Yan Yunning pursed her lips. “Then come back quickly.”

“All right.” The warmth in Xuan Yanyu’s eyes deepened.

Fafa: 【Master, were you looking for me these past few days? Did you need something?】

Yan Yunning stood frozen for a moment. 【Where did you go?】

Fafa: 【I need my rest too, you know~】

Yan Yunning: 【……】

Fafa: 【Master, where is the plot up to now? Did the Second-in-Command Xie Yan drink Nan Chu’s medicine and pass on? Did Wen Wanyu get so heartbroken that she had a miscarriage?】

Yan Yunning sank into a brief silence. 【So in the book, Xie Yan, Elder Brother dies, and Wen, Elder Sister’s grief triggers premature labor, causing a miscarriage?】

Fafa: 【That’s right.】

“Nan Chu? Why are you here?” Xuan Yanyu looked down, seeing Nan Chu lying on the ground, her eyes closed, her clothes streaked with dust and blood.

Nan Chu slowly opened her eyes. She looked up at the man towering above her, and her eyes instantly brightened. “A’Yan……”

Xuan Yanyu: “?”

“A’Yan……would you……would you……hold me……hold A’Chu.” Nan Chu trembled as she reached up to touch Xuan Yanyu’s boot, looking at him timidly.

Xuan Yanyu’s brow furrowed. He backed away several steps in succession.

Nan Chu could not conceal her grief. Tears slid down her cheeks. “You’re not……not……A’Yan……”

Her A’Yan would never refuse her. He never would.

Yan Yunning jogged over and crouched down in front of Nan Chu. “What happened to you? Why do you look so dreadfully weak?”

It had only been a few days — how had she come to this state?

She had always said — a man who made her abandon her own parents was no good person.

“Second Young Miss Yan, please……place this at A’Yan’s grave for me……” Nan Chu’s fingers trembled as she held out the hairpin to Yan Yunning.

This was the one she had taken back from Bai Xiao’s hair. A’Yan had bought it for her. Placing it before A’Yan’s grave would be as good as her having gone to see him.

Yan Yunning did not take it.

A breeze drifted past. Nan Chu shivered and tightened her grip on the hairpin. A surge of despair flooded her heart.

“Xie, Elder Brother is fine.” Yan Yunning ultimately could not bear to watch her like this.

Nan Chu went completely rigid. The dim light in her eyes was instantly rekindled. “Really……is that true?”

“Yes.”

She had asked Xuan Yanyu to find a physician for Xie, Elder Brother. Xuan Yanyu had sent the imperial physician he had brought with him — which was precisely why Xuan Yanyu had asked her to stay and take care of his “injured” self, and why she had “dutifully” done so.

It was also fortunate that when Nan Chu had slipped the medicine in — whether into the soup or the porridge — she had done so before cooking was complete. The prolonged high-heat simmering had reduced the potency of the poison. Otherwise, even Imperial Physician Wen would have been helpless.

“Second Young Miss Yan……please……don’t tell……him that I’m……like this right now.” Nan Chu gave a faint, weak smile.

He would worry.

She would rather he hate her than see him in pain again.

Nan Chu held back her grief with great effort, her eyes full of regret. “Second Young Miss Yan……I beg you……”

Yan Yunning nodded, her expression showing little outward emotion.

If the plot had followed its original course, Xie, Elder Brother would be dead by now, and Wen, Elder Sister would have suffered a miscarriage. She could not understand — Xie, Elder Brother had treated Nan Chu so well. Why had she refused to listen to his explanation even once?

If she had listened to him even a single time, it would not have come to this.

Or if she had simply asked Xie, Elder Brother why he had brought her up the mountain — instead of doing nothing but resenting and hating him.

Nan Chu’s breathing was faint, her eyes hollow and blank. With great effort she reached into her chest and drew out an envelope. Her voice came out broken and halting. “Second Young Miss Yan……please……give this to my parents……”

She still had things she wanted to say, but her throat felt wrung shut, and not another word could come out.

She had thought that after seeing A’Yan, she would still be able to go and see her parents……

Nan Chu’s gaze turned distant and unfocused. She slowly closed her eyes. The letter slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.

Yan Yunning picked up the letter from the ground and tilted her head back to look at the sky, quietly swallowing the tightness rising in her throat.

The weather was warm. Yet Yan Yunning felt a chill.

A wrong encounter — was it always destined to end in regret? If Nan Chu had met Xie, Elder Brother from the very beginning, would their ending have been different?

If Nan Chu had listened carefully to Xie, Elder Brother’s explanation — if she had not mistakenly believed that Xie, Elder Brother had deliberately come between her and Wenjing — would she have settled into a proper life with Xie, Elder Brother?

If Nan Chu had not held such prejudice against Xie, Elder Brother, then over those three years, given how well he had treated her, she shouldn’t have wanted to escape from him.

Or if Xie, Elder Brother had gone and claimed her that day when Wenjing tried to marry her off to a wealthy household as a concubine — would their ending have been different?

Or was it that no matter the ending, it was always destined to be a regret?

Having seen to Nan Chu’s situation, Yan Yunning no longer had the heart to go down the mountain.

She felt a heaviness in her chest, stifling and deeply uncomfortable.

In less than a year, Xuan Yanyu would be marrying her A’Jie. She had no idea when she would be able to return home.

If Nan Chu and Xie, Elder Brother’s meeting was a wrong one, then for herself and A’Jie — meeting Xuan Yanyu was also a wrong encounter……

If she were suddenly sent back, would A’Jie and Xuan Yanyu still remember her?

A gentle warmth spread across her hand. Yan Yunning looked down to see the man’s hand taking hold of hers.

“Do you want to be carried on my back again?”

The low, captivating voice burrowed straight into her heart. Yan Yunning felt her ears go tingly.

“No.” She shook her head.

Now that she was certain Xuan Yanyu wouldn’t do away with her — it was still better to keep some distance.

Regardless of the reason, he would one day marry A’Jie. If he married A’Jie and she still hadn’t gone back yet, how terribly awkward would it be when they saw each other?

He would, after all, be her future brother-in-law.

“Up you go.” Xuan Yanyu pulled her toward his back, and with a smooth lift of his hands, scooped her up onto his back.

Yan Yunning’s hands flew around his neck in a panic, terrified of falling.

“I already said I didn’t want to be carried.” Yan Yunning swatted at his shoulders, struggling to get down.

“Stop moving around.” The man’s muscles tensed, his voice going slightly hoarse. “If you fall, I’m not taking responsibility.”

Yan Yunning was both annoyed and amused. “Then put me down.”

“Put you down? You walk at a snail’s pace. I’d be stuck waiting for you.”

Yan Yunning: “……”

Along the narrow mountain path, a man in a purple-red brocade robe carried a young woman in a pale blue dress steadily along the mountain trail.

The man’s high ponytail had been swept to one side by the young woman. Xuan Yanyu tilted his head slightly, his eyes resting on her with an indulgent softness.

Sunlight fell across them both. Their shadows merged into one below them, the scene as beautiful as a painting.

……

Chuyue Pavilion.

Xie Yan was packing his bundle.

“Xie, Elder Brother, where are you going?” Yan Yunning stepped into the room to find Xie Yan stuffing clothes into his bundle with abandon.

Xie Yan gave an honest laugh. “Staying cooped up in the mountains is enough to drive anyone mad. I’ve made up my mind — I want to go down and have a look around.”

Yan Yunning opened her mouth without knowing what to say.

Staying cooped up in the mountains is enough to drive anyone mad? Was he talking about Nan Chu?

“Ningning, little sister, perhaps we’ll have the chance to meet again.” Xie Yan gave his bundle a confident toss and slung it over his shoulder with ease.