“What does this have to do with you?” Luo Wanqing cast a cold glance at him.

“We’re going to travel together,” Qin Jue smiled as he watched her, “shouldn’t I understand a bit?”

Without waiting for Luo Wanqing to speak, Qin Jue continued, “Your internal energy is profound, yet your meridians are severely damaged, and your martial skills are terrible. Logically, with such internal energy, you should have practiced martial arts for many years. How could you be like someone who’s never learned martial arts, fighting without any method? Moreover, with such internal energy, how could you only be a small helmsman in the Salt Syndicate? Helmsman Liu,” Qin Jue stared at her as if scrutinizing, smiling, “you’re too strange.”

Hearing Qin Jue’s words, Luo Wanqing knew that continuing to conceal would arouse more suspicion.

“This internal energy is mine.” Luo Wanqing used the explanation Liu Xiniang had prepared for her long ago, responding perfunctorily, “I’ve practiced since childhood, but had no guidance. Perhaps my talent was poor, or perhaps the cultivation method I practiced had flaws. After cultivating for many years, my true qi couldn’t circulate. When I forced it to circulate, not only did my meridians not widen, they were forcibly stretched into this state. Though my martial skills don’t look good, they’re sufficient for a place like the Salt Syndicate.”

“I see.”

Qin Jue pondered and sighed, “Then your talent isn’t good.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing cast him a cold glance, “If you can’t speak properly, don’t speak at all.”

“I didn’t mean you’re unsuited for martial arts.” Seeing her displeasure, Qin Jue smiled and said earnestly, “On the contrary, your comprehension is extremely good.”

Luo Wanqing ignored him. Seeing she wouldn’t speak, Qin Jue explained, “When I guided you in fighting the black bear, you grasped the techniques in just a few moves. Without a master, practicing on your own, you could still achieve such internal energy—that’s truly genius. It’s just that your natural bone structure is too poor, and your meridians are blocked. But this isn’t irreversible. Don’t worry, with me here, becoming a top martial artist is just a matter of time.”

“Oh.”

Listening to him use her situation to boast about himself, Luo Wanqing said flatly, “You’re tired. You should sleep.”

Seeing her forcefully change the topic, Qin Jue didn’t mind much and nodded, “Alright, I’ll sleep first. Tomorrow we’ll enter the city together and find an inn to rest properly.”

“Mm.”

Luo Wanqing responded. Qin Jue arranged the uneven ground beneath him, found a comfortable position, and lay down with his back to her.

Looking at his back, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but say, “Qin Jue.”

“Mm?”

“I said the internal energy was mine, and you just believed it?”

“Of course.” Qin Jue spoke with his back to her, “How many people in this world would give their life to another? Compared to someone else giving it to you, it’s more normal that you cultivated without proper guidance.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing was startled and couldn’t help asking, “Giving internal energy to another person means giving them your life?”

“Well, it’s not exactly giving your life,” Qin Jue answered casually with his eyes closed, “but once you give away your internal energy, you become an ordinary person. For a martial artist, having so many years of foundation gone—isn’t that worse than being killed?”

“Can’t you,” Luo Wanqing frowned, her thoughts somewhat confused, “can’t you give half and half?”

“It’s not like dividing a pancake,” Qin Jue’s voice carried laughter, “how can you decide how much to give? True qi is like one breath—once given, it’s given. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to give only half. If someone told you otherwise, don’t doubt it—”

Qin Jue spoke with certainty, “They’re lying to you.”

These words made Luo Wanqing’s heart skip a beat.

She wanted to confirm again, but felt that asking too much about this topic would expose too much.

But if internal energy wasn’t, as Liu Xiniang said, something that could be given half and half, then Liu Xiniang had given her everything?

Then how did she escape?

Moreover, Liu Xiniang had no relationship with her—giving her half her internal energy was for mutual benefit, to help her not expose herself too quickly in the Supervision Department exam.

But giving everything…

Why? For what reason?

Luo Wanqing couldn’t understand, but she quickly calmed down.

The person before her couldn’t be entirely trusted. Besides, Liu Xiniang was an assassin from Fengyu Pavilion, while Qin Jue was just a young master from an aristocratic family. He might know some secret techniques of these families, but he didn’t necessarily know everything under heaven.

Perhaps Liu Xiniang had simply used a method Qin Jue didn’t know about.

Liu Xiniang had no reason to give her everything. There must be methods in this world to give only half of one’s internal energy—Qin Jue simply didn’t know about them.

Having settled on this thought, Luo Wanqing didn’t think much more about it. She closed her eyes and meditated for a while. When dawn came, the two cleared traces of their fire, created false tracks, and left together.

Walking north for half an hour, they finally saw fields and farmland. The two looked at each other, noticed their prison clothes, and Luo Wanqing pressed her lips together before finally saying, “Do you have anything valuable on you?”

The prison clothes were too conspicuous. If seen by people, they would certainly cause panic. If they alerted the authorities, not only might they directly expose Qin Jue’s location, but most importantly, having missed the Supervision Department convoy, local officials certainly wouldn’t send them to the Eastern Capital. They wouldn’t let a criminal go either, and would most likely be trapped here awaiting autumn execution.

Qin Jue understood her meaning. He pulled out a small pouch from his clothes and shook it. “I hid a bag of gold beads.”

Hearing the words “gold beads,” Luo Wanqing’s eyes widened.

Not only did ordinary people rarely have so much gold, but he had managed to bring it out of prison?

“Don’t ask how I brought it out—immortals have their clever methods.”

Qin Jue tucked the gold beads back in his chest and turned around. “Though taking without asking is theft, someone should be willing to trade two sets of clothes for a gold bead, right?”

After discussing, relying on their martial skills, they quietly infiltrated a farmhouse. Qin Jue left a gold bead on the table while Luo Wanqing quickly took two sets of clothes and identity documents, and then they slipped out silently.

They found a haystack, changed clothes quickly on either side, disguised themselves as husband and wife, and entered the city.

After entering the city, they booked a room and then split up to shop.

Luo Wanqing quickly bought a pile of medicinal herbs and travel necessities, then returned to the room to prepare medicine while waiting for Qin Jue.

When night fell, Qin Jue finally returned, standing outside, knocking, “Xiniang, may I come in?”

Luo Wanqing was grinding medicine. Having spent the afternoon processing various herbs, she heard his voice and responded, “Come in.”

A young man in white clothes entered gracefully.

Luo Wanqing looked up and was stunned.

The young man’s features were ordinary, but his eyes were extremely beautiful. He wore white spring robes with peach blossom petals embroidered on the hems, his hair bound high with red and white ribbon, a wine gourd hanging from his waist, and a small peach blossom fan in his hand. He looked debonair and romantic, which made even his features appear somewhat handsome.

Luo Wanqing frowned and couldn’t help asking, “What have you been doing?”

“Buying clothes.”

Qin Jue spun around in front of her, “How is it? Does it give a feeling of approaching spring? I haven’t changed clothes in so long in prison. I also bought several sets for you—one white, one pink, one black…”

“What else did you buy?”

Luo Wanqing interrupted him. Qin Jue thought, “I also bought wine, pastries, preserved fruits, handkerchiefs…”

“Enough.”

Knowing he hadn’t bought anything practical, Luo Wanqing interrupted him, “Rest a bit. You should tell me how to repair meridians now.”

“How boring.”

Qin Jue sighed, placed his things on the table, and then walked over to Luo Wanqing curiously, “What are you doing?”

“Making medicine convenient for carrying and using.”

Luo Wanqing washed her hands in the nearby basin and said flatly, “But I’m finished now. You can tell me how to repair meridians.”

“Alright,” Qin Jue nodded, then said, “I’ll explain it in simple, clear terms. The biggest problem with your meridians now is damage from being forcibly widened, so the first thing to do is use internal energy to nurture and repair them. After this, your meridians can be restored. But—”

Qin Jue emphasized, and Luo Wanqing looked up, “But what?”

“But if it’s only like this, you actually won’t be able to truly use your internal energy.”

“Why?”

Luo Wanqing frowned. Qin Jue casually took a blooming plum blossom from a nearby porcelain vase, tapping his palm with it as he spoke leisurely, “Because there’s a problem with your bone structure.”

“What problem?”

“Let me put it this way,” Qin Jue walked to her with the plum blossom, lightly touching her nape with it. The blossom still carried cold moisture, making Luo Wanqing shiver slightly. Qin Jue looked at her spine, sliding down along her meridians, “Meridians flow throughout your body, but ultimately follow alongside your bones. Generally, martial artists practice from childhood, making their bones grow in ways that facilitate meridian flow. True qi is like flowing water, meridians are channels, and bones are mountains and hills. When channels are smooth, your true qi circulation flows freely.”

The plum blossom stopped at her waist. Qin Jue looked up at her with some regret. “However, your bones are no different from ordinary people’s, so your meridians have many sharp turns and rough places. When true qi passes through these areas, it becomes blocked and stagnated. So even if I can repair or even widen your meridians, with poor bone structure, you’ll still have difficulty using them normally in combat. There’s only one solution—bone restructuring.”

“How?”

Seeing him being deliberately mysterious, Luo Wanqing asked directly. Qin Jue put away the plum blossom and said flatly, “Break your bones inch by inch, then let them regrow. During the healing process, manually shape them into the most suitable form—this is bone restructuring.”

“Broken bones can regrow?” Luo Wanqing frowned, “That’s impossible.”

“Of course, it’s impossible with ordinary methods, so bone restructuring has always been a secret technique that few know. Coincidentally, I know a little about it.”

Qin Jue spoke seriously. After thinking for a moment, Luo Wanqing only asked, “How long does bone restructuring take?”

“At least a month.”

“The Supervision Department exam is only two months away.”

Luo Wanqing reminded him. Qin Jue nodded, then said, “Then I need to tell you something else.”

“What?”

“The Supervision Department’s examination has already begun.”

“Already begun?”

Luo Wanqing didn’t understand. Qin Jue inserted the plum blossom back into the vase and said softly, “Every year, those taking the Supervision Department exam are serious criminals. Reaching the Eastern Capital safely isn’t easy. So the Supervision Department’s first round is simple—arriving at the Eastern Capital on time. Every year on the first day of the third month at the hour of the rooster, those who don’t arrive on time are eliminated. Those who want to run on the road, or cannot reach the Eastern Capital, aren’t the people the Supervision Department wants.”

“What about those who do run?” Luo Wanqing didn’t understand this rule, “These are death row inmates—they’re just let go?”

“Then they’re caught and brought back,” Qin Jue turned and smiled, “brought back and sent to the Imperial Medical Bureau. They’re short on people for drug testing. If they want to run and can escape, that’s skill. If they can’t escape, they pay the price.”

Qin Jue turned to look at Luo Wanqing, “Have you decided which method to use? Bone restructuring?”

“No need.”

Luo Wanqing turned her head and refused, “Too much time. Let’s talk about it after entering the Supervision Department.”

“Eh?” This was somewhat unexpected for Qin Jue, “I thought you were quite the gambler?”

“I am quite the gambler, but I don’t gamble randomly.”

Luo Wanqing took one of the outfits Qin Jue had bought for her and walked behind the screen.

Behind the screen was hot water she had asked the servant to prepare earlier. She hung the clothes on the screen and was about to undress when she remembered Qin Jue sitting outside.

After hesitating a moment, she thought of Liu Xiniang’s identity. If the real Liu Xiniang were here, as a woman of the jianghu, she shouldn’t be so prudish.

She pressed her lips together and began undressing efficiently while speaking calmly, “I don’t trust you.”

Hearing this, Qin Jue instinctively turned to retort, but saw the shadow of someone undressing on the screen. He was stunned for a moment, then calmly turned around with his back to Luo Wanqing and continued, “You say I’m suspicious, but I think you’re too guarded.”

“I don’t doubt everything.” Luo Wanqing stepped into the water and said calmly, “What I trust, I won’t doubt.”

“But you distrust far too many things.” Qin Jue sat with his back to her and sighed, “Xiniang, being a little naive would make life happier.”

Luo Wanqing said nothing. She sat in the water.

She hadn’t bathed like this in so long. How long had it been?

She thought about it, remembering times before imprisonment, feeling as if it were a previous lifetime.

“I used to think everyone in the world was good,” she couldn’t help but say. Thinking of Jiang Shaoyan, she smiled softly, “Whatever he said, I believed. I didn’t doubt anyone. I always thought officials were good officials, people were good people.”

“What happened later?” Qin Jue listened while tapping the table, looking at the bright moon outside, “Why did you stop thinking that way?”

“My father died.”

“How did he die?”

“Killed by others,” Luo Wanqing used Liu Xiniang’s past, mixing truth and fiction, “I hoped for many people, but was always disappointed. I had no choice but to rely on myself.”

“Then you joined the Salt Syndicate?” Qin Jue asked. Luo Wanqing nodded and replied, “Mm.”

“Did you report it to the authorities?” Qin Jue thought, “Your family should have been ordinary people. Even if no one in Yangzhou cared, there should have been someone in the Jiangnan Circuit. If no one in Jiangnan Circuit, there should have been someone in the Eastern Capital. If you had persisted in reporting then, perhaps someone would have helped you?”

Luo Wanqing listened without speaking.

She remembered that night when she rushed toward Xie Heng without hesitation, the young man standing behind the screen calmly saying, “The current Supervision Department cannot give you justice.”

Qin Jue began hypothesizing again, “I heard that the Supervision Department…”

“How are you so certain someone would help me?” Luo Wanqing interrupted him, splashing water on herself and asking coldly, “How do you know I didn’t report it?”

Qin Jue was stunned.

He thought for a moment, hesitated, then said slowly, “A few days ago, I met a young lady who wanted to ask for my help.”

Luo Wanqing keenly sensed something wrong and asked strangely, “You met a young lady in death row?”

Prisons separated men and women. Luo Wanqing couldn’t understand how Qin Jue could have seen a female prisoner.

Qin Jue’s voice paused, then he explained, “During interrogation and trial, they’re grouped by case, not by gender. That young lady asked me for a favor, which I refused at the time. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t help her, but I wanted to send her somewhere safe. If we meet again alive in the future, I’ll give her an answer.”

“What if you die?” Luo Wanqing glanced at the person outside the screen and smiled at his naivety, “In our kind of life, uncertain from day to day, you still dare promise someone an answer?”

“If I die, then I did my best. I have no regrets.” Qin Jue smiled, his tone gentle, “As long as she doesn’t die.”

Luo Wanqing said nothing. She thought about it but didn’t intend to spoil Qin Jue’s mood, only saying, “Having you care about her like this is her good fortune.”

“I’m not just chatting with you about this,” Qin Jue sat at the small table outside, cracking sunflower seeds, “I’m telling you that having more trust in people might bring good luck. Like that young lady—if she had trusted me a little more and waited, perhaps she would have gotten the result she wanted. If she doesn’t trust me and does something foolish like suicide halfway through, then she won’t be able to wait for anything.”

“I don’t have such luck. What I want, if I don’t take it myself, won’t come to me.”

Luo Wanqing remained unmoved, her tone flat.

She washed briefly, and seeing she was clean enough, got out of the water, dried off, put on the clothes Qin Jue had bought, and walked out from behind the screen.

Qin Jue sat with his back to her, head lowered in thought. He felt a gentle fragrance behind him, the young lady’s voice floating over with the scent.

He was about to turn and say something when the woman behind him suddenly reached out with soft arms and embraced him.

Her arms were very white, with a softness completely different from her usual demeanor, her skin delicate as if nourished by countless precious balms.

Qin Jue was stunned, and in that moment, the pale hand “slapped” a pill into his mouth, lifted his chin, and forced him to swallow it.

“This is the Seven Insects Seven Flowers Pill, made from fourteen different medicinal ingredients in specific sequences. The antidote must also follow the exact sequence of the poison—miss even one ingredient and you’ll surely die.”

Luo Wanqing covered his mouth with one hand and pressed his head with the other, holding him in her embrace. She bent down near his ear and said coldly, “Tonight we repair meridians, tomorrow we set out. If you dare harbor ill intentions, I’ll leave you without a complete corpse.”

Qin Jue said nothing. He glanced at the two figures in the bronze mirror beside them, then suddenly struck back, slapping a sweet pill into her mouth with his palm, which slid down her throat.

The movement was so fast that when Luo Wanqing realized what had happened, her expression changed drastically. She grabbed Qin Jue’s neck and slammed him hard against the table, leaning close and shouting angrily, “What did you make me eat?!”

Qin Jue was pressed against the table, spreading his hands in a “surrender” gesture, saying innocently, “This is made from flour, white sugar, honey, and sesame through eighty-one processes. The slightest carelessness would make it unpalatable and disgusting.”

Luo Wanqing was stunned. Qin Jue smiled, “Miss Liu gave me poison, so I return a sugar pill to Miss—this is proper etiquette, after all.”