Huo Qi Lang took the fur coat from Madam Li and quickly followed to drape it over Li Yuanying. Seeing the siblings collapsed on the ground embracing and weeping bitterly, he temporarily left them alone and walked straight toward the rear.

The hearse carrying the coffin followed directly behind the ceremonial procession, with Shisan Lang standing beside it attending to the spirit.

Message riders had galloped back and forth communicating news, so Youzhou had already received word of Wei Xun’s death. Huo Qi Lang had long known his time was limited, yet seeing such a once-in-a-generation talent die young still made her sigh with regret.

She knocked on the coffin and teased: “Senior Brother, this coffin material of yours is a bit cheap.”

Shisan Lang mumbled a few words, head lowered, saying: “His elegiac couplet was written personally by the princess, and the funeral procession was so very long.”

Huo Qi Lang said cheerfully: “That’s true—none of us could match this grandeur. A glorious burial, his death wasn’t in vain.”

After the senior and junior exchanged casual words, Madam Yu, Madam Li, Li Chengyin, Yuan Shaobo, and other close confidants came forward to help and comfort the siblings.

Huo Qi Lang turned back, helped Li Yuanying to his feet, and advised: “If you’re going to cry, cry in the carriage. If you catch cold and fall ill again, I really won’t be able to keep up.” Then she half-dragged, half-pulled him back to the carriage.

The siblings were too excited to hear what others said. Once in the carriage compartment, they studied each other carefully: Bao Zhu saw her brother’s weary, haggard appearance, while Li Yuanying saw his sister’s temples touched with frost, knowing that the other had suffered greatly during this time, which stirred mixed emotions.

Bao Zhu asked through her tears: “How did you become so thin and gaunt? Is Youzhou’s food that terrible?”

Li Yuanying sighed deeply: “It’s a long story.”

He had learned that Bao Zhu was imprisoned by Wang Chengwu and had cut her hair to survive. Hair could grow back, but these scarred hands of hers truly broke his heart.

“You’ve become much more robust and taller. How did your skin come to look like this?”

Bao Zhu wiped her face and said bitterly: “It’s a long story. I killed our uncle’s entire family.”

Li Yuanying was startled, remembering Yang Xingjian’s letter for help, wondering what calamity she had experienced in Luoyang. Thinking she must have had her reasons, he said: “If you killed them, you killed them. This is also a Li family tradition passed down through generations.”

The siblings gazed at each other holding hands for a long time. Bao Zhu suddenly thought of Wei Xun, tears streaming down as she choked out: “I originally had someone important I wanted to introduce to you, brother… but he… he…”

Li Yuanying guessed that his sister and that skilled guard had probably developed feelings during their travels together. Hearing of his death, he quietly felt relieved, though he offered gentle comfort: “His surname was Wei, right? When we return to the city, I’ll find a prominent Wei family from Jingzhao to adopt him as a son, so his tomb inscription can be written more respectably.”

Bao Zhu was stunned, feeling these words were strangely familiar.

Having welcomed the princess back, Madam Li feared Prince Shao might catch cold again and create more complications, so she quickly ordered the driver to rush back at full speed. Within a day and night, they returned to Youzhou’s administrative seat.

With the siblings safely reunited and the princess bringing ten thousand troops, Madam Li was overjoyed and immediately arranged a celebration feast. On one hand, she rewarded the Jade Comb Army stationed outside the city with food and wine; on the other, she held a grand banquet in the prince’s residence to honor the meritorious officials.

Bao Zhu felt listless and discovered that Madam Li had seated her beside her brother—the position that should have belonged to Princess Cui. She found this strange and asked: “Where’s sister-in-law?”

Everyone remained silent. Li Yuanying, seeing her exhausted and grieving, planned to explain the details in a few days and casually deflected: “Things didn’t work out, so we divorced.”

Bao Zhu was surprised for a moment, then sighed: “So we’re both alone now.”

Seeing the rich feast but not spotting Shisan Lang, she asked those around her: “Where’s that little novice monk who followed me?”

Someone replied: “The young master followed the hearse to Minzhong Temple for the wake and hasn’t returned yet.”

Huo Qi Lang made a sound of surprise and said wonderingly: “Even with Master dead, it didn’t stop us from starting the feast. Little Baldy is the most gluttonous—with all this good food, how could he bear not to come?”

Bao Zhu’s chopsticks froze in mid-air, an inexplicable unease growing in her heart. After forcing down two tasteless bites, she simply put down her utensils and rose to leave.

“I’ll go check on Minzhong Temple. Can’t let those snobs mistreat him.”

Saying this, she immediately threw on her outer clothes and strode quickly from the room. Li Yuanying gave a look, and Huo Qi Lang reluctantly stood up, grabbed a piece of roasted beef from the plate and stuffed it in her mouth, then hurried after the princess.

Bao Zhu took only a dozen guards and traveled through the snow with light cavalry, rushing from the inner city to Minzhong Temple. Indeed, as she had thought, the monks saw it was a crude, simple coffin and didn’t place it in the main hall, just shoved it into a side chamber with other coffins awaiting burial.

Shisan Lang was nowhere to be seen. Bao Zhu’s heart grew more anxious as she ordered everyone to spread out and search the temple, only to discover that no one remembered such a little novice ever coming.

“Open the coffin! Open it for me quickly!” Bao Zhu lost her composure, rushing to the coffin and ordering those around her to open the lid.

The guards hesitated slightly. Huo Qi Lang felt along the edges, puzzled: “Why are there no coffin nails?”

Upon hearing this, Bao Zhu didn’t hesitate and lifted the coffin lid with force. Everyone instinctively stepped back, only to see the coffin completely empty—Wei Xun’s body had vanished without a trace, leaving only a dagger.

Bao Zhu was speechless, nearly unable to stand, only steadying herself by gripping the coffin.

“What’s going on? Where is he?!”

After a moment of silence, Huo Qi Lang seemed to understand and asked Bao Zhu softly: “He only promised to escort you to Youzhou and said nothing else, right?”

Bao Zhu nodded blankly.

Huo Qi Lang searched her mind and tried to find a gentle way to put it: “Cats have spiritual awareness and don’t want to die in front of their masters. Before their final moments, they’ll quietly leave home to find a secluded corner to hide. He probably instructed Shisan Lang beforehand that once he witnessed you safely reaching Youzhou, he should take the body away. The weather happens to be so cold…”

Bao Zhu’s eyes widened in disbelief, her mind blank. After a long time, she finally comprehended the meaning of those words. Tears burst forth as she clutched the dagger and wailed, swaying back and forth until she nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

Just as abruptly as they had arrived, the senior and junior brothers left no words behind, took no payment, didn’t even share a single meal, and simply vanished into thin air as if they had never existed.

Li Baozhu, safely reunited with her brother, was not happy.

From dawn to dusk, thinking of Wei Xun would make her burst into tears uncontrollably. When visiting Yang Xingjian and remembering the sweet and bitter experiences of their foursome’s journey, she would cry beside Yang Xingjian’s bed for a while. Going to Minzhong Temple to burn incense and pray, seeing little novices about Shisan Lang’s age, would also make her sorrowful. Not to mention holding the rhinoceros horn blade, seeing the object and thinking of the person, washing the sword with tears until the blade seemed ready to rust again.

After crying day and night like this for ten days, Li Yuanying finally couldn’t stand it anymore and called her for a talk. Before they had exchanged more than a few words, Bao Zhu’s eyes blurred with tears. Looking at her brother’s exquisite features and thinking of the deceased Noble Consort, she buried her head in his chest crying and calling for mother.

After crying for a while and lifting her head, Bao Zhu sniffled and complained: “Stop being so picky with food—your bones are poking me uncomfortably.”

Huo Qi Lang nearby casually chimed in: “What a coincidence—I’ve complained to him several times about being poked uncomfortably…”

“Get out!” Li Yuanying’s face instantly turned red with embarrassment and anger as he grabbed the inkstone from the table and hurled it at her.

Huo Qi Lang was about to sidestep to avoid it when she remembered Caifang saying this black stone was called a Duanzhou purple stone inkstone, worth its weight in gold. Thinking it would be heartbreaking if broken, she reached out and caught it.

“Alright, you siblings chat slowly. I’ll go take a stroll outside.” Huo Qi Lang pocketed the inkstone and left the room with a laugh.

Li Yuanying rarely lost emotional control like this, and since adulthood had maintained composure regardless of joy or anger. Seeing this, Bao Zhu was stunned for a moment and blurted out: “Are you two… lovers?”

“No! It’s not what you think.” Li Yuanying was mortified and vehemently denied it.

Bao Zhu observed her brother’s expression and became even more certain. “I already know what’s going on. Madam Yu was worried I might be pregnant and privately questioned me about it. She even showed me illustrated erotic books, saying they were originally prepared for your wedding but never used.”

Li Yuanying covered his face with both hands, buried his head between his knees, and through the gaps between his fingers, his skin was so red it seemed ready to bleed.

He had indeed hinted for his wet nurse to ask if his sister had been taken advantage of. Yu’s reply had been reassuring, but he never expected the conversation would veer in this direction.

Having grown up together as siblings and inadvertently touching on such intimate topics between men and women, both felt extremely awkward. Too embarrassed to embrace and weep together anymore, they unconsciously moved apart from each other.

Her lonely brother had taken a lover, who happened to be Wei Xun’s fellow disciple—this made Bao Zhu feel even more desolate. She had originally thought she and Wei Xun were lovers who shared a bed, but actually nothing had ever happened between them. No body, no funeral, no physical intimacy—only ridiculous socks. Looking back at the past, she felt lost and empty.

The siblings remained silent in wordless awkwardness for a long time.

Only after the flush of heat on their faces gradually receded could Li Yuanying escape his embarrassment and struggle to restore his usual calm, wise demeanor.

“You can’t continue being so despondent. Set aside one hour each day specifically for grief, and for the rest of the time, pull yourself together and dry your tears to do what needs to be done. Your forces have just been established—some people don’t even know how to ride horses. Officers need to coordinate, soldiers need training. I’ll assign Lü Qiao and those people who helped you win over Chengde to you. Try commanding a real army.”

Bao Zhu looked puzzled and asked: “I do plan to learn warfare, but must it be so urgent?”

Li Yuanying said seriously: “It’s necessary. We don’t have much time.”

He then recounted in detail how Princess Cui Lingrong had been slowly poisoning him through his clothing over a long period as revenge.

Bao Zhu’s eyes grew wider and wider. When she heard that Cui Lingrong’s reason for poisoning her husband was because of Princess Dongyi, she was shocked beyond words.

“So all of this happened because Princess Dongyi went to marry in my place, which led to your becoming like this?!”

Li Yuanying shook his head: “You were only nine years old then. Regardless of whose responsibility it was, a child shouldn’t be blamed. Besides, if you hadn’t hired that absurd fellow to deliver messages, I would have already died at Cui’s hands. It’s just that the poison has penetrated deep into my body and is difficult to fully recover from. Now I often fall ill, and even managing just Youzhou’s military and political affairs is often beyond my strength. Regardless of who sits on the throne in the future, they won’t tolerate Li surname princes maintaining private armies on the frontier. You must help me support this situation.”

After hearing her brother’s words, Bao Zhu’s emotions churned—first shock and heartache, then bewildered helplessness.

Her purpose in setting out from Chang’an for Youzhou had been to seek her brother’s protection. Now that she had gained some strength and thought she could safely stay for a while, who would have expected that he was poisoned and ill, actually needing her to support the family enterprise instead.

“Even if you can’t muster the energy to handle official business, you should still go out and walk around, familiarize yourself with local customs. Don’t hole up in your room wasting away—that will only make you more dispirited.”

Li Yuanying strictly regulated her crying time. Bao Zhu had no choice but to force herself to be spirited. She dispatched another group of scouts to search the Taihang Mountains for traces of the Qingyang Daoist, then listlessly went out strolling with Huo Qi Lang.