Chapter 765: At the Cost of Life

Chapter 765: No Matter the Cost

Qing Shuang soon returned, holding the storybook Xingxing wanted to read.

"Here’s the storybook you asked for, Princess," Qing Shuang said, passing it over while giving Xingxing a meaningful glance.

Xingxing understood—Qing Shuang had clearly overheard something.

Feeling reassured, Xingxing propped her arm on the pavilion railing, leaning slightly to one side as she began reading the book.

Pang Ruhai spotted her from afar and asked the scribe official beside him, "Is that Princess Fusui over there?"

The scribe official studied the figure for a while before nodding. "It does look like Her Highness, my lord."

Pang Ruhai sighed. "You can always tell the nobility from the capital—they’re just different. Even slouching to read, she carries herself like royalty."

The scribe official agreed. "Indeed, my lord. She’s a princess—everything she does radiates confidence. Even the smallest movement has that royal air."

Pang Ruhai chuckled, but inside, he was questioning—was it really just a coincidence?

Would someone with that kind of presence really have nothing better to do than impersonate a merchant's daughter?

His wife, Luo Shi, had met that merchant’s daughter—her manner was nothing like this.

How could they possibly be the same person?

Pang Ruhai relaxed a little.

...

At last, Pang Ruhai got the pigeon’s message.

The men he had sent to Jinjiang to investigate the Feng family had reported back.

The Feng siblings were back home, badly shaken. Word was, they’d run into bandits on their journey back. Their guards were no match, and just as despair set in, a masked fighter stepped in.

This fighter possessed extraordinary martial skills and, alongside the Feng family’s guards, turned the tide—wiping out every last one of them.

The Feng siblings had invited the masked man to their estate to repay his kindness, but he turned them down, saying he’d only killed them for revenge, not to aid them.

Pang Ruhai sucked in a breath.

Immediately, he recalled the man he had helped Tuo Bachi hunt down.

If it was that man, it all added up!

The man must have recognized the "bandits" as the same squad that had pursued him before. After helping the Fengs eliminate them, he might have learned they were Pang Ruhai’s men—hence dumped the bodies at the prefect’s gate as payback.

Pang Ruhai’s initial relief faded fast, but then his face paled.

The good news? The resemblance between Princess Fusui and Feng Yongyong was merely coincidental—his wife’s worries had been unfounded.

The bad news? The man he and Tuo Bachi had been hunting had now set his sights on the prefect’s office!

This was way worse than hiring thugs to kill a few merchant’s children.

After all, if Tuo Bachi’s crimes came to light, their whole clan would be wiped out—

If it weren’t that serious, he wouldn’t have scrambled to bury it!

Pang Ruhai told Luo Shi about the matter. At first, Luo Shi was relieved to confirm that Feng Yongyong and Princess Fusui were two different people. But as soon as she heard that the incident might have been caused by the person they had previously hunted down, she was immediately on edge again!

Luo Shi sat blankly on the couch, wiping her tears. "What kind of life is this?... I told you before—your brother had the audacity to do such a thing! If it’s ever exposed, our entire family will be doomed! I begged you to cut ties with him back then, but you insisted on wading into this mess for him..."

Pang Ruhai was also beside himself with worry.

He wasn't in the mood to comfort Luo Shi now and only sighed. "Stop crying first! This might not be hopeless... We can’t be certain yet—it might not even be that person..."

"Who else could it be?!" Luo Shi said bitterly.

Pang Ruhai heaved another long sigh.

Luo Shi grabbed Pang Ruhai’s sleeve tightly. "Darling, you must speak with your brother. If this ever comes out one day, make him swear that he deceived you—that you genuinely believed it was an internal thief. At the very least, that could save our family’s lives!"

Pang Ruhai nodded solemnly. "Don’t worry, my wife. If that day ever comes, he’ll have to take the blame for our entire family..."

Pang Ruhai paused, then suddenly remembered something, his tone growing slightly urgent. "So, my wife, in these coming days, you must bend over backwards to please Princess Fusui! She’s His Majesty’s favorite courtier. If we can win her favor, she might speak a few words for us when the time comes—then everything will be fine!"

Luo Shi perked up. "Yes, yes! There’s still Princess Fusui..."

But then she frowned again. "But she’s so standoffish. How can we possibly get close to her?"

As Luo Shi wracked her brain, Pang Ruhai suddenly said, "...Right, I heard that Princess Fusui isn't engaged yet."

Luo Shi understood right away. "Husband, are you suggesting...?"

Luo Shi and Pang Ruhai exchanged a glance, their eyes lit up.

How could they make Princess Fusui speak for the Pang family?

It was simple—they just needed to make her one of them!

...

Qing Shuang whispered every word of the conversation she had overheard between Pang Jinkang and Tuo Bachi earlier that day to Xingxing.

Still angry, Qing Shuang added, "That foreigner’s mirror should’ve been given to Pang Jinkang instead! Let him get a good look at himself!"

Xingxing chuckled. "It’s fine. This might actually be for the best. At least the Westerner helped put Pang Jinkang’s suspicions to rest, didn’t he? Think of it this way—it shows he doesn’t doubt my identity. That’s a good thing."

Qing Shuang still seemed displeased.

But she understood the bigger picture.

She stepped aside, leaped up, and took down her blade from the rafters, silently polishing it.

From the look on her face, it wasn’t the clean blade she was wiping—but the blood that would stain it after slicing through someone.

Xingxing sighed helplessly.

The next day, Luo Shi showed up bright and early again to accompany Xingxing for breakfast.

This time, Xingxing was prepared. She had Qing Shuang inform Luo Shi that the princess wanted to eat out and experience local street food, so Luo Shi need not accompany her.

Luo Shi’s eyes darted, but she agreed.

Returning to the room, Qing Shuang whispered to Xingxing, "Princess, that look in her eye... she’s definitely up to something."

Xingxing patted Qing Shuang’s hand. "Sister Qing Shuang, with you by my side, I’m not afraid."

Qing Shuang nodded solemnly. "You’ve done so much for me. I’d give my life to protect you."

Xingxing sighed and took Qing Shuang’s hands in hers earnestly. "Sister Qing Shuang, don’t say that. If it comes down to it, I’d rather you live."

Qing Shuang remained silent—clearly, Xingxing wasn’t getting through to her.

Xingxing just sighed and let it go.