Fan Changyu heard this exchange clearly from inside the tent. Regarding her parents, she was indeed full of questions she wanted to ask He Jingyuan. She immediately said, "Please ask the brother outside to wait a moment. I'll come over as soon as I change into some presentable clothes."
As she looked for a clean robe, she suddenly remembered another problem. The day she came off the battlefield, her military uniform was already too filthy to look at. Who had changed her out of it while she was unconscious?
Besides, with her hands bandaged up like this, she couldn't put on the robe by herself even if she had it.
Just as Fan Changyu was frowning, another voice came from outside the tent. "Changyu, is it convenient for Auntie to come in?"
Recognizing Aunt Zhao's voice, Fan Changyu was both surprised and delighted. "Auntie, please come in," she said quickly.
After lifting the curtain and entering, Aunt Zhao picked up the set of robes and began to help Fan Changyu into them. "I heard a general has summoned you. Xiao Wu asked me to come over and help you change."
Fan Changyu said, "Xiao Wu is certainly thoughtful."
She then asked, "Auntie, when did you arrive at the camp?"
Aunt Zhao sighed. "Xiao Wu brought me here two days ago. You child, you nearly scared me to death. That uniform was drenched in blood. It's a good thing you didn't suffer any major injuries. If something had happened to you, what would Ning Niang do?"
It seemed Aunt Zhao had been the one to change her clothes while she was unconscious.
But Fan Changyu remembered that Xie Wu's injuries on the battlefield were no lighter than her own. How could he have run back home to get Aunt Zhao that same day?
A faint confusion appeared in Fan Changyu's eyes. "Xiao Wu isn't injured?"
After putting the outer robe on Fan Changyu, Aunt Zhao was helping her tie the waist sash. "That, I wouldn't know. But for the two days you were unconscious, Xiao Wu stayed guard in your tent. I was afraid he'd exhaust himself and told him to go rest, but I couldn't shoo him away."
Speaking of this, Aunt Zhao looked up with a somewhat peculiar expression and said to Fan Changyu, "He went through life and death with you on the battlefield. Changyu, ah, could it be that Xiao Wu has other ideas?"
She seemed to get a headache all of a sudden. "Xiao Wu is a good boy, but you already have Yan Zheng. Why don't I find Xiao Wu a wife later?"
Fan Changyu knew that both Xie Wu and Xie Qi were Xie Zheng's men. Their loyalty to her was simply because they were following Xie Zheng's orders. "Auntie, don't let your imagination run wild," she said helplessly. "It's not what you think."
However, Aunt Zhao's comment that Xie Wu had been watching over her for the past two days still struck Fan Changyu as a little strange.
After changing her clothes, she left the tent to see He Jingyuan.
Xie Wu was now considered her personal guard, so he went with her to the central military tent, but he could only wait outside and was not allowed to enter.
After the messenger who led Fan Changyu over conferred with the guard at the entrance of the central military tent, the guard went inside to report something before allowing Fan Changyu to enter alone.
Lifting the tent flap, Fan Changyu was met with a thick smell of medicine. Remembering the etiquette she had learned in the army these past few days, she knew not to look directly at a superior officer. She lowered her gaze slightly and cupped her fist. "This humble general, Fan Changyu, pays her respects to Lord He."
He Jingyuan had been an official in Jizhou for many years. Whether it was the common people below or the generals under his command, they were all more accustomed to privately calling him "Lord He."
In truth, he was a bit too scholarly and gentle. He was less like a military general and more like a civil official.
From the direction of the bed came a voice that was clearly lacking in vigor. "There is no need for formalities... cough, cough, cough..."
Seeing the man on the bed start coughing violently before he could finish his sentence, Fan Changyu hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. She used her bandaged, ball-like hands to pat his back and asked, "My lord, should I summon the army doctor?"
It was only by standing closer that she dared to discreetly observe the old general on the bed.
He seemed to have lost a lot of weight, his cheeks were sunken, and his complexion was very poor. Where there had once been only a few silver strands in his black hair, it was now half-black and half-white, making him look much more weathered all of a sudden.
Fan Changyu suddenly realized his condition was very poor.
He Jingyuan coughed for a long while before he managed to suppress the tickle in his throat.
As he lay back against the pillow, he had to take several gasping breaths to recover.
However, because of his violent coughing just now, the arrow wound on his chest had started to seep blood again, staining a fingernail-sized patch of his snow-white inner shirt red.
He waved his hand weakly and said, "It injured my lungs. The coughing has been rather severe these past two days."
Noticing that both of Fan Changyu's hands were bandaged, he asked, "How are your injuries?"
Fan Changyu replied, "On my body, only these two hands can be considered major injuries."
He Jingyuan actually laughed at her words, but his laughter turned into a low cough again. Fortunately, it wasn't as severe as before.
He said with gratification, "The younger generation is truly formidable. Changxin Wang is a renowned figure in the Great Yin. Trading this injury on your hands for Changxin Wang's life is more than worth it."
What appeared in Fan Changyu's mind, however, was the image of the Scarface Man shooting Changxin Wang with an arrow, then spurring his horse to rush over and grab her.
She remembered the strength with which he had pulled her onto the horse, and she remembered that familiar scent.
If not for that final arrow from him, even if Changxin Wang would have eventually died from the organ she had pierced with her saber, she likely would have been too exhausted to hold onto Changxin Wang's sword and would have died under its blade.
But Xiao Wu had said Xie Zheng wasn't in Chongzhou at all.
Fan Changyu felt that either her consciousness had truly been muddled and she had misremembered, or Xiao Wu had lied to her.
And the only person who could make Xiao Wu lie to her was Xie Zheng.
The moment she figured this out, Fan Changyu's heart practically leaped. She wished she could go back to her camp immediately and interrogate Xiao Wu about Xie Zheng's whereabouts.
She suppressed the thought for now, only because He Jingyuan was still present.
Since Xie Zheng's current identity was not to be exposed, Fan Changyu didn't rashly mention that he had disguised himself to save her on the battlefield. She only replied humbly, "You praise me too much, my lord. This humble general was just lucky to have stabbed Changxin Wang."
The gratification in He Jingyuan's eyes deepened. "You are a good child. With such a down-to-earth nature, you will be able to go much further on your future path."
Fan Changyu said reservedly, "Thank you for your praise, my lord."
He Jingyuan noticed her restraint. He pointed to a small square stool by the bed and said with effort, "Sit. There are some things it is time to tell you."
Fan Changyu had just sat down on the stool when she heard He Jingyuan's words. Her fingertips subconsciously clenched, only to grasp nothing. It was then she remembered her hands were wrapped in gauze like two balls.
She unconsciously straightened her back and asked, "Is it about my parents?"
He Jingyuan showed surprise on his face, as if he hadn't expected Fan Changyu to already know of his relationship with her parents. Then, he slowly nodded. "I heard from Wen Chang that you checked the archives of Jizhou Prefecture, wanting to find out who truly harmed your parents..."
He let out a soft sigh. "When your parents entrusted you and your sister to me, it was because they didn't want you to be tainted by the karma of the previous generation. They only wished for you to live out your lives in peace. A pity that the ways of the world are so unpredictable."
Fan Changyu thought of the simple, warm days when her parents were alive, their sudden deaths, and the several assassination attempts she had encountered in Qingping County. Her heart sank. "My parents... what exactly were their identities?"
He Jingyuan looked at her, as if seeing the shadow of an old friend through her. His tone was full of world-weariness. "Your father was once a family general of the Wei Mansion. Because of his outstanding abilities, he was granted the surname Wei and was called Qi Lin. After the Prime Minister married his younger sister to General Xie Linshan, your father went to serve under General Xie. Later, he married into the family of Old General Meng, who also served under General Xie."
Hearing this, Fan Changyu's pupils couldn't help but shrink. "Meng Shuyuan?"
This was the main culprit behind the Jinzhou tragedy, a name known to even three-year-olds in the Great Yin.
He Jingyuan understood her state of mind at that moment and sighed. "Old General Meng was the general whom General Xie relied on the most. Your father marrying his only daughter was a joyous occasion that brought the Xie and Wei families even closer. It's just a pity that Jizhou was later besieged, and Old General Meng's mistake in escorting the provisions led to that irreparable disaster."
Learning that her own maternal grandfather was the prime culprit who had caused a hundred thousand soldiers in Jizhou to starve to death, led to the deaths of Chengde Crown Prince and General Xie Linshan at the city gates, and forced the imperial court to cede territory for a truce, Fan Changyu felt as if she had been plunged into an ice cellar.
In that instant, only one thought filled her mind—her entire family were sinners of the Great Yin.
She was a sinner in Xie Zheng's eyes as well.
Xie Zheng hated her maternal grandfather so much. What would he do when he found out she was a descendant of the Meng family?
Fan Changyu's mind was in turmoil. She subconsciously avoided this question and asked, "So Wei Yan wanted to kill my parents to avenge General Xie?"
But He Jingyuan shook his head. "After Jizhou fell that year, your maternal grandfather committed suicide to atone for his crime. Whether there were hidden circumstances behind the delay of military opportunity is still unknown to this day. But the Prime Minister did indeed order your father to kill your mother back then. Your father couldn't bring himself to do it, so he faked their deaths and escaped with your mother, begging me to help them forge new identities and hide their tracks.
"But after more than a decade, the Prime Minister suddenly issued a kill order for them again, this time to retrieve something."
Fan Changyu looked up at him in surprise.
He Jingyuan suddenly found it difficult to say the next words. He looked at Fan Changyu and said arduously, "When the Prime Minister ordered me to kill your parents, they seemed to have long anticipated that day. They only begged me to spare you and your sister's lives. They also gave me a box and told me not to open it, but to give it to the Prime Minister when he asked for it. After explaining all this, they committed suicide in front of me."
Fan Changyu's hands and feet turned ice-cold. She had never imagined that so many heavy secrets were hidden behind the cause of her parents' death, which she had been trying so hard to uncover.
He Jingyuan said, "The several assassination attempts on your family were the Prime Minister's men searching for that box."
Receiving so much explosive information at once, Fan Changyu felt a dull ache in her head as she struggled to sort through her thoughts.
What the world knew now was that her maternal grandfather's mistake in transporting provisions had led to the disastrous defeat in the battle of Jizhou. But her father had once been Wei Yan's man and had been ordered by Wei Yan to kill her mother, only to later betray Wei Yan and escape with her mother by faking their deaths.
And her parents had something in their possession that made Wei Yan hunt them down to retrieve it even after more than a decade.
So, her maternal grandfather's mistake in transporting provisions back then was likely related to Wei Yan?
But Wei Yan was merely a court official. At that time, not only was the Chengde Crown Prince trapped in Jizhou, but so was his brother-in-law, General Xie. What was he plotting by orchestrating all this?
But when she thought about how Xie Zheng had said Wei Yan was his enemy, how he had almost died at Wei Yan's hands, and how Wei Yan now wielded immense power, even to the point of completely sidelining the imperial family, Fan Changyu felt her guess was correct.
If Wei Yan didn't have a guilty conscience, why would he try to kill Xie Zheng?
It seemed her maternal grandfather's mistake with the provisions really did have something to do with Wei Yan.
After a long while, Fan Changyu finally asked He Jingyuan, "Back in Lin'an Town, my family was attacked, but troops arrived in time to help. Was it you, my lord, who ordered people to protect my family?"
He Jingyuan nodded.
Fan Changyu knew very well that the only clue now was likely in the box her parents had left behind. After some deliberation, she asked He Jingyuan, "My lord, have you seen what's inside the box my parents left?"
A bitter and mocking look appeared on He Jingyuan's face. "If I had looked, forget the Prime Minister sparing you and your sister's lives, even I, He, would likely not have escaped death."
Fan Changyu was silent for a moment, then voiced her speculation. "My maternal grandfather's delay in transporting provisions was due to Wei Yan's interference, wasn't it?"
He Jingyuan sighed. "The great crime of Jizhou's defeat was all pinned on your maternal grandfather after the fact. When I discussed it with Grand Tutor Tao, we also felt that a man as cautious as Old General Meng couldn't possibly have been unaware of the situation in Jizhou at the time, and wouldn't have been foolish enough to risk delaying military opportunity to save those hundred thousand trapped disaster victims. But how the Prime Minister's leverage fell into your father's hands is worth pondering."
Fan Changyu understood his underlying meaning—
Her maternal grandfather couldn't have done something so foolish. So, it was likely her father who had acted as Wei Yan's pawn, which was why her father possessed something that Wei Yan would kill them to take back even after more than a decade.
This conclusion brought Fan Changyu little comfort.
Her grandfather was no longer the main culprit, but because her father had been a pawn for someone else, he had been wrongly blamed and reviled for so many years. Just thinking about it made Fan Changyu's chest tighten, making it hard to breathe.
In her memory, her father had always been taciturn and not good with words. He rarely even smiled. Even when he was in the pork business, he wasn't very good at haggling. Only when he was with her mother did the expressions on his face become lively and rich.
He always did many things silently, clumsily trying to please her mother. Just because her mother was afraid of the cold and genuine mink coats were unavailable on the market, he went into the mountains alone for four or five days and hunted a pile of silver minks to make a cloak for her.
And her mother? Although she was usually the gentlest person, speaking in a soft, quiet voice, it was a different story if you angered her.
As a child, Fan Changyu had been disciplined by her mother with a broom. When her mother got angry, even her father didn't dare to intervene.
It was precisely because of this that Fan Changyu felt that with her mother's temperament, it was impossible for her to have chosen to live in seclusion with her father after learning that he had harmed her own father.
She suddenly asked He Jingyuan, "My lord, when my mother passed away, did she know the secret of that box?"
He Jingyuan recalled the scene of the couple committing suicide one after another in the snow that day. A trace of sorrow still lingered in his heart. He nodded and said, "Your mother was very composed. I believe she knew."
Fan Changyu then said with conviction, "If my father had harmed my maternal grandfather, my mother would never have forgiven him. There must be another hidden story behind what happened back then."
He Jingyuan was somewhat surprised. He wanted to speak but couldn't stop the tickle in his throat. He coughed for a long while before saying, "Grand Tutor Tao also raised doubts. Unfortunately, seventeen years have passed. Apart from these speculations, we have no concrete evidence. Even if we wanted to investigate, there's nowhere to start. That's why Grand Tutor Tao decided to make a trip to the capital to see the Prime Minister in person. Unfortunately, there has been no news from him since."
He looked at Fan Changyu and said earnestly, "I have heard a thing or two about the matter between you and the Marquis. I had thought about taking these things to my grave, letting them be buried with me. Let the affairs of the previous generation... return to dust with their deaths.
"But I was also afraid... that if the truth ever came out, the feud of a murdered father is not something anyone can easily let go of. Rather than wait until things are irreversible, it is better to inform you of all this beforehand and let you two decide."
A hundred flavors mixed in Fan Changyu's heart. She knelt before He Jingyuan's bed and kowtowed solemnly to him. "Thank you, Lord He."
He Jingyuan covered his mouth with his hand and coughed for a long time before saying breathlessly, "If you don't hate me, then call me Uncle. Your father and I were once sworn brothers. The saber technique you use was created by him and me together."
Fan Changyu looked at this man who seemed to be in his twilight years. A faint sting filled her eyes as she called out, "Uncle."
He Jingyuan seemed to have waited for this day for many years. The wrinkles on his face spread as he smiled broadly and answered, "Aie."
Coming out of the central military tent, Fan Changyu felt that even her breathing was heavy.
She didn't see Xie Wu outside the tent. After looking around and not finding him, she asked a personal guard standing outside, "Excuse me, have you seen the young brother who came with me?"
The personal guard said, "You mean that tall lad? He went that way a quarter of an hour ago."
Fan Changyu couldn't help but frown. Xie Wu had been by her side for some time, but he had never been so discourteous.
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she quickly lifted her feet and chased in the direction the personal guard had pointed.
But she hadn't run more than a few steps when she saw Xie Wu walking towards her.
It was the real Xie Wu.
He wasn't as tall as the one she had seen when she first woke up. When he walked, his steps were somewhat unsteady, probably due to the injuries on his body. Upon seeing her, he called out, "Squad Leader."
He didn't dare to look Fan Changyu directly in the eye. He scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile and took the initiative to explain why he had left early. "I... I've been drinking a lot of water with my medicine these past two days. I just went to find the latrine..."
But Fan Changyu didn't listen to his fabricated excuses. She ripped off the gauze wrapped around her hand and grabbed him by the collar. "Where is he?"
Since the real Xie Wu had been brought over, he must have been gone for a while.
Fan Changyu's grip was surprisingly strong. The wounds from catching Changxin Wang's blade with her bare hands began to seep blood again, but her eyes were terrifyingly cold.
It was the first time Xie Wu had seen Fan Changyu like this. He was utterly terrified and also afraid that her hand injuries would worsen. He quickly said, "The Master has left the camp."
Fan Changyu let go of Xie Wu and went after Xie Zheng again.
She had been careless. Her mind was muddled when she woke up, and she had been distracted by too much information. She had clearly sensed something was off at the time, but she still hadn't realized that the "Xiao Wu" was Xie Zheng in disguise.
Why did he come to the battlefield to save her but not let her know? Why did he even have to pretend to be someone else to stay by her side?
Her intuition told Fan Changyu that Xie Zheng must have already found out something about the events of seventeen years ago before he came, which was why he chose to do this.
She didn't know what use it would be to chase after him now, or what she could say to him, but a voice in her heart was telling her that she had to go after him.
At the very least, she had to apologize to him on behalf of her deceased elders.
And tell him that even if he ended this relationship because of his father's feud, she would keep investigating.
He might not understand why she firmly believed her father had never betrayed her mother or grandfather just because of her mother's attitude towards her father, but she would find out.
She would also kill Wei Yan to avenge her parents.
He had once extended his hand to her, but she hadn't dared to walk with him because of the many obstacles in their path. He had silently paved the way for her.
So now that he wanted to stop, she would walk forward with determination until she could present the truth to him and let him know that those things were not an obstacle between them either.
Fan Changyu chased all the way to the entrance of the main camp but didn't see Xie Zheng. She asked the sentries on duty if anyone had left the camp. After learning that a one-eyed man with a scarred face mask had just left on horseback not long ago, she quickly borrowed a horse and continued the chase.
It was a good thing she was now considered a figure of some renown in the Jizhou army. Not only did the guards at the camp entrance not stop her, they even treated her with great respect.
The wounds on her hands were deep. When Fan Changyu swung herself up onto the saddle, her face turned pale with pain. She ignored the fresh blood that was once again staining the gauze red, cracked the whip hard, and shouted, "Giddy-up!"
The warhorse galloped off. Fan Changyu rode for four or five li before she spotted a figure on horseback on a gentle slope in the distance.
Afraid of bringing trouble to Xie Zheng, she didn't dare to call out his real name, only shouting loudly, "Yan Zheng!"
The person on horseback seemed to glance back at her. She spurred her horse harder, and within a few breaths, she was finally close enough to see the other person's face clearly.
Even with one eye covered by a patch and a scarred face mask on his face, Fan Changyu recognized him at a single glance.
The warhorse slowed its pace, carrying her steadily forward.
Fan Changyu held the reins, her eyes meeting Xie Zheng's from a distance of several zhang. Her eyes suddenly stung, and she said in a hoarse voice, "You came to see me, but you didn't even want me to know?"
Xie Zheng sat erect on his horse, looking at Fan Changyu without speaking.
His dark phoenix eyes were as still as an ancient well. His back was straight and upright, like a rock on a cliff that had been weathered by wind and sun for years yet still stood tall and imposing, carrying a cold austerity and magnificence honed by time.
A lump formed in Fan Changyu's throat. "What Lord He told me today... you already knew, didn't you?"
Xie Zheng finally uttered a single, heavy word: "Yes."
After interrogating Zhao Xun, he had a rough idea, but he hadn't been certain.
After hearing He Jingyuan's conversation with her today, it was all settled.
—It was the worst possible outcome, one he had anticipated after interrogating Zhao Xun and learning of Grand Tutor Tao's disappearance.
Fan Changyu's eyes were red as she looked at him, her voice choked with sobs. "I'm sorry."
She added, "My maternal grandfather would not have betrayed General Xie, and my father would not have done anything to wrong my mother. Whether you believe it or not, what happened back then is definitely not what you think..."
A sorrow and fear she had never known before overwhelmed her, making her explanation come out in a jumbled mess. She tried hard to steady her voice, but by the end, it was choked nearly to silence.
"Fan Changyu," Xie Zheng suddenly called her name.
Changyu lifted her tear-filled eyes in a daze to meet his gaze.
Xie Zheng's dark eyes showed no emotion whatsoever as he said, "Let it be. From now on, I'll only regard you as a junior fellow disciple."
He would never love another girl like this in his lifetime. But his father's death had been a mountain weighing on his heart all these years, a nightmare that haunted his entire childhood and youth.
The murder of his father—he simply couldn't let it go so lightly.
If there had truly been some hidden truth about what happened back then, Wei Yan wouldn't have been in such a hurry to kill He Jingyuan or detain Grand Tutor Tao.
But even if he learned that her father had most likely been Wei Yan's lackey, he still couldn't bring himself to harm her in the slightest.
Uprooting someone planted in your heart, roots and all, truly hurt like hell.
Then stay far away.
He would give her connections and military merits.
Never seeing each other again in this life would be for the best.
Hearing his words, Changyu stared at him in disbelief, her breath trembling, large teardrops falling uncontrollably. "It's really not like that..." she murmured.
Xie Zheng met her gaze, his hand gripping the reins so tightly it turned white.
He had always hated seeing her cry.
She was like poison to him—when she cried, it made him want to kill.
He wanted to hold her.
To coax her, tell her not to cry.
But with the metallic taste of blood from biting his molars and the whites of his visible eye tinged red, he ultimately couldn't say a word.
In his life, before being haunted by endless nightmares, he had briefly known familial love.
He couldn't remember the face of the man who died in battle at Jinzhou, gutted and hung on the city walls, but he still recalled him teaching martial arts in the garden. He remembered the corpse full of holes brought back in a coffin.
Before hanging herself, that woman had washed the body—sixty-seven arrow wounds alone, countless sword and knife injuries.
They said when the Northern Turks gutted him, only weeds and roots came out.
That woman had cried herself unconscious countless times holding that corpse. When conscious, she only repeated to him: take revenge.
With no reinforcements or supplies coming, his father had died in Jinzhou in that brutal way when he was just a child.
All these years, he had never forgotten—to take revenge.
Xie Zheng stared fixedly at Changyu, watching her cry as if his own chest were being torn open, waves of pain lancing through him.
Even if she stabbed him multiple times, he could still hold her tight without letting go.
But her father had helped Wei Yan kill his!
Xie Zheng's jaw clenched tightly as his bloodshot eyes remained locked on Changyu. "Don't cry," he said softly, voice barely audible.
He seemed to want to comfort her, but only made the redness in his eyes deepen. "When I uncovered this truth, it took me days before I dared come see you."He removed his blindfold and mask, as if wanting to take one last good look at her before leaving. "I also wish your father wasn't the mastermind behind it all, but I couldn't find any evidence proving his innocence. On the contrary, He Jingyuan nearly got silenced on the battlefield just like I did back then. The Old Man was detained when he went to the capital, and your father held evidence that could threaten Wei Yan..."
His dark eyes were filled with broken fragments as he gazed at Fan Changyu: "Tell me, how can I believe your father wasn't the mastermind?"
Fan Changyu's tears fell even harder.
She wanted to explain further but found herself at a loss for words. Her parents had been deeply in love, but that wasn't proof enough to convince Xie Zheng of her father's innocence.
Xie Zheng's gaze fell on her hand, where the bandage was stained red with blood. "I just bandaged this—how did it get like this again?" he said.
His tone was scolding, yet he lowered his eyes just as before, unwrapping the bandage to apply medicine. He tore strips from his own robe to wrap around her hand, calmly instructing, "Don't get it wet or lift anything heavy until it heals..."
"Xie Zheng."
The person before him called his name with a sob, a clear teardrop landing on his hand.
Her entire body trembled.
Xie Zheng's hand stiffened slightly. Silently, he tied the bandage securely before suddenly cupping the back of her head and kissing her fiercely.
More violent than any kiss before, his lips and tongue ravaged hers with a desperate, almost mad intensity.
Fan Changyu even tasted blood—and the salt of tears.
But just as abruptly, he pulled away.
Forehead pressed to hers, he let her see all the love, hatred, and unwillingness in his eyes.
"Fan Changyu," he said, "the man who died in Jinzhou, who was gutted and left exposed—that was my father. I can choose not to hate, but I can't allow myself to keep loving the daughter of Wei Qilin. This is the best path I can choose for you."
Cradling her face in both hands, he gently wiped away her tears even as his words remained resolute: "If I kill Wei Yan and survive, I'll never leave the northern frontier again. I won't see you for the rest of my life. When you marry someday, don't let me know."
He laughed at himself, but his eyes were dark, devoid of any light. "I know what kind of person I am. If I ever regret today's decision, I'd drag you into my coffin and bury us together—even if it kills me."
Looking at her, he added in an almost inaudible whisper, "I'd do it."
Whether he was saying it to Fan Changyu or himself was unclear.
Fan Changyu stood frozen, only her tears continuing to fall silently.
Perhaps afraid of frightening her, Xie Zheng gently stroked her cheek with his thumb before murmuring softly, "I'm leaving."
With that, he withdrew his hand and spurred his horse away.
As if staying even a moment longer would make him change his mind.
Only when Xie Zheng had ridden far into the distance did Fan Changyu snap out of her daze. "Stop right there!" she shouted.
Against all odds, the distant figure actually reined in his horse at her command.
Seeing this only made the bitterness in her chest swell even more.
Taking a deep breath, she declared, "I'll uncover the truth of what happened back then. I'll clear my grandfather's name after seventeen years of slander—and give your father, and all the innocent soldiers who died in Jinzhou, the justice they deserve."
Without waiting for Xie Zheng's response, she turned her horse around and galloped back the way she came, cracking her whip fiercely.
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