Isolated town in northern border region

Xiao Lie sat in the imperial study and put down the cup of tea that had gone cold.

His finger paused on the rim of the cup, as if he were using his fingertip to confirm the direction of the crack's extension.

Zhou Xun was summoned back by Xiao Lie overnight.

Standing to the side, still clutching the inspection report in his hand, he waited quite a while before speaking.

"Your Highness, you mean..."

Xiao Lie did not answer. He stood up and walked to the window, looking at the palace wall outside that was darkening in the twilight.

"There may be people from the Bureau of Folklore among Min'er's side."

Zhou Xun was taken aback.

"The spies personally managed by the princess are all her former subordinates whom she trained..."

Xiao Lie turned around.

"So, they won't sell out their old subordinates?"

Zhou Xun opened his mouth but didn't reply. Xiao Lie leaned against the window frame, his voice lowering.

"If Jiang Jun had planted a spy next to her from the beginning and never removed it, waiting specifically for this moment to use it—then it would make sense."

"The aristocratic families are merely a shield for Xu De's disappearance; the real weapon lies in the hands of the Bureau of Folklore."

Zhou Xun remained silent for a while.

"Does the princess know?"

Xiao Lie's gaze lingered on the lamplight for a moment.

"……have no idea."

He didn't explain why he said that, but Zhou Xun could read a kind of hesitation in his lowered gaze that he hadn't thought things through yet.

The following evening, Xiao Lie invited Jiang Min to the Imperial Study.

He laid out the inspection reports from each state on the table and began speaking calmly.

"We've been searching for so long, but there's still no news."

He looked up at Jiang Min.

"I'm going to try a different approach."

Jiang Min looked at him.

"What method?"

Xiao Lie leaned back in his chair.

"A bloodbath against the aristocratic families!"

"Since we can't find out who did it, let's kill everyone who might have done it."

"Kill until someone speaks up!"

Jiang Min's gaze sharpened slightly, but she quickly regained her composure.

"Your Highness, doing this will force them to rebel!"

Xiao Lie's voice remained completely calm.

"Then we will rebel. The musketeer battalion is already equipped, there are ten steam tanks, and the garrisons in each state have been reorganized."

"Their rebellion gives me a reason to take action."

Jiang Min's fingers tightened slightly inside her sleeve. Her voice remained steady when she spoke.

"Your Highness, you can't do that. The Great Chu has just been stabilized. If we push the aristocratic families to the brink, they will surely resort to desperate measures."

"Even if the rebellion is quelled, our strength will be severely depleted."

"Schools, factories, and railways will all come to a standstill."

Xiao Lie looked at her: "Then what do you suggest we do?"

Jiang Min remained silent for a moment.

"Wait another month! Give me a month, and I can find Xu De."

Xiao Lie stared at her for a long time.

"Okay... one month."

That night, Xiao Lie did not return to his bedchamber.

He sat in the imperial study, with a map of the capital city spread out in front of him.

He stared at the area marked "Old Granary in the West of the City" on the map for a long time, then drew a circle on it with a vermilion pen, put down the pen, and said something to the guards outside the door.

"Pass down the order: the Trapped Battalion is to be on standby at dawn tomorrow."

The guard obeyed and left. The lamp flickered on the table, the ink stains were gilded into a narrow, pale gold line by the light. He reached out, folded the map, and put it into his sleeve, the cuff folding in the light and ink stains.

The next morning, Jiang Min sent people out of the city.

Xiao Lie stood on the city wall and watched the horse disappear at the end of the official road, without following it.

He waited for half an hour before mounting his horse, followed by fifty elite guards from the Trapped Camp who had changed into civilian clothes.

They traveled west along the official road, passing through two villages, and stopped outside an abandoned old granary.

The horse was tied up at the entrance of the granary, and there were two horse-drawn carriages next to it.

Xiao Lie dismounted and signaled his guards to disperse the encirclement.

He walked to the granary door and stood there, without knocking or pushing it open.

The door opened from the inside, and a middle-aged man dressed in old cloth clothes poked his head out. His expression changed instantly when he saw Xiao Lie.

Xiao Lie didn't say anything, but turned and pushed open the door to go inside.

The granary was piled with worn-out burlap sacks, and in the corner was a locked wooden door.

As Xiao Lie walked to the door, a cough came from inside—he recognized it as Xu De's voice.

Even though he hadn't listened to it for several months, Xiao Lie could still distinguish the pitch and pauses of the cough the moment it sounded.

He drew his katana, cleaved the lock with a single stroke, pushed the door open, and went inside.

Xu De sat in the corner, his hands chained, his face covered in ash, but his eyes still shone.

He was stunned for a moment when he first saw Xiao Lie.

"Old Xiao...why are you only arriving now?"

Xiao Lie cut the iron chain.

"Don't speak, just go outside."

Xu De staggered when he stood up, and only took a step after he steadied himself by holding onto the wall.

In the open space behind the granary, two men dressed in black were carrying a sack onto a carriage.

A man in a gray robe stood nearby, holding a letter and sealing it with wax.

As Xiao Lie walked over, the man looked up and saw him. His pupils suddenly contracted, and the letter in his hand fell to the ground. The envelope was addressed to "Yongzhou Wang Family Merchants".

He bent down to pick up the letter, opened it, glanced at it, then folded it up and put it in his pocket, saying something to the person behind him.

"take away."

He glanced at the burlap sack.

"What's in there?"

A man in black had his head down.

"It's...it's a stand-in."

Xiao Lie remained silent for a moment.

"Throw it away, fill it in, and don't leave a trace."

Then he turned around and walked back to the granary, helped Xu De up, and walked outside.

When the sunlight shone on the two of them, Xu De squinted, as if he hadn't seen such bright light in a long time.

As he walked out the door, he saw the carriage and the man in black beside it, paused for a moment, and said nothing.

Xiao Lie didn't explain either. The two walked in silence for a while. Xu De's shadow swayed on the ground, like an old bamboo pole that had just been straightened.

It was already dark when I returned to the Imperial Study.

Jiang Min sat under the lamp, with an untouched cup of tea beside her.

She didn't get up when she saw Xiao Lie push the door open and come in. When she saw Xu De behind him, her eyes flickered, as if she was confirming something, but she didn't say anything.

Xiao Lie sat down opposite her, placed the letter on the table, and turned the envelope towards her.

Jiang Min looked down at the words on the letter and remained silent for a long time.

"You're following me?"

Xiao Lie did not answer.

"Min'er, tell me—did you do it, or did Jiang Jun do it?"

Jiang Min's gaze fell on the envelope. After a long while, her shoulders relaxed slightly, as if she were peeling off the last layer of her shell.

"it's me."

Her voice was calm.

"My brother doesn't know about this; it was me who did it."

Xiao Lie leaned back in his chair, as if he were waiting for a question whose answer he already knew.

Why?

Jiang Min's finger lightly traced a line on the edge of the table.

"Because I don't want to be anyone's appendage anymore."

"My brother treats me like a pawn, and you treat me like an ally, but I want to be the one playing the game."

She looked up at him.

"I married into the State of Chu from the State of Jing, bringing with me the old subordinates of the Bureau of Geography and establishing an intelligence network for you. But I know that as long as the King of the Northern Frontier is still alive, I can only ever stand behind you."

"I've met many men, some strong, some weak, some cunning, some straightforward."

"You are the most special person I have ever met, and also the one who makes me the most uneasy."

Her gaze did not waver, and her voice did not tremble.

"Because you're too strong!"

"You can hold up the whole sky by yourself; you don't need anyone to stand by your side."

"You're in front, I can only ever be behind."

"If I ever lose my value, you can decide my life or death with a single word!"

"Regarding Xu De's matter, I originally planned to hide him until the aristocratic families were completely crushed, then push the blame onto the Wang family, and then step in as the 'Princess Consort' to appease the aristocratic families, divert their anger from you, and make them side with me."

She paused for a moment.

"Only in this way can I stand firmly in your presence."

Xiao Lie looked at her, his gaze calm, without anger or disappointment, only something he couldn't quite put his finger on flickered in his eyes.

He spoke.

"Min'er, let's set off tomorrow to visit our relatives in Jing Kingdom."

Jiang Min was stunned for a moment.

Xiao Lie stood up, walked to the window, and turned his back to her.

"I won't kill you... but I can't leave you here either, because you've already made your own choice."

"Your choice wasn't wrong, it's just that your path is different from mine."

He turned around.

"I will tell the outside world that the princess was longing for her homeland and returned to Jing Kingdom to visit her family."

"Once you get there, it's your freedom to do whatever you want."

"But from today onwards, you no longer need to concern yourself with the affairs of the State of Chu."

He paused when he reached the door.

"I won't pursue Xu De's matter... but this is the last time."

He pushed open the door and walked out, his footsteps fading into the distance. Xu De sat in the corner without saying a word until the footsteps completely disappeared, then he murmured something.

"Your Highness, this time..."

Jiang Min remained seated under the lamp, motionless.

The night wind blew in through the window, extinguishing the lamp in front of her. She sat in the darkness for a long time before reaching out to relight it.

The news that the princess was "returning to her parents' home to visit relatives" spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital the very next day.

Someone in the teahouse, holding a teacup, said...

"Have you heard? The princess has returned to Jing Kingdom."

The person next to him chimed in.

"Weren't you going back to your parents' home? How did it turn out like this..."

He didn't finish speaking, but everyone else at the table remained silent for a moment.

An old man who often set up a stall in front of the Northern Xinjiang Chamber of Commerce squatted by the roadside. After listening to the discussion of the passing caravans, he muttered something under his breath.

"The prince and princess have fallen out? This is not a good sign."

The person next to them lowered their voice even further.

"I heard that the princess was escorted back. When I saw the carriage at the city gate, there were soldiers following it. It didn't look like a family visit, but more like an escort."

These few words were scattered by the wind on the street corner, then picked up by people and put together in a new shape, passing back and forth between shops and alleyways.

Some people started bringing up old stories, saying that the recent disappearance of Doctor Xu might be related to the princess;

Someone chimed in, saying that they had indeed seen carriages going in and out of the granary that day;

Some people remained silent, simply finishing their bowl of noodle soup in one gulp, then stood up, paid, and left, as if some things were not suitable to be said in a crowded place.

The news spread faster than the wind.

That afternoon, a crowd gathered at Caishikou, and someone whispered something.

"If the princess goes back, it's probably because war is about to break out."

No one responded, but the crowd did not disperse.

Someone was gripping the handle of their shopping basket so tightly that their knuckles turned white.

"What will we do if Jing Kingdom attacks?"

"And then there are the states of Yan and Shu, which are far more powerful than the small state of Chen!"

The person next to him remained silent for a long time before finally saying something.

"As long as Your Highness is here, everything will be alright."

As he spoke, his eyes remained fixed on the flag fluttering in the wind on the distant city wall.

His tone wasn't particularly confident, but after he finished speaking, no one around him objected. Some lowered their eyes, some clenched their cloth bags, and some switched the carrying pole to their other shoulder. They silently dispersed in their respective directions.

Along the post roads of various border states, people began to move south.

Some say the State of Jing is about to send troops, some say the States of Yan and Shu are secretly forming an alliance, and some say the State of Chu is likely to be besieged this time.

An elderly woman with white hair sat under a large locust tree at the entrance of the village, holding a bundle in her arms, and spoke to a passing traveler.

"My son is serving in the army at the border. A couple of days ago, he sent someone back with a message saying that there have been many more camps along the border."

He said, "Let's move south first."

The traveler stopped in his tracks.

"How far south should we move?"

The old woman lowered her head.

"Move as far as you can."

Her voice was very soft, as if she were talking about something she herself wasn't sure about.

The flow of people migrating south stretched intermittently along the official road, like a line that was being slowly stretched out in the south.

When the news reached the states of Yan and Shu, the reactions of the courts in both countries were almost identical—first silence, then panic.

The news that the Queen Consort of the Northern Frontier of Chu had returned to Jing Kingdom to visit her family seemed like an ordinary family matter, but everyone knew that there was something extraordinary behind it.

After reading the secret report, Yanji put down the paper.

"The Princess Consort of the Northern Frontier has returned to Jing Kingdom."

Yang Wei looked at him.

"Is it really a trip back to her parents' home, or...?"

Yan Ji remained silent for a moment.

"Neither of these is good news."

He paced back and forth in the room before sitting back down in his chair.

"If she was sent back to Jing, then a thorn would have been planted between Chu and Jing."

"If she went back voluntarily, then she is Jing Kingdom's biggest mole!"

"In either case—she is not someone who can be ignored."

Yan Ji sat in the imperial study all night, and at dawn he said something to the guards beside him.

"Pass down the order: increase the number of personnel at the border garrison. No one is allowed to enter or leave without my token."

Yang Wei made similar arrangements, and the border between the two countries began to tighten at the same time, like a gate that was slowly closing.

When Jiang Min returned to Wenshu City of Jing State, he did not go directly to the palace to see Jiang Jun.

She stayed at the post station for one night, and the next morning she sent a letter to the palace. The letter contained only one line.

"Your Majesty, I have something to discuss with you."

After reading the letter in the imperial study, Jiang Jun said something to the eunuch beside him.

"Bring her in."

When Jiang Min entered the imperial study, she was not wearing the princess's formal attire, but only an old set of clothes, looking like a traveler who had just returned from a long trip.

She sat down opposite Jiang Jun.

"Brother, I'd like to discuss a business deal with you."

Jiang Jun looked at her.

"What kind of business?"

Jiang Min stretched out her finger and drew a line on the table.

"I can make the Yan and Shu kingdoms completely side with the Jing kingdom."

Jiang Jun's gaze sharpened slightly.

"How did you do that?"

Jiang Min lowered her hand.

"I still have spies in both Yan and Shu that I haven't removed."

"With the experience and relationships I've built up in Chu, I can convince the states of Yan and Shu that as long as they ally with Jing, they can acquire all of Chu's technology."

She looked up.

"I only need a pretext—to represent the Jing Kingdom in talks with the Yan and Shu Kingdoms."

Jiang Jun looked into her eyes, remained silent for a long time, and then smiled.

"You're much better at negotiating business now than when you left."

Jiang Min did not laugh.

"I have no way out."

Jiang Jun looked at her for a while.

"Go, and don't disappoint me."

Half a month later, Jiang Min's convoy appeared at the gates of the Yan capital.

Yan Ji personally went out of the city to greet him, and when he saw Jiang Min at the city gate, he bowed and paid his respects.

"Your Highness has come from afar; I have failed to greet you properly."

Jiang Min lifted the carriage curtain inside the carriage.

"I am no longer the Queen Consort of Chu."

Yan Ji was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered.

Jiang Min got off the carriage and stood at the city gate.

"I have come today to discuss a business deal on behalf of the Emperor of Jing."

She glanced at the city wall behind Yan Ji, which was sinking into shadow in the twilight.

"If the states of Yan and Shu are willing to form an alliance with the state of Jing, the state of Chu can share its technology, and the state of Jing's army can provide protection."

"If you don't want to—"

She paused for a moment.

"I will not force you."

"But I can tell you both—Xiao Lie of Chu already has muskets, grenades, and steam chariots. In less than three years, he will turn his attention to the east and west."

"At that point, do you two want to confront him, or do you want to negotiate with him?"

She didn't say anything more, but her eyes were silently closing in the night, like a hand slowly clenching.

When the news reached the Chu Kingdom, Xiao Lie was outside Youzhou City reviewing the test reports of a new batch of steam-powered war chariots.

After reading the secret report, he didn't say much. He folded the letter and put it back in his sleeve, then continued to look at the steam-powered war machine that was undergoing test runs.

The dust kicked up by the tracks as they rolled across the ground landed on his clothes. He didn't look down, but just watched the iron car slowly drive away into the distance along the tracks.

Xu De stood next to him and glanced at him.

"Old Xiao, aren't you going to do anything about it?"

Xiao Lie did not turn around.

"She can do what she wants, and so can I."

His voice was calm, but Xu De noticed that his fingers, which were holding the roll of test report, tightened slightly, like a pair of iron pliers being slowly tightened, pressing the crease into the fibers of the paper, making it a mark that could never be smoothed out.

In the distance, a wisp of white smoke billowed from the chimney of the tank in the twilight, slowly spreading out in the direction of the wind, as if using a thread thinner than a railway track to send that still-settling sound to its rightful place.

The wind was still blowing, extending northward along the direction the tracks had passed. The wisp of white smoke was stretched into an irregular line, like the lingering mark left by a pen tip after a slight pause on paper.