After Princess Qingyang entered Yueyang, she stayed in a small residence in the eastern part of the city for three days. During these three days, aside from Du Qiniang guarding at her side, she saw no one else and couldn’t freely come and go. She was truly vexed and distracted beyond measure.

By this time, news of Han Qian’s official appointment to succeed as Xuzhou Governor had already spread throughout Yueyang.

Du Qiniang, hearing the news, happily informed Qingyang of it.

Qingyang, however, sneered:

“These people guessed that Han Qian’s mourning is merely an act. Granting him the Xuzhou Governorship is just to further trap him in Xuzhou—once all the power in Tanzhou up and down is controlled by the Dowager Consort and the Zheng clan, what use will Xuzhou be to Han Qian? Of course, with all of Han Qian’s calculations, perhaps he only intends to occupy Xuzhou separately. You and I are merely discarded chess pieces he threw away without care. What are you so happy about on his behalf?”

Du Qiniang didn’t agree with Princess Qingyang’s words, but she didn’t argue either, only remaining silent.

After a while, Qingyang asked Du Qiniang through gritted teeth: “Did you go find Lin Haizheng today? Does Han Qian still have no letters sent over today?”

When Qingyang left Xuzhou, she firmly believed Han Qian couldn’t possibly truly remain in Xuzhou mourning for three years. But now that she had been tossed into a corner in Yueyang, and Han Qian’s succession of his father Han Daoxun as Xuzhou Governor had been settled, her thoughts became somewhat uncontrollably panicked. She feared that Han Qian’s schemes were only for Xuzhou, that she would truly become a thoroughly abandoned chess piece.

Especially under current circumstances, her father the King most likely held an observant attitude. Her status as a Shu Princess would truly be worthless.

At this moment she wanted to drag Han Qian over, dig out his heart, and see what he was truly thinking. Every so often she had Du Qiniang go see Lin Haizheng to inquire if any information from Xuzhou had arrived.

“I specially went to see Colonel Lin this afternoon. Though four batches of boats passing through or departing from Xuzhou arrived in Yueyang today, no letters were sent over,” Du Qiniang was also quite troubled. But remembering something, she said to Princess Qingyang: “Oh yes, Miss Wang arrived this afternoon escorting Administrator Wang Jixiong’s coffin to Yueyang. Master Shen specially had someone arrange Wang Jixiong’s spirit hall in a residence in Tonggu Alley ahead of us. His Highness should make a special visit to pay respects to Administrator Wang Jixiong in the next few days…”

“His Highness won’t come alone either.” Qingyang sighed.

Not to mention Yueyang’s current relationship with Chu Prefecture—given Wang Jixiong’s reputation, with his coffin stopping in Yueyang, Prince of Tan Yang Yuanpu would have to bring numerous ministers and officials to pay respects together. Qingyang knew she would still have difficulty meeting Yang Yuanpu privately. But thinking of Wang Jun, whom she had encountered on the Yuan River with her tranquil temperament, she was very puzzled. She wondered to herself, could it purely be that, worried Wang Jixiong couldn’t withstand such a long, arduous journey, this weak woman had spared no pains to accompany Wang Jixiong all the way to Xuzhou to pay respects to Han Daoxun?

“Qiniang, have you seen Wang Jixiong’s granddaughter Wang Jun before?” Qingyang asked Du Qiniang.

“When we moved from Jing and Xiang to Jinling with the Administrator, I saw Miss Wang once,” Du Qiniang’s impression of Wang Jun was extremely deep. She said: “At that time, my Administrator devised a plan to capture Yin Peng, the functionary of the Chu Prefecture Bureau. Miss Wang, fearing my Administrator would kill Functionary Yin, came with just one maid in the middle of the night to Lanting Alley, knocked on the door, and demanded Functionary Yin back. Although she’s Wang Jixiong’s granddaughter, Wang Wenqian’s daughter, and even had a marriage engagement with my Administrator, my Administrator wouldn’t do anything to her. But that she dared to come knocking on the door at night—her courage is quite remarkable.”

“…” Qingyang was secretly alarmed, not expecting that Wang Jun and Han Qian actually had such entanglements. For a moment she wasn’t clear whether Han Qian’s disagreement with burying Wang Jixiong in Xuzhou and his insistence on driving Wang Jun and Wang Jixiong’s remains to Yueyang was purely due to resentment toward the Wang family.

The situation was so confusing and complex. Even though Qingyang prided herself on her exceptional intelligence, at this moment she deeply felt inadequate. She also wasn’t clear what her brother in Yuzhou was thinking, whether he would send someone to contact her.

……

……

With Jinling and Runzhou at daggers drawn and war about to break out at any moment, even if the Yangtze waterway hadn’t completely severed, the risk of forcing passage now far exceeded that at the outbreak of the Jinling incident.

Unable to bury her grandfather in Xuzhou, and with difficulty returning to their ancestral home in Runzhou in the short term, Wang Jun could only try to find a burial site near Yueyang or Dongting Lake for her grandfather.

Fortunately, when she arrived by boat in Yueyang, the Tanzhou people treated her with sufficient courtesy. Shen Yang even specially had someone select a residence in Tonggu Alley to establish a spirit hall. Not only Zheng Yu and Zheng Chang, but even Han Daoming and Han Daochang both rushed over that afternoon to pay condolences.

Knowing she was a lone woman with only three servants at her side, with many inconveniences, Dowager Consort Wang Chan’er even specially sent Chun Shisanniang over to help look after and manage everything.

It was already late February. Yueyang was lushly green with life, making one’s mood less oppressive.

Wang Jun wasn’t particularly grieved by her grandfather’s death.

When Han Daoxun was tortured to death and she rushed back to their old Runzhou residence to report the news, her grandfather had fallen seriously ill. Later, hearing that someone had spirited Han Daoxun’s remains out of Jinling, her grandfather surmised that whoever acted would send Han Daoxun’s remains to Xuzhou for burial, and insisted on going to Xuzhou to pay respects.

Wang Jun and the rest of the family were well aware of her grandfather’s physical condition and worried his body couldn’t withstand such a long journey. But unable to dissuade his will, they made this trip.

To die of illness in Xuzhou could be said to have fulfilled her grandfather’s wish.

Wang Jun could understand her grandfather’s feelings and final wishes. Being able to attend him at his sickbed in his final days, though she felt sadness and could recall being cared for at her grandfather’s knee since childhood, she was far from devastated by grief.

Or perhaps, being driven away from Xuzhou like this was somewhat awkward, yet she didn’t know if this journey had somewhat dissolved the hostility in her grandfather’s heart.

Half a day after the spirit hall was set up, quite a few people had already come to pay respects. Wang Jun had more or less figured out the situation within Yueyang. Thinking of that gaunt, haggard figure on Dragon Tooth Mountain, her heart inexplicably ached. She wondered how he could unravel this current chaos and spare hundreds of millions of common people from the torment of war.

Toward evening, someone else came to pay respects. Wang Jun, wearing mourning clothes, knelt before the spirit altar to receive courtesy. Torches crackled as they burned, illuminating the vast spirit hall bright as day.

“The Grand Duke passed away in Xuzhou—were there any suspicious points regarding the food and medicine supplied by Dragon Tooth City?” After offering incense, the visitor took the opportunity of consoling family to ask Wang Jun. Wang Jixiong had died suddenly just two days after arriving in Xuzhou to mourn Han Daoxun—he harbored suspicions that Han Qian had ordered someone to tamper with something.

Wang Jun raised her head to glance at the visitor’s gloomy expression and said: “Master Ziheng overthinks it. When Grandfather insisted on going to Xuzhou to mourn Uncle Han, he already knew this journey would be his last long trip. Before leaving Runzhou, he also wrote a final letter to be sent to Yangzhou and delivered to Father—and even if Han Qian resents Father, he wouldn’t make things difficult for Grandfather and me.”

“Han Qian remains in Xuzhou under the name of mourning, which implies pressuring the Third Prince. Yet Shen Yang advocated granting him the Xuzhou Governorship. This matter is now settled, and the official appointment document may be sent to Qianyang via Jiang Huo tomorrow. I suspect Shen Yang secretly colluded with Han Qian to help him scheme for Xuzhou…” the visitor said.

Wang Jun originally didn’t want to say much, but seeing the visitor convinced that Han Qian and Shen Yang had secretly conspired, she felt somewhat indignant and couldn’t help refuting: “If Han Qian truly has ambitions, he won’t be confined to Xuzhou. Even if he does scheme for Xuzhou, it should be to arrange for close associates—everyone should feel more at ease. Furthermore, Han Qian should have long guessed Master Ziheng’s identity. If Master Ziheng truly thinks this way, I fear you’ll still be manipulated by Han Qian.”

“How is that possible?” the visitor asked in shock.

At this moment, Chun Shisanniang’s voice came over. Wang Jun, wanting no further explanations anyway, returned the courtesy, rose slightly, and made to see the visitor out.

“Miss, should I arrange personnel to escort you to Yangzhou to reunite with the Administrator?” the visitor seized the time to ask.

“Father is in Yangzhou. Someone must observe mourning at Grandfather’s grave. Though Wang Jun has a woman’s body and cannot do other things, I can probably only observe mourning at the graveside on Father’s behalf.” Wang Jun said.

The visitor paused slightly. At this moment Chun Shisanniang had already entered the courtyard. Finding it inconvenient to continue speaking with Wang Jun, he cupped his hands toward Chun Shisanniang and took his leave.

The boat had entered the city that afternoon, with Wang Jixiong’s coffin stopping in the city. People had come to pay respects in succession. Chun Shisanniang, seeing this familiar figure disappear outside the courtyard gate, didn’t grow suspicious. She said to Wang Jun: “This afternoon when Master Shen had an audience with the Dowager Consort and the Prince, he mentioned that Administrator Wang was a famous minister and great scholar of Great Chu. That he be buried in Yueyang is Yueyang’s fortune…”

“Everything has troubled Secretary Chun.” Wang Jun bowed in courtesy.