Feng Huan didn’t dodge, allowing the dust to strike his face as he stared blankly down at his own hands, not understanding how he had suddenly pressed down.
When he raised his face again, his eyes were bloodshot.
Li Yuncheng sighed softly behind him, brushing away the dust that had settled on the little book.
When Feng Huan turned around again, he had already forced a smile, walking over to sit beside him. “Now it’s good,” he said. “No one can get in.”
Li Yuncheng said expressionlessly, “Was it worth it?”
Feng Huan thought for a moment. “It should be worth it, I suppose.”
Li Yuncheng frowned. “I don’t understand. Someone like you, with such good days ahead that you haven’t lived enough of, how could you be willing to go this far for the Imperial Crown Princess, with whom you had no friendship in the past?”
“Indeed, there was no friendship before.” Feng Huan magically produced a small wine bottle from his robes, took a gulp, and continued, “But I’ve walked this journey with her… She took me shopping through the streets, made me carry things but also treated me to local delicacies. When A’Ji gave me sausage lips, and she went into the mountains to find medicine for Murong Yi, I complained about why she didn’t help me find medicine. She said the sausage lips were actually my protective charm. When we encountered the insect swarm in the endless mountains, she held me in one hand and Murong Yi in the other on the cliff face. It seemed effortless, but her arms were trembling the whole time, yet even so, she didn’t drop me. We slid from the mountain’s belly into the valley, falling into a deep pool. If she hadn’t pulled me out, I’d probably just be a pile of white bones at the bottom of that pool now. Not to mention the Imperial Garden hunt, where she saved my life the first time I met her.”
He glanced sideways at Li Yuncheng. “As for me, I owe someone my life. If not to repay the favor, I still can’t bring myself to kick someone when they’re down. But what about you? You could have chosen not to tell me just now, and you had the chance to stop me, but you did neither.”
“You’re unwilling to repay kindness with enmity, so I would be? After all, during that incident at the Imperial Garden, she also saved me.”
Feng Huan thought for a moment, then smiled and shook his head. “If someone else said this, I’d believe them, but you, Old Li, are actually a cold-hearted person. I don’t believe it.”
“On the verge of death, you’ve become clever.” Li Yuncheng patted the book in his hands. “First, I’ve read books since childhood, perusing millions of volumes of human knowledge. Not one book taught me to be ungrateful, and not one book taught me to be cowardly before enemies.”
“And second?”
Li Yuncheng’s gaze swept over the black-clothed bodies on the ground, then suddenly changed the subject. “About to die, do you have any attachments? Tell me about them.”
“You speak as if you could get out.” Feng Huan laughed and cursed, passing over the wine bottle. “Want a sip? I know you don’t touch alcohol, but since we’re about to die, at least break this rule once, otherwise wouldn’t it be a waste to have come to this world? By the way, what about that second point?”
Li Yuncheng shook his head, pushing the wine bottle back. Feng Huan scoffed and stopped insisting, tilting his head back to take a large gulp, murmuring, “What attachments? There don’t seem to be any. You know our kind of background—born surrounded by pearls and emeralds, raised in silk and jade, wanting wind and getting wind, wanting rain and getting rain. No need to compete for fame, titles and wealth are ours by birth. Family rise and fall aren’t our concern—we couldn’t handle them anyway. Every day we worry about how to spend money and where to find more beautiful young ladies. Life seems perfectly complete, but when you think about it carefully, it’s quite empty.”
He thought for a while and said, “Though this journey through Yannan has been somewhat interesting.”
A figure flashed through his mind. When he heard the word “attachment” just now, he inexplicably thought of that person, but then felt it was absurd. He could barely stand her—how could there be any attachment?
Perhaps it was just those bottles and jars in his robes, and the earlier incident when the insect coffin appeared before him without triggering poison, that caused this emotional stir.
He fell silent, just drinking sip by sip, thinking he might as well get drunk and die, avoiding many troubles.
There was commotion outside. Obviously, the other side was also caught off guard by the sudden closure of the door. After banging on it for a while, the sounds gradually faded—they had clearly given up.
Feng Huan, who usually held his liquor well, found himself getting drunk as he listened to the footsteps gradually moving away.
He dizzily raised his head, thinking he had brought too little wine—drunk death would be hard to achieve. Should he try suicide instead?
…
“Please, Your Highness, have mercy on the people and withdraw from Kun Zhou!”
The shouts seemed to reach the very clouds, as the common people stepped forward together, their unified footsteps growing louder, shaking the ground and raising endless dust.
Amid the shouts, the carriage that had remained silent and appeared quite cold suddenly moved.
It was slowly retreating.
The people were stunned, not understanding why the Imperial Crown Princess, who had maintained such a tough attitude before, was suddenly backing down. Then they became excited—popular sentiment was boiling, public resentment like fire. This heir to the throne had also realized her weakness before the anger of countless people, recognized that she couldn’t afford to lose the people’s hearts, and was finally willing to lower her head?
Then they should strike while the iron was hot, press their advantage, and drive her out of Kun Zhou, drive her out of Yannan, restoring peace to Yannan from now on!
The carriage retreated, but the guard formation didn’t move. Behind the long carriage procession, a large group of carriages and people emerged.
Previously, because the procession was magnificent and the guards numerous, stretching across the road, the people hadn’t noticed that behind the Imperial Crown Princess’s procession, many merchants and commoners were following. Obviously, they wanted to enter the city, but when the procession was blocked, these people were blocked too.
Among them, the carriages at the front seemed particularly anxious. While repeatedly nodding their thanks to the Crown Princess’s guards who made way for them, they urged their horses forward rapidly: “Hurry! Hurry! Don’t delay the delivery!”
The carriages were ordinary, but the “Gui Qizhai” emblem carved on them was recognized by everyone in Kun Zhou. They knew this was a delivery carriage from the recently booming Gui Qizhai. The people of Kun Zhou all knew that this shop, from its decorations to its staff to its merchandise, was extremely novel, with many new and strange rules. It had quickly made a name for itself in Kun Zhou. They also knew this shop took the high-end route—any small item inside had a shocking price.
Seeing Gui Qizhai’s carriage approaching, they hesitated for a moment. Should they let it pass or not?
If they let it pass, what if the Imperial Crown Princess’s carriage followed right behind?
If they didn’t let it pass, blocking unrelated people on the road didn’t seem right either. They heard Gui Qizhai was wealthy and generous with money, maintaining good relationships with most of Kun Zhou’s civil and military officials.
Common people living humble lives wanted nothing more than to avoid offending various powerful forces.
Behind the crowd, You Jun, chewing on candied fruit, nodded to a secretary from Kun Zhou Prefecture.
That secretary immediately led people forward in haste.
But suddenly there were cries of alarm from ahead.
On the road, the horse pulling Gui Qizhai’s carriage suddenly stepped on a corpse dragged to the roadside. Startled, it neighed and reared up. The unprepared coachman, whose skills weren’t very refined, became flustered and failed to control the horse. Instead, the carriage tilted to one side and crashed down with a thunderous sound.
The contents of the carriage spilled out with a crash, rolling right to the people’s feet.
These items were all packed in boxes, wrapped layer by layer in cotton paper, enclosed in brocade bags. Some rolled out of their boxes, immediately causing someone to gasp in amazement—it was a cylinder with a piece of glass covering the front. Fine colored crystal fragments turned inside the glass, refracting brilliant multicolored light in the sunlight, clearly a treasure.
Someone who recognized it called out: “Kaleidoscope!”
Several people’s expressions changed.
This was one of Gui Qizhai’s best-selling trinkets—ever-changing and endlessly fascinating. The crystal fragments inside were pieces of various gemstones, making it extremely expensive.
Immediately, dozens of hands reached for this kaleidoscope.
One person grabbed it and immediately tucked it into his robes, turning to leave without another word. Those who missed out couldn’t spare time for regret—there were so many boxes and bags, surely all containing good things. If they didn’t grab them now, should they just watch others get the bargains?
The crowd swarmed forward, from picking to fighting to snatching. The Gui Qizhai delivery staff cried out desperately from outside the crowd: “What are you doing! Give them back quickly! These are all popular goods newly shipped from our workshop, all very expensive. Are you trying to be bandits?”
This only made them grab more fiercely.
The crowd pressed together in a chaotic mass, shouting and arguing, competing in hand speed and verbal skill. Who still remembered their earlier righteous indignation and resistance?
Behind the crowd, You Jun turned his head and spat out a fruit pit, his usually smiling face finally darkening somewhat.
He glanced at the Kun Zhou garrison commander. The middle-aged man understood and led a group of soldiers armed with knives and crossbows charging forward.
These men looked fierce and evil, wielding clubs and sticks, giving the crowd grabbing things a severe beating that finally dispersed them. The Gui Qizhai staff and manager stood amid the wreckage, still shaken, bowing deeply: “Thank you, honorable officials, for upholding justice…”
Before they finished speaking, the commander led his men with cold expressions, trampling over those boxes and bags. The sound of fine leather boots crushing things came in waves.
The Gui Qizhai manager and staff watched with pained, bitter smiles.
The commander glanced at them sideways, jerking his chin toward the roadside. The Gui Qizhai people understood, not daring to say more. They hastily gathered their things, moved their carriage aside, and withdrew with bowed backs.
You Jun turned to the officials beside him: “After today, don’t let this Gui Qizhai appear in Kun Zhou anymore.”
The officials agreed submissively, though some showed slight hesitation.
“I know you’ve taken their silver. Isn’t this a chance to take more silver?” You Jun said. “Don’t rush to kill everyone. Work harder on those managers. I hear their goods are novel—they must have blueprints and manufacturing methods.”
This was planning to kill and steal wealth while also seizing exclusive secret formulas. The Kun Zhou Prefecture officials were accustomed to this and nodded.
A magistrate destroys families, a prefect destroys clans—such things weren’t rare in Yannan.
Gui Qizhai had moved aside, but the people’s disputes and attention hadn’t returned yet. Those who had grabbed things had no desire to stay longer, clutching their treasures and quietly slipping away. Those who hadn’t grabbed anything harbored resentment. The bold ones thought they might as well wait for people to reach secluded places and rob them, so they quietly followed. In the blink of an eye, most of the people at the front had left. With these people gone, like a wave receding, some isolated figures were revealed—troublemakers arranged by Kun Zhou’s side to stir up emotions. Suddenly finding themselves exposed under broad daylight, they felt inexplicably guilty. Some felt countless gazes shooting over, their back hair standing on end, and hurriedly turned to merge into the crowd behind.
The remaining people paid no attention. When one person entered the crowd, the murderous gaze nailed to his back finally disappeared. He couldn’t help wiping sweat, but as he raised his hand, he felt pain in his waist. Looking down, he saw a bright knife tip dripping blood, appearing and disappearing in a flash. His mind was hazy, unable to believe it was his own blood, but his body was already collapsing, caught by someone beside him.
He struggled to turn his head to see clearly who was supporting him, but his vision was already slowly darkening. In his last dim sight, he saw a companion beside him already slumped over someone’s shoulder as if asleep.
Such incidents kept occurring in the crowd. In just half an incense stick’s time, over ten lives were ended. A faint bloody smell spread through the air, then was covered by people’s sweat and body odors.
People were constantly being carried, shouldered, or supported out of the crowd, leaving along side paths. Not many paid attention, as too many people were leaving now.
But the remaining people suddenly felt confused. The leading voices in the crowd were gone, and the chaos over scattered goods had completely broken up the previous passionate atmosphere. Those remaining were people who neither grabbed things nor had the courage to rob others, though they inevitably felt some regret about missing the fortune, and their emotions had dropped considerably.
As they say, the first strike has full force, the second weakens, the third exhausts. With the atmosphere gone and the troublemakers gone, the remaining people looked at each other uncertainly.
Behind the crowd, You Jun frowned.
His instincts told him that trying to incite the people to block the procession again would be very difficult now.
He set down his candied fruit box, dusted off the hem of his wrinkled official robes, and stood up.
His face beamed with spring warmth.
The officials who had served him long understood immediately and hurriedly straightened their official robes, preparing to receive the procession. Kun Zhou Prefecture’s officials rushed forward, already composing the explanations they would give the Imperial Crown Princess—inevitably showing some hurried urgency of having just arrived, finding a few passable excuses.
A row of wolf-like bailiffs had already prepared, unsheathing their long knives, ready to fulfill their long-delayed duty of maintaining order.
It was time to make their entrance, clear their involvement, take a stern attitude, and arrest these troublemaking people—the more the better.
In the end, all accounts would be charged to the Imperial Crown Princess anyway. If chaos broke out, that would be even better.