What was wrong with this man? Last time, he was concerned about her calling those princes “brother” in childhood, and now he was jealous of her deep affection for her maid?

Jiang Zhiyi looked at Yuance in confusion, seeing him pondering something. After a moment, he suddenly stood up and said he needed to go out again.

In such stormy weather, what could be more important than comforting her when she was frightened?

Jiang Zhiyi wanted to be angry, but then she remembered how he had carried her across mountains and valleys just so she could have a good night’s rest. If it weren’t something urgent, he wouldn’t leave her alone in this simple postal station bedroom… But she had merely mentioned Jing Zhe—what sudden realization had this triggered in him?

Jiang Zhiyi sat puzzled on the bed, but before she could reach any conclusion, another lightning bolt split the night sky. Seeing the entire room momentarily illuminated in a ghastly white, her heart trembled, and she immediately dove under the covers to “hide from reality.”

After cowering alone for who knows how long, the door opened and closed, and the familiar scent of soapberry approached.

“You might as well go farther away and come back to collect my corpse!” Jiang Zhiyi grumbled, her voice muffled under the covers.

Yuance pulled down her quilt to expose her head: “You haven’t done anything wrong, why would the thunder strike you?”

“I think it might strike you!” Jiang Zhiyi turned her head and snorted coldly.

Yuance sighed: “That’s why I’m no longer doing anything wrong, isn’t it?”

“What?” Jiang Zhiyi stared at him blankly.

Knowing the threat was approaching, yet expected to sit and wait for death, Yuance closed his eyes briefly: “Jiang Zhiyi, you truly are the calamity of my life.”

“What are you talking about? Did you go out to face the lightning?” Jiang Zhiyi reached out from under the covers to feel his forehead. “Why are you speaking in riddles again?”

“If you don’t understand, then go to sleep.”

Jiang Zhiyi frowned in displeasure: “You think you can get away with a few nonsensical words? While you were gone, I heard two thunderclaps, two!”

“So what do you want?” Yuance glanced at her, “For me to go up to heaven and settle accounts for you?”

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll give you two pointers.” Jiang Zhiyi raised her chin. “First, you cannot leave this room again tonight.”

Naturally, with her maid absent, he was destined to serve as her manservant tonight. Yuance nodded.

“Second, tonight I want you to—officially attend to me in my bedchamber!”

“…”

Yuance hesitantly leaned against the bedpost, lowering his head: “…How official?”

“Not like before when you sat while I lay down. We should both lie down together, embracing through the entire night.”

“…” That was indeed quite official.

Jiang Zhiyi pushed the pillow outward a bit, making space for him on half the bed, and lifted the quilt: “Hurry up, I’m getting sleepy. Don’t dawdle!”

Yuance was silent for a moment, then got onto the bed fully clothed.

Jiang Zhiyi released the edge of the quilt, spreading it open to cover them both securely. She contentedly placed her hand on his shoulder, feeling his outer robe: “Aren’t you going to take off your outer clothes?”

Yuance looked down at her thin nightclothes: “Should I wear as little as you?”

“Otherwise, won’t you be uncomfortable? We’ll be sleeping the whole night.”

“Otherwise, I’d be the uncomfortable one, having to sleep through the whole night, indeed.”

Seeing that Jiang Zhiyi was about to say more, Yuance pulled her close into his arms and closed his eyes: “Sleep.”

Jiang Zhiyi, using his arm as a pillow, turned to her side and smiled with pressed lips: “Finally, I don’t have to envy Sister Baojia and them anymore.”

“Is that so?” Yuance gave a light snort with his eyes closed. “I’m still quite envious.”

“What are you still envious of?” Jiang Zhiyi looked up at him.

Yuance lowered his eyes, seeing her slightly parted lips through the faint candlelight. He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Jiang Zhiyi narrowed her eyes at him: “Are you thinking of kissing—”

Before she could finish, another thunderclap boomed. The candle was extinguished by wind slipping through the window crack, and the room suddenly plunged into complete darkness.

Jiang Zhiyi flinched and tightly embraced Yuance’s waist.

Her softness pressed against him perfectly, without the cloak and outer garments; the sensation was even more overwhelming than when she had clung to his back throughout the mountain journey. Yuance slowly drew a breath, turning his head to look toward the window. Now he truly felt like settling accounts with the heavens.

“I’ll go…”

“You go…”

One lowering his head, one raising hers, in the darkness with no sense of distance, their lips brushed past each other. Both fell silent, suddenly holding their breath.

Despite the swaying wind and rain outside, the rolling spring thunder, neither dared to move.

In the long silence, someone’s breath burst forth, a warmth rustling, both numbing and ticklish, like spring tide carrying rain, seeping into the heart.

Yuance slowly, tentatively lowered his head.

Feeling her lips gently held, Jiang Zhiyi trembled slightly, clutching the leather belt at his waist, but not retreating.

As if granted her passage token, that wet, hot fish slid in just like last time.

Yuance kept his head lowered, gradually sweeping across her lips and teeth, carefully exploring inch by inch.

Jiang Zhiyi’s hand, clutching his belt, trembled, so nervous she felt dizzy. Her entire body was hot, as if immersed in a bath, her strength slowly draining away, her limbs going soft.

Sensing her body sliding down limply, Yuance paused his movements and loosened his hold on her slightly.

“…Hmm?” Jiang Zhiyi looked up in confusion.

His excellent vision allowed him to see clearly in the darkness the flush on her cheeks and the dazed look in her eyes. Yuance asked in a hoarse voice: “Why aren’t you afraid this time?”

Jiang Zhiyi’s eyes flickered, and she said softly: “Last time I didn’t know, this time I do…”

“Even knowing, you don’t find it disgusting?”

Disgusting? Jiang Zhiyi repeated this word in her mind. Her thoughts suddenly flashed to the image of him carrying her through the pouring rain, covered in mud. But even then, she didn’t find him disgusting at all.

“I think Brother A-ce is the cleanest person in the whole world.”

Yuance’s gaze moved slightly. After a moment of silence, he caught her waist, pulling her up from where she had slid down, and kissed her again.

Her lips tingled from the impact. Jiang Zhiyi trembled, tilting her head back and tightly closing her eyes.

The heat spread, like spring rain falling in waves, the two breathing sounds rising and falling in response to each other in the darkness.

Jiang Zhiyi’s toes curled in embarrassment, her whole being like an exploding firework. Even after they separated, she still kept her eyes closed, not daring to look at him.

After a long while, Jiang Zhiyi calmed her breathing and moved her numbed leg: “If you won’t take off your outer clothes, at least remove your belt…”

Yuance lowered his head: “Weren’t you holding it quite happily?”

“No, there’s something on your belt that’s pressing into me…”

Yuance’s eyes flashed, and he hesitantly lifted a corner of the quilt, looking down at his belt where no ornaments hung.

Before Jiang Zhiyi’s hand could move from behind his waist to show him what she meant—

Yuance turned to the side, avoiding her touch, and rolled off the bed.

Jiang Zhiyi suddenly lost her support and fell onto the bed, raising her head in confusion, barely making out the direction he was standing: “What are you doing?”

Yuance turned toward the bathing room: “Going to remove my belt.”

After a night of rain, the next day at noon, the two rejoined the Xuan Strategy Army troops who had been delayed in the wilderness and continued heading northwest.

The days gradually grew warmer, but the closer they got to the northwest, the colder the climate became, and the warmth could never catch up with the pace of the troops. Jiang Zhiyi traveled from the beginning to the end of the second month, but stepping out of the carriage felt like still being in the first month in Chang’an. Now she understood why, when packing her belongings earlier, Yuance had told her not to bring spring clothes.

By the end of the second month, the convoy finally entered the Hexi region. Mountains, forests, and grasslands became more frequent along the way, but spring had not yet arrived in Hexi—all that could be seen was a desolate expanse of withered yellow with no sign of life.

With no scenery to appreciate and after such a long journey, even with her beloved by her side, Jiang Zhiyi inevitably began to wilt. Inside the carriage, she created a plum blossom chart similar to the “Ninety-Nine Days to Banish Cold,” coloring one petal red for each day of travel.

Watching the plum blossoms become vibrant one by one, with only two petals left unfilled, hope was in sight, but her physical strength was at its limit.

That evening, after entering Liangzhou, they reached the second-to-last postal station before arriving at Guzang City. Jiang Zhiyi was lifted vertically from the carriage by Yuance, clinging to him and unwilling to stand: “…Just carry me in like this. I don’t want to walk anymore.”

The Xuan Strategy Army soldiers behind them very politely looked away.

Yuance tossed his sword to Li Dafeng and carried her into the postal station.

Just as they entered the courtyard, they were met with a tearful, grateful cry: “Princess—!”

Yuance paused his steps.

Hearing this startlingly familiar female voice, Jiang Zhiyi, still holding Yuance’s neck, turned her head in surprise. Looking at the equally familiar face in the twilight, she blinked hard in disbelief—

“Jing Zhe?!”

Jing Zhe, dressed in plain male clothing, quickly approached, wiping away tears: “Princess, it’s this servant… I’ve finally caught up with you!”

Jiang Zhiyi’s mouth half-open, pointed far toward the southeast: “You, you should be in Zheng County, in Chang’an…”

“Princess, my injury healed at the end of the first month. After returning to the Marquis’s residence and learning you had gone to Hexi, I followed after you!”

“You’ve been chasing after me for an entire month with your injuries barely healed?” Jiang Zhiyi was shocked. “I have Gu Yu with me, and Brother A-ce looking after me. Why put yourself through such trouble?”

The person whose name was mentioned coughed lightly.

Jiang Zhiyi looked down and realized she was still being carried vertically by Yuance like a child.

Jing Zhe also seemed to come to her senses from the excitement of the master-servant reunion. Her gaze slowly shifted to Yuance’s face, then down to Jiang Zhiyi’s arms around his neck, then to Yuance’s hand supporting Jiang Zhiyi’s waist, then back up to their intimate expressions that seemed so natural, so matter-of-fact, as if oblivious to others—

As her pupils trembled, she heard Yuance suddenly speak: “Would you mind letting me carry my fiancée inside first?”

Jing Zhe hesitantly stepped aside, making way.

Yuance carried Jiang Zhiyi inside with long strides.

Jing Zhe stood frozen in place, watching as Jiang Zhiyi, resting her head on Yuance’s shoulder, turned back to call to her: “Jing Zhe, you must be exhausted from your journey. Don’t just stand there—come in and have a bowl of mutton soup to warm up!”

Behind her, Gu Yu approached, her eyes brimming with emotional tears: “Sister Jing Zhe, I’ve missed you so much! Recently, postal stations have had few rooms, so the Princess and Young Master have let us dine at the same table. Let’s go in quickly!”

Fiancée… Young Master…

Jing Zhe silently repeated these words in her mind as Gu Yu pulled her along. Her feet felt like they were stepping on cotton, and she stumbled forward.

Entering the room, Gu Yu saw her travel-worn state and led her to the washbasin stand to clean her hands and face.

Jing Zhe forgot all courtesy, allowing Gu Yu to attend to her while she turned her head, her eyes fixed on the eight-immortals table—

Though the eight-immortals table had four long benches, Jiang Zhiyi and Yuance sat shoulder to shoulder on one bench, with only one bowl of mutton soup before them.

Jiang Zhiyi held the bowl, took a sip, and frowned, shaking her head at Yuance: “I don’t think it tastes as good as yesterday’s.”

“It’s not about taste; it’s to warm you up.”

“But if it doesn’t taste good, I can’t drink it.”

“Three sips.”

Jiang Zhiyi sighed, took three small sips, wrinkled her nose, and pushed the bowl to Yuance.

Yuance took the bowl she pushed to him and drank the remaining mutton soup.

Suddenly, a loud crash resounded in the room.

Jiang Zhiyi startled and looked up.

Yuance raised his eyelids, looking at the terrified Jing Zhe, and while still staring at her, raised his hand to rub the top of Jiang Zhiyi’s head: “It’s nothing. Your maid knocked over the washbasin.”

Meeting those dark, deep eyes, Jing Zhe’s face flashed with panic, and she quickly bent down to pick up the basin.

“It’s fine, don’t clean up, just leave it there and come sit with us!” Jiang Zhiyi patted the long bench beside her.

Jing Zhe walked over with unsteady steps and sat down on the bench next to Jiang Zhiyi.

Jiang Zhiyi pointed to the bowl of mutton soup in front of her, gesturing for her to drink: “Tell me quickly how you’ve been these days. Did you ride horseback all the way, eating and sleeping in the open? Did you strain the muscles and bones you injured before?”

Jing Zhe held the soup bowl as if in a dream, shaking her head: “This servant is perfectly fine…” She hesitated, glancing at Yuance. “Princess, there are some matters I’d like to speak with you about in private…”

Jiang Zhiyi was surprised. Considering that she had traveled so far, there must be something unusual. Perhaps she brought news from the Marquis’s residence? Jiang Zhiyi looked at Yuance: “Then I’ll go to the main quarters with Jing Zhe.”

Yuance, still watching Jing Zhe, asked Jiang Zhiyi: “Do you still want me to accompany you to bed tonight?”

Jing Zhe silently drew in a sharp breath.

Jiang Zhiyi blinked in confusion.

He had only accompanied her to sleep that one time by chance. Why did he make it sound like he did so every night?

“No need. Jing Zhe is here, and we have many personal matters to discuss.”

Yuance nodded: “Then go ahead.”

Jiang Zhiyi went with Jing Zhe to the main quarters.

Jing Zhe followed her in and closed the door, but stood facing the closed divider, not speaking for a long time.

Jiang Zhiyi looked at her back nervously: “What’s wrong? Has something happened at the Marquis’s residence? My uncle and aunt aren’t seeking a divorce, are they?”

Jing Zhe turned around, shaking her head: “Princess, there’s something this servant doesn’t understand and wishes to ask you—”

“What is it?”

“Why, why did you become engaged to Young General Shen?”

Jiang Zhiyi was surprised: “What do you mean by why? Haven’t I always wanted to be engaged to him? If I didn’t seize the opportunity during his return to the capital, would I have to wait another three years?”

“Three years…” Jing Zhe murmured absently.

At the end of the first month, when she returned to the Marquis’s residence and heard about the Princess’s engagement to Young General Shen, she was shocked and nearly speechless.

But on the first day, she had only been astonished at how the Princess and Young General Shen had gone from enemies to lovers.

It wasn’t until the second day, while collecting items in Yaoguang Pavilion, that she heard Xiaoman lamenting how she had missed many interesting moments between the Princess and Young General Shen, saying that these two had finally achieved their relationship after three difficult years. Only then did she sense something was wrong.

As she listened to Xiaoman speak of recent events, she grew increasingly uneasy, which was why she hurried after them.

“…When did you and Young General Shen become lovers three years ago?” Jing Zhe stared at her. “How could this servant know nothing of it?”

Jiang Zhiyi was even more bewildered.

“You didn’t know? Three years ago, when I met with Brother A-ce in secret, wasn’t it you who ran back and forth arranging things for us?”

“When did this servant ever do such a thing? Three years ago, weren’t you and Young General Shen still sworn enemies who wanted nothing to do with each other?”

In the deathly silence as they stared at each other, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

“A-yi.” Yuance’s voice came from outside the door.

Jiang Zhiyi was too preoccupied to consider why Yuance had suddenly become so affectionate in his address. She absently said, “Enter.”

Yuance pushed open the door and entered, looking at the two women locked in a standoff: “What’s wrong?”

Jing Zhe stiffly turned her head.

Jiang Zhiyi grabbed Yuance’s wrist: “You’ve come at the right time. Jing Zhe says she doesn’t remember anything about our secret meetings more than three years ago. What’s going on…?”

Yuance pondered, looking at Jing Zhe, then asked Jiang Zhiyi: “Did your maid’s injury from the mountain bandits affect her memory?”

“No, I haven’t…” Jing Zhe firmly shook her head halfway through, then, seeing the loving intimacy between Jiang Zhiyi and Yuance, began to doubt herself. She covered her forehead, blinking. “Have I?”

“You see, if you truly lost your memory, how would you know for certain?” Jiang Zhiyi frowned, anxiously telling Yuance, “Quick, ask Military Physician Li to come check Jing Zhe’s pulse!”