Shi Ting had just borrowed Huiyuan’s kerosene lamp to examine the secondary crime scene. When he turned around, Huiyuan had vanished without a trace.

“No one knows these passages better than she does. If we charge in blindly to look for her, we’ll only trap ourselves again.” Shi Ting frowned. “She must have planned this long in advance.”

The two followed the passage onward and at last found the exit. When it opened, they found themselves on the rear hill of Baiyun Nunnery.

The area was remote and desolate, thick with forest.

Among the trees stood a thatched cottage, furnished simply with a few basic pieces of furniture and everyday necessities.

On the stove, a pot of bamboo shoots sat half-consumed beside a half-pot of wild mushroom broth.

“It seems Huiyuan usually lived here.” Shi Ting glanced at the sky. “It’s gone dark again—we’ve been down there for a full two days and more.”

“Where do you think Huiyuan has gone?” Yan Qing was worried about her and somewhat anxious.

“For Huian, Baiyun Nunnery was her obsession. For Huiyuan, the piano is hers.”

“You think she’d return to the courtyard where she once lived?”

“Very possibly.”

Shi Ting had barely finished speaking when Yan Qing’s knees suddenly buckled. He reached out at once and caught her in his arms. “Yan Qing, what’s wrong?”

Yan Qing leaned into his embrace and laughed helplessly. “I used to read about people so starved their legs gave out. I never imagined I’d experience it myself.”

“Let’s head back.” Shi Ting hoisted her onto his back. “Hold on just a little longer.”

Shi Ting carried Yan Qing all the way back to Baiyun Nunnery. The young nun who opened the gate was bleary-eyed with sleep; at the sight of the two of them, she was so startled that her drowsiness seemed to vanish in an instant. “Two benefactors, where have you been these past two days?”

Everyone had assumed Shi Ting and Yan Qing had gone missing. Abbess Huiqing, knowing the two were people of standing, had mobilized everyone in Baiyun Nunnery to search for them, but after two days of searching, they had found nothing.

“Sister, is there anything to eat? Could you please prepare something?”

“Yes, yes, of course.” The young nun hurried off to fetch food while also going to inform Abbess Huiqing.

Before long, the kitchen sent out that day’s leftover rice and dishes. Yan Qing was so hungry she was seeing stars, and the moment she caught the aroma of the food, she swallowed hard.

Once the food was set before her, she immediately picked up her chopsticks and began eating with abandon.

“Eat slowly.” Shi Ting was not in a rush. He was accustomed to going without proper meals, and so he did not feel the same desperate hunger as Yan Qing. He only worried she might choke from eating too fast.

“Have some soup first. Don’t rush.” Shi Ting pushed the soup toward her.

Yan Qing picked up the soup bowl and drank more than half of it. A fine layer of perspiration began to form at her temples.

She turned her head to look at Shi Ting. He was eating at an unhurried, composed pace, and she felt even greater admiration for him. Even with her starved to the point where her legs had given out, he had managed to carry her all the way back.

“Benefactor, you gave us quite a fright.” Jing Xin, hearing the two had returned, came rushing over, clearly just roused from sleep.

When she arrived, Shi Ting asked at once: “Sister Jing Xin, before we returned—did you hear any piano music?”

Jing Xin blinked her large eyes, looking somewhat surprised. “How did you know, benefactor?”

“Was it in Master Huiyuan’s courtyard?”

Jing Xin nodded quickly. “How strange—it isn’t raining tonight, and yet the piano suddenly began to play.”

“About what time did this happen?”

“About half an hour ago, I’d say. I had already fallen asleep, and the piano music woke me.” Jing Xin’s room was the closest to Huiyuan’s courtyard, which was why whenever the piano sounded, she was always the first to hear it.

Shi Ting rose from his chair. “I’ll go take a look.”

It seemed his inference had been correct. While he had been carrying Yan Qing down from the rear hill, Huiyuan had indeed returned to her old courtyard, and the piano was her last and final attachment.

“I’ll come with you.” Yan Qing wiped her mouth and set down her chopsticks.

But the moment the two stepped out the door, a clamor of shouts reached them from outside: “Fire! Fire! There’s a fire!”

A foreboding premonition rose in Shi Ting’s heart. When he saw where the fire had broken out, his heart sank considerably.

It was Huiyuan’s old courtyard.

The flames were ferocious. People grabbed water buckets and water basins and rushed in a panic toward the fire.

“The fire’s too strong.” Shi Ting helped fight the blaze for a while, but the fire had already grown beyond control. It was the dry season of autumn, and once a fire of this magnitude took hold, one could only wait for it to burn itself out.

Fortunately, Huiyuan’s old courtyard had no flowering plants or trees nearby, so the fire had not spread to the other courtyards. It burned fiercely, contained entirely within that small courtyard.

“Do you think she’s inside?” Yan Qing stared at the raging tongues of flame before her and felt a sudden wave of sorrow.

She had known all along that Huiyuan had resolved to die. Yet she could not stop her. Even if she had blocked her path for a moment, there was nothing she could do against a person who was utterly determined to end her own life.

“She is with her piano.” The fire’s reflection danced in Shi Ting’s eyes, casting a warm glow over his striking face. “This is the ending she chose.”

Yan Qing’s eyes stung. Her feelings toward Huiyuan were complicated.

This was a woman who had loved and lost. As the notes of her composition went: ‘Love unrequited, hatred unrequited—most heart-wrenching of all is desire unrequited.’ Perhaps she had loved the General still, right up to the very end—otherwise, why would she have chosen to become a nun?

Some people are destined in this life to love only one person, to love that one person and grow old alone. Unless it is that person, no one else can take their place.

Huiyuan had been kind. Even though her sworn sisters had betrayed her, she had not thought of revenge. Only when their actions touched and endangered the people and things she held dear did she finally strike.

But killing was ultimately wrong, and what she had done had gone against her original heart.

“Shi Ting, Master Huiyuan died long ago—more than a decade ago. Isn’t that right?” Yan Qing’s voice carried a faint, quiet sadness.

“Yes. Master Huiyuan passed away long ago.”

Shi Ting could not help but take her hand and clasp it tightly in his palm.

Huiyuan’s life had been full of upheaval. Yan Qing did not want her to bear the name of murderer at the end. Since she had already gone with her piano into that blaze, let the past be like smoke—let it all disperse and fade away.

The fire burned through the entire night, lighting up the horizon. Only when dawn broke the following day did the flames finally die down, and what had once been a clean and tranquil courtyard was reduced to charred ruins.

When Abbess Huiqing led people to clear the debris, they discovered a badly charred body. But after taking a headcount, they found no one missing, and so the body became an unidentified corpse.

Even so, Huiqing had the body decently buried—and by chance, the burial site was chosen right beside the old grave that had once been Huiyuan’s.

As for the deaths of Huixiu and Huian, people speculated and discussed at length. In the end, there was a general consensus that the charred body found in the ruins had been the perpetrator. As for who it was, there was no longer any way to know.

With Huixiu and Huian gone, the current abbess, Huiqing, was a woman of pure heart and few desires who would never be consumed by the desire to expand Baiyun Nunnery. In the days ahead, Baiyun Nunnery would gradually return to the right path. The lives of Jing Xin, Jing Shu, and the others would slowly improve. Everything seemed to be moving in a better direction.

When Shi Ting and Yan Qing descended the mountain, the carriage was still waiting in place.

The driver, at the sight of the two of them, nearly wept with relief. “The two guests have finally returned. I thought you were going to stay on the mountain for good.”

When Shi Ting returned to Shun Cheng, he gave the driver double the fare, and the driver accepted it with great delight.

The moment the two returned to the compound, the General sent someone to summon Shi Ting.

“Miss, where on earth did you two go for so long?” Jing Zhi and Murong had been worried for days. “Weren’t you just going to Baiyun Nunnery to pray? And then you were gone for three or four days—you nearly gave us heart attacks.”

“Didn’t we come back safe and sound?” Yan Qing was a little worn out from the long journey. “Tonight I want to eat meat.”

Jing Zhi laughed. “Miss hasn’t had meat in days—her mouth is craving it.”

“Not just my mouth—I need sleep too.” Yan Qing threw herself onto the bed. “Don’t wake me until Shi Ting comes back.”

Murong and Jing Zhi were about to say something, but seeing that Yan Qing had already closed her eyes, they held back.

Jing Zhi stepped forward to lower the bed curtains, then retreated and closed the door quietly behind her.

Yan Qing slept until dark. A faint sound of the door opening gradually drew her eyes open.

“Sorry to wake you.” The bed dipped at her side—a familiar scent.

Yan Qing crawled onto him like a little cat and closed her eyes again. “You just finished your business?”

“Dealt with a few matters.”

Shi Ting kneaded her cheek. “I’ll go take a bath. Come sit up and clear your head—Mother has prepared dinner and asked us both to come over.”

“Is there meat? I want meat.” Yan Qing pouted her red lips.

Shi Ting loved seeing her act spoiled like this and could not resist a light peck on those lips. “Knowing you wanted meat, Mother had the kitchen prepare all kinds of meat dishes. If you’re still not full, tonight I’ll personally feed you something else later.”

Yan Qing shot him a glare and yet still couldn’t resist wrapping her arms around his waist. “Stay and keep me company while I wake up.”

“All right.” Shi Ting set aside any thought of bathing and held her, slowly and gently rocking her.

“Shi Ting.” Yan Qing lay against his chest, her heart brimming with quiet feeling. “Meeting you is the greatest fortune of three lifetimes.”

Huiyuan and the General had once loved each other, but their love had not reached its conclusion. Yet Yan Qing and Shi Ting were fortunate—they loved each other deeply and had the chance to become each other’s one and only, to know and be known by each other. Such a bond was not easily found.

Because of Huiyuan’s story, she would treasure what she had all the more.

“Same for me.” Shi Ting stopped his gentle rocking and held her earnestly. “Nothing in this world matters more than you.”

Yan Qing smiled with quiet contentment. “Likewise.”

The two lingered in each other’s company for a while, then came the knock of Jing Xin at the door: “Miss, it’s time to get up—soon Er Yitai’s household will be sending someone to call for you.”

Shi Ting pinched her cheek. “Fully awake yet?”

“Completely awake.” Yan Qing sat up straight. “Hurry and go take your bath.”

Once they had both tidied themselves, they made their way together to Luo Huaimeng’s courtyard. The moment they stepped through the door, they saw San Yitai Du Linghua seated there as well.

Du Linghua rarely set foot in Luo Huaimeng’s courtyard. Her sudden appearance here surely meant there was something urgent to discuss.