Chapter 75
Chapter 75
Qiansheng Pavilion.
Pei Xianjing removed his outer robe and casually tossed the waist token he had taken off onto the table.
It landed with a clang, catching his attention.
He asked Chengde, “When the Eastern Depot cleared out Noble Consort Zhang’s palace, they did not find the gold token bestowed by the Emperor, did they?”
“No, Eldest Young Master,” Chengde replied.
“Noble Consort Zhang doted on Eldest Young Master Zhang and was said to have given it to him earlier.
“That man was a wastrel. For all we know, he gave it to some girl in the pleasure quarter.”
That had happened so long ago. Why was the Eldest Young Master suddenly asking about it?
Pei Xianjing stared at the gravestone he had carved with his own hands beyond the window, his eyes narrowing. “Bring Pei Guofei to see me.”
“Yes.” Chengde respectfully accepted the order and turned to fetch him.
Before long, Pei Guofei was brought in.
“Elder Brother.” The moment he entered, Pei Guofei bowed in greeting.
“I hear the Marquis of Qingyuan personally visited to propose a marriage between you and Zheng Yan?” Pei Xianjing slowly turned, fixing him with a hawklike stare.
Pei Guofei’s heart lurched. The marriage had already been agreed upon, and even an auspicious date had been chosen.
Recently, he had been busy arranging his wedding and had not encountered Pei Xianjing.
Of course, he had also been deliberately avoiding him.
Of everyone in the Pei family, only he knew that Xing Shuwei had faked her death.
It was not that he had never considered telling his elder brother the truth. But lately, his elder brother had been killing until he was blind with bloodlust.
Pei Guofei was afraid-afraid that he too would become a soul beneath his elder brother’s blade.
“The Marquis of Qingyuan suddenly adopted Zheng Yan as his own daughter, declared her legitimate-born, and even changed her surname to Zhang.
“All so she could match you?
“What did you do to make the Zhang clan show you such extraordinary favor?” Pei Xianjing advanced one step and asked coldly.
“I…” Pei Guofei was momentarily at a loss for words.
He could more or less guess that Zhang Mingan was repaying the favor he owed Weiwei.
“Noble Consort Zhang gave the token to Eldest Young Master Zhang, and he died the very next day. As it happens, that was also the day Weiwei met Zhang Mingan.
“You asked Weiwei to arrange a meeting with Zheng Yan, and you went to the Marquis of Qingyuan’s estate to keep the appointment. As it happens, the fan Zheng Yan gave her in thanks bore the Empress Dowager’s calligraphy.
“On the day relief was distributed to the refugees, it was also you who happened to take Weiwei out of the estate and deliver her into the hands of plague-stricken refugees.”
“You wanted her dead, yet she did not breathe a word of it to me. I already sensed something was amiss then.
“And the day before she died, by another remarkable coincidence, she met with you and entrusted you with managing her dowry.”
“I will ask only once. Where is she?”
The fist Pei Xianjing held behind his back was clenched so tightly that veins bulged across it.
Panic had truly thrown his thoughts into chaos. How could he have forgotten Zhang Mingan of all people?
The Zhang clan had previously joined forces with Noble Consort Zhang in an attempt to seize the Eleventh Prince.
Then they abruptly chose to sacrifice Noble Consort Zhang. The Marquis of Qingyuan had even reported ill and taken leave, never attending court again. The one holding authority in the Marquis of Qingyuan’s estate must now be Zhang Mingan.
For Zhang Mingan to bypass Pei Xianjing and take up a post in Qizhou while he was away in Yucheng, Zhang Mingan must have done something that satisfied both the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.
Noble Consort Zhang had poisoned the Eleventh Prince, leading Pei Xianjing to believe that the trade between Zhang Mingan and the Empress Dowager involved only the Eleventh Prince’s life.
Once Pei Xianjing saved the Eleventh Prince, he naturally lowered his guard against Zhang Mingan.
He had forgotten Xing Shuwei.
Xing Shuwei was the Empress Dowager’s niece. There was nothing strange about the Empress Dowager devising a plan to save her life…
Pei Xianjing stared at Pei Guofei, his gaze already cold and sharp as a blade. “Speak!”
Faced with that murderous stare, Pei Guofei surrendered at once. “Elder Brother, I will tell you. I will tell you everything.”
He revealed everything he knew, then pleaded, “Spare me, Elder Brother. I only wanted to atone for the wrong I did Weiwei.
“I swear, all I did was help her handle the dowry Grandmother left her.”
Pei Xianjing glared at him with bloodthirsty eyes. “You all dared join forces to deceive me! Bastards!”
With those words, he raised his foot and kicked Pei Guofei in the stomach.
The kick sent him flying a great distance.
Pei Guofei’s head struck the threshold, and he felt as though his skull were splitting apart.
He had no idea what else Pei Xianjing said. All he knew was that Chengde carried him out of Qiansheng Pavilion.
* * *
Qizhou.
The General of Distant Pacification’s residence.
It was their second month in Qizhou.
Zhang Mingan returned covered in wounds yet again.
The armor over his chest had been hacked apart, and a shocking wound was still seeping blood.
He walked to the well, hauled up a bucket of water, and poured it over his head.
The water washed the blood from his body, spreading into a pale red puddle at his feet.
“How were you injured so badly today?” Xing Shuwei had Qiutong bring the medicine chest.
As she asked, she told Zhang Mingan to remove his armor.
With meticulous care, she used scissors to cut away the blood-soaked scraps of cloth, then poured medicinal powder over the wound where his flesh had split open.
Zhang Mingan did not so much as furrow his brows. He merely said it was nothing serious.
Clutching a notched blade and wiping away tears, Xing Shuyan blamed himself. “It is all my fault. If I had not recklessly pursued the enemy,
“I would not have fallen into their trap, and the noble heir would not have been so badly wounded saving me.”
“How is that your fault? The weapons are plainly useless,” Zhang Mingan reassured him.
Xing Shuyan was still a child after all. He threw his blade to the ground and burst into loud sobs toward the sky.
“Elder Sister, you do not know. The weapons and armor sent by the imperial court are all inferior goods.
“Before this, we always used the weapons the noble heir brought with him. Today was the first time we used the armaments issued by the Regional Military Commission, and we lost the battle.”
“With blunt blades that snap as soon as we strike, we became living targets on the battlefield.
“Across more than a dozen battles large and small, our total casualties were still lower than in today’s single defeat.”
Xing Shuwei listened with a deep frown.
This was a matter of life and death for thousands of soldiers, yet the imperial court dared treat it like a game.
Her hands moved deftly as she bandaged Zhang Mingan.
It was not that Xing Shuwei had studied such skills before. With no army physician in camp, she had hired civilian physicians at great expense to treat the wounded soldiers.
She had only recently learned pharmacology, bandaging, and suturing wounds by following those physicians.
Only after coming here had she truly understood how bitter and dangerous life was for soldiers on the frontier.
Every day, she wished she could do still more for them.
They too were made of flesh and blood, yet amid inadequate food and clothing, a forest of blades, and a rain of swords, they disregarded their own lives and devoted themselves entirely to defending their homes and country.
She and Qiutong now spent every day working in the wounded soldiers’ camp.
“We have run out of wound powder as well. There is none to be found anywhere in Qizhou. We may have to find a way to buy some from another prefecture,” Xing Shuwei said with a frown.
Zhang Mingan lowered his eyes. The predicament was even worse than he had imagined.
He could no longer expect reinforcements from the imperial court.
Half a month had passed without a single letter from the capital.
After thinking for a long while, he said, “Buying it from another prefecture will take too long to meet our immediate need.
“Even if we can buy it once, there is no guarantee we can do so every time.
“We must find a way to draw medicine merchants to Qizhou.”
Xing Shuwei cleaned her hands and poured tea for Zhang Mingan and Xing Shuyan.
She studied Xing Shuyan carefully.
Realizing what she meant, Xing Shuyan straightened his back. “Elder Sister, the noble heir protected me well. I have only superficial wounds.”
“Mm,” Xing Shuwei answered softly.
Then her gaze fell on Zhang Mingan, and she said heavily, “Thank you.”
Yan’er wanted to go to the battlefield, so Zhang Mingan took him there to gain experience and taught him how to command troops.
When danger came, Zhang Mingan even took blades meant for him…
Xing Shuwei had lost count of how many such stories she had heard from Yan’er.
Yet Zhang Mingan never volunteered a word about any of them before her.
He no longer even mentioned love or romance.
He silently did everything for her.
It was as though the Zhang Mingan who had constantly spoken of marrying her had been left behind in the capital.
This Zhang Mingan had helped her escape the capital and expected and demanded nothing from her…
At the thought, Xing Shuwei released an almost imperceptible sigh-
Without realizing it, she seemed to owe Zhang Mingan so very much.
Xing Shuwei disliked this tangled, unaccountable feeling. All she could do was devote herself more attentively to caring for Zhang Mingan each time he was wounded, vainly hoping it would make her feel that she owed him a little less.