Chapter 58: The Secret Letter

Hearing Shen Ran abruptly bring up Wen Rusong, Xue Nian was slightly startled, then gave a bitter smile, "Your Majesty, the Left Chancellor is currently in the prime of his life, but my teacher is already eighty-three this year."

At eighty-three, even if Shen Ran and Liu Shizhuang had not edged Wen Rusong out, at his advanced age, he was long overdue to retire and return to his hometown.

It was merely that an elderly statesman could not bear to see the common people suffer, and wished to make one last desperate effort.

Yet the imperial heart was impossible to sway.

As long as Shen Jianning could guard his own small patch of land, secure his personal wealth and glory, and ensure his word was absolute, he cared not at all whether the common people lived or died.

Shen Ran, on the other hand, was a tyrannical ruler in the truest sense.

Even if Shen Jianning did not strive to govern wisely, he still cared about his reputation both in life and after death, whereas Shen Ran treated the empire as nothing more than a game.

He sought only reckless and unrestrained pleasure; how could he possibly care about being cursed through the ages?

Hearing this, Shen Ran fell silent for a brief moment.

He said, "Ziqi, yet I believe his heart has not changed."

"What if it has changed? What if it has not?"

Xue Nian slowly replied, "Your Majesty, my teacher entered official service at the age of twenty-five and spent a full fifty-four years at court. He dedicated the greater part of his life to the imperial court, which is why there was once the golden age where items left on the road were not picked up, doors were left unlocked at night, and every person had enough food and clothing. Yet now, at such an advanced age, frequently plagued by illness, and having suffered the cold indifference of both the late emperor and Your Majesty, do you still require such an old man to prop up the state?"

Shen Ran looked at him quietly. "Daring to criticize the late emperor, Xue Ziqi, you are bold indeed."

"Yes, your subject is bold," Xue Nian said indifferently.

"Yet my teacher is obstinate by nature and has always spoken his mind; he will only be bolder than your subject. If Your Majesty can hardly bear these two sentences from me, why bother going out of your way to court displeasure? After all, Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and the wrath of the Son of Heaven is always something to be feared."

Shen Ran smiled and asked, "Ziqi, are you afraid too?"

Xue Nian sighed, "Is your subject not walking on thin ice every moment?"

While this was certainly an expression of weakness, it was not entirely a pretence.

He was quite formidable in combat; ordinary men were no match for him.

Yet he could defeat ten men by himself, or a hundred men.

What about a thousand, ten thousand, or a hundred thousand men?

What if imperial power pressed down upon him, slamming the crushing label of 'loyalty to the monarch' onto his back?

A martial general's blade was merely a blade.

But a scholar's blade could be a brush, a sheet of paper, or even a single word, capable of killing without a trace.

In the power struggles of Shengjing, everyone schemed against everyone else. A single misstep could turn one into a sacrificial lamb of factional strife.

Take Zhao Shoude, for instance.

The two words 'treason' had firmly nailed that loyal man to the pillar of shame.

With a hundred mouths, he could not wash himself clean.

Their eyes met, and the air abruptly froze for an instant.

A cold wind brushed across their cheeks, causing their dark hair to flutter slightly.

"Xue Ziqi, I wish to see him. You shall arrange the introduction."

After a short while, Shen Ran gave a light laugh.

He said offhandedly, "Do you know why I came to speak with you first, rather than having Xue Yuandao directly order you?"

Xue Nian tilted his head slightly and remained silent.

Thus, Shen Ran continued, "It is precisely to show my sincerity and unwillingness to force the matter too far. I hope you can consider this carefully: you may willingly help me accomplish this task, or you may go and persuade Wen Rusong in your capacity as his student."

After a brief silence, Xue Nian let out a soft sigh, "Your Majesty, it is not that your subject is unwilling to obey your decree, but rather that a forced melon is not sweet."

"Sweet or not, one must always try it to know."

"Besides..."

Shen Ran said softly, "Even if it truly turns out to be a bitter fruit, it is one you planted yourself. How can you not taste it in person?"

He was always someone who would never turn back until he smashed head-on into the southern wall.

Xue Nian was momentarily stunned.

With a swift flick of his curved blade between his fingertips, Shen Ran's gaze fell once again upon Xue Nian's shoulder. "Before that..."

He smiled faintly, "Since you believe there are no skilled physicians in the army, I shall play the part of a skilled physician for you."

At any rate, it was better than Xue Nian treating himself.

...

After Shen Ran finished bandaging Xue Nian's wound, the personal guards finished searching all the corpses of the bandits.

One of the guards stepped forward to report, "Aside from crossbows, there was nothing else on the rest of them. We only found an additional crossbow and a letter on the leader. Please inspect them, Young General."

With that, he temporarily handed the crossbow to a nearby guard, while holding the envelope out with both hands.

Xue Nian took it and passed it on to Shen Ran.

Shen Ran did not stand on ceremony with Xue Nian; he wiped the blood from his hands with his sleeve, directly tore open the letter, and then involuntarily froze in surprise.

The entire page was covered in ghostly scrawls.

It somewhat resembled writing, but he had previously looked over diplomatic documents and letters exchanged between Great Zhou and various nations, and none of them looked anything like the script on this letter.

He handed the letter back to Xue Nian.

Unfortunately, after staring at it for a long time, Xue Nian could not make heads or tails of it either.

In the end, he had no choice but to fold the letter up. "Perhaps the Seventh Master should keep it for now and find someone capable to decipher it later."

Shen Ran waved a hand. "You take it."

He had already read the letter anyway.

Besides, among the civil officials at court nowadays, even if they were not Liu Shizhuang's men, they at least feared Liu Shizhuang. Since he could not understand it, he had no way of showing it to anyone else, so it was better to give it to Xue Nian.

At least, as Wen Rusong's final closed-door disciple, his literary talent was not undeservedly earned.

Xue Nian nodded and did not refuse. "Very well."

With that, his gaze fell once again upon the four crossbows.

Shen Ran naturally understood his meaning. "These crossbows are exquisitely crafted and by no means ordinary items. Give one to me, and as for the other three... leave them in the army to be handed over to the armorers for study."

Xue Nian said, "Understood."

As the Young General, and someone who was by no means timid or incompetent, Xue Nian nonetheless deferred to Shen Ran on every matter. While the guards felt curious, they also harbored a measure of dissatisfaction.

Yet people naturally revered the strong, and constrained by the formidable prowess Shen Ran had just displayed in shooting down the bandits, no one dared to show their discontent. Not to mention that the guard whose wrist Shen Ran had previously dislocated had also been mildly reprimanded by Xue Nian. Although the tone was not harsh, Xue Nian rarely scolded anyone.

The matter thus decided, the group delayed no further and headed together toward the General's Manor in Dahui.

On the way, Xue Nian did not forget to have someone buy a new set of red robes at a clothing store to change into.

As a result, the moment he led his men in through the back gate of the General's Manor and instructed the guards to return to their respective posts, he saw the old steward, Xue Zhong, running toward him.

Xue Zhong was sweating profusely with anxiety. "Young General!"

"This old servant has finally found you!"

"How—how could you bring His Majesty..."

At this point, Xue Zhong dropped heavily to his knees before Shen Ran. "This old servant pays respects to Your Majesty!"