On the outskirts of the capital.
At the Wang family estate, Scholar Han lay on a wooden board in the courtyard, covered in wounds. Beside him, his wife and daughter wept uncontrollably.
Scholar Han forced a faint smile. “It’s nothing. They’re only superficial wounds. I’ll be fine after some rest.”
The villagers of Willow Tree Village stood in the courtyard as well. Fury filled their faces as they looked at Scholar Han’s injuries, and every one of them clenched their fists.
In a corner, Scholar Wang had been beaten until his face was swollen beyond recognition. Curled up on the ground, he moaned in agony. Beside him was a man in blue, likewise beaten into a pig’s head and bound hand and foot. He was none other than Wang Yunchen, the son of the Vice Minister of War.
All around them lay Wang family guards and servants, sprawled across the ground.
Wang Yunchen glared viciously at Zhou Shu. “Zhou Shu, you’re only a guard from the princess’s residence. My father is the Vice Minister of War, my aunt is Consort Bing, and my cousin is Prince Xin. You actually dared to have me beaten? Even the Ninth Princess won’t be able to protect you.”
Zhou Shu cast him a cold glance and said mockingly, “Don’t be in such a hurry. The princess will be here soon. Even your father won’t be able to save you then. If the two commandery princesses were still in the capital, you probably wouldn’t even live long enough to return. There might not even be a corpse left to bring back. The entire Wang family would be buried with you.”
At first, Wang Yunchen was startled by those words, but then he gave a disdainful laugh. “Who are you trying to scare, Zhou Shu? You mean those two children? They left the capital long ago. Even if they were still there, could they really wipe out the Wang family?”
He could believe that Xi Qingyue dared to kill people, but exterminating the Wang family? That was impossible.
Zhou Shu looked at him as though he were an idiot. “Have you not returned to the capital lately? Don’t you know that they’ve recently been killing people as easily as ants?”
The moment he heard this, Wang Yunchen felt a chill run down his back. He had spent the past while in gambling dens near the capital and had only come today to interrogate the people of Willow Tree Village. How could he know what had been happening in the capital? Had something else happened?
Listening to the exchange between Zhou Shu and Wang Yunchen, the village head remained silent. He knew they had been saved because of the Xi sisters, but what did Zhou Shu mean by “killing people as easily as ants”?
Just as he was about to ask, Lu Qianning entered the courtyard with a group of guards.
“Greetings, Your Highness!” Zhou Shu’s eyes lit up when he saw her. He truly did not know how to deal with these spoiled young nobles from the capital—whether to kill them outright or use some other means to finish them off. That decision had to be Lu Qianning’s.
Hearing his form of address, the village head and the others hurriedly bowed as well. “Greetings, Your Highness!”
Lu Qianning walked forward with a smile and raised a hand to bid them rise. “No need for such formality. You are Yue’s family, aren’t you? It was my fault that we found you so late and allowed you to suffer such fright.”
She had never imagined that the Wang family would be so bold as to trick people away and imprison them. They had even used silver to bribe the townsfolk and refugees who had witnessed it. No wonder her people had been unable to find any clues. This had not been an abduction at all—it had been deception. No one would have found it suspicious.
Unless she had ordered Zhou Shu to search every household one by one—but how could she have possibly foreseen it?
The village head was overwhelmed with gratitude when he heard Lu Qianning’s words. “Your Highness, you are too kind. This has nothing to do with you. We were all tricked into coming here. Scholar Wang said he was good brothers with Little Han and wanted to play host, but once we arrived, they wouldn’t let us leave.”
He was filled with regret now. He had not intended to come in the first place, but Scholar Wang’s warm and hospitable manner had seemed so genuine that they had all been deceived.
Lu Qianning glanced toward Scholar Han. With a wave of her hand, an imperial physician immediately stepped forward, crouched beside Scholar Han, and began examining his wounds.
The people of Willow Tree Village were all deeply moved at the sight. Wonderful—now that an imperial physician was treating Scholar Han, his injuries would surely heal completely.
While the physician tended to his wounds, Lu Qianning turned and walked toward Wang Yunchen.
“Wang Yunchen, you have some nerve. You privately detained the citizens of Great Jing and even subjected them to torture. Your Wang family is truly something.”
Hearing her icy words, Wang Yunchen began to sweat profusely. What he feared most was Lu Qianning killing him on the spot.
All he wanted now was to stall for time. He did not want to die. As long as he could return to the capital, his father and aunt would surely be able to save him.
“Your Highness, you misunderstand. They are honored guests of the Wang family. How could we possibly torture them? What happened today was all a misunderstanding. My subordinates acted on their own initiative—it wasn’t me!”
As he spoke, he pointed toward Scholar Wang, trying to shift the blame onto him.
At this moment, Wang Yunchen’s will to survive was written all over him. Sweat poured from his forehead like raindrops, splattering onto the ground.
Lu Qianning sneered. “If you’re so afraid of death, why did you have them arrested? What was the purpose of torturing them? They are merely ordinary citizens. They bear no grudge against you.”
Upon hearing this, Scholar Han, who was still being treated by the imperial physician, slowly spoke up. “Your Highness, they wanted Little Yue’s hidden weapons. They kept questioning us about where those weapons came from. He also wanted us to trick Little Yue into handing over more hidden weapons.”
Lu Qianning’s expression grew increasingly cold. She stared at Wang Yunchen for a long while, until a chill ran down his spine.
“Your Highness, you cannot kill me. Even if you are a princess, you cannot use private punishment!” Wang Yunchen was truly terrified. The look in Lu Qianning’s eyes just now had been horrifying, as though she intended to kill him right then and there.
Lu Qianning gave a cold laugh. “Zhou Shu, grant his wish. Leave him breathing, that’s all. Later, send him and the evidence directly to the Capital Prefecture.”
Then she looked toward Scholar Wang and the others. “Deal with these people. Leave Scholar Wang for them to handle themselves.”
By leaving Scholar Wang to the people of Willow Tree Village, she was in fact handing him over to Scholar Han.
To be betrayed by someone he had regarded as a brother was cruel enough for Scholar Han. It was best to let him decide how to deal with it himself.
By the time the imperial physician had nearly finished bandaging Scholar Han’s wounds, he was helped to his feet.
He slowly walked over to Scholar Wang, his face filled with grief, though a trace of ruthless resolve also showed in his eyes. “I treated you as a brother, yet you treated me as a pawn. Even the life-saving favor from all those years ago was a scheme staged by your Wang family. And I actually regarded you as my benefactor. How laughable.”
Lu Qianning handed him a small pistol. “Use this. Yue once said she didn’t want to leave you with anything that might bring you serious trouble, so she didn’t give you this. I never expected trouble to come anyway. If she’d known, she probably would have left you something even more powerful for protection.”
Scholar Han took the pistol. He understood Xi Qingyue’s intentions: anything too unusual would invite disaster, and the more destructive it was, the greater the trouble it could cause. Even the bat had drawn Scholar Wang’s suspicion.
“Brother Han, don’t kill me! I was wrong—I’ll never do it again! I was the one who told you that the two countries were about to go to war, so you could flee in advance. I’ve done your village a great favor!” Scholar Wang pleaded as he lay on the ground.
Scholar Han looked at his pitiful, imploring expression without the slightest hint of sympathy. “I have no brother like you. It would have been one thing if you’d plotted against me, but you dragged the entire Willow Tree Village into it as well. You don’t deserve to live.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Scholar Han raised the pistol and fired several shots at him without hesitation.
