From the fake emperor to the concubine

“Let her be alone for a while,” he said.

The old woman glanced at him, hesitated, then swallowed her words and turned to go to the backyard.

Around noon, the person in the storage room woke up.

Wu Chen was the first to discover it. He heard a "thud" from the storage room, like someone had hit their head against the wall. He stood up and peeked through the crack in the door—the person was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, looking around the cramped, windowless space.

Wu Chen went to find Zheng Yi.

When Zheng Yi arrived, Helian followed. The three of them stood outside the storage room door, which was ajar. The light inside was dim, and only the outline of the person could be seen.

"What's your name?" Zheng Yi asked.

The man didn't answer. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he could see three people standing outside the door. His gaze swept over the three people, finally settling on Zheng Yi's face and stopping there.

“The person who was with you last night is dead,” Zheng Yi said. “He died from poisoning.”

The man's expression changed slightly. It was a very subtle change; the corners of his mouth turned down a little, and the lines around his eyes deepened slightly. If you weren't staring at him intently, you wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"You knew he had poison in his mouth, right?" Zheng Yi asked.

The man didn't speak.

“You know there’s poison in his mouth, but you don’t.” Zheng Yi’s voice was unhurried, as if he were chatting with an old friend. “What does that mean? It means that in his eyes, you are not as important as him. His life is more valuable than yours, so he deserves that poison sac, but you don’t.”

The man's jaw twitched.

Helian leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking at the man. He didn't speak, but his very presence was oppressive—a tall, weathered northern man stood there silently, like a wall.

"I'll ask you a few questions. All you need to do is nod or shake your head." Zheng Yi squatted down to be at eye level with the man. "Once you answer, I'll give you a quick answer."

The man looked at him and finally spoke.

"Feeling good?" The voice was hoarse, with a strong southern accent.

"That's great," Zheng Yi nodded.

The person was silent for a moment, then nodded very slightly.

"You're here because of that girl surnamed Shen?"

nod.

"Who sent you?"

That person stopped moving.

Zheng Yi changed his question: "Was the person who sent you surnamed Qiu?"

The man remained motionless. But his gaze shifted—not with surprise, but with a wary, "How did you know?" look.

Zheng Yi didn't wait for his answer and continued to ask.

"You want to kill her, not because of what she did, but because her surname is Shen, right?"

The man looked at Zheng Yi, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Since you know this, why are you still protecting her?" The man's voice was very low, so low it seemed to be squeezed out from deep in his throat. "Do you know who her family has offended?"

"I don't know," Zheng Yi said. "Tell me."

The man smiled. The smile was faint, but Zheng Yi saw something strange in it—not mockery, not contempt, but more like an expression that said, "You know nothing and yet you dare to jump into this muddy water," a smile tinged with irony and pity.

“You don’t need to know,” the man said. “You just need to know that she won’t live long. Her family won’t live long either. This is the path they chose.”

Zheng Yi looked into his eyes and asked a question that seemed to have nothing to do with the current matter.

What are you afraid of?

The man's eyebrows twitched.

"You slaughtered the entire Shen family, not even sparing the dogs. By all accounts, that should have been the end of it." Zheng Yi's voice was calm, as if he were talking about something completely unrelated to him. "But you're still chasing. Chasing a defenseless girl, chasing her for thousands of miles, all the way to Beining City. What are you afraid of?"

That person's eyes changed.

It's no longer that indifferent, aloof demeanor, but rather an extra, very thin layer, almost invisible.

It is fear.

It's not fear of Zheng Yi, but fear of the question behind Zheng Yi's words.

What are you afraid of?
The man didn't answer. He lowered his head, looking at his bound hands for a long time.

"Kill me," he suddenly said.

Zheng Yi stood up and looked down at the person.

“I will,” he said, “but not now.”

The person looked up, and a flicker of emotion finally appeared in their eyes—confusion mixed with something indescribable, like disappointment, yet also like a sigh of relief.

Zheng Yi turned and walked out of the storage room.

Helian followed and bolted the door from the outside.

“He didn’t say anything,” Helian said.

“He said it.” Zheng Yi stood in the courtyard, looking up at the gray sky. “He said he was afraid.”

Helian remained silent for a moment, watching Zheng Yi's retreating figure.

What do you think they're afraid of?

Zheng Yi turned around and looked at Helian.

“The Shen family must have something. It’s not that Shen Yuan herself has anything, but that the Shen family knows something, or has something in their possession.” Zheng Yi’s voice was not loud, but every word was pronounced clearly. “They killed the Shen family members not because her father offended anyone. It’s because they were afraid that the Shen family would expose something.”

Helian frowned: "But Shen Yuan said she didn't know."

“She might really not know,” Zheng Yi said, “but her surname is Shen. That’s enough.”

Helian remained silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

Zheng Yi didn't reply, his gaze fixed on the old locust tree in the corner of the yard. Most of the locust tree's leaves had already fallen, and the remaining ones rustled in the wind, the sound seeming to whisper something, or perhaps saying nothing at all.

He turned and walked towards Shen Yuan's room. Shen Yuan sat on the bed, facing the window with her back to the door. The window was ajar, and the wind blew in through the crack, making her hair sway gently. She heard footsteps behind her but didn't turn around.

"What did that person say?" Her voice was very soft, as if it came through a layer of something.

“He didn’t say anything.” Zheng Yi stopped at the door. “But he was scared.”

Shen Yuan's shoulders tensed slightly.

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid you might have something on you."

Shen Yuan slowly turned around and looked at Zheng Yi. Her face was still pale, but her eyes were much clearer than a few days ago, as if they had been polished by something.

“I have nothing,” she said, emphasizing each word. “When I escaped, I took nothing with me. No land deeds, no account books, no letters. I didn’t even take my mother’s belongings. All I have are these clothes and this bracelet.”

She raised her right hand, and the silver bracelet dangled on her wrist.

“Young Master Zheng, I really have nothing. If I had anything that could frighten them, I would have taken it out long ago. I wouldn’t have waited until now.”

Zheng Yi looked at her for a few moments.

“I believe you,” he said.

Shen Yuan's lips twitched slightly, as if she wanted to laugh or cry, but in the end she showed nothing.

“But it’s no use if you believe me.” Shen Yuan lowered her head, looking at the silver bracelet on her wrist. “They don’t believe me. They will never believe me. In their eyes, my being alive is proof enough. Every breath I take is a threat to them.”

She looked up at Zheng Yi.

"Do you get me?"

Zheng Yi was silent for a moment. "Understood."

Shen Yuan's gaze fell on his face, as if trying to find something in his expression.

"Then why are you still going to interfere?"

Zheng Yi did not hesitate.

"Tube."

Shen Yuan's lips trembled slightly.

"why?"

Zheng Yi thought for a moment and said something that stunned Shen Yuan.

"Because I don't like losing."

Shen Yuan stared at him blankly, as if trying to figure out whether he was serious or just saying something to reassure her.

Zheng Yi didn't explain further and turned to leave.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he stopped and glanced back in the direction of Shen Yuan's room. The door was ajar, letting in a dim light. In the light was a figure, thin and motionless, sitting on the bed, like a long-forgotten, dusty statue.

The corridor was quiet.

The rain has completely stopped.

A few more days passed.

"Do you dare to come back to Jiangnan with me?"

When Zheng Yi said this, Shen Yuan was drinking a bowl of red date porridge. The porridge had already cooled down, and she stirred it a couple of times with a spoon. When she heard the words "return to Jiangnan," the spoon stopped on the rim of the bowl, making a very soft clinking sound.

Say it again.

"I said, do you dare to come back to Jiangnan with me?"

Shen Yuan looked up at Zheng Yi. He was standing at the door, backlit, so her expression wasn't clear, but his voice was serious, not just casually spoken.

What are you going to Jiangnan for?

“Go and see what your family left behind,” Zheng Yi said. “Those people chased you all the way north, which means there must be something they want or something they fear in your family. Your father has been in business for over twenty years; he couldn’t have left nothing behind.”

Shen Yuan put down the spoon, held the bowl in both hands, and felt the warmth from the bottom of the bowl seep through the porcelain into her palms.

"Why are you coming with me? You can go up north and do your business properly."

Zheng Yi walked in and sat down in a chair, sitting a table away from Shen Yuan.

“Because of those two,” he said. “If they can find their way to Beining City, they can find somewhere else to go. As long as you’re here, they’ll be watching me. Instead of waiting for them here, we should go and see what’s really going on at the source.”

Shen Yuan remained silent for a while.

"You are not afraid?"

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid I'll drag you down with me."

Zheng Yi looked at her and suddenly smiled. It was a very faint smile, just a slight upward turn of the corners of his mouth, but Shen Yuan saw it very clearly.

"It's already implicated."

Shen Yuan paused for a moment, then lowered her head, her lips twitching slightly—it was unclear whether she was smiling or feeling embarrassed.

"You have a really unpleasant way of speaking."

"The truth is hard to hear."

Shen Yuan pushed the bowl of cold porridge aside, placed both hands on the table, interlaced her fingers, and twirled her thumbs around a few times.

“I’ll go with you,” she said.

Zheng Yi waited for her to finish speaking.

"But there is one condition."

"You said."

"Don't rush me on the way. I can't walk fast."

Zheng Yi nodded and stood up.

"It's settled then. I'll leave in three days."

Shen Yuan watched his figure disappear through the doorway, then suddenly said something very softly. So softly that Zheng Yi probably didn't hear it.

"Thank you."

The corridor was empty, and no one responded.

Over the next three days, Zheng Yi explained everything that had happened in the north, one by one.

The first item is the goods. The final payment for Shenghe's batch of furs has been settled. The silver and copper coins were divided into three portions, which were given to Helian, Tiegu, and Wuchen to take back. The matter of the bone materials and herbs has not been completely settled yet. He Liang stayed behind to continue the negotiations. Once the agreement is reached, he will send people directly to the tribes in the north.

"Steward He, keep a close eye on things in Beining City. If anything happens, have someone send a message north on horseback."

He Liang sat in the lobby, a thick stack of invoices and ledgers spread out in front of him, a pot of strong tea beside him, the tea soup as black as soy sauce. Hearing Zheng Yi's words, he looked up, nodded, and then looked down again to continue flipping through the invoices.

"Young Master Zheng, please go without worry. I'll take care of things here."

Zheng Yi patted him on the shoulder.

The second issue was people. Zheng Yi had been thinking for a long time about whether or not Wu Chen should go to Jiangnan with him.

Wu Chen stood in front of him, the iron dagger at his waist, his hands hanging at his sides, standing like a stake.

“Come with me to Jiangnan,” Zheng Yi said.

Wu Chen showed no extra expression, simply nodding.

“But after I leave, the affairs of the three northern ministries cannot be left unattended,” Zheng Yi added. “You have to stay.”

His dark expression finally shifted slightly.

"Young Master Zheng, you're going to Jiangnan alone..."

"You're not alone. Shen Yuan, come with me."

His dark brows furrowed, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something but swallowed it back. After a few moments of silence, he couldn't hold back any longer.

"What good is Miss Shen in her condition?"

Zheng Yi glanced at him, and Wu Chen immediately realized he had said the wrong thing.

"That's not what I meant. I meant... we're unfamiliar with the area around Jiangnan, what if we run into those people again..."

"So I brought Red Fang with me."

Wu Chen's expression became even more complicated. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, and when he opened it again, his voice was much lower.

"Is Red Fang stronger than me?"

“Chiya isn’t as steady as you,” Zheng Yi said, “but Chiya needs to go out and see the world more than I do.”

Wu Chen fell silent. He knew what Zheng Yi meant by "go out and see the world." Chi Ya had never left the North since birth, the furthest he had ever been was Beining City. All his knowledge of the South came from stories he heard from others, stories that were a mixture of good and bad, true and false, all churned together in his mind like a pot of porridge with no discernible flavor.

"Moreover," Zheng Yi paused, "Chi Ya's face is more useful than yours in the south."

Wu Chen looked down at his thick arms and calloused hands, and then thought about Chi Ya's appearance, which, although rough, was still decent. He had to admit that Zheng Yi was right.

“Okay,” Wu Chen said. “Then I’ll stay in the north.”

"Keep an eye on the affairs of the three departments for me. Contact Helian directly if anything happens, and the same goes for Tiegu. As for the goods, listen to Steward He; handle everything else as you see fit." (End of Chapter)