“When Jing Wuwei arrived at Mei Town, I personally watched him enter the old Yue family residence and sneak out clutching this wooden box. We were about to seize it, but Mingyue Fei’s people got there first, poisoning a large group of Jing family soldiers. Tianhun personally went after Jing Wuwei. We decided to be the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, so we deliberately let Mingyue Fei and her people steal the wooden box.” Seventh Uncle’s arm was wrapped in silk bandages. “Later, we ambushed them one step ahead at the inn where they stayed that night. Using the Mystical Gate Formation’s illusionary technique to temporarily restrain them, we managed to snatch the wooden box back.”

On the desk sat a wooden box about half an arm’s width. The black lacquer on top was somewhat mottled, with dust caught in the gaps between the seams—it had some age to it. An antique patterned lock hung on it, and what was contained inside was unknown.

Ye Qi pulled back his sleeves and glanced at it, asking Seventh Uncle, “What’s inside?”

Seventh Uncle shook his head. “Since it’s a Yue family heirloom, naturally the young lady should open it herself.”

Changling casually removed a hairpin from her hair bun and skillfully unlocked it. Upon opening the box, she saw some letters and documents lying inside, nothing else particularly remarkable.

Ye Qi, fearing Mingyue Fei might have tampered with the contents, quickly picked up one letter and opened it. After confirming there was nothing suspicious, he allowed Changling to touch them. He looked through several more letters. “They all seem to be letters written by the Eldest Young Master to others. Most discuss military affairs, and some are written to highly respected seniors in the martial world. Mmm, also about settling the refugees from north of the Yangtze River…”

Changling swept through all the letters, her eyes pitch-black and deep. “These weren’t written by my eldest brother. Although the handwriting is very similar, he had a habit—whenever he wrote letters to elders, the spacing between characters would be slightly wider than in ordinary letters, and the characters would be more simple, dignified, and neat. He said many seniors were old and inevitably had difficulty seeing things up close, so he paid special attention to this. Therefore… these letters are all forgeries.”

Seventh Uncle hadn’t expected that what he’d brought back after such hardship was actually a counterfeit. He couldn’t help feeling both shocked and embarrassed. “But that day, to protect this item, Jing Wuwei nearly fought to mutual destruction with Mingyue Fei. If it’s just a forgery, why would he…”

“When you put on a show, you must perform it completely,” Ye Qi tossed the envelope back. “Jing Wuwei had told Mingyue Fei about Mei Town. If Mingyue Fei gained nothing, how could she let it go? He’d already suffered once at the hands of the Five Poisons Sect, so naturally he didn’t want to make another enemy. Moreover, if he didn’t fight desperately to protect it, how would Mingyue Fei believe this was truly a Yue family heirloom?”

Seventh Uncle still didn’t understand. “Even so, this wooden box must have been prepared long ago. What was his purpose in forging these letters?”

Ye Qi leaned halfway against the armrest of the wooden chair. “These letters appear to discuss the northern border war back then, but they actually invisibly reveal which people the Eldest Young Master frequently contacted—such as the Qingxuan Sect, Tianlong School, and Kunlun Mountain… Among them are no shortage of evasive words with hidden meanings. If someone with ulterior motives saw these, they might go cause trouble for these sect leaders…”

Seventh Uncle immediately understood. “The Marquis means, killing with a borrowed blade?”

Ye Qi said, “Don’t you think the martial sects mentioned in the letters are all people Jing Wuwei failed to win over?”

The rest didn’t need to be asked. Jing Wuwei had maneuvered between court and martial world for many years and had surely made countless enemies. To prevent people from coming after him, he kept this card up his sleeve. Mingyue Fei just happened to stumble into his carefully laid trap, so he went with the flow and took advantage of the situation.

Changling hadn’t made a sound from beginning to end.

Deep in her heart, she had secretly hoped to find some of her brother’s old belongings—even if completely useless, they could be kept as mementos. She never imagined that after waiting half a month, what arrived was a shameful conspiracy.

These people in this den of filth were despicable eleven years ago, and eleven years later their bellies were still full of nothing but filth and muck.

Thinking of this, she waved at Ye Qi. “I’m a bit tired. I’ll go back to rest first…”

“Wait a moment. I think there’s something fishy about this matter.”

Changling’s steps halted, and she turned her head back.

Ye Qi walked to the desk, moved the wooden box aside, took a sheepskin map from the bookshelf and spread it open. He dipped his brush in ink and made marks on the map while saying, “If it was just to mislead Mingyue Fei, sending Zhu One and Guo Four should have had about the same effect. But he went personally, so he must have had another purpose… I remember that on the way to Mei Town, Jing Wuwei’s route went like this, correct?”

Based on the carrier pigeon messages received recently, he marked several locations one by one, forming a curved line. Seventh Uncle came over to check and immediately nodded. “That’s right.”

“But on the return journey, he chose a different route.” Ye Qi switched to another brush and drew another line in vermillion. “Look, he took the long way around, traveling an extra mountain road.”

Changling stepped forward and carefully examined the map, enunciating each word: “Yanling Mountain?”

Seventh Uncle nodded repeatedly. “That’s right. We returned to Jinling one step earlier precisely because they took the long route and stayed in the Yanling Mountain area for two days. We originally thought he was avoiding Mingyue Fei, but thinking carefully now, it is indeed somewhat strange.”

Ye Qi looked at Changling and asked, “Did your Yue family ever have any connection with Yanling Mountain?”

Changling shook her head. “This is the first time I’ve heard the name of this mountain…”

“The current court situation is unstable. Several major generals in court are all eyeing the Grand Marshal position. At this juncture, Jing Wuwei could still deliberately make this trip, so this matter must be extremely important to him.” Ye Qi paused. “And judging from the current situation, the two things he cares most about—one is consolidating his military power… and the other is…”

Changling said, “The Martial Arts Assembly.”

The two exchanged a knowing glance. Ye Qi said, “Jing Wuwei could reveal the connection between the Yue family and Wu Run, so he must have some key item in his hands… Oh right, didn’t you say that day on the roof you heard Jing Wuwei mention a new clue to those people…”

Changling: “He said that after obtaining the folding fan, he reexamined old items and discovered something… He didn’t finish before being interrupted.”

“But after being interrupted, he would bring it up again with those four people.” Ye Qi took two steps. “Don’t you remember that day we ran into Xu Laifeng and the others in the suburbs?”

“They left Jinling in a hurry.” After this prompting, Changling’s mind became clear. “Most likely they were on an errand for Jing Wuwei…”

Ye Qi immediately looked at Seventh Uncle. “Seventh Uncle, is there a way to find out whether Xu Laifeng, Wuma Yi, Cen Feng, and Tong Yuan—those four—have appeared in the Yanling Mountain area recently?”

“On this return journey, this old servant specifically sent several people back along Jing Wuwei’s route. I’ll send a message now and have them keep watch along the way. Within three days, there will definitely be a response.”

Half an hour later, the young marquis who said he’d “see her off for a few steps” had walked Changling all the way to the street outside Qingcheng Courtyard.

For the first half of the journey, Ye Qi did all the talking, rambling about this and that. Seeing Changling had no reaction, he simply stopped talking. After a long while, Changling suddenly spoke. “What do you think of the current state of the world?”

Ye Qi hadn’t expected her to ask this and was stunned for a moment. “What?”

“The Central Plains divided in two, Eastern Xia, Western Xia, and Northern Yan…” Changling said, “What do you think of this world?”

Ye Qi didn’t answer immediately but instead asked, “Why do you suddenly ask this?”

“Just now I saw those forged letters… Although the letters weren’t written by my eldest brother, the battles mentioned in them were real, the displaced common people were real, and the tens of thousands of deaths and injuries in the border cities were also real…”

She reached this point and didn’t continue. How could Ye Qi, being so clever, not hear the subtext in her words?

“The current state of the world is indeed somewhat better than back then,” his voice unconsciously softened. “But not by much. Right now we’re in Jinling, so you can still see prosperity and music. A bit farther away, in Wu-Yue, along the Xiang River, in the Wuling commanderies, there are still many places with corpses of the starved everywhere and tyrants running rampant… These so-called Qingcheng Courtyard, military examinations, Martial Arts Assembly—they look exceedingly prosperous, but in the end, these are just tools of those in power. Martial world people are played in circles without knowing it. As for scholars… talented students with real ability can’t get employed, and those who’ve read extensively still get mocked by military men. Common people have it even worse. The court taxes are too heavy. Many men who farmed and women who wove have abandoned that to respond to this trend of valuing martial prowess and have run off to practice with weapons. Everywhere there are martial halls, but besides swindling people’s money, what real substance do those martial halls have?”

Ye Qi stopped in his tracks. “When I say it’s somewhat better, it’s only because there aren’t as many wars now…”

Changling actually didn’t understand these things very well. In the past, Changsheng would always nag in her ear about ideals like “peace” and such, but she mostly let it go in one ear and out the other, never thinking carefully about it.

But somehow, tonight when she saw that stack of forged letters, all the things her brother had said suddenly came back to her in an instant.

“You said that current Eastern Xia is a tripartite balance, like three pieces of tofu.” Changling looked at Ye Qi. “The piece in the Jing family’s hands is just a part of what originally belonged to the Yue family… But I remember, when the Yue family’s military strength was at its peak, the He family could stand on equal footing with them. In other words, if the He family were willing to try, they might not be unable to turn things around. You said that when the one surnamed Shen ascended the throne, he only had the cake in hand, but not the flour.”

A barely perceptible stirring flashed in Ye Qi’s eyes. “Mm.”

“But you haven’t done so. Even for the sake of my eldest brother’s past promise, watching the current state of misery and suffering, you’re still willing to support such a government. This isn’t like you.” Changling said, “Unless you know that once you make a move, it will lead to consequences even more terrible than now, such as… the world returning to chaotic warfare.”

“You shouldn’t be thinking so much about this,” Ye Qi sighed. “Originally, how the world is, how the common people are—these aren’t things we can control. Could it be… you no longer want revenge?”

“I do. I think about it day and night. But I also want to know… the consequences.”

Ye Qi gazed steadily at her. He thought he would see retreat and hesitation in her eyes. Unexpectedly, she remained as resolute as ever.

“The consequences… no one can predict them.” Ye Qi said, “Before the Central Plains are unified, all peace is just the calm before the storm. What you’re worried about won’t stop just because you do nothing. And I… all these years, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity. Originally I thought I wouldn’t be able to wait for it, but now it’s different.”

“What’s different?”

“Because you’re here.”

Changling was startled, thinking he was about to deliver another round of sickeningly sweet clichés. “I’m not talking about these things with you right now…”

“When I say you’re here, I don’t mean empty words,” Ye Qi said seriously. “Rather, it’s because your power is greater than you imagine.”

Changling didn’t quite understand and raised her eyebrows slightly in puzzlement.

“Anyway, you’re not planning to assassinate like Jing Ke trying to kill the Qin emperor right now, so what are you afraid of?” Seeing her confused expression, Ye Qi couldn’t help but pat her head. “When the Martial Arts Assembly arrives, certain things will naturally happen, and then you’ll understand.”

When Ye Qi smiled, he usually brought his own comedic effect, as if he could go on stage to perform the Heavenly Matchmaker at any moment. But sometimes, his smile carried a layer of subtle profundity, wrapping up thousands of threads and leaving only softness, as if giving people the illusion that he was naturally born such a gentle, refined gentleman.

After Changling had her head rubbed three times, she swatted his hand away. “What’s with you lately? You keep wanting to touch people’s heads.”

Ye Qi said “Aiya,” “You dare talk about me? Who was it that kept rubbing my head back then? This is called using your own methods against you. Not satisfied? If you’re not satisfied, grow taller. Grow taller than me and I’ll let you rub mine.” Seeing her glare, he quickly retreated several steps, his smile returning to the annoying variety. “I’ve escorted the beauty this far, which is about right. Sleep early and wake early—see you tomorrow morning.”

With that, before Changling could strike with her palm, he leaped away and disappeared without a trace.

Changling had originally wanted to ask something else, but with his antics, she suddenly forgot what it was. She stretched lazily, her form floating as she flipped over Qingcheng Courtyard’s high wall and also disappeared into the night.

Around the corner of the wall, Ye Qi stood quietly with his back against it. After hearing the sounds fade away, he finally couldn’t hold back and coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.

The blood splattered on the ground. He took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood from the corners of his mouth, restoring his elegant young master demeanor. It was just that the night wind was cool, and he’d rushed out without dressing warmly enough. Now he was shivering from the cold. After considering it, he thought it would be more prudent to go to Wuzi Alley to add a layer of clothing.

At this hour, all the nearby streets and alleys had fallen silent. The residence he’d purchased was also completely empty—with the military examination imminent, all students were no longer allowed to stay outside.

The hole Zhou Qin had smashed was still there, and when the wind blew through it carried a whistling sound. Ye Qi quickly returned to the room to throw on a cloak. Just as he walked out of the courtyard, he heard footsteps.

These footsteps were light yet restrained—definitely not Fu Yanyang.

Ye Qi suddenly raised his eyes, his gaze falling on the half-ruined wall. In the pitch darkness, the footsteps sounded again, and someone stepped forward.

“Young Duke, long time no see.”

Hearing the voice, a trace of surprise appeared on Ye Qi’s vigilant expression. “It’s you?”

The visitor was a woman who no longer appeared young—not a young girl’s face, but her plain features were well-maintained, making it impossible to tell her exact age. A short, deep blue cloth garment couldn’t hide her bearing. When the corners of her mouth curved up, she had an indescribable charm. She looked Ye Qi up and down and smiled faintly. “You’ve grown even taller than two years ago.”

The hand Ye Qi had placed on the whip handle at his waist relaxed slightly. “Aunt Luo remains unchanged year after year. I wonder which family’s elixir of eternal youth you’re taking? Could you introduce me to it?”

“Aunt Luo” seemed long accustomed to his irreverent manner and smiled. “Sure, if you come to Western Xia, I’ll make it for you to drink every day.”

“That won’t be necessary. If a man looks too youthful, he won’t be able to get a wife.” Ye Qi politely waved his hand. “By rights, since you’ve come from afar, I should fulfill my duties as host. However, it’s too late tonight, and I’ll be very busy the next few days. If you can stay for ten days or half a month, I’ll treat you to dinner then.”

Aunt Luo smiled meaningfully. “In a couple of days, after I pay respects to my sister, I’ll leave naturally.”

Hearing the words “pay respects,” Ye Qi’s form stiffened slightly. He smiled and nodded. “Aunt Luo is thoughtful.”

“If your mother knew under the spring that you’ve survived until now…” Aunt Luo said, “She would surely regret not letting you go to Chang’an with us back then. Otherwise, the current world…”

Ye Qi raised an eyebrow. “The heart is separated from the belly by skin—we can’t even fathom our own thoughts, so what’s the point of casually speculating about others except for the pleasure of talking? If Aunt Luo wants to say something, please don’t beat around the bush.”

“Fine, no beating around the bush.” Aunt Luo said, “His Majesty wants to see you.”

“Sorry, I’m not available.”

“Oh? Busy with what? Busy fighting to mutual destruction with Shen Yao?”

A gleam of light flashed in Ye Qi’s eyes. “You can’t even handle your own affairs, yet you still have the leisure to concern yourself with mine? It seems that old man really can’t hold on anymore. What, is Wei Xingyun planning to usurp the throne?”

“You should know His Majesty’s meaning,” the smile on Aunt Luo’s face slowly faded, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Could it be that you plan to devote yourself unto death for the He family and make this world take the surname He?”

“I already said, don’t casually speculate about others. Aunt Luo, we’re all relatives—I’ll advise you kindly not to waste your efforts on me. If you have time, you can go back and recuperate, prepare for pregnancy, and have another child. That’s more reliable than anything.” Ye Qi yawned without interest, pulling his sleeves together. “Alright, it’s so cold, I need to go home and warm up by the fire…”

“Don’t forget—you don’t have the surname He. The He family will never be your home.” Aunt Luo stared at him coldly. “This was determined from the moment you were born. You want to run from it, but you can’t.”