Chapter 280: Chapter 280: But the Shen Family No Longer Has Shen Hua
He struggled to digest this eerie fact.
But Shen Zhi was nothing but a frail scholar, completely out of place on the battlefield.
The battle had dragged on for a full year.
He couldn’t leave, and also... he couldn’t bear to leave. He couldn’t even send a letter back to Fengzhou City.
Shen Zhi didn’t know martial arts, but his body’s instinct did not lie. When an enemy’s sword thrust at him, he rolled away as smoothly as flowing clouds and water, but soon after, he was struck by several arrows and nearly lost his life.
How could Shen Zhi dare to slack off during the period of convalescence?
Any slight negligence in this situation meant death.
He spent night after night poring over military books, accumulating combat experience, and later, in order to return with at least a breath of life, he learned to plunge a dagger into an enemy’s chest. Blood splashed across his face.
This was his first time killing someone.
His hands trembled with fear.
That year, every second was an agonizing ordeal for him.
Late, Little General Jin ran into his tent. He held a map and spread it out flat.
"Xie Xun! I’ve thought of an excellent strategy!"
"In the last battle, our side suffered a disastrous defeat, and the enemy wasn’t much better off. If we burn their granary, they will surely be thrown into chaos."
He nodded: "I’ve just received secret intelligence that their grain transport convoy will pass through here."
Shen Zhi looked over; the map had been marked by Little General Jin.
Little General Jin pointed to another location.
"Set up a spiked trap here. With thousands of cavalry charging at high speed..."
"And this place is the key..."
Late after that, Shan City was finally recaptured.
Everyone was cheering and leaping for joy.
The people who had been trapped in Shan City for years rushed to Chi City en masse, embracing the locals and weeping bitterly.
That night, the soldiers drank heavily and ate their fill of meat.
Little General Jin sprinkled wine on the ground of Shan City, in honor of the countless lost souls that died in the war.
He said to someone standing behind him.
"Xie Xun, we’ve fought side by side for many years. You’re a fine recruit; are you truly unwilling to become a military general?"
And there was Ji Teng who had been rescued.
He drank disjointedly from his cup.
He said, "I never imagined that I could return."
"An inconspicuous hostage who is fated to be discarded wherever he goes."
Late after that, he returned to Shengjing with his troop.
He couldn’t wait to finish his debrief and was preparing to go to Fengzhou City to fetch Shen Hua, only to learn unexpectedly of Shen Wei’s death.
Shen Zhi had long dwelled on the cliff incident from years ago. He was all too aware that it was no accident, it was deliberate.
And there were many doubts.
He had many suspects in mind, and he intended to investigate them one by one.
But amidst the tangled mess, an imperial edict from Emperor He tasked him with leading an anti-bandit team.
He had no choice but to accept the command.
However, he was ultimately too naive.
Upon arriving, he met with the local Magistrate. He obtained the defense schematics and discussed combat strategies, how to attack, and how to defend.
But who could have guessed that the bandits had long been colluding with the government?
By the time he realized something was wrong, he was surrounded by enemies from all sides.
The entire anti-bandit team was annihilated.
His head was nearly severed, never to be able to fetch his Yangyang again, his young eyes wide open in death, unresigned.
Shen Zhi’s soul floated out.
He watched as the coffin containing his body was transported back to Shengjing.
The Duke had aged years overnight, his hair turning white.
Xie Yinong knelt in front of the coffin, crying breathlessly.
And the Duchess refused to believe it, insisting the coffin be opened for verification.
"My son was alive and well! Who says he’s dead!"
"It’s not him inside, it absolutely isn’t!"
"Open the coffin!"
"How can I believe this?"
The lid of the coffin was moved aside, and the pungent stench of blood and rotting death filled the air.
Subsequently, piercing wails of utter despair resonated from the mourning hall of the Duchess of Duke.
Shen Zhi felt inexplicably sorrowful.
After Xie Xun’s burial, he just stayed there, guarding. For some reason, his soul seemed trapped, unable to leave more than three feet from the gravesite.
Little General Jin had visited, burning quite a few military texts.
Spring left again, winter returned, the seasons changed.
Nobody knew how many years had passed.
Ji Teng arrived.
He was no longer the emaciated figure in Shen Zhi’s memories. At this moment, clad in imperial robes, his majestic presence was overwhelming.
Ji Teng silently stared at the gravestone for a long time.
"What were you thinking, dedicating your life to such a fatuous and incompetent fool?"
"Xie Xun, had you still been alive, you would surely have been willing to serve me."
It was not until the hunched figure of the Third Elder, his face concealed within the hood of his cloak, passed by this place to evade Emperor He’s assassination attempts.
After his failed attempt at bewitching Marquis Cui Yun with a poisonous insect on behalf of the Marquis Yangling Mansion, he lived a life of secrecy and evasion for years.
The Third Elder slowly turned his gaze towards the Xie Family’s ancestral graveyard, to be precise, in the direction where Shen Zhi was.
Shen Zhi’s heart skipped a beat, almost thinking he could be seen.
But soon, the Third Elder continued on his way, with his murmurs unheard by Shen Zhi.
"In my life, I have committed innumerable evils and brought harm to countless people. I wish to do good deeds to add fortune and virtue to my son, hoping he will be reincarnated soon and have a smooth life next time."
Once he left, Shen Zhi joyfully discovered that he could move again.
He rushed to Fengzhou City without delay.
But Shen Hua was no longer in the Shen Family.
Even though everything was in its place, everything felt unfamiliar. The comings and goings were all unfamiliar faces of servants.
His wandering was fruitless, but then he saw a woman dressed in splendid clothes, glittering as if made of gold and silver. Across from her sat Shen He Wen.
Shen Xue-shi dabbed her lips with a handkerchief: "Has the young master returned?"
"Reporting to Madam, he has not yet."
"Tell the kitchen to make some chicken soup; he has been working hard these past few days. It might help him recover."
A hint of joy appeared in Shen Xue-shi’s eyebrows.
"It’s also fortunate that he has come to terms with it, giving Shen Hua to Magistrate Lu. A dead person in exchange for boundless glory for the Shen Family’s Embroidery Workshop—that’s a good thing."
Shen He Wen smiled gracefully.
"Our Yangyang has always been a good child."
Shen Zhi wanted nothing more than to slaughter these beasts!
Never had he thought that his sister, whom he missed day and night, would now be lying forlorn and miserable on a mat.
Everyone was using her.
Their hypocrisy was profound, their shamelessness even more extreme.
Shen Zhi’s body trembled with fury.
He lunged forward, wanting to carry her away, but his hands always grasped at nothing.
He could only sit there, frozen.
Until someone hurried over.
A man known as Marquis Cui, with a stern face and a cold demeanor, arrived.
He, an upright gentleman faithful to his duties, fully exposed the filth of Lu Yuandao. This led the Imperial Censor to become furious and arrest him.
The beads in his hand were beautiful. One ended up in Yangyang’s hands.
He also arranged for his subordinates to bury his sister.
How could Shen Zhi not be grateful to him!
Suddenly, his soul was forcibly uplifted and drifted towards the frontiers.
When he awoke again, he had become Xie Xun once more.
It was still Little General Jin speaking.
"Our soldiers are exhausted. If the barbarian enemies launch a couple more assaults, I fear we won’t hold out."
This time was different.
Now, Shen Zhi was calm.
"Jin Zhong! I have thought of a brilliant strategy."
Little General Jin: ??
"Speak!"
Shen Zhi sent his previous words back to him unchanged: "In the last battle, we suffered heavy casualties, and the enemy couldn’t gain much either. If we burn their granaries, it will surely throw them into chaos."