“Devoted and foolish? He was devoted and foolish enough to drag me up this mountain and refuse to let me leave for three full years?” Nan Chu’s expression crumpled into grief.

“In these three years, has the Second Chief treated you poorly? In what matter has he not deferred to your wishes?”

“I want none of it. Get out — all of you, get out.” Nan Chu’s face twisted with revulsion. She grabbed a pillow and flung it at Wen Wanyu.

“Sister-in-law.” Xie Yan stepped in front of Wen Wanyu and took the blow himself, grunting at the impact.

“Nan Chu!” Wen Wanyu’s temper flared instantly.

“Sister-in-law, I apologize on Chūchu’s behalf — please do not be angry with her.” Xie Yan managed a placating smile.

Wen Wanyu gave a cold snort. She glanced at the untouched meal on the table and said sharply, “If you refuse to eat now, do not bother eating at all.”

“Sister-in-law, that will not do — Chūchu will starve.” Xie Yan went pale with alarm.

“I cannot be bothered with the two of you any further.” Wen Wanyu turned on her heel and left in a fury.

Xie Yan pressed his lips together. “Chūchu, rest for now. I will go and find you a maidservant.”

Nan Chu said nothing. She yanked the quilt over herself and disappeared beneath it.

After spending several days at Qingyu Stronghold, Xuan Yanyu found himself growing increasingly restless. He had never felt it tedious to be at A’Yao’s side before — but now the tedium was pressing in on him more and more, and his chest felt hollow, as though something was missing.

“Your Highness.” Ye Chen appeared silently at his side.

“Has A’Ci been settled in?” Xuan Yanyu reclined lazily against the chaise, eyes half-closed.

“She has.”

“You stay here and keep close to A’Yao.” Xuan Yanyu rose and smoothed his robes with a light sweep of his hand.

“Your Highness — are you returning to the Chancellor’s estate?” Ye Chen’s heart drummed in his chest. He lifted his eyes to look at Xuan Yanyu, his gaze full of trepidation, terrified of what the answer would be.

“Mm.” The man curved his lips in a faint smile.

Ye Chen swallowed, unease churning through him. “Your Highness, this subordinate feels that since you have already come to Qingyu Stronghold, perhaps you might as well—”

“Ye Chen, this Palace has been thinking of making a return to Xuanzhao.” The words came out of nowhere.

He needed to ask his Imperial Father why he insisted on having him wed Yan Shiyao.

“Your Highness — what would you go to Xuanzhao for?”

Xuan Yanyu gave him a sidelong glance. “This Palace has something to ask Imperial Father.”

“Young Master Xuan.” Qi Qingchen’s voice came hurrying over, urgent and strained. The moment Ye Chen heard it, he slipped swiftly behind a pillar.

“Something the matter?” Xuan Yanyu’s expression was one of undisguised impatience.

Qi Qingchen had no attention to spare for Xuan Yanyu’s manner. “Has Yaoyao come to you?”

“No.”

Qi Qingchen’s heart leapt to his throat. His voice wavered. “Yaoyao has gone missing.”

“If she is missing, go and find her.” Xuan Yanyu lifted an eyebrow with mild indifference.

Qi Qingchen halted. “I have already looked. There is no trace of her to be found.”

“Then look again — surely she has not simply vanished.” Xuan Yanyu’s voice was low and unhurried.

“You…” Qi Qingchen swallowed his anger. “Let us split up and search.”

Xuan Yanyu laughed softly. “Giving me orders?”

Qi Qingchen opened his mouth, then thought better of it. Truly impossible to deal with. He turned and strode away.

“Your Highness.” Ye Chen stepped out from behind the pillar. He lifted his gaze carefully, studying Xuan Yanyu’s expression, and ventured, “You also feel that even if someone goes missing they will not truly be lost — is that right?”

He felt this was his chance to come clean. After all, Eldest Young Miss Yan had gone missing too, and His Highness did not seem especially worried.

Xuan Yanyu’s gaze drifted over him with an idle ease.

“Your Highness.” Ye Chen called softly.

Xuan Yanyu’s eyelids lowered slightly, then rose again with the same unhurried pace. “What are you trying to say?”

Ye Chen drew in a breath, summoned his courage, and said, “Second Young — Second Young Miss Yan has gone missing as well.”

“What did you say?” Xuan Yanyu’s pupils contracted sharply.

“Your Highness — Second Young Miss Yan — has — gone — missing.” Ye Chen’s voice came out shaking.

“Where did she go missing? Why did you not say so sooner? Where is Ye Jian? Is he not supposed to be at her side?” Xuan Yanyu’s voice dropped into a low, furious growl.

Ye Chen’s head sank as low as it could go, unable to meet Xuan Yanyu’s eyes. This was nothing like what he had imagined. He had thought His Highness would say, “Surely she has not simply vanished?” just as he had said a moment ago.

“What are you waiting for? Go find her.” The man’s voice was a roar. A dangerous light flashed through his eyes.

Ye Chen watched his master break into a run, departing in long, urgent strides. Inside, he cursed Ye Jian a hundred times over. What did any of this have to do with him? He was not the one who had made that promise to His Highness — and yet here he was, absorbing the full force of His Highness’s wrath for no reason at all.

The river at Qingyu Stronghold ran clear and bright. Yan Yunning crouched at the bank, her sleeves rolled up, trailing her fingertips across the surface. Rings of ripples spread outward from the touch.

The air was fresh, the water transparent to the riverbed. Beneath the surface, small fish darted back and forth at their leisure. A breeze swept through, and Yan Yunning tilted her head back, closing her eyes with a contented sigh. How wonderfully pleasant this was.

Fafa: [Mistress, Mistress — stop playing around — your sister has been seized by Xie Yan to serve as Nan Chu’s maidservant!]

[This Second Chief just loves dragging people up from the mountain, doesn’t he?] Yan Yunning grumbled.

She had heard from Xiao Yun that Second Madam Nan Chu had been brought up the mountain by Xie Yan three years ago.

Nan Chu had already had someone she loved — by all accounts the two of them had been deeply devoted to each other, and she had even forsaken her own parents to go with him. And then Xie Yan had abducted her and brought her up the mountain. Three years on, she had never once left — small wonder Nan Chu quarreled with him time and again, while Xie Yan endured it all without ever growing angry.

The one exception had been a year ago, when Nan Chu became pregnant — and deliberately brought about a miscarriage herself. Xie Yan had flown into a tremendous rage.

Xiao Yun had said that Second Chief’s rage was because Second Madam had endangered her own health — the pregnancy had been ended through some scheme she had devised, and Second Madam had been ill for months before she recovered.

Fafa: [Mistress, are you not going to check on things? Your sister is working as a maidservant~]

[Tsk — you seem quite delighted by this.] Yan Yunning raised an eyebrow.

Fafa: [The female lead is working as a maidservant — and she does so for quite a long stretch in the story~]

[Then — what about Xuan Yanyu and Qi Qingchen? Did they not come looking for my sister?]

Fafa: [The female lead, having learned of Second Madam Nan Chu’s plight, wants to help her get back down the mountain to find her beloved. So when Xuan Yanyu eventually finds her, she has him and Qi Qingchen wait below the mountain and wait for her signal, ready to meet her and Nan Chu when the time comes.]

Yan Yunning: […]

In that regard, she could not match her sister’s nobility of spirit.

In her view, the man Nan Chu had forsaken her own parents to follow — someone who could make her do that — was likely not a particularly good person. And besides — three years had passed. Far too long. That beloved of hers had likely already taken a wife by now.

Yan Yunning sighed and began ambling at a slow pace back toward Chuyu Pavilion.

The atmosphere in Chuyu Pavilion was heavy. Wen Wanyu bit down on her lip. A dull, cramping pain kept coming in waves low in her belly.

“Madam, please do not worry — the chief will return safely.” Xiao Yun offered what comfort she could.

Wen Wanyu’s brow drew together tightly. She said with irritation, “How dare they seize Shiqing — that Yan Shiyao was not the one Shiqing brought up the mountain. If anyone is to be seized, it should be the Second Chief.”

Xiao Yun pressed her lips together. “The messenger said the one who seized the chief delivered him down the mountain unharmed. I wonder if the young miss mentioned is…”

“Lingning?” Wen Wanyu rubbed her temples.

Yan Yunning had been listening at the doorway for a moment. She pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Wen-jiejie.”

“Lingning.” Wen Wanyu braced her rounded belly and pushed herself to her feet.

“Wen-jiejie, let me go down the mountain and have a look.”

“No — you cannot go.”

If something happened to her, she would have no way to answer to Shiqing.