sages had once stirred his blood. He had envisioned himself becoming a good official, but later, as an official in Daizhou, when faced with money and his own life, he forgot all of this.

One wrong step led to another.

But at least, now, he dared not make another mistake and was no longer afraid of death.

Qian Wei Yin refused to change his testimony until his death. The interrogation by Zheng Jian and the Ministry of Justice ended abruptly. Based on Qian Wei Yin’s confession and the evidence he provided, Emperor Zheng Yuan punished the dozen officials involved in the Daizhou grain supply case.

Over a dozen officials were executed. Emperor Zheng Yuan could no longer avoid the Daizhou grain supply case. In early April, he issued an edict admitting his fault, ordering Daizhou to rebuild the Taoist palace and provide shelter for the hungry and displaced, thus informing all his subjects.

“Since the edict of self-blame, His Majesty hasn’t attended court for three days.”

Pei Zhi Yuan supported Meng Yun Xian as they walked into the back hall of the Department of State Affairs. After Zhang Jing’s death, Meng Yun Xian had fallen ill and only managed to attend court today.

“See how formidable Chong Zhi was? He wanted the Emperor to issue an edict admitting his fault, and even though the Emperor was unwilling, he had no choice but to do so.” Meng Yun Xian sat down in a folding chair, then noticed someone curled up in the chair beside him. He was startled, then realized it was He Tong, the Hanlin scholar.

“Scholar He, why are you sleeping here?” Pei Zhi Yuan patted He Tong’s shoulder. “Minister Meng is here, wake up.”

Hearing “Minister Meng,” He Tong opened his eyes and, turning around, saw Meng Yun Xian sitting beside him. He immediately stood up and bowed, his appearance disheveled, his official robes wrinkled from sleeping in the chair.

Meng Yun Xian looked at his messy beard. “Why haven’t you shaved?”

“These past few days, besides attending to Teacher’s funeral arrangements, I’ve been organizing the poetry drafts he gave me, so I forgot about these things.” He Tong’s voice was hoarse from lack of sleep.

“You’re still young, you shouldn’t overwork yourself like this. Chong Zhi wouldn’t want to see you neglecting yourself,” Meng Yun Xian said.

Hearing his teacher mentioned, He Tong’s eyes moistened. He swallowed and looked up at Meng Yun Xian. “Minister Meng…”

“Do you know whose poetry drafts Teacher asked me to organize?”

Meng Yun Xian paused. “Aren’t they his own?”

He Tong shook his head. “No.”

“They are Xu He Xue’s.”

This name, which he had once written in his own articles, condemning him, now filled him with confusion. He looked at Meng Yun Xian. “Minister Meng, I used to hate him. If it weren’t for his treason, my teacher wouldn’t have been exiled, and my mother and brother wouldn’t have died on the way… But the poetry drafts Teacher asked me to organize before his death are all of Xu He Xue’s poems and essays, all copied by Teacher himself.”

“I want to ask Minister Meng, what did Teacher mean…”

He Tong remembered the execution platform that day, remembered his teacher’s words as recounted by others. His throat tightened, his voice suddenly hoarse.

“You should understand your teacher. He wouldn’t have made such a claim without solid evidence,” Meng Yun Xian continued. After a moment of silence, sunlight streaming through the window fell on the armrest of his chair. He looked down at it. “He Tong, your teacher was indeed implicated and exiled because of him, but before that, it was your teacher and I who harmed him first.”

He Tong was shocked.

“Back then, when Chong Zhi and I implemented the new policies, we not only made countless enemies in the court, but were also hated by the imperial clan. Wu Dai and his ilk made a big fuss about our empowering military officials, which hindered Xu He Xue at the border. Although we still don’t know who framed him and the 30,000 Jing’an soldiers, it’s hard to say that Chong Zhi and I weren’t partly responsible.”

Meng Yun Xian’s grief almost crushed him, for Zhang Jing, and for the young general who had gone to the border and never returned. “He Tong, listen to your teacher. Preserve Xu He Xue’s last trace in this world…”

***

Ni Su had previously cured Madam Zhang’s illness. In the past few days, Madam Zhang had spoken about her to her neighbors, and one of the women came to ask Ni Su to treat her.

Ni Su visited the woman’s house for several days to provide treatment. She carried the ball of light in her small wicker medicine basket. Even during the day, she would carry a lamp when she went out, ignoring the strange looks from others.

“It’s broad daylight, Miss, why are you carrying a lamp?”

The woman’s daughter-in-law saw her out and couldn’t help but ask.

“Waiting for someone.”

Ni Su replied curtly, ignoring the daughter-in-law’s puzzled look. She carried her medicine box in one hand and the glazed lamp in the other, turning to walk towards the end of the alley.

The medicine basket was small, slung across her shoulder. She glanced at the light inside from time to time. It hadn’t dissipated, but it was very faint. She lit many candles every day, but it didn’t become any brighter.

Xu He Xue.

She thought of his name.

Ni Su was only one or two years old when the nineteen-year-old general was executed in Yongzhou. She had heard his name in her childhood, portrayed by storytellers as a demonic, vicious traitor.

Ni Su’s impression of him had been limited to this, but from Meng Yun Xian’s miscellaneous notes, she read about his past, before all the accusations.

The Xu clan of Qingya Prefecture was a prestigious family, once sharing power with the Emperor during the previous dynasty. Even after a century of decline, the Xu family maintained strict traditions, their children trained in both literary and martial arts.

Xu He Xue’s father, Xu Xian, was a renowned calligrapher in the Great Qi, but when the barbarians invaded Pingjiang, he was appointed General Tian Ce, defending the front lines for nearly ten years, delaying the Danqiu barbarians’ plan to advance through Pingjiang into the northern territories for nearly a decade.

Xu Xian died from illness and injuries. After his death, Pingjiang fell to the barbarians. Xu He Xue, only seven years old, went to the capital with his mother, Lady Zhou, and his elder brother, Xu Qing Yu.

The previous Emperor was still alive at that time and arranged a marriage between Xu Qing Yu and Princess Wenduan. Xu He Xue lived in the Princess’s residence with his mother.

Xu Qing Yu was Princess Wenduan’s husband and the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Xu He Xue became Zhang Jing’s student at the age of seven. When he was thirteen, his mother died of illness. At that time, the barbarian army was approaching Qingya Prefecture. Because his mother never forgot his father, even on her deathbed, Xu He Xue took her ashes and returned alone to Qingya Prefecture to bury her with his father, returning safely to the capital amidst the chaos.

At fourteen, he passed the imperial examinations, his name resounding throughout the Great Qi. Just as he was enjoying his youthful success, he heard that Qingya Prefecture had fallen to the barbarians.

His elder brother, Xu Qing Yu, had been sickly since birth, burdened by worries about his family and country for many years. Upon hearing the news of his homeland’s fall, he passed away shortly after.

Just as he was about to enter officialdom, Xu He Xue, after arranging his brother’s funeral with his sister-in-law, resolutely went to the border and joined General Miao Tian Zhao’s Hu Ning Army.

At fifteen, he led seven hundred cavalrymen deep into enemy territory, setting fire to the barbarian camps, inflicting two thousand casualties with only seven hundred men, and capturing Ze Rong, the son of the prince who was supervising the battle from the rear, thus creating a breach in the barbarian ranks for Miao Tian Zhao, who was fighting at the front.

This battle made Xu He Xue famous.

At sixteen, he left the Hu Ning Army and took command of the Jing’an Army, defeating the barbarians at Yinma Lake, personally killing the barbarian prince, Duo Ling, and reclaiming a thousand miles of Yan Pass.

At seventeen, he defended Ju Han Pass, making the city impregnable. Three battles made the barbarians terrified, daring not to advance further into the northern Han territories.

At nineteen, he was granted the title of General Yu Jie, commanding the three armies of Yongzhou. This was the year of his greatest fame, and also the year his noble spirit and pure heart were trampled into the mud.

Yongzhou City executed the young General Yu Jie. From then on, no one seemed to remember that he had once charged on horseback, spear in hand, with a pure heart, diligently protecting the Great Qi behind him.

Ni Su read about his life on paper, as if witnessing his youthful spirit and his later downfall.

The official position he held was not the one his teacher had hoped for.

“Ni Su, I truly desire your trust.”

Ni Su pushed open the clinic door, suddenly remembering his words that night. Her grip on the glazed lamp tightened. After a while, she remembered to walk towards the back corridor.

But a knock on the door stopped her in her tracks.

Ni Su turned around. A young man stood outside, wearing a tattered cloak, his hood partially covering his pale face. But his eyes, when he looked up, had unusually large pupils.

Dark and cold.

He stepped across the threshold with stiff movements, his hood slipping slightly, allowing Ni Su to see his face more clearly.

He had no eyebrows.

“I’m looking for Xu He Xue.”

He said slowly.

Ni Su was startled. She looked at him and suddenly remembered a rainy day when a young man had tried to steal her steamed buns. Xu He Xue had told her then that someone without hair and with unusual pupils was a ghost fetus.

Chapter 62: Eternal Encounter Song (Part 1)

A carriage stopped at the edge of the crowd. Spring snow fell like willow catkins, its pure white melting into the bloodstain. Prince Jia, glancing at the execution platform from inside the carriage, immediately turned back and knelt, trembling, his hands clenched into white-knuckled fists.

His eyes reddened, tears welling up.

“Yong Geng, today, I finally dare to pay my respects to him.”

His teacher’s words echoed in his ears. Prince Jia burst into tears.

Li Xi Zhen’s eyes were moist, but she remained seated, not reaching out to comfort him. The wind and snow swept through the carriage window, cold and biting. She looked at the mournful crowd in the swirling mist, many young scholars in plain robes kneeling and weeping at the foot of the platform. “Your Highness, Minister Zhang had countless students. Even those young people who never met him, as long as they read his poems and essays, heard about his life, they would respectfully call him ‘Teacher.’ They weep for him, they cry out for justice for him. What about Your Highness? He was your teacher. Besides weeping for him, don’t you feel any injustice in your heart?”

Prince Jia looked at her with tear-filled eyes.

“Your Highness, I want to ask you, now that you know the person who treated you best, who was your friend, died unjustly, doesn’t your heart ache? Your teacher dared to sacrifice his life to honor his innocence. What about Your Highness?”

Li Xi Zhen looked at him. “Are you still leaving Yun Jing?”

“I…”

Prince Jia’s hands clenched beneath his sleeves.

“If I were Your Highness, bearing the weight of these two lives,” Li Xi Zhen said, emphasizing each word, “I would rather die than leave Yun Jing.”

If he left, who would care about the name Xu He Xue? Who would clear his name? The current Emperor? Tears welled up in Prince Jia’s eyes.

But this Emperor had just executed his most respected teacher.

The blood on the execution platform was still fresh.

Heavy snow blanketed Yun Jing, falling thick and fast within the imperial city. Meng Yun Xian knelt outside Qing He Palace until his knees were stiff and numb, but he couldn’t get an audience with Emperor Zheng Yuan.

“Minister Meng, be careful.”

Pei Zhi Yuan, his usual smile gone, supported Meng Yun Xian as they descended the white jade steps. Meng Yun Xian stumbled, and Pei Zhi Yuan quickly steadied him, preventing him from falling down the long staircase.

Meng Yun Xian crouched at the bottom of the white jade railing, one hand gripping his cane, his shoulders trembling.

Pei Zhi Yuan crouched behind him, his heart filled with grief. He suppressed his emotions and called softly, “Minister Meng…”

“He sought death.”

Meng Yun Xian choked out the words. “I thought that with the clue from the Yongzhou letter, he would endure and compromise before the Emperor today. He would listen to me, not provoke the Emperor. I thought he would cherish his life a little more…”

“Before he went to Qing He Palace, he told me that after seeing the Emperor today, he would go with me to East Street to get a shave. I thought he had finally forgiven me, I thought that because of this clue, he would finally talk to me properly, like before, that we could work together to seek justice for his best student.”

Tears welled up in Meng Yun Xian’s eyes. “But Min Xing, he lied to me. He had already resolved to die, that’s why he said those words to deceive me.”

Now, Meng Yun Xian finally understood why Zhang Jing had been provoking the Emperor lately. Whether it was the memorial from Zhou Wen Zheng, the Transport Commissioner of Wanjiang, about replacing private banknotes with government-issued ones, or his disrespect in Qing He Palace today, it was all part of his plan.

He used words no one dared to utter to provoke the Emperor, words the Emperor hated to hear the most to entice him. Even though the Emperor’s schemes were deep and unfathomable, he had become accustomed to his edicts being absolute, his subjects obeying without question. Zhang Jing forcing the Emperor to issue a self-incriminating edict was a direct affront to his pride.

Zhang Jing had deliberately led the Emperor step by step into an abyss of fury. He had handed the Emperor the knife, wanting him to lose control and kill him.

Meng Yun Xian and Zhang Jing had been friends for many years. Even though they hadn’t exchanged a single letter during their fourteen years of demotion and exile, Meng Yun Xian now understood why Zhang Jing had done this.

“A single letter from Yongzhou wasn’t enough evidence, and Du Cong was dead, making it impossible to clear General Yu Jie’s name. Chong Zhi, he used his death to ask the world to re-examine his student’s name. His students and disciples are everywhere. His dying words will be remembered. As long as someone is willing to look at the name Xu He Xue again, as long as someone has doubts because of his dying words, he has won.”

“He knew Prince Jia’s character, and he knew that even I couldn’t change his mind. He also used his death to manipulate Prince Jia.”

Zhang Jing knew how much Prince Jia valued him as his teacher, so he let Prince Jia witness the Emperor, whom he feared, execute his teacher.

Xu He Xue’s injustice, Zhang Jing’s death, were like two mountains that would forever weigh on Prince Jia’s shoulders. Would he retreat, or would he move forward?

Zhang Jing had also manipulated Emperor Zheng Yuan, taking advantage of his headache to push him into a frenzy. Meng Yun Xian knew that when the Emperor in Qing He Palace woke up, he would certainly regret the edict he issued today.

Zhang Jing was originally a knife he intended to use, a tool to intimidate the imperial clan. With Zhang Jing’s widespread reputation and countless admirers, Emperor Zheng Yuan had pardoned him from exile and appointed him Vice Minister, intending to demonstrate his benevolence.

Killing Zhang Jing would alienate the people.

At this juncture, Emperor Zheng Yuan could no longer casually proceed with the Mount Tai ceremony.

“Perhaps Minister Zhang never blamed you.”

Pei Zhi Yuan’s eyes moistened slightly. “When he broke ties with you back then, it was because he was afraid that further interaction would incur the Emperor’s displeasure, resulting not in demotion, but the same fate as him…”

Only now did Pei Zhi Yuan finally understand the seemingly divergent yet deeply connected bond between the two ministers.

Meng Yun Xian’s heart ached even more. He gripped his cane tightly, remembering the words “A benevolent ruler has upright ministers” he had once said to Zhang Jing. From then on, Zhang Jing understood his thoughts.

If the ruler wasn’t benevolent, the new policies would be hopeless.

Meng Yun Xian had realized this during his fourteen years of demotion. If the Emperor wasn’t sincere about implementing the new policies, but merely using them as political tools, then the new policies would fail, again and again.

Meng Yun Xian had long since given up on the current Emperor.

After returning to Yun Jing, the matters he discussed were mostly inconsequential.

“Chong Zhi understood me…”

Meng Yun Xian covered his face and wept, snowflakes falling on his hair. “Chong Zhi understood me…”

The vibrant colors of the imperial city were muted by the falling snow and swirling mist. The sunlight on the eaves was weak, resembling the depths of winter rather than the vibrancy of spring.

Zhang Jing’s body was collected by He Tong and the others. Ni Su, holding the ball of light that seemed about to dissipate at any moment, followed behind them.

She couldn’t enter the Zhang residence, so she stood outside with the weeping scholars for a while. Night fell quickly, but the snow continued.

She stood for a long time, snowflakes accumulating on her clothes, her body stiff with cold. She wondered why this world could sometimes be so cold.

So cold that ice formed in her bones.

On the way back to Nan Huai Street, the streetlights were sparse. She carefully protected the ball of light in her arms, carrying it back to the clinic.

Opening the door to his room, Ni Su found all the incense and candles and lit them one by one, filling the room with light. She then sat at the table, gazing intently at the ball of light, hoping it would transform into his form.

But it didn’t.

“Xu Zi Ling.”

She held it, calling his name several times.

It remained a faint ball of light, suspended in her palm.

In the boundless silence, Ni Su looked at the desk opposite her. A kite lay on top. She stood up, walked over, and picked it up.

It was an oriole.

He had personally carved the bamboo strips, personally painted it. From its frame to its form, it was beautiful in every detail.

He often sat alone, quietly reading, or making kites under the eaves, like a handful of cold snow that the sun couldn’t melt.

Ni Su sat down at the desk, the lamplight illuminating her. Her sash snagged on a box beside her. The box was rectangular, designed to hold scrolls, but the clasp wasn’t fastened securely.

She put down the kite, unhooked her sash from the clasp, and opened the box. Inside lay a painting.

Ni Su recognized it as the one she and Xu Zi Ling had painted during their boat ride on Yong’an Lake. She had personally had it framed.

Ni Su reached out and touched it.

After a while, she took it out of the box, untied the ribbon, and spread it out on the desk.

She remembered every detail of the painting, remembered him beside her that day, using the brush she had given him, capturing the scenery of the lake.

The green willows by Yong’an Lake, the shimmering water, the pleasure boats, the flocks of birds…

But now, her gaze fell on Xie Chun Pavilion in the painting. The pavilion should have been empty, yet now, a woman’s silhouette had been added.

She was wearing the same clothes as Ni Su, her hair styled in the same way, a fruit drink in her hand.

Even the stray strands of hair by her ear, lifted by the wind, were clearly depicted.

Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

In the bright lamplight, Ni Su raised her hand, and the floating, pale white light settled back into her palm.

She remembered the execution platform today, remembered Zhang Jing’s words, remembered Xu Zi Ling desperately throwing himself in front of his teacher.

She suddenly realized that the falling blade had not only taken his teacher’s life, but had killed him again.

Chapter 61: Water Dragon Song (Part 6)

The bright light in the hall illuminated Emperor Zheng Yuan’s vermillion robes. The veins on his forehead bulged as he suppressed his fury. “What is a worthy death? Zhang Jing, are you scolding me? Am I not the Emperor you serve?!”

The hall was freezing. Liang Shen Fu and the others knelt on the floor, terrified, not daring to look up. Liang Shen Fu only dared to glance at the Emperor’s robes, his temples drenched in sweat.

“I am loyal to Your Majesty, but Your Majesty has no regard for his subjects or his people!” Zhang Jing looked at Emperor Zheng Yuan’s stormy face. “How were the thirteen northern prefectures lost? Your Majesty knows, I know, everyone in the Great Qi knows! But they dare not speak!”

“But I will speak!”

“I ask Your Majesty, have you forgotten the people of the thirteen northern prefectures? Have you forgotten that they are also your subjects? You are their Emperor, their father! What were you doing when they were slaughtered by the barbarians? You made a pact with Danqiu, ceasing war, and paying tribute!”

“Zhang Jing!”

The Emperor roared.

“A nation, however large, will perish if it is constantly at war. A world, however peaceful, will be in danger if it forgets how to fight!”

Zhang Jing kowtowed. “Your subject, Zhang Jing, would rather die than fail to advise Your Majesty. As a benevolent ruler, you must not prioritize yourself over the nation! The officials involved in the Daizhou grain supply case must be severely punished, and Your Majesty should also give an explanation to the people for the harm caused by building Taoist palaces!”

For many years, Liang Shen Fu had never heard anyone dare to speak such treasonous words in front of the Emperor. This was tantamount to accusing the Emperor of being an unbenevolent ruler.

Liang Shen Fu trembled, prostrating himself on the ground. He slowly looked up at Minister Zhang, his hair and beard white, his face filled with worry and fear. He desperately wanted to advise him not to provoke the Emperor further, but with the Emperor present, Liang Shen Fu dared not utter a word.

“The Daizhou officials embezzled grain. Did I tell them to do so?”

The Emperor’s headache flared, the pain intense. This Emperor, usually adept at controlling his emotions and manipulating power, was now being pushed to the brink of losing control by Zhang Jing. “Zhang Jing, today you’re investigating the Daizhou grain supply case. Will you be investigating Yongzhou City tomorrow?”

“If Your Majesty hadn’t indulged in extravagant construction projects, the national treasury wouldn’t be so strained for military funds. If Your Majesty hadn’t been complacent, the Great Qi wouldn’t have to pay an annual tribute of 100,000 to the Danqiu barbarians. If Your Majesty hadn’t been wary of military officials and refused to grant them real power, the Great Qi wouldn’t have failed in its two northern expeditions. Your Majesty has been wrong for twenty years, the entirety of your reign.”

“Minister Zhang…”

Liang Shen Fu was chilled to the bone. He couldn’t help but cry out, then saw Emperor Zheng Yuan’s chest heaving violently, one hand clutching his forehead, as if about to collapse. He immediately scrambled to his feet and rushed forward to support the Emperor.

“Indeed, you haven’t forgotten your good student!”

The Emperor leaned on Liang Shen Fu, gasping for breath. “Even though he betrayed his country, with irrefutable evidence, you, Zhang Jing, still want to defend him?”

Zhang Jing raised his head. “Yes.”

Emperor Zheng Yuan sneered. “Someone, drag him out!”

Miao Jing Zhen, Commander of the Palace Guard, entered with his men. Seeing the situation, he was about to kneel when he heard the Emperor’s furious, intimidating voice. “Anyone who pleads for him will share his fate!”

Miao Jing Zhen stiffened. He gripped his scabbard, standing silently as he watched Zhang Jing calmly remove his hat. Two palace guards then escorted him, leading him out of Qing He Palace.

Sunlight flooded the doorway, making Zhang Jing squint. He looked at the decorative chiwen (a mythical creature often depicted on traditional Chinese rooftops)  on the eaves, his heart filled with tranquility. He smiled, stepping out of the palace, his voice ringing out, “If the world follows the Dao, I will die for the Dao. If the world abandons the Dao, I will die for my beliefs…”

As Zhang Jing was escorted out of Qing He Palace, the officials discussing matters in the Department of State Affairs heard the news. Meng Yun Xian almost fainted. Pei Zhi Yuan supported him, asking the eunuch sent by Liang Shen Fu, “Why would the Emperor sentence Minister Zhang to death? Did you hear clearly?!”

“Minister Zhang insulted His Majesty in the hall, forcing him to issue a self-incriminating edict…” The eunuch’s eyes were wet with tears. “His Majesty has sentenced him to immediate execution for disrespect, embezzling thousands of acres of fertile land, and forming factions for personal gain!”

“When did he have land?!”

Meng Yun Xian’s eyes were bloodshot. “He’s a widower who was exiled for fourteen years, with barely any money at home. When did he have land?!”

He Tong couldn’t restrain himself and ran out.

Meng Yun Xian and Pei Zhi Yuan immediately rushed to Qing He Palace, but the doors were closed. Liang Shen Fu stood outside, shaking his head with a complicated expression. “Minister Meng, Your Excellencies, His Majesty is suffering from a severe headache and has lost consciousness. He cannot see you…”

“Eunuch Liang, how is His Majesty?”

A beautiful woman in an apricot-red dress and a high, coiled hairstyle hurried over with several palace maids, her face filled with worry.

“Your Ladyship, please enter.”

Liang Shen Fu stepped aside and bowed his head.

Meng Yun Xian, Pei Zhi Yuan, and the others watched as Imperial Concubine Wu entered. The palace doors slowly closed. He Tong pushed himself off the ground, grabbed his robes, and ran down the white jade steps.

The sun was bright, almost noon.

Xu He Xue, his form like faint mist, could no longer appear before people. He desperately wanted to enter the imperial city, but as a ghost, there were places in this world he couldn’t set foot in.

He was almost losing consciousness, yet he stubbornly remained in the shade outside the imperial city. He thought of Ni Su and suddenly longed to hear her voice.

He wanted to see his teacher again.

Even if it was just a glance.

He huddled in the shadows of the tree branches, his mind muddled amidst the surrounding noise, his vision blurring in the sunlight.

“Teacher! Teacher…”

Someone stumbled out of the palace gate, sobbing and shouting.

Xu He Xue forced his eyes open. The person below, dressed in vermillion official robes, stumbled forward, while someone shouted from behind, “Scholar He!”

He Tong.

Xu He Xue immediately remembered the name.

That was his senior brother.

The officials behind him summoned their carriages. One official, wiping his sweat, said, “Is His Majesty truly going to execute Minister Zhang?”

“Disrespect and factionalism are both capital offenses…”

They didn’t notice the wind rustling the leaves in the shade beside them.

Ni Su had been searching for Xu He Xue for a long time, carrying a lamp and wandering the streets since before dawn. She kept glancing at her sleeve, but the mist, visible only to her, hadn’t returned.

“Miss Ni!”

Suddenly, someone called out to her.

Ni Su turned and recognized the young man. It was the bookstore clerk who had helped her deliver books before. He hurried out of the bookstore and approached her. “The books you requested last time, I’ve found them all!”

“What books?”

Ni Su couldn’t recall for a moment.

“Didn’t you want all the books related to Minister Meng? Have you forgotten?” The clerk said with a smile.

Reminded by him, Ni Su remembered.

She had noticed that Xu Zi Ling seemed to know Minister Meng very well, able to guess his intentions and understand his temperament. He even knew how much salt Minister Meng used.

Perhaps Meng Yun Xian was his teacher.

Ni Su had speculated as much.

That’s why she had asked this book delivery boy to find all the books related to Minister Meng for her as a gift.

If they couldn’t meet face to face, then they could meet on paper.

“Is this all of them?”

Entering the bookstore, Ni Su placed her glazed lamp, its candle burned out, on the table, watching as the clerk carried out more than a dozen scrolls.

“Not exactly…”

The clerk scratched his head and lowered his voice. “There’s one more, a collection of Minister Meng’s miscellaneous notes. We had it, but it was later banned by the authorities.”

“Why?”

“Because Minister Meng praised someone in it.”

Seeing Ni Su’s confused expression, the clerk added mysteriously, “It’s the general who betrayed his country sixteen years ago.”

Ni Su’s heart stirred. She felt like she was close to something. “Young man, is there a copied version?”

The clerk’s expression changed, but seeing Ni Su’s serious look, he hesitated. “Well, it’s not that there isn’t, but…”

“I can pay more.”

Ni Su took out several banknotes from her sleeve.

Selling a few banned books privately wasn’t uncommon. Moreover, Meng Yun Xian was now the current Prime Minister, and countless scholars, like the young woman before him, were eager to collect all of his writings.

It wasn’t the first time the clerk had daringly done such a thing. Seeing the money, he discreetly handed a book to Ni Su. “Miss, please keep this safe!”

“I will.”

Ni Su took the copied version of the miscellaneous notes and flipped through several pages in the shadows of the bookshelves, finally finding the passage the clerk had mentioned.

Ni Su had heard the name of the general who betrayed his country sixteen years ago, but Meng Yun Xian referred to him in this passage as “Zi Ling.”

Xu He Xue, courtesy name Zi Ling.

What made Meng Yun Xian’s miscellaneous notes a banned book was his praise of Xu He Xue, who had passed the imperial examination at the age of fourteen: “Brilliant as jade, firm as stone.”

Ni Su’s grip loosened, the scroll almost slipping from her hand.

“The Emperor is going to execute Minister Zhang!”

A young man suddenly rushed in, breathless.

“What?”

Several young men reading in the bookstore immediately dropped their scrolls and ran towards him. “Are you drunk?”

“Minister Zhang is such a good man, why would the Emperor execute him? Without even a trial, immediate execution?!”

“Quick! Let’s go!”

They all ran out.

Ni Su stuffed the miscellaneous notes back into the clerk’s hands, hurrying out. “Please keep this for me for now, and deliver it to my house later with the other books!”

Before the clerk could reply, she had already run out, lifting her skirt.

He looked back at the glazed lamp on the table. “Hey! Miss Ni, your lamp!”

At the execution grounds, Zhang Jing’s purple official robe had been removed, and he knelt before the guillotine.

“Minister Zhang!”

Many scholars, having heard the news, pushed past the crowd, held back by soldiers at the foot of the platform. They could only call out his name repeatedly.

Zhang Jing calmly looked at the growing crowd below, many unfamiliar faces calling out to him. A smile touched his usually stern features.

A gentle breeze blew, rustling his white beard.

“You youngsters, why are you crying?”

He raised his voice. “Everyone dies eventually. I, Zhang Jing, have lived long enough. But you are different. You are still young, your blood is still warm. Because it is warm, you should cherish yourselves and remember why you study, remember the principles taught to you by the sages. If you enter officialdom, serve both the Emperor and the people. If you educate others, you must first conduct yourself with integrity. The Great Qi ultimately relies on you young people.”

“Minister Zhang, why is the Emperor killing you, why is he killing you…”

Someone cried.

“If the Emperor wants his minister dead, his minister must die. Why ask, why answer? Such is officialdom. Those of you who wish to enter officialdom should be prepared for this.”

The presiding official behind him, his hand trembling on the table, waited with the Palace Guard. He had stalled until this quarter past noon, but no one had arrived with an imperial edict to stay the execution.

He raised his hand, feeling its immense weight.

Ni Su, following the scholars from the bookstore, arrived at the execution grounds and saw the platform. Here, she had witnessed the execution of the murderer who had taken her brother’s life. Now, she stood below, looking up at the elderly man stripped of his official robes.

She finally understood who Xu Zi Ling had been looking at on Imperial Street from Rainbow Bridge that day she first arrived in Yun Jing.

She had thought it was Meng Yun Xian, but it turned out to be Zhang Jing, now on the execution platform.

The executioner pressed Zhang Jing’s frail body onto the platform. Many people below were calling out “Minister Zhang.” He calmly glanced at the sharp blade above him and suddenly declared, “Decapitation is nothing compared to the pain of being dismembered! I, Zhang Jing, once had a best student. He passed the imperial examination at fourteen, went to the border at fourteen. Who remembers his fame from the Battle of Danyuan? Who remembers his great victory at Yinma Lake, where he killed the barbarian prince, Duo Ling, and reclaimed a thousand miles of Yan Pass? Who remembers that at only nineteen, he was granted the title of General Yu Jie, making the barbarians dare not to approach Ju Han Pass again! But the world condemned him, the Emperor betrayed him, leaving his noble spirit and pure heart to rot in the mud, unclaimed, bearing the stigma of treason for sixteen years!”

“I, too, was one of those who tore at his loyal heart, but today, I will weep for him, I will cry out for justice for him!”

He wiped the mud from Xu He Xue’s sullied name and presented it back to the world.

The crowd below was stunned.

Ni Su saw someone go to untie the rope holding the blade. She rushed forward, but was stopped by soldiers. On the platform, Zhang Jing closed his eyes, two tears silently tracing paths down his face:

“Let the world remember, and never let loyal bones pile up like mountains, and a pure heart be filled with regret!”

Xu He Xue arrived in a hurry, his form incredibly faint, his robes almost completely stained with blood. On the platform was his teacher. He flew towards him, his fingers reaching out, but he couldn’t gather any of his shimmering dust, his form becoming even more unstable.

He had exhausted his energy searching for Dong Yao.

No one could see him.

Only Ni Su saw him.

“Xu Zi Ling…”

She wanted to go to him, to stand before him.

The rope holding the blade suddenly loosened. The blade flashed. Ni Su pushed away the soldiers’ arms blocking her path. She heard Xu He Xue cry out desperately, “Teacher!”

His faint form fell, shielding Zhang Jing.

The blade passed through his translucent body, severing Zhang Jing’s neck. He looked down and saw his teacher’s head roll off the platform, his eyes closed, covered in blood.

A fierce, cold wind swept through the execution grounds.

Without warning, heavy snow began to fall from the sky.

Snowflakes brushed Ni Su’s hair. She watched as the mist-like figure on the platform suddenly shattered, her lips trembling. She saw a multitude of shimmering dust motes slowly rise.

They coalesced in mid-air, forming a ball of shimmering white, fluffy light.

Just like his shadow.

“Teacher…”

He Tong arrived just in time to witness the bloody scene on the platform. He collapsed to the ground, wailing.

The wind and snow howled.

Ni Su stood amidst the crowd, reaching out her hands, cupping the ball of shimmering white light in her palms.

Chapter 60: Water Dragon Song (Part 5)-2

After reading the letter from Yongzhou at the wonton stall that day, Zhang Jing immediately sent his martial artist steward, Liu Jia Rong, to Du’s residence. As luck would have it, he encountered Du Cong attempting to escape under cover of night.

Zhang Jing had once glanced at a letter Xu He Xue had sent back from the border to Prince Jia. The fourteen-year-old boy had mentioned a studious military officer in the letter. Zhang Jing remembered the name: Du San Cai.

Du Cong didn’t confess much, because he was still concerned about his wife and godfather and unwilling to reveal the identity of the person who helped him escape death and rise through the ranks to become a capital official.

“It wasn’t just Jiang Xian Ming who condemned your student. It was you, Minister Meng, it was me, a man who willingly accepted a much lower-ranking civil official as my godfather, it was the insatiable imperial clan! Even the Emperor!”

“But ironically, not the Danqiu barbarians.”

That night, perhaps prompted by Zhang Jing, Du Cong remembered the days when he had asked the young Jinshi to teach him how to read and write in the Hu Ning Army. He laughed and cried as he spoke these words, then smashed his head against the wall and died in front of Zhang Jing.

“I know, Your Highness, that in your heart, you really want to believe him. That’s why you can’t face him, can’t stay here. But are you truly going to leave?”

Zhang Jing watched as Prince Jia collapsed to the ground, almost kneeling. He didn’t hear Prince Jia’s answer, nor did he wait for one. He stood up, took the letter from Prince Jia’s hand, and walked towards the door.

“Teacher!”

Prince Jia’s panic was uncontainable. “Where are you going?”

Sunlight streamed through the vermillion lattice windows, falling on Zhang Jing’s shoulders. Prince Jia could only see his slightly hunched back. He heard his teacher say, “Yong Geng, today, I finally dare to pay my respects to him.”

What does it mean to pay respects?

What does it mean to pay respects?

Prince Jia couldn’t speak, his face wet with tears. He watched as the palace doors opened wide, his teacher’s figure gradually blurring in the sunlight.

He saw the outline of Zhao Wen Hall in the distance.

“Zhao Yong Geng, did the Empress forget to feed you again today? Why are you staring at my grapes like a little dog? Hahahahaha…”

“I thought you were so prestigious in the palace. Why are you like this?”

Eleven-year-old Zhao Yi was surrounded by several imperial children under the eaves of Zhao Wen Hall. They pushed and shoved him, throwing grapes and forcing him to pick them up.

He was angry and anxious, but all he could do was cry.

The tree in Zhao Wen Hall was huge, its shade covering a small patch of sky. Several pebbles shot out from within the shade, hitting the imperial children in front of Zhao Yi, making them cry out and clutch their foreheads.

He turned around and saw a boy about his age, dressed in a light green round-collared robe, playing with pebbles in his hand.

He almost thought he was mistaken. “Why are you here?”

“To study.”

The boy leaning against the tree trunk raised his chin slightly. “Zhao Yong Geng, either I come down and beat them up for you, or you beat them up yourself. Choose one.”

Zhao Yi remembered that he chose the former that day.

Princess Jia, Li Xi Zhen, entered the room and saw her husband slumped on the ground. She walked over silently, squatted down in front of him, and embraced him.

“Xi Zhen, if I hadn’t been attacked that year, perhaps I would have already burned those winter clothes for him,” Prince Jia hugged her tightly, sobbing. “Why didn’t I dare, why didn’t I dare later…”

Time had passed, the winter clothes were lost, and that person had been dead for sixteen years.

Zhang Jing left Zhong Ming Palace and headed towards the Department of State Affairs. Just as he entered the palace lane, he saw Meng Yun Xian running towards him, his face panicked as never before. Zhang Jing stopped, leaning on his cane, and waited for him to approach.

“Zhang Chong Zhi! Is Du Cong with you?”

Now, after meeting Dong Yao, Meng Yun Xian suddenly realized the gravity of his oversight. Seeing Zhang Jing, he demanded sharply.

“He’s dead.”

Zhang Jing replied calmly.

Meng Yun Xian hated his composure the most. His chest heaved. “You deliberately led me to believe you were rectifying official conduct, but you weren’t investigating officials, you were investigating the Daizhou grain supply case!”

Zhang Jing rarely saw him so angry. He didn’t respond, but simply handed the letter to Meng Yun Xian. “Meng Zhuo, I’m going to see the Emperor shortly. Keep this for me.”

Meng Yun Xian unfolded the letter, his face changing drastically, his lips trembling. “Chong Zhi, this is…”

“It’s true. Du Cong admitted it himself. This is the person who helped him escape death.”

“You showed this to His Highness Prince Jia?”

Meng Yun Xian finally found his voice.

“Since I sent him a letter asking him to return to the capital, I naturally couldn’t let him leave.”

“But Prince Jia…”

Even Meng Yun Xian couldn’t change Prince Jia’s mind. This letter would likely frighten him even more.

Zhang Jing shook his head. “Xu He Xue is different to him. Besides…”

He didn’t continue, only looking up at Meng Yun Xian. “Meng Zhuo, I’ve thought about it many times, even on my way to exile. If I hadn’t listened to your advice and insisted on keeping him, would he still be alive, like He Tong, like Prince Jia? I also wonder what he would be like if he had lived from his youth until now…”

“Du Cong said that it wasn’t only Jiang Xian Ming who condemned him, but also you and I.” Tears glistened in Zhang Jing’s eyes. “Those words cut me to the heart…”

These words also stabbed at Meng Yun Xian’s heart. He shuddered, remembering how, when he and Zhang Jing had wanted to empower military officials due to the urgency of the war, officials led by Wu Dai had slandered them to the Emperor, claiming they were acting in the interests of General Yu Jie, Xu He Xue.

“Chong Zhi…” Meng Yun Xian’s throat tightened. He was about to speak when he heard footsteps. He turned and saw Liang Shen Fu, the Chief Eunuch, leading several other eunuchs. He quickly tucked the letter into his robes and whispered to Zhang Jing, “Now that Qian Wei Yin is here, it’s not impossible for you to bring up the Daizhou grain supply case. But Chong Zhi, listen to me. Don’t implicate the Emperor in the grain supply case, don’t anger him, and don’t mention this letter yet. Now that we have this clue, wait for me to return, and we’ll discuss it together. Only by finding the mastermind behind the events of that year can we have a chance to make this public.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be reckless today.”

Zhang Jing nodded. “After seeing the Emperor, let’s go get a shave on East Street.”

He then walked past Meng Yun Xian towards Liang Shen Fu and the others.

“Minister Zhang, the Emperor summons you to Qing He Palace.”

Liang Shen Fu was out of breath.

“Let’s go then.”

Zhang Jing said.

Knowing that Zhang Jing had difficulty walking, Liang Shen Fu personally supported him to Qing He Palace. Zhang Jing didn’t see Qian Wei Yin in the hall. According to Liang Shen Fu, the Emperor had already met with him.

“Your subject, Zhang Jing, pays his respects to Your Majesty.”

Zhang Jing bowed.

Emperor Zheng Yuan sat behind the screen, his voice betraying no emotion. “Liang Shen Fu, bring Minister Zhang a chair.”

Liang Shen Fu acknowledged the order and immediately had a eunuch bring a chair and place it behind Zhang Jing.

“You found Qian Wei Yin.”

Emperor Zheng Yuan spoke only after Zhang Jing sat down.

Zhang Jing lowered his head. “Your Majesty, if corrupt officials are not eliminated, it will harm the nation.”

“Minister Zhang’s words are not wrong. I saw a memorial today, stating that Minister Zhang owns thousands of acres of fertile land in your hometown of Zezhou. But I wonder, how did Minister Zhang, having only recently returned to court, acquire such wealth to support your entire clan?”

His voice was slow and deliberate, yet heavy with meaning.

Zhang Jing’s expression remained calm, as if he had anticipated this. He stood up calmly and knelt down. “Your Majesty, I truly do not possess such wealth. If any member of my clan has committed a crime, I implore Your Majesty to punish them severely.”

“Why would Minister Zhang do this?”

Emperor Zheng Yuan chuckled. “I still rely on you for the new policies. Qian Wei Yin is a criminal. The truth of his words is yet to be determined, isn’t that right?”

“Every word Qian Wei Yin said is true. Your Majesty, the Taoist palace you built in Daizhou was funded by the money they embezzled from the official grain supply. And Your Majesty has never even visited that Taoist palace.”

The smile vanished from Emperor Zheng Yuan’s eyes. “Zhang Jing.”

Zhang Jing heard the sound of an inkstone falling inside, then a hand lifted the screen. Emperor Zheng Yuan walked towards him, his voice laced with anger. “Are you blaming me?”

“I dare not. I am merely speaking the truth. Whether it’s the Mount Tai ceremony or building Taoist palaces, Your Majesty’s actions have only exhausted the people and wasted resources. In the twenty years of Your Majesty’s reign, countless Taoist palaces have been built throughout the land, but how many has Your Majesty, residing in Yun Jing, actually seen? If you had truly seen them, you would know the suffering of the people!”

“Has Your Majesty seen corpses floating in the water, starved to death? Have you heard that under your rule, countless people still suffer from hunger and cold, forced to eat tree bark and Guanyin soil? Do you know what Guanyin soil is? Do you know they are waiting for you, waiting for their Emperor, their father, to save their lives!”

Zhang Jing bowed his head and kowtowed.

Liang Shen Fu and the eunuchs and palace maids in the hall trembled, their knees buckling as they knelt, their faces covered in cold sweat.

Emperor Zheng Yuan’s heart stung. He staggered back two steps. Liang Shen Fu hurried to support him, but the Emperor shook him off and pointed at the kneeling Zhang Jing. “I see you… have no respect for your Emperor!”

Zhang Jing looked up, his hunched back, permanently bent from his years of exile: “Whether Your Majesty bestows thunder or rain, as your subject, I must accept it! But as a subject, though I do not fear death, I also hope that the Emperor I serve will allow us, his subjects, to die a worthy death!”

Chapter 60: Water Dragon Song (Part 5)-1

The sky was overcast and the fog thick. Dong Yao lay prone in the mud, clutching the blue-cloth-wrapped object tightly to his chest. He glared at the young man in the veiled hat, sword in hand. “You think I’ll believe you based on a few words?”

“Dong Yao, what’s the name of the beggar who travelled with you?”

The voice from beneath the veiled hat was calm.

“What beggar? I don’t know.”

“I know he is Qian Wei Yin, who abandoned his post and disappeared from Fengzhou.” Xu He Xue approached him. Through the veil’s thin gauze, he saw a flicker of recognition on Dong Yao’s face. “It seems he did conceal his identity from you.”

“You, a scholar, dared to go to Daizhou to investigate the sixteen-year-old grain supply case. I must say, you possess the same courage as your father, Lu Heng.”

Hearing his father mentioned, Dong Yao abruptly looked up. “Who are you? How do you know my father?”

“Like your father, I also served Princess Wenduan.”

Xu He Xue’s tone was even.

“Don’t think I’ll believe you just because you say so,” Dong Yao turned his face away. “Princess Wenduan passed away thirteen years ago. How would I know how many of her former retainers are still around?”

“Have you ever considered why everyone who went to Daizhou with you died, yet you returned to the capital safely?” Xu He Xue didn’t care whether he believed him or not. “Qian Wei Yin is shrewd and cunning, otherwise he wouldn’t have survived until now. You’re just starting out. He didn’t tell you the truth, yet he managed to fool you into travelling with him all the way. Do you think the person behind the grain supply case is more foolish than Qian Wei Yin?”

Dong Yao paused, then recalled his journey. Although he encountered many assassination attempts in Daizhou, upon reflection, he hadn’t suffered any real harm. Even the return trip to the capital was uneventful.

He had thought it was his own skill at hiding, but the man before him was telling him that the Daizhou beggar who wanted to go to the capital with him to petition the Emperor was actually Qian Wei Yin, a fugitive official from Fengzhou.

Dong Yao’s face flushed and paled alternately. His heart was filled with suspicion as he heard the man continue, “I don’t need you to tell me. I know who sent you to Daizhou to investigate this old case. But have you considered whether your safe return to the capital was due to your good luck, or whether someone deliberately let you go, using you to draw out the person above you?”

A chill ran down Dong Yao’s spine. “You’re saying that the evidence I brought back from Daizhou will harm him?”

Ren Jun was dead. Whether the contents of the confession were true or false, enough time had passed for those people to prepare a counter-narrative, even turning black into white. The so-called evidence was likely fabricated.

Otherwise, those people would never have allowed him to bring it back to Yun Jing.

“But Qian Wei Yin!”

The more Dong Yao thought about it, the more uneasy he became. “If he’s so meticulous, what if he discovered something from me? What if he goes to find…”

He didn’t utter the words “Minister Zhang.”

“Your evidence is false testimony from a dead man, but Qian Wei Yin’s evidence is himself. He is real.”

When Xu He Xue found Dong Yao but not Qian Wei Yin, he guessed Qian Wei Yin’s plan. But he was too late when he arrived at Zhang’s residence. Zhang Jing had already entered the palace, most likely taking Qian Wei Yin with him.

“As long as it’s real, the Emperor cannot accuse him or sentence him to death.”

Jiang Xian Ming was an upright official, as was Xu He Xue’s teacher, Zhang Jing. But Jiang Xian Ming was the Emperor’s upright official, while Zhang Jing was the people’s upright official.

If Jiang Xian Ming brought up the grain supply case again, even with Qian Wei Yin as solid evidence, he would likely meet a bad end. But Zhang Jing was different. He had many students and disciples. Even after fourteen years of exile, his reputation remained untarnished. Emperor Zheng Yuan had invited him back along with Meng Yun Xian to implement new policies; he needed Zhang Jing.

Emperor Zheng Yuan could easily kill a close minister, but he wouldn’t easily kill Zhang Jing.

“So that’s why you stopped me…”

Dong Yao finally understood everything. He looked up and saw that the man’s previously clean robes were now stained with blood.

“Go find Minister Meng immediately,”

Xu He Xue could barely stand, crimson blood dripping down his wrist. He steadied his voice with difficulty. “Ask him… to persuade Minister Zhang not to harm himself, not to expose himself to danger.”

---

The doors of Zhong Ming Palace blocked out the light. Princess Jia, Li Xi Zhen, was no longer in the hall, leaving only Prince Jia and his teacher, Zhang Jing.

“Is Your Highness leaving?”

Zhang Jing sat in a folding chair, looking at the haphazardly arranged luggage inside the curtained area.

“Yes.”

Prince Jia had been looking forward to seeing his teacher ever since he received his letter in Tongzhou, but now, sitting with him, he didn’t know what to say.

“Your Highness must be wondering why I sent you a letter but delayed meeting you,” Zhang Jing held his teacup, gently blowing on the hot liquid. “Is that right?”

Prince Jia nodded. “Teacher, I came back to see you.”

“I know.”

Zhang Jing took a sip of tea. “Precisely because I knew, I waited until today to see you. The timing is just right. If I were a day later, you would have left the capital.”

“Teacher, why?”

Prince Jia didn’t understand.

“The Emperor still has no sons. This time, he’s thinking of you. You should know what he’s considering.”

“Precisely because I know, Yong Geng is unwilling.”

“You’re unwilling.” Zhang Jing placed his teacup on the table and looked at his student, whom he hadn’t seen for over a decade. “Why? Because this imperial city once imprisoned you, and you fear it? Or because the Emperor dislikes you, and you fear him? Your fear makes power worthless to you.”

“When my father died, I was still young. I was a pawn in the power struggle between the Emperor and his officials, tossed back and forth. I was foolishly made Prince Jia and never had a good day in this palace.”

Prince Jia’s throat tightened. “I know there are people in this world who crave power, but I grew up in the highest and coldest place in this world. I’ve seen its true face. I don’t want to be manipulated by it, nor do I want to use it to manipulate others.”

“Has Your Highness forgotten that you are a member of the imperial clan, not an ordinary commoner?” Zhang Jing’s expression was cold. He said softly, “Power is also a responsibility. When you wield it, you bear the responsibility you should bear.”

“Teacher…”

Prince Jia was about to speak, but Zhang Jing interrupted him. “I want to ask Your Highness, over the years, have you ever doubted the person for whom you banged your head against the floor outside Qing He Palace, begging for mercy?”

Prince Jia stiffened, memories flooding back like a hand clutching his heart.

Zhang Jing understood from Prince Jia’s silence. After a long pause, he said, “I remember he was sent to me by Princess Wenduan to be my student when he arrived in the capital at the age of seven. At that time, Your Highness befriended him. Later, you were made Prince Jia and entered the palace. He knew you were studying in Zhao Wen Hall and were often bullied by other imperial children, so he asked Princess Wenduan to help him enter the palace to study with you in Zhao Wen Hall for a year.”

“Later, he brought you to my house to meet me and asked me to accept you as my student. That’s how the bond between Your Highness and me as teacher and student began.”

Prince Jia’s breath hitched. “Teacher, please don’t say anymore…”

“It’s a new year, sixteen years since he was convicted and executed.” Zhang Jing didn’t stop. “Your Highness, have you ever paid respects to him, even once?”

Prince Jia immediately thought of Que County. That was the farthest place he and Xu He Xue had travelled to when they were twelve years old. There was a large bell temple in Que County, and they had rung the great bell there.

They had played and travelled together, carefree and unrestrained.

The year Xu He Xue died, he went to that temple again, bringing winter clothes. His wife embroidered words on the cloak for him.

“No.”

Prince Jia’s voice was dry.

“Why? Because even you didn’t know whether to believe him. In your heart, you wanted to believe him, but the evidence was irrefutable, and you didn’t know what to do,” Zhang Jing pressed. “So you didn’t dare to pay your respects, is that right?”

“Then do you dare, Teacher?”

Prince Jia’s voice trembled.

“Like you, I’m also afraid he’ll appear in my dreams, afraid he’ll come to see me and tell me that my best student did something wrong.”

The military report from Yongzhou was too damning. The testimonies of Jiang Xian Ming and the other officials who returned from Yongzhou were flawless. Zhang Jing wanted to investigate, but he couldn’t find a starting point.

After fourteen years of exile, struggling and displaced, he was powerless to do anything.

“I didn’t pay respects to him, and in all these years, he truly hasn’t appeared in my dreams, not even once. It seems he hasn’t appeared in your dreams either…”

Zhang Jing’s voice almost trembled. “But Your Highness, do you know? All these years, we have been heartless to a man who suffered a grave injustice.”

“What?”

Prince Jia immediately stood up and grasped his teacher’s hand tightly. “Teacher, what are you saying? What do you know?”

“You must have heard of Du Cong since your return to the capital.”

Zhang Jing looked at him. “Before he changed his name to Du Cong, he was called Du San Cai. He was the military officer ordered to transport grain from Daizhou to Yongzhou. The grain carts he delivered were actually empty. But for over a decade, no one has mentioned this, and he’s been promoted from a local military officer to a fifth-rank civil official. Your Highness, how do you think he achieved this?”

He took out the letter from Yongzhou, which he had read and crumpled countless times, and handed it to Prince Jia. “This letter is from Yongzhou. It also mentions General Yu Jie leading troops against the Danqiu barbarians. However, supplies from the rear never arrived, forcing the Jing’an Army to fight on empty stomachs initially. But General Xu He Xue lived off the land, using the barbarians’ supplies to feed his own troops, ensuring the Jing’an Army remained strong.”

“Qingya Prefecture has been under the barbarians’ control since the death of Xu He Xue’s father in battle. This letter says that the barbarian leader, Meng Tuo, threatened the lives of the entire Xu clan in Qingya Prefecture, saying that if Xu He Xue surrendered to Danqiu, he would be granted Qingya Prefecture and ten other prefectures as his fief. But if he didn’t surrender, Meng Tuo would slaughter the entire Xu clan and destroy their ancestral tombs.”

“Xu He Xue used this as a ruse, dividing his troops into three routes. He led 30,000 Jing’an soldiers to Mu Shen Mountain to lure Meng Tuo into a trap. The other two routes were to provide support from Nian Chi and Long Yan, encircling Meng Tuo and attacking his royal court directly.”

“The other two routes… why didn’t they go?”

Prince Jia looked at the handwriting on the letter, his eyes stinging with pain, tears welling up. “If this letter is true, why didn’t they go?”

“Because the other two routes never received the order.”

The Jing’an Army was almost completely annihilated. Whether anyone sent a message, or whether the message was intercepted, was no longer known. The only thing Zhang Jing could investigate were the generals of the other two routes.

But they truly never received General Xu He Xue’s order.

Without reinforcements, the initially unstoppable Jing’an Army became isolated and trapped on Mu Shen Mountain.

“If this is true, if this is true…” Prince Jia clutched the letter tightly, looking up, tears blurring his vision. “Teacher, he, he…”

He was choked with sobs.

“I arrested Du Cong. His last words confirmed this letter.”