Chapter Twelve

Seeing this, the man hurriedly tried to stab with the dagger.

There was a loud clang!

A pebble suddenly flew out from somewhere and knocked the dagger out of his hand.

Realizing he had been discovered, the man turned to run, but was stopped by a flash of sword light.

"Where do you think you're going?" Chen Wu said smugly as he tied him up from behind.

Someone lit the candles inside, and the entire tent was instantly illuminated.

Only then did the man realize that there was not only Si Yanmo on the bed, but also Chen Wu behind him, and Zhou Yanqing pointing a sword at him.

"Now let us see who you are."

Si Yanmo got out of bed, walked over, and yanked off the man's mask. The three of them stared wide-eyed.

A familiar face came into view—

Liu Ziwei!

"It was you?"

When Si Yanmo followed Zhou Yanqing into Wufeng Pass, it was Liu Ziwei who personally came to receive her.

According to Zhou Yanqing, Liu Ziwei had been serving as a guard at Wufeng Pass since his master was still alive. After Zhou Yanqing became the King of Qin, he directly promoted Liu Ziwei to be the vanguard general here, stationed at the border.

It can be said that, apart from Chen Wu, Zhou Yanqing trusts him the most here.

Si Yanmo had never looked at his destiny. She never expected that he would be the one who slipped through the net.

She couldn't help but shift her gaze to Zhou Yanqing's face.

Confusion and resentment were vividly displayed on his face, even the veins on his neck bulged. Chen Wu, standing beside him, also wore an expression of disbelief.

"Why?" Zhou Yanqing practically squeezed the words out through his teeth.

Faced with his anger, Liu Ziwei remained silent and lowered his head.

"Why?" Zhou Yanqing roared again, bringing the long sword in her hand even closer to the man.

The wind outside the tent howled, blowing open the curtains and bringing a chill, just like when Zhou Yanqing first came to Wufeng Pass with her master.

It was autumn, and the five maple trees at Wufeng Pass were ablaze with fiery red. At dusk, they blended seamlessly with the setting sun, creating the most beautiful scenery he had ever seen.

He was 12 years old that year.

The master was discussing political affairs with the general at the time. He sat on a rock outside the tent, gazing at the maple trees in the distance, motionless, until a fat man walked towards him.

The man sat down next to him and asked why he was sitting there instead of playing.

He said he didn't want to, not at all.

His purpose in coming to the military camp was not to play, but to fight.

The man chuckled and lightly patted his head. "What, you like fighting now?"

"Only by fighting can you earn military merits, and only with military merits can you make money."

"What do you, a kid your age, need money for?" the man said, pulling him up. "Look at your furrowed brows, they could trap a fly. You're just lacking in enjoyment!"

As he spoke, the man led him to the stable, pulled out a black horse, and lifted him onto it.

"Can you ride a horse?" the man asked him.

He shook his head blankly.

The man burst into laughter, mounted his horse, pulled on the reins, and galloped across the fiery border.

That man was Liu Ziwei standing right in front of him.

Zhou Yanqing couldn't understand why the uncle who told him not to always frown and to learn to enjoy life and played with him when he was a child would become Qi Gu's spy.

Si Yanmo noticed that he was in a bad mood. He had the same expression when the Princess Consort of Qin wanted him to take a concubine that day, but now he seemed less confused and more resentful.

She reached out a hand and pressed down on the sword that Zhou Yanqing had raised.

His hands were very cold.

"How about I do it?" she asked, a question similar to the one she had asked in the dungeon.

Zhou Yanqing shook off her hand, stared intently at Liu Ziwei, and roared, "Let him say it himself!"

Liu Ziwei looked up, saw those resentful eyes, and then looked away guiltily.

Enraged, he raised his sword again, pointing it at Liu Ziwei's face, his eyes reddening, his voice almost hoarse: "Speak! You dare to do it but not to say it?"

Liu Ziwei turned his head away, knelt down with a thud, and said in a restrained voice, "Your subject is guilty."

"That's not what I want to hear! I want to hear why you betrayed Qin, betrayed your hometown, betrayed me, and betrayed my master in the underworld!"

Zhou Yanqing grabbed his collar and spoke with a questioning tone, each word distinct and accusatory.

Liu Ziwei's originally indifferent face turned ferocious when he heard him say the word "master".

He suddenly raised his head and shouted at Zhou Yanqing, "Because you are not your master—"

"You are not your master, you are not worthy of the King of Qin's position! Your surname is Zhou!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present trembled. Chen Wu immediately went outside the tent to make sure no one was around.

The air fell into a deathly silence; even the sound of the wind seemed to have vanished. No one dared to move, and no one spoke, until Zhou Yanqing's self-deprecating bitter laugh broke the silence.

"Is this why you became a spy for Qi Gu?"

The tears welling up in his eyes threatened to spill over, which made Si Yanmo feel a pang of heartache.

She originally thought that the King of Qin, who was known in the Southern Capital for killing without blinking an eye, should also be feared by his soldiers in the Qin region, and that everyone should submit to his tyranny.

Even when she learned that Zhou Yanqing was not as rumored, she still had no doubts.

But now, listening to Liu Ziwei's words, she seemed to waver.

What kind of person is Zhou Yanqing in the eyes of the people of Qin?

Zhou Yanqing fell silent. He threw down his sword, turned around, and said to Si Yanmo, "You can come now."

He gave up.

He knew he was trying to escape hearing those cruel words spoken directly by Liu Ziwei, but he still shamefully ran away.

Zhou Yanqing walked out of the tent and sat down in front of that familiar stone.

In the same spot, the maple trees are no longer fiery red. The stubborn and confused child of yesteryear still carries a sense of bewilderment and sorrow in his eyes.

When the spy was discovered just the day before yesterday, Liu Ziwei was still Uncle Liu.

He was furious because of the spy, and when he returned to his tent, Liu Ziwei teased him, saying that he had grown up and dared to scare his Uncle Liu.

He even joked with the other party, saying that Uncle Liu taught him that once he became the King of Qin, he couldn't be as easy to talk to as he was when he was a child.

In just two days, Liu Ziwei's words made everything seem like a distant memory, as if that kind uncle had never existed.

Zhou Yanqing sat there. He wanted to cry, but no tears came; only the howling north wind blew, turning the tip of his nose red.

When Si Yanmo came out of the tent with the fox fur coat, this was the scene she saw—a man sitting alone on a rock, his tall figure looking like a lonely, helpless child staring blankly in the direction of Qin'an City.

She stepped forward and draped the red fox fur coat she was holding over his shoulders.

When Zhou Yanqing was touched, she regained her senses and was about to push them away when she saw that they were also wearing cloaks, so she let them put one on her.

"It's cold at night, don't catch a cold." The woman's voice was gentle, and a warm smile melted into her fox fur coat, wrapping her in a touch of warmth.

Zhou Yanqing nodded blankly, watching her sit down beside him. She didn't say anything else, just stayed with him.

After a long silence, he spoke: "Did you...see it?"

Si Yanmo hummed in agreement, looked up and met his gaze, unsure whether she should tell him what she had seen.

"Go ahead and say it." He saw the woman's hesitation and shook his head with a wry smile. "I'm not that fragile."

“A year ago, in the second year of your reign as King of Qin, the King of Qi sent him a letter and a person.”

Si Yanmo paused for a moment, then continued, "The letter was very concise, only saying that you are the son of the Southern Emperor, and that the person was a witness, the midwife of Consort Qin back then."

"Is it that simple?" Zhou Yanqing gave a self-deprecating smile.

Just because he was the son of the Southern Emperor, Liu Ziwei betrayed him without a single word of coercion or bribery.

Seeing him like this, Si Yanmo felt a tightness in her chest, but she still nodded in the end.

“I asked him, and he said, ‘You’re not suited for this position, and besides, you’re the son of the Southern Emperor; you only… you only…’”

"What do you only know?"

"They will only 'sell' Qin territory to Nandu, at which point Qin territory will no longer be Qin territory, but rather Nandu's territory."

Although South Korea is an alliance of five countries, there are bound to be ulterior motives among them.

Even if the Southern Emperor is stationed in Nandu, it is still his city. It is always safest to guard one's own territory.

Zhou Yanqing's position is awkward. He grew up in Qin, was the apprentice of the former King of Qin, and was the handpicked successor. He has gained the approval of the divination academy, but he is the son of the Southern Emperor, and in their eyes, he will always be an outsider.

When news that he had previously given two plots of land to Nandu reached Liu Ziwei's ears, it made him even more convinced of this.

Zhou Yanqing chuckled upon hearing this, a laugh tinged with bitterness. His eyes reddened, but he tilted his head back to prevent the tears from falling.

His identity was a taboo in the south, and he was equally unwelcome in the Qin region.

He's an outsider no matter where he is.

Undeterred, he asked again, "Is he the only one?"

"He is the only one who knows about Wufeng Pass."

"You mean there are other people in the other levels?"

“I don’t know, but I guess that since the King of Qi already knows about this, his ambitions are definitely not limited to Wufeng Pass.”

It seems this matter needs to be thoroughly investigated. Zhou Yanqing pondered to himself.

"The King of Qi also... also promised him that once he succeeded in removing you from this position, he would be the next King of Qin."

Si Yanmo felt that she was being too cruel at this moment, like a judge in the underworld ruthlessly pronouncing the other party's "death sentence" word by word.

Zhou Yanqing's hands unconsciously clenched the hem of his clothes. He took a deep breath, exhaled with trembling hands, and pulled Si Yanmo into his arms. Startled, she tried to pull away, but he mumbled, "Don't move, let me hold you for a while... please."

The man's voice was choked with pleading. Si Yanmo stopped moving, and after a long while she felt a warm sensation on her shoulder.

She hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand to hug the man back, gently patting his back. "Don't cry."

"I didn't cry!"

"Okay, you didn't cry."

Her voice was soft, without sarcasm or sympathy, but calm and firm, soothing Zhou Yanqing's helplessness.

Si Yanmo knew that the man at this moment was not the infamous King Qin, whom everyone condemned, but a child with nowhere to confide his grievances.

“I thought I had done very well,” Zhou Yanqing said in a hoarse voice. “I know I can’t compare to my master, but I will not ‘sell’ Qin, never.”