Shadowbreaker of the Dafeng Dynasty

"Hey!" The yellow-skirted girl, Chu Caiwei, fluttered her lashes. "How did salt turn into 'silver'?" She hesitated, then thrust a sugarcane at him. "Here. Payment."

Is this a bribe?

The two officials had already vanished. Xu Qi'an pondered, then lied smoothly: "This humble one once read an ancient alchemy text on salt-to-silver transmutation."

Her eyes widened. "Which text? Who wrote it?"

It's called High School Chemistry... published by People's Education Press?

"The text is lost," he said. "But I recall its secrets."

Her breath hitched. "Tell Me, Now."

Xu Qi'an sighed. "With my life hanging by a thread, teaching isn't my priority."

She rolled her eyes. "You're slick. But the Directorate doesn't meddle in court affairs—your fate rests with the Emperor. Haggling with me? Pointless."

"Then recruit me," he countered. Insurance policy, in case the silver's truly gone. "With the Grand Astrologer's influence, claiming a condemned prisoner should be easy."

Caiwei studied him, bemused. "You're a martial artist. Why switch to alchemy?" Most cultivators started young—switching paths now was futile.

"Who cares about 'paths'?" Xu Qi'an clasped his hands, devout as a pilgrim. "I simply yearn to bask in the Grand Astrologer's glory."

"Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium, aluminum..." Xu Qi'an rattled off the elements without missing a beat.

"???"

What in the nine heavens is he saying? The girl stared blankly for a long moment before her willow-leaf brows shot up in outrage. "You're mocking me! The Directorate only accepts child apprentices!" She snatched the sugarcane back from his hands and flounced away, her skirts fluttering.

I'm technically a virgin too... Xu Qi'an opened his mouth, then realized—the Directorate recruited actual children.

Welp. That door's closed.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Two days of gnawing anxiety in his cell.

What if the silver wasn't recovered in time? Even if it was found after his exile, it'd be too late.

What if Magistrate Chen was a backstabbing worm who took all the credit?

But there was nothing more he could do. A prisoner had no power—only another grim reminder of feudal society's ruthlessness.

"Fate's hands are cruel..." he sighed.

CLANG!

The iron gate at the corridor's end swung open. A jailer strode in, firestaff in hand, and unlocked his cell. "Xu Qi'an. You're free to go."

Xu Qi'an's heart leaped. "They recovered the silver?"

"Sign the release papers and get out," the jailer said, eyeing him. "Lucky bastard."

"What about my uncle?" Xu Qi'an pressed.

"Less talk, more walk." The jailer jabbed his firestaff at Xu Qi'an's backside, herding him out.

After signing the documents under a clerk's supervision, he reclaimed the clothes confiscated during his arrest. A yamen runner escorted him out—through the back gate of the Capital Prefecture.

Dawn's first light tinged the eastern sky and the streets were still cold and empty.

CLANG!

The sound of the iron door jolted Xu Pingzhi awake. His bloodshot eyes snapped open, his face—covered in grime and bearing a resemblance to Xu Qi'an's—a stark contrast to his own son Xu Xinnian's delicate, pretty-boy features.

Across the corridor, Li Ru shuddered awake in her cell, her face gaunt with terror. The once-elegant matron, now haggard after five days of torment, locked eyes with her husband. "My lord," she whispered, her voice breaking, "I'd rather die than enter the Pleasure House."

At thirty-five, Li Ru had been a celebrated beauty, her charm undimmed even by prison's filth. But the Pleasure House? A hellscape for women.

Xu Pingzhi's lips trembled. Words failed him. Tears carved paths through the dirt on his face. "My love... this is my fault. In the next life, I'll be your ox, your horse—anything to atone. But our children... and my nephew..."

The fifth day had come. For him, the executioner's blade. For the Xu women—a fate worse than death.

Besides Li Ru, there were two daughters: a sixteen-year-old blossom and a child of five.

Huddled in the corner, the two girls stirred awake. The five-year-old rubbed her eyes, murmuring "Mama..."—utterly oblivious to the doom awaiting her.

The sixteen-year-old sat up, her disheveled hair framing a face as pale and delicate as a porcelain doll's. Her lips were thin yet vividly red, her eyes wide and luminous. Unlike most women's petite noses, hers was straight and proud, lending her features a striking, sculpted beauty. Instinctively, she edged closer to her mother, her thick lashes trembling like trapped butterflies.

Then—boots thudded against stone.

Several jailers marched in, their waists bristling with broadswords.

Li Ru's eyes hardened with despair and resolve.

Xu Pingzhi's knuckles whitened around the cell bars, his teeth grinding. Losing the tax silver? Dereliction of duty? He'd accept death for those sins. But dragging his family into the abyss—that, he could never rest with.

Especially his youngest. Five years old. Sent to the Pleasure House to be "raised." Her life would be darkness without dawn.

What parent could ever accept such a fate?

"Xu Pingzhi, come out. Sign the papers, and you're free to go."

The jailer swung the cell door open but didn't bother with shackles. Instead, he tapped the bars with his blade's pommel, gesturing for them to follow.

"Xu Pingzhi, who served his country with unwavering loyalty, whose family has given generations of honorable service... Wait, what did you just say?"

Xu Pingzhi wondered if his ears had failed him. "Leave? You said we can leave?" His voice wavered between disbelief and fragile hope. "How? Weren't we being marched to execution?"

"Dunno," the jailer grunted. "Orders from above. Ask them yourself."

Li Ru stood frozen, caught between confusion and dread, her grip tightening around her daughters' hands. Wordlessly, the family trailed the jailer down the corridor, their footsteps echoing toward an uncertain light.

"Husband... this isn't some cruel jest, is it?" Li Ru whispered.

"The court doesn't jest with lives," Xu Pingzhi muttered, limping forward despite his wounds. Relief and confusion warred within him—why had the execution been stayed?

Then Li Ru's eyes lit up. "Xinnian! It must be Xinnian's doing! He's been pulling strings these past days to spare us!" The more she thought, the more certain she grew. "Remember? His mentor was the Ministry of Justice's Vice Minister in the year of Yuanjing 18—"

the year of Yuanjing 18... Over twenty years ago. Xu Pingzhi doubted it but had no better explanation. "Perhaps."

"I told you our Xinnian is exceptional!" Li Ru's voice swelled with pride. "Back then, I wanted him to train as a warrior, but no—you insisted on that rascal Xu Qi'an!"

"Mama, bunnies are cute... Can we eat bunnies?" The five-year-old blinked up, sucking her grimy thumb, her eyes spelling hunger.

"All you think about is food—" Li Ru's habitual scolding died as she took in her daughter's dirt-streaked face. Her voice softened. "Yes, yes, bunnies soon."

Xu Pingzhi didn't bother explaining—again—that their son lacked martial talent. Some truths, his wife would forever ignore.

In a mother's eyes, her son would always be peerless.

At the signing desk, Xu Pingzhi accepted the brush from the clerk, his fingers trembling slightly. As he penned his name and stamped his seal, he felt something within him ascend—like a seedling breaking through the earth to bask in sunlight. The world seemed brighter, though not a single extra coin jingled in his pocket. His wife and daughters only needed to press their seals, spared the formality of signatures.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Xu Pingzhi clasped his hands. "Sir, might this humble one ask... why our sentences were pardoned?"

Li Ru's gaze snapped to the clerk.

"The case was solved. The tax silver recovered," the clerk replied.

"Recovered? Hah! Excellent!" Xu Pingzhi's chest swelled with vindication. "Damnable demons, daring to rob the Great Feng's silver—" Then reality check: Even with the silver found, his negligence remained. Why exoneration? At best, he should've faced exile.

"Officer Xu, your robes." The clerk presented the seventh-rank green officer's uniform confiscated during his arrest.

Even reinstated?!

Xu Pingzhi accepted the uniform, his voice deepening with authority. "Sir, enlighten me. By what logic does this pardon stand?"

"The Dafeng Dynasty's Code permits descendants to atone for elders' crimes through merit," the clerk said.

"It was Xinnian!" Li Ru wept with joy. "Our son retrieved the silver!"

"My boy..." Xu Pingzhi's eyes glistened. "My worthy son!"

The clerk cleared his throat. "It was your nephew, Xu Qi'an. He cracked the case,and left just moments ago."