After Gongsun Yin left, Xie Zheng acted as if he had not seen that large bundle at all, picking up a military strategy manual from the table and beginning to flip through it.

When a personal guard entered to deliver tea, Xie Zheng said coldly, “Throw that thing into the rear tent.”

The guard paused for a moment before realizing that “that thing” must refer to the large bundle Gongsun Yin had brought. He picked it up and carried it into the rear tent.

The object was clearly no longer before him, yet the space between Xie Zheng’s brows remained furrowed. His fingertips turned the pages rapidly, but he still could not suppress the restlessness in his chest.

After a while, he tossed the book aside. The guard stationed at the entrance, hearing the sound, was about to step in and ask if there were any orders, but as soon as he lifted the curtain a crack, he saw Xie Zheng rise himself and head toward the rear tent.

The guard quickly withdrew his hand, returned to his place, and stood at attention without glancing sideways.

At present, only Gongsun Yin and a few close confidants knew Xie Zheng’s true identity within the Yan Prefecture army. The tent he resided in was that of an ordinary commander, divided into a front and a rear section—the front for military affairs, the rear for rest and living quarters.

The bundle the guard had earlier carried to the rear tent was now set upon a small side table next to the camp bed.

Xie Zheng lowered his eyes and looked at it for a while before untying the knot on the bundle.

Inside were two sets of new clothes and a pair of shoes—all packed by Fan Changyu that day.

When he saw the two extra packets of dried tangerine peel candy inside, the tightness at his lips eased slightly. The stifled heaviness in his chest felt as though it had suddenly been steeped in warm water, and the inexplicable agitation within him gradually calmed.

Xie Zheng’s fingertips brushed over the two sets of new clothes. He picked them up, intending to place them properly into a trunk—but as he lifted them, the folded silver notes and that divorce document slipped out together.

The moment he caught sight of the square, glaring words “Divorce Document,” the faint curve at his lips froze.

So she truly… meant to sever all ties beyond question!

His thin lips curled into a cold, sharp line. His innate pride made him want nothing more than to summon someone immediately to take this bundle and throw it far away.

After closing his eyes for a few breaths, however, he merely gathered up the items and locked them all inside the chest beside him.

He sat there, eyes lowered toward the chest at his feet, his face void of expression.

If he threw them away now, he would only keep thinking of them.

Better to keep them—until the day he could look upon these things without even the faintest stir in his heart. Then, that would be the right time to discard them.

He had been taught by Wei Yan himself. If there was one thing he had learned best from Wei Yan, it was to confront his own desires directly—and, at the same time, to learn how to master them.

That he had been moved by her was true. But only that, and nothing more.

· ─ ·✶· ─ · 

Meanwhile, after leaving the Yan Prefecture camp, Gongsun Yin could hardly stand the itch in his heart—as if a cat’s paw were scratching there—and so he wandered off again toward the new recruits’ camp in Jizhou.

Xie Zheng was tight-lipped. No matter how much he talked, he could not pry much out of him regarding the marriage. But thinking on it, since that young lady had entrusted her uncle to deliver things to Xie Zheng, she hardly seemed indifferent to him. Then why had Xie Zheng said she was unwilling to be with him?

Harboring this confusion, Gongsun Yin went to question the young officer in charge of supervising the craftsmen in Jizhou. It didn’t take much effort before he found Carpenter Zhao.

A craftsman who could practice medicine and had even treated a captain’s rheumatism with a few applications of medicinal paste—there was only one such carpenter. Easy enough to find.

The newly conscripted soldiers still needed drilling and were not yet participating in actual combat. The craftsmen recruited from among the common folk were assigned to forge city defense equipment.

Since there was no need to treat warhorses for illness, Carpenter Zhao was first assigned to the woodworking camp.

When the officer in charge of the craftsmen led Gongsun Yin to meet Carpenter Zhao, the latter was holding a plane, shaving a piece of wood.

The officer called out, “Carpenter Zhao, are you here? Someone’s looking for you!”

Carpenter Zhao put down the plane in his hand and lifted his aged eyes toward the voice. “This old one is here.”

The officer beckoned him over, and Carpenter Zhao, after taking leave of the foreman overseeing the work, walked out.

As craftsmen, they were not issued standard military uniforms. Carpenter Zhao still wore his own dusty gray clothes. His back was hunched, and he looked thin and wiry.

The officer treated him with a measure of respect. “This lord wishes to see you.”

Though he had not been in the camp long, Carpenter Zhao had already learned a set of ways to survive. When he saw someone in armor, he would address them as General; if they were ordinary soldiers, he would call them Sir Soldier. But if the person wore no armor yet carried an air of authority, regardless of rank or post, he would call them Lord.

Now, upon seeing Gongsun Yin, Carpenter Zhao hurriedly bowed and said, “This old one greets the lord.”

Gongsun Yin lifted him with a courteous gesture, smiling as warmly as a spring breeze. “Elder, no need for such formalities. I heard you have a nephew-in-law named Yan Zheng?”

During his time in the army, Carpenter Zhao had been constantly inquiring after news of Yan Zheng. Yet with tens of thousands of soldiers conscripted, how could he easily find anything? By a stroke of fortune, he had once treated a captain’s rheumatism; the man, being straightforward in nature, told him to come for help if he ever had difficulties.

Carpenter Zhao had been afraid the matter of looking for a neighbor might not seem important enough, so he had claimed that Yan Zheng was his nephew-in-law and asked the captain to help inquire.

That captain was indeed a man of his word. He took the request seriously and, upon learning that Yan Zheng was among the thousand men loaned to Yan Prefecture, promptly informed Carpenter Zhao. Like most craftsmen, Zhao had been kept under supervision to prevent escape, forbidden to wander freely in camp. So he had asked the captain to deliver the bundle prepared by Fan Changyu to Xie Zheng on his behalf.

After the captain delivered it and sent back word, Carpenter Zhao’s heart finally settled. He felt he could give Fan Changyu a proper explanation when the time came.

Now, with a finely dressed young master suddenly seeking him out, Carpenter Zhao could not guess the reason. He worried—had his lie about Yan Zheng being his nephew-in-law been found out, and was he now to be punished for deceit?

His lips moved several times before he finally nodded with an uneasy heart pounding in his chest.

Seeing that he had found the right man, Gongsun Yin’s foxlike eyes curved into narrow slits with delight. He even openly requested a tent from the officer, inviting Carpenter Zhao inside to sit for a while.

Carpenter Zhao had never experienced such treatment before; once inside, he sat stiffly, feeling as though he were on pins and needles.

Gongsun Yin smiled with cultured politeness and even poured him tea himself. “I heard you cured Captain Hu’s rheumatism. With such medical skill, Elder, why not serve as an army physician instead of joining the craftsmen’s camp?”

Carpenter Zhao said with embarrassment, “This old one’s medical skills are shallow. I used to treat livestock, how would I dare call myself an army physician?”

Upon learning that the man had been a veterinarian, Gongsun Yin laughed. “Then Captain Hu must have been your first patient among people, eh?”

Carpenter Zhao answered honestly, “Not quite. This old one worked as a veterinarian for more than ten years before turning to carpentry. The first person I ever treated was my nephew-in-law. He was badly wounded back then, and no medical hall in town dared take him in. This old one had no choice but to risk using medicine to save him.”

Gongsun Yin froze for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. When Carpenter Zhao looked at him in confusion, he coughed several times, forcing himself to hold back his amusement. “He met you at the end of his rope, Elder. That truly was his fortune.”

Carpenter Zhao hastily said no again and again.

“The man was carried back from the wilderness by my niece herself. If she hadn’t picked him up, even if he hadn’t died of those wounds, he would have frozen to death in the snow.”

Gongsun Yin thought to himself—a beauty rescuing a hero—a fine tale indeed. He restrained his curiosity and asked, “And later, he married your niece?”

Seeing the man prying so insistently, Carpenter Zhao glanced at him with suspicion. Why would an officer be inquiring into Yan Zheng’s marriage?

Gongsun Yin quickly realized his own intentions were too obvious and casually came up with an excuse. 

“Your nephew-in-law has earned the favor of our general. For those whom the general wishes to promote, it’s only proper to learn their background thoroughly. Thus, I was sent to pay a visit.”

Carpenter Zhao might not have been well-read, but having lived several decades, there were few things he hadn’t seen. The war hasn’t even begun, and Yan Zheng’s already caught the general’s eye? he thought grimly. Could it be his looks? Is some general trying to take him as a son-in-law?

What about Changyu then?

She can’t possibly go through another ordeal like that one with Song Yan!

His mind spun rapidly, and he finally said, “To answer the lord’s question—yes, that child later became my niece’s husband by marriage.”