A maidservant led Nanyi, now changed into plain mourning clothes, to the entrance of the mourning hall courtyard.

“Young Madam, you shall keep vigil here.”

Nanyi looked inside and saw white banners fluttering in the wind throughout the entire courtyard.

“Just me alone?”

“Concubine Qiao was supposed to join you, but she fainted from excessive grief. The eldest son also has no offspring, so tonight you can only keep watch here by yourself.”

The maidservant bowed and withdrew. Nanyi accepted the situation with equanimity and walked into the courtyard on her own. After taking just a few steps, she saw there was still someone standing in the mourning hall.

He stood before the coffin, tall and graceful like jade, in complete silence.

The white banners swayed, making his figure unclear in the wind.

Scholar-gentleman—this phrase suddenly floated into Nanyi’s mind without warning.

She had never seen many scholar-gentlemen, only heard Zhang Yuehui describe them. In her heart, they represented the most noble people in the world, pure as the moon in the sky.

“Elder Brother.”

He spoke in a low voice. Nanyi recognized this voice—it was Xie Queshan. She regretted her poor judgment. How dare she associate the term scholar-gentleman with this treacherous minister?

“My first bow was a gift from you. You said that scholars are useless in all ways, that scholar-gentlemen must first have the power to protect themselves before they can speak out for the world… Then I went to the battlefield, but I surrendered to Great Qi. I want to ask you, after all these years, do you regret making me into that kind of person?”

This was the first time Nanyi had heard Xie Queshan speak in such a tone. He was clearly calm and showed no remorse or guilt, yet his tone concealed some rarely expressed emotion—as if reminiscing, as if yielding, like a wanderer who had been away from home for many years returning dusty and travel-worn, yet hesitating for a moment outside the doorframe.

Nanyi couldn’t help but be stunned. She suddenly became curious about how exactly he had transformed from a young master of an aristocratic family into a traitor over these years.

A draft blew through, lifting the white banners and obscuring Nanyi’s view. When the wind settled, the man had somehow turned around and was gazing at her across the courtyard full of white.

At this moment, he seemed to soften around the edges, and his gaze was no longer so frightening.

“Come here.”

Nanyi hesitated for a moment, then obediently shuffled over. Her gaze inadvertently swept across the spirit tablet on the offering table, and she suddenly felt the three characters on it looked very familiar.

It read: Spirit tablet of deceased husband Xie Hengzai. Nanyi recognized the character for Xie—it appeared everywhere in Wangxue Manor and wasn’t difficult to guess. The two characters after it should be his given name.

She had definitely seen it somewhere before…

Xie Queshan followed Nanyi’s gaze, remaining impassive.

“His name was Xie Hengzai. You should have seen this name before.”

Nanyi remembered—these three characters had appeared on that silk letter she had copied by drawing.

Nanyi immediately guessed the general situation. This meant Xie Hengzai had participated in the plan to receive Prince Ling’an, and he was very likely the architect of the plan. This wasn’t difficult to guess—the Xie clan of Li Du Mansion was one of the foremost great aristocratic families of the Yu Dynasty, with absolute influence in Li Du Mansion.

Wait, how would Xie Queshan know she had seen this name?

Nanyi looked at Xie Queshan with fear.

Xie Queshan drew the silk letter from his sleeve and unfolded it before Nanyi.

Nanyi forced herself to remain calm: “My lord, I cannot read.”

Xie Queshan read it aloud directly: “On the sixth day of the twelfth month, Xie Hengzai will marry the Qin family daughter of Luoyang City. The wedding procession will pass through Tiger Kneel Mountain valley, thereby receiving His Highness Prince Ling’an. Our forces can set an ambush in the valley, catching turtles in a jar.”

Nanyi gaped in astonishment. She had thought herself merely a passerby, never imagining she had been a player in the game all along by fate’s design.

“This information was passed along by you, wasn’t it?”

Since he had come to interrogate her, it meant Prince Ling’an had not appeared. Nanyi inexplicably felt relieved.

“My lord, why would you ask this? I’m just an illiterate little beggar. Pang Yu couldn’t possibly have told me such important information.”

“Have you heard of the Candle-Bearing Bureau of the Privy Council?”

Nanyi shook her head in bewilderment.

“Spies are like those who bear candles while walking at night. That’s where the court trains spies. The Candle-Bearing Bureau’s covert network is like the river system spread across the Central Plains—it exists everywhere. Information flows silently like water to wherever you want it to go—did Pang Yu have you go somewhere and pass along some message?”

“No.” Nanyi denied it.

Xie Queshan smiled and lowered his eyes to pick up a pastry from the dessert plate—Nanyi’s eyes widened in shock. It was actually a plum blossom-shaped orange sand dumpling!

Xie Queshan brought the orange sand dumpling to her lips: “Five-petaled plum blossoms are much easier to make. Six-petaled shapes easily reveal their filling when steamed into pastries.”

Nanyi froze in place with ice-cold hands and feet. Seeing that she wouldn’t open her mouth, Xie Queshan directly pinched her jaw, forcing her to open her mouth and swallow the entire pastry.

Nanyi choked until her face turned bright red, coughing violently before recovering. She looked at Xie Queshan with lingering fear.

“You know everything… Why don’t you just kill me?”

“Kill you?” Xie Queshan sneered. “I said I would make you suffer eternal damnation. How could I let you die so easily?”

Nanyi was stunned, cold sweat breaking out on her back. She had no doubt about Xie Queshan’s words. She dropped to her knees with a thud, grabbing Xie Queshan’s sleeve to beg for mercy. Not begging would certainly leave her no room at all. She had no gold beneath her knees, but kneeling and begging first when in trouble was never wrong.

“My lord, this commoner is just a small citizen who wants to live. Some matters I was only accidentally drawn into, but I absolutely had no intention of sabotaging your plans. Please show great mercy and spare my life…”

“Do you very much enjoy begging people?” Xie Queshan remained unmoved.

Nanyi was stunned by the question, tears stopping in her eye sockets.

“Do you know,” Xie Queshan narrated calmly, “when the old capital was breached, all the imperial clan women were captured and taken to Great Qi, becoming concubines and camp followers. Those women were more noble, more valuable, more beautiful and pitiable than you. They also knelt on the ground like this, begging others to show mercy… After they lived that extra moment, they died even more miserably. Because begging only makes people want to toy with you more.”

When he spoke the last sentence, his tone suddenly turned cold. Nanyi shuddered with horror.

Xie Queshan lifted his hand to support her chin, using his fingertip to wipe away the tears on her face. The motion wasn’t heavy, but she could clearly feel the rough calluses on his hands. He looked down at her and smiled.

“Since you’ve fled to the Xie family, then properly be my sister-in-law. Affairs within aristocratic families are far more interesting than you imagine.”

The calluses left a painful sensation as they rubbed across her cheek, seeming both like comfort and warning.

Xie Queshan threw her back onto the ground, then rose and left.

Nanyi sat powerlessly on the ground, staring blankly at Xie Queshan’s retreating figure. Cold sweat had already soaked through her clothes.

What did he mean? What other torturous methods did he have? The interesting affairs within aristocratic families… what was he referring to?

…

Xie Queshan walked out of the mourning hall. He Ping, who had been waiting outside the door, followed his steps. When they reached the courtyard covered walkway, Xie Queshan suddenly stopped and turned to ask He Ping.

“The legitimate mother passed away a few years ago, and the Grand Madam is also getting old. Go inquire about which household currently manages affairs in the Xie family’s inner quarters. Then find an opportunity to tell her about the Qin family’s illegitimate daughter being substituted in marriage.”

He Ping paused, seeming to ponder his master’s intentions behind this move, but couldn’t figure it out momentarily. However, all of his master’s actions had their own ingenious purposes—no need to investigate deeply. He Ping cupped his hands and accepted the order: “Yes.”