Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

The distant sound of night watchmen striking the wooden clappers to announce the hour drifted through the darkness, its sharp report piercing the silence of the grand tent. The candle flame on the high table flickered violently.

Under Xie Zheng's cold gaze, He Jingyuan spoke with difficulty, "Marquis, you may consider He Jingyuan a coward for now. If I survive after resolving the siege of Lucheng, I will surely confess everything to you."

Hearing this, Gongsun Yin couldn't help but glance at Xie Zheng, though neither showed any reaction.

He Jingyuan had even handed over the Tiger Tally for troop deployment in Jizhou, demonstrating his loyalty. Yet he still guarded the secret of the Fan family couple's identity, merely to protect himself—fearing Xie Zheng might eliminate him after securing military power. Such petty concerns were ultimately harmless.

After a brief silence in the tent, Xie Zheng finally curled his lips slightly and said, "Lord He, you may set your heart at ease. Xie comes from military stock and cannot promise much, but I never break my word. Moreover, you've served in Jizhou for over a decade, earning both the people's trust and the soldiers' respect. This Marquis wouldn't dare act rashly against you, now would I?"

Cold sweat trickled down He Jingyuan's temples as he hastily bowed his head. "You jest, Marquis. Who could surpass your prestige in the army?"

Xie Zheng tapped the armrest of his chair twice, his dark eyes scrutinizing the respectful scholar-general before him. As if weighing his options, he finally conceded, "Very well. This Marquis will await your answer after Lucheng's siege is lifted."

He Jingyuan felt the oppressive gaze lift from him, and his breathing eased. Bowing even deeper, he clasped his fists and said, "Many thanks for your mercy, Marquis."

Xie Zheng stood, the hem of his robe—embroidered with the Cloud Sea Pattern—falling gracefully, its fabric shimmering in the candlelight. He remarked coolly, "Tomorrow, Lord He will assign twenty thousand new recruits and include skilled hydraulic engineers among them. After the spring equinox, the rains will come. If we don't reinforce the embankments along the Witch River before the Spring Flood arrives, this strategy will be useless."

He Jingyuan quickly replied, "This official will summon the officers tonight to arrange it."

Once outside the tent, Gongsun Yin murmured to Xie Zheng, "You actually allowed his bargaining."

Xie Zheng tossed him the Jizhou Tiger Tally and asked sidelong, "What else?"

Gongsun Yin caught the tally with both hands and said, "He's entrenched in Jizhou for years. Since we need the Jizhou army to encircle Changxin Wang's fifty thousand troops, we can't easily move against him. Losing a commander before battle would damage morale. Still... he dared to gamble that you'd spare him for the sake of the Fan family, even after surrendering the Tiger Tally."

Xie Zheng replied, "Had he not handed over the tally, would I have dared march north?"

Gongsun Yin chuckled. "This Lord He sees clearly. His caution isn't unfounded—you wouldn't act before the battle, but fearing his influence over Jizhou's troops, whether you'd let him 'die honorably' during the fight is another matter."

Xie Zheng remained silent, tacitly agreeing. As they walked on, he added, "Regarding Chongzhou, draft a reply in my stead. Negotiate other terms with that old fox Sui Tuo."Gongsun Yin understood his meaning—exchanging Yanzhou for the Fan family's youngest daughter was impossible. He replied, asking Changxin Wang to propose other conditions, making it seem they genuinely cared about the child's life. This way, borrowing troops from Jizhou to reinforce Yanzhou wouldn't raise suspicions.

Moreover, once Changxin Wang realized how important the child was to them, he would be even more cautious about harming her—

Several days later, Changxin Prince Manor, Chongzhou.

A man's pale, skeletal fingers tossed the letter into the brazier beside the desk. The paper quickly turned to ash in the glowing embers.

Despite the lingering chill of early spring, even indoors, the man still wore a heavy cloak draped over his shoulders. His sickly, bloodless lips curled slightly, like a child who had won a game—his smile wicked and pleased. "He actually borrowed twenty thousand troops from Jizhou."

The man who had delivered the letter frowned in confusion. "The child the young master abducted isn’t Wu'an Marquis’s daughter at all. Your Highness, could this be a trap?"

Sui Yuanhuai lifted his dark, spine-chilling eyes. "Isn’t she his woman’s sister? When Qingping County was massacred, he rushed back recklessly to save people. If he doesn’t rescue that child, what do you think his woman will do when she finds out?"

The man standing below in embroidered robes was Zhao Xun.

He had wanted to say that someone of Wu'an Marquis’s status could have any woman he wanted. But recalling the woman who had tried to escape several times, only to be caught by the man before him, he swallowed his words and instead said, "Your Highness is wise."

Sui Yuanhuai mused with amusement, "Even if it is a trap, what does it matter to us?"

Zhao Xun’s heart jolted in alarm. He realized Sui Yuanhuai intended to watch the tigers fight from a safe distance and quickly bowed. "Your Highness is brilliant."

Sui Yuanhuai watched him, his lips quirking in an inscrutable smile. Under that gaze, Zhao Xun felt as if needles were pricking his back. Trembling, he asked, "Why does Your Highness look at this subordinate so?"

Sui Yuanhuai chuckled. "I heard you taught that little bastard how to write?"

Zhao Xun’s knees buckled, and he dropped to the floor. "Your Highness, spare me! How could this lowly one dare teach the young master? The young master kept crying to see… Consort Yu. I only told him that if he studied and learned his characters well, Your Highness might be pleased enough to let him see her."

Sui Yuanhuai smirked. "How generous of you to make decisions on my behalf."

At these words, Zhao Xun’s face turned deathly pale. He pressed his forehead to the cold floor. "This subordinate deserves death. Please punish me, Your Highness."

Just then, a middle-aged woman entered with refreshments. Seeing Zhao Xun kneeling, her expression shifted strangely.

Sui Yuanhuai propped his chin lazily on one hand and drawled, "Get up. Aunt Lan is watching."

Zhao Xun didn’t dare move. The woman carrying the tray also paled. After setting the refreshments on the table, she took a step back and knelt. "Your Highness, if Xun’er has done wrong, punish him as you see fit. Do not humiliate this servant."

Sui Yuanhuai smiled and personally helped the woman up. "Aunt Lan, what are you doing? Without you, where would I be today? Rise, quickly."

His hands, perpetually cold from prolonged illness, sent a shiver through her when she accidentally brushed against them.

Noticing her fleeting unease, Sui Yuanhuai’s smile deepened. He glanced at Zhao Xun, still kneeling. "A-Xun, get up too. You and Aunt Lan are my closest people. No need to kneel so often."Zhao Xun glanced at the middle-aged woman and only rose to his feet, his back drenched in cold sweat, after receiving her slight nod. He said respectfully, "It is my duty to serve Your Highness with loyalty."

Sui Yuanhuai smiled without responding. With disinterest, he cast a glance at the scrolls on the desk and remarked idly, "Later, have that little bastard brought to me. I want to see how his studies are coming along."

Zhao Xun bowed his head in assent.

After Zhao Xun and the middle-aged woman had left, Sui Yuanhuai mused aloud as if to himself, "Are they still loyal to me?"

From the shadows of the empty study emerged a figure: "The Zhao mother and son harbor no disloyalty toward Your Highness."

Sui Yuanhuai merely smiled. "Keep watching them."

The shadow retreated back into the darkness, as if no one had ever been there.

Sui Yuanhuai seemed weary, his handsome features tinged with exhaustion as he propped his head on one hand, gazing absently at the scenery outside the study window.

His body was in terrible condition, sustained all these years by medicinal brews.

Sixteen years... no, another year had passed—seventeen years now—since the fire in the Eastern Palace had scorched most of his face and nearly half his body. It was precisely this that had allowed him to swap identities with the eldest son of the Prince of Changxin and escape with his life.

The one who had truly perished in the Eastern Palace that day was the eldest son of the Prince of Changxin.

It had been a meticulously planned golden cicada shedding its shell.

With the Crown Prince dead, his mother knew it would soon be their turn. She orchestrated the Eastern Palace fire herself.

Under the pretense of overwhelming grief, she invited many noblewomen from the capital to visit with their children, ostensibly to keep her company and lift her spirits.

The Changxin Prince Manor was the refuge she had chosen for him. When a palace maid accidentally overturned a teacup, staining the eldest son of the Prince of Changxin's robes, his mother ordered the attendants to take the boy to change clothes. The garments he removed were ultimately worn by Sui Yuanhuai, while the Prince of Changxin's wife and son perished in the flames.

His face had been burned beyond recognition, and with the Prince of Changxin's wife dead, the manor's servants couldn't identify him. They identified him as the manor's eldest son solely by his clothing and personal effects, taking him back with them.

From then on, he was no longer the imperial grandson but Sui Yuanhuai, the half-burned legitimate eldest son of the Prince of Changxin.

Aunt Lan, once his mother's trusted confidante, had also escaped the fire. She later married a wealthy merchant and secretly supported him. After giving birth to Zhao Xun, she poisoned the merchant, allowing Zhao Xun to inherit the family fortune. Once Zhao Xun was capable of standing on his own, she returned to Sui Yuanhuai's side to care for him.

To make himself presentable again, the dead skin from his burns had been gradually replaced over the years.

In the early days, his face was so disfigured that none of the servants dared to look directly at him. Later, enduring excruciating pain, he had the burned skin replaced, only to find the servants growing even more fearful of him.

At this thought, Sui Yuanhuai smirked mockingly.

Yet his mother's choice of the Changxin Prince Manor as his escape route had been carefully considered.

A disfigured cripple could never become the manor's heir. No matter whom the Prince of Changxin remarried, any new wife would treat such a harmless legitimate eldest son with kindness to bolster her own reputation.

Even more fortunately, after the tragic death of the Prince of Changxin's wife, her family feared his ghastly appearance would provoke the Prince's disgust. Worried that a new wife might secretly mistreat him, they arranged for the Prince of Changxin to marry the deceased wife's younger sister as his second wife.The younger sister of the Princess of Changxin indeed treated her sister's child as her own, doting on him. After giving birth to Sui Yuanqing, she always taught him to be close to this "elder brother" of his.

But stolen affection—could it truly be called familial love?

When that mother and son eventually learned the truth, they would likely wish they could tear him apart with their teeth.

All these years, he had only maintained a facade of harmony with them.

The fingers that had been propped against his temple suddenly pressed hard against his temples.

Back then, to deceive everyone, he had burned most of his face. Now, even after replacing the scarred skin, his head often throbbed as if splitting apart. At this moment, the pain struck abruptly, intensifying the malice in his heart. He wished he could torment a few people just to ease his own bitterness.

Just then, the door was pushed open, and a little figure appeared in the doorway, holding a stack of practiced calligraphy sheets. His puppy-dog eyes held a trace of fear, yet he still lifted those clear, bright eyes to look at him, pursed his lips, and called out, "Father."