Qiu Xinran hurried toward Pindong Courtyard, eventually breaking into a run despite herself.

The Hour of the Dragon neared the Hour of the Snake; the banquet was winding down. Guests had already scattered, nearly half departed. It was a private gathering to begin with, so there were no strict rules. Music still played without pause in the small garden, and those who remained drinking and making merry were likely planning to stay the night.

Qiu Xinran’s mind was in chaos, filled entirely with the conversation between Xia Xiuyan and Li Hanru from moments ago. There was much she hadn’t understood, but also much that seemed to make sense now. However, she had no time to think about all that. She only knew that if she delayed any longer, Mei Que would likely die here.

Pindong Courtyard, where Mei Que resided, had lax security tonight. Thanks to having been here once before, Qiu Xinran didn’t spend much effort finding her way. She circled around the guards and climbed over the wall from the back, seeing the small building by the courtyard pond with candles lit inside. From within came faint sounds of activity, like a woman’s struggling. Qiu Xinran’s heart seized with alarm. She crouched low and crept to the window, quietly pushing open a crack to peer inside.

Inside the room were a man and a woman—none other than Wu Peng and Mei Que. The two were rolling on the floor in a struggle. Mei Que’s clothes were disheveled and she gripped a dagger in her hand. Wu Peng, hair wild and eyes bloodshot, sat atop her, firmly pinning down the wrist that held the dagger. By his appearance he was no longer quite lucid—the Rong Li Incense must have already taken effect.

With one hand Mei Que desperately gripped the dagger, trying to struggle free, but with limited strength, how could she be his match? After a long stalemate, he finally wrested the dagger from her and flung it aside.

After losing the dagger, the maddened man raised his hand and viciously slapped the woman beneath him several times. The blows left Mei Que dizzy and dazed, with no strength left to resist. Seeing her lying on the ground motionless as if dead, Wu Peng finally stumbled up from atop her, spat on the ground, and cursed her as a whore. Then, as if hauling a sack of sand, he dragged her up and roughly threw her onto the bed.

Qiu Xinran was frantic with worry. At this point she couldn’t care about anything else. In desperation, she called out from outside the window: “Wu Peng!”

The man standing by the bed froze. Having just been through a physical struggle, his blood was surging and his head spinning. He shook his head, suspecting he was having hallucinations, and turned around with some uncertainty. With this turn, he saw that a crack had somehow opened in the window, behind which revealed a single dark eye staring at him unblinkingly.

Seeing such a sight suddenly in the dead of night, the man was terrified. He stumbled back half a step and couldn’t help lowering his head to rub his eyes. Qiu Xinran had a flash of inspiration and immediately loosened her hair, draping it before her eyes to cover most of her face. Wu Peng had just used the Rong Li Incense and his consciousness was already unclear. Now seeing what appeared to be a ghostly female figure outside, raising her hands and slowly pushing open the window to climb in from outside, he screamed in fright and collapsed onto the bed.

At that moment, a cold wind blew from somewhere. Qiu Xinran felt a current of air against her cheek, and the candlelight in the room suddenly extinguished. The room plunged into complete darkness. Afraid of alerting the distant guards, she hastily scrambled into the room on all fours and closed the window.

The man on the bed kept retreating, asking in a trembling voice: “Who… who are you?”

Qiu Xinran pinched her voice and spoke in a mournful female tone: “Does Young Master Wu not remember me?” She passed by the bed and, while he wasn’t paying attention, quietly grabbed a candlestick to hide behind her back, slowly approaching the bed.

Wu Peng’s face turned deathly pale. He opened his mouth, about to call loudly for someone, but Qiu Xinran blocked his bedside first. Beneath her black hair, a pair of eyes stared fixedly at him. She stretched out five fingers toward him and exhaled a ghostly breath: “I am here to claim your life…” Her tone was eerie, enough to raise goosebumps on anyone in such a night.

Before the words had fully fallen, she waved her hand before his eyes. As her sleeve swept past, before she could even bring down the candlestick hidden behind her back, the man on the bed’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed—actually frightened unconscious by her.

This was rather unexpected. The man had seemed vicious and ruthless when striking people earlier, but now thinking he’d encountered a ghost in the middle of the night, he was so terrified his legs trembled and he lost all composure—clearly he’d done many guilty deeds in his daily life. Qiu Xinran hadn’t expected to succeed so easily. She frowned and dropped the candlestick to the floor, hurrying to help up the woman lying on the bed.

Mei Que was still unconscious, and the scent of pear blossoms was heavy in the room. This fragrance was the second time she’d encountered it. Last time the scent had made her head spin, but this time it only made her feel nauseatingly cloying. Thinking that it was he who had drugged Xia Xiuyan’s wine back then, Qiu Xinran, still not satisfied, kicked the unconscious man hard once more before supporting Mei Que and quietly pushing open the door to leave.

Not long after she left, a black-clad man jumped down from the eaves outside. Wearing a silver mask, he silently infiltrated the room. Looking at the man collapsed on the bed, as if remembering the woman who had just pretended to be a ghost to frighten people in this room, he laughed softly, then nimbly cleaned up traces of anyone having been there.

Near the end, the man lying on the bed groaned softly, showing signs of waking. The masked man turned around, took some medicinal powder from his waist, and brushed it across the man’s face. The man on the bed instantly fell silent again—this time completely unconscious.

Qiu Xinran, supporting Mei Que, walked into the courtyard. After only a short distance she was already gasping for breath from exhaustion. Mei Que gradually regained consciousness and discovered she was lying on someone’s back. Greatly startled, she immediately began to struggle. Qiu Xinran happened to lack the strength to hold her, so she released her grip and let her fall behind the shrubbery in the garden. Mei Que scrambled up using both hands and feet, looking at her with wariness, finally finding her somewhat familiar: “You’re that Daoist from the Marquis Dingbei’s estate?”

Qiu Xinran followed her into the shrubbery. Having no time for riddles, she asked directly: “Do you know which path can circle around to the back gate?”

Mei Que acted as if she hadn’t heard, asking instead: “Did the Marquis send you? What happened to Wu Peng?”

Qiu Xinran thought for a moment and chose one question to answer: “Wu Peng is dead. I’ve come to take you out.”

Mei Que’s eyes lit up at these words, but quickly dimmed again. She said coldly: “You’re lying. Wu Peng isn’t dead.”

Qiu Xinran sighed: “You’re right, he’s not dead. And even if you died here tonight, he wouldn’t die either—he’d live on just fine.”

Mei Que’s gaze darkened, but then she raised her head and said through gritted teeth: “I still have to try.”

“You tried and didn’t succeed.” After rushing about all night only to see her still wanting to go to her death, Qiu Xinran’s tone grew impatient. “You want to avenge Yu Yin?”

Mei Que hadn’t expected her to know about Yu Yin. For a moment she looked at her with surprise and suspicion: “Who exactly are you?”

Qiu Xinran gave a cold laugh: “Yu Yin was your master and disciple for a time. Is this how you repay him with your life?”

“What do you know? After tonight I’ll never have this kind of opportunity again.” Mei Que turned her head away, biting her lip. “Besides, if tonight’s assassination fails, leaving with you means death anyway.”

“If I could save you once, I can save you twice.” Qiu Xinran said coldly, “Don’t you want to repay Yu Yin’s life-saving grace? You also owe me a life. First repay what you owe me, then go die.”

On this late spring night, the air was stifling. From the grass by the pond came the faint croaking of frogs. The guards watching the courtyard gate seemed to hear some movement in such a quiet night. He turned to look back at the small courtyard. Across the pond and through the lush vegetation, he only saw a climbing ivy on the distant white wall extending its branches, swaying in the wind. Apart from that, the courtyard was calm and peaceful.

He turned back around, crossed his arms, and leaned against the wall again, listlessly looking up to count the stars in the sky.

Below the white wall where the ivy grew, the woman sitting on the ground rubbed her elbow that had hit the ground, grimacing in pain. Mei Que now no longer doubted she was someone sent by the Marquis Dingbei to rescue her—after all, these skills clearly didn’t look like they came from the marquis’s estate.

Qiu Xinran crouched low and stood up, making a gesture to the woman beside her to indicate she should lead the way. Mei Que pressed her lips together and led her quietly toward the small gate to the north.

The wine banquet in the garden had mostly dispersed. Those planning to stay overnight in the garden were mostly still drinking in the east. Those preparing to leave had all gone to the main gate by now. At this time, the northern corner was particularly quiet.

The two followed the small path all the way smoothly to the northern gate. But upon reaching it, they heard voices outside. Qiu Xinran quietly pushed the door open a crack and peeked out, discovering that behind the small gate was a short alley. A carriage was stopped at the alley entrance with several figures standing beside it—one of whom was none other than Li Hanru from the pavilion earlier.

Li Hanru had injuries on her face and was leaving through the back gate to avoid the crowd. But unexpectedly, by such coincidence they had run right into her. If she saw Mei Que here, that would be disastrous. Qiu Xinran felt somewhat anxious. At that moment, the woman standing beside Li Hanru happened to turn around, her gaze inadvertently passing over. Qiu Xinran recognized her as Han Ling, and the other party also saw her, clearly startled.

Qiu Xinran hadn’t expected to be seen by her by such coincidence. Her heart also tightened, but having come to this, there was no other way to remedy it. She composed herself and simply walked out directly from behind the door, waving at the people at the alley entrance from afar. Then, as if pleading, she pressed her palms together in a gesture of supplication, looking utterly pitiful.

Han Ling found it strange, but seeing her like this, she couldn’t help pressing her lips together, nearly laughing. Li Hanru noticed her gaze and instinctively started to turn to look behind her. Qiu Xinran’s heart leapt to her throat, then heard Han Ling suddenly shout loudly: “Princess!” Li Hanru was startled by her, her eyes showing reproach: “What are you doing?”

Han Ling’s expression was somewhat tense as she stammered: “I… I see… isn’t that carriage yours?”

Hearing her say this, Li Hanru indeed looked in the direction she pointed. Qiu Xinran seized the opportunity to have the woman behind her come out from the door. Then from the nearby alley entrance, she heard Han Ling apologize softly: “I was mistaken. Since my brother hasn’t come out yet, let me stay here and wait with the Princess a bit longer.”

Li Hanru felt that this daughter of Minister Han was truly making a fuss today. Han Ling raised her head to glance at the opposite alley entrance, just in time to see a corner of clothing disappear around the turn.

Qiu Xinran led Mei Que running all the way to the deserted main street. Only when they had some distance from Fangchi Garden did they slow their pace and begin to have time to think about the next step.

Where should she take her? He’s Rice Shop was definitely out of the question. With an extra person upstairs, and customers constantly coming and going for meals every day, news would leak out quickly. She also couldn’t ask Zhou Xianyi or Yuan Zhou for help, to avoid implicating them…

Mei Que seemed to also perceive her difficulty and suddenly said coldly: “You don’t need to worry about me. What happens next, I’ll figure out myself.”

Qiu Xinran looked at her with some amusement and consoled: “Don’t worry, I won’t abandon you.” Her tone was like coaxing a child. Mei Que’s expression stiffened and she snorted: “When did I say I wanted you to take care of me?”

Qiu Xinran didn’t argue with her: “Tell me about Yu Yin. How did he die? And why did you end up at Fangchi Garden?” Speaking of this, Mei Que remembered and looked at her warily: “Who exactly are you?”

“I knew your master in earlier years. Back then at Zuichun House, he heard you sing ‘Willow Song’ and bought you. Later he took you away from Chang’an, and I lost news of him.” Seeing her speak in such detail, Mei Que let down some of her guard, then asked: “You saved me today because of my master?”

Qiu Xinran nodded. Mei Que’s expression indeed improved somewhat. She thought for a moment before saying softly: “Not long after Master took me away from Chang’an, because he offended Wu Peng, Wu Peng’s people crippled both his hands for playing the qin. The music house, remembering old affections, didn’t immediately drive us out, letting us do odd jobs in the establishment to earn our meals. I was young at the time. During those most difficult years, Master never thought of abandoning me and still taught me to play the qin and sing. But because of that incident, his health deteriorated. He coughed all day and couldn’t sleep well at night. After six years of this, he still died of illness.”

Mei Que bit her lip and said softly: “If he hadn’t met me, his last years shouldn’t have been like that.”

Qiu Xinran didn’t know what to say for a moment. This woman before her had already suffered a difficult enough fate. To truly speak of it, Yu Yin’s entanglement with Wu Peng should also be because of her.

“Then how did you end up at Fangchi Garden later?”

“Later I began singing for guests at the music house. Madame Lan took a liking to me and asked if I was willing to come sing at Fangchi Garden. Master initially refused to agree, but later Madame Lan talked with him for an entire afternoon, and Master agreed.”

“Madame Lan?” Qiu Xinran frowned. “What did they talk about?”

“I don’t know. Master didn’t say.” Mei Que shook her head. “He only said Madame Lan would look after me and told me not to think about seeking revenge on Wu Peng.”

“If so, why did you still try to assassinate Wu Peng tonight?”

“If there was no opportunity, naturally I would have given up that idea,” Mei Que said through gritted teeth, “but now the opportunity is right before me. If I missed it, I could never forgive myself for the rest of my life!”

Qiu Xinran was silent for a moment: “If you had succeeded tonight, what did you plan to do?”

Mei Que gave a self-mocking laugh: “Whether I succeeded or not, I’d have no future anyway.”

Qiu Xinran didn’t know how to persuade her. The two walked in silence by the roadside. After a long while, she finally spoke: “You’re still young, you have a long life ahead of you…” But halfway through, she couldn’t continue. She wasn’t a monk or nun. She herself still had many things in this world she didn’t understand—she had no qualification to advise others to let go of hatred.