Changling glanced sideways at the hand gripping her wrist. “Mm, I heard it.”

“Then what… what do you think?”

After Ye Qi finished this sentence, his eyes stared intently at Changling, both anticipating her response and fearing it.

He could roughly guess that with Changling’s extraordinary way of thinking, her answer would surely be the complete opposite of what he hoped for—perhaps she would say that circumstances were different now, or that what she said earlier was just teasing him and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Thinking of this, Ye Qi released her and stepped back somewhat dejectedly and aggrieved. “I’m sorry, I was too forward.”

Changling seemed a bit lost in thought. She slowly said, “The reason I thought that way back then was because of my mother.”

Ye Qi was startled. “Your mother?”

“I was very mischievous as a child. After bathing, I would always rush out to play before dressing properly. My mother would always spank me, saying that if a daughter’s body was seen by a man, she must either marry that person or kill that person.” Changling said, “Unfortunately, I left home when I was very young, and when I returned to the Central Plains, my mother was already gone.”

When they parted, little Yue Changting captured her mother’s tears in her eyes and placed them in her heart. Yet when she crossed mountains and ridges and finally returned on clouds, the green mountains remained and clear waters still flowed, but her mother was no longer there.

“From then on, I wasn’t used to being close to people. Even with my eldest brother, I prepared myself for the possibility that… we could die on the battlefield at any time without a chance to say goodbye.” Changling’s tone was flat, but it faintly carried a sense of desolation. “I’ve practiced the Shakyamuni True Scripture to the ninth level. Great sorrow and great joy are both difficult for me. This knot may never be untied by anyone. Perhaps for the rest of my life, I won’t be able to love anyone… So, it’s not about whether I’m willing or unwilling, but rather that I can’t do it… My mother said that marriage requires mutual affection. If there is no affection, what marriage is there to speak of, what spouse to take?”

At this point, Ye Qi had already understood the meaning from her words “I can’t do it”—she couldn’t love anyone, and thus was neither troubled by emotions nor hurt by heartbreak, but also thus lonely and desolate.

She didn’t believe her heart could ever be opened again.

“What if, I mean what if…” Ye Qi said, “One day, if you come to like me, even just a little bit, would you be willing to reconsider your choice?”

Changling stared blankly at Ye Qi.

She hadn’t expected him to be so persistent about this question.

“That depends on how long you can live…” Changling thought for a moment. “If your days are numbered and I fall for someone who’s dying, wouldn’t that be asking for suffering?”

Upon hearing this, a spark of light ignited in Ye Qi’s eyes. “Good! Then it’s settled, no take-backs!”

Changling: “…”

What did I even say?

Having wasted too much time already, Changling was too lazy to argue with him about all these details. She picked up her clothes one by one and asked, “Where’s a good place to dry them by fire?”

Servants quickly brought several basins of burning charcoal. The clothes were draped over them and soon dried halfway.

Ye Qi found a blanket for Changling and forced her to cover her legs. After waiting a while, Seventh Uncle brought back news from the Jing Manor: “Most people in the manor can move about freely now. It looks like the poison has been neutralized. Now Jing Wuwei has sent people out to search for Mingyue Fei’s whereabouts, oh, and also Miss Changting’s.”

Ye Qi looked at Seventh Uncle and said, “Jing Wuwei revealed the location of the Yue family heirloom himself. If what he said is true, in the next few days he’ll most likely personally rush to Mei Town to prevent Mingyue Fei from getting there first… To be safe, we still need to dispatch two groups—one to watch Jing Wuwei, one to watch Mingyue Fei… I suspect that what Jing Wuwei said in his moment of crisis wasn’t false, but since he said he must go in person, there must be some hidden mystery in this.”

Seventh Uncle nodded. “If Jing Wuwei really goes to Mei Town, this old servant will personally lead people to follow him. If he brings out the Yue family heirloom, it will be even more convenient for us to act.”

Changling asked hesitantly, “Do you really not need me to go? After all, whether it’s real or fake, only I can tell…”

“If it’s fake, it must be a trap. Tonight you barely got through this ordeal—you mustn’t act rashly. If it’s real, Seventh Uncle will definitely bring it back to you… In terms of tracking and theft, if Seventh Uncle says he’s second, no one dares claim to be first.” Ye Qi winked at Seventh Uncle. “Right?”

Seventh Uncle lowered his head and smiled. “Miss Changting, rest assured. I’ll send out a Feiying message immediately. Within a day or two, our people in Jiangdong will receive the news. They’ll act first, and if there are any leads, it won’t be too late for you to set out then.”

Changling had witnessed Seventh Uncle’s abilities and said no more. After Seventh Uncle withdrew, Ye Qi took down her clothes for her and shook them out a few times. A small green bottle rolled and fell to the ground. “This is…”

“Mingyue Fei gave Jing Wuwei ‘Drunken Carefree.’ This is the antidote. I switched it out, so Jing Wuwei doesn’t know he hasn’t actually taken the real antidote…” Changling picked up the small green bottle. “Mingyue Fei said that anyone who’s been poisoned with Drunken Carefree will surely die within a year.”

“Victory without bloodshed, killing with a borrowed blade,” Ye Qi couldn’t help but clap his hands. “Impressive, impressive.”

“Just letting him die like that would be too easy for him, wouldn’t it? I only kept this card as a backup.” After Changling finished speaking, she closed her hand and crushed the bottle and medicine into powder. A night breeze swept by, scattering the powder cloud without a trace.

Ever since that incident at the Jing Manor, Jing Wuwei never troubled Changling again.

The night she returned to the manor, both he and Xue Ningyu came to the north wing one after another to check on her. After apologizing, they also asked her to confirm whether the poison in their bodies had been completely cleared—Changling pretended to check their pulses and prescribed an herbal detoxification formula that Ye Qi had given her, and the matter was put to rest.

Strangely enough, before whenever she saw Jing Wuwei, she couldn’t wait to tear him to pieces immediately. But ever since learning his days were numbered, this obsession no longer constantly lingered, and she handled matters much more calmly.

However, to be fair, she only saw this fake father twice. On the third day, Jing Wuwei requested leave from the court and hurriedly left Jinling.

This move was exactly as Ye Qi had predicted.

Seventh Uncle had already gone ahead and positioned informants at several places Jing Wuwei might stop at. Every half day, one or two messenger pigeons would fly back to the He Manor. As soon as there was news, it would be delivered non-stop to Seventh Aunt. During breaks between classes, Changling would occasionally slip away and could learn the latest developments—and conveniently bring back some braised duck neck, stir-fried fennel beans, sugarcane cakes, and such that Seventh Aunt had prepared to continue slacking off.

Most of the time, the young Marquis He couldn’t get away—because of the days he’d skipped, the Scholar Court students had too many classes to make up, and these past two days were almost completely full. When evening finally came, Changling had to give Zhou Qin “supplementary lessons.”

Although Qingcheng Courtyard wasn’t small, there were people everywhere. The training grounds, under the big trees, inside and outside classrooms, even the empty space by the latrines had a batch of diligent practitioners.

Ye Qi didn’t want anyone to see Changling’s skills, so with a grand wave of his hand—he bought an old residence behind Wuzi Alley.

Thus, as the property owner, the young marquis proposed to observe. Zhou Qin was both flattered and inevitably stirred by gossipy curiosity. Upon seeing Ye Qi appear, she immediately straightened her back, cupped her fists and said, “This student greets the Scholar.”

“Once you step through this door, your master is Changting…” He pushed the weapon rack outside the courtyard. “As for me, you don’t need to be so formal. We’re all family. You can call me…”

Ye Qi paused, not having thought it through.

“Call…” Zhou Qin asked in a low voice, “Master’s Wife?”

Ye Qi: “…”

“Ah, no, sorry, I misspoke…” Zhou Qin hurriedly bowed in apology. “I should call you Master Uncle…”

The young marquis, secretly pleased rather than angry, stroked his chin. “I didn’t think you little girl had such keen perception… Actually what you said wasn’t wrong. Even if you can’t call me that now, sooner or later you’ll have to…”

Changling walked out from the inner hall and saw them whispering together. “Call what?”

Ye Qi turned around without changing expression. “I was telling Little Zhou that in private there’s no need to be so formal, always calling me Scholar—wouldn’t that be too distant?”

Zhou Qin hadn’t yet recovered from the young marquis’s face-changing speed when she saw Changling draw out a sword and toss it over, saying, “Ignore him, call him whatever you want. If you keep dawdling like this, are we going to test martial skills or not?”

The so-called martial skills test was to have Zhou Qin use several common weapons in turn—the most critical round of the military examination required bringing weapons to battle. Unfortunately, this little girl had only ever held sickles and hammers before. In the five days of instruction from her previous teacher, she’d only learned the Duckweed Step, the Mantis Fist, and some most basic upper and lower body training methods. So in terms of armed combat, she was basically a blank slate.

Everyone who studies martial arts knows that practicing martial arts requires first building the foundation. If the foundation isn’t solid, even the most profound martial arts will be like flower fists and embroidered legs, with no real combat ability.

Even a waste like Fu Yanyang had practiced the most basic standing posts, leg work, waist work, and arm work. Only after basic skills could one begin cultivating internal energy, and only then select an external martial path suitable for oneself.

Changling had originally thought Zhou Qin would be completely lacking in martial foundations and might be very difficult to teach. Who knew Ye Qi would say, “I think the little girl’s lower body foundation is actually quite solid, just somewhat lacking in proper technique.”

“Solid?” Changling didn’t believe it. “Zhou Qin, perform a sword routine for me to see.”

Zhou Qin nodded and immediately raised her sword, performing the basic Qingcheng Courtyard sword routine she’d learned in class.

It was just a few simple sword moves, yet Zhou Qin wielded them so poorly she nearly stabbed herself several times. Changling watched and several times wanted to shout stop—afraid she might accidentally injure herself.

However, after a few more moves, while the swordsmanship remained terrible, her footwork created wind—hooking, circling, controlling, sliding, outer swinging, inner closing—nothing like a beginner at all, but rather like someone who had practiced bitter training for ten or twenty years.

“Stop!” Changling jumped down from the railing and asked, “Did you really never study martial arts before?”

Zhou Qin shook her head blankly. “No… Where I’m from is a poor, remote area. There aren’t many people who know martial arts…”

That was strange.

“You should ask it this way,” Ye Qi coughed lightly and looked at Zhou Qin. “In your village, every day besides eating, sleeping, and playing, what else did you do with your time?”

“Nothing much really. When I was little I just helped my mother plow fields, plant rice seedlings and such,” Zhou Qin scratched her head. “But my family was too poor to have oxen for plowing. I didn’t have any other talents since childhood, just great strength, so my mother had me pull the plow to till the fields. It was tiring at first, but after pulling for a few years, I got really fast at it—faster than all the oxen in the village.”

Changling: “…”

Ye Qi seemed to find this novel and continued, “Oh right, didn’t you say before that you also helped at your father’s workshop?”

“That was after I turned ten. At first I just worked the bellows for the furnace, then my father taught me to use small and large hammers… Ah, but I was too clumsy. I kept hammering and would break the hammer handles. Later my father had no choice but to cast me an iron hammer with a handle this thick…” Zhou Qin formed a circle with both hands. “That hammer was quite handy. I used it for three whole years before it broke.”

This time even Ye Qi was somewhat speechless.

Serving as a human ox for plowing for several years, then wielding a sledgehammer for several more years… With such brutal training methods that she considered as natural as eating and sleeping, how could ordinary young people training in martial arts possibly develop basic skills to this level?

“Plus the Duckweed Step she learned, I think in terms of lower body work, the little girl can basically skip that part.” Ye Qi said, “As for her not knowing internal energy… it’s impossible to learn it properly in just a month or two anyway…”

“Her strength far exceeds ordinary people. She doesn’t necessarily need to use internal force to fight opponents,” Changling’s gaze swept back and forth across the weapon rack. “As long as we choose the right weapon…”

“Didn’t she use hammers since childhood?” Ye Qi pointed at the black iron hammer on the rack. “Why not try it?”

The copper hammer weighing over thirty pounds seemed to have no weight at all in Zhou Qin’s hands. Not knowing how to properly use a hammer weapon, she tried using the hammer like a sword, attempting to chop, thrust, sweep, and strike. The sound of air being torn was fierce and threatening. At first glance after watching a round, it actually looked quite impressive. But a hammer was a hammer after all, with its center of gravity in front. After wielding it for a while, it seemed less like Zhou Qin was using the hammer and more like the hammer was dragging her around—seeing her somewhat losing control, Ye Qi instinctively jumped behind a pillar, repeatedly calling out, “Hey hey, that’s about enough.”

Zhou Qin wanted to stop too, but she’d used too much force earlier. Swinging it out was easy, but she simply couldn’t pull it back. She spun several circles, her whole person nearly dizzy from spinning. “I, I can’t stop…”

Changling, afraid she’d suffer heavy injury from forcibly stopping the hammer, quickly called out, “Stand firm, let go!”

Zhou Qin, already frightened out of her wits, strictly obeyed her master’s command—stand firm, close eyes, let go.

The weightless copper hammer spun rapidly through the air for several circles. With a loud “bang” followed by clattering sounds—Zhou Qin belatedly opened her eyes and was so frightened she nearly knelt down—the courtyard wall had been gouged with a huge crater and collapsed.

Ye Qi watched in amazement. “Great fortune, Amitabha Buddha.”

At this moment, someone from the other side of the wall exclaimed in alarm, “What’s going on? It’s only my first day moving in and the wall collapses?! My goodness, what is this, a hammer?!”

The three couldn’t help but freeze, all feeling this voice sounded somewhat familiar.

The person poked half their body through the hole in the wall. Upon seeing Changling, their look of shock transformed into delight. “Master, why are you all here?”