The slight annoyance in Fan Changyu’s heart instantly disappeared.
She looked at Xie Zheng, then at the middle-aged man missing an arm and a leg who had come out to greet them from the estate. Although still puzzled, she pushed open the half-closed gate and hesitantly stepped inside.
Xie Zhong stared at Fan Changyu’s back, noting her steady gait and deep, even breathing, unlike typical noble ladies. He suddenly had a guess and turned to Xie Zheng: “My Lord, this young lady… could she be the descendant of the Meng family?”
However… the relationship between the Marquis and this young lady seemed somewhat unusual.
Xie Zheng neither confirmed nor denied.
The sun was setting, casting a faint golden glow on half of his face and eyelashes. His pupils reflected Fan Changyu’s retreating figure, the look in his eyes too deep to fathom.
He said, “Later, you escort her back.”
Xie Zhong was slightly taken aback. Remembering what day it was, his eyes also showed a hint of gloom: “If you’re going there, please take more people with you. I’m worried Wei Yan might…”
“I know what I’m doing.”
Xie Zheng interrupted Xie Zhong’s words. He took one last look at Fan Changyu’s silhouette bathed in the evening glow, then turned and left.
The setting sun stretched his shadow extremely long, falling under the myriad rays of sunset light, making him appear even more solitary and isolated.
As Fan Changyu entered the small courtyard, she heard chaotic voices coming from a room with its door half-open.
“I’m not drinking this medicine that’s so bitter it makes me want to vomit bile! Bring me some wine!”
“General Zhu, please don’t make things difficult for me. With your old injuries, the doctor has repeatedly warned that you absolutely must not touch alcohol.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! I’ve been locked up for seventeen years. If I don’t taste that burning liquor again, my tongue will rust!”
Fan Changyu approached and peered inside through the half-open door. She saw a square-faced man with a big beard leaning against the head of the bed, with a young man who looked like a servant standing beside the bed, holding a bowl of medicinal soup.
Fan Changyu was standing in a spot that blocked some light, catching the attention of those inside.
The square-faced, bearded man turned his head to look outside, his eyes suddenly reddening as he called out uncertainly: “Sister Lihua?”
Fan Changyu didn’t recognize the person he was calling for. She stood at the door without moving or responding.
After carefully examining her, the man suddenly changed his words: “No, those eyes don’t look like Lihua’s… Lihua is no longer in this world…”
He seemed both joyful and sorrowful, almost afraid to recognize her, his voice trembling as he asked: “You… are you Changyu?”
Hearing him call out her name, and thinking of Xie Zheng’s purpose for coming to the capital earlier, as well as his sudden decision to bring her to meet someone today, Fan Changyu guessed that this man must be one of her grandfather’s former subordinates. Her heart was immediately filled with excitement and grief.
She pushed open the door and entered, saying, “You know me? May I ask who you are…”
The man almost covered his face as he wept, his voice choked with emotion: “Heaven has eyes! To think that in my lifetime, I, old Zhu, could see General Meng’s descendant again!”
Seventeen years of wrongful imprisonment and deaths had separated them. Even though Zhu Youchang was a grown man seven feet tall, seeing the daughter of his old friend again made him weep uncontrollably. He looked at Fan Changyu and said: “I’m your Uncle Zhu. I joined your grandfather’s army at fourteen, rising from a frontline soldier to the Commander of the Tiger Vibrating Battalion. Your mother was like a half-sister to me.”
Upon truly learning that this man was an old friend of her parents, Fan Changyu felt overwhelming excitement. But standing closer, she noticed that Zhu Youchang’s two legs hidden under the blanket had an unnaturally thin contour, not at all like the size an adult man’s legs should be.
She suddenly felt a lump in her throat, trying her best to control her emotions as she asked: “Uncle Zhu, what happened back then? And your legs… what happened to them?”
Zhu Youchang’s face was also full of pain. He angrily said: “General Meng’s failure in transporting supplies was a frame-up by that dog Wei Yan! As for these useless legs of mine…”
As he spoke, he patted the thin leg bones hidden under the thin blanket, forcing a bitter smile as if it didn’t matter: “They were injured on the battlefield of Luo City. It’s not worth mentioning. I haven’t had any feeling in them for over a decade, which spared me from pain while in prison.”
Fan Changyu remembered what Xie Zheng’s man had said at the gate about Zhu Youchang’s legs being beyond healing, and felt deeply saddened.
She asked: “Wei Yan imprisoned you for seventeen years?”
At the mention of Wei Yan, Zhu Youchang gritted his teeth in hatred: “As long as the Tiger Tally remains unfound, that dog will never rest easy. He had to imprison those of us who wanted to clear General Meng’s name and avenge General Xie and Crown Prince Chengde.”
Fan Changyu exclaimed in shock: “The deaths of General Xie and Crown Prince Chengde are also related to Wei Yan?”
Zhu Youchang explained in detail how Wei Yan had used the Tiger Tally and a personal letter to make Meng Shuyuan turn back to Luo City to rescue the Sixteenth Prince. He also shared his and Xie Zheng’s conjectures about the situation.
He clenched his jaw: “That dog has the heart of a wolf and the ambition of a jackal. He must have been planning to put a puppet on the throne and control the court himself back then. Otherwise, why would he use the military power of the Wei and Xie families to forcefully recommend the Nineteenth Prince, who had no foundation, to succeed the throne immediately after Crown Prince Chengde and the Sixteenth Prince died, and the previous emperor passed away?”
After learning the true reason for the supply transport failure and the truth behind her grandfather’s unjust reputation, Fan Changyu was lost in thought for a long time.
Besides sadness and anger, she felt that the truth of that year must still be partially hidden.
Her father had lived in Qingping County for over a decade. Although he was a man of few words, he was honest and kind. When selling pork, he would intentionally charge less for poor families.
Whenever a family was in trouble, he would help as much as he could. Even when encountering beggars, he would give them some alms.
It was precisely because of this that when Old Scholar Song died, and Madam Song and her orphaned child knelt in the street begging for a simple coffin, her parents unhesitatingly helped the Song family.
Since her father had been an important general under her grandfather’s command, he must have known what a delay in transporting supplies would mean for the Meng family, Jinzhou, and the entire Da Yin dynasty.
Fan Changyu didn’t believe he would have helped Wei Yan frame her grandfather for the sake of so-called power, causing her grandfather to bear the infamy of being a sinner for all time, as well as the blood debt of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians.
Moreover, Yu Qianqian had once said that Qi Min hated the Sui family. Perhaps there was a reason why the Crown Princess had chosen the Sui family to help Qi Min escape back then.
The army her father had gone to find to take over the supply transport was precisely the Sui family’s Chongzhou army.
Something must have happened in between!
Fan Changyu suddenly raised her head to look at Zhu Youchang: “Uncle Zhu, Wei Yan may indeed be a great villain, but I don’t believe my father would have helped Wei Yan do such a heartless thing! If he had truly betrayed my grandfather, my mother would have been the first to not forgive him. How could she have lived in seclusion with him for sixteen years?”
Upon hearing that Meng Lihua had gone into seclusion with Wei Qilin, Zhu Youchang angrily said: “It must be that cunning Wei Qilin who deceived your mother!”
But Fan Changyu shook her head and said: “If my mother had been completely unaware of what happened back then, she wouldn’t have followed my father in death after he was forced to take his own life.”
Zhu Youchang’s eyes reddened severely, his voice suddenly changing: “Your mother followed your father in death?”
Fan Changyu lowered her eyes to hide the pain in them: “Or rather… she also took her own life to protect me and my little sister.”
Zhu Youchang asked urgently: “What exactly happened?”
As the sealed memories were opened, Fan Changyu seemed to see once again that bleak winter in Lin’an Town last year. White paper money fluttered down with the snow, covering the thin layer of snow on the road. The government had returned her parents’ bodies on a wooden cart…
She said hoarsely: “Sixteen years ago, with the help of Uncle He Jingyuan, my parents were able to forge household registrations and settle in Qingping County. The personal letter Wei Yan wrote to my grandfather was also in my parents’ possession all along.
“In early winter last year, Uncle He was instructed by Wei Yan to take my parents’ heads. Uncle He originally wanted to warn my parents and let them escape to another place with me and Ningniang. My parents were afraid of implicating Uncle He and also guessed that with Wei Yan’s methods, he certainly wouldn’t spare me and Ningniang. They chose to take their own lives and put that letter in a box, giving it to Uncle He. They asked him to hand over the box to Wei Yan when he came to search our house, to protect mine and Ningniang’s lives.”
Speaking of those past events again, Fan Changyu’s throat became uncontrollably choked: “My parents must have known some inside information, which is why Wei Yan wanted to silence them. And my father certainly never betrayed my mother and grandfather! The only ones who might know the inside story are probably the Sui family, but unfortunately, both the Prince and Princess of Changxin are dead. We can only interrogate the Sui family’s servants to see if we can learn anything.”
Others who didn’t know Meng Lihua’s personality might not take Fan Changyu’s words as evidence.
But Zhu Youchang, who was as close as a brother to Meng Lihua, knew her better than anyone. He said: “I may not trust others, but I trust your mother. She may have seemed gentle, but she had a strong spirit at her core.”
“Back then, when your grandfather fell for a diversionary tactic and his camp was ambushed by a squad of Northern Xue soldiers, your mother, a frail woman, cleverly killed two Northern Xue soldiers who broke into the tent. Later, if your father hadn’t arrived in time, your mother would have slit her own throat rather than let the Northern Xue soldiers capture her to use as a hostage against your grandfather.”
As he spoke of these past events, Zhu Youchang’s expression couldn’t hide his loneliness.
Seventeen years! Old friends were long buried beneath the ground, and everything had changed!
He looked at Fan Changyu: “You’re right. If Wei Qilin had truly betrayed the old general, and your mother knew about it, she would have been the first to kill him with her own hands.”
Fan Changyu was momentarily lost in thought because of what Zhu Youchang had just said.
In her memory, her mother had always been gentle and soft-spoken, rarely even raising her voice to scold someone. The mother Zhu Youchang described was a side of her she had never seen, yet one that burned as brightly as a flame.
She smiled slightly, feeling proud of that version of her mother, yet grieving that she would never see her mother again, no matter what she was like.
Zhu Youchang said: “I’ve heard about the Sui family’s rebellion. If the Sui family truly knew the inside story, wouldn’t they have had a hold over Wei Yan? When they raised their banner in rebellion, they should have announced it to the world.”
These words brought Fan Changyu’s thoughts back to the present.
She said: “Indeed, shortly after the Sui family’s rebellion, rumors about Wei Yan orchestrating the Jinzhou bloodbath did start circulating.”
It was after hearing such rumors that Xie Zheng had gone to investigate the past events, only to be nearly killed by Wei Yan’s scheme on the Chongzhou battlefield.
Fan Changyu felt that all those scattered clues seemed to be slowly connecting.
Zhu Youchang immediately asked: “Were those rumors spread by the Sui family?”
Fan Changyu pondered for a long while, then shook her head: “We can’t be certain right now. We’ll have to wait until we’ve interrogated the Sui family’s servants before making any conclusions.”
Zhu Youchang’s earlier words had enlightened Fan Changyu. If the Sui family knew the inside story of that year and had solid evidence, why didn’t they directly announce it to the world, exposing Wei Yan’s crimes?
Instead, they spread some baseless rumors.
Thinking back to what Yu Qianqian had told her before, Fan Changyu could only tentatively deduce one possibility—the Sui family’s hands were not clean in the Jinzhou incident!
As for why Wei Yan had left this potential threat from the Sui family unaddressed until now, that remained unknown.
To verify her guesses, Fan Changyu couldn’t wait to go back and interrogate the Sui family servants who had been escorted to the capital.
After bidding farewell to Zhu Youchang, she hurriedly went out the courtyard gate, but only saw the middle-aged man missing an arm and a leg by the carriage outside.
The man, missing an arm, couldn’t cup his hands in salute to her, so he simply nodded his head and said: “This slave is Xie Zhong, a retainer of the Xie household. By the Marquis’s command, I am waiting here to escort the General back.”
Just from the words “retainer of the Xie household,” Fan Changyu would never treat him as a mere servant. Guessing that his missing arm and leg were likely lost on the battlefield, she felt even more respect for him.
She also nodded slightly to Xie Zhong in acknowledgment.
Because Xie Zheng wasn’t present, she couldn’t help but ask as she got into the carriage: “Where did the Marquis go?”
Xie Zhong, who was using one hand to hold a cane and lead the horse, paused when he heard Fan Changyu’s question. After observing her for a moment and considering briefly, he did something presumptuous behind Xie Zheng’s back for the first time.
He said: “Today is the anniversary of the Lady’s death. The Marquis has likely gone to the Xie family mausoleum.”
Xie Zheng had returned to the capital secretly. Paying respects during the day might alert people lying in wait, so he specifically chose to go at dusk.
This answer made Fan Changyu’s hand pause as she was lifting the carriage curtain—all of Xie Zheng’s unusual behaviors now had an explanation.
She had never heard him mention a single word about Madam Xie, but after hearing Zhu Youchang talk about the details of their imprisonment back then and Madam Xie’s death, even Fan Changyu, an outsider, felt saddened. How much more so for Xie Zheng, who was Madam Xie’s son.
He didn’t want to tell her about this, probably because he didn’t want her to see him in moments of vulnerability and pain.
Fan Changyu’s fingers involuntarily tightened on the thick fabric of the carriage curtain. After thinking for a moment, she felt it was better to respect Xie Zheng’s decision.
Very well, she would return to the Presentation Institute first.
Xie Zhong seemed to see through Fan Changyu’s decision and continued: “The Blood Riders rescued General Zhu, so Wei Yan now knows that the Marquis is hiding in the capital. I’m afraid Wei Yan might use this opportunity to set an ambush at the Xie family mausoleum. I wanted the Marquis to take more people with him, but he goes to pay respects alone every year, and I couldn’t persuade him…”
Fan Changyu’s expression changed slightly, her lips pressed together. After a moment of silence, she asked Xie Zhong: “Can you take me to the Xie family mausoleum?”