Yu Bao'er was extremely sensible. When Fan Changyu told him they needed to perform an act to trick the old steward of the Sui family into confessing, he immediately nodded in agreement to cooperate.
The dungeon was gloomy and dim. Fan Changyu didn't let Changning follow them inside, instructing Xie Qi to keep her entertained in the manor for a while.
To intimidate the old steward, Xie Zheng ordered Bao'er to be dressed in bloodstained, tattered clothes. His face was painted pale and ashen with disguise paste, even adorned with a few realistic-looking scars.
When Xie Zheng brought Bao'er back into the dungeon, the old steward indeed became extremely agitated. Gripping the prison bars tightly, his wrinkled face twisted in anguish: "Young master... what have you done to the young master?"
Yu Bao'er stood outside the cell covered in "wounds," his eyes hollow and vacant, as if he had endured severe abuse.
Xie Zheng stood behind him with his hands clasped behind his back. The light from the wall sconces cast his shadow over Bao'er, completely enveloping him. In the dim dungeon, the dark golden embroidery on his robes shimmered faintly in the candlelight, his refined features icy cold: "You didn't care when we flayed your grandson's flesh. I wonder if your mouth will remain just as tight when we start slicing this child's flesh."
Hearing this, Yu Bao'er immediately trembled in response, his large, dark eyes filling with genuine fear.
The old steward collapsed to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably against the prison bars, his voice shaking with grief: "Don't hurt the young master, don't touch him! I'll confess anything you want to know..."
After exchanging a glance with Xie Zheng, Fan Changyu questioned the old steward: "Seventeen years ago, when Wei Qilin, the Envoy General of Pacification under General Changshan, took the Tiger Tally to Chongzhou to mobilize troops, why did Chongzhou refuse to send reinforcements?"
The old steward's weeping abruptly ceased upon hearing this. He raised his aged eyes to scrutinize Fan Changyu.
Fan Changyu's expression turned severe: "Answer me!"
Xie Shiyi promptly cracked his whip: "How dare you! Who gave you the audacity to stare at the General?"
The whip was carefully controlled—painful enough to hurt but not seriously injure. As it lashed across the old steward's back, the searing pain made him tremble uncontrollably. He lowered his head, not daring to look up again, muttering almost instinctively: "I don't know... what Tiger Tally or troop mobilization... how would an old man like me know such things..."
Fan Changyu frowned deeply, about to speak, when Xie Zheng interjected: "Shiyi."
Xie Shiyi immediately grabbed Yu Bao'er and dragged him outside the cell to the torture chamber. From the old steward's vantage point, he could clearly see the iron cages containing several bloodthirsty hounds, their bars stained with dark, dried blood. After Bao'er let out a bloodcurdling scream, a piece of bloody flesh was thrown into the cages, sending the hounds into a frenzied scramble.
The mere sight of this made the old steward retch violently. He cried out hoarsely: "Stop cutting! Stop! I'll confess, I'll confess everything!"
Xie Zheng looked down coldly at the old man groveling and retching like an insect, his voice slow and deliberate: "Listen well, old fool. The fact that I'm asking you these questions means I already know much. What I ask may not be what I don't know. If you dare lie to me even once, not only will the remaining Sui family scum perish, but your grandson will also be flayed alive and fed to the dogs!"The old steward's face was as pale as paper, kowtowing repeatedly while weeping, "This old servant dares not anymore, this old servant dares not anymore."
Only then did Xie Zheng slowly ask, "Then tell me, why didn't Chongzhou send troops seventeen years ago?"
The old steward trembled, his cracked lips devoid of much color, and said, "Envoy General of Pacification Wei Qilin did indeed come to Chongzhou with the Tiger Tally and Wei Yan's personal letter. But the prince said the Tiger Tally was fake. The prince matched the two halves of the tally in front of all the Chongzhou soldiers, and they couldn't fit together at all. The prince suspected Wei Yan of harboring ill intentions and wanted to capture Wei Qilin to hold Wei Yan accountable."
Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng's expressions changed drastically.
From this, it seemed that Wei Yan had indeed been treacherous back then, daring even to forge the Tiger Tally.
But Xie Zheng quickly said, "You're lying. The Tiger Tally Wei Yan ordered Wei Qilin to bring from Meng Shuyuan in Changzhou was genuine. Why would the Chongzhou tally be fake?"
He coldly commanded, "Eleven."
Soon, the sound of a blade cutting flesh came from the torture chamber again. Yu Bao'er screamed for her "mother," and another bloody piece of meat was thrown into the iron cage for the hounds to fight over.
The mother and son serving as Yu Qianqian's substitutes seemed to have been brought over to witness the torture as well. Their hysterical screams joined the cacophony of women and children's piercing cries, filling the dungeon and grating on the eardrums.
The old steward frantically kowtowed on the ground until his forehead bled, wailing, "Don't cut, don't cut! This old servant is telling the truth! I'm just a steward in the prince's household, I don't know that much! After Wei Qilin was captured alive, he escaped not long after. Then came the news of Jinzhou's defeat, followed by the imperial court blaming Old General Meng for the loss, attributing Jinzhou's fall to the failure in grain transport..."
The old steward wept bitterly, "Only then did the prince realize that Wei Qilin had come with the Tiger Tally to mobilize troops to relieve Jinzhou's urgent crisis. But the prince couldn't be certain beforehand that Old General Meng had truly gone to Luocheng. Though there was Wei Yan's personal letter, there wasn't even an imperial decree, and the Tiger Tally for troop mobilization was fake—how could the prince act recklessly?
After Jinzhou fell, the prince was filled with remorse and quickly led his troops to set up defenses in the cities below Jinzhou, stopping the Northern Jue army's unstoppable advance. The prince intended to plead guilty to the capital once the war stabilized. But soon after, the Eastern Palace caught fire, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess were burned to death, the princess consort and the eldest young master perished, and the young master's face was half burned..."
At this point, the old steward grew even more grief-stricken, his words dripping with anguish, "The Crown Prince died, the Sixteenth Prince died, and the Eastern Palace suddenly caught fire—how could the prince not understand that the princess consort and the eldest young master had been caught in the crossfire of the princes' struggle for the throne!
If it was truly as Wei Yan's letter claimed—that the Late Emperor wanted to protect Jinzhou and save the Sixteenth Prince, hence resorting to this desperate measure by sending Old General Meng to Luocheng and ordering the prince to transport grain—then why use a fake Tiger Tally to mobilize troops? Or was the tally swapped by someone with ulterior motives, making the prince dare not send troops, leading to Jinzhou's tragedy?"
Fan Changyu felt her limbs grow colder the more she listened, her mind growing faint and muddled. She asked, "When the imperial court concluded the case and pinned all the blame for Jinzhou's defeat on General Meng, didn't Changxin Wang consider exposing the truth?"The old steward, his eyes clouded with tears, said, "At that time, the prince had not yet been enfeoffed for his merits in halting the northern Jue tribes' southward advance. Though he had been appointed as a general, what could he use to fight against the mastermind behind all this? If Wei Qilin had still been in the prince's hands, perhaps there would have been a witness who could testify against Wei Yan. But the capital outright denied ever sending anyone to Chongzhou to mobilize troops. Even Old General Meng's march to Luocheng was dismissed as his own vainglorious ambition. With no evidence at all, how could the prince reveal the truth to the world?"
So...
Was it Wei Yan who had swapped the Tiger Tally in Chongzhou?
Had he secretly colluded with imperial consorts, then orchestrated the deaths of the Chengde Crown Prince and the Sixteenth Prince, all to monopolize power?
The reason Wei Yan wanted to hunt down her parents was because they were the witnesses who could testify against all his crimes?
Though she had long speculated about various truths, when it was finally laid bare, Fan Changyu felt a dull ache in her head. A chilling sense of suffocation overwhelmed her, leaving her too weak to even scream in release.
Unconsciously, Fan Changyu took a step back. Xie Zheng grasped her wrist, the warmth from his palm seeping into her icy skin, barely steadying her.
The oil in the niche lamp seemed nearly spent, the wick's glow shrinking to the size of a bean, casting the dungeon into deeper shadows.
The dim yellow light carved out Xie Zheng's handsome profile. Holding Fan Changyu's wrist, his long lashes half-lowered, his face betrayed no emotion—so calm it was unnerving. "According to you, Changxin Wang lurked in Chongzhou for years before rebelling, all just to overthrow Wei Yan?"
The old steward nodded. "Half of the prince's life's wish was indeed solely for this."
Xie Zheng pressed on, "Were the rumors linking Wei Yan to the Jinzhou Massacre also spread by Changxin Wang?"
The old steward choked out another "yes," then pleaded, "Marquis, I've answered all your questions truthfully. Please spare the young master, the last of his bloodline..."
Xie Zheng slowly raised his eyes, his gaze icy. "I'll take what you've said as truth for now. But what General of the Cloud Banner told you earlier is also undeniable. The eldest young master your Sui family sheltered for seventeen years was not Sui Tuo's son, but the crown prince's eldest son, smuggled away in a golden cicada shedding its shell."
The old steward froze, his weathered face blank with shock and confusion.
Xie Zheng continued evenly, "If the Sui family were as loyal and innocent as you claim, why did the crown princess choose your household, out of all the nobles at the Eastern Palace banquet, to shelter the crown prince's son? And when the crown prince's son killed Changxin Wang's consort and Sui Yuanqing without hesitation, did he show any gratitude to the Sui family?"
His gaze, devoid of malice yet chilling, fixed on the old steward, who trembled like a leaf, tears and snot streaming down his face. "I truly know nothing of what you speak..."
Xie Zheng withdrew his gaze and said coolly, "Think carefully. What else have you forgotten about the past? After all, the eldest young master you swore loyalty to used the Sui family as a stepping stone to set up Wei Yan, and now he's relying on the Li family to vie for the throne. With Wei Yan's fall, all may rejoice—but Sui Tuo's entire family was sacrificed in his schemes. You claim loyalty to the Sui family. Don't you want revenge?"The old steward was completely overwhelmed by these revelations. He had genuinely believed that Fan Changyu's claims were part of a scheme with Zhao Xun to deceive him.
Now that he had confessed everything he knew and heard Xie Zheng's words, his aged face bore nothing but desolation and a hollow, hopeless bewilderment.
Xie Zheng didn’t miss the slightest shift in the old man’s expression. Seeing that he truly seemed to know nothing more, he took Fan Changyu’s wrist and led her out of the dungeon at a measured pace. The old steward, as if only now regaining his senses, knelt in the cell and broke into muffled sobs.
Fan Changyu’s expression was equally grave.
Outside the cell was the interrogation chamber. Yu Bao'er and Xie Shiyi stood in the blind spots of the adjacent cells, while a tray on the table held freshly butchered, bloodied scraps of pork.
The meat thrown into the wolfhound’s cage earlier had been sliced from that very tray.
Yu Bao'er had only been mimicking agonized screams. The mother and son imprisoned in the neighboring cell, like the old steward, could only see the wolfhound’s cage from their vantage point. Hearing Yu Bao'er’s cries and watching the hound devour the bloody meat, they had believed she was being flayed alive and screamed in terror.
When Yu Bao'er spotted Fan Changyu, she initially moved to greet her but hesitated upon seeing her pallid expression, stopping in place and calling out softly, "Aunt Changyu."
Fan Changyu gave a strained nod. "You’ve worked hard, Bao'er. Go find Changning to play for now."
Yu Bao'er cast an uneasy glance at Fan Changyu, then at Xie Zheng beside her, before finally following Xie Shiyi out of the dungeon.
Even after all this time, Fan Changyu still felt a suffocating weight in her chest. The interrogation chamber was furnished with a tea table and a Grand Tutor chair. She poured herself a cup of cold tea and gulped it down, her emotions stabilizing slightly. As she reached for a second cup, Xie Zheng pressed his hand over hers, still gripping the teapot.
"Changyu," his voice was low, his large palm completely covering hers as if offering support. "If you’re hurting, cry it out."
From the moment she learned the truth about her father’s failed rescue mission until now, Fan Changyu had remained composed, though her face had grown noticeably paler.
She lifted her gaze to Xie Zheng, her stubborn eyes tinged with red, yet still tearless. "My grandfather and my father—they were both wronged," she said.
Before, she had lacked the evidence to state this with such certainty and conviction. Now, she could.
Her voice was taut, but Xie Zheng felt an inexplicable sting in his chest.
He pulled her tightly into his embrace. "I’m sorry."
Sorry that, despite bearing burdens no lighter than his own, she had been forced to endure so much alone before the truth could come to light.
Fan Changyu forced back the burning in her eyes, her hands at her sides clenching into fists. "I will clear my grandfather’s and my father’s names of the disgrace they’ve carried for seventeen years."
From the moment she learned of her origins, she had never once stopped thinking of this. Back then, she had no proof.
Over and over, she had told herself that no matter how difficult, she would keep walking this path.
Now, with irrefutable evidence confirming what she had always believed, she had taken a massive step toward that goal—yet the flood of emotions left her aching.
How dare he?
Wei Yan, for his own selfish desires, had smeared her grandfather’s name for seventeen years!If she couldn't clear her grandfather's name, he would remain a traitor through the ages!
Even centuries later, people would still point fingers at his legacy.
That was the loyal soul who had fought for Great Yin most of his life!
Back then, because Changxin Wang hadn't dared to make the matter public, Wei Yan had turned a blind eye, allowing her parents to escape and live in hiding for sixteen years.
Now that Changxin Wang had rebelled and brought up past events again, Wei Yan feared her parents might step forward as witnesses. So he spared no effort to have them killed!
Fan Changyu rarely lost control of her emotions, but at this moment, she clearly felt the surging hatred and rage in her heart—like wild horses breaking free, rushing through her veins, churning between her bones, making her knuckles crack audibly.
Xie Zheng's hand on her back didn't loosen in the slightest as he said, "This is your vengeance, and mine too."
Not quite comfort, yet better than comfort.
Fan Changyu took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the violent emotions in her heart, and looked up at him. "What do you plan to do?"
Just then, Xie Shiyi hurried into the dungeon with Yu Bao'er and Changning, his expression uncharacteristically panicked. Seeing the two embracing, he didn't have time to retreat, only quickly lowering his eyes. "Master, bad news—the Five Armies Garrison has surrounded the Xie residence!"
When Xie Shiyi entered with the children, Fan Changyu had immediately put distance between herself and Xie Zheng. But at this news, she had no room for embarrassment—only a sharp twitch in her brow.
Daring to openly surround the Xie residence... If it wasn't the emperor's order, then someone must be rebelling, fearing Xie Zheng might interfere, and thus striking first.
She looked at Xie Zheng, but he showed no surprise. "Grand Tutor Li is jumping the gun too quickly."
Calmly, he instructed Xie Shiyi, "Take the two children and leave the city through the secret passage first."
Then he turned to Fan Changyu.
She raised an eyebrow, her indomitable spirit and fierceness undeniable. "I'm a general who fought my way up on the battlefield. They're my enemies too—don't even think about telling me to hide with them."
Her unrestrained, radiant demeanor outshone the sun itself.
The way she lifted her brow and met his gaze hooked right into Xie Zheng's heart.
He gave her a long look and simply said, "Come with me."
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