Yan Lin hadn’t expected that group of people from Count Qingyuan’s manor could make such a commotion. Also, because Count Qingyuan himself had come to find him for a conversation, he temporarily couldn’t extricate himself, so it wasn’t until this near-dusk hour that he could finally get away. Originally intending to go to Cengxiao Tower, when he reached the street entrance he discovered the area had already been sealed off by government soldiers. Upon inquiry, he learned that an assassin had appeared at Cengxiao Tower ahead, attempting to assassinate a court official. He nearly panicked completely.

He wanted to enter, but since Xie Wei was inside, he also didn’t dare act rashly.

Fortunately, someone went to inform them and brought Jiang Xuening back when they returned.

“Ningning!” Seeing her emerge, in his anxiety Yan Lin didn’t care whether there were people watching around them. He took her hand and looked her up and down. “You’re not injured? You didn’t fall and hurt yourself anywhere?”

Jiang Xuening had just experienced that sudden heart-stopping ordeal. Though she had walked all this way, her legs were somewhat weak. Seeing Yan Lin, she couldn’t quite come back to her senses.

Only after hearing him call out several times did she blink.

She simply said, “I’m fine. A close call, but no real danger.”

Though the person looked unharmed anywhere, that palm-sized face was deathly pale without a trace of color, and her expression was also dazed and absent-minded—clearly she’d been frightened.

Not only did Yan Lin’s brows not relax, they furrowed even tighter.

He gripped her hand, only feeling her fingers ice-cold. For a moment his heart clenched, yet he still had to lower his voice to comfort her. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. I’m here now. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have given those people from the Count’s manor any face. I shouldn’t have told you to wait for me at Cengxiao Tower. Then you wouldn’t have encountered the assassin…”

Where would Jiang Xuening fear the assassin?

What she feared was that person whom others saw as good no matter how they looked, that sage-like Imperial Teacher Xie Wei!

Moreover, reflecting on their recent conversation concealing hidden meanings, she realized that Xie Wei actually knew about her relationship with Yan Lin.

When the subordinate came to report, he only said Yan Lin wanted to come in, not mentioning her by a single word. Yet Xie Wei directly glanced at her and told Jian Shu to escort her out.

One must know that in the past when she went out with Yan Lin, she always disguised herself as a man, and the matter hadn’t spread widely.

How did Xie Wei know?

At this moment, Jiang Xuening thought of many possibilities—perhaps from the Yongyi Marquis Manor, perhaps from her father Jiang Boyou. But in any case, for Xie Wei, this was something he knew full well.

Then the Xie Wei of her previous life must also have known.

Thus, in her previous life, Xie Wei’s attitude of keeping her at a respectful distance no matter what could be completely explained: because she had failed Yan Lin, indirectly harmed the Yongyi Marquis Manor, and even later heavily relied on Zhou Yinzhi!

Jiang Xuening felt the scorching temperature of the youth’s palm, as if she could also sense that ardent feeling in the depths of his heart. Raising her eyes, they touched upon his sincere gaze overflowing with heartache, and for a moment she actually felt she didn’t dare look directly at him.

Because of her baseness.

Because of her hypocrisy.

Yan Lin was still worrying about her. “Today you suffered a fright. You should go home and have a good early sleep to restore your spirits. Let’s not go to the lantern festival. When it’s held again sometime later, I’ll take you then.”

Saying this, he was about to pull her onto the carriage nearby.

Yet sourness spread through Jiang Xuening’s heart. She pulled his hand back instead, saying, “No, I want to go.”

She forcibly suppressed that impulse to shed tears, curved her lips, and showed him a smile, wanting to use this to reassure him and tell him she was fine.

Yan Lin just quietly gazed at her like this.

After quite a long while, he finally smiled too. “But you’re the one who said you wanted to go!”

The moment his words fell, he stepped forward and actually embraced her waist, lifting her onto the horse!

How could Jiang Xuening react in time?

Her eyes widened for a moment. Unable to control herself, she immediately let out a low cry of surprise, “Yan Lin!”

Yan Lin laughed heartily. Without explaining, he then supported the saddle and mounted behind her, one hand gripping the reins, one hand wielding the riding crop, half-encircling her in his embrace, and directly spurred the horse away!

The horse released its four hooves and ran.

The slightly cold autumn wind beat fiercely against their faces, pouring into their clothing. The sparse pedestrians on the street and the rows of buildings on both sides all flew rapidly past on either side of their vision.

Jiang Xuening’s back pressed tightly against the youth’s already broad chest. For a moment, only the sound of wind and his uninhibited laughter from behind filled her ears. She only felt her heart beating even more violently than when she’d encountered the assassin and Xie Wei earlier.

With great difficulty she finally recovered her senses.

Unable to hold back, she said, “Are you sick!”

Yan Lin laughed so hard his entire chest was vibrating, extremely pleased. “I am.”

Jiang Xuening was speechless with anger.

Yan Lin knew she was afraid, but far from slowing the horse’s speed, he actually urged it on even more, making the horse run even faster, only asking her, “Not afraid now, right?”

Jiang Xuening thought to herself that she’d nearly been scared to death and was about to retort.

But when the words were about to leave her mouth, she froze.

That’s right.

The very moment he’d lifted her onto the horse to gallop through this street, everything she’d encountered at Cengxiao Tower earlier had become a complete blank, thrown to the back of her mind—she’d completely forgotten it all.

Coming to this realization, Jiang Xuening didn’t know whether she should be moved or continue scolding him.

But when dismounting, her legs nearly went soft and she almost couldn’t stand.

After he supported her to stand steady, seeing him shrug his shoulders and snicker, a surge of anger made her clench her fist and pummel this brat. “Still laughing endlessly, are you? Try doing that one more time!”

When a young lady like her hit someone, it didn’t hurt at all.

Yan Lin had spent more than half his childhood raised by his family in the military camp. His martial arts were solidly practiced—how could he fear these few blows of hers?

He just stood there letting her pummel him.

Then he even had to cover his chest, pretending in the fakest possible way to look like it hurt very much. “Ow, it hurts, it hurts, it really hurts!”

Jiang Xuening glared at him and simply stopped hitting him.

Everyone knew it didn’t hurt him.

A martial arts-practicing youth’s chest was rock-hard. That it didn’t hurt him to be hit was one thing, but the key issue was that her own hand hurt.

She simply turned around and walked toward the lively lantern festival, saying, “Can’t be bothered with you.”

Yan Lin didn’t mind either. Instead, with a face full of smiles, he caught up with her, and before long was asking:

“There’s sugar figurines over there. Do you want to eat some?

“Look, they’re releasing flower lanterns. Let’s go release one too.

“Ningning, look at what they’re wearing on their heads. So pretty. I’ll buy you one.

“Flower lanterns, flower lanterns!

“There’s lantern riddle-guessing. Quick, come with me!”

Jiang Xuening was born with a nature that loved to play. After being reborn, this was actually the first time she’d truly gone out. At the start she was still somewhat unaccustomed, but being led by Yan Lin, with his questions coming one sentence from the left, one sentence from the right, she soon found that feeling from her youth again.

Moving through the crowds, unrestrained and carefree.

This world had none of the confining narrowness of Kunning Palace. It was boundlessly vast, allowing her, this single fish, to frolic freely within it.

Thus she remembered why in her youth she always liked being together with Yan Lin—

She was a child who grew up in the countryside. After returning to the capital, she had to follow the manor in learning all sorts of rules. She both worried about not being liked by her “new” parents and worried about being mocked by others for being inferior to the elder sister who’d grown up in the manor. Day after day she couldn’t go out. The people she saw and the things she encountered were always just those same few, truly both oppressive and dull.

It was Yan Lin who gave her the opportunity to break free from everything.

Though young, he had traveled to many places with his elders and had many experiences beyond ordinary people. He both took her to act wildly in this capital and told her about that vast expanse of magnificent rivers and mountains, customs and cultures she’d never known—a bright window through which she could glimpse everything that made her curious.

Moreover, he gave her love she’d never received before.

Just like the most brilliant stroke of color in a painting.

Such a fine youth—back then, what kind of ice-cold heart must she have had to bear hurting him with such cruel words?

Yan Lin took her to guess lantern riddles.

Though the prizes for guessing the riddles were all worthless little trinkets, they had the advantage of being free, feeling like they’d been picked up for nothing. When actually holding that whole pile of things in hand, it felt even more delightful than if she’d spent money to buy them.

The entire street was full of beautiful flower lanterns.

Once night deepened, they all lit up.

Walking among them felt like wandering through a sea of light.

Vendors on the roadside were also hawking various foods.

Yan Lin actually spotted someone displaying a basket of fox nuts, calling to passing customers to buy. Suddenly remembering that Ningning was quite fond of this, he pulled her over to buy some.

There were many buyers, and in the end not many were left.

That vendor, seeing his fine clothing, quickly put on a smile. “Just shipped in from Suzhou the day before yesterday. Premium purple-flowered fox nuts, delicious indeed. Won’t you try one?”

Fox nuts, also called euryale seeds, were generally grown in the south. They got their name from their exterior resembling a chicken’s head, but what was eaten was the “grain” inside after breaking them open—the kernel inside.

Somewhat similar to lotus seeds.

Yan Lin took a few to examine, only saying, “The water conditions on the canal haven’t been good these past days. How could these fresh fox nuts of yours have been shipped from Suzhou? Even lychees delivered by eight-hundred-li express couldn’t arrive this fast. They’re grown in Shichahai, aren’t they?”

The vendor immediately gave an embarrassed laugh. “Yes, yes, you truly have discerning eyes like fire. But the flavor isn’t inferior to Suzhou’s either. Try it!”

Yan Lin then broke one open, picked out the round fruit inside, and held it to Jiang Xuening’s lips.

Jiang Xuening instinctively opened her mouth.

Yan Lin asked her, “Is it good?”

Jiang Xuening nodded.

Yan Lin then said, “Give me all the remaining ones you have.”

He handed out a piece of broken silver and didn’t wait for change, taking those few fox nuts and leaving.

Jiang Xuening thus played while eating all the way. When she finally grew tired of playing, Yan Lin pulled her to sit on the steps in front of Baiguo Temple to rest.

Before the temple grew a large grove of ginkgo trees.

Now in this deep autumn season, the leaves had all turned yellow, falling from the trees and carpeting the ground.

The evening lessons of the monks inside the temple had all ended. The distant street was lively and bustling, but nearby the evening bell sounded, peaceful and tranquil.

Yan Lin sat right beside Jiang Xuening.

These past days, he’d also heard about some matters in the Jiang manor and felt she seemed to have changed somewhat, as if she wasn’t quite the same as before.

He wanted to ask about it.

But when he turned his head, he saw her sitting curled up on the steps with her feet together, focused and single-minded as she cracked open that last fox nut. Others would pick out the fruit inside to eat, but she sometimes had the habit of leaning in to take it with her lips, like a little chicken pecking at grain.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

What difference was there? She was still his Ningning.

Yan Lin was also a bit tired, so he lay down along the steps beside her, gazing at that star-filled night sky, smiling as he said to her, “Ningning, very soon I’ll be having my capping ceremony.”

Jiang Xuening’s movements paused. She fell silent.

She didn’t really want to discuss the topic he truly wanted to talk about, so she said, “There’s someone I want to recommend to you.”

Yan Lin was curious. “Who?”

Jiang Xuening said, “His name is Zhou Yinzhi. He was originally considered a household servant of my family, later following Father in his work. Father obtained a position for him in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. These past days, the court seems to have had some matter regarding some Company Commander Zhou. He came to me, wanting to obtain that vacancy and establish a connection with you.”

Yan Lin had heard of this person.

Without asking many questions, he said, “Then have him bring a name card to petition me another day.”

For her requests, as long as he could fulfill them, he always satisfied them unconditionally.

This kind of answer was almost identical to her previous life.

Thus Jiang Xuening thought of Zhou Yinzhi. She wanted to avoid the Yongyi Marquis Manor repeating the mistakes of her previous life, and also wanted to save Yan Lin. But now she was nobody, and all she could use was just this one person. Exactly how far what she was doing now could save them—even she herself had no confidence.

At this moment, her hand slowly lowered.

A fresh euryale seed was pinched between her fingertips. Her lashes trembled lightly, and she suddenly asked, “Yan Lin, you’re so good to me—what exactly do you like about me?”

Though she was beautiful, other young ladies of great families in the capital weren’t inferior either.

As for temperament, hers was even more willful and spoiled than others.

Her learning and cultivation were also extremely mediocre. In her birth mother’s words, she was “unpresentable.”

Yet Yan Lin just happened to like her.

Yan Lin felt she was being silly, saying matter-of-factly, “The first time I saw you, I knew you were different from the young ladies in the capital. When your eyes looked at people, they were truly genuine, not knowing how to conceal anything at all. If you wanted something you’d go snatch it. When unhappy you wouldn’t give anyone a pleasant expression. When happy you could coax people until their hearts felt sweet. When hurt, you’d hide away to cry. I thought, this should be someone who’s cherished. If I could make her think of me every day, look at me with that kind of expectant gaze, bright and shining, keeping me in her heart and coaxing me—that would be a very happy thing.”

Jiang Xuening felt her eyes grow sour again. “But other people don’t like me. Wanniang didn’t like me, Mother doesn’t like me, the servants in the manor don’t like me, and other people in the capital don’t like me either. So, haven’t you ever thought that perhaps you’ve actually liked the wrong person?”

Yan Lin, do you know—

I won’t always be that little girl who’s satisfied just being cherished in your palm.

I will grow up. I will turn bad.

Yan Lin finally detected the tearful tone in her voice. He slowly sat up from the steps, gazing at her reddened eyes, only feeling his heart was blocked and somewhat stifled.

He reached out to pat her head.

Yet he smiled. “Nonsense. Think about it—your Wanniang actually had no need to let the manor know that you and your elder sister had been switched. As long as she didn’t speak, your elder sister would forever be the legitimate young lady of the Jiang manor. If she passed away, this secret would be buried forever in the yellow earth. Yet before her death, though she had her own flesh and blood child, she was still willing to risk letting her suffer and sent you back to the manor. How can you say she didn’t love you?”

Tears immediately rolled down from Jiang Xuening’s eyes.

She thought of Wanniang.

And also thought of the bracelet Wanniang had pressed into her hand before her death, meant to be given to Jiang Xuehui.

Not knowing why, though she desperately tried to stop the tears, she cried even harder instead.

That fox nut was soaked with tears.

Yan Lin’s heart ached watching this. He took it from her fingertips and put it in his mouth—his entire mouth filled with bitter saltiness.

He said, “My Ningning deserves the best love in all the world.”

Jiang Xuening buried her head and continued crying.

The young girl’s powder-white face under the surrounding hazy lamplight was like a cold night-blooming cereus blooming beneath the moon. The tear tracks sliding down were infused with starlight from the night—looking both pitiful and making one’s heart ache.

Yan Lin softly said again, “Don’t cry anymore.”

In this moment, he felt himself possessed, unable to control either his thoughts or his hands and feet. He actually leaned over, using his slightly trembling fingers to touch her cheek, then pressed his lips there.

Bit by bit, licking and kissing away that tear track.

Like a small beast that had already grown teeth but still had a relatively gentle temperament, with an instinct to draw close to her.

Jiang Xuening froze.

But Yan Lin felt that the moment his lips covered her cheek, his entire body heated up all at once, and even his heart was pounding wildly in his chest.

At this moment he hardly knew what he was doing.

But his lips had already traveled downward, unknowingly landing on her two soft lips.

Her coolness.

His burning heat.

Different temperatures—in the instant they touched, Yan Lin was jolted awake. Only now, looking at those eyes so close at hand that held either shock or astonishment, his fingertips immediately released as if scalded by a branding iron, and he abruptly pulled back.

“I… I…”

What had he just done!

Yan Lin’s youthful face suddenly turned completely red. For a moment feeling he had no place to hide his shame, he hastily turned his back, coughing. “I… I was improper.”

Jiang Xuening: “…”

On the steps before the temple, for a moment not a sound could be heard.

The youth could only hear his own violent heartbeat.

He looked at that ginkgo tree whose leaves had nearly all fallen. After a very long time, still with his back to the young girl sitting together on the steps, he said, “Ningning, after the capping ceremony is over, marry me.”