Chapter 124 Farewell to the Fierce Wind

Chapter 124 Farewell to the Fierce Wind

Shen Nanzi was also stunned for a moment. Thinking of Consort Wei's words, she had already wronged Xie Yu. How could she lie to the child and give him hope?

She knelt down, gently stroking Cheng'er's straight back and smoothing his wrinkled clothes, her voice gentle yet firm.

"Okay, Mother understands."

"After a while, we will leave the Prince Jing's Mansion and start a new life."

"You'll meet many kind people when the time comes, Mother. I'll choose someone as good as your sixth uncle to be your father, okay?"

Xie Chengze seemed to understand something, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.

A smile appeared on her little face, and a glimmer of hope shone in her eyes. She answered crisply, "Okay!"

"Okay!" Shen Nanzi took Cheng'er's little hand. "Then let's hurry up, it's so hot!"

Xie Yan looked at the backs of the mother and son by the palace wall. He leaned against the wall, his fingers gripping it so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

His forehead was hot or painful, large beads of sweat dripped down, and his face was as pale as paper.

She insisted on leaving, having said it twice already, and this was the third time.

She was leaving the Prince Jing's residence to start a new life.

She wanted to leave him and find a father for Cheng'er.

Xie Yan smiled bitterly, laughing at his own helplessness and his own foolish delusions.

The scorching sun beat down on his face like flames, mirroring the unbearable torment his desolate heart was enduring.

...

At that moment, Wuying came looking for them.

"Your Highness, I've been looking for you for a while."

Xie Yan suppressed his sadness and, judging from Wu Ying's tone, knew that something very important had happened.

Wuying looked around, but there was no one there.

He then whispered, "Your Highness, your suspicions were indeed correct. Shen Minghan and the Sixth Prince are training a private army."

"We have already recruited several thousand people, and we are still recruiting secretly."

Xie Yan's expression remained stern, though a glint of light flickered in his eyes.

Suppressing the bitterness in his throat, he spoke in a hoarse voice:

"Still recruiting? Then go and investigate their funding sources."

"Yes, I will make the arrangements." Wuying took out a letter and handed it to Xie Yan.

"Here is a map showing the distribution of their private troops. Please keep it safe, Your Highness."

Xie Yan then asked, "Has the matter of the last summer festival been investigated, and what was the reason for it?"

Wuying: "After verifying from multiple sources, I can confirm that the eulogy being recited was a prayer for peace and prosperity for the nation."

"However, rituals such as welcoming the gods and offering sacrifices are all to pray for the ancestors to bestow blessings, to protect the emperor and ensure his longevity and good health."

"This time, some sorcerers have also infiltrated the ranks, using secret methods such as talismans and sacrifices to borrow the lifespan of officials and members of the royal family in order to extend the emperor's lifespan."

Xie Yan's eyes darkened. "It seems that His Majesty's health has reached a point where medicine is ineffective."

Wu Ying nodded, looking at the letter in Xie Yan's hand, "This message has been sent to Your Highness's most trusted confidants."

"No need. This matter must not be passed on to a second person, including Xue Yubai," Xie Yan said emphatically.

Wuying glanced at Xie Yan, then lowered his head and said, "Understood, subordinate!"

"Has that arrow been found?"

Wuying: "It has been found out that it was... Shen Taiwei's private arrow."

Xie Yan lowered his gaze slightly and narrowed his eyes. "Investigate Grand Commandant Shen instead of the doctors in these people's residences."

Xie Yan gave Wu Ying a few names.

At the entrance of the Royal Academy, Xue Qingning watched Xie Yan's departing figure.

She heard no sound, only saw the letter he was holding.

＊

Shen Nanzi never imagined that she would see Lie Feng again under such circumstances.

In the main hall of the Grand Commandant's mansion, Lie Feng stood dressed in black general's armor.

The black armor exuded a cold aura, making his figure appear as upright as a pine tree.

Wearing an iron helmet that covers most of his face, he is a living Yama who people avoid and dare not approach easily when he walks on the street.

He had a large knife at his waist, and his right hand, covered in thick calluses, instinctively rested on the ebony hilt.

He stood there in the hall, back to the light, letting the light and shadow stretch his shadow long.

His usually cold and hard facial features were now tense, and his eyes, not covered by the iron helmet, were as sharp as cold blades.

He had never been on the battlefield, yet he exuded a chilling aura and possessed the imposing presence of a thousand troops.

He stood before Shen Nanzi as if he had been reborn.

"General Lie?" Shen Nanzi addressed him somewhat unfamiliarly. "Is that what they all call you now?"

Lie Feng lowered his head and cupped his hands, "That's what outsiders call me, Miss. Just call me Lie Feng."

Shen Nanzi scrutinized him for a long time before saying, "The armor is very heavy, sit down."

Following the maid's directions, Lie Feng sat down in the superior seat on the left.

"Aren't you hot? Take off your helmet!" Shen Nanzi said, looking at him.

Lie Feng obediently took off his iron helmet and placed it on a wooden table to the side.

Her long-unseen face was fully revealed, with red marks on her cheeks from being pressed.

"He's gotten darker and thinner, but he looks incredibly imposing." Shen Nanzi's voice was calm, but her eyes were a little sore. "He really looks like a general."

Lie Feng lowered his head, glancing at the hem of her clothes out of the corner of his eye.

Occasionally, I would be presumptuous and touch her fair fingertips.

Shen Nanzi looked at the thick calluses on his tiger's mouth and said, "You've been under my nose for eighteen years, but I never expected that you would grow into a fierce eagle in just a few months away from home."

"I've held you back; otherwise, with your talent, you could have achieved much more."

Lie Feng opened his mouth, then closed it again, his fingers unconsciously clenching into fists.

Shen Nanzi remained silent for a long time before speaking again: "That day, during the Summer Festival, were your subordinates in charge of the security of the Imperial Ancestral Temple?"

"Yes, Miss." His body was as steady as a rock, but his voice carried a slight tremor.

"Above the Imperial Road are your elite troops?"

"Yes, miss."

Why would they lie?

Shen Nanzi's voice had no questioning tone whatsoever; it sounded more like she was asking, "Have you eaten?"

The biting wind remained silent.

After waiting for a long time without getting through, Shen Nanzi asked again, "Have you heard the rumors that have suddenly spread like wildfire these past two days?"

Lie Feng knew perfectly well, so he lowered his eyes, concealing the expression in them.

Only his taut, trembling jawline revealed a hint of his emotion.

Shen Nanzi smiled expressionlessly, a smile tinged with helplessness:

“What they said is true. I did have an affair with the Sixth Prince. On the day of the Summer Festival, I was set up.”

Lie Feng's body trembled, as if he were about to lose his balance. He had to grip the handrails tightly to keep himself upright.

Shen Nanzi thought that her affair with Xie Yu had been suppressed, but things didn't go as planned.

What she feared still happened.

Starting the day after she met Consort Wei, rumors of her affair with Xie Yu spread like wildfire throughout Luoyang.

"Now everyone knows it, and even three-year-old children are singing it."

"Princess Jing, with unparalleled beauty, loves her sixth uncle more than her husband. She secretly meets with him, disgracing her family and ruining her reputation."

Shen Nanzi read it aloud with a smile, but her voice was filled with endless bitterness.

She looked at Lie Feng, her eyes welling up with tears, "Lie Feng, you're one of the accomplices too!"

The fierce wind seemed to instantly break his straight back, and he slumped into the chair.

He hung his head and remained silent.

“Liefeng, when they presented your name, I didn’t believe it at all.”

“My brother said he was going to kill you, and I said he must have been coerced.”

"Lie Feng, tell me, were you coerced?"