Changning recognized that it was Fan Changyu crying. She lifted her short little legs to go in, but Gongsun Yin grabbed her by the collar.

She tilted her head up in confusion, only to see Gongsun Yin make a “shh” gesture at her.

He led her a few steps away before crouching down halfway and said softly, “Let your elder sister and brother-in-law talk for a while.”

Changning nodded obediently. The baby fat on her face had faded quite a bit, making her eyes look even larger. She rarely spoke in front of strangers, and to her, Gongsun Yin still clearly belonged to the category of ‘not familiar’.

Thinking of Xie Zheng’s plan, Gongsun Yin asked, “Little girl, do you still remember how your brother-in-law rescued you?”

The moment Changning thought of that rainy-night battlefield, her little face went pale. It had been pitch-black then, and she had been too terrified—her memories were all muddled. After straining to recall, she answered, “The bad men wanted to kill Ning-niang, brother-in-law fought the bad men…”

Gongsun Yin let out a light sigh. For a child this young to have been dragged onto a battlefield—if she hadn’t been scared into idiocy, it was already because her heart was firm enough. How could she still remember the details of the battle? He patted the top of her head and said, “Don’t be afraid. It’s all over now. The bad men were caught by your brother-in-law.”

Only then did Changning’s expression ease a little. She nodded hard and gave a muffled “Mm,” then looked up again, clutching the hem of her clothes nervously and asked Gongsun Yin, “Will my brother-in-law die?”

Gongsun Yin couldn’t help but laugh. “Little girl, do you know what it means when they say ‘a scourge lives for a thousand years’?”

Changning shook her head.

Hiding his smile behind his fan, Gongsun Yin said, “In other people’s eyes, your brother-in-law is probably that kind of scourge. His life is tough, he won’t die so easily.”

Knowing that Xie Zheng wouldn’t die, Changning felt relieved. She turned her head and gazed expectantly at the tent curtain.

Taking the chance, Gongsun Yin asked, “Your elder sister and brother-in-law have a very good relationship, don’t they?”

Changning thought for a moment and nodded.

Gongsun Yin felt no shame in coaxing words out of a child and went on, “How good is it?”

Changning’s large, black-and-white eyes blinked as she said, “When Father and Mother were gone, if Ning-niang was wronged she’d cry in front of my elder sister; my elder sister only cries in front of brother-in-law.”

This made Gongsun Yin freeze for a moment.

Changning counted on her fingers as she continued, “When ruffians came to make trouble at home, brother-in-law broke their legs and drove them away. When elder sister killed pigs and sold pork to earn silver, she bought brother-in-law new clothes and hair ribbons. When brother-in-law drank medicine and was afraid of the bitterness, elder sister bought him sweets…”

Gongsun Yin’s expression turned quite peculiar. So what that old man in Lucheng had said was true—Xie Jiuheng really had become a live-in son-in-law, even eating soft rice!

Just as he wanted to ask more, even through the thick tent curtain he suddenly felt a chill run down his back.

Gongsun Yin promptly said to Changning, “Child, stay here and wait for your sister to come out. I have something else to do, so I’ll leave first.”

With that, he stood up and left.

· ─ ·✶· ─ · 

Inside the tent.

After venting all the emotions she had been bottling up these past days through a good cry, Fan Changyu straightened up and wiped her eyes. “I think I just heard Changning’s voice.”

Xie Zheng had long heard the commotion outside. Retracting his cold gaze from the tent’s entrance, he said, “She’s just outside. I didn’t have time to tell you earlier—in the army, when you went to the cook camp, I asked someone to bring her here.”

Fan Changyu was stunned for a moment. Before she could ask anything more, she quickly lifted the tent curtain and looked outside. Sure enough—she saw Changning squatting obediently on the ground not far away, her chin propped on her hands as she gazed toward the tent, and not far behind her, Gongsun Yin was sneaking away guiltily, having only managed to take a few steps.

Fan Changyu called out in delight, “Ning-niang!”

When Changning saw her, her eyes instantly lit up. She rushed over and threw herself straight into Fan Changyu’s arms, clutching her waist tightly and mumbling, “A-jie…”

The moment those two syllables came out, the tears welling in her big eyes overflowed uncontrollably, falling one by one with soft splashes.

Fan Changyu asked her, “How are you here?”

But her gaze couldn’t help drifting toward Gongsun Yin, who was standing a few steps away looking furtive and guilty.

Now that he had been caught, Gongsun Yin could no longer pretend nothing had happened. He drew back the foot he had half lifted, flicked open his fan, and restored that easy, graceful air of a man with feather fan and scholar’s scarf.

“This little girl fell into enemy hands by mistake,” he said leisurely. “After being rescued, she was temporarily taken in by the army. Upon hearing that she was the wife’s younger sister of our brother Yan, I brought her here.”

Fan Changyu hurriedly expressed her thanks, then crouched to wipe Changning’s tears. Seeing how much thinner her cheeks had become, she felt her heart ache. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “A-jie didn’t find you sooner. You must’ve suffered.”

Changning shook her head, crying hiccupingly against her shoulder.

Fan Changyu held her little sister close and invited Gongsun Yin to come into the tent and sit. Gongsun Yin thought to himself that Xie Zheng must already know he was outside; it wouldn’t look good to leave now. So, using the pretext of visiting the sick, he followed them in.

Once inside, Changning saw Xie Zheng half reclining on the army cot, his chest wrapped with blood-stained gauze. Her lips quivered as she called, “Brother-in-law.”

Then, wiping her tears, she turned to Fan Changyu and said, “Brother-in-law got hurt saving Ning-niang from the bad men.”

Fan Changyu turned her head toward Xie Zheng, clearly bewildered. “You were injured saving Ning-niang?”

Xie Zheng had not yet prepared himself to tell Fan Changyu the truth at this moment. His lips pressed together slightly—he didn’t know how to answer.

Even Gongsun Yin, usually glib-tongued, knew this was not a lie easily spun. Just as his head began to ache, he heard Changning, still sobbing, say:

“Ning-niang was caught by bad men who thought she was some high official’s daughter. The bad men even put Ning-niang on a horse to make her kill people. It was pitch dark and raining hard, with thunder everywhere—Ning-niang was so scared. Then she heard brother-in-law’s voice and called out to him. When brother-in-law came to save her, the bad man threw Ning-niang up into the air, and brother-in-law, to catch her, got stabbed with a big bloody hole…”

As she spoke, fear still lingered in her voice. Her little face was pale, and her hands clutched tightly at Fan Changyu’s clothes, as if holding onto a safe harbor against the terror of that night.

Fan Changyu had originally thought Sui Yuanqing must have abducted Changning out of personal revenge against her, but she hadn’t expected her sister to have gone through so much. Just listening to it made her wish she could tear the “bad man” into pieces herself.

She patted her sister’s back tenderly to comfort her. “Don’t be afraid, Ning-niang. It’s all over now.”

Yet in her heart, she found it strange—how had Changning suddenly been mistaken for some high official’s daughter?

Seeing her sister calmed her at last. But then Changning recalled how, when she had been taken away, Yu Bao’er had tried to protect her, clutching her clothes and refusing to let go. When the servants dragged him away, several of his fingernails had been torn clean off. Thinking of this, her eyes reddened again. “Bao’er was there too, A-jie,” she said, trembling. “Can we save Bao’er and his mother?”

Fan Changyu asked in confusion, “You mean Shopkeeper Yu and Bao’er?”

Changning nodded.

Fan Changyu asked, “Didn’t Shopkeeper Yu and Bao’er go to Jiangnan? Where did you see them?”

Sniffling, Changning answered, “Bao’er and his mother were like Ning-niang too—they were locked up by that group of bad men.”

Gongsun Yin didn’t know who this Yu mother and son were, so confusion showed on his face. But Xie Zheng understood that during the days Changning had been abducted, she was in Sui Yuanqing’s hands, and his expression darkened slightly.

That female shopkeeper—was she connected to the Prince of Changxin’s manor?

Straight-minded as always, Fan Changyu said in puzzlement, “Could it be that Shopkeeper Yu and Bao’er were also mistaken for the family of some high official?”

She turned to Gongsun Yin. “My lord, may I ask how my younger sister came to be mistaken for a high official’s daughter and taken away?”

Gongsun Yin glanced at Xie Zheng, then smoothly deflected, “After the disaster in Qingping County, the temporary lodging for refugees in Jizhou Prefecture was an official post station, which usually only accommodates visiting court officials. It seems the rebels’ intelligence was mistaken, so they abducted your younger sister by error.”

That answer sounded reasonable enough, yet when Fan Changyu thought of the missing portrait from home, she still felt something was off.

At that moment, Gongsun Yin said helpfully, “There are only rough soldiers in the camp, none skilled in caring for children. I’ve arranged quarters next door for Miss Fan, you may take your little sister there to settle in first.”

Having just reunited with her sister, Fan Changyu naturally had many things she wanted to ask. She glanced at Xie Zheng, lying on the bed, and said, “Then rest well first. I’ll take Ning-niang to wash up.”

After Changning’s fever broke, she had been staying under Gongsun Yin’s supervision. The mountain conditions were harsh, and the personal guards were all rough men—none knew how to care for a child. They merely coaxed her to eat at every meal; as for washing her face, she could still manage that herself. But when it came to tying her hair, the little knot on her head had long turned into a chicken’s nest.

As soon as Fan Changyu stepped out, Xie Zheng said to Gongsun Yin, “Send a message to Yanzhou with the saker falcon. Tell them to investigate the Yu mother and son confined in the Prince of Changxin’s manor.”

Gongsun Yin asked in confusion, “That Yu mother and son, are they someone important?”

Xie Zheng said, “When I first saw that child, I felt he bore some resemblance to the one sitting on the dragon throne today.”

Gongsun Yin was startled, then furrowed his brows. “You suspect he’s of imperial blood?”

The one on the dragon throne now was the late emperor’s youngest son, only eight years old when he ascended. His birth mother had been a lowly palace maid, with no powerful family behind her.

The throne had fallen to him only because Wei Yan had chosen him as a puppet emperor. But now that the puppet child-emperor had grown up—and with the Grand Preceptor Li’s faction supporting him—he inevitably harbored the desire to overthrow Wei Yan, reclaim imperial power, and restore proper governance.

Yet anyone with eyes could see that even if the emperor used the Li faction’s strength to topple Wei Yan, the Li faction would merely become the next Wei faction.

The imperial authority of Great Yin had long been hollowed out by aristocratic clans. Although the imperial examinations had been established, the influence of commoners in the court remained pitifully small.

Moreover, the one on the throne truly lacked the bearing of a ruler—cowardly before powerful ministers, irritable and violent toward palace servants—unfit to shoulder the weight of a nation.

Xie Zheng said, “That merchant surnamed Zhao claimed to have once served the imperial grandson who died in the Eastern Palace. Yet back in Qingping County, I found that he owned a residence right next to that Yu woman’s household. If that imperial grandson truly still lives, we may be able to uncover something through that Yu mother and son.”

Gongsun Yin immediately replied, “I’ll send the message at once.”

If that Yu mother and son really are of the imperial grandson’s blood and are confined in the Prince of Changxin’s manor, it’s possible the Prince of Changxin seized them to threaten the imperial grandson.

He had nearly stepped out the tent door, but turned back to look at Xie Zheng: “Jiuheng, if the imperial grandson truly is still alive, would you… intend to install the bloodline of the Crown Prince of Chengde? The one on the dragon throne, upon learning that you and Wei Yan had broken off, wanted to marry off a princess to win you over, but you are still in the northwest now; it would not be wise for the capital to make too much of this.”

But the thoughts of an emperor are always hard to guess.

Although the one on the dragon throne had already hinted to Xie Zheng that once Wei Yan was overthrown the throne would be his, when the time actually came, who could say whether Xie Zheng would not be the next person the emperor wished to remove?

Besides, Grand Preceptor Li was already firmly in place by the emperor’s side.

In terms of legitimate claim, the bloodline of the Crown Prince of Chengde now has more right than anyone to sit on that dragon throne.

Stepping back ten thousand paces, merely by virtue of the old Jinzhou battle, Xie Zheng and the imperial grandson share a common enemy—making them even more suitable to ally.

The tent fell silent for a long time before Xie Zheng’s cold voice came: “How do you see the emperor treating Wei Yan?”

That single question made Gongsun Yin realize the crux: Wei Yan had once propped up the one on the dragon throne, initially as a puppet, but before long Wei Yan had indeed been the greatest support for the one on the throne.

If Xie Zheng were to install the imperial grandson, the merits of putting him on the throne would be no less than the favors Wei Yan once showed the current emperor.

But Xie Zheng already held military power, what could the imperial grandson reward him with?

If rewards cannot be given, suspicion and vigilance will only grow day by day.

Putting himself in Xie Zheng’s position, Gongsun Yin frowned and said, “I realize now: whatever your situation is, whoever ends up on the dragon throne will, before success, try very hard to woo you; but once the dust settles, you will be among the first to be discarded when you are no longer useful.”

Xie Zheng did not speak.

Gongsun Yin despondently stepped back a few paces, sat opposite Xie Zheng, and said in a half-defeated tone, “Just give me a straight answer: what exactly are you thinking? If you haven’t sorted out a fallback for yourself, I’ll find myself another patron first, so I won’t be dragged down by you later.”

Dusk had deepened. Xie Zheng looked at the lamp flickering inside the tent and said, “If the northwest descends into chaos, the countryside will be emptied—nine out of ten households gone, fine young men buried in the yellow sand. The Great Yin today is not at the point of being able to rebuild the rivers and mountains. Fighting the northern barbarians is one thing—starting a war with our own people for personal desire…”

He snorted coldly, “Forgive me for those soldiers who, if they must die, should die beyond the frontier.”

Clearly he held the Prince of Changxin’s conduct in utter contempt.

Gongsun Yin raised an eyebrow: “You want to be a pure minister?”

Xie Zheng casually lifted his eyes: “Don’t you think someone like me should be called a ‘powerful minister’?”

Gongsun Yin was momentarily taken aback, then said, “Whether you’re a powerful minister or not, first think about how to lift the siege right before our eyes!”

Xie Zheng asked, “How long will the supplies brought up the mountain today last?”

Gongsun Yin answered, “If eaten to fullness, enough for half a month. Mixed with wild vegetables and made into porridge, it can hold out a month.”

Xie Zheng pondered for a moment and said, “Sui Yuanqing is still in our hands. The mountain’s terrain is complex. The Prince of Changxin besieges without attacking, nothing more than trying to entrap us on the mountain until we starve. If they run out of provisions as well, they won’t be able to sustain it.”

Gongsun Yin started in: “You intend to make a move on the Prince of Changxin’s provisions?”