The moment the "sacrifice the plum for the peach" scheme was completed, Feng Ruzhi had already wondered: Would…
The moment the "sacrifice the plum for the peach" scheme was completed, Feng Ruzhi had already wondered: Would Zheng E turn back?
She knew how absurd this speculation sounded at first glance. After all, from that bloody night of the marauder uprising, to the "Dawn-to-Dusk Plague", and the catastrophic floods... over the past twelve years, he had endured far too much. Yet according to her late mother Zhu Yu's accounts, Zheng E had never been a heartless man. The "A'zheng" who existed only in stories was righteous and kind, a man who shared a deep bond with Shen Yilun. Their ideals had once embraced all of Kaifeng commoners, including the townsfolk of Gracetown.
As their mission neared success, her unease grew. Pretending to transport supplies, she risked taking a small boat through black markets and dark rivers to the underground Ever-Normal Granary, hoping to gauge her brother's resolve. But she was no good at hiding her feelings, and the worry on her face gave her away before she even spoke.
"I won't waver," Zheng E said bluntly. "No peace for the good until all evil is eliminated."
"But... what if the Song court returns the land, and Gracetown repents..."
"I won't waver," he repeated. "Evil doesn't repent. A wolf in sheep's clothing is still a wolf. It will always hunt sheep."
"But..."
Feng Ruzhi opened her mouth to speak again, but this time, Zheng E cut her off without hesitation.
"Ruzhi! A'ruan is dead, Zhu Yu is dead, everyone is dead... *coughs*..."
After saying this, Zheng E was suddenly seized by uncontrollable coughing. When he finally regained his breath and spoke again, each word seemed to carry a deathly chill.
"I have few loved ones left. They deserve to live. They must live. That's why I can't waver." Zheng E fixed his gaze upon her, and Feng Ruzhi flinched as if pierced by its sharpness. She fell silent, startled by the despair that had seeped into those few words. An irrevocable sorrow, and a resolve past the point of no return, quietly took root between them.
"Do not come again." His voice was curt, final. "If even you were to succumb to the cold poison... I could never face Master Zhu Yu again." With visible effort, Zheng E pushed himself upright, his bones emitting the faint, grating creak of a palsy patient. Yet not so much as a flicker of pain crossed his face. Wordlessly, he shouldered open the heavy iron gate and strode into the shadowed corridor beyond without a backward glance. He wore a white cloak, but the silhouette was swiftly devoured by the gloom cast from the massive Dawn-to-Dusk Blossom.
Feng Ruzhi stared long after he had vanished before finally lowering her eyes. Once more, she thought of the youth her mother had so often described, a boy who clung fiercely to his dream of "Ever-Normal for All", surrounded by comrades who shared his cause, by kin who loved and believed in him, his heart brimming with untainted hope.
"What a pity," she mused. "If only he could have lived. I would have liked to meet that version of him."