When Madam Gantang returned to her courtyard, it was already deep into the night. Someone was still kneeling there, like a stone statue.

She stood behind that person and said wearily: “Go back.”

Tang Rong remained kneeling there, the young man holding his spine straight, neither turning around nor rising, his words earnest and sorrowful.

“Madam, you clearly only need to push everything onto me. Even if the Qi people come to arrest you, you can just say I used the children’s lives to threaten you, forcing you to steal the tiger tally and bring the Yucheng Army back to Li Du Mansion. This whole affair was my idea and has nothing to do with you!”

Madam Gantang was already exhausted physically and mentally, with no strength left to argue. She slowly walked over, lifted her skirts, and sat on the steps, looking at Tang Rong.

He had once been the Chief Commander following beside Marquis Pingnan, deeply trusted, yet was willing to pose as an ordinary guard staying by her side. Having been at Snow-Viewing Hollow for so long, he still hadn’t adapted to life in a noble household and had always been very silent. Only last night when she said she wanted to adopt the children under the main branch so that whether she lived or died wouldn’t implicate the children, Tang Rong had reacted extremely violently, even having a huge argument with her, and then had been kneeling here ever since, refusing to leave.

She remembered that on the day Yucheng surrendered, he had also knelt like this before the marquis’s residence, begging Marquis Pingnan to fight to the bitter end.

At his age of heroic aspirations, he thought earnestness could change things, but nothing could be changed.

…No, there were changes. At that time he had heard Marquis Pingnan’s words about offering Madam Gantang to the Qi people. He had never met this inner palace lady from the deep mansion, but he just felt this was wrong, so he rushed into the inner residence to warn her.

Where had Madam Gantang ever seen such a rash military man? She was startled at the time. Only after he explained his purpose did she realize how dire the external situation had become.

She was furious then – her pillow companion of ten years had revealed such an ugly face. She had borne children for him and treated him with mutual respect, yet when disaster struck, instead of going their separate ways, he wanted to offer her to the enemy to show his loyalty in surrender. This anger made her make a rebellious decision no one expected – steal the tiger tally and escape with the troops.

Only she knew that what others praised as righteousness and courage was originally nothing more than rage clouding her mind, privately harboring her desperate impulse.

Only when she truly set out on the road did she realize how difficult it was. She brought two half-grown children and followed the Yucheng Army in sleeping rough under the stars. Throughout this journey they had to hide from Qi soldiers, spending most of their time trekking through deep mountains and wild fields. Occasionally passing through towns, they only dared send a few people into the city to buy supplies.

In the first half of her life she had lived in luxury, always surrounded by attendants when traveling, never even truly stepping on this land or moving forward on her own two feet. She had always considered herself benevolent and kind, never using her power to bully others, willing to give alms when seeing beggars. Only now did she realize what kind of benevolence this was – it was more like the pretentious posturing of someone in a superior position.

Traveling countless miles and witnessing the people’s desolate livelihood gave her a tremendous impact. She belatedly realized that the impulsive decision she had made at the time had accidentally been the right thing to do.

But beliefs were beliefs – they could sometimes offset physical suffering but weren’t always effective. She didn’t dare show weakness because these were the bold words she had spoken. She also had times when she really couldn’t persist and wanted to give up. Every cliff they passed, she wondered if she should just jump down – why was this world so bitter?

But every time she looked back, she could see Tang Rong’s tense gaze as he protected her closely. Throughout the journey, no matter where they went, he stood guard outside her tent every night, not allowing any danger to approach her.

It didn’t have to be this way. She was a marquis’s wife, but thrown into these chaotic times, she could be nothing at all. But the young man persisted with such burning intensity in maintaining order in his heart. He led the Yucheng Army to respect her, honor her, and protect her. She gradually came to understand that as soldiers who had suddenly lost their sovereign and commander, they also needed to find a spiritual faith in this chaotic world.

And she, who had stolen the tiger tally out of selfish motives, became the noble person worthy of protection in their hearts. For the sake of this loyalty, she had to maintain that noble bearing. No matter what, she couldn’t flee – she had to lead them out to find a way to survive.

After making this choice, she actually felt much lighter in her heart. Tang Rong didn’t know – she had also become a warrior, and she was very happy about it.

It was just that this child was very stubborn and didn’t want her to take risks.

At this moment it was extremely quiet, with slightly cold spring wind blowing past, shaking loose a few flower buds from the trees that happened to fall on the back of her hand.

Madam Gantang suddenly smiled.

Meeting Tang Rong’s confused gaze, she extended the back of her hand toward him – that flower was blooming right at the tiger’s mouth between her thumb and forefinger.

“Tang Rong, the flower has bloomed.”

Tang Rong stared blankly at her face, not understanding why after experiencing a day’s heavy burden, she would bloom into a long-lost smile at a fallen flower.

But at this moment he only felt that she no longer seemed like a woman who had crossed through war and experienced vicissitudes. She sat in this courtyard where she had lived for over ten years before marriage, and time seemed not to have passed – she was still that maiden whose eyes held spring flowers and autumn moon.

“This is beautiful,” he murmured.

A smile slowly bloomed on Madam Gantang’s face: “What if I only want to protect the beauty of this one spring flower? Tang Rong, you must fulfill this for me.”

Tang Rong didn’t know why, but despite half a lifetime in military service with bones of iron, he was moved to tears by this one sentence.

“Madam, just let us protect you!” He clenched his fist, unwilling to reveal the slightest weakness.

“You have already protected me through ten thousand li of road and brought me safely home. From now on, whatever the Yucheng Army wants to do, go ahead and do it without worrying about me. But I… want to share life and death with you all. I said this on the day I led you out of the city.”

“Madam!”

Unable to control his emotions, he crawled forward on his knees a few steps and grasped a corner of her skirt.

He gripped it tightly, wrinkling the brocade. A man’s knees were worth their weight in gold, and real men didn’t shed tears easily, but before her, he showed all his vulnerability and urgency without any regard.

“That’s just meaningless sacrifice!”

“It’s not meaningless,” she said with conviction. “Heaven, earth, sun and moon are all watching. Even moving mountains begins with one speck of dust, one handful of earth.”

In these days when the city was full of soldiers and human life was worth less than grass, no one knew where justice and righteousness lay.

Gusha’s eyes were already red with killing. As long as he rooted out Bingzhu Division, never mind the Yucheng Army – he could obtain Prince Ling’an’s whereabouts without lifting a finger.

His aggressive advance caught Wanyan Jun off guard.

He didn’t know where Gusha had gotten such great ability, which made him vaguely restless. The crushing advantage he previously held over Gusha had subtly changed. He couldn’t control this general under his command – clearly he was an ambitious fierce tiger, definitely not a drowning dog.

He was worrying about the current situation when Zhang Yuehui, on the last day of their seven-day agreement, brought him an extremely secret piece of intelligence.

Bingzhu Division was trying to make contact with Princess Lingfu, who very likely carried the Yu Dynasty emperor’s succession edict.

Wanyan Jun broke out in a cold sweat. No one understood better than him that before departure, Xu Kouyue had sought his favor to bid farewell to her parents – she had met the Yu Dynasty emperor once! Although that conversation had been under his surveillance, if there really had been some exchange, it would have been impossible to prevent. The matter of the succession edict definitely couldn’t be groundless!

And this was the leverage Xie Queshan helped Zhang Yuehui use to pass his test.

Zhang Yuehui had originally wanted to let Gusha and Wanyan Jun fight like dogs so he could muddy the waters and escape, but this hadn’t taken effect so quickly. But Xie Queshan’s strong medicine quickly restored Zhang Yuehui to Wanyan Jun’s trust.

This even left Zhang Yuehui somewhat confused – if the succession edict was real, revealing this news to Wanyan Jun would do Bingzhu Division no good at all, and might even cost them an Xu Kouyue. From any angle, this wasn’t a good thing.

Had Xie Queshan really defected? Or had his undercover work driven him crazy?

But why would he sell such a great opportunity as a favor to him? Zhang Yuehui felt there must be something fishy about it, but he was too lazy to puzzle it out. Even if the edict matter was false, as long as it couldn’t be found, it would stick in people’s hearts like a nail, causing endless trouble. For him, this wasn’t a losing deal.

Moreover, this ultimately had nothing to do with him. What he wanted was still to quickly extricate himself from this mess and bring Nanyi to his side.

The most anxious person in this game should be Wanyan Jun. He was the one who brought the person to Li Du Mansion – no matter what, even if he had to dig three feet underground, he had to find this thing.

By the time he received the intelligence it was already late at night. Wanyan Jun pulled the sleeping Xu Kouyue from her bed and dragged her directly into the courtyard. A squad of soldiers then poured into the room and began a rough search.

The clanging and crashing sounds were frightening even from outside the window.

The early spring courtyard still carried some chill. Xu Kouyue wore only a thin robe, shivering in the wind.

When she spoke, her teeth chattered with cold: “My lord… what happened?”

Wanyan Jun stood beside her without answering, only waiting quietly.

After an unknown amount of time, finally the commotion inside ended. The soldiers filed out in formation and reported to Wanyan Jun.

“Reporting to my lord, no suspicious papers were found.”

Dark currents seemed to surge in Wanyan Jun’s eyes. After a long while, he only said: “All withdraw.”

In the blink of an eye, everyone had withdrawn completely.

Wanyan Jun removed his outer robe and draped it over Xu Kouyue. He held her shoulders tightly, his tone surprisingly gentle.

“Ah Yue, is there anything you’re hiding from me?”

Xu Kouyue shook her head in bewilderment and fear.

“Do you know how much pressure I endured bringing you back south? Those other princesses and palace concubines who came with you, even the Empress, are still suffering in the laundry quarters, trampled by thousands. Your life is much better than theirs. If you’re hiding something from me… if I’m implicated, no one will be able to protect you.”

Tears were forced from Xu Kouyue’s eyes. She could only nod desperately, agreeing with Wanyan Jun’s words.

She sobbed: “I’ve always followed by your side, my every move under your eyes… Even if you don’t trust me, you should trust your own eyes, shouldn’t you?”

It was unclear whether Wanyan Jun was convinced. His face still wore that unfathomably deep smile, his large palm covering Xu Kouyue’s face.

His fingers slowly tightened, pinching until her bones ached. His smile gradually became cold and menacing.

…

Princess Lingfu was precisely the mission Song Muchuan had given to Nanyi.

Bingzhu Division members lurking in the Qi royal court had risked their lives to bring out two important pieces of news. The first was that Princess Lingfu carried the succession edict, and there was another matter even more heart-stopping – among the ministers who had crossed south and formed the new administration in Jinling, one core minister was secretly collaborating with Qi, codenamed “Great Fullness.”

“Great Fullness” was a strange codename. Among the twenty-four solar terms, there was only “Lesser Fullness” but no “Great Fullness” – this was the wisdom and moderation of the ancestors. When water is full it overflows, when the moon is full it wanes. Yet this person spoke arrogantly, calling himself “Great Fullness,” seeking great things, his ambition clearly visible.

What exactly “Great Fullness” knew and how much he had told the Qi people was unknown, but finding the traitor was ultimately Jinling’s affair – Li Du Mansion couldn’t influence it either way. What Song Muchuan had to do was send someone to make contact with Xu Kouyue and bring out the succession edict.

Before this, no one knew of the succession edict’s existence.

When the Emperor was captured by Great Qi and imprisoned, the situation was urgent and he hadn’t been able to arrange any final matters. Acting expediently in emergency, the new dynasty supported Prince Ling’an solely because he was the only imperial prince among the royal family who hadn’t been captured. But Prince Ling’an wasn’t the Crown Prince and had no edict – there would always be ambitious people questioning the legitimacy of his succession, using this to disrupt court proceedings. The court ministers were also doing this under pressure. If they could obtain the succession edict, everything would become legitimate and proper.

The Emperor trapped in the enemy camp had probably also thought of this point, which was why he went to great lengths to entrust the succession edict to Xu Kouyue, the only one who might possibly go south.

But when Xu Kouyue arrived at Li Du Mansion, it had already completely fallen. The prefect had defected, Prince Ling’an’s whereabouts were unknown, and looking around the city, there wasn’t a single reliable force. She presumably didn’t know to whom she should hand the succession edict, so she remained silent, seeking an opportunity and waiting for the right person.

When Nanyi received this mission, she was also somewhat stunned.

She had never understood why that princess endured such great humiliation yet still wanted to live. Now… she seemed to have a vague answer.

She wasn’t content to merely approach Xu Kouyue and bring out the succession edict… she wanted to rescue this princess as well.

It was just that Wanyan Jun’s mansion was guarded watertight. Her actions had to be not only steady but also fast – this was practically as difficult as ascending to heaven.