This voice was too gentle. Looking at the person across from her, Luo Wanqing felt momentarily dazed.

The time since they’d parted wasn’t long.

Since being imprisoned, she had carved a mark on the wall each day. This morning, she had just counted—there were already sixty-one marks.

Sixty-one days, just over two months, but seeing him now and observing his features, she was surprised to discover that she felt as if she hadn’t seen him for most of a lifetime.

His face had become blurred in her memory. Only seeing him at this moment did the details gradually match up with those nearly vanished contours, suddenly awakening her memories.

Only then did she remember—this was Jiang Shaoyan.

“Please sit.”

Jiang Shaoyan withdrew his gaze and looked at the tea before him.

Hearing the reminder, Luo Wanqing finally collected her thoughts. Gripping the dagger, she sat across from Jiang Shaoyan with feigned composure.

Her mind was in complete chaos. Countless pieces of information from her past life intertwined with emotions from this life, plunging her into extreme confusion.

She lowered her head without speaking. Jiang Shaoyan looked down at the unfurling tea leaves and said softly: “Zhang Boer told me that Miss seemed very different from usual today. Now that I see you, it’s truly as he said. Miss has suffered here.”

With that, Jiang Shaoyan raised his eyes inquiringly, his expression calm: “I wonder what Miss wanted to say by seeing me?”

He wasn’t like this before.

Hearing these words, Luo Wanqing looked up at him.

He watched her quietly, his amber eyes seeming to veil something that made them unclear. But she was certain he was very calm, without any desire to question her further. Perhaps he didn’t even care about the answer to this question.

Was this how lovers acted?

Before, when he saw her—forget being as disheveled and thin as now—even if she was just bruised, he would be anxious and worried. How could he be so composed, saying so indifferently that she had “suffered”?

She carefully observed all his changes. After Jiang Shaoyan waited a while, he finally reminded her: “Miss?”

“Why aren’t you anxious?”

Luo Wanqing blurted out, and Jiang Shaoyan’s movements paused.

Luo Wanqing stared at him, speaking rapidly and questioning continuously: “Why were you here but wouldn’t see me? You say I suffered—why aren’t you sad? Worried? Why don’t you think of doing something for me?”

“Is Miss here to hold me accountable?”

Jiang Shaoyan seemed to understand. He looked up at her, his gaze neither sad nor happy, explaining blandly: “Shaoyan is incompetent and dares not face Miss. The Luo family’s case…”

“Stop lying to me!”

Luo Wanqing shouted fiercely.

Her whole body trembled as those ten years-those ten years of family destruction, displacement, and bitter waiting for news of his death—rapidly occupied her mind. She stared fixedly at the person before her, her teeth chattering: “You’re not unable to save my Luo family—you don’t want to save us, isn’t that right, Third Prince?”

Hearing the title “Third Prince,” Jiang Shaoyan’s movements paused. He seemed to restrain some emotion, looked up at Luo Wanqing, his tone slightly cold: “Who told you?”

He didn’t deny it.

With the last bit of hope shattered, Luo Wanqing found herself unable to speak.

She suddenly realized that whether Jiang Shaoyan was deceiving her, and even what kind of person Jiang Shaoyan was—good or bad, kind or evil—none of it mattered anymore. What mattered most now was saving her family.

If that dream was real, she absolutely couldn’t let her family face the fate of being exiled to Lingnan and dying on the exile road!

And the person most likely to change this was precisely Jiang Shaoyan.

The reason he wanted to frame the Luo family was simply because His Majesty wanted to bestow a marriage. He wanted to curry favor with the Zheng family, fearing she might be deeply infatuated and cause trouble using the imperial edict, or perhaps not wanting to bear the name of ingratitude and damage his “reputation.”

As long as this matter was resolved, perhaps the Luo family’s case would have a chance for reversal.

He could send the Luo family in, and he could pull them out. They were just merchants—their life and death were merely a matter of his single thought.

So she couldn’t fall out with him. No matter how much she hated, resented, or wanted to kill him at this moment, she couldn’t fall out with him.

Realizing this, even though she was already filled with the impulse to draw her blade, she still steadied her mind.

She controlled her emotions, forced herself to reach for the teacup in front of her, and took a light sip. Using this moment, her mind raced, reviewing all the information she could still remember from the dream.

After sorting through her thoughts and organizing her words, she put down the teacup and said with feigned calm: “Who told me doesn’t matter. I already know about you and Zheng Biyue, and I know His Majesty wants to bestow a marriage between us, which is why you’re so eager to move against the Luo family. It’s unnecessary.” She looked up. “There’s a better solution to this matter.”

“A better solution?” Jiang Shaoyan repeated, seeming to understand something, and asked knowingly: “What does Miss want to do?”

“I’ll break off the engagement.”

Luo Wanqing analyzed and deconstructed the information from her dream, saying calmly, “The Supervision Department is here now. Do you think no one knows that you and Zheng Pingsheng framed my father? Doing things will always leave traces. All you want is to cleanly align yourself with the Zheng family. Rest assured, I know I’m not a suitable match. As long as you release my family, I’ll immediately find someone to marry and will never cause further entanglement.”

“Find someone to marry?”

Jiang Shaoyan listened noncommittally, lowered his head to sip his tea, and said indifferently: “You don’t want me, a prince, in front of you, but then casually find someone to marry at the last moment. His Majesty won’t believe it.”

“Then I’ll say my heart belongs to another,” Luo Wanqing immediately responded. “My engagement with you was arranged by our parents—I don’t like you at all. I already have someone I like. Now that I know your identity, I don’t want to break up a good couple. Isn’t this reason enough?”

“Someone you like?”

Jiang Shaoyan’s movements paused. He raised his eyes, his amber gaze carrying cold killing intent: “Miss already has someone she likes?”

Seeing that look, Luo Wanqing’s heart jumped.

In an instant, that sentence from the dream suddenly surfaced in her mind—the road to the frontier is long and arduous, I hope Miss will preserve her chastity.

She suddenly realized something and looked up at Jiang Shaoyan in disbelief, staring at him without continuing her words.

But Jiang Shaoyan had more desire to continue than she did, probing: “Is it the person who passed you messages? Or that scholar who pretended to be sick every day under the pretense of seeking medical treatment? Or perhaps that cake vendor who sold pastries at the medical hall entrance every day?”

Jiang Shaoyan enumerated people she had completely forgotten, observing her emotions, seemingly planning to deduce the answer from her reactions.

Watching him, Luo Wanqing remembered his usual style of doing things.

He rarely let people get close to her.

Shortly after coming to the Luo family, because he was saved by her and had excellent martial skills, he became her guard.

All along, the items she handled and the people she met were almost all personally delivered and screened by him. Even when he wasn’t by her side, he would have the maids report everything in detail.

Initially, she had complained. Jiang Shaoyan would seriously tell her, “This subordinate is thinking of Miss’s safety.”

She was very unhappy then, until friends around her advised her that this wasn’t thinking of her safety—this was jealous affection.

Hearing this, she showed nothing on her face but felt much more comfortable inside.

Later, when the cake vendor who sold osmanthus cakes daily at the gate brought her pastries, Jiang Shaoyan directly refused them. She didn’t scold him, only fanned herself and said: “Brother Shaoyan, I heard that when people like someone, they don’t want others to get close to them. They won’t even allow a bite of food or drink to pass through another’s hands. Is this true?”

When she said this, the young man beside her remained expressionless but instantly reddened at the ears.

Luo Wanqing saw this and felt somewhat pleased, turning around: “Perhaps we should go back and accept those osmanthus cakes after all—it’s a kind gesture.”

“Miss,” hearing this, Jiang Shaoyan immediately grasped her arm. Luo Wanqing turned to look at him and saw the young man say with feigned composure: “It’s true.”

Luo Wanqing hid half her face behind her fan, tilted her head, and smiled: “What’s true?”

Jiang Shaoyan didn’t dare look at her, turning his face aside: “Some people who like someone won’t even allow a single osmanthus cake.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but laugh aloud.

Who wouldn’t like such sweet words?

So later she indulged him.

In the past, she had always thought this was because Jiang Shaoyan loved her, but now she was gradually realizing that.

Was this love?

If he loved her, could he watch her reach this point with complete indifference?

In his heart, she was perhaps just his possession, something to be strictly guarded and to live according to his will.

“Did you never think of letting me live?”

Luo Wanqing murmured, thinking of those details. Jiang Shaoyan thought for a moment and said softly, “Miss, don’t ask anymore. Let’s leave it at this.”

“No,” Luo Wanqing quickly softened her somewhat harsh tone. She looked at the person across from her with pleading eyes and said urgently, “Brother Shaoyan, we still have room to negotiate. Whatever you’re thinking, you can tell me. We have better solutions. You can’t possibly do this cleanly—why leave yourself such a big risk? What if someone targets you in the future and uses the Luo family as a weapon?”

“Miss.” Jiang Shaoyan listened, raised his eyes, thought for a moment, stood up, walked in front of her, and looked down at her.

The woman before him looked up urgently, revealing her delicate and beautiful features.

She was so beautiful that in that moment when she looked up with tears in her eyes, she nearly shook his resolve.

His expression became stern. He stared into her eyes and said solemnly: “Between Miss and me, there is no turning back.”

“How can that be?” Luo Wanqing forced a smile, gripping the armrest and controlling her impulse to kill this person, not wanting to miss any opportunity for negotiation. “The judgment hasn’t been finalized yet, you and I…”

“Your father is dead.” Jiang Shaoyan interrupted her. Luo Wanqing froze. Jiang Shaoyan’s gaze trembled slightly but quickly stopped. He seemed to want to completely shatter something, describing calmly: “Just last night, with the pottery shard I gave him, he used it to pierce here—”

Jiang Shaoyan reached up and touched one side of her neck, then slowly traced across to the other side with his fingertip: “Then slowly cut across. So much blood gushed out. He was in pain, then…”

“Stop talking!”

Luo Wanqing screamed, gripping the dagger tightly and looking up at him while gasping.

She knew her father had died in prison.

In the dream, on the first day of exile with her family, she heard this news.

But she didn’t know he had killed himself last night, much less that the pottery shard used for suicide was given by Jiang Shaoyan.

She had always thought he died from harsh interrogation or illness in the cold prison.

She had never imagined it was because of Jiang Shaoyan.

Her father was killed by him.

He couldn’t possibly leave them be—cutting the grass and eliminating the roots was Jiang Shaoyan’s style.

They had no possibility of negotiation, and he had no desire for such a possibility.

“Why?!”

Realizing that forced smiles couldn’t be exchanged for anything, she immediately gave up. She grabbed Jiang Shaoyan’s collar, pulled him to her, and frantically demanded: “Why exactly? Why go to such extremes? Wasn’t my father good to you? Have I wronged you? What does the Luo family owe you that you would go this far?!”

Jiang Shaoyan didn’t speak. They were very close, their breaths intertwining. Jiang Shaoyan stared at her as if wanting to carve her appearance piece by piece.

He seemed to have much to say, but suppressed it all.

After a long while, he only smiled.

“I remember Miss once said that Shaoyan was the most important person in Miss’s heart.”

His tone was very gentle. Luo Wanqing stared at him in disbelief.

Jiang Shaoyan raised his hand and gently grasped her hands that were tearing at his clothing. His strength wasn’t great, but it carried an irresistible force as he pulled her hands down from his clothes bit by bit. He watched her, seeming to speak both to her and to himself: “I don’t ask for much. Whether love or hate, I only want to be the most important person in Miss’s heart. The road to Lingnan is long.” Her hands were pulled from his clothing and held in his. His tone finally carried some fluctuation: “Miss must remember me.”

“Whether in love or hate,” he looked into her eyes and instructed her, “remember me well and wait for me.”

Having said this, Jiang Shaoyan released her. He straightened up, seeming somewhat unable to control himself, and turned to leave.

Luo Wanqing sat in place, her mind filled with his words just now.

Wait for him.

Day and night in Lingnan, she had waited bitterly for ten years, whether for news of his death or him. The Luo Wanqing in the dream had spent her entire life waiting for him.

Now he still wanted her to wait for him?

Dream on!

Dream on!!

Anger and resentment overwhelmed her reason. She heard Jiang Shaoyan turn around, heard him call for someone. Just as he was about to step forward, she suddenly drew the dagger and lunged at Jiang Shaoyan!

Jiang Shaoyan instinctively wanted to turn back. She sensed his movement and simply spread her arms, pretending to embrace him, hugging him from behind.

Jiang Shaoyan’s movements paused. In that moment of hesitation, the blade cleanly penetrated his abdomen.

Luo Wanqing instinctively wanted to pull out the knife and stab again. Jiang Shaoyan immediately reacted and quickly pressed down.

Blood flowed between their fingers. Jiang Shaoyan had his back to her, his breathing disturbed for a moment, then somewhat relieved. His tone carried laughter as he said hoarsely: “This seems to be the first time Miss has actively embraced me.”

“Let go!”

Luo Wanqing struggled with all her might, trying to pull the blade out again. However, Jiang Shaoyan didn’t move an inch. He looked down at their blood-stained interlocked hands—they held the dagger together, deeply embedded in his abdomen.

“This is a dagger my master gave me. I used it the first time I killed someone.” Jiang Shaoyan’s tone held no fluctuation. He gripped her hand and pulled the dagger out bit by bit, gasping as he instructed: “Keep it and remember the feeling of killing. In the future, if anyone touches you, kill them like this.”

With that, the dagger was completely withdrawn. Jiang Shaoyan gripped her wrist and cleanly threw her to the ground, covering his wound and stepping back to lean against the small table.

She crashed heavily onto the floor, hearing him call softly: “Jingzhe.”

As the sound fell, a young man burst through the door like a cheetah and pressed her, who was trying to get up, back to the ground.

“Let me go!” Luo Wanqing fought with the young man, but his hands seemed to weigh thousands of pounds and didn’t move.

Luo Wanqing was pressed with her head against the ground, only able to curse continuously to vent her emotions: “Jiang Shaoyan, may you die horribly, may you be cut to pieces! I will kill you sooner or later! Kill you!”

Hearing her words, Jiang Shaoyan paid no attention. He stood not far away, covering his wound and simply applying medicine and bandages. Then, attended by servants, he stood up and calmly put on a fox fur cloak. While dressing, he instructed: “Leave this dagger for her—no one is allowed to touch it. Take good care of her and don’t let her die.”

“Miss,” having put on the cloak, he turned around and stood before her.

The prison’s lamplight became his backdrop. He was like the master of this hell, like an unclimbable peak, towering before her eyes.

She looked up at this seemingly undefeatable demon, watched his eyes illuminated by lamplight, and heard him bid farewell: “We’ll meet in the next life.”

With that, he turned away.

The door opened. He coughed his thanks as voices bustled around him.

They cursed her for not knowing what was good for her and praised his tolerance and benevolence.

They spoke of exiling her far away, making her suffer hardships, never to meet again in this lifetime.

She couldn’t let him leave like this.

She had to kill him!

Jiang Shaoyan!

Jiang Shaoyan!!

She lay on the ground, watching that departing figure, suddenly erupted, actually breaking free from the jailer’s hands, and struck at Jiang Shaoyan with the dagger.

“Hold her down!” Sensing her movement, a loud shout came from nearby. She felt someone rush over and slam her to the ground.

She didn’t care. She crawled on the ground, trying to move forward.

“Quick! Step on her hands!”

Many people rushed over, and she couldn’t move.

“Jiang Shaoyan…”

With what felt like Mount Tai pressing down on her, seeing that he wouldn’t stop, she shouted: “Didn’t you ask who that person was?!”

Hearing this, the young man walking ahead paused.

“It’s Xie Heng!”

Luo Wanqing laughed. She felt she had gone mad, laughing as she bit out: “The one who told me the news, the one I like—it’s Xie Heng. I liked him when I was in the Eastern Capital years ago, and I still like him now. You were just someone I settled for! You wait—just wait nicely in the Eastern Capital for me. When I return, I’ll take your head to celebrate my wedding wine!”

With these words, everyone fell silent. They all felt this usually gentle young man’s aura suddenly turn fierce.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Stay well in Lingnan.”

He spoke, turning his head amid Luo Wanqing’s laughter.

The dim lamplight outlined his somewhat stern features, completely different from his usual gentle temperament.

“If you dare to come,” his expression was stern, carrying the superiority unique to those in power, his tone solemn, “I will kill you.”

Author’s Note:

[Mini Theater]

Xie Heng: “Just investigating a case, and blame falls from the sky. Wait—my wife’s to blame? I’ll take it.”