Just then, the head jailer came over yawning to patrol. Seeing Xiao Li, he exclaimed, “Coming to see this old madman again?”

That jailer quickly called to the head jailer, “Boss!”

The head jailer slapped his head once, “Go patrol, don’t slack off!”

Xiao Li seemed familiar with the head jailer and greeted him, “Head Jailer Li is also on duty today?”

The head jailer complained, “That fellow Huo Kun committed treason and rebellion. After he was executed, many who got their positions through connections with his subordinates need to be investigated. The prison has been short-staffed these past two days!”

He patted Xiao Li’s shoulder, “Brother Xiao has really made it now. In the future, this Li fellow will certainly have to rely on Brother Xiao!”

Having spent so many years maneuvering through the gambling den, Xiao Li was still adept at handling social relations. He immediately smiled and said, “Head Jailer Li jests. If there’s anywhere you can use this Xiao, just speak up!”

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries. The head jailer said, “I have pressing duties and can’t talk more with Brother Xiao. We’ll chat another day!”

Xiao Li said, “You go about your business. I brought you a jar of good wine, left it by the duty room.”

The head jailer laughed again, “Good lad! This old brother has always had the men below look after him. You don’t need to be so polite in the future.”

This change in address seemed to suddenly draw their relationship much closer.

Xiao Li followed suit naturally and changed his address, “On a cold winter night, Brother Li can drink a couple with the brothers to warm up.”

The head jailer no longer declined, saying, “Alright, I’ll go attend to business first. I’ll find you for drinks later!”

After the jailer followed the head jailer some distance away, he asked in a low voice, “Boss, that mad old man locked in that cell—the prison register doesn’t have his name written. Who exactly is he?”

The head jailer said, “When this old man came to this criminal prison over ten years ago, he was already locked up here. Back then, Prefecture Governor Daren wasn’t even the current one. How would this old man know who he is?”

He glanced at the young jailer following behind him and advised, “Don’t rack your brains trying to find out things the people above don’t want you to know. You might just bring disaster upon yourself!”

These words frightened the jailer into a shudder. He didn’t dare ask more about the mad old man and changed the subject, “Then what’s that Xiao fellow’s relationship with that mad old man?”

During Xiao Li’s years in prison, Xiao Huiniang often came to grease the jailers’ palms. The head jailer naturally knew Xiao Li’s background. He said, “That boy was imprisoned at eight years old. He nearly got beaten to death fighting over food with people in prison. Later, somehow that mad old man took him under his protection. But he’s mad and crazy. The Xiao boy’s back has always been covered with scars from being whipped by his iron chains.”

The head jailer shook his head at this point, quite moved as he said, “Fortunately, that boy has now managed to make something of himself.”

The jailer said with puzzlement, “Can’t tell that Xiao fellow is actually quite loyal.”

—

At the prison gate, Xiao Li sat on the ground and took out two palm-sized wine jars.

The mad old man still gnawing roasted chicken sniffed hard. He immediately threw down the roasted chicken, his grease-covered hands gripping the wooden posts of the prison door forcefully, “Wine! Give me wine!”

Xiao Li reached out to hand over a jar. The jar’s belly was slightly large and couldn’t pass through the prison door gaps. The mad old man extended both hands out of the prison door to hold the wine jar, used his teeth to bite off the wine stopper, and gulped down a big mouthful.

When he raised his eyes again, he suddenly stared at Xiao Li with particular vigilance, demanding, “Who are you?”

Xiao Li was already used to this. He also opened a jar for himself, raised it to clink against the wine jar in the old man’s hands once, and said, “Happy New Year.”

After speaking, he tilted his head back and drank deeply. The spiciness rolled down his throat, and all those heavy matters weighing on his heart seemed to dissipate somewhat along with it.

The mad old man stared at him with unpredictable moods, murmuring, “Huan’er? No! You’re not!”

He threw down the wine jar, both hands tightly gripping the prison door’s wooden posts, talking to himself, “Let me test you. Test you and I’ll know if it’s you!”

He stared at Xiao Li without blinking and asked, “What is meant by the military ‘lightning strike’?”

Xiao Li reached out to pick up the wine jar he had thrown outside the prison door that had spilled quite a bit of wine, reciting almost by rote, “Supply wagons and cavalry rushing forward can break through solid battle formations, defeating infantry and cavalry attacking at night from the front.”

The mad old man’s eyes became excited. He pressed on, “What is meant by ‘thunderclap strike’?”

Xiao Li stared at the wine jar he had just picked up. In this instant, it was as if he had returned to his time in the great prison.

Back then, he would also interrogate him in this mad and crazy way. If he couldn’t answer, those iron chains would lash onto his body.

He seemed both collapsed and crazed, always talking to himself, reciting the answer he wanted once, then roaring at him, “Recite it! How could Huan’er not be able to recite it? Are you not studying diligently again?”

He was beaten so much he became afraid. Even if he had no idea what he was talking about, he still forcibly memorized it. Next time he went mad, as long as he could answer, he could avoid a beating.

At this moment, seeing he hadn’t spoken for a long time, the mad old man in the cell was obviously becoming agitated. The iron chains in his hands rattled loudly as he gripped the prison door forcefully, “You don’t know?”

He was like a roaring trapped beast, “Who are you? Where did you take my Huan’er?”

Xiao Li came back to himself and answered, “Spears and halberds on light chariots carrying three mantis warriors can break through solid formations, defeating infantry and cavalry.”

Having received the answer he wanted, the mad old man laughed again, “Huan’er! It’s my Huan’er!”

His shackled hands, with only his palms and wrists able to extend outside the prison door, picked up the wine jar again and guzzled it down in big gulps.

In a moment, the only parts not covered by messy beard—his eye sockets and cheekbones—had all become bright red.

He drank while singing in a hoarse, grating voice, “Drunk and lying on the battlefield, don’t laugh at me—how many who went to war since ancient times have returned—”

Xiao Li drank most of a jar of wine. His stomach burned quite badly. He bent one leg, elbow resting on his knee, looking toward the falling snow drifting down from the skylight, saying, “Stop singing. You really sing terribly.”

The mad old man continued drinking and singing in his crazy way, paying him no mind.

Xiao Li finally lay down on his back, pillowing his head on his arm, letting the wine burn his stomach. He stared at the clear moon hanging high in the vault of sky outside the skylight for a long time before saying, “Old man, I’m so unwilling.”

The words “unwilling” seemed to stimulate the mad old man. He hugged the wine jar, crying and laughing, murmuring along, “Unwilling, unwilling…”

In a moment, he threw down the empty wine jar, staggered to his feet, and roared madly, “Unwilling!”

Drunkenly, he assumed a loose fighting stance, “Come Huan’er, let Father feed you punches!”

—

Wen Yu held her brush writing an essay at her desk attacking Pei Song.

Zhou Jing’an couldn’t help her contact her personal guards either. Wen Yu had to convey the message that she was continuing south through this essay.

Firstly, it could let her royal father and mother trapped in Fengyang feel more at ease after receiving the news. Secondly, it could also let her personal guards stop searching for her aimlessly and all rush to Pingzhou to reunite.

However, to prevent Pei Song from intercepting it midway, this essay had to wait until two days after she set out before Zhou Jing’an’s men delivered it to be published on all roads that could lead from Luodu to South Chen. This way, it could confuse Pei Song’s line of sight so that even if he knew she was heading south, he couldn’t predict which road she was actually taking.

Even if Pei Song spared no cost and sent people along all roads leading to South Chen to pursue and kill her, it would already be two days’ journey behind and wouldn’t easily catch up.

Just as she was almost finished writing, a maid attending to her daily needs brought in a bowl of sweet soup, saying, “The kitchen warmed snow pear soup. Madam had me bring you a bowl.”

Wen Yu wrote the last character, set down her brush, and said, “Thank you for your trouble.”

The maid held the soup bowl to hand to Wen Yu. She glanced outside the window and said with a smile, “With such heavy snow tonight, we can actually still see the moon!”

Hearing this, Wen Yu also looked toward the half-open window. The soup bowl in her hands wasn’t held steady and just dropped to the ground.

The crisp sound of porcelain hitting the ground in this silent night inexplicably made one’s heartbeat skip a beat.

Wen Yu looked at the shattered porcelain and pear soup splattered everywhere, slightly furrowing her brow.

The maid delivering soup blamed herself, “It’s all this servant’s fault for not holding it steady. Miss, you weren’t scalded, were you?”

Wen Yu shook her head and said, “It’s nothing. Shattered for peace and safety.”

She crouched down to pick up the shattered porcelain. The maid was selected by Madam Zhou to go south with Wen Yu. Knowing her identity was noble, she quickly said, “Miss, leave it alone and don’t touch it. I’ll pick it up. Be careful the broken porcelain doesn’t cut your hand.”

As her words fell, Wen Yu’s fingertip really was cut by the broken porcelain, blood beading out. She stared blankly at that thread of crimson on her fingertip, lost in thought.

The maid was greatly alarmed. She slapped her own mouth and said, “This servant is truly a crow’s mouth. I really let Miss get hurt.”

She quickly found fine white gauze cloth to bandage the wound for Wen Yu.

The locked back courtyard gate opened wide in this night with raging wind and snow. From the night came a servant’s urgent footsteps, “My lord! Urgent report from Fengyang—”

Hearing this, the unease in Wen Yu’s heart seemed to reach its peak in this moment. Unable to care about her still-bleeding fingertip, she quickly opened the door and rushed out.

Zhou Jing’an and his wife, who had just retired for the night, also hastily dressed and rose. After receiving the urgent report the servant handed over and reading it, their forms staggered. The letter paper fell from their fingertips as they covered their faces and cried out in grief, “Prince—”

Seeing this, Madam Zhou picked up the letter paper and hastily scanned it. Tears also immediately flowed out.

She raised her head and saw Wen Yu, who had already rushed over from the small courtyard and stopped at the moon gate, standing frozen and not daring to come forward. She cried out in grief, “Wengzhu, Fengyang has fallen…”

The night wind blew Wen Yu’s long hair. Her complexion was three parts paler than the fine snow falling under this cold moon. She asked, “What about my royal father?”

Zhou Jing’an said with a choked voice, “The Prince and the young prince… Pei Song had their heads severed and hung on Fengyang’s city gate…”

By the end, he was already crying uncontrollably.

Wen Yu’s form weakened and she fell kneeling into the snow. Her entire being seemed to have lost her soul from being shocked by this earth-shattering news. For a time, she couldn’t even cry.

Zhou Jing’an and his wife quickly surrounded her to help her up, “Wengzhu!”

Wen Yu’s five fingers supporting herself in the snow were taut until her knuckles turned white. Her eyes stung from the cold wind in this night. Her breathing trembled as she asked, “Where did the news come from?”

Zhou Jing’an knew she was unwilling to accept this fact. His heart was also in great mourning. He said sorrowfully, “It’s news that Yongzhou’s scouts obtained from the front lines.”

The chill followed along her finger bones, inch by inch eroding into Wen Yu’s viscera, making all the blood in her body seem frozen. Forcing herself to maintain some calmness, she asked, “Where’s the letter?”

Zhou Jing’an presented the letter to her.

When Wen Yu received it and saw what was written on the letter:

“On the first day of the first month, Fengyang fell. Pei Song beheaded Prince Changlian and his son, suspending their heads before Fengyang’s city gate to intimidate his old subordinates. His subordinate general Xing Lie threw the heir grandson to death. Princess Changlian struck her head against a pillar. The heir’s consort protecting her young daughter was imprisoned in Lanxing Tower.”

Wen Yu opened her mouth as if wanting to cry, but couldn’t make a single sound. Only tears fell like rolling pearls, hitting the letter paper and instantly soaking a large patch of it.

Royal Father, Mother, elder brother, and three-year-old Jun’er…

All gone.

Wen Yu clenched the letter paper. She only felt her chest seemed to be stabbed and stirred by tens of thousands of steel needles, so painful she couldn’t breathe.

Her hands uncontrollably clutched tightly at the front of her robe. She prostrated on the ground, the hot tears rolling and smashing down from her eyes scalding the thin snow on the ground until it melted.

Many mouths around her were moving. She saw Zhou Jing’an and Madam Zhou tearfully saying something to her, but in this instant she couldn’t hear anything.

After a good while, she recovered somewhat and only heard Zhou Jing’an saying, “…Wengzhu should rest for the night first. Pei Song leading troops south is already unstoppable. Yongzhou… cannot be defended. Wengzhu must reach South Chen before that.”

Wen Yu’s entire mind was numb and temporarily unable to think. She said in a daze, “Everything is arranged by my lord.”

Zhou Jing’an knew that encountering such calamitous news, she certainly needed to recover alone for a while. Also suppressing his grief, he instructed the maid, “Escort Wengzhu back to her room.”

Wen Yu was supported back to the courtyard by Madam Zhou and the maid. After closing the door with her back to it, she slid down against the door back, as if losing all strength.

Large tears smashed onto the ground, yet she couldn’t cry out loud.

Hatred and self-blame converged into overwhelming enormous pain that drowned her, like an invisible hand shrieking as it dragged her to fall into an endless abyss.

—Why did she delay so long on the road?

—Why didn’t she reach South Chen in time?

—Why didn’t she bring reinforcements?

She hugged her knees tightly, mouth wide open, desperately breathing, yet her chest still hurt so much with stabbing pain that she couldn’t catch her breath.

If she hadn’t been pursued and killed, hadn’t been separated from her personal guards, hadn’t been abducted here by human traffickers—would everything still be in time?

Wen Yu raised her head, letting tears roll down both cheeks and smash onto the fabric before her.

—

Xiao Li, hearing the calamitous news, rushed over. Through the carved stone window on the small courtyard wall, he saw her room was pitch black.

He knew she definitely couldn’t sleep tonight, but before dawn, she probably didn’t want to see anyone.

Xiao Li leaned back against the courtyard wall, looking up at the cold moon in the sky, just guarding outside the wall for a night like this.

When dawn was about to break, he brushed off the snow covering his shoulders, climbed over the wall into the courtyard, and knocked on the door. The door seemed to be bolted. No one inside responded.

He went around to the back of the house and pushed open the window. At a glance, he saw Wen Yu hugging her knees and crouching by the door.

Her eyes were swollen and the tear tracks on her face hadn’t dried. However, he acted as if he hadn’t seen anything and only asked, “Want to ride a horse out of the city?”

—

A quarter hour later, Xiao Li rode with Wen Yu on horseback, treading over frost covering the ground as they left the city through the North City Gate.

The wind on a harsh winter morning was like a knife pulled from ice blocks, blowing on the face with cutting pain.

Xiao Li’s tall form blocked some wind ahead. The hood on Wen Yu’s cloak was still blown back and fell off.

The bitterly cold wind stabbed into her lungs with each breath, making her momentarily unable to distinguish whether the icy stabbing pain in her chest and lungs was from the wind or from that enormous grief.

The tears at the corners of her eyes were once again dried clean in the raging cold wind.

Xiao Li cracked the horse whip. The horse galloped on the official road covered with cold frost and thin ice. His hands gripping the reins—even his knuckles were invaded by the chill of the oncoming wind.

He lowered his eyes to look at Wen Yu’s hands clutching his robe at the waist, frozen bright red. He removed the felt scarf wrapped around his neck and wound it around his waist to cover both her hands.

The horse raised by the Prefecture Governor’s residence had extremely good endurance. After leaving the city, it ran for nearly another half hour without showing fatigue, charging straight to the Wei River bank before he pulled the reins to stop.

Even with the felt scarf blocking, Wen Yu’s hands were still frozen numb.

After Xiao Li dismounted, she grabbed the saddle herself to jump down. Because her hands were already frozen stiff, she didn’t hold on firmly and fell. Xiao Li’s long arm scooped to catch her, holding and setting her down to stand steady before withdrawing his hands and putting them behind his back.

However, Wen Yu had long been engulfed by enormous grief and had no time to mind these things.

Xiao Li knew the pain heavy in her heart. He said, “This is the Wei River. Cross the river and go another five hundred li eastward—that’s Fengyang.”

At this moment, daylight had just begun to break. Distant mountains were covered in snow. The reeds lying fallen on the Wei River bank were condensed with translucent morning frost.

Wen Yu stood at the riverbank. Her long hair and robe blew and flew in the wind. Her eyes, already cried dry and aching, looked toward the opposite bank of the Wei River shrouded in thin mist. Tears once again surged and flowed out.

She knelt down and kowtowed three times toward the invisible Fengyang old county. Her thin shoulders trembled as she finally broke down crying aloud.

From now on, she had no mother, no royal father, and no elder brother either.

Pei Song, Pei Song!

All grief and pain, in the howling wind of heaven and earth and heart-wrenching cries, condensed into those two blood-dripping characters.

Hatred crushed all sorrow and suffering.

After Wen Yu cried enough, she raised her head in the thin daylight to look toward the opposite bank. From her reddened eyes not another tear could flow. Only murderous intent condensed in the frosty morning wind remained, “I, Wen clan’s Ziyu, in this life will certainly kill Pei Song and avenge this blood debt!”

Xiao Li silently accompanied her standing at the Wei River bank. His gaze pierced through the thin mist over the river, looking toward that Fengyang City he had never been to.

He also seemed to look toward the person beyond that thin mist who had bloodily occupied that stretch of rivers and mountains—Pei Song.