Chapter 9

Chapter 9

By the time I returned to Chang’an, the year was drawing to a close.

Xie Changgeng met me at the gates of the mansion.

He didn’t ask about my grandfather’s funeral, nor did he offer any words of comfort. He simply looked at my face and said, “You’ve grown thin.”

“It was the rush of the journey,” I replied.

He gave a grunt of acknowledgment and turned to walk inside.

After a few steps, he stopped. With his back to me, he said, “The mansion is hosting a banquet tonight. If you are tired, you don’t have to attend.”

“What kind of banquet?”

“A year-end celebratory banquet for the noble clans,” he said, his voice dropping slightly. “I couldn’t decline.”

I thought for a moment. “I’ll go.”

He looked back at me, likely surprised by how readily I had agreed.

“I just got back, and I’ve been cut off from all news for seven days,” I said, adjusting my collar. “It would be good to go and listen.”

Xie Changgeng nodded and said no more.

But as he walked inside, his steps seemed a bit lighter than before.

I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination.

The banquet was held in the main hall of the Grand General’s Mansion, and more people attended than I had expected.

The four great clans of Chang’an-Cui, Lu, Zheng, and Pei-had all sent their direct descendants. Among the rising stars from humble backgrounds, there were also several familiar faces-men Xie Changgeng had promoted after entering the capital.

They sat together, yet were clearly divided, like two flocks of birds that loathed each other but had been forced into the same tree.

I sat below Xie Changgeng, attending in my capacity as his Military Advisor.

No one spared me a second glance. In the eyes of these prestigious families, a Military Advisor of obscure origin wasn’t worth their attention.

But one person did look.

Cui Rang, the eldest son of the Cui Clan, sat in the second seat on the left. In the intervals between raising his cup, his gaze lingered on me for a fleeting moment.

It was brief, so brief it seemed like an inadvertent glance.

But I caught it.

Because the way he looked at me was wrong-it wasn’t the curiosity one has when sizing up a stranger, but the scrutiny of someone confirming an old acquaintance.

I didn’t know him.

At least, I thought I didn’t.

Halfway through the banquet, Xie Changgeng rose to leave and change his robes. I took the opportunity to carry my wine cup over to Du Shuangniang.

“Cui Rang,” I said in a low voice. “Look into him.”

Du Shuangniang didn’t look up, merely picking at the dishes in front of her. “Look into what?”

“Check if he has any connection to the Shen Family.”

Du Shuangniang’s hand paused slightly before she nonchalantly picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks.

“Understood.”

Du Shuangniang investigated things even faster than Han Xi-where Han Xi used scouts and hidden agents, she used the merchants, tavern owners, and seamstresses of Chang’an.

These people were inconspicuous, but they were the best informed.

Three days later, she placed a stack of papers on my desk.

After reading them, I sat still for a long time.

Cui Rang, the eldest son of the Cui Clan, was twenty-seven years old. His mother’s maiden name was Shen, and her given name was Shen Yun-she was my grandfather’s second daughter and my father’s younger sister.

In other words, Cui Rang was my cousin.

I never knew my grandfather had another daughter who had married into the Cui Clan. I was only eight years old the year we were exiled; the women of the household had been either dismissed or had died of illness. Grandfather had never mentioned my aunt.

Perhaps it was because the Cui Clan had chosen silence when the Shen Family met with disaster, offering no aid or rescue, acting as if we were strangers.

Or perhaps it was for some other reason.

But Cui Rang had recognized me.

This made me uneasy. What had he relied on to recognize me? Was it because I looked like my father, or-had he been searching for the descendants of the Shen Family all along?

I took the stack of papers to see Xie Changgeng.

He was in his study reviewing official documents, the memorials piled as high as a small mountain on his desk. Since entering Chang’an, he had hardly had a full night’s sleep.

I placed the papers before him. “Cui Rang recognized me.”

After Xie Changgeng finished reading, he was silent for a while before asking, “What do you think?”

“There are two possibilities. One, he wants to use me to establish a connection with you, giving the Cui Clan another path. Two-”

“Two?”

“He knows something about my father.”

Xie Changgeng looked up at me.

His eyes were still as dark and bright as ever, but they held an extra layer compared to when we were in Yaling. It wasn’t exhaustion, but rather a kind of vigilance pressed beneath the surface-the kind of thing everyone who stayed in Chang’an for long eventually developed.

“Your grandfather never told you about your father’s affairs?”

“He only said he was pursued by assassins and his whereabouts are unknown.”

“Do you believe that?”

That question made me pause for a moment.

Did I believe it? Of course I did. Grandfather wouldn’t lie to me.

But the phrase “whereabouts unknown” was itself a form of concealment.

“Go and see Cui Rang,” Xie Changgeng said, pushing the papers back to me. “Some things cannot be avoided.”

When he said this, his tone was so light it was almost tender.

I suddenly felt that he had likely guessed something. But he didn’t say it; he simply handed the choice over to me.

This man.

He was always like this.