Shen Tang nearly choked on the tea she had not yet swallowed.
"Cough, cough—s-so this is the truth behind the Gong Clan being confiscated and annihilated?" From what Qi Shan had said, Shen Tang felt that the Gong Clan could hardly be called righteous or innocent. "They knew Zheng Qiao was a treacherous scoundrel and still released the tiger back into the mountains. Did they never consider that he might one day come back for revenge?"
Not everyone in this world knew how to repay kindness.
What Zheng Qiao had suffered in Xin Country could absolutely be called the greatest humiliation. At the time, he had been weak and had no choice but to endure humiliation for survival. Now that he had become the Geng Country Lord, gaining power overnight, the hatred he had nursed for years had erupted like a volcano, and every stain from his past had become something he was desperate to bury.
Qi Shan said, "That, I don't know."
Shen Tang teased him, "I thought you knew everything, sir."
Though her transmigration had begun on hell difficulty, Qi Shan, this "Guiding NPC," had been exceptionally conscientious and responsible. Five-star review!
Qi Shan feigned surprise and said insincerely, "To receive such high praise from Young Master Shen, I am deeply honored."
Shen Tang: "..."
When it came to shamelessness, she still could not beat Qi Yuanliang. She lowered her head and strategically sipped her tea. Qi Shan, however, drank his tea while secretly observing her reaction. He had always been curious about the relationship between Young Master Shen and the Gong Clan. Just now, when she heard that the annihilation of the Gong Clan had originated from Zheng Qiao's revenge, Young Master Shen had shown neither outrage nor hatred. She had remained utterly calm, as though the matter had nothing to do with her.
But how could it possibly have nothing to do with her?
If Young Master Shen was cold and heartless, then why had she rushed through the rain last night for an idiot she had met only once?
This person's reaction was completely beyond common sense and logic.
Since the Geng Country soldiers had not yet left, Shen Tang did not want to go outside and attract attention. She had the tea-house owner bring them another pot of tea, and the two continued lingering in the tea house to pass the time, while also asking around about the identity of the prisoner in the prison cart.
The shopkeeper nervously glanced back and furtively peeked at the soldiers outside the tea house. Lowering his voice, he said, "I heard he's some kind of Censor-in-Chief..."
Shen Tang murmured in confusion and looked at Qi Shan again. "Censor-in-Chief?"
Don't blame her for being illiterate. As someone who had lost her memories, she truly did not know.
Qi Shan asked, "The Censor-in-Chief the shopkeeper mentioned—his surname is 'Tian'?"
"Seems his surname is 'Tian.' Those soldiers were cursing and grumbling about some 'old bastard surnamed Tian' and saying things like, 'So what if he's the Censor-in-Chief?'" The shopkeeper did not understand these matters either. Forget the great officials—even an old soldier guarding the city gates could easily kill ordinary folk like them. He refilled Shen Tang's tea and sighed. "You two young gentlemen should stop being curious, lest you lose your lives!"
The war between Xin and Geng Countries had affected the people of both countries the most. The people of Geng Country had it slightly better. Apart from their taxes being half again as heavy as before, squeezing them until they could barely breathe, at least they would not starve to death. The people of Xin Country had it much worse.
The main battlefield between the two countries was in Xin Country.
The people of Xin Country had not only been squeezed dry to provide military supplies and provisions for Xin Country's war effort; they also had to face the burning, killing, and looting of Geng Country's soldiers.
They had thought things would settle down for a while once the war ended. Who could have known that the Geng Country Lord, upholding the principle that "brothers must never suffer losses," would indulge the subordinates who had helped him conquer the realm in running wild and committing every evil?
The common people trembled whenever they saw Geng Country soldiers.
Seeing that the two young gentlemen were handsome and good-looking, the shopkeeper could not help offering a reminder, lest these two reckless youngsters lose their lives.
"Rest assured, shopkeeper. We know our limits." Qi Shan smiled as he accepted the shopkeeper's kind warning. Once the shopkeeper went elsewhere to attend to his work, the smile disappeared from his face, replaced by a gloomy expression. "The Censor-in-Chief is the chief official of the Censorate. He receives memorials from the ministers and nobles and investigates the hundred officials."
Shen Tang immediately understood. "So that Censor-in-Chief must have impeached Zheng Qiao more than once? I imagine he offended him thoroughly..."
Thinking of that thunderous tirade just now, which had fully demonstrated the charm of the art of language, how could Zheng Qiao possibly spare this family?
Qi Shan sighed. "It was more than merely offending him..."
"What else did that Censor-in-Chief surnamed Tian do?"
"I heard that the Censor-in-Chief had a fiery and forthright temper. He upheld the law and investigated wrongdoing, shying away from no one. Whether you were a minister, noble, or anyone else, if he caught you with evidence against you, he would launch a barrage of impeachments. Naturally, he did not leave Zheng Qiao out. Ever since Zheng Qiao became Xin Country's favored male companion, that Censor-in-Chief had cursed him the most viciously of all the officials. He even once blocked Zheng Qiao's path to court on horseback and loudly berated him to his face in front of the common people."
Shen Tang said, "He didn't give him even the slightest face?"
Qi Shan said, "Not the slightest. After that, from the officials above to the common people below, who in the Capital City did not know how Zheng Qiao had risen to power? When Zheng Qiao returned to the country, the Censor-in-Chief had also opposed it most fiercely. He declared that letting this man return would be releasing a tiger back into the mountains, creating endless trouble in the future. Nineteen memorials in succession had all begged the Xin Country Lord to execute Zheng Qiao."
By this point, Shen Tang had already guessed what had happened to the Censor-in-Chief's family. She said, "Once Zheng Qiao rose again, the Censor-in-Chief's family... No, the entire clan must have suffered terribly..."
The Gong Clan had at least once helped Zheng Qiao, yet they had still ended up with some dead and others exiled. The Censor-in-Chief's family had fared even worse.
But Qi Shan said, "It was more than that."
"There were other grudges?"
"Before Zheng Qiao returned to the country, the Censor-in-Chief rallied his students, disciples, and clan members serving as officials at court to submit a joint memorial begging the Xin Country Lord to execute Zheng Qiao. For a time, the Sovereign was forced by the pressure—and because he also had grievances against Zheng Qiao and had once harbored murderous intent toward him..."
It was said that the Sovereign's edict had already been written and was merely awaiting issuance.
But Zheng Qiao had made the superior move. He learned of the information in advance and narrowly extinguished the crisis before it could take shape, fleeing overnight back to Geng Country.
Had the news arrived even a little later, he would have been finished.
Shen Tang: "..."
What was she supposed to say?
"This story teaches us that when cutting grass, we must pull out the roots; when our enemy is sick, we must take his life. Strike first, lest the night grow long and dreams multiply."
Hearing Shen Tang solemnly "draw a lesson" from the matter, Qi Shan's lips twitched slightly, though he could not say what exactly was wrong with it.
He had just taken a sip of tea when a prisoner's bloodcurdling wails came from outside the tea house. They were followed by the prisoner's tear-choked curses: "This is too much! This is too much! Zheng Qiao, you vile, overfavored sycophant, how dare you do this—how dare you!"
Shen Tang turned her head toward the tea house's exterior.
"What happened this time?"
Qi Shan rose and went to the tea house entrance to ask around in a low voice. Not long afterward, he returned with a face cold enough to freeze the air, a chilling aura radiating from his entire body. "Zheng Qiao ordered the Xin Country Lord to lead the former officials in formally surrendering..."
Shen Tang was surprised. "I thought they had already surrendered..."
"There is still a ceremony left. Zheng Qiao cares about this the most."
"But you surrender after losing. Isn't that normal? Xin Country has been destroyed, and the outcome is settled. Why is the prisoner reacting so strongly? That prisoner was beaten half to death and still remained defiant without begging or crying. Yet over something so certain, he cried like this..."
There had to be more to it.
Qi Shan clenched his hands at his sides. His throat bobbed, and his voice trembled almost imperceptibly. He squeezed his eyes shut hard before opening them again and said calmly, "The National Seal could not be found after a long search. Zheng Qiao flew into a rage and forcibly ordered the Xin Country Lord to abdicate in favor of the only Princess beneath his knee..."
Shen Tang asked with her eyes, "And then?"
First, he had changed the name to "Chong Tai" as an insult. Now he was forcing someone to abdicate in favor of the Princess. Zheng Qiao really was a fox—he had plenty of outrageous tricks up his sleeve.
Qi Shan's expression was complicated as he continued, "...Then the Princess was to perform the ritual of surrender with bound hands and a jade tablet in her mouth, [body] bared, leading all the officials, dressed in mourning attire and bearing a coffin, in surrender..."
Shen Tang: "..."
To be bound hand and foot and hold a jade tablet in one's mouth referred to the ritual of surrender: both hands tied behind one's back, a jade tablet held between one's teeth, and surrendering to the victor.
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