In all her years, Shen Lingzhen had never encountered such a shameless person.

The anger rampaging through her chest, combined with over a year’s worth of accumulated grievances and frustrations suppressed in her heart, suddenly found an outlet and came pouring out all at once.

She forcefully withdrew her finger, stepped back, and glared at him reproachfully: “You deceived me again, husband! Do you know how I’ve spent this past year because of this divorce agreement you gave me?”

When she’d returned for the funeral, she had traveled day and night, eating and sleeping outdoors. The moment she arrived in the capital, she went straight to Baoci Palace to keep vigil, working tirelessly without sleep or rest in extreme exhaustion. Her mind had been in such a muddle and daze that she hadn’t felt as devastated as expected.

Only after her imperial grandmother was buried did that overwhelming darkness belatedly arrive.

Remembering how her imperial grandmother had fallen gravely ill before her wedding because of her marriage to Huo Liuxing, remembering the blood feud between the Huo and Shen families, remembering her awkward situation at the Huo mansion—she couldn’t muster the spirit to return to Qingyang and only wanted to hide in some isolated place.

Just then, Mother had suggested she guard her imperial grandmother’s tomb, and she had petitioned His Majesty.

The mausoleum was remote and undisturbed. Day after day of tranquility gradually helped her recover. Comforted by the mountains and waters of this haven, she had even entertained thoughts of renouncing the world, thinking it wouldn’t be bad if things could continue this way from now on.

But precisely at this time, war broke out at the border. The words Kongqing had said when delivering that divorce agreement echoed in her ears, word for word—amid raging warfare, people are like duckweed and grass, life and death uncertain. If something were to happen to the young master, with this letter, wouldn’t you have security for the rest of your life?

She had thought, Huo Liuxing was a highly capable person; ordinary difficulties wouldn’t easily trouble him. For him to settle his affairs so early, this battle must truly be perilously unpredictable.

Unable to know the border situation, she had worried across thousands of mountains and rivers. Every night before sleep, she would pray devoutly, asking Heaven to bless the border troops to repel the enemy soon, to bless Huo Liuxing’s safe return.

“I was anxious day after day about the border war, consoling myself day after day that no news was good news. But in the end, all of this was part of your scheme? You clearly had confidence you’d win the battle and knew I wouldn’t abandon you when the nation faced crisis and survival, yet you deliberately gave me this divorce agreement just to make me uncomfortable, to make me constantly worry about you?”

Huo Liuxing didn’t answer, lowering his head to look at her bare feet.

“Autumn is approaching—the floor is cold. Come,” he slipped his arm under her armpit and lifted her up, making her stand on his boots. “If you want to scold me, do it standing on me.”

Held by him, looking at his indifferent expression, Shen Lingzhen wanted to turn and leave in anger, but his arms held her so tightly she couldn’t move.

“I’m done scolding. Let me go!” she said, looking up at him.

“How are you done already?” He looked down at her with a smile. Seeing her silent, he continued: “You’re right. I’ve been planning my legitimate return to court for so many years. This battle—I won’t say ten out of ten, but at least nine out of ten certainty. Deliberately deceiving you, making you believe it was fraught with danger, was merely my selfish motive. Without this divorce agreement, would you still have thought of me so much? Who knows, you might have grown accustomed to your peaceful life and wanted to remain a widow in seclusion, part ways with me cleanly, settling all debts and grudges.”

Shen Lingzhen couldn’t refute this.

Huo Liuxing’s calculations of human nature were truly precise enough to chill one’s bones.

Furious at this powerless feeling of being manipulated, she spoke without thinking: “So what? Parting ways cleanly, settling debts and grudges—wouldn’t that be good? That way, you’d be free, and I’d be at ease!”

“Who says I’d be free? Who’s letting you be at ease?” Huo Liuxing’s smile turned somewhat dark, his arms encircling her even tighter. “Shen Lingzhen, no matter how many schemes and plots are mixed into our marriage, since I’ve acknowledged you as my wife, I won’t allow you to not acknowledge me as your husband. You fled to Bianjing, you hid in the mausoleum, you’re now saying these things I don’t want to hear—I can accept all of it and am willing to give you time to come around slowly. But don’t even think about divorcing me, don’t think you can leave cleanly. I’ve already invested, so I must receive a return.”

“You’re really…” Shen Lingzhen was so angry she couldn’t finish. “Really so shame…”

“Shameless. Don’t even know how to curse properly?” Huo Liuxing smiled and completed the crude word she couldn’t say. “Let me teach you a few more—scoundrel, bastard, son of a bitch. Come, curse a few more times, good girl.”

“…”

He was actually enjoying being cursed!

Seeing him smile so roguishly, Shen Lingzhen realized leaving was impossible. Besides, she hadn’t truly planned to leave anyway—she was just so angry she needed to make a fuss. Thinking this way, since they weren’t divorcing anyway, why was she arguing about whether the divorce agreement was real or fake? So she traced back to the original topic.

She said urgently: “If you want to be scolded so badly, go find those ladies outside to scold you!”

Huo Liuxing laughed with a snort: “No good. Those ladies are ugly and their voices unpleasant—I don’t like them.”

“If you don’t like them, why did you go so happily?”

“Who said I was happy?”

“Jianjia said so. She said when you left, you were smiling so wide several teeth were showing…”

This time Huo Liuxing was truly wronged, but understanding Jianjia’s “good intentions,” he wasn’t angry. He said: “I smiled because I could catch up with Qufei. After so many years apart, naturally I was happy to meet again, so I went to a place he likes to go, accompanied him to listen to some music. That place also has some secret sources of information, so I could conveniently discuss state affairs.”

Shen Lingzhen frowned, staring at him: “You only listened to music and discussed state affairs? Then why did you say earlier as if…”

“Wasn’t it to tease you, to make you lose your temper with me?”

She’d had such a repressed year—she needed to pour out some of her bitterness. Since she wouldn’t do it voluntarily, he could only provoke her.

“Look at you. You see me but won’t talk to me properly. Isn’t it uncomfortable holding it in? Young ladies should be lively and energetic—why learn to be mature? Why learn to be docile?” As he spoke, he gently scraped her nose. “You’re so much more adorable when you show your claws.”

Shen Lingzhen was startled, suddenly feeling something empty inside, as if someone had stolen a heartbeat, making her suddenly flustered and confused.

Feeling him release his arms, she quickly tried to step back, but forgot she was standing on his boots. This step back, with the uneven height, made her stumble sideways. With a cry of “Ah!” she fell toward the bed edge.

Huo Liuxing suddenly grabbed her arm. In the next instant, with a heavy “bang,” he replaced her in hitting the bed.

Shen Lingzhen was held tightly in his embrace, using him as a human cushion, completely unharmed.

Startled, she quickly tried to climb off him: “Did you hurt yourself, husband?”

“It hurts.” Huo Liuxing pressed her back into his embrace, smiling down at her. “So don’t move. Let me hold you for a while to ease the pain.”

How would holding ease the pain? This time Shen Lingzhen heard the teasing in his words. Embarrassed and annoyed, she struggled to get up, scolding: “You… you shameless! You scoundrel! You bastard!”

She’d never said such crude words before. After rattling them off, she covered her mouth as if afraid someone might hear.

Huo Liuxing lay on his back on the bed, laughing with satisfaction: “You learned quite fast.”

She stamped her foot indignantly: “You’ve corrupted me…”

“What’s wrong with being a little bad?” He propped himself up on his elbow, smiling at her. “I’m not exactly a good person anyway.”

Under his gaze, Shen Lingzhen felt uncomfortable all over. Her eyes darted around and she found an excuse to send him away: “You smell terrible, husband. Go change your clothes quickly.”

He wouldn’t actually smell. After all, Mingchao Hall required money to enter, and the ladies there were wealthier than ordinary commoners, using fine fragrant powders and creams. But Huo Liuxing still raised his sleeve to sniff, going along with her: “Mm, too smelly indeed. I’ll go wash up. Wait for me a while.”

He returned to his wheelchair and summoned Kongqing and Jingmo to help him bathe again. When he returned to the bedroom, he found the little lady he’d told to “wait a while” had already fallen into dreamland.

This time it wasn’t pretend. After all, it was already late at night, and the big argument had been mentally exhausting. She was probably truly tired, falling into oblivious sleep without even covering herself with the bedding.

Huo Liuxing sighed and shook his head, climbed onto the bed to cover her properly with the bedding, and lay down beside her. Just as he was about to close his eyes, he felt no sleepiness at all. He simply propped up his elbow, turned his head, and looked at her.

He looked at her curved eyebrows, at her long, curled lashes, at her pearl-like nose tip, at her tender earlobes, at her slightly parted, delicately tempting lips, at the fair, slender stretch of her neck.

He looked extremely carefully, as if using his gentle gaze to meticulously trace an exquisite painting. But looking further down, his gaze suddenly tightened, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and he immediately lay back down, staring straight at the canopy overhead, murmuring: “She’s really grown up.”

——

When Shen Lingzhen awoke the next day, she heard that Huo Liuxing had risen early and already gone to the palace.

His Majesty was awarding him honors at court today—naturally he couldn’t be absent.

Last night’s argument aside, when it came to serious matters, Shen Lingzhen was still very worried about him, fearing he would swagger into the dragon’s den and tiger’s lair and expose the secret about his legs.

But Zhao Meilan told her over breakfast: “Don’t worry. He’s managed for so many years—he won’t slip up at the final moment.”

Shen Lingzhen took this opportunity to ask the question she hadn’t had time to digest last night: “Mother, has the Huo family truly been planning for this day since twenty-eight years ago?”

Zhao Meilan nodded.

“So eleven years ago…” She frowned, thinking. “Eleven years ago when my husband led troops in the northern campaign, achieving great military merits—was that also to enter the court?”

Zhao Meilan didn’t answer immediately.

Shen Lingzhen pressed: “Mother, since we must now work together with my husband, please don’t hide these things from me. Otherwise, knowing nothing, how can I guard against enemies?”

Zhao Meilan sighed: “Eleven years ago, the Huo family thought the empire was stable and the imperial family should have lowered their guard against them, so they intentionally displayed their capabilities, attempting to rouse His Majesty’s unfulfilled ambitions and make His Majesty determined to launch a northern campaign, to have him reinstate the Huo family. They didn’t expect this timing was still calculated too early. The Huo family’s aggression brought disaster. At that time, your second uncle advised His Majesty that the Huo family harbored wolfish ambitions and great schemes. His Majesty tacitly allowed certain actions, resulting in Great Daqi’s defeat and Liuxing’s capture.”

Shen Lingzhen froze at the table.

So that was it… So Huo Liuxing’s legs and General Shu’s death were both thanks to her second uncle. No wonder Huo Shuyi hated her so much.

After a moment of silence, she asked: “What about now? Is now a good time for my husband to return to court?”

Zhao Meilan nodded: “The Huo family understands retreat and advance, and has sufficient forbearance. After failing eleven years ago, they went dormant, waiting until today. Now His Majesty is old, and the only unfinished undertaking of his life is the northern campaign to destroy the Xiqiang. If he doesn’t reinstate the Huo family now, he won’t live to see that day.”

“Then my imperial uncle…” Shen Lingzhen called out this title, thought of Huo Liuxing’s legs that still bore the ailments, bit her teeth, and changed her address: “Does His Majesty still harbor doubts about the Huo family’s intentions?”

“Circumstances change with time. Compared to Great Daqi’s internal strife, the conflict between the Xiqiang and Great Daqi is now more pressing. Even if he still harbors suspicions about the Huo family, His Majesty will first use the Huo family to eliminate the Xiqiang before dealing with anything else.”

Shen Lingzhen nodded with a frown. After breakfast, she hoped for Huo Liuxing’s safe return. Near noon, she heard Jianjia happily come to report: “Young mistress, the young master has returned! His Majesty granted him a military position of the third rank subordinate grade, titled ‘Breaker of Barbarians.’ Doesn’t it sound imposing?”

“General?” Shen Lingzhen was startled, some thought flashing through her mind.

Huo Liuxing’s appearance precisely confirmed this vague notion.

He wheeled himself in, his face showing no joy at receiving an official position. Frowning, he said to her: “Come with me outside the city.”

Shen Lingzhen approached: “Where to?”

“Peach Blossom Valley. To thoroughly investigate the circumstances of your abduction and rescue.”

Meng Qufei’s mystical ramblings and those two poems had finally made Huo Liuxing uneasy.

He didn’t believe in spirits and gods, but feared that phrase about “parting in death” would become a prophecy that would eventually come true.