That day, the Buddha Bathing ceremony at Jade Buddha Temple was extremely grand.

Northern architecture was generally more magnificent and imposing than that of Jiangzuo, and Jade Buddha Temple, being built with imperial funds, was naturally even more splendid than Qixia Temple, which Shen Xiling knew best. One hundred and eight golden arhats sat arranged around the great statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, while various bodhisattvas were surrounded by auspicious clouds, gazing down upon all sentient beings with lowered brows amid brilliant golden light.

When the ceremony began, the monks of Jade Buddha Temple donned their robes and carried their implements up to the hall, standing in formation according to east-west positions. The sounds of bells and chimes were unceasing as six monks stepped forward to respectfully welcome the Buddha statue, with Abbot Huijue slowly emerging behind them to reverently escort the Buddha statue from the sutra tower into the great hall.

The hall resounded with bells and drums as the Buddha statue was seated in a golden basin. Abbot Huijue led everyone in offering incense and paying respects to Buddha, chanting the “Bathing Mantra,” then performing blessed circumambulation around the Buddha while singing the “Buddha Jewel Praise” and “Dedication Text.” The sound of chanting continued unbroken within the great hall—this was called complete merit and virtue.

Shen Xiling knew that Qi Ying was in that towering Buddha pavilion, separated from her by only a wall.

The main hall was where Emperor Wei and court officials paid respects to Buddha. Women were not permitted to share the same chamber with men, so even though she and he were in the same temple, they were still separated by a wall. She couldn’t see him and could only imagine him.

But this was already very good.

She was so close to him, standing on the same ground, viewing the same scenery, listening to the same Sanskrit chanting, just as wonderful as when he had accompanied her to Qixia Temple before. Moreover, even though she couldn’t see him, she could still imagine his appearance at this moment—he would certainly be proper and upright, looking earnest and appropriate, but his heart surely wasn’t as calm as his expression suggested. After all, he didn’t believe in gods or Buddha, so such occasions must feel somewhat tedious to him.

She thought deeply and in great detail, inevitably becoming more and more absorbed, until she had no reaction to anything or anyone around her. Even when young monks entered the side hall requesting that the various madams donate merit money, she didn’t move, still standing in place in a daze, drawing everyone’s attention, including that of the Empress and the princess from Jiangzuo.

Seeing her eldest sister-in-law in such a detached state, Qin Shi couldn’t help but worry more, thinking she was physically unwell. She hastily bowed to apologize to Her Majesty the Empress and the Great Liang princess, then gave meaningful looks to the little sister beside her to attend to eldest sister-in-law, only to find that the little sister was also in a dreamy, absent state, unable to meet her eyes for the longest time.

Little did she know that Gu Jingqi’s heart was also full of turbulent thoughts.

Earlier, while welcoming His Majesty at the foot of Zhemo Mountain, everyone had gone to look at that Great Liang envoy, but she alone had noticed the Crown Prince beside His Majesty… and felt he looked somewhat familiar.

She should have seen him somewhere before, but despite thinking for a long time, she couldn’t recall where exactly. How annoying that the Crown Prince wasn’t a piece of cake, or she definitely wouldn’t have forgotten!

Her head was starting to ache from thinking, and only then did she finally remember that she had indeed encountered the Crown Prince a few days ago: it was at sister-in-law’s Jinyu Hall, when she had accompanied sister-in-law to collect accounts and happened to meet a gentleman in the hall who was as refined as cut jade. That gentleman had even competed with her for the same jade mountain piece.

So that person had been the Crown Prince!

No wonder she had felt that gentleman looked familiar that day. She had entered the palace several times as a child and should have seen His Highness then, but she had been too young at the time and couldn’t remember clearly now—naturally, this was mainly because the Crown Prince wasn’t a piece of cake, or she would certainly remember him vividly.

Being preoccupied with these thoughts, Gu Jingqi naturally missed the meaningful looks Qin Shi was giving her and couldn’t help her eldest sister-in-law regain awareness, causing sister-in-law to attract the attention of everyone in the hall, even alarming Her Majesty the Empress.

Duke Yanguo’s wife held a first-rank noble title, so naturally she stood very close to the Empress. Seeing Shen Xiling in such an absent state, Empress Zou also spoke a few words of concern, taking her hand and asking: “I heard that Madam recovered some days ago, but looking at you now, you still appear quite thin—are you feeling unwell? Perhaps I should have someone fetch Wenruo.”

Empress Zou could be considered quite an actress. Though her family was at odds with Duke Yanguo’s mansion, she could still put on an appearance of great concern for the Duke’s wife, remarkably naturally, even holding her hand—extremely intimate indeed.

Only then did Shen Xiling reluctantly come to her senses. Realizing her impropriety, she bowed in apology and answered: “Your Majesty’s concern troubles you. This subject’s wife is perfectly well—there’s no need to trouble the General.”

Before Empress Zou could respond, the Great Liang princess beside them laughed lightly with ambiguous meaning, saying: “I’ve long heard that General Gu cherishes his wife like life itself—this doesn’t seem to be empty words. What use is keeping such an attentive husband? Why not summon him to provide some tender care?”

These words actually had no major fault—they were just ordinary teasing remarks. But upon first hearing them, everyone still detected something amiss, feeling this princess was being somewhat sarcastic. However, after the various madams in the side hall carefully considered each word, they couldn’t identify exactly what was wrong, so they could only go along with polite laughter and praise the deep affection between Duke Yanguo and his wife.

Though the others didn’t understand the truth, Shen Xiling did.

She and this princess were also old acquaintances. She had known of her existence since childhood and had even encountered her once at the flower gathering in the third month of the fourteenth year of Qinghua.

Shen Xiling admitted that she had once been jealous of this princess in her youth, harboring hostility upon first meeting her. However, this hostility had gradually disappeared. She knew that Qi Ying’s relationship with this princess was perfectly innocent, so naturally she wouldn’t continue dwelling on it. To her, she was just an ordinary old acquaintance who no longer required her special attention.

Unfortunately, this princess didn’t seem to think the same way.

She apparently still disliked her, just as domineering as when she had barged into her Woyu Courtyard with many palace attendants, wanting to slap her face. Even with all the changes in worldly affairs to reach the current situation, her hostility toward her remained undiminished.

But Shen Xiling had changed greatly.

When she first met this princess as a child, she had felt intense inferiority and self-pity, causing such strong emotions that she completely lost control. But seeing her again now, Shen Xiling’s heart was extremely calm—neither sad nor happy, neither humble nor arrogant, as if no matter what she did, she wouldn’t truly take it to heart anymore.

She even felt some pity for her—she was just a woman unable to control her own destiny. How was she different from her younger self?

Thinking this, Shen Xiling couldn’t help but sigh somewhat. She didn’t argue with Xiao Ziyu, only bowed slightly to her and spoke a few polite words with perfect etiquette, then turned back to the Empress and donated the incense money she had prepared to the young monk’s merit box after her. Her demeanor was dignified and proper without a single flaw to criticize, instead making Xiao Ziyu, who was genuine royalty, appear somewhat petty.

The watching crowd saw everything. They were all shrewd people who could naturally detect some intrigue. Though they couldn’t fathom the past between the two, they could sense undercurrents and knew that the Great Liang princess had come off worse.

Xiao Ziyu knew this herself, and she also clearly saw the pity in Shen Xiling’s eyes.

She felt resentful about that expression, yet couldn’t help but… feel sorrowful.

The Buddha Bathing ceremony didn’t end until noon, but the festival wasn’t over yet. Each noble family was assigned a meditation room, and the monks of Jade Buddha Temple would serve vegetarian meals. After the noon meal, there would be more ceremonies, truly ending only when the sun set in the west.

The meditation rooms assigned to the Liang ministers were naturally separated from those of the Great Wei officials, and because they were all foreign male ministers, they were given quarters in corner locations, separated from the official families with women to avoid impropriety.

This was naturally a very reasonable arrangement, but it made it even more impossible for Shen Xiling to see Qi Ying. Though Gu Juhan knew she was someone who understood priorities and would never cause trouble, he still feared her grief might become overwhelming and cause unexpected complications. He had worried about her throughout the entire morning in the main Buddha hall, and only now, entering the meditation room to see her, could he finally feel somewhat at ease.

The temple meditation room wasn’t spacious—just a small chamber. When he entered, he saw her sitting by the window lost in thought, her face still very pale, but her emotions were stable. Gu Juhan quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, young monks from the temple brought vegetarian meals—arhat vegetables, three-colored lotus, and spring unity lotus, all exquisitely prepared. Gu Juhan thanked the monks and asked them to leave after setting down the meal.

Shen Xiling seemed to have been completely immersed in her own thoughts, not even noticing that Gu Juhan had entered, and even the commotion of the young monks bringing the vegetarian meal hadn’t awakened her. She continued looking out the window with no intention of getting up.

Gu Juhan walked quietly to her side and sat down at a neither close nor distant spot, gently calling: “Xiling?”

His approach finally brought her back to awareness. Shen Xiling turned to look at Gu Juhan, smiled hazily, and answered: “…The General has come.”

Gu Juhan also smiled at her, then pointed to the vegetarian meal on the table, saying gently: “Let’s have our noon meal. The temple has other arrangements after the meal.”

Shen Xiling nodded in agreement, and Gu Juhan helped her stand up. She had wanted to say it wasn’t necessary, but after rising she was indeed unsteady on her feet and would likely have fallen without his support, so she said nothing more and let Gu Juhan help her to the table.

The two began eating together.

Shen Xiling actually had no appetite, but she had always been devout in her Buddhist worship, and she was determined to complete the Buddha Bathing festival rituals, so she forced herself to eat the vegetarian meal bite by bite. Gu Juhan knew she really couldn’t eat and felt heartbroken seeing her force herself. He was hesitating whether to tell her to stop eating when he heard her ask with a light smile: “Did the General see anything interesting in the Buddha pavilion today?”

This question startled Gu Juhan.

He had expected her to definitely ask about Qi Jingchen, but unexpectedly she didn’t. Moreover, her expression was very calm at this moment, not like she was deflecting, but rather as if she truly didn’t plan to ask about him.

Could she be… planning to let go of that person?

Why? Was it because of that distant glimpse at the foot of the mountain today?

Did she feel that was already a conclusion, so she was finally willing to let go of this obsession of a full ten years?

Gu Juhan found it somewhat hard to believe, yet joy suddenly began sprouting in his heart. He tried hard to suppress this joy, or it would seem too petty, but couldn’t prevent waves of delight from overflowing from his heart, making it difficult to handle.

Could he… finally have hope of winning her?

Gu Juhan coughed to disguise his emotional fluctuation. Just as he was about to answer Shen Xiling’s question, he heard commotion outside—carefully listening, it was monks shouting loudly “Fire!”

Gu Juhan’s expression changed dramatically. He immediately stood up and strode out to look, indeed seeing flames shooting skyward from the back mountain, already turning that patch of sky fire-red!

It was currently spring, the northern region had little rain and was especially dry, and Zhemo Mountain was covered with trees everywhere. A single spark was enough to ignite the entire spring mountain, let alone the back mountain which had already burned to this extent!

This was going to be a major disaster!

Shen Xiling also heard the commotion outside and saw the towering flames through the window. Before she could react, there were other sounds outside—the nobles from various meditation rooms had all been alarmed and were shouting as they fled. The usually dignified and graceful madams from various families were now panicked and disheveled, screaming like common market women.

Gu Juhan’s aide-de-camp Xu Chuan had rushed into the room. Upon seeing him arrive, Gu Juhan’s expression steadied. He immediately returned to the room to pull Shen Xiling along and strode out with her.

Upon exiting the room, the shocking fire became even more terrifying. Rolling thick smoke poured continuously from the temple grounds near the back mountain, the crimson flames generating alarming heat, burning fiercely and refusing to be extinguished, like the Avici Hell depicted in scriptures—truly bone-chilling.

Author’s Note: I see everyone discussing Jingqi—thank you for all the comments~ Considering not deviating from the main storyline, little sister-in-law’s scenes will just be touched upon. Her story with the Crown Prince will only appear as background information going forward.