Zhao Langzhi himself did not know how he had happened to encounter Dai Wenliang on the street, nor how he had somehow been compelled to step forward and help him get his pigeons back, nor how he had now ended up sitting in Dai Wenliang’s residence, eating stewed pigeon with him.
After taking his leave from Shu Changyu, he had not returned to his lodgings. Instead, he had casually found a tea stall.
Having lived another life, naturally, the world and circumstances were different, vastly different from his previous life.
In his previous life, his parents had both died when he was young, and he had suffered countless cold looks. Only Commandery Princess Danyao had been bright and gentle, like an immortal who had descended from heaven to save him, making him willingly follow in her footsteps and revere her as a deity.
In this life, he had come to Danyao’s side ahead of time, but this woman seemed to have stepped down from her altar. She had shed all her dazzling brilliance and revealed the vanity and willfulness of an ordinary young woman.
He did not care about any of this.
But he had come carrying hatred, and he was already no longer the same person he had been in his previous life. He naturally knew that Danyao liked him precisely because of his gentle, refined temperament that had remained otherworldly despite having weathered countless hardships.
But the current him had long since ceased to be that modest gentleman who understood nothing in his previous life.
He carried too much upon his shoulders. In front of the pure and spotless Commandery Princess Danyao, he felt ashamed of himself and did not know how to get along with her.
And these days, Danyao had gone to the Ye Residence. Everyone there treated her with utmost respect, receiving her as an honored guest.
Commandery Princess Danyao had always been the sort of little rooster who would proudly raise her tail the moment someone pampered her, so she was perfectly at ease in the Ye Residence, carefree and without worries.
This only made Zhao Langzhi feel even more out of place.
Thus, after leaving the General’s Residence, he sat by the roadside drinking tea, watching the capital’s people come and go through the streets, bustling and prosperous, living in peace and tranquility.
The common people had always been the last to realize things.
Even when Shu Changyu had held absolute power and Jing Mu had ruled with harsh punishments and tyranny in his previous life, it was only the officialdom that had fallen into chaos. The common people within these four borders had continued living peacefully in their own ways, completely unaware.
Zhao Langzhi thought they were foolish and pitiable. They knew nothing and could only be swept along by the torrent of fate, drifting here and there.
He himself had been like this in his previous life.
But unfortunately, he had been swept into that torrent, and thus had been reduced to bones and ashes, unable to find peace even in death.
It was at this moment that he saw Dai Wenliang.
This man was in his twenties, tall with long legs. Although he was a military officer, he was not particularly burly.
All four limbs were long and powerful, giving him an exceptionally fluid appearance.
He had a handsome, upright, youthful face. His brows and eyes were proper, his nose bridge high, and his forehead full and broad. At first glance, he naturally gave people a bright and open feeling, as though their eyes suddenly lit up.
He was carrying a pair of pigeons in his hand, and every emotion he felt was written plainly across his face.
Zhao Langzhi only needed one distant glance to tell that this man was troubled by something and was absent-minded.
With a little thought, he felt that it probably had something to do with him.
He thought that Shu Changyu had made a poor move as well.
This simple-minded fool had dragged him to his side, so Shu Changyu would naturally have him keep an eye on him.
A fool who could not even look after himself wanted to keep watch over someone else?
Besides, Shu Changyu had probably forgotten, hadn’t he, how in his previous life he had exterminated the entire clan of Dai Wenliang’s beloved, forcing him to marry someone else and leave his homeland?
For some inexplicable reason, Zhao Langzhi felt a sense of shared suffering toward this man.
Then, stepping in to help him out of trouble and being invited back to his residence happened naturally, one thing leading to another.
“The pigeons raised at the General’s Residence really are delicious when stewed!”
After three rounds of wine and five courses of food, Dai Wenliang was clearly already drunk.
He held a pigeon leg bone in one hand as he muttered, “In a couple of days, I’ll have to go again. I’ll catch two more for Second Miss Xie to taste something fresh…”
Hearing this, Zhao Langzhi once again thought of what had happened in his previous life.
He raised his brows and smiled. “Young Master Dai and Second Miss Xie truly have such deep affection that it cannot last. How enviable.”
Upon hearing this, Dai Wenliang began to chuckle.
His drunken eyes were hazy, and his face was flushed. With that smile, he actually looked rather pleasing to the eye.
“Pretty! Second Miss Xie… she’s really pretty.”
Then, with his tongue thick from the wine, he turned his face toward Zhao Langzhi and gave his assessment.
“I think you’re a good person.”
That argumentative tone made it obvious that someone had said something else to him.
Zhao Langzhi immediately understood.
It must be that Shu Changyu had grown suspicious.
This was easy to deal with.
Having a fool like Dai Wenliang beside him as cover might not necessarily be a good thing for Shu Changyu, but for himself, it was definitely a good thing.
Besides, Shu Changyu would eventually be unable to withstand the pressure and would be transferred out of the capital.
As for Jing Mu, before long, the Third Prince’s people would be able to collect all the evidence of his secret plotting against the First Prince.
By then, Shu Changyu would be alone in Huzhou, too far away to reach him. Naturally, he would be unable to save Jing Mu.
And even if Jing Mu did not die, his fate certainly would not be any better than the First Prince’s.
By then, once he had Jing Shao under his control, the two of them would be entirely at his mercy to torment.
Thinking of this, the corner of Zhao Langzhi’s lips curled upward.
Meanwhile, Dai Wenliang was still rambling.
“…I’m very good at judging people. The last person I thought was worth becoming close friends with was Second Young Master Shu. Look at Shu Changche—he’s not only extraordinarily heroic, but also a pillar of the nation, isn’t he? And this Third Young Master Shu is also a rare good person. It’s just a pity that Heaven treats him so poorly, giving him such a body…”
Zhao Langzhi gave a cold laugh.
“Young Master Dai,” he said with a smile. “I once had a dream.”
Dai Wenliang stared blankly at him.
“In the dream, I was persecuted by a friend, causing my beloved’s entire family to be falsely accused, with not a single one surviving. Young Master Dai, if what happened in my dream happened to you, what would you do?”
Dai Wenliang stared blankly for a long while before finally figuring out what he meant.
“Persecuted by what kind of friend?” He sucked on the pigeon bone.
“What if it were Third Young Master Shu?”
“Jingchen…” Dai Wenliang held the bone between his teeth. “Jingchen would never do such a thing. I trust him. It’s impossible.”
“What if it did?”
“If…”
Dai Wenliang thought for a long time, nearly falling asleep.
After a moment, he rubbed his eyes and said, “Even if there were such an if, he must have been forced into it.”
For some reason, Zhao Langzhi himself did not know why, but he pressed further.
“Then what would you do?”
“Nothing I can do,” Dai Wenliang blurted out. “He’s my younger brother. How could I do anything to him… Besides, Shu Changche is at Yumen Pass and can’t even return home. I have to take care of Jingchen for him…”
Zhao Langzhi froze.
In his previous life, when he had been exiled to the northeastern frontier, he had heard a military officer who had also been exiled say something.
That military officer said that Dai Wenliang bore a grudge against Shu Changyu for murdering his wife, and thus, despite Dai Wenliang’s glorious military achievements, he had been unwilling to remain in the imperial court.
When he himself had attempted to rebel, he had once tried to persuade Dai Wenliang to join him.
But Dai Wenliang had flatly refused.
“Don’t mention this matter to me again.”
It was said that this was what Dai Wenliang had said at the time.
“Second Young Master Shu is already gone.”
At the time, Zhao Langzhi had only thought that the military officer was spouting nonsense and bragging to them.
After all, those two sentences made no sense together.
Now, Zhao Langzhi understood.
Perhaps because he had drunk wine, his heart suddenly became filled with complicated emotions, and a dull sadness emerged.
He frowned and stared intently at the drunken Dai Wenliang.
How… could there be such a person in this world?
How could a person live like him, without even the slightest bit of hatred?
After a moment, he picked up the wine jug, filled a cup to the brim, raised his head, and drank it all.
——
Shu Changyu did not sleep until the third watch of the night.
He sat before the lamp with his brows furrowed, repeatedly thinking about what Dai Wenliang had casually mentioned today.
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.
The Third Prince’s people had set out yesterday.
However, because they had left the capital openly, their journey would naturally be somewhat slower.
Shu Changyu absolutely had to send people ahead of them and destroy all the evidence in Lingnan in order to protect Jing Mu.
He had thought about it again and again, but he had not told Jing Mu about this matter.
Jing Mu was currently in the capital, just like him, without much influence, let alone any influence in Lingnan.
In his previous life, he had raised a private army, spending several years before finally building it up.
But now, he had only been reborn for half a year. Time was truly too short.
Even if he told Jing Mu, it would only add to his worries.
And the greater reason was the barrier in his own heart.
Jing Mu had acted against the Prefect of Huzhou and Fan Yuan’an entirely because of the grudge between him and Fan Yuan’an from his previous life.
Now that the matter was about to be exposed, and with so much involved, the best and safest method at present was to kill the Prefect of Huzhou and Fan Yuan’an.
Shu Changyu could not think of any other better method.
No matter what other method he used, he could not guarantee their safety.
But…
In this life, he truly did not want innocent and loyal officials to die at his hands again.
Thus, he did not tell Jing Mu because he vaguely understood that to settle this crisis, he would inevitably have to do something that violated his conscience.
In his own view, he had already done enough evil in his previous life. One more crime would not make much difference.
But Jing Mu could not.
He was too clean.
Just then, the spy he had been waiting for finally returned.
“Young Master, the day before yesterday night, someone indeed delivered a letter to the Third Prince,” the spy reported. “Only the Third Prince himself knows the exact contents of the letter. The next day, the Third Prince sent Cheng Lai south.”
Shu Changyu’s hand trembled, spilling tea onto his fingertips.
“I understand,” Shu Changyu said. “Go investigate the person who delivered the letter. It must be done quickly.”
The spy nodded in acknowledgment and withdrew.
Shu Changyu’s hand trembled as he took another sip of tea.
What other way was there…?
Was there any way to settle this matter without killing the Prefect of Huzhou?
Time was already waiting for no one.
After a little more time passed, once Cheng Lai reached Lingnan, he would naturally meet the Prefect of Huzhou and Fan Yuan’an.
By then, they could find some excuse about accidentally discovering the secret of this matter.
The Prefect of Huzhou had grievances in his heart. Previously, everyone around him had been Jing Mu’s people, leaving him nowhere to seek justice.
Now, he would certainly tell them everything he knew.
When that time came, the charges of Jing Mu framing loyal officials and harming his own brothers would be firmly established.
At this moment, Shu Changyu desperately wanted to go find Jing Mu and tell him everything.
But firstly, it would accomplish nothing.
Secondly, Jing Mu acted impulsively and had always been willing to hurt himself to protect others.
Shu Changyu did not want him to do that.
He only wanted to get through this crisis himself without letting Jing Mu know.
But…
For something like this, if he refused to use the despicable methods from his previous life, there was already no other solution.
Just then, Shu Changyu heard a faint sound of movement at the door.
He raised his head.
He saw Madam Li standing alone at the doorway, looking at him expressionlessly.