At a tomb in the outskirts of the capital, Sheng Ah’man, dressed in mourning clothes with hemp sackcloth, knelt expressionlessly on the ground, burning spirit money.

Several strong men had cut four bamboo poles, planted them in front of the tomb, and covered the top with a crude straw mat to form a simple shelter. They lifted a thin coffin from the ground, placed it under the shelter, then emerged from under the canopy to ask Sheng Ah’man for payment.

Sheng Ah’man, still looking dazed, took copper coins one by one from her silk pouch and distributed them to the men. When she reached the last worker, he maliciously stroked her smooth hand. Sheng Ah’man pulled her hand away and glanced at him: “Get lost.”

The man grew annoyed: “You’re just a music girl from the Entertainment Bureau. Why pretend to be a chaste woman?”

Sheng Ah’man wouldn’t argue with him: “Get lost.”

“We took this job because we felt sorry for you. Otherwise, who would want to carry your brother’s coffin? Your brother was a defeated general denounced by His Majesty himself! His Majesty forbade his burial, and none of your Sheng family relatives were willing to carry his coffin!”

Sheng Ah’man knelt again before Sheng Yunting’s tomb. She said nothing more, simply throwing the spirit money one by one into the fire, then staring at the three characters “Sheng Yunting” carved on the wooden tablet as tears streamed down her face. The strong man wanted to mock her further, but was pulled away by the others: “Enough, enough. This young woman has no one to rely on. She looks pitiable. Stop bothering her and accumulate some good karma!”

The strong man was reluctantly dragged away. The tomb area suddenly became empty, leaving only Sheng Ah’man silently weeping as she burned the spirit money.

By the time she burned the last piece of spirit money, Sheng Ah’man’s eyes were as swollen and red as peaches. She murmured: “Brother, with you gone, they all bully me…”

Her tears flowed more heavily: “Brother, the spirit money is all burned. Don’t worry, Ah’man will earn more. Ah’man will burn plenty of spirit money for you. Ah’man won’t let you be poor in the netherworld.”

She knelt before the tomb until the ashes of the spirit money had cooled, unwilling to rise.

There seemed to be some movement behind her. Sheng Ah’man sensed something and wiped her tears, saying calmly: “Cui Xun, come out. I know you’re here.”

After a moment of silence, the sound of black leather boots stepping on twigs could be heard.

Sheng Ah’man didn’t turn around. She only looked at the wooden tablet inscribed with “Died in the 14th year of Longxing”: “Why was my brother buried outside Tonghua Gate?”

The person behind her didn’t answer. Sheng Ah’man asked again: “They told me my brother was killed by mountain bandits while trying to deliver a message to Daming Palace. Is that true?”

Cui Xun still did not answer. Sheng Ah’man gave a light laugh: “What kind of mountain bandits would dare kill a lieutenant of the Imperial Guard? And what mountain bandits would dare bury someone under an official road?”

Cui Xun, his form as gaunt as bamboo, finally spoke with difficulty: “Just consider it… mountain bandits.”

Upon hearing this, Sheng Ah’man slowly got to her feet, staggering as she stood. She turned around, her eyes as red as peach pits: “Cui Xun, I’ll ask you one more time. Were they mountain bandits?”

Cui Xun looked at her, his fingers in his sleeve tightening and loosening. His eyes returned to their usual stillness, like a deep pool. His voice was soft but firm: “Yes.”

Sheng Ah’man laughed again: “Mountain bandits… mountain bandits…”

After murmuring these words, she looked back at Cui Xun: “Fine. Then I have nothing more to say to you.”

She bent down, picked up a wooden box beside the ashes, and opened it. The box was full of copper coins.

Sheng Ah’man spoke very calmly: “These coins are said to be from one of my brother’s friends. Besides you, what friends did he have who could be so generous? So they must be from you, right?”

Before Cui Xun could answer, Sheng Ah’man threw the wooden box down. Copper coins scattered across the ground with a clatter. Sheng Ah’man said: “I don’t want them.”

She then took out a gleaming gold ingot from her sleeve: “The Entertainment Bureau manager said someone paid this to redeem me. It was you, too, wasn’t it? I don’t want it either.”

She opened her hand, letting the gold ingot drop to the ground with a dull thud. She looked at Cui Xun’s face, as white as snow yet still as beautiful as a lotus, and suddenly laughed: “How strange that I once liked someone like you. Now, when I think about it, I only feel disgusted.”

She stepped over the copper coins scattered on the ground. When she passed by Cui Xun, she stopped and said: “I don’t know how you have the nerve to come to my brother’s tomb, but if you want to come, then come. My brother died for loyalty and righteousness. You should look at his coffin and think about how shamelessly you cling to life.”

Having said this, she wouldn’t even glance at Cui Xun again, but quickened her pace and left alone.

Long after Ah’man had gone, Cui Xun finally raised his eyes to look at Sheng Yunting’s coffin. The coffin sat lonely under the crude straw shelter, forming a stark contrast with the surrounding high mounds of graves. Others could rest in peace beneath the earth, but he could not.

Cui Xun lowered his raven-like eyelashes. He took out a blue-green glass bottle from his sleeve, opened the stopper, and a rich wine fragrance wafted out. He tilted the bottle, pouring the wine in front of Sheng Yunting’s tomb. Then he looked at the tombstone carved with Sheng Yunting’s name, a trace of confusion passing through his eyes. His throat moved as if he had many things to say, but in the end, he said nothing. He simply placed the blue-green glass bottle in front of Sheng Yunting’s tomb, then bent down to pick up the wooden box. After picking up the box, he began gathering the dirty copper coins from the ground, placing them one by one back into the wooden box.

Suddenly, a slender white hand also bent down, helping to pick up the copper coins. Their fingers touched, and Cui Xun looked up to see Li Ying.

Li Ying had come with Cui Xun, but while he was talking with Ah’man, she had been standing behind a tree, quietly watching. Only now did she come forward. Seeing her, Cui Xun said nothing but lowered his eyes and continued picking up the coins.

Li Ying also said nothing. She was seriously collecting the coins when suddenly her hand touched the gold ingot that Sheng Ah’man had discarded.

This gold ingot seemed very familiar.

Before she could think about it, Cui Xun’s hoarse voice sounded in her ear: “This is the gold ingot you exchanged from Yu Fuwei.”

But weren’t all those gold ingots given to the minor officials at the Dali Temple to bribe them for the case files?

Cui Xun’s voice was very soft: “You gave me nine gold ingots. I only gave one to Cao Kun from the Dali Temple. The rest, I took.”

Li Ying was somewhat stunned. Cui Xun bent down to pick up a copper coin, not daring to look at Li Ying: “I’m sorry. I will repay you.”

Li Ying suddenly smiled slightly. She picked up the gold ingot, straightened up, and asked Cui Xun: “Cui Xun, what did you do with the other eight gold ingots?”

Cui Xun put the collected copper coins into the wooden box. He still dared not look at Li Ying, only lowering his eyes and bending down to pick up more coins, repeating: “I will repay you.”

Li Ying shook her head: “I don’t want you to repay me. I just want to hear what you did with those eight gold ingots.”

Cui Xun’s fingers tightly gripped the edge of the wooden box. He didn’t answer but seemed to avoid Li Ying’s gaze as he bent down to collect coins. Li Ying sighed, then spoke without blame, her tone very gentle: “Cui Xun, I know what you did with the gold ingots, but I want to hear you say it.”

Cui Xun sensed the kindness in her tone. His hand paused while picking up a coin: “I…”

But the rest of the sentence seemed impossible for him to utter.

“Cui Xun, say it,” Li Ying gently encouraged. “I want to hear you say it.”

“I…” Cui Xun struggled for a moment, then finally straightened up. His hands holding the wooden box trembled slightly. He lowered his head and opened his mouth with difficulty: “I gave them to the families of the Imperial Guard.”

Li Ying smiled slightly. Beside her was a blooming winter jasmine. Standing beneath it, with the tender yellow flowers blossoming on the branches like little stars, she seemed to illuminate the whole world: “Cui Xun, you did such a good thing. Why are you unwilling to speak of it?”

Cui Xun raised his head in surprise and murmured: “You’re not angry that I misappropriated your money?”

“Why would I be angry? Rather than giving all nine gold ingots to greedy officials, it’s better to help those who deserve help. Not only am I not angry, I’m very happy that even after being dead for thirty years, I can still help others.” Li Ying looked at Cui Xun, the corners of her mouth curved slightly in a warm, gentle smile. She said from the bottom of her heart, “I can help others. Don’t you think I should feel happy about that?”

Cui Xun stared at her sincere face for a long time before finally looking away and saying softly: “Yes…”

“Moreover, you didn’t misappropriate it.” Li Ying recalled the furnishings in Cui Xun’s residence. Other high officials and nobles of his rank almost always lived in extreme luxury, not only keeping many Kunlun slaves and Silla maids but also eating jade-tipped noodles with bear and deer meat fillings, living in houses with jade-paved floors, and using precious white sandalwood for their heating stoves. But Cui Xun’s food and living arrangements were very simple. Li Ying said, “Apart from what my mother bestowed upon you, there’s almost nothing in your residence. All these years, you’ve been giving your salary to the families of the Imperial Guard, haven’t you?”

Hearing this, Cui Xun stared at her in astonishment. Li Ying continued softly: “Cui Xun, these years have been hard for you, haven’t they?”

Cui Xun’s throat moved. His eyes seemed to heat up, and he lowered his head: “Not really… It’s been six years… Their families grow fewer each year. Now, there aren’t many left…”

Li Ying smiled. She stepped forward and placed the gold ingot in Cui Xun’s box: “Cui Xun, I have many, many gold ingots. I’ll give them all to you. Take them and give them to the families.”

She looked up at Cui Xun, her voice like a spring breeze caressing his face: “Cui Xun, from now on, when you do good deeds, don’t be embarrassed to speak of them. You’ve supported the livelihood of fifty thousand Imperial Guard families—how remarkable! Don’t let others’ insults keep you from speaking about it. If you’re afraid no one will listen, tell me. I like to hear about it.”

Her upturned face was as bright as the warm spring sun. Cui Xun, wearing his black crane-feather cloak, felt the warm breeze blow against him. He sensed his cold, sore limbs gradually warming up. Looking at her bright face, he slowly nodded: “Mm…”

Together they picked up all the copper coins, closed the wooden box, and then sat down to rest.

In front of the tomb was a fish pond with clear water that reached to the bottom. Fish swam through the duckweed, playing freely. In the distance, the mountains were dark blue, and white clouds drifted lazily. Li Ying sat by the pond, dangling her feet: “The place Ah’man chose is better than under the official road.”

Cui Xun sat quietly beside her, his expression somewhat melancholy: “If he could be buried… it would be even better…”

“That day will come,” Li Ying said.

As they smelled the fragrance of winter jasmine and watched the clear waters, green mountains, and fish playing among the water plants, Li Ying suddenly asked: “Your wounds didn’t reopen just now, did they?”

That day, when Cui Xun had dug out Sheng Yunting’s remains in the rain, he had coughed up blood from extreme pain, and all the lash wounds on his back had reopened. As expected, he had fallen seriously ill upon returning home. But unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager and His Majesty hadn’t yet reprimanded him for digging up the official road without permission, so he could still stay in his residence to recover. During this time, Li Ying had cared for him meticulously, pulling him back from the brink of death.

Cui Xun said, “No.”

Li Ying sighed in relief: “I was really afraid that when you came to Sheng Yunting’s tomb, you would repeat that rainy night’s events.” She counted on her fingers: “The hundred lashes once, the rainy night once. I don’t want to pull you back from the gates of hell a third time.”

She tilted her head, her eyes showing the rare mischievous light of a sixteen-year-old girl: “How tiring.”

Cui Xun couldn’t help but smile. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and the gloominess gradually disappeared from his eyes, replaced by a brilliance like colorful clouds at sunset, so dazzling that it made the surrounding beautiful scenery lose its color. Li Ying turned her head to look at him for a while, then turned away with a faint smile.

A gentle breeze blew past, bringing the delicate fragrance of winter jasmine. Li Ying suddenly remembered something and said, “I have something for you.”

“What is it?”

Li Ying opened her five-colored brocade peony sachet and took out a gilt silver incense ball. This gilt silver incense ball was identical to the one she had given Cui Xun before. She handed it to him: “Here, I added white angelica, musk, costus root, and agarwood inside. It can dispel cold and relieve pain.”

She didn’t ask what had happened to the previous incense ball. Cui Xun stared at the exquisite gilt incense ball in her palm, somewhat stunned. After a moment, he asked: “You… are still willing to make incense balls for me?”

“Why wouldn’t I be willing?” Li Ying said. “Since I’ve decided to trust you once more, I will treat you without any reservations and won’t dwell on past events. Otherwise, wouldn’t I just be making myself unhappy?”

Her open palm was flawless and lustrous, like a piece of fine white jade, emitting a faint warmth. Cui Xun was silent for a moment, then gently took the gilt incense ball from her palm: “The last incense ball…”

He paused, then continued vaguely: “It disappeared…”

He carefully, meticulously attached the gilt incense ball’s silver chain to his belt: “This one won’t disappear.”

Li Ying’s eyes were as clear as the water in the pond. She looked at Cui Xun and smiled gently: “Good.”