Fu Tingyun was intelligent and perceptive. She had figured out most of what happened at the City God Temple, but this didn’t mean Zhao Ling would change his mind and reveal all his thoughts to her.

Since she was determined to clarify matters, he might as well give her an explanation to prevent her endless questioning.

Zhao Ling pondered as he struggled to sit up.

His body was still very weak, requiring assistance even to get out of bed. Logically, Fu Tingyun should have helped him, but when she thought about how she treated him as her most trusted person, unhesitatingly following his decisions, while he treated her like a stranger, always concealing things, she felt deeply uncomfortable. She decided to let him taste what it felt like to be treated as a stranger.

Seeing him sit up, she pretended not to notice and went to find a palm-leaf fan.

In such hot weather, she didn’t want to make herself uncomfortable—why not stay cool when possible?

Turning back to sit down, she noticed Zhao Ling’s pale face covered in sweat.

For some reason, seeing him leaning against the bare bed frame, thinking of his thin, bony body… she felt a pang of guilt.

Leaning against that must be painful!

Especially while he was ill.

She instinctively stood up and retrieved the bundle that had previously supported him but was now cast aside: “Move a bit!” Her voice was low, her tone somewhat cold and stiff.

Zhao Ling turned to look at her.

Her fine eyebrows were slightly furrowed, almond eyes downcast. Her jet-black hair was tightly bound with a moon-white coarse cloth hairband, revealing a fair, delicate neck and a thin red scratch that disappeared beneath her collar—like a crack on white porcelain, marring its overall beauty and evoking a sense of pity.

He suddenly realized it was a mark left when she had scratched a heat rash on her back.

His heart inexplicably sank.

Thinking of how she had never complained despite enduring the hardships of their journey; thinking of how she had cared for him attentively without regard for her reputation… The words he was about to say wouldn’t come out.

Fu Tingyun was oblivious to this.

She sat back down on the stool by the bed and picked up the fan to cool herself, only then realizing what she had done.

She secretly regretted her behavior.

Seeing that Zhao Ling wasn’t speaking, she also remained silent. The two sat there wordlessly as the hot breeze blew over them, soaking their clothes with sweat.

From downstairs came an alarmed shout.

Fu Tingyun was startled.

“It’s A-Sen!” She rose to leave: “I’ll go see!”

“Come back!” Zhao Ling grabbed her wrist.

Even through her sleeve, Fu Tingyun could feel Zhao Ling’s hand trembling. Looking back, she saw that his face had grown even paler than before, with large beads of sweat densely covering his forehead.

“What’s wrong?” Fu Tingyun didn’t dare struggle. “Is your wound hurting again?”

“Mo Yi, Chen Six, and Little Five are downstairs,” he said, not answering her question. “If something happens that they can’t handle, you going down would only be throwing your life away. You’re safer staying by my side!”

In a flash of insight, Fu Tingyun suddenly understood why she was so angry about Zhao Ling’s secretiveness.

She stared into his eyes: “Of course I know I’m safest by your side, and that I should pretend I haven’t heard or seen anything and hide under the bed. If someone bursts in and kills you, perhaps in their joy they’ll carry away your corpse and leave without checking under the bed, so I might survive. But have you thought about how I would feel? With Mo Yi and the others downstairs, why would A-Sen make such an alarmed cry?” She remembered her fear, panic, and bewilderment when Zhao Ling collapsed on the dusty road; she remembered her terror, sorrow, and desolation when the dagger was held to her throat in the City God Temple. Her voice lowered, “To preserve my own life, you want me to watch helplessly as you all meet with disaster, to watch you die before my eyes… I would rather die, I would rather die first!”

Like a flower blooming in summer heat—the more scorching the sun, the more uninhibitedly it blooms.

Fu Tingyun stood there, straight-backed, her gaze as fierce as flames, illuminating her face and making the sleeve in his hand feel hot.

He smiled wryly.

Slowly, he released her wrist.

“Go stand on the stairs and take a look,” a smile spilled from his eyes, brightening his expression like a refreshing breeze under a clear moon. “If something seems wrong, hide under my bed—if someone bursts in and kills me, perhaps in their joy they’ll carry away my corpse and leave without checking under the bed, so you might survive!” By the end, his tone was teasing, with none of his usual unfathomable depth, leaving Fu Tingyun wide-eyed with surprise.

From downstairs came A-Sen’s angry shouts, mixed with Chen Six’s angry yells.

Fu Tingyun had no time to think further. She ran out the door and grabbed the stair railing to look down.

In the small shop, A-Sen was chasing a boy about his size around the room.

A-Sen moved nimbly, but the boy was even more agile, slippery as a loach. Several times A-Sen caught the edge of the boy’s clothes only to have him slip away, infuriating A-Sen into occasional shouts.

Fu Tingyun relaxed but felt puzzled, not knowing what this was about. She inadvertently made eye contact with the boy and realized he was the leader of the group of boys who had begged from them earlier in the street.

Mo Yi stood to the side, watching coldly with a stern face. Chen Six and Little Five blocked the front and back doors, preventing the boy from escaping even when he managed to reach the exit.

After several rounds, the boy took advantage of A-Sen catching his breath to shout: “This isn’t fair!”

A-Sen, unable to catch him and feeling embarrassed in front of Mo Yi and the others, immediately retorted loudly: “Fair? Is it fair for you to steal our food?”

“Your food was forcibly bought,” the boy argued defiantly, “why can’t I steal it?”

“Then you deserve to be caught,” A-Sen was dismissive about the forcible purchase. “At least we paid with silver.”

Mo Yi was satisfied with A-Sen’s response and commanded: “Why waste words on him? Just catch him and be done with it.”

Hearing this, A-Sen threw a punch at the boy.

The boy dodged and returned a punch of his own.

The two began fighting again.

Fu Tingyun returned to the room: “One of the leading beggars came to steal food and was caught by A-Sen. They’re fighting now.”

Zhao Ling nodded slightly, appearing unconcerned, and said to her: “Pour me some water!”

Since Mo Yi was responsible for their food and drink, they now had plenty of water and dry steamed buns.

Fu Tingyun poured a bowl of water and handed it to him: “Water goes bad if left too long, better to drink it.”

Zhao Ling smiled lightly, drained the bowl in one go, and said: “There’s another important reason why Mo Yi and Lord Sixteen pretended not to know each other—they suspected we were targeting them.”

The abrupt statement caught Fu Tingyun by surprise, but like a deflated ball, her earlier enthusiasm had vanished.

“Is that so?” She sat glumly on the stool by the bed, prepared to listen.

Hadn’t she been desperately questioning him? Now that he was telling her, she seemed completely disinterested.

Zhao Ling truly couldn’t understand her.

But he didn’t want to see her so listless.

After brief consideration, Zhao Ling said gently: “It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, I just didn’t want you to worry…”

“I know!” Fu Tingyun interrupted him. “I often wonder, was drugging me my aunt’s idea, or was it my uncle’s or grandmother’s? Did my mother know beforehand? Did she also think it was for the best?” As she spoke, she lowered her head, looking at her hands, white as mutton-fat jade, her voice gradually dropping. “Being falsely accused by Zuo Junjie like that… perhaps they all thought they were doing what was best for me? But I couldn’t accept it. I would rather have confronted Zuo Junjie, I would rather have hanged myself with three feet of white silk at the memorial arch than live like this, hiding my identity and skulking about.” She felt her eyes growing moist. “And about your injury. Perhaps even if I knew, I couldn’t have changed anything. But in the City God Temple, thinking you might die there, I felt terrible, constantly asking myself if what I did was right or wrong. If I hadn’t chosen to come to Linchun Town, would we have encountered bandits? If we had come to Linchun Town but chosen to stay in the town instead, would things have turned out differently? I always felt that I was responsible for your death…” Her tears fell onto the back of her hand, like crystalline dewdrops that would vanish without a trace under the sun.

Suddenly, Zhao Ling was filled with remorse.

After all, she was just a young girl who had barely come of age, suddenly caught in chaotic times, traveling with him—a stranger who had nearly killed her. Though she appeared composed, she had been constantly anxious deep down…

“It’s my fault!” Perhaps because he rarely apologized, his words were awkward. “From now on, I’ll tell you everything. But you also need to control your temper. If you have something to say, say it properly, instead of getting upset all the time…”

As his words flowed more smoothly, the initially moved Fu Tingyun’s eyebrows rose higher and higher, until she finally couldn’t help but jump up: “When have I ever lost my temper unreasonably? It’s you who’s always so cryptic and inscrutable. I’ll let past matters drop, but regarding this current issue, though you suspect Mo Yi, you didn’t tell me anything. If not for my quick wit, if Mo Yi decided to trick me someday, wouldn’t I just spill everything to him like beans from a bamboo tube? What would you do then? As they say, ‘Even a good warrior needs three helpers.’ What can you accomplish alone…”

Zhao Ling burst into laughter.

Such a childish temperament.

She had become angry again in the middle of speaking.

But this animated expression was much more pleasant to see than her dejected look, like frost-bitten plants.

Laughing too hard pulled at his wound, and he quickly suppressed his laughter, touching his shoulder wound and coughing several times.

Fu Tingyun’s face flushed red.

How could she be so easily provoked?

A few words from him had angered her…

“Hey!” She said, somewhat embarrassed and angry, “We have someone who’s injured, someone who’s young, and we’re traveling with a woman. How could they suspect we were targeting them?”