Wanyan Jun wasn’t surprised at all.

“Xie Queshan has already told me that he was chasing a Bingzhu Division rebel onto the pleasure boat but was misled into killing a dancing girl. It was Bingzhu Division using someone else’s blade to kill, not his intention.”

Gusha was dumbfounded: “Didn’t Xie Queshan flee in fear of punishment?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? He’s currently recovering from his injuries at my mansion. This is top secret and must not be leaked.”

“He’s making excuses!” Gusha was so angry he nearly jumped up. “You believe whatever he says?”

Wanyan Jun maintained a stern expression, patiently explaining to Gusha: “He chased the Bingzhu Division rebel to Tiger Kneel Mountain, was severely wounded, which is why he disappeared for several days.”

“This is a self-harm scheme! Xie Queshan is full of cunning tricks—there’s nothing he wouldn’t do!”

“What self-harm scheme would risk one’s own life?! He nearly couldn’t be saved!” Wanyan Jun was already impatient. Talking to such a brainless brute was exhausting. “Moreover, he fought with his life on the line and learned the hiding place of Yucheng Army from the Bingzhu Division rebel.”

Gusha was stunned: “Really? Where are they hiding?”

“You still have the face to ask? On Shangyuan night you acted rashly. Even though you received advance information, you still let Xie Zhu escape. You should go back and reflect properly. I’ll take over military camp affairs. Fortunately, now Xie Queshan has turned the tide and obtained important intelligence. You should be grateful to him.”

Countless curse words had already risen to Gusha’s lips, but he swallowed them back forcibly—wasn’t Wanyan Jun just trying to monopolize the credit for eliminating Yucheng Army?

But he was indeed in the wrong and could only force out a smile.

“Fine, when this big brother wakes up, I’ll kowtow to him!”

Gusha threw down this line and left in a huff.

Wanyan Jun couldn’t help but roll his eyes in exasperation.

Outside by the wall, Xu Kouyue stood holding a tea tray, unsure whether to enter or leave.

She had heard words she shouldn’t have heard. If Wanyan Jun discovered this, she would inevitably suffer torment again. After thinking, she still crept away quietly.

The news quickly reached Zhang Yuehui.

He only gave a mocking laugh, lazily crossing his legs: “Sacrificing a rook to save the king, removing the fuel from under the cauldron—Xie Queshan played this move brilliantly.”

Luo Ci, who had come to deliver the message, stood to one side and asked curiously: “Master, what do you mean by this?”

“The sword tassel Chang Yan held was Xie Queshan’s biggest mistake that night. This would expose his identity, so he had to find a way to cover for this matter. The best method would be to produce bigger, more authentic information. Moreover, after entering the city, his first move wasn’t to return home but to seek out Wanyan Jun, even recovering from his injuries at his mansion—isn’t this deliberately putting himself under Qi surveillance?”

“Master seems… not to believe in Xie Queshan’s position?”

“If he’s truly the deepest spy Bingzhu Division has planted within the Qi, then sacrificing several hundred Yucheng Army soldiers to pave his way wouldn’t be impossible. If he’s not, then he can still gain merit with the Qi people. Either way, he doesn’t lose.”

“I heard this time he fought desperately with the Bingzhu Division rebel, was severely wounded, and nearly lost his life.”

“That’s exactly what’s strange,” Zhang Yuehui raised an eyebrow. “Bingzhu Division has no reason to kill Xie Queshan. Losing Xie Queshan’s mediation would only make the situation worse for everyone in the Xie family, and Madam Gantang would also be in grave danger—thinking from another angle, Xie Queshan personally going to chase someone doesn’t make sense either. He’s habitually someone who sits in the main camp as a strategist. Even if the situation was urgent, he should have left some signal to notify Gusha, right? So during his missing days, it definitely wasn’t as he said—chasing Bingzhu Division rebels. Something else that absolutely cannot be known by us must have happened.”

Luo Ci frowned, unable to think of a conclusion for a long time: “That’s because Master assumed Xie Queshan has problems. If he doesn’t have problems, some strange aspects might just be coincidences… Is Master overthinking?”

It was precisely all the subtle irrationalities and coincidences under the big picture that revealed the possibilities of things.

“Don’t look at the process, look at the results,” Zhang Yuehui’s knuckles lightly tapped the teacup. “I’m guessing it might be related to that other missing person.”

“The Xie family widow?”

Zhang Yuehui didn’t answer.

Luo Ci didn’t dare ask further. He always felt that when the master was so certain, there must be a reason.

Yes, there was a secret that only Zhang Yuehui knew.

Six years ago.

After the Jingchun Incident occurred, Xie Queshan defected. The Zhang clan of Guanyang was held accountable by the court for failing to transport grain supplies properly. The entire family was imprisoned, awaiting execution after autumn.

Zhang Yuehui barely escaped disaster. In his panic, he wanted to find a way out for his family. His father had also been Shen Zhizhong’s student, so he wanted to see Shen Zhizhong and ask him to petition the court on behalf of the Zhang family.

But at that time Shen Zhizhong was claiming illness at home and hadn’t attended court for several days. He could only wait by the Shen mansion gate, but saw Shen Zhizhong return in the early morning hours, travel-worn and dusty.

He kept his wits about him and secretly checked the courier tokens on the horses, discovering that Shen Zhizhong had rushed back all the way from Youdu Mansion.

He had made a trip to Youdu Mansion, and his student Xie Queshan had defected.

The hidden circumstances were about to emerge.

Zhang Yuehui immediately understood clearly that Shen Zhizhong wouldn’t petition for the Zhang family—the Jingchun Incident was a grand play performed for the Qi people to see. Everyone swept into it had to be in their proper positions, implicated and punished, even if innocent. The genuine extreme grief or extreme anger throughout the Yu Dynasty was the reason the Qi people believed Xie Queshan.

In this moment, the order in Zhang Yuehui’s world completely collapsed.

All scholarly families, no matter how unconventional, should see a world where cause and effect were clear. Everything could trace back to its source, find its reasons, determine right and wrong, reflect and warn oneself, never to repeat mistakes.

But in this matter, no one was wrong, yet people were injured and killed. He didn’t know whom to hate.

For the greater good, he understood, but for the innocent family members who died tragically, he didn’t want to understand.

He was just a mayfly! Whether he could see through it didn’t even matter at all.

Zhang Yuehui could only watch helplessly as his entire family was executed and his household destroyed. From then on, he became a person who couldn’t see the light, fleeing to a southern small city to live in drunken stupor day and night.

Sometimes he slept at wine tables, sometimes even on the streets, looking exactly like a vagrant.

He thought his remaining life would continue like this, rotting like mud along with the world, until he met her.

He forgot which day it was. When he woke from a hangover, there were a pair of bright eyes watching him by the bedside.

“Sir, last night I carried you back to the inn. You need to pay me ten wen.”

When she got the ten wen, her eyes became even brighter.

“Next time when you want to drink, call me too. I’ll help you with the aftermath—cheap and affordable, guaranteed door-to-door service.”

The next time he went drinking, he indeed called for her. When he was half-drunk, his interest waned, his heart always thinking of those eyes waiting for him at the door.

He packed some pastries for her. Seeing her joy, he unexpectedly felt somewhat happy too.

Later on, he stopped drinking heavily and honestly started selling roasted sweet potatoes with her on the street, becoming the most ordinary of common people.

He had no family, and she had no family either. They depended on each other for two years in that small city.

He built two adjacent thatched huts by the river outside the city, courtyards connecting to courtyards, clothes always hung together, fluttering in the sunlight.

Together they went spring outings in flower seas, enjoyed cool shade under big trees in summer, harvested in autumn fallen leaves, and warmed themselves by bonfires in winter days.

Heaven took pity on him. After meeting her, his life was like falling into a beautiful dream.

But regarding her, he wasn’t completely honest.

He knew that one day he would eventually have to leave, knew that what he was doing was licking blood from blade edges, treasonous and rebellious.

—The Zhang family still had a trading company in Lucheng, property the court hadn’t discovered during the confiscation. He secretly took it over, spending several years moving all business underground.

He wanted to weave a web in the darkness. Not for any particular reason, not wanting revenge, just wanting everyone to be destroyed together.

When destruction came, he would emerge and let the world see how this world drove people insane.

He was clear-headed about this—these matters came before Nanyi, and he couldn’t drag her into this kind of hell.

So he never spoke vows of eternal love, afraid he couldn’t fulfill them. They were just the best friends in this world. He never overstepped proprieties. And she, innocent and naive, didn’t know what romantic love was, at most having some vague concepts, wanting to spend her life with him.

With his perceptive heart, how could he not know her longing? It’s just that the fire in his heart burned day and night, something that no amount of drunken dreams or pastoral songs could extinguish.

Even though in many moments, facing her brilliant smile, she gained the upper hand in his heart. Living in rural seclusion with her like this, even with irregular meals, life would be happy.

She had nothing, yet forcibly cultivated an acre of pure land in his heart.

But people always try every means to seek what they can’t obtain. It’s not that they don’t know how to cherish what’s right before them, but after making choices, they feel the distance might be better.

The unknown always held temptation and possibility.

The business in Lucheng was almost ready. He needed to go elsewhere to expand operations. He lied to her, saying he was going to join the army, and left her a bracelet of considerable value.

He chose a very special piece of jade material—transparent emerald with a crack running through it.

Although this crack reduced the jade bracelet’s value, among thousands of nearly identical jade bracelets, it became the most special one.

He knew that keeping such a jade bracelet in chaotic times was difficult. He thought that at some point, she would sell the bracelet for money to maintain her livelihood. He had all his subordinate shops keep watch—as long as they saw this jade bracelet, even if broken, they should give this girl lots and lots of silver, enough for her to live comfortably for life.

Between them, there would be no more bonds.

He thought his callous self wouldn’t remember those years for very long. But as time gradually passed, he learned that no one had ever come to sell that jade bracelet. He was puzzled.

Could that girl really be guarding that jade bracelet through desolate years, waiting for him? How could such a foolish person exist in this world?

He firmly believed she would sell the jade bracelet… then this distant waiting unexpectedly became his inner demon. The sins he had committed reminded him every midnight that perhaps she was still waiting for him.

He began to regret. A certain corner of his heart began to clamor and go mad day and night. He finally wanted to find her, only to discover she had suddenly left Lucheng.

Like a drop of water falling into the ocean, her whereabouts were lost thereafter.

He sent out many eyes to search, to no avail.

He was the most capable intelligence merchant in this world. If even he couldn’t find someone, where else could one look?

And at this moment, Nanyi was waiting to die in the unnoticed hunting lodge in the mountains.