Yunyi now understood where the bloodstains on the wall had come from. After thinking for a moment, she said, “I remember that the previous Governor died of illness.”

“That’s right. I don’t know if it was truly karmic retribution, but one month after those villagers died, the Governor who had ordered the massacre of the entire village was plagued by nightmares day and night. His spirit was exhausted, his body gradually weakened, and later he contracted a terrible disease. His entire body was covered with festering sores, giving off a foul stench. The physicians were helpless. His symptoms were just like those plague-stricken villagers he had killed before, though his disease wasn’t contagious. One month after he fell ill, his concubines, daughters, and sons successively left with their valuables and money. When he died, not a single relative was by his side. After his corpse was exposed for many days, he was finally buried in a thin coffin. Later, when my father took over as Governor here and learned of the evil deeds he had committed, he also sighed endlessly. Unfortunately, the villagers were already dead, and sighing was useless. He could only invite Buddhist masters to perform a water and land ceremony to pray for the souls of the dead, and had new grave markers erected. As for their true cause of death, to avoid arousing public anger, Father chose to continue concealing it, so it’s normal that you don’t know.”

Yunyi sighed, “He truly deserved it, but I pity those innocent people, especially those who weren’t sick.”

Li Shimin suddenly said, “Now that you know people died here, are you afraid?”

Yunyi shook her head, “I never did anything to harm them. Even if their spirits truly linger, I assume they wouldn’t come to harm us, so there’s nothing to fear.”

Li Shimin raised his eyebrows, “You usually seem so gentle and weak, I didn’t expect you to have such courage.”

Yunyi smiled slightly, “Father said that as long as you don’t do anything against your conscience normally, you won’t fear ghosts knocking at your door in the middle of the night.” As she spoke, she stood up, “Second Young Master, please wait here for a moment. I’ll go get the water pouch and dry provisions hanging on Azure Cloud. I remember there’s still some left.”

After Yunyi left, a black shadow flipped in through the window. The cold wind that rushed in from outside made the firelight dim for a moment. He went straight to Li Shimin’s side and lowered his voice, “Second Young Master, how serious is your injury? Should I go fetch a physician?”

The person was Duan Zhihong. Li Shimin waved his hand, “No need. If we call a physician now, wouldn’t that let Meixue know you’ve been secretly following us?”

“But…” Before Duan Zhihong could continue, Li Shimin said, “Enough, it’s just one night. I can still hold on. You should go out quickly, lest she discover you.”

Although Duan Zhihong was worried, he could only follow his words and retreat to stand guard outside the window. After quite a while, Yunyi finally walked in. Besides the things she had mentioned, she also carried a cracked clay pot. When she came closer, Li Shimin saw that the pot contained many brightly colored mushrooms. He asked puzzledly, “Where did these come from?”

As Meixue poured all the remaining water from the water pouch into the pot, she said, “When I came over just now, I found this clay pot, and there were some mushrooms nearby. I thought I could cook a pot of mushroom soup, so I picked them all.”

Li Shimin said with a strange expression, “You really want to use these to make soup?”

“Yes, doesn’t Second Young Master like them?” As she spoke, Meixue had already placed the clay pot over the fire, but Li Shimin immediately took it down, “It’s not that I don’t like them, I’m just afraid that after eating them, we won’t have the life to return to the city. These things are inedible.”

Yunyi said uncomprehendingly, “Why? Are these mushrooms poisonous?”

“Exactly.” Saying this, Li Shimin said somewhat puzzledly, “Any brightly colored mushrooms are inedible. Looking at what you’ve picked, poisoning us to death wouldn’t be difficult.”

Hearing this, Yunyi broke out in a cold sweat and quickly dumped all the mushrooms outside the door. In the palace, she had always lived in luxury with fine clothes and food, meals served and clothes provided, never needing to worry about anything herself. So she only knew that mushrooms were edible, but didn’t know that mushrooms were divided into poisonous and non-poisonous varieties. Fortunately Li Shimin recognized them, otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Li Shimin’s eyes flickered slightly as he said, “Such a simple matter – didn’t your parents teach you?” For a village girl, going up the mountain to pick wild vegetables and gather mushrooms was common. Meixue couldn’t possibly not know this, unless… she wasn’t the real Meixue at all. The suspicions that had already faded were stirred up again because of this incident.

Yunyi secretly blamed herself for being meddlesome – why did she have to go pick mushrooms? She was just asking for trouble. She steadied herself and said softly, “I don’t have a mother.”

Li Shimin was startled, “Your mother… has she passed away?”

Yunyi shook her head and told Meixue’s life story, forcing out a trace of tears, “Although our family was very poor, Father loved me dearly. He was afraid I would be in danger going up the mountain alone, so he never let me go. That’s why I truly didn’t know these mushrooms were poisonous. Please forgive me, Second Young Master.”

Li Shimin sighed, “I see. I didn’t expect your background to be so pitiful. It’s rare that you have such a loving father. In the future, you must be filial to him.”

“Father is my only relative. I naturally should be filial and serve him. Coming to work at the Governor’s residence is also to lighten Father’s burden somewhat.” As she spoke, she took out the only remaining dry cake and handed it to Li Shimin, “Second Young Master, please eat quickly. I’ll go get some snow to boil water. As long as we don’t take the snow from the very bottom, it shouldn’t be too dirty.”

Li Shimin used his one good hand to break the cake in half, “You eat some too.” Before Yunyi could speak, he said, “I won’t allow you to refuse.”

Seeing him say this, Yunyi had no choice but to take that half cake and say, “Thank you, Second Young Master.”

Not long after the clay pot was placed over the fire, the snow water inside melted. After waiting a while longer, it began to bubble “glub glub.” Since they didn’t dare use the bowls and chopsticks from the house, they could only drink directly from the clay pot. The scalding water warmed their entire bodies. Although the half cake wasn’t filling, it at least made them less hungry. Combined with the water they drank, they didn’t feel much hunger for the moment.

After drinking all the hot water from the pot, the two each found a place to lie down and rest. After traveling for a whole day, Li Shimin was truly exhausted. Despite the constant pain in his shoulder, he still fell asleep quickly.

Under the dying glow of the fire, Yunyi slowly opened her eyes. The room was small, with less than a zhang’s distance between her and Li Shimin, allowing her to clearly hear his steady breathing.

She stood up and came to Li Shimin’s side like a silent ghost, coldly staring at that sleeping face. The dagger was in her sleeve – with just one strike, she could immediately end Li Shimin’s life and avenge Moping.

Such a good opportunity – if she let it slip away, it would truly be a waste. Surely… Moping would also want her to avenge him sooner.