Chapter 15. Spring Flower

Jiang Ling saw a fleeting cold glint in Zhang Duo's eyes.

The master was too insidious and reserved, and his subordinates became silent. Even knowing that the man on the ground was on the verge of death, he dared not act. After asking once and receiving no reply, he stopped speaking. He watched as a few poplar fluff of cotton flew in from somewhere, landing eagerly on the man's exposed flesh, soon turning into a clump of gruesome blood buds.

A person as precious as a pearl was in a situation worse than a beast. He couldn't bear to look at it for a moment.

"Take him out."

After a long while, he finally waited for these words. Jiang Ling breathed a sigh of relief and was about to carry the man away, but he heard a voice from outside,

"Wait."

Zhao Qian burst in, grabbed Jiang Ling, and said to Zhang Duo after catching his breath, "Your sister is here, she's in the camp now."

He glanced at Cen Zhao, "This man is half dead, aren't you afraid she'll be scared if she sees him?"

Zhang Duo stood up, "This is the Inner Guard camp, how dare you let a woman in?"

"What could I do if she wanted to come in!"

His face turned red from arguing. He simply lost face and admitted, "You know I've been afraid of her since I was a kid... She hates me for doing these bloody things the most. It's fine elsewhere, but this is my territory, even if I sold you, she wouldn't believe me. Just help me out, brother, and after she leaves, you can move him."

Zhang Duo chuckled, "What if he dies?"

"What if he dies, Mei Xinlin is in the office today, I'll go get him for you."

Without waiting for Zhang Duo's reply, he turned around and strode out.

Jiang Ling couldn't help but say, "General Zhao is really kind to our young lady, it's just a pity that the young lady has feelings for..."

Before he could finish, he heard Zhang Duo snap his fingers.

Jiang Ling quickly took a step back and said, "I've spoken too much."

Zhang Duo shook his head and stepped over Cen Zhao.

"Take him out."

"But General Zhao..."

"He's just being a hero!"

Jiang Ling dared not reply.

He had been by Zhang Duo's side for nearly ten years, and he knew a lot about Zhang Pingxuan.

Zhao Qian had liked Zhang Pingxuan since he was a child, but Zhang Pingxuan admired Chen Xiao.

When she was young, she copied hundreds of Chen Xiao's poems at home. Later, she even developed Chen Xiao's unique handwriting. At the age of sixteen, Zhang Xuanping, regardless of her reputation, publicly proposed marriage to Chen Xiao at Chen's family's gathering, but was rejected by Chen Xiao. From then on, she fell from grace and became a laughingstock of the Luoyang aristocracy, even though she was extremely beautiful and had Zhang Xi as her father and Zhang Duo as her brother, no young master from the aristocratic families in Luoyang came to propose marriage to her.

Who would want to marry a woman who admired someone else and was publicly rejected?

She was ruined by Chen Xiao.

Whenever she mentioned Chen Xiao, she would speak harshly.

Both families were prominent clans, and Chen Wang even personally came to apologize for this matter, hoping that private matters between the younger generations would not damage the friendship between the two families.

Zhang Xi didn't say anything, but Zhang Pingxuan smashed the pair of jade bracelets that were given as an apology.

Most people thought that this was due to excessive youthful passion, turning love into hate, and there was no turning back.

However, on the day Chen Xiao died, Zhang Pingxuan was found drunk and unconscious at Zhang Duo's residence. She was laughing wildly one moment and weeping bitterly the next, her clothes in disarray, a sight to behold. When Zhang Duo returned home, he immediately killed the servant who had been attending to her. From then on, no one dared to mention that night. And no one knew whether Zhang Pingxuan loved Chen Xiao more or hated him more.

But this was after all a hidden matter of the master's family, and even though Jiang Ling knew more than the outsiders, he was not in a position to speak.

So he turned his thoughts back to Zhang Duo.

Zhang Duo was standing by the solitary window, snapping his thumb one by one. The joints cracked rhythmically.

"Although the torture marks on him are real, if we send him to Liu Bi with our people, no matter how we cover it up, there will be suspicions. Pingxuan is here, just right, send him to her, and the rest will make sense."

Jiang Ling looked at Cen Zhao, "Will the young lady... think he is Chen Xiao..."

Zhang Duo shook his head, "No. But she won't let him die."

"Then how will the young master deal with General Zhao?"

Zhang Duo clenched his fist and said coldly, "What kind of person is he? Do I need to explain to him? Ask too much!"

"Yes, I understand."

In the camp, Zhao Qian had been gone for a long time, and Zhang Pingxuan couldn't sit still after drinking two cups of tea. She got up to leave, and the soldiers outside the camp quickly stopped her, "Miss Zhang, where are you going? We'll accompany you."

"I'm not a prisoner you've caught, what are you following me for?"

"That's not what we mean, it's just that the general has ordered us not to neglect you."

Zhang Pingxuan walked straight out, saying as she went, "Your general went to find my brother, and it's been almost an hour. Even if he went to find a god, he would have found him by now. I think he's gone somewhere to laze around, let me go catch him."

The soldiers quickly followed, saying, "Our general has so many important matters to deal with with Mr. Zhang every day, how could he be lazy... Look, they're just finishing interrogating the prisoner..."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the soldier regretted it, but it was too late.

Zhang Pingxuan followed the direction of his finger and saw Jiang Ling walking towards the west with a bloodied man.

"Young Master Jiang."

Jiang Ling stopped and bowed to her, "Just call me by my name, young lady."

Zhang Pingxuan walked closer to him and said, "My brother doesn't treat you and Uncle Jiang as servants. How dare I be disrespectful."

As she spoke, she turned sideways to look behind him, "Is this... a prisoner interrogated by Brother?"

"Yes."

As he spoke, he raised his hand to cover it, "He's too dirty, you shouldn't look, you might get your eyes dirty."

Zhang Pingxuan didn't care, walked around Jiang Ling, knelt down and looked at the man.

At a glance, she was stunned and leaned back, almost falling.

Jiang Ling quickly bent down to help her up.

"Did I startle you? He's already dead, he's going to be buried in a mass grave. You shouldn't look, I'll send you back."

Then he turned around and said, "Didn't you see how scared she was? Why don't you hurry up and carry him away?"

"Don't move..."

Zhang Pingxuan pressed her chest, pushed Jiang Ling away with one hand, and slowly walked to Cen Zhao. She lifted his wet and messy hair and closed her eyes to take a deep breath before opening her eyes to look at the man's face. For a moment, her mind was like a thunderclap.

"Who... is he?"

Jiang Ling stood up and took a step back, softly replied, "Cen Zhao, of North Mang Mountain."

"Cen Zhao... "

"Yes."

"Why did Brother interrogate him so harshly..."

Jiang Ling lowered his head, "Master suspects something, you should know."

"But you can't beat him to death!"

As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes. She quickly used her hand to test his breath. Fortunately, there was still a hint of warmth. She quickly withdrew her hand and looked up at Jiang Ling, "I'm taking this person away."

"But... if the master finds out, I..."

"Just say he's dead and buried! If he finds out, you can blame it all on me!"

"No way."

"There's nothing impossible."

After saying that, she pried open the hands of the person supporting Cen Zhao's shoulders.

The man was too heavy and fell onto her, causing her to fall to the ground.

Jiang Ling quickly squatted down and said, "Why would you do this, young lady? Young Master Chen has been dead for a long time, and this person has suffered so much torture from the master, and he won't admit it..."

"Don't say anything, just do as I say. I'll explain to your brother."

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a furious shout from behind, "Jiang Ling! What are you doing!"

Jiang Ling looked up and saw Zhao Qian dismount and grab his collar, "Is Zhang Tuhan crazy? How can you let Pingxuan see Cen Zhao!"

Before he could finish, he was hit on the back with a stone. He turned around to retaliate, but saw Zhang Pingxuan sitting on the ground, picking up another stone and throwing it at his face. He quickly blocked it with his hand, "I..."

"You lied to me, didn't you?"

"No, I was just afraid that you..."

"If I hadn't come today, you and my brother would have beaten him to death and buried him, wouldn't you?"

"No... I didn't even touch him!"

"Shut up!"

Zhao Qian was speechless.

Zhang Pingxuan supported Cen Zhao and struggled to stand up from the ground.

"I'm taking him away. Tell your men to let me go!"

"Xuanping... don't be so persistent, he's not Chen Xiao, Chen Xiao died ten years ago..."

"I know! I know Chen Xiao died ten years ago, Brother buried him himself, and I saw it with my own eyes."

"Then why do you still want to take this person away?"

"I..."

Some things are difficult to explain, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.

Zhang Pingxuan could smell the nauseating stench of blood on Cen Zhao, but she felt a sense of peace. This peace was not healing, but rather a kind of warmth that came with licking a wound.

It was as if the past smiles were forced upon her, and now she could finally cry bitterly.

"You have no right to ask."

After a long pause, she uttered the most decisive words.

Zhao Qian was stunned for a moment.

After a while, he turned around and walked quickly towards the interrogation room.

As soon as Zhao Qian entered the interrogation room, he swung a punch at Zhang Duo. But his fist was intercepted by a single palm.

"Have you forgotten who taught you how to fight?" Zhang Duo sneered.

"So what?" Zhao Qian retorted. "I may not be able to beat you, but I'm not as shameless as you, using even your own sister!"

"How do you know I'm only using her?" Zhang Duo asked, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"Oh, Zhang Tuan," Zhao Qian scoffed, "You know how Chen Xiao hurt her back then, right? I've worked so hard to see her smile a little in front of me these past few years. Do you know how happy that made me feel?"

Zhang Duo sneered again, "You think she's truly happy?"

With a powerful swing, he knocked Zhao Qian back a few steps. "Pingxuan is my sister," he said. "I know her better than you do."

"Impossible!" Zhao Qian exclaimed.

"Zhao Qian," Zhang Duo said coldly, "The past was between her and Chen Xiao. If you want to interfere, you should think about whether you have the right."