Chapter 26.1

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Fan Changyu had already witnessed Xie Zheng kill someone in the pine forest, so it didn’t strike her as odd. She nodded and said, “My husband used to be an armed escort. He’s quite skilled.”

Having grown up seeing few such escorts, she naturally assumed that anyone working in a security bureau must possess decent martial arts—after all, those men faced bandits willing to risk everything for a robbery. Her own father had been highly proficient in combat. So, hearing Xie Zheng claim he had worked at a courier agency before didn’t seem far-fetched to her.

Zheng Wenchang stared at Xie Zheng with an unreadable expression.

Carpenter Zhao squeezed into the attic. When he saw the room scattered with dead black-clad attackers, he gasped and felt a chill run through his heart. However, he and his wife had lived through wartime in their younger days—when households everywhere were ruined and bodies lined the roads—so he managed to keep his composure. Worried about aggravating Xie Zheng’s injuries, he didn’t move him hastily but crouched down to check his pulse.

Because half of Xie Zheng’s face was caked in blood, it was hard to see him clearly. Zheng Wenchang suddenly said, “Turn him over so I can have a look.”

Carpenter Zhao didn’t know why this officer was making such a request, but he dared not refuse. Seeing the man in armor, sword at his waist, and clearly of higher rank than even the county magistrate, Carpenter Zhao figured he might be able to help Fan Changyu discover who was behind all these attacks.

Carpenter Zhao immediately poured out his troubles. “Officer, you must seek justice for us! This girl has had a hard life. She only just lost her parents last month, and after much difficulty, she finally brought home a husband. Now even he’s been wounded by these criminals—if we don’t find out who they are, how can she go on living?”

Zheng Wenchang paused in thought upon hearing that the man was a live-in son-in-law. His earlier suspicions faded significantly. He knew all too well what sort of temperament that person had—fallen from grace or not, even if the emperor himself forced him into a prison, demanding he marry a princess and move into her household, he would never have agreed.

Just then, a startled cry came from downstairs. “Sir, there’s a survivor here!”

Before Carpenter Zhao could finish turning Xie Zheng over, Zheng Wenchang realized how baseless his suspicions had been. Recalling his general’s instructions, he hurried downstairs, merely telling two of his own men to haul away the corpses in the attic.

Fan Changyu, unaware of how tense things had momentarily been, felt reassured that soldiers were now present, so she wasn’t worried about her younger sister or Aunt Zhao. She turned to Carpenter Zhao. “Uncle Zhao, how is he?”

Carpenter Zhao, having finished checking Xie Zheng’s pulse, briefly wondered if he’d made a mistake. After all, he hadn’t practiced even basic veterinary medicine in over a decade. Yet here lay a man covered in blood who looked gravely wounded, and somehow his pulse didn’t feel dangerous at all.

Carpenter Zhao’s already furrowed brow tightened further as he focused intently on taking the pulse again. His solemn expression gave Fan Changyu quite a scare. Fearing that Xie Zheng might be beyond saving, she slumped onto a low stool.

“I should’ve written the divorce agreement for him earlier and let him go recover somewhere else,” she murmured. “He wouldn’t have had to suffer like this…”

Carpenter Zhao checked the pulse a second time and found it still remarkably steady. Deep self-doubt washed over him, as he hadn’t practiced even basic veterinary work in years. His wrinkled face grew even more serious as he prepared to examine Xie Zheng’s injuries.

Just then, the man on the floor slowly came to. Fan Changyu, whose eyes were tinged red with tears that nearly fell, felt a surge of relief. She couldn’t help grinning as she exclaimed, “You’re awake!”

Xie Zheng caught sight of her reddened eyes and the bright smile of sheer joy on her face, pausing momentarily in surprise. She was so scared for me that she nearly cried? A strange feeling tugged at his heart.

He lowered his gaze, gave a weak cough or two, and let a few words spill from his bloodied lips. “I’m fine.”

All that blood on him was mostly from those black-clad attackers. The cuts in his clothing were ones he’d made himself to stage an injury, only shallowly slicing his skin. Had Zheng Wenchang recognized him, Xie Zheng would have faced two dire options: either be taken to Wei Yan or kill Zheng Wenchang and his soldiers before fleeing. Luckily, he had slipped by unnoticed, and neither of those worst-case scenarios had played out.

Though he claimed he was fine, Fan Changyu—who had already seen him badly wounded twice—remained extremely anxious. She and Carpenter Zhao helped him onto the bed. Then they fetched some medicine to treat his “injuries.”

Once Fan Changyu loosened his outer robe, she noticed his underclothes weren’t nearly as soaked in blood as his coat. She was wondering about this oddity when Aunt Zhao called from downstairs, saying the soldiers needed her statement.

Xie Zheng’s face was only partially wiped clean, leaving traces of blood that looked strangely striking by candlelight. He opened his eyes a fraction and spoke in a voice that was softer than usual. “Go on.”

Fan Changyu attributed his gentleness to sheer weakness. He seemed frail, and she felt a twinge of sympathy. Glancing back at him before stepping outside, she said, “I’ll be right back.”

The dead, black-clad attackers had already been dragged away by the soldiers and lined up side by side. Neighbors, awakened by the commotion and seeing troops filling the streets, came out in their nightclothes to watch the spectacle. 

Once the soldiers finished counting the bodies, they realized the only surviving assailant was the one Fan Changyu had knocked unconscious earlier. He still clung to life, so the soldiers confiscated the poison sac hidden behind his teeth before binding him hand and foot and gagging him with cloth. Unable to kill himself, he could only lie there, awaiting his fate.

A personal guard next to the high-ranking officer asked Fan Changyu a series of questions about basic information regarding her household. She answered honestly. When the guard finished, the officer turned to her.

“Just wait for news. Once we get results from the interrogation, the authorities will notify you.”

Having seen firsthand how ruthless these men could be, Fan Changyu worried they might return and drag Aunt Zhao’s family into further danger. “Officer, what if they come after us again for revenge?”