Shang Qingyan approached Yu Ange: “This prince cares not whether others live or die, but only concerns himself with Young Master Yu’s troubles.”
Yu Ange knew Shang Qingyan was testing her again: “Pray tell, Your Highness, what troubles might those be?”
Shang Qingyan glanced in the direction Cen Jiashu had departed, pondering briefly: “Young Master Yu’s intense loathing for Cen Tanhua likely stems from matters concerning Miss Yu.”
Yu Ange lowered her gaze: “That is not entirely incorrect.”
Shang Qingyan remarked: “For someone like Miss Yu—a person of such spirited grace—Cen Jiashu to have the heart to betray her truly shows his blindness.”
Yu Ange showed slight surprise: “Your Highness knows of my sister?”
Shang Qingyan raised an eyebrow as he studied Yu Ange’s features: “I have heard a little.”
Yu Ange said: “My sister and I left the capital many years ago. Do people in Shengjing still remember us? How do they speak of us siblings?”
Shang Qingyan thought to himself that in Shengjing, aside from mentioning Young Master Yu as a good-for-nothing, no one truly remembered this pair of siblings.
It was only because he remembered Yu Ange knocking out his front teeth as a child that he had paid them some extra attention.
Shang Qingyan said: “Rumors in Shengjing have passed through too many mouths to be taken as truth. However, as her elder brother, Young Master Yu must understand Miss Yu very well.”
Casually inquiring about another family’s female members was inevitably impolite, but Shang Qingyan didn’t know why he couldn’t help but voice this discourteous remark.
Yu Ange, thinking of her own notorious reputation in her past life, instinctively wanted to defend herself a little: “My sister is absolutely not the kind of person with flawed private morals as described by the Cen family servants. She joined the military camp and practiced martial arts because she wished one day to protect the nation and guard the borders, just like our father.”
Having said this much, Yu Ange bid farewell to Shang Qingyan.
Perhaps this was the way of military generals—yearning to go to battle, to display their ambitions, yet also grieving deeply for the nation and its people when war arrived.
Shang Qingyan only saw those cold, quiet eyes of hers, filled with an unshakeable melancholy. For some reason, an inexplicable anger toward Cen Jiashu ignited within him.
“Miss Yu has lofty aspirations in her heart; she truly should not suffer the slanderous words of those petty individuals.”
Yu Ange paused in her steps: “It matters not. I will seek justice for my sister.”
With these words, Yu Ange’s figure disappeared around the corner.
Shang Qingyan toyed with the prayer beads in his hand, a cold mist rising in his glass-like eyes: “Zhu Ying, cripple Cen Jiashu’s right hand.”
Zhu Ying quietly appeared behind Shang Qingyan: “You have no enmity with Cen Tanhua. Why go to such lengths?”
Shang Qingyan rolled the prayer beads between his fingertips, suppressing the malice in his heart: “I owe Young Master Yu a favor; it’s merely reciprocity. Moreover, Cen Jiashu is the Grand Prince’s man. Am I not allowed to enjoy seeing them suffer misfortune?”
Zhu Ying knew he couldn’t dissuade him, so he proceeded according to Shang Qingyan’s orders.
Shang Qingyan looked down at the flawless white jade prayer beads in his hand, faint echoes of Buddhist chants vaguely reaching his ears.
“Buddha, I have harmed someone again. But who told others to harbor malicious intent first?”
“A woman’s reputation is of utmost importance. How dare they create such verbal karma against Yu Ange.”
When Cen Jiashu awoke again, a crowd surrounded his bedside. Not only were Zhang Shou and Yu Ange present, but an envoy from Jingdu had also come to join the commotion.
Zhang Shou pointed to the physician by his bed: “Cen Tanhua, this is Imperial Physician Liu from the palace. He is about to administer acupuncture. Please bear with it.”
When Cen Jiashu first arrived at the prefectural office, his wounds had already been bandaged by the city’s physicians. However, considering that Imperial Physician Liu’s medical skills were surely superior to those of the other doctors, Cen Jiashu said, “I must trouble you.”
Imperial Physician Liu took out several silver needles and inserted them into Cen Jiashu’s arm.
Perhaps it was psychological, but he felt the pain in his right arm penetrate deep into the bone, more unbearable than when he was first injured. He couldn’t help but cry out in pain.
Imperial Physician Liu shook his head and said, “Those quacks have done him a great disservice.”
A sense of foreboding rose in Cen Jiashu’s heart. “What do you mean by that, Imperial Physician Liu?”
Imperial Physician Liu replied, “Tanhua Cen’s arm is too severely injured and has not received proper treatment. I fear that in the future, holding a brush may be difficult.”
Cen Jiashu felt as if struck by lightning. He had just been named Tanhua and entered the Wenhan. If he could no longer hold a brush, even with his literary talent, he would be unable to personally submit his writings to the emperor, and his official career would surely be greatly hindered.
Cen Jiashu was utterly panicked. He widened his eyes and said, “Imperial Physician Liu, save me! My right hand must not be crippled!”
Imperial Physician Liu still shook his head. “This old man can only do his best. As for how much Tanhua Cen’s right hand can recover, it all depends on fate.”
Upon hearing this, Cen Jiashu was filled with despair. His teeth chattered as he repeated incessantly, “It can’t be crippled! My hand can’t be crippled!”
Yu Ange stood behind the crowd, watching coldly. In her mind, she recalled the scene of searching through mountains of corpses and seas of blood for her father’s remains.
Back then, her father had led the Shenweijun in a desperate fight, but due to leaked military intelligence, they were surrounded and annihilated by the Liangbing.
By the time she arrived, tens of thousands of Shenweijun soldiers lay exposed in the wilderness, their blood flowing like rivers.
She searched through the mountains of corpses for three days and three nights, only to find her father’s head and the right hand that had so often patted her head.
There was a scar on the side of her father’s right index finger. It might be hard to believe, but that scar was left when her father accidentally cut himself while carving a small wooden puppet for her in her childhood.
Such a loving father, such a renowned general, had been torn apart by five horses by the Liangjun.
That right hand of her father’s still tightly clutched a corner of the Shenweijun flag’s fabric.
Amid the mountains of corpses, she wept bitterly to the heavens. The only responses were the cries of vultures and the angry roars of tens of thousands of heroic souls in the wind.
“Alas, Tanhua Cen, if you lose your right hand, you still have your left. Please accept this with grace,” Imperial Physician Liu consoled.
Everyone present, whether acquainted with Cen Jiashu or not, wore expressions of sympathy and regret.
Only Yu Ange, hiding deep hatred and sorrow in her heart, laughed inappropriately. “Then I truly must thank Tanhua Cen.”
Everyone present turned to look at Yu Ange, not understanding why she would say such a thing.
A mocking smile hung on Yu Ange’s lips. “Thank you, Tanhua Cen, for secretly coming to break off the engagement with my sister behind your family’s back. If not for this, wouldn’t you have dragged my sister down for a lifetime?”
Upon hearing this, Cen Jiashu’s face turned deathly pale, veins bulging on his forehead as if suppressing overwhelming rage, yet unable to vent it due to his own guilt.
How vicious Yu Ange’s words were!
However, everyone present had more or less heard about the scandal of Tanhua Cen breaking off the engagement in the past two days. Although they felt Yu Anhe’s inflammatory words were inhumane, no one spoke up to stop her.
Prefect Zhang naturally sided with the Yu siblings. At this moment, he proactively said, “These bandits are despicable! This official will immediately dispatch troops to suppress them and avenge Tanhua Cen!”
The envoy from Jingdu, Pan De, also did not want to get involved in the feud between the Yu and Cen families: “Magistrate Zhang, wait for me. I need to ask you about the matter of the mountain bandits.”
With all unrelated parties gone, only the heartbroken Cen Jiashu and the gleeful Yu Ange remained in the room.