xymnovel Chapter 9 Ministry of War
Chapter 9 Ministry of War
The Ministry of War was located on the east side of the imperial city, in a row of old houses, with two soldiers standing at the door.
Shen Bai walked to the door, stopped, and straightened his clothes.
He was wearing civilian clothes, not his military uniform. The uniform was too conspicuous, so he changed out halfway through the journey.
The soldier standing at the door glanced at him.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Report on your work."
"Go in. The third room on the left."
Shen Bai went inside.
---
The third room is the council chamber. It's not big; there's a table and a few chairs in the middle.
There were already people in the hall.
Four people.
As Shen Bai entered, the first person he saw sitting in the center was a man in his early forties with a square face and thick eyebrows, who looked like an official.
A young man was sitting on the left, holding a pen and grinding ink; he was probably taking notes.
There are two people sitting on the right.
A fat man looked at him with a smile, his eyes narrowed into slits.
A middle-aged man stood in the corner, hands behind his back, without moving from beginning to end.
When Shen Bai came in, the fat man spoke first.
"This is the young man from the Shen family?"
The middle-aged civil official asked.
"yes."
Shen Bai gave a military salute. Not a kneeling salute, but a military salute. He wasn't there to beg for mercy.
---
The one asking the question was the one in the middle—Chen Tingyu, the Vice Minister of War.
"What's your name?"
"Chen Bai."
Which battalion?
"The vanguard battalion."
What position did you hold during the Northern Expedition?
"Captain."
Chen Tingyu opened the booklet in his hand and glanced at it.
"Your father is Shen Ji?"
"yes."
"Your older brother is Shen Qing?"
"yes."
Chen Tingyu paused for a moment, then turned the page.
Where were you when the shield wall collapsed?
Shen Bai remained silent.
He remembered that night. The reeds. The water. The blood. His father's back. His brother's shield. Then his father fell. His brother fell too.
"I was shot with an arrow," he said. "I was pushed into the reeds. I don't know what happened after that."
Chen Tingyu paused for a moment.
Who pushed you in there?
"have no idea."
Who did you see?
"I didn't see it."
Tingyu's pen moved again.
How did your father and brother die?
Shen Bai clenched his fists.
"I don't know. I wasn't there."
---
The middle-aged man in the corner remained silent.
Shen Bai felt his gaze fixed on him. It wasn't hostile, but a very strange look. It was as if he was looking at him, yet also as if he were looking at someone else.
---
Then the fat guy interrupted.
Where were you during the retreat?
Shen Bai glanced at him.
"The rear guard."
"Did you see the Mystic Stone?"
Shen Bai's heart skipped a beat.
Hold.
It's a black stone again.
"have no idea."
"You don't know?" The fat man chuckled. "Your father is a commander-in-chief, you don't know about the Mystic Stone?"
"I am a captain, not a commander."
Shen Bai's voice was very flat.
"I was just following orders. I guarded wherever I was told to. I was wounded during the retreat and hid in the reeds, unaware of anything."
Before the fat man could say anything more, Chen Tingyu raised his hand.
"Lord Wang, let him finish speaking."
The fat man smiled and didn't ask any more questions.
But Shen Bai saw it. The fat man's eyes were narrowed to slits as he looked at him, as if he were looking at a fly.
---
Chen Tingyu asked a few more questions—how did the shield wall collapse, how did the Northern Di people charge in, and was the retreat chaotic?
Shen Bai answered each question. He said what he could say, and remained silent about what he couldn't.
He said the shield wall was breached by the Northern Di people. He said his father and brother died at the hands of the Northern Di people. He said the army scattered during the retreat, and he couldn't find anyone.
He didn't mention the third row.
He didn't say that someone stabbed him in the back.
He didn't mention the mysterious stone.
---
Chen Tingyu closed the booklet.
That's all for today.
He stood up.
"Go back and wait for news."
Shen Bai gave a military salute.
"yes."
He turned and walked out.
As he reached the door, he glanced back.
The middle-aged man remained standing in the corner, motionless.
But Shen Bai saw into his eyes.
That look in his eyes—it was like looking at the child of an old friend.
Then the middle-aged man lowered his head, his expression completely blank.
---
After exiting the Ministry of War, Shen Bai stood on the steps and took a deep breath.
The fat man's gaze made him uncomfortable. It felt like being stared at by a snake.
And that middle-aged man.
He didn't know who the middle-aged man was. But he remembered those eyes.
---
Shen Bai didn't go home. He turned into an alley and went to where Tie Dun lived.
Shen Anning opened the door. She glanced at Shen Bai and stepped aside to let him in.
Tie Dun lay on the bed with his left arm in a sling. He tried to sit up when he saw Shen Bai come in.
"Lie down."
Iron Shield lay down again.
"How was the performance review?"
"I asked a few questions." Shen Bai briefly recounted the details of his performance review, without going into everything.
Iron Shield frowned after hearing this.
"Wang Dechang. He had a grudge against your father. Back then, your father impeached him, and he was demoted by half a rank. He holds a grudge."
Shen Bai didn't speak. He cursed inwardly. What bad luck!
"There was another person. In his early forties, thin, standing in the corner, not saying a word. He had deep-set eyes."
Iron Shield shook his head. "I don't know him."
Shen Bai paused for a moment.
"Help me investigate someone. A person in a white coat."
Iron Shield looked at him. "You suspect him?"
"I don't doubt anyone. But I also won't trust anyone."
Iron Shield paused for a moment.
"I'll check."
Shen Bai stood up and walked to the door.
"Be careful," Iron Shield said.
"Um."
Shen Bai went out.
---
After leaving the Iron Shield area, Shen Bai went directly to the east of the city.
The old street in the east of the city was very narrow, lined with shops on both sides selling writing brushes and ink, paper, and used books. Shen Bai weaved through the crowd and found the shop.
There was no sign at the entrance, only an old copper plate hanging on it, which would rattle when the wind blew.
He pushed the door open and went in.
A strong smell of old paper wafted over me.
It was dark inside, full of shelves, and the shelves were covered with rolls of paper, piled up to the rafters.
There was a table in the corner, and a person was sitting behind the table.
He was in his fifties, thin, and slightly hunched over. His eyes were deep-set, like two dry wells.
The man looked up and glanced at Shen Bai.
"What are you doing?"
"Old Zhou sent me."
The man's eyes changed.
It changed for a moment, then returned to normal.
"sit."
---
Shen Bai sat down, took out the paper, and placed it on the table.
The paper was yellowed, the edges were torn, and the words on it were blurred into a mess.
The man took the paper, leaned closer to look at it, and squinted.
"This paper is damp. The ink has seeped in."
His voice was flat.
"I'll give it a try."
He took out a set of tools, old but very fine. Each one was like a doctor's silver needle. He began to repair, stroke by stroke, tracing out the blurred characters.
It took a long time to repair.
The room was quiet, except for the sound of the wind outside blowing the old copper plate, making a tinkling sound.
---
The shopkeeper stopped halfway through the repair.
"See for yourself."
Shen Bai held the paper up to the lamplight. The handwriting was faint, and he read it stroke by stroke.
"Reverse flow... less than one in a thousand survives..."
His finger stopped on "Zhang Family in Tongjiang Lane, West of the City".
The shopkeeper reached out and snatched the paper away. "That's enough."
---
Shen Bai's hands were trembling.
One in a thousand survives.
Those that survive need to constantly consume new energy and constantly eliminate waste. Like a hippopotamus, it cannot live without water, yet it cannot stay in the water forever.
This is "irrigation".
---
Who is this 'Zhang'?
Shen Bai asked.
The man didn't answer. He put away his tools, one by one, very slowly.
"Your father came here back then too."
Shen Bai raised his head.
"He asked that."
"He actually asked it?"
"I got the question."
The man put the tools back into the box and closed the lid.
"Your father said this is a debt he owes."
Shen Bai remained silent.
"That thing on your father's body was congenital," the man said. "The Shen family has had it for generations."
Shen Bai clenched his fists.
"Your father said it was a curse."
The man stood up, walked to the window, and turned his back to him.
"Your father wanted to break the curse. He searched for twenty years."
"Did you find it?"
"Not found."
The man closed the window.
"But he found someone."
---
Shen Bai looked at the paper.
The address is on the paper. West of the city. Tongjiang Lane. Zhang Family.
"Is this Zhang the blacksmith?"
The person did not answer.
"Who is this Zhang the blacksmith?"
The person still didn't answer.
"What is his relationship with Old Zhou?"
The man finally turned around.
"You'll see when you get there."
His voice was flat, as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.
"Hurry up. It'll be hard to find them after dark."
---
Shen Bai left Moxiangzhai and went directly to the west of the city.
The further you go into the western part of the city, the more remote and desolate it becomes. There are fewer and fewer people on the road, and the houses are getting more and more dilapidated.
Coppersmith Lane is located on the west side of the city. At its end is a low wall, behind which lies a ruin.
Shen Bai stopped in front of the charred ruins.
Everything was burned to the ground. The walls collapsed, the beams crumbled, and the ground was covered in black ash. The wind carried the smell of burnt coals.
He stood in front of the ruins, his mind filled with the words on that piece of paper.
West of the city. Tongjiang Lane. Zhang Family.
He found it.
But everything is gone.
---
The old man selling tea next to him glanced at him.
"Young man, are you here to see the Zhang family?"
"yes."
"It burned down." The old man sighed. "It happened about two weeks ago. The fire started in the middle of the night and burned until dawn."
Shen Bai remained silent.
"The entire Zhang family of three perished in the fire."
"How did the fire start?"
"Who knows?" the old man said in a low voice. "Some say it's a fire, some say—"
He paused and looked at Shen Bai.
"What did someone say?"
"It's nothing."
The old man lowered his head and continued selling tea.
---
Shen Bai stood in front of the ruins.
He looked down at the patch of blackish-gray.
Two weeks ago.
Not long after his father died.
Someone wiped out the Zhang family.
Damn. He was a step too slow again.
He didn't know who burned it.
All he knew was that someone didn't want him to know the truth.
---
When Shen Bai got home, it was already dark.
He pushed open the door and went inside.
The room was dark because the lights were off.
He walked to the table and lit the candles.
He saw it when the candlelight came on.
There is a stone on the table.
It's about the size of a thumb, grayish-brown, like a piece of burnt charcoal.
There was a piece of paper under the stone.
---
Shen Bai stood there, looking at the stone.
His heart stopped beating.
Black stone.
He picked up the paper.
The paper was new, not the old paper from his father's study.
There are only two lines of text above.
"Just survive."
"Only by surviving can you find out the truth."
---
He turned the paper over, wanting to see if there were any other words on the back.
No.
Just these two lines.
He clenched the piece of paper tightly. The paper crumpled into a ball in his palm.
First, survive? He has always been alive.
But simply being alive isn't enough. He needs to know who it is.
who is it?
Who put this here?
he does not know.
All he knew was that someone knew he was investigating his father.
Someone wanted him to live.
Someone wants him to find out the truth.
He put the note and the stone into his pocket.
Tomorrow, he's going to ask Zhou the Scarface.
Ask all the questions that need to be asked.
---
(End of Chapter Nine)