By this point, even someone as carefree as Zhou Ziqin finally understood that in the face of such terrifying power, the only way out was to flee.

Jing Yi and Jing Heng were both shocked, momentarily looking at each other speechlessly.

Huang Zixia lowered her eyes in contemplation for a moment, then added, “Actually, these are just my speculations. I still need both of you to help me confirm them first.”

“Alright, I’ll go find this month’s records for you,” Jing Heng said as he stood up and left. Huang Zixia waited for him while resting her chin in her hand, lost in thought.

Jing Yi glanced up at her and asked, “What are you thinking about?”

She moved closer and softly asked Jing Yi, “Lord Yi, is there any way you could help me enter the Imperial Clan Court to see the Prince?”

“Oh… missing the Prince?” Jing Yi raised an eyebrow and asked.

Huang Zixia’s face instantly turned red. Flustered and anxious, she stammered, “I… I’m just worried the Prince isn’t used to life at the Imperial Clan Court.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Jing Yi said. “Given the Prince’s status, he naturally wouldn’t be kept in the Imperial Clan Court’s offices. The Court has a pavilion by Qujiang Pool used for official gatherings and banquets. I’ve been there several times – the Plum Grove Lodge. Though it can’t compare to the Prince’s mansion, it’s quite elegant. The Prince should be reasonably comfortable staying there.”

Seeing how casually he spoke of it, Huang Zixia felt somewhat relieved and asked again, “Is there any way to arrange for us to meet?”

“How could that be possible? After the Prince entered the Imperial Clan Court, he sent word that no one was allowed to see him privately, and he wouldn’t see anyone,” Jing Yi said while flipping through registers and checking various accounts. “Otherwise, given the Prince’s prestigious reputation at court these years and his control over so many departments, how could we not manage to see him despite trying every possible channel?”

Huang Zixia sat down across from him and asked with furrowed brows, “The Prince won’t even see me?”

“No, he probably thinks there’s no point in meeting. Besides, you should know that the Prince doesn’t want you drawn into the whirlpool around him.”

Huang Zixia said urgently, “At this point, does he still think I can stay uninvolved?”

Jing Yi looked up at her, raising an eyebrow slightly: “Honestly, Wang Yun isn’t bad.”

Extremely frustrated, Huang Zixia stood up and kicked his desk. His inkstone shook, splattering a few drops of ink.

Jing Yi looked at her, finally showing a hint of a smile, and said, “Alright, I know you’ve been extremely anxious these past few days. I was just joking with you.”

Huang Zixia glared at him resentfully and asked, “Have you heard any news on your end these days?”

“Nothing much. Court officials are all on leave these days and won’t return to their offices until the fourth. Though they’re not exactly idle at home – now that everyone in the capital knows about the death of Prince E when they return to their offices on the fourth, another storm will brew,” Jing Yi said with regret. “It’s a pity that His Majesty suffered from his headache again on New Year’s Day and canceled the court audience and military review. Otherwise, this grand spectacle at court would have already begun in full force.”

Huang Zixia looked at his expression of eager anticipation for chaos and couldn’t help but say helplessly, “Could you not look so excited?” After all, this was a massive catastrophe – possibly none of the hundreds of people in Prince Kui’s household would escape.

“Better a short pain than a long one, better early than late. Just thinking about how it won’t start until the day after tomorrow makes me anxious,” Jing Yi said. Seeing Huang Zixia holding her head and standing up, preparing to leave, he quickly grabbed her sleeve and said, “Hey, don’t be so gloomy, alright? Being like this won’t help anything!”

Huang Zixia recalled her first meeting with Jing Yi when he had created the identity of Yang Chonggu for her. He had shown the same casual, irreverent manner before Prince Kui then. Knowing that one’s nature is hard to change, she could only sigh and sit down again.

“I know you probably get along better with Jing Yu, hmph, what’s so great about him, so rigid and quiet…” Jing Yi said this far, then fell silent for a moment before saying, “Ah well, he died for the Prince, so I won’t speak ill of him anymore.”

Huang Zixia then asked, “You and Lord Jing Yu must have both been by the Prince’s side since childhood?”

“I wasn’t, but he was. Jing Yu seems to have been sent to the palace when he was four or five years old. He was much luckier than me, never having to worry about food or clothing in the palace since childhood.” While speaking, Jing Yi casually looked at the account book in his hand, his brush moving without delay, marking and noting as he quickly turned a page. “I was abandoned at a charity house when I was born. When I got a bit older and couldn’t get enough to eat there, I started stealing food from others and even hurt someone, so I was thrown out. After begging on the streets for a few years, one rainy day washed my face clean, and someone took notice of me…”

Huang Zixia blinked, pondering what “took notice” meant.

He glared at her and said, “Don’t overthink it. That person saw I had all my limbs and a decent face, so they took me back, cleaned me up, put me in nice clothes, and sold me to the palace servants. Then I was snip-snap—”

At this point, he looked up at Huang Zixia with a smile, showing his adorable little canine teeth: “Well, that’s how I entered the eunuch profession. After sweeping floors in the palace for a few days, I suddenly heard Prince Kui’s mansion was expanding and the Emperor would reward several eunuchs. Wow, you don’t know how hard I had to fight to get this good position!”

Huang Zixia said softly, “That must have been because of Lord Yi’s outstanding abilities that caught the Prince’s attention.”

“Isn’t that right? I worked very hard too. I couldn’t read before, but after entering the palace, Jing Yu found me a ‘Thousand Character Classic,’ and I started learning characters with it. I often brought roasted sweet potatoes and such to curry favor with the library eunuchs, and within a few years, I’d read all the books there!”

As Huang Zixia listened to his childhood experiences, her heart was suddenly moved, with a faint pain coming from somewhere deep inside. Looking at Jing Yi, she said softly, “Your experience is somewhat similar to… someone I know.”

“I know, Yu Xuan, right?” he said carelessly.

Huang Zixia froze for a moment, then slowly asked, “You know him too?”

“Of course, do you know who the biggest gossip in the capital is? Do you think Lu Yunzhong likes to talk about idle matters? Those are just tiny bits of information leaked from my side,” Jing Yi said proudly, without any shame. “When you and the Prince were still in Shu, I already knew everything about Yu Xuan.”

Huang Zixia turned her face away and changed the subject: “So… Lord Yu had a good relationship with you and helped you?”

“What help? That bastard just wanted me to share more of the work,” he said, then fell into a daze for a while before finally saying, “Yes… if it weren’t for him, I might… might still be mudding through as a minor eunuch.”

Huang Zixia saw the thin mist in his eyes when he spoke of Jing Yu, and hesitated, feeling it somewhat difficult to bring up.

Jing Yi immediately noticed: “If you have something to say, just say it. Is it about Jing Yu?”

“Mm…” Huang Zixia slowly nodded, then asked, “Do you think there was anything… unusual about Jing Yu’s usual behavior?”

Jing Yi froze, slowly putting down the account book in his hand. He looked up at her and asked slowly, “What do you mean?”

Huang Zixia no longer concealed anything and said, “I mean, I suspect him.”

“Because he asked the Prince to keep Zhang Xingying as a personal guard?”

“Not just that. For example, when the Prince and I were disguised and hiding in an inn in Shu, Zhang Xingying and Jing Yu happened to choose that very room; shortly after they arrived, the arson and ambush began; when the Prince carried that talisman on his person, there was no change, but after it was put in the box, it began to change, and at that time by his side, Jing Yu was dead, with only Zhang Xingying…”

“Let me think about this.” Jing Yi raised his hand to stop her words.

Huang Zixia said no more, just sitting beside him watching.

His expression was solemn as he thought for a long time, finally saying slowly, “Three years ago during Pang Jun’s rebellion, because of that talisman’s appearance, the Prince’s left hand was almost permanently injured. After that, everyone around him was replaced, and Jing Yu and I were selected at that time.”

“Before that, could he have had contact with anyone?”

“Impossible, because at that time when selecting people, the Prince directly drew from a palace registry, then went there himself and randomly pointed to several names on it, regardless of size, looks, or anything else. No one knew beforehand that he was going to find palace eunuchs, let alone who he would choose. Even the Prince himself was just randomly pointing at names,” he said, patting his chest and letting out a long breath. “Fortunately, my name was good enough to catch the Prince’s attention.”

“So you’re saying it was all coincidence, having nothing to do with your abilities?” Huang Zixia casually asked, “What was your name before?”

“Er Gouzi.” (Little Dog Number Two)

“…” While Huang Zixia was still speechless, he thought for a moment, stood up, picked up the candle from the table, and said, “Come on, talking is useless, let’s go look at Jing Yu’s belongings.”

Jing Yu’s room was next door, and in the candlelight, one could see his quarters were quite spacious. There was a table and chairs at the entrance, with a side room on the left and a bedroom on the right. Jing Yu liked stone carvings, and various sizes of them were displayed on tables, shelves, and windows, all kept very clean.

“Jing Yu held an important position in the Prince’s mansion, so he had quite a lot of connections. Look at this peach blossom stone brush holder – it was given to him by Cui Chunzhan.”

Huang Zixia picked it up and looked at it, noting it was placed in an inconspicuous spot, then turned back to look at other stone carvings, thinking that if even the Deputy Chief of the Court of Judicature was treated so casually, who knew who had given the other items.

Jing Yi saw what she was thinking and said, “Jing Yu was very careful in handling matters. He kept detailed records of all gifts given to him for the accounting office, including the gift-givers, estimated values, times, etc., without missing a detail. Anyway, the Prince definitely wouldn’t take them away, would only let him continue keeping them, so the things were still essentially his.”

Huang Zixia nodded and looked around the room at everything again. She picked up an intricately carved stone ball and examined it, feeling the weight was off, as if it were hollow. She tried pulling it, and sure enough, it was two tightly joined hemispheres. The thumb-sized stone ball had been carved so thin that only a thin layer remained, with the middle hollowed out to store things.

Jing Yi said, “This was Jing Yu’s favorite thing. He could thread it with a silk cord and hang it at his waist. I said everyone else hangs gold, jade, and pearls, isn’t it funny that he hangs a stone? But after I teased him several times, he kept it in his bosom instead, still refusing to part with it.”

Huang Zixia carefully looked inside the ball and said, “There seems to be water stains.”

“Really? Oh yes, this thing is made so delicately, that it probably wouldn’t leak even with water inside. But what could you put in something so small? Not even enough to moisten your lips.”

Huang Zixia turned the small ball, looking at the dried water stains on it, silent. After a long while, she asked thoughtfully, “Didn’t he always carry it with him? Then, how come he didn’t take it to Shu, but left something he loved so much here?”

“Yes… I saw him take it when he left, how did it appear here again?” Jing Yi also remembered and frowned, “Could there be two identical ones?”

“Two?” Huang Zixia held the stone ball and turned to look at him.

“Yes, could it be that he took one and left another?”

“Two identical ones… took one and left another…” Huang Zixia muttered to herself, then suddenly widened her eyes, unconsciously repeating, “Two identical ones… took one and left another…”

Jing Yi looked at her and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Nothing… I think I understand something very important.” Her face was pale, but within this pale complexion, there was also a bright joy, as if the clouds had broken and the sun had suddenly risen.

Jing Yi glanced at her and finally said something nice: “Is it because of my guidance that you feel suddenly enlightened?”

Huang Zixia nodded seriously: “Yes! Thank you for your guidance!”

Jing Heng was capable, and soon he had retrieved Zhang Xingying’s information from the registry and delivered it to Huang Zixia’s hands.

Zhang Xingying’s records were crystal clear, without a single blemish. His father was a physician at Duanrui Hall, once a famous doctor who had entered the palace to treat the late emperor. His mother had passed away, and he had an elder brother and sister-in-law who now ran the Lü family candle shop. There were no criminals among the three generations of his relatives.

Zhang Xingying grew up in the Puning District of the capital. At eighteen, he applied to be a candidate for Prince Kui’s ceremonial guard and successfully passed multiple rounds of selection to enter the prince’s mansion. However, he was expelled shortly after due to negligence. Afterward, he worked as an apprentice at Duanrui Hall but left for some reason. He planned to join the Left Golden Guard but failed, then traveled around after leaving the capital. He earned merit while escorting Prince Kui in Shu and returned to the prince’s mansion, becoming one of his guards.

Huang Zixia read and reread these brief records, seeing countless memories of her time with Zhang Xingying between the lines.

Without Zhang Xingying, she couldn’t have sneaked into Chang’an, let alone met Li Shubai and gained his help to successfully travel south and overturn the wrongful charges against her family.

He was such a loyal and passionate good man, filial to his sick father, faithful to their group of friends, and never abandoning the unfortunate Dicui. Though tall, he was very shy, stammering when nervous. He always repaid kindness – knowing he would face punishment, he still helped her sneak into the ceremonial guard to enter Chang’an. His thoughts were pure – having secretly loved Dicui for so long, he only dared to secretly pass by her door and steal glances…

Huang Zixia felt her mind buzzing. She didn’t want to think about it but had no choice. The world was so frightening, surrounded by wolves, with friends and foes mixed. Who knew who would turn out to be the one hiding deepest by their side?

She returned Zhang Xingying’s records to Jing Heng, and before leaving the prince’s mansion, she went to Jingyu Hall to feed a bit of fish food to the small fish Li Shubai kept in a crystal bowl.

The fish was so tiny that she had to crush the sesame-sized fish food with her fingernail before sprinkling it on the water for it to eat. Looking at the fish food, she remembered it was the kind they bought last year during the Wang Ruo case when she and Li Shubai twice visited the street performer in the West Market.

She still remembered how Li Shubai showed his first signs of awkwardness before her then, saying that the small fish seemed to like this type of food.

At the time, she had only laughed secretly in her heart, but now thinking back, she might never have the chance to see that side of Li Shubai again.

In this life, that last bit of childishness in him had already vanished completely in this situation.

She stroked the crystal bowl and wordlessly lowered her head to rest her face on the table. Leaning there, she gazed at the transparent blue crystal bowl, where the redfish appeared a brilliant purple when tinted by the blue, covered in a strange radiance under the golden light of the palace lamps that dazzled the eyes and bewitched the spirit.

She pulled out the hairpin from her head and drew a large circle, then drew a small circle beside it.

The large circle was like a giant wheel, rolling to crush the small circle. She and Li Shubai were in that small circle facing the fate of being crushed.

And that enormous force was the giant hand of heaven and earth, brothers fighting each other, millions of people in court and countryside, the power of ghosts and gods. The Heavenly River poured down, the sky shattering – even if they were crushed to dust, there was ultimately nowhere to escape.

With such disparate forces, who in heaven and earth could save him, who could redirect the Heavenly River, repair the sun and moon?

This hopeless oppression made her breath quicken, her chest pierced with pain. Her hand holding the crystal bowl trembled uncontrollably, startling the small fish inside nearly to jump out of the water.

Fearing she would spill the fish onto the ground, Huang Zixia forced herself to control her hand and set the crystal bowl on the table. She breathed deeply, slowly expelling this uncontrollable grief from her heart.

She rose and left Jingyu Hall, walking toward Zhenliu Pavilion.

In the darkness under starlight and moonlight, she saw the frozen lotus pond where broken lotus stems stood like old men in straw rain capes. On the ice surface remained traces of the recent fireworks, layers of ash frozen into the ice forming dark shadows.

Huang Zixia walked down the steps and stretched out one foot to step on the ice.

Not knowing how thick the ice was, she wondered if stepping on it would make her fall through, to be submerged by the icy water, never needing to face this terrifying future that surged like the tide.

But after only a brief pause, she withdrew her foot. She turned and entered the pavilion, taking out the wooden box that held the talisman.

Just like when she saw it at the carpenter’s, there were eighty-one spaces arranged in a nine-by-nine grid, with eighty character pieces. The characters had no logical order – that box which had been assembled by chance that time, even the craftsman who made it couldn’t possibly have memorized these eighty unrelated characters in that rush.

Her hand moved over it, shifting the character pieces she touched, the chaotic characters moving like puzzle pieces one by one, but still unable to open the box which remained firmly sealed.

Why try to open a box that would take countless attempts?

She sighed and put the box back in its place, but saw a shadow cast beside the bookshelf.

She turned to look. Zhang Xingying stood in the doorway, his face dim as he watched her. The palace lamp hanging in the corridor cast backlight at an angle, blurring his features into a dark shadow, only the dim light in his eyes fixed on her.

Huang Zixia felt an icy sensation rise from her heels straight to her head. She forced herself to control her breathing, slowly withdrew both hands and turned to face him naturally: “Brother Zhang.”

Zhang Xingying walked in and asked, “Miss Huang, what are you looking for?”

Huang Zixia said casually, “I wanted to look at that talisman, but it seems this box is very difficult to open.”

“Mm, this box is something important to the Prince. Now that he’s not here, you’d better not touch it,” Zhang Xingying said, reaching out to push the box further back on the shelf.

Huang Zixia nodded, then turned to walk out, asking tiredly, “What brings Brother Zhang here?”

“I’m in charge of patrolling the mansion today,” Zhang Xingying frowned and continued, “Now that you’re back, you should rest early. Even if you’re worried sick about the Prince, you still need to take care of yourself.”

“I know, thank you, Brother Zhang,” Huang Zixia nodded and said softly, “But I need to go back, I can’t stay here.”

Zhang Xingying looked at her with concern and said, “It seems the curfew has already started outside. Shall I escort you?”

“That’s alright, I have the prince’s token,” Huang Zixia said as they walked together over dried grass stems toward the gate. “Brother Zhang, do you often work the night shift?”

“It’s not too bad, once every five days,” he said, looking up at the stars and letting out a long breath before saying, “Even though the Prince isn’t in the mansion, we still need to do our duty faithfully, lest the Prince return to worry about disorder in the household.”

Huang Zixia nodded and said, “Right, we can’t let the mansion fall into chaos just because he’s away.”

Zhang Xingying suddenly stopped and asked quietly, “Miss Huang, do you know… is there any way to see the Prince?”

Huang Zixia silently shook her head and said, “How would I know anyone at the Imperial Clan Court?”

“What about Ziqin’s side, is there a way?” he asked again.

Huang Zixia shook her head again: “I don’t know either.”

Zhang Xingying sighed, then said, “I wonder how the Prince is doing now, if he needs anything in there, and whether we should try to take care of things.”

“How would we know any of that? We can only rely on Jing Yi and the others to handle things,” Huang Zixia said, looking at him thoughtfully, and asked, “Do you have any?”

Zhang Xingying also shook his head, and they both fell silent.

Zhang Xingying saw her out of the prince’s mansion and stood at the gate watching her walk west.

After Huang Zixia had walked quite far, she looked back and found Zhang Xingying still standing at the street corner, continuing to watch her. Seeing her turn back, he waved and said, “Miss Huang, take care on your way.”

She nodded, wrapped her cloak tighter, and walked on.

She walked in silence, the cold wind in her face, the lights of Chang’an’s districts growing blurry before her eyes. The red lantern light reminded her of the great fire in Chengdu.

The image was still clear in her mind: Jing Yu used his body to clear an escape route for them through the fire, and his earnest gaze at Li Shubai while holding Zhang Xingying’s hand before death.

Thinking of that gaze, she suddenly trembled all over, breaking into a cold sweat.

Her right hand unconsciously pounded her chest, trying to suppress these terrible thoughts.

But she ultimately couldn’t let it go. Cold sweat slowly trickled down her spine, her whole body cold while her mind grew increasingly clear.

That talisman, that talisman which still produced strange red circles after being hidden in the secret box.

She didn’t believe it was a supernatural power. She knew there had to be someone close who could access the box, and before that person died, they must have found a successor.

The dying Jing Yu, with his final desperate gaze at Li Shubai, entrusts Zhang Xingying to his care. That trace of contentment on Jing Yu’s lips had brought tears to her eyes then, but now thinking of it made her break out in cold sweat.

Could it be—

Was Jing Yu, who gave his life for them, just a sacrificial pawn in the plot?

Could that silent and shy, tall and reliable person, the most pure-hearted among all her friends, really do something she couldn’t imagine?

When Huang Zixia returned to the Wang residence, her mind was fuzzy, whether from the cold outside or something else. The maids hurriedly brought her hot water, lit a blazing fire in the stove, put warming pans in her bedding, and helped her to bed.

However, everything that had happened today kept replaying before her eyes, making it impossible for Huang Zixia to fall asleep.

Visions haunted her as she tossed and turned all night. She saw Li Run deeply stabbing his heart with the Fish Intestine Sword; saw Jing Yu’s final bitter smile; saw Zhang Xingying raising his arms high to shake out drying herbs at Duanrui Hall; saw the mark Dicui had left for her at the end of the alley—

A “north” character with its lower left corner enclosed.

Dicui, who barely knew how to write, had learned this character from somewhere and written it so strangely, yet she had immediately understood its meaning.

She knew something and wanted them to quickly flee, to avoid being drawn into this terrible whirlpool. But sadly, she didn’t believe Dicui and had no idea what massive conspiracy awaited them. Now with heaven and earth overturned, when she recalled Dicui’s character, she finally understood that Dicui had known about this storm in advance.

Huang Zixia lay stiffly in bed, pressing her temples, forcing herself to think even deeper.

Zhang Xingying… Brother Zhang, was he lying in wait beside them? When necessary, would he emerge to deliver them a fatal blow?

Whether it was he or someone else who stole the Fish Intestine Sword and made Prince E commit suicide to frame Prince Kui, there was no evidence now.

Earlier, when they were in Shu, she and Li Shubai had vaguely sensed something suspicious about Zhang Xingying, but it was just a vague feeling. Now her only grounds for suspecting Zhang Xingying were Jing Yu and Dicui. As for himself, how could she suspect…

Huang Zixia covered her eyes, feeling an intense pain in her head. She knew she really couldn’t think anymore – if she kept thinking, she would surely break down and go mad.

The only thing she could do now was set everything aside and rest first. No matter what, tomorrow would bring another twelve hours for her to search for hope within despair.