Chapter 79

Chapter 79

After Wen Xu's death, Lin Yingniang was lost and desolate, as if she couldn't yet accept this reality. Seeing the vast Wen estate emptied in an instant, she only stared vacantly for a moment.

When the officers were arresting the culprits and verifying household registrations, they discovered that Lin Yingniang had already received divorce papers from Wen Yingjing. Nominally, she was now a free agent and no longer considered a member of the Wen family.

Moreover, she held an honorific title personally bestowed by the Emperor. Local authorities had no right to arbitrarily interrogate or detain her; any trial or imprisonment required a joint deliberation by the three judicial offices.

Suddenly, the question of how to deal with Lin Yingniang became a difficult problem.

This problem naturally landed squarely in the lap of Wen Zuo.

Wen Zuo never expected that Wen Yingjing would resort to such a dirty trick—writing a letter of divorce and dividing property—as a calculated move to evade the government's confiscation of assets.

Fortunately, Lin Yingniang did not shield the Wen family or make things difficult for Wen Zuo. She disclosed everything she knew, though unfortunately, her knowledge was limited. Wen Yingjing had treated her like a decorative vase—providing fine clothes and lavish food, but never allowing her to be involved in business matters.

The sun sank in the west, its fading rays passing through the old window lattice, illuminating the floating dust.

The officers pushed open the rickety wooden door and began moving the wooden chests hidden in the courtyard out one by one, loading them onto carts bound for the government treasury.

It wasn't until dusk fell that this long-silent courtyard was completely cleared out, just as it had been in the past, as if it had only briefly welcomed the visit of its former inhabitants.

Shen Zheng stood in the center of the courtyard, gazing at the crumbling earthen walls and the broken eaves. He asked softly, "Is this where you were born?"

Wen Zuo remained silent for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "I have no memory of it at all."

According to what his teacher had said, Lin Yingniang's family had once been carpenters, with one son and one daughter, originally living in Pingchang County, close to the sea.

In the early years, when Mianzhou was plagued by Japanese pirates, panic spread among the people. Lin Yingniang's parents, in their frantic escape, grabbed their young son and fled into the mountains, completely forgetting her on a field path.

Later, it turned out to be a false alarm—the pirates never entered the village. The fleeing villagers gradually returned home, but Lin Yingniang's parents never came back, and no one knew where they had gone.

She should have starved to death in the field, but fortunately, Wen Qimin's family happened to pass by. Seeing her pitiful plight, they kindly took her in, raising her as a maid in their home.

Later, Wen Qimin's parents passed away one after another. He himself earned the *xiucai* degree, and Lin Yingniang gradually grew up, blossoming into a graceful young woman.

Then came a dilemma: if Wen Qimin wanted to continue pursuing higher imperial examinations, he would have to marry Lin Yingniang off early. Otherwise, in the current social climate, a beautiful woman living alone, without parents to rely on or brothers to support her, would find it extremely difficult to survive.

Yet, given Lin Yingniang's background as a maid, it would be hard for her to marry into a respectable family as the proper wife. If she married into a poor household, who would treat her as well as she was treated now?

Wen Qimin, gentle and kind-hearted, couldn't bear to see her suffer the slightest grievance. So he gave up his scholarly ambitions, married her, and settled down with her in this place.

It wasn't until Wen Zuo was born, Wen Qimin died unexpectedly, and Lin Yingniang was taken into Wen Yingjing's household that this place was completely abandoned.

"But my parents must have lived here for a long time," Wen Zuo said as he walked slowly. Suddenly, his gaze fell on the windowsill of the main room.

There sat a small wooden horse, about the size of a palm. Its paint had long since peeled off, and its edges were chipped and cracked, yet it had been carefully cleaned and placed neatly in the center of the windowsill.

Wen Zuo walked over and picked up the small horse with great care, turning it over and over in his hands.

The carving wasn't particularly refined, but it had been smoothed many times, with not a single splinter in sight.

This was clearly a child's toy, and in this home, it naturally... belonged to him.

He rubbed the rough surface of the little horse, lost in thought. After looking at it for a long time, he gently placed it back in its original spot and said calmly, "Your Highness, let's go."

"You should take it."

"Take what?"

"Your little horse. Take it with you."

"It's just a broken..."

His words were cut off by Shen Zheng.

"Mhm, if you want to take it, then take it."

Wen Zuo fell silent.

After a moment of quiet, he finally turned around, tucked the little horse into his sleeve, and took with him the last remnant of tender memory from this desolate courtyard.

Traveling back to Mianzhou Prefecture overnight would be too much hassle, so Wen Zuo and Shen Zheng decided to rest temporarily at the Liangping County yamen.

They had just caught their breath, with no time yet to process the tumultuous emotions of the day, when a constable hurriedly came to report from outside the door: "Hanlin Academy Director, Your Highness, Lady Lin requests permission to claim Wen Xu's corpse."

With a clatter, Wen Zuo slammed his bowl and chopsticks down on the table. His eyes instantly turned icy, and the meal he had barely touched now looked utterly unappetizing.

Without a word, he flicked his sleeve and strode out of the room, his robes stirring a chilling gust of wind.

Seeing this, Shen Zheng quickly rose and hurried after him.

Wen Zuo ordered someone to bring Lin Yingniang to the edge of Wangtiangou. The river in the gully rolled forward, dark and murky, darker than the night itself.

Lin Yingniang looked haggard, with disheveled hair at her temples. When she saw Wen Zuo, a trace of tenderness mixed with fear finally flickered in her vacant eyes.

Wen Zuo pointed at the surging black water, his voice with rare severity. "Do you have any idea how monstrous he was? The Wen family kept children on an isolated island, feeding them spices and resin. When the time was ripe, they would cut open the children's bellies while they were still alive to extract the contents, then throw the corpses into the river to drift away with the current!"

His hatred intensified, surging and crashing like the river water. "They earned filthy money stained with blood, used despicable goods obtained through utterly inhumane means, and you still want to collect his body? Do you think he deserves a peaceful burial?"

Lin Yingniang recoiled in terror, staggering backward. The torchlight illuminated her panic-stricken face as she stared in disbelief at the rolling river, as if she could see the wronged souls struggling in the water.

Wen Zuo stepped closer, his cold gaze making even the torch seem to shiver.

"Don't beg me. Go and say it to the refugees who lost their children face to face. Tell them you pity your inhuman son, that you want to collect his body, burn incense for him, and wish him peace. Go on, say it!"

Lin Yingniang collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down her face. She choked out between sobs, "Zhuo'er, I'm sorry... Mother didn't know... I won't ask anymore, never again..."

"You didn't know?" Wen Zuo showed no intention of letting her off. Instead, he let out a cold laugh, looking down at her with eyes full of disappointment and scorn. "Was this the first day he became like this? Back when he pushed me into the river, wishing to drown me, didn't you ever think he would turn out this way? When he tricked me into the ancestral hall and allowed Wen Ze to bully me relentlessly, you still didn't know he would become like this?"

"Wen Yingjing threatened me, never allowing me to complain. But you're neither blind nor deaf. Did you truly not know anything at all?"

Lin Yingniang was in unbearable agony. Under this relentless, heart-wrenching interrogation, she could no longer hold on. "I knew... but I didn't dare to know! Zhuo'er, it's all Mother's fault. Mother was weak, Mother was useless. Mother failed to protect you..."

Listening beside them, Shen Zheng felt as if a thousand-pound stone were pressing on his heart. He finally understood why Wen Zuo, born in Mianzhou, said he couldn't swim and was afraid of water.

So he had once been pushed into a river and nearly drowned.

As a modern person, he had been educated under a modern legal system that valued human dignity. Yet at this moment, he felt Wen Xu's death had been too easy. He wished Wen Xu could have experienced every ancient torture to the extreme, dying in utmost agony.

"If you couldn't protect me, why did you bring me into the Wen family? Why didn't you just abandon me outright?" He hadn't planned to have this conversation with Lin Yingniang. So many years had passed; the events of the past were long insignificant, and there was no need to delve deeply into rights and wrongs or grievances. Yet the emotions had always been stuck in his heart, and he had to get them off his chest.

How could she live in a daze, pretending not to know, acting as if nothing had happened?

How could she comfortably shrink into her own shell, covering her eyes, deceiving herself and muddling along?

Lin Yingniang's tears were nearly cried dry. She spoke haltingly, "Because... Mother was also abandoned once. That feeling of being utterly helpless and alone... Mother couldn't bear for you to..."

"Who needs your pity!"

Wen Zuo flung his hand back abruptly, and the small horse in his sleeve flew out, arcing through the air before plunging straight into the river. It raised a negligible splash and vanished in an instant.

Lin Yingniang saw what it was and froze, staring blankly at the river. She never expected Wen Zuo would retrieve this little horse.

The long-severed bond felt a faint, fleeting tug at this moment. Lin Yingniang, heedless of everything, suddenly rose and lunged toward the water of Wangtiangou.

She desperately, desperately wanted to seize this last chance.

Mustering an inexplicable surge of strength, Lin Yingniang moved swiftly and urgently. Caught off guard, Wen Zuo instinctively reached out to grab her, but his fingertips merely brushed past the hem of her garment, clutching at nothing. "Mother—!"

A pitch-black vortex seemed to split open between heaven and earth, swallowing her figure in the blink of an eye without even a sound of struggle.

Wen Zuo, his strength spent, knelt on the riverbank, his hands propped on the cold, muddy ground, staring blankly.

His mind was trapped in the moment just before Lin Yingniang entered the water. He could no longer hear the rushing of the river or the crackling of the torches; his heart was filled only with surging anger and hatred.

But suddenly, these emotions had nowhere to land, leaving only endless emptiness.

Only when Shen Zheng pulled him into a tight embrace did he slowly regain his senses.

He moved his lips, with great difficulty, before uttering two words—

"Ridiculous..."

Yet as soon as he spoke these words, tears silently rolled down his cheeks.

"I know," Shen Zheng tightened his embrace.

"I never wanted her to die..." Wen Zuo's body seemed to have lost all support, relying solely on Shen Zheng to remain steady. "Did she die because of me? Because I threw away that little horse?"

"No," Shen Zheng lowered his head, resting against Wen Zuo's hair, and whispered softly, "She was in too much pain."

"Who isn't in pain? Why does she only think of escaping?" Wen Zuo's voice suddenly rose, tinged with an accusatory grievance.

Shen Zheng did not argue, only gently patted his back, steadily calming his tremors. "Because she wasn't strong enough. Can the teacher allow her this time to not be strong either?"

Wen Zuo closed his eyes, the dampness from his tears spreading on Shen Zheng's collar.

The search lasted a full day and night, but turned up nothing. It was as if she had merged with the vast sea alongside those children, becoming one with heaven and earth.

Even though he knew there was no hope, for several days in a row, Wen Zuo remained by Wangtiangou, keeping vigil.

Shen Zheng did not try to persuade him, only silently kept him company. During the day, they stood side by side watching the flowing river; at night, they huddled together by the bonfire, warding off the damp and chilly night wind.

In the deep quiet of the night, Wen Zuo would rarely let down his guard, chattering incessantly about childhood memories.

He spoke of how the Wen family saw him as a burden, how Wen Ze and Wen Xu bullied him, and of the complex, entangled feelings of gratitude and resentment he held toward Lin Yingniang.

He also mentioned those two burn scars, which had healed so slowly, so very slowly.

"I should feel relieved..." he gazed into the distance, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible confusion. "But now I'm here, keeping vigil. Your Highness must think this incomprehensible."

"I can."

Wen Zuo smiled self-deprecatingly. "Even I don't understand myself."

"Because deep down, you know she actually had a very difficult life," Shen Zheng reached out to tighten his fur robe for him, gently pressing his head against his own shoulder. "She was powerless to resist Wen Yingjing and couldn't protect you, so she chose to escape. It wasn't that she didn't love you at all, but she gave you only a little, leaving you unwilling to fully resent her, yet also unable to fully love her."

Wen Zuo fell silent.

Shen Zheng continued, "Last time at my uncle's military camp, when you went out to... encounter Mo Shu, we talked about something."

"What was it?"

"We talked about whether, knowing Concubine Yi would turn out this way, we should have saved her back then." Shen Zheng's fingers gently combed through Wen Zuo's dark hair, his voice soft. "I once learned a philosophy that says one only needs to focus on their own path. Saving someone is a good deed, so you save them—that's completing your own task. As for Concubine Yi harboring ill intentions and choosing a crooked path, that's her own burden, unrelated to me. There's no need to dwell on it."

"It's the same with the teacher's situation. Feeling conflicted and upset now is because you keep thinking about her difficulties. But those difficulties are ultimately her own; they don't have to become your burden. You can thank her for giving you life, yet still not forgive her for the harm she caused."

"That sounds strange." Yet hearing it inexplicably lightened his heart.

"It is a bit strange, but it also makes a lot of sense," Shen Zheng chuckled.

The nights in Mianzhou already carried the chill of winter, but here by the bonfire, it was warm and snug. The surroundings were silent, no insects chirped, and even Wangtiangou seemed gentler.

"By the way, I haven't asked Your Highness yet, why did you suddenly come chasing after me to Liangping County?" Wen Zuo lifted his head from Shen Zheng's shoulder and turned to look at him.

"Jiang Mannv reported that there are a dozen or so young children in the cave cliffs with no one to claim them, and their homes are unknown. So I wanted to ask you how best to care for them."

"This matter—" Wen Zuo was about to speak.

"This matter is just an excuse," Shen Zheng suddenly leaned closer, his gaze so direct it was unsettling. "The truth is, I missed you."

Wen Zuo was stunned. His eyes, dulled for days, now seemed bathed in a sky full of stars, shimmering with a sparkling light.

"I missed you terribly, and I was worried about you," Shen Zheng looked at him, candid and fervent, without the slightest concealment. "For all your brilliance and power, more than capable of dealing with the Wen family, I still couldn't help but want to come find you, to be by your side."

Wen Zuo's heartbeat gradually grew erratic, his fingertips curling nervously.

"Wanshan, what kind of people kiss each other's lips?" Shen Zheng suddenly asked softly, a hint of tentativeness in his voice.

Wen Zuo's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively wanted to hide his ever-unruly ears.

Before he could respond, Shen Zheng leaned down, their breaths mingling, his voice low and solemn. "I love you so much, not just a little."

The bonfire before them crackled, sending up two sparks that flared brightly in the air before quietly extinguishing, lighting a fire in both their eyes.

Wen Zuo's breathing grew rapid at these words, his body trembling slightly. Yet years of defenses and pretenses instantly rose, and he even retorted somewhat sharply, "Does Your Highness know what you're saying?"

"I do."

"I am Your Highness's teacher," Wen Zuo emphasized, against his true feelings.

Shen Zheng instead leaned even closer, his gaze sweeping over Wen Zuo's lips. "I wouldn't kiss my teacher. I would only kiss my beloved."

"Your Highness is of the Shen imperial family, the future of the nation rests on you. How can you speak of love and romance with a man?" Wen Zuo resisted stubbornly.

"So the teacher's stolen kiss is merely a limited-time gift during the inspection tour, a gift to be revoked once we return to the capital?" Shen Zheng's tone suddenly turned extremely grave.

"If not, does Your Highness intend to wed a man when you ascend the throne someday?" It was clearly Wen Zuo who had been questioning Shen Zheng, appearing harsh and heartless, yet an uncontrollable sense of grievance welled up in his heart. He laid before Shen Zheng the despised and nauseating delusion from his past life, leaving it open for criticism.

"Yes."

Shen Zheng reached out to caress his face, his thumb gently brushing Wen Zuo's somewhat pale lips. "I want to marry a man as my wife. I want the teacher to marry me as my wife."

"But ancestral laws do not permit it, and the Da Qian legal codes forbid it."

"Then we'll overturn those laws and abolish those codes!"

Wen Zuo was utterly stunned.

That was his true thought, his long-held hope.

These words filled him with joy and hope, yet years of restraint and caution kept him from showing how he felt.

Though he retreated step by step, he remained vigilant inch by inch, unwilling to shed his final layer of armor.

“I’m truly a bad person. I deliberately gave Wen Yingjing the chance to hide his assets. Even if the disaster relief had been sufficient, I would have claimed it wasn’t. Because I wanted to torment them bit by bit, to force them to sacrifice one person each day, to make them repay the suffering I endured.” Wen Zuo tested cautiously.

“They had it coming. With all the evil they’ve done, they don’t deserve a peaceful death.”

“You have no idea how bad I am. This is only a fraction of it.” Tears pooled in Wen Zuo’s eyes. He clenched his teeth, but they still fell.

“What if I do know?” Shen Zheng chuckled softly, kissing away a tear. He caught it with his lips, then pressed them to Wen Zuo’s, refusing to let him belittle himself. “Even if my teacher were a heinous villain, I would still love him.”

The kiss was deep and fierce, possessive and irresistible. Before Wen Zuo could speak, Shen Zheng’s tongue swept in, claiming every part of his mouth, silencing all words.

His body went soft, his strength giving out, and he could only cling to Shen Zheng’s neck, letting himself be pulled under.

The flames danced like water, casting flickering light across their faces. The brilliant Milky Way poured down its gentle affection, dropping a single blazing, silvery-white star.

After what felt like an eternity, Shen Zheng slowly released him, wrapping him tightly in his fur robe, pressing him to his warm chest to hear his heartbeat.

While stroking his back, Shen Zheng spoke earnestly, “I’ll take that as my teacher’s agreement. But there’s one thing I must make clear.”

Buried in his embrace, Wen Zuo’s cheeks burned, only his damp eyes visible as he listened.

“I know my teacher once favored women, and I’ve heard you had many close companions in the entertainment quarters.” Shen Zheng’s jealousy overflowed, though he tried to appear magnanimous. “From now on, my teacher is only allowed to have me. You can’t see them anymore. This is non-negotiable, so I expect you to take it seriously.”

“…”

So it was only about this. He truly has no idea how bad I am!