Chapter 24
Chapter 24: Confrontation
Censor Jiang flicked his sleeve and smoothed his robes until there wasn’t a single wrinkle left. Only then did he speak. “Under the Son of Heaven’s feet, this kind of thing happens? As a censor, I bear the duty to supervise. I’ll go with you and see for myself.”
They moved as a group, knocking on one gate after another. With every stop, the procession grew—more witnesses, more parents, more servants, more curious onlookers drawn by the noise and the promise of scandal.
At last, only two remained.
Li Shao Yan and Wu Fa Tian.
“Let’s go to Li Shao Yan’s house,” Gu Nan Xi decided without hesitation.
From everything Li Ming De had said, Wu Fa Tian was nothing more than Li Shao Yan’s fiercest spear. If they didn’t break Li Shao Yan first, Wu Fa Tian would never admit a thing.
Young Lord Li raised both hands at once, eager as if volunteering for a safe errand. “With you here, Li Shao Yan won’t be able to stir up any waves.”
“Let’s go!” Li Ming De’s whole body seemed to blaze, as if something inside him had finally snapped free. “To Li Shao Yan’s house!”
This wasn’t Gu Nan Xi’s stage anymore.
Not alone.
The lead roles now included six other boys—boys who had once been bullied by Li Shao Yan, boys who had clustered around him out of fear, who had become accomplices because they were too frightened to be anything else. Now, pressed shoulder to shoulder in the crowd, they found a second courage, raw and trembling, but real.
Somewhere inside that sea of faces, a few figures slipped away and sprinted toward the Dragon-Martial Grand General’s residence.
A servant boy ran in, panting so hard he could barely speak. “Old Madam! Madam of Marquis Yong Chang is bringing people toward our residence!”
“Hmph.” Old Madam Li sat at the head of the hall and slammed the table, the pair of white jade bat-and-pearl earrings on her lobes swinging wildly. “She dares to come? Then we’ll meet her.”
The servant boy dropped to his knees, forehead to the floor, voice shaking. “Reporting to Old Madam—besides Madam of Marquis Yong Chang, there’s also Young Lord Li, Censor Jiang, and Young Master Chen from the Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Banquets’ family…”
Li Shao Yan lay facedown, his back aching so badly he couldn’t even sit. The moment he heard the names, his entire body went rigid, as if he’d turned to stone. His heart sank like a boulder.
Those fools… they actually dared.
His lips pressed into a thin line. His eyes turned cold enough to burn.
Old Madam Li’s hand clenched around the armrest until veins stood out. She turned sharply to the steward. “Has the Grand General returned?”
The steward lowered his head, brows knotted. “The Grand General said children’s matters should be handled by the children themselves.”
Old Madam Li let out a harsh snort. “Invite him again. Tell him this isn’t children’s matters anymore—Gu Nan Xi is knocking on our door.”
Off to the side, the general’s wife stood with downcast eyes. At those words, she lifted her head sharply—then dropped it again just as fast, her hands twisting her embroidered handkerchief until her knuckles whitened.
Rumors had flooded the capital for years: the Dragon-Martial Grand General had longed for Gu Nan Xi and never obtained her. For her, he’d taken a wife only to appease his family and never accepted a concubine.
Would he return because Gu Nan Xi had come?
Her gaze slid, unwillingly, toward the crowd outside.
Then, under countless eyes, Gu Nan Xi arrived with her procession and struck the Dragon-Martial Grand General’s gate.
Boom. Boom.
The thick red sandalwood doors groaned open, splitting wide.
Old Madam Li appeared first, cane in hand, dressed in full court robes—a noble lady’s attire meant for standing above others, not yielding to them.
Behind her stood the general’s wife, Li Shao Yan supported by servants, and row upon row of armed household guards.
The pressure of it hit like a wall. It looked less like a household receiving guests and more like an army forming ranks.
Gu Nan Xi narrowed her eyes. Old Madam Li also held an imperial patent. Like Gu Nan Xi, she was a sub-third-rank noble lady.
The choice of dress was deliberate—an announcement that she would not be outshone, not even by force.
So they truly meant to protect Li Shao Yan to the end.
Old Madam Li spoke first, voice clipped and cold. “Our dynasty encourages commerce and does not enforce a curfew. Yet Madam of Marquis Yong Chang brings such a crowd to knock on my door—what are you trying to do?”
Her eyes flicked to Li Shao Yan, and her voice softened into practiced pity. Someone hurried to bring him a stool. “My son is not home. This residence is all women and children, plus an injured grandson. Madam of Marquis Yong Chang, you come at this hour with such a display… your intentions do not look kind.”
Gu Nan Xi sat as well, unhurried. She pointed to Su Yun Ting on the door plank and smiled—sweet enough to fool strangers, sharp enough to cut family. “Old Madam, you misunderstand. My husband has been stationed in the borderlands for ten years and has not returned once. He has only two legitimate sons—Xuan Ming and Yun Ting. Now both have been bullied. I only want to ask: under heaven’s clear sky, is there still justice?”
Her tone turned solemn, each word set like a stone on a scale. “If we cannot obtain justice, what will the soldiers in the borderlands—those who serve the imperial court and fight for the commoners—think?”
At her signal, Su Yun Yan began to wail loudly, exactly as instructed.
“Father—Father!” she cried, voice shaking. “You bleed and sweat in the borderlands and never come home. Brother—Brother is almost beaten to death, and you’re still out there being some general? You might as well come home and farm, sell sweet potatoes! At least the family would be together, instead of crying to the heavens with no answer and crying to the earth with no help…”
Su Yun Yan was small, her eyes full of tears. When she cried, it made people’s throats tighten.
Old Madam Li’s mouth twitched—half rage, half disbelief.
Gu Nan Xi was clever. She’d dressed her household as a soldier’s family. If Gu Nan Xi was wronged, then so were all the countless soldier families beyond the walls.
And the Dragon-Martial Grand General was a military official. If this stirred resentment among soldiers, how steady could his seat remain?
Old Madam Li’s expression shifted, mournful and sympathetic as if she truly felt it. “Madam of Marquis Yong Chang, your misfortune is pitiable. But if you are wronged, report it to the authorities. Why come to my residence?”
Gu Nan Xi looked at her calmly, as if studying a mask.
Old Madam Li’s face was composed—so composed it almost looked innocent, as though she truly didn’t know the culprit was her own grandson.
Gu Nan Xi’s lips curved, the mockery in her eyes nearly spilling over.
Report it to the authorities?
To officials, what was a fading Marquis Yong Chang Residence compared to the Dragon-Martial Grand General?
Even if the whole capital whispered that Gu Nan Xi had an illicit tie to His Majesty, His Majesty still hadn’t spoken a word.
“Because the one who bullied my eldest son and my second son,” Gu Nan Xi said plainly, “is Li Shao Yan of your residence.”
Old Madam Li’s face collapsed like a curtain dropping. “You can eat whatever you like, but you cannot speak whatever you like. Don’t look at my grandson being obedient and then splash dirty water on him.”
“I saw it with my own eyes.” Gu Nan Xi tilted her head as if considering something trivial. “And I even swung a stick across his back.” Her gaze slid to Li Shao Yan, cool and appraising. “There should still be marks.”
Old Madam Li’s teeth ground together audibly.
If she admitted it, she admitted her grandson had joined the brawl.
If she denied it, then her grandson’s beating was for nothing.
And Gu Nan Xi kept smiling, sweet as poison. “Or did I mistake him? That’s fine. When I recognize the right one, I’ll reward him with a few more swings. If his parents won’t teach their son, I’ll teach him for them.”
Old Madam Li’s chest rose and fell. The threat was naked, bright, undeniable.
She snapped, fury turning outward. “Censor Jiang—are you truly going to stand there and watch?”
Censor Jiang nodded once, unbothered. “I am the Right Censor. My duty is to supervise local governments in prefectures and counties. Your matter is not under my jurisdiction.”