How much time had actually passed? Where was she, exactly?

Her memory stopped at the moment just before she’d fainted. That troublesome girl dressed in Mobei tribal clothing — had she really been brought to some small town in Mobei?

Ziqing’s consciousness was slowly returning. It wasn’t completely clear yet, but it was much better than before.

She tried hard to recall, wanting to understand her current situation.

And she tried even harder to force herself awake, to make herself able to move.

She had no time to waste. Nanny Qin had kidnapped Yelu Qianqian somewhere in the Mobei region, and within just a few days they could reach the borders of Xiliang. At such a critical moment, how could she possibly lie here unconscious!

Ziqing hated herself bitterly. Even in her hazy state, her jaw clenched tight.

Though she had already notified the Emperor of Xijing and the Shadow Guards, finding someone in the vast snowy mountains was no easy task. Neither the Xijing troops nor the Shadow Guards could move as fast as she could.

She herself had chased for so long just to track the woman down — how could the Xijing soldiers or the Shadow Guards possibly catch up as quickly?

If Nanny Qin succeeded, then all her efforts this whole time would be for nothing, and Jun Beiyue’s position would be in danger!

“No!”

She screamed inside her mind, ordering herself, “Han Ziqing, wake up. Wake up right now. This is no time to rest!”

But she was so exhausted.

This body wasn’t originally hers — it belonged to the previous Han Ziqing, whose constitution had never been strong to begin with. Added to that was the severe damage from having been soaked in corpse poison water by Yanzi last time — her body had suffered a grievous blow.

She hadn’t recuperated for long at Sha Qiuzi’s place; her body truly hadn’t recovered much and still needed far more time to heal.

Under these circumstances, if she once let herself collapse, once she fell seriously ill, it would be very hard to pull herself back up again!

“Han Ziqing, wake up! I command you, wake up right now!”

“This is no time for sentimentality!”

“Han Ziqing, you haven’t accomplished anything yet — you have no right to rest!”

“Han Ziqing, you promised Jun Beiyue! You promised him you’d keep the Western Frontier safe! Wake up!”

…

She screamed within her heart, the stubborn voice echoing again and again in her mind. Not only were her lips pressed tightly together, but her hands had clenched into fists as well.

Xuanyuan Lige had just come back after adding wood to the fire, and seeing this, he was greatly alarmed. “Ziqing!”

It was already the third night. The old nanny hadn’t lied — was she about to wake?

“Wake up, don’t bite down! Don’t bite!”

Her pale lips were nearly bitten bloody, yet she kept straining, a sight that ached the heart to watch.

“Let go! Were you having a nightmare? It’s all right! It’s all right!”

Xuanyuan Lige, flustered, tried to pry her lips apart. But just then, Ziqing suddenly released her jaw and cried out, “No!”

And with that, she woke completely. The instant she caught sight of Xuanyuan Lige’s exhausted, bloodshot eyes, she calmed herself and drew deep, gasping breaths.

Xuanyuan Lige was both panicked and overjoyed, hurrying to pour hot water, unable to hide the trembling of his hands.

“Ziqing… drink… just a small sip first, careful, it’s hot.”

He held the water right up to her, all but ready to feed it to her himself.

“You… why… why is it you?” Ziqing was startled, straining to remember but unable to recall anything. “Where is this…?”

“A small town in Mobei. You were rescued by villagers — fortunate that I happened to come across you.” Finally, Xuanyuan Lige, too, calmed himself.

Ziqing nodded blankly, then abruptly started in alarm. “How many days have I been unconscious?”

“A little over half a month.” Xuanyuan Lige answered honestly. No sooner had he spoken than Ziqing threw off the blanket and got out of bed, before he could even stop her.

“Half a month… half a month… something must have happened!”

“I… I… how could I let this happen!”

She muttered to herself, forcing back the waves of dizziness assaulting her head, striding toward the door.

Half a month was a long time. Surely a great deal must have happened during the time she’d been unconscious. Had Yelu Qianqian already reached Xiliang? Had the Emperor of Xijing already gone back on his word? Had war already broken out on Da Zhou’s western frontier?

And the Shadow Guards had lost contact with her for so long — Jun Beiyue must be worried half out of his mind!

He’d better not have abandoned the entire Da Zhou army to come looking for her!

She had to contact the Shadow Guards immediately. She had to find out right away what had happened these past two weeks. She had to understand the current situation!

She was anxious, and worried, her mind filled entirely with the six-month promise she’d made to Jun Beiyue, with the safety of Da Zhou, with the safety of her husband far away on the battlefield.

For a moment, she paid no attention to the man standing silently behind her, watching her with a trace of sorrow in his eyes — Xuanyuan Lige.

They had finally, at long last, met again.

Xuanyuan Lige watched silently, a self-mocking curve forever fixed at the corner of his lips. He had always known: the moment she woke, she would no longer be just herself alone. She represented Jun Beiyue. Every moment of every day, she would be worrying about Da Zhou’s empire on Jun Beiyue’s behalf.

The moment she woke, they were destined never to be friends.

He said nothing at all, only watched as she walked toward the door. But then, suddenly, Ziqing stopped short and spun around.

“You… you… has Nanny Qin contacted you!”

Nanny Qin was from Dongqin, and Xuanyuan Lige was here — she couldn’t help but wonder, couldn’t help but think that if Yelu Qianqian had truly been kidnapped, he might be an accomplice. After all, he had more than enough reason and standing to be one.

“Nanny Qin?” Xuanyuan Lige was slightly startled. Wasn’t Nanny Qin always on Yaoshun Island?

To him, Nanny Qin mattered more than his own birth mother. If he had any family left in this life at all, it was Nanny Qin alone.

Seeing Xuanyuan Lige’s reaction, Ziqing knew at once he knew nothing about it. If he had known, given his temperament, he would have said so openly — he wouldn’t have hidden it.

“Thank you for saving me. I have an urgent matter — I’ll come find you later!” Ziqing said, turning to open the door.

The last time Xuanyuan Lige had left Sha Qiuzi’s place, she had actually been secretly searching for him ever since. She’d entrusted Sha Qiuzi with finding medicine for him — whether to repay a debt of gratitude, or for the bond between them that words could never quite explain, she wanted to save him, all the same!

Standing on opposite sides, in a life-or-death confrontation, she wouldn’t go easy on him. But wherever it could be avoided, no one wished more than she that he not die.

Only, when Ziqing flung the door open, what met her eyes made her urgently racing heart freeze in place at once!

Before her…

Before her, the courtyard was filled with lights — among the plum blossoms, on the icy trees, scattered across the snowy ground, countless tiny oil lamps, twinkling like stars in the snow-drifting night, brilliant as if the heavens had scattered stardust upon the earth. So beautiful, so achingly beautiful.

And right in the center of this snow-drifted “starscape” stood a zither stand, with a single lamp lit beside it, illuminating everything on the stand with perfect clarity.

There was no actual zither placed on the stand. And yet, Ziqing could clearly see zither strings there.

Carved into the wooden stand were long, deep grooves, unmistakably shaped just like the strings of a zither.

This… this was…

Unconsciously, Ziqing turned back to look, and only now did she really look at Xuanyuan Lige, only now realizing with a shock how much thinner and gaunter he had become, his frame so frail it seemed he might be swept away by the wind at any moment.

He still wore that same dreamlike purple robe, his three thousand strands of silver hair falling loose behind him. He still smiled at her warmly, just as he always had at every meeting before, warm as being bathed in an April breeze.

“Fool, today is your birthday. Did you forget it yourself?” he said, slowly walking toward her.