Qiang Jin Jiu (Author : Tang Jiuqing 唐酒卿)

Chapter 20 : Decision

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“I’m so wronged.” Shen Zechuan said, “If anything were to happen now, it’s definitely all Shen Lanzhou’s fault.”

“There has been trouble after trouble ever since your release.” Xiao Chiye said, “Xiaofuzi, the Imperial College, Pan Rugui… How is it that every incident has something to do with you?”

Shen Zechuan said wryly, “That’s right. Why is it that they all have something to do with me? Don’t you know the reason for this? Back then, the Hereditary Prince found me in the Chashi Sinkhole. If he had used his blade to end me, then these incidents today would never have happened. “

Xiao Chiye took down the branch of leaves and said, “Back then, you fought to survive and drag out an ignoble existence. Did you only come to realize what it feels like to live today?”

The calmness in Shen Zechuan’s eyes was so placid that Xiao Chiye found it surreal.

This man was extremely odd.

It was the same that day during the feast. His every move carried with it an undercurrent of “having left behind the past.” But Xiao Chiye could still clearly remember the look in Shen Zechuan’s eyes when the latter had bitten him five years ago on that snowy night.

Such disconnect from reality seemed to be like a bottomless abyss he could not get a grasp of. Those spurts of hatred seemed to have been worn away until others had no way of telling where his limit lay. Everyone at the feast humiliated him, and yet he merely lowered his head and smiled. When Xiao Chiye had said that he was seeing him in a different light, he had truly meant it.
If a man could grin and bear it to this extent, then that darkness under that calm was, on the contrary, all the more disturbing to Xiao Chiye.

“What it feels like to be alive.” Shen Zechuan smiled again. “I can feel it every single day and night while I was in Zhao Zui Temple. Now that I’ve been released, all the more I find that living isn’t easy. I treasure my life. And I’m afraid. But they want me to shoulder this sin and pay for all those human lives with my own. I, Shen Lanzhou, has only this one life. How is that even enough to pay for them all? I ingratiate myself with everyone in so many ways all in the hope that Second Young Master and the various nobles will be magnanimous and won’t be too hard on me. Today, you want me to give you an account. Second Young Master, at least give me a reason.”

By the time Xiao Chiye listened to this point, he had already changed his mind. He has a keen nose and he always vaguely felt uneasy every time Shen Zechuan cooperated in such a compliant and docile manner. But Shen Zechuan yielded to neither cajolery nor coercion. No matter how hard Xiao Chiye tried to pry it out of him, he could not tell the truth from his lies.

He did not believe a word of what Shen Zechuan said. Just as Shen Zechuan had said that night, everyone was just playing along for fun. Since that was the case, so why take it seriously?

But although people could lie, the traces left behind could not. He just had to mingle among the Nine Schools of Thoughts in Qudu, and ten to one he would be able to pry something loose. Shen Zechuan wanted to plant a man by Li Jianheng’s side, and it was certain that this person would not be an expert. Based on Shen Zechuan’s current circumstances, he could only bribe an errand-runner or an attendant.

This Li Jianheng’s matter was questionable both on the inside and on the outside. If he could not investigate this thoroughly, then there will be no end to troubles in the future. Ever since Xiao Chiye cast his lot with Prince Chu, he found himself sleeping less.