The three of them discussed renting a courtyard in the small town for a few days.

Zhang Xingjian’s excuse was that he needed to brew medicine for Shen Qingwu and nurse her back to health; Shen Qingwu and Yang Su both went along with it.

But neither Shen Qingwu nor Yang Su actually cared much about the medicine. Their real intention was to stay here and see if they could find some way to stop the physicians from being taken to the capital.

Zhang Xingjian was truly relentless.

If he didn’t see Shen Qingwu for even a moment, he had to ask where she’d gone. She found it endlessly irritating, yet there was some faint, unaccountable fondness mixed in with the irritation too—so the one who went out to scout the routes could only be Yang Su.

Even when Shen Qingwu wanted to go out herself, she had to wait until deep in the night, when it was quiet and Zhang Xingjian wouldn’t come bother her.

She was almost grateful that Zhang Xingjian wasn’t quite shameless enough to stand guard outside her door at night to check on her.

At dusk, Yang Su came back from outside carrying that day’s fresh batch of herbs, and went to the kitchen to start boiling the medicine.

Yang Su found himself puzzled: why did they need to brew the medicine every single day?

Could Zhang Xingjian really make Shen Qingwu obediently nurse her injuries and refrain from fighting?

That was simply impossible.

So why waste the herbs?

But since Shen Qingwu hadn’t said anything about it, Yang Su naturally didn’t bother making a fuss either—might as well take the medicine, since it couldn’t hurt.

Yang Su came back from the kitchen carrying a bowl of rice, and ambled over to the stone table beneath the old tree in the courtyard, sitting down to join the other two, who were already having their evening meal.

They’d only rented the courtyard for a month, using money Zhang Xingjian had gotten from the pawnshop.

The old scholartree in the courtyard stood lush and green; a gentle breeze drifted through. It was the fourth month, and the moon hung like a silver plate, slowly climbing higher into the sky.

Leaves rustled softly, scattering white as snow across the ground.

Shen Qingwu ate with her head down, listening to Yang Su rambling on about when she could start taking her medicine. She gave a few perfunctory hums of acknowledgment, and when she finally looked up, the evening breeze stirred strands of her hair across her face.

Loose hair clung to her cheek; cradling her wooden bowl, she looked at the two men beside her.

One was chatty and warmhearted, with an easy, open smile—someone she’d known for years, whose bond forged on the battlefield was enough to earn her trust. The other was refined and clear-eyed, with red lips and bright eyes—someone whose pursuit and rejection, over years of back-and-forth, had somehow led to him still being by her side even now.

In that hazy moment, a wish rose up in Shen Qingwu.

The stillness and peace of this moment felt so precious that she wished it could linger forever, never fade.

But heaven never listened to her prayers, and Shen Qingwu held no real hope that it would.

She lowered her head and went back to eating.

Just then, someone gave her shin a light kick under the stone table.

Shen Qingwu paid it no mind.

Her leg was kicked again.

So she swept her leg out beneath the table, pinning down whoever was being so restless—stepping her foot directly onto his shoe.

With a chopstick held between her lips, loose strands of hair brushing her mouth, Shen Qingwu narrowed her eyes and looked up from her bowl just in time to hear Zhang Xingjian let out a muffled grunt.

The corner of her mouth curled up slightly.

She shot him a glance—her eyes clear and bright, her expression perfectly readable: that’ll teach you to keep fidgeting!

Yang Su, obliviously eating his meal, looked up in confusion.

Zhang Xingjian smiled and set down his bowl and chopsticks. “I’m done eating.”

Yang Su said blankly, “Ah…”

He sensed something odd about the atmosphere, though he couldn’t say what.

Suddenly, Shen Qingwu’s eyes went rigid.

Under the table, the leg she’d used to pin Zhang Xingjian’s restless one was now being gently stroked.

It felt like an electric current.

Someone was remarkably skilled with his hands.

Shen Qingwu’s grip on her wooden bowl tightened until her knuckles went white. She turned her face and looked at Zhang Xingjian.

He withdrew his hand properly, gave his sleeve a small shake toward her, and said gently, “You two enjoy your meal. I’m tired—I’ll go back to my room and rest a while.”

Yang Su, sitting across from Zhang Xingjian with the breeze drifting past, didn’t notice the way Zhang Xingjian’s sleeve had opened as he spoke—didn’t see the jade hairpin pinched between his fingers, swaying briefly right before Shen Qingwu’s eyes.

Shen Qingwu said nothing.

Zhang Xingjian stood, his eyes on her, smiling.

Even someone as thickheaded as Shen Qingwu could catch his meaning after all these hints: I’m going back to my room. If you want the hairpin, come find me there.

But what was there to do in his room?

It was broad daylight—was there anything that couldn’t be done in front of Yang Su?

She only wanted the hairpin, and she was even willing to pay for it—why did Zhang Xingjian have to make everything so secretive, so veiled, hiding it from Yang Su?

…Hmph.

He clearly had designs on her.

He probably just wanted to lure her to his room in the quiet of the night, to do this and that and then this again.

As Shen Qingwu’s mind wandered down this path, she heard Yang Su ask, puzzled, “Why is your face so red?”

Shen Qingwu looked over at him coldly. “What did you say?”

Yang Su said, “…Never mind, must just be me.”

Yang Su gave up, lowering his head to poke at his food. After a while, he said to Shen Qingwu, “A’Wu, what exactly is going on between you and Zhang Sanlang?”

Shen Qingwu snapped out of her thoughts. “What?”

Yang Su kept his head down. “Your heart’s softened, hasn’t it? You still like him. You want to make up with him.”

Shen Qingwu went still.

Her iron resolve reasserted itself, and the brief flicker of secret pleasure she’d felt now sat like shame in her chest.

Anger rose in her—how could she be so forgetful, how could she forget the vow she’d sworn, how could she let herself feel this way about Zhang Xingjian…

But… was this really liking him?

Wasn’t it just unwillingness to let go, resentment at not getting what she wanted?

After a moment of silence, Shen Qingwu said stubbornly, “No.”

This time, Yang Su looked up at her.

Perhaps Shen Qingwu herself didn’t realize it—she had never once admitted to liking Zhang Xingjian, always answering “I don’t like him” crisply and without hesitation. But this time, her denial came a beat slower than usual.

Yang Su smiled faintly.

He found that his bowl of rice had lost its flavor.

He lowered his head and said slowly, “Let me remind you of something. You and I stand on a different side from him. We work for the Princess; he works for the young emperor. The only reason we’re all sitting here together is because you did something foolish and brought him out of the capital with us.

“Otherwise, whoever’s been ordering the troops to hunt us down wouldn’t be far from Zhang Sanlang himself.

“And besides, how can you be so sure he’s with us for no purpose of his own? Maybe he’s quietly working toward some larger scheme… This is a contest between the Princess and Zhang Sanlang. You and I have no business getting involved.

“I just ask you this, A’Wu—don’t let yourself be deceived again.”

Yang Su hesitated, again and again, before finally saying the harsher thing he’d been holding back. “You always draw the attention of ambitious men, because you’re a fine blade. From the day you left home, to Marshal Bo taking you in, to the Princess courting your favor now, and Zhang Sanlang’s particular fondness for you as well…

“A’Wu, don’t you ever want to get away from all of this, and live a simpler life?”

Shen Qingwu: “…”

Yang Su, uncharacteristically wise, said, “What is it you actually want? You really need to think about that carefully.”

Shen Qingwu fell into a daze.

What did she want?

Whatever she’d ever wanted, she’d always fought for it, and gotten it.

She liked what eluded her grasp; she disliked being clung to and pursued relentlessly.

The former kept her hooked without end; the latter only wore her patience thin.

So then… Zhang Xingjian had once been the former, but now behaved like the latter.

Why didn’t that bother her?

Could it be that, toward Zhang Xingjian, she truly…

Shen Qingwu bit down on her chopstick, poking absently at the bowl beneath her hand, eating with a focused, thoughtful air.

Yang Su watched her, at a loss for words. “There’s no rice left in your bowl. What are you still poking at?”

Shen Qingwu froze.

Embarrassed, she set down her bowl and chopsticks, placed both hands on her knees, and sat up straight and tall, the way any soldier would.

She made a decision. “Wait until you finish eating. We’re going to see Zhang Yuelu together.”

Yang Su was startled. “Why? Didn’t he say he was going to rest? Why would we go bother him?”

Of course, Shen Qingwu wasn’t about to mention Zhang Xingjian touching her leg, or his hints, or his little attempts to lure her in.

She said, perfectly serious, “He took a hairpin of mine. I want it back. Come with me, at least as a witness.”

Yang Su said, “What hairpin? Why would Zhang Sanlang have your hairpin?”

Shen Qingwu answered with something that made no logical sense at all. “If I liked the look of it, it’s mine.”

Whatever she wanted, was hers—

Yang Su and Shen Qingwu stood together in front of Zhang Xingjian’s door.

Shen Qingwu knocked.

No one answered from inside.

Yang Su waited for her to knock a second time, or…

Yang Su said, uneasy, “Maybe Zhang Sanlang’s already asleep. Why bother him? Why don’t we wait till tomorrow…”

Shen Qingwu let out a scoff.

Yang Su really didn’t understand Zhang Xingjian at all—if he wasn’t answering the door, he was surely up to something.

She was more convinced than ever that he was scheming something, planning to do this and that and then this to her in his room.

Maybe the moment she opened the door, he’d be lurking beside it to ambush her. He’d wrap his arms around her, press her against the wall, get intimate with her. Bodies pressed close, lips and teeth fragrant…

Stop!

With Yang Su here, his scheme wouldn’t succeed.

Shen Qingwu summoned every ounce of patience, resolve, and willpower she had to resist Zhang Xingjian’s attempt to lure her astray.

No one answered from inside, so Shen Qingwu simply pushed the door open and walked in.

Yang Su said, “Uh—”

He hurried to follow.

Shen Qingwu stayed alert for any movement near the door, but there was none.

A shaft of moonlight spilled into the room the instant the door opened.

The folding screen that should have shielded the inner room from view had, for some reason, been drawn open, and the two of them standing in the doorway saw clearly into the inner chamber—

A sash lay tossed across the bed; robes half-shed, half-hanging. The refined young man had pulled out his hairpin, and half his hair had come loose, strands falling along his cheek and down over his shoulder.

His back was to them—he was clearly in the middle of changing.

A long stretch of smooth, luminous back, its curve winding gently, sloping downward like a grand landscape unfurling bit by bit…

The door creaked open, and the elegant young man mid-change turned to look at the two dumbstruck figures in the doorway.

Shen Qingwu spun around instantly, throwing herself in front of Yang Su’s eyes.

She clapped her hands over his eyes, and with a burst of force, while Yang Su was still too dazed to react, shoved him backward out the door.

Shen Qingwu said, “Get out.”

She shoved Yang Su out of the room and slammed the door shut with a bang, then leaned her forehead against the doorframe, her heart pounding wildly.

She heard a soft laugh behind her.

Zhang Xingjian’s laughter was like moonlight too—cool, quiet, and gentle, unhurried.

Shen Qingwu came back to herself, her back against the door, and watched him begin to dress.

Leaning against the door, fighting down the heat scorching her face, she asked him coldly, “What is the meaning of this?”

With his back to her, tying his sash, Zhang Xingjian said unhurriedly, “What do you mean, ‘what is the meaning of this’?”

Shen Qingwu frowned.

She said, “Won’t own up to what you did?”

Zhang Xingjian said, taking his time, “I’ve no trouble owning up to it. Though it seems I only invited Lady Shen the Second here. Why exactly did she go out of her way to bring Young Master Yang along? It seems this awkward little standoff isn’t really my fault, is it?”

The moment he brought it up, her expression stiffened.

She was already thoroughly furious—Yang Su had absolutely seen Zhang Xingjian half-undressed.

Her man!

Only she was allowed to see!

The domineering Shen Qingwu forgot all her caution, flaring up in a fit of temper. “Why were you taking your clothes off?!”

Fury made her reckless with her words. “Do you think I’d throw myself at you and tear you limb from limb? Do you think I’m that desperate? Are you looking down on me? You—you scheming, favor-seeking menace to decent men everywhere!

“You wanted to sleep with me!”

The words came out sharp and unequivocal, and Zhang Xingjian turned fully around, silently studying her.

Zhang Xingjian said softly, “A man is called a ‘menace to decent women’—not the other way around.”

Shen Qingwu shot back, “You think I’m illiterate? You look down on me and still want to sleep with me!”

Zhang Xingjian’s expression cooled.

He said, “I don’t believe I invited you into my room. You barged in uninvited, bringing someone along without asking, and now you want to blame me for it?”

Shen Qingwu had more or less run out of insults to hurl at him. She was using her anger to mask the way her heart wouldn’t stop racing, and she refused to step any further into the room, staying pinned against the door.

She glared at him.

Shen Qingwu said, “You think I wanted to come in?”

She pulled the door open and turned to leave.

Zhang Xingjian called after her. “Wutong.”

Shen Qingwu didn’t turn back, her manner cold and unyielding.

Zhang Xingjian’s voice softened, tinged with a sigh. “If I told you that my main purpose wasn’t to lure you into bed—would you believe me?”

Shen Qingwu thought: not a chance.

Zhang Xingjian was silent for a long moment.

Finally, haltingly, with obvious difficulty, he said, “Do you remember telling me once, about that time in Jiangling, when you broke into a man’s quarters at night and saw a stranger, mid-bath, completely exposed?”

Shen Qingwu: “…”

She remembered.

Zhang Xingjian’s voice was warm and gentle. “It didn’t sit well with me, hearing that. I don’t like the idea of you having seen another man’s body… when you’ve never even seen mine.”

A trace of hurt and resentment crept into his tone.

Shen Qingwu’s grip on the doorframe whitened with strain as she fought down the urge to turn and look at him.

Her mind even began to wander: hadn’t she seen Zhang Xingjian’s body? Well… she couldn’t exactly say she’d seen nothing at all.

And besides… Zhang Xingjian himself never fully undressed—he always relied on his clothes to conceal himself. Attractive, certainly, but she genuinely hadn’t gotten a clear look, not really…

Shen Qingwu’s thoughts wandered, and the heat in her face only intensified.

She heard Zhang Xingjian continue to explain. “I just wanted you to see me—and forget about that stranger.”

Shen Qingwu thought: what is wrong with you! How could I possibly remember some stranger’s body!

Where would he compare to you—how good you look, how enticing your scent, how sharp your tongue, how you argue and cry and cling and never give up, how good you smell, how good it is to kiss you, how good it is to sleep beside you…

Stop!

Zhang Xingjian had stumbled through his explanation for quite a while, only to see her still standing there with her back to him at the door, saying nothing at all.

She wouldn’t even turn to look at him, wouldn’t take a single step further into the room.

A flicker of irritation rose in Zhang Xingjian—was he some kind of monster, that she had to be this wary of him?

He’d racked his brain trying to woo a woman, had even half-undressed for it… and still she wouldn’t turn around?

Zhang Xingjian finally said, “Wutong, say something.”

Shen Qingwu said, slowly, “Your main purpose was that. And it wouldn’t be surprising if wanting to sleep with me wasn’t entirely absent from your secondary purpose either.”

Zhang Xingjian fell silent.

After a long moment, he said, “…Must you put it so coldly, so crudely?”

He heard Shen Qingwu laugh.

A relaxed, happy, teasing sort of laugh.

An unburdened Shen Qingwu laughed cleanly, brightly, full of spirit—he only had to imagine it and his heart already beat faster.

He looked up, and there, in front of the wooden door under the moonlight, Shen Qingwu had turned back, her eyes curved with a smile, glancing his way.

The weight of that single glance…

Zhang Xingjian couldn’t look away.

With a hint of mischief, she said, “Zhang Yuelu, you’ve lost to me again tonight.”

A strand of hair drifted across her dark, cool eyes, brushing her cheek, catching between her lips. Disheveled Shen Qingwu, with her hair simply tied back in a ponytail, plain and efficient, dressed in her form-fitting martial robes—why was she so striking to look at?

Zhang Xingjian watched, utterly absorbed.

His throat moved.

He answered her absently, distracted.

Shen Qingwu smiled at him. “Better luck next time.”

She’d forgotten all about the jade hairpin she’d wanted; her whole heart was filled with Zhang Xingjian instead. She’d sparred with him at ease over who would win, and tonight, she had.

Shen Qingwu closed his door and leaned against it herself.

She cupped her chin in her hand and stifled a laugh for quite a while.

Yang Su coughed nearby.

Shen Qingwu composed her expression, gave Yang Su an indifferent glance, and walked off without a word about what had happened in that room—

But of course, Shen Qingwu couldn’t stay this lighthearted and carefree every day.

A day later, Shen Qingwu leaned against the kitchen doorway, watching Zhang Xingjian inside, tending the stove, brewing her medicine.

An odd feeling stirred in her chest.

Shen Qingwu said, “This medicine is useless… since I can’t possibly keep taking it, can’t possibly go half a year without fighting. Why do you keep insisting on brewing it every day?”

Zhang Xingjian said gently, “How would you know it’s impossible if you never try? Besides… right now, you genuinely don’t need to fight.”

Careful not to provoke her defiance, he chose his words carefully. “I’ve been with you this whole time. I know you don’t think much of my martial skill, but I really do know how to fight. I might not be able to force our way through a thousand soldiers with you, but if we truly do run into pursuers, I can still protect you—so you won’t have to raise a hand yourself.”

Zhang Xingjian kept his eyes on the medicine pot, fanning the flames, several fresh scars visible on the back of his hand.

These were all marks he’d picked up recently.

A pampered young noble, one who at court usually only needed to lift a brush—when had he ever had to endure hardship like this?

Shen Qingwu turned his words over in her mind for a while.

Shen Qingwu said, stunned. “You mean—you intend to stay with me for a full half year? A whole half year?!”

Zhang Xingjian said, displeased, “Why are you so shocked? It’s not as if either of us is about to die. Half a year—do I not have it to spare, or do you not?”

Shen Qingwu’s answer was infuriating. “I don’t have it. I have things to do.”

Zhang Xingjian said gently, “Your things? Mm, I know about your things. Don’t worry, I won’t get in your way.”

Shen Qingwu said, “Zhang Yuelu’s cooked up another belly full of bad ideas, hasn’t he, ready to cause trouble.”

Zhang Xingjian said with a smile, “There goes our Wutong again, suspecting me without any grounds, refusing to trust me.”

Shen Qingwu’s face flushed at his teasing.

Guilty but stubborn, she said, “Serves you right.”

Zhang Xingjian said, “Yes, yes, quite right, quite right.”

He kept his attention fixed on the medicine the entire time, far more diligent about it than either of the other two. It was as if he, not Shen Qingwu, were the one who’d been injured. And yet, in Shen Qingwu’s view, if he himself had been the one hurt, he probably wouldn’t have taken it half this seriously.

He was a man who was unusually hard on himself…

Shen Qingwu stayed leaning against the doorframe without moving. She knew she should walk away, give him no hope at all. But she watched the dust motes drifting through the air, watched the young man tending the medicine occasionally choking on the smoke…

Vaguely, Shen Qingwu thought: so there really is someone in this world who cares this much about my injuries.

She stared at Zhang Xingjian’s back, watching him with quiet stillness.

Many times, she’d found herself wanting to ask—

Do you care about me?

Do you truly care about me, and this isn’t just an act you’re putting on with me? You seem so sincere—I really, truly…

Yang Su’s voice called out from outside. “A’Wu.”

Shen Qingwu turned.

In the courtyard, Yang Su was holding the fresh herbs he’d just bought, waving his hand at her.

Yang Su said, beaming, “Come here, look at the snacks I bought you.”

Inside the kitchen, Zhang Xingjian, still brewing the medicine, heard Shen Qingwu step out.

He lowered his eyes, a flicker of wariness rising toward whatever Yang Su had in mind.

Yang Su and Shen Qingwu shut the door behind them.

He pulled out a map and discussed matters with Shen Qingwu in her room.

Once inside, Shen Qingwu’s bright eyes searched around. “Where are the snacks you bought me?”

Yang Su blinked, startled.

Yang Su said solemnly, “Can’t you tell that was just an excuse to get you out here to talk?”

Shen Qingwu stared at him, her expression gradually settling into calm.

Shen Qingwu thought to herself: but if Zhang Xingjian used an excuse to call me out and said there were snacks, there would actually be snacks.

Never mind, then.

Shen Qingwu said flatly, “What did you want to discuss?”

Yang Su pointed to a spot outside the city. “I’ve found out for certain—tomorrow night, the soldiers will set out with the physicians along this official road. Physicians from south to north are all gathering here first before setting out together.

“I suspect not all the physicians have arrived yet. But that they’re in such a hurry suggests whoever’s in the capital can’t wait any longer.

“I’ve been scouting the past few days—A’Wu, if we destroy this bridge, the official road becomes impassable. If they try to detour to the capital through the mountain paths, it’ll cost them a great deal of time. With that much delay, there’s no telling when they’ll actually reach the capital… after all, these are physicians with no fighting skills to speak of, not warriors like you and me.

“As for the physicians heading to the capital from the north, there’s nothing we can do about them. If that wretched emperor really is fated to survive and gets saved by someone, then perhaps that’s simply how things were meant to go.”

Still, Yang Su thought the odds of that were slim.

Most of the truly skilled physicians were concentrated in the Central Plains; how many could be found once you went north of it? They’d probably not even share a common dialect.

Yang Su believed that if they controlled this road, they could eliminate most of the possibility of the young emperor being saved.

Shen Qingwu nodded slowly.

Yang Su had often used the excuse of buying medicine to scout out the situation, and now he’d reached his conclusion. If Yang Su said destroying the bridge would delay the physicians’ arrival in the capital, then it was true.

But then Yang Su traced a line on the map. “Once we destroy the bridge, the troops escorting them will definitely come after us. Our mission will already be complete by then—we’ll leave the city straight from here, circle around this mountain to shake off the soldiers, and try to make contact with our own forces.

“Whether or not we manage to reach them, following this road, we can get out of the Central Plains quickly. We’ll take a boat at the great river, head southwest, take a roundabout route, and we can make it back to Yizhou to report to the Princess.”

Shen Qingwu froze.

Shen Qingwu asked, “We’re leaving?”

Yang Su looked up. “What else would we do? Don’t tell me you actually believe Zhang Sanlang’s nonsense, that we should waste time here? Are we just going to ignore the Princess’s orders? Not go back to Yizhou at all?”

Shen Qingwu explained, “Zhang Yuelu said that without his approval, we won’t be able to reach our own troops, and we won’t be able to cross the river.”

Yang Su said, “What if he’s lying to us out of fear we’ll kill him? You believe whatever he tells you—are you a fool?”

Yang Su straightened up, staring intently at Shen Qingwu. “Do you not want to leave anymore?”

Shen Qingwu answered immediately. “I do.”

Her mind was a little scattered, her thoughts blank in places.

Amid that blankness, she forced herself to think, seizing on the key question. “Are we abandoning Zhang Yuelu, then? Just leaving him behind?”

Yang Su said, “…Are we supposed to bring a frail scholar across the river with us to meet the Princess? I won’t even mention whether the two of them might try to kill each other on sight, or whether it’d complicate the whole situation… I’m just saying, Zhang Sanlang isn’t fit to come with us.”

Shen Qingwu said, “But how do we keep this from him? He’s been with us this whole time.”

Yang Su was stumped.

That truly was a problem.

These past few days, it had only been possible for Yang Su to go out scouting because Shen Qingwu kept Zhang Xingjian occupied. If she weren’t around, Zhang Xingjian would surely notice their movements. And if the plan fell apart and they couldn’t make it back to Yizhou, that would be disastrous.

Yang Su said, “Knock him out.”

Shen Qingwu said quickly, “No.”

Yang Su looked at her, puzzled.

Shen Qingwu’s mind was in turmoil; she forced out an answer. “I’m the one who dragged him out of the capital. He’s helped me while we were there. I can’t repay kindness with betrayal.”

Yang Su: “…”

Yang Su thought to himself: you and I stand opposed to him—what talk is there of repaying kindness?

But Yang Su could see that Shen Qingwu’s resolve had softened.

He asked her, “Are you coming with me or not?”

Shen Qingwu said, “Of course I’m coming with you.”

Yang Su asked again, “Are you giving up on Zhang Xingjian or not?”

This time, she hesitated.

Slowly, she answered, “…I’ll give him up.”

Yang Su felt relieved, letting out a breath.

Yang Su said, “Understood. Then here’s the plan—you find a way to keep him occupied tomorrow night, and I’ll go to the bridge first to cut it down. Whatever method you use, don’t let Zhang Sanlang notice I’m gone tomorrow night. Whatever you decide to do, I’ll be waiting for you at the bridge—come meet me there and help me fight off the soldiers and cut the bridge, to save those physicians being forced to the capital under threat from the court.”

Shen Qingwu asked, “And then what?”

Yang Su said, baffled, “There is no ‘and then.’ We’ll have offended the whole of Great Zhou—we just run for our lives after that.”

Shen Qingwu asked again, “You want me to hold Zhang Yuelu back, deceive him, keep him from noticing you’re gone…”

Yang Su nodded. “Right. I keep suspecting he has some way to reach his own people.”

Shen Qingwu said, “…How am I supposed to hold him back?”

By Yang Su’s reckoning, knocking him out was the best method.

They were going to abandon him anyway—why be sentimental about it?

But… Yang Su said, “What do you think?”

Shen Qingwu fell silent.

Slowly, she said, “Our plan won’t work, Yang Su. There’s no way we can fool Zhang Yuelu. You have no idea how clever he is, how sharp his mind is—”

Yang Su said quietly, “But you’re here.”

…You’re his weakness.

Shen Qingwu said, “I won’t deceive him. I don’t like his scheming methods, and I don’t like using tactics I despise against him. I can’t fool him.”

Yang Su’s heart sank with sorrow.

Hearing this, he nearly believed Shen Qingwu was refusing him outright, nearly believed she was ready to abandon their whole mission for the sake of love.

But then Shen Qingwu said quietly, “But I want to try outwitting the moon, just this once.

“Yang Su, I can’t follow your plan. I’m the one in command here, not you.

“I’ll go along with your plan, help you hold Zhang Yuelu back, try to outmaneuver him just this once… but if he comes running to me, if he still trusts me and chooses me even then, then…”

Her scattered thoughts were slowly untangling themselves.

Her eyes shone bright and clear as she rose to her feet.

“If the moon comes running to me, I want to try.”

Yang Su asked, bewildered, “Try what?”

Shen Qingwu didn’t answer him again.

Try to step out of this lonely fortress.

Try to believe in feeling, in love.

Try to accept Zhang Yuelu.

Love was like war—if Zhang Xingjian had the courage to make his move, Shen Qingwu would follow.

This time, it would be a fight to the death. No thought of running.