Su Ting never expected to encounter Director Wang in Dongchang Prefecture.
Wang Zhi, dressed in a blue robe, sat calmly by the window of Xiangzhu Inn, sipping tea with composure.
Seeing Su Ting’s astonishment, he offered no explanation but directly led him to a private room.
Xiangzhu Inn was the only lodging along this route. Wang Zhi had anticipated that Su Ting would stop here to rest during his journey, so he had been waiting here early.
He intended to intercept Su Ting.
Su Ting furrowed his brow and asked in a low voice, “Director, are you here because something has happened in the capital?”
Wang Zhi did not answer but softly called out, “Qin Zhen.”
A woman in green attire then emerged slowly from behind the screen.
Qin Zhen, wearing a moon-white veil, stood respectfully behind Wang Zhi.
Her attire suggested she was neither a palace maid nor one of Wang Zhi’s guards.
“Who is she?” Su Ting inquired again.
Wang Zhi replied, “A Life-Preserving Charm.”
A Life-Preserving Charm? To preserve whose life?
Su Ting was filled with confusion and couldn’t help but scrutinize the woman from head to toe.
He couldn’t see her face clearly, but her silhouette alone felt strikingly familiar.
Yet, he couldn’t recall who she was.
In other words, very few women had ever existed in Su Ting’s memories.
Youen was one of them.
Youen…
Suddenly, Su Ting thought of something and examined Qin Zhen once more.
This green-clad woman named Qin Zhen seemed remarkably similar to Youen.
How could this be?
Wang Zhi noticed his bewilderment and gave a slight wave of his hand. Understanding his meaning, Qin Zhen immediately closed the doors and windows of the private room, then walked behind Wang Zhi and slowly removed the veil from her face.
The moment the veil slipped from her face, Su Ting stood frozen for a long time.
Similar—so very similar.
Almost identical.
Wang Zhi stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at Su Ting as he said gravely, “I came here to have you take her back to the Su family.”
Take a woman who looked exactly like Youen back to the Su family?
Su Ting recalled Wang Zhi’s earlier mention of a “Life-Preserving Charm” and suddenly understood.
The life the Director sought to preserve was Youen’s.
He asked, “Has His Majesty begun to suspect?”
Wang Zhi turned his back, recalling the events of that day.
In the eighteenth year of Chenghua, the Western Depot was impeached by court officials, and Emperor Mingxianzong intended to dismiss Wang Zhi.
Wang Zhi was no fool; he had long foreseen what was to come.
That day, Emperor Mingxianzong suddenly brought up an old matter from five years ago.
“We have heard that Song Yu, who was in charge of constructing the imperial mausoleum back then, had a daughter.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Zhi’s brow twitched slightly, and his hand, which was preparing incense, paused briefly.
Five years had passed—why would His Majesty suddenly mention this?
A sense of foreboding washed over him.
When he looked up again, he found Emperor Mingxianzong’s gaze fixed directly upon him.
He smoothed the incense ash and immediately regained his composure.
“Your Majesty, it is true.”
Emperor Mingxianzong averted his gaze and picked up a new incense burner from the side.
“Recently, someone from the Eastern Depot informed Us that the girl from Song Yu’s family is still alive.”
Wang Zhi continued preparing the incense as he replied.
“This humble official has met Song Yu’s daughter a few times. She is exceptionally intelligent and possesses some of Song Yu’s talent.
If she is indeed still alive, she might become a second Song Yu.”Emperor Mingxianzong placed the incense burner in his hand onto the table. “If what you say is true, and this girl can inherit the Song family legacy, it would indeed be a good thing for our time.
Yet she is precisely the person I ordered you to kill.”
Wang Zhi stood upright nearby, his tone consistently composed as he replied.
“Years ago, the entire Song family fell by my hand. If that girl truly survives, she would surely regard me as her enemy and seek vengeance for her family’s annihilation. Your Majesty knows well—I have no reason to sow seeds of future calamity for myself.
Moreover, in my duties, I have never allowed personal considerations to interfere.”
Emperor Mingxianzong remarked, “Indeed, you and that Song family girl share a blood feud of exterminated kin.”
Wang Zhi couldn’t discern whether these words were mere repetition, a reminder, or a veiled threat.
But he understood his current position was perilous.
Youen’s situation was equally precarious.
Thus, he activated a long-prepared pawn—Qin Zhen.
Qin Zhen was someone he had rescued from the death row prison years earlier. He had spared her life back then solely because she bore an uncanny resemblance to Youen.
She was the Life-Preserving Charm he had secretly cultivated in the shadows for Youen.
A chess piece he would never deploy unless absolutely necessary.
Now, that critical moment had arrived.
He had no choice but to bring this pawn into the light.
The Emperor had grown suspicious regarding the Song family matter and would inevitably order a thorough investigation into the whereabouts of the Song family’s surviving daughter.
Youen was Song Qingqing, daughter of Song Yu of the Song family.
He couldn’t guarantee Youen’s absolute safety, nor could he ensure the Emperor’s agents wouldn’t trace their way to the Su family.
His only recourse was to place Qin Zhen within the Su household.
This way, even if the Emperor’s investigation reached the Su family, no one would suspect Youen, who was disguised as a man.
Qin Zhen was the Life-Preserving Charm he planted in the Su family—and Youen’s sacrificial pawn.
Her death would ensure Youen’s survival.
Su Ting finally understood the full story.
His voice suddenly grew very soft. “Director, you’ve secured a Life-Preserving Charm for Youen, but what about yourself? How will you fare?”
Wang Zhi lowered his head slightly, his tone equally hushed.
“That day, His Majesty said these words to me:
‘I have always favored only the finest goods. This incense can no longer be used—discard it.'”
It wasn’t truly about discarding the incense.
He clearly intended to discard the Western Depot, to discard Wang Zhi himself.
His Majesty had already acquired a new incense burner, had already chosen a new useful servant.
And Wang Zhi would ultimately become a discarded pawn in another’s chess game.
Su Ting clenched his fists and suddenly knelt behind Wang Zhi.
“If the Director lives, I live. If the Director dies, I die.”
“I will not die.” He spoke these words with a faint smile.
“His Majesty has played his chess game—stripping Wang Yue and me of all military authority, ordering me to Nanjing while keeping Wang Yue at Yan-Sui. He believes this will grant him peace of mind.”
Yet the court is in turmoil, wars rage incessantly, and the people suffer unbearably.
How could this be solely Wang Zhi’s fault?
He guarded the realm, protected the people, remained loyal to his sovereign.
Since entering the palace, had he ever acted against the state’s interests?
Yet in the end, this was his reward.
Emperor Mingxianzong won this chess game, while Wang Zhi had long lost the energy to scheme.
His only remaining option was to survive.
To endure beneath the censure of officials, within the Emperor’s suspicion.
“Director, since you were assigned to Nanjing, your presence here in Dongchang Prefecture—if His Majesty learns of it, he will surely reprimand you.”
“He will undoubtedly learn of my meeting with you here today.”
Even if he didn’t know now, Wang Zhi would make certain he found out.
Only he knew of this matter, so Qin Zhen could die by the Emperor’s hand in Youen’s place.
Only with her death could the Song family’s affairs be completely concluded.
Only then could Su Youen truly become a member of the Su family and live well in this turbid world.
Note: Due to the story’s setting, this work does not strictly follow historical records. We hope readers will enjoy the story as fiction while treating history as history.
Historical texts should still be studied seriously – education comes first.