When Xiao Ziheng stepped into the prison cell, Qi Ying was sitting on the ground leaning against the wall, seemingly unconscious. That opportunistic Lu Zheng had probably presumed the imperial will on his own, thinking His Majesty’s personal visit to the prison tonight was to grant clemency to Qi Ying. Therefore, he had hastily remedied the situation by having someone change him into a brand new set of clothes, so he at least didn’t look so disgraceful. But it wasn’t very useful—his wounds were still there, still bleeding at this moment, and one could still tell he had suffered very severe punishment.

At this moment, as Xiao Ziheng looked down at Qi Ying from his elevated position in the gloomy prison, what he felt in his heart was not simple satisfaction, but rather a very complex emotion.

Qi Jingchen… he had once been so triumphant in the spring breeze, but so what? Hadn’t he still fallen to this state today, so destitute, so wretched. But even though he had clearly lost, with nothing left and covered in wounds, he still had the ability to make the Son of Heaven personally come to the prison to find him, to have him save this country.

How ironic.

A dignified ruler of a nation had personally knocked this powerful minister into the mud, and now had no choice but to come swallow his pride and personally seek him out, like slapping his own face. He stood before Qi Ying in silence, looking down at him disdainfully, yet still felt his own lowliness and powerlessness, as if he were the defeated one.

He was unwilling to accept this.

Yet there was nothing he could do.

Xiao Ziheng’s fists clenched tight.

Perhaps his footsteps had disturbed Qi Ying—he gradually awakened, those phoenix eyes stained with blood slowly opening. When he saw Xiao Ziheng, he only showed an obedient expression, but didn’t seem surprised, as if he had long expected him to come find him.

He dragged his wounded body to bow to the Son of Heaven, while Xiao Ziheng’s fists clenched tighter and tighter.

Here it was again.

That respectful and deferential attitude again.

He looked so submissive, so obedient, but in his heart he must be mocking him, mocking his wasted scheming, mocking how in the end he still had to come beg him! Mocking his baseness and incompetence!

Xiao Ziheng’s heart felt as if it were being burned by fierce flames!

But he knew he couldn’t lose his temper—losing his temper now would only make him appear even more incompetent and ridiculous. He struggled to calm his emotions, and only after a long time did he regain composure. But he didn’t excuse Qi Ying from his bow, only watching as his wounds bled more and more, soaking through that newly changed set of clothes.

Xiao Ziheng truly couldn’t understand why, even though Qi Ying had already reached the depths of humility, he still appeared noble and dignified, while he himself, being bowed to, felt empty in his heart.

His peach blossom eyes grew somewhat dim, and after a long time he said: “Rise.”

Qi Ying responded and stood up, his movements somewhat sluggish, his complexion also deathly pale, cold sweat covering his forehead, but he still stood with his body bowed, fulfilling a minister’s duty without the slightest transgression.

Xiao Ziheng slightly averted his eyes and asked: “Do you know why I have come here today?”

Upon hearing this, Qi Ying bowed his body even lower, answering in a somewhat hoarse voice: “Your Majesty shows mercy, presumably wishing to grant this minister a chance to atone for crimes through merit.”

These words were spoken with even more humility. Upon hearing this, Xiao Ziheng gave a cold laugh and asked in return: “Atone for crimes through merit? Lu Zheng hasn’t extracted anything from you in over half a month—what crimes do you have, beloved minister?”

Qi Ying answered with lowered head: “Inadequate supervision, improper conduct—all are this minister’s crimes.”

“Only this?” Xiao Ziheng’s voice was cold and heavy. “No crime of treason?”

His voice became sharp as he shouted loudly: “How conveniently coincidental that Great Wei chooses this very moment to rekindle warfare—Qi Jingchen, dare you say this matter has nothing to do with you!”

The Son of Heaven’s fury, his angry shouts echoing in the empty prison, creating layers of reverberations that shook the heart.

Qi Ying was silent for a moment, but showed no trace of panic, remaining as calm and composed as when he was at the height of his power, as if he had truly grown indifferent to gain and loss, reputation and ruin, remaining unruffled regardless of his circumstances.

He said: “This minister is terrified. Though I know my talents are shallow and virtue thin, I dare ask myself whether I have served my sovereign with loyalty, especially viewing family and country as more important than life itself, not daring the slightest transgression.”

Xiao Ziheng looked at him coldly, then heard him continue: “Moreover, since leaving the Secretariat, this minister has had no official authority. Even if I harbored such treasonous thoughts, I would absolutely lack the means to act. I hope Your Majesty will investigate clearly.”

Xiao Ziheng snorted coldly and retorted: “Though you are temporarily idle, you still have former subordinates willing to risk their lives for you—do you think I don’t know what Xu Zhengning did?”

Xu Zhengning.

Qi Ying’s brow furrowed, then his body bowed even lower as he answered: “This minister did indeed entrust Minister Xu to deliver letters, but they were merely family letters. I believe Your Majesty has already reviewed them.”

Xiao Ziheng had indeed already seen them.

On the day of Old Madam Qi’s seventh day memorial, the Secretariat tracked Xu Zhengning’s movements and found he had secret talks with Qi Ying in the Qi mansion’s back garden. Upon learning this, he immediately sent people to arrest Xu Zhengning.

Zhu Wei, who held one of the twelve divisions of the Secretariat and was in charge of surveillance, had jurisdiction over this matter. But Xiao Ziheng didn’t completely trust him—after all, he had also been Qi Ying’s subordinate and had close friendship with Xu Zhengning. Therefore, he had secretly placed Court of Judicial Review personnel among the armored soldiers and gate guards to monitor Zhu Wei’s actions. Fortunately, Zhu Wei’s character was upright and he put righteousness before personal relationships, intercepting Xu Zhengning at the city gate and turning over the letters Qi Ying had given Xu Zhengning to Xiao Ziheng.

Xiao Ziheng had originally thought they were some incredible secret correspondence, but when he opened the letters, he found they were merely family letters Qi Ying had written to Qi clan members in outlying prefectures, commanding them to be upright and law-abiding, not to act improperly, not to betray imperial grace or family teachings, and such things.

Xiao Ziheng already knew the contents of the letters—his earlier words were just testing Qi Ying. Seeing he couldn’t extract anything, he didn’t pursue it further. This wasn’t because he had dispelled his suspicions of him, but merely because circumstances didn’t allow otherwise. Right now he needed Qi Ying to resolve the national crisis. As for other matters, it would be better to clarify them one by one after this war was finished.

Once the Son of Heaven’s mind was made up, he didn’t continue on this topic. After pondering for a moment, he said: “You guessed correctly. I do indeed have the intention to give you a chance to atone for crimes through merit.”

Qi Ying bowed: “Thank Your Majesty for your great grace.”

“Don’t be hasty to rejoice,” Xiao Ziheng looked down at Qi Ying with icy eyes. “I can let you retake control of the Secretariat, but your father and elder brother can no longer remain in court. Even you will have your offices stripped and crimes reassessed after the war—are you willing?”

The prison was piercingly cold, yet only Qi Ying’s voice remained solemn and respectful as always.

He answered: “This minister kowtows in gratitude for imperial grace.”

He slowly knelt and kowtowed, the wounds on his body bleeding even more severely, yet he seemed unaware, still properly bowing and performing the ritual, as if truly grateful beyond measure to his sovereign.

Xiao Ziheng scrutinized him for a moment, but the coldness in his eyes was far from dissipated. He only slowly turned and left the cell, walking farther and farther away, his voice drifting back: “Go home. I give you three days to recover from your injuries.”

“After three days, depart for Jingzhou.”

The Son of Heaven’s figure gradually disappeared. Only after his footsteps completely vanished did Qi Ying slowly rise. By then, opportunistic prison guards had already approached outside the door, their faces full of flattering smiles, courteously offering to help young Master Qi change clothes. Lu Zheng also came, but his expression was extremely ugly, seeming almost unable to believe it, yet having no choice but to bow his head to young Master Qi who had once again become his superior, inquiring whether arrangements should be made for carriages and horses for his return home.

Qi Ying didn’t make things difficult for any of them, only courteously accepted their goodwill, then slowly walked out of the prison cell.

When he saw daylight again, he thought once more of grandmother’s seventh day memorial.

He had indeed given letters to Xu Zhengning, but not only the one the Son of Heaven had seen—there was also the one that later found its way to Gu Juhan’s hands, along with one of the two wooden boxes that Minister Shen had left him.

And the reason the Son of Heaven never discovered this was simply because…

Zhu Wei was also his man.

Xiao Ziheng thought that simply taking away his authority on the surface would allow him to reclaim the Secretariat, not knowing that everything was far from that simple. After all, he had operated in the Secretariat for many years and knew everything there like the back of his hand—who had what secrets, who had what temperament and character, he knew everything clearly. The twelve divisions trusted him more than they trusted the new emperor. At the same time, human hearts are selfish—most of them also worried that changing leadership in the Secretariat would create a situation of “new emperor, new ministers,” and they wanted to protect themselves, naturally unwilling for Qi Ying to lose power.

Zhu Wei and Xu Zhengning weren’t schemers seeking personal gain—their situations were somewhat different.

Xu Zhengning was closest to Qi Ying in the Secretariat. He had handled many assignments under Qi Ying and always deeply believed that only his superior could shoulder the great responsibility of saving the country—he was a thoroughly loyal and righteous man. And because Qi Ying had saved his life during the Northern Expedition, he was even more grateful and faithful to him. He believed in Qi Ying to the point of not questioning cause and effect, not even asking what the letter contained before agreeing to definitely deliver it out of Jiankang.

Qi Ying had long anticipated that the Qi mansion was under surveillance, and understood that such an assignment could only pass through Zhu Wei’s hands in the end. The Son of Heaven would certainly send him to intercept Xu Zhengning—partly because it was unavoidable, and partly to test Zhu Wei’s loyalty.

Xu Zhengning and Zhu Wei were old friends of twenty years—such friends come only once in a lifetime, and once lost would never come again. Zhu Wei wasn’t a lonely minister who severed emotions and righteousness. Could he bring himself to kill Xu Zhengning?

Qi Ying knew very clearly that he couldn’t do it.

So all the more reason to have Xu Zhengning deliver the letter.

That night, Zhu Wei pretended to send people to fight with Xu Zhengning, but actually to confuse the Court of Judicial Review’s eyes and ears, taking advantage of their unpreparedness to transfer the real secret letter to other subordinate officials in the Secretariat, then disguising himself to leave the city under cover—these roundabout deceptions were originally the Secretariat’s specialty. For the Son of Heaven to control him in this matter was far from easy.

Qi Ying slowly boarded the carriage, the curtains drawn, cutting off everyone’s sight.

In that moment, the expression in his eyes completely changed, no longer showing even a trace of gentleness or obedience.

Only coldness.

Boundless coldness.

At this time, the Qi family was completely desolate and lonely.

This mansion of Jiangzuo’s foremost family no longer showed the auspicious and prosperous atmosphere it had maintained for decades. People in the streets all knew this family had gotten into legal trouble, so commoners kept their distance. Thus the area in front of the Qi family gates appeared somewhat deserted due to lack of visitors. Now only several armored soldiers stood guard, keeping watch over the people in this mansion and not allowing them to come and go freely.

Qi Ying paid no attention, supported by Court of Judicial Review officials as he stepped through his family’s main gate.

Everyone in the family was there—father, mother, sister-in-law, younger brother, little Hui’er, and there was also an additional infant. It turned out his eldest sister-in-law had given premature birth to a weak male infant, who was said to have been named Qi Tai, courtesy name Anran, meaning peace and health.

It was a very good name.

Except for father who was still bedridden with illness, everyone came running out to greet him when they saw him return. They had all grown terribly thin, now surrounding him with tears streaming down their faces. When mother saw his wounds all over his body, she wept inconsolably, so grief-stricken she nearly fainted.

Yao Shi couldn’t spare attention for anything else, immediately having someone fetch a doctor without question. When the doctor was treating him and she saw her son’s wounds bleeding all over his body, she was so heartbroken she couldn’t even cry anymore, only sobbing continuously.

While Qi Ying endured the pain from his wounds and comforted his mother, he also saw that the deathly look in his family’s eyes had faded considerably upon seeing him return, showing faint signs of hope, which was very good.

He roughly bandaged his wounds but had no time to rest, first telling them that eldest brother and third brother should also be able to return home soon. Though father and eldest brother would inevitably lose their offices, they could preserve their lives, which was ultimately a good thing. He would go to Jingzhou in a few days to take over the war, essentially restored to his original position. To set his mind at ease, the Son of Heaven wouldn’t make things difficult for his family anymore. Indeed, the next day both Qi Yun and Qi Ning returned home. Aside from being terribly thin, everything else was fine.

Looking around this circle, actually only Qi Ying had suffered the most serious injuries, yet he was the only one who said nothing, as if it were as light as clouds and wind.

He even began busying himself with official duties the next day. Though it was inconvenient to leave the mansion due to his injuries, he still insisted on summoning people from the Secretariat and military to the Qi family to discuss matters, in order to understand as much as possible about the current war situation and circumstances—though he had a secret agreement with Gu Juhan, this didn’t mean the war between the two countries was child’s play. Northern Wei was truly fighting this battle with full force. If he couldn’t stop them, what awaited Great Liang would be the disaster of national destruction.

He was walking alone on a knife’s edge. Even covered in blood, he couldn’t rest, and he also knew he absolutely couldn’t make mistakes—not a single mistake, not even one failure, or the Qi family would immediately collapse, and also…

…also his Wenwen, whom he couldn’t protect.

He knew his little girl was still imprisoned in Shangfang Prison. Gu Juhan couldn’t possibly bring up marriage with the Southern Dynasty now—his marrying her would be tantamount to a marriage alliance, something that could only be mentioned after the war. Of course Great Liang couldn’t lose this battle, but it absolutely couldn’t win either—otherwise why would there be a marriage alliance? He had to control victory and defeat within an extremely delicate balance for her to live.

He couldn’t go see her now, could only immediately travel far to Jiangbei to fight. He knew very clearly that only if he won, only if he struggled to maintain his value to this country, would she be safe.

At the same time, he also knew she wouldn’t like to see him in his current state… so wretched and bloody, she would be frightened.

He still remembered when they were in Shangjing and she accidentally saw the severely injured Xu Zhengning—at that time she had curled up into a ball and thrown herself into his arms, holding him tightly and not letting go, truly terrified. He even somewhat dared not imagine how heartbroken and devastated she would be if she saw his current appearance.

He didn’t want her to be sad, not even a little bit.

He could only go far away, then use everything he had to protect everyone.

He would absolutely not allow any failure.

Author’s Note: The next chapter is the final chapter of Volume Three.