"Is there any possibility, any..."
"No!"
The truth was cruel, and Nan Shiying's honesty laid bare the brutality in an even more visceral way for Cheng Zimò. Seeing the angry and grief-stricken Cheng Zimò, Nan Shiying had no intention of letting him off. She intended to tell him an even more brutal truth: "Cheng Zimò, do you truly know your father?"
The sudden shift in topic made Cheng Zimò pause. He couldn't understand why she would ask this question and nodded instinctively, "Of course!"
Nan Shiying smiled. "Do you know that the Hengyuan Merchant Association doesn't transport sacrifices as you see today? They transport living people."
"Someone in the Langhuan Army is secretly assisting them in getting people onto the cargo ships. This person must hold at least the rank of deputy general in the army."
"What do you mean?"
Cheng Zimò understood the hidden implication in her words and glared at her. He felt her malicious speculation was an insult and slander against his father.
"Don't you believe me?" Nan Shiying knew that for Cheng Zimò, the absurdity of this truth was akin to the sun rising in the west or red rain falling from the sky. She had no intention of presenting ironclad evidence in front of everyone. She simply asked Cheng Zimò a question: "You said your friend crashed into a wall and died before your eyes. Have you ever thought about why his daughter wasn't sought for help from you immediately after she went missing? And why, upon seeing you, did he tragically smash himself against a wall?"
"Because I was in the military camp at the time..."
"You've known him for many years. Does your family know? Do the servants around you know? After his daughter went missing, even if you were in the military camp, wouldn't he have come to your estate to beg for help? Did he go? Or, have you asked the servants at your estate if he went?"
Cheng Zimò opened his mouth, wanting to answer definitively, but the words caught in his throat, unable to be spoken. He hesitated.
Qin Si wouldn't have asked for help. If it were ordinary times, he wouldn't have. But when it came to his daughter, Cheng Zimò didn't know if, in his immense grief, he would abandon his principles and come begging for assistance.
Nan Shiying didn't wait for him to answer. She continued, "Even if we concede that he didn't come to your door for help, do you think that, as a person, he would have been so disheartened by his daughter's disappearance that he would kill himself?"
Cheng Zimò moved his lips as if something was blocking his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe. He had pondered this question countless times. While Xiao Jun's fate was unknown, how could Qin Si choose to end his life? He would surely dedicate his entire life and exhaust every means to find Xiao Jun, even if all he found in the end was a pile of bones. He would never have succumbed to a cowardly death before finding her.
But Qin Si had killed himself. Thus, Cheng Zimò could only convince himself with the words "overwhelmed by grief." Now, however, listening to her words, it seemed that Qin Si's suicide was because he had learned of Xiao Jun's fate and knew that it was his closest friend's father who had orchestrated everything. That was why Qin Si had smashed himself against the wall upon seeing his friend, Cheng Zimò!
Because he couldn't face the unforgivable or the unaccusable.
"No, it's not like that. You're spouting nonsense. My father wouldn't do such a thing!"
Cheng Zimò shook his head, loudly denying it all. His voice echoed through the cave, surrounding everyone's ears.
Nan Shiying pointed to Cheng Zimò's heart and told him, "What I'm telling you is not speculation, but fact. Not long ago, there was a thief in your estate. The thief didn't raid your storerooms but entered your father's study. Who do you think they were working for, and what did they discover in your father's study?"
"It's you!"
The color drained from Cheng Zimò's face, but he stubbornly refused to believe the so-called "truth" she spoke. He trusted his father more than this unfamiliar imperial envoy. Moreover, she had only saved these girls; did that prove she was an imperial envoy?
"Whether it is or isn't, I will find out the truth. Until then, I am taking them home!" Cheng Zimò said, sidestepping Nan Shiying and walking towards the girls huddled behind her.
"You want to send them to their deaths?"
Nan Shiying didn't stop him. She merely thought Cheng Zimò was a person with loyalty, his own opinions, and a brain, but not enough of it.
"Do you think the people who died are all of them? If they discover that the 'sacrifices' carried back by the Hengyuan Merchant Association's escorts are amiss, do you think they will just stop there?"
"You still want more innocent people to be implicated?"
Cheng Zimò turned back silently upon hearing this. Nan Shiying raised her hand and grabbed Cheng Zimò's neck. Her movements seemed slow, but the moment she struck, she was sharp and decisive. Cheng Zimò didn't even have time to react before she was holding his neck and lifting him towards her.
"I told you all this, not for you to go back and confront your father. You, are my hostage!"
"A hostage who suddenly appears after your father thought you were dead!"
"Doesn't that sound incredibly interesting?"
Cheng Zimò's face turned pale. The hand that held his neck was like a vise, preventing him from breathing. The feeling of suffocation enveloped him. His eyeballs slowly bulged, red veins spreading across the whites, his eyes seeming ready to pop out of their sockets at any moment.
"Amitabha!"
Shouyi stepped forward and grabbed Nan Shiying's wrist. "Benefactor, if you don't let go, you'll be sending him to meet the Buddha!"
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Hmm?"
"You Buddhists, don't you all wish to see the Buddha?"
Shouyi: "The Buddha resides within the heart; there's no need to ascend to heaven!"
"Very well!"
Engaging in wordplay with these monks was not a pleasant experience. Nan Shiying decisively stepped back and, as she did so, released her grip.
Cheng Zimò clutched his neck and coughed loudly.
...
The escorts of the Hengyuan Merchant Association safely delivered the sacrifices. They were an hour late, but no one asked them why.
"Well done!"
The association's steward inspected the porcelain urn and praised them without reservation.
"You may return to rest."
As the escorts turned to leave, the steward suddenly asked, "Oh, right, I forgot to ask. Did you encounter anything on the road?"
The several escorts exchanged glances, turned back together, and the leading escort said, "...Yes, on the way back to the city, we encountered two people, and there was some conflict."
"And then?"
"The mountain path was rugged; they accidentally fell off the cliff!"
"Did they die?"
"They died!"
"Ah, how pitiful!" The steward shook his head as if feigning sympathy and, without saying more, waved them away.
He instructed that the urn be guarded carefully and turned to head towards the会长's study.