Chapter 60: The World Cleared, the Grand Finale

"General Xie, General!"

The modest military command tent had long since been replaced by a grand three-courtyard mansion, and Xie Jingxing had already brought the Jiangnan region under his control.

He was just listening to several trusted generals discuss how to take the capital when he heard his trusted aide's voice outside.

Everyone's face changed, and one person pointed at the aide rushing in and shouted, "What's the hurry? Another urgent military report?"

"Hey, what are you standing there for? Well, out with it!"

The aide's face was lit up with joy as he clasped his fists to Xie Jingxing: "Reporting to the General—good news! Word from the capital is that Second Young Master Ning passed all three levels of the county exam in a row!"

The other generals were stunned. Passing the county exams? Second Young Master Ning?

What was so great about that?

But Xie Jingxing, who had remained cold and unmoving, slammed the table and laughed heartily, clearly thrilled.

"Spread the word—today your commander is in a good mood. Give every hundred households two jars of fine wine, and let the whole army celebrate!"

Even the aide who brought the news was stunned. The Second Young Master passing the exams made the General happier than taking Jiangnan.

Qiu Changyu had long since figured out his master's feelings and urged, "Well, go on then!"

"Yes, I'll go at once!"

The soldier hurried off to do it. Still, being one of Xie Jingxing's own men, he kept his mouth shut and said nothing about Second Young Master Ning, only saying there was good news today and everyone should drink up.

Once the meeting wrapped up, Qiu Changyu followed the beaming Xie Jingxing to the rear courtyard's flower hall. Seeing Xie Jingxing's joy still hadn't faded, he asked, "The General's this happy?"

"You haven't left yet?" Xie Jingxing raised an eyebrow.

Qiu Changyu silently cursed himself for following him—old habits die hard.

Qiu Changyu turned to leave but heard Xie Jingxing behind him already laying out paper and slowly grinding ink, getting ready to write.

"Writing to him again? Over a year now, and you haven't gotten a single reply." Qiu Changyu muttered resentfully.

But this time he was wrong. Xie Jingxing wasn't writing a letter—he was practicing his calligraphy.

He was picking a courtesy name for Ning Xishi, who was about to come of age.

He'd promised Ning Xishi he'd return to the capital before his coming-of-age ceremony to give him the name.

·

On Xie Jingxing's front, victories kept piling up as he marched on triumphantly, while the capital was thick with a storm brewing.

Ning Xishi was practicing calligraphy, with Dongshuang beside him trimming the candle wick to make the flame burn brighter.

"Young Master, the weather's bad. How about we skip practice? The Eldest Young Master doesn't check your writing anymore anyway."

Dongshuang said softly, almost pleading.

Ning Xishi had already passed the county examination. If the throne stayed put, he could sit for the provincial exam a year later. Passing that would make him a real jinshi.

But things were unstable. The court's so-called million elite troops were losing ground left and right against General Xie Jingxing's six hundred thousand. The dynasty could change hands any day, and when the next imperial exam would even happen was anyone's guess.

Ning Xishi stood behind the yellow pearwood desk, deep in thought. Hearing Dongshuang, he tilted his head slightly, his gaze drifting out the open window.

The sky was dark, clouds hung low, like a violent storm was about to break.

"Young Master, shall we rest then?" Dongshuang asked softly.

Ning Xishi lowered his eyes to the paper edges fluttering in the wind. Even with the paperweight holding it down, it couldn't hold up against the raging wind.

"I'll keep writing a bit. Close the window."

"Yes."

Somehow, Ning Xishi had been feeling unusually restless lately—something he'd never felt before.

He'd had worries before, but a good night's sleep usually took care of them.

But now the weight on his heart was getting heavier by the day. He'd read Xie Jingxing's letters over and over, even trying to copy his handwriting a few days ago.

But day after day, copying Xie Jingxing's handwriting couldn't hold back the unease in his heart anymore. He'd tucked the letters back into the books and come to practice his own writing instead.

Dongshuang's thinking was simple—once General Xie Jingxing marched in, all the civil and military officials would bow down and welcome the new ruler. Then the whole court, even the whole world, would be under the General's and his young master's control.

But what sounded like a single step required hundreds of thousands of troops and the commander's strategic brilliance to accomplish.

Dongshuang wanted to say more, but Ning Xishi asked, "Is that Ming Liuer still refusing to talk?"

Dongshuang was startled and quickly replied, "Yes. Three months have passed, and she hasn't uttered a single word. The strangest thing is that the Crown Prince's people seem to have sensed something and have been investigating around Qingyan Tower lately. Shopkeeper Xiao and Young Master Xiao are keeping them at bay."

Ning Xishi set down his brush: "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Ever since Ming Liuer had tried to kill him and been exposed, she'd been held in the dungeon beneath Qingyan Tower. At the time, Ning Xishi had been confident, believing he'd figured out all the connections—he'd even heard the sound of flames burning and thought he could continue that dream.

But upon returning, he hadn't had a single dream since.

Everything from that day seemed like an illusion.

Yet Ning Xishi was certain it was all real.

Every clue pointed to his conclusion—this world was indeed a book, but not entirely one.

Perhaps, more precisely, it was a book whose ending had been altered.

The person Ning Xishi had seen in his dream was Ming Liuer. She had somehow discovered the secret of this world and, for her own selfish desires, rewritten everyone's fate.

Ning Xishi himself was likely the original bearer of the world's fortune. After the alteration, he'd been powerless to change things, only able to witness the rewritten plot—Ning Xishi had merely wanted to escape his cannon-fodder fate and survive, never expecting to inadvertently catalyze major events: the election of the Martial Arts Alliance Leader, Ming Hanche's death, and the unification of the martial arts world...

Ming Hanche was probably the first person Ming Liuer had manipulated. Had he truly unified the martial world and coordinated with the court from within, what could Xie Jingxing have done even with eight hundred thousand troops?

Without Jiangnan's grain supplies, he couldn't have turned the tide.

Fortunately, Ning Xishi had inadvertently unified the martial world, brought the various sects under control, and with the Beggar Gang early on turning to business and selling grain, Xie Jingxing's army had been able to advance triumphantly.

In warfare—more critical than strategy was grain.

In the end, the ripple effects of Ning Xishi's butterfly wings continued. This world would eventually return to its original state.

The altered course of the world would ultimately be corrected.

"Logically, with Ming Liuer captured, there shouldn't be any more trouble."

Ning Xishi set down his brush, pressing a finger against his twitching right eyelid, thinking to himself, Xie Jingxing must not get into trouble.

·

And at that very moment, within the Eastern Palace.

The long candle flames flickered, casting shifting shadows across the hall, and a figure's shadow stretched and shrank with the light.

Along with the changing shadows, two very different voices rang out.

"Your Highness, save me... I finally managed to see you..."

"I've surrounded Qingyan Tower and searched it top to bottom several times, but I still can't find the entrance to the underground passage. Liuer, don't panic, think hard—how did you get into that tunnel?"

"I—I don't remember. They knocked me out and dragged me in. I don't know a thing. Boo-hoo, Your Highness, save me, I don't want to die."

"Liuer, I will definitely save you. I'll have them dig up the whole place—even if I have to tear Qingyan Tower apart, I'll find you!"

Suddenly a gust of wind blew through, extinguishing the candle on the Crown Prince's desk. He let out a sharp cry and collapsed onto the desk.

The maids and eunuchs had been sent away long ago, so no one heard a word.

The Crown Prince lay sprawled across the desk, writhing in pain, clutching his chest. His heart pounded so hard it felt like it might leap out of his chest.

"Liuer, Liuer, are you alright?" the Crown Prince asked weakly.

"I'm fine, Your Highness. Using your heart's blood to fuel this candle and summon me is draining you too much. Don't worry about me. Even if I die, it's fine—you'll still be the Prince. No matter how ruthless Xie Jingxing is, he wouldn't dare touch you."

The Crown Prince's face instantly darkened with malice. "Xie Jingxing betrays his emperor, spits on rank and family ties. If he fights his way back, I won't have a single good day left! Liuer, rest assured, I will definitely rescue you. With you, we can keep rewriting that book and stay together forever. When I'm emperor, you'll be my only empress."

Deep under Qingyan Tower, Ming Liuer's lips curled with bitterness—that book was already in Ning Xishi's hands—the world's chosen one. She could no longer rewrite the world's fate.

But she really didn't want to die!

Once the Prince got her out, she'd run away and give up that dream of being the first female zhuangyuan... All she wanted was to survive.

Ming Liuer knew she was fooling the Prince, but wasn't he using her too?

All real love between them was long gone—only twisted using remained.

·

Ning Xishi didn't put much stock in omens like a twitching eyelid, but he was too restless to sleep. He thought about writing to Xie Jingxing, but a letter might not arrive in time and could tip off his plans.

After mulling it over, he put the brush down, changed into dark clothes, and headed straight for Qingyan Tower.

The spies lurking around the Ning estate and Qingyan Tower put Ning Xishi on edge. But the Ning estate had a secret tunnel already dug. If the emperor tried to kill the Nings to threaten Xie Jingxing, the Beggar Gang would step in.

Ning Xishi moved like a ghost. The guards felt a breeze at their backs, but by the time they turned, he was gone.

He slipped into Qingyan Tower's underground cell and found Ming Liuer slumped against the wall, out cold or just resting.

He'd come a few times before, but she'd never said a word, so he'd gotten nowhere.

This time, he decided to try again.

He let his footsteps fall heavier on purpose, and Ming Liuer jolted upright, staring at him. Then she scrambled to the cell door, gripping the wooden bars. "Let's talk, Young Master Ning."

Ning Xishi raised an eyebrow. "Fine."

Ming Liuer hadn't expected it to go this smoothly. As she scrambled for words, Ning Xishi went on, "How have you been passing messages to the Prince? His men have nearly torn this place apart."

"He uses his blood to call my soul," Ming Liuer said. "It's a dark art, and it only works a few times. Push it further, and we both die."

"Ha, who buys that mumbo jumbo?" Xiao Shaoqing clearly wasn't buying that spooky stuff.

Ming Liuer tried to explain, but Ning Xishi interjected, "If you've got a way out, why bother making a deal with me?"

"He's only saving me to rewrite the ending, but you already burned that book. It can never be altered again. If he discovers I'm useless, I'll die even more horribly."

Ning Xishi believed this—that Crown Prince was indeed a ruthless and merciless man.

But more than that, Ning Xishi was fixated on another thing Ming Liuer had said—that the book had been burned by him.

Ning Xishi had never dreamed of that book again, only hearing the crackling of flames on the day he captured Ming Liuer.

Could it be that because everything had returned to dust, he would never dream of the past again?

Ning Xishi felt as though everything had been laid bare, his thoughts suddenly flowing freely.

So the problem that had troubled him for months was merely his own mental obstruction.

"I will release you, but not now," Ning Xishi said. "The new emperor will enter the capital in three days and grant a general amnesty. Someone will release you then."

He had obtained the answer he sought and lingered no longer, leaving the dungeon.

Xiao Shaoqing was even more astonished. "Three days? How do you know that?"

Ning Xishi had already followed him out, looking up at the moon in the sky, and said casually, "I made it up."

"What?"

"Haven't you noticed? Every household in the capital has prepared red silk banners, ready to welcome the new emperor. General Xie's path to power will likely be exceedingly smooth." Ning Xishi winked at Xiao Shaoqing.

This momentum in the capital naturally couldn't be separated from the Empress Dowager's hand. With Ning Xishi supplying provisions externally, the Empress Dowager swaying public sentiment internally, and Ming Liuer's supernatural interference gone, everything would return to its proper course.

Since ancient times, those who win the people's hearts win the world.

The moon was about to become full, and this realm... was due for a change of ruler.

Xiao Shaoqing mused for a moment, then asked, "When he becomes emperor, what will you do? Become the empress?"

"Of course, I'll continue taking the imperial examinations and become his new zhuangyuan."

==========Author's Note:==========

The story is complete.

Our A Xi and Xie Xie have finally achieved their happy ending.

After researching, I found that the bonus chapters added after settlement are free. I plan to release the main ending first, and update two bonus chapters a week later.

Enjoy reading, my dears.