Han Qian sat there in shock, beads of sweat streaming down his forehead. The thin garment draped over his body was almost instantly soaked through with perspiration!

Before two nights ago, Han Qian had been full of resentment toward his father Han Daoxun’s control over him.

Not only had he been driven to the Autumn Lake Mountain Villa, but his father had also ordered that old bastard Fan Xicheng to watch his every move. His daily life was attended to by the ugly maid Qing Yun, whose face was covered with birthmarks and who was pitifully thin and weak. He was confined to the study all day long, not granted the slightest freedom. This made him miss terribly the unrestrained days in Xuanzhou when he could bully others by relying on his family’s power.

Having been confined to the villa for over a month, his mood was extremely irritable. Every moment he thought of leaving, of escaping back to Xuanzhou. But at this moment, thinking that Jing Niang was a servant his second uncle Han Daochang had assigned to him from his own household, thinking that Zhao Zhi was a family servant his second uncle Han Daochang had assigned to him from his own household, and even that three years ago when he had caught Jing Niang having an affair with his cousin Han Jun, it was that dog servant Zhao Zhi who had seemingly inadvertently exposed it.

Han Qian’s hands and feet turned ice cold. Even taking several sharp breaths couldn’t suppress the shock in his heart.

The dream figure Zhai Xinping had not only experienced too much cunning and deceit in his short life, but the historical books he enjoyed reading were also filled with all kinds of incredible conspiracies and schemes.

Perhaps the dream was too real—so real it was as if Han Qian had lived an alternative lifetime in the dream realm, so real it was as if the dream figure Zhai Xinping’s life memories had already merged into his marrow, causing him to subconsciously think about problems from angles he had never considered before.

This made him seriously reflect on the past six years in Xuanzhou for the first time, and he was so frightened his hands and feet turned cold.

His second uncle Han Daochang’s treatment of him was absolutely not as gentle and harmless as he had imagined.

At only twelve years old, he naturally had never experienced the wickedness of human nature. How could he have thought before this that his six years of neglect, his unchanged stubborn nature at this time, were actually intentionally caused by his second uncle Han Daochang?

…

…

Han Qian sat dazed for a long time. The sky brightened fully. At this moment, he faintly heard shouting sounds in the distance. He knew this was the family guards living in the manor coming out in the early morning to practice martial arts, riding, and archery.

Emperor Tianyou had relied on great generals and powerful clans to accomplish his goals and establish the foundation of Chu state. Since Chu state was newly established and strong enemies on all sides remained undefeated, Emperor Tianyou didn’t dare easily change the military household system. He even occasionally gave out military households as rewards to his meritorious generals and ministers.

Therefore, it was quite normal in this era for aristocratic families and powerful clans to possess family guards.

The Han family was naturally no exception.

The Han family’s guards, aside from a few left in Xuanzhou under the command of his second uncle Han Daochang, mostly followed his eldest uncle Han Daoming, who currently served as Prefect of Chizhou.

However, his father Han Daoxun had accumulated merit over these years of serving in local positions and personally been rewarded with twenty military households.

These people were all veteran soldiers who had gradually followed Han Daoxun in recent years.

When his father Han Daoxun took up his post in the capital, the residence purchased within Jinling City was cramped and couldn’t accommodate too many people, so he bought this manor outside the city and settled most of the family guards along with their families and children here…

Family guards!

“Intending to raise troops in ancestral land Xuanzhou, captured en route by family guards and delivered to authorities, torn apart in the marketplace…”

Thinking of this passage from the dream, the veins on Han Qian’s forehead couldn’t help but throb violently. He thought to himself that his usual cursing of Fan Xicheng and these old bastards was indeed absolutely correct.

These family guards currently ate his family’s food and used his family’s resources, but in the end, when the Han family experienced dramatic changes, instead of loyally escorting him to Xuanzhou, they actually captured him en route and delivered him to the authorities for execution. What were they if not traitorous dogs who couldn’t be tamed and bit their masters?

At this moment, Han Qian wished he could grasp the Black Cloud Bow, run out, and shoot dead all the manor’s family guards one by one.

Han Qian was so angry his heart couldn’t calm down. He wished he could smash everything in the study to pieces to slightly relieve the hatred in his heart.

After a long while, Han Qian gradually calmed down.

At this time, dramatic changes had not yet occurred in his family. The family guards had not yet betrayed him. Forget about shooting dead all these family guards who would ultimately be useless—even if he wanted to drive all these family guards out of the Han household, his father Han Daoxun would absolutely never agree.

What could he say at this time? That within the next four years, his father would be beaten to death by Emperor Tianyou before Wenying Hall, and he himself would be betrayed by these family guards while fleeing to Xuanzhou?

He couldn’t even figure out whether all the family guards would betray him in the future!

Thinking of this, Han Qian couldn’t help but carefully recall the many details of what happened that night when Yao Xishui came to poison him.

That night, the ugly maid Qing Yun was first driven out by his temper tantrum. After nightfall, Yao Xishui suddenly came to visit, prepared wine and water to drink with him in the study, and afterward he was poisoned and collapsed unconscious at the desk, falling into that strange dream realm.

When he woke up, his consciousness was still somewhat fuzzy, but he had heard several key sentences.

Yao Xishui and that man had gone through such elaborate schemes not simply to poison him, but to create the illusion that he had died suddenly from illness?

Yao Xishui and that man were startled away by Fan Xicheng and the others who came rushing over after hearing sounds. From Fan Xicheng’s reaction afterward, they seemed completely unaware of Yao Xishui’s visit?

In the manor, Han Qian lived alone in the East Courtyard. Because his father feared he would become addicted to carnal affairs, even the ugly maid Qing Yun was forbidden from entering the East Courtyard at night. So as long as there was no loud commotion, it was indeed possible that Fan Xicheng and the others wouldn’t know about Yao Xishui’s nighttime visit.

However, how could Yao Xishui know these things, allowing her to dare calmly and unhurriedly walk into the study to drink with him without fearing to disturb others in the manor?

Was there someone among the manor’s family guards or servants passing information to Yao Xishui?

His father was still a court minister and had not yet been beaten to death before the hall by Emperor Tianyou. Han Qian didn’t believe all the family guards had already betrayed his family, but who exactly was so audacious as to secretly collude with Yao Xishui and pass information?

Han Qian took a breath, secretly feeling that worrying about future matters at this time was also useless. He had to first resolve the current crisis!

His thoughts unknowingly became calm and meticulous, no longer as impatient and reckless as before…

…

…

After entering autumn, the early morning was slightly cool. Han Qian draped on a thin garment and pushed open the door, taking the Black Cloud Bow and following the sounds of the family guards training through the west side courtyard.

To the west of the courtyard, a clearing of three or four mu in size had been opened up and rolled flat with a stone roller.

This was the martial arts training ground where the manor’s family guards usually drilled. Weapon racks at the edge of the field held spears, staffs, halberds, lances, longbows, and other weapons, as well as several stone locks for strength training.

On the north and south sides of the training ground, two more courtyards had been built. Together with the East Courtyard where Han Qian lived, they formed the Autumn Lake Mountain Villa.

The East Courtyard was the most refined, with twenty or thirty rooms serving as the master’s quarters and living space for personal servants, but at night, only Han Qian lived there.

The North Courtyard was the largest in scale, with fifty or sixty rooms where the family guards and their families lived, along with attached structures like the kitchen and stables, but all were quite crude—all thatched huts with earthen walls.

According to Chu law, these family guards were attached to his father Han Daoxun, and the family members of the guards were also incorporated into the Han family register, serving as servants.

The South Courtyard had only five reverse-facing rooms and also served as the manor’s entrance, blocking the valley entrance to the manor. Usually, family guards stood watch there.

Although the Autumn Lake Mountain Villa was only thirty or forty li from the capital Jinling, in these times bandits ran rampant. Even the vicinity of Jinling City was not peaceful. Manor estates and large residences near the manor were often raided and plundered by bandits. Without careful precautions, it really wouldn’t do.

Fan Xicheng was currently arranging for people to build protective walls to surround the entire manor. However, the project was quite large and the available manpower was limited. Currently, they had only built a yellow earthen wall along the southern edge of the training ground at the South Courtyard to guard against large groups of bandits breaking in from outside the valley.

Although this place was called a manor, it was actually located in a valley on the southern foothills of Baohua Mountain.

To the west of the training ground, a stream flowed down from the mountains, flanked by bamboo and trees with piled stones, dividing the valley into two parts. The east side was the manor villa, while the west side had more open terrain with three or four hundred mu of cultivated fields. Those fields and the mountain behind the manor also belonged to the estate, with some thatched huts scattered about for tenant farmers attached to the manor to live in.

The small stream passed through the South Courtyard’s earthen wall, descending rather steeply. Two or three li away lay a vast misty lake that stretched thirteen or fourteen li across when viewed from afar.

This large lake was Chishan Lake southeast of Jinling City. It collected streams and rivers flowing from the southern foothills of Baohua Mountain, with a waterway leading northwest that merged into the Qiupu River at the southwestern corner of Jinling City, entering through the water gate into Jinling City and ultimately flowing from the northern city water gate into the Yangtze River…

Han Qian stood at the edge of the training ground. His gaze passed over the low wall made of rammed yellow earth. He could see many boats moored in Chishan Lake, and several pleasure boats painted with colorful decorations were particularly eye-catching. He wondered whether Yao Xishui, being the courtesan of the Evening Red Pavilion, might be hiding in one of those pleasure boats without having left, waiting for another opportunity to make a move against him.