Xiao Li, his anger attacking his heart and old injury relapsing, had coughed up blood. The group immediately returned to the mountain hermitage to settle in first.

Wen Yu only learned that Xiao Li had brought the grandfather and grandson along on this trip when she saw servants carrying Doctor Tao up on a bamboo sedan chair to take Xiao Li’s pulse, while Tao Kui crawled by the bedside, sometimes crying and calling for Xiao Li, sometimes looking at her with eager eyes.

Song Qin explained from the side: “Military Doctor Tao is one of our own. The Governor feared the Princess might suffer some mishap falling into the traitors’ hands, so he ordered people to bring Military Doctor Tao along as well.”

Wen Yu looked at Xiao Li lying on the bed, his face still cold and hard, yet his gaze locked unblinkingly on her. Her heart quietly sighed.

She said: “I’ll go find paper and ink to write a letter to the Qingyun Guard.”

Only after leaving that wing room did Wen Yu feel her breathing become somewhat smoother.

His love and hate, like the man himself, were reckless, fierce, violent, giving no one any way out.

She truly wasn’t hard-hearted enough, so she couldn’t bring herself to continue galloping away after seeing him collapse coughing blood.

After walking some distance, Wen Yu sat at the beauty’s rest along the covered corridor, letting the cold wind blow on her as she stared blankly at the fine snow falling in the twilight.

“So my lady was here! I heard my lady was looking for writing materials, so I brought them for you!”

Gongsun Sanniang walked over from the other end of the corridor carrying the Four Treasures of the Study on a tray. Having finished speaking, she seemed to suddenly remember Wen Yu’s current identity and laughed: “Look at me, I’ve grown so accustomed to it that I couldn’t change how I address you for a moment. I should call my lady Princess now.”

Wen Yu came back to her senses and said: “It’s just a form of address, and this isn’t the palace, so there’s no need for such formality.”

Gongsun Sanniang was originally a person of the greenwood, her nature not so constrained. Seeing that Wen Yu was still as easygoing as before, she relaxed somewhat and said: “Then I’ll continue calling you my lady. Where should I take these writing materials?”

Wen Yu’s mind was in turmoil at the moment. Blowing in the cold wind actually made her thoughts clearer. Seeing that a lamp had been lit in a pavilion ahead and there were also tables and chairs inside, she said: “Let’s go to the pavilion ahead.”

The two walked side by side.

Gongsun Sanniang could see she had something on her mind and asked with a smile: “Is my lady still troubled over that handsome gentleman’s matter?”

Wen Yu didn’t respond.

To Gongsun Sanniang, this seemed like tacit agreement. She said with no little emotion: “That gentleman went three days and nights without sleep busy with warfare. Upon hearing my lady was in danger, he rushed over urgently. Only after my lady insisted on leaving did he finally collapse unable to hold on any longer. It truly makes one’s heart ache to see.”

As she spoke, her eyes glanced toward Wen Yu: “My lady said earlier that he would eventually marry another young lady, but from what I can see, if you asked him to die for my lady, he wouldn’t even blink. So what if he’s a Wei general? My lady is a noble princess—just abduct him and take him back, wouldn’t that work?”

They had already reached the pavilion. The lanterns on all four sides of the pavilion cast a warm yellow twilight glow.

Wen Yu didn’t take up the conversation. She rolled up her sleeves slightly, seeming to want to pick up the brush to write a letter, but when her gaze touched the mottled bloodstains on her sleeve cuffs smeared from Xiao Li’s armor, her eyes froze for two breaths before she changed the subject: “My people should have already reached the vicinity of this mountain. After the letter is written, I’ll trouble the heroine to deliver it for me.”

Gongsun Sanniang heard that she didn’t want to discuss this matter further and tactfully agreed without continuing.

Wen Yu quickly put brush to paper. Having been trapped for so long, Zhao Bai and the others must be worried. Though they were managing to hold on at the Liang camp using her reputation from Pingzhou, with many affairs below that Li Xun and Chen Wei could handle on her behalf.

But once news of Jiang Yu’s death spread back to the Chen Kingdom, while stabilizing internally, they also had to deal with pressure from the Chen Kingdom’s side. Supporting everything must certainly be difficult.

Now that she had obtained leverage against the Jiang family from Dou Jianliang, she might be able to counter the Jiang family’s retaliation over Jiang Yu’s death going forward.

However, the two pieces of gold leaf were still insufficient to incriminate the Jiang family. Otherwise, Dou Jianliang wouldn’t have had no choice but to turn to Pei Song after being abandoned as a pawn. Before returning to Great Liang, she had already pried loose Fang Mingda, a chess piece from beside the Jiang faction. She needed the Qingyun Guard to quickly send word back to Southern Chen to secretly have this person help her investigate and verify this matter.

Whether it succeeded or not, it was at least a method.

The other most urgent matter was rooting out the traitor in the Chen Kingdom who was colluding with the enemy…

After finishing the letter, Wen Yu sealed it with wax and gave it to Gongsun Sanniang. She also taught her a short, sharp whistle sound, telling her that if someone responded with two sharp bird-like whistles, they were her people.

She said: “Have them wait for me at the foot of the mountain first. After I finish handling these private matters on the mountain, I’ll naturally go down the mountain to rendezvous with them.”

Gongsun Sanniang readily agreed, tucked away the envelope, and left.

Only Wen Yu remained in the pavilion. She sat by the stone table, staring at the bloodstains on her sleeve cuffs and losing focus for a moment before returning to her room to change into clean clothes.

Before going to see Xiao Li, she first made a round to the kitchen. Doctor Tao had already decocted the medicine, so she asked to help carry it over to Xiao Li.

Tao Kui had wanted to follow along, but was held back by Doctor Tao.

It was only on the way back that Wen Yu heard that after Dou Jianliang was carried up the mountain and placed in the front hermitage facing the Buddha statue, he had passed away not long after.

When she arrived at Xiao Li’s door, she happened to hear Song Qin reporting this matter to him: “I interrogated him about his purpose for infiltrating the northern border, but didn’t manage to extract much. In his dying moments, he claimed he was only following military orders. It seems Pei Song’s side was also guarding against him.”

Xiao Li was leaning against the headboard. He seemed to have bathed, having washed away the blood and changed into clean robes. His half-dried hair hung loose. Without the bloodstains obscuring it, that face bearing both exhaustion and illness appeared pale yet handsome, though still showing some ferocity under the dim candlelight.

He covered his mouth and coughed lowly twice, saying: “Such traitors lured into his Pei camp through threats and temptations—naturally Pei Song himself knows they can’t be trusted.”

Song Qin had already seen Wen Yu appearing at the doorway carrying the medicinal decoction and stopped speaking: “The Governor had already left camp days ago pursuing barbarians, and successfully eliminated a barbarian army that had repeatedly harassed Yanle Mountain. This time with Dou Jianliang’s corpse as evidence, recovering from injuries here, Wei Ang shouldn’t grow suspicious. I’ll take people back to report first.”

Xiao Li also saw Wen Yu. He made no further response, which counted as tacit permission.

As Song Qin left, he nodded respectfully toward Wen Yu before departing.

Wen Yu carried the medicine bowl inside and didn’t ask further questions about their military affairs, only saying: “Doctor Tao said that after drinking this medicine, you should sleep well.”

She sat on the stool by the bedside, her slender pale fingers holding the spoon stirring in the dark brown medicinal liquid, then scooped up a spoonful to feed toward his lips.

Xiao Li had originally been staring at her with dark eyes, but now turned his face slightly aside, as if unwilling to let her think he was using this weak and sickly appearance to gain her sympathy, saying: “I’ll do it myself.”

Wen Yu glanced at him but didn’t say anything more. She obligingly put back the spoon and handed over the medicine bowl.

After Xiao Li took it, he tilted his neck and drank it clean. Wen Yu took the bowl and helped place it on the table to the side.

Xiao Li stared at her back, his lips pressed tight, saying: “It’s just an old injury relapsing. I won’t die. You don’t need to deliberately stay.”

Wen Yu turned back to look at him. Her brow seemed to furrow, but in the end she only said: “I said it’s too dark. Tomorrow the Qingyun Guard will naturally come to take me away.”

Xiao Li fell silent then. His features appeared somewhat cold and hard in the candlelight, like a child who had finally mustered the courage to awkwardly ask for a piece of candy, stubbornly telling himself after being refused that he didn’t really want that candy very much anyway.

Wen Yu walked over, her hand grasping a corner of the soft pillow behind him, saying good-naturedly: “Sleep. If you keep exhausting yourself like this, your body will break down.”

Xiao Li was indeed very tired. Several nights without sleep while constantly pursuing enemy troops, enduring several fierce battles and raids before forcing himself to hold on until now—his entire brain felt swollen and painful, his head as if someone had split it open with an axe.

That bowl of medicine perhaps had a calming effect, making his thoughts gradually become somewhat muddled.

Yet he still couldn’t bear to sleep. After removing the cushion and lying down, his gaze still clung to Wen Yu like a spider’s web.

Wen Yu sighed and sat on the stool to tell him: “Sleep. I won’t leave.”

Xiao Li made no sound. His face turned toward the inside of the bed, but his hand reached out beyond the bed’s edge to grasp a corner of her large sleeve hanging down.

Wen Yu couldn’t help but fall silent for a moment.

Xiao Li’s temperament was extremely unyielding—someone who wouldn’t show weakness even with broken bones. Tonight… yet he seemed somewhat excessively clingy?

She stared for a while at that hand covered with many scabs grasping her sleeve, then both hands actively moved up, preparing to place it back under the bedding.

But the moment she made contact, she discovered his entire hand was shockingly hot.

Xiao Li also noticed she was actively holding his hand. Though his body felt terribly fatigued and his head dizzy, he had just turned his head back and hadn’t yet managed to speak when his forehead was covered by a slightly cool, delicate hand.

He opened his eyes, which were somewhat reddened from the fever, and saw Wen Yu furrowing her brow as she told him: “You have a fever.”

“I’ll go find Doctor Tao.” Wen Yu withdrew her hand that had been testing the temperature on his forehead and was about to walk outside.

But Xiao Li forcefully gripped the hand she had actively placed on his, and because of this movement, the dull pain in his brain intensified.

He pressed his other hand against his throbbing temple. Though already weakened to this extent, his tone was still somewhat forceful as he told her: “I’m fine. I’ll be better after sleeping.”

Only his voice had already become hoarse.

The palm gripping her wrist was also scorching hot, like a branding iron, circling extremely tightly.

As if afraid that once she left, she wouldn’t return.

Wen Yu’s brow knitted tightly. She deepened her tone somewhat and said: “I said I wouldn’t leave, so I won’t leave. Do you understand? You have a fever now and need to see a doctor.”

The hand gripping her wrist still didn’t loosen. His eyelids drooped, and on that handsome face which even compared to noble family young masters was in no way inferior, there finally appeared some weakness from illness. He said: “I just drank medicine. Even if Doctor Tao comes, he couldn’t immediately prescribe me medicine. I’ll just lie down for a while and be fine.”

Wen Yu understood some medical principles and knew what he said wasn’t wrong. For a moment having no way to deal with him, she looked toward the frame holding the washbasin in the corner of the room and said: “Then let go. I’ll go wring out a cloth to apply to you.”

Xiao Li followed her gaze and, knowing she wouldn’t leave this room, finally released his hand.

The copper basin happened to still hold a basin of clear water prepared earlier for him to wash with. Though it had cooled somewhat now, using it to apply compresses to dissipate his heat was perfect.

Wen Yu directly carried the copper basin over and placed it at the footrest. She rolled up her sleeves and helped him wring out the cloth to apply to his forehead, discovering he had at some point grasped a corner of her sash hanging by the bedside.

Wen Yu was truly at a loss and simply let him be.

After repeating this several times, due to the high fever and medicine’s effects, plus several days of accumulated exhaustion, Xiao Li actually quickly fell into deep sleep, though he still hadn’t released that corner of her sash.

After Wen Yu applied the compress to his forehead one last time and tested his forehead to find it not as hot as before, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She looked at his slightly flushed cheeks from the fever, but what came to mind was that time when she and he had been forced down the mountain cliff by Pei Song’s hounds.

At that time when he was sick in the mountain cave, he hadn’t been like this constantly wanting to grasp something in his hand, but whenever anything approached him, he would actively nestle toward it.

As if knowing he was ill, and so could finally safely nestle against someone.

He was trapped in nightmares. At first he called “Mother,” then later what he called out repeatedly, drenched in sweat while suppressing himself, was only the two words “Wen Yu.”

Before Doctor Tao and his grandson passed by there while gathering mountain herbs, they had already been trapped for one night and most of a day.

When cold, they huddled together under that cold-weather cloak. Her cheek pressed against his scalding chest, listening to the vibrations in his chest cavity as her name overflowed from his throat.

At that time, she had truly felt they might die there together.

But she didn’t seem very afraid.

That entire pot of medicine—she had fed it to him bit by bit.

He habitually absorbed the medicinal liquid from her. When there was no more medicinal liquid, he also stubbornly clung to her. At first she bit him in panic, but later, just like how he always had to grasp a corner of her clothing today, she let him be.

She seemed to always have no way to deal with him.

Or perhaps, even earlier, she had already liked him.

Only later at that inn in Xinzhou, she had already decided to let him go, yet was still forced to remain entangled until today.

Gongsun Sanniang’s words echoed again in Wen Yu’s ears.

She quietly looked at Xiao Li for a while, then reached out to gently pry open his fingers, wanting to extract that section of her sash from his palm so she could rest on the soft couch opposite to keep him company.

But unexpectedly, he seemed to sense something even in his sleep. When his fingers were pried open, they instinctively re-gripped, thus firmly grasping her hand.

Having experienced that previous “loss,” this time he held especially tight.

Wen Yu relaxed for a while, waiting until his breathing stabilized again before trying to pry again. It wouldn’t budge.

Fearing to wake him, she could only let him hold it.

Outside the room, wind ravaged and snow tyrannized. Inside the room, only a single bean-sized lamp flame burned steadily on the table.

In this tranquility, Wen Yu gradually also felt drowsiness creep in. Letting Xiao Li grasp that hand of hers, she sat leaning against the bedside, back against the bed post, and closed her eyes to sleep.

Half dreaming and half awake, probably feeling cold, she pushed Xiao Li further in and incidentally pulled a corner of his blanket over herself as well.