Yuance let out a sigh, closing his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, he saw that the drunk girl hadn’t heard a word he said. She remained sprawled on top of him, her misty, intoxicated eyes slowly tracing his eyebrows, his eyes, his nose bridge, his lips.

Looking wasn’t enough. As she stared, she seemed disbelieving, parting her lips and raising a finger in a daze to lightly touch his brow, then slowly tracing down along the bridge of his nose.

“What are you doing?” Yuance frowned, gripping her finger.

“I’m looking at you—” Jiang Zhiyi set down the wine jug with her free hand, propped her chin on his shoulder, tilted her head with eyes full of confusion and astonishment. “You look so alike. Are you my Brother Yuance’s twin?”

“…”

“It’s remarkable how similar you look… Did Sister Bao Jia specially find you to heal my wounded heart?”

“…”

“Those earlier ones—weren’t enough to heal you?” Yuance glanced at her coldly.

“They don’t resemble him as much as you do…” Jiang Zhiyi tilted her head, examining him, then sighed after a while. “But no matter how much you resemble him, you’re still not him…”

Yuance’s eyelashes fluttered, his grip on her finger slightly loosening.

“Never mind, you needn’t go to such lengths to deceive me,” Jiang Zhiyi shook her head regretfully. “What I love isn’t Brother Yuance’s appearance, but his soul, his heart… There’s only one Brother Yuance in this world. Even if you look exactly like him, I wouldn’t fall for his substitute…”

Yuance’s face turned cold: “Then get off this substitute’s body.”

“Why so fierce? As if I cherish you…” Jiang Zhiyi let out a cold snort, raising her chin and turning her head to look around, shifting uncomfortably. “You’re holding me so tightly, how can I get up…”

Yuance’s eyelid twitched, and the arm around her waist suddenly loosened.

Jiang Zhiyi pushed against his shoulder with an indignant huff, neatly climbing up by stepping on him.

“Tss—” Yuance closed his eyes, pressing his fist lightly against his forehead to recover, waiting until the light floating hem of her skirt had brushed over his face before opening his eyes.

Jiang Zhiyi bent down, hooked the wine jug with her ring finger, and walked away without a backward glance. She swayed unsteadily as she climbed the steps back to the platform, leaning sideways against the armrest and tilting the wine jug to her lips.

The crisp wine entered her throat, and a satisfied sigh echoed through the spacious, warm chamber.

Just as she was enjoying her drink, Yuance rose and approached, snatching the wine jug from her.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Zhiyi exclaimed in alarm, reaching out to grab it back.

Yuance twisted his hand behind his back, concealing the wine jug.

After several failed attempts to retrieve it, Jiang Zhiyi’s expression drooped, and she kicked her legs in a tantrum: “Not allowed to listen to music, not allowed to watch performances, not even allowed to drink… How bitter is my fate!”

Yuance remained unmoved, looking down at her from his height.

Seeing no sign of him relenting, Jiang Zhiyi hugged her knees and buried her head, saying nothing more.

“Go to sleep now—” Yuance lowered his eyes to look at the top of her head, when suddenly he heard a familiar sob.

…She can cry over this?

Yuance’s hand froze as he saw her genuinely sobbing, one sound after another. After a moment of silence, he frowned and extended the hand holding the jug: “One last sip.”

“I don’t want it!” Jiang Zhiyi pushed away the wine jug he offered, resting her head sideways on her knees as tears fell like pearls. “Brother Yuance doesn’t want me anymore anyway…”

“…”

She really could make a sentence out of any word.

Yuance: “…What does this have to do with whether he wants you or not?”

“It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter,” Jiang Zhiyi rubbed her knee, as if consoling herself. “It’s not the first time I’ve been abandoned…”

“…”

Yuance sat cross-legged before her, putting down the wine jug: “So—before Brother Yuance, there were other brothers?”

“Brothers? I don’t have brothers. My father and mother only had me…”

“Quite the answer,” Yuance snorted with a laugh. “Then who else abandoned you?”

Jiang Zhiyi lowered her eyes and pouted, her voice muffled: “My father and mother, of course…”

Yuance’s smile faded.

“…What, you don’t know who my father is?” Jiang Zhiyi raised her eyes to his astonished face, tilting her head. “My father is the renowned Duke of Ningguo!”

Yuance nodded: “I know.”

“No, you don’t…” Jiang Zhiyi shook her head against her knee, talking to herself as she recalled something. “When I was little, my father adored me. He gave me my name… My father said on the day I was born, when he first saw me, I was wrapped in soft swaddling clothes with a ribbon tied in a butterfly knot, like a tiny garment, so he named me Zhiyi…”

“And then?”

“Then…” Jiang Zhiyi’s head felt heavy. She shook it and continued recalling, “Then when I was six, my father had to go to Hedong with Imperial Uncle. I couldn’t bear to part with him and asked how long he’d be gone. He said he’d return by New Year’s, bringing me many delicious foods and toys, telling me to wait obediently at home…”

“I counted the days on my fingers, waiting. Before New Year’s arrived, one day, my mother suddenly told me that my father had returned… I ran out so happily, only to see my father’s coffin…”

Yuance’s hand on his knee tightened as he stared at her suddenly dimmed eyes.

“My mother said my father was a great hero, but being a hero meant he couldn’t be my father anymore…” Jiang Zhiyi raised her head, looking at him earnestly. “Don’t you think my father was too cruel? Who cares who sits on the throne? Why did he choose to be someone else’s hero instead of my father?”

Without waiting for Yuance to answer, Jiang Zhiyi hugged her knees again and lowered her head, her voice dropping: “I hate, hate those people fighting for the throne. If they didn’t fight, there wouldn’t need to be any heroes…”

Yuance lowered his eyelids, looking at the thin calluses on his fingertips.

“On the day of my father’s burial, I cried and cried, but my mother didn’t shed a single tear. I asked her why she wasn’t sad, and she said she didn’t know… But after my father was buried, every night I would hear my mother playing the xun. She said the sound of the xun could summon the spirits of the deceased, and she could see her father every night. I learned from her, but no matter how I played, I couldn’t see him…”

“I thought I wasn’t playing well enough, so I practiced every day until New Year’s Eve. Outside it was so lively, but remembering that father hadn’t kept his promise, I couldn’t eat a bite of the New Year’s feast… My mother, however, ate a full bowl. Afterward, she said she was tired and wanted to rest, telling me to finish my meal by myself…”

“I sat alone in the dining hall, watching the maids reheat the dishes again and again. I don’t know what time it was when I finally felt a bit hungry and picked up a dumpling to eat. At that moment, the nanny suddenly rushed in to tell me that my mother had taken poison to end her life…”

Yuance suddenly raised his eyes.

Yet the person across from him spoke as if describing something distant and calm, without the sadness he had expected on her face.

“Seeing my mother lying there so peacefully, I suddenly understood why my mother hadn’t been sad on the day of my father’s burial. I seemed unable to feel sad either. When my mother was buried, everyone said how pitiful I was, but I didn’t shed a single tear…”

Jiang Zhiyi looked up at this point and, seeing Yuance’s furrowed brow, peered at him unhappily: “Why do you look at me the same way they did? I’m not pitiful. I lost my father and mother, but I became an Imperial Princess! The more they looked at me that way, the more I wanted to eat the best food, wear the finest clothes, use the best things, making them all respect and pamper me… See, now no one thinks I’m pitiful anymore!”

“But… if my father and mother came back, I wouldn’t want to be an Imperial Princess anymore…” Jiang Zhiyi pondered this hypothesis, nodding to herself, then quickly sighed again. “But why did my father choose Imperial Uncle over me, and my mother chose my father, not me? Why am I always the one being abandoned…”

Yuance raised his hand—

“I thought Brother Yuance would choose me…”

Jiang Zhiyi let out a small hiccup from the wine: “Now it seems Brother Yuance doesn’t want me either…”

Yuance’s hand froze above her head, his fingers slowly curling one by one, forming a fist that he withdrew.

Having talked for so long, Jiang Zhiyi seemed tired. With a sigh, she rested her head on her arm and slowly closed her eyes.

Soon, long, steady breaths filled the warm, quiet chamber.

Yuance sat cross-legged, quietly watching the sleeping figure before him for a while. Then he looked away, picked up the wine jug beside him, and drank the remaining liquid in one gulp.

As the spicy liquor entered his throat, Yuance frowned, looking at the person curled up in a small ball before him.

“He hasn’t rejected you.”

“The one who rejected you was just—” a scoundrel who had no connection to you at all.

When Bao Jia finished bathing and cleaning up, thinking of checking the warm chamber, she happened to see Yuance lifting the sleeping Jiang Zhiyi from the platform.

Yuance stepped down silently, giving Bao Jia a questioning look.

Cui Mei immediately gestured toward the sleeping chamber, indicating that he should follow her.

Yuance carried Jiang Zhiyi out, following Cui Mei’s steps.

As soon as they left the warm chamber, a sudden draft blew toward them.

Cui Mei was startled, about to say something, when she turned and saw Yuance shifting to the side, already wrapping the person in his arms tightly in his cloak.

Bao Jia smiled behind them and followed.

After passing through the corridor and entering the sleeping chamber, Yuance bent down to place Jiang Zhiyi gently on the bed. He turned to Bao Jia and said in a low voice: “It would be inappropriate for me to assist with her grooming. I must trouble the Princess’s maid instead.”

Bao Jia gave Cui Mei a look, indicating that she should help Jiang Zhiyi remove her outer garments.

Yuance turned his head away, his back to them.

On the bed, Jiang Zhiyi suddenly awoke at being moved, opening her eyes in confusion and looking toward the edge of the bed. She blinked at Bao Jia: “Sister?”

Bao Jia smiled as she sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at her: “How is it that you slept so peacefully when your Brother Yuance carried you, yet woke up the moment Cui Mei came to attend to you?”

“…Did Brother Yuance come?” Jiang Zhiyi looked around in confusion.

Yuance’s figure was conveniently blocked by the mistress and servant before her.

And he showed no intention of turning around.

“You’re deceiving me. He hasn’t come…” Jiang Zhiyi pouted, sniffling. “He hasn’t spoken to me for days. He has abandoned me…”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Bao Jia laughed softly, turning to look at the rigid, silent back. “Sister has observed tonight, and he cannot let you go.”