In the quiet small courtyard, the candlelight had been lit.

Ji Lingchuan, wearing a gray robe of unknown origin, his damp gray-white hair loose, limped inside.

Behind him, Xie Zhifei took a banknote from his bosom and handed it to the escorting brocade-clad guard.

The guard accepted it without courtesy, chatted with Third Master with a smile for a few sentences, then turned to leave.

Li Buyan nodded to Yan Sanhe. “I’ll keep watch outside.”

After she left the courtyard, Xie Zhifei casually closed the wooden door and leaned against it lazily.

Inside and outside, two people, two barriers.

A secluded square courtyard—

What a safe place for dissolving obsessions and breaking demonic influences.

Yan Sanhe looked at Xie Zhifei’s half-bright, half-shadowed profile, her thoughts floating slightly.

This person seemed to wear several layers of skin on his face. Peel off one layer—Xie the Wastrel. Peel off another—Xie the Shrewd. If you kept peeling…

What would it be?

In this moment of floating thoughts, Ji Lingchuan had walked before her. “Miss Yan, my son…”

“Not dead yet, still breathing!”

Ji Lingchuan felt all the blood in his body heat up, his face showing flattery.

“Since we’ve found the Old Madam’s wishes, then, then let’s not delay and start breaking the demon!”

“No rush.”

Yan Sanhe’s gaze rested heavily on him.

Pei Mingting had said that among all the Old Madam’s children, Ji Lingchuan resembled her most—one glance told you whose son he was.

“Ji Lingchuan, tell me one thing—your deepest memory, something you’ll never forget even in death, related to the Old Madam.”

Ji Lingchuan suddenly froze. “Does this have anything to do with breaking the Old Madam’s demonic obsession?”

Yan Sanhe didn’t speak, only looked at him coldly.

Ji Lingchuan felt uncomfortable all over under her gaze. Even more uncomfortable was having to think about the Old Madam.

What was there to think about?

The Ji residence was so large. He used to live in the legitimate mother’s courtyard, and after coming of age lived alone in the east courtyard—the Ji family’s pampered eldest master, raised from childhood to be the next family head.

She was just his father’s concubine, secluded in the inner quarters, never leaving her rooms, only qualified to show her face in the Ji residence on festivals and holidays.

When their eyes occasionally met, he would raise his head while she lowered hers—they had to avoid each other.

When did he first notice her?

Ji Lingchuan was slightly stunned. He actually couldn’t remember. It seemed, perhaps, it was when the legitimate mother fell gravely ill and she came to attend to her…

Right!

She spent ten out of twelve hours each day at the legitimate mother’s bedside. Only then did he pay attention to his father’s concubine.

That day, he and Second Brother came to pay respects to the legitimate mother.

The legitimate mother was propped against the bed, being examined by the imperial physician. After the physician deliberated for a long time and finished writing the prescription, he handed it to her.

She saw the physician out, then returned with a wooden bucket in her hands.

The legitimate mother was bedridden, her feet already beginning to swell. The physician instructed that they be soaked daily in medicinal water to promote blood circulation and reduce swelling.

She helped the legitimate mother sit up and lifted both feet into the bucket, then crouched down, reaching her hands into the water to gently massage the acupressure points on the soles of her feet.

As she worked with her head lowered, the legitimate mother beckoned him and Second Brother over, asking what the teacher had taught that day. He recited the text with proper cadence and rhythm.

“The Way of Great Learning lies in manifesting illustrious virtue, in loving the people, in abiding in the highest good…”

He recited very well, not missing a single word. The legitimate mother nodded with satisfaction and asked him, “What does ‘illustrious virtue’ mean?”

He thought for a moment and answered confidently—

“‘Illustrious virtue’ refers to one’s innate benevolent heart, the heart of heaven and earth, the heart of an infant, and the heart of a gentleman. A gentleman who does not lose his infant’s heart can see all beings, can feel compassion, can generate Buddha-nature.”

The legitimate mother nodded repeatedly after hearing this, praising him for reading well and understanding deeply. She then had someone bring two sets of writing implements and rewarded him and Second Brother.

Having received the reward, he pulled Second Brother along and left joyfully. Neither looked toward the water bucket even once. Neither knew that this humble, lowly concubine was actually their birth mother.

Until the legitimate mother’s deathbed, when she called him and Second Brother to her side and revealed the truth…

Second Brother was still young and felt confused after hearing it. But Ji Lingchuan felt as if the sky were falling.

The dignified Ji residence eldest master was actually born of a concubine—what would others think of him if word got out?

If Father remarried in the future and bore a legitimate son, how could he maintain his position?

He never could have anticipated that the legitimate mother had already arranged all the paths forward for the two brothers…

That’s why he felt lifelong gratitude and respect toward the Zhang family, and disdain and coldness toward Hu Sanmei.

“A year ago, also in this month, her health was already poor, her mind confused. Things you told her one moment, she’d forget the next.”

Ji Lingchuan’s voice was slightly choked.

“That day the imperial physician came to tell me the Old Madam had at most a few months left, suggesting we could begin preparing for the funeral arrangements.

Her funeral arrangements—Second Brother and I had actually prepared them long ago. Second Brother felt guilty that she couldn’t be buried with Father, so he pulled me along to see her.”

As Ji Lingchuan spoke these words, a bit of tears squeezed from his turbid eyes.

“When we went, it was evening, but the sun was still out. She sat in a rattan chair, basking in the last bit of sunlight. Chen Mama stood beside her, peeling oranges for her.

My brother and I were about to walk over when she suddenly recited, word by word—

“‘Illustrious virtue refers to one’s innate benevolent heart, the heart of heaven and earth, the heart of an infant, and the heart of a gentleman. A gentleman who does not lose his infant’s heart can see all beings, can feel compassion, can generate Buddha-nature.’

Ji Lingchuan paused slightly here.

“I didn’t react, but Second Brother turned to me and said, ‘Big Brother, why do these words sound so familiar? I feel like I’ve heard them somewhere before.’

With his reminder, I realized—the Old Madam actually remembered the annotation I had made before the legitimate mother, word for word… not a single word wrong.”

“The Old Madam lived sixty-eight years. You began calling her Mother at age ten. In all those years of mother-son life together, so many moments, big and small…”

Yan Sanhe looked at him. “Why do you remember this one thing so deeply?”

Ji Lingchuan’s heart trembled violently.

Yes, why did I remember precisely this one thing, etched in bone and heart?

Yan Sanhe’s gaze pressed forward half an inch.

“Because she was illiterate and couldn’t possibly understand the meaning of this annotation, yet not only did she remember it, she remembered it for a lifetime.

Because she was old and couldn’t remember many things, yet she alone remembered this one phrase of yours.”

Tears slid down Ji Lingchuan’s face as he nodded with a choke.

He had absolutely no words to describe the feeling of that moment—it was as if someone had viciously stabbed his heart.

The pain was unbearable.

How did she remember it?

Why did she remember this?

What use was it for her to remember this?

“Ji Lingchuan, listen carefully.”

Yan Sanhe reached out and grabbed his collar, her eyes fierce and cold.

“The other half of the Old Madam’s demonic obsession is you!”

“How could it be me?”

Ji Lingchuan suddenly pushed Yan Sanhe away, crying out shrilly.

“How could it possibly be me? Impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible!”