“…Such black-hearted people. At least when others use the ‘suffering flesh’ strategy, they suffer. But him? He’s just crying wolf. I rushed around making all these arrangements, and then he asked if an injury from last year could count. Why not ask if an injury from his previous life could count?” A quarter of an hour later, Jiang Zhiyi returned to the inner courtyard, sitting on the daybed with her chin in her hands, finding the situation more ridiculous the more she thought about it.

Earlier, she had stayed behind to ask Shen Yuance about the birthmark, but he had deflected with a joking manner. Seeing his self-righteous demeanor and unable to find words to refute him, she had angrily returned to her courtyard.

It seemed this forced romance suited him just fine, but not her.

“How could Young General Shen deceive you again? That’s too much! Fortunately, the Princess is discerning and saw through his tricks!” Gu Yu stood beside her, sharing her indignation while flattering her.

Jiang Zhiyi’s fervor diminished slightly: “Well, I didn’t figure it out…”

“Then who did?”

“He confessed it himself.”

“Oh, then Young General Shen has improved somewhat.”

Jiang Zhiyi snorted coldly and muttered, “A villain who merely reforms a little bit is considered ‘good’ now? What’s so impressive about that…”

Just then, Jing Zhe entered carrying a soothing tea: “Princess, don’t be angry with Young General Shen. You’ve had a frightening and exhausting night. Let this servant help you drink some soothing tea and massage your body, so you won’t be sore tomorrow.”

See, the person who understood what she needed most at this moment was the one who truly cared for her and treated her well.

Jiang Zhiyi felt somewhat comforted. She lay on the daybed, letting Jing Zhe massage her muscles. Gradually, the lingering images of blood faded from her mind, and drowsiness set in.

As she was drowsily half-closing her eyes, suddenly there was a knock at the door. San Qi stood outside with a sheepish expression: “Young Madam, the Young General asks if you’re tired from tonight’s events and whether you’d like him to help massage your muscles before sleep. Also, since you’ve had a fright, he wonders if you might have trouble sleeping and if you’d like him to come keep you company for the night?”

“…”

It seemed the standard for treating her well needed to be raised even higher.

Seeing Jing Zhe and Gu Yu exchange glances, as if wondering whether her relationship with Shen Yuance had improved so dramatically overnight, Jiang Zhiyi hesitated briefly, then called out: “…Tell him to spare himself. My maids are much more useful than he!”

The next morning, Jiang Zhiyi woke from a deep sleep.

Having drunk the soothing tea last night, she hadn’t had nightmares about the assassination attempt. Instead, she dreamed that Shen Yuance had climbed through her window late at night, lingering by her bed, asking if she truly didn’t want him to keep her company.

In the dream, she was too drowsy to think clearly and said that besides maids, only eunuchs could stay close to her bedside, telling him to keep his distance if he wanted to stay.

Shen Yuance had asked how far away was considered “distant enough.”

Annoyed and half-asleep, she had squinted her eyes and pointed randomly, then fallen back asleep…

After sleeping until dawn, completing her morning toilette, and finishing breakfast, Jiang Zhiyi had just stepped out of her bedroom when she heard Jing Zhe shouting sharply behind her: “Who goes there!”

Following Jing Zhe’s gaze, Jiang Zhiyi looked up to see someone lying across the ridge of her roof. She gasped in shock, and Jing Zhe swiftly drew her sword in defense.

Noticing that the guards hadn’t reacted at all, she wondered if they were blind. The dark figure on the roof opened his eyes, straightened up, and leaped down.

Jiang Zhiyi stared at the descending figure and kept backing away until her heels hit the wall. She tilted her head for a closer look—

It was Shen Yuance with a slightly tired face.

Jiang Zhiyi’s pupils dilated: “What—what are you doing on my roof early in the morning?”

Shen Yuance stretched his shoulders and back: “Didn’t you tell me to keep you company from the roof?”

“…”

Jiang Zhiyi silently recalled her dream from the previous night. So it wasn’t a dream?

Her casual gesture had pointed toward the roof…

And he had spent the entire night on her roof, just now lying there with his eyes closed, catching up on sleep?

“…I wasn’t thinking clearly because I was sleepy, but were you also not thinking clearly? Why would I ask you to keep me company from the roof?”

“How would I know?” Shen Yuance walked forward, rubbing his neck. “At least from the roof, I could still hear sounds.”

Jiang Zhiyi watched him warily: “What sounds did you need to hear? Were you trying to eavesdrop on my sleep-talking?”

Shen Yuance stood before her, looking down: “The sound of you crying out from nightmares, or the sound of you waking from a nightmare and knocking over a porcelain cup.”

The hostile wariness in Jiang Zhiyi’s eyes suddenly vanished. After a moment’s silence, she gave a light cough, her back against the wall. Looking at the figure that had once held her during her nightmares, her gaze flickered as she blinked: “I’ve seen so much now, I won’t have nightmares over every little thing…”

“Yes, you don’t need me anymore. I’m superfluous.” Shen Yuance turned his head away with a slight snort.

Jiang Zhiyi raised her eyes to look at his wrinkled robes, which still bore the imprint of roof tiles…

“Well, you might have some use on the roof. Don’t they say placing some evil-repelling objects by your pillow prevents nightmares? No wonder I slept so well last night.”

“…” He would have been better off if she hadn’t shown this kindness.

“I repel evil?” Shen Yuance laughed bitterly.

“Yes, who in this world could be more evil than you? Killing people as if it were child’s play…”

Shen Yuance looked down at her: “So I gave you a good night’s sleep, but where are you going so early this morning? Surely you’re not going to visit certain people over a flesh wound that even Li Dafeng wouldn’t consider worth attention?”

Jiang Zhiyi was taken aback. Last night, because of Shen Yuance’s sudden “hemorrhaging,” she hadn’t even had a chance to see Pei Zisong’s injury, let alone thank him properly. She had hurriedly returned to the manor. Naturally, she needed to visit today.

“The wound Li Dafeng dismissed wasn’t Pei Zisong’s, was it? It was yours, wasn’t it?” Jiang Zhiyi pointedly jabbed her chin toward his waist.

Shen Yuance cleared his throat, covering his mouth with his fist.

“The assassination attempt was directed at you and me. The Pei siblings were completely innocent victims. Regardless of how serious their injuries are, I should express my gratitude.” Jiang Zhiyi walked past his pestering.

“I’ll accompany you tomorrow,” Shen Yuance called after her. “Today the roads are blocked, so you can’t go even if you wanted to.”

…If he had just mentioned the road blockade from the start, that would have been sufficient, instead of making those remarks first.

Jiang Zhiyi turned back, puzzled: “Blocked roads?”

“The entire city is under martial law. Only pedestrians are allowed; no carriages. They’re searching for suspicious individuals.”

“Are there still assassins out there?” Jiang Zhiyi’s expression changed. She immediately walked back, muttering and nodding, “Then I’d better go out with you another day…”

…She was treating him like an evil-repelling charm.

Seeing her nervous demeanor, Shen Yuance thought for a moment and smiled: “Since I’m not going out today either, would you like to learn some self-defense techniques from me?”

After Shen Yuance had washed up and changed into nimble training clothes, Jiang Zhiyi followed him to the manor’s training ground. She watched as he stood beside the weapons rack, gesturing at it as if showcasing his grand domain: “Choose whichever you want to learn. I can teach them all.”

Jiang Zhiyi slowly raised her head, following his gesture. Her gaze passed over the common weapons like swords, sabers, spears, and halberds, to the less common ones like axes, forks, whips, hammers, staffs, and pikes, and finally to some strange, fierce-looking instruments she had never seen or heard of before…

The eighteen types of weapons—he could teach them all.

But had he considered that she couldn’t even lift any of them?

Seeing her look confused after scanning the weapons, Shen Yuance nodded: “Perhaps you don’t know how these weapons are used? Let me demonstrate each one for you.”

With that, he casually picked up a long spear, gave it a light toss, and walked to an open space.

Before Jiang Zhiyi could react, there was a whistling sound. Shen Yuance flipped his rear hand, parried with his front hand, and the spear shot out like a dragon. He blocked, grabbed, and thrust, then raised the spear and performed an aerial side-flip. The spearhead twirled lightly as the spear left his hand in mid-air. Light as a swallow, he landed on the ground with the spear firmly back in his grasp.

Jiang Zhiyi’s head followed the spearhead—up and down, left and right—until she was dizzy. When Shen Yuance finally rested the spear against his shoulder and raised his chin at her, “Well, how was that?”

Although she couldn’t understand the techniques, they did look impressive. However—

“…You call this self-defense?”

“I’m asking you, how was my spear performance?”

Jiang Zhiyi’s mouth twitched slightly: “It was—quite good for limbering up one’s neck.”

“…”

“Is that all?”

Jiang Zhiyi looked at the figure standing tall with the spear, his robes fluttering in the spring sunlight, and raised her eyes to the sky: “Anyone can twirl a spear a couple of times. They teach that at the academy, too.”

…Wasn’t she the one who insisted on watching him demonstrate spear techniques when she was drunk?

Shen Yuance walked back to the weapons rack, casually tossed the spear aside, scanned the weapons, and set his eyes on a nine-section whip: “Then let me show you something neither Pei Zisong nor my elder brother can do—”

“Alright, alright, I know you’re skilled!” Jiang Zhiyi stomped her foot. “If they can’t do it, how could I possibly learn it? Can’t you teach me something useful?”

Shen Yuance looked regretfully at the seventeen weapons that hadn’t yet had their moment, thought for a moment, then picked up a light bow. He looked tentatively at Jiang Zhiyi: “How about—the archery you started learning at the academy?”

A quarter of an hour later, Jiang Zhiyi was standing before a target, holding a bow for the second time in her life.

After several months, she had completely forgotten the basics, so Shen Yuance taught her again. This time, being at home, he brought out a jade thumb ring and placed it on her thumb, saying it was one he had used as a child. It would prevent the bowstring from hurting her hand, allowing her to try drawing the string herself.

Jiang Zhiyi held the bow, looking down at the yellowed jade thumb ring on her thumb. She noticed that it already had some small cracks. She wondered why he had kept such an old thumb ring and if it held some special meaning for him.

Jiang Zhiyi was lost in thought when she suddenly felt an arrow being inserted between her fingers, and Shen Yuance’s voice: “I’m teaching you something useful now, but you don’t seem to be concentrating.”

“Who says so? I was just preparing myself,” Jiang Zhiyi held the bow with one hand and nocked the arrow with the other, positioning herself toward the target. “This time I’ll definitely hit it!”

A warm, solid chest suddenly pressed against her back. Just like months before at the academy training ground, Shen Yuance stood behind her, holding her hands.

His chin brushed lightly against the top of her head. Jiang Zhiyi’s scalp tingled, and her previously relaxed body suddenly tensed. She wanted to turn around but feared a repeat of last time’s mishap. She stiffly stared at the target in front: “Didn’t you say I could draw the string myself this time…”

“Helping you align the shot.” Shen Yuance narrowed one eye, holding her hands to adjust the direction of the arrow.

Jiang Zhiyi looked suspiciously at the target: “But it seems like you’re aiming away from the target? It looks like you’re aiming behind it.”

“If I say it will hit, it will hit.”

Last time you didn’t hit it either… Jiang Zhiyi pouted, puffing her cheeks: “Can I draw the string now?”

“Wait a little longer.”

Jiang Zhiyi was bewildered: “What are we waiting for?”

Hadn’t he already finished aligning the shot?

Shen Yuance remained silent, standing quietly behind her.

Just as Jiang Zhiyi was growing restless with waiting and about to speak again, Shen Yuance gripped her hand and suddenly pulled the bowstring: “Release.”

Jiang Zhiyi abruptly let go. With a thunderous twang, the arrow left the string, spinning through the air like a shooting star. It flew past the target and straight toward the apricot tree behind it.

With a thud, it struck the trunk.

At that moment, an east wind suddenly rose, and the apricot blossoms, shaken loose by the arrow, danced and swirled through the air.

In that instant of revelation, Jiang Zhiyi understood. He had been… waiting for the wind.

The arrow feathers quivered as fragrance filled the air.

Looking up at this true rain of apricot blossoms, her mind suddenly overlapped with the memory of last December’s snowfall. Jiang Zhiyi’s eyelashes trembled as she slowly turned her head.

Shen Yuance gazed at the white blossoms all around, lowered the bow, and curved his lips slightly: “This is what is meant by—’ February’s east wind brings apricot rain, stirring my spring heart toward Yiyi.'”

Jiang Zhiyi’s heart trembled, and she held her breath.

Though she could hold her breath, her heartbeat was like an unrestrained horse, breaking free at this moment.

Shen Yuance leaned against her back, feeling her heart beating heavily against his chest. Suddenly, he remembered something: “Jiang Zhiyi, you were right. It can indeed be heard.”

“What can be heard…”

Shen Yuance lowered his eyes to look at her: “I can hear that you have me in your heart, too.”