In his youth, Han Zhi had never liked his mother. Compared to his kind and amiable aunt, his mother was so cold toward him she hardly seemed like a mother at all. But a child’s desire to be close to their mother was natural instinct. Even when he most hated Little Madam Fan, his thoughts were merely that when Little Madam Fan regretted it later, he wouldn’t acknowledge her either, so she could know the pain of being ignored.

Even if his mother truly wished him dead, no matter how twisted he was, he didn’t want his mother to die.

Yet his mother had died, and moreover, she died for him, for his sister. This fact drove him nearly mad.

The two people he had once most trusted, relied upon, and schemed and strove for had together destroyed his faith. The most painful thing in this world was nothing more than this.

But Han Zhengqing didn’t feel he was wrong at all. He was now only troubled terribly by Cui Shaoting’s affairs. Yet perversely, there was no movement from Cui Shaoting’s side again, which made him feel both that there was a moment to catch his breath and also deeply wounded his pride.

When had he ever cared about Cui Shaoting’s pressure before? For a time, this entire Xibei had almost completely fallen into his grasp. But now just hearing Cui Shaoting’s name made him tremble with fear. Living like this was too damn frustrating.

He took the letter from his pillow and read it, reading it again and again. Touching the letter brought both pain and exhaustion. The Prince of Dongping didn’t acknowledge him. Now he was being surrounded and attacked by others. Even his original hope of explaining things clearly to the Prince of Dongping after breaking into the capital now seemed extremely difficult to realize. His heart ached.

Marquis Dingyuan and Prince Zhennan didn’t care about his heartache. They only feared he wasn’t hurting enough.

Upon truly reaching Guyuan, this breath in their hearts finally completely eased. From the beginning when Prince Zhennan suffered defeat after defeat and was forced to turtle up in Jinzhong unable to move, to later when Marquis Dingyuan was driven by Han Zhengqing at Datong to unknown life or death—no one had ever imagined there would be such a day. Even story books wouldn’t dare write it this way.

The taste of survival after calamity was truly too fortunate, yet also made one feel uneasy. Not until they saw Cui Shaoting face to face did they feel their hearts settle.

They had traveled overnight leading Han Yang and Han Yu rushing to Suzhou. Now both Suzhou and Qingzhou Prefecture had been taken by Cui Shaoting. He needed to handle matters there next. Without someone watching, the soldiers might lose their restraint and plunder and take even their own people’s belongings. Though Suzhou was a small granary, it couldn’t withstand the consumption of so many troops. It had long been nearly exhausted. If they had been even a bit later in taking Qingzhou Prefecture, they would have been finished.

Now having taken Qingzhou Prefecture, they had also obtained quite a lot of the Tatars’ supplies and provisions. It was truly too profitable a deal.

Just as he was watching people register and compile records, organizing the list of prisoners, with the casualty list needing to be re-established, he heard that Prince Zhennan and Marquis Dingyuan had arrived. He immediately stood up and personally went out of the command tent to welcome them.

Old friends meeting again in such circumstances—their eyes all reddened somewhat.

Lu Ran, hearing the news, rushed over and cried the hardest. He had mixed with Marquis Dingyuan in Taiyuan for quite some time and was very grateful for Marquis Dingyuan’s care. Their bond had been built up through life and death together. He had been constantly worried for Marquis Dingyuan. Now seeing him alive and well, he truly cried so hard he couldn’t catch his breath.

This made even Marquis Dingyuan couldn’t help but laugh. He reached out and thumped Lu Ran’s shoulder: “Enough! Looking at you like this, you don’t seem like someone who was once a double agent, but rather a poor scholar who hasn’t seen the world.”

Han Yang, holding a peanut, stared dumbfounded at him crying. Only after Marquis Dingyuan made him stop did he scratch his head and ask Lu Ran: “Could it be that Lord Cui doesn’t give you food or drink? How did he wrong you like this?”

Han Yu held back a laugh and also knocked him on the head, glaring at him.

Lu Ran was also familiar with Han Yang. He spat once, feeling somewhat embarrassed as he looked at Cui Shaoting. Seeing Cui Shaoting smiling, knowing he was also overjoyed, his eyes heated up and tears flowed again: “The Commander-in-Chief was extremely worried, and I was extremely worried too. We thought you couldn’t survive.” As he sat down and accepted the water Han Yang poured for him, drinking a large gulp while wiping his eyes, he said: “But we were also almost unable to survive. We nearly died. You should have heard from the Guyuan Prefect. At that time, if Prince Gong had withdrawn his troops just one or two days later, we really would have been completely dead.”

Speaking of this matter, even now he couldn’t help but feel lingering fear.

Marquis Dingyuan nodded: “We heard about it.” Saying this, he turned to look at Cui Shaoting: “Do you know why they withdrew?”

Cui Shaoting had only just learned. Though previously curious, there had been no channels after all. Moreover at that time, seizing the opportunity to press forward with one vigorous effort was the proper course of action. Paying attention to these matters had no meaning at all. Only after having some leisure did he have time to think about why Prince Gong’s brain had suddenly been blocked with shit, doing such an eye-popping thing.

He took from his sleeve pocket a letter he’d just tucked in there, giving it to Marquis Dingyuan and Prince Zhennan to read. The corners of his mouth held a smile that was half mocking, half heavy: “Thanks to the blessing of an old acquaintance.”

An old acquaintance? Who was this old acquaintance? Prince Zhennan reached out to take the letter and look. His expression became somewhat complex and strange.

“He’s truly alive?” After a long while it was still Prince Zhennan who asked first, looking at Cui Shaoting feeling quite incredulous: “Wasn’t he dead?”

That Han Zhi was actually still alive was truly too shocking. Back then the commotion at Marquis Jinxiang’s mansion had left a vivid memory. Everyone said Han Zhi had been burned to death on a boat resisting the government troops. How could they now say he was alive?

The reasons behind this were many. Cui Shaoting couldn’t very well say his niece had deliberately let him go. He spoke vaguely without explaining, instead looking at Han Yu and Han Yang: “Do you two know this person’s temperament?”

He had been in the Xibei for so long he’d missed the disturbances Han Zhi caused. He only knew bits and pieces from his niece’s letters, only knowing Han Zhi was very obsessive, but not knowing to what degree his obsession reached.

Now Han Zhi was at Prince Gong’s side, instigating Prince Gong to break with and oppose Han Zhengqing. But what about after Han Zhengqing was finished? This person’s ability to bewitch people’s hearts was so formidable—what did he plan to do afterward?

Regardless of anything, this person could not be allowed to escape again.

Han Yang and Han Yu were both bewildered by the question. They hadn’t returned to the capital since birth. How would they know what the capital was like, much less their legitimate mother and legitimate elder brother? They only knew their legitimate mother and legitimate brother had both died. They never expected to now hear their legitimate brother was alive, and moreover had returned to settle accounts with Han Zhengqing. They completely couldn’t understand what was going on. After being stunned for a while they both hastily shook their heads.

But Prince Zhennan knew somewhat of Han Zhi’s problems. He shook his head and relayed Ye Jingchuan and Ye Jingkuan’s evaluations of this person. Finally frowning: “He’s just a troublemaking Nezha who can stir up storms even when there are no waves. Since he came for Han Zhengqing, he truly came for Han Zhengqing. Let’s not concern ourselves with him now. First concentrate on taking Jingzhou. Only after taking Jingzhou can we deal with the Tatars.”