Chapter 7: A Brush with Madness

   

 Chapter 7: A Brush with Madness

Torches burned bright, turning Zhoujia Village into a scene as bright as day.

   

"Village chief, where did these officers come from?" a villager asked urgently.

The village chief’s face paled as he watched the soldiers surrounding the village. "They don't look like the officers from Hezhou..." 

He hadn’t seen soldiers dressed like this before; each man looked stern and unapproachable.

"Search every house! Leave no one out!"

Chaos erupted. 

Dogs barked, people cried, begged, pointed fingers, cursed. The sounds mixed together in a cacophony. 

A woman clutching her daughter peeked out from behind her courtyard gate, eyes wide as she stared at the firelight, as though she had glimpsed the dawn.

...

As morning approached, the officials in the prefect magistrate’s mansion of Hezhou were roused from their sleep.

"What's all this noise so early? A funeral?" 

A man with a fat face and large ears sat up at the edge of his bed, cursing.

"Sir, something terrible has happened…!"

The man glared at the servant who spoke. "What terrible thing could have happened?"

This was Hezhou!  

His father was the prefect magistrate of Hezhou!

The servant trembled as he replied, "The capital... someone from the capital has come!"

The man frowned, getting up and dressing himself. "So what if someone from the capital has come? My father has connections in the capital!"

...

Zhao Fu, the prefect magistrate of Hezhou, was walking quickly towards the front courtyard.

He hadn’t been informed of any imperial envoy arriving in Hezhou! 

And they had silently tracked him through the dealings in Zhoujia Village, surrounding his mansion before dawn! 

If it had been anything else, he would have had some forewarning, but starting with Zhoujia Village left him no room to react!

"Master, don't worry. Just deny everything, and you'll be fine," a close advisor whispered as they walked.

"I know what I’m doing, but I still need to send a message to the capital as quickly as possible!" Zhao Fu forced himself to calm down. "I’ve had dealings with him for years; we’re on the same boat... he won’t abandon me!"

As he spoke, he suddenly asked, "By the way, do we know who the envoy is?"

"I’m not sure. No news has leaked out…"

They reached the front courtyard just as two rows of guards, swords at their waists, marched in. Between them strode a tall figure.

The young man wore a wide-sleeved cloak and walked with his hands behind his back, his expression calm despite the morning chill. His voice was casual and unhurried as he greeted, "Long time no see, prefect magistrate Zhao."

At the sight of the man's face, Zhao Fu froze, the color draining from his face as he stammered, "Wei..."

It was him!

...

News of the incident at the prefect magistrate’s mansion spread quickly.

Early in the morning, a crowd gathered in the tavern, buzzing with conversation, their faces full of astonishment.

A girl, having finished her morning practice in her room, opened the door when she heard the commotion.

"Sir... you’re up!" A boy standing by the railing, peering downstairs, turned around excitedly. "They're talking about Zhoujia Village and the prefect magistrate’s mansion!"

The girl joined him at the railing, looking down into the tavern.

"They found out Zhoujia Village was full of kidnappers! I heard they rescued over ten people just last night!"

"They also uncovered many unmarked graves..."

"Thank goodness the imperial envoy arrived, or who knows how many more would have suffered..."

"Wait, wait, I don’t get it. What does Zhoujia Village have to do with the prefect magistrate's mansion being raided? Could it be—"

"Of course! The people of Zhoujia Village were monsters, but they were never exposed because the prefect magistrate secretly protected them!"

"That prefect magistrate Zhao... how could he do something so despicable, when he’s supposed to be a father figure to the people!" someone slammed the table in outrage.

"Not only did he profit from it, but his son, Zhao Dingxun, has harmed countless innocent women with cruel methods. He even has a secret residence in Liuke Lane, just across the street… full of incriminating evidence!"

"The Zhao father and son, they’re worse than animals!"

"They are the shame of Hezhou!"

Leaning against the railing, the girl listened. Her heart settled as she overheard the people’s praise for the imperial envoy. She nodded in approval. 

She had expected to wait at least three to five days. 

Yet here she was, after just one night, and Second Young Wei had already resolved everything.

This Second Young Wei was quite capable.

As she silently praised him, the crowd downstairs grew more curious about the swift and decisive imperial envoy, surrounding a scholar for more details.

The scholar spoke with admiration, "This Lord Wei is no ordinary man. He hails from the prestigious Marquis Zhengguo family in the capital, but his rise to office was not due to family influence. He was personally chosen by the emperor as a top scholar at just seventeen, the youngest in history since the founding of the imperial exams!"

Huh? 

The girl, about to return to her room, stopped in her tracks, frowning in confusion.

She had never heard of this.  

When had Wei Yu, or anyone in Da Sheng Dynasty Dynasty, become a top scholar at seventeen?

Her first thought was that the scholar was exaggerating.

The murmurs of awe continued—

"And now, at just over twenty, he’s already a Vice Minister of the East Terrace... such talent is beyond our reach!"

The girl's frown deepened.

The official rank doesn’t match either.

Someone in the crowd finally realized, "Ah, I’ve heard about this before! So the envoy is the famous heir of the Marquis Zhengguo family, Vice Minister Wei Shuyi!"

"Exactly!"

The girl abruptly turned around.

"The envoy..." she asked the servant delivering food upstairs, "What’s the envoy’s name?"

"Why..." The servant paused, then smiled. "To rid the people of evil, of course!"

"... No," the girl pressed, "Is the imperial envoy’s name Wei Yu or...?"

This was very important to her—

"Wei Yu... Oh, you mean the second son of the Wei family." The servant, familiar with the influential Wei family, chuckled. "No, no, the envoy is not Wei Yu, but his nephew, the heir to the Duke Zhengguo, Wei Shuyi!"

"......"

The servant went on his way, leaving the girl standing there, as if turned to stone.

After a while, she stiffly raised her hand, comparing it to the height of the railing in front of her.

—Wei Shuyi?

—That little brat, who had been hurling insults at everyone since he was three years old?

Now...

Her hand kept rising, over her head, until she could picture the young man she had seen leaving the teahouse yesterday.

Now—he was suddenly this tall?!

Reeling from the shock, the girl’s face became expressionless.

Slowly, she turned and walked back into her room.

She needed to sit down.

She needed to process this.

If she wasn’t careful, at this rate, she might truly go mad.

...

Watching her close the door behind her, the boy looked confused but didn’t dare disturb her.

Inside, the girl sat before the mirror, staring at her reflection.

If Wei Shuyi was now a grown man, over twenty, then...

She raised her hand and pressed lightly on the birthmark on her chest—

Then Ah Li should be around this age as well.

The girl’s brows furrowed as she recalled the boy she had once saved. 

And now, in the prime of her life, she had been kidnapped.

Her mind surged with thoughts like a storm, chaotic images flashing before her eyes. 

She had known that she had narrowly escaped death, that the world was still the same. But she had not realized that today’s world was already a different place, that everything from yesterday had become part of the distant past.

At that moment, a group of people in deep green uniforms entered the tavern and quickly made their way upstairs.

Finally, our heroine has a name to go by...

(End of chapter)

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