The brother’s smile was cold and eerie. Combined with his pale face, he looked like a ghost crawling out of a graveyard, frightening Xiao Changying into stepping back: “Brother, those are the imperial tombs, where our ancestors are buried!”

Being human means revering ancestors – this is the most basic human nature. People often uphold morality, propriety, honor, shame, filial piety, and respect for elders as fundamental principles. Without these, can one still be called human?

Otherwise, why would Xiao Huayong want to handle this matter secretly? Disturbing ancestral tombs was more intolerable than being tortured to death oneself.

“The imperial tombs are heavily guarded. How could I secretly transport explosives inside?” Xiao Changqin’s long, thin fingers caressed the clay ocarina in his hand. “I merely learned from the Crown Prince, making some disturbance outside the tombs.”

The explosion occurred very close to the imperial tombs, sending smoke billowing into the sky. Villagers in the distance could only see a rough location, and he had already prepared people to spread rumors, which was why the gossip spread uncontrollably like wildfire.

Hearing this, Xiao Changying relaxed slightly. He slowly stepped forward and gripped his brother’s shoulder: “Brother, please don’t do such things anymore, alright?”

His brother’s tone was full of pleading and fear. Xiao Changqin looked down at the hand on his shoulder, which gripped tightly to hide its trembling. Xiao Changqin sighed almost inaudibly and gently patted his brother’s hand.

“Little brother, I don’t want to deceive you.”

Xiao Changying’s long lashes trembled, his eyes quickly reddening: “Brother… Fifth Sister-in-law is gone, can’t you let yourself go? Please… just for your brother’s sake.”

Xiao Changqin gently removed Xiao Changying’s hand from his shoulder: “Brother, only eternal sleep can make me forget your Fifth Sister-in-law. Before she died, she told me to live well, so I live on…”

As he spoke, he noticed a delicate dagger hanging at Xiao Changying’s waist. He quickly drew it out – the thin blade was extremely sharp. He placed the handle in Xiao Changying’s palm, gripping his hand to point it at himself: “Perhaps… you could grant brother’s wish. This way… I wouldn’t be breaking my promise to her.”

Xiao Changying struggled but couldn’t break free from Xiao Changqin’s grip, instead cutting his brother’s hand. Xiao Changying panicked and let go, the dagger falling. He pushed away his brother who was smiling brightly: “Brother, you’ve gone mad!”

He had long known his brother wasn’t right since his Fifth Sister-in-law’s death. Previously, he thought his brother was just drowning in grief, unable to move on. Today he realized his brother hadn’t failed to move on – he had deliberately locked himself inside his grief. The person standing before him was just a heartless shell.

“Hahahahaha…” Xiao Changqin laughed out loud. He bent down to pick up the dagger, wiping the blood off with his fingertip, looking at his still-bleeding hand. “I went mad long ago. My revered father destroyed my wife’s family. My respected mother delivered poison to my wife’s hands, causing me to lose both wife and child. He was so small, turning into a pool of blood before my eyes. She grew cold inch by inch in my arms.

They tortured my heart yet expected me to act as if nothing happened. I was immersed in the pain of losing my wife, but they told me ‘What great man worries about having no wife?’ A year after her passing, they wanted to find me another suitable match.

That was at my wife’s memorial hall! They spoke such cold-hearted words – how could they ever have seen me as their son?”

Xiao Changying rushed forward to embrace his grief-stricken, nearly hysterical brother: “Brother.”

His brother’s state wasn’t just from losing his beloved – after losing her, all his closest family treated him with indifference, no one understanding his pain. Father thought him too sentimental for greater purposes, Mother considered him weak and incompetent for falling apart over a woman.

None of them had ever experienced such pain. Not only did they fail to empathize, but they repeatedly rubbed salt in his wounds.

Xiao Changqin closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, all emotions were hidden in the depths of his dark pupils. He patted his brother’s back before pushing him away: “Let’s end this matter here. Leave the rest for His Majesty to investigate.”

The tomb-raiding case had nothing to do with him. He had merely discovered some clues and made use of them. As for who was behind this heaven-defying method of accumulating wealth, he wasn’t curious and didn’t want to interfere, lest it aroused His Majesty’s suspicion.

In Liyang County, Shen Xihe watched the occasionally star-lit night sky. After waiting several nights here, only today did starlight appear.

Around 9-11 AM, Shen Xihe caught sight of a flower bud timidly poking its head up like a shy little girl. Her face lit up with joy, and she unconsciously grabbed Xiao Huayong’s arm, lowering her voice: “It moved.”

Xiao Huayong’s gaze lingered long on his arm – just now, she… had touched his arm. The warm, soft sensation seemed to stick to his skin, and he unconsciously broke into a slightly foolish smile.

Shen Xihe hadn’t noticed Xiao Huayong’s reaction. Her eyes were glued to the winter daphne. Soon the flower stalk pushed the bud upward, like a little girl growing taller, becoming a slender maiden.

A breeze came, making the flower bud tremble slightly, loosening its tight petals. Layer by layer, they slowly opened, like a maiden’s boundless bashfulness upon coming of age – elegant and otherworldly, soft as silk, delicate as satin, swaying gracefully, standing tall like jade.

The stamens timidly emerged, accompanied by an intense, enchanting fragrance.

Xiao Huayong came to his senses and watched its transformation. The two flowers bloomed almost simultaneously. He felt as if he was watching a beautiful woman’s life in full bloom. Just as he was about to make a poetic comment, before he could open his mouth, Shen Xihe reached out both hands and snapped off the two fully bloomed flowers.

Only bare stalks remained on the branches. Xiao Huayong’s smile froze slightly.

“Good, we can still rest for an hour or two on the way back,” Shen Xihe placed the flowers in a box as if handling pearls.

After securing the flowers, she left without a backward glance. Xiao Huayong watched her walk away, then looked back at the bare stalks, reluctantly murmuring his intended words to the flowerless branches: “Beauty under the moonlight, beauty in the moonlight – the moon’s beauty and flower’s beauty cannot compare to her beauty…”

Looking at the branches trembling in the night wind, he sighed: “Meeting someone who doesn’t understand romance, you and I are equally pitiful.”

When Shen Xihe boarded the carriage, she realized Xiao Huayong was still standing there. She looked puzzled at him bent over seemingly studying the bare winter daphne branch, and asked Zhenzhu beside her: “Was there something special about the flower stalk just now?”

Zhenzhu shook her head: “This servant doesn’t know.”

Fortunately, Xiao Huayong didn’t linger long and quickly caught up. Shen Xihe asked him the same question: “What was Your Highness looking at just now?”

Xiao Huayong smiled gently, his face completely composed: “I was thinking about how to cultivate winter daphne, so I took a few extra looks.”