Cui Xun just looked at her, silent, his eyes calm. Li Ying didn’t know where she found the courage, but she quickly said, “If you had surrendered to the Turks, Consort Hui wouldn’t have treated you that way. And… and the old wounds on your body wouldn’t be so severe. So, people have misunderstood you. You never surrendered to the Turks, did you?”

Cui Xun finally spoke, but he didn’t answer Li Ying’s question. With a cold expression, he said: “Whether I did or not, what business is it of yours?”

“I know it’s not my business.” Li Ying grew anxious. She stood up and hurriedly walked in front of Cui Xun. He was significantly taller than she, so she had to look up at him. Today, she wore a white, immortal dress with light red gauze wrapped around her arms. When the breeze blew, her clothes fluttered elegantly. Her upturned face was as pure as jade: “I just want to say, if you truly didn’t surrender to the Turks, you can tell me, instead of keeping everything to yourself. That way… it would be very difficult.”

She spoke sincerely, but after listening quietly, Cui Xun’s expression remained unmoved: “I advise you not to be so clever. Otherwise, you will surely regret it.”

With that, he turned his back on Li Ying and left. Li Ying stared at his solitary figure for a long time before letting out an almost inaudible sigh.

It was early spring, with warm mists and verdant growth, when grass grows and orioles fly. Li Ying held the Buddha’s relic in her hand and felt the gentle warmth of the sun throughout her body. This Buddha’s relic was indeed miraculous. After only three days, her injury had mostly healed, and now she could freely walk about during the daytime. She stood under a crabapple tree, squinting, shielding herself from the warm sun with her hand as she watched early orioles competing for warm trees and new swallows pecking at spring mud. She enjoyed seeing such vibrant scenery; it made her feel as if she hadn’t died but was alive in this world like the orioles and swallows.

There was a swallow’s nest on a branch. A fledgling swallow tumbled out of the nest, but its wings didn’t seem fully grown. With a gust of wind, the fledgling was blown down, falling at Li Ying’s feet. Li Ying crouched down to look and saw the fledgling struggling to flap its wings, but no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t fly back to the nest. Li Ying felt compassion and extended her hands, wanting to return the fledgling to its nest. But her hands passed through the fledgling’s body. She suddenly remembered that she couldn’t touch living things, so she had no way to help the fledgling return.

As Li Ying was anxious, she suddenly saw deep crimson official robes embroidered with gold patterns appear before her. She looked up with delight: “Young Lord Cui, I’m so glad you’re here.”

Before Cui Xun could react, she urgently said: “Can you help me return this fledgling to the swallow’s nest?”

Cui Xun glanced at the stubbornly fluttering fledgling and said, “Why return it?”

“If we don’t, it will die.”

Cui Xun’s expression was indifferent: “So what?”

Li Ying hadn’t expected Cui Xun to answer this way. She was momentarily taken aback, suddenly recalling when she first met Cui Xun and had begged him to help her uncover the truth. He had coldly refused then, too, until she offered to trade the sachet enshrined at Ximing Temple.

Li Ying sighed, realizing that to persuade Cui Xun to save the fledgling, she would need to offer something of equal value. She racked her brain for possibilities, and finally tentatively said: “Young Lord Cui, as the saying goes, saving one life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. This fledgling is also a life. Saving it will accumulate merit for you in the netherworld, which can bring blessings to you and those you care about.”

After she finished speaking, Cui Xun, to her surprise, didn’t dismiss her words as before but squatted down, grabbed the fledgling’s fluttering wings, and picked it up.

Seeing this, Li Ying realized she had moved Cui Xun. Just as she was feeling pleased, Cui Xun looked up at the not-so-high branch and said calmly, “I can’t climb up there.”

Li Ying had never expected this. She was momentarily speechless, then looked up at the branch. It was less than a zhang above the ground. She could have climbed it, yet Cui Xun couldn’t…

Cui Xun said, “Let the mute servant do it.”

With that, he called over the mute servant and handed him the fledgling. The mute servant nimbly climbed up the branch and quickly returned the fledgling to its nest.

Li Ying watched the fledgling return to its nest. She breathed a sigh of relief, her gaze unconsciously turning to Cui Xun’s legs. His legs were hidden beneath his crimson official robes, revealing nothing, but his waist, bound with a gold belt and dangling ornaments, was narrow and thin. According to the Great Zhou regulations, fourth-rank officials wore deep crimson robes with gold belts of eleven ornaments. These eleven ornaments were too big for Cui Xun; after fastening the belt at his waist, the excess length of the trailing belt was quite long and had to be tucked into the waistband to hang down. If his waist was so thin, his legs likely weren’t in much better condition.

Li Ying couldn’t help wondering if this had anything to do with the “two years of torture” Ashina Jia had mentioned. What kind of cruel torture could make Cui Xun, who was only in his twenties, so disabled that he couldn’t even climb a branch that was just a zhang high?

As Li Ying was lost in these thoughts, she didn’t even notice when the mute servant had left. Cui Xun frowned at her absent-minded appearance and suddenly said, “You can walk during the day now, can’t you?”

Li Ying came back to herself and quickly nodded: “Yes.”

“Then come with me to the outskirts of the city.” Cui Xun paused: “It’s about Wang Ranxi.”

Cui Xun took Li Ying to a desolate hill on the outskirts of the city. This hill was quite remote, with dry trees growing haphazardly along the steep slope. There were no birds or beasts in the vicinity, and the area was uninhabited. Li Ying looked around in confusion: “Why has Young Lord Cui brought me here?”

“To show you something.”

Cui Xun’s black leather boots kicked away the dry yellow leaves covering the ground. From beneath the leaves, Li Ying faintly saw an arm that had been reduced to white bones.

Li Ying let out a small cry: “What… what is this?”

“This is Wang Tuan’er, a palace maid from the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau thirty years ago.”

“Wang Tuan’er?” Li Ying had a vague impression. This maid had been diligent and gentle and had delivered clothes to her a few times. “So, this is Wang Tuan’er’s corpse?”

Cui Xun nodded: “She’s been dead for thirty years.”

“Why did she die?”

“She was killed.” Cui Xun said, “I had people check the palace maid registry from thirty years ago and indeed made a discovery. This maid named Wang Tuan’er was formerly a slave in the Wang family. Later, the Wang family released a batch of slaves, including Wang Tuan’er’s parents. Wang Tuan’er was also selected for the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau as a free person. The whole family was deeply grateful to the Wang family. After Zheng Yun was arrested and taken to the Dali Temple, Wang Tuan’er also disappeared. If I’m not mistaken, she was likely killed by Wang Ranxi to silence her.”

The ground in the wild forest was covered with thick layers of dead branches, without even a footprint, indicating that few people ever came here. It was indeed a good place to dispose of a body. Li Ying couldn’t help but ask: “How was this body found?”

“The Ministry of Justice has spies throughout Chang’an. Not to mention a palace maid—even if a dog died, they could dig three feet into the ground to find it.”

Li Ying was astonished. She knew that although the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple both handled criminal cases, their responsibilities were different. The Ministry of Justice was responsible for monitoring officials and nobility, with many secret agents, and could handle cases directly without going through the Dali Temple. However, she hadn’t expected the Ministry of Justice to be so formidable that in just over ten days, they could unearth a body that had been abandoned in the wilderness thirty years ago.

If the Ministry of Justice could unearth a body from thirty years ago, then officials’ secrets would naturally be exposed. No wonder the Ministry of Justice was now overshadowing the Dali Temple, making all officials and citizens in Chang’an both hate and fear Cui Xun.

Li Ying had never been interested in politics, but even so, she knew that spymasters like Cui Xun throughout history had rarely met good ends. Moreover, Cui Xun was so flamboyant that the enemies he had made were probably countless. His future fate would likely be especially tragic.

Thinking of this, Li Ying couldn’t help but glance at Cui Xun once more. Cui Xun hadn’t noticed Li Ying’s thoughts. The hill was cold and windy. He wore a pure white fox fur coat, the silver-white fur making his profile as pale as snow and as handsome as jade. Li Ying suddenly remembered his words from three days ago: “What business is it of yours?” Her heart inexplicably deflated. Feeling gloomy, she didn’t think about anything else but asked Cui Xun: “Young Lord Cui, now that Wang Tuan’er’s body has been found, can we find Wang Ranxi and get the truth from her?”

Cui Xun pondered: “Wang Ranxi is cunning. Even under torture, we might not get the truth from her mouth.”

“Then what should we do?”

“I have a method.” Cui Xun said: “Does the Princess still remember Wang Tuan’er’s appearance?”

“Vaguely.”

“That makes it easier. Could the Princess please draw Wang Tuan’er’s face? Leave the rest to me.”

Wang Ranxi had been ill for dozens of days, drowsy and plagued by nightmares daily. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the image of Li Ying drowned in the Lotus Pond.

She woke up screaming, and the maid serving beside her hurriedly came forward to help, patting her back to calm her: “Did the Lady have another nightmare?”

Wang Ranxi suffered in silence. She gasped: “Where is the Minister?”

“The Minister went to the court session and was kept by the Emperor for discussions. He hasn’t returned yet.”

“Where is Zharig?”

The maid hesitated: “The Young Master… the Young Master went to Pingkang Ward.”

Wang Ranxi gritted her teeth: “His mother is so ill, yet he still has time to visit courtesans in Pingkang Ward!”

She coughed angrily for a while, and after coughing, her heart was filled with desolation. All her life, she had been competitive and ambitious, but in the end, her husband didn’t love her, and her son was unfilial. She didn’t know what she had gained from all her struggles.

Without the jealousy and resentment from thirty years ago, she should have married a well-matched young man from a noble family, living in harmony with him, hearts as one, with a child who would be a humble gentleman, instead of her current situation—seemingly glorious, but knowing the cold reality herself.

It was truly one misstep leading to a cascade of errors.

In her daze, Wang Ranxi saw the gentle, jade-like young man before her.

She opened her mouth, but the words “Cousin” remained in her heart, unspoken.

Wang Ranxi smiled bitterly and said to the maid: “You may leave. I’ll rest for a while.”

The maid complied and withdrew. Wang Ranxi lay on the huanghuali doorframe bed, looking at the hanging silk gauze curtains. Since what was done was done, there was no point in being melancholic—that wasn’t her nature.

Once she recovered, she would go to the palace again to accompany Consort Hui and seek an official position for Zharig.

Thinking of Consort Hui, she felt a wave of humiliation. That arrogant, proud Turkic woman with a lotus mark on her face—what right did she have to receive the Emperor’s love, requiring her, a legitimate daughter of the Wang family from Taiyuan, to fawn over her like a dog!

Hmph, sooner or later, she would meet the same fate as her sister, that Turkic woman called Ashina Wuduo—the princess Cui Xun had served in the Turk lands—dying an unnatural death!

But come to think of it, if Cui Xun had served Ashina Wuduo in the Turk lands, hadn’t he also served her sister Ashina Jia? So was Ashina Jia untouched?

Wang Ranxi was thinking maliciously when she dozed off. But in her dreams, she saw Li Ying again.

In the dream, Li Ying wore the red and white dress from that day in the carriage and quietly looked at her: “Why did you kill me?”

Li Ying approached step by step and grabbed her neck: “You killed me, so I must kill you in return!”

“Ah!” Wang Ranxi woke up screaming, her forehead covered in cold sweat. She grabbed the maid who hurriedly came: “Quick! Come with me to Ximing Temple to worship Buddha! I need the gods and Buddha to exorcise the ghost! Exorcise the ghost!”

She spoke incoherently through gritted teeth: “Also, bring all the Taoist priests and Buddhist monks from the residence, and those consecrated prayer beads too. If that ghost dares to come again, I will make her soul scatter, never to reincarnate!”