[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber":3,"chapter-my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-41":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","My Life as a Rising Force in the Red Chamber",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2310839,4515,"Chapter 41: The Hidden Gate","my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-41",41,"\u003Cp>She saw the knife fall from Jia Cong’s hand, stared at the corpse on the ground, and stumbled backward in panic, trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and the body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ruthlessness was gone now—she must have forced herself to act just to survive, and only afterward did fear catch up with her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man on the ground had suffered a heavy blow to the head and had both arms severed by Jia Cong; he had long since ceased breathing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She dragged her weary body to his side, her voice unexpectedly soft:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t be afraid—these men followed Zhou Junxing in Dezhou, slaughtering innocents without mercy, even women and children. They deserved to die. Kill them, and it’s done.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, if you hadn’t killed them and brought word back to Zhou Junxing, your whole family would have been destroyed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong was used to her fierce demeanor; hearing her speak gently stirred something unusual within him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re really from the Hidden Gate…?” Jia Cong had heard too many whispers of “remnants of the Hidden Gate” these past days—he nearly blurted out the word “remnants,” but swallowed it at the last moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Call us remnants if you like—we’ve been called that all our lives.” There was a note of sorrow in her voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Jia Cong’s heart softened; he changed the subject: “I’m Jia Cong. What’s your name?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m a remnant of the Hidden Gate. If you’re not afraid to know my name, it’s not a good thing.” After a pause, she added: “My name is Qu Hongxiu. Don’t tell anyone.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her younger brother was captured by Zhou Junxing that very night; unable to endure the torture, he confessed everything about the Hidden Gate in Dezhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three days ago, Jia Cong would never have asked her this. Perhaps killing together had loosened their guard—once people share a secret, a little distrust slowly fades without notice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Shuyun Villa, she must have seen how prominently I stood among the scholars, how I conversed freely with Wu Jinrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Does Wu Jinrong have a grudge against you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps that’s why she took a dislike to me then, and these past days made me suffer greatly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Qu Hongxiu spoke, her voice trembled; Jia Cong now understood why she had risked infiltrating Shuyun Villa to kill, and why she despised scholars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong helped her unbutton her clothes and found the wound, nearly healed, torn open again—worse than before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After saying this, Jia Cong saw her face pale, her brows knotted, her backcloth soaked through with blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wu Jinrong’s brother-in-law was a key figure in the Dezhou branch of the Hidden Gate. Last month he came to Shenzhou on business; somehow Wu Jinrong discovered his identity. Perhaps they were close kin—the man loved wine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After I entered the city, I saw Zhou Junxing had many skilled guards surrounding him. Wu Jinrong, by contrast, moved freely. And of all those three hundred killed in Dezhou, he was the true architect of the massacre.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Junxing mobilized a large force of soldiers, tracked them down by map, and slaughtered every last soul of the Dezhou Hidden Gate branch—only by luck did I escape. My elder brother and his entire family of four are dead!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black-clad man hadn’t been wrong—the two had indeed become partners in crime. After this bloody struggle, a strange understanding had formed between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How the secret leaked remained unknown, but Wu Jinrong, hungry for wealth and status, had gone to Dezhou and betrayed the Hidden Gate to Assistant Regional Commander Zhou Junxing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jinrong was a Hanlin scholar, among the elite of scholars, yet his heart was vile and base—he caused the deaths of so many!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tore a clean strip from his inner garment, wiped the blood from her wound, then applied the same black, viscous ointment as before to seal it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, she did not grip her curved blade or remain alert as she once had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After these days together, and after the heart-stopping battle just now, she had lowered her guard against Jia Cong—even grown accustomed to him dressing her wound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The commotion was loud. Hunters often pass through here. If they come, we’re done for. We must leave quickly—the bodies can’t be buried here; traces would be found.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s search the edge of the woods. These two must have come on horseback.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The woman was slightly startled—he was so young, yet possessed such careful, seasoned thought. But remembering his astonishing actions moments ago, these details seemed natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, at the forest’s edge, they found two horses, both fully saddled. After great effort, they dragged the two corpses onto one horse and rode the other together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sky was now fully dark; the two horses moved across the open wilderness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blood dripped from the corpse on one horse, staining the snow with crimson blooms. When the blood congealed and snowflakes fell, the traces vanished silently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong’s back pressed against something soft and warm; the faint, sweet fragrance in his nose must have been Qu Hongxiu’s. The horses’ hooves clicked softly; the world seemed to sink into a tranquil peace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thought of how, just hours ago, they had stood like enemies, wary and armed—now they rode together, almost intimate. He had lived two lifetimes and never encountered anything so strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, they had two horses; otherwise, with Qu Hongxiu’s wounds, she could never have gone far.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After nearly an hour’s travel, they found an abandoned wilderness temple in a sheltered mountain hollow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong found a patch of soft earth near the temple, used the black-clad man’s long knife to dig a deep pit, buried the two corpses, and finally exhaled a long breath of relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was sheer fortune that, under those circumstances, he and Qu Hongxiu had killed both men—if they had lived to return…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the black-clad man’s tale had spread, and given the court and His Majesty’s deep dread and hatred of the Hidden Gate, he himself might have become the spark—unpredictable consequences would have erupted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who could say whether the ending of “A Dream of Red Mansions”—a vast, white, clean earth—might arrive prematurely? And what fate would await those sisters who had shown him kindness?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back in the temple, Qu Hongxiu had lit a fire; the flames painted her face with a striking glow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her face was a slender oval, skin as white as jade, brows lightly penciled, eyes like autumn water, nose delicately straight, lips like vermilion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Jia Cong had seen many beautiful women in the Jia household, he was still truly struck by her beauty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In these few hours, they had fought for their lives, traveled a long way, moved and buried corpses—all exhausting body and spirit. Qu Hongxiu’s wounds had worsened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as they sat by the fire, the warmth brought overwhelming fatigue. The temple lay remote and desolate; no one would find them. Their minds relaxed, and both soon fell into deep sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Qu Hongxiu—a feared member of the Hidden Gate—was beside him, strangely, Jia Cong slept deeply, waking only when daylight fully broke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, he felt Qu Hongxiu’s breath was hot; her face flushed crimson, her mind hazy. Summoning courage, he touched her forehead—it burned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had planned to return to the city early, but after last night, he was certain Qu Hongxiu wouldn’t stop him. He had been missing for days—Yuanchun and Yingchun would surely be worried.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of all, he feared Zhi Shao—he had left her alone in the small courtyard west of the city. He had no idea what had become of her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1269,"2026-06-20T12:19:54.434Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","69078c009c0385803888ded5ddd12d9b7377de797e09b87fd73521f71c7a796b","my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-42","my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-40",920,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmy-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-cover.jpg"]