Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

After the fireworks, sporadic firecracker pops still echoed from distant streets and alleys, with the occasional dog bark faintly drifting through the night.

Xie Zheng lightly rapped his half-closed fist against the table where Fan Changyu lay slumped. "Wake up," he said.

Between drunkenness and drowsiness, Fan Changyu only mumbled incoherently in response, shifting her head to a more comfortable position on her arm as she sank deeper into sleep.

Seeing she wouldn't rouse, Xie Zheng hesitated briefly before standing and walking over. He lifted her up, preparing to carry her back to her room.

The movement made Fan Changyu open her eyes groggily. Her cheeks were still flushed red, leaving Xie Zheng momentarily unsure whether she was awake or still drunk.

Supporting one of her arms to prevent her from falling, he asked, "Can you make it back to your room on your own?"

Fan Changyu tilted her head to study him, her hair tousled from sleep, making her look both dazed and oddly docile. Her gaze was unfocused, as if she hadn't yet recognized who stood before her.

Xie Zheng paused, then averted his eyes with a frown. "You don't even know your drinking limits, yet you dare drink recklessly."

As he tugged at her arm to help her up, he heard her muttering something indistinct.

Unable to make out her words, Xie Zheng leaned in closer. "What?"

Fan Changyu was barely conscious, her head bobbing slightly. Just as Xie Zheng moved nearer to hear her, her head dipped once more—her lips lightly brushing his cheek before coming to rest in the crook of his neck. Her already dazed, sleepy eyes fluttered shut, completely unaware of what she'd just done.

Xie Zheng froze.

Time seemed to stand still in that moment—the wind, the snow, even the crackling of the bonfire faded into silence.

The soft crown of her head pressed against his neck, her breathing slow and shallow. She had clearly fallen back asleep.

Xie Zheng remained motionless for a long while, until a small voice piped up beside them: "A-jie?"

He turned to see Changning, seemingly just awakened, clutching her Red Envelope in one hand while rubbing her bleary eyes with the other. She stared at him and Fan Changyu in confusion.

Raising a slender finger to his lips in a "hush" gesture, Xie Zheng met her gaze, his dark eyes calm and steady in the lamplight. "Your sister's asleep. Don't wake her."

Changning nodded obediently.

Xie Zheng gestured toward the oil lamp. "Can you carry the lamp?"

Little Changning nodded even more vigorously.

Cradling the lamp carefully in both hands, she led the way while Xie Zheng followed, one arm beneath Fan Changyu's shoulders and the other under her knees, carrying her steadily.

Fan Changyu had carried him back from the wilderness twice—yet this was the first time he'd held her like this.

She was lighter than he'd imagined.

Of course. In just two short months, she'd endured the deaths of both parents, the betrayal of her childhood sweetheart, and her uncle's seizure of her family's property. And more recently, these two assassination attempts would be enough to terrify most people for a lifetime.

Outwardly, she carried on as if nothing were wrong—leaving early and returning late each day to earn money, never showing loss of appetite at meals, even laughing and playing with her little sister as usual.

Before, Xie Zheng had thought her simply thick-skinned. But now, it struck him that perhaps... it wasn't that she was unaffected. Perhaps she simply knew she couldn't afford to wallow in grief. So she worked hard, ate well, slept soundly—daring not to fall ill, daring not to let herself collapse.Because her younger sister could only rely on her, she couldn't afford to collapse.

The path from the main hall to the northern room wasn't long, but in the interplay of darkness and lamplight, Xie Zheng felt a surge of complex emotions.

Upon reaching the northern room, Changning wasn't tall enough to place the oil lamp on the table, so she first set it on a round stool.

Xie Zheng laid the sleeping Fan Changyu on the bed, whereupon Changning quickly ran over, grabbed her sister's shoes with both hands, and tugged hard to pull them off.

The child exerted all her strength but still lacked the proper technique. Xie Zheng said, "Let me do it."

After helping remove both shoes, he was about to cover Fan Changyu with the quilt when Changning spoke up: "A-jie's padded jacket hasn't been taken off yet."

Xie Zheng's fingers paused slightly as he coaxed the child, "Your sister is asleep. Taking off her jacket might wake her. Let her sleep like this."

Only then did Changning relent.

As he covered Fan Changyu with the quilt, the child also kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the bed, tucking in the quilt corners for her sister like a little adult.

Xie Zheng waited until the child had also settled in before placing the oil lamp on a nearby wooden table. Turning back to glance at the bed, he saw Fan Changyu's face flushed with the faint redness of intoxication under the dim lamplight, her sleeping form quiet and serene.

Suddenly, he recalled that night when he taught her the Great Yin Law—how she had fallen asleep while reciting the statutes, slumped over the desk, and in her dreams, choked out the word "Mother."

That strange, unfamiliar emotion rose in his chest once more.

"Brother-in-law?"

Changning, noticing him staring, blinked and called out to him.

Xie Zheng snapped out of his thoughts and said, "What happened earlier in the other room—don't tell your sister."

Little Changning looked puzzled: "What happened?"

After a brief silence, Xie Zheng considered that she might not have seen anything upon waking and replied, "Never mind."

As he prepared to extinguish the lamp, the child asked, "Brother-in-law, won't you need the lamp to go back to your room?"

"No need."

With that, the lamp went out, plunging the room into darkness.

Xie Zheng walked calmly through the dimness and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Before returning to his own quarters, he also took the Gyrfalcon from its cage near the hearth. Once inside, he lit an oil lamp, ground ink, and finished the letter he had started earlier in the day. Then he placed it in a bamboo tube and tied it to the Gyrfalcon's leg.

The bird's wing and leg injuries had mostly healed. Having not flown out for days and with a daily bowl of fresh minced meat or offal, the falcon had grown noticeably rounder.

When Xie Zheng raised his arm for the Gyrfalcon to perch, he felt the weight on his forearm and frowned almost imperceptibly. "After delivering the letter, fly outside until nightfall before returning."

The falcon's beady eyes instinctively darted toward the large bowl of minced meat in the main hall, but sensing the sudden chill from the man behind it, it quickly flapped its wings and vanished into the dark night.

After the Gyrfalcon had flown far away, Xie Zheng didn't go inside. Instead, he stood under the eaves with his hands behind his back, watching the heavy snowflakes drift down like willow catkins for a long time.

When he had instructed Zhao Xun to purchase grain, he had anticipated that the authorities would eventually take notice.

A few days ago, when Zhao Xun came to see him, Xie Zheng had already directed him to send the grain to a designated location. The letter carried by the Gyrfalcon was meant to instruct his former subordinates to transport the supplies.The Wei family wanted to eliminate him without shedding a single drop of blood and then take over his hundred thousand troops in Huizhou. Their scheme was well-calculated, but since he hadn’t died, the father and son’s good days were now numbered.

Rumors about the Jinzhou battle sixteen years ago had suddenly surfaced several months ago. At first, he hadn’t believed them. But when his dear uncle learned he was secretly investigating the Jinzhou battle, he immediately set a trap on the battlefield to take his life—undoubtedly confirming those rumors.

Before reclaiming control of the Huizhou troops, he would have to use the Wei family’s own hands to uproot the spies they had planted around him.

Thinking about how he had mistaken his enemy for a father for sixteen years, Xie Zheng’s lips curled into a mocking smile.

If that woman hadn’t chosen to follow his father in death upon hearing the news of his demise, would he have been spared from being raised by Wei Yan’s hand? Would he have avoided living sixteen years under the roof of his enemy?

He closed his eyes heavily, the lantern under the eaves casting a shadow from his high-bridged nose across his face.

For some reason, his thoughts drifted back to the two sisters of the Fan family.

For a fleeting moment, Xie Zheng actually felt a twinge of envy toward that child.

When he had suffered upheaval in his childhood, he had been about her age. But once the Xie family collapsed, there was no one left to shelter him from the storm.

That child was so fortunate—though she had lost her parents, she still had an elder sister who could shield her from the world…

When he opened his eyes again, all emotion in his gaze had settled into stillness.

He turned and went back to his room. After removing his outer robe and lying down, he immediately sensed something amiss beneath his pillow.

Sitting up, he lifted the pillow and was visibly stunned for a moment when he saw a red envelope placed underneath.

New Year money.

The character for "year" was homophonous with "evil spirits." Folklore said that New Year money could ward off misfortune and ghosts, ensuring safety and peace.

Had that woman left this for him?

Xie Zheng opened the red envelope and found several silver ingots inside.

Each weighed less than an ounce, but now, as he held them in his hand, they felt inexplicably heavy.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had received New Year money. After his parents passed away, the only time he had ever received any was when his grandmother was still alive.

Wei Yan had been cold-blooded and unyielding his entire life. Not only had he never shown kindness to his nephew, but even his own son had never received a shred of paternal warmth from him. Naturally, he had never arranged for red envelopes to be prepared for them during the New Year.

Xie Zheng lay back on the bed, one arm pillowed behind his head, the other holding a silver ingot up to the candlelight as he examined it quietly. A trace of something unreadable flickered across his handsome features.

Her parents were gone—did that mean no one would give her New Year money anymore?

The next morning, when Fan Changyu woke up, her head felt heavy and swollen.

Thanks to the alcohol, she had slept in, and Changning was no longer in the room.

She slowly sat up, noticing that her clothes were still neatly on her body. She tried hard to recall the events of the previous night, but her memory after getting drunk remained a blank slate.

Still, if she had made it back to her room, she must have either walked back herself or been helped by Yan Zheng.

The mere thought of the latter made her face burn with embarrassment.

How utterly humiliating—she had gotten drunk on mild wine! If word got out, she’d be the laughingstock of the town.

Rubbing her throbbing temples, she got up and finished a quick wash when she suddenly heard Changning crying in the main room.

Fan Changyu stepped out and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Changning was crouched beside the chicken coop, tears and snot streaming down her face. “Falcon’s gone…”Fan Changyu stared blankly at the empty chicken coop and said, "Perhaps the cage door wasn't closed properly last night. Once the gyrfalcon's wing healed, it must have flown away."

Changning cried even harder.

With no other choice, Fan Changyu resorted to explaining that the gyrfalcon needed to return to its falcon parents. Only then did Changning gradually stop sobbing.

Xie Zheng, who had likely heard the crying from his room, came out and saw Changning still standing tearfully by the coop. He said, "It will fly back again."

Changning raised her tear-filled eyes. "Really?"

Thinking he was just comforting the child, Fan Changyu worried that this white lie might upset Changning more when she later discovered the truth. Forgetting her own embarrassment over possibly making a fool of herself while drunk the previous night, she shot Xie Zheng a glance.

At first, Xie Zheng didn't understand her look. After Fan Changyu had coaxed Changning away, she said to him, "You don't need to lie to her like that. Changning is probably just too lonely. Come spring, I plan to raise a brood of chicks. Once she has new playmates, she'll forget about that gyrfalcon."

Xie Zheng replied, "I wasn't lying to her."

Now it was Fan Changyu's turn to look stunned.

Unable to reveal the truth about using the gyrfalcon to send messages yet, Xie Zheng lied effortlessly: "In falconry, the final stage involves releasing the bird. Only if it returns is it considered fully tamed."

Fan Changyu thought—wasn't this still uncertain? She eyed Xie Zheng suspiciously. "Are you so sure it'll come back?"

Xie Zheng nodded calmly.

Though still somewhat doubtful, Fan Changyu didn't press further, as she knew nothing about falconry.

Much of the cured meat she had smoked earlier still hung above the fire pit. Most of it was reserved for sale, with only a small portion kept for their own consumption.

In the past, when her parents were alive, her father would take a piece of meat to visit the elderly Fan couple on this day every year. Now that her parents were gone, Fan Changyu, though not close to the old couple, still felt obliged to maintain appearances as they were elders.

After breakfast, she prepared to deliver a piece of cured meat to them and return promptly. Entrusting Xie Zheng to look after Changning, she set off with the meat.

Fan Da had recently passed away, casting a somber mood over the Fan family's New Year celebrations.

When Fan Changyu arrived, only the elderly couple was home. Liu Shi had taken her two children to celebrate the New Year at her parents' house.

Having lost both sons within a year, the old couple seemed deeply affected. Fan Laopozi was bedridden, while Fan Laodie's already graying hair had turned almost entirely white. Even during the New Year, his clothes were dirty and wrinkled—whether from neglect or hardship under his daughter-in-law's management was unclear.

Seeing Fan Changyu, he invited her inside to warm herself by the fire.

But Fan Changyu only wanted to deliver the meat and leave. "Ning Niang is waiting for me at home, so I won't stay long," she said.

Fan Laodie looked at the cured meat she had brought, likely remembering how his younger son used to bring meat every New Year. His eyes reddened as he said, "Come inside and sit for a while. There are things about your father's past that I think you should know."

Fan Changyu was taken aback. What about her father's past could she not know?

Seeing Fan Laodie shuffle unsteadily into the house after speaking, Fan Changyu hesitated briefly before following him inside.