The prison cell holding Xie Zhu welcomed an uninvited guest.

Although it was a prison cell, it was fairly considerate—there was a charcoal brazier inside so that people wouldn’t freeze in the dead of winter, and they hadn’t made Xie Zhu wear prison clothes, only changing him into ordinary cotton clothing.

Xie Zhu sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. His hair was unbound and slightly disheveled, and upon closer inspection, his temples had gained quite a bit of white hair. After being worn down by endless interrogation all night, Xie Zhu’s face showed some signs of fatigue, but his bearing remained undiminished.

“I’ve said it—I don’t know anyone from the Bingzhu Bureau, and I don’t know where Prince Ling’an is.”

Xie Zhu didn’t even open his eyes as he stated his position once again.

“Third Uncle, I didn’t come for that matter.”

Xie Zhu opened his eyes and saw Xie Queshan entering the prison cell carrying a tea tray.

Xie Queshan placed the tea tray on the table and sat down on the ground.

On the tea tray were two cups of freshly prepared tea, with delicate foam floating on the tea like clouds, rising in wisps of steam.

“The cups and bowls here are simple, I could only prepare these two cups of tea. Third Uncle, please try it.”

Xie Zhu was silent for a moment, then reached out to pick up the tea cup and taste it carefully. After a long while, he set down the cup, seeming to want to speak but stopping himself. When he looked at Xie Queshan again, his gaze was filled with mixed emotions.

Xie Queshan calmly met his gaze.

He knew that in this cup of long-absent tea, they had both returned to the autumn of the twentieth year of Yongkang, when the ginkgo leaves were yellow and osmanthus flowers filled the air. At that time, Xie Zhu, who was still an official in the capital, had invited Xie Queshan to his residence and tirelessly taught him tea preparation.

Tea preparation was the most fashionable refined activity in Bianjing at that time. To prepare a good cup of tea required devotion to the tea ceremony and several years of effort. Unfortunately, Xie Queshan had wandered outside in his youth and later joined the military—let alone preparing tea, he didn’t even know how to properly savor a cup of tea.

Even though he was accomplished in both civil and military arts, not knowing how to prepare tea gave the young masters in the capital a handle for mockery.

Xie Queshan was proud and stubborn. He practiced tea preparation in silence but never got the hang of it, and being unwilling to ask for help, he intentionally or unintentionally stopped attending those refined gatherings in Bianjing.

Later, Xie Zhu saw through his nephew’s thoughts and called him to his residence, teaching him tea preparation under the pretext of having him come to taste tea, also preserving that bit of a young man’s self-respect.

Speaking of it, what Xie Zhu taught Xie Queshan far exceeded what his own father had taught him. Their relationship was like that of teacher and father.

It was just that in the year before the Jingchun Rebellion, Xie Zhu was demoted to Li Du Mansion. When they parted by breaking willow branches outside Bianjing, it unexpectedly became their last meeting in the past few years.

Later, Xie Zhu had also tried writing to Xie Queshan, advising him to turn back from his wrong path, but all letters sank without a trace.

Now this cup of tea—things had changed and people had gone.

Xie Zhu sighed deeply and said: “You came not just to invite me to drink this cup of tea, right?”

“I followed the Qi army south all the way and saw the Qi people massacre many cities. Brutality is their nature, but Third Uncle, do you know why they didn’t massacre Li Du Mansion?”

After sitting in silence for a long time until the tea grew cold, Xie Zhu said calmly: “The shipbuilding blueprints in the Shipbuilding Bureau have already been consigned to flames by me.”

When smart people engage with each other, there’s no need to explain too much.

Li Du Mansion was a major shipbuilding center with a specially established Shipbuilding Bureau.

The ancestors of the Qi people made their fortune in the Changbai Mountain range area. They were large in stature and skilled in archery and horsemanship, but they were not good at water warfare and couldn’t build ships. The remaining forces of the Yu Dynasty had all crossed south to Jinling. Once the Qi people attacked the south, with its crisscrossing waterways, they would definitely be at a disadvantage in battle.

Therefore, the Qi people had to quickly build their own dragonbone ships and train their own sailors, which made Li Du Mansion the most valuable place.

In Li Du Mansion, the Qi people had to use pacifying policies to win people’s hearts. Unless the citizens resisted to the death, the Qi people wouldn’t choose to massacre the city.

Capturing Xie Zhu wasn’t just due to betrayal by a spy, but also to control the Shipbuilding Bureau and build dragonbone ships. Xie Zhu had long understood the stakes involved, so on the day the Qi people entered Li Du Mansion, he burned all the shipbuilding blueprints.

He had already made his position clear, but Xie Queshan still wanted to play the role of persuader.

“Blueprints are dead, but people are alive. If the Qi people want to build ships, they still need to rely on the united efforts of everyone in the Shipbuilding Bureau. But those craftsmen and clerks in the Shipbuilding Bureau are truly difficult to manage. If Third Uncle is willing to help with this matter, the affair of colluding with the Bingzhu Bureau can be wiped clean.”

“Bang!” With a sweep of his sleeve, the cup shattered on the ground, tea foam splashing everywhere, creating a layer of white frost.

“Xie Queshan, a scholar can be killed but cannot be humiliated!” Xie Zhu’s face was full of anger.

Xie Queshan had already anticipated his reaction and didn’t move a muscle.

“Third Uncle, after all these years, I thought all the sharp edges in you had been worn smooth. I didn’t expect you to still be so impulsive.”

When Xie Zhu was an official in Bianjing, he advocated implementing new policies and strongly opposed the court’s policy of ceding territory for peace. Together with a group of reformers, he was squeezed out of court and demoted to serve as supervisor at the Shipbuilding Bureau in Li Du Mansion.

These years, Xie Zhu had stayed away from politics, seeming like a carefree crane in the clouds, without any ambition.

“Even the softest mud has days when it’s cast into walls and stands upright.” Xie Zhu’s expression was cold.

“Third Uncle, both the dragonbone ships and Prince Ling’an—the Qi people are determined to have them both.” Xie Queshan calmly stood up and bowed respectfully. “The Qi people’s patience is limited. No matter how hard one’s backbone, it will still be shattered.”

Xie Queshan left the prison cell, and the pouring daylight outside pierced his eyes, somewhat dazzling.

He squinted and saw He Ping running over in a panic.

“Master, the Grand Madam… I’m afraid she won’t make it.”

At this time, Wangxue Manor was already in complete chaos.

Xie Zhu and Xie Jun were brothers from the same mother, and he was originally the Grand Madam’s most cherished younger son. The Xie clan members were scattered across the world, and the only one who could attend to the Grand Madam daily was Xie Zhu. His importance to the Grand Madam went without saying.

Now that he had been imprisoned by the Qi people, and Xie Jun was under house arrest in the back mountain, the Grand Madam, who was already suffering from chronic illnesses, couldn’t catch her breath and was critically ill.

Outside Songhe Hall, all the women of the household were already gathered.

The mansion’s doctors came and went with their medical boxes, various medicinal materials flowed into Songhe Hall like water, but no good news was heard coming out.

Nanyi stood among the women, looking left and right, wondering why Xie Sui’an was so late in coming.

She had been dragged up by the maids early in the morning and brought outside Songhe Hall. She had thought she could meet Xie Sui’an here and take the opportunity to warn her to be careful of the Qi people’s trap. But she hadn’t appeared, could she have gone directly to take action?

As her gaze anxiously swept through the crowd, Nanyi saw a somewhat unfamiliar face. In her days at the Xie family, she had recognized about seventy to eighty percent of the people in the inner courtyard, but she rarely saw this young woman. Nanyi then remembered this should be Xie Zhu’s only daughter, Xie Zhaoqiu, whom she had met once at Xie Hengzai’s funeral.

Xie Xiaoliu had mentioned that Sister Qiu was obsessed with painting, burying herself in ink and paper, not liking to go out and even less liking to interact with people.

Sister Qiu indeed looked somewhat different from others. She stood quietly under the bare tree, with several ink stains on her wide sleeves that hadn’t been washed clean. She kept some distance from the crowd, and occasionally when her gaze met with others, she would show a deer-like timidity.

When Xie Zhu was home, he must have protected her very well. She was as clear as a spring in a deep forest, but now that Xie Zhu was in trouble, she had become a little girl alone and bewildered in this world, as if any speck of dust in this world would fall on her like a mountain. Even Nanyi felt a trace of pity for her.

At this time, footsteps approached. Nanyi looked up and saw Xie Queshan coming, feeling even more uneasy. If Xie Queshan discovered that Sixth Miss wasn’t there, he would definitely send people to look for her… And if Xie Sui’an was executing some mission and got caught red-handed, it would be disastrous.

She was on tenterhooks for a moment, but fortunately Xie Queshan only glanced at the crowd. Their gazes briefly met, and she vaguely felt that he seemed to look at her specifically, but it might have just been her imagination, as he hurriedly entered the room.

Nanyi’s heart sank again—Xie Queshan, this great criminal, going before the Grand Madam now, wasn’t that adding fuel to the fire?

She naturally hoped that the Grand Madam’s condition would improve, so she wouldn’t have to stay in the courtyard and could go look for Xie Sui’an. The news that the Qi people were using Third Uncle as bait to catch Bingzhu Bureau members—she had to get this message to Xie Sui’an as soon as possible.

Nanyi stood on her tiptoes to look, only able to vaguely see through the window paper’s shadows that he had entered the inner room.

The Grand Madam still had a trace of consciousness. Seeing Xie Queshan come, she opened her mouth with effort. There was probably phlegm stuck in her throat, so she could only make broken syllables, unable to say a complete sentence.

Xie Queshan grasped her aged hand but said nothing.

The Grand Madam became anxious, but her range of movement had become extremely weak. She could only look at him, her eyes containing hopeful, turbid tears.

Xie Queshan knew what the Grand Madam wanted to say—she wanted to beg him for a promise not to kill Xie Zhu.

But he couldn’t give it.

“Grandmother,” he sighed deeply, “you must live. Only then will I not dare to touch Third Uncle. If you die, no one can protect him anymore. And Sister Qiu won’t have it easy either.”

The Grand Madam’s pupils slowly dilated, and her hands began to tremble violently.

Seeing the situation was dire, the doctors immediately surrounded her to administer acupuncture.

Xie Queshan consciously retreated to a corner, his body covered in medicinal smoke, standing there like a lonely soul.

…

This day passed with particular torment and length. It wasn’t until the sun slanted westward that the door of Songhe Hall opened from inside.

Xie Queshan walked out and left with hurried steps.

No one dared to stop him, but everyone’s faces showed confusion and urgency, wanting to know what exactly was happening inside.

Immediately after, the maid beside the Grand Madam came out, saying that the Grand Madam had passed the critical stage but still needed rest. Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief and disperse in order.

Sister Qiu still stood under the tree, her gaze seeming empty, not knowing what she was thinking. Nanyi looked at her several times and originally wanted to approach and strike up a conversation, but thinking that finding Xie Sui’an was more important at the moment, she hurriedly left.

Nanyi asked the maids, but they all claimed ignorance. Sixth Miss had always come and gone freely without restraint. The people who could interfere with her whereabouts could be counted on one hand, so even if she didn’t appear today, no one found it particularly strange.

Finally, Nanyi learned from a servant who had gone out to buy medicine that he seemed to have seen Sixth Miss enter Huachao Pavilion.

Huachao Pavilion was the most renowned restaurant in Li Du Mansion, where high officials and nobles held banquets, exhausting the world’s delicacies and fine wines in extreme luxury—a table setting could even cost as much as a thousand coins.

Nanyi couldn’t figure out why Xie Sui’an would go to Huachao Pavilion, but she could only steel herself and go investigate first.

When she reached the street, she discovered that the streets had turned upside down.

Xie Zhu was a highly respected Confucian teacher in Li Du Mansion. His arrest without cause was a major event among the scholars. All work at the Shipbuilding Bureau had stopped, and craftsmen and university students gathered to take to the streets petitioning for Xie Zhu, trying to force the prefect to come forward and make the Qi people release Xie Zhu.

The Qi people had entered the city peacefully and ostensibly shared management of Li Du Mansion with the prefect. The university students naively thought the prefect could still save some face before the Qi people. But Huang Yankun didn’t come out to meet these scholars at all. They could only make trouble in the streets, but even turning the whole city upside down was to no avail.

Nanyi had no mind to pay attention to the university students’ demands. She walked against the crowd with her head down, only wanting to quickly find Xie Sui’an. Just as she reached halfway, she discovered that the petitioning crowd was actually heading toward Huachao Pavilion.

She looked up in confusion and saw a luxurious carriage stop at the entrance of Huachao Pavilion. Xie Zhu, who should have been in prison, was now properly dressed and getting down from the carriage, being welcomed into Huachao Pavilion surrounded by several Qi people.

The Qi people’s banquet for Xie Zhu was quite a spectacle—they cleared out the entire Huachao Pavilion, hosting only one table today.

The scholars discussed among themselves, some suspecting Xie Zhu had been turned, others firmly believing Xie Zhu was being coerced. The two groups nearly came to blows. From their chatter, Nanyi finally understood—since Xie Zhu was Li Du Mansion’s spiritual leader, the Qi people were putting on a show to make this spiritual leader appear to have sided with Great Qi, disrupting the people’s unity. Regardless of how the people speculated, some would believe and some wouldn’t, but Xie Zhu was in the Qi people’s grasp and couldn’t defend himself.

And putting the bait out could also hook the Bingzhu Bureau. That Huachao Pavilion was hosting a banquet for the Qi people today—this news wouldn’t be hard to spread. Xie Sui’an was the fish about to take the bait!

Nanyi became anxious. This was obviously a trap, and she had to stop Xie Sui’an. The main entrance was all guarded by Qi soldiers and completely inaccessible, so she could only turn around and climb over the high wall from the back courtyard.

Huachao Pavilion had a five-story main building with three auxiliary buildings around it, connected by suspended bridges through which singing girls and servants moved, everything visible at a glance.

Lights flickered throughout the building in golden splendor. Qi soldiers were stationed at various corners and stairways, taking in the entire situation of the restaurant. At the slightest abnormality, they would stop and question people.

Fortunately, Nanyi had some skills in stealth and mischief. She knocked out a singing girl, stole her clothes, and put on a tasseled veil, finally able to walk openly through Huachao Pavilion.

But after searching all the places where someone might hide, she still hadn’t found Xie Sui’an. Just as she was at her wit’s end, Nanyi was called over by the madam of Huachao Pavilion.

“What are you dawdling around here for? Why haven’t you taken the wine to Qianqiu Residence?”

Only then did Nanyi realize that what she had changed into was the costume of a singing girl who was supposed to serve at the banquet today. But under everyone’s gaze at this moment, she didn’t dare act abnormally, so she could only follow the other singing girls in confusion, carrying wine into Qianqiu Residence.

As soon as she entered, she saw Xie Queshan.