But Suzhen didn’t know why Miaoyin and Aluo would be with him, nor did she know that Li Zhaoting and Miaoyin had been deeply involved for half a year. She didn’t know that when Li Zhaoting returned to the capital with his troops, he received news of plague outbreaks on both sides of the capital’s outskirts—Aluo was there, and in his concern he rushed over and brought her back together. She didn’t know that Li Zhaoting had already let the two women know of each other’s existence, didn’t know his many, many secrets.

Gu and Miao, along with Si Lanfeng, all looked at her with some astonishment, while he clasped his hands and quickly bowed to Wei Chenghui, “Teacher, you’ve worked hard.”

His gaze then immediately fell on her. Perhaps her blood-covered, disheveled appearance somewhat shocked him—his brows furrowed with tension as he spoke coldly, “Are you all right?”

Suzhen gritted her teeth slightly and stood up with effort, meeting his gaze on equal level, slowly smiling, “So you are the Prince of Jin’s heir. So, my father betrothed me to the Prince of Jin’s son.”

Small hermits hide in the wilderness, medium hermits hide in the marketplace, great hermits hide in court—but this greatest hermit hides among neighbors? Hehe. All these years, she had never known.

“But our marriage contract no longer exists.” Li Zhaoting looked at her, his gaze somewhat deep, his tone increasingly cold.

“There should still be physicians in the palace. I’ll find someone to examine your injuries.”

“Thank you for that,” Suzhen replied indifferently.

“Young Master,” Wei Chenghui’s brow darkened as he quickly stepped forward, “this woman has close ties with Lian Yu—you absolutely cannot keep her.”

But Li Zhaoting waved to stop him, “Teacher, regardless, Minister Feng once saved my mother and me—that counts as a debt to me.”

“That was in the past. He later betrayed the Young Master. From the moment he opposed the Young Master’s revenge, merit and fault have already been balanced. Why must the Young Master pretend to be kind? It’s not worth it!”

“Teacher, Zhaoting knows your good intentions. Teacher’s merit toward Zhaoting far exceeds what Minister Feng could match, and Zhaoting is deeply grateful. No matter when, Zhaoting is always someone who repays both kindness and enmity—the same toward Teacher, the same toward others. This matter is decided!”

With Li Zhaoting saying this, Wei Chenghui found himself momentarily unable to refute, and if he said more, it would seem insubordinate! At this moment, arrogant laughter rang out, “Haha, old thief Wei, you’ve schemed so hard to kill Huaisu, but who knew human plans can’t match Heaven’s will! What kind of person is my Sixth Brother? Let me tell you—he had already made two preparations, having your daughter discover the Prince of Jin’s heir’s secret from Wei Wujun, hoping to use the Feng family’s life-saving grace to this heir to persuade him to spare Huaisu’s life. Unexpectedly, this heir turned out to be none other than Huaisu’s old friend. He immediately sent a secret letter to Si Lanfeng, informing him of the situation. We didn’t know where this Prince of Jin’s heir was, but Si Lanfeng knew—this is Heaven’s will!”

Wei Chenghui’s heart shook, then he pointed toward the corpse not far away, back facing up with no fewer than ten arrows embedded, “Seventh Prince, your brother may be so capable, but isn’t he still dead at this old man’s hands? What do you have to be proud of!”

As he spoke, his peripheral vision quickly glanced toward Li Zhaoting.

So Li Zhaoting’s arrival today was for this reason—he must have traveled day and night these past days.

Even in death, Lian Yu had to trouble him!

Moreover, though this man was dead, he didn’t know if the Young Master would be satisfied. This Young Master had talent and pride—he might not approve of his methods. And now, having seen Feng Suzhen’s condition with his own eyes, who knew what he would think in his heart?

Li Zhaoting’s gaze was also withdrawing from the corpse, looking toward him, “Teacher should record another merit.”

Wei Chenghui relaxed slightly, bowing, “Young Master speaks too highly—this is this old man’s duty.”

Li Zhaoting also nodded toward Wuliang behind him, and Wuliang hurriedly bowed as well.

Suzhen suddenly understood somewhat the meaning of that person’s earlier words about saving her… When Xuanwu took him toward the city gates to withdraw, he must have awakened along the way and seen Li Zhaoting’s army, then found a way to break free from Xuanwu and return to save her. If she wasn’t dead yet, he would come out to buy time until Li Zhaoting arrived…

She quietly looked at him, while on the other side, Aluo trembled all over upon hearing this. She walked step by step to that corpse, swallowed her saliva, and after a long moment, reached out and forcefully turned the body over. She immediately screamed “Ah!” and collapsed to the ground in fright. How could this blood-soaked, broken body be him?

She stared blankly, remembering some things.

Before the war, on the night she left according to Li Zhaoting’s arrangements, she had forgotten the ancient zither she had set up in the back courtyard, so she returned to find it. At the house’s entrance, she saw a group of horsemen stop and instinctively hid in the shadows with Mei’er. Soon, she discovered the visitor was actually him, along with his guards.

“Give the travel money to Aluo, and send some skilled hands to protect her,” he commanded indifferently from horseback.

His trusted eunuch Ming Yanchu was very clever and immediately asked, “Master, you’re not going in?”

He said, “No. This life is destined for mutual debt. Going in would only cause her sorrow. Moreover, since I regard Huaisu as my only wife in this life, wouldn’t going in make her sad?”

At this time, that Xuanwu mischievously teased, “Master, anyway only Heaven knows, Earth knows, and you know.”

He smiled slightly, “Even if only Heaven knows, Earth knows, and I know. Stop talking nonsense. Send more people to protect her—no matter what, I must preserve her safety.”

…

Hearing his feelings for Feng Suzhen, her heart nearly broke again at the time, yet ultimately, he still cared about her safety…

She had never imagined Li Zhaoting had such an identity. She wasn’t undelighted—when entering the capital, she had secretly observed Miaoyin, knowing this woman would be her formidable rival, but she also knew Li Zhaoting’s relationship with her was more political marriage. The one in his heart was herself. Perhaps she could persuade him to spare Lian Yu’s life. Then Lian Yu would surely regret it.

That’s what she had thought then.

But there was no more chance now.

What she wanted was Feng Suzhen’s miserable end, not his…

Miaoyin was much calmer. Though she also felt some pity—after all, this was a man she had once truly admired—her heart was no longer with him. Through fighting came understanding, and she loved Li Zhaoting. Perhaps her initial feelings for Lian Yu were more admiration than love.

Li Zhaoting had vaguely mentioned Aluo’s situation to her. She knew they had met first, had years of scholarly friendship, and she was the woman he had always admired. He also said, “If I had met you first, how wonderful that would be, but I will certainly treat you well. No less than how I treat Aluo.”

It didn’t matter. That day her heart was with Lian Yu, and she had been prepared long ago. The emperor’s harem would always be like three thousand weak waters—as long as she was his most beloved, what else could she regret?

Seeing Aluo still couldn’t forget Lian Yu—men, who doesn’t like women to be devoted to them alone? She wouldn’t compete openly for favor with this woman. She was his strong and powerful ally, his beauty and confidante. There would always be opportunities.

Li Zhaoting saw Aluo crying sadly and spoke indifferently, “Enough, don’t grieve anymore. This man isn’t worth your sorrow.”

Aluo had been half-crouching and slowly stood upon hearing this, then suddenly rushed to Suzhen and viciously slapped her, “You killed him, didn’t you? Didn’t you!”

Suzhen was dazed and powerless to avoid it, struck dizzy with darkness before her eyes. Seeing her about to strike again, she raised her hand to protect herself and reluctantly retreated backward. Li Zhaoting suddenly stepped forward, embraced Aluo, and gently patted her shoulder, “That’s enough. Though you didn’t contract the plague before, you caught a cold—you should take good care of yourself.”

Aluo cried bitterly in his arms. She didn’t pursue attacking Suzhen further—Li Zhaoting still valued the Feng family’s kindness, and she couldn’t go too much against his wishes. But her hatred for Suzhen and Wei Chenghui grew bottomlessly deep.

“Zhaoting, I beg you, for my father’s sake, and because I once saved you in the dungeon, spare Lian Jie…”

Amid the swaying light and shadow, Suzhen, whose gaze had hardly left Lian Yu’s corpse, collapsed.

Li Zhaoting released Aluo, stepped forward to catch her, and immediately said, “Lanfeng, go to the Imperial Medical Academy to find a physician.”

“Yes.” Si Lanfeng quickly nodded.

Seeing him about to carry her into the inner palace, Lian Jie slowly spoke, “Young Master, though there are people in this palace, physicians are different. They were long ago transferred out of the capital by my Sixth Brother to treat the plague and have already retreated with the army. But I am a physician, a skilled physician. I can treat her for you. If you send people out of the palace to invite physicians, women are different from men—their bodies are fragile, and if something goes wrong, that would be unfortunate. But I have one condition.”

Li Zhaoting sneered, “You want me to spare your life?”

“No,” Lian Jie shook his head, “My Ninth Brother isn’t completely dead yet—he still has a breath left. I want to treat him and hope you’ll spare his life for the sake of shared ancestry. The one at fault was Father Emperor—it has nothing to do with him. If we’re talking about generational ranking, he’s still your cousin.”

A tea’s time later, Li Zhaoting carried Suzhen into the side hall next to the emperor’s bedchamber. Wei Chenghui was sent back to the city walls to reorganize the post-war army—after he left, with Wuqing’s assistance, Si Lanfeng’s forces had almost completely annihilated the attacking Murong army.

Si Lanfeng was responsible for arranging Li Zhaoting’s army to camp outside the capital first. Chao Huang was imprisoned in the palace jail, while Wei Wuxia was taken back to the Wei residence by Wei family guards.

Additionally, hundreds of carefully selected soldiers from the household retainers and generals entered the palace to temporarily serve as imperial guards.

The palace’s head eunuchs, female officials, maids, and eunuchs were all driven out from various rooms by the guards and ordered to continue their daily duties.

Aluo and Miaoyin didn’t leave, waiting outside the hall. Of course, with different thoughts—Miaoyin didn’t care about Suzhen’s life or death, but Aluo did. Wei Wulei also harbored such thoughts.

Without needing Wei Chenghui’s signal, she would stay. Wei Chenghui wanted her to observe Suzhen’s situation, while for her, though the harem wasn’t yet established, she had already encountered a formidable enemy. But she showed no emotion, only smiled as she approached to greet the two ladies Gu and Miao.

Xiaosi, following Lian Jie’s instructions, sent people to the Imperial Medical Academy to fetch tools and medicines, and selected several nimble eunuchs and palace maids for Lian Jie.

Though Lian Jie was seriously injured, he still quickly directed the eunuchs and palace maids to wash and sterilize scissors and knives, preparing hot water.

He had people cut open Lian Qin’s clothes, first treating his wounds, stitching them, applying acupuncture… When Lian Qin’s pulse slightly recovered, he ordered eunuchs to prepare medicinal decoctions and made him drink them.

Li Zhaoting then had Lian Qin thrown into the palace dungeon.

Lian Jie began treating Suzhen’s injuries. When his gaze fell on the blood stains on Suzhen’s dress, he showed momentary shock, then immediately grabbed Suzhen’s wrist.

Li Zhaoting’s gaze was extremely sharp, immediately speaking, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem with her injuries? From what I see, her wounds are on her head, face, and shoulder—there don’t seem to be others.”

Lian Jie immediately sneered back, “Didn’t Si Lanfeng tell you that your good minister once imprisoned her in his residence, torturing her in every way?”

Li Zhaoting didn’t respond to his provocation, only saying coldly, “Her physical condition is her business, but you claim superior medical skills. If you can’t grasp the timing to save her and let something happen to her, then I’ll immediately kill Lian Qin.”

“Then please leave, Young Master. I need to perform surgery on her—having many people around is inconvenient,” Lian Jie also said coldly.

Xiaosi glared at him fiercely, but seeing Li Zhaoting signal to him, was about to lead the attendants out when he heard the order, “Leave the female attendants to handle washing and changing clothes, to assist the Seventh Prince.”

Xiaosi said, “Young Master, palace maids are skilled and good for care, but male attendants are stronger—keeping two to help with lifting and changing clothes would be good. I see that Seventh Prince only has half a breath left…”

“Then keep more maids!”

Li Zhaoting’s voice darkened, and Xiaosi was immediately startled, thinking he was angry because of Lian Jie’s words. Not daring to make more suggestions, he quickly led the male attendants out following him.

Lian Jie watched everyone leave, and his originally cold, fierce gaze surprisingly gradually softened, even showing some hidden joy. He had the palace maids move all the tools to the bedside, then pulled the curtains himself, separating them from others and not allowing anyone to approach…

Half an hour later, he pulled open the curtains and came out swaying, had the palace maids clean and change Suzhen’s clothes, then wrote a prescription, sent people out to prepare medicine, and instructed the palace maids to tell Li Zhaoting not to enter—he still needed to perform acupuncture.

Taking advantage of this gap, he quickly returned to the bedside, lightly pressed Suzhen’s philtrum and glabella pressure points. Suzhen moaned softly and slowly opened her eyes. Her spirit was very weak, her complexion pale without a trace of color.

“Lian Jie…” She looked with some joy at the man half-kneeling beside her bed.

But Lian Jie immediately interrupted her, his eyes slightly red, “Huaisu, listen to me—you must take care of yourself. Do you know? You’re nearly two months pregnant. This child experienced such tribulation tonight yet was barely preserved. I…”

As he spoke, tears actually flowed, “You must preserve this bloodline for Sixth Brother.”

Suzhen was stunned for a moment, then smiled miserably, “I knew I was pregnant, but why deceive me? I felt it myself—I was bleeding earlier. But I won’t seek death—I’m clear about what I must do. I must live. I must preserve you, I must… avenge my father, Lian Yu, and everyone!”

As she spoke, she raised her hand with effort, slowly placing it on her lower abdomen, her eyes filled with despair, Lian Yu’s corpse seemingly still before her eyes.

Lian Jie tightly grasped her hand, “Sister-in-law, Huaisu, I’m not lying to encourage your will to live! The child is truly still there. Please listen to Lian Jie—you needn’t preserve me. If you can speak before Li Zhaoting, you must preserve Ninth Brother. He’s not dead yet—he can still be saved.”

The double joy made Suzhen tremble all over. She clutched Lian Jie’s hand, struggling to sit up, “What you say is true?”

Her consciousness was already weak, and with excitement, she fainted again.

Suzhen’s injuries were serious, and fearing complications during the night, Li Zhaoting sent people outside the palace to invite physicians. Lian Jie treated his own injuries briefly, then had people guard him outside the hall, ordering palace maids to take turns on duty—if Suzhen’s condition worsened, they should immediately bring him in for treatment. He also had former female officials arrange accommodations for the several young ladies and take them away.

Everyone knew Li Zhaoting was dissatisfied with the marriage contract and had no romantic feelings for Suzhen. Knowing Suzhen’s condition, he didn’t stay. Miaoyin had been waiting for Li Zhaoting, and knowing he wanted to check on her, left with the female official as well. Before leaving, Aluo secretly turned back for a glance.

Li Zhaoting changed into his usual casual clothes. When he entered the side hall, the palace maids, knowing he was the future master of this palace, all respectfully bowed. Li Zhaoting said indifferently, “Go down first. When I leave, you can come back in.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

The palace servants quickly withdrew, gently closing the door.

Li Zhaoting slowly walked to the bedside.

In the lamplight, she had already changed into clean clothes. The scent of soap pods and medicinal ointment gently entered his nose. She slept with closed eyes, brows tightly furrowed, seeming to experience some pain in her dreams. Her jaw was frighteningly sharp, her head wrapped in gauze, with shallow wounds on her face. One cheek was slightly swollen—she still looked somewhat disheveled, but somehow seemed more enduring to look at than before. Even her nose still bore faint freckles that hadn’t disappeared with age.

His feelings were unusually complex. He hated her, despised her. The scene of her being deeply kissed by Lian Yu before the Feng residence kept surfacing in his mind. Though he knew she couldn’t have given herself to that man without name or status, they had embraced and kissed—he already felt she was tainted.

Yet seeing her like this also made him feel somewhat pitiful.

Though her father had betrayed him, he had shown kindness to him after all. Her brother was also his close friend. He wasn’t unaware of what Wei Chenghui had done in secret—like the leak of his mother’s whereabouts. That’s why he had traveled without stopping day and night to return, because perhaps he could save her life.

He thought indifferently, his hands clenching then releasing, releasing then quietly clenching again.

He wanted to move closer to look at her.

As this thought arose, his cheeks jumped violently.

For her father and brother’s sake, he had already been merciful enough to her—what was there left to pity!

“Cold… cold…” He turned to leave, but after only two steps, he heard her hoarse, low murmuring behind him. He turned back to see the brocade quilt had slipped under her arms, and her shoulders, clad only in undergarments, trembled slightly.

He quickly went over, wanting to cover her with the quilt, feeling somewhat angry—these palace servants were too careless!

He grasped the quilt, but his mind again conjured that night’s scene of her in Lian Yu’s embrace, and in the imperial study, they had also kissed like that… He gritted his teeth slightly, the brocade quilt bunched into a ball in his palm.

At this moment she suddenly opened her eyes, looking at him hazily through the mist, and her dry, peeling lips actually showed a trace of a smile, “You’re still here, you’re still here. Don’t leave me, stay with me and our…” She spoke then drowsily closed her eyes and fell asleep again.

And our… what? He couldn’t hear clearly, but before her eyes closed, she suddenly grabbed his hand and pressed it to her abdomen.

He was startled by her action, and by her burning, moist palm.

She had a fever. And it was a high fever.

“Lian Yu is dead, and seeing me again, you want to return to my side—isn’t it too late?” He sneered, pursed his lips, but finally, his free hand gently pulled up the quilt pressed down by their joined hands and covered her securely.

She seemed to sense his movement and pressed his hand tighter against her lower abdomen, unwilling to let go.

He struggled slightly but couldn’t break free. His mind went to something from many years ago—that winter when he practiced martial arts tirelessly in the suburban snow and caught cold. After returning home, he soon developed a fever. Upon hearing this, she immediately ran to his house, muttering that scholars had weak constitutions, then refused to leave, sitting by his bed, holding his hands in her arms, saying she would watch over him until his fever broke.

At night, when he needed to relieve himself, she actually brought him a chamber pot. He had blushed and scolded her out, having Xiaosi attend to him instead… Afterward, she ran back in with a hot, wrung-out towel to wipe his hands.

“Don’t you know shame,” he remembered and couldn’t help scolding, but in the end, he didn’t withdraw his hand again, letting her hold it while gently stroking her small belly. He’d just take pity on her.