On the seventh day of the sixth month, Qi Ying finally awakened from his illness.

Before this, his high fever had subsided once, but then recurred several times. Just before waking, the fever had finally broken again, yet when he opened his eyes, he still felt drowsy and disoriented.

His first reaction was to ask what day it was now.

His voice startled Shen Xiling, who had been sleeping while leaning over his bedside. She had grown even thinner than before, her cheeks now sunken, her lips drained of color, appearing more haggard than ever. But seeing him awake still filled her with immense joy. Even with the dark circles under her eyes, she sat up excitedly, looking radiant with relief.

She told him that today was already the seventh day of the sixth month.

At that moment, Qi Ying’s complexion turned even more deathly pale, as if he had heard some tremendous calamity. That shrewd and profound man remained stunned for a long time upon hearing this news, unable to utter a single word.

He knew it was over.

Everything was over.

The chess game he had been setting up for five years, the situation he had exchanged for by sacrificing so much, the perfect alignment of timing, geography, and people he had painstakingly assembled…

In the blink of an eye… it had all turned to ash.

He couldn’t help but close his eyes.

In Qi Ying’s lifetime, he had experienced too many great storms. Though he was skilled in planning and decisive in action, not every scheme of his succeeded. He had also experienced many failures, such as having his strategies broken by Gu Juhan on the battlefield, suffering crushing defeats.

He never feared failure, because he knew everything could be started anew. He had a resilient nature, able to endure repeated cycles of destruction and reconstruction, fighting again and again for everything he wished to achieve.

But this time was different.

This affair involved too many parties, and each chess piece had taken tremendous effort to position. Once this opportunity was missed, he had no idea when the next chance would come.

Moreover, his health…

He was no longer certain whether he could persist much longer in such an unfavorable situation. His body would surely collapse before his spirit, and if it truly came to that point, how could he protect those around him?

For the first time in his life, Qi Ying felt lost.

Lost, and helpless.

…He was filled with such despair.

Just then, he felt Shen Xiling drawing closer to him. She seemed to be tugging at his sleeve with small, tentative force, conveying fear and helplessness.

Of course, he had suddenly fallen ill, and she must have been terrified.

He couldn’t let her see his distress and confusion. He needed to calm down, to comfort her, and not let the young woman suffer alongside him.

Qi Ying steadied his mind, forcibly suppressing the tumultuous emotions in his heart, regaining his composure. He opened his eyes and smiled at her reassuringly, saying, “It’s alright, don’t be afraid, I…”

Before he could finish speaking, he saw her expression turn extremely nervous and panicked, holding several thin sheets of paper in her hand, those slender fingers trembling slightly.

She handed those papers to him. Qi Ying could see she was so frightened she was nearly in tears, and heard her say, “I… I truly did my best, but I don’t know if this was right… I…”

She couldn’t continue, her voice shaking too violently.

Not knowing what could frighten her so much, Qi Ying had no time to comfort her and hurriedly took those papers and unfolded them, only to discover they were letters.

…All in his handwriting.

Shen Xiling had written three letters in total, each containing only a few brief words.

The first to Xiao Ziheng: “Still hear southern deployment, will not disappoint your expectations.”

The second to Han Feichi: “Must take Huozhou, keep righteousness in heart.”

The third to Xu Zhengning: “Family legacy of a hundred years, now hope for dawn and dusk.”

She had boldly written these three letters, yet dared not say much in each one, fearing that more words would lead to more errors and expose flaws to the recipients—even though her calligraphy could perfectly match Qi Ying’s, and even though she was very familiar with his manner of phrasing and tone of speech, the recipients were all people very close to him, so she remained terrified they might detect something amiss.

The letter to Xiao Ziheng was simple. Shen Xiling was certain he must have received secret reports about Qi Ying being ambushed in Qingyuan City. If he received no news that Qi Ying was still alive, he probably wouldn’t dare execute the Xiaoshan plan. She needed to tell him Qi Ying was still alive, so everything could continue as Qi Ying intended.

The letter to Han Feichi was the most risky. When she was young and at Qi Ying’s side, she already knew this young master of the Han family had a deep private friendship with Qi Ying. A few days ago, she had confirmed with Bai Song, who also said Han Feichi had a very deep friendship with their young master. Even his entry into officialdom and pursuit of scholarly honors was influenced by Qi Ying. He also knew about the connection between Qi Ying and Wei Crown Prince Gao Jing.

Shen Xiling calculated that since he knew so much, it could only mean Qi Ying trusted him, and he definitely was not Qi Ying’s enemy.

At the same time, Shen Xiling knew that Qi Ying originally intended to travel to Huozhou first and planned to stay in Yue’an for nine days. According to her speculation, his purpose was to win over Yue’an Prefect Han Shouzheng.

Since Han Shouyue was taking such a dangerous gamble, he couldn’t possibly fail to take precautions beforehand. He would certainly carefully investigate all troop movements within Great Liang’s territory and wouldn’t allow Xiao Ziheng to bring unexpected reinforcements to ruin his plans. Among all the troops, he could least guard against only two types: first, troops stationed at crucial border areas confronting Great Wei, and second, those under the Han family’s own jurisdiction.

Shen Xiling knew Qi Ying was someone who saw the big picture and was also very vigilant, not trusting others easily. Even though he had long-standing secret agreements with Wei Crown Prince Gao Jing, he wouldn’t truly trust Great Wei, so he would never move border troops. He could only deploy Han family forces—Han Shouzheng was probably the result of his careful selection. Qi Ying wanted to borrow his troops to stabilize the Xiaoshan situation and might even become the mantis stalking the cicada, controlling both Han Shouyue and Xiao Ziheng within his grasp.

Not daring to be negligent about such a major matter, Shen Xiling immediately sent her subordinates to gather information about Han Shouzheng, learning that he was a bastard son of the Han family who had never gotten along well with his legitimate brothers since childhood. Thus he couldn’t stay in Jiankang as an official and was instead sent to serve as prefect in a remote place like Huozhou. He had always been at odds with his elder brother Han Shouyue, reportedly because years ago, Han Shouyue’s son Han Feicong had drunkenly forced himself on Han Shouzheng’s daughter-in-law, and Han Shouyue protected his son throughout, ultimately driving Han Shouzheng’s daughter-in-law to throw herself into the river.

Since then, the two brothers had had no contact for many years.

Qi Ying originally planned to personally persuade Han Shouzheng, but he suddenly fell ill, making it naturally impossible to go to Huozhou now. Since Qi Ying’s friendship with Han Shouzheng wasn’t deep, even if Shen Xiling impersonated Qi Ying in writing to him, it would be impossible to gain his trust and get him to lend troops on the tenth day of the sixth month based solely on a few words in a letter. Therefore, after much consideration, Shen Xiling still wrote to Han Feichi, asking him to personally persuade his own uncle.

The risky aspect of this move was that Shen Xiling couldn’t be certain of the other Han family members’ attitudes. Even if Han Feichi was on Qi Ying’s side, what about the others? For instance, his father, Han family head Han Shousong, and his brother Han Feiyu—what were their positions? Perhaps they were unwilling to risk rebellion and had already distanced themselves from Han Shouyue, or perhaps they also wanted to take a gamble for high position and had already colluded with Han Shouyue. These things were impossible for Shen Xiling to know, but in that critical moment, she could only take a bold gamble.

Success or failure would be left to heaven’s will.

But later, after much reflection, Shen Xiling still felt this move was too bold. If it failed, the consequences would be unthinkable—what if Han Shouzheng refused? What if he exposed Qi Ying to Han Shouyue or the Emperor? Then everything would be finished! But Shen Xiling had no way to prevent this possibility. All strategic games carried deep-hidden risks that couldn’t be avoided, but she wasn’t completely powerless—so she wrote the third letter to Xu Zhengning, formerly one of the twelve departments of the Privy Council and now promoted to Deputy Director of the Privy Council.

She knew this official had always been loyal to Qi Ying. Years ago, when Qi Ying went to Great Wei for peace negotiations, he had even saved this man’s life, so he couldn’t help but be grateful and genuinely respect Qi Ying. Shen Xiling wrote to him because she was certain that Qi Ying’s intelligence gathering and chess piece positioning couldn’t possibly escape the Privy Council’s notice. The Privy Council was his power base, and the likelihood of betrayal was very low; otherwise, Qi Ying would have died long ago and couldn’t have survived until now.

The eight characters Shen Xiling wrote to him had only one meaning—protect the Qi family.

Although Qi Ying wasn’t in Jiankang, his family members were all still in that cage: his mother, his father, his older and younger brothers, his nephews and nieces. These people could all become hostages. Once the Xiaoshan affair was settled, Han Shouyue might have Zhao Qinghan detain the Qi family to threaten Qi Ying and attempt a comeback. Even Xiao Ziheng himself might guard against Qi Ying while using him and could potentially harm the Qi family.

She had to have the Privy Council find a way to protect the Qi family, so Qi Ying would have no worries about his rear. In the worst case, even if all the things she did for him were wrong and led to his failure, at least his family could still be preserved.

During the days Qi Ying was unconscious, Shen Xiling worked day and night gathering intelligence. She exhausted everything at her disposal, constantly thinking every day about what loopholes remained, what opportunities existed, what she might have overlooked. She thought over and over until she couldn’t eat or sleep, even her back wound worsened, but she felt nothing, only growing more anxious and restless, constantly hoping for Qi Ying to wake up quickly so he could tell her whether she was right or wrong.

But he never woke.

Having no choice, Shen Xiling steeled herself and sent out the three letters in sequence, while arranging personnel to take Qi Ying south to the Xiangzhou area—she knew they had to reach Xiaoshan before the uprising began to maintain control of the overall situation.

When traveling south, all water routes and ferry crossings had already been blocked by Han Shouyue and Han Feicong. After much thought, Shen Xiling arranged for salt merchant Gong Xun, one of her subordinates, to ferry them across the river southward. She naturally knew that Gong Xun had dealings with Han Feicong for several years and could speak before Han Feicong, so she hid with Qi Ying and Bai Song on his merchant ship while arranging for someone to impersonate Qi Ying to divert Han Feicong’s attention. The other side indeed fell for it, and they finally managed to return south, reaching Xiangzhou on the fifth day of the sixth month after many detours.

And now, Qi Ying had finally awakened.

Watching Qi Ying hurriedly lower his head to read the letters, the fear in Shen Xiling’s heart nearly made her collapse. She was terrified that she had done wrong and led him to a dead end.

If that were truly the case, then she…

She was thinking anxiously, her heart nearly jumping out of her chest, when she suddenly saw Qi Ying abruptly put down the letters and look up at her!

His phoenix eyes blazed with brilliant light, never so bright and fervent before. His expression was also excited—in their ten years of acquaintance, Shen Xiling had never seen him show such an expression.

Her mind went completely blank. Before she could react, she was already pulled into his embrace!

Author’s Note: Let him hold her! Let him kiss her!