The hall went silent.
Wang Guizhi steadied herself against the table, all color gone. Jing Shishi hid behind Xue Wenyan. Xue Wenyan snatched Xue Miao’s letter.
“Mother, the censor is investigating the stone accounts from last year’s river dike.”
“Your father handled those stones. What does that have to do with us?”
“It does,” Xue Miao said. “Cen Sheng’s father, Cen Wangshan, led the laborers who transported them. Inferior stone was substituted, the dike collapsed, and three villages flooded. Cen Wangshan took the blame and was exiled.”
Cen Sheng stared at him.
She had never known how her father died. Her stepmother only said he committed a crime. In her previous life, Wang Guizhi evaded every question.
Now Xue Miao claimed he had been a scapegoat.
“Cen Wangshan stole the money himself!” Wang Guizhi cried.
“Perhaps. But if the censor discovers the Xue family replaced the stone and Cen Wangshan was merely sacrificed—”
“Silence!”
Xue Miao watched her calmly, though hatred tightened his fingers.
“The censor’s men are already questioning the laborers’ families. They will reach this house soon. If Mother can conceal the truth, consider my warning unnecessary.”
He turned his wheelchair to leave.
“Wait,” Cen Sheng called.
Sunlight sharpened his pale profile.
“What does Sister-in-law require?”
In her first life, she had known him only as the concubine-born son who broke his legs at twelve and was abandoned in the worst courtyard. Yet with a few sentences he had broken Wang Guizhi’s control.
This “useless cripple” was anything but simple.
“Thank you for helping me.”
He said nothing and left.
Once he was gone, Wang Guizhi’s fear turned venomous.
“Shengniang, do you wish to know how your father truly died?”
Cen Sheng clenched her fists.
“Only I know. When the censor questions you, insist that your father stole the silver and that you heard nothing about the stone. Do that, and today’s offense will be forgiven. Your divorce can wait. But if you say one wrong word, you will never find your father’s bones.”
Was he alive? No. Wang Guizhi was testing her.
“I understand,” Cen Sheng said meekly.
“Return to your room. You are forbidden to leave.”
Cen Sheng lowered her head and withdrew. In the empty corridor, she gripped a pillar while her body shook.
The Xue family owed her far more than one life.
—
After dark, Cen Sheng slipped through the rear gate to see Xue Miao. Every word he had spoken seemed deliberate. He knew something.
His neglected courtyard lay behind moss and weeds. Candlelight glowed behind a half-open door.
Before she knocked, a strange man spoke inside.
“Master, Wang Guizhi did hold a grudge against Cen Wangshan. His wife was beautiful. Xue Chongli wanted her as a concubine, but Cen Wangshan refused. So Xue Chongli framed him for substituting the river stones.”
Xue Miao answered quietly.
“One more matter,” the man continued. “Your fall from the horse five years ago was not an accident. Someone cut the girth to look torn. The culprit was an old servant from Wang Guizhi’s natal family.”
A long silence followed.
“She is capable,” Xue Miao said with a soft laugh.
“Shall I—”
“No. The imperial censor will deal with them.”
“And Cen Sheng?”
Her heart lifted into her throat.
“She did not drink the medicine today,” Xue Miao said, something almost imperceptible moving beneath his voice. “She is intelligent. We will watch.”
Cen Sheng stepped backward. A loose brick clicked.
The door flew open. A hand like iron closed around her wrist and dragged her into the courtyard.
Under the moon, Xue Miao sat in his wheelchair, one hand gripping her. His fingers were long and callused—the hand of someone who had trained for years with weapons.
How could a paralyzed man possess such strength?
Behind him, a man in black rested a hand on his sword.
“Sister-in-law has unusual interests,” Xue Miao said. “Listening at my wall in the middle of the night?”
“I…”
One wrong word might end her life.
“Could you repeat what you just said?”
His eyes narrowed.
“About my father. About the person who caused your fall. I heard everything.”
The guard drew his blade half an inch. Xue Miao raised a hand to stop him.
For a long moment, he judged her.
Then he released her and leaned back, the corner of his mouth curving.
“Since you heard it, what do you intend to do?”
Cen Sheng closed her hand into a fist.
“I want to make a bargain with you.”