The bruise at the corner of Xie Zheng’s eye had already faded a great deal. Leaning against the sitting couch, he lowered his eyelids slightly, lost in thought. Even when Gongsun Yin entered the tent, he did not stir. Only after Gongsun Yin made a teasing remark did he lift his eyelids and say, “If you’re so idle, then go to Jinzhou to supervise the battle.”

Gongsun Yin found himself a place to sit, poured a cup of hot tea, and said as he drank, “Idle? You sent Xueluan with a letter, and I brought the soldiers of Yanzhou, trekking hundreds of li to Lucheng, serving like ox and horse, only to be greeted by such words from you—truly chilling!”

Xie Zheng, in ill humor, spoke even more cuttingly: “To give that foolish thing such a name, aren’t you ashamed of the pretension? Since you’ve already made yourself an ox or a horse, the journey back to Yanzhou from Lucheng shouldn’t need carriage or mount. You can walk.”

Gongsun Yin choked on that. Everyone said he was sharp-tongued, yet he had never once gained the upper hand in words with Xie Zheng.

Unable to resist, he said, “So much temper? If you don’t like Xueluan, give her to me to raise!”

As he said the last words, his pair of fox-like eyes couldn’t help but glance toward the corner of the tent, where the gyrfalcon rested.

For some reason, the gyrfalcon had lately taken a liking to sleeping in a bamboo basket. The basket had originally been for dirty clothes, but upon seeing it, the bird had gone straight in and squatted there as if it were its nest.

Xie Zheng lifted his eyes coolly. “Didn’t you hear me? It’s not the bird I dislike, it’s the name you gave it.”

Gongsun Yin, angered, flung his sleeve and was about to leave. “Xie Jiuheng, don’t go too far!”

Xie Zheng let him go as he pleased.

But when Gongsun Yin reached the entrance of the tent, he suddenly turned back, sat down again, and said, “Almost fell for your trick. You provoked me on purpose, to drive me off. Whoever managed to wound you has truly made you this displeased…”

His fox-like eyes narrowed. “I heard the Heir of Prince Changxin went to Qingping County some days ago. On the Chongzhou battlefield, you were trapped and defeated by his stratagems. The army says he’s unmatched in valor. Could it be that the injury on your face came from him?”

Xie Zheng gave a cold laugh. “You think too highly of him.”

From that tone, Gongsun Yin knew immediately it could not have been Sui Yuanqing.

He frowned. “Surely it wasn’t some romantic entanglement, did a woman hit you?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he began laughing at himself. “That’s absolutely impossible. Not to mention that you, Xie Jiuheng, have no such luck in love—even if you did, no young lady could have such strength.”

Xie Zheng’s expression stiffened slightly; he spoke with irritation. “Did you come here just to talk nonsense?”

Seeing that his face darkened, Gongsun Yin set aside his joking tone. “Naturally, I came for serious business as well. When the soldiers of Yanzhou went to meet that merchant surnamed Zhao to arrange the grain transport, they didn’t expose themselves in the least. It was that Zhao who left a trail for the officials of Jizhou, which led He Jingyuan to discover Yanzhou’s involvement.”

“When I sent men to strike Zhao’s hidden strongholds, I deliberately let word leak out so they could relocate in advance—only then did we trace the deeper places they were hiding. After a thorough investigation, we found quite a few interesting things.”

He gave a deep, knowing smile, and only when Xie Zheng looked over did he continue, “The Zhao family also has dealings with the Prince of Changxin.”

Xie Zheng’s expression remained calm. “When Zhao Xun met me, he already hinted several times that he might be the imperial grandson who perished in the great fire more than ten years ago. With the Prince of Changxin rebelling, it’s not surprising if the people behind Zhao Xun are trading with him.”

At the mention of “imperial grandson,” Gongsun Yin’s expression shifted. He asked, “What does the Marquis intend?”

The title he used was Marquis rather than you—a question not as a friend, but as an adviser seeking his stance on the coming alignment.

Xie Zheng said, “After the battle at Chongzhou, Wei Yan and I are already irreconcilable as water and fire.”

Gongsun Yin pondered for a moment and said, “The Prince of Changxin is no benevolent sort either. If the imperial grandson truly still lives, who knows what kind of deal he struck with the Prince of Changxin.”

Xie Zheng bent one leg slightly, his long hair tied back, his dark brows tapering to his temples. His tone was languid yet edged with chill. “If the imperial grandson is indeed in contact with the Prince of Changxin, yet the Prince rebelled without invoking the imperial grandson’s name, then either this so-called imperial grandson is merely a smokescreen released by the Prince, or… the Prince of Changxin is overly ambitious, unwilling to yield to another once his power rises.”

Hearing this conjecture, Gongsun Yin was startled as well. “Even if the Prince of Changxin refuses to bow to others, it would still be more proper and justified for him to rebel under the imperial grandson’s name. Once the realm is settled and he holds great authority in his hands, whether the imperial grandson ascends that dragon throne or not would depend entirely on his will. In this light, the matter of the imperial grandson does seem like the Prince of Changxin’s stratagem.”

He furrowed his brows tightly. “But as for Wei Yan, he too has been investigating the imperial grandson’s affair, and these past days has been arresting people based on mere whispers. Even you… when you re-examined the Jinzhou case of those years, it already stirred his murderous intent. From this, the news that the imperial grandson is still alive doesn’t seem false—otherwise, why would Wei Yan be so panicked?”

Xie Zheng recalled Zhao Xun’s words that day. Zhao Xun had hinted that he himself was a man of the imperial grandson, yet he knew nothing of the hidden truth behind the Jinzhou massacre seventeen years ago, and even the story of how the imperial grandson survived the blaze in the Eastern Palace was but his own claim, without a shred of proof.

It was precisely because Xie Zheng found this highly suspicious that he had demanded those behind Zhao Xun come forward to speak with him personally. But as the Zhao family’s businesses were successively seized by the authorities, the matter was left unsettled.

He asked, “Before the government sealed the Zhao family’s strongholds in Qingping County, did your men discover anything?”

Gongsun Yin replied, “Those bases in Qingping County were all temporary—shops, taverns, and the like, bought by the Zhao family less than two months ago. There was precious little that could be found.”

Xie Zheng’s fingers, tapping the tabletop, paused slightly. “When the government confiscated the Zhao family’s shops, I had been staying in Qingping County for only a month. Those strongholds were clearly not set up for my sake.”

Gongsun Yin also felt the matter grow increasingly shrouded in fog. “You mean, something must have happened in Qingping County a month before your downfall—that’s why the Zhao family set up so many bases there?”

What had happened in Qingping County a month before his downfall…

A flash of sharpness crossed Xie Zheng’s gaze. It could only be the death of the Fan couple.

Wei Yan had sent men to kill that husband and wife, and several times dispatched death warriors to the Fan household, searching for something. With such commotion, anyone keeping an eye on Wei Yan’s movements would certainly have noticed.

So… were those strongholds of the Zhao family established because of the Fan family?

Zhao Xun had not found him out of admiration for his essays, nor by coincidence, but because the Zhao family had long been watching the Fan family—and thus discovered his whereabouts along the way.

Something unseen was on the verge of revealing itself.

Xie Zheng said slowly, “It seems Wei Yan has been played by the Prince of Changxin as well.”

Gongsun Yin, sharp as he was, instantly caught the meaning behind Xie Zheng’s words. “You’re saying the Prince of Changxin deliberately released rumors about the imperial grandson and the Jinzhou battle to throw Wei Yan into confusion?”

Xie Zheng voiced his conjecture. “The imperial grandson may indeed exist, or he may be nothing but a facade. But the Prince of Changxin must know certain truths from that year. Lacking proof, he deliberately spread these tales so Wei Yan would think he had left loose ends back then. When Wei Yan turned to eradicate them, he would expose the very evidence himself.”

Even Gongsun Yin was momentarily stunned, his brows knitting tightly. “If there’s no imperial grandson at all, then that Zhao fellow buying two hundred thousand shi of grain for you from the start was only to lure Wei Xuan into levying grain, provoke the people of Qingping County into revolt, and join forces within and without to attack Lucheng?”

He rose to his feet and began pacing back and forth inside the military tent.

“Just as Beijue begins attacking Jinzhou— with that two hundred thousand shi of grain, it will not be easy for them to take the city. Otherwise, once Jinzhou falls, the gateway of the northwest is wide open; Beijue’s forces would drive straight in, and the Prince of Changxin himself would not live easily. These two hundred thousand shi of grain, truly a single arrow striking three targets!”

“Wei Yan wants you dead, the Prince of Changxin controls the grain routes at Chongzhou, and you are to fend off Beijue’s troops. His army can continue marching southward. When you’re at your last strength, you’ll either end up like your father and the Crown Prince of Chengde— starved to death in Jinzhou— or be forced to ally with the Prince of Changxin and surrender your military command.”

When Gongsun Yin sat down again, his long brows furrowed tightly. “Such a plan— so meticulous, and so vicious!”

Xie Zheng’s expression, however, seemed almost indifferent, as though he did not take the deadlock described to heart. “I thought you would advise me to ally with the Prince of Changxin.”

Gongsun Yin’s face darkened. “Don’t mistake me for those useless wine sacks and rice bags. Leaving aside that you’re Wei Yan’s own nephew— simply by virtue of your holding heavy military power, even if you pledged yourself to the Prince of Changxin, he wouldn’t dare to use you. In this world, no one can sleep soundly with a sword hanging above his head.”

He was the sharpest blade in the realm, his edge unmatched.

Wei Yan, forced by circumstance, had once forged this weapon by accident— yet at the faintest sign of unrest, had already resolved to break it.

If a man with power over the court and the world feared him so deeply, how could the shrewd Prince of Changxin dare to hold this blade in his own hand?

Should Xie Zheng rebel, who between him and the Prince of Changxin would rule the world would be far from certain. With such cunning, the Prince of Changxin would never keep so great a danger close to himself.

Yet Xie Zheng’s words gave Gongsun Yin another thought. His fox-like eyes narrowed. “Does the Marquis desire the world?”

Xie Zheng gave a short laugh. “I want the truth behind the Battle of Jinzhou seventeen years ago.”

Those words made Gongsun Yin smile. “Now that— that is the Xie Jiuheng I know.”

He straightened his robe to take his leave. But as he reached the tent’s entrance, he couldn’t help turning back. “I’m still curious, just who did hit you?”

There were no other wounds on him, only his face had been struck into such a state. Truly strange.

When Xie Zheng’s gaze, cold as a blade, swept toward him, Gongsun Yin quickly lifted the curtain and slipped out.

Xie Zheng closed his eyes. The feelings he had tried to suppress surged up again, stirred by Gongsun Yin’s few careless words.

He had rarely tasted defeat in this life. Aside from bitterness, there was also a faint unwillingness in his heart.

The noble ladies of the entire capital— even the princesses— he could have had any one of them, had he wished. Yet that one woman had nearly despised him to the level of a weed by the roadside.

His chest felt tight, mixed with a trace of irritation.

Just then, the curtain was lifted once more. Xie Zheng looked up in impatience— it was Gongsun Yin returning, carrying a large bundle that looked somewhat familiar.

Meeting Xie Zheng’s unfriendly gaze, Gongsun Yin shrugged. “A captain from the Jizhou camp sent this over. Said there’s a carpenter whose plasters cured his rheumatism. Out of gratitude, he’s helping that carpenter find a nephew-in-law. And coincidentally, that carpenter’s nephew-in-law is named Yan Zheng. Among the thousand men I requested from He Jingyuan, you alone used the alias ‘Yan Zheng’. So I thought, isn’t this meant for you?”

As he spoke, a glint of teasing flashed in his fox-like eyes. “A nephew-in-law? So you’re married now?”

Xie Zheng froze for an instant at the sight of the bundle, then pressed his lips together, his expression turning cold. “Put it in the back tent.”

Hearing this, Gongsun Yin’s fox eyes went wide, looking quite dumbfounded. “Wait— you really got married?”

Xie Zheng’s lips tightened, but he said nothing.

Married— but only a false one.

Seeing his expression, Gongsun Yin frowned, and as if something suddenly occurred to him, he looked at Xie Zheng in disbelief. “Don’t tell me you intend to start wantonly and abandon in the end?”

His gaze fell upon Xie Zheng’s face, and the more he looked, the more certain he became of his own guess. “The injury on your face— could it be that you wronged the young lady, and her family beat you for it?”

Xie Zheng’s face darkened. “Shut up.”

He was the one who had been cast aside like worn-out shoes.

Yet Gongsun Yin took up indignation on behalf of Fan Changyu, looking at Xie Zheng with heartfelt disappointment. “Jiuheng, Jiuheng— I never thought you were this kind of man…”

Xie Zheng lifted his eyelids impatiently. “Will you walk out yourself, or shall I have someone throw you out?”

Gongsun Yin frowned, but his tone grew earnest. “Jiuheng, even if the woman’s status is low and unworthy of being your principal wife, she was with you when you were at your most destitute. You could at least bring her back and make her a concubine. How could you be so heartless…”

Xie Zheng was silent for a long while before finally saying, “It’s she who doesn’t wish to be with me.”

Gongsun Yin’s expression turned as strange as could be.