“Y-you… what exactly…” Ji Lei braced himself against the bars. Seeing Shen Zechuan’s smile, he abruptly shuffled backward. “What exactly do you want to do?!”
“You’re asking me?” Shen Zechuan said with delight. “You’re asking me?”
Shen Zechuan’s gaze turned vicious. He lifted his chin and beckoned arrogantly at Ji Lei. Ji Lei did not move. He pressed his back to the wall, refusing to come any closer to Shen Zechuan.
Shen Zechuan said, “Prisoners are livestock waiting to be slaughtered. Martial Uncle—how do you dare question me?”
Ji Lei said, “What else can you do—kill me?”
“Our uncle-and-nephew reunion is rare. We don’t even have enough time to play—how could I kill you so quickly?” Shen Zechuan’s thumb slid along the bars as he softened his voice. “You won’t speak because you think you still have leverage. You’re holding those secrets tight, convinced no one would dare touch you. Life in the penal prison is comfortable enough—food and clothing provided, your life guaranteed. With Pan Rugui for company, plenty of idle time, free and easy.”
Cold sweat poured down Ji Lei’s back. He hugged the wall and stopped meeting Shen Zechuan’s eyes.
“But days of pleasure are always fleeting. As long as the tongue remains, losing a leg, an arm, even gouging out both eyes—none of that is a big deal. A few months ago, Martial Uncle treated me to roasted donkey meat. I didn’t get a taste then. Tonight the long night stretches on—it’s perfect for drinking and dining together.” A thin blade slipped from Shen Zechuan’s fingers and tapped into the gap between the bars. “Ji Lei, time for a drink.”
“You—you’re insane!” Ji Lei craned his neck, enunciating each word. “Shen Zechuan, you’re insane!”
“I am.” Shen Zechuan stared at him and answered without hesitation.
“How dare you touch me?” Ji Lei snarled. “The Empress Dowager is holding your head in her hands—how dare you lay a finger on me!”
Shen Zechuan grew cheerful again and said with a smile, “Martial Uncle, why do you keep telling such laughable jokes tonight? Since I’m here, who do you think sent me?”
Ji Lei flew into a rage. “Don’t you dare try to deceive—”
“Shen Wei is dead.” Shen Zechuan cut him off sharply. “On the day Shen Wei burned himself, it’s said the Jianxing Prince’s manor in Dunzhou was engulfed in flames. He burned beyond recognition, dragged from the ruins by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and hung on the walls of Dunzhou to be spat upon. I didn’t witness it myself, but over these years I’ve kept trying to imagine it. And after turning it over and over, I finally realized something.”
Ji Lei swallowed.
“His grand plan of colluding with the enemy had already succeeded. Wouldn’t switching sides on the battlefield have been easier? Duanzhou had already fallen. Leading his troops forward, he could have linked up with the Border Sand cavalry and seized Du City before the Libei Iron Cavalry crossed the frozen river. But he was terrified—so terrified he dared not advance, only retreat.” Shen Zechuan stood. “He had already succeeded. Advancing meant survival. Yet he kept retreating. Even if he were a useless drunk, he should have known retreat meant certain death.”
Ji Lei’s breathing grew heavy as he said with disgust, “Because he didn’t dare. Among the Twelve Tribes of Border Sand, who would take him seriously? The moment he colluded with the enemy, he was already a dead man!”
Shen Zechuan tossed a Dongzhu pearl into the cell. It clattered against the edge and rolled to Ji Lei’s feet. Shen Zechuan studied Ji Lei’s gradually paling face and laughed.
Ji Lei’s hands trembled as he stared at the pearl. “N-no… impossible…”
“Emperor Xiande is dead.” Shen Zechuan leaned in. “Shen Wei is dead too.”
Ji Lei suddenly kicked the pearl away. “You treacherous whelp—don’t think you can trick me!”
Shen Zechuan said happily, “Hua Siqian bit his tongue and killed himself as well. Who’s next— you, or Pan Rugui? Let’s draw lots, shall we? Martial Uncle, you go first.”
As he spoke, two thin blades spun from his fingers and were passed through the gap toward Ji Lei.
“The nicked one kills Pan Rugui. The one without a nick—your flesh and blood feed the dogs. Don’t be afraid. Draw.”
Ji Lei stared at the cold gleam of the blades, his lips trembling. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting…”
“The Empress Dowager told me to be quick.” Shen Zechuan watched him. “But I gave you a choice, Martial Uncle. Live one more day—there might still be a way out.”
Ji Lei had endured days of torture; his mind was already hazy. In this eerie atmosphere, Shen Zechuan’s words blurred truth and falsehood together. He fixed his gaze on the two blades, and at last, as if possessed, raised his hand. When his shaking fingers touched the blade, he saw Shen Zechuan slowly curl his lips.
“Ah,” Shen Zechuan said with regretful amusement. “I forgot—today I brought only new blades. The nicked ones have already been disposed of.”
The humiliation of being toyed with surged up instantly. Ji Lei lost control and lunged forward, clutching the bars and screaming hysterically, “Kill me if you want! Do whatever you want! I won’t say a word! Kill me—kill me!”
“You’re wrong.” Shen Zechuan held the atmosphere firmly in his grasp. “I’m not the one killing you.”
“It’s you!” Ji Lei clawed at the bars. “It’s you!”
“Is it?” Shen Zechuan flicked the Dongzhu pearl back over and stepped on it, staring coldly at him as he asked again, “Is it me?”
Ji Lei clutched his head, grabbing at his tangled hair as he slid down along the bars to his knees, repeating over and over, “It’s you… it’s you…”
Shen Zechuan suddenly said, “Shen Wei killed the Crown Prince.”
Ji Lei fell into icy terror. He looked up at Shen Zechuan in panic. “You—”
“You and Shen Wei killed the Crown Prince,” Shen Zechuan said.
“Not me!” Ji Lei tore at his hair. “Not me! Shen Wei killed the Crown Prince!”
“You framed the Crown Prince together, accusing him of rebellion,” Shen Zechuan said rapidly. “You forged the documents. You forced the Crown Prince into the Temple of Atonement. He wanted to see Emperor Yongyi—but you drew your blade and killed him.”
“Not me!” Ji Lei was already crazed, desperately refuting amid the chaotic interrogation. “I didn’t draw the blade! Shen Wei did—Shen Wei insisted on killing him!”
“So Shen Wei died too.” Shen Zechuan circled back, repeating calmly, “Shen Wei burned himself, burned beyond recognition. Now only you are left.”
Driven by these relentless suggestions, Ji Lei’s mind filled with the word death. He clearly remembered the face of the former Crown Prince at the moment of execution. Back then, he had stood where Shen Zechuan stood now, looking down as though at a pig. Now the positions had been subtly reversed. The cage made people feel like beasts; he had become an ant beneath Shen Zechuan’s feet, able only to bare his neck and await slaughter.
Ji Lei did not want to die.
The desire to survive had never been this intense. He knocked his forehead against the bars and said, “We were all acting under orders—we had no choice! You want revenge for Shen Wei? I can help you! Shen Wei killed the Crown Prince and was enfeoffed as Jianxing Prince, sent to Zhongbo—he escaped!”
Ji Lei sobbed miserably. He didn’t know where the terror came from, only that it felt as if he truly had become livestock at another’s mercy, forced to look up at Shen Zechuan.
“I didn’t kill the Crown Prince—I wanted to save him! But Father suddenly died.” Ji Lei said helplessly. “Father died, and they wanted to pin it on me! If I took the blame, my eldest brother would kill me—Ji Gang would kill me too! What could I do? I could only beg Pan Rugui! Pan Rugui agreed to protect me, so I had to forge the documents! I was forced into that corner—I wanted to live too!”
“How did Ji Wufan die?” Shen Zechuan asked abruptly.
“I don’t know—I don’t know how Father died… He was ill. Ji Gang had already left, all the sons he favored were gone.” Ji Lei grew feral again as he spoke, hatred twisting his face. “I was the one who saw him to his end! And yet he said my roots were rotten. He treated Ji Gang and Zuo Qianqiu as his true sons and passed the cultivation method to both of them. But I’m a Ji too—I did nothing wrong. How could he treat me like that?!”
“After Shen Wei killed the Crown Prince, he couldn’t sleep at night—he was afraid. We drank together, and he told me he’d begun to sense someone watching him. Even inside his manor, late at night, he could hear footsteps on the roof. I said it wasn’t the Embroidered Uniform Guard—but in Du City, what could evade them? I suspected there were traitors within the Guard, and that the Eight Great Houses were everywhere.”
“The Hua family had already risen to power. We were cautious. Shen Wei’s insomnia worsened; he wanted to run. He spent a fortune bribing Pan Rugui, trying to leave Du City. At the time, Libei was rising. The Empress Dowager had no troops left in her hand besides the Eight Great Camps. To guard against the Xiao family, Shen Wei was enfeoffed as Jianxing Prince and sent to Zhongbo—the crucial province between Qidong and Libei, between Libei and Du City. The Empress Dowager wanted him to be a watchdog—watching Libei, watching Qidong.”
Ji Lei spoke faster and faster.
“Who would have thought Shen Wei would collude with the enemy? He was seeking death! He had correspondence with Du City—if those documents fell into the hands of the Libei Iron Cavalry, Xiao Jiming would never pass up the chance to strike Du City hard! So Shen Wei had to burn himself alive! Do you understand now? Shen Wei truly colluded with the enemy—he refused to remain under anyone’s control. At the time, the Hua family had an illegitimate son. According to the Empress Dowager’s intent, once that son grew up, Zhongbo would no longer need an outsider to guard it. Shen Wei had done so many dirty deeds for the Hua family in Du City—if Zhongbo no longer needed him, he would become the Empress Dowager’s discarded pawn.”
“No one expected him to lash out like a cornered dog, letting the Border Sand cavalry in to massacre the city… This was revenge! Revenge against Du City, against the Empress Dowager, against Great Zhou!”
Ji Lei clutched the bars and begged, “I’ve said everything… The ones who forced Shen Wei to death were the Empress Dowager. The ones who forced the Crown Prince to death were also the Empress Dowager—along with Emperor Yongyi, Emperor Xiande, Hua Siqian. They were all the Empress Dowager’s discarded pieces! You’re working for the Empress Dowager now—look at me. I didn’t tell her you’ve already sided with the Xiao family… That night you saved Xiao Chiye, didn’t you? But the Xiao family won’t help you. As long as Xiao Chiye is in Du City, the Xiao family can’t move. They’re too busy saving themselves—why would they care about you!”
He desperately tried to prove his usefulness, yet his fear only deepened. With his defenses collapsed, he crumbled completely—the more he humbled himself, the more terrified he became.
From behind the bars, Shen Zechuan asked his final question. “Five years ago, when Duanzhou fell, my martial aunt died. No one knew about this—how did you know so clearly?”
Ji Lei met Shen Zechuan’s gaze. In the dead silence, sweat slowly trickled down his face.
Xi Hongxuan had already fallen asleep waiting. He was startled awake when a stack of papers was thrown onto him. He grabbed them, shaking them open in the dark. Seeing the vivid red fingerprints at the bottom, he laughed vaguely. “You really are something.”
Shen Zechuan carried a faint salty stench on him. He smiled for a moment and said, “Whether this confession can be submitted depends entirely on how the Grand Secretary weighs it.”
“Such a big favor,” Xi Hongxuan said. “You’re not doing it for nothing, are you?”
“There’s someone in the Embroidered Uniform Guard named Qiao Tianya,” Shen Zechuan said evenly. “His blade work is excellent. I want him.”
“…That can be arranged.” Xi Hongxuan hesitated briefly. “I’ll talk to Yanqing.”
“Much obliged,” Shen Zechuan said. “It’s late. I should go.”
He opened the door and left first.
Night rain was falling outside. Xi Hongxuan had wanted to call out for Shen Zechuan to share the carriage, but he thought better of it. He flipped through the confession again and felt that everything went too smoothly.
While thinking he should let Xue Xiuzhuo see it first, Xi Hongxuan told the attendant beside him, “Go—drag Ji Lei out and send him back.”
The attendant answered and went to open the door. He had barely stepped inside when there was a loud clang and he fell to the ground, screaming as if he had seen a ghost.
Following the opened door, Xi Hongxuan saw Ji Lei. His stomach churned. Covering his face, he stumbled backward, crashing through tables and chairs, then rushed into the rain and vomited violently.
Shen Zechuan washed his hands until they were red before wiping them with a cloth. His white clothes were unstained with blood, yet reeked of it. He lifted the hem and frowned as he sniffed.
Disgusting.
He squatted by the water like that, letting the rain drench him. The night rain quickly soaked him through. Slowly he raised his head, staring at the dark, heavy sky until his neck ached. Then he stood and walked back.
When Shen Zechuan reached the alley of the Forbidden Army residence, he saw someone standing at the gate.
Xiao Chiye leaned against the door, arms crossed in the darkness, staring at him like a leopard on the hunt.
At some point, snow had mixed into the rain. The cold cut deep.