Chapter 1194: She Dared Not Believe It
The thirteenth year of Shunzhi.
His Majesty sought to rectify the salt and iron trades. The imperial envoy, Xie Huan, was ordered to head south on an inspection tour, and the prefect of Chunhui Prefecture, Tong Nianyi, was commanded to assist.
Since ancient times, emperors had always sought to rein in the salt and iron trades. Every few years brought another such campaign, but most of the time it only briefly curbed the rampant corruption before those greedy faces resurfaced.
It seemed this had become a completely ordinary occurrence, something everyone had grown accustomed to.
After more than a year apart, Xie Huan and Tong Nianyi met again.
What stunned Tong Nianyi was that Xie Huan now wore a mask concealing half of her face.
"What happened to your face?" Tong Nianyi asked.
Xie Huan removed the mask, revealing a deep, hideous scar that immediately made Tong Nianyi's pupils contract.
"Last winter, news leaked from the palace that His Majesty intended to crack down on the salt and iron trades and had named me the imperial envoy," Xie Huan said. "A few days later, while returning home from my night shift, I was ambushed by assassins. I had poor luck—a blade caught my face in the chaos. But I had good luck, too, because I didn't die."