The pig-slaughtering knife came like lightning, yet Feng Zhiwei only cried out in shock at that face hidden beneath disheveled hair.
In that cry were several parts surprise and several parts bewilderment.
“Clang!” The menacingly aggressive pig-slaughtering knife broke into two pieces without suspense in Young Master Gu’s hand. That person howled and suddenly sprang up, using himself as a blade to slash over.
As his body rose, two golden flashes flew out with him. In mid-air they squeaked and squawked, eight claws viciously scratching toward Feng Zhiwei’s face.
Feng Zhiwei shouted, “It’s me!”
The golden light suddenly stopped, revealing two finger-sized monkeys with extraordinarily large eyes staring round at Feng Zhiwei. In an instant, light exploded in their eyes. Overjoyed, they squeaked “zhiwa” about to embrace her, but forgot they were in mid-air. With a whoosh, they both plummeted down together.
Landing precisely in Feng Zhiwei’s outstretched, waiting hands.
Over there, Gu Nanyi reached out again, catching that person who’d smashed over like a cannonball. The enormous body struggled and howled in his hand. Gu Nanyi didn’t move at all.
Feng Zhiwei clutched the two small monkeys, looking at that person’s swollen face hidden beneath disheveled hair opposite her. She took a deep breath and smiled through tears.
She said, “Chunyu… you’re still alive. That’s wonderful.”
After briefly explaining to the accompanying officials, Tao Shifeng felt somewhat pleasantly surprised. Chunyu Meng’s identity was extraordinary—his father was still the Vice Commander of the Northern Expedition. Rescuing him now could also count as a merit.
Feng Zhiwei, who’d been somewhat melancholy since arriving in Nanhai, also showed genuine joy. Since their separation at the Jiyang Mountain cliff in Longxi, she’d been troubled by Chunyu Meng’s sacrifice. When tossing and turning sleepless at midnight, she always recalled that young man who’d strode toward her in Qingming Academy’s dining hall. In over ten years, he was the first person to approach her without ulterior motives. He’d given her a most sincere special treatment.
For the first time, Feng Zhiwei sincerely thanked heaven. Occasionally heaven still had eyes.
But after a while, she looked at Chunyu Meng with worry—what had happened to this child?
In his current state, never mind that she’d almost failed to recognize him—even his parents coming would think he was someone else’s.
Never mind his tattered clothes and tangled hair. Clearly he’d been someone’s captive. Captives naturally didn’t receive good treatment. But that group killed without blinking—why hadn’t they killed him? And very obviously, his mind was somewhat wrong. He actually failed to recognize her. His whole face was swollen and bruised—not like being beaten, but more like some illness.
Stuffing the howling, struggling Chunyu Meng who wanted to kill anyone he saw into a carriage back to Qiyuan, she summoned a physician. He said it seemed he’d eaten food chaotically, possibly ingesting poisonous plants leading to mental confusion. A prescription would cure it. Feng Zhiwei breathed a sigh of relief, then felt strange. She’d originally thought Chunyu Meng must have been extremely hungry to eat grass roots randomly. But looking at his vigorous spirit, he hadn’t lost weight. The two monkeys were also raised plump and sturdy, their physiques directly approaching radishes. In this situation, why would he still eat things chaotically? Truly puzzling.
At this moment, a maid brought her medicine. Now without supervision, where would Feng Zhiwei be willing to drink it? She casually set it aside. Unexpectedly, Chunyu Meng saw it, picked it up and gulped it down in one go. When finished, he smacked his lips with satisfaction, looking like he wanted more.
Feng Zhiwei stared at him dumbfounded. This medicine’s smell and taste were so terrifying one wanted to die. When freshly brewed, everyone would show vomiting expressions. Why did Chunyu Meng drink it so happily, his expression looking like it was jade liquid and fine nectar?
Her heart stirred. She ordered someone to bring candied plums and placed them before Chunyu Meng. Sure enough, Chunyu Meng recoiled as if seeing feces, jumping away with a whoosh, avoiding them from far away.
Chunyu’s sense of taste and smell both seemed confused…
Recalling the “eye curse” Ning Yi had been afflicted with, Feng Zhiwei fell into contemplation. Could it be Chunyu had also been cursed?
Eyes, ears, mouth, tongue, nose—the seven apertures were connected. If Chunyu’s curse could be broken, could Ning Yi’s also be?
“Brother Gu,” she turned to ask Gu Nanyi, “has that famous physician left?”
Young Master Gu remained silent. When he didn’t speak, it meant he didn’t want to answer but also didn’t want to lie.
“This is my good friend,” Feng Zhiwei pointed at Chunyu Meng, saying earnestly. “He fell to this state saving my life. Please help me tell that gentleman—whatever price is needed, I’m willing to request he help save this person.”
Young Master Gu made an “oh” sound and went out.
After a long while he returned, shaking his head like a rattle-drum.
Feng Zhiwei was exasperated. What kind of person was this—so difficult to talk to? Never mind refusing to treat Ning Yi, but why refuse Chunyu Meng too?
“He said the young lady should spend less effort worrying about others,” Young Master Gu relayed that person’s words.
Feng Zhiwei froze—could that famous physician have already guessed her thoughts, wanting to use treating Chunyu’s method to treat Ning Yi?
Why did he persist in refusing to treat Ning Yi?
Thinking back over this long time, among these people around her besides Gu Nanyi, the others never showed themselves. Did they not want her to know, or fundamentally not want Ning Yi to know?
Though Ning Yi truly couldn’t be considered in her camp, guarding against him was very normal. But Feng Zhiwei always felt this guardedness and hostility seemed to also contain some other reason.
“Fine, I won’t worry about others,” Feng Zhiwei said after a long silence, indifferently. “I’ll give him the same words back. The gentleman should also spend less effort worrying about others. Feng Zhiwei is just an ordinary woman, unworthy of such concern from you all. In future… better forget it.”
As her words fell, faintly there seemed some sound from somewhere. Young Master Gu sat silently eating walnuts.
Feng Zhiwei looked at him.
He looked at Feng Zhiwei.
Feng Zhiwei looked at him again.
He looked at Feng Zhiwei.
Feng Zhiwei finally couldn’t bear it and reminded him, “Brother Gu, what I just meant was, I don’t want protection anymore.”
“Oh.” Young Master Gu focused on eating walnuts. “They know.”
Feng Zhiwei patiently said, “That includes you too.”
Young Master Gu stopped, looked at her, then very magnanimously continued eating. “Doesn’t include me.”
“Includes you.”
“Doesn’t include me.” Young Master Gu brushed walnut shells from his palm. “I’m your person.”
Feng Zhiwei took a deep breath. “You’re yourself. You’re no one’s person. You must be yourself.”
“You don’t want me anymore?”
Feng Zhiwei made a sound of “ah,” feeling conversation with Young Master Gu truly couldn’t continue.
She couldn’t speak it, but Young Master Gu had begun having questions.
“You don’t want me?” He raised his head, as if addressing the roof or murmuring to himself. “Then what should I do?”
“Do what you want to do. Either wander the world, or open a small shop, or…” Feng Zhiwei said gently, “Marry someone and live your life.”
Young Master Gu thought carefully again for a while, then resolutely shook his head and lowered his head to eat walnuts. Feng Zhiwei sighed.
The room quieted for a long while. Above came sounds of robes stirring wind. Young Master Gu asked her again, “When you just said you didn’t want me, I suddenly felt somewhat empty inside. What’s that called?”
Gu Nanyi rarely took initiative to learn. Feng Zhiwei immediately perked up, patiently guiding, “That’s called bewilderment.”
“Oh, bewilderment.” Young Master Gu continued working hard to find bewilderment.
Above, someone sighed softly. “It’s useless.”
As the voice came, the person descended like a cloud floating to the mortal world. That person’s movement technique was particularly light and graceful. Feng Zhiwei only felt white robes sweep before her eyes. Someone already stood with back to her in the room.
A tall, slender figure wearing a well-fitted white robe. His standing posture was profoundly stable like a mountain—a particular steadiness.
Feng Zhiwei looked at that person’s figure, vaguely feeling somewhat familiar. She waited for him to turn his face. That person did indeed turn around—but it was a wooden board-like face, using what was clearly the worst kind of mask, blatantly telling her: I just don’t want you to see my face.
She stood up with a smile, exchanging pleasantries. “This must be that gentleman who saved this humble one’s life. May I ask your honored surname and given name? Please accept this humble one’s bow.”
That person stood unmoving, silently gazing at her. Feng Zhiwei stepped forward. Her knees weakened as if about to kowtow.
That person started, originally thinking she’d just bend at the waist. Unexpectedly she was actually preparing to kneel. He quickly swept his sleeve to support her up. As his sleeve swept, wind and clouds flowed—a particularly graceful posture. Feng Zhiwei stared at that movement. In an instant, inspiration flashed. She said with sudden realization, “It’s you!”
In her mind flashed an image of black sleeves, flowing clouds swirling, throwing a booklet into her arms.
That was after being expelled from the Qiu mansion, “coincidentally encountering” the wide-robed man in black, forcibly made to be a “servant” for a period. There she’d learned basic martial arts mental techniques and movement methods, and obtained a mysterious booklet that helped her rise to prominence.
Living together over a month, she remembered the airflow changes when he executed martial arts. No matter how a person disguised themselves, martial arts couldn’t be changed.
She remembered—also in that small courtyard, she’d been escorted by Ning Yi to “find the culprit,” precisely encountering him and Gu Nanyi “dueling.” Then she’d been confusedly grabbed away by Gu Nanyi.
Then Gu Nanyi had confusedly lost his way, losing track of himself, picked up by her. He’d also calmly let himself be picked up, picked up all the way until now.
When she’d picked him up initially, she’d harbored a bit of probing intent, thinking someone would chase after them before they went far. Yet no one ever came.
So encounters weren’t chance meetings. At every corner, someone was waiting with meticulous planning, using either this method or another to have a fateful encounter with you.
Feng Zhiwei smiled shallowly, but her eyes held no smile.
The man opposite gazed quietly at her. After a long while, he also smiled helplessly. “Caught in the young lady’s trap again.”
In an instant, Feng Zhiwei’s thoughts raced electrically, flashing through all events from leaving the mansion until now like lightning. For a moment, she felt all things that had originally seemed very simple and natural now didn’t seem that way at all. It seemed from the very beginning, she’d been walking a path arranged by others. She’d thought she always controlled herself, yet very possibly had always been controlled by others.
This feeling wasn’t pleasant.
“Why?” After a long silence, she got straight to the point.
The white-robed man bent down to take Chunyu Meng’s pulse, answering indifferently, “Young lady, today you forced me out. In future I still won’t appear. Why must you pursue the root of everything? Wouldn’t it be better to act as before?”
“Not better,” Feng Zhiwei said. “Without merit, I cannot accept rewards. I cannot calmly enjoy this protection without questioning the reason.”
“Now isn’t the time to speak,” the white-robed man said. “But please believe, young lady—we have no intention to harm you.”
“I know. You saved my life,” Feng Zhiwei smiled. “But sometimes in this world, people often do bad things with good intentions. Wouldn’t you say?”
“The young lady needn’t worry about this,” the white-robed man smiled. “We won’t interfere with any of the young lady’s actions—only protect your life.”
“Precisely because of this, I’m even more uneasy,” Feng Zhiwei sighed. “What virtue or ability do I have—a solitary orphan girl—to receive such protection from you all? I can’t afford it. It damages fortune and shortens life. I’m unworthy.”
“Whether worthy or not, we know ourselves,” the white-robed man didn’t accept her probing words. He laid Chunyu Meng flat and took out a needle pouch, focusing on administering needles. “Does the young lady still want me to save this person? If not, why don’t we go to the front hall and continue talking slowly?”
Feng Zhiwei was so angry she laughed. Turning, she walked away. “I think I should properly teach Brother Gu. Eventually he’ll explain everything to me.”
“Nothing could be better,” the white-robed man’s slightly sorrowful gaze swept across Gu Nanyi, who was indifferently eating walnuts. “If possible, I’d willingly exchange all my secrets for him to walk into this heaven and earth.”
Leaving the room to the white-robed man, Feng Zhiwei stood in the courtyard’s autumn sunlight, closing her eyes to feel the warm sun on her face. Her posture was calm, but her heart was in chaos.
Long-held vague speculations were confirmed today, yet she felt no relief from a weight lifted. Instead, it added another layer of heaviness—in this world, there was no good fortune falling from the sky. Every event’s occurrence necessarily had its reason.
But clearly, this group absolutely refused to give her an answer now.
Suppressing her inner unease, Feng Zhiwei took the two brush monkeys and returned again to the Surveillance Commissioner’s office to reexamine those corpses. Initially, she’d remembered the brush monkeys because of the scratch marks on the corpses’ wrists. Looking now, this group should be those who’d pursued and killed them in Longxi. After Ning Yi’s great army mobilized, they’d tried to strike again but were forced to stop halfway by Nanhai’s turbulent government offices recently. But why didn’t they flee toward Minnan? Instead, throwing themselves into a death trap by rushing toward Nanhai’s heartland Fengzhou—that was somewhat puzzling.
She carefully stared at those corpses’ eyes. At this moment, she finally understood why those corpses’ gazes felt strange. They’d been killed by the “King.” Before death, their eyes had already gone blind, which was why their gazes were so peculiar.
Now, where was that “King”? Once this thing opened its eyes, someone would definitely go blind. If it was brought before someone’s face—what would the consequences be?
“Some Shangguan family descendants interrogated recently were involved in land seizure,” Tao Shifeng said behind her. “Some case files—His Highness withheld them before leaving, instructing Brother Wei to look at them. What do you think…”
Case files Ning Yi had withheld? There must be problems. Feng Zhiwei nodded and followed Tao Shifeng into the study holding top secret documents. She flipped through those case files, her expression gradually growing grave. “Related to the military?”
“Thirteen military officials implicated. We’ve already sent correspondence to Commander Lu requesting coordinated handling,” Tao Shifeng said. “Local authorities cannot interfere arbitrarily with military affairs. Even Commissioner Zhou must consult with Commander Lu about this matter.”
Tiansheng’s military system—besides the northern and southern borders where border armies were established at frontiers bordering various countries,府军 府armies were also established in each circuit under the command of the Regional Military Commissioner, directly responsible to the court’s Five Military Governor’s Office. He was the highest local military officer. Though the Provincial Administration Commissioner led the Three Offices, their authorities were actually separated without subordination. No wonder Zhou Xizhong and Tao Shifeng couldn’t continue handling the land seizure case once the military was involved.
“What did Commander Lu say?”
“Commander Lu was recently inspecting the Minnan border. With the Southern Expedition army deploying, the court ordered Commander Lu to be stationed in Huilong County supervising army provisions. However, after receiving the correspondence, he’s already rushing here. He’s probably meeting with Commissioner Zhou now. But Brother Wei, rest assured,” Tao Shifeng smiled. “Commander Lu is an extremely fair person, never employing personal connections or forming factions for private gain. This matter in his hands will definitely receive fair judgment.”
Feng Zhiwei made a sound of “mm,” flipping through those case files again. Suddenly she saw under the name of an implicated Assistant Regional Military Commissioner—someone seemed to have lightly scratched a line with their fingernail.
Her heart jumped. She picked up that person’s case file and examined it very carefully. This person’s résumé appeared ordinary—from Shannan, risen from common soldier through repeated battle merits and accumulated promotions. Later transferred to Nanhai Circuit Regional Military Commissioner’s office as Assistant Commissioner. Below was very detailed attachment of this person’s series of battle merits from those years, including three battles against Da Yue in the first year of Changxi, battles against Xi Liang in the fifth year of Changxi, the Shiwan Mountain barbarian uprising in the seventh year of Changxi which this person also participated in suppressing.
Just these—what was wrong?
“This Assistant Commissioner is quite a character,” Tao Shifeng glanced behind her and smiled. “Reportedly has a very explosive temper, often arguing with Commander Lu. Commander Lu dislikes him greatly. Now he deserves his bad luck.”
But Feng Zhiwei had already closed her eyes, slowly recalling the résumés of Nanhai officials at all levels that Ning Yi had briefly mentioned after arriving in Nanhai.
Ning Yi must have heard Ning Cheng read these case files to him. At the time, he must have felt something was wrong somewhere, but because he hadn’t thought it through yet or didn’t have time, he only made this mark.
Where was it wrong?
“Commissioner Tao, I want to review case files of Nanhai officials fourth rank and above,” Feng Zhiwei said after thinking.
“That’s impossible,” Tao Shifeng cut her off immediately. “Official case files aren’t allowed for external viewing.”
“I order you in my capacity as Nanhai Circuit Special Imperial Commissioner,” Feng Zhiwei flipped her hand, spreading the Imperial Commissioner’s seal directly before Tao Shifeng, yielding not an inch.
Tao Shifeng looked troubled. After a long while, “This isn’t under my jurisdiction…”
“I’ll take all responsibility,” Feng Zhiwei cut off his words.
A thick pile of official case files was finally brought over. Tao Shifeng tactfully left. Feng Zhiwei glanced at those mountain-like case files. She didn’t search through them at all, directly going to the very top to find Lu Bo’s case file.
Saying she wanted fourth-rank and above official case files was false. What she truly wanted to investigate was only Lu Bo’s background.
Page by page she turned. Oil lamp light illuminated her face cold and pale. After a long while, she smiled coldly.
Three battles against Da Yue in the first year of Changxi, battles against Xi Liang in the fifth year of Changxi, the Shiwan Mountain barbarian uprising in the seventh year of Changxi… Lu Bo’s résumé overlapped shockingly with that Assistant Commissioner’s.
She turned back to flip through that Assistant Commissioner’s case file again. Sure enough, she saw a thin dismissal order dated the eighth year of Changxi.
In the seventh year of Changxi when suppressing the Shiwan Mountain barbarian uprising, the court sent troops three times before suppressing it. The barbarians used the mountain terrain’s险峻 险steepness, causing considerable loss among the court’s proud generals. Many were punished and demoted by the court during the first two campaigns.
Feng Zhiwei closed both case files with a slap, raising a light dust of old papers. She tucked the two files and walked out of the study, asking Tao Shifeng waiting outside, “Commissioner Tao, you told me earlier—where did you intercept that group?”
“Wuji Mountain at the Nanhai-Minnan border.”
Feng Zhiwei nodded and quickly stepped out. At the entrance, she suddenly stopped, raised her head in thought, then said, “Commissioner Tao, please immediately personally take the Surveillance Commissioner’s office seal and my Imperial Commissioner’s seal, go to Huilong County, and under the pretext of investigating the land seizure case, detain the military officials implicated in this case. Also send fast horses to pursue the already dispatched provisions. If you can’t recover them, destroy them on the spot.”
“Are you insane!” For an instant, Tao Shifeng simply couldn’t believe what she was saying. He stepped back with a pale face. “Do you know what you’re saying? Interfering with military affairs? Arbitrarily detaining active military officers? Intercepting military provisions, even destroying them? Everything you just said is a beheading offense!”
“Not a single word I said was wrong,” Feng Zhiwei’s expression didn’t change. “Commissioner Tao, though you and I are of equal rank, the Imperial Commissioner has emergency discretionary authority. You go handle it. I’ll take all responsibility.”
“This isn’t a small matter like reviewing files! This is an absurd decision that gets families killed and heads chopped!” Tao Shifeng exploded in fury, heavily sweeping his sleeves and turning to leave. “If you want to seek death, I won’t stop you. Don’t drag me into it!”
He angrily passed by Feng Zhiwei, intending to brush past this calm madwoman.
Feng Zhiwei stood motionless. As he passed, she suddenly smiled slightly.
“My apologies.”
Her fingers swept horizontally like playing a pipa, soundlessly sweeping across.
Tao Shifeng only felt cold wind strike his face, then his vision went black.
Catching Tao Shifeng’s softly collapsing body with one hand, dragging him back into the study, Feng Zhiwei closed the door. After a while, she rang the golden bell beside the door.
This was the bell the Surveillance Commissioner’s study used to summon subordinates. Before long, several Assistant Commissioners rushed over. However, arriving close, they saw the door tightly shut. They didn’t dare push it open without permission. Vaguely through shadows cast on the window paper, they could tell Commissioner Tao and the Imperial Commissioner seemed to have their heads together discussing something. Their voices were very low and indistinct—couldn’t make out specifics. They only heard fragments like “In that case… I’ll trouble Brother Wei…” and “Emergency situations require flexible responses…” Hearing half-comprehensibly, they felt increasingly mystified and all retreated solemnly.
Then they saw Feng Zhiwei open the door and come out. At the entrance, she turned half her body back toward the room and cupped her hands. “Commissioner Tao needn’t see me out. This matter entrusted to your younger brother can definitely be handled with confidence. You should quickly write a memorial to the court explaining everything.” Then she closed the door.
Turning around, she saw Assistant Commissioners standing respectfully not far away. She handed over several letters stamped with both the Surveillance Commissioner’s office seal and the Imperial Commissioner’s seal. “Commissioner Tao has other urgent matters. This business—please have the Vice Commissioner personally handle it.”
Just now in the study, she’d already carefully divided up those beheading tasks. One group would detain military officers. Another group would intercept provisions. She didn’t explain that it was military provisions—only said it was grain the Shangguan family was privately smuggling out, requiring interception without fail. Everyone accepted the order without doubt and hurried away.
Feng Zhiwei took out another letter and said to Gu Nanyi waiting outside, “I’ll trouble Brother Gu to find Yan Huaishi once. Tell him—no matter what method, even if it means emptying the aristocratic families’ private granaries—immediately transport a batch of grain to Minnan.”
Gu Nanyi shook his head. He suddenly flicked his fingers lightly. A gray-clothed person appeared on the eaves, receiving the letter and leaving. This was the first time Feng Zhiwei personally saw with her own eyes the invisible people guarding beside her. It seemed since she’d recognized that white-robed man as the wide-robed guest, these people had also transitioned from underground to public.
Feng Zhiwei stood under the eaves, watching the Surveillance Commissioner’s office people leave in batches, her face slightly pale.
Right now only she knew—based purely on speculation, she’d done the boldest thing in the world. Any one of these matters going wrong, ten of her heads wouldn’t be enough to chop off.
Yet even so, she still feared she wasn’t bold enough, her reaction not fast enough.
An army’s weight depended on provisions. One hundred thousand soldiers on Minnan’s front lines had already engaged Chang Minjian. Under Ning Yi’s command, they’d won consecutive victories. Chang Minjian’s territory had already shrunk to a small area. In this situation, once provisions had problems, not only would the entire war situation flip completely—Minnan would see rivers of blood. Even Nanhai and even vaster territories would suffer disaster.
She gripped her fingers. They were slightly cool. Yet she also had no time to fear after the fact. Leaping onto her horse, she rushed straight toward the Provincial Administration Commissioner’s office.
Before the Provincial Administration Commissioner’s office stood an eight-man green felt sedan chair. The doorman told Feng Zhiwei with a smile, “Commander Lu just arrived.”
Feng Zhiwei nodded and hurried into the office straight toward the study. The person wasn’t there. In the study, clear tea still steamed. A cleaning servant in the study told her Commander Lu wanted to find an old case file from years past. It was in the office’s inner vault. Commissioner Zhou personally accompanied him to search.
Office inner vault… generally a rather old and dim place.
Feng Zhiwei increasingly verified her speculation. In an instant, her steps flew like the wind!
Zhou Xizhong was accompanying Lu Bo searching for a document, his expression slightly impatient.
Just call clerks or secretaries to search. Instead saying the matter was critically important, he must personally search, even dragging him along. Closing the door, holding an oil lamp while standing on a ladder searching on high case file shelves, he’d carelessly dropped the lamp. Now the vault had dim lighting. Let’s see how he’d search!
He tapped the table, thinking about how to discuss handling that batch of implicated military officers with Lu Bo afterward. Now Lu Bo was supervising Southern Expedition provisions. Right at wartime with personnel shortages—moving over ten people at once, possibly even requiring military purges, would likely be very difficult to handle. He needed to think of a proper method.
Suddenly he saw Lu Bo’s shoulder seem to move.
He felt somewhat strange. Looking carefully again, this look revealed that place moved strangely—not like Lu Bo himself moving, but like something arching from inside.
Just as he was about to look more clearly, Lu Bo had already descended from the ladder, holding something and smiling. “Finally found it.”
“What thing exactly?” Zhou Xizhong, seeing him so mysterious, was somewhat curious.
Lu Bo spread open the case file in his hand, indicating he should lower his head. “Look—”
Green light flashed.
“Bang!”
The vault door was heavily crashed open.
Someone rushed in, shouting loudly, “Close your eyes!”
Zhou Xizhong was lowering his head when he only felt green light flash somewhere. Then his eyes stung. Hearing this shout, he immediately knew something was wrong. Quickly closing his eyes and lowering his head, he retreated backward. He heard Lu Bo opposite laugh coldly, then felt something sharp rushing at his face.
But someone rushed over from behind him, bringing even more fierce wind.
The one who came was precisely Feng Zhiwei. Eyes closed, she charged in. One hand scattered, throwing out two brush monkeys.
Two golden flashes flickered in mid-air, heading straight for the green light. The King that had drilled out from Lu Bo’s sleeve—seeing those perennial old acquaintances arriving again—squeaked angrily in rage. With a whoosh, it turned and fled.
Lu Bo hadn’t expected this treasure to flee without fighting against two small monkeys. Greatly alarmed, he also quickly fled. Feng Zhiwei was already waiting on his escape route.
Lu Bo raised his hand in a palm strike. Clearly a martial practitioner, though his martial arts weren’t very brilliant. Though Feng Zhiwei hadn’t fully recovered yet, relying purely on the exquisite techniques secretly learned from Gu Nanyi was enough to use four taels to move a thousand pounds. Three times five times she’d already sealed off his retreat.
“Hei Jin!” Lu Bo suddenly shouted loudly!
At the vault entrance, a figure flashed—a yellow-robed figure appeared, a gleaming blue blade in hand, seeming about to rush over.
Behind him, however, a sky-water blue faint figure suddenly appeared soundlessly. Like a wisp of smoke, it enveloped him. That person charged left and right. No matter what brilliant movement techniques he used, he couldn’t escape that shadow.
Lu Bo’s call for help failed. With successive unexpected incidents—the King fleeing, the helper he’d thought possessed peerless martial arts unable to help him—panic disrupted his techniques. Feng Zhiwei smiled coldly. Seeing an opening, her hand reached out and had already gripped his throat.
The person beneath her fingers struggled desperately, looking at Feng Zhiwei with pleading eyes.
Feng Zhiwei remained unmoved.
“Commander Lu,” she smiled. “You’ve worked hard.”
Lu Bo’s complexion was deathly gray. Beside them, Zhou Xizhong covered his tearing eyes, repeatedly asking, “What’s happening, what’s happening…”
“Very simple. This Commander Lu is a Chang family person,” Feng Zhiwei properly and neatly bound Lu Bo. “He should be the highest-ranking official the Chang family left in Nanhai. Very impressive… The Chang family is very impressive… One of the Three Offices! A truly tripartite local official! And they actually got him the job of supervising provisions. Isn’t this equivalent to sending your own army into someone’s mouth?”
She handed the case files of that Assistant Regional Military Commissioner and Lu Bo before Zhou Xizhong. “When I looked at this Assistant Commissioner’s résumé earlier, I felt it looked familiar. Later I recalled—it was shockingly identical to Commander Lu’s. This situation can only appear through deliberate arrangement. Especially suppressing the Shiwan Mountain barbarian uprising that time—that Assistant Commissioner was demoted to Nanhai as a defeated guilty general. The next year, Commander Lu also came to Nanhai due to the third barbarian campaign’s victory and promotion. He just happened to return under Commander Lu’s command… Are there such coincidences in the world?”
“To prevent people discovering such coincidence, Commander Lu and he had terrible relations, incompatible as fire and water. But think about it—if the relations truly were terrible and incompatible, how could he have been tolerated staying continuously in his own military, constantly causing him trouble?”
Feng Zhiwei had another sentence she didn’t say. That group of assassins who’d appeared in Longxi appeared again at Wuji Mountain on the Nanhai-Minnan border. Wuji Mountain was right near Huilong County where Lu Bo was located. When that group was discovered, they threw themselves into a death trap rushing toward Fengzhou because Lu Bo had come to Fengzhou—they were seeking shelter. The leader called Hei Jin stayed beside Lu Bo with the King, while the others who fell into the Surveillance Commissioner’s office were killed by the King to silence them.
“Terrible!” Zhou Xizhong suddenly recalled something, greatly alarmed and losing color. “That Assistant Commissioner is Lu Bo’s specially appointed grain supervision officer in the military! At the time, precisely because Lu Bo employed this ‘mortal enemy’ as grain supervision officer, we felt he was fair and just…”
“I’ve already ordered the Surveillance Commissioner’s office to pursue provisions already on the road and ordered the Yan family to urgently mobilize aristocratic family stored grain to send to Minnan. Please, Commissioner, immediately arrange for府军 府army guards to escort the grain transport team and afterward compensate the aristocratic families at official grain procurement prices.”
Zhou Xizhong stared with his somewhat blurry eyes, gazing blankly at Feng Zhiwei. This youngster—day by day he felt he’d vastly underestimated him. Such meticulous thinking, such thunderous decisiveness, such fearless action. Daring to boldly move military provisions and detain military officers before even catching evidence—such courage, he’d never seen anyone possess it before, and likely would never see anyone possess it again.
Back when inciting ten thousand people to smash ships and petition—thinking about it now, it was truly a very stupid move…
Feng Zhiwei paid no attention to his shocked gaze. Turning, she gazed distantly toward the south, sighing softly in her heart.
Ning Yi, I only hope all is well with you…
In the tenth month of the thirteenth year of Changxi, after the Chang family’s complete defeat in Nanhai, the deepest chess piece buried in Nanhai surfaced at a critical moment. Regional Military Commissioner Lu Bo was actually a Chang family agent and held the most critical provisions supervision responsibility for the Southern Expedition army. If not for Imperial Commissioner Wei Zhi’s timely discovery, recovering the poisoned military provisions and urgently substituting with aristocratic family stored grain, the Southern Expedition army would certainly have suffered catastrophe. Reportedly when the Surveillance Commissioner’s office intercepted the provisions, the grain transport team was only ten li from the Southern Expedition camp.
This matter fundamentally accelerated the Chang clan’s destruction. The trump card the Chang clan confidently held in hand, lurking ten years and prepared to finally bring out to reverse the war situation, couldn’t withstand Feng Zhiwei’s single strike. Precisely from Lu Bo’s exposure, everyone—including the Chang clan themselves—had already seen the Chang clan’s final doomsday approaching.
After Zhou Xizhong reported this matter to the court, the court issued a full long paragraph of commendation edicts. Lengthy passages expressed appreciation for Feng Zhiwei, reaching the unprecedented highest word count for commendation edicts. The entire court discussed how this sixteen-year-old Imperial Commissioner would definitely be honored with flowers brocade and rise another level upon returning to the capital.
But Feng Zhiwei didn’t care about these things. What she cared about was the curse poison’s解法 解antidote. Gu Nanyi had captured that Minnan assassin leader called “Hei Jin” and used his own methods to force him to retrieve the King. Young Master Gu locked himself with these two in a room. Half a day later, Hei Jin had turned into Bai Jin (White Gold). His past coldness and toughness were gone. With dying breath, he indicated whatever they wanted to discuss with him was fine.
Thus Feng Zhiwei learned Chunyu Meng’s experiences. Sure enough, the brush monkeys saved him. That night Chunyu Meng desperately blocked them, severely injured in over ten places. When the assassins finally prepared to finish him with one blade, the brush monkeys jumped out. The assassins immediately paled in shock.
In Minnan legends, these brush monkeys actually were no longer those ornamental pet monkeys for人赏玩 人people’s enjoyment, but Minnan’s “Ancestor of Ten Thousand Poisons.” This poison ancestor itself had no poison but had威慑之力 威deterrent power over various living curses the Minnan witch族 族clan relied on to harm people and kill. Wherever it passed, ten thousand curses retreated. Curses and their masters were心意相通 心spiritually connected. What the curse feared, the master also couldn’t harm—and had to properly care for them. Because of this, Hei Jin wanted to tame the brush monkeys to possess them. The brush monkeys desperately protected Chunyu Meng. Thus Chunyu Meng preserved his life, brought along by them to recover from injuries all the way until near Fengzhou. When those people were overwhelmed, only then did Chunyu Meng escape.
As for the curse Chunyu Meng suffered, Hei Jin himself had administered it—”tongue curse” cultivated with ancient tomb corpse气 气energy. This thing wasn’t a living creature. The brush monkeys were also powerless against it.
Knowing these curses’ origins, Feng Zhiwei handed Hei Jin over to that white-robed man. That person claimed his surname was Zong, given name Chen. Feng Zhiwei thought for a long time but couldn’t recall any Zong-surnamed man skilled in medicine in the world. Likely another假名 假false name.
Three days later, Chunyu Meng gradually began recovering his wits. His scent discrimination also趋向正常 趋approached normal. But Zong Chen said Chunyu Meng’s sense of taste was destroyed. From now on, he’d find it very difficult to taste food’s true flavor for the rest of his life. Thinking Chunyu was still young yet for this lifetime could never again taste food’s beauty or tea’s fragrance, Feng Zhiwei felt melancholy.
Fortunately, Chunyu Meng had an open-minded temperament. After regaining consciousness, he never mentioned it once. When eating, he wolfed it down, making people错觉 错误imagine his taste was completely normal. Only sometimes he’d mistake ginger for braised pork and eat it with relish.
After curing Chunyu Meng, Zong Chen left. Before leaving, he gave Feng Zhiwei a paper packet, saying it was newly developed curse antidote. Feng Zhiwei had it sent by fast horse to Minnan. Several more days passed. Yan Huaishi returned from the Southern Expedition camp after transporting grain, coming to the door with a smile.
Pretending to be very tired, he desperately wiped sweat, pushing a delicate box before Feng Zhiwei’s eyes and winking at her.
“Hey! Someone sent this for you!”