Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

Fan Changyu was stunned.

It wasn’t until the sharp pain on her lips registered that she snapped back to reality. Flushed with anger, she instinctively swung her other hand toward his face. But he seemed prepared, effortlessly intercepting her wrist and yanking her even closer. His unyielding chest and iron-like arms locked her in place.

Never had Fan Changyu been treated like this. She struggled with brute force, but he deftly countered every move with skillful technique.

Frustrated, she channeled all her strength into her teeth. When she bit down hard, Xie Zheng hissed in pain. As they parted, blood stained his lips. He frowned. "You—"

Before he could finish, Fan Changyu rammed her forehead straight into his nose. The impact sent a sharp ache through his nasal bridge, forcing him to release one hand to cover it. Seizing the opportunity, she landed a solid punch on his eye with her freed hand.

Xie Zheng winced but didn’t let go of her other wrist. Instead, he twisted it behind her back and shoved her against the wall, pressing his body against hers. His voice was icy. "Are you really this upset?"

Fan Changyu wanted nothing more than to bite him to death. Her injured wrist made it impossible to break free for the moment.

She spat, "What’s wrong with you? If you want a woman, there are plenty in the brothels willing to take your business. Who do you think I am?"

Xie Zheng abruptly lifted his head, his dark eyes simmering. "Is that really how you see me?"

Pinned and unable to move, Fan Changyu’s fury burned so fiercely it nearly sparked in her eyes. "And what do you call what you just did? Taking advantage of me!"

Xie Zheng, perhaps too enraged, let out a low, humorless laugh. "Taking advantage? If I really wanted to take advantage, I wouldn’t have waited until now."

He released her and took a step back, his lips curling coldly. "Still hung up on your ex-fiancé? Planning to find someone just like him next time? Haven’t learned a thing?"

Humiliated by his earlier actions and now stung by his mocking tone, Fan Changyu’s temper flared. Before she knew it, she swung another punch at his face. "Whether I’m over him or not—what’s it to you?"

Xie Zheng didn’t dodge or block, taking the full force of her blow. His lip split, and the crimson flush spreading across his otherwise jade-like face made for an unexpectedly striking contrast.

Fan Changyu froze momentarily. She knew exactly how hard she’d hit him.

Why… didn’t he even try to avoid it?

Xie Zheng ran his tongue over the cut, tasting the faint metallic tang of blood before tilting his head to look at her. "Not going to keep going?"

Fan Changyu couldn’t describe the turmoil in her chest. Her knuckles still ached slightly—his face must be in far worse shape.

But after what he’d done, she couldn’t bring herself to apologize. Pressing her lips together, she turned to leave for the house.

Yet before she could take a step, the man closed the distance like a ghost. All she saw were those terrifyingly dark eyes before he cupped the back of her head and kissed her again.

Her scalp prickled with fury, but caught off guard, she was utterly at his mercy. In the struggle, he pinned her fully against the wall, lifting both her wrists above her head. Using his size to his advantage, he pressed down on her relentlessly. His breath, unlike his usual composed self, fanned hotly over her face as he kissed her with even more savage intensity than before.Fan Changyu was so furious that she bit him hard. He quickly clamped her jaw shut with a deft maneuver, preventing her from biting down again. Yet he showed no intention of retreating. Instead, he took the opportunity to force her lips apart, sweeping through her mouth several times.

By the time it ended, Fan Changyu was gasping for breath, her mind momentarily starved of oxygen. She forgot to punch him again, only staring at him in disbelief.

Xie Zheng released her, wiping the blood from his lips with his index finger, and said, "Now that's taking advantage of someone."

The fury of being violated and disrespected surged straight to Fan Changyu's head. The moment Xie Zheng loosened his grip and stepped back, she immediately drew the boning knife she carried and pressed it against his throat. "Who do you think you are? Do you think you can just humiliate me as you please?"

Xie Zheng leaned casually against the wooden pillar, unfazed even with the knife at his neck. Only when he heard Fan Changyu's words did he lift his gaze, his expression uncharacteristically serious. "Rather than having poor taste and ending up with another ingrate, you'd be better off staying with me."

The moment those words left his mouth, both Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng himself were momentarily stunned. Then came a numb, reckless satisfaction, as if reason had been forcibly shattered.

Yes, wouldn’t it be better to keep her by his side than to let her marry someone else?

Having broken the ice, the rest seemed easier to say. After a brief silence, he continued slowly, "I have a powerful enemy out there. I might die by his hand, or he might die by mine. If you're willing, wait two years for me. If I die, someone will deliver the news, and you can remarry then."

Fan Changyu glared at him coldly. "You keep calling Song Yan an ingrate, but how are you any better? You take liberties with me, then tell me you have feelings for me?"

She sheathed the knife, her anger at the violation momentarily overwhelming all else. She roughly wiped her lips with her sleeve. "I hit you—that makes us even. Everything you need is on the table. Leave as soon as the city gates reopen."

Xie Zheng watched her retreating figure, the faintest trace of a cold smirk fading from his lips.

So, he had been rejected?

From birth until now, the only defeat he had ever suffered was on the battlefield of Chongzhou. This time, he tasted the bitterness of loss in another way.

He didn’t take the things left on the table in the main hall. After leaning against the porch pillar for a while, he stepped out of the Fan Family’s courtyard.

Due to the recent unrest in Qingping County and the government’s heightened security, the streets of Lin’an Town were eerily quiet, with hardly any farmers coming to the market.

Aimlessly, Xie Zheng wandered to the pine forest by the river outside the town. The ground was covered in a foot of snow, and the rushing river, fed by the uneven terrain, had already shattered the thin layer of ice formed the night before. The distant sound of mountain springs echoed faintly.

He lay down on the gentle slope, resting his head on his arm as he stared at the faint outline of Lin’an Town in the distance.

He had never panicked when cornered on the battlefield in Chongzhou, nor had he feared when barely surviving and being pursued for miles by martial assassins. After falling into the river and being swept to Jizhou, he had awakened on the riverbank, enduring sword wounds and a raging fever as he searched for a village, only to collapse in the wilderness and be found by that woman.

Back then, all he had planned was how to stabilize the northwest and exact revenge on the Wei family step by step.When did he start feeling reluctant to leave?

That small house was always bustling with noise and the warmth of life. He had seen too many backs bent under the weight of hardship, but that woman—even if the sky were to collapse, she would straighten her slender spine to bear it.

Perhaps... it was simply because no one had treated him with such pure kindness in so long?

The tangerine peel candy when he took his medicine, the red envelope during the New Year... A mocking smile crept onto Xie Zheng's lips. For a moment, the phrase "wagging his tail for pity" crossed his mind.

She was probably just too kind-hearted. Even if it hadn't been him she saved that day, she would have cared for anyone else with the same devotion—buying candy, wrapping New Year red envelopes...

Because he was pitiable, she was good to him. Not because she held any affection for him.

His words about her following him had truly become a joke.

A man who had prided himself for half his life was not keen on admitting such a laughable defeat.

In the sky, the gyrfalcon circled and cried, as if searching for someone.

Xie Zheng did not blow his whistle this time. He tilted his head slightly and spotted a tender green sprout breaking through the half-melted snow by the riverbank, standing vividly amidst the white.

When ice melts, springs flow; when snow vanishes, grass sprouts.

This was the New Year couplet he had once written for her.

He watched for a while, then lowered his gaze and sat up slightly, plucking the sprout and tossing it into the rushing current. He stared quietly as the water carried it away.

If his heart was unsettled, he would simply uproot it.

The gyrfalcon circling above finally spotted him and swooped down. Xie Zheng did not raise his hand to receive it. The bird landed and stood for a moment, tilting its head when he made no move to retrieve the message. It approached and gently pecked the back of his hand with its beak.

Xie Zheng reached up to smooth the feathers on the gyrfalcon's head, his gaze still fixed on the distant river. After a long pause, he finally took the letter from its leg.

He skimmed the contents in seconds, then let the paper crumble to shreds between his fingers. With one last glance toward Lin'an Town in the distance, he said, "Let's go. It's time to return."

Jizhou.

An urgent dispatch from Jinzhou arrived at the Jizhou Prefecture office, leaving every official in shock.

"The Northern Turks have indeed attacked Jinzhou!"

"Thank heavens the Wu'an Marquis didn't perish in Chongzhou. With him stationed in Jinzhou, those Northern Turk savages will surely flee at the mere mention of his name!"

He Jingyuan, seated at the head of the council hall, remained silent, his expression grim. Before he could speak, a guard outside reported, "Lucheng is under siege! Guo Xinhou, a general under Changxin Wang, has surrounded the city with fifty thousand troops!"

The officials erupted into chaos.

Hadn't it only been a short while since Changxin Wang's heir disguised martial assassins as peasants and incited rebellion in Qingping County?

If the uprising in Qingping County hadn't been suppressed, and the commoners had truly revolted, Lucheng—the first military stronghold bordering Chongzhou—would have been caught between two fronts, with Qingping County right behind it.

One official cursed, "The rebels planned this all along! With Jinzhou in crisis, the Wu'an Marquis's heavy troops stationed in Huizhou will have to be diverted there, leaving no strength to hold back the rebels. They're seizing this chance to swallow the northwest!"

A military officer said, "The immediate concern is that the rebels are already at Lucheng's gates. How do we defend Jizhou?"

If Lucheng falls, Jizhou loses its shield.Amid the clamor, He Jingyuan declared, "Guo Xinhou is a seasoned general, skilled in military strategy. I shall personally take command at Lucheng."

"My lord, absolutely not! Lucheng is currently in grave danger with fifty thousand rebel troops pressing at its borders, while we have only twenty thousand soldiers stationed there. If anything were to happen to you, we could never atone for our failure even with ten thousand deaths!"

Amidst the protests, He Jingyuan raised his hand to silence his subordinates. "If it's dangerous for me, isn't it equally dangerous for the soldiers defending Lucheng? My presence will make the rebels wary, actually reducing the peril to the city. Moreover, this will buy you enough time to conscript more troops from the civilian population."

As soon as the meeting concluded, cavalrymen galloped off to various counties with conscription orders in hand.

Lin'an Town.

Fan Changyu had been sulking all afternoon over Xie Zheng's audacity.

She opened a book on the table, hoping to distract herself, but the sight of the densely packed annotations in tiny handwriting made her chest tighten with emotion again—unable to rise or fall.

These annotations were all written by him during those nights he stayed up late.

As her anger gradually subsided, she recalled his words about possibly dying at the hands of his enemies, and a strange feeling settled in her heart.

Had he always talked about leaving because he bore some great vendetta?

Stepping out of her room, she passed through the main hall and noticed the pile of items she had prepared for him still sitting on the table, along with the divorce papers—both copies bearing only her signature, unsigned by him. Her heart grew even more tangled.

Changning and Yu Bao'er had gone out to play with the children from the alley and hadn't returned yet.

Fan Changyu hesitated for a moment outside the door of the southern room before finally knocking.

There was no response.

Pursing her lips, she knocked twice more and called out, "Yan Zheng, are you there?"

Still, silence greeted her.

Worried that Yan Zheng might have left without a word after her harsh outburst earlier, she pushed the door open forcefully. Only when she saw all his belongings still inside did her heart finally settle back into place.

So he must have gone out to clear his mind?

Just as she closed the door and turned to return to her room, a cacophony of wails and soldiers' shouts erupted from the alley outside.

"Sir! Please, sir! He's my only son! Have mercy on us, a mother and her child..."

"If the rebels attack Jizhou, who will defend it if our men don't go to the battlefield? Should we just wait for them to slaughter us all?"

Fan Changyu's heart skipped a beat. She opened the courtyard gate and saw armored soldiers barging into homes one by one, forcibly conscripting men.

The woman wailing on the ground was Kang Popo.

She clung desperately to her son, but even her strength was no match for the burly soldiers, who dragged him away.

Kang Popo sobbed, "Don't be afraid, my son! I'll go to the Song family and beg Scholar Song to plead with the magistrate for your release."

Recognizing the soldiers' uniforms as those of Jizhou Prefecture, Fan Changyu knew appealing to the magistrate would be futile—unless the magistrate was willing to humble himself and curry favor with the conscription officer, offering some benefits.

Her thoughts immediately turned to Yan Zheng.

Once conscripted, there was no telling when the war would end or when they could return home. More often than not, they would perish on the battlefield, with no place even to bury their bones.

The children playing outside, frightened by the commotion, stopped their games and scattered back to their homes.Changning and Yu Bao'er ran to the doorstep and huddled behind Fan Changyu, peeking timidly with only half their heads visible at the soldiers who had barged into the alley.

Changning looked up nervously and asked Fan Changyu, "Sister, Brother Yanzi's elder brother was taken by these soldiers. Will brother-in-law be taken too?"

Fan Changyu wasn't sure either—this was her first time witnessing conscription.

She had heard from Aunt Zhao before that one could pay silver to exempt a person from conscription, but it seemed that wasn't an option this time.

She shooed the two children into the courtyard, saying, "Go inside first."

Just as she closed the courtyard gate, she saw the neighborhood leader leading the soldiers to her doorstep.

According to the laws of the dynasty, commoners were grouped into units of five households (wu) and ten households (shi). Taxation and conscription were organized by these adjacent ten-household units, with collective punishment for any household that harbored fugitives.

The neighborhood leader looked awkward as he truthfully reported Fan Changyu's household situation to the soldiers: "This is the head of the household, surnamed Fan, named Changyu. She has a live-in son-in-law."

The soldiers were surprised to hear about the live-in son-in-law. Seeing only Fan Changyu outside with the courtyard gate tightly shut, their expressions darkened. One of them barked, "Where is your husband?"

Fan Changyu pressed her lips together. If she said now that she and Yan Zheng had already divorced, while the divorce papers inside hadn't even been signed by him yet, she would undoubtedly be pushing the other nine households into the fire.

But if Yan Zheng were taken away, it would be an undeserved calamity for him.

After much deliberation, Fan Changyu answered truthfully, "He's not at home."

The soldier seemed all too familiar with such excuses and raised his foot to kick the door. Another soldier holding a ledger, likely literate, quickly stopped his companion: "Wait."

He scrutinized the ledger again, then looked at Fan Changyu. "Fan Changyu, right?"

Fan Changyu replied calmly, "That's me."

The literate soldier told his companion, "Her husband is already on the conscription list. He must have been among the group we rounded up earlier on the road."

Fan Changyu's heart pounded wildly. She hurriedly asked, "My husband has already been taken? Are you sure you didn't make a mistake, sir?"

The literate soldier glanced at the ledger. "Isn't your husband named Yan Zheng?"

Hearing that name, Fan Changyu's last shred of hope vanished.

Her voice was hoarse as she said, "That's my husband."

The neighborhood leader led the soldiers to the next household, knocking on doors. Fan Changyu sat slumped by the courtyard gate, her limbs cold.

With Yan Zheng's martial skills, he could have easily escaped if he wanted to.

He had read so many books and was well-versed in the law. Had he willingly let himself be taken to avoid implicating the nine neighboring households?

Fan Changyu thought of the items she had prepared on the table inside and their recent unpleasant parting. Her chest tightened with an indescribable ache—whether from guilt or something else, she couldn't tell.

After sitting blankly for a while, she suddenly remembered something and looked up at the soldier knocking on doors. "Sir, where is my husband now? Can I see him one last time? Since he was taken outside, I'd like to bring him some things."

The soldier glanced at her and said, "The group we caught earlier has already been sent to the county town. They're about to march to Lucheng with the army. Whether you can catch up with them now, I don't know."Upon hearing the news, Fan Changyu thanked them and entrusted Changning and Yu Bao'er to the care of the neighbor's aunt. She then rushed into the house, grabbed the bundle on the table, stuffed two packs of tangerine peel candy inside, and hurried toward the county town.

Finding the ox cart too slow, she borrowed a horse instead. But by the time she reached the county gate, she was a step too late—the first batch of conscripts had already left with the garrison troops for Lucheng.

Aside from those on the conscription list, ordinary folk were still barred from freely entering or leaving Qingping County.

The snow fell heavily as Fan Changyu stood at the city gate, holding the large bundle and leading the horse, gazing through the gate's arch at the official road stretching into the distance.

Her chest felt unbearably tight. Silently, she turned the horse around and started back.

On the way, someone bumped into her, scattering the contents of her bundle across the ground. Fan Changyu wordlessly picked them up one by one. When she reached the two packs of tangerine peel candy, she pinched a piece and put it in her mouth.

She thought, perhaps it was for the best that she hadn't caught up—this batch of candy was too sour, not as sweet as before.

Even if she had given it to Yan Zheng, he probably wouldn't have liked it.

After gathering everything, she hung the bundle on the saddle but then rested her head against it for a long moment.

How had things ended up like this?

She was angry with him, but without even a chance to say goodbye, he had been taken away by the conscription. She couldn't shake the feeling that she owed him something.

On her way back to town, she encountered the second group of officers escorting newly conscripted soldiers to the county.

Relatives wept and trailed behind them, while the conscripts, their eyes red, repeatedly urged their families to stop following.

Fan Changyu was surprised to see Zhao Mu Jiang, the elderly carpenter, among the crowd.

She couldn't help calling out, "Uncle Zhao, why are you being sent to Lucheng too?"

The old man's face twisted bitterly. "Blame this old fool for choosing the wrong trades. A vet in my youth, a carpenter in my old age. The officers said I could tend to warhorses and build fortifications for the army."

The officers cracked whips, urging the crowd to move faster.

Worried the journey would be too much for the old man, Fan Changyu hesitated only briefly before saying, "Uncle Zhao, take this horse!"

The officers initially moved to shoo her away, but upon hearing she was offering the horse, they turned a blind eye.

Horses were valuable—they could carry people and supplies, and in an attack, a fast mount might mean the difference between life and death.

Zhao Mu Jiang protested, "This horse is too precious. How could I accept?"

Fan Changyu pressed the reins into his hands. "Take it. The bundle has things I prepared for Yan Zheng. I couldn't catch up to him. If you make it to Lucheng and see him, please give these to him."

Hearing this, Zhao Mu Jiang stopped refusing, his heart aching for the young couple. "Don't worry. As long as these old bones hold out, I'll deliver them."

Fan Changyu watched until he disappeared into the distance before walking back to town to settle the payment for the horse.

When she went to Aunt Zhao's to pick up Changning and Yu Bao'er, the old woman tearfully thanked her for buying the horse for Zhao Mu Jiang.

If a conscript brought their own horse, it remained their personal property. Most would be assigned to the cavalry, and even those unfit for it would be treated well.Fan Changyu comforted Aunt Zhao before heading home with Changning and Yu Bao'er. The two children, perhaps sensing the absence in the household, grew unusually quiet. Wrapped in this silence, Changyu felt the house had become strangely desolate.

How odd. Yan Zheng wasn’t much of a talker to begin with.

So why did everything feel so different now that he was gone?

When Changyu went to the south room to tidy up, she noticed his desk was already impeccably neat, requiring almost no effort on her part.

On the corner of the desk lay a pair of leather vambraces, alongside tools like files, with a sheet of paper tucked beneath them.

Judging by the size, they didn't seem to belong to Yan Zheng.

Fan Changyu picked up the paper and saw only eight words written on it: "Happy birthday, everlasting joy and no sorrow."

Memories of Yan Zheng asking about her birthday flooded her mind, and suddenly the vambraces in her hands felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

She lowered her gaze to examine them closely and noticed that one appeared to have been meticulously refitted—when fastened around her wrist, the leather fit perfectly.

As she tried to unbuckle the vambraces, whether due to her trembling hands or the lingering ache in her knuckles from punching Yan Zheng earlier, she struggled several times without success.

Giving up, she leaned back in the chair, staring blankly at the vambraces on her hands, feeling an inexplicable emptiness in her chest.