Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

On the day Fan Changyu set out, Zheng Wenchang hurriedly wrote another letter to He Jingyuan.

Previously, when He Jingyuan learned that Changning had been captured, he replied, instructing Zheng Wenchang to find a way to keep Fan Changyu steady.

Zheng Wenchang still didn’t know who had actually abducted the child. To give Fan Changyu some explanation, he lied, claiming it might have been the work of traffickers in Jizhou City who kidnapped women and children.

He had assumed Fan Changyu would patiently wait for news of the authorities raiding the traffickers’ dens. Unexpectedly, the young woman grabbed her butcher’s knife and personally followed the soldiers into the dens to search for the child.

What was originally planned to take one or two months to completely eradicate was absurdly shortened to just half a month, leaving Zheng Wenchang with a rather peculiar feeling.

The authorities always offered rewards to those who helped capture wanted criminals. Fan Changyu received such a substantial bounty, coupled with her previous heroic feat of defending over a dozen neighbors against the Clear Breeze Stronghold, that she had gained a small reputation in the underworld—now known as the Butcher Beauty.

Among the scattered bandits still lingering in Jizhou City, a saying had spread: if you encounter a beautiful woman carrying a butcher’s knife on the road, don’t entertain any foolish ideas. Just let her pass peacefully, or else… she might just dismantle your entire hideout.

Some women traveling long distances would invariably buy a butcher’s knife as a talisman, carrying it with them along the way. Surprisingly, it proved quite effective—so much so that blacksmiths and blade shops couldn’t keep up with the sudden surge in demand.

By the time He Jingyuan received the letter, it was his turn to feel that peculiar unease.

Before Xie Zheng led twenty thousand new recruits away, he had specifically instructed He Jingyuan to keep an eye on Fan Changyu, who was far away in Jizhou Prefecture. The situation had developed in a way He Jingyuan had never anticipated.

He had originally hoped the two Fan sisters would live ordinary lives, free from the shadows of their parents’ past. But now, it seemed that was no longer possible.

His personal guard stood outside the tent, hearing only a deep sigh from within.

The sun hung high, and tender buds had sprouted along the greenery flanking the official road.

Fan Changyu chewed on dry rations atop her horse, too preoccupied to appreciate the spring scenery. She found it strange—throughout her journey, she hadn’t encountered any refugees. Had they all fled in the past few months?

The dry food was a bit hard to swallow. When she reached for her water flask, she found it nearly empty.

Glancing at the shallow stream running parallel to the road, she dismounted to refill it. The water was so shallow that unless she positioned the flask between the scattered rocks, she could only scoop up half a flask’s worth.

After drinking a few sips of the crisp, cool water and refilling the flask, she was about to continue her journey when a disheveled man stumbled toward her from a fork in the road. Spotting her from afar, he cried out, “Miss, save me!”

Assuming he had encountered bandits, Fan Changyu hung the flask back on her horse and immediately drew her bone-cleaver. As the man approached, she subtly angled the blade toward him, successfully stopping him three paces away.

Traveling alone, Fan Changyu didn’t dare let her guard down. During her raids on traffickers’ dens with the authorities, she had learned that many abducted young women were deceived by seemingly helpless children or elderly people, lured into secluded spots, and dragged away in burlap sacks.

She studied the man and asked, “Did you run into bandits?”The man shook his head, his face—tanned and ruddy from years of labor—dripping with sweat. Panting heavily with his hands on his thighs, he said, "The imperial soldiers are heartless, trying to round up honest folks like us to build dams..."

The chaotic sound of hoofbeats drew closer, and the man grew visibly panicked and fearful. He pleaded with Fan Changyu, "I’ll hide in the woods. Please don’t tell them where I went. I’ve got elders above and children below—if I’m taken, I’ll likely die under those soldiers’ whips. What will become of my family then?"

His desperation was such that he seemed on the verge of kowtowing to her. After speaking, he dove headfirst into the bushes by the roadside.

Fan Changyu processed the man’s words, realizing why the stream was still so shallow despite it being spring—they must have dammed the water upstream. She hadn’t seen any refugees along the way either; had they all been seized for dam construction?

She wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Watching her horse graze on the fresh grass by the road, she absently scratched its neck.

When the disorderly hoofbeats finally arrived, there were over a dozen armored soldiers. Since this was a fork in the road, their leader reined in his horse and asked Fan Changyu, "Did you see a man pass by?"

Given how few people she’d encountered on this road, claiming she hadn’t seen anyone would seem suspicious.

Fan Changyu nodded. "I did."

She showed no fear in the face of the soldiers. With several blades visibly strapped to her saddle and dressed in practical riding attire, they took her for a wandering martial artist and didn’t suspect anything. The leader only asked, "Which way did he go?"

Fan Changyu pointed to the side path. "That way."

The leader glanced at her but didn’t immediately order all his men to chase in the direction she’d indicated. Instead, he sent two riders down the road she had come from while leading the rest down the side path.

Fan Changyu watched expressionlessly as the soldiers galloped away, thinking to herself, This isn’t how it’s supposed to go in the stories...

Once the soldiers were completely out of sight, she called toward the bushes where the man was hiding, "Come out. They’re gone."

The man crawled out, disheveled, and effusively thanked her. "My whole family owes you their lives."

Fan Changyu waved it off. "It was nothing. By the way, I pointed them toward that path, but two riders still went down this main road. Maybe you should hide in the bushes a while longer. When the soldiers don’t find anyone ahead, they’ll likely double back. Wait until they’ve passed before heading down this road."

The man thanked her repeatedly but didn’t leave. Instead, he eyed the large bundle on her saddle with embarrassment, licking his dry lips. "Miss... do you have any food? I’ve been hiding from the soldiers for days and haven’t eaten."

Fan Changyu’s bundle contained plenty of provisions. She studied him for a moment before saying, "I’ll get you some."

Unfastening the bundle’s knot required both hands. She tucked her cleaver into the leather sheath on her saddle and reached to undo the bundle.

Her dislocated arm had mostly healed, though lifting heavy objects still strained it occasionally. To aid its recovery, she’d avoided strenuous tasks with that arm lately.The man's honest expression turned ferocious the moment Fan Changyu turned to fetch food, his hidden dagger thrusting straight toward her back.

But there was a metallic "clang" as the blade seemed to hit an iron plate, unable to advance even slightly. The man froze in obvious surprise.

Changyu paused while untying her bundle, turning her head coldly to meet his gaze: "Lying to me?"

The man's expression darkened as he withdrew the dagger and slashed at Changyu's throat. She responded with a powerful kick to his abdomen, sending him flying over ten feet away.

Perhaps his internal organs had ruptured from the impact—the man could no longer hold his dagger, writhing on the ground in agony while clutching his stomach.

Before deciding to travel alone, Changyu had taken precautions. She'd commissioned an ironsmith to forge two extremely sturdy iron plates—one worn in front, one behind—precisely to guard against unexpected dangers on the road.

Grabbing her butcher knife, she approached intending to tie up the man and leave him for the pursuing soldiers while making her escape beforehand.

Otherwise, having nearly let a wanted criminal escape while deceiving the pursuing officers, she might well be charged as an accomplice.

Unexpectedly, hoofbeats soon approached again. When the officer in charge spotted Changyu and the man, his expression turned grim, his cavalry immediately training crossbows on her.

Changyu quickly explained: "Sir, I was deceived by this man earlier! He claimed to be a civilian conscripted for dike repairs with elderly parents and family. He begged me to conceal him, then tried to kill me—I subdued him."

The officer coldly assessed her before ordering his troops: "Bind them both. Take them away."

Desperate, Changyu pleaded: "Sir, I'm truly innocent! I admit deceiving you earlier was wrong, but I've captured this criminal—can't this offset my offense?"

The officer snorted: "This is a scout from Chongzhou's army. For all we know, you're a spy staging this act because you couldn't extract him."

Stunned by the severity of the accusation, Changyu protested: "Sir, I have household registration documents! I'm from Jizhou, truly not a spy!"

She produced her papers but, forbidden from approaching, had to toss them to the officer.

After examining them, he demanded: "If you're from Jizhou, why travel toward the northwestern border during war?"

This road led to both Chongzhou and Yanzhou. Fearful of being implicated, she dared not mention Chongzhou again: "I'm seeking family in Yanzhou."

With refugees everywhere during war, few bothered obtaining travel permits anymore.

Unconvinced, the officer retorted: "How do I know you didn't murder someone for these documents?" Wheeling his horse, he barked: "Take them away!"

Changyu: "..."

Could her luck get any worse?

Facing a row of crossbows, she reluctantly surrendered her knife and let them bind her hands for the march to camp.

While she knew troops were stationed in Lucheng, she hadn't realized tens of thousands were encamped halfway from Jizhou, constructing a massive dam.

After reaching camp, Changyu was temporarily imprisoned. Her horse, bundle, butcher knife—even the two iron plates—were confiscated during a thorough search by female guards.The guards provided her with nothing but water and the dry rations from her own bundle every day. Being forcibly detained and having to pay for her own prison meals only added to Fan Changyu's frustration.

Two days later, she was finally taken out of the cell. Although it was confirmed she wasn’t a spy, she wasn’t released. Instead, she was grouped with other ragged civilians, each given a hoe and a basket. The guards ordered them to dig for earth and stones, working in pairs. If they failed to fill ten baskets by noon, they wouldn’t get lunch.

It was then that Fan Changyu learned these people were all refugees passing through the area, forcibly detained here. Apparently, the guards feared they might leak information about the river embankment construction. But keeping them locked up meant having to feed them, so the guards put them to work digging earth and stones.

Most refugees were willing to do the manual labor just to get a full meal.

Fan Changyu was held back for the same reason—the guards worried she might pass through Chongzhou on her way to Yanzhou and reveal something.

She didn’t understand why building an embankment had to be so secretive. Worried about Changning’s safety, she thought that now that she was out, she could use the digging work to scout the terrain and plan an escape.

Being new, she found most teams already formed. The majority were men, and when it came to securing a meal, no one cared about chivalry. Even the sturdy women, seeing how tall but slender Changyu was, doubted her strength and refused to pair with her.

Changyu figured filling ten baskets alone by noon wouldn’t be too hard. But the guards, noticing she and a frail old man were left without partners, assigned them as a team, likely assuming a "delicate woman" and a "feeble old man" couldn’t match the others. They were told five baskets would suffice.

Carrying her basket and hoe, Changyu followed the group up the mountain. The old man, struggling even with his own hoe, panted the whole way, cursing the guards nonstop—though in such refined language, full of classical allusions, that neither the laborers nor the guards could understand him.

Changyu had Yan Zheng’s annotated Four Books in her bundle and occasionally read them in her spare time, so she grasped some of it. But the more obscure references left her just as lost.

Seeing the old man nearly out of breath, she thought of Zhao Mu Jiang, who’d joined the army at the same age, and felt a pang of sympathy. Using her hoe like a blade, she cut a thick branch from a tree, trimmed the twigs and sharp end, and handed it to the old man as a cane. Reaching for his hoe, she said, "Let me carry that for you."

Sweat dripping into his eyes, the old man refused, stubbornly insisting, "This old man can manage on his own."

A nearby woman remarked, "Girl, don’t bother with him. He’s a strange one!"

Changyu could tell the old man was all bark and no bite, so she just smiled and let it go.

When it came to digging, Changyu’s strength made quick work of filling five baskets, earning her a second glance from the tallying guards.

Transporting the earth and stones wasn’t their job—mules or pairs of guards carried them on shoulder poles.Having finished her morning quota, Fan Changyu didn't want to openly rest while others were still digging. She pretended to work while chatting with the old man: "Old sir, you're clearly a scholar. How did you end up here too?"

The old man fumed: "When I heard Jizhou had lent twenty thousand troops to Yanzhou, I guessed they must be building a dam upstream on Witch River. I merely wanted to inspect the dam's progress, but those soldiers arrested me as a spy! Fools, absolute fools!"

Changyu said, "Old sir, some spectacles aren't worth watching. Things like war and dam construction—best stay away in future."

Misunderstood as merely a curious onlooker, the old man bristled with anger and refused to speak to Changyu until lunch.

Having leisurely dug eight baskets of earth that morning, Changyu was unexpectedly praised by the guards and given an extra bun. She offered it to the old man, but he snorted disdainfully, so she kept it for herself.

Being stronger than most, her appetite was larger too. Learning that more digging meant more food, she dug twelve baskets that afternoon and earned two extra buns.

The old man continued his refined cursing—alternating between damning the guards and some "wretched boy."

Changyu, munching her bun between sips of porridge, asked curiously: "Is that your son?"

The old man shot her a sidelong glance. "You could say half a son."

"Oh," Changyu nodded. "Your son-in-law then."

The old man's beard quivered with indignation. "My student! You ignorant little chit!"

Perhaps accustomed to Yan Zheng's sharp tongue, Changyu didn't take offense at the gruff but kindhearted elder. Instead, she respected his learning. Boldly, she asked, "You were a teacher? I've studied the Analects myself—might I ask you some questions?"

The old man looked surprised. "Self-taught?"

Changyu's expression dimmed briefly before she smiled. "My late husband was a scholar. He... didn't have time to finish teaching me the Four Books before he left. He annotated them for me to study alone."

Perhaps moved by the thought of such young widowhood, the old man uncharacteristically softened. "My condolences for your loss."

Changyu blinked, then hurried to clarify: "He's not dead! He was conscripted."

The old man's mustache bristled. "Then why phrase it like he'd died?!"

Changyu: "..."

Yanzhou.

The distant Yanshan Mountains rose like a dragon's spine against the night sky, their snow-capped peaks faintly visible as pale smudges.

Thousands of military tents sprawled at the mountain's base, interspersed with tripod-mounted braziers where firewood crackled, illuminating the camp.

Inside the central command tent, Xie Zheng studied the military deployments of Yanzhou and Chongzhou on the map. Pointing to a location, he addressed his subordinate generals: "Chongzhou has besieged Lucheng with fifty thousand troops. Their remaining fifty thousand remain formidable. I'll personally lead the decoy operation while you set the ambush at First Line Gorge—"

He suddenly sneezed into his hand.

The assembled generals blinked in surprise.

Though Yanshan's snows had melted, nights remained bitterly cold. Xie Zheng had already switched to lightweight spring attire that accentuated his broad shoulders and narrow waist—the very image of the dashing military officers so admired by noble ladies in the capital.He frowned and continued with his arrangements. During a brief pause, his personal guard entered to refill his tea and thoughtfully brought him a thick coat.

Xie Zheng looked at the guard holding the garment with an icy expression. The guard steeled himself and said softly, "The night is cold and damp, Marquis. Be careful not to catch a chill."

Xie Zheng: "...Get out."