Xue Yu and Su You returned to the tavern under the cover of night. Two dust-covered lanterns hung on either side of the door plaque, their wicks burning with flickering light inside. The town was small, with few people drinking and chatting daily, so such small details were overlooked.

At the corner connecting the first and second floors, they had ingeniously expanded a small pavilion. Calling it a pavilion was generous – it was merely a space with the roof half-covered, leaving an open area above, furnished with two small square tables and several stools and chairs.

On nights when the moon was bright and stars clear, with gentle breezes, it indeed attracted some inn guests to sit and brew tea.

Reaching this spot, Xue Yu looked up to see Ji Tingxi, now changed into different clothes, smiling at the bright moon while fanning himself with a jade fan in alternating fast and slow motions.

He was deliberately waiting for her.

Xue Yu fell silent, looked toward Su You, and said quietly: “Go upstairs and check on Chao Nian. Have him prepare everything that needs preparing.”

“Yes. Young lady, rest early.”

In the brilliant lamplight, Su You pressed down the corner of his mouth, drawing out a bright red, lustrous lip line. His voice and expression remained normal, but from the side, it inevitably showed a hint of restrained, suppressed dejection.

He stepped toward the stairs, his robes fluttering and carrying a faint fragrance. The simplest clothing style seemed to have a texture of gold and jade, creating melodious sounds when worn by him.

Xue Yu slowly withdrew her gaze, then paced over to stand before that small table, pulled out a chair to sit, half-lifted her eyelids, and when she spoke, revealed a clear and brilliant quality: “Waiting specifically for me – what do you have to say?”

“Nothing of the sort.” Ji Tingxi pressed the fan in his hand onto the table surface, then personally poured her a cup of hot tea with an “ai” sound: “What you went to interrogate were my Xihe people after all. If I don’t show favoritism or plead for them, can’t I at least ask about it?”

He pushed the teacup toward Xue Yu and asked: “Those two people – how do you plan to deal with them?”

“What do you mean by how to deal with them?” Xue Yu took a sip of tea, then set it aside, turning instead to look at the moon curved into a line outside the window. After pausing, she continued: “Holding a position but not fulfilling its duties is called dereliction of duty. As for the other, deliberate harm, slander, and framing, refusing to admit guilt after lies are exposed, the crime is compounded.”

“Whatever should be done, will be done.”

Ji Tingxi couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. He leaned back relaxedly, and after a while, smiled and spoke frankly: “Honestly, Xue Yu, this is what makes you most different from others.”

Xue Yu looked at him uncomprehendingly. Seeing him remain silent for a while, her red lips moved: “Speak in words people can understand.”

“Look, a few days ago, others came in droves to congratulate me, but only you contacted me about overturning a case, a ten-year-old case at that.” Ji Tingxi continued: “For such matters, you could have just said something, and I would have ordered an investigation. But you insisted on making the trip yourself and urged me to come too. I originally thought you valued your commanding officer extremely highly.”

As his words fell, Xue Yu answered: “I do value him greatly.”

“You value him, and he suffered such great injustice, so why didn’t you directly deal with those two people in jail?” Ji Tingxi squinted with a half-smile: “They deserved punishment, and it would perfectly vent your commanding officer’s anger.”

Those in high positions, to win over their trusted ministers, have always used every possible means, striking wherever it would be most effective.

Moreover, she had set aside Feiyun Peak matters to personally make this trip.

“This cannot be conflated.” Xue Yu thought of Su You’s appearance under the lamplight, her tone softening slightly: “The people around me don’t have the temperament to use others’ lives to satisfy their private desires. Those two should pay the price because of the crimes they committed, not because of charges forcibly added to them.”

Ji Tingxi’s previously lazy expression became serious. He gazed deeply at Xue Yu, and after a moment, exhaled: “So this is what makes you special.”

“These words are easy to say, but truly few can do it.”

But Xue Yu could do it. She strictly demanded of herself and her subordinates. Every matter, every person was meaningful and worth doing in her eyes. She would never break rules or disregard lives to achieve results that satisfied her.

In Sacred Lands that had become frivolous, arrogant, corrupt, and outdated through special treatment everywhere, she could give people a vigorous, passionate strength.

Ji Tingxi was rarely serious, looking directly at Xue Yu with considerable frankness, silently smiling as he said: “I hope that future Xihe will be like today’s Yedu.”

His tongue held a surge of heroic spirit: “In my hands, it will become a truly qualified Sacred Land.”

This time, Xue Yu said nothing more. She slowly tapped the teacup’s edge with her fingertip, slightly curved her eye corners, and said: “If you need anything, you can contact me.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be polite.” Ji Tingxi nodded, pulled several folded papers from his wide sleeves, placed them beside Xue Yu’s hand: “Here, the revised case files. From today on, your commanding officer is truly clean and clear.”

Xue Yu stood, pinched those papers between her fingertips, and slightly raised her chin toward him: “I’m going upstairs.”

Walking to the second floor, just as Xue Yu was about to push open her room door, she saw Chao Nian holding a manual with a bitter expression, reading in the distant corridor. He had specifically placed a stool and chair outside, lit two lamps, and was leaning close as if trying to blind his eyes while reading carefully.

Xue Yu thought for a moment, her gaze falling on the case files in her hand. After a moment, she took a few steps toward Chao Nian.

“What are you doing?” She tapped the stool edge and asked.

Seeing her, Chao Nian’s face immediately formed a tearful arc. He raised the booklet in his hand: “The commanding officer gave this – Feiyun Peak precautions, a full two hundred items. I have to memorize them all before dawn. Reading in my room makes me drowsy, so I thought I’d clear my head outside.”

After all these years, besides Chao Hua, there was finally another person who could completely control Chao Nian.

Truly not easy.

Xue Yu looked at him twice and asked: “Where is the commanding officer?”

Chao Nian shook his head and answered truthfully: “He came back earlier, gave me this booklet, barely said two sentences before going out again. Didn’t say where he went.”

Somehow, Xue Yu’s mind seemed to show again that scene from Xihe’s prison – that young man fiercely gripping his wrist bone, blinking in embarrassment. She stepped aside to look at the settled moon shadow in the sky, saying to Chao Nian: “Tell those two that tomorrow at exactly chen hour, we’ll meet at Shanzhou’s teleportation array.”

Chao Nian acknowledged with a sound, and was about to ask something with hesitation when he saw Xue Yu push open the window, floating lightly into the night like a falling leaf, disappearing without a trace.

Xue Yu asked townspeople carrying lanterns for evening walks for directions, and under the cover of night, found the old Xuan family residence in just over half an hour.

The moon hung like a thread, bright as water. On such a night, even the clouds were visible, spreading one after another, making one’s mood feel open and clear.

Su You sat among the broken walls and ruins, having chosen a collapsed wall root to sit against. His waist was tightly bound, outlining a slender but strong line. His shoulders were thin and narrow, and he held a wine jar with several fingers.

Due to his position as Palace Guard Commander, he usually appeared exceptionally composed, reassuring, and dependable from every angle. Combined with his usual self-discipline, Xue Yu had never seen him in such a wounded, dejected, and dissolute state.

Hearing movement, he looked up in her direction, then was slightly stunned and instinctively set down the wine jar in his hand.

“Young lady.” Perhaps from drinking, his voice was hoarse, carrying a sandy, alluring breathiness.

Xue Yu walked over in silence until she stood before him, then sought his eyes, as if trying to peel away a layer of fog and see clearly what emotions were hidden inside.

“What are you doing here?” She sat beside him, her long skirt hem hanging in the air, softly covering her ankles, and said: “For those two people, you’ve resorted to drowning sorrows in wine?”

Her words sounded callous, but her voice carried a gentle tone she hadn’t noticed.

She could even order medicine sent to those wrongly accused little demons in Yedu, let alone him.

Su You suppressed the dejection in his eyes. His features were particularly alluring in the moonlight as he slowly explained: “I wanted to completely understand this old matter. After tonight, I’ll never come here again.”

“What’s worth remembering about old people and old houses?” Xue Yu’s nature was cold, but she wasn’t usually one to speak such heartless words. She glanced at the corner before them, broken beyond recognition and covered in spider webs: “Why do you still remember events from a hundred years ago? To torment yourself?”

She truly didn’t know how to comfort people, thinking a few words would clear things up like cutting through tangled threads with a sharp blade. But Su You wasn’t like Ji Tingxi or Feng Shangyu – those naturally fortunate, carefree, and unrestrained young masters. He was sensitive and thoughtful, docile like a cat. The emotions he had finally revealed, seeing her arrival and hearing her few words, were obediently restrained again.

He was too capable of endurance, so he could swallow any grievance. In just moments, his eyes showed clear brightness again.

“We depart tomorrow at chen hour, arriving in Yedu by noon.” In conversation, he had become that strategizing commanding officer again, with everything under control: “After returning, Baizhong Mountain should be thoroughly inspected, and there are also internal political affairs in Yedu—”

Su You frowned, as if suddenly remembering something: “Recently, people from Prince Su’s old faction have been stirring.”

After Xue Rong’s death, Xue Yu hadn’t heard the term “Prince Su” for a long time, so these two words sounding suddenly in her ears felt momentarily strange.

Logically, if a faction had no bloodline left, it should completely quiet down.

Back then, Xue Rong colluded with the imperial court, releasing demons and ghosts from the execution platform into the mortal world. In her fury, Xue Yu settled accounts – killing those who should be killed, demoting those who should be demoted, with decisive methods and no dragging. That faction suffered greatly and hadn’t recovered after a long time.

Su You had never met the deceased Prince Su, but had once felt curious about why subordinates would risk everything to protect him, casually asking Chao Hua a few questions.

Chao Hua only told him one sentence: In the ruler’s youth, he often wandered among mountains and waters. Much of the time, the young lady learned by following Prince Su, who was her elder uncle.

For a ruler like Xue Yu to be remembered and beloved undiminished wasn’t surprising.

But for them to cause trouble at this time was meaningless, unless Prince Su suddenly produced another heir.

This matter was somewhat suspicious.

“Xue Rong once made deals with the Human Emperor. If they make any moves, investigate thoroughly. Anyone involved should not be spared.” Xue Yu spoke, her eye corners showing graceful brilliance in the shimmering moonlight.

Su You nodded in agreement.

Xue Yu hesitated repeatedly in her heart. After a while, she frowned and fidgeted with her fingertips, asking him, “Can you still not let go?”

Su You leaned half his shoulder against that broken wall, his breath filled with spilled wine fragrance. He neither said yes nor no, finally just shaking his head: “For a very long time, I thought the meaning of my life was to fight them, fight Xihe to the death.”

During that time in Xihe’s prison, day and night, he held such conviction, relying on such support to barely crawl up and survive.

Then he met her. Before he could plan any revenge, all his heart and mind fell to completing tasks for her, becoming stronger to share her burdens.

Over time, those unbearable memories became mud rotting in the soil. Sometimes, even he felt that was the truth.

What was past was past. He suppressed all emotions, never mentioning the past, never mentioning his background, never mentioning half a word of entanglement with Xihe.

Simply put, he was reluctant to give up present warmth.

Xue Yu was speechless. After a while, she jumped down from the wall, picked up that wine jar, and set it beside him with a thud: “I permit you one night of drunkenness.”

She touched the spirit ring on her finger and successively produced over ten jars of fine wine, stacking them round and plump around her feet like pot-bellied fat babies.

Su You looked back at her, and after a moment said: “Thank you, young lady.”

He was born handsome with deep, winding features. When drinking jar after jar, he showed an unrestrained wildness completely different from before. From early night to late night, he spoke only a few words, becoming more dejected the more he drank.

Until the moon reached mid-sky, he turned his head to look at Xue Yu, his slender finger pointing at the broken wall ahead, his voice low and hoarse: “A hundred years ago, when Xuan Su poured bone-corroding water, I stood there for a long time.”

An entire night, Xue Yu added silently in her heart.

He seemed seven or eight parts drunk, his eyelashes distinctly long when he looked up slightly. From both sides of his cheeks to his eye corners, a rouge-like color spread romantically, like a rich flower bud hanging on a branch, ripe and full.

That was a more soul-stirring, alluring color than any woman’s. Every movement could be called calculated and deliberately seductive without exaggeration.

“She said I was lowly, inferior, shameless.”

His words carried intoxicating wine fragrance, the words so light they melted into the wind, passing with a roll. Such unbearable words, as if he didn’t know their meaning, when spoken in breathy tones, each carried sweet flavor.

After speaking, he smiled carelessly: “Seeing her again today, what Xuan Su said wasn’t wrong.”

If he hadn’t sensed Xue Yu’s presence, just that sentence “how much longer will she be willing to coax you” would not have let him off so easily.

He was indeed like someone traveling while holding a handful of foam, not knowing when those sweet, treasured things would turn into empty puddles as she grew distant and left.

Therefore, having his thoughts exposed, he felt ashamed, angry, and anxiously uncertain.

He looked at her with charming, rippling eyes. Those one or two sentences were less like complaints and more like childish, deliberate attempts to soften her heart.

Xue Yu had never experienced such a situation and didn’t know what her feelings were at this moment. Moonlight fell on her layered black hair and golden hairpin. Her gaze rested on his straight nose bridge as she asked softly: “Have you drunk enough?”

Su You smiled brilliantly, lazily propping up his elbow and nodding.

Xue Yu then took the stack of revised case files from her sleeve and placed them on the two red bricks on the broken wall’s surface. She turned her head and asked him very seriously: “Do you know why I brought you on this trip?”

His robes hung loosely, chest slightly open, revealing two undulating collarbones like mountain ridges. With lowered brows, he presented a naturally graceful demeanor.

She stepped forward, just as she had ten years ago when leading him out of the demon-luring array, reaching up to adjust his collar. One looked down, one looked up, and when their eyes met, Su You’s breathing became momentarily disordered.

“Nineteen.”

She said, “There are three commanding officers, but only one position above that.”

“I rushed from Luozhou to Shanzhou to overturn the case, and also to give you the position of Young Master.”

All around fell silent. A long wind blew, and Su You’s half-real, half-false, half-pretended, half-performed drunkenness completely dissipated with these two sentences.

Through those eyes, he seemed able to read the meaning within.

—Having become my Young Master, you cannot choose another lord. You must follow me for life.

Author’s Note: My seven-second memory goldfish babies, I know you don’t remember, let me explain. Young Master is an official position, one rank above commanding officer, not a husband. (At least not now!!!)