After leaving Youhuang Hall, Yan Lin took her around for a while longer.

Whether it was gold, silver, and jade ornaments, rouge and sachets, or even brushes, ink, and paintings—at every shop they entered, upon seeing several fine items, he would always ask her “do you like it or not?” At first, Jiang Xuening hadn’t noticed anything unusual, but when she saw Yan Lin pick up a jade ruyi scepter and ask her about it, she gradually became aware.

The young man’s expressions had always been straightforward.

Yet at this moment, he seemed reserved.

When he asked her “do you like it or not?” his eyes contained a smile, but his gaze was somewhat evasive, as if hiding something he feared she might discover, along with a faint, not-quite-obvious shyness.

Yan Lin truly didn’t want her to know.

September was almost over. Counting on his fingers, October would arrive soon, followed by November and his coming-of-age ceremony.

Once the ceremony passed, marriage discussions could begin.

Then he could go to the Jiang manor to propose. Naturally, the betrothal gift list needed to be prepared in advance—he wanted to know what Ningning liked and disliked. If there were things she liked, after today he would quietly purchase them and later include them all in the betrothal gift list. He imagined she would have a small pleasant surprise upon seeing them.

The young man’s intentions really weren’t hidden very deeply.

When Jiang Xuening hadn’t noticed, she could still respond naturally about what she liked or disliked, thinking he was simply asking casually as he always did. But after realizing the truth, saying she liked something felt wrong, yet constantly saying she disliked things also seemed inappropriate.

She followed him through two more shops.

Finally, she stopped before the third establishment selling pearl and jade hairpieces and ornaments, saying to Yan Lin: “I’m feeling rather tired.”

Yan Lin looked up to see her complexion was indeed listless.

Only then did he belatedly realize that while he’d been enjoying himself shopping, he’d forgotten she still needed to enter the palace tomorrow and forgotten to ask if she wanted to stop and rest. He felt somewhat guilty: “It’s all my fault—I forgot again. Anyway, there’s plenty of time in the future. Once you enter the palace as the Princess’s companion reader, I can still come find you. Let’s return early today. I’ll escort you.”

Jiang Xuening had come out in a carriage.

Yan Lin, however, was on horseback, slowly following alongside her carriage on the return journey.

Occasionally when she lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, she could see the golden-red glow of the setting sun falling upon the young man’s upright figure—his straight nose, lips curved in a slight smile, even his lightly moving eyelashes were touched by the light. When he turned his gaze toward her, he was both ardent and dazzling.

But her heart filled with a spreading sourness.

It was almost time.

She should find an appropriate moment to speak clearly with Yan Lin.

—

After returning to the manor, Jiang Xuening had people move out all her belongings and sent someone to the manor’s accounting office to check what items her parents had provided for her over the years.

She kept no accounts herself, but the manor did.

The maids and servants who had previously been punished for stealing from her trembled in fear, thinking Second Miss was going to revisit old grievances again. Even Stewardess Wang turned pale with fright.

Jiang Xuening only said: “I told you I wouldn’t pursue it further. This time has nothing to do with you. Those moving things should move things; those checking accounts should check accounts.”

Only then did the maids and servants in the room feel relieved.

Soon several trunks were all moved out.

Jiang Xuening matched the items against the list in her hand, dividing all these valuable possessions into two categories: one side consisted of her own things, basically ceremonial gifts provided by the manor; the other side contained what Yan Lin had given over the years—this made up the majority.

She created a new account book herself, recording everything clearly.

The Yongyi Marquis Manor was a grand and illustrious household, but when His Majesty issued the order to confiscate their property, not a whisper of warning had been given. Even the night before, everyone in the manor from top to bottom had still been preparing for Yan Lin’s coming-of-age ceremony the next day.

So when the confiscation came, they were completely unprepared.

All assets were confiscated for the state treasury, investigated thoroughly and cleaned out completely. People were directly thrown into the imperial prison. Even though people outside worked desperately to make connections and smooth things over, their finances were restricted, they couldn’t see the Marquis or the heir, and later when the Embroidered Uniform Guard discovered the Yongyi Marquis Manor had indeed exchanged letters with Prince Pingnan’s treasonous faction, His Majesty flew into a thunderous rage. After that, no one dared work on behalf of the Yongyi Marquis Manor anymore.

In the end, considering the manor’s past service to the nation, the crime of clan extermination was spared.

Yet how wretched and destitute were they after exile?

When Yan Lin returned to court in her previous life, he seemed to have completely changed into a different person, always carrying an aura of savage hostility and rarely smiling anymore.

The ardent young man in her memory seemed never to have existed.

Only in the deep quiet of night, when he lay on the bed in her sleeping chambers, gently holding her hand and telling her what he’d seen, heard, experienced, and felt during his exile to the far northwestern wastes, could Jiang Xuening feel that this was Yan Lin—

That young man who in his youth had described magnificent mountains and rivers for her.

Only the stories he told were different now: in his youth, he had been the honored Young Marquis, finely dressed on spirited horses, viewing all the rivers and mountains with full confidence and high spirits, his eyes retaining only what was brilliant and beautiful. After exile, not only was he no longer from an aristocratic noble family, he’d become one bearing crimes, going to that bitter, cold land. Even seeing the same mountains and rivers, everything in his eyes was bleak desolation; what remained in his memory was the treacherous world and the fickleness of human hearts.

Now, heaven had given her an opportunity, allowing the long river of time to flow backward, letting her see once more that sincere and passionate young man from her memory.

This devotion—she couldn’t repay it.

But if she could allow this young man to remain forever as beautiful as he was in her memory, how moving would that be?

The qin Yan Lin had bought for her during the day still sat on the desk.

Jiang Xuening raised her eyes and gazed at it quietly for a long while, then recorded this qin in her accounts as well, marking next to it in small characters: “Three thousand taels of silver.”

After marking it, she couldn’t suppress a bitter laugh.

That fellow Yan Lin truly spent money without blinking—was he trying to bankrupt her? This qin cost three thousand taels to buy, but when it came time to sell, who knew how much it would depreciate?

That Lü Zhaoyinm was truly a complete swindler!

Lian’er and Tang’er didn’t know why she had suddenly started taking inventory again, but suddenly remembering something, they came over to say: “Oh yes, Miss, because you were selected as the Princess’s companion reader, the Master and Madam have both bestowed quite a few gifts. This afternoon, Elder Miss also sent over a set of the four treasures of the study. Would you like to look at them and count them too?”

Jiang Xuehui?

She looked toward Lian’er.

Hu brushes, Duan inkstones, pine soot ink, along with a ream of Chengxin Hall paper—all extremely fine items.

She fell silent for a moment, then only said: “Leave them there.”

—

The matter of Jiang Xuening being summoned to the palace to become the Princess’s companion reader naturally caused quite a stir of discussion within the Jiang manor. After all, her temperament was spoiled and undisciplined, and from every perspective she was vastly different from Elder Miss Jiang Xuehui.

Yet the final list that came down actually had her name.

Initially, the manor had circulated that Elder Miss’s name had been submitted, and no one had expected such a surprising outcome.

For a time, all sorts of things were said: some said the palace might have made an error with the names; some said Jiang Xuening had curried favor with the Princess and used some method to make the Princess cross out Jiang Xuehui’s name and give the opportunity to her; others said she’d secretly gone to make a scene before the Master, forcing him to change the candidate before submitting it; still others said Jiang Xuehui’s qualifications were insufficient, which was why the palace didn’t favor her…

But in any case, the gossip didn’t reach Jiang Xuening’s ears.

She didn’t care.

She would enter the palace early tomorrow morning. Although Jiang Boyou and Meng Shi also found this outcome utterly baffling and incomprehensible, by evening they still set out a meal in their room and called both Jiang Xuehui and Jiang Xuening to dine together.

This was the first time Jiang Xuening had seen Jiang Xuehui since the palace companion reader selection results came down.

She looked no different from usual.

Still the same dignified and virtuous appearance as always. During the meal she even took the initiative to serve food to their parents. Her brows showed no sign of any grievance or disappointment, as if this matter had never happened at all, as if she hadn’t heard even a trace of the rumors circulating outside.

Jiang Boyou, on the other hand, was deeply worried. He really didn’t hold much hope for Jiang Xuening’s palace entrance and only earnestly instructed her: “Your father serves as an official at court with reasonably decent achievements. After you enter the palace, you don’t need to compete for first or second place. Just behave properly, control your temper, and don’t cause trouble. As for whether the Princess likes you or the teachers like you—none of that is important. Just muddle through as best you can. Remember above all: observe more, speak less, and just keep your head down doing your work.”

Jiang Xuening agreed to everything.

But in her heart she was thinking: Tomorrow when she entered the palace to begin learning etiquette, Jiang Boyou needn’t worry so much. After all, if her plan to “work passively” went smoothly, she’d likely fail to pass the etiquette and aptitude assessment, and could return to the manor early.

Seeing her seemingly indifferent attitude, Jiang Boyou was truly worried. Though he said no more aloud, in his heart he was thinking: Tomorrow after court, he must speak a few words with Ju’an and ask him to look after her in the palace.

Meng Shi, however, remained fixated on the unexpected change in the companion reader selection. Her expression throughout the meal was poor. She glanced at Jiang Xuening several times, wanting to ask if she’d done something to interfere, but with Jiang Boyou beside her giving her warning looks, she didn’t ask.

When giving instructions, she only responded with a couple perfunctory sentences.

After all, Jiang Boyou had said all the important things. From beginning to end, she barely spoke a few words to Jiang Xuening.

The meal lasted until three-quarters past the hour of You before finally ending.

When they emerged from the main hall, the manor had already lit its lanterns.

Jiang Xuening and Jiang Xuehui performed their courtesies together before leaving, so they walked along the corridor quite naturally, one in front and one behind.

Ordinarily, they would simply walk like this, ignoring each other.

But today, Jiang Xuening called out to stop her, saying coolly: “The things you sent—I don’t like them.”

Jiang Xuehui stopped walking but didn’t turn around: “Then Sister Ning can just throw them away.”

Jiang Xuening laughed mockingly: “If I were you, having had my name submitted only to be rejected, with my undisciplined younger sister selected as companion reader instead, I would certainly wonder whether I’d been toyed with. Yet you’re so hypocritical, still sending me brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Do you think I can’t see that you actually wanted to enter the palace too?”

Jiang Xuehui finally turned to look at her.

The corridor was covered with wisteria vines, but the flowering season had long passed. Now in deep autumn, the flowers and leaves had withered, the branches sparse, so the frost-white moonlight from overhead fell through the gaps between branches, flowing in fragmented pieces onto her body.

Simple moon-white jacket and skirt—yet standing there, she was both refined and charming.

Even that mocking smile at the corner of her lips had a captivating quality.

Her joy and anger were unconcealed, as if she disdained to conceal them.

Jiang Xuehui actually felt somewhat envious and said slowly: “I wanted to enter the palace. What woman in this world hasn’t loved splendor and glory? For me, this is nothing shameful. But ultimately the matter didn’t succeed, and there’s nothing worth complaining about. All things have their causes and conditions. Now I simply lack both the ability and the fate for it.”

Jiang Xuening had never liked this calm, unruffled manner of speaking. The smile at her lips gradually faded, but the mockery in her voice grew thicker: “Do you know why I’ve disliked you from the moment I entered this manor?”

Jiang Xuehui said nothing.

Jiang Xuening broke off a small section of withered branch hanging down from the corridor. “Snap”—in this silent night, it had a uniquely startling quality: “It’s not merely because you’re better than me, more outstanding than me, enjoying everything that should have been mine. More importantly, it’s been four years since you learned of your origins and knew who your birth mother truly was. Even if some people have no debt of raising, they still have the debt of giving life. Yet you’ve never asked about Wanniang—not even a single word.”

Jiang Xuehui’s hands, folded before her body, slowly clenched tighter. She lowered her eyes slightly, as if wanting to say something.

But ultimately said nothing.

Jiang Xuening then casually tossed away the dead branch and smiled at her: “Before Wanniang became gravely ill and passed, she held my hand and pressed her family heirloom bracelet into my palm, telling me that when I returned to the manor and saw you, I should give it to you. But I never gave it to you. Because I feel—you’re unworthy.”