After discussing the matter of Fu Qi with Grand Tutor Fang and Xue Shi, Lang Jiuchuan had no intention of lingering. The documents they had found still needed to be examined, but she also had to make a trip to the site in person. What was written in books was always recorded according to the wishes of those in power. Only by carefully inspecting the old ruins herself could she unravel the mystery of why Fu Qi and those soldiers of the Fu family army kept reliving the very day they gave their lives to protect the city.

With that matter settled, Lang Jiuchuan was ready to leave, but then she suddenly recalled what she had witnessed at the bookshop, and added one more question: “Xue Shi, that Master Liufeng — what does he look like?”

Xue Shi was taken aback, then said, “What does he look like? Just the usual — two eyes, one mouth. Not even as handsome as me.”

Lang Jiuchuan’s mouth twitched. She thought it over, and in the end still produced that fragmentary soul she had picked up at the bookshop from within the Little Nine Pagoda.

Grand Tutor Fang and Xue Shi: “!”

Well then. First an ancient general, and now another one — was this little girl collecting a ghostly army by carrying spirits around on her person?

Still, this person’s clothing was not particularly archaic. It looked more like the style from twenty or thirty years ago.

“I picked this up at Desheng Bookshop. I must trouble the two of you to take a look — do you recognize this person?” Lang Jiuchuan tilted the dazed soul’s head upward.

A frail soul, with a pale and ashen ghost-face, standing beside the fierce and imposing Fu Qi — the contrast was stark.

Xue Shi squinted and examined the soul closely, then shook his head. “Don’t recognize him. What about you, Grand Tutor?”

Grand Tutor Fang also shook his head. “I haven’t seen him before either. However, this clothing does resemble the style from the eighteenth year of the Late Emperor’s reign. I recall that at the time, the Luo family of Gusu presented a bolt of ink-wash soft-smoke silk as tribute. The Late Emperor was greatly pleased, and the ink-wash pattern became very fashionable then — scholars and students in particular all considered it the height of refined taste.”

The two looked at the soul’s clothing and indeed found it to be fine cloth dyed with ink-wash paintings, elegant and graceful.

Xue Shi remembered as well. “Now that you mention it, I recall — the Late Emperor was passionately fond of landscape ink paintings at the time, and quite a few court officials had silk robes rendered in ink-wash patterns made as private spring and summer attire. Scholars were even more so. When that Sheng Huai’an won first place in the imperial examinations and paraded through the streets, he even wore an ink-wash silk pouch at his waist, which drew no small amount of envious looks.”

“If you want to know who he is, why not just ask him?”

Lang Jiuchuan said, “This person has lost two of his souls and five of his spiritual essences. He is only a fragmentary remnant of a soul. Getting him to tell you who he is himself poses some difficulty.”

Especially since even this single soul and two essences were terribly weak, drifting in a daze — most likely he did not even know where he was right now.

“You picked him up at a bookshop?” Xue Shi was rather surprised. “Didn’t you say that places frequented by scholars carry a heavy aura of literary vitality, and that wandering spirits ordinarily would not dare draw near for fear of being harmed? Let alone a bookshop — with so many scholars about and so many books, it ought to count as a place of literary power.”

“Nothing is absolute. Ordinary wandering spirits would indeed not dare to trespass, for fear of being injured by the upright energy. But if someone brought one in, that is another matter entirely — or perhaps he followed someone inside on his own, or was drawn in through some other medium.” Lang Jiuchuan said, “I came across him by chance. He was found in the pages of the volume of the top examination essay you mentioned — the Liufeng Collection.”

Xue Shi frowned and studied her, sensing that her words carried an unspoken implication.

Seeing that neither of them recognized the soul, Lang Jiuchuan put him away again and said, “I will leave the matter of General Fu to the two of you.”

She bid them farewell and stepped out, departing with graceful ease under the astonished gazes of the two men’s bodyguards and attendants.

Xue Shi followed the direction of the guards’ stares and glanced over, his expression going faintly green.

The damage was severe. His coin pouch was going to bleed heavily for this.

Grand Tutor Fang said, “Have the shopkeeper come up later to assess the losses and compensate accordingly. But tell me — what exactly is the story with that ninth young miss of the Lang Family? The Lang Family does have a child studying with the Xuan Sect, yet I have never heard a word of it.”

Xue Shi shook his head and sat back down with him, sharing a few words about what could be spoken of, then said: “Truthfully, because of the ostentation of certain Xuan Sect members, I used to hold the arts of the Xuan school in contempt. But now I understand — those who are truly capable never flaunt themselves like certain sects do.”

Someone like Lang Jiuchuan — that was the kind who would bite you without warning. In other words, the kind who kept her depths well hidden!

Grand Tutor Fang furrowed his brow, lowering his voice: “You have always been the sort to despise evil and speak your mind regardless of whom you offend — but you still need to show some restraint. The imperial family is also of Xuan Sect origin. Do not let a momentary satisfaction of the tongue bring harm upon your family.”

Xue Shi clasped his hands in a bow of gratitude. “Many thanks for your guidance, Elder.” He then asked, “As for General Fu Qi’s matter — what is your view?”

Grand Tutor Fang sighed. “Imperial authority — as long as power rests in one’s hands, history can be written however the one in power wishes. During the Lüzong era, the people were driven to misery and destitution. The regional lords each harbored their own ambitions, internal strife never ceased, and external threats constantly harassed the borders — cities were even ceded in exchange for a semblance of stability. This shows just how rotten the court had become, how far the dynasty had declined.”

He stroked the jade pendant at his waist and continued: “The Fu family had been loyal and upright for generations. The Fu family army alone numbered two hundred thousand strong. During the Lüzong period, their numbers were repeatedly reduced, and the court even tried to reclaim the military authority — yet they dared not, because the foreign invaders were watching like hungry wolves. Had they done so, the barbarians would have swept into the Central Plains long ago and put an end to Lüzong. The Fu family held soldiers, yet remained loyal to the throne. A pity they could not withstand the rot of the court, the rampant corruption, the deliberate delays in grain supply and military pay. No matter how formidable your troops, you cannot sustain an army without provisions. With no food in hand and supplies unable to be replenished — how were they supposed to win battles?”

Xue Shi was silent. As the saying goes, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice. If there is no grain to fill the pot, how do you make a meal?

War was even more so. An army advances only after provisions are secured. Without military supplies at all — or with just enough for one meal and nothing for the next, no grain to replenish, battles growing harder and no reinforcements coming — how were they supposed to fight?

“Throughout the Lüzong reign, there was warfare year after year, and toward the end it was a minor skirmish every three days, a major battle every five. How many sons of the Fu family perished on the battlefield — all because the fighting was so relentless. In truth, by the time Fu Qi was defending Beacon Fire Pass, if the Fu family still had many able-bodied men in the army, the Lüzong Emperor would absolutely never have dared to let history record Fu Qi the way it did. Out of fear of stirring a hornet’s nest, he would have worried the Fu family might truly revolt. But by then, the Fu family had only women, the elderly, and the young left.”

“Even so, one cannot simply disregard all decency, can they? If the Fu family descendants had deceived the world to gain a false reputation, I would have nothing to say. But these were people who gave their lives for the nation — to die without even a good name to show for it afterward is truly a bitter injustice.” Xue Shi’s eyes showed deep sorrow.

Grand Tutor Fang’s voice dropped so low it was barely audible. “No matter who sits on the throne, they will only ever want to be remembered as virtuous rulers, not as monarchs who brought shame upon themselves. The Lüzong Emperor would not want to carry the name of a foolish ruler either. If blame can be shifted, of course one shifts it with all one’s might. A ruler never believes himself to be in the wrong — it is always the minister who errs.”

So, regardless of what the truth was, as long as Lüzong refused to admit that his own incompetence had led to the city’s fall and the dynasty’s ruin, he had to find someone to take the blame.

Fu Qi, who had lost all ability to threaten the throne, was exactly that scapegoat.

And in truth, cases like this were by no means limited to Fu Qi alone. Distant examples aside, even now in the Pingzong era, was it not also the case that…

An emperor’s heart could be, on many occasions, both cruel and venomous.

Grand Tutor Fang felt his mouth turn dry and bitter. He longed to take a sip of tea to wet his throat, but glancing at the shattered teacup on the floor, he could only swallow dryly.

Today had been far too eventful for one day.