Fan Changyu had already seen Xie Zheng kill people in the pine forest, so she wasn’t particularly surprised. She nodded and said, “My husband used to be an armed escort, and his martial arts aren’t half bad.”

She had hardly met more than a few armed escorts in her life. Her father had been highly skilled himself, and since Xie Zheng claimed to have worked at an escort agency before, she naturally assumed that escorts were all fairly capable fighters. After all, the people they had to deal with were mostly desperate bandits who made a living robbing escort caravans.

Zheng Wenchang stared at Xie Zheng, his expression unreadable.

Carpenter Zhao had already squeezed his way into the loft. The moment he saw all the dead bodies filling the room, he let out an immediate “Aiya” and felt a chill run through him.

But he and his wife had lived through the turmoil of war in their younger years. Back then, nine out of ten households had been left empty, and corpses lying by the roadside had been an all-too-common sight. Thus, he was able to remain relatively composed. Fearing that moving Xie Zheng might aggravate his injuries, he didn’t attempt to carry him anywhere. Instead, he crouched down, took one of Xie Zheng’s hands, and felt for his pulse.

With only half of Xie Zheng’s face visible beneath the bloodstains, it was difficult to get a clear look at him. Zheng Wenchang suddenly said, “Turn him over and have a look.”

Carpenter Zhao didn’t know why this military man would make such a request, but he hardly dared disobey his order. These men were soldiers, after all, and the one leading them was clad in armor with a saber at his waist. His bearing alone suggested that his official rank was even higher than the county magistrate’s. Perhaps he could help Fan Changyu discover which enemy had come after her.

So he immediately began pouring out his grievances. “Junyé. please seek justice for us! This poor lass has had such a hard life. She only lost her parents last month, and after finally taking in a husband, now her husband has been beaten half to death by these villains too. If we don’t find out who these scoundrels are and where they came from, how is this girl supposed to go on living…”

The moment Zheng Wenchang heard that the man was a live-in husband, the greater part of his suspicions vanished.

What kind of temperament did that man have? Never mind merely falling on hard times—even if the Emperor had thrown him into the imperial prison and forced him to marry a princess as her live-in husband, there was no way he would ever have agreed to such a thing.

Just then, a soldier downstairs cried out in surprise, “Daren, there’s one alive!”

Before Carpenter Zhao could turn Xie Zheng over, Zheng Wenchang suddenly felt that his earlier suspicions had been utterly absurd. He no longer had any interest in examining the man closely. Remembering his general’s instructions, he hurried downstairs, merely ordering two of his personal guards to drag the corpses from the loft down as well.

Fan Changyu had naturally no idea how close they had just come to disaster. With the soldiers keeping watch downstairs, she wasn’t particularly worried about her younger sister and Auntie Zhao’s safety. She asked Carpenter Zhao, “Zhao Shu, how is he?”

After taking Xie Zheng’s pulse, Carpenter Zhao briefly wondered whether he had been away from his veterinary practice for too many years and his medical skills had deteriorated to the point that he’d taken the pulse wrong.

The man before him was covered in blood and looked as though he had suffered severe injuries. So why did his pulse show not the slightest sign of danger?

The wrinkles on his already furrowed brow drew together even more tightly as he concentrated and took the pulse again.

His grave expression frightened Fan Changyu badly. Thinking that Xie Zheng was beyond saving, she slumped onto a low stool. “I should’ve written him a divorce agreement from the very beginning and let him go somewhere else to recover. Then he wouldn’t have had to suffer like this…”

Carpenter Zhao took Xie Zheng’s pulse once more, only to find it still steady and even. He fell into an even deeper crisis of self-doubt, his weathered face growing increasingly solemn as he was about to examine the wounds on Xie Zheng’s body.

At that very moment, the man lying on the floor slowly opened his eyes.

Fan Changyu’s eyes were already faintly red. Seeing him wake, her emotions swung wildly from despair to relief, and she couldn’t help breaking into a wide grin, “You’re awake!”

Xie Zheng saw her reddened eyes and that smile filled with unmistakable delight, and he was momentarily stunned.

Had she been so afraid something would happen to him that she had nearly cried?

The strange sensation in his chest grew stronger.

He lowered his eyes, gave two weak coughs, and murmured through bloodstained lips, “I’m fine.”

Most of the blood covering him belonged to the black-clad men. The tears in his clothes had also been made by his own hand to give the appearance that he had been wounded. In reality, they had barely scratched through the skin.

Although Zheng Wenchang was not under his command, the two had crossed paths several times before. Had Zheng Wenchang recognized him, then tonight there would have been only two possible outcomes: either he would have been taken back and handed over to Wei Yan, or he would have had to kill Zheng Wenchang and all the soldiers under him before fleeing elsewhere.

Fortunately, he had managed to evade recognition for now, and neither of those two worst-case scenarios had come to pass.

Though he insisted that he was fine, Fan Changyu and Carpenter Zhao—both of whom had already seen him seriously wounded twice before—were still extremely anxious. They helped him lie down on the bed, then fetched some wound medicine to dress his injuries.

Once his outer robe had been removed, Fan Changyu noticed that the clothes underneath were not soaked through with blood as they had been before. In fact, they looked considerably cleaner than his outer robe. She found this rather strange, but before she could think much of it, Auntie Zhao called down from below, telling her to come downstairs—the soldiers wanted to take her statement.

The man lying on the bed had only had the blood on his face lightly wiped away. Beneath the candlelight, the traces of blood that remained somehow lent him an almost striking, otherworldly beauty. He opened his eyes slightly and looked at her, his voice unusually gentle, “You should go.”

Fan Changyu decided it must be because he was so weak that he looked especially frail and pitiful tonight, no matter how she looked at him.

Before leaving, she still turned back uneasily for one last glance. “I’ll be back soon.”

The dead black-clad men had already been dragged together and laid side by side. The commotion had drawn the attention of the people in the surrounding streets and alleys. Seeing soldiers filling the streets, quite a few had thrown on their clothes and come out to watch the spectacle.

After the soldiers finished counting the black-clad men, they found that the only survivor was the very man Fan Changyu had knocked unconscious with a single slap earlier.

The soldiers had already seen several of the black-clad men bite through poison capsules hidden behind their teeth and take their own lives, so they knew what to look out for. As soon as they discovered that this one was still breathing, they removed the poison capsule from his mouth. He was now bound hand and foot, with a whole wad of cloth stuffed into his mouth. There was no longer any chance of him killing himself.

Whenever the senior officer’s personal guard asked Fan Changyu a question, she answered honestly. They were all basic questions about her household.

大官 (daguan) literally means a “high-ranking official”, but here it is being used from Fan Changyu's perspective to describe the imposing military officer.

Once the questioning was over, the senior officer said to her, “Wait for word for now. Once the interrogation yields a result, the local authorities will notify you.”

After everything that had happened that night, Fan Changyu had once again seen just how ruthless those people were. Worried that they might come looking for revenge again and end up dragging Auntie Zhao’s family into the matter, she asked, “Junyé, what should we do if these people come back looking for revenge?”

The senior officer was about to blurt something out, but stopped himself. He knitted his brows and thought for a moment before saying, “Ben Jiangjun will leave several soldiers stationed secretly nearby. They won’t withdraw until the interrogation is finished.”

Only then did Fan Changyu relax. She proceeded to heap such lavish praise upon the senior officer that one might have thought there was no more virtuous or capable man under Heaven.

Before leaving, the senior officer gave her a sidelong glance, his expression somewhat peculiar.

After the soldiers left, Fan Changyu went first to the well at the mouth of the alley and drew water, then returned to wash the blood from the courtyard and the loft. Even so, a faint metallic tang of blood still lingered in the air.

She considered climbing over the wall to her own house to fetch some of the incense her mother had once prepared and burn it to dispel the smell. But remembering what the senior officer had said about leaving men nearby to watch the area in secret, she didn’t dare act rashly.

The old Zhao couple had been so thoroughly frightened that sleep was out of the question. They rekindled the brazier in the main room and sat there with Changning, warming themselves by the fire and sighing from time to time.

Changning was still young and had no idea what the adults were fretting over. Now that the danger had passed, she cheerfully went back to look at the gyrfalcon locked inside the chicken coop.

By now, the cage had practically become the gyrfalcon’s nest.

Fan Changyu asked her little sister, “Is Ningniang still sleepy?”

Changning shook her head, then pointed at the cage where the gyrfalcon was kept. “Ah Jie, Sunsun is very well-behaved. Can we not lock Sunsun up anymore?”

The last time she and her brother-in-law had been at home, Changning had opened the chicken coop door on a whim because she was playing around. When a group of villains had stormed in afterward, it was this great falcon that had killed one of them.

In her little head, she figured that if the great falcon hadn’t been locked up, perhaps it could have injured some of the villains tonight too.

As it turned out, Fan Changyu wasn’t the one who had locked the bird up at all. Auntie Zhao explained, “A piece of meat hanging over the brazier got pecked down last night. I was afraid the big falcon would steal the meat, so I locked it up before bed.”

Fan Changyu said, “I’ll have Yanzheng teach it again later.”

At the mention of Yanzheng, she couldn’t help thinking of all the injuries he’d sustained. She asked Carpenter Zhao, “Zhao Shu, how are his wounds?”

Carpenter Zhao wanted to say that this time they seemed to be nothing more than injuries to the skin and outer flesh, but he was afraid he had misdiagnosed him again and might delay Yanzheng’s treatment. He sighed and said, “You know, this old man used to treat pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, and other livestock. When it comes to treating people, there’s always a fair bit of luck involved. His injuries don’t look too dangerous to me, but just to be safe, we’d better go to the clinic tomorrow and have a proper physician take a look.”

Fan Changyu agreed. When she went upstairs to check on Xie Zheng, she found that the blood on his face had already been wiped clean. He lay on the bed with his eyes closed, resting.

Perhaps he had heard her footsteps. The moment she entered the room, he opened his eyes and asked, “How did it go?”

Fan Changyu said, “I think these soldiers are much more reliable than the county magistrate. Apparently, the magistrate sent a memorial to the provincial authorities, and when the officials there heard how rampant banditry has been in this area, they sent troops to suppress them. It just so happened that they ran into them tonight.”

Speaking of this, Fan Changyu was rather pleased. “Banditry has plagued Jizhou Prefecture for years. Looks like the authorities really mean to clean out those mountain strongholds. That Junyé said they would thoroughly investigate these two assassination attempts, and they’ve even sent soldiers to secretly protect us. You can rest easy and recover these next couple of days. There’s no need to rush off just yet.”

The expression on Xie Zheng’s face could hardly have looked worse, “Secretly protect us?”

Fan Changyu nodded. “That’s right.”

Xie Zheng nearly choked on his own breath. He had only just managed to fool them for the time being, and now the people from Jizhou Prefecture were going to keep watch over him right under his nose?

Still, he couldn’t make sense of why the Jizhou authorities had suddenly taken such action.

Never mind. The most dangerous place was also the safest.

He said, “Bring that falcon upstairs for the next couple of days. Don’t let it outside. That thing is wild and difficult to tame. If it hasn’t been properly trained, it could easily hurt someone.”

Fan Changyu said, “No wonder! Zhao Daniang was just saying that the falcon stole some of the meat hanging above the fire pit last night!”

Xie Zheng: “……”

Fan Changyu was already getting to her feet. “I’ll go get it right now!”

Only then did Xie Zheng manage a faint, “All right.”

·•—–٠✤٠—–•·

By daybreak, Zheng Wenchang had already ridden hard back to Jizhou Prefectural Office.

Carrying the black-clad man’s statement from the completed interrogation, he strode swiftly through the winding corridors. The courtyard was planted thick with snow cedars, and the armored guards stationed there immediately let him pass when they saw who it was.

Zheng Wenchang entered the study and came to a stop below the desk. Whether from excitement or from having hurried there too quickly, his voice was slightly breathless, “Daren, as ordered, Mojiang led men to keep watch in Lin’an Town ahead of time. We did indeed capture those responsible for the multiple murders in Qingping County last night, but…”

The hand with which he presented the confession trembled slightly, “Please, **Daren&&, examine the confession.”

The man seated behind the desk had hair and beard already streaked with white. He seemed to have long known the identities of those black-clad men and said calmly, “Wenchang, you merely went to apprehend some bandits and thieves. What is there to fear?”

Zheng Wenchang lowered his head. “Beizhi is fearful.”

卑职惶恐 (bēizhí huángkǒng) is a highly deferential expression used by an official when addressing a superior. 卑职 is a humble self-reference meaning “this subordinate,” while 惶恐 conveys apprehension, unease, or fear. Here, Zheng Wenchang is not simply afraid of the situation—he is acknowledging that he understands his superior's warning and is fearful of having overstepped his bounds.

“Enough. Leave the confession there.” He Jingyuan set down his brush and raised his eyes. Though he was a military general, his face possessed the refined elegance of a civil official. Knowing the concerns weighing on his favored subordinate’s mind, he said, “Just pretend you never saw what was written in that confession. You may leave.”

Zheng Wenchang clasped his fist in salute. “Beizhi obeys.”

He had only just turned around when he heard the man behind him ask, “Was anyone in that household injured?”

After giving it some thought, Zheng Wenchang replied, “The woman has taken in a live-in husband. Her husband was injured by those people.”

He Jingyuan merely nodded.

Summoning his courage, Zheng Wenchang ventured to ask, “Does that household have some prior connection with Daren?”

“Wenchang, what was it that Laofu taught you about the conduct of an official?”

老夫 (lǎofū) is a traditional form of self-reference used by older men. Literally meaning “old man,” it is not normally meant as a literal description but as a deliberately old-fashioned way of saying “I.” Depending on the speaker and context, it can sound dignified, authoritative, gruff, or slightly self-important.

That single question was enough to bring out a cold sweat on Zheng Wenchang’s back, “Beizhi spoke out of turn.”

“You may leave.” He Jingyuan picked up a memorial lying beside the desk and began to read, appearing wholly unconcerned with what was written in the confession.

Only after Zheng Wenchang had left the study did his aged eyes turn toward it. He hesitated for a moment before finally opening it.

After reading it, he let out a long sigh.

He rose and opened a hidden compartment in the bookshelf, taking out a brocade box. Yet he did not open it. Instead, as though speaking to someone who was not there, he murmured, “When you entrusted this thing to me all those years ago, perhaps you already foresaw a day like this—and wanted me to watch over those two children for you…”

⟡ Aewoo’s Ramble ⟡

Before we get too deep into all the politics, here’s a simple little guide to the administrative levels that you might want to know about to fully understand the story. Don’t worry, I promise this isn’t going to turn into a history lecture 😆.

First: if you see a place name ending in “zhou” (州), it means that it is a prefecture. So Jizhou, Chongzhou, and Jinzhou are, technically, Ji Prefecture, Chong Prefecture, and Jin Prefecture respectively. However, I don’t know about you, but “Ji Prefecture” just doesn’t sound quite as nice to me, so I’ve decided to keep the original -zhou and use Jizhou Prefecture, Chongzhou Prefecture, etc. throughout the translation.

Second: the Prefectural Office (州府or zhōu fǔ) is the government office overseeing the entire prefecture. This is where the governor/prefect and the other officials responsible for the prefecture carry out their duties. I’ve also decided to translate these as Jizhou Prefectural Office, Chongzhou Prefectural Office, and so on, rather than simply calling them “Jizhou Prefecture” since the distinction between the place and the government office can become important, at least to me.

Third: counties fall under prefectures. So Qingping County is under the authority of Jizhou Prefecture. The county has its own local government and magistrate, but it ultimately answers to the higher prefectural administration.

And yep, that’s basically all you need for now! There are, of course, more layers and a whole lot more complicated terminology once we get into the imperial bureaucracy, but I’m not going to throw all of that before it becomes relevant. 😉