In the distance, the sound of watchmen making their rounds echoed through the night, the wooden clappers piercing the silence of the large tent with particular clarity. The candle flame on the tall table flickered suddenly.
Under Xie Zheng’s cold gaze, He Jingyuan struggled to speak: “Marquis, please consider He Jingyuan a coward for now. If I survive after relieving Lu City’s siege, I will certainly be frank with you about everything.”
Gongsun Yin couldn’t help but glance at Xie Zheng upon hearing this; both remained noncommittal.
He Jingyuan had handed over the tiger tally for troop mobilization in Jizhoufuneral, demonstrating his loyalty, yet he kept the Fan couple’s identity secret for self-preservation. He feared that once Xie Zheng gained military authority, he might dispose of him immediately. This small calculation was hardly offensive.
After a brief silence in the tent, Xie Zheng finally curled his lip and said, “Lord He can rest assured. I come from a military background and, while I can’t guarantee everything, I certainly won’t go back on my word. Moreover, Lord He has served in Jizhou for over a decade, winning both the people’s hearts and the soldiers’ affection. How could I dare to move against you lightly?”
Cold sweat trickled down He Jingyuan’s temples as he hurriedly bowed his head, saying, “The Marquis jests. When it comes to prestige in the military, who could surpass you?”
Xie Zheng’s fingertips tapped lightly on the chair’s armrest as his dark eyes scrutinized the respectful scholar-general before him. As if weighing something, he finally conceded, “Very well. I’ll await your answer after Lu City’s siege is lifted.”
He Jingyuan felt the oppressive gaze on him suddenly lighten, his breathing becoming easier. He bowed even more respectfully, bending at the waist: “Thank you for your consideration, Marquis.”
Xie Zheng stood up, his robe embroidered with cloud patterns draping elegantly, the fabric even reflecting light in the candlelight. He spoke coolly, “Tomorrow, Lord He will assign twenty thousand recruits, along with craftsmen skilled in water management from the city. Spring is approaching, and the rains will come. If we don’t build dams on the Wu River before the spring floods, this plan will be useless.”
He Jingyuan quickly responded, “I will summon the subordinate commanders tonight to make arrangements.”
After leaving the tent, Gongsun Yin quietly said to Xie Zheng, “You agreed to his bargaining.”
Xie Zheng tossed the Jizhou tiger tally to him, asking with a sidelong glance, “What else could I do?”
Gongsun Yin caught the tally with both hands and said, “He has been established in Jizhou for many years. If we’re to use the Jizhou army as a trap to swallow Prince Xin’s fifty thousand troops, we indeed can’t move against him lightly. The death of a chief commander before a major battle would inevitably affect morale. However… he dared to hand over the tiger tally, truly gambling that you would spare his life for the Fan family’s sake, no matter what.”
Xie Zheng replied, “If he hadn’t handed over the tiger tally, how could I dare to march north?”
Gongsun Yin couldn’t help but laugh: “This Lord He sees things quite clearly. His concerns are not without reason. You won’t move against him before the battle, but whether you’ll let him ‘sacrifice himself gloriously’ during the battle is another matter, given your wariness of his influence in the Jizhou army.”
Xie Zheng remained silent, seemingly agreeing with his assessment. As they continued walking, he said, “Regarding Chongzhou, draft a reply on my behalf, discussing other terms with Old Sui Tuo.”
Gongsun Yin understood his meaning. Exchanging Yanzhou for the Fan family’s young daughter was impossible. Replying to Prince Xin for other terms would make them appear genuinely concerned about the child’s fate, thus making their borrowing of troops from Jizhou to Yanzhou seem less suspicious.
Moreover, letting Prince Xin know that the child was important to them would make him even more cautious about harming her—
Several days later, in Chongzhou, at Prince Xin’s mansion.
A man’s pale, skeletal fingers tossed the letter into the brazier beside the desk. The paper quickly turned to ashes among the red coals.
Despite the spring chill, even indoors, the man had a cloak draped over his shoulders. His lips, pale from illness, curled slightly in a malicious yet pleased smile, like a child who had won a game: “He borrowed twenty thousand troops from Jizhou.”
The man who had delivered the message asked in confusion, “The child rescued by the Crown Prince isn’t the daughter of the Marquis of Wu’an. Your Highness, could there be some trick?”
Sui Yuanhuai raised his eyes, black as night and chilling to the bone: “Isn’t she his woman’s sister? When Qingping County was massacred, he rushed back to save people without hesitation. If he doesn’t rescue this child, what do you think his woman will do when she finds out?”
The brocade-robed man standing below, who was Zhao Xun, wanted to say that a man of the Marquis of Wu’an’s status could have any woman he wanted. But remembering the woman who had been caught and brought back several times by the man before him, he held his tongue and instead said, “Your Highness is wise.”
Sui Yuanhuai mused, “Even if it’s a trap, what does it matter to us?”
Zhao Xun’s heart suddenly jolted, understanding that he intended to watch the tigers fight from afar. He bowed and said, “Your Highness is truly perceptive.”
Sui Yuanhuai looked at him with an inscrutable smile, making Zhao Xun feel as if he had thorns at his back. He trembled as he asked, “Why is Your Highness looking at me like this?”
Sui Yuanhuai smiled, “I heard you’ve been teaching that little bastard to write?”
Zhao Xun’s knees weakened, and he fell to the ground: “Forgive me, Your Highness. How could I be worthy of teaching the young master? The young master kept crying to see… Concubine Yu, so I coaxed him, saying that if he studied well and learned to write, Your Highness might be pleased and allow him to see Concubine Yu.”
Sui Yuanhuai said with a half-smile, “You seem quite adept at making decisions for me.”
At these words, Zhao Xun’s face turned ashen. He pressed his forehead to the cold floor and said, “This servant deserves death. Please punish me, Your Highness.”
Just then, a middle-aged woman entered the room to deliver some refreshments. Seeing Zhao Xun kneeling on the ground, she looked surprised.
Sui Yuanhuai, resting his chin on one hand, said languidly, “Get up. Aunt Lan is watching.”
Zhao Xun didn’t dare move. The middle-aged woman who had brought the refreshments also changed her expression. After placing the snacks on the table, she stepped back and knelt, saying, “Your Highness, if Xun’er has done something wrong, please punish him. Don’t distress this slave.”
Sui Yuanhuai smiled and personally helped the middle-aged woman up: “What are you doing, Aunt Lan? Without you, where would I be today? Please, stand up.”
His hands, cold from years of illness, accidentally touched her hand as he helped her up, making her heart skip a beat from the chill.
Sui Yuanhuai noticed the fleeting panic on her face, and his smile deepened. He looked at Zhao Xun, still kneeling on the ground: “Axun, get up too. You and Aunt Lan are my closest confidants. Don’t kneel at every turn.”
Zhao Xun looked at the middle-aged woman, and only after seeing her slight nod did he rise, his back drenched in cold sweat. He respectfully said, “Serving Your Highness loyally is this servant’s duty.”
Sui Yuanhuai smiled without responding. He glanced at the books on the table with disinterest and said languidly, “Later, have someone bring that little bastard here. Let me see how his studies are progressing.”
Zhao Xun bowed his head in acknowledgment.
After Zhao Xun and the middle-aged woman left, Sui Yuanhuai seemed to be talking to himself: “Are they still loyal to me?”
From the shadows of the empty study, a figure emerged: “The mother and son of the Zhao family harbor no ill intentions towards Your Highness.”
Sui Yuanhuai just smiled: “Continue watching them.”
The shadow retreated into the darkness as if no one had ever been there.
Sui Yuanhuai seemed tired, his handsome features showing traces of fatigue. He supported his forehead with one hand, gazing out the study window lost in thought.
His body was severely damaged, and he had been relying on medicinal soups to sustain his life for years.
Sixteen years… no, another year had passed, so it had been seventeen years since the great fire in the Eastern Palace burned half his face and nearly half his body. It was because of this that he was able to switch identities with the eldest son of Prince Xin, saving his own life.
The one who truly died in the Eastern Palace that year was Prince Xin’s eldest son.
It was a long-planned escape.
The Crown Prince had died, and his mother knew that she and her son would be next. She orchestrated the fire in the Eastern Palace.
Using excessive grief as an excuse, she invited many noble ladies from the capital to bring their children to visit and console her.
Prince Xin’s mansion was the haven his mother had chosen for him. When a palace maid accidentally spilled tea, staining Prince Xin’s eldest son’s clothes, his mother ordered the palace servants to take the boy to change. Those discarded clothes eventually ended up on him, while Prince Xin’s wife and son both perished in the fire.
His face was burned beyond recognition, and with Prince Xin’s wife dead, the servants of the prince’s mansion couldn’t identify him. They only assumed he was the eldest son based on his clothes and accessories, and took him back.
From then on, he was no longer the eldest imperial grandson, but Sui Yuanhuai, the badly burned eldest son of Prince Xin.
Aunt Lan had been his mother’s confidante and also escaped during that fire. She later married a wealthy merchant, secretly supporting him. After giving birth to Zhao Xun, she poisoned the merchant, allowing Zhao Xun to inherit the merchant’s business. When Zhao Xun was capable of managing on his own, she returned to his side to care for him.
To be presentable again, the burned dead skin on his body had been gradually replaced over the years.
In the early years, when his face was burned, none of the serving staff dared to look at him directly. Later, after enduring excruciating pain to replace the burned skin, the servants became even more afraid of him.
Thinking of this, Sui Yuanhuai smiled sardonically.
His mother’s choice of Prince Xin’s mansion as his refuge had indeed been carefully considered.
A person with a burned face could not be the heir to a prince’s mansion. No matter who Prince Xin married in the future, they would treat him, a harmless eldest son, with utmost care to build a reputation for kindness.
More fortunately, after Prince Xin’s wife died tragically, her family feared that his disfigured appearance might cause Prince Xin to reject him and that he might be secretly mistreated if a new wife entered the mansion. So they married Prince Xin’s wife’s younger sister to Prince Xin as his new wife.
This younger sister of Prince Xin’s wife indeed treated her sister’s child as her own, and even after giving birth to Sui Yuanqing, she always taught Yuanqing to be close to his “elder brother.”
But could stolen affection truly be affection?
When that mother and son eventually learn the truth, they would probably want to devour him alive.
Over the years, he had only maintained a facade of harmony with that mother and son pair.
The hand that had been supporting his forehead suddenly pressed heavily on his temple.
To deceive everyone back then, he had burned half his face. Now, after replacing the damaged skin, his head often felt as if it were exploding with pain. At this moment, the pain suddenly intensified, causing malice to surge within him. He longed to torture a few people to ease his mind.
Just then, the door was pushed open, and a little figure appeared in the doorway, holding a stack of practiced calligraphy. With a hint of fear in his puppy-like eyes, he still raised his clear gaze to look at him, pursed his lips, and called out, “Father.”