Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

After Gongsun Yin left, Xie Zheng acted as if he hadn't seen the large bundle, picking up a military manual from the table to read.

When his personal guard entered with tea, he said coldly, "Take that to the back tent."

The guard paused for a moment before realizing he meant the bundle Gongsun Yin had brought. He carried it to the rear tent.

Though the bundle was no longer in sight, Xie Zheng's brow remained furrowed. His fingers flipped rapidly through the pages, yet he couldn't suppress the restlessness in his heart.

Soon after, he tossed aside the military manual. The guard at the entrance, hearing the noise, was about to enter and ask if he needed anything. But just as he lifted the tent flap slightly, he saw Xie Zheng rise and head toward the back tent himself.

The guard quickly withdrew his hand and resumed his post, standing rigidly without glancing around.

Xie Zheng's current status in the Yanzhou Army was known only to Gongsun Yin and a few trusted aides. His tent was that of an ordinary officer, divided into a front section for meetings and a rear section for rest.

The bundle the guard had taken to the back tent was placed on a small table beside the bed.

Xie Zheng gazed at it for a while before untying the knot.

Inside were two sets of new clothes and a pair of shoes—all items Fan Changyu had packed for him that day.

When he spotted the two additional packets of tangerine peel candy, the tight line of his lips softened slightly. The suffocating weight in his chest suddenly felt as though it had been submerged in warm water, and the inexplicable agitation subsided.

Xie Zheng's fingers brushed over the new clothes as he picked them up to store in the chest. But as he lifted them, the banknotes and the divorce papers tucked between the garments fell out.

The sight of the stark, bold characters spelling "divorce papers" instantly froze the faint curve of his lips.

She truly was... determined to sever all ties with him!

A cold smirk curled Xie Zheng's thin lips. His innate pride made him want to call someone in immediately and have the bundle thrown far away.

Closing his eyes, he took a few steadying breaths. In the end, he simply gathered the items from the bundle and locked them all in the chest.

He sat beside it, staring blankly at the chest at his feet, his expression unreadable.

If he threw them away now, he would only dwell on them.

Better to keep them—until the day they no longer stirred even a ripple in his heart. Then, it would be time to discard them.

He had been raised by Wei Yan. If anything, the most valuable lesson Wei Yan had taught him was to face his desires head-on—and to master them.

His feelings for her were real, but that was all there was to it.

Meanwhile, after leaving the Yanzhou camp, Gongsun Yin couldn't shake the nagging curiosity clawing at him. He wandered over to the new recruits' camp in Jizhou.

Xie Zheng was tight-lipped. No matter how much Gongsun Yin pestered him, he couldn't pry much about the marriage. But Gongsun Yin reasoned that if the girl had gone to the trouble of sending her uncle to deliver things to Xie Zheng, she couldn't be entirely indifferent. So why did Xie Zheng insist she didn't want him?

Baffled, Gongsun Yin sought out the officer in charge of craftsmen in Jizhou. It didn't take long to track down Zhao Mu Jiang.

There was only one carpenter who knew medicine and had treated a captain's rheumatism with a few plasters—easy to find.

The newly recruited soldiers were still in training and not yet deployed for combat. The craftsmen conscripted from civilian life were assigned to work on fortifications and equipment.Before he could be assigned to tend to the warhorses, Zhao Mu Jiang was first sent to the carpentry tent.

When the soldier overseeing the craftsmen led Gongsun Yin to Zhao Mu Jiang, the old carpenter was busy planing a piece of wood with his plane.

The soldier called out, "Zhao Mu Jiang, are you here? Someone’s looking for you!"

Zhao Mu Jiang set down his plane and raised his aged eyes to look outside. "This old man is here," he replied.

The soldier beckoned to him, and Zhao Mu Jiang, after briefly excusing himself from the supervising foreman, stepped out.

As craftsmen, they weren’t issued standard military uniforms, so Zhao Mu Jiang still wore his own drab, gray clothing. His back was slightly hunched, and he appeared lean and wiry.

The soldier addressed him with some courtesy: "This lord is here to see you."

Though Zhao Mu Jiang hadn’t been in the camp long, he had already learned the ways of survival. To those clad in armor, he addressed them as "General"; to ordinary soldiers, he called them "Master Soldier"; and to those without armor but with an air of distinction, regardless of their actual rank, he simply referred to them as "Lord."

Now, upon seeing Gongsun Yin, Zhao Mu Jiang hastily bowed and greeted, "This old man pays his respects to the Lord."

Gongsun Yin gestured for him to rise, his smile as warm as a spring breeze. "No need for such formalities, Elder. I’ve heard you have a nephew-in-law named Yan Zheng?"

During his time in the army, Zhao Mu Jiang had been inquiring about Yan Zheng’s whereabouts. But with tens of thousands of conscripted soldiers, it was impossible to find him quickly. By sheer coincidence, he had treated a commandant who, being a man of his word, told Zhao Mu Jiang to seek him out if he ever needed help. Worried that mentioning a mere neighbor might not be taken seriously, Zhao Mu Jiang lied and claimed he was searching for his nephew-in-law, asking the commandant to help inquire.

True to his word, the commandant took the matter to heart. Upon discovering that Yan Zheng was among the thousand men loaned to Yanzhou, he immediately informed Zhao Mu Jiang. Like most craftsmen, Zhao Mu Jiang was kept under watch to prevent desertion and wasn’t allowed to move freely around the camp. So, he entrusted the commandant to deliver the bundle prepared by Fan Changyu to Xie Zheng.

After delivering the items, the commandant sent word back to Zhao Mu Jiang, who finally felt at ease, believing he had fulfilled his duty to Fan Changyu.

Now, suddenly confronted by a finely dressed young lord, Zhao Mu Jiang couldn’t fathom the reason. He wondered if he was about to be punished for falsely claiming Yan Zheng as his nephew-in-law.

His lips trembled slightly before he finally nodded, his heart pounding with unease.

Seeing he had found the right person, Gongsun Yin’s fox-like eyes crinkled into a smile. He even boldly requested a tent from the soldier and invited Zhao Mu Jiang inside for a brief chat.

Zhao Mu Jiang had never encountered such a situation before and sat in the tent as if on pins and needles.

Gongsun Yin, ever polite and amiable, even poured tea for him. "I heard you cured Commandant Hu’s rheumatism, Elder. With such medical skills, why didn’t you become an army doctor instead of joining the craftsmen’s camp?"

Zhao Mu Jiang, somewhat embarrassed, replied, "This old man’s knowledge is shallow. I used to treat livestock—how could I dare to be an army doctor?"

Learning he was a veterinarian, Gongsun Yin chuckled. "So Commandant Hu was your first human patient?"

Zhao Mu Jiang answered truthfully, "Not exactly. I was a veterinarian for over a decade before switching to carpentry. The first person I treated was my nephew-in-law. At the time, he was severely injured, and none of the town’s clinics would take him in. That’s when I took the risk and treated him with medicine."Gongsun Yin was taken aback at first, then burst into laughter. Under Zhao Mu Jiang's puzzled gaze, he coughed several times before barely suppressing his mirth and said, "Meeting you in his desperate straits was truly his good fortune."

Zhao Mu Jiang quickly denied this. "My niece carried him back from the wilderness. If she hadn't picked him up, he would have either died from his injuries or frozen to death in the snow."

Gongsun Yin thought to himself that a beauty saving a hero would make for a fine tale. Suppressing his curiosity, he asked, "So later he married your niece?"

Zhao Mu Jiang gave him a closer look at this persistent questioning, wondering why an official would be so interested in Yan Zheng's marital affairs.

Realizing he'd been too obvious, Gongsun Yin hastily made up an excuse: "Your nephew-in-law has caught our general's attention. The general always investigates thoroughly those he intends to promote, hence sending me to inquire."

Though not well-educated, Zhao Mu Jiang had decades of life experience. The war hadn't even started, yet Yan Zheng had already attracted a general's notice. He thought this boded ill—could it be that Yan Zheng's striking looks had caught some general's eye, wanting him as a son-in-law?

What would become of Changyu then? Could she endure another situation like with Song Yan?

His mind racing, Zhao Mu Jiang replied, "To answer Your Honor, the boy later married into my niece's family."

Gongsun Yin, who had been drinking tea, spat it out in shock. Normally eloquent, he now stumbled over his words: "Married... into her family?"

Even the emperor wouldn't dare suggest Xie Zheng marrying into some commoner's household—what kind of joke was this?

Zhao Mu Jiang, seeing his reaction, grew more convinced of his suspicions.

He hurriedly explained, "That boy Yan Zheng was carried back from the snow by my niece, barely alive. Later, bedridden with injuries, it was my niece who tended to him without complaint, earning money through butchering to buy his medicine... Over time, affection naturally grew."

Having just wiped tea from his mouth, Gongsun Yin's expression turned peculiar: "Your niece... is a butcher?"

He'd been wondering what ordinary woman could carry Xie Zheng so easily.

Not wanting Fan Changyu to be looked down upon, Zhao Mu Jiang said, "The girl's had a hard life. Her family ran a butcher shop in town—a decent living—until bandits killed her parents, leaving just her and a five-year-old sister. She had to take up butchering to survive."

He glanced surreptitiously at Gongsun Yin, secretly pleased by the official's complicated expression.

His purpose in sharing this was clear: to emphasize Fan Changyu's profound kindness to Yan Zheng. Pressuring Xie Zheng to marry some general's daughter would be unconscionable.

And even if Xie Zheng agreed, it would reveal poor character—abandoning the wife who saved his life. Any official considering such a match should think twice.

Unbeknownst to him, Gongsun Yin was now imagining a brawny, thick-necked woman with a cleaver and a face full of hardened flesh.He sucked in a sharp breath, recalling Xie Zheng’s words, “She didn’t want to be with me,” and quickly rubbed his arms.

No wonder that guy kept his distance from women—was this his preference after all?

Holding onto his last shred of hope, Gongsun Yin asked with mixed emotions, “So Yan Zheng married into your niece’s family to repay a debt of gratitude?”

Zhao Mu Jiang immediately bristled, “What debt of gratitude? That young couple is deeply in love! When the local ruffians in town had no choice but to cause trouble at my niece’s place, it was her husband who drove them off. He’s literate and well-educated. Seeing my niece working from dawn till dusk slaughtering pigs to earn money for his treatment, even before his injuries had fully healed, he begged me to help him find work writing Eight-legged essays at the bookstore in town. During the New Year, he even wrote Spring Festival couplets for all the neighbors in the alley! When my niece was too busy at the butcher’s shop, he went to help sell pork once he recovered a bit…”

As Zhao Mu Jiang rambled on about the couple’s loving daily life, Gongsun Yin pictured Xie Zheng selling pork and couldn’t help but shudder again, goosebumps rising on his arms.

Just what had that guy been through during his time in exile?

Marrying into a butcher woman’s family?

Hiss—utterly horrifying.

Knowing Xie Zheng as he did, Gongsun Yin was certain that if Xie Zheng didn’t want to do something, not even the Jade Emperor himself could force him. So Xie Zheng must have willingly married into the family.

It was precisely this realization that made Gongsun Yin find the whole situation even more absurd.

Could it be that Xie Zheng genuinely liked brawny, fierce women?

Gongsun Yin mused that if the noble ladies of the capital ever found out about this, they’d probably cry their hearts out…

Noticing the official’s ever-changing expression, Zhao Mu Jiang, fearing they still had some designs on Xie Zheng, added, “Once this war is over and my nephew-in-law returns home, their child might already be running around.”

Gongsun Yin’s expression could only be described as horrified. “Your… your niece is pregnant?”

Zhao Mu Jiang stammered, “Well, it’s hard to say. In our village, there have been cases where a wife discovered she was pregnant soon after her husband left for military service.”

But inwardly, he thought that even if noble families could tolerate their future son-in-law having concubines or maids, they’d never accept him fathering illegitimate children before the wedding.

Gongsun Yin, who was always the epitome of refinement in public, truly lost his composure this time. His mind was in turmoil.

Xie Zheng, who had always looked down on everyone, had actually fallen for a butcher’s daughter?

Unable to resist, Gongsun Yin pinched his own thigh hard, the pain twisting his mouth. Confirming this wasn’t a dream, his expression grew even more shattered. After exchanging a few polite words with Zhao Mu Jiang, he left, his face a picture of existential doubt.

Watching his stunned and bewildered retreating figure, Zhao Mu Jiang sipped his tea with great satisfaction.

At least he’d managed to fend off some unwanted romantic advances for the young couple.

As Gongsun Yin left the military tent, he happened to run into the Jizhou army’s Commandant Hu, who had come again to ask Zhao Mu Jiang for medicinal ointment.

Recognizing Gongsun Yin, the man respectfully clasped his fists in greeting. “Master Gongsun.”

Still dazed, Gongsun Yin nodded and asked, “That carpenter who used to be a veterinarian—he’s the one who cured your rheumatism?”

Commandant Hu was a straightforward man, unbothered by Zhao Mu Jiang’s past as a veterinarian. With his rheumatism gone and feeling much better these past few days, he grinned and nodded. “That’s right. Did you need him for something, Master Gongsun?”

So he hadn’t mistaken the man.

The nephew-in-law Zhao Mu Jiang spoke of was undoubtedly Xie Zheng.Gongsun Yin said, "Just asking casually."

After returning to the Yanzhou camp with a look of utter bewilderment, he summoned his personal guard and muttered some instructions before adding with a complicated expression, "Don’t disturb that woman. Just keep an eye on her movements."

Once the guard had left to carry out his orders, Gongsun Yin stared at Xie Zheng’s tent for a while. Recalling Xie Zheng’s lost and distracted demeanor earlier in the tent, he shuddered violently and muttered, "That guy… has it been too long since he last saw a woman?"

Xie Zheng, who had been in a foul mood after patrolling the camp on horseback, happened to hear the latter half of his remark. Holding the reins of his black steed, its nostrils still puffing white breath, he stood not far away and said coldly, "Too long since you’ve seen a woman? Should I have someone throw you into the Red Pavilion tonight?"

In the past, Gongsun Yin would never have dared to respond. But after meeting Zhao Mu Jiang today, he had been subjected to too many shocks. Now, meeting Xie Zheng’s icy gaze, he actually considered it for a moment before saying, "Jiuheng, neither of us has ever been to a brothel. Why don’t we go take a look?"

His main intention was to confirm whether Xie Zheng’s judgment had somehow gone awry.

Xie Zheng paused as he coiled his whip, and when he looked up again, all traces of his usual nonchalance were gone. "If you were one of my officers, a hundred lashes with the military rod would be lenient."

Gongsun Yin knew he had misspoken, but if he meekly accepted the punishment now, their friendship would be over. He shrugged and laughed, "But I’m not."

Xie Zheng handed his warhorse to a personal guard and walked past him toward his tent, leaving only a parting remark: "Don’t violate my military regulations."

Gongsun Yin clicked his tongue as he watched Xie Zheng’s retreating figure. "To think you’d actually show interest in someone… I’m even more curious now about who that butcher’s daughter really is."

Lin’an Town.

Under the night sky, thick snow had piled up once more on the eaves and treetops. The entire town was silent, not even a dog’s bark to be heard.

"Bandits are coming!"

"They’re killing people—run!"

Panicked shouts from those fleeing the county town shattered the deathly stillness of the snowy night. The townspeople, startled from their sleep, hastily wrapped themselves in clothes, grabbed their children, and rushed outside.

But as soon as they opened their doors, a gleaming blade was thrust into their chests.

A man, his eyes wide with terror, was kicked aside by the bandits outside. Inside, a woman clutched her child and hid in a corner, only for the child to be torn from her arms by the intruders. With a cruel laugh, they dragged her by the hair toward the bed…

Soon, the entire town of Lin’an was engulfed in flames. The cries of children and the bandits’ savage shouts were horrifying and piercing.

Amid the firelight, a man sat astride a tall horse, coldly watching the bandits slaughter and plunder. He glanced down at the magistrate of Qingping County, whom he held like a dead dog, and lazily asked, "Where does that woman live?"

Magistrate Liu had fled with his entire family the moment he learned the bandits were attacking Qingping County, taking advantage of the conscription that had stripped the town of its able-bodied men. He had assumed the bandits would be content with slaughtering the county’s civilians.

But after his carriage had traveled over a dozen miles, this man had still caught up on horseback.

Now covered in blood and jostled on horseback for the entire journey, Magistrate Liu was utterly terrified. He could only beg, "I don’t know, I truly don’t know…"