An hour later, in the inner courtyard of the Shen Mansion in Guzang.

Jing Zhe and Gu Yu stood anxiously beside the bed, waiting for Li Dafeng to examine the unconscious Jiang Zhiyi’s pulse.

After a moment, Li Dafeng released her wrist and looked up: “She’s exhausted from traveling without rest for days, and the shock has disturbed her emotions. A good sleep will help—there’s nothing serious to worry about.”

Both maids let out sighs of relief.

Li Dafeng instructed them to light a calming incense for Jiang Zhiyi, exchanged a meaningful glance with Shen Yuance, and left first.

Shen Yuance sat at the edge of the bed, quietly gazing at the frowning Jiang Zhiyi in her sleep. After a long silence, he gently took her hand from the edge of the quilt, tucked it under the covers, then rose and left the bedroom.

As he closed the door and turned around, he met Li Dafeng’s meaningful gaze.

“Speak,” Shen Yuance leaned against a pillar, raising his chin.

Throughout the journey, he had Li Dafeng check Jiang Zhiyi’s “safety pulse” every few days, and each time Li Dafeng reported that her blood stasis had decreased somewhat. He had grown accustomed to this kind of look.

“She still has a trace of blood stasis remaining, but this small amount shouldn’t hinder her cognition anymore. She’s maintaining this memory recently, perhaps because she’s unwilling to face the truth. Now we’ll see whether her self-deception is stronger or the successive shocks she’s receiving—be prepared, these next few days.”

Shen Yuance turned his head toward the bedroom, his face half-illuminated by the corridor lamps, half hidden in shadow. After a long moment, he nodded: “Understood.”

In the quiet of the long night, Jiang Zhiyi lay on the bed with her eyes tightly shut. In her dreams, blurry and fragmented scenes flashed before her eyes—

“It’s just a cricket, you’d think I released a snake to bite you!” A flippant young man carefully captured the cricket that had jumped onto her, examining it meticulously with concern, asking if the cricket had been frightened. Seeing the cricket was fine, he held it up again for her to see. “My cricket is the champion of courage, a once-in-a-century warrior—it jumps on you, is your good fortune!”

She had nearly fainted from disgust, and seeing him still pushing the insect toward her, she was too angry to faint. Retreating fearfully, she raised a trembling finger: “Guards, crush this filthy thing for this Princess!”

The guard stepped forward, swatted away the cricket, and crushed it under his boot.

The young man stared in disbelief, then blazed with fury as he rushed forward.

The guard quickly blocked him: “This is Princess Yongying, show some respect!”

“I don’t care if you’re a Princess or a Queen—you killed my cricket, and you’ll pay for its life!”

The scene suddenly shifted to a winding stream banquet—

“I had a fine cricket, brave beyond compare in battle. One day it fell into a shrew’s hands, met its death, alas, how bitter!” When it was the young man’s turn to compose poetry, he raised his cup facing everyone and recited these lines loudly.

She sat by the winding stream, rising in angry laughter: “Shen Yuance, who are you calling a shrew?”

The young man looked at her with disdain: “Whoever stood up, that’s who! Isn’t that right, everyone?”

The scene flashed again to a narrow street encounter—

“My, whose carriage is so imperious? Ah, it’s the infamous Princess Yongying!” The young man riding ahead clicked his tongue and shook his head, pointing at her carriage.

She moved aside the carriage door to look out, letting out a cold laugh: “And whose mouth stinks so badly? Ah, it’s the notorious Shen wastrel.”

“My reputation may stink, but I can still find a wife. With your temper, can you ever get married? Princess, did you know? I heard that a few days ago, His Majesty summoned the Fourth Prince, intending to arrange a marriage for him. He asked if the Prince still had feelings for you since you were close as children. The Fourth Prince replied with eight words—’Childhood games cannot be taken seriously!'” The young man roared with laughter.

…

The fleeting images gradually ceased, giving way to a long blank period. When the scene flashed back again, it was at a teahouse on the day of the Xuance Army’s triumphant return—

“If I wanted to poison you, I wouldn’t do it in public—this tea is perfectly fine to drink. But I’ve been wondering, may I ask who you are?” The young man, returned from battle, sat high on his horse, looking up at her.

In the military camp’s large tent—

“After the Princess has spent so much time in this tent, why not speak plainly—tell me what you fancy. If it’s something I can give, I certainly won’t be stingy.”

“Me? I’m afraid that’s something I cannot give the Princess.”

On a desolate hillside—

The footsteps of the bandits behind grew closer. She fell to the ground, grabbing at the hem of his robe before her—her lifeline.

The man on horseback frowned, lowered his eyelashes, slowly pulled his robe from her grasp, and flung her hand into the mud.

On a bed in the military camp—

She awoke disheveled, saw the young man sitting at the edge of the bed, and buried her head in his embrace: “Brother A-Ce!”

…

“Ah—!” A piercing scream shattered the morning stillness.

In the bedroom flooded with daylight, Jing Zhe and Gu Yu, who had been resting at the bedside, were startled. Looking up, they saw Jiang Zhiyi sitting up with a terrified expression, her face ashen, forehead beaded with sweat, gasping for breath.

“What’s wrong with the Princess? Another nightmare?” Jing Zhe hurriedly stepped forward to help her breathe easier.

Jiang Zhiyi stared ahead, fixated on the unfamiliar courtyard outside the window. As her breathing gradually steadied, she turned her head in a daze: “Jing Zhe, where am I…”

“In the Shen Mansion, the Shen Mansion in Guzang. You moved in with Young General Shen yesterday—don’t you remember?”

“Shen Mansion, Guzang…” Jiang Zhiyi lowered her head, staring at herself, her almond eyes hollow and vacant. “Then who am I now?”

“Princess, don’t frighten your servant—you’re Princess Yongying!”

“Besides being Princess Yongying, who else am I?” Jiang Zhiyi suddenly grabbed Jing Zhe’s hand. At that moment, Gu Yu approached with tea, and the cup was accidentally knocked over, crashing to the floor with a loud sound.

Footsteps rapidly approached the bedroom: “Young Mistress, has something happened inside?”

As if hearing a deadly title, Jiang Zhiyi’s whole body trembled. Her face instantly drained of all color as she murmured with quivering lips: “It wasn’t a dream… I am engaged to Shen Yuance…”

Seeing her reaction, Jing Zhe’s heart sank, and she nervously swallowed before calling out: “The Princess woke from a nightmare and knocked over a teacup, nothing more.” Then she instructed Gu Yu: “Go tell them the Princess wants to change and wash up. Have everyone withdraw at least fifty paces, then stand guard at the door and don’t let anyone approach.”

Though Gu Yu didn’t understand what was happening, seeing Jing Zhe’s alert posture, she knew something serious had occurred. Without asking questions, she acknowledged and went to carry out the instructions.

Ensuring no one could overhear their conversation, Jing Zhe asked softly: “Princess, have you remembered something?”

Jiang Zhiyi hesitantly nodded, remained silent for a moment, then shook her head in disbelief, gripping Jing Zhe’s hand tightly: “Jing Zhe, what’s happening to me? Why am I like this… Why am I with Shen Yuance…”

“Princess, do you remember four months ago when we encountered bandits, and you hit your head on the carriage?”

Jiang Zhiyi’s breath caught as she stared at Jing Zhe for a long while, then muttered in a daze: “So I’m the one who lost her memory…?”

Wait, not just memory loss—her memories were also confused?

Jiang Zhiyi shook her head vigorously, vaguely recalling the strange dream she had before encountering the bandits, and the novel “Tale of Yi Yi” that she had read repeatedly the night before.

“It’s… It’s that novel scroll… I thought I was…” Jiang Zhiyi stammered halfway and then stopped, sitting stunned on the bed, her eyes wide open.

In the pause, she seemed to untangle more memories—from the novel, from reality, from before hitting her head, and from after.

Absurd… this was simply too absurd!

“Then I… I and Shen Yuance, I with him, I…”

Jiang Zhiyi lowered her eyes to look at her hand holding Jing Zhe’s, but instead saw the image of another hand intertwined with hers.

As if burned, Jiang Zhiyi suddenly released her grip.

Turning away, she glimpsed her snow-white feet and remembered the image of that hand holding her ankle, gently caressing her in circles.

As if frightened, Jiang Zhiyi abruptly withdrew her feet back under the quilt.

Jing Zhe watched as she panicked, covering one “compromised” part of her body after another—from her hair to her shoulders to her waist to the curves of her legs. Finally, seeming to realize she could never cover everything, she wrapped herself tightly in the quilt.

With this action, she appeared to suddenly recall something even more terrible. She drew in a sharp breath and raised her hand to touch her lips.

Jing Zhe’s heart skipped a beat.

Jiang Zhiyi curled her toes one by one and cried out: “Jing Zhe, I’ve been defiled—”

For a full two quarter-hours, Jing Zhe’s attempts to comfort Jiang Zhiyi were futile. After this time, Jiang Zhiyi’s face was covered with regretful tears as she questioned heaven and earth in anguish—

“How could this happen… why weren’t you by my side, why did no one tell me the truth, why did no one stop me?”

“Sister Baojia helped me with ideas, Uncle was willing to accept him as his niece’s husband… Was I a fool, or were they also not in their right minds?”

Jiang Zhiyi pointed tearfully toward the southeast, in the direction of Chang’an.

“What kind of person was he before? How did he treat me? Always fighting roosters, gambling in betting houses, being disrespectful to me, returning from war, and acting too proud to recognize me…”

“And I pursued… pursued this kind of man so persistently? When he ignored me, I stood outside his mansion gate for two hours in the cold wind at midnight. That was the bitter wind of a snowy winter month… I must have been insane to stand in that wind!”

“To get engaged to him, I even chased him to the academy… That academy was full of rogues, and I endured it all for him. I even sprained my ankle because of him and made it known throughout Chang’an…”

“I, a dignified Princess, have lost all face!” Jiang Zhiyi tallied each grievance, trembling as she sobbed and gasped for breath.

Knowing she needed to vent at this moment, Jing Zhe thought it best to let her cry it all out, but feared she might faint if she continued. Patting her back, she consoled her: “Princess, please calm down. When I return to the capital, all of Chang’an will hear that you and Young General Shen are a perfect match. Even those young nobles say that Young General Shen is marrying above his station—no one speaks ill of you…”

“Of course, he’s marrying above his station! Is Shen Yuance worthy of this perfect match? Does he deserve me traveling thousands of miles for him…”

At this point, Jiang Zhiyi finally remembered her predicament. Her crying stopped as she slowly looked around the room. Finally, she gazed at Jing Zhe with a lifeless expression: “Now this engagement is already done, and I’m in Hexi, more than a thousand miles from Chang’an. What should I do…”

“Princess, if you’ve truly made up your mind and don’t wish to recognize this confused engagement, just say the word. Those thousand miles—I came with you, and I can return with you!”

“Of course I’ve made up my mind. My head is clear now—how could I not be clear?” Jiang Zhiyi dried her tears, as if she couldn’t bear to stay a moment longer. Taking a deep breath, she said, “You’re right. Those thousand miles—I could come, and I can go back. Let’s leave now!”

Jiang Zhiyi flung aside the quilt and got out of bed without hesitation.

Jing Zhe hurriedly draped an outer garment over her, but before she could speak, Jiang Zhiyi pushed open the door.

Outside the door, from the fifty paces that Jing Zhe had earlier demanded, soldiers of the Xuance Army stood at attention every ten steps, extending from the corridor along the pebble path through the courtyard, all the way to the distant gate…

Stunned by this scene, Jiang Zhiyi slowly turned her head to look at Jing Zhe.

Jing Zhe quickly stepped forward, shut the door, and pulled her back in: “Princess, this is what I was about to tell you. This morning, Young General Shen received urgent military business and had to leave for the military camp. Before leaving, he sent these men over with instructions to look after you well. This courtyard is now surrounded, and I fear it will be difficult for us to return without getting past Young General Shen…”

“…Why is he having people surround me?”

“Princess, your mind is in chaos right now, and you may not have figured it all out yet. Young General Shen must have known about your memory loss for some time…”

With too much information and too strong an impact, Jiang Zhiyi had been focused only on her grievances and indeed hadn’t had time to consider—what was Shen Yuance’s angle?

Yes, she hadn’t simply pursued him—she had imagined herself as the female protagonist from “Tale of Yi Yi,” consistently assuming the identity of his former lover. He must have known from the beginning that she was delusional. Why didn’t he directly expose her? Why, after watching her delusion for so long, did he join in her madness?

Jiang Zhiyi backed away from the door in a daze, pondered for a moment, and said hazily: “…Jing Zhe, why do I feel something isn’t right about this?”

“What does the Princess mean?”

“Why do you think he got engaged to me?”

“Your servant believes Young General Shen truly fell in love with you and feared you wouldn’t acknowledge the relationship after your memory returned, so he hastily arranged the engagement and tricked you to Hexi.”

“But before, he disliked me as much as I disliked him. When I first approached him in my confused state, he was very unwelcoming…”

“Then think about when his attitude toward you changed—that must be when he fell in love with you.”

Jiang Zhiyi sat on the edge of the bed and, suppressing her regret and embarrassment, closed her eyes to recall—

The first time she called him “Brother A-Ce,” he knocked her unconscious with a hand chop. The second time, when she sent him a note to meet her to watch the snow, he didn’t show up…

Later, she went to the military camp to apologize for her absence, and she remembered he seemed to have been punishing prisoners all day, still with a sour face.

After that… after that, she went to the Shen Mansion seeking refuge, and he kept her waiting until midnight, still reluctant.

Until—

Jiang Zhiyi’s expression changed. Shen Yuance’s attitude toward her seemed to have shifted on the second day after taking her in, after breaking that “Yi” character jade pendant in the study…

In the novel, the female protagonist gave the male protagonist a crescent-shaped white jade pendant with pale blue tassels, engraved with the female protagonist’s name. So at that time, she had mistakenly identified that “Yi” character pendant as a token of love she had given him.

But that “Yi” character pendant was not hers.

Why would he have that pendant in his room? And whose pendant was it?

Jiang Zhiyi suddenly looked up: “Pei Xueqing?”

During the argument triggered by the pendant, Pei Xueqing ultimately claimed she had a delusional illness. But now it seemed the person with the delusion was her.

Since the pendant wasn’t hers, it must have been Pei Xueqing’s… Could Pei Xueqing and Shen Yuance have been the ones truly engaged in secret?

Then why did Pei Xueqing claim to have a delusional illness? If Shen Yuance already had a lover, why did he get engaged to her?

Moreover, Shen Yuance proposed to her on the very day Pei Xueqing appeared with the other half of the jade pendant.

Betraying his former lover, entrapping her in the unjust position of stealing another’s husband, and then tricking and deceiving her to a place a thousand miles away, where her cries for help would go unanswered…

Shen Yuance—how could he even call himself human?

The more Jiang Zhiyi thought, the more confused she became, and the more frightened she felt. Throughout the entire day, each time she opened the door or window, she saw those Xuance Army soldiers guarding her without moving. Even when Gu Yu went to fetch her meals, someone closely followed her.

When she asked Jing Zhe to accompany her outside for some fresh air, they didn’t interfere, but when she approached the mansion gate and tried to leave, someone immediately stepped forward to block her, saying that after the Young Mistress’s incident in the street last night, it would be better to wait for the Young General’s return in the evening if she wished to go out.

She understood now—Shen Yuance had seen her strongly react to the cricket yesterday and probably suspected she was about to recover her memory, so he had “confined” her here.

This meant she was truly trapped. Unless she got past Shen Yuance, she couldn’t return to Chang’an—she couldn’t even leave this small mansion!

As the sun set and darkness fell, Jiang Zhiyi felt momentarily dazed. She suddenly wondered what she would be doing today if she hadn’t recovered her memory.

Happily waiting for Shen Yuance to return? Or perhaps not even waiting for him to come home, but instead going to the military camp to find him.

But now, deep into the night, she still sat stiffly in her room like a wooden statue.

She felt there were still things she hadn’t figured out, but after crying and cursing all day, suddenly recalling so many things, she was truly exhausted, and her mind couldn’t function anymore.

At some unknown hour, someone outside quietly called out, “Young General.”

Two knocks sounded at the door, and the person outside began to say “Jiang” but swallowed the rest of the words, then stood silently waiting for her response.

Looking at the shadow cast on the door panel, Jiang Zhiyi’s heart nearly jumped into her throat. She sat upright on the chaise lounge and exchanged a glance with Jing Zhe beside her.

Jing Zhe nodded encouragingly.

Jiang Zhiyi closed her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself.

Just suspecting she might recover her memory, Shen Yuance had already made such elaborate arrangements. If he confirmed she was clear-headed now, who knew what else awaited her?

At present, her only advantage lay in her memory. As long as she didn’t reveal she had recovered her memory, she could at least keep Shen Yuance at bay and have a chance to get these guards removed.

After that, she would take it one step at a time.

Opening her eyes, Jiang Zhiyi articulated clearly: “Enter.”

The door was slowly pushed open, and Shen Yuance stood at the threshold, gradually lifting his eyelids to look inside.

Jiang Zhiyi sat formally on the chaise lounge, meeting his probing gaze. Recalling how she had smiled at him these past four months, she gradually curved her lips upward, saying sweetly: “A—”

Shen Yuance blinked.

Jiang Zhiyi’s smile froze momentarily before she tried again: “A—”

Shen Yuance: “?”

“A————”

Shen Yuance tilted his head, continuing to wait.

“A-choo…” Jiang Zhiyi covered her mouth with a handkerchief, letting out a somewhat unconvincing sneeze.

Shen Yuance: “…………”