After days of continuous interrogation and torture, Tang Cheng had lost a significant amount of weight. His once bright and starry eyes had become dull and cloudy. His neck and hands were trapped in shackles, rendering him completely immobile. He remained silent, but Tang Peng, kneeling behind him, shouted hoarsely, “We are innocent! All the blame lies with me alone. If you want to kill someone, kill me, but leave my family alone! Ninth Brother, Ninth Brother, I was wrong! You told me not to associate with Yan Langqing, but I didn’t listen. All of this is my fault! The token was borrowed by Yan Langqing, and it was she who released the Xiongnu Chief. I never imagined she would use the token for that— I truly didn’t expect it!”

The executioner, hearing him recklessly implicate the imperial concubine, quickly ordered the guards to gag him.

Lin Dan stood in the crowd, listening for a moment, and seemed to understand what had happened. No wonder the capital had been under lockdown several times last month. They had been searching for the Xiongnu Chief, who had escaped the city using the token from Marquis Yongding’s residence. So what if Yan Langqing was involved? It didn’t matter— the emperor wasn’t interested in the truth. He simply wanted an excuse to suppress Marquis Yongding. He had recalled Tang Cheng, who was known as a great warrior, back to the capital, placed the Prince of Dianqian under house arrest, sought to arrange a marriage with the princess of the third rank, and summoned Marquis Weiyuan back under the pretense of recuperating, all to consolidate his power and eliminate dissidents.

He had likely long harbored the intent to wipe out these people, only lacking the opportunity. Now that Yan Langqing had handed him a knife, he naturally wielded it against them.

Lin Dan quickly grasped the key points but lacked the ability to save Tang Cheng and the others. Seeing the executioner about to issue the command, she hurriedly ran up to the execution platform and shouted, “Please, Sir, grant them some more time— I’ve come to see them off.” As she spoke, she raised the food box in her hand.

Before a beheading, it was customary for the condemned to eat a hearty meal so that they wouldn’t become hungry ghosts in the afterlife. The executioner, having carried out many dirty deeds, was particularly superstitious about these matters and immediately waved his hand. “The time is almost up. Hurry up.”

Lin Dan nodded and quickly took out the food from the box, laying it out in a neat row. Since the prisoners were shackled and couldn’t eat by themselves, she instructed Xiao Zhu, Shaoyao, Dujuan, and the others to feed them one by one, while she knelt beside Tang Cheng, holding a bowl.

The curses of the onlookers and Tang Peng’s cries of injustice did nothing to stir even a ripple in Tang Cheng’s heart. He remained kneeling with his eyes half-closed, indifferent and expressionless. It wasn’t until Lin Dan appeared that he suddenly raised his head, looking at her with disbelief, yet his gaze was burning with intensity. In that instant, his pitch-black pupils sparkled with light.

“Everyone else is busy distancing themselves from me, but you came to me voluntarily.” He said in a hoarse voice. “You shouldn’t have come.”

“If I hadn’t come, I wouldn’t be at peace.” Lin Dan replied as she tore the chicken leg into strips and combined it with rice and pickled vegetables. She fed him bite by bite and spoke slowly, “Is it good? I raised this chicken myself. It was only two months old when I slaughtered it. My mother was so distressed that she kept crying out.”

Facing death, Tang Cheng unexpectedly laughed lightly. “You remembered what I said?”

“I remember. You said you loved eating young chicken the most and could eat it every day without getting tired of it.” Lin Dan wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and whispered, “I slaughtered all the young chickens at home. Today, you can eat as much as you want.”

Tang Cheng stared at her intently. After a long while, he lowered his head and began to eat voraciously, his eyes gradually welling up with tears. The sun had unknowingly climbed to its zenith and noon was fast approaching. After swallowing the last mouthful of food, Tang Cheng whispered, almost inaudibly, “If you can’t leave the city later, go to Hometown Dishes Restaurant and wait. I’ve already bought the place and you can stay there for the time being. Someone will come to help you leave the city later. Lin Dan, please take care of yourself in the days to come.”

Lin Dan was stunned but showed no sign of it. She packed up the food box, bowed to the other members of the marquis’s household, and then disappeared into the crowd. Behind her, Tang Peng’s intermittent cries echoed, “Shopkeeper Lin, I’ve wronged you, please forgive me!” But it was too late— his moment of fleeting passion had doomed himself and his entire family.

After leaving the execution grounds, Lin Dan pondered deeply, feeling that Tang Cheng’s words held hidden meaning. What did he mean by ‘if you can’t leave the city’? Why couldn’t she leave the city? Unless the entire city was locked down, searching for a criminal like the last time with the Xiongnu Chief…… Could someone be planning to storm the execution grounds?

That must be it. The female members of Marquis Yongding’s household had all committed suicide, including Noble Consort Tang in the palace. Without them as hostages, Marquis Yongding had nothing left to restrain him. He would surely send people to rescue his only Di^[1]children of the official wife son, but only if the emperor forced him to rebel.

Would Marquis Yongding rebel? Lin Dan had already found the answer in Tang Cheng’s words, so she immediately turned her carriage towards Sanchakou Alley. By now, it was probably too late to head for the city gate. The execution ground was likely in chaos as they tried to rescue the heir before the beheading.

———pr


Lin Dan’s guess was spot on. Just after she left, Tang Cheng broke free from his shackles, rescued his remaining family members, and joined forces with the black-clad men who had come to their aid. They charged towards the city gates with unstoppable momentum, quickly escaping the capital. Half a day later, it was discovered that the Prince of Dianqian and the princess of the third rank were also missing, throwing the capital into utter chaos.

All eight city gates were closed and the streets were filled with guards searching back and forth, creating a somewhat terrifying atmosphere. Lin Dan and Tang Cheng were old acquaintances. If she stayed in the capital any longer, someone would inevitably come to question her about Tang Cheng’s whereabouts. She was preparing to dismiss her servants and face the consequences alone when there was a knock at the shop’s door. A tall, strong man handed Lin Dan a letter and asked her to leave the city with him.

The letter was written by Tang Cheng himself, filled with many childhood memories they shared. After confirming the authenticity of the letter, Lin Dan followed the man. They boarded a luxurious carriage and, without being checked, openly left the capital. It was only as they parted ways that Lin Dan learned the man was one of the Mongolian princes, sent by Tang Cheng to escort her out safely.

“He told me before he was about to be imprisoned that this time, he might not survive. If you came to see him one last time, he asked me to ensure you left safely. If you didn’t come, he wanted me to give you this box.” The man handed over a heavy box, bowed, and then rode off.

Lin Dan lifted the lid of the box and found it filled with gold and jewels, warming her heart. Ten years ago, at a pavilion ten miles outside the city, a servant sent by Tang Cheng had also brought her a small box filled with silver, which she had resolutely refused. Now, ten years later, faced with a similar scene, she wanted to accept it. In this world, she was not as alone as she had once thought. There were still one or two people who remembered her.

After that day, Lin Dan left the capital and wandered from place to place. Meanwhile, the once-prosperous and stable Great Chu Dynasty began to fall into chaos. First, the King of Dianqian raised the banner of purging the corrupt ministers, and then Xiongnu Chief led a massive invasion. Marquis Yongding’s supply lines and military funds were cut off by the court, and though he intended to resist the Xiongnu, he was left with no choice but to rebel.

The war dragged on for several months. Then one day, the King of Dianqian suddenly died mysteriously in his tent. The Prince of Dianqian immediately took the throne and allied with the heir of Marquis Yongding to resist the Xiongnu. The precarious Great Chu Dynasty finally had a chance to catch its breath. However, just at this critical moment, the emperor issued an imperial edict, commanding Marquis Weiyuan to lead his troops to attack the two armies from behind, insisting on eliminating the rebels.

This order was utterly absurd. If the two armies were defeated, the Xiongnu forces would be able to march straight into the heartland of the central plains. With the Great Chu Dynasty having already lost both its northwest and southwest armies, the remaining forces would be unable to resist the Xiongnu cavalry. If the situation spiraled out of control, the Great Chu Dynasty would cease to exist.

Yet the emperor seemed confident, issuing three imperial edicts in quick succession, pressing Marquis Weiyuan to deploy his troops. A great battle was imminent, with unimaginable consequences.

At this moment, Lin Dan, who had been living in seclusion in the deep mountains, had a strange dream. She dreamt of the young Lin Dan losing on the competition, and feeling both ashamed and angry, threw the golden knife, recipe book, and even her grand master’s memorial tablet into the fire. Tang Cheng and Yan Langqing arrived just in time to witness the scene and were utterly disgusted by her. Though the old marquis vouched for  Lin Dan and kept her around, everyone treated her as if she didn’t exist, avoiding her whenever possible. But the more Tang Cheng despised her, the more she clung to him, even devising vicious schemes to frame Yan Langqing. Originally, it was the Yan family who had slandered her father, but due to her reckless actions, Lin Dan ended up confirming the accusations of treachery against her family, leaving her with a reputation that was beyond redemption.

Gradually, she became more extreme, pushing Tang Cheng further away and exhausting the old marquis’s last bit of protection for her. In contrast, Yan Langqing gradually won the old marquis’s approval and, after many trials, developed a deep bond with Tang Cheng, eventually marrying him. The happier they were, the more painful it was for Lin Dan.

As time passed by, Yan Langqing became a qualified young marchioness, earning praise from everyone, and even catching the emperor’s eye. He often summoned her to the palace under the pretense of accompanying Noble Consort Tang. As the visits increased, she attracted attention and became a pawn in a scheme to poison Noble Consort Tang, causing her to miscarry.

The emperor’s investigation pointed to Yan Langqing, but unable to bear harming her, he made Lin Dan take the blame instead. Lin Dan was beaten to death in public and her short life ended, while Yan Langqing’s story continued.

The more unattainable Yan Langqing became, the more the emperor longed for her. He arranged for Tang Cheng to be sent to the battlefield, where he was secretly killed, and then used other concubines to dispose of Noble Consort Tang before summoning Yan Langqing to the palace, where she enjoyed the emperor’s favor. A few years later, the Xiongnu Chief, whom Yan Langqing had unintentionally saved, launched a fierce attack on the Great Chu Dynasty, repeatedly declaring his intention to take Yan Langqing as his queen. The two nations waged war for years, both suffering heavy losses. At this time, Tang Cheng ‘returned from the dead’ and joined the fray. The King of Dianqian took advantage of the chaos to rebel and declared himself emperor, turning what was once a peaceful era into a living hell. As for the Prince of Dianqian and the princess of the third rank, they had secretly fled years earlier, but after being caught by Tang Cheng, they took poison and committed suicide.

The fates of everyone were so absurd and tragic, all for the sake of one woman.

Upon waking, Lin Dan couldn’t help but find the situation both laughable and absurd. She believed that if she hadn’t come, this would likely have been the other Lin Dan’s fate and the predetermined path of this world. Because of one woman, families were destroyed, the nation was in ruins, and the people suffered. Could this really be destiny? It was too ridiculous!