At the fourth watch of the night, deep within Mount Tang, two carriages stood in single file along the forest path, not a sound stirring around them.
Lu Lingcong was sitting against the wall panel inside the slightly smaller carriage. Xie Jing lay curled in his arms like a newborn, his complexion alarmingly poor—far paler than his usual porcelain fairness, tinged with a lifeless gray. His lips were completely devoid of color and covered in cracks.
Despite this, he still clutched Lu Lingcong’s lapel tightly like a drowning person grasping a piece of driftwood.
Lu Shuqing sat across from them with his arms wrapped around his legs and chin tucked between his knees, quietly watching his parents on the opposite side.
Yi Yun followed the blood trail and found Lu Shuqing, who then led the Hewei to the cliff where he had encountered Xie Jing.
When Lu Lingcong descended to the base of the cliff and found Xie Jing by the shallows, the latter had been awake for a moment.
Lu Lingcong watched him struggle to force his eyes open and glance around in a daze; the only certainty was that Xie Jing recognized him; then he slipped straight into a deep coma and has remained that way ever since.
Xie Jing’s cuffs were already frayed and tattered, but Lu Lingcong couldn’t change his clothes or even wipe his face. He could only manage to feed him some ginseng soup and thin porridge. Yin Chou had also administered acupuncture, and although he hadn’t woken up, his life was at least out of danger.
Seven days had passed since the morning of the imperial return journey when Lu Shuqing and Xie Jing went missing. The emperor sent out the Yulin Guard to comb the mountain, while Lu Lingcong used the Tiger Tally to directly summon his former Tiger Division subordinates. With the covertly operating Hewei added in, these two sides, split into three forces, appeared to be searching for someone; but in truth were locked in a struggle for power.
Suddenly, Lu Shuqing quietly called out to Lu Lingcong. Lu Lingcong answered, looked at him, and heard him say, “When we were in the cave, Mother said something that greatly concerns me.”
“What did he say?”
“He said that if his guess wasn’t wrong, people from the Prime Minister’s Mansion should be waiting outside,” Lu Shuqing murmured. “When I crawled out, there were indeed signs of the Yulin Guard nearby, but there was no one at the cave entrance, which is how I managed to escape.”
Lu Lingcong thought for a moment and smiled at him, “I think the possibility of him being wrong is so low it can be ignored. What do you think?”
Lu Shuqing nodded, “So… those people should have been waiting at that cave entrance. Therefore, I was intentionally allowed to leave.”
Lu Lingcong pondered for a moment: “Since your grandfather’s passing, the real power of the Yulin Guard has indeed been held by the Wang family, unless—”
Before he could finish speaking, the carriage window was knocked on twice. Yin Chou said from outside, “Your Highness, we can’t delay any longer.”
Lu Lingcong remained silent for a moment, then carefully lifted Xie Jing horizontally, ducked out of the carriage, and stumbled slightly upon landing. Yin Chou wanted to ask, but he merely shook his head, indicating he was fine, and then slowly walked towards the other carriage parked on the forest path not far away.
When he reached the front of the carriage, a maidservant heard the sound and lifted the curtain to let him in. The carriage’s interior was markedly more spacious. A gauze screen divided the space, behind which a figure could be faintly seen sitting upright. In front of it, brocade blankets and quilts were laid across the floor with hot water and cloths set close at hand.
Lu Lingcong bent down and cautiously placed Xie Jing onto the bedding. He then gently peeled away the hand that was tightly clutching his lapel. The maidservant immediately helped him cover Xie Jing with the quilt, remaining discreetly silent and kneeling in the corner without making any further noise.
The figure behind the screen moved slightly, seeming to turn her head and cast her gaze toward their direction. Lu Lingcong retreated two steps and knelt down before bowing deeply to the floor, and said in a low, deep voice, “Henceforth, I will rely on Madam for the meticulous care of my wife.”
After a moment of silence, a flat, unemotional female voice came through the gauze screen, “He won’t die.”
Lu Lingcong maintained his posture of deep bowing and continued, “Madam’s willingness to help this time is an unforgettable kindness. If the opportunity arises in the future, Prince Zhao’s Mansion will use all its strength to repay Madam’s profound benevolence.”
“There is no need,” the female voice said flatly, “I did not act for the sake of Prince Zhao’s Mansion.”
Then she slightly raised her voice, “See the guest out.”
The maidservant in the corner responded and reached out to pull back the carriage curtain, silently but forcefully ushering Lu Lingcong out. He had no choice but to straighten up. He reached out, seemingly wanting to stroke Xie Jing’s cheek, but finally only touched it briefly before withdrawing, “This humble one will take my leave.”
Lu Lingcong stepped down from the carriage. Within a few breaths, the sound of hoofbeats arose, and the carriage of Prime Minister’s Mansion had already vanished into the dust.
Lu Shuqing stood beside Yi Yun behind him, silently watching his mother grow more and more distant. Unable to bear it, Yin Chou gently stroked the boy’s head and murmured in comfort, “Everything will be alright.”
When Xie Jing woke up, the first sense to return was his smell, his nostrils filling with the strong scent of medicine. He forced his eyes open to find unfamiliar bed curtains, yet from the intricate patterns and carvings, it was easy to tell he was in an inner residence.
He felt sore and exhausted all over and was unable to summon the strength to sit up at all. He opened his mouth to try and call for someone, but his throat was so hoarse and painful. He could only drowsily lift his hand from beneath the quilt and tap the bed frame, producing a few muffled thuds.
Immediately, someone quickly walked to the bedside and asked, “What are your instructions?”
Xie Jing pushed the bed curtain open slightly and saw the maidservant bowing outside. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say and just stared at her blankly.
The maidservant waited for a long time, and although she received no instruction, she understood what he meant. She turned and went out to announce: “Madam, Lord Xie is awake.”
The door opened again after a long delay. The arrival was a graceful, slender figure. As she stepped from the shadows into the light beside the bed, Xie Jing at last saw clearly those fox-like eyes, curved as if smiling yet not. He had never encountered such a pair on anyone else.
“…Did Madam save my life?” He asked hoarsely.
Cui Shushi sat on the embroidered stool by the bed, took Xie Jing’s hand, and after a thought, still placed a layer of thin sleeve between her hand and his pulse. She casually said, “Your husband and son saved you.”
A sharp throbbing pain shot through his forehead. Xie Jing instinctively kept pressing his forehead with his free hand. After a moment of relief, the events before he lost consciousness gradually became clear in his mind. He blurted out, “Qing’er escaped? How is he?”
At her words, Xie Jing abruptly grasped Cui Shushi’s identity. Linking it to the answer she had just given, his thoughts plunged into confusion, and he could only squeeze his eyes shut once more.
Cui Shushi moved her hand away and turned her body without looking at Xie Jing, leaving only her elegant back to him, “On the morning of the second day of the fourth month, people were waiting in the forest. They wouldn’t actually let you and your son be killed by the tiger, but they would ensure that you and your son both eventually went down that cliff and entered that cave.”
“The cliff is unscalable. The only way out is the cave entrance through which the heir escaped. And that place was originally guarded day and night by the Yulin Guard, whose purpose was to immediately see whether it was your son who emerged, or you yourself.”
Xie Jing’s heart sank. He quietly continued her narrative: “If I had come out first, the Yulin Guard would likely have immediately revealed the cave’s location to Prince Zhao. If the heir came out first… then I suppose I would have been left in the cave to become a pile of bones.”
“That I wouldn’t know. Perhaps they would have spared your life as well?” Cui Shushi let out a soft, amused laugh. “After all, no one in this world understands Prince Zhao better than you. With such a useful assistant, one who knows both himself and his enemy, even if you cannot be made to sincerely serve the Wang family, simply locking you up and subjecting you to severe torture might still yield some useful information.”
Xie Jing had grown accustomed to her occasional capriciousness and simply continued to ask, “Since Madam can openly treat me now, then presumably, in the Wang family’s view, I was the one who emerged first.”
Cui Shushi said evenly, “The Yulin Guard guarded the wrong location. After His Highness Shizi escaped, he first led people to find you and handed you over to me. I then fabricated finding you at the cave entrance and brought you back to the Prime Minister’s Mansion. Prince Zhao continued to pretend to search the mountain, and three days later, released the news that His Highness Shizi had been found.”
Xie Jing was stunned, immediately realizing that half of his conjecture in the cave was correct, and half was wrong: the Prime Minister’s Mansion did send people, but the people sent did not obey the Prime Minister’s Mansion, or rather, did not only obey the Prime Minister’s Mansion.
“Did the Yulin Guard not question you? Even if they failed to find a child, simply leaving me at the cave entrance and then staging the discovery afterward; such a scheme shouldn’t have been easy to fool them, should it?”
Cui Shushi’s voice rose: “That’s exactly what I’m wondering! Who exactly possesses such god-like power to override the Prime Minister’s Mansion and cause the Yulin Guard elite, personally arranged by Father, to lose their heads and ‘guard the wrong location’?”
Xie Jing instantly recalled a phrase mentioned by Grand Tutor Zhang during their conversation that day: “Is the current Majesty’s power simply the Wang family’s power?”
He felt a wave of chill silently creeping up his spine. He turned his eyes sideways, tentatively asking Cui Shushi, “…Did ‘the top’ inform Madam beforehand?”
Cui Shushi looked as if she had heard something utterly absurd. She glanced back at him with disdain and sneered:
“There are certainly many blind people in this Prime Minister’s Mansion, but I am not. Such petty tricks cannot hide from my eyes. Why would I need ‘the top’ or ‘the bottom’ to inform me?”
After speaking, she stood up to leave. Xie Jing recovered his senses and urgently called out, “One last question!”
Cui Shushi paused.
“Why exactly did Madam extend this helping hand to me? I know that back then, when it came to the ‘Bone-stripping String,’ Madam also told me ‘not to resist’; that, too, was for my protection.”
Cui Shushi paused where she stood. After a long moment, she simply took a step and left the room without looking back.
This incident, which occurred at the end of the Spring Hunt, stirred up a massive uproar in Jinling due to its serious implications.
The source of the news was unknown, but with many people searching Mount Tang, it wasn’t strange for rumors to leak out. Therefore, the people in the capital “just happened” to learn various versions of this “private secret.” Regardless of the details, the final narrative was that Xie Zhiwu, who was desperate to survive alone, did not hesitate to abandon the heir in the cave and escape himself. Furthermore, even after being rescued, though he clearly knew the heir was trapped with him, he failed to disclose a single clue to Prince Zhao’s Mansion, plainly determined to let his own flesh and blood perish.
It was rumored that His Highness Prince Zhao was nearly driven mad. He personally led people who practically turned Mount Tang upside down. It took a full three days and three nights to find the heir’s trace beneath a cliff. However, the rock face was incredibly difficult to climb halfway down. His Highness, who was desperate to save his son, didn’t hesitate to leap down, injuring his left leg, only then managing to pull the heir back from the brink of death.
It was also said that His Highness was greatly enraged, and despite his injured leg, he went to the gates of the Prime Minister’s Mansion to seize Xie Zhiwu. His former Tiger Division subordinates directly sealed off half the street, but in the end, Prime Minister Wang managed to talk him down and prevent him from escalating into open conflict.
This was not just hearsay; all the nobles living near the Prime Minister’s Mansion were secretly peering through their doors. Xie Zhiwu soon scurried back to Wuyi Alley through the back door and had been hiding in the residence these past few days by using the excuse of recovering from injury to stay secluded.
People could not help but sigh in regret over the affair; after all, even a fierce tiger does not devour its own cubs. Who would have thought that the former “Twin Jades of Jade Terrace,” once a perfectly matched pair, would ultimately come to such an unseemly end.
Yet, in the end, everyone pointed out that Xie Zhiwu had a record: when the entire Xie clan was executed three years ago, didn’t he stand among the crowd beneath the execution grounds showing no sorrow and shedding not a single tear as well?
He was, by nature, a cold-blooded, ungrateful wretch; one who cared only for wealth and status, even to the point of forgetting his own ancestors. It was hardly surprising that he would turn around and attach himself to the Wang family for advancement, going so far as to commit such ruthless deeds.
Not until more than a month later, after the rumors had vividly circulated through both the common marketplace and the imperial court, turning from juicy gossip into common knowledge, did the gates of the Xie’s Mansion finally open. Xie Zhiwu, who was adorned in official attire, once again went to court as if nothing had happened.
Xie Jing had been recuperating at home until he was able to get up. Although the red color of his lips still looked somewhat gray and faded, at least his face was no longer frighteningly pale.
Judging by the time frame revealed by Cui Shushi, the interval between Lu Shuqing’s escape and Lu Lingcong’s rescue of him was not very long; otherwise, he might not have so easily retrieved his life.
His child kept the vow he made to him through tears and delivered on the promise to rescue him.
When Xie Jing stepped into Shenlong Hall, most of the court officials were already standing inside. At the sight of him, they immediately fell silent, their peripheral vision tracking him all the way from the palace gates to the foremost ranks of the civil officials on the western side. He first gave a slight bow to Wang Chu, then quietly stepped into position behind him.
The position at the head of the military officials on the east side belonged to Prince Zhao. After Cui Xian’s death, the position of Grand Commandant remained vacant, and in terms of status and military merit, no one surpassed Lu Lingcong. At this moment, that seat was empty, but the officials knew Prince Zhao was injured and had grown used to his absence during this period.
Seeing that the officials were all present and having received news that His Majesty’s imperial carriage was approaching, the palace eunuch pinched his throat in preparation to make the announcement.
Just at this moment, a commotion was suddenly heard outside the palace door, seemingly a verbal dispute. The officials turned their heads to look only to see several eunuchs kneeling on the steps outside the hall, knocking their heads against the ground while continuously pleading with the tall figure standing before them:
“Your Highness, making noise is forbidden within the imperial court. If this disturbance continues, I’m afraid it won’t end well!”
Lu Lingcong didn’t even lower his gaze, “This prince is entering the hall to take a life. I’ll be quick; it won’t interfere with your duties.”
“Your Highness, please curb your anger. Why not wait for His Majesty’s arrival for a decision? Please don’t make things difficult for us servants.”
Lu Lingcong lifted his left hand, revealing the object within it. “The Tiger Tally is my proof. I will bear all consequences today alone; it has nothing to do with any of you. But if you insist on stopping me,” his right hand tightened slightly on the sword hilt, fingers flexing, “then I will take your heads first.”
The eunuchs’ legs trembled as they exchanged glances. The two in the center couldn’t help but move slightly to the side and were immediately kicked away by Lu Lingcong. Terrified, they scrambled and crawled to hide nearby while wailing miserably, “Your Highness.”
He strode onto the steps. The Imperial Guards standing at attention by the palace door rushed to block his path, but before their spears and halberds could be held horizontally, they were struck aside by his sword scabbard. The residual force jarred their hands, making them momentarily unable to hold their weapons steadily. They had no choice but to retreat repeatedly, watching helplessly as Lu Lingcong charged into Shenlong Hall.
The officials turned pale and burst into an uproar. Someone shouted, “Entering the hall with a sword and shoes without summons is a great disrespect. Your Highness, show some self-respect!”
Lu Lingcong paid him no attention; his gaze fixed instead on the only figure at the front of the crowd who had not turned away. He stared intently for a long moment. If looks could be felt, that piercing weight was enough to make Xie Jing slowly turn around; until their eyes met.
Most officials now clearly understood the purpose of Prince Zhao’s excessive action. They all fell silent, held their breath, and watched the two protagonists of this drama without daring to move.
As Lu Lingcong advanced towards him with the sword raised, what Xie Jing noticed first was actually the slight sluggishness in his left leg. ‘A hundred days to recover from bone or tendon injuries’. It seemed the rumors were true, and he had indeed been injured when leaping off the cliff, except the person he saved was not Lu Shuqing but him.
Only then did Xie Jing clearly see Lu Lingcong’s expression. He had never seen such violence and indifference on his face in thirteen years. It looked… incredibly genuine, indistinguishable from bone-deep hatred.
He shivered almost imperceptibly, uncontrollably giving rise to a moment of genuine fear. But he could not retreat; he could only steady his stance and look back without evasion.
Lu Lingcong approached very quickly. Xie Jing only heard the solemn, sharp ring as the sword was drawn. By the time he recovered, the cold glint of the white blade was right before his eyes. Lu Lingcong tightly gripped his lapel, almost lifting his feet off the ground. With his other hand raised, wielding the long sword, the depths of those eyes, staring down and pinning him, held nothing but undisguised murderous intent.
Xie Jing’s adam apple was being pressed by Lu Lingcong’s knuckles. Breathing was difficult, and he could only strain to tilt his head backward, meeting Lu Lingcong’s intimidating gaze at close range.
It was unknown how long they remained in this standoff. The hall was utterly silent. Just as Xie Jing’s vision became nearly unfocused, and he was about to lose control of the tears welling up from asphyxiation, Lu Lingcong suddenly released his grip, and Xie Jing tumbled down awkwardly like a discarded rag.
Lu Lingcong merely looked down at his disheveled, undignified appearance, his gaze sharp as blades. After a brief pause, he spat out two cold words: “Viper.”
Immediately, with a clang and a ringing echo, he casually threw the sword to the ground, turned, and strode out of Shenlong Hall.
The air inside the hall stood still. No one dared to step forward and touch Xie Jing for a long time, leaving him to clutch his throat and slowly calm his breathing with his eyes bloodshot, sitting collapsed on the stone floor.
Dozens of gazes pierced him like needles. It wasn’t that Xie Jing didn’t want to stand up, but that moment of terror held too much lingering power; he simply could not stand.
After a long while, Wang Chu, who was standing in front of the civil ranks, slightly turned to the side and extended a hand towards Xie Jing, his tone as ordinary as a simple greeting:
“Get up.”
