Chapter 11
Edward Quan ·
My brush hand remained steady as stone.
Only after finishing the final stroke did I slowly set it down and gently blow the ink dry.
“Why panic?”
My composure helped Chunhe recover a little reason.
“But everyone’s saying it!”
“They say the Shen family’s about to fall!”
“If we could fall so easily, we wouldn’t have lasted until today.”
I rose.
Nothing stirred in my eyes.
“They’re targeting Father.”
“And me.”
I knew the capital’s tricks too well.
Father commanded a vast army.
His achievements were immense.
Certain people had long regarded him as a thorn in their side.
They dared not face him on a battlefield.
They could only use foul tricks behind his back.
Their timing was precise too.
Xiao Jingyan and I were at odds.
To them, that signaled a fracture between the Shens and the imperial family.
They thought losing the prince’s protection meant my family had lost a safeguard.
Ridiculous.
They didn’t know I had never needed anyone’s protection.
I was the sharpest blade the Shens had planted in this capital.
“Shen Yi.”
He appeared immediately in the doorway.
“Your orders?”
“Find who’s behind this.”
“Find those commanders who put their fingerprints to it. Dig them from the ground if you must.”
“Yes.”
“And prepare a carriage.”
“I’m visiting the Duke of Zheng.”
He was Father’s close friend of many years, one of the few at court who dared speak for our family now.
At the gate, I encountered Xiao Jingyan hurrying toward me.
He looked more anxious than I was, full of worry and unease.
“Have you heard? Your father…”
“I have.”
My calm startled him.
Then he immediately gripped my wrist.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
“I’ll go plead with Father.”
“Your father has fought loyally all his life.”
“Father won’t believe baseless slander.”
He hurried to declare his position, as though proving something.
Once, I might have been moved.
Now it felt deeply ironic.
I withdrew my hand and looked at him.
“I appreciate your intention.”
“But Shen affairs needn’t trouble Your Highness.”
“Qingning!”
He stepped forward, seeming to have more to say.
I passed him and went straight out.
“I have important business.”
“Excuse me.”
I gave him no further chance.
I feared that if he kept talking, I would ask which mattered more to him—Father’s innocence, or his cousin’s tears.
I feared the answer would break me completely.
I entered the carriage and left in a cloud of dust.
Xiao Jingyan remained alone, watching, bewildered and hurt.
He couldn’t understand why, at such a life-and-death moment, I still refused his kindness.
He didn’t understand it had come too late.
8
The Duke of Zheng’s residence.
Sandalwood drifted through the study.
After hearing why I had come, the white-haired, white-bearded duke sighed.
“You’re exactly like your father, Qingning.”
“Mount Tai could collapse before you without changing your expression.”
“You flatter me.”
I refilled his tea.
“It isn’t that I don’t change.”
“I can’t.”
“If I panic too, our family truly will be in disorder.”
“Good that you understand.”