With everyone gone, Yingzi immediately moved to step forward and offer some words of comfort, but Physician Gu stopped him, pulling him away instead.

Finally, the noisy room fell back into silence.

Yet Ziqing showed no sign of emerging from Jun Beiyue’s embrace, her head still buried motionless against his chest, as if she’d truly fallen asleep.

But Jun Beiyue could clearly sense her hands slowly wrapping around his waist from both sides, gradually tightening their grip, both hands locking together.

What was wrong with this woman?

“Are you tired?” Jun Beiyue asked gently, unsure whether he’d forgotten or simply chosen not to mention the earlier unpleasantness over the matter of the poison—it seemed as though it had never happened at all.

What answered him was a helpless sigh!

This woman, capable of such a sigh, too.

He didn’t like sighs—a sigh implied helplessness, powerlessness.

“That must have been bothersome for you,” Jun Beiyue said flatly. Though Situ Xin’er’s behavior seemed aimed at him, everyone could see it was really directed at Ziqing.

“Are you tired?” Ziqing countered instead.

“What’s there to be tired about?” Jun Beiyue asked, puzzled. He hadn’t taken the matter seriously at all, hadn’t expended any real mental energy on it, so naturally he wasn’t tired.

Yet Ziqing lifted her head then, looking at him with unusual seriousness for the first time. “Jun Beiyue, the Gu family was doing perfectly fine before—at the very least, the Gu couple treated you well enough. Then I came along, and everything turned into a mess, forcing you to draw such a sharp line between yourself and them.”

Ziqing continued, smiling helplessly, “Master Situ, isn’t he your greatest asset on the Longyuan continent? It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he commands the martial world. And the Situ couple have always treated you so well too. Then I came along, and stirred that up as well.”

Ziqing wasn’t sure why she felt this way, but the feeling really wasn’t a pleasant one!

Especially every time Jiang Chen and Gu Meiting looked at her with those strange expressions, especially just now, Madam Situ’s pointed, insinuating tone—it truly made her uncomfortable!

It wasn’t that she feared them, nor that she felt she was in the wrong compared to them—it was that she felt she’d wronged Beiyue!

If she hadn’t appeared, perhaps Beiyue wouldn’t have encountered so many troubles, wouldn’t have lost so much support, wouldn’t have made so many enemies.

Master Situ, though he might not go so far as to expose Jun Beiyue’s true identity, Situ Haonan’s parting words before leaving had made the severity of the consequences quite clear.

It seemed her presence had disrupted everything in his life.

Hearing Ziqing’s words, Jun Beiyue immediately frowned, his dark eyes serious. “This prince—afraid of Situ Cheng?”

“No, there’s simply no need to make enemies, is there?” Ziqing said earnestly.

“Han Ziqing, since when did you learn the art of swallowing your pride and enduring insults? Bullied right to your face, and Situ Chengtian, unable to discipline his own daughter, comes running to me instead—do you expect this prince to just accept it? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that back at the northern military camp, Situ Xin’er herself had a hand in spreading those exaggerated rumors about my having spent the night in her tent!”

Jun Beiyue grew angry. What he admired most about Ziqing was her pride and spirit—yet now, what kind of thinking was this from her?

Provoked by Jun Beiyue’s outburst, Ziqing, already conflicted, snapped right back at him, “What I mean is, if I weren’t in the way, you’d have plenty of ways to handle this, wouldn’t you? Things wouldn’t have to escalate this badly with the people around you, would they?”

“Which people around me?” Jun Beiyue asked, frowning.

“Patriarch Gu, the Situ couple—even Situ Haonan finds himself in a difficult position now, forced to side with Situ Cheng,” Ziqing said seriously.

Jun Beiyue looked at her, saying nothing.

Ziqing gritted her teeth, hesitating for a long moment before finally speaking the words weighing on her heart. “Beiyue, I know you care for me, but there’s no need to go so far… so far… to sacrifice the support you’ve worked so hard to build, all for my sake.”

At these words, Jun Beiyue immediately burst out laughing. “Care for you?” These words left Ziqing rather embarrassed, yet she pressed on regardless, saying earnestly, “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean!”

But unexpectedly, Jun Beiyue suddenly leaned forward, both hands pressing against her shoulders, staring straight into her eyes.

“Han Ziqing, Patriarch Gu is my birth father, which makes him your father-in-law as well. He ought to cherish you, ought to shield you from harm—but he hasn’t. Far from it, he’s wronged you instead.”

Jun Beiyue spoke earnestly, pausing before continuing, “The Gu family, if it’s my home, then it should be your home too—it should give you a sense of belonging. Yet instead, they’ve done everything they can to drive you away.”

“The Situ couple, to me, are elders as well as friends—and the same should hold true for you. Yet when Situ Haonan brought you to the Situ estate earlier, how did they treat you?”

Each question left Ziqing’s brow furrowed tighter, and she was about to argue back.

But Jun Beiyue continued earnestly, “When a woman marries a man, she may come with nothing at all—but she shouldn’t have to carry extra burdens on top of that. None of this should be something you have to bear.”

“I…” Ziqing wanted to argue, but found herself speechless.

“Removing without reservation the things you shouldn’t have to bear—that’s simply what should be done, not doting,” Jun Beiyue said, a self-mocking smile tugging at his lips as he slowly sat down beside Ziqing.

Doting—what even was doting?

It wasn’t about exhausting every effort to shield a woman from what she shouldn’t have to endure in the first place!

Rather, it was about giving something that wasn’t required to be given.

At least, that was how Jun Beiyue’s own definition of doting worked!

Hearing this, Ziqing understood immediately, her heart warming. She hesitated for a good while before honestly speaking up. “But… I think this already… is more than enough.”

Truly enough—even she herself had never doted on herself this much.

Jun Beiyue hadn’t expected such an answer, laughing helplessly, suddenly feeling as though he was truly getting to know this woman for the first time—she really was just a simple, foolish girl.

Ziqing lowered her head, her expression earnest. As long as this man never betrayed her, never harbored divided loyalties, her demands really weren’t so many after all…

That night, Qinse Valley, quiet throughout the day, came alive once more.

Ziqing brought only Hongyi to the banquet, refusing to dress up elaborately like the other women. She still wore her black combat attire, sharp and capable, the Wuzheng zither slung at her side, concealed beneath black cloth.

Just as she reached the entrance to the zither platform, she found herself face to face with Xuanyuan Lige.

Ziqing nodded politely to him and made to walk past, but Xuanyuan Lige reached out to stop her. “Wait a moment. There’s something I’d like to ask you.”

“What business does young master Xuanyuan have?” Ziqing asked politely.

“Ziqing, how did you poison Bai Feiyao’s vines to death!” Xuanyuan Lige asked directly, getting straight to the point.

“Learned it from you!” Ziqing replied cleverly. Hadn’t he done the exact same thing, instantly killing those vines? She didn’t know how he’d administered his poison, but one thing was certain—this man wasn’t immune to all poisons; he couldn’t have cultivated poison within himself the way she had. That day on the zither platform, she’d caught the scent of his blood—mostly medicinal, suggesting he must take substantial doses of medicine regularly, year after year!

“You’ve cultivated poison within your own bloodstream, haven’t you?” Xuanyuan Lige suddenly asked, deadly serious, his pale face grave and frightening.