That afternoon, an elegant four-horse carriage departed from the Investigation Department, followed by hundreds of Military Marquises as escort. The carriage slowly made its way out of Chang’an city.

That evening, during curfew, when all the streets of Chang’an were empty, a Kangju horse galloped out from the Cui residence and disappeared into the pitch-black night.

Cui Xun and Li Ying rode together on one horse, traveling under the stars and moon until dawn the next morning, when they finally stopped to rest.

Cui Xun tied the horse to a tree and went to a clear stream to fetch water. However, he was preoccupied with something. Only when a mountain cherry blossom floated down the stream and gently touched his wrist did he suddenly notice and lift the water-filled leather pouch from the stream.

After all… he had still brought her along…

But… if she found out, would she be angry?

She wouldn’t forgive him…

With his mind full of worries, he carried the leather pouch toward Li Ying, who was sitting under a cherry tree. He had changed into a commoner’s clothes, dressed in white. He wore a heavy snow-white fox fur coat over a white robe. Compared to his usual crimson official attire, the white clothes softened the delicate beauty of his features, giving him a more cool and dignified appearance.

So when Cui Xun handed the water pouch to Li Ying as she sat under the cherry tree, and she looked up at him in his snow-white attire, her face was inexplicably flushed slightly.

Just as she had told Yu Fuwei, she loved Cui Xun’s appearance and would never tire of looking at him.

Her heart pounded like a startled deer, so she quickly opened the water pouch and lowered her head to drink, hiding her romantic thoughts.

But her thoughts were completely transparent to Cui Xun. He sighed softly. The appearance she loved, he despised deeply. If not for this body, he wouldn’t have endured those two years of darkness with the Tujue. Yet at this moment, he couldn’t help harboring a somewhat base intention to use this despised appearance to obtain a promise.

Cui Xun sat on the ground beside Li Ying. Looking at her as she drank with her head lowered, he suddenly exclaimed, “Oh!”

Li Ying immediately looked up: “What’s wrong?”

Cui Xun frowned slightly. He looked at Li Ying, slowly moved closer to her, then reached out toward her temple.

His breath drew nearer, his beautiful eyes becoming clearer. His slightly upturned dark eyes were like countless peach blossoms blooming in a jade-green pool, utterly captivating. Li Ying’s heart began to race. What did he intend to do? Touch her hair? Or… kiss her?

But how could Cui Xun possibly initiate a kiss?

She froze in nervousness. Just then, a pink cherry blossom fell from the tree, gently floating down before her.

Li Ying suddenly realized that sitting under the cherry tree, a blossom must have fallen onto her hair, and Cui Xun was reaching to brush it away.

With this realization, she wasn’t so nervous anymore and waited for Cui Xun to pick the petals from her temple.

Cui Xun did pluck a petal from her shoulder, but then used it to gently touch her warm earlobe: “Why are your ears red?”

Li Ying was stunned.

Then she immediately understood and felt both embarrassed and angry.

So he had been teasing her.

She quickly turned her back on him, picked up fallen cherry blossoms from the ground, and began tearing at the petals in frustration. Behind her came Cui Xun’s soft laughter, which made her even more embarrassed. As she continued tearing at the petals, she said: “I won’t go to Lingnan with you anymore. You can go by yourself, and if you get…”

She had intended to say “killed,” but the words caught in her throat. She wanted to change it to “captured,” but she couldn’t bring herself to say that either. So she weakly concluded, “…blocked on the way, I won’t care.”

Cui Xun stopped laughing, but after a while, he did not attempt to coax Li Ying. She wondered if her words had been too harsh.

Surely not?

While she was pondering this, suddenly a grasshopper made of grass appeared before her from behind.

The grasshopper was lifelike, especially its wings, which seemed about to flutter away. It was even better than the one she had taught Cui Xun to make.

Li Ying was momentarily dumbfounded, then immediately said in annoyance: “Even if you make a hundred of these, I still won’t go to Lingnan with you.”

Cui Xun said softly: “What about a thousand?”

Li Ying couldn’t help turning around, saying incredulously: “You can make a thousand?”

Cui Xun smiled gently: “If I make a thousand, will you stop being angry with me?”

Li Ying snorted: “We’ll see when you’ve made a thousand!”

Cui Xun sighed: “Alright, then I’ll make a thousand.”

After saying this, he pulled some grass and prepared to make another grasshopper. Li Ying quickly said, “Hey, I was just saying that casually.”

But Cui Xun spoke rather seriously: “But I’ve taken it to heart. Mingyue Zhu, if I anger you again in the future, will you forgive me if I make a thousand grasshoppers?”

When he became serious, Li Ying felt uncomfortable again: “I was just saying it casually, and besides, you haven’t made me angry.”

Cui Xun said solemnly, “You are a princess, your words are golden. You can’t just speak casually. Anyway, I’ve taken it seriously.”

Li Ying didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “If you want to take it seriously, then do so.”

She really couldn’t understand why Cui Xun was so insistent on this matter.

With those words, Cui Xun’s lips curled into a smile. He glanced at the Kangju horse tied to the tree, resting, and said: “We’ve been traveling all night, and the horse is tired. Let’s rest for a while before continuing our journey.”

Li Ying nodded. She was indeed very tired, and her spiritual energy was somewhat depleted. So she lay down under the cherry tree and fell into a deep sleep.

A gentle breeze blew, causing cherry blossoms to fall like rain, landing on the sleeping girl’s hair and body. A pale pink five-petaled cherry blossom spiraled in the air, slowly falling onto her forehead. Cui Xun instinctively reached out to brush away the petal, but as his hand approached her jade-like forehead, he quickly withdrew it as if feeling unworthy.

Having achieved his earlier purpose, he had no more excuses to touch her.

He couldn’t soil her again…

The girl’s skin was snow-white, and the pale cherry blossom resting on her forehead was like a beautiful ornament, dreamlike, otherworldly, almost breathtaking.

Cui Xun stared unblinkingly. At this moment, all the ferocity seemed to have vanished from his heart, leaving only tranquility and gentleness. He even vaguely thought, how wonderful it would be if things could remain like this forever…

He gazed steadily at Li Ying, not daring to move a muscle lest he wake her. But suddenly his throat itched. He covered his chest, suppressing the urge to cough, and then reached for something in his sleeve.

It was a white porcelain bottle.

He glanced at the sleeping Li Ying, then lowered his gaze, opened the bottle, poured out a red medicinal pill, and put it in his mouth.

As soon as the pill entered his mouth, the cold sensation in his chest seemed to ease considerably. The white fox fur coat he wore now felt hot. With a calm expression, he put the white porcelain bottle back in his sleeve, then took off the snow-white fox fur coat and gently covered Li Ying with it. He gazed at her, then leaned against the cherry tree. After a moment, he slowly closed his eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep.

After they woke from their rest, they continued their journey at full speed. By evening, they found an inn to rest.

The innkeeper watched as a youth, beautiful as jade, entered and said, “I need lodging.”

With such appearance, the innkeeper couldn’t help but stare for a few moments. But seeing the white robe he wore, the innkeeper knew he was a commoner and said: “Room number two is still available, would that suit you?”

The youth shook his head: “I don’t want just one room, I want the entire floor.”

The innkeeper was surprised. He looked the youth up and down and saw that he carried himself with uncommon dignity and had the air of a noble family’s son. But the innkeeper then thought that after the Taichang Blood Incident, many noble families had been reduced to commoners. Yet even a thin camel is larger than a horse—these noble sons were still extravagant when they acted, and they often had the arrogant habits of young masters, unwilling to share accommodations with lower classes when staying at inns. Booking an entire floor was nothing; some even booked the entire inn. He had seen many such people over the years, so the innkeeper didn’t ask further but said: “The entire Tian section is vacant. Would that suit the guest?”

The youth nodded: “That will do.”

When they reached room Tian One, Cui Xun dismissed the servant who had shown the way and instructed him not to disturb them during the night, then closed the door.

He had booked the entire Tian floor, so it was very quiet. As he closed the wooden door, Li Ying was already standing in the room, looking around. She said, “This place is quite clean.”

Cui Xun replied: “The Tian rooms are their best accommodations, naturally, they’re clean.”

Li Ying nodded. Looking at Cui Xun wearing only a white robe, she said with concern: “You refused to wear the fox fur while traveling today. Don’t fall ill again.”

Cui Xun said, “In this weather, wearing fox fur would certainly arouse suspicion. It’s better not to wear it.”

“But with the cold in your bones, don’t you feel cold without it?”

Cui Xun shook his head: “With the bowl of ginger and licorice soup you brew for me daily, my cold condition has improved greatly.”

“Really?” Li Ying wasn’t quite convinced. She took Cui Xun’s hand, and though he was accustomed to this, he still stiffened slightly. Li Ying particularly enjoyed playing with his hands, saying they were very beautiful and that she had never seen more beautiful hands. Because of this habit of hers, Cui Xun purified his hands with orchid water every morning, afraid of soiling her. But since leaving Chang’an, there had been no such opportunity.

This morning, he hadn’t purified his hands with orchid water…

Li Ying pretended not to notice Cui Xun’s stiffness. She felt the temperature of his palm, which indeed wasn’t as cold as usual. His body temperature was even slightly higher than hers, a ghost. Li Ying said, “Is the ginger and licorice soup that effective? Before leaving Chang’an, I didn’t see much improvement in your cold condition.”

Cui Xun vaguely replied: “Grains of sand form a tower, bits of fur make a coat. After drinking it for several months, there’s bound to be some effect.”

Li Ying thought about this and felt it made sense. She then noticed an earthenware pot on the wooden table and said: “Tonight’s medicine, you still need to drink it.”

When packing their belongings, Li Ying had specially brought several herbs from the prescription. But perhaps she was a bit annoyed by Cui Xun’s earlier stiffness, so even while preparing the medicine, she didn’t let go of his hand. While playing with his fingers, she occasionally looked up at the bubbling herbal brew in the earthenware pot on the charcoal stove. She said, “For this far journey to Lingnan, I was worried you wouldn’t withstand the travel fatigue, but now it seems you’re doing fine.”

Cui Xun sighed: “You watch me take medicine every day. Besides the ginger and licorice soup, you’ve found all sorts of prescriptions to brew for me. If I were still as before, wouldn’t that be a waste of all the medicine I’ve drunk?”

Li Ying burst into laughter and asked: “Are you complaining that I brew too much medicine for you?”

Cui Xun shook his head: “I wouldn’t dare complain to the Princess.”

Hearing this, Li Ying smiled even more sweetly: “I only search for prescriptions everywhere because I want to be with you for a long, long time.”

She lowered her head to play with his fingers, her tone growing gentler: “Seventeenth Young Master, I used to think that humans and ghosts walk separate paths, but now I feel that with one of us human and one a ghost, we might last longer together. If I became human, it would mean I had been reincarnated. But after reincarnation, would I still be me? A Mingyue Zhu without memories of you would no longer be Mingyue Zhu. And if you became a ghost and went to hell, I could still beg King Qinguang to let me accompany you. But if King Qinguang sentenced you to reincarnation, you would no longer be you. In heaven and earth, where would I find my Seventeenth Young Master? I don’t want that, so I hope you can live longer and be with me longer.”

She spoke with such sincerity that Cui Xun’s eyes grew warm. He quickly lowered his head to calm his emotions, then murmured: “I… also hope to be with you longer…”

Not necessarily together, even not being together would be fine, as long as he could be by her side…

But things rarely went as he wished.

With his head lowered, crystalline tears hung on his crow-like eyelashes. He blinked and smiled bitterly: “Fate is determined by heaven. We can only do our best.”

Before Li Ying could ponder this statement, Cui Xun said: “The medicine is ready.”

He lowered his eyes. Li Ying was still holding his fingers. He said softly, “Like this, I can’t drink the medicine.”

That he would voluntarily take medicine was exactly what Li Ying wanted. She released his hand, and Cui Xun had already lifted the pot lid and ladled out a bowl. The pungent smell of ginger wafted up. In the past, Cui Xun would have preferred to let it cool before reluctantly drinking it, but today he quickly finished it, spoonful by spoonful.

Seeing him finish, Li Ying returned to her room with peace of mind. After she left, Cui Xun sat motionless for a long time. Suddenly, he stood up and walked to the window.

The wooden window was already slightly ajar. Cui Xun pushed it open and saw the bright moon outside.

The moon was like a jade plate hanging in the pitch-black night sky. Its light was as white as water, gently falling upon the earth. Cui Xun’s expression was distant. His fingers reached into his sleeve and took out a jade-colored porcelain bottle. He held the bottle and slowly extended it out the window. If he let go, the bottle would fall and shatter. He gazed at the moon, his fingers gradually loosening, but crimson blood mist and corpses strewn across mountains and plains suddenly appeared before him. He jerked with a start, his fingers tightening again. Finally, he slowly lowered his pale wrist and closed the wooden window once more.

The next day at dawn, Cui Xun and Li Ying set out again. Li Ying glanced at Cui Xun several times and, seeing that his spirits were good with no signs of fatigue, felt relieved.

Cui Xun settled the bill with the innkeeper and asked if there was a shortcut to Gongzhou City. The innkeeper thought for a moment and replied: “There is one. Taking that shortcut would make the journey to Gongzhou City five or six days faster. However, sir, I would advise against taking it.”

“Why?”

“Because that shortcut passes through the Ghost Village.”