The next morning, at the first light of dawn.

Jiang Zhiyi slowly awoke on her bed in Yaoguang Pavilion, seeing the familiar painted and ornate canopy above her. Her eyelids trembled slightly, and her gaze instantly dimmed.

A-Chun, who had been keeping vigil at the foot of the bed all night, quickly approached, both surprised and delighted: “Princess, you’ve finally awoken!”

Yet she saw that Jiang Zhiyi’s usually rosy face was now sickly pale, and her almond-shaped eyes had lost all their spirit, as if her soul had left her, completely ignoring what she had said.

“What’s wrong, Princess? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

Jiang Zhiyi raised her hand with vacant eyes, her fingertips slowly touching her chest: “It hurts here…”

Gu Yu turned pale with fright.

Yesterday, the female physician who examined her injuries found a bump on the back of the Princess’s head. She said that through pulse diagnosis alone, she couldn’t determine if there were internal injuries. If the Princess awoke without other discomfort, then there would be no serious issue—only medicine would be needed to reduce the swelling. If there were abnormalities, further diagnosis would be required.

However, the physician had mentioned symptoms like dizziness, nausea, or confusion as abnormalities. How could the pain now be in her chest?

“I’ll go fetch the physician right away!” Gu Yu hurriedly stood up.

“No need, no doctor can heal me…” Jiang Zhiyi weakly shook her head.

“Then who can heal you? I’ll go bring them here.”

“He won’t come, he has already abandoned me…”

A tear slid down from the corner of Jiang Zhiyi’s eye.

“Princess, please don’t frighten me. Who has abandoned you? How could anyone abandon you?”

Jiang Zhiyi turned her head and was about to speak when the movement caused her neck to hurt, making her moan in pain.

Like the final straw that breaks the camel’s back, Jiang Zhiyi covered her neck as tears began to flow uncontrollably: “If he hadn’t abandoned me… how could he hurt me so severely?”

Gu Yu fumbled with a handkerchief, hastily wiping her tears: “Yes, yes, yes, General Shen went too far! You encountered so many bandits and only got a bump and some scratches, yet all your injuries combined can’t compare to this one blow to your neck, which made you unconscious for a full ten hours…”

Gu Yu’s mouth moved faster than her mind, and she abruptly stopped halfway: “…What did you just say?”

Is this really about “abandonment”?

Jiang Zhiyi trembled as she drew a light breath, her face showing reminiscence: “If he hadn’t abandoned me, why were his eyes so unfamiliar when he looked at me beneath the teahouse on the day the army returned victorious?”

Gu Yu: “?”

“He even asked me who I was in such an icy tone…”

“In all these days since returning to the capital, he never once came to see me. When I went to the military camp to find him, he had people lie that he wasn’t there, deliberately avoiding me…”

“Yesterday, when I confronted him face-to-face, he denied everything, as if he’d completely forgotten our past…”

Gu Yu: “???”

Gu Yu struggled to follow these events that sounded familiar yet felt strangely unfamiliar, so shocked that her jaw nearly dropped: “P-past? What past? Is it the kind of… past that I’m thinking of?”

Jiang Zhiyi said nothing more, lying back and silently letting her tears fall.

Gu Yu stood there with her mouth agape for quite some time before tentatively asking: “Could it be… that you and General Shen aren’t enemies as the rumors say…?”

She had only recently arrived at the household, and to her eyes, the Princess and General Shen were adversaries!

Jiang Zhiyi weakly raised one hand, placing it on Gu Yu’s wrist as she sat up, painfully closing her eyes.

How could she have wished to be his “enemy”? Yet to keep up appearances, she had no choice but to act the part in public…

Just as the mistress and servant were lost in their thoughts, a maid knocked on the door: “Princess, Madam Shen and Young General Shen have come to visit you.”

Jiang Zhiyi suddenly stopped crying: “What? When did they arrive? Where is he?”

Before the maid called Xiaoman could answer slowly, Jiang Zhiyi dabbed the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief and muttered to herself: “He came to see me, and Madam Shen came too. Could it be… could they be here to propose marriage?”

“???”

In an instant, the fragile beauty who had been as delicate as a flower now sprang from her bed with vigor, lifting her skirts and rushing out like a gust of wind.

Gu Yu and Xiaoman stood stunned by the bed, blinking at each other, and a moment later—

“Princess, your shoes!”

Gu Yu grabbed Jiang Zhiyi’s slippers and chased after her, but when she reached the chamber door, she saw three sturdy female servants surrounding Jiang Zhiyi.

“Princess, your injuries haven’t healed. Where are you going?” the lead servant asked with an earnest smile.

Jiang Zhiyi frowned and stepped back, looking toward Gu Yu: “Where did these filthy creatures come from?”

Gu Yu was still shocked by Jiang Zhiyi’s apparent personality change and almost couldn’t respond. After a brief pause, she stepped forward: “Who are these impudent servants! Does the Princess need to report to you where she goes?”

The servant smiled brazenly: “Of course not, but the Princess is injured and shouldn’t be moving about. The Madam is concerned for the Princess and ordered us to look after her…”

“Even the physician didn’t say such things. I’m new here, and I wasn’t aware that the household’s Madam was also skilled in medicine?”

“Well… the Madam is just worried about the Princess’s safety. When the Princess encountered bandits yesterday, the Madam’s heart was burning with anxiety—truly fearful! It’s unsafe outside now, so it would be best for the Princess to stay in her room…”

As she spoke, the servant moved closer.

Gu Yu protected Jiang Zhiyi, backing away in disgust.

The three servants, wearing fake smiles, pushed the two back into the room, closed the door with a slam, and locked it with a rustling sound: “The Madam is currently receiving guests in the main hall and will come to see the Princess soon! Please rest well, Princess!”

Two incense sticks’ time later, at the foot of Yaoguang Pavilion’s towering wall, Gu Yu steadied a ladder, looking up fearfully: “Princess, this wall is so high. Are you going to climb it?”

Jiang Zhiyi didn’t look back, gripping the ladder rails and resolutely climbing up step by step.

A person who wouldn’t normally let a speck of dust enter her eye was now willing to climb windows and scale walls to see her lover…

Those black-hearted servants sent by the Madam could never have imagined that the typically dignified and status-conscious Princess had such a side to her, and they hadn’t thought to guard the windows and walls…

Gu Yu gazed up in disbelief, finding the scene utterly bizarre.

In a blink, Jiang Zhiyi had climbed to the top of the wall with one burst of effort, but she stopped at the highest rung, appearing stuck.

Gu Yu’s heart climbed even higher with worry: “…Princess, do you not know how to climb over walls?”

Not knowing how would be normal.

No, not knowing how would be the normal thing…

“This Princess has climbed more walls than you’ve walked roads.” Jiang Zhiyi dropped these words, crouched on the ladder catching her breath, then straightened up and looked down. A wave of dizziness struck her, and it took her a while to recover before she lifted her foot to cross to the other side.

Her gleaming, ornate boots hung in the air for quite some time, unable to step down.

How did one climb over to the other side again? She suddenly couldn’t remember.

“…Three years without climbing, I’m just rusty.” Jiang Zhiyi gripped the rails and crouched back down.

“Then why don’t you come back down! I just asked Xiaoman, and she said General Shen didn’t come to propose marriage today, he’s only here to check on your injuries…”

“What do you mean by ‘only’? This is the first time he’s actively sought me out since returning to the capital—how could it be just ‘only’!”

As Gu Yu tried to persuade her further, a gentle female voice came from beyond the wall: “My son used too much force, fortunately, the Princess is unharmed…”

Jiang Zhiyi froze, crouching low and peering over the wall with just her eyes showing.

On the diagonal path beyond the wall, Shen’s stepmother was walking side by side with her aunt, talking as they went.

Following quietly behind them was the young man she’d been thinking of day and night.

This was truly a telepathic meeting of hearts.

He must have discovered that she was locked in her room by her aunt, and came to wait for her outside the wall, just like in the past. He indeed hadn’t forgotten her.

Then yesterday… Jiang Zhiyi pondered; it must have been because others were present that he acted that way.

Indeed, the few times she had seen him recently, there were always others around. How could she have believed those insincere words!

After reassuring herself, Jiang Zhiyi saw the three people stop walking and quickly waved her arm in their direction.

Unexpectedly, the young man who had been facing sideways toward her seemed to notice something in the opposite direction and turned slightly away, his back now toward her.

Next, Shen’s stepmother nodded to Madam Zhong: “Since the Princess is still resting, my son and I will not disturb her.”

How could they leave so soon?

The Princess was not resting, the Princess did not need to rest!

In her anxiety, Jiang Zhiyi quickly felt around her waist.

She had dressed in such a hurry that she now had no ornamental jade or accessories on her…

Jiang Zhiyi raised her hand to touch her hair bun, removed a pearl hairpin, pulled off one jade bead, and threw it in his direction.

The small jade bead rolled to about ten feet behind the young man but caused no ripple of reaction.

The two ladies continued their polite conversation. Shen Yuance continued to quietly gaze into the distance.

Jiang Zhiyi looked down at the hairpin in her hand, selected a larger pearl, pulled it off, and threw it again.

Finally, with a “tap,” it hit Shen Yuance’s heel.

Shen Yuance’s hand, held behind his back, tightened into a fist as he closed his eyes briefly.

Was his winter boot too thick to feel it?

Seeing him completely unmoved, Jiang Zhiyi grew desperate with nothing left to throw. In her urgency, she simply hurled the entire hairpin with all her might.

The hairpin flew through the air, its sharp end heading straight for Shen Yuance’s back.

Jiang Zhiyi’s face paled as she inwardly cried out: This is bad!

Several yards away, feeling the rush of air behind him, Shen Yuance’s hand suddenly rose, his five fingers opening to catch the object.

Jiang Zhiyi let out a sigh of relief, cold sweat pouring down her back.

Madam Zhong, who had been exchanging pleasantries, paused mid-sentence and looked curiously at Shen Yuance’s sudden movement: “What happened, Young General Shen?”

Shen Yuance expressionlessly closed his fist around the hairpin and looked at Madam Zhong: “Nothing. This Shen still has official duties to attend to and must take his leave first.”

Madam Zhong looked suspiciously at the hand he kept hidden behind his back: “Oh, I see. Then, Young General Shen, please go ahead.”

Shen Yuance nodded in farewell and strode away.

“He understood my signal!” Jiang Zhiyi looked down at the obstructing wall, closed her eyes, steeled her heart, and stepped across, barely grabbing the ladder on the other side to climb down. Upon reaching the ground, she mentally calculated a route and hurried into a nearby small path.

After passing through the moon gate at the end of the path, she indeed saw Shen Yuance walking toward her.

Jiang Zhiyi’s heart leaped with joy, and she quickly approached.

Shen Yuance frowned, turned around, and walked away.

Jiang Zhiyi was stunned and about to call out to him when she noticed the direction he was leaving—

This was an intersection where her aunt would pass by when returning to the courtyard. Going toward the rockery would be safer…

Her A-Ce brother was always so thoughtful.

Jiang Zhiyi immediately changed direction as well, turning onto another secluded path.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuance reached the rockery and was about to walk around it when he saw a pink figure emerge from behind it.

“…”

Shen Yuance stopped in his tracks, his fingers tightening slightly, bending the hairpin in his palm into a bow shape.

Across from him, Jiang Zhiyi also paused, like one hesitant to return home after a long absence, gazing at him from a distance.

Perhaps due to being a guest today, the young man was dressed more formally than usual—his black hair completely gathered in an ink-black cap, his temples clean and neat, wearing a black narrow-sleeved collar robe with a glimpse of light crimson inner lining that made him appear spirited. The hook ornament at his waist flowed with a mellow luster, perfectly tempering the sharpness of his sword-like eyebrows and sun-bright eyes.

Three years of border winds and sands had not diminished his handsome appearance; rather, they had made his figure taller and straight, adding to his vigor and spirit.

Truly worth her three years of patient waiting…

Jiang Zhiyi could wait no longer. She happily stepped forward, just opening her mouth to make an “A” sound—

“Is the Princess jumping around like this because yesterday’s injury was too minor?”

Jiang Zhiyi’s joyful smile collapsed.

Before she could feel heartbroken, she noticed the servants sweeping not far behind Shen Yuance.

Finally meeting face to face, did they still need to put on such a strict act in front of a group of servants?

Jiang Zhiyi pouted, seeing that he wasn’t joking in the slightest, and had no choice but to play along with an imperious attitude: “General Shen knows best whether it was light or heavy, since he delivered the blow himself. What face do you have to question this Princess?”

Shen Yuance narrowed his eyes to examine her for a moment, the fist behind his back hesitantly loosening slightly: “The Princess’s hidden weapon just now was not light-handed either.”

“I didn’t mean to—” Jiang Zhiyi blurted out before pausing, “This Princess didn’t hurt you!”

“I turned my back on the Princess, and the Princess still couldn’t hurt me. Is that my fault?” Shen Yuance snorted a laugh through his nose.

“…” If they were acting, why act so convincingly? And why say such hurtful things?

Jiang Zhiyi’s lips trembled as she raised her eyes to look at him pitifully.

Shen Yuance retreated half a step as if sensing danger: “…As long as the Princess makes no more impulsive moves, this subject has no intention of harming the Princess.”

Jiang Zhiyi took a deep breath, forcing out a cold laugh: “Yesterday, this Princess was merely startled and lost composure. If you think there will be a next time, you’re dreaming. Even if you let me be impulsive, I won’t be!”

“That’s good,” Shen Yuance’s tense body relaxed, and he raised his hand slightly, “Then may the Princess step aside now?”

“No!” Jiang Zhiyi blinked as she thought for a moment, then raised her chin, “You took my hairpin, and I’m here to get it back, lest someone sees it one day and tarnishes this Princess’s reputation!”

“Rest assured, this subject has no interest in the Princess’s reputation.” Shen Yuance exerted force in the opposite direction on the hairpin, straightening the bent pin back to its original shape, and opened his palm to show her.

Jiang Zhiyi glanced toward the distance, saw that the servants were all busy sweeping with their heads down, and quickly stepped forward to take the hairpin from his palm.

Shen Yuance was about to withdraw his hand—

Those delicate fingertips suddenly tickled his palm lightly.

Shen Yuance’s palm tingled, and he abruptly looked up.

The young woman before him curled her lips into a smile, winked her left eye at him, slipped something into his palm, and then shyly turned to run away.

Shen Yuance froze in place, staring at the bashful figure until it disappeared, then slowly lowered his head to see a note—

“A-Ce Brother, after years apart, the stars in the nine heavens cannot express how much I’ve missed you, and the weight of rocks beneath high mountains cannot compare to the firmness of my heart. Tonight, when snow falls, by Smoky Rain Lake, I wish to walk arm in arm with you, hold your hand, and journey together until our hair turns white. Your Yi-Yi.”

“…”