The night was cool as water, with rippling waves reflecting off the red-lacquered pillars of the waterside pavilion.

A figure stood in the pavilion with his hands clasped behind his back, his dark robes seeming to merge with the thick darkness of night.

“Has Official Li decided how to write the memorial to the capital?”

The deep voice carried from the pavilion, wrapped in the night wind, adding a hint of chill to the air.

Li Huai’an respectfully replied, “I shall report truthfully to His Majesty.”

As Imperial Inspector, he was the Emperor’s eyes in the Northwest, responsible for immediately reporting all frontline military developments back to the capital.

Xie Zheng turned around, his phoenix eyes piercing with cold intensity: “Official Li, as Imperial Inspector present in Chongzhou, surely you bear some responsibility for the rebels’ nighttime escape from the city?”

Li Huai’an maintained his formal bow, his wide sleeves reaching his knees swaying in the lake breeze, still every bit the proper gentleman.

He nodded: “Indeed, this official has failed in his duty of supervision. I will report this to His Majesty and request punishment.”

The wind was strong by the lake, with the two men standing in opposition ten feet apart, their hair and robes billowing in the night breeze.

Xie Zheng stood half a head taller than Li Huai’an, and with the other man bowing, he was almost looking down at him.

He remained silent for a long while.

With his cold severity hidden beneath that refined and stern face, others could not detect a trace of his emotions, nor guess at his thoughts.

But Li Huai’an felt no lessening of the pressure bearing down on him.

He couldn’t help but discreetly observe the young man standing ten feet away.

Made a Marquis before the age of twenty—truly he could be called heaven’s favored son.

Before the Battle of Chongzhou, Xie Zheng had never known defeat, nor had he ever concealed his sharp edge. Everyone knew he was Great Yin’s sharpest blade.

But now, he no longer flashed that edge so openly, more like a crag that remained majestically unmoved despite years of wind and sun.

Xie Zheng asked him: “Surely a learned man like Official Li is familiar with ‘Battle South of the City’?”

Though they were of the same generation, for some reason Li Huai’an felt the kind of tension he usually only experienced before his grandfather.

He struggled to suppress his turbulent emotions and calmly met Xie Zheng’s gaze: “What does the Marquis wish to say?”

Xie Zheng said: “This Marquis would like to share two lines from ‘Battle South of the City’ with Official Li: ‘Soldiers stain the wilderness, while generals act in vain. Thus we know weapons are instruments of ill omen, which the sage uses only when he must.'”

His cold tone struck each word heavily into Li Huai’an’s heart.

Though he had suspected it, hearing these words directly made Li Huai’an’s pupils contract sharply.

He truly knows everything!

The guilt and terror of knowing the Li family would bear eternal infamy once the truth came out tore at his heart, instantly soaking his back with cold sweat.

As Xie Zheng passed by Li Huai’an’s side while leaving the pavilion, he paused briefly: “I hope Official Li will carefully contemplate ‘Battle South of the City.'”

Even long after he had gone, Li Huai’an remained rooted to the spot.

Ever since his grandfather decided to ally with the Imperial Grandson to scheme against Wei Yan, he knew many would die.

But compared to overthrowing Wei’s faction and purging the court, what did the deaths of some soldiers in this frontier region matter?

Throughout history, when had reform ever been bloodless?

Minor reforms should prioritize people over laws, but major reforms must prioritize laws over people.

To thoroughly defeat Wei Yan, a massive upheaval was necessary to breathe new life into Great Yin’s corrupt officialdom.

When people became secondary to the cause, sacrifice became inevitable.

Yet after Xie Zheng quoted “which the sage uses only when he must,” Li Huai’an found himself without even the courage to argue that it was all for the sake of protecting the realm.

From Chongzhou to Lucheng, he had marched with the army and witnessed the battlefield’s brutality—corpses piled like mountains, blood flowing like rivers.

To overthrow Wei Yan, they had engineered a man-made hell.

Li Huai’an covered his face and suddenly burst into bitter laughter.

He realized they had been wrong—

Just as Xie Zheng returned to his temporary residence, Xie Shiyi hurried over with news: “Master, we secretly arranged for Zhao Xun to examine Sui Yuanhuai’s corpse. As you suspected, it wasn’t Sui Yuanhuai but a body double raised beside him since childhood.”

Lady Lan, once in the Crown Princess’s service, had always been cautious. After the Eastern Palace fire, she had prepared a body double for Sui Yuanhuai as a precaution.

The double not only matched Sui Yuanhuai’s build but to avoid detection by others in the prince’s mansion even had burn scars matching Sui Yuanhuai’s, branded on one by one with a hot iron.

For the sake of reclaiming the dragon throne someday, Sui Yuanhuai had endured excruciating pain to have his burn scars gradually replaced, while the body double maintained the appearance of burn injuries.

Since all servants in Sui Yuanhuai’s courtyard were Lady Lan’s people, and he had a reputation for violent temper, other servants of Lengxin Prince’s Mansion rarely dared enter his quarters.

He seldom saw anyone, and even when meeting the Princess of Lengxin, he wore a mask.

Thus, over all these years, almost no one in the entire Lengxin Prince’s Mansion had seen Sui Yuanhuai’s true face.

It seems Lady Lan had prepared the body double from the start, anticipating the day Sui Yuanhuai would need to slip away from Lengxin Prince’s Mansion.

Xie Zheng removed his dark outer robe and handed it to the guard at the door, remaining silent.

Xie Shiyi carefully added: “Zhao Xun went to see the imprisoned mother and child, and says they’re not Sui Yuanhuai’s concubine and son either.”

Xie Zheng sat down behind his desk and poured himself a cup of tea, saying: “I know.”

The woman by Sui Yuanhuai’s side was Yu Qianqian, and when that mother and child were brought back, he had already checked—they weren’t Yu Qianqian and her son.

He hadn’t known earlier that Sui Yuanhuai’s attack on Lucheng was a ruse, but now it was clear that Sui Yuanhuai had long prepared for his escape.

Even body doubles for Yu Qianqian and her child had been arranged from the start.

If he hadn’t arrived in time today, Lucheng would have fallen, but once Tang Peiyi’s reinforcements arrived, the rabble inside couldn’t have held the city for long.

But before that, those masses would have killed many people.

Sui Yuanhuai wouldn’t control them—he wanted Lucheng to be filled with devastation and suffering after its fall.

Only then could the imperial censors use each tragic case as a sharp blade in their memorials, pinning Wei Yan to these blood-curdling crimes that would enrage both gods and men.

Understanding all this only made Xie Zheng’s expression grow colder.

Seeing his displeased expression, Xie Shiyi thought it was because Sui Yuanhuai and his people had all escaped, and said: “Xie Yi and the others are searching every inch of the city, surely there will be results soon.”

However, upon hearing this, Xie Zheng ordered: “Tell them to return first.”

Xie Shiyi was confused: “Marquis, why?”

Xie Zheng’s dark eyes reflected the two candle flames on the bronze stand: “Sui Yuanhuai had already connected with the Li family. Since Zhao Xun hasn’t returned, if he’s cautious enough, he won’t seek shelter through the Zhao family’s influence after escaping, but must first seek protection from the Li family. If he doesn’t show himself, searching is futile.”

Hearing this, Xie Shiyi immediately understood the complexity of the situation and asked: “Marquis, so we can only wait now?”

Instead of answering, Xie Zheng asked: “The Princess of Lengxin is dead too?”

Xie Shiyi nodded: “Found dead by suicide in the tent alongside Sui Yuanhuai’s body double.”

“Suicide”—naturally to avoid being captured alive and questioned.

The generals pursuing the fleeing soldiers had identified the corpse as Sui Yuanhuai not only because of the rich clothing and burn scars but also because the Princess of Lengxin had died beside him.

Even when fleeing Chongzhou, Sui Yuanhuai had brought the Princess of Lengxin along, presumably to ensure his escape would be foolproof.

Xie Zheng said: “Pass this news to Sui Yuanqing.”

Xie Shiyi, being the youngest of Xie Zheng’s guards and less steady than others like Xie Wu, scratched his head and asked: “Marquis, Sui Yuanqing is just a prisoner now. Even with this revenge for his mother’s death, what use is telling him when we can’t find Sui Yuanhuai?”

Xie Zheng simply said: “Just do as I say.”

His words to Li Huai’an tonight had been deliberate.

Li Huai’an didn’t know how much he had discovered, only that their plan had been exposed, and would certainly try to contact Sui Yuanhuai to discuss countermeasures.

They only needed to watch Li Huai’an closely and wait for them to reveal Sui Yuanhuai’s hiding place themselves.

As Xie Shiyi was about to withdraw, he suddenly remembered another urgent matter and hesitantly said to Xie Zheng: “Marquis, I’ve also learned the truth about Miss Fan’s situation…”

Moonlight filtered through the gauze window into the side room, casting a silvery frost across the floor.

The young woman on the bed lay with her black hair spread across the pillow, her head slightly turned, sleeping deeply.

By the window, a figure who had sat silently in the round chair for unknown hours cast a slender shadow before the bed.

Xie Zheng held the bloodstained bandages removed from Fan Changyu, quietly watching the slight figure under the thin quilt.

She had lost much weight, with countless wounds large and small across her body.

Her curled-up sleeping position was like that of a leopard remaining vigilant even in dreams.

Xie Shiyi’s words still rang in his ears: “When the rebel army was pressing the city earlier, Miss Fan feared Lucheng couldn’t hold and volunteered to leave the city to duel rebel commanders to buy time. They say Miss Fan called herself Meng Changyu, a descendant of General Meng Shuyuan of Changshan, willing to die to honor her ancestor’s name.”

“The sixteen opponents on the rebel side used vicious and unusual martial arts techniques, not seeming like military men. Miss Fan fought one against sixteen, and being outnumbered, nearly lost her life to their blades…”

Each word landed heavily in Xie Zheng’s heart, making it difficult to breathe.

Sharp yet dense pain grew in his chest, and his throat itched. Fearing to disturb her, Xie Zheng covered his mouth and coughed softly twice before suppressing the urge to cough.

Just thinking that she had truly gone out ready to die, that if he had arrived a moment later she would have been a cold corpse beneath the city walls, he suddenly couldn’t control the fury and fear howling in his bones.

The bloodstained bandages in the clothes basket from when she changed her dressings became unbearably glaring.

Earlier that day when he first saw her, her wounds had been bandaged and showed no obvious signs, but hearing from Xie Shiyi that she had fought more than ten death-sworn warriors under Sui Yuanhuai, he learned what she had been through.

Those death-sworn warriors around Sui Yuanhuai had belonged to the Crown Prince of Chengde and left to the Crown Princess. After the Crown Princess’s self-immolation in the Eastern Palace, these shadow guards served Sui Yuanhuai. Each was a supreme martial artist, and few survived encounters with them.

Xie Zheng felt his jaw aching as if insects were gnawing at his blood vessels. The veins at his temples bulged, making even the pain of the whip wounds on his back seem insignificant.

The realization that she had nearly died awakened nightmares that had haunted his entire youth, gripping him anew.

Nothing else mattered now, as long as she was still alive.

In the darkness, Xie Zheng pressed his aching temples, his pale face in the moonlight appearing cold yet with an indescribable beauty. His black eyes fixed unblinkingly on the sleeping Fan Changyu.

Perhaps sensing his excessively grim gaze even in sleep, the sleeping figure shrank slightly.

Xie Zheng tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingertips barely touching her cheek, as if wanting to touch yet forcefully restraining himself. He said softly: “In this world, no one has the right to let you die.”