Bu Shulin clutched her chest and rolled her eyes, “Poor me, I’m such a pitiful soul…”

Shen Xihe turned away hiding her laughter. Bu Shulin felt even more wronged, spreading her arms and lying on the couch with a lifeless expression, moaning: “Jin Shan…”

No one answered.

“Yin Shan…”

Still no answer.

“Bao Shan…”

Not a single person responded. Bu Shulin turned her head to look – there wasn’t a single person in the room. She supported herself to get off the couch and walked to the door, but it was just as quiet there, without a single living soul in sight.

An early spring breeze blew past, carrying a fresh tender leaf that spiraled down in front of her face before being swept away by the wind. Bu Shulin felt a wave of desolation. She turned back angrily and lay down again. Due to her wound, she couldn’t turn much, so she could only stare blankly at the canopy above.

After some time, the rich aroma of medicinal food wafted past her nose. Bu Shulin turned her head to see Jin Shan entering with a food tray. She immediately sat up, but the sudden movement pulled at her wound, causing her face to contort momentarily before being completely distracted by the increasingly enticing fragrance.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry! You’re being so slow – if it gets cold, it won’t taste as good anymore,” Bu Shulin urged.

Jin Shan quickly set up the table for her and placed down the food tray.

Bu Shulin first took a deep breath of the aroma before picking up the soup spoon to eat. One taste told her this was the familiar flavor she craved. She mumbled contentedly, “Hmph, acting tough but soft-hearted.”

After a few bites, seeing that Shen Xihe hadn’t returned, Bu Shulin asked, “Where’s the Princess?”

“The Princess left, saying…” Jin Shan paused before continuing, “saying she didn’t want to be deceived by the Young Master using her injury.”

“Using my injury to deceive!” Bu Shulin suddenly felt the delicious food lose some of its taste, but her melancholy lasted only for a moment before she happily returned to eating.

Over the next few days, people continued to bring her food. The first two days it was personally made by Shen Xihe, then the taste changed though remained delicious. Bu Shulin assumed it was made by the Princess Manor’s cook.

She was very dissatisfied with Shen Xihe only sending food without visiting her. When she heard that Shen Xihe was spending all day with Xue Jinqiao, she fumed, “I knew it, she’s been ensnared by that little enchantress Qiao Qiao!”

She decided to wait at the door herself, planning to firmly refuse after the manor’s servants delivered the food. Once the servants returned with this message, Shen Xihe would reflect on her coldness.

Bu Shulin, hiding behind the main gate, was thunderstruck to see Cui Jinbai delivering a food box to the manor’s servants. She immediately jumped out: “You disloyal dogs! You dare to accept deliveries from just anyone – aren’t you afraid your master might be poisoned to death!”

It was infuriating, absolutely infuriating! Bu Shulin felt her healing wound might have split open. What kind of servants had she raised? They dared to accept food from outsiders behind her back. If it had been poisoned, wouldn’t she be a rotting corpse by now?

The servants trembled in fear. Guard Jin Shan had instructed them to accept deliveries if Young Master Cui brought them personally. It wasn’t as if the Young Master hadn’t become particular after being injured – she’d been so picky that the manor’s cook had nearly resigned in shame, feeling unable to prepare food to the Young Master’s taste and fearing that delaying her recovery would be better atoned for by death, suggesting the Young Master hire a new cook.

“Don’t blame them, I asked them to keep it from you,” Cui Jinbai explained gently. “You’re injured, if you don’t eat properly, your wounds won’t heal easily…”

“What concern is my recovery to you?” Bu Shulin irritably interrupted Cui Jinbai’s words. “Don’t think that because I saved you, you owe me gratitude. You helped me first, I saved you only because I didn’t want to be in your debt. We owe each other nothing now, we’ve severed our ties – why should there be any further contact between us?”

Cui Jinbai’s face paled slightly. His fingers gripped the food box so tightly they lost all color as he remembered his actions that day, filled with regret: “I…”

Bu Shulin couldn’t bear to see him like this. She remembered promising Shen Xihe she would speak clearly with him, but had delayed for several days. If Shen Xihe knew, she might think Bu Shulin was being perfunctory and not taking her words seriously.

It wasn’t entirely her fault – after Shen Xihe left, Cui Jinbai hadn’t requested to see her, and she naturally wouldn’t take the initiative to meet him. “Come in, let’s speak clearly.”

Cui Jinbai entered with a tense expression, carrying the food box. Bu Shulin led him to the guest room: “That day was my fault. I shouldn’t have dragged you into my scheme to avoid marrying the princess. However, with your abilities, you wouldn’t have gone along with my nonsense without some benefit. Consider it my presumption, and we’ll call it even.

I thank you for your help this time. My taking that flying dagger for you was the right thing to do, so we’re even again.

Now that the Fifth Princess is marrying into the Turks, I hear Tibet has petitioned to marry the Third Princess, and the Sixth Princess is already betrothed.

I won’t bother you anymore in the future. As time passes, no one will remember that absurd rumor between us.

You can marry a noble lady, and if they have any reservations, you can find me to explain…”

“Is this all you wanted to say to me?” Cui Jinbai suddenly grabbed her wrist, staring at her intensely.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Bu Shulin countered.

Cui Jinbai was extremely regretful: “That day… that day I was impulsive. I apologize to you, I…”

“Severing ties was just an impulse?” Bu Shulin laughed softly. “If you were just temporarily out of your mind that day, wouldn’t you have run me through with your sword? I dare not entangle with you anymore – you’re too unpredictable.”

Bu Shulin easily broke free from Cui Jinbai’s grip. She had mostly recovered. She turned to leave.

But Cui Jinbai embraced her from behind: “That day I couldn’t accept that I had fallen for you!”

Bu Shulin had mostly regained her strength, but her wounds were on her waist and chest. The newly scabbed injuries couldn’t handle too much force or they would split open. For a moment, she was restrained by Cui Jinbai.

“Since childhood, I’ve been steeped in literature. The Cui family teachings – that all Cui children must be disciplined, pure, humble, and hardworking; propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame; the Three Bonds and Five Constants… these are carved into our bones. For me to fall in love with a man – how shocking and contrary to moral principles! I was tormented, self-loathing, agitated, and fearful. Yet you told me you would have done the same for anyone, that your words of affection were merely drunken talk. At that moment, I felt you were so cruel – my heart-wrenching anguish was dismissed by you so casually.

How ridiculous, laughable, and tragic. In a moment of anger, I impulsively severed our ties. I thought that by doing so, I could break free from this quagmire and return to being my former confident, unaffected self.

But I couldn’t do it. Since that day, you’re in my thoughts when I’m awake and in my dreams when I sleep. Everything I see is entangled with your image, impossible to dispel. It’s as if you’ve bewitched me – my heart, my eyes, my mind are all filled with you.

I don’t want to struggle anymore. I surrender, and I lay down my weapons.

Listen to me: I love you, I adore you, I want to join my life with yours. I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman.”