Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was that very incident that cemented Xie Cheyun’s determination to get rid of me.

At the time, Xie Cheyun had just put down a rebellion by the late emperor’s old supporters on Si Li’s behalf. After returning to the capital, he petitioned the emperor on the strength of his military achievements, asking for an additional hundred thousand dan of grain to help the borderlands get through the winter that year.

Meanwhile, I was investigating a case of corruption among court officials. After combing through it from top to bottom, the trail unexpectedly led straight to the borderlands-and became entangled with Xie Cheyun.

It was an obvious attempt to drag him into it. The person behind the scenes clearly wielded far more influence than I had imagined.

Operating under the principle that it was better to kill the wrong man than let the guilty slip away, I had Si Li reject Xie Cheyun’s request to see whether anyone would be bribed into coming to lobby me.

But before that could happen, the palace held a victory banquet.

Everyone had assumed that with his military merits as the basis for his request, the matter should have been all but settled.

Yet at that exact moment, someone at Xie Cheyun’s side told him that I was the one manipulating everything behind the scenes.

“Do you see that Imperial Tutor over there? That’s the new emperor’s current favorite.” The man held a wine cup in hand and pointed from afar toward me, seated at the head of the banquet.

Then he withdrew his hand, rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, and said with a smiling expression, “If you want anything done in the capital, you still have to learn how to smooth the right roads.”

Xie Cheyun had always despised such filthy practices. But for the sake of the borderland soldiers’ winter provisions, he still came forward.

On that face, honed by the wind and sand of the frontier until it was as unyielding as iron, he forced out a stiff smile. That night, Xie Cheyun’s family heirloom jade pendant was delivered to my estate.

As for Xie Cheyun himself, he drank himself into a stupor out of frustration. On his way back, he ran into an assassination attempt, and it was my deathsworn who saved him.

I had Xie Cheyun secretly escorted back to his manor.

He had not been completely unconscious from drink. That very night, he began investigating the matter.

In the end, he saw the assassin who had already taken his own life.

On the assassin’s body was that precious jade of the Xie family.

Xie Cheyun only thought I had done it on purpose to humiliate him. He thought I had been so greedy that even the Xie family’s heirloom treasure was not good enough for me.

That was why I had staged such a farce to shame him.

From beginning to end, he never considered that he himself had been used.

I had considered it. But I never told him.

Xie Cheyun in his fury was simply too easy to use. The people lurking at his side wanted to use his hand to cause trouble for me, only for me to turn their own momentum against them. Military officers had their own code of conduct, and there were certain areas where it was not convenient for me to interfere.

Now, all I had to do was leak word to Xie Cheyun that so-and-so was close to me, had bribed me, and had joined my faction.

Xie Cheyun would naturally have ways to make them vanish into the yellow sands of the borderlands.

No wonder the ancients once said that sometimes, when dealing with schemes, all you needed was to strike hard with a heavy fist.

Over the many years that followed, Xie Cheyun and I worked together from the inside and outside countless times without his knowing it.

I dealt with corrupt civil officials in court who schemed for advancement and harmed the common people, while he killed their claws and fangs at the border. Yet Xie Cheyun’s misunderstanding of me only deepened by the day, until in the end, there was no explaining it away no matter what.

In his heart, he was certain that I was a treacherous minister who would stop at nothing for my own selfish desires, disregarding the lives of the people. Every day, he thought about how to kill me.

By the time he saw this, Xie Cheyun could barely remain standing. His face was filled with bewilderment and pain.

And yet the System, as if the spectacle were not chaotic enough, shifted the scene again. It was a snowy night from last year. I sat at my desk beneath the lamplight, handling official business.

By accident, a memorial slipped out from the mountain of documents piled on the desk. It was one Xie Cheyun had submitted from the border, in which he once again urged Si Li with all his might to have me executed.

Ah Ru, who was holding the lamp for me, picked up the memorial. After only a faint glance, she sighed. “Master, why not tell General Xie how much thought you’ve put into protecting him all these years?”

She was my deathsworn, and after accompanying me for so long, she knew better than anyone how I had made my way step by step over the years.

After she spoke, I did not even lift my head.

“If you have time for that, you might as well pay more attention to winter disaster relief and the people in need.”

Ah Ru fell silent. Sensing something was off, I raised my head from the pile of documents and saw the young girl pressing her lips together, her brows tightly furrowed.

She was angry with me.

I could not tell her that the System was shouting in my head at that very moment, saying that because I had suffered such severe personal attacks, the compensation for emotional damages had increased by another twenty million.

I could only soften my voice and explain to her, “Xie Cheyun is an upright official. He won’t stoop to petty tricks. In the end, he can’t truly harm me.”

“But if not for you back then, he would never have had the chance to rise at all. His Majesty never favored him in the first place. It was you who strongly recommended him to His Majesty, and you staked your own life on him before the throne several times before he was given the chance to command troops. He was clearly promoted because of you. How can he turn around and go against you…”

With a clang, the bronze mirror fell to the ground.

The System, disguised as a shaman, frowned in displeasure at the culprit. He stepped forward to set it upright-and did not miss the astonishment in Xie Cheyun’s eyes.

“Your Majesty, is what she said… true?” He slowly rose from the ground and straightened his back, looking at Si Li. His eyes were so bloodshot they seemed about to bleed, yet there was still a trace of hope in them.

He must have been hoping Si Li would tell him it had all been a lie.

Only then would he not have to face the truth-that he had repaid the wrong debt, hated the wrong person.

After all, he was a man who valued gratitude above all, a man who had always drawn the clearest line between love and hate.

But Si Li only watched him in silence. It was not until the great general’s hands-hands that had always held a spear with perfect steadiness-were trembling uncontrollably that he finally spoke softly.

There was a twisted thread of pleasure in his voice. “That’s right. Back then, it was my sister who picked you out from among ten thousand soldiers at a single glance. It was also she who vouched for you time and again and won you opportunities. Your patron, your benefactor, was always her.”

The more he spoke, the lighter his tone became. By the end, there was even an almost vengeful satisfaction in it. “If not for her, you would have been framed and died unjustly in the army long ago. I was still young then. How could I possibly have had such an eye for talent, enough to see that you would one day be a commander fit to lead troops into battle? Of course my sister was the one behind it all!”

“But you wanted me to kill her!” Xie Cheyun could bear it no longer. He lunged forward, seized Si Li by the front of his robes, and roared.

In that instant, the clashing of blades rang out.

The deathsworn guards hidden in the shadows to protect Si Li all struck at once. A thin blade pierced straight through the hand Xie Cheyun had used to clutch Si Li’s robe.

Blood gushed out instantly, but he still refused to let go. He roared at Si Li, his eyes wide as if they would split.

“All these years, you had people imply to me that Shi Qihua was wildly ambitious, that she intended to control the imperial power, while you were too weak to stop her…” As he said this, Si Li’s expression darkened. Gu Qing, standing off to the side, let out a cold laugh.

Yes. The one who had misled Xie Cheyun had not been Si Li. Si Li had simply chosen not to explain. He had only done what an emperor should do-kept Xie Cheyun’s loyalty firmly in his grasp.

But none of that could ease Xie Cheyun’s agony. Nearly collapsing, he shouted hoarsely, “You saw her memories, didn’t you? She clearly had a vast heart and noble ideals. She wasn’t that kind of person at all. Why? Why did you make me do such a thing?!”

As Xie Cheyun spoke, his body suddenly jolted. The next moment, blood bloomed across his shoulder.

Beside him, another deathsworn guard’s longsword had pierced through his shoulder blade.

Xie Cheyun finally lost all strength. He staggered back two steps and fell. The way he looked at Si Li was filled with hatred and pain.

He said, “I followed her instructions. I swore to become a hero for the country and its people. But now, I have driven to her death the woman who sacrificed the most for this nation.”

As he spoke, his gaze swept over my corpse, and he closed his eyes in grief.

“There were clearly so many chances before, but I never truly tried to understand you. And now, I will never have the chance to know you, or even say thank you.” Tears fell from his cheeks.

The next second, Xie Cheyun reached back and pulled the longsword from his arm, then laid it across the hollow of his neck.

“Xie Cheyun had eyes, yet could not distinguish black from white or right from wrong. I had ears, yet could not tell sincerity from falsehood. I repaid the wrong debt and killed the wrong person, Shi Qihua. I return this life to you!”

The next instant, the longsword was knocked from his hand.

“Minister Xie, my sister does not want your life.” Si Li withdrew his hand and looked down at him from above.

As he spoke, his gaze passed over Xie Cheyun and turned toward the window. “Do you still not understand? She knew long ago that the cup of wine was poisoned. She went calmly to her death only because she did not want anyone present to die-whether general or soldier.”

“You understand her well enough.” Xie Cheyun had been pinned to the ground. He lifted his head and roared in a hoarse voice, “Since you knew exactly what kind of person she was, why did you still kill her?!”

The question seemed to stump Si Li as well. When he mentioned me, his smile was bright, but not an ounce of warmth reached his eyes.

“Yes. I would like to know that too. Since she was that kind of person, why did she still have to be killed…”

Si Li’s expression grew increasingly dazed. He stared out the window in a trance.

Xie Cheyun’s gaze sharpened. He struggled to rise and charge at him, but a folding fan pressed down on his shoulder.

“Shi Qihua spared your life because you are still useful. Don’t be so eager to throw it away.”

The tone was sharp and biting, nothing like Gu Qing’s former warmth.

That jade-like gentleman had, at some point, grown thorns all over his body and become harsh and cold.

Xie Cheyun struggled, still wanting to say something more.

But the image in the bronze mirror had already begun moving again. This time, no one spoke. Everyone fixed their eyes on it, until the face of a young Si Li appeared in the scene.

At the sight, Gu Qing gave a low laugh.

“So that’s how it was.” His self-mocking voice was as light as a gust of wind, and it soon scattered into the silence of the room.