Chapter 25: 025: A Familiar Face

Shen Tang slammed the digging knife onto the ground.

"What am I supposed to do in Xiaocheng? Walk straight into a trap? Besides, what's so great about that godforsaken place?" she snapped.

Show some respect for her persona as a fugitive!

"Is the young Master Shen not worried about his other relatives?"

Shen Tang hesitated upon hearing this.

Qi Shan's words had struck a chord.

Regardless, she was currently inhabiting this body and ought to understand the original owner's past, lest she run into someone the original owner knew and expose her flaws, creating unnecessary trouble. She wondered if the original owner had any kin; if they had survived the hardships of exile, she could look after them secretly. If they had perished, she could at least provide a proper burial to prevent their corpses from rotting in the wild.

The change in Shen Tang's expression did not escape Qi Shan's eyes, and a visible sense of pleasure flickered across his features.

He was certain Shen Tang's choice would align with his wishes!

"I can see that Young Master Shen possesses extraordinary potential and may achieve great things in the future. I, Qi, am but a mediocre scholar, honored to be called a man of repute. While I am not among those great Confucian masters beloved by the world, I have more than enough skill to teach you the basics..."

Shen Tang had made up her mind, but she didn't say it.

Instead, she said deliberately, "I have already memorized those volumes of Yuanliang."

Qi Shan laughed helplessly. He pointed to his own head and said confidently, "Young Master Shen, the truly precious content is in here. If one could master the control of the 'Literary Heart' just by skimming a few volumes of Word Spells, then stealing knowledge would be far too easy."

"Yuanliang has a point, but Xiaocheng..." She had gone through so much trouble to escape, only to run right back there. If she were unlucky enough to run into the officers who escorted her, how embarrassing would that be? "You have to give me a guarantee."

"For example?"

Shen Tang: "For example, a Word Spell that can change one's physical appearance."

Qi Shan: "..."

He truly didn't have such a thing, nor did such an unorthodox Word Spell exist within his knowledge. All Word Spells in the world were used for power, strategy, or martial prowess. Why was Young Master Shen's mind so peculiar?

While he didn't have a Word Spell, he had something else.

"What is this?"

Shen Tang caught the small bottle he tossed her.

She opened it and squinted inside to find a bottle of pitch-black, fine powder. She had no idea what it was for.

Qi Shan revealed the answer: "Pot soot."

Shen Tang: "..."

"Smear some on your face, or just run more, stay in the sun, and sweat more. If you don't bathe or wash for seven or eight days, who could possibly recognize you?"

Shen Tang imagined herself sweating for seven or eight days without a bath, and she could almost smell that indescribable, pungent, sour stench.

"Is this your brilliant idea?"

"How is this a bad idea?" The smile faded from Qi Shan's face, replaced by a look devoid of emotion. "This is based on experience."

Shen Tang was slightly surprised.

Based on experience?

However, Qi Shan clearly didn't want to dwell on it, and his voice rose again: "There is actually no need for you to worry so much. The escorting officers are far more 'negligent' than you. If a fugitive escapes, the likelihood of them reporting it is low; the most likely scenario is that they'll cut off someone else's ear to fill your slot. Therefore, you don't need to worry about seeing your wanted poster at the gates of Xiaocheng."

Even if the officers weren't "negligent" and reported her escape so a painter could draw a wanted poster, so what?

Given the abstract nature of those painters' portraits, unless a person had extremely obvious facial features, even their own mother wouldn't recognize them, let alone the commoners passing through the city gates every day. The chance of Shen Tang's identity being exposed was infinitesimally small.

This explanation acted as a reassurance for Shen Tang.

"Fine, I'll go."

She toiled away, digging a massive deep pit, tossing in the corpses one by one before filling it back up with earth. By the time she finished, the moon was high in the sky. Qi Shan built a campfire and roasted the flatbread Shen Tang had manifested with her Word Spell; she was able to eat it while it was still hot as soon as she sat down.

"Hot!"

She had misjudged the temperature and nearly burned her tongue.

This kind of bread had little flavor. Aside from the slightly charred aroma of the burnt parts, the rest was bland. The more she ate, the thirstier she became; she had to take a sip of water every two bites. She couldn't help but grumble internally about why it couldn't be filled with something, like preserved vegetables and meat.

For some reason, Qi Shan went to sleep exceptionally early tonight.

He neither read his books nor practiced his Word Spells.

Shen Tang wasn't sleepy, so she sat by the campfire, staring blankly into the flames.

After an unknown amount of time, she heard the faint sound of grass and plants being stepped on—someone was cautiously approaching her. Since there was no malice, she ignored it.

The person sat down not far away. Looking through the firelight, it was the Censor's foolish son. He stared at her with intention or not, appearing to want to speak but hesitating, as if trying to confirm something.

After he opened his mouth several times without knowing how to begin, Shen Tang grew impatient and finally took the initiative to start the conversation.

"Has the Censor retired for the night?"

The man froze, seemingly not expecting Shen Tang to speak to him first. "Yes... my father has retired, but he isn't sleeping well; he has a fever. He sustained too many injuries on the road, and the wounds are turning red. I'll have to find some herbs tomorrow..."

As he spoke, the man's eyes reddened slightly.

His father's constitution was much better than an average person's, but he couldn't withstand his age, nor could he endure such great upheaval and torment.

Shen Tang said, "There should be villages nearby; you can get some herbs from the villagers. Speaking of which, I haven't asked your name. How should I address you?"

"I am Tian Zhong, courtesy name Shouyi."

"Shouyi, why were you looking at me like that just now?"

"I felt that you looked almost identical to someone I once met, except for your gender. Furthermore, listening to your conversation with Mr. Qi earlier, you said you were..." Tian Zhong swallowed the words "a fugitive," "...so I thought you might have a connection to her."

Shen Tang: "..."

Well, that's one way to put it.

Had she run into an acquaintance of the original owner?

Shen Tang asked, "Who is that person? Are you close?"

Tian Zhong waved his hands repeatedly. "Not close, not close. We only met once. In terms of relationship, she should be considered my niece-in-law."

Shen Tang was greatly shocked. "...Niece... niece-in-law?"

"Strictly speaking, not quite," he explained. "My father and Yunchi's father were both classmates and of the same year, so we became sworn kin. Yunchi is considered my nephew; if their ceremony had been completed, he should have called me 'Uncle Tian' according to our relationship."

"And who is Yunchi?"

"Gong Cheng, courtesy name Yunchi."

Shen Tang: "..."

Good grief!

She could only cry out, "Good grief!"

This body was freaking eleven or twelve years old!

"Why was the ceremony not completed?"

"On the wedding day, before they could even perform the three bows, officers stormed the Gong residence to make arrests. The entire household, including that lady, was escorted to prison and sent into exile within two days. I was a guest at the time... it truly is a pity."

He sighed after speaking.

He had been busy running errands for the Gong family during their exile, never imagining that just a few days later, his own family would suffer the same fate.

Shen Tang asked, "Where is Gong Cheng now?"

He gave a bitter smile. "If he is lucky, he is likely on the road to exile. If he is unlucky, he is likely on the road to the underworld."

Shen Tang suppressed her racing pulse and continued to probe for information. "And that new bride of Gong Cheng's, which family was she from?"

"She was from the Shen clan, but..."

"But what?"

He said, "But only two days after the Gong clan was exiled, Zheng Qiao ordered the extermination of the Shen clan's nine generations. It was truly tragic."

Shen Tang: "..."

Extermination of nine generations...

In other words, aside from a Gong Cheng whose fate was unknown, the original owner's current kinship was—a true orphan?

***

It took an hour to write five hundred words, damn it!

Gong Cheng is not the male lead, not the male lead, not the male lead!

Gong Cheng is six or seven years older than the female lead!

He is not the male lead!

He's a passerby with, at most, a bit of screen time.

The female lead is not married!

She is unmarried!

She won't marry in the future; at most, she will marry him!

The male lead is six years younger than the female lead. As long as anyone older than the female lead appears in the text, they cannot be the male lead!

The romance in this story is practically zero!

Everyone just focus on the career plot.

After all, being a boss means you can have a group of handsome ministers, and there's no limit to the number at one time, but romance doesn't work like that. What does this tell us?

It tells us that building a career is much more satisfying than chasing people.

PS: It's not that I'm not writing the big shots' extra chapters, but look at how long the Empress arc is! I'm re-reading it, ahhh, I'm going crazy!

(End of Chapter)