The three servants and a dog—four pairs of bright, gleaming eyes—stared blankly at the person standing outside, who appeared to have just emerged from a bathhouse. After a moment of frozen silence, Jiang Zhiyi hesitantly asked, “What happened to you…?”

Shen Yuance’s expression was slightly unnatural as he pointed to the dog in her arms. “Same as it—got caught in the rain.”

Jiang Zhiyi looked down at the dog, then raised her eyes back to Shen Yuance. “You’re drenched from the rain?”

Shen Yuance coughed lightly and nodded.

Jiang Zhiyi, carrying the dog, walked toward him and squinted suspiciously, observing the wisp of white steam rising from his head. “Then why is everyone else shivering from cold, while your head is still steaming hot?”

Shen Yuance: “…”

He knew Mu Xinhong was unreliable. When asked to bring a bucket of water, as if fearing he would catch a cold, Mu had brought a bucket of hot water meant for bathing.

“Last time you got caught in the rain and walked for two hours without ending up like this. Who are you trying to fool…”

“That’s because last time someone wiped my face for me, and this time no one did, right?” Shen Yuance stared intently at her.

“…”

The two people and one dog inside the room slowly turned their gazes toward Jiang Zhiyi.

Jiang Zhiyi, embarrassed, held the dog and turned away. “…Serves you right that no one did.”

“If you won’t wipe my face, at least let me take shelter from the rain.”

“The rain stopped half a day ago, what shelter are you—” The cool breeze from the hallway swept in through the wide-open door. Before Jiang Zhiyi could finish her sentence, she shivered from the cold.

Shen Yuance, quick to react, stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

“Are you a bandit? Who said you could come in?” Jiang Zhiyi frowned at him.

“With the door open, weren’t you cold?”

“You could have closed it from the outside.”

“I’m cold too.”

“…” In February, this little rain was just rain, but now in March, he claims he’s cold too? The weather doesn’t change as quickly as he does.

Before they exchanged many words, water dripped from his soaked clothes, quickly forming a puddle on the floor.

“Your clothes…” Jiang Zhiyi looked at the mess on the floor with annoyance and urged her maids, “You two, clean this up quickly! My room is about to flood!”

Gu Yu and Jing Zhe hurried forward, one wiping the floor while the other handed Shen Yuance a dry towel.

The one wiping the floor had barely finished with one puddle when she noticed another forming.

The one handing over towels saw the first one become soaked through and quickly offered a second.

Jiang Zhiyi sat on the daybed with the dog, sighing. “How will you dry if you don’t change clothes? I don’t have any clothes for you here. Why don’t you go back to your room…”

Just as she finished speaking, a dark bundle flashed before her eyes. “Young Master!”

Shen Yuance’s hand shot out, catching a package.

Jiang Zhiyi turned to look at the half-open window behind her and Mu Xinhong, who was running away quickly: “…”

Shen Yuance: “Then I’ll go inside to change clothes.”

“You dare wet my inner chamber? Change right here, then leave immediately.” Jiang Zhiyi carried the dog toward the inner room. The two maids followed, giving him privacy.

Once inside, Jiang Zhiyi rubbed the Pekingese’s head, just as she used to do with Tiger. “Have you eaten yet?”

From the other side of the door, Shen Yuance paused in removing his belt, looking up with surprise: “No.”

Jiang Zhiyi slowly turned to look at the half-closed door behind her: “I was asking the dog. Who asked you?”

Silence fell outside the door. After a moment, the belt dropped to the floor, its metal hook making a crisp clanging sound against the floorboards.

Jiang Zhiyi’s ears tingled, as if she could see the belt falling before her eyes. She cleared her throat somewhat stiffly and called out: “What’s your dog’s name?”

Shen Yuance: “Waiting for you to name it.”

Considering that the dog had gotten drenched in the rain for her sake today, Jiang Zhiyi thought carefully, but couldn’t think of any good, meaningful name. They say a dog takes after its master…

“What’s your—Shen what?”

The person outside remained silent for a moment: “I told you, you can consider me as Shen Yuance.”

“Who names their children so strangely, two brothers using the same name… if you don’t want to say, forget it.”

“My name is Yuance.”

Jiang Zhiyi was startled: “Shen Yuance’s—Yuance?”

Shen Yuance didn’t speak again.

Jiang Zhiyi blinked, suddenly recalling some scattered past events.

The day her foot injury healed, she went to the West Market with Shen Yuance. Because she was jealous of Pei Xueqing, she forced him to make a vow. He said he had never been involved with other women in his life, seemingly using the name “Yuance,” but when he spoke of never leaving her, he used the name “Shen Yuance.”

“Even when making a vow, you had three rabbit holes to hide in, finding every loophole you could. How clever.” Jiang Zhiyi sneered.

Shen Yuance also remembered this incident: “Later, didn’t I make another vow when you asked for Yuance’s promise?”

…It seems he did. She had been angry and demanded it.

No, why was she angry? She was no longer the Yiyi from the story. What use were these meaningless vows?

Jiang Zhiyi frowned slightly, lowered her head to look at the white ball of fur curled in her arms, and after some thought said: “I’m only sheltering you from the rain temporarily. You’ll still need to go back to your master’s later. Since your master’s surname is Yuan, I’ll call you Yuan Tuan.”

Shen Yuance, outside, heard this and confirmed word by word: “Yuan… Tuan?”

Hearing its master’s call, Yuan Tuan’s fur stood on end, and it immediately leaped out of Jiang Zhiyi’s arms.

“Ah!” Startled, Jiang Zhiyi chased after it. When she reached the outer room, Yuan Tuan’s white fur flashed before her eyes, and so did the white of Shen Yuance’s body.

Jiang Zhiyi slowly raised her eyes and saw Shen Yuance standing there, bare-chested and slightly damp, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and well-defined muscles. The cool water droplets followed the contours of his chest downward, disappearing into his waistband…

Jiang Zhiyi’s mind went blank, and she blinked in a daze: “Y-you turn around!”

As she spoke, she quickly turned away.

Shen Yuance hesitated, then turned his back to her, looking down at himself: “…It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve seen me.”

“When have I ever seen you?”

“The first day in the capital, didn’t you see me then?”

…That did seem to have happened. But she remembered that when she accidentally interrupted him changing clothes, he didn’t seem to have any intention of covering his body.

“So you and your brother have the same face, even—your bodies are the same?”

“What, looking at me is the same as looking at my brother to you?”

“…”

“Then I must disappoint you, our bodies are different.” Shen Yuance tossed aside the towel he had been using.

“Wouldn’t those differences give you away?” Jiang Zhiyi asked curiously.

“Our builds are similar, and it’s not strange for someone to become more muscular after three years. These things don’t need to be hidden. What needs to be concealed, I’ve hidden well.”

“What needed to be hidden?”

“Scars from old wounds, calluses too thick on my hands.”

Jiang Zhiyi raised her head, looking at the bronze mirror in front of her. In the mirror, the nineteen-year-old youth’s back was covered with several ghastly scars. She couldn’t tell exactly what weapons had caused them—possibly swords, perhaps spears or halberds.

So he had these scars, while Shen Yuance did not.

Jiang Zhiyi stared for a good while: “…But your scars are still visible?”

“Old scars naturally can’t be erased. I made them appear to be newly formed, so on the surface, it looks like my brother only recently sustained these injuries.”

“How did you make them look newly formed…” Jiang Zhiyi’s mouth hung half-open. No matter how she thought about it, there seemed to be only one way, but that was too…

“Simply cut them all open again.” Shen Yuance said lightly.

Jiang Zhiyi shuddered, her breath caught, and she trembled as she steadied herself against the dressing table. Before her eyes flashed terrible scenes of blood and torn flesh.

…No wonder when he got slightly injured in the capital, he thought she was overreacting.

Shen Yuance seemed to sense something and turned to look at her rigid back, raising an eyebrow slightly: “It’s not like they were cut into your body. What are you afraid of?”

Jiang Zhiyi swallowed hard, steadied herself, and continued to ask: “So how did you get these scars?”

She guessed that Minister Shen must have raised this son, who couldn’t show his face in Hexi. Since Shen Yuance had so many old wounds, had he joined the army from childhood?

“Some are from joining the army after I was ten, others from martial training as a child.”

“How could martial training leave such marks? Shouldn’t instructors be supervising, like in academies?”

“If everyone trained like those showmen, how would we win battles?” Shen Yuance put on his outer robe, fastened his belt, and turned back around. “Besides, when did I ever attend an academy?”

Jiang Zhiyi turned to face him as well: “Then where did you train?”

“Places where no one could see.”

“Most of your scars are on your back. Do people attack from behind during private training?”

“They do on battlefields, so of course they must during training.” Shen Yuance still spoke as if this were perfectly normal.

Jiang Zhiyi stood frozen, moving from shock at a world she had never heard of or seen before—a horrifying world—to a chill and suffocation that felt like having cold water poured over her from head to toe after careful consideration.

Twin brothers with such a background, the younger sharing his elder brother’s name, growing up in darkness with life-or-death combat training, surrounded by battlefields, living in constant danger for ten years…

So that’s why he had told her not to approach him when he was sleeping.

And why, on that day, was it truly his first time walking openly in Guzang’s night market?

“Was all this your own choice?” Jiang Zhiyi asked in disbelief.

Shen Yuance blinked, seemingly never having been asked this question before, also surprised that after all her curiosity, this was what she ultimately asked.

“…I suppose so.” After a long pause, Shen Yuance answered casually, picking up his wet clothes. “If I’m not welcome, I’ll leave.”

“Oh…” Jiang Zhiyi nodded slightly. As she watched him push open the door and step out, she suddenly called out, “Yuance.”

Shen Yuance’s foot paused on the threshold. He turned back, appearing somewhat stunned.

Not that no one in Chang’an called him this, but they were addressing his brother. It had been a very long time since anyone had truly called him “Yuance.”

The moment Jiang Zhiyi spoke, she also felt a bit awkward. Calling him this way seemed strange, as if she were addressing Shen Yuance intimately, but what else could she call him when that was his name…

“What is it?” Shen Yuance asked hoarsely, his gaze drawing in her eyes.

Jiang Zhiyi shifted her gaze slightly and pointed to the small red clay stove nearby: “Do you want to take some ginger tea back with you…”

The next morning, Jiang Zhiyi was having breakfast in the inner courtyard when Jing Zhe informed her that Pei Xueqing had arrived at the manor early in the morning.

“Did she come alone?” Jiang Zhiyi looked up from her porridge and asked.

Jing Zhe: “Yes, but if you wish to send a message to Master Pei, it should be possible. I noticed that Young Master Shen wasn’t hiding Miss Pei’s visit.”

“How dare he hide it? After all, I ate—”

Jing Zhe was puzzled: “Ate what?”

“Nothing.” Jiang Zhiyi lowered her head with a flickering gaze, took a few more sips of porridge, and continued, “I don’t have any new messages for Pei Zisong right now, but I should apologize to Pei Xueqing. If not for me, her jade pendant wouldn’t have broken. I wonder if Yuance ever returned it to her…”

“Then let me accompany you. She’s in Young Master Shen’s main courtyard.”

Jiang Zhiyi quickly finished her breakfast, rinsed her mouth, arranged her appearance, and left her quarters. To her surprise, just as she approached the main courtyard, she saw Pei Xueqing walking out.

Pei Xueqing was still dressed in a cyan-colored gown with a veiled hat covering her face. As soon as she saw Jiang Zhiyi, she stopped and curtseyed: “Princess.”

The last time she had witnessed this scene was during the first month of the year. Though not much time had passed, so much had changed that she felt as if she had lived two lifetimes, creating a sense of being in another world.

Jiang Zhiyi approached her: “No need for formalities. Didn’t you just arrive? Are you leaving already?”

“No, I boldly requested Young Master Shen to take me to pay respects—”

Pei Xueqing didn’t finish her sentence, but Jiang Zhiyi understood when she saw the plain-colored food box in her hand. Paying respects to Shen Yuance must be Pei Xueqing’s main purpose for traveling all the way to Hexi.

It seemed Pei Xueqing had learned from Shen Yuance that she also knew the truth. Now the three of them no longer needed to hide anything and could speak frankly: “That’s not bold at all, it’s proper. But is he letting you go alone?”

“The place is difficult to find. I’ll guide her.” Hearing the note of blame in her voice, Shen Yuance walked up from behind, dressed in light attire.

“Oh.” Looking up at him, Jiang Zhiyi remembered how he looked without clothes the night before and awkwardly responded.

Shen Yuance glanced at her tentatively: “Do you want to go too? If so, we can go together. It saves me from guiding twice.”

Jiang Zhiyi opened her mouth, intending to say she didn’t want to go, but considering she didn’t know when she would see Pei Xueqing again—what if she returned to the capital after paying her respects?—she thought for a moment and said: “Fine then, count me in. I have some things to discuss with Miss Pei anyway.”

Fine then? She made it sound like such a chore. In front of his brother’s true love, she had found a decent excuse.

Shen Yuance gave Jiang Zhiyi a complex look and led them out of the manor.

Since the place for paying respects was indeed very private, neither Jiang Zhiyi nor Pei Xueqing brought their maids. Besides Shen Yuance, only San Qi accompanied them as their carriage driver, steering an inconspicuous carriage.

The carriage departed from Guzang City, heading towards an unnamed mountain outside the city.

Jiang Zhiyi and Pei Xueqing sat facing each other inside the carriage. “Miss Pei, I only recently learned the whole story. Let me apologize to you. If not for the misunderstanding I caused, your jade pendant wouldn’t have broken. I even spoke harshly to you before, causing you unnecessary distress.”

Pei Xueqing’s face showed embarrassment as she shook her head: “Young Master Shen has already explained everything to me. You were unaware, so how could I blame you? If I were to blame you, you should also blame me—I’ve caused you considerable distress as well. Besides, I helped Young Master Shen deceive you before, which is something I’ve wanted to apologize for…”

Shen Yuance, crouching in the front compartment of the carriage, turned back: “Let’s not blame anyone. Blame me.”

“Why are you eavesdropping?” Jiang Zhiyi lightly scolded.

“Why don’t you ask why this carriage door doesn’t block sound?”

Pei Xueqing smiled at the flustered Jiang Zhiyi.

After traveling for about half an hour on the bumpy road in the suburbs, the carriage finally stopped at the foot of the mountain.

Jiang Zhiyi was the first to bend down to exit. As she was carefully looking for a spot to step on the muddy ground, a pair of arms lifted her straight down.

Jiang Zhiyi nearly cried out in surprise, but remembering Pei Xueqing was behind her and not wanting to make a scene, she suppressed the sound that almost escaped her lips. After landing, she steadied herself by holding Shen Yuance’s waist, her eyes flickering slightly as she looked up at him.

A moment later, Pei Xueqing came down with San Qi’s arm for support, thanking him.

San Qi took the food box from Pei Xueqing’s hand: “Don’t mention it, Miss Pei. The mountain path ahead is quite long. If you don’t mind, you can treat me as a male servant and hold onto me for support.”

“How could I mind? Thank you for your help on this journey.”

San Qi moved the carriage to a hidden spot to conceal it, then led Pei Xueqing up the mountain.

Jiang Zhiyi slowly turned her head to look at Shen Yuance. So her male servant would be—

Shen Yuance: “Do you mind?”

“I didn’t say that.” Jiang Zhiyi averted her eyes.

“I can carry you on my back if you want. After all, I’m just a male servant.”

“…No need.” Jiang Zhiyi turned to follow Pei Xueqing and San Qi, but looking down, she saw an extremely steep slope and had to stop.

A familiar hand appeared in her field of vision.

Jiang Zhiyi silently took Shen Yuance’s arm, using it for support as she stepped forward.

The rarely traveled mountain had truly difficult paths. Even though it was a clear day with dry ground underfoot, and San Qi cleared away tall grass and thorns ahead while Shen Yuance provided support at her side, Jiang Zhiyi still struggled greatly. Before long, she was out of breath, her legs feeling weak.

Looking ahead, she saw that Pei Xueqing was also clearly panting but was determinedly overcoming the difficulties, each step taken with great resolve.

Naturally, when it came to paying respects to Shen Yuance, how could her conviction compare to Pei Xueqing’s?

Seeing Jiang Zhiyi stop with her hands on her waist, hesitantly looking up at the weed-covered, endless yellow dirt path ahead, Shen Yuance held her arm and glanced at her: “Can’t go on? Didn’t you want to come just now?”

Jiang Zhiyi lowered her voice: “I didn’t know it would be like this…”

“If you had known, would you not have wanted to come?” Shen Yuance looked at her somewhat forced expression.

Jiang Zhiyi didn’t answer verbally, but her eyes already betrayed her thoughts.

“Jiang Zhiyi, I’ve figured you out today.” Shen Yuance crossed his arms and stared at her.

“W-what have you figured out?”

“You’re nowhere near as fond of my brother as Pei Xueqing is.” Shen Yuance nodded upward.

“…”

Jiang Zhiyi turned her eyes away guiltily: “They’re a couple, while I’m not…”

Halfway through her sentence, she spotted a colorful soft object slithering through the underbrush at her feet.

Shen Yuance looked down, about to pull her away, when Jiang Zhiyi let out a startled cry and jumped up.

In the next flash of lightning-quick movement, Jiang Zhiyi had already flung herself onto Shen Yuance, her arms tightly wrapped around his neck, her legs encircling his waist.

Shen Yuance gently adjusted her weight, securing her in his arms, and looked toward the grass: “It was just a garden snake. It’s gone now.”

Jiang Zhiyi, dizzy and breathless, looked down at him: “Just—a garden—snake? How can you speak so casually about it…”

Shen Yuance raised his eyebrows and looked up: “Then—there’s a garden snake on this mountain?”

“Of course it’s ‘actually’! Why wouldn’t it be ‘actually’?” Jiang Zhiyi, pale-faced, pressed one hand against her wildly beating heart.

“Yes, actually,” Shen Yuance nodded in earnest agreement. “You came to pay respects to my brother, and he frightened you with a snake, but not Pei Xueqing. It shows that my brother’s choices remain consistent whether alive or dead, so—”

“S-so?” Jiang Zhiyi lowered her eyes in a daze.

“So—” Shen Yuance looked up at her with a smile. “Stop liking my brother and like me instead.”