Seeing it was them, Sun Ergou visibly relaxed and patted his chest with lingering fear: “Big Brother, you scared me to death.” Along this journey, Sun Ergou had followed him for a long time and had never dropped the ball. Han Zhi was rarely somewhat amiable toward him: “How did your courage suddenly become so small? How is everything? We need to leave the city.”
Sun Ergou hurriedly nodded: “All set, all set.” As he spoke, he had already stood up and moved closer: “Big Brother, I’ve already arranged everything with Colonel Wang at the north gate. He still has over four hundred men who will escort us back to Taiyuan.”
Han Zhi had come for revenge, but he hadn’t come to throw his life away. He naturally knew that even if he killed Han Zhengqing, Cui Shaoting still wouldn’t let him go. While Han Zhengqing was certainly unforgivable, he, Han Zhi, was equally a criminal wanted by the court. It was the pot calling the kettle black—no one could say anything about the other. So before coming, he had already made preparations. Everyone knew the situation in Jingzhou wasn’t good, and he was Han Zhengqing’s son. Having come back from the dead, whatever he said, people would believe to some extent. For many days he had been going back and forth, pulling strings through connections, and had finally managed to get in touch with quite a few people. He smoothly entered Han Zhengqing’s main tent, smoothly poisoned Han Zhengqing, smoothly obtained the defense map for this operation from Colonel Wang, then spread it around. That was why Cui Shaoting and the others could attack so easily and casually. Otherwise, with Han Zhengqing’s capabilities, even if Jingzhou city wasn’t an iron fortress, it would be no different from one. How could it have been breached so easily?
Thinking of Han Zhengqing’s miserable state, Han Zhi slowly exhaled. But strangely, it was just an exhale—if one were to speak of any other superfluous feelings, there truly wasn’t even half a bit. The longer a person harbored resentment, the more that resentment, when not vented, would increasingly block one’s comfort, like a bone stuck in the throat. But once the resentment was easily vented, that empty, bewildered sense of loss was again beyond words.
He began not knowing how to proceed in the future. Before, he had forcefully held onto that breath, feeling that everywhere in this world were enemies—the Fan family was, Han Zhengqing was, Song Chuyi was. He had to live until all these enemies were dead before dying himself. But now that breath had been expelled because of the misfortunes of the Fan family and Han Zhengqing, and he suddenly didn’t know how to walk the vast, uncertain road ahead.
Only, even if he didn’t know where to go, he still had to keep going. Although people didn’t know why they had to live, compared to the fear of facing death, living was always better than being dead. Moreover, no matter what, he still had a younger sister now. In this world, there was finally someone connected to him by blood who cared about him.
Guan Shan went off to make arrangements, finding several sets of common people’s clothing for Han Zhi to change into. They still had to hurry. If Cui Shaoting completely broke through, he would definitely learn from the previous lesson in Qingzhou Prefecture and first surround the city. At that time, trying to escape would likely be difficult. Cui Shaoting and the Prince of Zhennan were experienced—after every battle, the inspection, registration, and census of remaining population were extremely strict. He didn’t want to take that risk.
Sun Ergou also went out to contact Colonel Wang again. But after speaking with Colonel Wang, he made an extra detour westward, found a good spot, and stayed there. After waiting for who knows how long, he finally saw a familiar person.
It was the Prince of Zhennan. Both the Prince of Zhennan and Marquis Dingyuan were supervising the battle today, while Cui Shaoting had stayed behind in Suzhou. Sun Ergou, having clearly identified the Prince of Zhennan, breathed a sigh of relief. Taking a breath, he buried his head and just kept walking forward. Before reaching the Prince of Zhennan, he was already stopped. Becoming somewhat anxious, in his urgency he had a flash of inspiration and started shouting for the Prince Consort.
The Prince of Zhennan found the call for “Prince Consort” somewhat strange. When people were away from home, they were particularly sensitive to the names of family members. With Sun Ergou shouting like this, he immediately thought of his son and couldn’t help but look up toward Sun Ergou. Upon seeing him, he was first momentarily stunned, a strange sense of familiarity rising in his heart.
Marquis Dingyuan followed his gaze and also felt it somewhat strange: “Isn’t this person mad?”
Properly calling for the Prince Consort at a time like this—if he wasn’t mad, then he had ulterior motives. In this kind of place, Marquis Dingyuan’s expression became grave as he asked the Prince of Zhennan: “Should we seize him?”
The Prince of Zhennan finally remembered where this familiar face came from. The person before him who looked seemingly honest but had unusually bright eyes was one of Cui Shaoting’s people. No, more precisely, he was one of Sixth Miss Song’s people!
He was somewhat shocked, but quickly calmed down again, assuming he was a spy Cui Shaoting had planted in Jingzhou. Cui Shaoting had indeed planted many informants in Jingzhou—otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to break through so smoothly today.
Since he was a spy Cui Shaoting had planted, and his eyes were so earnest, the Prince of Zhennan assumed there were still matters Cui Shaoting had instructed him to convey. He coughed once and glanced at Marquis Dingyuan.
Marquis Dingyuan understood. He loudly ordered people to go check the north and east sides, and also called for people to search for Han Zhengqing and the others. They hadn’t seen Han Zhengqing at all this time, which was extremely unreasonable. They definitely had to find him first.
Taking advantage of this chaotic moment with people and horses in disarray, Sun Ergou scurried in front of the Prince of Zhennan and softly told him what had happened in the tent earlier, then informed him: “Your Highness, we’ll be fleeing through the north gate.”
He had already received Song Chuyi’s letter in Taiyuan. Song Chuyi had said that Han Zhi was no longer useful. Once Han Zhi truly killed Han Zhengqing, there could be no hesitation—Han Zhi must also die.
Otherwise, once he returned to Fujian, it would be like a fish entering the sea. Sun Ergou himself was also clear on this point. Wang Lun was truly too much like a fish in water on the sea—there was almost nothing he couldn’t accomplish. Moreover, now Han Zhi faintly surpassed his master, using the influence of the Ninth Princess and Han Yue’heng to support a new daimyo, controlling all the land under that daimyo. Once Han Zhi escaped, they truly would never find him again.
If this venomous snake were left outside, sooner or later he would grow new sharp poisonous fangs and spray venom to kill people. He couldn’t be left alive.
So Sun Ergou had also deliberated for a long time and finally made up his mind. Once Han Zhi killed Han Zhengqing, he would immediately without stopping inform on him, letting Cui Shaoting catch Han Zhi in one sweep.
The Prince of Zhennan, experienced as he was, couldn’t help but be shocked. He truly hadn’t expected that Song Chuyi could not only let Han Zhi go but also plant a spy beside him. What was even more terrifying was that Song Chuyi had actually used Han Zhi to sow discord in Prince Gong’s relationships, and then had Han Zhi personally torture Han Zhengqing until he could neither live nor die.
When Song Chuyi became ruthless, she was truly ruthless enough to send chills down one’s spine.