Hua Zhi gently but firmly pulled her down to sit beside her, seemingly unaware of the redness in her eyes. “Xu Ying made inquiries earlier — the fishing village is on the coast, and there is no large shipping house there. That means the goods we’ve arranged can only be loaded onto ships here. The Zheng Family has ties to the Administrator of Jingzhou through marriage, and I have no wish to come into conflict with them. There’s no benefit in it for me.”

Shao Yao’s tense body gradually relaxed, and she leaned against Hua Zhi’s shoulder without another word.

Hua Zhi held her close and lightly stroked her back. She had long since passed the age of acting on impulse. When something happened, her first thought was always what outcome would be most advantageous to herself — not that she was genuinely calm, but when one had been at the helm long enough, even the right to act rashly was eventually lost.

“Shao Yao, I still need your help with something.”

Shao Yao’s voice came out muffled. “What is it?”

“My original plan was to have you make my pulse appear as though I were ill — but since someone has already tampered with things, let’s simply go along with what they’ve started.”

“The knockout powder?”

“Exactly.” Hua Zhi spoke without the slightest trace of hesitation. “They made the first move themselves, and it’s a local physician who will be examining me — they’ll have no reason to be suspicious.”

“I have the medicine.”

“Then it’s settled. Yu Tao, go and fetch a physician.”

Yu Tao agreed without a moment’s delay and turned to leave. With Shao Yao present, no one could hope to step through that doorway without her permission.

“Bao Xia, watch from the window and let me know when someone arrives.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Hua Zhi lay down on the bed and looked at Shao Yao with a calm, reassuring gaze. Shao Yao lay beside her for a moment before fully composing herself, then fished a pill from her pouch, pinched off a small portion, and tucked the rest away. “It isn’t anything pleasant. The moment they leave, I’ll give you the antidote.”

“I’ll do whatever you say.” Hua Zhi took her hand, her voice gentle yet steady. “The people we love or hate — all of them need to have earned that feeling from us. I love you and am willing to lay down my life to protect you. You love me and would walk through fire and flood on my behalf. You hate the Prince of Ling and wish you could cut him into a thousand pieces. But here in Zhenyang, those people who have nothing to do with us are no more than insects. We don’t stoop to quarreling with insects — yet when they truly dare to pull the tiger’s whiskers, a single step is enough to crush them. Don’t be angry. They aren’t worth it.”

The words were spoken so gently, yet what they carried was sharp and distant. The redness in Shao Yao’s eyes rose and then receded, and the turbulence in her heart gradually stilled. She had so few people left in this world — she cared for them too fiercely. So fiercely that she knew anyone who dared touch them would have to pay in blood.

She didn’t want to show that bloodthirsty side of herself in front of Hua Zhi. She was afraid Hua Zhi would no longer like her. But now she understood — Hua Zhi had always known. Known that she wasn’t as well-behaved and gentle as she appeared. Known that she was impetuous by nature, known of her many, many flaws. Hua Zhi had always known, and yet there had never been the slightest change in the way she treated her.

So Hua Zhi had known all along.

Shao Yao climbed onto the bed and sprawled across Hua Zhi, pinning down half her body. How could Hua Zhi be so wonderful? So wonderful that she wanted to keep her all to herself and never give her back to Yan Ge!

Hua Zhi quietly stroked her back, gazing up at the canopy with a vast emptiness in her eyes. Both of them had waded through thickets of thorns, leaving bloody prints with every step. They had seen too much betrayal, suffered too much injustice. They had raged in the depths of despair, had ached so deeply they prayed for the end of the world — for everything to be wiped away, the filthy and shameless along with the happy and blessed alike. That a person who had lived through such things would carry flaws in her character was no wonder at all. She herself was simply better at concealing them.

People like them could not truly warm one another — but they could lick each other’s wounds, and they would never betray each other.

“Shao Yao, the physician is here.”

Shao Yao uttered a sound of acknowledgment, rolled upright, and placed the medicine on Hua Zhi’s tongue.

The sensation was strange — one moment she was perfectly fine, and then in an instant all strength seemed to drain away. Her eyelids grew heavy, drowsiness washing over her. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds from the doorway, to Bao Xia guiding the physician closer, and then felt a hand close around her wrist.

Through the haze she caught fragments of the physician’s words. The door opened and closed again, and then something cool was pressed between her lips. After that, the heaviness receded, and her body felt noticeably lighter.

“Hua Zhi, are you all right?”

Hua Zhi opened her eyes, then closed them, then opened them again and sat up. She felt entirely as she had before taking the medicine — there were no words to describe it, except to say that Shao Yao’s mastery over medicinal compounds was nothing short of uncanny.

“How do you feel?”

“As though nothing happened at all.” Hua Zhi smiled. Without asking anything about what the physician had said, she gave her instructions directly: “Yu Tao, go draw water from the inn’s well yourself and boil it. Then go outside for food — make sure to look visibly on guard.”

“Yes.”

Once he left, Bao Xia shut the door tightly again. To guard against listening ears, the group had kept their voices very low throughout, and now Bao Xia asked, “Miss, are you letting whoever put the drug in the water believe that you fell into their trap?”

“More than just the one who tampered with it — before long, word will reach everyone it needs to. When the Zheng Family comes to call, I’ll have perfectly reasonable grounds to turn them away, even if I decline.”

Shao Yao muttered, “What’s one Zheng Family? Why go to all this trouble? Even if that Mu Yunyang himself showed up, so what?”

“I came here to do business. Being on good terms and keeping the peace is naturally the ideal. The less turbulence the better.” Even as she spoke, someone knocked at the door.

The group exchanged glances, and Bao Xia walked to the door with practiced confidence. “Who is it?”

“This is Zheng Qing, manager of the Zheng Family Shipping House. On behalf of our proprietor, I have been sent to invite our guest to discuss a business matter.”

Bao Xia looked over at her young mistress, who tilted her head meaningfully toward the bed. Bao Xia understood at once. “It is not that we do not know our manners — please let Manager Zheng know that my young mistress has fallen ill. The physician only just left, and our attendants have all gone out to collect medicine. I’m afraid she won’t be able to leave her bed today.”

Manager Zheng was momentarily thrown. Had she not just come out of the Donglai Shipping House? How could she have fallen ill so quickly after that? What kind of illness strikes that fast? He already suspected the woman — wealthy and free-spending, but of unclear origins — was making excuses. His expression darkened, and he turned and swept away.

Having risen to his position as manager on more than just a silver tongue, he did have a certain shrewdness to him. Even with the preconceived notion that Hua Zhi was feigning illness to avoid giving him face, he happened to catch a few words connected to her in the main hall on the ground floor before he had gone too far, and stopped in his tracks. He turned back and knocked on the proprietor’s counter. “What happened?”

The proprietor had been on edge all this time — the incident had taken place under his roof, after all, and he couldn’t escape responsibility. Moreover, he wasn’t entirely without guilt himself. But however nervous he was, he couldn’t afford to slight Zheng Qing, and so he put on a smile and told him about Hua Zhi having called for a physician.

Zheng Qing raised an eyebrow. It appeared she genuinely was ill. That was interesting. “What was the diagnosis?”

“That, I’m afraid I don’t know. She called on the physician from the Renxin Medical Hall just across the way — Manager Zheng is welcome to go and inquire.”

Zheng Qing gave a contemptuous snort, and made his way over to the Renxin Medical Hall.