Shen Tang tossed the shovel she'd been using to dig into the ground.
She said irritably, "What would I go to Xiaocheng for? To walk right into a trap? Besides, what's so great about that dump?"
Show some respect for her fugitive persona!
"Is Young Master Shen not worried about your other relatives?"
Shen Tang hesitated at his words.
Qi Shan had hit the nail on the head.
No matter what, she was the one using this body now. She ought to learn about its original owner's past, so she wouldn't run into someone who knew the original owner later and give herself away, bringing needless trouble. She didn't know whether the original owner had any family. If they'd survived the hardships of exile, she could quietly look after them; if they hadn't made it and were dead, she could at least give them a proper burial instead of leaving their bodies exposed in the wilderness.
The changes in Shen Tang's expression did not escape Qi Shan. His eyes and brows were visibly alight with pleasure.
He was certain Shen Tang would make the choice he wanted!
"I can tell that Young Master Shen has extraordinary potential and may achieve great things one day. I, Qi, am unworthy of the title of renowned scholar, and though I fall short of those great teachers whose students are spread across the land, I'm more than capable of teaching Young Master Shen the basics..."
Shen Tang had made up her mind, but didn't say so.
Instead, she deliberately said, "I've memorized all those books of Yuan Liang's."
Qi Shan laughed helplessly and pointed at his own head, speaking with confidence. "Young Master Shen, the truly precious knowledge is in here. If reading a few books on Word Spirit were enough to master the Literary Heart, it would be far too easy to steal someone's knowledge."
"Yuan Liang has a point, but Xiaocheng..." She'd gone to so much trouble to escape, only to eagerly run right back. If she had the misfortune to run into the officers who'd been escorting her in Xiaocheng, how awkward would that be? "You'll have to give me some kind of guarantee."
"Such as?"
"Such as a Word Spirit that can change my build and appearance."
Qi Shan fell silent.
He really didn't have anything like that, and as far as he knew, no such unorthodox Word Spirit existed. All the Word Spirits in the world were used for power, stratagem, or martial prowess. Why was Young Master Shen's mind so peculiar?
Though he didn't have a Word Spirit for it, he did have something else.
"What's this?"
Shen Tang caught the little bottle he tossed her.
She opened it and peered inside, squinting. It was full of fine, inky-black powder. She had no idea what it was for.
Qi Shan revealed the answer. "Soot from the bottom of a pot."
Shen Tang fell silent.
"Smear some on your face, or run around, get some sun, and sweat a lot. Go seven or eight days without bathing or washing up. Who would recognize you?"
Shen Tang imagined herself going seven or eight days without washing while sweating the whole time. She could almost smell that indescribably pungent, sour stench.
"That's your brilliant idea?"
"How is that a bad idea?" The smile on Qi Shan's face faded, leaving not a trace of emotion. "I'm speaking from experience."
Shen Tang was taken aback.
Experience?
But Qi Shan clearly didn't want to dwell on that. His voice rose again. "Young Master Shen really doesn't need to worry so much. Those officers who escorted you were far more 'negligent' than you are. When a fugitive escapes, they're unlikely to report it. Most likely, they'll cut off someone else's ear to fill your spot. So you don't need to worry about seeing a wanted poster with your face on it at Xiaocheng's gates."
Even if the officers weren't "negligent" and did report Shen Tang's escape, and an artist drew up a wanted poster, so what?
The portraits those artists drew were so abstract that unless someone had an extremely distinctive feature, even their own mother wouldn't recognize them. And that was before you considered that ordinary people passed through the city gates every day. The chances of Shen Tang's identity being exposed were tiny—minuscule.
His explanation put Shen Tang's mind at ease.
"Fine. Then I'll go."
She dug away with a grunt until she'd made an enormous pit, then threw the bodies in one by one and shoveled the dirt back over them. By the time she'd finished, the moon was high overhead. Qi Shan had started a bonfire and was roasting the flatbreads Shen Tang had conjured with her Word Spirit. The moment she sat down, she had something hot to eat.
"Hot!"
She'd misjudged the temperature of the flatbread and nearly burned her tongue.
The flatbread didn't have much flavor. Apart from the slightly toasted aroma of the charred parts, every other bite tasted the same. The more she ate, the thirstier she got. She needed a sip of water every couple of bites, and her mouth felt utterly bland. She couldn't help wondering why she couldn't stuff it with a filling, like pork with preserved mustard greens.
For some reason, Qi Shan went to bed unusually early that night.
He neither read nor practiced his Word Spirit.
Shen Tang wasn't sleepy, so she sat by the bonfire, lost in thought.
After some time, she heard the faint sound of footsteps crushing grass and leaves. Someone was carefully approaching her, but they meant no harm, so she paid them no mind.
The person sat down a short distance away. In the firelight, she saw that it was the foolish son of the Censor-in-Chief. He kept glancing at her, now and then, seeming to want to ask something but holding back. It looked as if he wanted to confirm something.
He opened his mouth several times, but didn't seem to know where to begin. Shen Tang grew impatient waiting, so in the end she started the conversation herself.
"Has the Censor-in-Chief gone to bed?"
The man was startled, apparently not expecting Shen Tang to speak to him first. "Mm... Father's gone to bed. He isn't sleeping very soundly, though. He has a bit of a fever. He's been hurt too many times along the way, and his wounds are inflamed. We'll have to find some herbs tomorrow..."
As he spoke, the man's eyes reddened.
His father was in much better shape than most people, but age had taken its toll. He couldn't withstand too much jolting and hardship.
"There should be a village nearby. You could ask the villagers for some herbs. Come to think of it, I haven't asked your name yet, sir. How should I address you?"
"I'm Tian Zhong, courtesy name Shouyi."
"Why were you looking at me like that just now, Shouyi?"
"I thought you looked almost exactly like someone I've met before, apart from your gender. And, listening to you speak with Mr. Qi Shan during the day, when you said you were..." Tian Zhong swallowed the word "fugitive." "I thought you might have some connection to her."
Shen Tang fell silent.
Figures. If something could go wrong, it would.
Had she run into someone the original owner knew?
Shen Tang asked, "Who was she? Were you close?"
Tian Zhong waved his hands repeatedly. "Not at all, not at all. I only met her once. As for our relationship, she'd be my nephew's wife."
Shen Tang was utterly shocked. "...N-nephew's wife?"
"Strictly speaking, not quite." He explained, "I was classmates with Yun Chi's father, and we were both successful candidates in the same year's examinations. We became sworn family. Yun Chi is like my nephew. If the two had completed the wedding ceremony, he would have called me 'Uncle Tian.'"
"Who's Yun Chi?"
"Gong Cheng of the Gong Clan, courtesy name Yun Chi."
Shen Tang fell silent.
Well, damn!
She couldn't help but say, "Well, damn!"
This body was only eleven or twelve years old!
"Why didn't they complete the ceremony?"
"Before they could even bow three times on the wedding day, officers stormed into Gong Manor to arrest them. Everyone in the manor, including her, was thrown into prison, then exiled a few days later. I was a guest there at the time... It was a real shame."
He sighed when he finished.
He'd run around trying to help the Gong Clan after their exile. He'd never imagined that just a few days later, his own entire family would suffer the same fate.
Shen Tang asked, "Where is Gong Cheng now?"
He smiled bitterly. "If he was lucky, he's probably on the way of exile. If he wasn't, he's probably on Yellow Springs Road."
Shen Tang suppressed the vein throbbing in her forehead and kept probing for information. "And which family did Gong Cheng's new bride come from?"
"She was born to the Shen Clan, but..."
"But what?"
He said, "Only a couple of days after the Gong Clan was exiled, Zheng Qiao ordered the extermination of the Shen Clan down to the ninth degree. It was truly tragic."
Shen Tang fell silent.
Exterminated down to the ninth degree...
In other words, aside from Gong Cheng, who might or might not be dead, the original owner's current family situation was—truly an orphan?
It took me an hour to struggle through five hundred words. Damn!
Gong Cheng is not the male lead, not the male lead, not the male lead!
Gong Cheng is six or seven years older than the female lead!
He is not the male lead!
He's a side character, at most with a few scenes.
The female lead isn't married, either!
The female lead is unmarried!
And she won't get married later, either. At most, she'll take a wife!
The male lead is six years younger than the female lead. Anyone older than her who appears in the story can't possibly be the male lead!
There's practically no romance in this novel, none, none, none!
Just focus on the career plot.
After all, as a boss, you can have a whole group of handsome ministers, with no limit on how many at a time. But that doesn't work with romance. What does that tell us?
It tells us that building a career is more satisfying than getting laid.
P.S. It's not that I don't want to write the big shot's side story, but just look at how long the Empress's story is! I'm rereading it! Aaaah, I'm going to lose my mind!
Before you continue