The voices and lights gradually faded away. In the sound of oars cutting water, they had entered the river ahead. The water surface gradually widened, with moonlight and starlight flowing across the sky. The sharp bow of the boat seemed to be heading toward the moon.

Tie Ci caressed the box in her hands – it had warmed up, feeling cozy.

“Do you like it?”

Tie Ci looked up into Rong Wei’s eyes and slowly said: “You pretended not to come drinking with us, but actually went to buy this?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted Eight Treasures Glass Rouge?” Rong Wei rested his chin on his hand. “It really was in demand. I took a shortcut down the mountain and almost got into a fight at Lanfang Pavilion to grab this last box.”

So that day when she was joking with Fatty Tiger at the martial arts field, mentioning Eight Treasures Glass Rouge, he had actually heard it. After several days, he secretly went down the mountain to buy this.

Tie Ci didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “I’m a man – what do I need rouge for?”

“I don’t care what you need it for. Can’t really let Tian Wu buy it for you.”

Tie Ci gripped the box tightly, not knowing what feelings stirred in her heart.

She had never received rouge as a gift before.

She had bought rouge – all of it to reward the girls in Ruixiang Palace. No one had ever bought it for her.

Treasures were displayed before her, tributes from various countries, everything precious and magnificent, but those were all for the Crown Princess of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Not for Tie Ci.

This was also the first time she formally received a gift in her identity separate from being Crown Princess.

In such an almost touching way.

Her heart seemed to rise with gentle waves, undulating with the river water. She opened the glass box, and facing the moonlight, the rich fragrance instantly filled the entire river.

She should return it, she knew.

But at this moment she wanted to indulge herself in being selfish once.

Just blame this moment’s moonlight for being too beautiful, the starlight too bright, the wind too gentle.

A light blush rose on her cheeks, her eyes very bright, but her expression and tone were surprisingly calm: “Well then, thank you. I can use it to please my beloved in the future.”

Rong Wei coughed behind her, amusement growing in his eyes, though his tone was sullen: “That’s up to you.”

Tie Ci felt apologetic but couldn’t say anything. She put away the glass box, turned around and supported him: “Your injury isn’t healed yet, and you exhausted your vital energy before. You shouldn’t be out here on the river in the wind.”

Rong Wei suddenly said: “Look!”

Tie Ci turned her head and saw a streak of flowing light cross the sky, finally disappearing into the mountains beyond.

She said: “A shooting star! Quick, make a wish!”

After speaking, she clasped her hands together and lowered her head.

Rong Wei looked at her in surprise, then imitated the same gesture.

Under the starry sky, on the flowing river, in the small boat – two people maintaining the same posture.

A shooting star flashing across the horizon.

After a moment, Tie Ci let out a light sigh, raised her head, and smiled: “When my master first told me about this custom from her homeland, I thought – shooting stars are inauspicious, making wishes under such an ominous star, how could such wishes come true? But just now when the shooting star passed, I still made a wish. My hands really don’t listen to reason.”

Rong Wei sighed: “Just shows how foolish you are!”

Tie Ci said expressionlessly: “Someone who follows a fool is even more foolish.”

Rong Wei laughed heartily, then stopped laughing and said meaningfully: “Actually, it’s just because you have a wish in your heart. Longing for it to be realized… So, what is your wish?”

Tie Ci didn’t answer, asking him instead: “What about your wish?”

Rong Wei gazed at her and immediately replied: “You are in my wish.”

“…”

For a moment Tie Ci didn’t know what to say.

This should be sweet talk, right? Sweet talk? Sweet talk???

This person, was he really trying to turn her gay????

Flying feathers with flowing sleeves flashed through her mind again.

But I think I might be a lesbian?

Her pause was only momentary, then she smiled: “I understand now. Your wish must be wanting to beat me up.”

Rong Wei stared at her, the corners of his lips gradually curving into a smile that was both beautiful and sinister.

“Mm, you guessed very accurately.” He lazily flicked a pebble, shattering the calm lake surface and creating countless ripples. “You really do deserve a beating, making people’s teeth itch.”

Tie Ci breathed a sigh of relief, blinking: “You flatter me, you flatter me.”

“If you don’t want me to beat you, honestly confess your wish.” Rong Wei turned the topic back.

Tie Ci said helplessly: “My wish? World peace, clear seas and rivers, family happiness, health and longevity.”

Rong Wei commented: “Very perfunctory, and surprisingly doesn’t include me.”

“I also wish for the masters to have students everywhere, constant as the moon, rising as the sun, lasting as the Southern Mountains, never diminishing or collapsing.”

“Living to become a thousand-year turtle or ten-thousand-year tortoise?” Rong Wei said. “Why bother? Life isn’t about length but about ambition and achievement. A smelly long rotten rope or a thunderous cannon – which would you choose?”

“I choose the smelly long thunderous cannon.”

Rong Wei laughed, the mirth in his eyes rippling like endless waves across the entire landscape. He reached out to ruffle Tie Ci’s hair: “You seem dignified on the surface but are actually mischievous. Peel away all the disguises and look again – you hide a heart that’s both clever and indifferent… truly detestable, yet makes people…”

Tie Ci suddenly cut off his words: “Look!”

Rong Wei almost rolled his eyes.

This kid was truly slippery and detestable.

Reluctantly looking over, he saw some small creature struggling in the water, wet and struggling desperately. Tie Ci passed over the oar, and the creature climbed up – it was a cat with a swollen belly. Tie Ci could even see slight movement within its abdomen.

“It’s a pregnant stray mother cat,” Tie Ci said, taking off her outer robe to dry the mother cat. “About to give birth.”

“How many cat and dog corpses float down this river every day?”

“When you see it, you can’t ignore it.”

“Eighteen, I just said you were cold-hearted, didn’t expect you to be so soft.”

Tie Ci said nothing.

It was just that the cat’s desperate struggle in the water reminded her of herself at age three.

If master hadn’t seen her, the Great Qian Dynasty wouldn’t have today’s Crown Princess.

“Everyone has times of hardship and difficulty. Even a beast has reasons to live.”

“I won’t stop you from saving this cat. But I suddenly want to ask you – if a dying person came floating down the river today, would you save them?”

“Would you save them?”

“I wouldn’t.”

Tie Ci looked up at him.

“Who knows why that person fell in the water, or whether falling in was even a scheme? What if they’re pretending to drown to pull you into the water too?”

Tie Ci fell silent, wondering what Rong Wei had experienced. He said she seemed dignified but was actually indifferent, but what about himself? Under his frivolous and flirtatious exterior, what kind of soul was hidden?

People who haven’t experienced cutting winds and frost, bitter pain and persecution, wouldn’t have such wariness and coldness, such a cautious mentality.

“If you yourself fell in the water, would you hope others would think this way?”

“Me?” Rong Wei blinked, saying in surprise: “Is this about what I hope for? Isn’t it normal for drowning people to have no one save them?”

Not only would no one save them, but in the depths of winter on ice, someone might even step down on your head.

Looking at his expression, Tie Ci suddenly didn’t want to speak anymore. It wasn’t about differences of opinion – she keenly sensed that Rong Wei’s mood wasn’t very good right now.

She thought of what he had said to Senior Brother Mu that night.

The world is cold and bitter – those who haven’t suffered have no right to forgive on behalf of others.

She just slowly dried the cat, remembering herself trembling all over when master picked her up years ago.

Rong Wei crouched beside her and took the cat: “Wild cats aren’t clean – be careful of bugs biting you.” He added: “This place isn’t far from shore. If you can’t bear to part with it, find a family to give it to. Supplement with some silver, and they’ll probably be willing to have an extra mouse-catcher at home.”

Tie Ci was about to turn around when the cat cried out, dragging her outer robe as it struggled down to sit on the deck and began licking itself.

She was still confused when Rong Wei frowned: “It’s giving birth!”

He accelerated the rowing, but it was already too late. The mother cat began giving birth to kittens one after another – a pile of pink, soft little things rolling onto her outer robe.

There were no houses nearby, so she had to stop the boat and help the mother cat give birth.

The cat seemed to have struggled too long and been hungry too long. It quickly lost strength. For the last one, Tie Ci had to help deliver it.

The newborn kittens blindly nuzzled around the mother cat’s body. The mother cat meowed, wanting to lick the kittens but lacking the strength.

Tie Ci stroked the soft cat fur and suddenly thought of Noble Consort Jing.

It must have been very difficult for her to give birth to herself back then.

Later, to protect her and reassure the Empress Dowager, both she and father ignored Noble Consort Jing. Over time, due to busyness, they gradually truly forgot about her, letting her become weak and foolish under the daily manipulation of those palace servants with ulterior motives.

She had once been a strong mother. That she had fallen to this state – didn’t she herself bear some responsibility?

She had always thought that as long as she survived, lived well, and secured her position, that would be the best protection for her mother.

But Noble Consort Jing was a mother. She didn’t understand court politics. All she wanted was her husband’s care and her daughter’s affection.

The imperial family had stripped away her meaning of existence as a wife and mother.

And she wasn’t the type who could stand on her own and find her own value.

The world had been too difficult for her.

Tie Ci closed her eyes.

She said softly: “They say motherhood makes one strong, but actually motherhood makes one soft. I suddenly understand my mother.”

Rong Wei, who was rowing, suddenly laughed coldly: “I suddenly remember my mother too.”

“Do you understand her too?”

“I don’t understand.” Rong Wei said. “If your mother drugged you unconscious and packaged you off to a strange woman’s bed, could you understand that?”

Tie Ci: “…”

Anger suddenly surged in her heart.

What?! Which woman!

A moment later this anger receded like a tide.

She wanted to slap herself.

What kind of anger was this?

Thinking again, Tie Ci laughed.

“I never thought someone like Master Rong would have such tragic times. May I ask who that lucky young lady was?”

“You said ‘lucky,'” Rong Wei immediately turned his head, looking at her with burning eyes. “You also think it’s lucky, right? So do you want this kind of…”

Tie Ci immediately used her interruption technique to cut off this flirtatious guy who reacted too quickly: “It seems Master Rong actually ran away from marriage? I didn’t expect you to be such an honorable gentleman who could sit calmly with a beautiful woman.”

“You flatter me,” Rong Wei said. “But let’s be clear – I don’t want to be a gentleman. If my mother drugged me and packaged me off to…”

Tie Ci: “Oh, mama cat! Mama cat! What’s wrong with you! Wake up! Don’t scare me!”

Rong Wei: “…”

This damned little brat Eighteen.

Looking at the cat, it really wasn’t doing well – its meowing had grown weak.

Rong Wei flicked his wrist and with a splash, there was already a fish speared on the oar.

He tossed the dripping fish over, and it landed beside the cat.

But the cat didn’t even sniff it. Its breathing gradually weakened. Tie Ci picked up the three kittens and gently placed them near its mouth.

The mother cat slowly licked each of the three kittens’ heads.

The three kittens blindly crawled and clawed around their mother’s head, falling off repeatedly.

After a while, Tie Ci took them down, tore off half her clean inner robe to wrap them up.

The other half wrapped the dead mother cat.

The boat reached shore, but there were no houses anywhere.

Tie Ci buried the mother cat. The kittens made tiny chirping sounds in her arms.

Rong Wei smiled: “If you were a woman, people would probably think you’re holding your own children.”

Tie Ci grinned: “Maybe in the next life.”

Her outer robe had been used by the mother cat for giving birth. With only a thin inner robe, she looked rather frail in the cool midnight wind.

Rong Wei glanced at her, took off his own outer robe, and draped it over her. “Can you spread your arms?”

Tie Ci spread her arms. Rong Wei helped her put it on and fastened the buttons. Being taller than Tie Ci, he had to lower his head slightly while fastening the buttons. His high-bridged nose seemed about to poke her hair, his well-defined lips hovering near her forehead. Without looking up, she could sense the ultimate masculine beauty before her – like a flower on a towering tree, washed by heavenly winds, endlessly elegant.

The faint woody fragrance was also overwhelming at this moment.

So overwhelming she seemed to have nowhere to escape.

Tie Ci thought expressionlessly: Master said it’s all tricks.

Once you’re tricked into bed, you’re worthless.

When that time comes, would she be responsible for him or would he be responsible for her?

From his tone, his family had other arrangements for his marriage.

What about herself? She was engaged. Could the Prince of Liaodong’s dignity be easily dismissed?

He accepted male relationships well, but she preferred to be a lesbian.

They were destined to be strangers in this world – why entangle themselves with worldly affairs?

Rong Wei kept watching her expression.

Seeing her gaze flow and finally turn cold, his hand pressed harder, and with a ripping sound, he tore off a button.

His fingers tightened, almost wanting to grab Ye Shiba’s throat and shake him at that moment, asking what this little brat was really thinking.

Did he think convincing himself to be gay was easy?

Did he think wanting to break the engagement with the Crown Princess was easy?

Did he think casting aside all concerns, not thinking about how this choice would affect everything he planned, rushing toward a future with a man was easy?!

Frustration swelled in his chest, red flashed before his eyes, and killing intent arose spontaneously. He quickly shook his head and breathed deeply.

After a moment he calmed down, released his fingers, and even smoothed out the wrinkles: “Let’s go.”

Tie Ci silently followed behind him.

Neither spoke. After getting their bearings, they headed up the mountain.

One in a bad mood, one with thoughts in chaos – they had both forgotten the classmates left behind in town.

There was also a patch of forest near the water. To reach the mountain path back, they had to pass through the woods.

In the midnight forest, strange birds cawed, trees rustled, and shadows seemed to lurk everywhere like human figures.

Tie Ci held the kittens, walking absent-mindedly, when suddenly her steps faltered – she vaguely sensed something wrong.

At the same time, Rong Wei shouted: “Don’t move!”