“Hmm?” Feng Zhenhai furrowed his brows.

“Grandfather, what is the point of playing chess against yourself, no matter how fine the game may be?”

After putting away the board, she slid one of the piece boxes toward him.

“You want to play chess with Grandfather?” Feng Zhenhai looked startled. As far back as he could remember, she had been wild and confused and simple-minded for this entire decade — when had she ever learned to play chess?

“Did I not used to follow Grandfather and play when I was little?” The memories belonging to Feng Jiu’er were so jumbled that even she herself could not sort them out clearly.

The memories of the past ten years were hazy; the memories from before that — from when she had been so young — were strangely vivid, with many things she could recall with clarity.

The game began. At first, Feng Jiu’er’s play was an utter rout — she could not even remember the rules properly. Yet very soon, she found herself moving with ease and confidence.

The old man naturally made allowances for her in the beginning, but as the game wore on, he found himself having to think in earnest.

The little lass’s skill improved with astonishing speed. It seemed she had simply forgotten how to play; the moment she found her footing again, her own instincts surged right back to the surface.

She… was truly the same as she had been in childhood. In the blink of an eye, she had once again become the old man’s most cherished treasure.

“My Ninth Lass of the family has truly come back!”

When the game concluded, the old man had won with ease — yet the more he played, the more spirited he became. “Lass, one more round!”

“All right.”

In the second game, Jiu’er lost again — but the old man knew that winning was growing increasingly difficult for him.

The third game — Jiu’er lost once more.

The fourth game went on for a very long time, so long that the hour for the evening meal came and passed and the game was still unfinished.

“Ninth Lass, you are playing with every ounce of determination, trying to beat your Grandfather!” The old man was straining, yet his mood was better than ever.

Jiu’er smiled faintly. “Indeed, Grandfather. I am trying very hard. If I win, will Grandfather answer one question for me?”

“What question?”

The smile at the corner of Jiu’er’s lips faded considerably. She held a chess piece, hesitated for quite a while, then set it down.

“I want to know — where are my maternal grandfather and my uncle now?”

Ever since learning that her maternal grandfather and her uncle’s family had been framed by Nanmeng Rong and banished to the frontier, Jiu’er had returned home and asked Xing Zizou to investigate the matter, hoping to find out where they were now.

Yet to her surprise, in the very place where the Long family had been exiled, there was absolutely no trace of them.

Xing Zizou had searched through every border town in the surrounding region — and still found not a single scrap of news.

Who could clearly remember something that had happened more than a decade ago?

Her uncle at the time had been no more than a bright young man of sixteen or seventeen, yet he had made a name for himself on the battlefield just as her mother had — what glory that must have been.

She worried over her uncle’s mysterious ailment. She longed urgently to find her maternal grandfather and uncle, to know how they were faring now.

But more than ten years had passed. The Long family, who had once been so renowned, had vanished entirely from the world.

Feng Jiu’er looked at Feng Zhenhai, and as she had expected, his expression darkened at once.

“So many years have passed since all of that. They left the imperial city long ago and disappeared without a trace — what good does asking do you?” Feng Zhenhai said flatly, plainly trying to avoid the subject.

But since Jiu’er had brought it up, she had no intention of dropping it.

“My mother did not die of illness — she was trapped and left to die on the battlefield because the Empress at the time deliberately withheld the reinforcements. Is that correct?”

“You…”

“Those were Nanmeng Rong’s own words.” Feng Jiu’er fixed her gaze on him, refusing to let him keep evading her. “Grandfather, Jiu’er knows how rare and precious the peace our Feng Manor enjoys today truly is. Jiu’er has no wish to shatter everything our family has built.”

To antagonize the Nanmeng clan was not something the Feng family could afford to do — she understood that perfectly well in her heart.

“Jiu’er only wants to know — what has become of my maternal grandfather and uncle? Grandfather, please understand Jiu’er’s feelings. They are the people most dear to Jiu’er in this world.”

Feng Zhenhai turned his face away. Jiu’er immediately walked over and knelt before him. “Grandfather, if it were you who had met with misfortune, Jiu’er would pursue the truth to the very end as well. Grandfather, please, I beg you to understand!”

Feng Zhenhai sighed helplessly. “Grandfather understands your feelings. But… ah!”

He let out another long sigh before speaking quietly, “Even if you know, what use is there in it? Grandfather does not want you to carry this grief with you for the rest of your life.”

“Grandfather, useful or not, Jiu’er still wants to know. Please tell Jiu’er — what has truly become of my maternal grandfather and uncle? Where are they now?”

Even if they had been banished to the frontier, there ought to be records. So why could Xing Zizou find nothing at all?

After the affair in which someone had impersonated the Ninth Imperial Uncle during the campaign, Jiu’er had come to trust Xing Zizou’s investigative abilities greatly. Yet not even Xing Zizou could find anything — was that not deeply strange?

Such a large family — could they simply vanish without a trace?

Feng Zhenhai was truly caught in a difficult position. In this matter, he would rather Jiu’er knew nothing at all.

If she were still as she had been before — dazed and simple-minded every day — perhaps things would be easier.

But the Jiu’er of today… was so sharp and bright. Such a wonderful, precious granddaughter — how could he go on wishing she remained simple-minded?

Feng Zhenhai truly did not know what he had been thinking. He wrestled with himself for some time, then finally lowered his head to look at the girl still kneeling on the floor.

“It is not that Grandfather does not wish to tell you — it is that Grandfather fears once you know, you will… you will cause trouble.”

“Grandfather!” Jiu’er clutched the hem of his robe. If Grandfather had said this much, then it meant something unknown had happened in those years.

Something unknown to her, at least.

“Grandfather, please…”

“The Long family, on their way to the frontier…” Feng Zhenhai’s palm clenched tight, the knuckles faintly whitening.

His expression was very poor. Hidden deep in his eyes was a fury barely perceptible, and after that fury came a wave of sorrow and regret.

At last he let out a long, heavy sigh and said in a low voice, “On the road, they encountered mountain bandits and were… their entire family was killed.”

“How can that be!” Every member of the Long family had been raised in martial arts — how could ordinary mountain bandits possibly wipe them all out?

And if it were an exceptionally formidable and numerous band of bandits — that made even less sense. What kind of bandits would go out of their way to attack a group of convicts being escorted to the frontier?

What would bandits gain from robbing convicts? Did anyone not know that convicts carried nothing of value? Were they doing it for amusement?

“Impossible. Absolutely impossible. This is a conspiracy!”

Feng Jiu’er shot to her feet, her fingernails nearly piercing through her own palms!

This was the truth of it? Their entire family killed — by a band of mountain bandits?

“Impossible!”

Feng Zhenhai had known it would come to this the moment he told her.

Who did not know it was a conspiracy — but no one had investigated at the time, and to try to investigate now would be no easy task.

Suddenly recalling something, Feng Zhenhai grabbed Feng Jiu’er’s wrist and lowered his voice. “Grandfather knows what you are thinking. But this matter may not have much to do with the Empress.”

Feng Jiu’er started, a look of surprise crossing her face. “Grandfather, why would you say that…”