After about two hours, Mo Sigui emerged, his body covered in blood and his face pale. He stood in the corridor, silently stuffing a pill into his pipe and taking a few puffs after lighting it.

An Jiu, seeing his condition, guessed there wasn’t a major problem but still asked for confirmation, “Is everything alright?”

“It’s fine,” Mo Sigui replied.

Hearing this, Sheng Changying got up and left.

As An Jiu was about to turn away, Mo Sigui said, “An Jiu, stay and talk with me for a while.”

An Jiu stopped.

Both remained silent.

After standing for a while, Mo Sigui spoke first, but said, “It’s fine now. You should go and rest.”

Mo Sigui and Lou Mingyue were both stubbornly walking their chosen paths. Only if one of them compromised could there be any intersection. Unfortunately, Lou Mingyue was the type to stick to her guns, and although Mo Sigui showed some wavering, An Jiu didn’t think she could persuade him to relax his pursuit of medicine for a woman.

Some people are destined not to be together, and too much interaction only adds to the pain.

An Jiu didn’t think too deeply about it, believing that it’s better to let go than to pursue fruitlessly. She didn’t try to persuade him but didn’t leave either.

Mo Sigui smoked one puff after another. When the medicine in the pipe burned out, he stuffed another pill in. By the eighth pill, An Jiu reached out and held the stem of the pipe.

“Don’t mind me, you—”

Bang!

Before Mo Sigui could finish speaking, An Jiu knocked him unconscious with a swift chop.

“This is faster than any smoking,” An Jiu said, grabbing his collar and dragging him into the room. Seeing Lou Mingyue lying on the bed, she hesitated for a moment but still hoisted him up and laid him next to Lou Mingyue.

After doing all this, An Jiu returned to her room to rest.

Lying fully clothed on the couch, she closed her eyes. An image inexplicably appeared in her mind: a brightly lit candelabra, draped with red silk. Chu Dingjiang’s deep voice said he wanted to marry her.

Tossing and turning, this scene refused to leave her mind.

She hadn’t felt anything special at the time.

Late at night, An Jiu got up and walked into the courtyard. Moonlight filtered through the mist, thin as gossamer, casting a hazy glow.

She raised her head, staring blankly at the almost full moon in the sky, secretly regretting knocking Mo Sigui unconscious…

In the capital of Liao, there was no moon. Heavy snow fell in abundance, nearly burying the buildings. After a brief moment of commotion in the Liao Imperial Palace, calm returned.

In a side hall, Yelü Huangwu tightly gripped a cup of water in her hand. It no longer steamed, but her face was gloomy, and the servants around her dared not approach to replace it.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, an eunuch hurried in and bowed to her, saying, “Your Highness, His Majesty is now well. Doctor Ning said he needed to adjust the prescription and sent me to inform you first.”

Yelü Huangwu let out a snort.

The eunuch, unsure of her meaning, stood for a few breaths before saying, “His Majesty still needs attendance. I’ll take my leave now.”

“Go then,” Yelü Huangwu said.

Shortly after, Ning Yanli, dressed in blue, hurried in.

“My lady,” she bowed in greeting.

Yelü Huangwu dismissed the other servants in the room and asked in a low voice, “How is my brother’s condition?”

“Not good,” Ning Yanli never minced words with Yelü Huangwu. She said directly, “It would have been the perfect time to use the heart blood, but unfortunately, the divine medicine is lost. There’s no better option now. I can only do my best to prolong his life, at least one or two years, at most seven or eight.”

“One or two years,” Yelü Huangwu frowned. “Even if my brother can wait, I fear the heart blood will be long gone by then.”

Ning Yanli said, “The heart blood is extremely potent. One can’t take too much daily. It’s not been long since it was lost, so there must still be a large amount left.”

Yelü Huangwu snorted coldly, “Wei Yunshan has been imprisoned for so many years and hasn’t gotten any smarter. He died before achieving anything. Wei Yuzhi is also becoming increasingly useless!”

Ning Yanli didn’t dare respond. After a while, she heard Yelü Huangwu say, “Time is of the essence. It seems I must go to retrieve the medicine myself this time.”

“My lady, actually…” Ning Yanli hesitated, then leaned in and lowered her voice, “You don’t necessarily have to push others to the throne. The heart blood could be of great use to you as well.”

Slap!

Yelü Huangwu raised her hand, and Ning Yanli received a solid slap, a red handprint quickly appearing on her face.

She immediately knelt.

“Ning Zi, you’ve been with me for so many years, and now you’re becoming increasingly impudent,” Yelü Huangwu’s voice was calm, but her slightly lowered phoenix eyes contained a cold light, like a sword suddenly unsheathed. “There are some things I don’t want to hear a second time!”

“Yes, I know my fault,” Ning Yanli said immediately.

Yelü Huangwu stood up, smoothing her sleeves. “Stay in the palace and attend to the Emperor until he recovers.”

Ning Yanli prostrated herself on the ground. “Yes, I accept the order.”

Hearing the footsteps fade away, Ning Yanli dared to raise her head.

Yelü Huangwu knew martial arts, and her slap was merciless. Half of Ning Yanli’s face quickly swelled up. After kneeling for a moment, she took some ointment from her medicine box and applied it to her burning face.

After applying the medicine, Ning Yanli lowered her hands and raised her head, forcing back her tears. A hint of stubbornness appeared on her face, the little dignity she had left carefully revealed in this moment of solitude.

She had indeed been by Yelü Huangwu’s side for many years, but she had never truly understood what this woman, of similar age to herself, was thinking.

Yelü Huangwu exhausted herself for the Liao nation, pouring all her efforts into her schemes. Ning Yanli couldn’t believe she had never coveted the throne. The Khitan people had a tradition of women holding power, and there were many precedents in Liao history, with Yelü Huangwu’s mother, Empress Dowager Xiao, being a prime example. She had been confined for so many years, endured so much, always carefully planning in the shadows, helping her brother return to inherit the throne, finally regaining her former glory, and being able to stand openly in the Liao Imperial Palace.

However, no one knew whether this was a beginning or an end.

The harsh winter spread, soon engulfing the entire territory of the Great Song Dynasty.

The “General Ling’s Treason Case” had concluded – some half-destroyed letters were found in Ling Ziyue’s tent, and a large amount of gold, silver, and jewels were discovered in the cellar of his home in Bianjing, many of which were gifts from the Song to the Liao.

The cellar was used to store vegetables and cured meats for the New Year, and frequent opening was not good for food preservation. With no shortage of fresh ingredients lately, the Ling family had no reason to go to the cellar, and they couldn’t explain how a cellar full of winter vegetables had mysteriously turned into gold, silver, and jewels!

For a time, they were left speechless.

These findings had been made a month ago, but the Emperor had delayed for nearly twenty days. He didn’t want to kill Ling Ziyue lightly, after all, no one among the civil officials could truly rival Prime Minister Hua. Although the Song Dynasty had always valued civil officials over military ones, Ling Ziyue at least commanded significant troops and could serve as a counterbalance to Prime Minister Hua.

What the Emperor cared about most, besides the communication with the enemy, was whether Ling Ziyue had secretly joined forces with Prime Minister Hua.

However, there had been no results, and the calls for execution from the officials were growing louder.