Chapter Twenty-Nine: A Tangled Truth

“Do you feel a great sense of accomplishment dressing your soldiers up so flamboyantly?”
“You brought me out here today for a reason, didn’t you? If you don’t answer, I’ll take your silence as agreement.”
“You…”
“You…”
Ji was entirely undisturbed by the noise around them. As they walked, she suddenly halted. “We’re here.”
“Here? Where is ‘here’?” Kaiming leaned from behind him in astonishment. At the end of a long, winding corridor stood a quiet residence, its side facing them.
“This is the residence of the Chief Secretary,” he said, turning slightly to look at her.
Kaiming’s expression changed dramatically—the Chief Secretary’s residence, wasn’t this Su’s home? Su lived here? The bravado she had just put on vanished without a trace. Her steps grew unsteady, and before she realized it, she found herself at the threshold.
Clutching the brick wall of the corridor for support, she was only a few paces away from the government office, yet she couldn’t bring herself to cross over. Her mind was a tangled mess. The Chief Secretary’s reproach rang sharply in her ears: “Su is a noble scion destined for the Purple Palace… How can my son’s life be as cheap as a commoner’s?”
When did Su become a thorn in her heart?
Footsteps sounded behind her. She spoke softly, “Is this why you brought me here today, Commander? What are you trying to prove?”
Ji sighed gently. “I want you to let go.”
“Let go?” She was confused. Let go of what? Her feelings for Su, or her desire for revenge?
“The Dai family is not something you can handle alone,” he whispered in her ear. “You are not anyone to Su. There’s no need to risk yourself.”
“Sir, I don’t understand what you mean.”
“The letter from Grand Harmony has fallen into Dai Yuheng’s hands,” Ji whispered. He felt Kaiming tremble. “The struggle between Grand Harmony and Dai Huang is, in truth, a battle between the Emperor of Heaven and the powerful Purple Palace. It’s far more complicated than you can imagine. This muddy water—you mustn’t wade into it.”
“Are you warning me, sir?” she answered, her tone cooling.
“If you call it a warning, so be it,” Ji said calmly. “You have no exceptional martial arts, no remarkable wit, your talents are ordinary. You have only brute strength and loyalty, yet you’re most unsuited for intrigue…”
“Thank you for your concern, sir, but I understand,” Kaiming cut him off without looking back.
He gripped her shoulder tightly, making her flinch in pain. Her back was pressed to the cold wall as Ji fixed her with a cold, piercing gaze. “This is not a joke. I’m ordering you!”
“Is the Commander trying to pull rank?” Kaiming’s eyes blazed with anger; her fingers dug into the bricks. Ji’s hand clamped down on her shoulder with a pain that made her gasp through gritted teeth.
“Does it hurt?” he sneered. “If pain could make you see sense, I’d whip you a hundred times if I had to. You were meant to be a good soldier, obedient and dutiful. Why make a scene? Why try to play the hero? Why tangle with Su, end up imprisoned, hunted, and even used as a scapegoat?”
“Sir, this is my own business—imprisonment, being hunted…” She looked at him in shock. “How do you know we’re being hunted?”
Ji fell silent, his grip loosening slightly.
Kaiming stared at him in suspicion. “No one outside knows the truth of what happened to Su and me. You’re from the Dai family, and since you were there the night the prince was hunted, when Su was killed, those men in black—were they…”
“No!” he cut her off decisively. “I never took part in killing any prisoners!”

“You really do know everything!” Kaiming ground out between clenched teeth, her hatred palpable. “If you didn’t kill the prisoners, then was it you—standing on the hill, who shot Akong with an arrow?”
This time, Ji did not deny it. He looked at her in silence.
“It was you, you bastard!” Enraged, she pounded at him with all her strength. “You murderer! You used Akong to kill Su, then killed him to silence him! You vicious wretch, don’t you dare act all righteous in front of me!”
Ji caught her frenzied fists, his voice grave. “It wasn’t me! I didn’t plan any of it! There are things you don’t understand—I had no choice!”
She swung at him again, but he seized her wrist. Unable to break free, she was so angry she nearly wept. “Let go of me!”
“No!” Ji wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into his embrace. “Not now!”
“Let me go!”
“Calm down, just calm down!”
People are strange—when they can’t struggle, their strength soon ebbs. Before long, she was out of energy, her fury spent. She sighed. “Sir, please let me go.”
Ji did not move. His face was buried against her neck, sending a faint, burning heat through her skin.
“Don’t move, please?” Ji’s voice was low and hoarse, nothing like his usual tone. “Just like this, just for a moment…”
Just for a moment? Kaiming suddenly realized how odd this was. Her heart was racing, and she could hear Ji’s heartbeat thundering, as if their hearts were competing to see which would beat faster.
Stunned, she let him hold her, staring blankly at the passersby on the street. Though the side of the Chief Secretary’s mansion was secluded, the opposite side opened onto a bustling street. Even though they were in a small alley, anyone could turn and see them at any moment in broad daylight.
“Listen to me quietly,” he said slowly, his lips brushing her neck. “Su had a fiancée.”
Kaiming jolted, not knowing if the shock was from his lips or his words. Why was he telling her this? And why did hearing it shake her so deeply?
“She was a lady from a noble family. Their families were perfectly matched, the epitome of a handsome couple…” Ji released her, watching her expression intently. “After Su died, his betrothed moved into his home, keeping her virtue for a year…”
Her face went pale, her heart in turmoil. Su’s fiancée, a devoted and virtuous woman—how could her fleeting affection ever compare? Now, her own lingering attachment seemed so laughable.
“Why are you telling me this?” She was lost, the sudden truth leaving her at a loss.
“That’s why I want you to let go.” Ji leaned close, his gaze locking on her unfocused eyes. “If you don’t let go, you’ll never see anything better.”
Kaiming stared in astonishment at the face so near hers. Those cold, narrow eyes blazed with a strange light. What did he want? What was he trying to take?
Ji seemed to hesitate, but in the end, he leaned in, parting his lips softly, trying to kiss her.
Kaiming abruptly came to her senses and shoved him away with all her strength. Caught off guard, Ji stumbled back several paces.
“That’s enough! Stop toying with me!” she cried, both ashamed and furious. “If you’re looking for someone to satisfy your urges, there are plenty of women who provide such services. Don’t play these games with me!”
Ji was stunned. “You think I’m toying with you?”
“What else could there be between us but a superior and a subordinate? Or is it just that women are scarce in camp, and you’re so desperate you’ll use me for practice?”
Ji was left speechless by her outburst, his face flushing and paling by turns. Just as the tension between them reached its peak, a mocking voice suddenly rang out from the mouth of the alley: “Is that all?”
At such a sensitive and tense moment, the sound of a third person startled them both as if struck by lightning.
More astonishing still, their eyes darted in unison to see a little scamp squatting barely a meter away, head cocked as he watched them with great interest, grinning. “Why’d you stop?”
The child’s sunburnt cheeks and tousled hair framed a pair of sparkling eyes—eyes so lively they seemed to have marbles rolling inside. His plump lips curved upwards, dimpling his round face with two deep dimples as he grinned.
He was dressed in blue homespun clothes, his sleeves and pant legs rolled up, black cloth shoes on his feet, hugging a colorful bundle to his chest. One hand braced on his knee, as though he were watching a play.
Though everything about him declared innocence, his sudden appearance at such a moment infuriated the Commander. Ji strode towards the boy, his voice sharp. “How long have you been there? How much did you hear?”
Kaiming realized suddenly: Ji wasn’t embarrassed, he was worried that the conversation about the Dai family had been overheard. Was he planning to silence the witness?
The little scamp saw Ji’s murderous glare and sensed trouble. He leapt up, waving his hands. “I was just passing by and saw you two putting on a show, with you hugging and kissing this sister…”
“Shut up!” Kaiming and Ji barked in unison.
The boy glanced at their faces and changed his tune. “I was just passing by and saw this brother hugging this sister, trying to kiss her…”
“Nonsense!” Ji roared, reaching for him. The child dodged nimbly, chuckling. “Brother, you’re awfully angry! Did I say something wrong? I clearly saw you trying to kiss her!”
Ji paused, his voice cold. “You’re quite something, dodging my attack so easily.”
“My apologies, my apologies,” the boy said, clasping his fists in imitation of a street performer, so earnestly that Kaiming couldn’t help but smile. Her earlier gloom was swept away. He smiled at Ji. “Clearly, you showed mercy, sir.”
“You know who I am?” Ji’s murderous intent deepened—so much that even Kaiming could feel it.
The boy shrugged it off. “Didn’t sister just say it? That women are scarce in the camp, so sir can’t help himself, wanting to ‘practice’ with her.”
Hearing him mimic her so perfectly, and of all things, that line, Kaiming doubled over with laughter.
Ji was furious, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. With a flick of his hand, two cold flashes flew at the retreating child.
“Watch out!” Kaiming cried. Almost at the same instant, the boy snatched up his bundle and held it before him. With two soft thuds, the missiles struck something soft.
He lowered the bundle and winked at Ji, smiling. “Thank you for the gift, brother.” Embedded in the bundle were two square-holed copper coins. Kaiming breathed a sigh of relief. The child turned to her, beaming. “Sister, I’m not just a little scamp—I have a name. I’m called…”
“Xiaobi!”
A distant voice called out. The boy pricked up his ears, then exclaimed, “Uh-oh!” He turned to them. “My young master is looking for me. Today’s fun ends here!”
With that, he leapt away, vanishing in the blink of an eye. From afar came his clear, ringing voice: “The green hills endure, the waters flow on—if fate allows, we’ll meet again!”
Kaiming couldn’t stop laughing. The child’s accidental interruption had unexpectedly lifted her spirits. Ji’s face, however, grew darker and darker as he stared silently in the direction the boy had disappeared.
At that moment, the tightly shut government gates suddenly creaked open. A crowd poured out from inside—women decked in silks and jewels, vibrant as flowers and willows. In their midst was an elderly woman with snow-white hair, her face creased with deep lines, leaning on a sandalwood cane as she was carefully supported.
A richly decorated carriage was waiting at the gate. The old woman bent slightly and made her way toward it.
Kaiming’s heart skipped a beat. Could this be the person Su had spoken of before his death, the one he had asked her to visit if she ever had the chance—Su’s great-grandmother?