Several exquisite dishes and a large pot of wine sat on the table before them, but the two martial brothers faced the spread with worried expressions, sighing as they sat across from each other with no appetite whatsoever.

The inn they stayed at tonight had excellent conditions. The servants were efficient, and after settling the animals, they brought sumptuous meals to each guest room. What should have been a moment of relaxation and rest was instead suffocated by heavy atmosphere.

With the secret of the “Phoenix Embryo” accidentally exposed by Zhou Qingyang, how could these two have any mind for eating or drinking?

Recalling their first meeting at Cuiwei Temple, they had felt it was a personal matter, inconvenient to discuss with outsiders. Who knew that the longer they kept it secret, the harder it became to speak of, until the pill’s name became an unpredictably dangerous existence. Now that the secret was finally exposed, how could someone as perceptive as her not guess its connection to herself?

Before entering the room, Bao Zhu had said expressionlessly that Wei Xun should come to her room for a talk after eating.

Seeing disaster approaching, Wei Xun poured himself a bowl of wine, hoping alcohol would give him courage, but his throat was dry and tight, and for a moment he didn’t want to bring it to his lips. Shisan Lang watched the wine ripple in the bowl—clearly Wei Xun’s hands were trembling. That such a supreme master would be nervous like this was unbelievable.

“Senior Brother, I’ll chant sutras for you,” the little novice said quietly.

Wei Xun asked blankly: “Already performing last rites?”

Shisan Lang explained: “No, asking Buddha to bless your safe return.”

Wei Xun sighed deeply: “If Guanyin wants to finish me off, what can Buddha do?”

Knowing that the two martial brothers shared fortune and misfortune—if Wei Xun was driven away because of this, he wouldn’t fare well either—Shisan Lang frantically offered ideas:

“I heard Third Martial Sister mention that a hundred years ago, a barbarian invented the ruthless move of ‘cutting open the belly to show sincerity.’ He sliced open his stomach to expose his internal organs, proving his unwavering loyalty to the emperor. As soon as you enter her room, draw your dagger and kill yourself! Jiu Niang will surely be greatly shocked. After her anger subsides, I’ll call Master Uncle over to stuff your intestines back in and sew you up.”

Hearing his junior brother’s brilliant scheme, Wei Xun’s expression was complex: “If the King of Hell joined Canyang Academy, he’d have to rank behind you. You know, even if you scheme me to death, your ranking would only rise to twelfth—you couldn’t directly become Senior Brother, right?”

Shisan Lang wasn’t afraid of him and warned righteously: “I don’t care how Senior Brother dies, just remember the principle: if she moves to hit you, you must not fight back!”

Wei Xun recalled the truth behind that last time he “fought back” and muttered quietly: “Dream on—how could there be such good fortune…”

The customs of the Hebei military governors differed greatly from the Central Plains. Even in large cities, there were extremely few places for nighttime singing, dancing, and entertainment. After the Cold Clothes Festival, darkness came earlier and earlier. Merchant travelers who needed to rise early for their journey had all gone to bed early, leaving the courtyard quiet.

Wei Xun stood before Bao Zhu’s door, his legs feeling like they weighed a thousand pounds. He understood that he would have to face this storm sooner or later—delaying and dawdling was useless, merely the difference between an early cut or a late one.

After steeling himself to knock, a voice from inside said “Come in.” The tone was flat, revealing no emotion. Wei Xun took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the door. The moment he stepped inside, his gaze instinctively sought escape routes first—the window’s location. At the same time, he realized this was futile. Unless she actively drove him away today, he absolutely couldn’t run off.

Bao Zhu sat reading by candlelight. Looking up toward the door, she caught sight of Wei Xun’s expression showing despair and his furtive glance toward the window, which couldn’t help but amuse her.

“Don’t do anything like breaking windows or tearing down doors again—we’d have to pay for damages.” Bao Zhu pointed to a crescent-shaped stool before the table: “Sit.”

As a great thief who had roamed the martial world for years without ever being caught, Wei Xun now felt like a petty criminal caught in the net, facing official interrogation.

He had expected Bao Zhu to be waiting with bow drawn, but she only held a book scroll. Though no anger showed on her face, Wei Xun had witnessed many times how unusually calm she remained when facing battle. His heart grew cold, but having no other excuse, he had no choice but to sit down as if walking on thin ice.

Bao Zhu placed the book scroll on the table and said: “This is a collection of Yuan Zhen’s poems I bought in Luoyang. There were several I hadn’t read before, and only after reading them did I understand why. ‘Noble daughters proud and arrogant flourish, wealthy families rely on their power; granddaughters newly enter the palace, infants recently enfeoffed as dukes.’

Yuan Jiu’s poem sharply criticizes princesses for being spoiled and tyrannical. The upper classes indulge in luxury while rewards and punishments are unclear, treating private matters as public. Such satirical poems naturally wouldn’t enter the palace for me—the target of the criticism—to see. Similarly, your concealing the Phoenix Embryo matter from me must have reasonable cause.”

Wei Xun secretly pondered that Bao Zhu was using poetry as metaphor, apparently helping him find a way out. Hearing her calm voice, it seemed there was still room for negotiation, and his anxious heart settled slightly.

Bao Zhu continued: “When we first met at Cuiwei Temple and immediately discussed matters of life and death, it was indeed shallow acquaintance speaking of deep matters. I suppose you were quite confused then too. But later we traveled together through hardships and shared adversity. Whether or not there would be results, why didn’t you speak up and discuss it with me?”

These two sentences carried hints of resentment. At bottom, this was a crisis of trust.

Wei Xun couldn’t avoid it any longer. Meeting Bao Zhu’s gaze directly, he told the truth: “I promised to escort you to Youzhou to join family—that was a pure commitment with no conditions attached. If I had revealed that I needed the Phoenix Embryo to continue living, that would have been wrong. I didn’t want you to think I… I had ulterior motives, making you feel coerced in any way.”

Bao Zhu’s almond eyes widened as she was momentarily stunned.

These words were so plain as to be almost crude, yet compared to them, all the world’s beautiful writings seemed to pale in comparison. All her life she had seen and heard: to drive others to serve oneself and achieve goals, one must either hold the power of life and death over them, making them submit through fear; or reach a deal with them, trading cooperation for mutually recognized stakes.

Recalling Cuiwei Temple, she had thought she had hired him with the generous reward of “lifelong wealth and honor.” Yet he had only regarded this journey as an unpaid promise, never revealing even half of the secrets concerning his own life.

“But without medicine, you’ll die!” Bao Zhu’s voice suddenly rose.

Wei Xun said seriously: “Everyone must die eventually. I only want to face death with a clear conscience.”

Everyone has their price.

Only he was different.

Seeking nothing, only keeping promises; not loving his body, going to meet scholars’ difficulties.

Bao Zhu bit her lips, unable to speak for a long time.

Seeing this, Wei Xun smiled: “The pill Master Uncle gave me earlier relieved the symptoms. Looking at it this way, the ‘Phoenix Embryo’ might just be coincidence—I accidentally dug into your tomb, you happen to be named Bao Zhu… all of this was deliberately fabricated by Master to deceive me and has nothing to do with you.”

“It’s not accidental coincidence!” Hearing this, Bao Zhu flushed red with anger and said indignantly: “This is Heaven’s will! It’s fate! What do you mean ‘nothing to do with it’—aren’t we lovers?!”

“Huh?”

Wei Xun’s eyes widened as he was completely bewildered, thinking he had misheard. But being so close, there was no possibility of mishearing. Looking at her serious expression, it didn’t seem like she was joking.

Full of shock and doubt, not daring to play deaf and dumb, he carefully looked left and right to confirm whether there was a third person in the room.

Seeing his stunned expression as if struck by lightning, Bao Zhu asked back: “Have you become so ill you lost your memory? In Luoyang, you recommended yourself for my bed, we slept together for many days, and I even wore socks—have you forgotten all this?”

Wei Xun opened his mouth, trying to explain, but this tangled mess truly left him at a loss for where to begin his defense.

Thinking back, when her skin was festering and she was barely alive, her body could only be hastily wrapped in monk’s robes, yet she was unusually insistent about putting on silk stockings—it was indeed rather strange.

Wei Xun hesitated repeatedly, and finally could only manage one word: “Socks?”

Mentioning this topic, Bao Zhu’s cheeks showed a blush and she felt a bit embarrassed, but quickly overcame her shyness and spoke frankly: “I never planned to have babies, so I had to wear socks for contraception. Do you object?”

Wei Xun shook his head like a rattle drum, faster than dodging enemies, feeling increasingly bewildered. He simply couldn’t handle this chaotic, incomprehensible conversation—truly a case of wild punches defeating the master.

“Who told you to do this?”

“Mi Moyan.”

Mentioning this name again, Bao Zhu still felt regret and heartache.

“After I was abducted by that old dog, I was terrified, unable to rest day or night. Mi Moyan taught me to put on silk stockings, saying this would prevent little babies from secretly crawling into my feet at night. He was quite knowledgeable about matters between men and women. Following his advice, I could sleep peacefully and accumulate strength to strike back at my enemies.”

Wei Xun’s expression was complex. He had heard the absurd story of calling a deer a horse, taking it as a joke. Now, this person before him was pointing at raw rice and insisting it was cooked rice, yet with such righteousness and confidence.

Wei Xun held back repeatedly before finally squeezing out: “He really was a good person.”

Bao Zhu sighed with emotion: “Naturally. When I escape my troubles in the future, I’ll definitely send someone to Luoyang to bring his blood brother Mi Falan to my side, protecting and caring for him for life.”

Hearing the words “for life,” the bitter taste in Wei Xun’s mouth immediately turned sour.

The deceased barbarian youth was indeed a righteous man. Fabricating this ridiculous lie was probably just a desperate measure in dire straits, at least alleviating her fear at the time. Without Mi Moyan using his corpse to deliver the message, he couldn’t have reached Prince Qi’s mansion in time. Providing for the Mi family survivors was only proper—he could raise no objections.

But thinking of how Bao Zhu had stared transfixed at that golden-haired dancing girl, and imagining the future when she returned to her original life, rewarding this person and that with gold and treasures, his heart clawed and scratched, making him uncomfortable all over.

After a long silence, Wei Xun lowered his head and said quietly: “I only slept on the foot couch—there was no sharing pillows or sleeping together. Keep your voice down and don’t go around talking nonsense. We martial world people also have reputations.”

Hearing this, Bao Zhu was startled, thinking this outlaw was now fabricating nonsense about reputation, clearly trying to distance himself from the relationship, which immediately annoyed her.

Since she had recovered from the Guanyin Nu case and left Luoyang, Wei Xun had refused to stay overnight anymore. These recent days, he had been full of worries, maintaining distance from her, no longer cheerful and humorous as before. Was this a strategy of playing hard to get, or was he worried about facing differences in status and circumstances after reaching Youzhou?

Lost in thought, Bao Zhu suddenly remembered his previous request for a marriage contract and sighed that even one who desired nothing would harbor such complex thoughts. She said apologetically:

“Don’t worry, I won’t abandon you after starting something. It’s just… an official status really isn’t possible anymore—I’ll have to become a female Taoist in the future. However, as a princess, having a few intimate companions later would be perfectly acceptable.”

Wei Xun looked up desperately at the ceiling and began seriously considering using Shisan Lang’s self-harm plan to escape. Zhou Qingyang had torn open this mess, so Zhou Qingyang should sew up his intestines.

Seeing Wei Xun again showing signs of fleeing, Bao Zhu quickly stretched out her leg to step on his boot and pin him down. But he was extremely agile, and she missed three times as he nimbly dodged. Bao Zhu glared viciously and issued a warning with her eyes. Wei Xun didn’t dare dodge again and let her step on him, unable to move.

“I’m your tomb companion—the tomb of burial grounds.” Wei Xun instinctively sensed danger and asked anxiously: “May I leave now?”

“You’re not escaping again today.” Bao Zhu said seriously: “I’ve thought it through carefully. Chen Shigu was an ordinary mortal, too busy protecting himself—how could he predict that after his death, a princess would be buried alive by mistake? Moreover, he couldn’t have precisely calculated that you would rob the tomb for pearls just when I was dying. The meaning of Phoenix Embryo and Living Pearl must be destined by fate. I can definitely save you, just don’t know the method yet. Since I can’t figure out the way, I’ll simply try everything. Oh right, I won’t do foolish things like throwing myself into furnaces to forge swords or cutting my flesh to heal illness.”

Speaking thus, Bao Zhu pulled out a stack of snow-white silk stockings from her bosom, looked at Wei Xun directly and said plainly: “Since you say sleeping on the foot couch doesn’t count as sharing pillows, then stay tonight and we’ll truly share pillows once, to see if it can cure your illness.”

Author’s Note: The ruthless person who cut open his belly to show sincerity was called An Pu—you can look him up if interested. The Tang sancai ceramics buried with An Pu and his wife are among the most exquisite surviving examples, viewable at Luoyang Museum and the Ancient Tomb Museum.