Chapter 46

Proofreader:- Mim

After Li Zhi purchased the last two items that Steward Li had ordered, she and Li Cien stepped out of the shop, laughing and chatting.

“Ahhh!”

A middle-aged man dressed in coarse cloth suddenly collapsed at their feet, crying out loudly, drawing countless stares from the crowd.

Li Cien looked at the man who had mysteriously fallen and tried to tug Li Zhi to leave quickly. The man wailed even louder.

“Look, everyone! These two bumped into me and are trying to run! My leg just recovered from an injury two days ago, and now they’ve broken it again! Oh, the pain—it’s killing me!”

Li Zhi immediately understood—they had encountered a scammer.

“Before accusing us of bumping into you, perhaps you should consider that we are dressed in coarse cloth. Do you really think we’re worth extorting?” Li Zhi calmly responded. “If you refuse to get up, we’ll just call the authorities. With so many people here, someone must have seen that we didn’t touch you.”

The ruffian hesitated for a moment, but his shouts only grew louder and more desperate.

“How can you just walk away after breaking my leg? I have an old mother and young children to feed! My family relies on these legs of mine to work the fields. If you refuse to take responsibility, are you trying to kill us all?”

With his dramatic yelling, a large crowd gathered around them—three layers deep—trapping Li Zhi and Li Cien in the center.

Li Cien argued fiercely with the scammer, but his loud cries drowned out her reasoning, swaying the crowd’s sympathy in his favor.

Just as Li Zhi was about to speak, the crowd suddenly parted. A patrol officer in armor appeared with a dozen soldiers behind him.

The man was tall and imposing, with thick brows and sharp eyes. A single cold glare from him silenced the wailing man on the ground.

“Who is causing this disturbance?”

“Sir, it’s him! We didn’t even touch him, and now he’s accusing us of breaking his leg just to extort money!” Li Cien quickly pointed at the man.

“No, sir, you can’t listen to their nonsense! I clearly—”

Before the man could finish, the officer interrupted him and ordered, “Zhang Wu, check his leg. If it’s not broken, break it for him.”

Hearing this, the scammer turned pale, scrambled to his feet, and ran off—his movements agile and quick, leaving the crowd in awe. His “injured” leg now seemed perfectly fine.

Watching his attempt unravel, Li Zhi couldn’t help but think of Xie Lanxu, who once dramatically played at being paralyzed before effortlessly climbing a tree the next moment. But compared to him, this man’s acting fell far short.

As the scammer’s ploy was revealed, murmurs of admiration swept through the crowd.

“Thank you, sir! If it weren’t for your timely intervention, my sister and I would have been wrongly accused by that scoundrel.” Li Cien curtsied and thanked the officer.

“It’s alright. It’s my duty,” the officer replied kindly, his gaze lingering on Li Zhi for a moment with a hint of meaning.

Li Zhi seized the opportunity to ask, “My sister and I are surnamed Li, and we work at the Xipeng Horse Ranch. May I ask your esteemed name, sir?”

“My surname is Qin, given name Ne. I serve as the Yihui Captain,” he replied. “Since you’re working at Xipeng Horse Ranch, please send my regards to His Highness. If you’ll excuse me, I have official duties to attend to.”

With that, Captain Qin led his soldiers away.

Li Zhi and Li Cien watched them go, bowing respectfully. Hidden in her sleeve, Li Zhi clutched an object tightly, though her expression remained calm and composed.

—

The two of them returned to the city gates at sunset, where Old Zhang was already waiting on the bullock cart.

Back at the ranch, Li Zhi handed over the day’s work to Steward Li before walking back to the small courtyard with Li Cien.

Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, Li Zhi quietly left her room.

The clear moonlight bathed the courtyard in silver, and the nearby rooms were dark. Only Xie Lanxu’s room glowed faintly with candlelight.

Li Zhi glanced around to ensure no one was watching before knocking softly on Xie Lanxu’s door.

Xie Lanxu opened the door and invited her in. After recounting the events of the day, Li Zhi took out a wax-sealed letter and handed it over with both hands.

“What’s this?” Xie Lanxu asked, looking up at her.

“Before the scoundrel ran off, he slipped this letter to me amidst the chaos,” Li Zhi explained carefully. “Afterward, Captain Qin gave me a look—he clearly wanted me to deliver this letter to Your Highness.”

The sequence of events was both unexpected yet reasonable.

It was too coincidental to believe—first encountering a scammer, then immediately being saved by a patrolling officer. Captain Qin’s final words were just a disguise; his real purpose was to send this letter.

Xie Lanxu glanced at the letter in her hands.

“Sit down and speak.”

The two of them sat at the room’s only small table. Xie Lanxu picked up a fruit knife and delicately broke the wax seal.

Meanwhile, Li Zhi took a small pair of scissors by the oil lamp and trimmed the wick, brightening the room.

Before long, Xie Lanxu had finished reading the letter.

Li Zhi held her breath, waiting for his response. Instead, she saw the faintest trace of a smile on his lips.

“He is a descendant of the Qin family from Nanyang.”

Seeing Li Zhi’s confused expression, Xie Lanxu explained further:

“In the fifth year of He Ping, the Qin family of Nanyang was accused and persecuted due to factional strife. It was the Crown Prince who intervened in secret to preserve the family’s life. Qin Ne is one of the male heirs of this generation of the Qin family. The letter states that to repay this great favor, he bid farewell to his family and volunteered for the military. Upon hearing of my exile to Mingyue Tower, he mixed within the army until he was reassigned here a month ago.”

“Does Your Highness believe this man can be trusted?” Li Zhi asked.

“Since my arrival at Mingyue Tower, the number of people pledging loyalty to me has been countless,” Xie Lanxu said calmly. “If I were to scrutinize each one for sincerity, inevitably, there would be mistakes.”

“So Your Highness means…”

“I only trust you, Banban,” Xie Lanxu said.

The flickering candlelight reflected in his eyes, making them glimmer faintly.

He spoke with such sincerity that, had Li Zhi not knowning what kind of person he was, might have believed him.

He was born with a face as pure as lilies and irises, a face that always seemed open and without blemish, as if he could never utter a lie.

“Would Your Highness ever lie to me?” Li Zhi asked.

“Never,” he replied without hesitation.

Yet every word was a lie.

Li Zhi would never trust him. More than anyone, she knew that the person before her—like herself—would sacrifice anything and betray anyone to achieve his goals.

“…I believe you, Your Highness.” She smiled gently.

The same as herself.

Their hearts were empty, void of anything substantial.

—-

The next day, just as the sky began to lighten, Li Zhi set off toward the stables.

Halfway there, she ran into Hei Huo, who had failed to appear on the hillside the previous night.

Hei Huo walked alone, and the other stable hands kept their distance, deliberately avoiding him. Li Zhi noticed something unusual about his appearance.

“Hei Huo!” Li Cien shouted boldly, waving her arms energetically at him, undeterred by the strange looks from others.

Hei Huo nodded stiffly at them and stopped to wait as they approached.

“Where were you last night? Did you take a fall?” Jia Sui asked, surprised as she looked at Hei Huo’s legs.

His already tattered trousers were now little more than strips of fabric. Beneath them, several abrasions marred his bronzed skin.

“I ran into someone,” Hei Huo said. “His martial arts were very strong. I couldn’t beat him.”

“Stronger than you, Hei Huo?!” Jia Sui gasped, unable to believe there was anyone in the world better than Hei Huo.

“Couldn’t beat him,” Hei Huo shook his head. “He used a sword. I thought I was going to die. But he didn’t kill me. I don’t know why—he just left.”

He gestured clumsily, struggling to explain the events of the previous night with his limited words.

“I didn’t come. Sorry,” he said.

“It’s all right. You’re safe—that’s what matters,” Li Zhi replied, frowning as she listened. “Did you get a good look at him? Was he someone from the ranch?”

Hei Huo shook his head.

“I saw clearly—he wasn’t. I haven’t seen him before.”

“That’s strange… If he isn’t from the ranch, what was he doing here?” Li Cien said, full of doubt.

Li Zhi didn’t have an answer either, but she had a vague feeling that this matter was connected to Xie Lanxu.

“Since my arrival at Mingyue Tower, the number of people pledging loyalty to me has been countless.”

The Xipeng Horse Ranch was far removed from the town; there was nothing here but horses and horse dung. If the man wasn’t from the ranch, he must have come from the outside—to find Xie Lanxu.

But why would one of Xie Lanxu’s people attack Hei Huo?

Li Zhi couldn’t figure it out, but fortunately, Hei Huo was unharmed, and the assailant hadn’t shown any killing intent.

The mysterious martial arts master remained an enigma. With no further clues to discuss, the conversation soon shifted.

—-

That evening, Li Zhi returned to the hillside, and Hei Huo was already there waiting for them.

It was the same training as before—dodging and weaving against swinging logs.

Li Zhi and her two siblings made steady progress, while Jia Sui continued to cheer from the sidelines. Whenever someone got hit, she would gasp dramatically, covering her mouth.

By midnight, Li Zhi returned to the small courtyard, her body sore and exhausted, intent on fetching water to wash up.

She dropped the bucket into the well and began pulling it up, struggling with the rope. Suddenly, a hand settled over hers, assisting her in pulling.

Startled, Li Zhi turned to see Xie Lanxu’s face close to hers, his presence so near that her breath brushed his cheek.

Before she could react, the bucket was already at the top of the well. Xie Lanxu released her hand and effortlessly lifted the bucket onto the ground.

A cool mist of night dew clung to him, and even his clothes were the same as during the day.

But he had clearly just stepped out of his room, the door still ajar.

Either he had teleported, or there was another way in and out of his room.

“Why do you look so surprised?” Xie Lanxu asked.

“…I didn’t expect Your Highness to still be awake.”

“And yet you’re awake as well,” he said.

“I suppose it’s fate, then.”

Xie Lanxu smiled faintly. “It’s fate.”

Li Zhi looked into his eyes under the moonlight and smiled as well.

There are many kinds of fate.

But Xie Lanxu might never understand that theirs was the cruelest of all—a confrontation between two hunters.

There was no tenderness or redemption here—only two insatiable schemers, standing on a narrow tightrope, locked in a battle of wits.

In the end, it was only a question of who would blur the line between truth and deception first.