Zhang Yuehui had keen ears and eyes, and soon learned of Wanyan Purao’s situation in Jinling.

He gloated over it. The Princess Imperial, who was accustomed to strategic planning, had been so publicly outmaneuvered by Yu Dynasty officials—he wondered how she would rage about it.

Yet he felt inexplicably melancholy.

He had thought this dynasty was rotten to the bone and should have collapsed long ago, but precisely at the moment of the kingdom’s decline, the people remained united in heart, officials and citizens twisted together like a rope.

The dynasty should thank its people—how fortunate it was.

Only Zhang Yuehui didn’t consider himself one of its people.

He didn’t know what he was either. A spectator in the audience? Then for whom should he cheer?

As he thought about it, his back began to feel cold.

He was willing to be a spectator, but others might not be willing to let him sit securely in the audience. The people who knew about Wanyan Purao going to Jinling could be counted on one hand. He had transmitted this message, and now with the situation so tense, she would eventually settle accounts with him.

Truly one wrong step leads to step after step going wrong.

Zhang Yuehui was very troubled.

People live with one driving force, but he felt his force was slowly leaking away, even his vengeful nature was draining.

By now, he truly wanted to flee, but how could he make Nanyi willingly leave with him?

Just as he was thinking about Nanyi, she arrived uninvited.

Today, Bingzhu Bureau spies had sent back news informing Nanyi that in the northbound convoy, there was no Xie Queshan at all, only his personal attendant He Ping.

Xie Queshan hadn’t returned to Great Qi—so where could he be? Could he still be in Li Du Mansion? Nanyi was extremely uneasy. Such a situation had never occurred before. What kind of predicament could make someone as cunning as Xie Queshan disappear without a trace, neither seen alive nor dead?

She was truly panicked and at a loss. Thinking that since this matter was related to Wanyan Purao, and Song Muchuan had warned her that Zhang Yuehui was Wanyan Purao’s person, she couldn’t help grasping at this thread and speculating whether Zhang Yuehui had betrayed Xie Queshan.

Deep in her heart, she felt Zhang Yuehui wasn’t that kind of person, but now she dared not say she understood him. She wasn’t certain what choices he would make when faced with greater interests and pressure. After all, he was an out-and-out merchant.

Nanyi couldn’t care about much else. Treating a dead horse as if it were alive, she ran directly to Huachao Pavilion to find Zhang Yuehui.

“All of you, get out.” Nanyi swept her eyes over the servants who had rushed in to attend her, giving them no pleasant expression.

The servants didn’t dare move, all looking to Zhang Yuehui for signals.

Zhang Yuehui waved his hand with a playful smile: “This is your future mistress. Her words are my meaning.”

“Greetings, future mistress. This humble servant takes his leave.”

The servants bowed in unison and all withdrew.

In her heart, Nanyi had already kicked Zhang Yuehui several times. This treacherous merchant was truly too unrestrained in his words. She was about to speak in rebuttal when she suddenly realized she had almost been led by him into these boring verbal disputes.

She still needed to quickly return to her own position and ask aggressively: “Zhang Yuehui, did you betray Xie Queshan!”

Zhang Yuehui looked steadily at Nanyi, thinking how she was becoming more and more like Xie Queshan—not at all easy to deceive.

Seeing Nanyi made him very happy. Her arrival was like a spring breeze whooshing through an open window, even if the spring breeze hadn’t come for him.

He guessed what she would ask. Coming here so angrily, she must have obtained some intelligence from the Bingzhu Bureau and learned that Xie Queshan was in a bad situation now. The Bingzhu Bureau could investigate his relationship with Wanyan Purao—from her perspective, he was indeed the most likely person to betray Xie Queshan.

But he still wanted to delay time, not wanting her to ask the question.

He was an out-and-out scoundrel, but since confessing before her, every word he had promised her, he had tried his utmost to fulfill, even gritting his teeth to help his mortal enemy Xie Queshan.

These things were not simple favors—he had also staked his fortune and life.

Though Zhang Yuehui was thick-skinned and shameless, at this moment he was still somewhat hurt.

Not everything could be brushed off with words.

The smile on his face became somewhat genuinely bitter: “So in your heart, I’m this kind of person. Since you think I did it, then smash the bracelet.”

Nanyi’s fury instantly subsided. She suddenly realized that when Zhang Yuehui said the bracelet couldn’t be removed, or else he would betray Xie Queshan, it wasn’t a threat but a promise.

For her sake, he wouldn’t betray Xie Queshan. This was Zhang Yuehui’s sincere heart offered up.

She had used this sincerity, and afterward wanted to stomp on it twice. Nanyi immediately felt some regret—she shouldn’t have been so indiscriminate.

It really didn’t seem to be his doing.

The atmosphere became somewhat frozen.

The guilt she displayed made Zhang Yuehui quickly come back to life. If he didn’t take advantage of this weakness now, when would he?

Zhang Yuehui smoothly pulled Nanyi to sit down and said with apparent grievance: “Think about it—I was also involved in Gusha’s matter. If I had really betrayed Xie Queshan, could I still be sitting here so peacefully?”

“Then what exactly happened to him?” Nanyi’s face was full of anxiety.

Zhang Yuehui guided her step by step: “Xie Queshan left without saying goodbye—he must have his reasons. If even you don’t know, it shows he never considered you one of his own. Why not take advantage of the fact that the situation is still controllable and leave with me?”

Nanyi completely ignored the invitation, only grasping the point she wanted to grasp, pleading: “Since the situation is still controllable, can you help me find him?”

“I can’t find him.” Zhang Yuehui refused decisively.

“Why? Have you tried looking? Or do you know where he is, which is why you say you can’t find him?” Nanyi fired three consecutive questions, leaving Zhang Yuehui somewhat speechless.

Zhang Yuehui realized that in his eagerness to make Nanyi give up, he had instead revealed some telltale signs. He didn’t know why, but at this moment he was very impatient and wanted to quickly end this topic.

He spoke very seriously, wanting to scare Nanyi away: “After Xie Queshan met Wanyan Purao, he disappeared. What kind of ruthless character is Wanyan Purao? If she wants to hide someone, it’s absolutely impossible for others to find them.”

“But you’re different—Zhang Yuehui, are you just anyone? You understand Wanyan Purao, you’re familiar with her style. Xie Queshan should still be in Li Du Mansion. You’re so capable—you can definitely find him.”

Zhang Yuehui finally understood he couldn’t persuade her at all, because every time she came to see him, she had only one purpose. For Xie Queshan’s sake, she praised and flattered him with every word and sentence—all for Xie Queshan.

He couldn’t help becoming sharp: “What does this have to do with me?”

Nanyi anxiously picked up his words: “You know Xie Queshan’s identity. He can’t die.”

“What does any of this have to do with me?”

Zhang Yuehui laughed once, then asked again word by word, finally making Nanyi come to her senses.

He helped her purely because of her—it didn’t mean they were people of the same position.

There were all kinds of people in this world. Some were firmly bound together by a sense of belonging, while others remained forever drifting, isolated, watching coldly from the sidelines, unwilling to interfere.

These choices had no right or wrong.

Understanding this, Nanyi felt somewhat disheartened.

“You’re not still thinking of staying devoted to him, are you?” Zhang Yuehui suddenly asked a deadly question, breaking the silence.

His question was highly aggressive. Nanyi immediately understood what he wanted to confirm. But when someone’s life and death were uncertain, why should she entangle herself with him over such matters here?

Nanyi became somewhat angry and immediately asked back: “Yes, why can’t I think that?”

She admitted it frankly and decisively, like drawing a gleaming, invincible blade. The deadly thing was, he had handed her this blade.

He knew he had become very ridiculous now.

He could no longer maintain that playful, smiling appearance. There were many things in the world he couldn’t control, and his powerlessness exploded at this moment.

“Stop fantasizing. You and Xie Queshan are impossible. In this chaotic world, why play the lovesick fool? I’m telling you, he’s doomed. You won’t even be able to collect his bones. Save your energy. Leave with me now, and you can still save your life.”

Nanyi jumped up in anger: “Zhang Yuehui! This is the difference between you and me! How can you speak of people’s life and death so simply? The more doomed he is, the more I can’t run! I’ll save him until I can’t save him anymore! Even if he weren’t Xie Queshan but someone else, you, or anyone from the Xie family, I would do the same! I won’t leave with you because we’re not the same kind of people at all!”

Zhang Yuehui was stunned. After a long while, he murmured: “…Then pull me along.”

His voice was somewhat unclear. Nanyi suspected she had misheard. He looked at her and repeated: “You and I walk different paths, so pull me along.”

Like a plea for salvation, and like a hopeless cry after shattering himself.

Nanyi saw Zhang Yuehui’s vulnerability for the first time. Real emotions swept across his face.

He was the actor on stage, his face painted with heavy makeup, not knowing whose path he was walking or whose life he was singing. He liked exaggeration, liked extremes—this way it seemed lively and could cover his unease. He was an extremely contradictory person. Only when the song ended and everyone dispersed could he return to his desolate true self.

That was a pitiful soul who, when his family was destroyed and everyone died, wandered aimlessly not knowing where to go. He had been trapped in that year and never emerged.

He desperately hoped someone could pull him along, but when someone really extended a hand, he felt it couldn’t last and ran away before even trying.

So many years had passed before he understood that pitiful soul still wanted her to pull him along.

Pull him back to the real human world, to have a belonging, a destination.

Nanyi panicked. She didn’t quite know how to handle this—they had both lost control. Her heart was already occupied by another person. She couldn’t face the hand Zhang Yuehui extended toward her. She hurriedly rose to leave. Walking to the corridor and feeling the warm breeze from the courtyard brush her face, she finally became somewhat clear-headed.

Zhang Yuehui was very strange. According to his personality, even if he found looking for Xie Queshan troublesome, he would first agree to coax her. But he would rather have an intense quarrel with her than agree.

He must know something she didn’t know, but he didn’t want to deceive her and could only evade.

Nanyi looked back, her gaze passing through the window frame in confusion, when she suddenly noticed a New Year picture doll mask on the curio shelf, so old it clashed with the surrounding gold and stone antiques. She thought for a while before retrieving that dusty memory from a corner. During one Lantern Festival, they had wandered the lamp fair penniless. She felt they couldn’t celebrate too shabbily, so she painted two clumsy masks, one for each of them. Hers had been lost somewhere during their wandering, but she never expected he would treasure his like a precious thing.

In this insignificant detail, she finally realized that Zhang Yuehui had invested genuine emotions in her, not merely the unwillingness or guilt she had assumed.

The past years had left traces not only on her.

She felt very sad because she couldn’t give up the last slim possibility of finding Xie Queshan, even if it meant despicably using Zhang Yuehui’s vulnerability.

She turned back.

“Zhang Yuehui, do you really not know where Xie Queshan is?”

She asked with extreme seriousness, so serious that facing that expression, Zhang Yuehui couldn’t tell a lie.

Nanyi had her answer. She said with certainty: “I’ll come again tomorrow, until you tell me.”

She wasn’t someone who liked hurting others, but at this moment she was so cruel.

She had no choice. Everyone was covered in wounds, blade tips pointing at others and at themselves, fighting for a chance at life, for righteousness, and for a bit of personal desire.