Near the end of the year, after the shocking case of the Eastern Tartar envoy ambush, another rumor about the North Yan commander began to spread quietly among the capital’s officials and nobles like a wildfire—
Jingning Marquis Fu Shen was fond of men, with a predilection for cut sleeves and shared peaches.
The appearance of this news was strange, but upon careful consideration, it seemed somewhat plausible. Moreover, people always enjoy using the most vulgar speculations to complete the “truth”. Before long, Fu Shen’s romantic history since joining the military had been vividly described among the noble families, even becoming a topic of casual conversation.
In the Great Zhou, a fondness for male love was not particularly outrageous, and people were quite tolerant. But when such a thing occurred in a general holding military power, it was no longer simply a “preference”.
When the slightly more alert Yan Xiaohan heard this rumor from the Flying Dragon Guard, his heart suddenly sank, and he had a bad feeling.
That night, he didn’t wait for Fu Shen’s response. In such a situation, even the most resilient person would waver. Yan Xiaohan had the upper hand, but he was not happy.
The Eastern Tartar envoy attack case was not handed over to the Flying Dragon Guard by Emperor Yuan Tai, so Yan Xiaohan could only choose to investigate privately. The doubts lingering in his heart had not disappeared. Although Fu Shen said he was thinking too highly of himself, a person who could survive the battlefield falling into an ambush was as strange as a duck drowning in a water tank.
Fu Shen’s attitude made him suspect that there might be more to this case, and Yan Xiaohan needed to uncover the truth behind it.
Not for justice, nor for morality, but because he wielded an emperor’s uniquely sharp demonic blade on his behalf. He needed to see the surging undercurrents hidden beneath the surface to control the blade’s direction and prevent being bitten back or swept away by the currents.
In this dynasty, successive emperors greatly valued the forbidden armies.
