Shen Miao lowered her head, adopting an appearance of demure shyness.
Xie Jingxing had died in his twenty-second year.
The previous Emperor had harbored intentions to punish the Xie family. The Ming Qi imperial family, as time progressed, grew increasingly muddleheaded and incompetent. Rather than dedicating themselves to diligent governance and national development, they spent their days obsessed with self-preservation. The prestigious aristocratic families were all perceived as existential threats. As Fu Xiuyi had once observed, even the honest Shen family had been targeted; naturally, the disobedient Xie family represented an even greater thorn embedded in the previous Emperor's side.
When the Huns launched their invasion, the Xie family was dispatched to war. General Xie Ding, who had commanded armies with legendary freedom on battlefields throughout his life, ultimately suffered catastrophic defeat. Xie Jingxing had waited in the capital during the New Year festivities for his father's triumphant return, only to receive a coffin draped in military honors instead.
Xie Ding's death proved merely the beginning, not the end. During his burial ceremony, the commoners of the capital spontaneously gathered to pay their respects, plunging the entire nation into collective mourning. For the imperial family, such an outpouring represented the gravest of taboos.
Thus, not long afterward, the young Xie Jingxing was appointed to assume his father's position on the battlefield.
It wasn't Xie Jingxing's first experience of warfare. Like all members of the Xie family bloodline, his military talent proved sufficient to strike profound fear into enemy hearts. Yet knowing that Xie Ding's death harbored suspicious circumstances, this imperial edict essentially pushed Xie Jingxing toward certain destruction.
Xie Jingxing still accepted the edict and departed for battle, only to face inevitable defeat. Exposed to concentrated enemy fire that fateful day, he met his end pierced by countless arrows. The tragedy didn't cease there—his body was somehow captured by enemy forces; the Huns skinned it, left it to dry in the harsh wind, and displayed the remains on the city tower as a grim warning to all who would oppose them.
The horrific outcome unfolded once more, plunging Ming Qi into national grief and outrage.
With father and son both lost on the battlefield, the common people witnessed only the Huns' savage cruelty and the generals' selfless heroism, remaining blind to the turbulent undercurrents of conspiracy flowing beneath the surface.
By that time, the previous Emperor lay on his deathbed. Fu Xiuyi assumed control of court affairs and expressed elaborate regret for the Xie family's tragedy, posthumously bestowing honorific titles upon the father and son. While the honored Xie father and son had already departed this world, the court's hollow consolation unexpectedly benefited that scheming concubine and her two illegitimate sons.
Shen Miao still vividly remembered Shen Xin's profound grief upon learning of Xie Jingxing's death. She had originally thought that since the Shen and Xie families existed as bitter rivals, her father shouldn't have been so deeply saddened by the Xie family's misfortune. Reflecting upon it now, she suspected that even then, Shen Xin must have experienced a sense of "when the rabbit dies, the fox mourns"—recognizing their shared, precarious fate.
The delicate balance had been irrevocably disrupted. With the Xie family's downfall, the Shen family would inevitably follow next.
How laughable that during that time, she had been single-mindedly dragging the Shen family into the murky, treacherous waters of succession struggles.
Shen Miao harbored no particular personal feelings toward the Xie family, but she had once deeply lamented this young man's circumstances. Such a brilliant young man should have carved an indelible mark upon Ming Qi's historical records, yet who could have anticipated he would exit the stage in such a brutal manner? And even knowing that the imperial edict constituted a summons to certain death, he had still departed without hesitation.
Perhaps it was to preserve the Xie family's dignity, to prove that the Xie family's proud, unyielding spirit remained undiminished even at the end. But to knowingly pursue the impossible revealed the extraordinary character concealed beneath Xie Jingxing's outwardly rebellious exterior.
He must have been an exceptionally upright and courageous person.
As Shen Miao contemplated these memories, she observed Cai Lin push through the surrounding crowd, respectfully presenting a small cloth package to Xie Jingxing: "Young Master, these are the rare medical texts you asked me to find."
For such a notorious young tyrant to display such marked deference to someone—it was enough to make observers' jaws drop in astonishment. But upon further reflection, the dynamic made perfect sense; compared to Cai Lin, Xie Jingxing represented an even greater force in the capital city's hierarchy. The Xie family constituted the tyrant among tyrants. Viewed from this perspective, Cai Lin's deferential attitude toward Xie Jingxing became entirely understandable.
Feng Anning leaned close to whisper in Shen Miao's ear: "How do you think the young Xie master compares to Prince Ding?"
Shen Miao was momentarily taken aback, still unaccustomed to Feng Anning's sudden displays of friendliness. She answered with complete sincerity: "Young Master Xie is superior."
Not merely superior—in her considered judgment, how could a black-hearted villain like Fu Xiuyi even be mentioned in the same breath as a youth of Xie Jingxing's caliber? When Princess Wanyu and Fu Ming had been reading the official Ming Qi historical records, they reached the section documenting the Xie family and secretly confided in her that they believed Xie Jingxing was a man of extraordinary integrity whose death represented a true tragedy for the nation.
When even one's own children spoke so highly of a young man, he must indeed be exceptional beyond measure.
Feng Anning appeared somewhat surprised by this assessment and, after a contemplative moment, remarked: "It seems you are heartbroken."
Shen Miao couldn't be bothered to offer explanations. Just then, they observed Xie Jingxing astride his mount accept the package and casually secure it to his saddle. He glanced briefly at Cai Lin without uttering a word, elegantly raised his whip with practiced ease, and wheeled his horse to depart.
The powerful horse kicked up rolling clouds of dust, yet even that couldn't obscure the young man's commanding grace atop his mount. He resembled the rising sun itself, naturally radiating brilliant, undeniable light.
Cai Lin's expression appeared somewhat dejected, and the surrounding young women made absolutely no effort to conceal their profound disappointment, clearly hoping that Xie Jingxing might linger longer in their presence. Strangely enough, Xie Jingxing remained the sole aristocratic youth whose sterling reputation among young women provoked no jealousy whatsoever from other young men. Perhaps it was his distinctly different conduct and character that genuinely inspired admiration rather than envy.
Shen Miao carefully concealed the calculating thoughts stirring in her eyes. With the Xie family's inevitable downfall, the Shen family would also face catastrophic disaster in its wake. Since the relationship between the two families could be described as one where "when the lips perish, the teeth grow cold," could this fraught relationship not be eased somewhat? If the imperial family wished to make their move, perhaps they would have to carefully weigh whether they possessed the capability to do so.
Saving the Xie family, saving Xie Jingxing—doing so would add another crucial bargaining chip for the Shen family's survival.
The Shen family was renowned for being honest and kind-hearted, while the Xie family bore a reputation for arrogance and domineering behavior. The imperial family would inevitably target the Xie family first. Perhaps she could negotiate some manner of deal with the Xie family.
Xie Jingxing rode at full gallop until he finally reined in his horse before a certain well-known tavern.
He dismounted with fluid grace and walked directly to the innermost section of the establishment. In a private room, a strikingly handsome young man in pristine white clothing smiled warmly upon seeing him: "Third Brother."
"Take it!" Xie Jingxing threw the package across to him with casual force: "Don't ask me to do these things in the future."
If Gao Yang hadn't specifically requested him to locate those rare medical texts, he wouldn't have gone searching for Cai Lin, much less stood around like some performing fool at the Guangwen Hall for idle spectators to gawk at endlessly. Thinking of that absurd silk flower, he felt even more disgusted and brushed irritably at his clothes.
Gao Yang understood his junior disciple had always been fastidious to an extreme degree, and smiled slightly while offering gentle teasing: "With your temperament, you should venture out more frequently. Some of those students are around your age; you should learn from their youthful vitality and spirit." He paused deliberately, a mischievous smile gradually appearing on his refined face: "Perhaps there might even be some lovely young ladies worthy of notice. You're at the perfect age—why spend your days perpetually alone?"
Xie Jingxing was thoroughly accustomed to his senior disciple's outwardly proper yet inwardly frivolous nature. He turned his head away with obvious impatience, yet his thoughts drifted unbidden to a particular pair of eyes he had glimpsed earlier.
Eyes clear and penetrating as a young beast's, yet simultaneously containing profound sympathy and world-weary resignation. That paradoxical expression had given him momentary pause; subsequently, the owner of those remarkable eyes had lowered her head, ostensibly out of maidenly shyness.
But who was Xie Jingxing? From tender childhood, he had traveled extensively north and south with his father, fought in brutal battles, and killed men without hesitation, developing an exceptionally discerning eye for human nature. That girl had probably intended to pretend she harbored infatuation for him, but unfortunately for her scheme, she hadn't realized her own eyes remained as still as stagnant water, devoid of even the slightest ripple of genuine emotion.
It was truly interesting indeed.
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