Quite how Situ Haonan managed to part ways with Yelü Qianqian, no one knew — a full five days and five nights passed with no sign of him catching up.

By then, Ziqing had already passed through Great Zhou’s southern gate and now stood alone in the reception hall of the Situ estate, letting Lord and Lady Situ look her over.

Both Madam Situ and City Lord Situ were baffled. This insufferable girl — hadn’t it been Situ Haonan who’d smoothed things over between everyone last time? Why would she come running here now, of all things? Shouldn’t she have been the one avoiding City Lord Situ?

“Has the Charm Fragrance been cured?”

City Lord Situ said flatly. He hadn’t offered Ziqing a seat, showing none of the usual courtesies to a guest, but he wasn’t giving her a hard time either — if that previous business flared up again, there would truly be no one left to smooth things over!

Both he and his wife knew this girl’s temper all too well — every bit as fierce as their own precious daughter’s.

If word of this got out, people who didn’t know better might think the two of them were taking advantage of Jun Beiyue’s absence to bully a woman!

“No,” Ziqing answered loudly.

“How could that be!” City Lord Situ was startled. “That’s impossible — you truly found the Old Man of the Poison Den!”

“I found him. He wanted half a body’s worth of my blood in exchange. City Lord Situ, that’s a blood exchange, not curing the poison. I refused,” Ziqing said seriously.

Given that, City Lord Situ could accept it — otherwise the favor he’d called in would have gone entirely to waste. He was about to ask further, but Madam Situ cut in rudely. “Then what are you here for? Jun Beiyue’s relationship with us has nothing to do with you!”

Madam Situ felt an uneasy stirring inside. This insufferable girl showed no respect for her elders, courting trouble at every turn. Hadn’t it already been said that the marriage arrangement was something Jun Beiyue himself had agreed to, nothing to do with her? If they wanted anything, they’d go to Jun Beiyue directly — so what was she even doing here now?

It wasn’t as if they couldn’t help her — she’d refused the cure herself!

“I came specifically to inform you both that since my poison hasn’t been cured, Jun Beiyue’s promise is void,” Ziqing said, every word deliberate and clear. With that, she turned and walked away without a backward glance, leaving City Lord Situ and his wife utterly stunned, unable to process what had just happened.

Not until Ziqing reached the front gate did they hurry after her. “Han Ziqing, what exactly do you mean by this!”

“My poison hasn’t been cured, so Jun Beiyue’s promise is void. It’s that simple,” Ziqing repeated, without slowing her pace.

“Han Ziqing, this isn’t something you get to decide!” City Lord Situ said angrily at once.

Ziqing stopped, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips as she finally turned around. “City Lord Situ, I only came to inform you of this. Your original agreement was that if my poison was cured, he would marry me. Since it hasn’t been, naturally he won’t. If you insist on forcing your daughter into my household anyway, I imagine the whole world would only laugh at you all the more — better to put those rumors to rest while you still can.”

“Insufferable girl, do you really think you can speak for Jun Beiyue?” Madam Situ said coldly.

“I know full well. Madam Situ, you’re the primary wife yourself — you understand better than anyone that for a concubine to enter a household, the primary wife must give her consent. If the two of you insist on pushing this further, it’s your own precious daughter and your own household name that will suffer for it,” Ziqing said, pulling out the letter from before and tossing it to City Lord Situ before walking away without looking back.

Madam Situ stamped her feet in fury, while City Lord Situ’s brow furrowed deeply. What Han Ziqing had said wasn’t wrong.

“My lord, this is too much — she’s practically riding roughshod over us!”

“If Xin’er had to share a husband with her, I’m afraid… besides, Jun Beiyue’s heart has always belonged to that woman.”

“I don’t think so — she’s merely useful to him, nothing more!”

“Why hasn’t Haonan sent word about Xin’er in so long? We really should have her come back and discuss this properly!”

“I heard Haonan’s been tangled up with Princess Qianqian of Western Chu — who knows what that troublesome boy’s gotten himself into now!”

…

Thinking of their two children, the couple both sighed helplessly. Yet helpless or not, these were their own flesh and blood — of course they still loved and protected them from the bottom of their hearts.

At the gate, Ziqing couldn’t help glancing back once more. This place — across both this life and her previous one — was the first place she’d ever felt something like a father’s love, the first place she’d ever caught a glimpse of what family warmth could be. And yet it was here, too, that she’d understood a bitter truth: no matter how wrong a child might be, sensible parents would still shield them in the end.

Ziqing couldn’t help wondering — if Situ Haonan and Situ Xin’er ever truly came into conflict, which one would this loving mother and stern father protect more?

The thought made her laugh at herself. That kind of trouble would never fall on her shoulders anyway.

The moment Ziqing stepped out the gate, Shiliang hurried up to report. “My lord, Young Master Situ sent word — he’s at the southern shore of Western Jing, says he’ll come once he’s sorted things out there.”

“The southern shore of Western Jing? He escorted Princess Qianqian back?” Ziqing asked, puzzled. But the moment she opened the letter, she burst out laughing at once!

Chu Feiyan had been stopped at the southern shore of Western Jing and couldn’t get through.

If she couldn’t pass through Western Jing, and couldn’t pass through Great Zhou either, that left only Eastern Qin!

And as for Eastern Qin — even if Western Jing and Great Zhou both agreed to let Chu Feiyan pass, and the Eastern Sea itself ran dry, Eastern Qin would never, under any circumstances, allow her to set foot on its shores!

The two kingdoms shared a blood feud that ran generations deep!

Ziqing often thought that if she hadn’t gone to Nanzhao and made herself a target, who knew how badly Chu Feiyan and Xuanyuan Zhaoxi might have gone at each other!

From start to finish, the two had never so much as exchanged a proper glance.

“My lord, shall we wait for him?” Shiliang asked.

“No need. Did you send that letter to Lishao Mountain ahead of time, as I asked?” Ziqing asked flatly.

The moment she’d returned to Nanzhao, she’d received word from Physician Gu — ever since that one moment his fingers had moved, Jun Beiyue had shown no further signs of change. Both physicians’ diagnoses matched exactly what the Chieftain of the Medicine Clan had said.

His internal energy had recovered, but he still hadn’t woken — whether he would now truly depended on fate.

She missed him. Two months already felt unbearably long — how could she possibly wait three years? Neither could she, nor could Great Zhou.

At the Yao Prince’s estate, visits from Emperor Tianhui, the various imperial princes, and even the ministers were growing more frequent by the day, and rumors were already beginning to spread through the capital.

She needed to leave, yet also needed to secure Great Zhou’s peace — and for that, there was only one person on Lishao Mountain who could help her.

“Let’s set off. Shiliang, send word to the eastern coast — prepare a ship, ready to sail at any moment!” Ziqing said flatly, immediately mounting her horse and riding swiftly toward Lishao Mountain…

Meanwhile, on the southern coast of Western Jing, the scene was lively enough to make Situ Haonan reluctant to leave.

Every kingdom across the Longyuan Continent feared the unknown vastness of the sea. Unless absolutely necessary, and unless the journey was short, no one ventured out onto the ocean lightly.

As a result, ships were few, and ports fewer still.

The only port from which one could sail toward Western Jing was called Coral Harbor.

At that moment, inside and outside the harbor, two women aboard two great ships were shouting furiously at each other from a distance.

“Yelü Qianqian, this princess warns you — step aside at once! This was agreed upon between my father the emperor and your Western Jing beforehand. Passage through by detour — you’d best understand that going back on your word carries a price!”

Ever since leaving Nanzhao’s royal city, Chu Feiyan had traveled day and night, sick to her stomach the whole way, and she certainly hadn’t forgotten Yelü Qianqian’s earlier warning!

But she wasn’t about to be intimidated by Yelü Qianqian. Her passage through had been personally negotiated between her father the emperor and the Emperor of Western Jing — Yelü Qianqian was nothing more than an insufferable little girl with no say in the matter at all!

And yet, upon reaching Western Jing’s Coral Harbor, she’d been refused entry, told that the Emperor of Western Chu and the Emperor of Western Jing were still in negotiations and she couldn’t be allowed through for now — she would have to wait.

Wait she did — and ten days later, along came the leisurely, late-arriving Yelü Qianqian, and still Western Jing refused to let her pass.