Outside, the sudden rain fell endlessly. The fierce wind made the windows bang repeatedly. Rainwater flowed down along the eaves with a rushing sound, thread after thread in unending entanglement.
Ye Qi sat by the furnace in the outer chamber, waiting a moment. Seeing a graceful silhouette slowly emerge from the inner room, he immediately picked up a large, thick square towel to cover her hair, helping her dry the rain droplets from her hair. He said: “Come quickly to the furnace to warm yourself. After being drenched in rain for so long, even if you don’t get sick, once you’re older in the future, there will still be ill effects if the dampness enters your body.”
Changling was pulled down to sit side by side beside the charcoal furnace. Seeing that the brocade blue robe on her body fit quite well, she said: “When did your sleeping quarters gain so many women’s garments?”
“Naturally prepared for you. After you soaked in the hot spring here last time, I figured there would definitely be a next time.” One hand still wiping her hair, Ye Qi sighed: “I can’t always have you wearing my clothes, can I?”
“What’s wrong with that? Didn’t you say that even your life belongs to me, so…” She had clearly only wanted to say something playful, but since parting at Anxi Town, her emotions had risen and fallen repeatedly. Especially tonight, bearing so many unbearable burdens, even this sudden reunion felt somewhat unreal. She reached up to rub her slightly sore nose. “So what else can’t I take?”
From when he brought her back to the residence until now as they sat facing each other, she had been pale-faced, forcibly holding herself together. The words “cry if you want to” almost escaped his lips several times, but in the end he held back. He only reached out to touch her forehead, confirming her temperature was normal, and smiled: “Of course you can, but who told you to be shorter than me? You wouldn’t want to walk around with your hem dragging on the ground, would you?”
Familiar teasing, familiar impropriety, familiar peace of mind.
Changling smiled at this, seeing his complexion was fairly good. She reached out to place her hand on his wrist, feeling that this pulse had recovered quite a bit of strength compared to earlier in the day at Honghua Palace. Unable to help feeling curious, she couldn’t help asking: “That day in Anxi Town, what exactly happened?”
Ye Qi was startled by her cold hand and reflexively wrapped her hand in his palm to warm it, saying: “In Anxi Town, not long after I left the Qian residence, I encountered Fu Yangui halfway…”
That night, the group of experts Fu Yangui brought gradually closed in on Ye Qi, only blocking his escape route but not truly striking to kill. Then Fu Yangui used an unexpected Cold Ice Palm to strike his back, then used his Cold Ice Finger to seal all the major acupoints throughout his body and brought him back to the imperial city.
Ye Qi said to Changling: “Cold ice true Qi is famous for freezing one’s soul. He also sealed my acupoints, and the Imperial Medical Bureau’s Chen Lieshu is his man. If nothing unexpected happened, I probably would have to lie in bed for a period of time—not long, just until my chronic condition flares up, which would be at most one or two months.”
This point hadn’t escaped Changling’s consideration either. She just didn’t quite understand Fu Yangui’s intention in doing this.
Ye Qi saw her cast him a puzzled look and said: “Are you wondering, since he already wanted to kill me, why not strike directly? Using this method, wasn’t he afraid of leaving some hidden danger?”
Changling nodded.
“Jing Wuwei just died. Although they claimed it was an accident, the Jing clan naturally wouldn’t easily believe it. If I also died, the He and Jing families would naturally point all fingers at him. Before consolidating the Jing family’s military power, he wouldn’t put himself in such a dangerous position…” Ye Qi said: “So he had to use you to return to Jinling. Even if he secretly buried me, you wouldn’t cooperate with him. On the contrary, with just a little investigation, suspicion would fall on him, and wouldn’t he have gained you as another enemy?”
Changling slightly tightened her fingers—Fu Yangui was single-mindedly seeking power and scheming. She wasn’t surprised at all that he could do these things. It was just that he had been so methodical, planning for over ten years, yet was willing to die under her sword… why was that?
Ye Qi saw sparks flying from the furnace and quickly picked up an iron rod to move the charcoal. Not noticing her expression, he continued: “However, he never expected that although my acupoints were sealed, I could still secretly circulate the true Qi within my body. To counter the cold ice Qi inside my body—speaking of which, it was quite a coincidence. The first level of the Ten Thousand Flowers Treasure Mirror can control water, and the second level controls ice… Among those incomplete characters on the waterfall, if you insert the words ‘cold ice,’ everything becomes easily solved…”
Changling had been somewhat distracted, but hearing these last two sentences, she directly lifted the towel covering her hair. “What do you mean easily solved? You’ve mastered the second level technique?”
Ye Qi turned his head, revealing a bit of pride he couldn’t hide. “Otherwise, how do you think I woke up?”
Although he was trapped in Honghua Palace unconscious, he actually still had consciousness. The cold ice true Qi lingered like a ghost, sealing every inch of his skin. The more he tried to resist, the more oppressive it became. Later he simply gave up. In his drowsy state, he seemed to return to beneath the waterfall at Yanling Village, looking up at those flowing characters on the cliff wall. He seemed to see the original form of those incomplete characters. Like a sudden enlightenment pouring over his entire body, the sealed true Qi began to flow unhurriedly.
Water can become ice, ice can become water. If he could control water, why couldn’t he control ice?
If Jiagu knew that the second level technique he had pondered for most of a year in Yanling Village without results was mastered just like that by his little disciple—and while sleeping at that—who knows if he would faint from anger.
The high tension in mind and body over consecutive days finally received some relief in this moment. The furrow between Changling’s brows smoothed out. “Then how did you escape?”
Ye Qi shrugged: “I didn’t escape. After I woke up, I walked out openly and honestly.”
“Shen Yao’s people didn’t stop you?”
“Shen Yao’s current situation can be considered severe. Initially, he hoped to reclaim Jing Wuwei’s military authority, but Fu Yangui turned it against him. Those usually loyal military ministers all turned to become Fu faction members. Now even during court sessions, they act as one with impunity. Originally with Fu Yangui holding military power and Jing Wuwei holding political power, he could still play those balance and constraint power tactics. Now instead he has to watch Prime Minister Fu’s expression… After I woke up, I directly cleared out those several of Fu Yangui’s people in Honghua Palace. When Shen Yao heard the news and came, he was naturally overjoyed. For him, my survival means Fu Yangui still can’t act rashly—after all, the He family’s troops are no pushovers either.”
Ye Qi said all this in one breath, casually picked up a cup of water beside him, drank several mouthfuls, and continued: “Shen Yao originally wanted to keep me to discuss countermeasures in detail, but I promised you I would come find you. Not wanting you to wait too long, I came out first…”
Probably worried the young marquis would be killed again, Shen Yao sent the Yulin Guards to personally escort him out of the palace. Ye Qi didn’t delay and headed straight for the Fu residence. Who knew he would encounter Changling halfway? After having the Yulin Guards hold back the pursuing soldiers, he brought her back here.
“Oh right, after saying all this, I haven’t had time to ask you.” Ye Qi asked: “What did you do to provoke all the imperial city guards?”
This room was too warm—so warm it temporarily isolated tonight’s coldness outside. At this reminder, she seemed to remember belatedly. After a long while, she said quietly: “I killed someone.”
Ye Qi was startled. “Killed who?”
“Fu Yangui.”
After pronouncing these three characters, she slowly stood up, took another deep breath, and looked at the Muling Sword placed on the table ahead. “I discovered… the sword he hid on the mountain. This was originally my sword.”
Ye Qi followed her gaze and only then noticed this sword. When he was young, although he had seen Second Young Master Yue, most of the time his mind was full of thoughts about how to assassinate, so his impression of the Muling Sword wasn’t deep. Only now at this mention did he immediately understand. He couldn’t help but stand up, pick up that sword, then put it down again, saying in a deep voice: “Back then… it was he who switched your sword? He… is Fu Liujing?”
Changling nodded lightly.
She was too calm—completely lacking the joy of having great revenge fulfilled, not even a bit of intention to feel moved or relieved.
But Ye Qi knew that beneath her crisp and efficient shell, the heart she concealed was no different from ordinary people.
She was just too clear about right and wrong, living by this as her belief, so that any emotions she deemed shouldn’t develop could be forcibly suppressed by her, treated as if they had never existed.
Ye Qi suddenly felt an indescribable heartache well up. He turned around and without another word pulled her into his embrace, his voice tight: “If you killed him, you killed him. Even if you feel sad now, that’s perfectly reasonable.”
Changling’s breathing caught. Not knowing if it was because he hit a sore spot or because this embrace was too tight, she said in a daze: “But he’s the chief culprit who killed our Yue family. I killed him—I should be happy.”
“What should or shouldn’t be? After all, he was once the friend you most trusted and relied on. No matter what he did later, for you, there are always some memories that cannot be completely erased… Feeling sad about this cycle of revenge, having mixed feelings about life and death fate—this is just human nature…” Ye Qi gently stroked her head. “Even if it’s not human nature, that’s fine too. Living a life isn’t easy. As long as you don’t harm innocent people, what can’t you do as you please?”
“As I please?”
“Right, if you’re sad, then be sad. Don’t think about why you’re sad, and don’t feel guilty about it at all—you only did something you would always do, something that could even be said to be perfectly justified.” Ye Qi turned her shoulders straight and winked at her with a smile: “Anyway, after you wake up from sleep tomorrow and see such a handsome, dashing, humorous person accompanying you, there won’t be any obstacle you can’t overcome.”
Changling had been feeling somewhat melancholy, but was shocked by his latter sentence. After a moment of speechlessness, she said: “Why do I feel that every time you master another level of the Ten Thousand Flowers Treasure Mirror, your face gets thicker by one layer?”
“If my face wasn’t thick, how could I capture Second Master Yue’s heart?”
As he spoke, he cupped Changling’s hands in both of his and placed her hands over his heart, saying: “Changling, from now on, you must tell me whatever thoughts you have. Don’t always keep things bottled up inside, all right?”
Changling only felt her palm touching that pounding heartbeat, as if it transmitted through her arm to her own heart. Two hearts leaping at similar frequency, the corners of her mouth involuntarily lifted. She deliberately said: “All right. I want to know right now… about my aunt—what do you plan to do?”
The young marquis who had just been confidently proclaiming “do as you please” immediately cowered upon hearing this sentence. He unnaturally released her hands and paced several steps away: “I… I haven’t had time to investigate this matter clearly yet. If what your aunt said is true, I’ll carry thorns on my back to apologize and seek forgiveness until it’s granted. If it really still doesn’t work… then at that time… at that time I’ll tell you another secret.”
Changling raised an eyebrow. “Oh? You’re still hiding secrets? What is it? Confess honestly.”
Ye Qi was just about to speak when at this moment, hurried footsteps came from outside the door. It was a He residence servant who said: “My Lord, the palace sent Court Justice Zhao to relay a message, saying His Majesty has urgent matters and summons you to the palace.”
“This marquis just returned and haven’t even slept. Where would I get the energy to enter the palace?” Ye Qi was somewhat impatient. “Reply for me that I’ll enter tomorrow.”
“This subordinate already declined, but that Court Justice Zhao absolutely refuses to leave, saying that such a major incident has occurred… If My Lord doesn’t enter the palace to explain things clearly, I’m afraid we won’t be able to account to His Majesty…”
“What major incident?”
That servant said urgently: “Court Justice Zhao said that right after My Lord left the palace, Prime Minister Fu was assassinated. Now he’s severely injured and unconscious, in critical danger… His Majesty is furious about this, fearing chaos in court at tomorrow’s morning session, and hopes My Lord can enter the palace promptly.”