Qi Ying turned around and saw her tearful appearance. Though his complexion was still pale, he still showed a smile, touching her nose and saying: “Thank you for your trouble.”

Shen Xiling’s body had gone somewhat weak from fright. Hearing him comfort her now, an indescribable emotion surged up in her heart.

She casually set the medicine jar aside, then sat down beside the bed to lean against his knees, saying very softly: “…Could you please not get hurt anymore?”

Her nestling against him made Qi Ying feel her sadness and heartache at that moment.

This was an impossible question to answer, so Qi Ying only gently patted her shoulder, using silence to comfort her.

The two leaned against each other for a long time, as if it could continue indefinitely.

Later, it was Qi Ying who first broke the silence.

Still gently patting her shoulder and letting her lean against him, he pondered for a moment before saying: “Today when the Fourth Prince came to see me… we talked about the Sixth Princess.”

Hearing this, Shen Xiling’s whole body stiffened. She sat up straight, no longer leaning against him, and turned to look at him: “Mm?”

Qi Ying also looked down at her, silent for a while, then said: “I told His Highness that after some time… I would marry her.”

Shen Xiling was stunned.

Though she had anticipated this early on and had sorted everything out alone that afternoon, hearing Qi Ying say it so directly still stunned her.

That familiar aching pain also welled up in her heart again, no less intense than when she first heard he wanted her to marry someone else.

She didn’t know what to say, only staring at him blankly.

Qi Ying’s brow furrowed slightly, his eyes also showing some struggle. He gently took her hand and said: “Wenwen, listen to me.”

After saying this, he fell silent, not speaking for a long time, as if he too had become tongue-tied, not knowing what to say.

In that silent gap, Qi Ying thought of many things.

Young Master Qi was someone who was good at thinking and decisive. The more he faced difficult and complex situations, the more he could calm his mind to deliberate and plan. Ever since pledging his feelings to Shen Xiling, he had begun thinking about how their future path should go.

He was unwilling to fail his family and the court, and also unwilling to fail her, but ultimately he had to make sacrifices.

He had formed the intention to leave—if continuing to stay here would create a deadlock for everything, then he might as well cleanly cut through this tangle and take her away.

Leave Jiankang.

When this thought first arose, Young Master Qi himself considered it absurd, but after days of careful consideration, he felt… it wasn’t bad.

In fact, it was very good.

If he remained in Jiankang, he would inevitably continue to be trapped within the困境 of family and court politics. Even the former Chancellor Shen, noble as the head of a clan, couldn’t escape this whirlpool, showing the weight of such burdens. If he wanted to protect Shen Xiling and seek perfection for both of them, he would have to be willing to abandon everything he was born with—family, relatives, official position, reputation, everything—and leave here with her, living the rest of their lives under assumed names.

This would not only be good for Shen Xiling, but might also be a good choice for his family.

The current Qi family’s power was too overwhelming, standing alone at the peak, and the consequence of being too prominent was inevitably bleak. Without him in court, the Qi family’s influence would certainly be weakened, but would instead become safer. If they stood too far above the other two surnames, it would be tantamount to making enemies of everyone—then not only the imperial family, but even the aristocratic families would no longer be friends. His elder brother wasn’t gifted at innovation, but was skilled at maintenance and management. As long as nothing unexpected happened, it would be sufficient to keep the Qi family stable and peaceful.

And if he truly wanted to leave the court, he had to settle everything beforehand.

He was ultimately someone carrying burdens in his heart. Though he knew well the corruption of this court, he still held compassion for the people of Jiangzuo—if he was to leave, he must do everything he could before leaving, such as selecting scholars in the spring examinations, such as mobilizing troops for northern expedition.

He had to be the pioneer of reform in Great Liang. This year’s spring examinations he had indeed overcorrected, but this had caused the震动 in scholarly circles as he expected. Once the door to promoting the humble-born was opened, the next chief examiner, fearing public criticism, would have to continue down his path. With Prince Duan’s faction mediating from within, Great Liang’s officialdom would have a chance to transform.

He truly couldn’t immediately change this country, but he could do his best to create an opportunity. This would be fulfilling his duty to the utmost, and also his accountability to himself.

The northern expedition was even more so.

Until now he still hadn’t found a suitable person to replace him in charge of the Privy Council. To prevent chaos in Jiangzuo after his departure, he had to quickly mobilize troops for northern expedition and recapture the three commanderies, taking advantage of Gaowei’s current instability to decide victory in one battle. If everything went smoothly, Jiangzuo would have no worries for the next ten years.

Only after resolving these matters could he peacefully take his little girl away.

He didn’t have much time. Today’s promise to Xiao Ziheng about marrying Xiao Ziyu after the northern expedition was already the maximum he could争取. Any further delay would certainly arouse Xiao Ziheng’s suspicion—within a year he had to arrange everything.

And precisely because he knew his remaining time was limited, he had acted so extremely in this spring examination—if he missed this opportunity, he wouldn’t have time to wait another three years.

He couldn’t let his little girl continue to suffer for three more years, and wouldn’t let her follow her mother’s path.

He would marry her, openly and honorably.

But these considerations didn’t need to be told to Shen Xiling, otherwise with her delicate mind, she would certainly think she had burdened him. He didn’t want her to bear any负担—all the choices were his alone and had nothing to do with her.

Qi Ying lowered his eyelids, concealing the contemplation in his eyes. After a moment of silence, he looked at Shen Xiling again, and now his eyes held only clear, gentle amusement.

He asked her: “Wenwen, do you trust me?”

Looking at him, despite the confusion and sadness in her heart at that moment, her steadfast faith in this person ultimately prevailed.

Her eyes flickered as she nodded: “I only trust you.”

I only trust you.

More than trusting anything else in this world.

“Then,” he seemed somewhat moved, his tone carrying a hint of nervousness, “when I finish the matters at hand, would you be willing… to leave here with me?”

Hearing this, Shen Xiling was startled, not quite understanding: “…Leave here?”

He nodded, his usually distant and cool expression showing even more nervousness. If one looked carefully, they would see his earlobes were also slightly red.

He acknowledged with a sound, then coughed once to cover his nervousness, saying: “That is… elope.”

E… elope?

Shen Xiling was stunned again.

She truly hadn’t expected to hear these two words from Qi Ying’s mouth one day—he was after all such a serious and proper person, while “elope” seemed too wild and unrestrained a word. She didn’t react at first, but when she did, enormous joy suddenly surged up from the depths of her heart, leaving her at a loss.

But she hadn’t forgotten about the princess, so she suppressed her joy and asked him: “Then… what about the princess? Didn’t you just say you would marry her?”

His expression was calm as he looked at her very honestly: “That was false. I won’t marry anyone else.”

That phrase “anyone else” seemed to convey his devotion to her. Shen Xiling understood, and the joy in her heart became somewhat uncontainable. She paused, gathered her thoughts, and asked him again: “False? You deceived His Highness? Then… is that all right? Will something happen to you? You…”

Her questions came one after another, all about him, all worrying about him.

Qi Ying smiled. Though his back wound still hurt terribly, he felt it didn’t matter anymore.

He pinched her small face again and said meaningfully: “You don’t need to worry about these things. I’ll handle everything. You only need to know that I will never fail you.”

Shen Xiling’s heart was immediately touched by him.

He truly understood her well. Even though he had never asked, he knew her fears and unease, so he would give her such clear promises, unambiguous and requiring no guesswork on her part.

She truly loved this person to the extreme, loved him until her nose tingled with emotion.

Shen Xiling desperately held back her tears, thought for a while, and asked him again: “Then… if we leave, what about your family? Like your father and mother, brother and sister-in-law, younger brothers—what will happen to them?”

Qi Ying didn’t immediately answer this question, only the light in his phoenix eyes dimmed slightly.

Elopement… it sounded simple, but as long as he lived, he was destined to be unable to escape the constraints of family and court. If he wanted to leave, he would have to do so as a dead man, otherwise even if he left, the Qi family would be implicated.

Therefore, once he left, he could never look back—he might still see his relatives again, but it would certainly be extremely difficult.

Knowing this, he still said to Shen Xiling: “It’s fine, just a bit more difficult. There are still ways to meet if we want to.”

Though he had already concealed the difficulty of this matter, Shen Xiling was still moved beyond self-control.

She knew he was giving up so very much for her.

Much more than she could even imagine.

She finally couldn’t help but burst into tears, throwing herself into his embrace and clutching his clothes while crying, unable to say anything except calling out to him repeatedly: Young master.

Qi Ying helplessly embraced her, gently kissed her forehead, and teasingly asked: “Crying like this, do you not want to go with me?”

Shen Xiling cried until her eyes were red. Hearing him say this, she still didn’t forget to argue, quickly saying “No” first, then continuing: “Of course I want to! I dream of it—I just, I just…”

He gently wiped her tears: “You just what?”

She looked at him and continued crying: “I just never thought I could have so much…”

Three years ago when I first met you, I only wanted to beg for a moment of your pity; later I became greedy, but only dared to think of staying by your side, never imagining I could truly be with you; then later we were together, and I thought I would have to endure some sadness and grievances, never imagining you would be willing to give everything up and take me away.

I only sought a moment, but you gave me an endless lifetime.

Shen Xiling cried even harder.

Qi Ying sighed and gently patted her back, coaxing softly: “It’s not all for you. I’m truly tired and want to rest—don’t you already know? The kind of life I want.”

Shen Xiling naturally knew.

In Wangshi back then, among countless books, only Master Baopu’s collection made him read repeatedly, even leaving so many annotations—he was truly too tired and needed rest, to nap among mountain forests and springs.

Shen Xiling’s eyes brightened.

Qi Ying smiled and joked: “But then I’ll have no official position or wealth. What if I make you live poorly?”

Hearing this, Shen Xiling immediately sat up straight, grasping his hand and saying: “You don’t need to worry about any of that. Then you can just rest well, read your favorite books, and spend your days walking, fishing, tending flowers and plants. I can go earn money—you know I originally loved earning money and am especially good at it.”

She became excited as she spoke, wiping her own tears without needing his comfort, looking at him with enthusiasm: “We can take some silver with us—I’ve saved quite a bit—or sell some of the current shops. We’ll have plenty of money, enough to buy a very nice estate! Then we can divide the land—some for growing vegetables, some for tenants—oh, and we can grow fruit. What fruit do you like best?”

She chattered on and on, seeming more and more excited, as if they would start living this life tomorrow.

Qi Ying found it somewhat amusing and gently reminded her: “Wenwen, we still have to wait a while before we can leave.”

He had originally worried this would dampen the little girl’s enthusiasm, but unexpectedly she only paused briefly before perking up again, continuing cheerfully: “Wait a while? Well, that’s good too, gives us time to plan properly—oh right, can we take Shuipei and the others with us? You can’t do without Qing Zhu and Brother Bai, right? Tell me exactly how much monthly wages you give them now, I need to calculate whether we can initially afford to support everyone…”

As she spoke, she became troubled again, frowning as she asked: “If we can’t afford it, we might still need to do some business—but since we’re eloping after all, we can’t be too conspicuous. We could do small trades, the inconspicuous kind—what do you think?”

She kept chattering away like a happy little sparrow. Qi Ying listened patiently throughout, but actually wasn’t paying much attention to what specifically she was saying. He was just appreciating her happy, joyful appearance, radiant with spirit—even the beautiful red mole between her brows seemed more vivid, making him feel cheerful too.

Seeing her so happy made all his sacrifices worthwhile.

“Whatever you decide,” he smiled, lifting her jade-white small hand to kiss it, his expression infinitely gentle, “Madam shall be in charge.”

When he said this, his voice was neither high nor low, his tone neither light nor heavy—perfectly appropriate in every way. But the word “Madam” fell clearly and obviously into her ears like a gentle brand.

Madam…

That was a title she had once felt was beyond her reach even to think about. Now he simply gave it to her, and she knew it represented not just love, but also cherishing and respect.

He had truly placed her in his heart.

Shen Xiling had already stopped wanting to cry, but hearing Qi Ying say these two words, tears began flowing uncontrollably again, pattering down inexplicably.

He laughed helplessly, wiping her tears again while scolding her lightly: “Crying again.”

Shen Xiling also felt this was very embarrassing, but helplessly couldn’t control it.

Feeling shy, she turned the tables, pulling Qi Ying’s sleeve and complaining: “It’s all your fault, you made me cry. I don’t usually cry much…”

“Nonsense,” Qi Ying laughed, his eyes full of affection, but still exposed her: “You’ve always loved to cry.”

Hearing this, Shen Xiling was startled, then burst into laughter at his words, leaning against his legs and laughing continuously.

Throughout the long night that followed, the two remained nestled together, whispering sweet words.

As if they could continue this way until dawn after dawn.