Chapter 335

"Regret what?"

Zheng Qi looked at the ground and said in a hoarse voice.

"A person lives a lifetime, there must be something they hold onto. If I could let go of everything, why would I have hidden in the cabin, eating rotten rat meat to escape to Great Shuo, and why would I have lived until now?"

"Wang Hai, Battalion Commander Wang, actually, among the people in that room just now, only you are most similar to me, and only you can understand me, which is why you would talk to me."

"If one day, Li Miao died in someone's hands, for the sake of revenge, let alone Nanjing, even if you burned the whole world, you wouldn't hesitate, would you?"

Wang Hai didn't answer.

After a long while, he said slowly.

"Should I help you, or will you do it yourself?"

Zheng Qi took a few heavy breaths and walked slowly toward the burning palace.

"Don't bother."

"What I can do is already done. Zheng Yi will still have to work with you in the future. If I die in your hands, it will ultimately be trouble for her."

"Let's end it like this... I'm tired too."

Crossing over the charred corpses on the ground, Zheng Qi stepped into the burning hall.

The scorching air rushed into her lungs, and the burning sensation intertwined with the severe pain all over her body, slowly gathering her consciousness.

"Ha—"

She let out a long breath.

In forty-eight years, she had thought about her ending many times, and had also thought about what her mood would be before death—unwillingness? Resentment? Hysteria?

Now she finally got the answer.

Relief.

Forty-eight years ago, Yingzhou attacked Penglai, and everything the young girl had was burned to ashes. She hid under her mother, who was gradually rotting and swelling, watching the flickering firelight not far away.

From that moment on, she was already dead.

The firelight reflected in her pupils, and the corners of Zheng Qi's mouth slowly curled up, as if she had seen something.

"Mother... I'm back."

She stumbled and threw herself into the sea of fire, as if a young girl who had been wandering for a long time had thrown herself into her mother's arms again.

The fire that had been raging since forty-eight years ago gently embraced her.

The last member of Penglai fell into a long sleep in the sea of fire.

————————

"You heard everything she said just now, right?"

Li Miao reached out and grabbed Cundong's head, shaking it left and right.

Due to Zheng Yi's presence, it was inconvenient for him to interrogate Zheng Qi. But he had no such concerns with Cundong. Before he even started questioning, his *Qi* had already been poured into his body through the *Baihui* point, stirring up unbearable pain along his meridians.

This was much more brilliant than the "small paths" Li Miao taught Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu. *Qi* circulation, healing while injuring—the parts that usually needed to be dug out to make flower cuts could now be easily sliced into *Wensi* tofu, without worrying about being too heavy-handed and killing the living captive.

Cundong's eyes widened with a *pop*, and he opened his mouth to wail, but was suppressed by Li Miao's *Qi* from within his body, unable to move.

After a long while, Li Miao stopped.

Cundong suddenly fell to the ground, his whole body soaked in sweat, but he still struggled and rolled uncontrollably.

After a cup of tea, he slowly stopped and gasped for air.

The Brave Cavalry Right Guard officer and the black-clad eunuch kneeling beside him were already sweating profusely and trembling uncontrollably.

"Now it's the question session. You all heard about Yingzhou just now. Now for the first question."

Li Miao asked.

"Besides Zheng Anqi, do you have any collusion with other Yingzhou people?"

"Or rather, besides Zheng Anqi, have you seen anyone with an appearance similar to mine?"

Cundong didn't answer.

Instead, another black-clad eunuch spoke up suddenly.

"Yes!"

"Before we set off for Nanjing, someone who looked 70-80% like you arrived at Shuntian Prefecture, and Liu Jin met him once." Li Miao nodded, showing no surprise.

From the beginning, Liu Jin wasn't looking for Zheng Anqi, but for Yingzhou. Most of the collusion with Zheng Anqi was due to coincidence. And Yingzhou came to the Central Plains in pursuit of Zheng Anqi, and it was only natural that they bumped into Liu Jin along his trail.

He asked: "What did they say, what did they do?"

Before the black-clad eunuch could speak, Cundong on the ground suddenly shouted: "Traitor! Rebel!"

"Helping the tyrant, clinging to the great traitor, are you worthy of His Majesty! You—"

Xiaosi raised her hand and pressed on him, and Cundong suddenly went silent, his whole body stiffening and trembling uncontrollably again.

The black-clad eunuch hurriedly spoke.

"We really don't know about this..."

"It's not that I deliberately hid it! After it was decided that we would go to Nanjing, everything in Shuntian Prefecture was kept away from us! If it weren't for the sudden arrival of that person who looked like you, Liu Jin wouldn't even have let us see him!"

"Liu Jin is the confidant of His Majesty... no, the pseudo-emperor. Although he is young, his aptitude, methods, and ruthlessness are all outstanding. From the beginning, he considered the possibility that we would fall into your hands, so he wouldn't let us know any useful information!"

Li Miao flicked his fingers unhurriedly.

"Oh? Don't know anything... then that means it's useless?"

The black-clad eunuch didn't speak, but the officer of the Brave Cavalry Right Guard hurriedly spoke up.

"Useful, useful!"

"I didn't want to get involved in this, but these eunuchs showed me a few things to gain my trust—they are right in my bosom! You'll know as soon as you see them!"

Cao Hanyan stepped forward, took them out, and presented them to Li Miao.

Li Miao flipped through two pages casually and sneered.

"Heh, I said the Commander was too soft-hearted. If he had listened to me and used a sharp knife to cut through the mess and killed them all, fewer people would have died."

"As the saying goes, 'Kindness doesn't make an official, sentiment doesn't establish things, benevolence doesn't follow politics.' The old man throws books at people all day, and I don't know if he ever opens them to look; he's going to suffer sooner or later."

He flipped through a stack.

"Handwritten letter from the Minister of War, the imperial court."

Next stack.

"Five Military Commissions, Vice Commander, the army."

Last stack.

"Unstamped imperial edict, the palace wasn't cleaned up either."

"These people, Liu Jin, plus Yingzhou, the little power of Great Shuo has been turned over by you... quite good."

Li Miao waved his hand, Cao Hanyan put the stack of documents into his bosom and stepped aside.

"Anything else?"

"Those who have spoken, I can give a quick death, without implicating their families; those who haven't... everyone knows who I am, so I won't say much."

"Oh, you guys without balls, don't think you can pretend to be loyal ministers just because you have no ties. The Embroidered Uniform Guard prison has never lacked eunuchs who confessed and only asked for a quick death."

Li Miao walked slowly to Cundong and kicked him over.

"Eunuch Cun, what do you say?"

Cundong still gritted his teeth and said nothing.

Li Miao said in surprise.

"This is rare, are you really a loyal minister?"

"I want to see how loyal you are. Xiaosi, I'll leave it to you."

Xiaosi nodded with a smile, called Gu Feixuan to help her carry Cundong, and hopped out the door with her hands behind her back.

A moment later, Gu Feixuan rushed back, covering his mouth, his face pale, and handed Li Miao a piece of paper full of words and blood-stained edges.

Li Miao glanced up and down, and his face sank.

He stepped outside.

"Let's go, back to the capital, time to kill!"