12. Chapter 12

Su Wuke had never liked Wu Ciyun. The Su family had lived in Jiangzhou for generations, and several years ago, when he went to the capital to visit his younger sister, he saw Wu Ciyun once. Even then, he had felt that the boy was far too calculating for his age.

Later, when the entire Wu family was wiped out, Wu Ciyun escaped by betraying his mentor. Su Wuke became even more convinced that he was faithless and dishonorable, and held him in utter contempt.

After Chu Mingyi entered the city, he subjected Wu Ciyun to every kind of humiliation. Su Wuke had heard about it, but had been too lazy to interfere. He had even ordered the others not to meddle, leaving only that useless official under Prince Rui to run around making a fuss.

But he had never imagined that there was another side to what had happened back then. Wu Ciyun had not clung to life out of cowardice. She had endured humiliation and disgrace in order to raise these two orphans.

Su Wuke carefully studied the brother and sister, then looked again at Wu Ciyun in the distance. For a moment, his emotions were indescribably complicated.

The two siblings were now healthy and well, while Wu Ciyun was frail and thin, long since stripped of the bold, spirited air she had possessed when she once rode through the streets on horseback.

The system watched as Su Wuke looked at Wu Ciyun with regret, pity, and respect written plainly in his eyes. Clearly, he had already imagined an entire series of extraordinary events.

Even though the heads Wu Ciyun had ordered chopped off moments ago could have been strung together into a whole row of candied haws, he still saw her as a delicate yet resilient little white flower.

By coincidence, a gust of cold wind blew in from outside, and the supposedly fragile Wu Ciyun could not help coughing twice.

Wu Mingzhu hurried over and closed the window, then said solemnly, “Big Brother, why did you open the window? Steward Rong said you aren’t allowed to catch a draft right now.”

“It’s nothing. The room was simply too stuffy, so I opened the window for some fresh air.”

Wu Ciyun noticed that Su Wuke had been staring at her and said, “After everything happened, I had intended to send the children to the Su family. But I heard that Jiangzhou had remained unsettled these past few years, and His Majesty had kept a close watch on us. I could only keep the matter hidden for the time being. I hope you won’t blame me, General Su.”

“You did the right thing. Otherwise, it would only have created more trouble. I should be thanking you.”

Su Wuke knew that Wu Ciyun had opened the window for his sake, and his guilt deepened. If his actions caused her illness to worsen, would that not be repaying kindness with harm?

“Your health is so poor. What medicine do you usually take? There is an old physician who travels with me, and his medical skills are excellent. Why not let him examine you?”

Wu Ciyun politely declined. “Thank you, General Su. It is merely an old ailment I have carried for years. It is nothing serious. I will be fine once spring arrives.”

The physician Chu Mingyi had recently sent her had already aroused her suspicions. She had no desire to bring in another doctor who might very well discover her secret and make matters worse.

When Su Wuke heard that it was an old ailment, his heart ached even more, and his guess became firmer. In a gentle voice, he said, “If you do not mind, call me Uncle from now on. We are all family. There is no need to remain so distant.”

“Uncle is absolutely right.”

Wu Ciyun smoothly changed the way she addressed him and smiled. “If you have nothing else to do, why not stay for a simple meal? You can keep Mingzhu and Liangyu company as well.”

Su Wuke naturally agreed at once. Seeing this, Wu Ciyun simply took advantage of the opportunity and asked him to take the two children outside to have a snowball fight. As she watched the three of them leave the study in high spirits, she said, “A-Ming, bring in two more braziers.”

She had always been sensitive to the cold and could never tolerate it well. Earlier, while reviewing official documents, her hands had gone stiff. Wu Ciyun gently rubbed her icy fingers, and it was a long while before they warmed even slightly.

The jade prayer beads Wu Mingzhu had just slipped over her hand felt cool against her skin. Wu Ciyun removed them and examined them carefully. The quality was exquisite, clearly no ordinary piece, so she put them back on her wrist.

Anyone else would surely have taken them as a heartfelt gift, or perhaps assumed they were meant to hint at the giver’s identity.

Wu Ciyun, however, had only one thought: an expensive item delivered straight to her door for free. There was no reason not to accept it.

Wu Ciyun had someone bring in a fox-fur cloak. Wrapped in its warmth, she continued reviewing the documents on her desk. Today, she had executed all the officials Prince Rui had intended to win over. Half the important posts in Ningzhou were now vacant, so she had simply filled them with her own people, caring nothing for whether the move would anger Prince Rui.

“Is His Excellency in the study?”

After asking the attendant, the messenger hurried into the study and reported respectfully, “Your Excellency, Wuzhou has surrendered of its own accord.”

“How did that happen so quickly?”

Wu Ciyun paused at the news and said coldly, “Tell me everything.”

“Yesterday, Governor Cui burned all the provisions sent from Ping Su. The imperial commander, General Zuo, believed that Governor Cui was taking personal revenge. That very night, he launched a forceful attack on the grounds that Wuzhou had betrayed the court.”

“What utter absurdity! What is the situation in Wuzhou now?”

Wu Ciyun frowned deeply. She had intended to set General Zuo and Cui Wenhua against each other so that she could profit from their conflict, but she had never imagined that Zuo would be even more outrageous than she expected.

“Your Excellency, Governor Cui had ordered the city defenses strengthened several days ago. Wuzhou is completely unharmed.”

Wu Ciyun fell silent for a moment. Then she gave a soft laugh and sighed. “So I underestimated my senior fellow disciple, Cui.”

She had assumed that Cui Wenhua would remain blindly loyal to the end. That was why she had devised this plan to cut off his escape and force him to submit.

But now it seemed that the mantis had stalked the cicada while the oriole waited behind. Cui Wenhua had long since intended to surrender. Yet if he had surrendered outright, later historians would surely have criticized him. It was better to be “forced to rebel” today; that way, his reputation would remain intact.

Wuzhou’s long refusal to send aid was probably not because the city lacked provisions, but because Cui Wenhua had deliberately withheld them.

The soldier hesitated, then added, “Governor Cui made one request when he surrendered.”

“What request?”

“He said that if General Zuo can be captured alive, he asks that Your Excellency hand him over for punishment.”

Wu Ciyun raised an eyebrow. “I gave those orders long ago. Since Governor Cui has raised the matter again today, very well. Go and inform Deputy General Chen that word is to be spread throughout the army: whoever captures General Zuo alive will receive a hundred gold pieces.”

The soldier accepted the order and withdrew. As soon as A-Ming saw him leave, she hurried back into the study.

“Your Excellency, General Chu of Liang has arrived.”

“Does that man ever have a moment of leisure? What has he come here for this time...?”

Wu Ciyun gathered her fox-fur cloak around herself and frowned. “Invite him in.”

Two major events had taken place in Ningzhou today. The first was the public execution of the corrupt officials, which had delighted the people. The second was Wuzhou’s voluntary surrender without a single soldier being sent into battle.

Chu Mingyi had initially assumed that the first matter was Prince Rui’s doing. But after making careful inquiries, he learned that it had also been Wu Ciyun’s work. According to the spy he had planted in the Wu residence, Prince Rui’s official had quarreled bitterly with Wu Ciyun over it today.

He had already intended to recruit Wu Ciyun, so he promptly found an excuse to visit the Wu residence.

The moment Wu Ciyun saw Chu Mingyi, she remembered the lock of hair he had cut from her head. Her expression immediately turned cold.

“May I ask why General Chu has come today?”

“I heard that Your Excellency Wu has recovered and cut down corrupt officials with a swift blade today, so I came especially to pay my respects.”

Chu Mingyi placed the cage he had brought on the table and casually lifted the cloth covering it.

“I recently acquired a flying squirrel. I thought I would give it to your younger brother and sister to play with.”

A bright-eyed, nimble flying squirrel sat inside the cage. Chu Mingyi slipped a pine nut through the bars, and it immediately seized the nut and began gnawing noisily.

Wu Ciyun frowned at the sound and glanced over. The moment she saw the “great gift” Chu Mingyi had brought, her entire body stiffened.

Her face turned deathly pale. She instinctively clutched her fox-fur cloak more tightly and said coldly, “Thank you, General Chu, but my younger brother and sister do not like such things. You should take it back.”

Chu Mingyi had only meant to give the children something unusual to play with. Seeing her strange reaction, he froze for a moment, then said with an odd expression, “You aren’t afraid of mice, are you?”

When Wu Ciyun had cursed him as a rat in the snow and ice, she had been full of vigor. Yet now, faced with a real rat, she seemed timid and evasive.

The system was also astonished. It had never imagined that Wu Ciyun, who could order people beheaded without even blinking, would have such a weakness.

Wu Ciyun pressed her lips tightly together and refused to explain. The sight of the flying squirrel in the cage made wave after wave of nausea rise within her, until her stomach churned violently.

Every time she saw one, she remembered the year she was seven. Her family had not a scrap of food left, and all of them had gone hungry for four or five days. At night, only the rats continued rummaging stubbornly through the cabinets and chests.

She had woken in the middle of the night to the sound of gnawing. Only when the moonlight from outside illuminated the room had she seen clearly: her parents were staring fixedly at her and her younger brother, chewing on half a dead rat, blood dripping thickly from their lips.

The way they looked at her had been the way one looked at a rat meant for slaughter.

Or perhaps they had already become rats themselves by then. So long as it filled their bellies, there was nothing they would not do.

Chu Mingyi tried to defend the flying squirrel he had brought. He opened the cage, caught the animal, and tossed it lightly into the air.

“This is a flying squirrel. It is different from ordinary vermin. It can fly.”

The moment it left his hand, the flying squirrel spread its limbs and glided free of his control, heading straight toward Wu Ciyun.

Wu Ciyun’s expression changed drastically. She rose and stumbled backward, with such force that she nearly knocked over her chair.

The flying squirrel pounced onto her and nimbly burrowed into her fox-fur cloak. Wu Ciyun let out a startled cry and thrashed violently, as though she had been scalded.

Chu Mingyi was startled as well. He hurried forward to pull the animal out, but Wu Ciyun struggled so fiercely that she moved like an agile fish, leaving him unable to touch her.

He applied a little more force, never expecting to tear the jade prayer beads from her wrist. The beads scattered across the floor with a clatter.

Fearing that he might touch something he should not, Wu Ciyun shouted angrily, “Chu Mingyi! Let go of me!”

“Stop moving around. I’m trying to find where it went...”

Seeing that Wu Ciyun would not cooperate, Chu Mingyi could only force her down against the desk and reach for the fox-fur cloak around her.

“What are you doing?!”

A furious shout abruptly interrupted him.

Su Wuke stood in the doorway with Wu Mingzhu and Wu Liangyu. The moment he saw the scene before him, his eyes nearly burst with rage. Without a word, he strode forward and dragged Chu Mingyi away.

Wu Mingzhu had made a little snowman to show Wu Ciyun, so Su Wuke had brought both children back with him. He had never expected that, upon opening the study door, he would see Chu Mingyi pinning Wu Ciyun down and pawing at her, even beginning to remove her clothes.

Remembering what Chu Mingyi had done on the second day after entering the city, Su Wuke felt that he had now understood the entire truth.

No wonder Chu Mingyi had inexplicably tormented Wu Ciyun so relentlessly. The scoundrel had taken a fancy to her and intended to violate her!

Overcome with rage, Su Wuke raised his hand and swung at Chu Mingyi without hesitation. Chu Mingyi dodged awkwardly and protested, “I was helping him catch the flying squirrel!”

Su Wuke was almost laughing from the sheer absurdity of the excuse. He drew his sword and slashed at Chu Mingyi.

“Damn you, you look exactly like a rat!”

Wu Ciyun finally broke free of Chu Mingyi. Her hands trembling, she untied the fox-fur cloak and flung it aside. A large-eyed flying squirrel crawled out from within and promptly flapped back onto the table.

Wu Mingzhu blinked in amazement. “Wow! The little mouse can fly!”

Chu Mingyi, in the midst of reenacting the grandeur of the First Emperor: “...”

Su Wuke, chasing Chu Mingyi around with his sword: “...”

It really had been a rat-catching incident?!