Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

The bruise at the corner of Xie Zheng's eye had faded considerably. Leaning against the couch with slightly lowered eyelids, he seemed lost in thought, not even noticing Gongsun Yin's entrance into the tent. Only after Gongsun Yin's teasing remark did he lift his gaze: "If you're so idle, go supervise the battle in Jinzhou."

Gongsun Yin found himself a seat, pouring a cup of hot tea as he replied, "Idle? When Xue Luan delivered your letter, I immediately led the Yanzhou troops hundreds of miles to Lucheng. After working like an ox or horse, this is all the thanks I get? How heartless!"

Xie Zheng's mood was foul, and his words grew sharper: "Naming that foolish creature so pretentiously—you've got no shame. Since you're already an ox or horse, I suppose you won't need a carriage for the return trip to Yanzhou. Walk back."

Gongsun Yin choked. Though everyone said he had a silver tongue, he'd never gained the upper hand against Xie Zheng.

Unable to resist, he shot back, "So irritable? If you dislike Xue Luan so much, give her to me!"

As he spoke, his fox-like eyes darted toward the gyrfalcon in the corner of the tent. For some reason, the bird had taken a liking to a bamboo basket—originally meant for dirty laundry—as its nest.

Xie Zheng raised his eyes coolly. "Didn't you realize it's your naming sense I despise?"

Gongsun Yin, incensed, flicked his sleeve and made to leave. "Xie Jiuhang, don't push your luck!"

Xie Zheng let him storm off. But at the tent entrance, Gongsun Yin suddenly turned back and sat down again. "Almost fell for your trick, letting you provoke me into leaving. To injure you and put you in such a foul mood..." His fox eyes narrowed. "I heard Changxin Wang's heir visited Qingping County recently. On the Chongzhou battlefield, you fell for his tactics and lost. The troops hail him as peerless in valor—did he give you that bruise?"

Xie Zheng scoffed. "You overestimate him."

Gongsun Yin immediately knew it couldn't have been Sui Yuanqing. Frowning, he ventured, "It couldn't be some romantic entanglement... a woman did this?"

The moment he said it, he burst out laughing. "Impossible. Not only does Xie Jiuhang lack any romantic fortune, but no woman could pack such a punch."

Xie Zheng's expression stiffened. "Is this why you came?"

Seeing his displeasure, Gongsun Yin grew serious. "Naturally, there's serious business. When the Yanzhou troops met Merchant Zhao for grain transport, they left no traces. Instead, Zhao left clues for Jizhou officials, allowing He Jingyuan to trace it back to Yanzhou."

"I ordered raids on the Zhao Family's covert bases but deliberately leaked information, letting them relocate in advance. That's how we uncovered their deeper hideouts. The investigation revealed... quite intriguing findings."

He smiled mysteriously, continuing only when Xie Zheng looked over. "The Zhao Family also has ties to Changxin Wang."

Xie Zheng remained impassive. "When Zhao Xun met me, he repeatedly hinted he serves the imperial grandson who perished in the fire over a decade ago. With Changxin Wang rebelling, it's no surprise his backers would deal with the prince."When Gongsun Yin heard the words "imperial grandson," his expression changed slightly. He asked Xie Zheng, "What does the Marquis think?"

He addressed him as "Marquis" rather than "you," indicating he was asking not as a friend but as an adviser seeking his stance on the matter.

Xie Zheng replied, "After the Battle of Chongzhou, Wei Yan and I are now irreconcilable."

Gongsun Yin pondered for a moment before saying, "Changxin Wang is no saint either. If the imperial grandson truly still lives, it's unclear what deal he struck with Changxin Wang."

Xie Zheng sat with one leg slightly bent, his long hair tied up and his dark brows sharp as blades. His tone was casual yet icy: "If the imperial grandson had dealings with Changxin Wang, yet Changxin Wang rebelled without invoking his name, then either this so-called imperial grandson was merely a smokescreen created by Changxin Wang, or... Changxin Wang is too ambitious, unwilling to submit to anyone even after gaining momentum."

Hearing this speculation, Gongsun Yin was startled. "Even if Changxin Wang refuses to serve under another, rebelling under the imperial grandson's banner would lend him legitimacy. Once the realm is secured, with his grip on power, whether the imperial grandson ascends the throne would be entirely up to him. In that case, the imperial grandson affair truly seems like Changxin Wang's scheme."

He furrowed his brows. "Yet Wei Yan has also been investigating the imperial grandson, arresting many on mere rumors these days. Even you... reopening the Jinzhou case from back then has made him want you dead. If the imperial grandson's survival were false, why would Wei Yan panic?"

Xie Zheng reflected on Zhao Xun's words that day. Zhao Xun had hinted he was aligned with the imperial grandson, yet knew nothing of the hidden truths behind the Jinzhou Massacre seventeen years ago. Even his account of how the imperial grandson survived the East Palace fire was entirely his own claim, with no evidence to support it.

It was precisely because he found this suspicious that Xie Zheng had demanded Zhao Xun's backer meet him personally. But with the Zhao Family's properties being seized one after another by the authorities, the matter had stalled.

He asked, "Before the authorities raided the Zhao Family's bases in Qingping County, did your men discover anything?"

Gongsun Yin replied, "Those bases in Qingping County were temporary—shops and taverns bought by the Zhao Family less than two months prior. There was pitifully little to uncover."

Xie Zheng's fingers, which had been tapping the table, paused. "When the Zhao Family's businesses were seized, I had only been in Qingping County for a month. Clearly, those bases weren't set up for me."

Gongsun Yin also felt the situation growing more perplexing. "You mean, in the month before your misfortune, something must have happened in Qingping County to prompt the Zhao Family to establish so many bases there?"

The events in Qingping County a month before his misfortune...

Xie Zheng's gaze sharpened. The only thing that came to mind was the deaths of the Fan family couple.

Wei Yan had sent men to kill the couple and repeatedly dispatched Martial Assassins to the Fan Family in search of something. Such movements wouldn't have gone unnoticed by those monitoring Wei Yan.

So... were the Zhao Family's bases established for the Fan Family?

Zhao Xun hadn't found him by chance after reading his Eight-legged essay and paying a visit out of admiration. Instead, the Zhao Family had been watching the Fan Family all along, which led them to discover his whereabouts.

Something was on the verge of becoming clear.

Xie Zheng said slowly, "It seems Wei Yan has also been outmaneuvered by Changxin Wang."Gongsun Yin was astute enough to instantly grasp the implication behind Xie Zheng's words: "Are you saying that Changxin Wang deliberately leaked rumors about the imperial grandson and the Battle of Jinzhou from back then, to make Wei Yan panic and reveal his hand?"

Xie Zheng voiced his speculation: "The imperial grandson might truly exist, or he might just be a decoy. But Changxin Wang must know something about what happened back then. Lacking concrete evidence, he deliberately spread these rumors to make Wei Yan think he hadn’t cleaned up all loose ends. When Wei Yan goes back to eliminate the remaining threats, he’ll expose the evidence himself."

Even Gongsun Yin was momentarily stunned, his brows furrowing tightly. "If there never was an imperial grandson to begin with, then that Zhao fellow buying two hundred thousand dan of grain for you—was it all just to provoke Wei Xuan into requisitioning grain, inciting the people of Qingping County to rebel and attack Lucheng from within and without?"

He stood up and paced back and forth in the military tent. "Just as the Northern Turks began attacking Jinzhou, those two hundred thousand dan of grain would make it nearly impossible for them to take the city. If Jinzhou were to fall, the northwestern gateway would be wide open, allowing the Northern Turks to march straight down. Changxin Wang himself wouldn’t fare well either. Those two hundred thousand dan of grain serve three purposes at once!"

"Wei Yan wants you dead. Changxin Wang guards the Chongzhou Grain Supply Line. You hold off the Northern Turks while his army continues southward. By the time you’re at your limit, you’ll either starve to death in Jinzhou like your father and the Chengde Crown Prince did back then, or be forced to ally with Changxin Wang and surrender your military power."

When Gongsun Yin sat down again, his expression was grim. "What an intricately calculated and utterly ruthless plan!"

Xie Zheng, however, seemed oddly indifferent, as if the deadly predicament didn’t weigh on him. "I thought you’d advise me to ally with Changxin Wang."

Gongsun Yin’s expression darkened. "Don’t lump me in with those useless fools. Leaving aside the fact that you’re Wei Yan’s own nephew, just the sheer military power you command would make Changxin Wang wary of accepting your surrender. No one in this world can sleep soundly with a sword hanging over their head."

He was the sharpest blade in the world, unmatched in its edge.

Wei Yan, forced by circumstances, had inadvertently forged him. Yet at the slightest hint of trouble, he sought to break him.

Even a man as powerful as Wei Yan feared him to this extent—how could Changxin Wang dare wield such a blade?

If Xie Zheng rebelled, it was unclear who between him and Changxin Wang would prevail. Changxin Wang was far too shrewd to keep such a dangerous liability by his side.

Still, Xie Zheng’s words planted an idea in Gongsun Yin’s mind. His fox-like eyes narrowed. "Does the Marquis desire the empire?"

Xie Zheng scoffed. "I want the truth about the Battle of Jinzhou seventeen years ago."

This made Gongsun Yin laugh. "Now that’s the Xie Jiuhang I know."

Gongsun Yin straightened his robes and prepared to leave. At the tent’s entrance, he couldn’t resist turning back. "I’m still rather curious—who was it that hit you?"

Aside from this injury, there were no others on his body. The fact that only his face had been beaten to such a state was truly baffling.

When Xie Zheng’s icy gaze swept over him, Gongsun Yin hastily lifted the tent flap and left.

Xie Zheng closed his eyes. The emotions he had deliberately suppressed inexplicably surged back because of Gongsun Yin’s words.

Perhaps because he had tasted few defeats in his life, aside from the bitterness, an inexplicable sense of unwillingness also arose.Not to mention the noble ladies in the capital, even a princess—if he wished, he could marry any of them. Yet that woman alone treated him with such disdain, as if he were nothing more than a roadside weed.

A suffocating tightness filled his chest, mingled with irritation.

Just then, the tent flap was lifted. Xie Zheng raised his eyes impatiently to see Gongsun Yin returning, carrying a large bundle that looked vaguely familiar.

Meeting Xie Zheng’s unfriendly gaze, Gongsun Yin shrugged. "A lieutenant from the Jizhou military camp sent this. Said a carpenter cured his rheumatism with a few medicinal plasters, so he owed the man a favor. The carpenter asked him to help find his niece’s husband—apparently, the man’s name is Yan Zheng. Coincidentally, among the thousand men I requisitioned from He Jingyuan, you’re the only one using the alias Yan Zheng. I figured this must be for you."

His fox-like eyes couldn’t resist a teasing glint. "Niece’s husband? You got married?"

Xie Zheng froze momentarily at the sight of the bundle, then pressed his lips together, his expression turning cold. "Take it to the back tent."

Gongsun Yin’s eyes widened comically, his usual sly demeanor replaced by stunned disbelief. "Wait—you actually got married?"

Xie Zheng remained silent, his lips pressed tightly together.

Married—but only in pretense.

Gongsun Yin frowned, then suddenly seemed to realize something, staring at Xie Zheng in shock. "Don’t tell me you’re planning to abandon her after taking advantage?"

His gaze drifted to the wounds on Xie Zheng’s face, and his suspicions grew stronger. "Are those injuries from the girl’s family after you wronged her?"

Xie Zheng’s expression darkened. "Shut up."

He was the one who’d been cast aside like worthless trash.

Gongsun Yin, however, took Fan Changyu’s side, shaking his head in dismay. "Jiuheng, Jiuheng… I never thought you’d be this kind of man…"

Xie Zheng lifted his eyelids impatiently. "Do you want to walk out on your own, or should I have someone throw you out?"

Gongsun Yin frowned, his tone turning serious. "Jiuheng, even if her status is too low to be your official wife, she stood by you when you were at your lowest. At least bring her back and give her the position of a concubine. How can you be so heartless…"

After a long silence, Xie Zheng finally said, "She didn’t want me."

Gongsun Yin’s expression instantly twisted into something indescribably strange.