Unreconcilable: "Get Out." Part 1

By the time the banquet ended, the sky outside the palace was completely dark. The clouds were heavy and gloomy, obscuring the moonlight, casting a shadow upon people as well.

When Chu Jin came out, the people in the hall had almost all left. The vast palace instantly became cold and deserted, as if the entire night of music and lights had been nothing but a gaudy illusion.

"Heir!"

Someone hurried over to him, their face pale, and said anxiously, "News came from our men below. They said Commander Xu's identity was somehow discovered, and he was taken away by the palace people this afternoon—"

"He's dead."

Chu Jin said.

The person froze, then said in disbelief, "What?"

Chu Jin lowered his eyes, his gaze, devoid of any ripple, passing through his dark eyelashes to land on the face before him.

He recognized this person, one of the Young Master's Hidden Guards, a subordinate of Xu Zhan.

He shifted his gaze away, his voice sounding light and ethereal, "At the banquet, he tried to assassinate Shen Ke, and in the end, he died at Shen Ke's hands."

"Assassinate... assassinate...?" Xu Yun murmured, "How is that possible? The Young Master gave no such order!"

Without orders, Xu Zhan would naturally not have done such a thing. But who would go to such lengths to frame him with such a crime? And who would benefit from this?

Xu Yun's pupils slowly contracted.

He heard Chu Jin speak in a cold voice, uttering the name that had suddenly appeared in his mind: "It was Xiao Zhuo."

That gentle and righteous, high and mighty monarch who seemed to have been uninvolved from beginning to end.

"Using my man to assassinate his Grand Marshal, no matter who dies in the end, Xiao Zhuo stands to gain." Chu Jin raised a mocking smile. "If Xu Zhan dies, he can eliminate a spy from Old Qin; if Shen Ke dies, he can eliminate a long-standing threat. This Prince of Yanling's calculations are truly excellent."

There was no outside assassination at all. Those so-called assassins were merely death warriors arranged by Xiao Zhuo. After failing to assassinate Shen Ke, they brazenly pinned the blame on Xu Zhan, turning it into a premeditated assassination by Old Qin.

What was more fatal was that Xu Zhan would have no chance to defend himself. All the testimonies would point to him, and with his identity, everyone would be convinced of his guilt.

From the moment his identity was exposed and he was thrown into prison, he no longer had any chance of survival.

Chu Jin understood this, and so did Xu Zhan. No matter how much he disliked this Heir, for the safety of Old Qin, he had to protect Chu Jin's current identity.

So from the moment he entered the door, he played along with Chu Jin's act.

Xiao Zhuo's suspicious gaze followed him like a shadow, only breaking for an instant when Chu Jin kicked Xu Zhan to the ground. In that brief respite, Chu Jin lowered his voice and said in his ear, "Come kill me."

Then his gaze shifted, guiding Xu Zhan to look at the sword on the guard's waist.

To deceive Xiao Zhuo, this was the final step.

In Chu Jin's plan, after guiding Xu Zhan to draw the sword and stab at him, he would first feign dodging a few times, and then the guards, having reacted, would kill the suddenly attacking Xu Zhan.

But he hadn't expected Shen Ke to act first.

He wasn't sure if the Grand Marshal had figured something out, but regardless, he had indeed helped him.

Chu Jin's eyes were heavy, his expression thoughtful.

Xu Yun asked in a low voice, "Commander Xu's body..."

Chu Jin came back to his senses.

As for how the people of Yanling would handle Xu Zhan's body, he could only assume the worst; most likely, it would be tossed into a mass grave and buried.

"I don't know," he said. "At least his death wasn't painful."

Xiao Zhuo would absolutely not let go of a foreign spy. In private, who knew what inhuman methods he would use to torture the former Commander of the Hidden Guards.

For a man as proud and arrogant as Xu Zhan, such humiliation would be worse than death. That was why Chu Jin chose to let him die a decent, complete, and dignified death at the end of this play.

Chu Jin let out a laugh, but there was no trace of amusement in his eyes. "In this round, Xiao Zhuo didn't exactly win either."

If he hadn't happened to be at the scene of the assassination and met Shen Ke by a strange twist of fate, he feared that after Xu Zhan, he would have been the next one to be framed.

It was just a pity that in all of Xiao Zhuo's meticulous calculations, he had failed to account for Chu Jin's appearance at the Jade Dew Pavilion.

Xu Yun said, "Does that mean Xiao Zhuo won't make a move against us again in the short term?"

"He's probably very confused right now, wondering how the spy he identified suddenly became a madman trying to sabotage the alliance between our two states," Chu Jin said faintly. "Let him be dizzy. He won't act rashly on something he's not sure about."

"More than this, I want to know how Xiao Zhuo discovered Xu Zhan's identity."

The wind howled, a chill between his lips and teeth. He gazed at the distant, dark, and formless royal palace, where floating lights among the vast complex of buildings looked like countless pairs of dormant eyes.

"...Who has been passing information from behind the scenes?"

Xu Yun suddenly shuddered, then reached into his robes to fumble for something. He finally pulled out a few small bamboo tubes and handed them to Chu Jin. "I found these on the Supervisor of Attendants of Yanling."

"I stumbled upon his attendant burning these things, so I waited for them to leave and picked up a few intact ones." Xu Yun's expression was grave. "I've looked at them. It's Hanshan Paper inside. They must be communicating via carrier pigeon."

Chu Jin pulled the paper out of the bamboo tube and glanced at it.

The next second, his hand suddenly froze, suspended in mid-air.

Xu Yun looked at the bamboo tube, already deformed in his grip, and called out with some uncertainty, "Heir?"

He couldn't describe Chu Jin's expression at that moment. Even after the perilous close call with Xiao Zhuo just now, a life-and-death situation, he had never shown such an expression.

Xu Yun stood on his tiptoes, wanting to see what content could make the other's face turn so ugly. Hanshan Paper revealed its text when exposed to fire, and the writing would never disappear afterward. So, the writing was still visible on these already-viewed notes.

He glanced at it and saw that this note detailed Chu Jin's movements at Heshan Academy.

Before he could get a closer look, Chu Jin suddenly reached out, his face as dark as water. "Give them all to me."

Xu Yun was startled and hurriedly handed him all the bamboo tubes in his hand.

Chu Jin took them one by one, looking at them sheet by sheet, almost agitated, as if he were repeatedly confirming something. At first, Xu Yun was confused, but then he suddenly realized—

He was identifying the handwriting.

The calligraphy was elegant and graceful, clearly the result of over a decade of practice, a true test of skill.

Handwriting, handwriting... If one could even recognize a person's handwriting, it must be someone they were very familiar with.

Xu Yun fell silent.

A crystalline speck flashed before his eyes, followed by more and more, growing larger until white snowflakes filled his vision.

Xiangjing was a thousand miles south of Xufang; the snow season always arrived later.

Xu Yun glanced at Chu Jin again. He was already covered in silvery grains of snow, standing motionless between the vast heaven and earth, looking just like a snowman.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally blinked. The pale snowflakes were shaken loose by the slight tremor and slowly drifted down.

At the same time, the Hanshan Paper in his hand also fell.

"Xu Yun." His voice had returned to calm, like an empty, silent valley. "What materials are needed to make Hanshan Paper?"

Caught off guard, Xu Yun thought for a moment. "I think it's Phosphor Ash, Xuancao Grass, and something... zhao... zhao something qing?"

Chu Jin said, "Serene Nightshine."

"Right," Xu Yun nodded. "Fireflies."

Chu Jin said, "There is something I need you to investigate."

He paused. In that brief moment, he lowered his head and smiled, a laugh as light and cold as the snow itself. "...What medicine exactly requires Serene Nightshine?"

Hearing this somewhat strange request, Xu Yun hesitated for a moment before asking, "Heir, are we still returning to Xufang tomorrow?"

This trip to the capital had been fraught with danger. Logically, resting for a few days would have been the best choice. He didn't understand why Chu Jin was so insistent on rushing back.

Chu Jin stared at the wind and snow filling his vision. After a long time, he slowly said, "We are."

Snowflakes fell into his hair, mottling the deep black strands.

This was the first snow of the season in Xiangjing City.

On New Year's Eve, a heavy snow fell on Heshan.

The academy was decorated with lanterns and colored banners, filled with a festive atmosphere. Qi Yu, dressed in his new clothes, went knocking on doors from early in the morning, stuffing a pile of New Year's money into everyone's hands, even the Imperial Censor got a share.

Song Sifan weighed his share, complaining, "Why is mine so little?"

Qi Yu spread his hands. "Can't be helped. You're the furthest away from me. By the time I got to you, I was running out of money."

Song Sifan was furious, pointing at the Imperial Censor. "Bullshit! Even a bird got more than me!"

The Imperial Censor met his pointing finger and chirped with exceptional pride.