Amidst the hurrying crowds!

In that instant, she froze completely.

Her hands clenched into fists within her sleeves, her gaze seeming to pierce through the rushing throng, landing directly on that face growing increasingly blurred.

It was him!

It was definitely him!

Her feet seemed to lose all control as she walked bit by bit in that direction. Her shoulders were jostled back and forth by the crowd, yet she still pressed forward like a stubborn child, desperately running toward that side.

The guards from Prince Rong’s mansion followed, but a sedan chair suddenly appeared on the street, forcibly separating them.

By the time the sedan chair left, Ji Yunshu was nowhere to be seen!

“This is bad! Quickly find Master Ji! If something happens, when the Prince blames us, none of us will survive.”

“Yes!”

The guards immediately began searching everywhere!

Meanwhile, Ji Yunshu followed closely behind Su Ziluo, who sat in a wheelchair.

All the way, neither fast nor slow!

When the attendant pushing the wheelchair quickened his pace, she quickened hers too!

When he slowed, she slowed as well!

Maintaining a small distance, she never caught up.

Perhaps at this moment, she was somewhat afraid—afraid that this person wasn’t Ji Pei, leading to disappointment!

Yet also afraid that he was!

Then why, after all these years, had he never come back to find her?

That feeling churned her internal organs upside down!

Before long, they arrived at a plum blossom grove and stopped on a red bridge.

Below, a trickling stream flowed!

Su Ziluo raised his hand and waved it lightly, and the attendant withdrew.

Deep among the plum blossoms, by the small bridge and flowing water, the man’s clear eyes watched the pale pink petals drifting and falling.

After a moment, Su Ziluo’s strong fingers broke off a plum branch hanging over the red bridge, holding it between his fingers.

Ji Yunshu stood at one end of the bridge, quietly watching him.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when Su Ziluo’s voice reached her.

“You’ve followed me for so long, young sir. Is there something you wish to ask me?”

That gentle voice—if it wasn’t Ji Pei, who was it?

Ji Yunshu’s eyes immediately reddened. A string in her heart snapped instantly, causing a sharp pain in her chest.

She took small steps onto the red bridge but still didn’t dare get too close.

Su Ziluo turned his eyes toward her, that gentle gaze—even after two years, she still remembered it clearly.

And that refined face, infused with an air of scholarly elegance and handsomeness.

The only difference was an added hint of weathered vicissitudes!

Ji Yunshu’s eyes reddened as she asked a question.

“Who… are you?”

Her voice trembled!

“My surname is Su, given name Ziluo. Does this young sir know me?”

She shook her head and took a step back.

Why did such a familiar gaze seem so strange?

“Su Ziluo?” She softly murmured his name.

“You followed me all the way here—for what purpose?”

“Your legs?”

“Did you really pursue me just to ask about this?”

“No!” She hurriedly denied it. The palms of both hands in her sleeves were covered in layers of sweat. She continued asking, “Do you know Ji Yunshu of the Ji Family from Jinjiang?”

“Ji Yunshu?” Su Ziluo showed a face full of confusion, narrowing his eyes slightly and shaking his head.

“You truly don’t know her?”

“I don’t know her!” He answered decisively and straightforwardly!

Tears rolled in Ji Yunshu’s eyes, but she forced herself not to let them fall.

Seeming unwilling to give up so easily, she continued asking, “Then do you know Ji Pei?”

“Is this person very important to you?”

“Yes, very important. For two years, I’ve been waiting for him.” Ji Yunshu said firmly.

Su Ziluo held up the plum branch in his hand, appearing casual, though his sword-like eyebrows drew together, revealing a melancholic air.

After a long pause, accompanied by the chilly wind, he said, “Perhaps… he’s already dead?”

“…”

“If a person is already dead, even if you wait your whole life, you cannot wait for him to return.”

In the next moment, Ji Yunshu finally couldn’t hold back the tears pooling in her eyes—they slowly overflowed!

She bit her lip tightly, biting until her lip split and bled.

Her voice mixed with sobs as she said, “Yes, he really is dead. You’re not him.”

Su Ziluo looked at her coldly and said, “So you mistook me for him!”

“I was wrong. You two are probably just similar in appearance, that’s all.”

“I don’t know what this person is to you, that you miss him so much and grieve so deeply.”

She took a deep breath, lowering her eyes.

“An old friend, an old friend who has gone far away.”

Su Ziluo didn’t speak!

He merely placed the plum branch he had broken off on the red bridge in silence. It swayed precariously in the cold wind!

As if at any moment, it would fall into the small stream below!

He gazed at the plum branch swaying in the wind. “Since he’s an old friend who has gone far away, why do you continue waiting? Sometimes, the most torturous thing isn’t the long wait itself, but the stubborn persistence of an unwilling heart.”

“Ah!”

Ji Yunshu’s heart shook!

The attendant who had left earlier returned, grasping the handles at the back of the wheelchair, preparing to push him away.

Su Ziluo’s indifferent gaze fell on her half-mask. His brow furrowed as he continued, “You must also be someone with a story. If there’s an opportunity in the future, I would certainly love to hear it.”

With those words, the attendant slowly pushed Su Ziluo down from the red bridge.

Ji Yunshu first chased after them for two steps but then stopped!

He wasn’t Ji Pei!

He wasn’t!

She struggled to convince herself of this fact—they merely had extremely similar faces, nothing more beyond that!

Watching Su Ziluo gradually move farther away, her heart also gradually sank.

After a moment, she took heavy steps toward the plum branch. Just then, a gust of wind arose, and her slender fingers quickly reached to catch the branch.

But she caught only empty air!

The plum branch was ultimately blown into the water below.

Following the current, it gradually drifted away—

Just like her years of waiting, it was merely a dream, nothing more!

She stood on the red bridge for a long time until her body was frozen to the bone. Only then did she suddenly come to her senses, withdrawing the confused look from her eyes.

After thinking for a moment, her thoughts stirred, and she quickly left the plum blossom grove.

Very soon, she arrived at the inn where Li Shiyan was staying.

Because of Su Ziluo, Li Shiyan was forced to remain in the capital, unable to go anywhere.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of secretly escaping, but before he could even reach the city gate, he was discovered by people Su Ziluo had planted there, and they forcibly dragged him back.

In short, he couldn’t escape!

He could only obediently return to Qujiang.

At this moment, seeing Ji Yunshu arrive, he was truly shocked.

He hastily welcomed her inside.

“Shu’er, why have you come?”

He was still accustomed to calling her “Shu’er.”

Ji Yunshu had no time to correct him. On her face was an anxiety difficult to conceal.

She asked, “You said before that the man with the same tassel as mine is called Su Ziluo, correct?”

“That’s right!”

“Then, is he in a wheelchair?”

“Yes!”

Li Shiyan answered one by one, but was also puzzled. Holding up his fan, he asked her, “What’s this about? Have you seen him?”

She nodded and asked again, “So, is he from Qujiang?”

“Mm!”

“Then has he ever been to Da Lin?”