“Laugh at what? Why, at you going to the palace, of course!” Feng Anya was laughing so hard she could barely stay on her feet.

Feng Qingyin’s fury swelled until she nearly wanted to deliver a kick: “You dare mock the imperial palace! I will absolutely report this to Her Highness the Empress and have her punish you both for this!”

“Oh, how frightened we are.” Feng Xiyu pulled Feng Anya close, affecting an expression of exaggerated alarm. “Anya, do you think Her Highness the Empress would truly punish us just for Feng Qingyin’s sake?”

“Of course—”

“Of course she would not!” Feng Anya cut straight across Feng Qingyin’s words, pointing directly at her face as she laughed all the more boldly.

“Just look at that face of hers. Since she’s just returning from the palace, someone inside the palace must have delivered that blow.”

“Do you see it? Those clear, vivid five-finger marks — one look tells you how savage the hit was. Your teeth weren’t knocked loose, were they?”

Feng Qingyin’s expression transformed in an instant. Her hand flew up to cover her face, color alternating red and green across her cheeks in a dizzying display of rapid change.

“Hahaha — beaten to this state and barely able to look after yourself, yet you still talk about having Her Highness stand up for you!”

“Exactly — who does she think she is? Does she truly believe the Crown Prince would ever want her?”

“Ha! I’ve heard the Crown Prince’s heart belongs to our Jiu’er. He has no interest whatsoever in this so-called foremost accomplished lady who puts on such airs.”

“Hmph — foremost calamity lady is more like it. Hahaha…”

Feng Qingyin pressed her hand against her face. Tears brimmed in her eyes. She stumbled and lurched back to her own courtyard, shut the door, and immediately burst into sobs.

She had always been the lofty, untouchable Eighth Miss of the Feng household — how had she been brought this low.

Originally, everyone had taken it as a certainty that she was the finest candidate for Crown Princess. So why had word spread that the Crown Prince elder brother had feelings for Feng Jiu’er?

How, in so short a time — barely a month — had that worthless Ninth Miss transformed into someone so dazzling that men competed to follow her?

Why was it that she, who should have been the brightest star in the Feng household, had become the most wretched of them all — so low that even those worthless people dared come and bully her?

Why?

“Wuu…” Feng Qingyin crouched on the ground, sobbing in broken, muffled cries. “Why do you all bully me? Why? Wuu wuu…”

She was crying so pitifully that even the man asleep in the rafters above could not continue his rest.

“Who is bullying you? Do you want me to kill them for you?” He rolled over, gazing down at her with languid indifference.

Feng Qingyin startled in fright, looked up at the man who had materialized inexplicably in the ceiling rafters, and it took her a moment to gather herself.

“When did you get here? And what have you come for this time?”

“Nothing to eat, so I came to you.” The man seemed entirely at home here, lying at a slant across the rafter beams — looking as though he might topple off at any moment, yet somehow never quite falling.

“Are you injured?” Feng Qingyin raised the back of her hand to wipe away her tears, rose from the floor, and walked over to retrieve a medicine box from nearby. She glanced up at him.

“Come down. Tell me where you’re hurt and let me see to it.”

The gentleness of her manner was a complete and utter transformation from the Feng Qingyin who had faced Feng Anya and Feng Xiyu just moments before.

Only she herself could see, in the instant she lowered her gaze, a fleeting glimmer that passed through her eyes before vanishing without a trace.

The man hesitated briefly, then descended lightly from the rafters. When his feet touched the ground, there was, in fact, a small sound — proof enough that this time his injuries were not insignificant.

His complexion was very pale, and once he was down, Feng Qingyin could finally see him clearly.

“How did you end up this badly injured? What happened to you? Did you come to the imperial city to do business again and get bullied by someone?”

“You think I’m the sort of person who gets bullied?” The man gave a derisive sound, his demeanor as cool and detached as ever despite his pallor.

“You don’t seem it — but you really are injured. Clearly hurt rather badly.”

Feng Qingyin had him sit down in a chair. “Take off your outer robe. Let me see where you’re hurt.”

“It is nothing serious. It will heal within a few days.” He was not in the habit of removing his clothes — not even in her presence.

“Then at least take a medicinal pill first. This pill was given to me by Father as a gift during the New Year celebrations — it must be something exceptional. I haven’t even had the heart to take it myself.”

Feng Qingyin tipped a small pill out of a tiny bottle and held it out to him: “Take it. It’s good medicine — it can help restore your vital energy.”

“You’re not going to ask me what happened?” The man stared at the pill and asked in an even tone.

“If I ask, you won’t tell me anyway. So never mind. Besides — you would never come here to cause me harm.”

Feng Qingyin murmured this softly, seeming truly unbothered. “Hurry up and take it. I’m not deceiving you — it’s genuinely exceptional medicine. The best one I have.”

“You give your best to me. What about yourself?”

“I don’t get injured.” She smiled faintly.

The man stared at the pill, an almost imperceptible trace of gratitude flowing through his eyes. He was not a person who wore his feelings openly, but that gratitude — Feng Qingyin caught it anyway.

It made every bit of this precious medicine worth giving away.

“Jian Yi.” She called his name.

Jian Yi was the name she had given him, because he had never once told her his own. Nor had he ever mentioned who he was or where he came from.

The first time she had encountered him, he had been holding a long sword and had refused to give his name. So from that day forward, she had simply called him Jian Yi — Sword One.

Jian Yi raised his gaze toward her — and inadvertently landed on the vivid red palm print marking her face.

To have been struck that hard — no wonder she had been sitting alone on the floor, sobbing so pitifully, when he arrived.

“Who hit you?” Jian Yi’s expression darkened, a sharp, cold killing intent passing through his eyes.

“No — no one. I bumped into something by accident.” Feng Qingyin seemed only then to remember the handprint on her face. She immediately turned her head away, evading his gaze.

Jian Yi reached out and turned her face back. His brow drew low, fury igniting swiftly: “Tell me who it was.”

Feng Qingyin was startled by him. She hurried to wrench free of his grip and retreated several steps, putting distance between them.

“Jian Yi — don’t press me on this. It would only make things harder for me.”

Jian Yi held her gaze. The agitation and fury that had flared up in him gradually settled.

Finally, he closed his fingers around the pill in his hand, and abruptly tossed it into his mouth and swallowed.

Feng Qingyin seemed to release a breath she had been holding. She walked to the side, poured a cup of warm tea, and held it out to him.

“I’m not hiding this from you on purpose. But you know what your temper is like — and you look very much like someone who is capable of doing great damage. I… was afraid you wouldn’t be able to restrain yourself.”

She let out a quiet breath and, knowing that Jian Yi was not a man who enjoyed conversation, having long since grown accustomed to talking to herself in his presence, she continued.

“But after all, I am the Eighth Miss of the Feng household. Born into the Feng family, I must bear the responsibilities that come with it. If I don’t apply myself, Grandfather and Father’s days will surely not be easy.”

“Jian Yi, do you understand? Don’t involve yourself in my affairs. Even if I have to endure some hardship, I feel it is worth it.”

“Is it truly worth it?” Jian Yi’s brow furrowed tightly.

Feng Qingyin curved her lips into a smile: “It is worth it. As long as Grandfather and Father can live well in the end — all of it is worth it.”