On the painting desk in Pei Yunying’s study stood a wooden tower.

The tower was very tall, and every single wooden block had been carved by his own hand with a dagger.

Very few people could enter his study, and everyone who entered and saw this wooden tower found it strange—here was the grand Commander of the Palace Guard, skilled in both music and archery, who neither loved drinking nor revelry, yet had such a peculiar hobby.

He had begun stacking the wooden blocks of his tower after his mother’s death.

Lady, the wife of Duke Zhaoning, had been seized by rebel forces, yet his father had watched helplessly as mother died at the rebels’ hands. By the time he received the news and rushed there, he was already a step too late. When he broke free from his guards and threw himself before his mother, he only managed to cover the wound at her neck—the gushing blood was like a spring that could not be stopped no matter how he tried. Mother said to him: “Ying’er… flee quickly… flee quickly…”

He had always thought mother’s “flee quickly” meant for him to escape the chaos of the rebels’ blades. Only much later did he realize that “flee quickly” meant for him to escape the Pei family.

He didn’t understand.

Mother was dead, uncle’s entire family was dead, maternal grandfather’s family was also gone. The new emperor had ascended the throne, and Pei Di was busy with something unknown every day. Back then, the Pei manor was always shrouded in gloom. Pei Yunshu was so devastated by this blow that she fell gravely ill, melancholic and unable to eat.

Following what mother used to do when she was alive, he made the small wontons mother often made for Pei Yunshu, feeding them to her spoonful by spoonful. When they reached the last one, tears fell from Pei Yunshu’s eyes.

“A’Ying,” his sister said through tears, “From now on, there’s only you and me.”

From now on, there would only be the two of them.

Father’s cold indifference already showed signs at that moment. Though he was only fourteen and young, he vaguely sensed something suspicious about the successive deaths in his maternal grandfather’s family. He tried to get his father to investigate thoroughly, but Pei Di coldly refused and strictly forbade him from mentioning it again.

“Don’t bring trouble to the Pei family. Just be a proper heir apparent,” Pei Di warned. “Don’t forget—you’re not the Pei family’s only son.”

Of course the Pei family had more than one son—there was also Pei Yunxiao. Since mother’s death, he had even heard of matchmakers coming to discuss remarriage with Pei Di.

The Duke of Zhaoning, in his prime years, couldn’t possibly remain a widower for his wife’s sake for the rest of his life. Human hearts change easily, shifting from east to west.

So he coldly said: “Without the Pei family, without the title of heir to Duke Zhaoning, I can still get revenge.”

“Time will tell. We’ll see.”

Without anyone’s help, pursuing the truth was always extraordinarily difficult. From surviving confidants of his maternal grandfather, he learned a horrifying secret—it turned out that the deaths of maternal grandfather’s family, uncle’s family, and mother were all related to the death of the former Crown Prince.

So his enemy was the current supreme sovereign, and his blood father had chosen glory and wealth over family.

It was an autumn night of rain. All households were silent, cold rain fell steadily. The youth sat leaning against a wall, coldly listening to the urgent chirping of crickets in the courtyard, sound after sound, his eyes utterly desolate.

The path of revenge—fraught with countless difficulties and dangers, stretching endlessly ahead. And he had only himself, like an ant trying to climb a giant mountain.

Could he succeed? How could he succeed? The road ahead was vast and uncertain.

When his mind was troubled and confused, he randomly picked up a tree branch from outside the door. His silver-gleaming dagger carved carefully, gradually shaping it into a smooth wooden block.

Pei Yunying gazed at that wooden block for a long time, his mind made up.

When a person is first born, when the sun first rises, climbing the mountain is slow, descending is swift.

He was at the peak of his youthful vigor—why not seize this time? Mother couldn’t have died in vain. As a child, if one could even tolerate the wrongs done to family, how would that differ from beasts?

Revenge was difficult, difficult as ascending to heaven, but tiny wooden blocks accumulated over the years could also form a towering pagoda.

To kill heaven, one must first climb to heaven.

He placed the wooden block on his desk.

Thus decided on revenge.

An old minister from the Bureau of Military Affairs who had old ties with his maternal grandfather gave Pei Yunying a ring and told him to seek someone in Sunan. Emperor Liang Ming had orchestrated the former Crown Prince’s death during the autumn hunt and silenced all who knew. But there were always one or two fish that slipped through the net, who sensed something wrong in advance and fled. He needed to bring this “witness” back to the capital to become a “bargaining chip” for revenge.

So he took his blade and went to Sunan.

The traveler’s road was full of wind and frost, the journey difficult. He too had once lived in silk and jade, never tasting human suffering, but once on the road, surrounded by fellow travelers, lodging at night and traveling at dawn, with only a solitary lamp for company, traveling by boat and carriage north and south, he gradually came to understand.

He went through countless hardships to find the “witness” and persuaded them after much effort to return to the capital with him. But with a turn, he was stabbed in the back by the “witness,” who notified the authorities to pursue and kill him. He escaped with his life barely intact. When he thought he would surely die, he encountered a small thief collecting corpses in the execution ground where he had hidden.

The corpse-collecting thief pressed palms together in prayer while skillfully removing the hearts and livers of the dead.

He was incredulous and held his blade to force the small thief to save him.

The small thief was a girl, not very old, with terrible medical skills. She stitched his wound in a complete mess. On a freezing day she wore a face covering, her whole being full of secrets.

He smiled outwardly, but inside felt nothing but indifference.

There were countless pitiable people in the world. He had no interest in others’ suffering and didn’t want to pry.

But perhaps it was because the snow in Sunan that night was too cold, or perhaps the oil lamp flame beneath the dilapidated deity statue was too warm—in the quiet lamplight, he was momentarily moved and allowed her to force him to carve a debt notice on the wall and gave her that silver ring.

A lifesaver—he thought this repayment was light.

He survived and returned to the capital. After experiencing ambushes, he met Yan Xu.

Later, this experience became the second “wooden block” of his tower.

His third wooden block came after joining Yan Xu. This Commander of the Bureau of Military Affairs, who had once proposed to mother and been refused, who in everyone’s mouths had loved without success, seemed to particularly dislike him. Every day he made him train and spar with different people, like a wheel that never stopped. Not only was he beaten black and blue every time, but he also had to start taking on missions—missions that inevitably involved killing.

The first time he killed someone, he went back and washed his hands over and over many times until his fingers turned red. Later he went to the ancestral hall and stared blankly at mother’s spirit tablet.

This was only the beginning—perhaps in the future he would kill many more people. Some things, once started, had no way to end. This road was indeed difficult to walk. Midway through, unable to advance or retreat, yet a person couldn’t turn back.

He silently carved the third wooden block and placed it on his desk.

The fourth piece of wood came from a torture interrogation. Yan Xu made him sit nearby and watch. The person being tortured had participated in the former Crown Prince’s autumn hunt incident. Yan Xu wanted to interrogate him. This person’s mouth was very hard. The Bureau’s secret prison was eerie. They opened a hole in the man’s chest and placed a black rat inside, then scorched it with fire. The black rat, tormented by fire, continuously clawed holes in the person’s body, leaving it bloody and mangled.

That person screamed terribly. After coming out, he leaned against the parasol tree at the door and vomited for a long time.

Yan Xu coldly laughed as he walked past him: “Get used to it soon, otherwise, in the future you’ll be the one being interrogated.”

He returned home, closed his eyes for a long time, then placed the fourth piece of wood atop his tower.

The wooden tower gradually accumulated like a mountain. One by one, the wooden blocks were smooth yet sharp. He took on many missions, killed many people. When he entered the torture chamber again, he could already skillfully torture and interrogate prisoners with ease.

Walking to high places, accustomed to living with a mask, conversing, killing, walking—his heart showed no ripples.

His tower gradually took shape. He hadn’t placed another wooden block on top for a very long time.

Until he met Lu Tong.

…

Lu Tong was a person with secrets.

From the first time he saw her, from that silver needle-sharp velvet flower, even though the woman was delicate and pitiable, he saw hatred and loathing in her eyes at a glance.

Hatred.

He was most familiar with hatred.

So at the Qinglian gathering in Wan’en Temple, the moment he glimpsed her wrist, he began to suspect.

A female physician with miraculous healing hands and benevolent heart turned out to be a female King of Hell who personally killed people at night—quite strange. She was calm and detached, yet wherever she passed, whether by chance or accident, there was always bloodshed.

When the imperial examination fraud case was exposed, Lu Tong was involved yet emerged completely clean without a stain, though her traces were everywhere. So when he received the accusation, he personally led people to her door, thinking he would finally catch this female King of Hell’s weakness.

Who knew what was buried under the tree was pork.

The woman’s gaze toward him was mocking and scornful. She turned without hesitation to frame someone else for murder.

She was audaciously bold and fearless. In her eyes, he could only see madness.

He appreciated this cunning and composure, yet suspected she belonged to the Crown Prince, the Third Prince, or perhaps Emperor Liang Ming—otherwise, without backing, she wouldn’t be so unafraid. Yet she was an ordinary citizen without a trace of evidence. He tested her repeatedly; she was watertight.

But just at this time, she saved his sister, creating a debt of gratitude.

In this world, debts of human kindness are hard to repay. And the one she saved was his most important person. He had exposed his weak spot before Lu Tong, yet he knew nothing about her.

After that, he developed a somewhat competitive mindset—three parts sincerity, seven parts testing, unwilling to fall behind. He was the interrogator, and she was the most difficult prisoner to crack, sometimes even turning host and guest.

The chance encounter at Yuxian Tower, hiding on a snowy night—fate intentionally or unintentionally always pulled them together.

He once asked Lu Tong with a smile: “As the saying goes, ‘Spread kindness widely, and you’ll meet acquaintances wherever life takes you. Create no enmity, for on narrow paths it’s hard to turn back.'”

“Doctor Lu, is this fate between us kindness or enmity?”

Lu Tong raised her eyelids to glance at him and replied coldly: “It’s an ill-fated bond.”

An ill-fated bond.

This fate was indeed not pleasant.

Especially when he discovered his own name was also on Lu Tong’s kill list.

He had imagined many possible identities for Lu Tong—the Crown Prince’s person, the Third Prince’s, Emperor Liang Ming’s, even others—but never expected she was just an ordinary, solitary female physician who came to the capital alone for her family. No background, no backing—she had deceived him, using a nonexistent “big shot” to add weight to herself.

All for revenge.

Those who reach the end of their road are always desperately insane. The incense mixed with sedative was cut in two. Her dagger was as fragile as she was. Fireworks reflected a patch of mud. The woman sat amid the scattered mess, her voice carrying a crying tone she tried hard to suppress.

“I don’t need fairness. I can find fairness myself.”

He stopped.

The person before him suddenly began to overlap with the youth in the ancestral hall from his childhood.

Back then, he was the same—with nothing, only himself.

Time had flowed by like water, swift and sudden. He had almost forgotten what his fourteen-year-old self felt, yet in this woman before him, he saw his own appearance from those years.

So he passed her a handkerchief.

On New Year’s Eve night, the fireworks at Dechun Terrace would continue for a long time. When he returned home it was already very late. Pei Yunshu and Baozhu had already gone to sleep. He entered his study. On the desk, the wooden tower he hadn’t touched for a long time stood quietly.

He sat down. That evening, he placed another piece of wood atop the tower.

…

Much later, after he and Lu Tong had become husband and wife, the Palace Guard soldiers were drinking and chatting idly about whether women’s tears had any effect on men. He was passing by when his subordinates called him over and asked him to answer this question.

He replied: “Depends on the person.”

Someone else asked: “What about Doctor Lu’s tears?”

Another guard teased: “Doctor Lu doesn’t even cry!”

Lu Tong acted with composure and calm—indeed she didn’t seem the type to cry.

Pei Yunying said nothing, but his mind recalled the tears from that New Year’s Eve night.

He thought—actually, he had no defense against her tears at all.

It seemed to be from that New Year’s Eve night that his wooden tower, which he hadn’t built up for so long, gradually began to grow taller again.

Lu Tong was sent to the South Medicine Room to pick red fragrant floss and was worn down by Zhu Mao. Cui Min from the Imperial Medical Academy, influenced by the Minister of the Imperial Treasury, deliberately made her diagnose Jin Xianrong… She always had many troubles, many troubles she brought upon herself. He watched coldly from the side, wanting to be an indifferent bystander, yet couldn’t help but pay attention each time.

His feelings toward Lu Tong were very complex.

On one hand, he felt she was overreaching herself—dealing with the Qi family like this was like throwing an egg against a stone. On the other hand, he strangely believed that as long as she wanted to, she could succeed. She would definitely succeed.

But he inevitably worried, so he secretly helped, as if investing some kind of expectation in her, going beyond his own boundaries. Going to Mangming Village, telling the Yang family…

The wooden tower she knocked over scattered in all directions. From that moment, some things spiraled out of control.

Xiao Zhufeng saw through it at a glance and constantly teased and mocked. He paid no mind.

Until the suburban hunt.

The fury he felt the moment he saw Lu Tong injured almost made him draw his blade and slaughter Qi Yutai in public. He couldn’t bear to see Lu Tong humbled before others, couldn’t bear to see her endure humiliation and bow her head before her enemy. Why should the person he wanted to protect be trampled by others?

His tender feelings could not be denied.

Pei Yunying wanted to help her take revenge but was flatly refused. Lu Tong always refused others’ help. He approached again and again, only to be pushed away again and again. The wooden tower in his study had been knocked over by her once. He didn’t continue rebuilding it, yet his distress was not reduced by half.

She became a new puzzle.

There are always many puzzles in the world. He had also heard it said that men find women’s hearts hard to understand. Lu Tong was especially outstanding among them.

Sometimes he felt she might not be indifferent toward him, but the next moment, she would throw away the comb and coldly push him away.

He didn’t understand what Lu Tong was thinking.

After the Great Nuo Ceremony, Qi Yutai died at his birth father’s hands. Qi Qing reached the end of his road. She already had a death wish, wanting to perish together with Qi Qing. He rushed to stop Lu Tong but suddenly understood when he saw her eyes—she simply didn’t want to live.

Fortunately, Chang Jin took her to Sunan.

Everything had been arranged properly. He had no more worries and remained in the capital to add the final stroke to his long-planned revenge.

During Emperor Liang Ming’s reign these years, the court was rife with corruption and bribery, selling official posts. Grand Preceptor Qi Qing even more so doted on his evil son, formed factions and blocked worthy candidates. Many in the court secretly disapproved. The Bureau of Military Affairs and Palace Guard combined their military authority. With Prince Ning leading the uprising to force the abdication, it went incredibly smoothly.

The Third Prince and Crown Prince fought openly and maneuvered secretly, never taking this idle prince to heart—one side indulging in comfort, the other lying low for so long.

In the midst of slaughter, Emperor Liang Ming pointed at him with trembling hand: “Pei Yunying, you dare commit treason and rebellion?”

He smiled faintly: “Speaking of treason and rebellion, who could compare to Your Majesty?”

“You…”

“Someone like you,” Pei Yunying said coldly, “is also worthy of being sovereign?”

“Why not worthy?” The emperor roared. “What am I inferior to Yuan Xi in? Just because he was the Crown Prince, this empire and throne should be in his hands? He had loyal ministers and brothers, the best of everything. Father Emperor deceived me—with his mouth he said I was his most beloved son, but in truth he still favored him, wanting to leave all the best things to him!”

“They all deserved to die!”

“I should never have spared you back then!” Emperor Liang Ming gasped roughly, his face twisted as he glared at the approaching Prince Ning. “And you! Hiding your strength for years all for this moment… what an idle prince indeed!”

“Hasn’t elder brother been the same?” Prince Ning sneered coldly. “You should be grateful—you occupied what you stole for so many years.”

“A mere bandit’s son, coveting the empire, how laughable.”

The blade flashed, and all grudges came to an abrupt end.

The revenge planned for many years finally reached its conclusion. With his great revenge achieved, he looked back at the past and found he could barely remember the path he had taken. His heart felt utterly empty and blank.

He wondered if Lu Tong, on the night she achieved her great revenge, gazing up at the fireworks by Changle Pool, had felt the same way?

After settling Yan Xu’s affairs in the capital, Yuan Lang sent him to Qishui. He knew Yuan Lang did it deliberately. This Prince Ning who had walked alongside him for many years, even after ascending to the throne, still retained his former bit of gossip and common touch.

He went with the flow.

Pei Yunying understood very clearly—people getting along was like walking face to face. Some walked fast, some walked slow.

It didn’t matter if she walked slowly. He was willing to walk a few more steps.

He was glad he walked those few extra steps.

Only then did he learn how much suffering she endured, how much pain, how lonely she had been.

It turned out she had kept pushing him away because she had deeper unspeakable difficulties.

In his youth he was proud and high-spirited, looking down on everyone, never willing to acknowledge others’ invitations. Mother told him: “A’Ying, if you’re like this, no one will talk to you in the future.”

“I don’t need them to.”

“But A’Ying, a person’s lifetime—whether happy or unhappy, if only one person experiences it alone, it will be very lonely.”

Lu Tong had been that lonely before.

But fortunately, not anymore in the future.

From now on, whether joy or sorrow, separation or reunion, love or hate, he would share it all with her.

He walked into the study. Lu Tong was sitting at the desk, earnestly building his wooden tower. The tower stood tall and piled high, but the topmost piece just wouldn’t settle properly. After several attempts, impatience already showed on Lu Tong’s face.

He tugged his lips and walked behind her, grasping her hand to place that wooden block upward while saying: “Don’t be anxious. Building a tower requires a calm and peaceful heart.”

She was enclosed in his embrace, the top of her head brushing against his chin. She paused, then said irritably: “With you here, how can I have peace of mind?”

“Tsk, are you blaming me for distracting you?”

“What else?”

“It’s all this face’s fault.” He sighed.

Lu Tong turned her face, frowning as she stared at him. After a long moment, she said with complete seriousness: “This face indeed resembles an old acquaintance of mine.”

“What old acquaintance?”

“An old acquaintance who owes me silver.”

He raised his eyebrows: “No silver, but there’s one person. Want him or not?”

Lu Tong pretended disdain: “Good enough, I suppose. The face is acceptable.”

“…Then I’ve made a profit.”

She raised her eyes to look at him. After looking for a while, she couldn’t help but laugh.

Pei Yunying laughed along with her.

The wooden tower stood quietly on the desk. Once it had been stacked piece by piece, then silently knocked down, over and over, back and forth, witnessing his past and present, his fragility and strength.

The future would be long. He didn’t dare say there would be no more confusion, but he hadn’t built the tower for a very long time now.

She was the last piece.

Also the one with the most weight.