The situation is about to descend into chaos (End)
The chill of winter always seeps into every corner of the earth. Freshly steamed mutton buns, with their soft dough oozing out layers of steam, scald people's frozen hands, causing them to condense into layers of tiny water droplets.
We should be able to reach Xiyao County by noon tomorrow. For the past few days, they have been sleeping in one room. Since there are no two beds, Zhao Yi has been sleeping on the floor.
After leaving Huijing, Chen Zhuangmu realized how safe the capital was. On their first day at the inn, they noticed that many people were looking at them strangely, probably because they saw Zhao Yi holding a sword and dared not approach him.
She suddenly understood what her uncle had once said: "If this is how things are under the emperor's nose, the rampant arrogance in other places is simply unimaginable."
After dinner that day, Zhao Yi lay on the floor covered with a mattress, his head resting on his arm with one leg propped up, lost in thought.
Seeing that he finally showed his former carefree expression, Chen Zhuangmu felt a sense of relief. These past few days, Zhao Yi had always been frowning, as if there was something he couldn't resolve.
She turned around and covered herself with the blanket, but then heard Zhao Yi call out softly, "Dressing up?"
"Hmm?" Chen Zhuangmu turned her head to the side, and could only see a pair of bright eyes by the dim candlelight.
“Tell me about my past.” He swung his bent leg and said, “Well… now that we’ve talked about that man’s suicide, let’s talk about where I’m next.”
“At that time, I was filled with hatred. I vaguely remembered that my mother died because of the Gu worms in Miao territory. I bought a horse overnight and burned down the forest in Miao territory... Just like I told you before, I slaughtered the whole village.” After he finished speaking, he waited for Chen Zhuangmu beside him to make her decision, but she did not speak for a long time.
"Do you think I'm wrong?" He tried to conceal the probing in his voice.
She was truly shocked, unable to imagine how many people were in the village, how many had died tragically. Heartbroken by his ordeal, she covered her mouth in shock, her voice trembling. "It was truly outrageous."
“But I don’t regret it.” His voice was firm and resolute, as if he still had some pent-up anger. “Miao Xin is the clan chief’s son. In their village, the lineage is passed down to daughters, not sons. They raised him like a daughter, and he was used as a vessel for poisoning from a young age. I did regret it. If they weren’t such heinous people, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get over this.” His profile disappeared into the darkness.
"So that's why you always tell me not to be impulsive, not to let hatred blind me?" Chen Zhuangmu asked him with a smile.
"Hmm." Because after taking revenge, he would not know where he was going. For many days and nights, he felt like a duckweed with no support, and there was nothing in the world that he could cherish.
"Then how did you manage to identify Zhao Yi?" Chen Zhuangmu wanted to know the intricacies of the matter.
He sighed. That was someone he could talk to when he was young. He couldn't quite remember what he looked like anymore, but he remembered that he was very composed at a young age.
“He was also taken to the training ground. I was about eight years old when I met him, and about this tall.” Zhao Yi raised his arm to measure the height. “The day after I returned, I heard the news of his death. But it was already the day he was supposed to return to Da Qun, so they sent me to take his place. Originally, I was supposed to transmit intelligence, but as soon as I arrived, I took down the intelligence location and subdued those people, so they couldn’t control me anymore.”
These words carried a hint of unruliness. From childhood to adulthood, Shen Zhuangmu had only ever been exposed to the outward appearances of people. She would only see all sorts of people coming to the palace during festivals, each wearing a mask tailor-made for them, making it impossible to tell whether they were human or ghost.
Upon arriving at the Dali Temple, one finds both wicked and scoundrels, but none possess the ruthless and powerful spirit of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old. Thus, Chen Zhuangmu cannot imagine what he was like back then, yet her heart always reacts before her mind.
A wave of sorrow pounded in her heart, and heartache gradually filled her mind. She threw back the covers and approached Zhao Yi, bending down to hug him through the blankets.
But just as she was about to touch him, Zhao Yi suddenly stood up, grabbed her, and carried her to the bed.
"What are you doing?" Chen Zhuangmu shouted, thrashing about.
"The ground is cold, why are you running around without shoes?" Zhao Yi teased her before putting her in the blanket and half-lying on the edge of the bed, hugging her through the blanket.
"Go to sleep," he whispered.
Chen Zhuangmu poked her face out from under the covers, then pulled her arms out, and said with dissatisfaction, "You've talked so much today, how can anyone sleep? Tell me again, why did you abandon the Ministry of Personnel and come to the Shumi District?"
Looking down, he could see Chen Zhuangmu's puzzled eyes, and he chuckled softly.
What else could it be? He didn't understand social etiquette back then. Although he was the son of the God of War when he returned, he was ultimately a prince without anyone to rely on. In the eyes of those people, he was just a child who could be easily dismissed.
Zhao Yi was initially willing to flatter those people, but later he grew tired of it. He didn't owe them anything, and apart from Miao Xin, he had no other ties, so he had no interest in playing along with their deception. He then took the imperial examination again, topped the list, and the emperor appointed him as a deputy envoy to the Privy Council.
At that time, he was still useful as an assistant, but the people in the Ministry of Personnel were always worried that he was colluding with others. So he simply took a month's leave and devoted himself to the Red Courtyard. Only then did they finally let him go.
Therefore, in the first year, that group of people were annoyed by Zhao Yi because he had no inhibitions and would say anything in court. But the court needed such good-for-nothings, so even though they disliked him, no one plotted against him. Later, as he gradually revealed his true colors, people realized that if they didn't nip it in the bud, they would regret it.
Later, he inadvertently discovered that there were other hidden circumstances surrounding Zhao Yi's father's death, so he plunged into the investigation once again.
Zhao Yi didn't want to talk about these things with Chen Zhuangmu at this time, especially those shameless officials, so he casually said, "I find them annoying."
Chen Zhuangmu couldn't help but smile. Suddenly, something occurred to her, and she boldly grabbed Zhao Yi's finger. "I can actually tell that you've taken good care of Miao Xin."
She still vividly remembers his arrogant demeanor, and the fact that he left with a lot of money makes one want to laugh.
"You must have cared a lot for him, so were you quite sad when he left?"
It would be a lie to say he wasn't upset, but Zhao Yi just couldn't stop him. To put it bluntly, he was the one who kidnapped the child, so it was understandable that he would stab him in the back.
It's this feeling in my heart that's ultimately a dense, persistent pain.
A scene flashed through his mind, and he suddenly tugged at the corner of his mouth, saying, "Zhuangmu, I couldn't hold onto my mother, nor could I keep Miaoxin. You can't leave me anymore." Those he cared about had all left without a second thought.
As she spoke the last sentence, her voice trembled slightly. The weight of those words overwhelmed Chen Zhuangmu. Lacking experience in comforting people, she tried to pull herself out of bed to hug him, but Zhao Yi held her tightly in his arms, lifting her and the blanket up slightly, so that she was embraced by him through the blanket.
He never knew he could be so timid; it was only because she resolutely and unwaveringly rushed towards him that he was completely overwhelmed.
He just liked her and couldn't help wanting to get close to her and hear her say that she liked him. But he was also afraid to hear her say those words. If he really was the destiny that the old Taoist priest spoke of, wouldn't he be ruining her life?
For the first time, Zhao Yi felt a lingering fear towards the old Taoist priest.
"It's alright." Chen Zhuangmu's hand landed on his neck and patted it gently. Suddenly remembering something, she forcefully turned his face around and said fiercely, "I used to hide from you, now you hide from me, and you can't hide from me anymore."
"Okay." Zhao Yi suppressed his inner turmoil and only wanted to protect the dignified woman in the present moment.
"I'm asking you, did my uncle tell you about coming here?" Chen Zhuangmu asked.
The Emperor did indeed speak to Zhao Yi last night, also about his identity. He hadn't given a clear answer, so the Emperor didn't press further, saying he needed to be sent away because Zhao Yi had been too conspicuous in court lately.
But judging from that man's demeanor, he couldn't be sure if he was just trying to appease him. Therefore, he took the initiative to arrange the remaining manpower in preparation for returning to the capital.
"You said you were being sent, but you didn't specify where or what you were going to do." Zhao Yi tucked a strand of Chen Zhuangmu's hair behind her ear, touched her ear with his fingertip, and continued, "What do you plan to do next?"
Chen Zhuangmu pursed her lips, thought seriously for a moment, and said, "I want to go to Xiyao County to check if there are any people from the previous dynasty left. I want to know whether this matter was done by Xiao Zhong alone or if everyone was involved. I want to bring them to justice."
"Okay." Zhao Yi answered.
"However, what are your thoughts on that matter concerning His Highness Prince Ding?" Chen Zhuangmu turned her neck.
Zhao Yi pulled Chen Zhuangmu up through the blanket so she could see his face.
He said, "The first thing that was discovered was that the engraving on a flowerpot was not right. This was something that Prince Ding carried in his military tent. There was an unfinished character on it. You could say it was Xiao or you could say it was Zhu."
"I focused my investigation on these two people, and later discovered that they had a very close relationship."
As he spoke, he suddenly patted her and said, "You should be able to see that it wasn't Xiao Zhong who harmed Prince Ding that night, but he still took the blame."
“Your uncle didn’t seem particularly surprised, but I had a feeling that this matter was definitely related to Jian. But I couldn’t figure out what your uncle was trying to do.”
Chen Zhuangmu didn't understand what her uncle's intentions were. Ever since she suddenly realized that the emperor had been hiding something, she felt that the emperor had become a different person.
But what's different? Perhaps it's just different from what she remembers.
They embraced silently for a while, and once Chen Zhuangmu fell asleep, Zhao Yi gently lowered her into the quilt and tucked her in.
After confirming that no part of Chen Zhuangmu was exposed except for his face, he returned to his sleeping mat.
The next day, the noisy commotion on the street filled their ears, and before they were fully conscious, they sat up and prepared to put on their clothes.
The two deliberately took off their previous gorgeous and proper clothes, changed into coarse linen clothes, removed their ornaments and combed their hair into ordinary buns. They walked a small path before reaching the city gate of Xiyao County, intending to walk straight in.
Xiyao County is located in a remote area. Even with a map, they almost got lost because of several forks in the road. Information was scarce and policies were lacking. They probably didn't recognize their identities.
“This is a good place to hide.” Chen Zhuangmu looked at the sparse crowd at the city gate. They did not carry heavy bundles, and when they were checked by the soldiers, they just said a few words and that was it. They did not have any travel documents.
“There may seem to be no rules here, but the city has a limited population, and everyone knows each other. The closed nature of the city leads to extreme rejection of outsiders. We need to unify our appearance and statements.” Zhao Yi looked at Chen Zhuangmu.
The two exchanged a glance and then turned around to look for muddy ground.
The city dwellers' clothes weren't as brand new; they were dusty and looked unclean, but not slovenly. The two of them simply smeared wet mud on the hem of their skirts, sprinkled dry dirt on their clothes, and rubbed the fabric. From a distance, they did look a bit slovenly, but up close, it was impossible to ignore their two faces.
"Come on, let's talk up closer." Chen Zhuangmu pulled Zhao Yi over, and the two started walking side by side again when they were almost at the door. Two soldiers were casually holding their swords and chatting interestingly.
The two of them tried to act casually, intending to sneak in from the corner, but they were stopped as soon as they turned the corner.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you on the right path?" a short-bearded soldier shouted.
"Brother, we've come to borrow something from Grandma Er's house in the village." Zhao Yi smiled and went over, giving a somewhat informal bow with a fawning smile.
"Why are you going over there to borrow something? What's your name?" The soldiers ignored Zhao Yi and instead turned their heads to look at the person behind Zhao Yi.
"Your face is so pale? You must have some kind of congenital deficiency." The soldiers were startled.
Zhao Yi chimed in, "Yes, my sister was born with a disability. She can only utter a few words now and can't speak in complete sentences."
One of the soldiers, upon hearing his words, brought over a booklet. "Okay, register it."
Zhao Yi took it and wrote down the two people's names.
"Shen Dayi, Shen Xiaoyi."
"Hey, that's a funny name." The officer chuckled as he looked at the booklet, waved to them, and went back to chatting and laughing with the people around him.
"Luckily, we covered ourselves in mud." Zhao Yi said this only after they had walked a distance away.
"Judging from the attitude of the soldiers, the village is pitifully small. I wonder if there are any inns." Chen Zhuangmu looked around. Dust was flying in the streets, and the small shops were sparsely open, with most of them having their doors tightly closed.
"There should be an inn. Let's look around some more. Once we're in, things will be easier."
Chen Zhuangmu nodded. Calculating the time, it was already noon, so the two decided to find a small shop to have lunch first.
As a result, they walked along road after road until they finally found an inconspicuous little stall. The owner set up a few tables and chairs, took their orders, and deftly cut noodles and put them into the pot. In no time, two bowls of noodles were ready, sprinkled with green scallions.
"Alright!" The shopkeeper's wife placed the noodles on the table and then took the chopsticks out of the box and placed them on the rim of the two bowls.
The chopsticks picked up the noodles from the middle of the bowl, which were glistening with oil and steaming hot. Even though they weren't hungry, the delicious-looking noodles whetted their appetites, and before long, the two of them had eaten most of them.
"The New Year is getting closer and closer." Chen Zhuangmu looked around the simple house, which was completely undecorated for the New Year.
This year, she would be spending the New Year alone. This thought made her unconsciously lower her head, and she began to miss her uncle and aunt in the palace, Yu Hongning, and the loud and boisterous Xiao Hanfeng. She was afraid that her carefree behavior had caused her a lot of suffering.
Strangely, although Chen Zhuangmu missed them, she didn't want to go back immediately. A thought kept drawing her in: she longed to accomplish something important and go home to prove herself to her family.
The sadness in her eyes vanished in an instant, and she took another big bite of noodles.
Zhao Yi couldn't shake off her sorrow, and his guilt deepened. He lost his appetite and instead began to look around the small shop.
But then a "thump" was heard from the side, and the shopkeeper's wife put a bowl of noodles on the table and began to eat heartily.
Out of courtesy, Zhao Yi asked when the older woman stopped eating garlic, "Auntie, your little shop doesn't seem very busy."
They weren't busy at all; they sat there for about half an hour, but no more customers came.
The lady said nonchalantly, "I was so busy in the early years that now I'm just eating by myself, or you outsiders. Where do the locals come from? They have money to burn."
Her voice is just like her personality—unconventional, bold, and spirited.
"Then, shopkeeper, can you make enough to cover the costs?" Chen Zhuangmu was intrigued and turned to ask.
"I don't make any money. This is my house, there's no rent." She buried her head in her noodles again, seemingly quite satisfied with her cooking.
Such a secluded place is probably rare in the world. If one could find this place without directions, it's hard to imagine the extent to which the emperor's assassins were spread throughout the land.
Zhao Yi suddenly began to regret that he hadn't focused on politics and developing his personal power in the past few years, and had only thought about enjoying his own life.
He felt utterly helpless in the face of uncertainty, but fortunately, he had gotten used to this feeling and soon recovered.
"Madam, where is an inn?" Chen Zhuangmu asked, knowing that the locals should know.
"Just follow this side road, it's right by the roadside."
The two thanked her and set off on their search for an inn. The desolate scenery around them was hardly anything to see; the buildings were all made of wood, with no carvings for practicality, so simple and unrefined it was almost taciturn.
There weren't many shops open on the street, so it was easy to find, and I arrived in no time.
"Inn."
There was no other name; the words "inn" were just a piece of paper pasted on the half-open door. Inside, it was dark, and only the counter could be vaguely seen.
It seems the shopkeeper isn't making much money and is reluctant to light candles. The area in front of the shop is covered in small, uneven pebbles, indicating it hasn't been cleaned in a long time.
Once inside, I found it to be rather simple, without the thick layer of dust I had imagined.
Just as I reached the counter, someone rushed down the stairs. He was dressed in coarse cloth, was rather plump, and had all his hair tied up with a jade hairpin of poor quality. He was incredibly excited.
"Sir? Do you need a room?" she asked expectantly, with a man following behind her.
Judging from his clothes and appearance, he doesn't look like a servant.
Seeing the two nod, the innkeeper walked expectantly to them and asked, "A superior room?"
Chen Zhuangmu found the shopkeeper quite adorable; his eager little appearance reminded her of Li Chu when she made a mistake but dared not admit it. She smiled and nodded, "Yes."
"Hahahaha." The innkeeper was so excited that he spun around on the spot, pointing to the only set of tables and chairs in the shop: "Esteemed guests, please sit here for a while. I'll go and tidy up the rooms."
After saying that, he went up the stairs with a "thump thump thump". The man behind him immediately ran down to pour tea for the two of them, but unfortunately, the water that came out was cold water without any heat.
"In the dead of winter..." the man said with annoyance, "I'm really sorry, I'll go and burn some more."
The two managed to check into the superior room before it got dark, but this time Zhao Yi didn't sleep on the floor; instead, he slept on a recliner.
He touched the recliner that the man had just brought in. Although it had no cushions, the wood was sturdy and polished smooth and shiny.
"It seems the owner likes to lounge in this recliner when he has nothing to do. It's quite comfortable." He smiled as he took the bedding that Chen Zhuangmu had brought for him, spread it on the recliner, drank some tea, and then sat down with her at the small table next to him.
"Now let's discuss how to investigate."
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