Ling Jingshu repeated, word for word, exactly what she had once told Wei Yan.

Her eyes shimmered with tears, and in her choked, halting voice she wove together indignation, helplessness, and frightened distress. When she came to the moment of speaking of the strange affliction she had discovered in herself, tears spilled freely down her face, making even the coldest of hearts ache to look upon her.

Empress Xu had been listening with languid indifference. But as the tale unfolded, she gradually sat herself upright and began to listen with ever-growing absorption.

“…Before coming to the capital, commoner had already told this to her grandmother and father. Commoner came to the capital with her younger brother for two reasons: one, to seek treatment for her brother’s eye ailment; and two, to remove herself from the vicinity of the two Lu brothers. Having contracted this unspeakable affliction, commoner had long since resolved to remain unmarried for the rest of her life, so as not to cause harm to others or to herself.”

Ling Jingshu wiped her tears with her sleeve, eyes reddened, and continued: “Prince Yan is a young man of remarkable distinction — handsome beyond compare — and he looks upon commoner with such warm regard. Commoner is not made of iron or stone; she is not ignorant of any of this. But commoner, knowing her own shame and her own shortcoming, would never dare to entertain the slightest thought — and certainly harbours no aspirations of attaching herself to people above her station. Please, Your Majesty, see the truth clearly.”

Empress Xu fixed her gaze upon Ling Jingshu’s face. The girl was beautiful and bright, and even in weeping she was like a begonia trembling with dew, lovely enough to stir pity.

Could such a beautiful young girl truly be afflicted with an ailment that prevented her from being touched by any man?

If that truly were the case, then the matter she had used to question Ling Jingshu would have become an embarrassment on her own part… And then there was the question of Wei Yan — did he know of this? Was there truly any private feeling between him and Ling Jingshu?

“Is what you have said the truth?” Empress Xu’s gaze was sharp as a blade, keen enough to press the breath from one. “Is it true that you cannot go near any man at all?”

“It is true!” Ling Jingshu did not waver in the slightest. “Commoner swears that every word she has just spoken is true, without a single false syllable. If Your Majesty does not believe it, the test may be conducted on the spot.”

She knew her mind.

Even if she had not suggested it herself, Empress Xu would never have believed her word alone on something of this nature. Testing her here and now was precisely the most direct method.

Empress Xu’s eyes flashed. She replied with a half-smile: “A pity that the only people in this palace are palace maids and eunuchs. Those eunuchs are not real men and cannot be counted. Otherwise, I would summon Imperial Physician Wei this very moment and let him test the matter for me.”

Saying round upon round, this was Empress Xu’s true intention all along — using these words to probe whether there was any connection between her and Wei Yan.

Ling Jingshu laughed coldly in her heart. The expression on her face grew all the more mortified: “There is one more thing commoner did not have time to disclose. The last time, at Princess Changping’s residence, commoner fell into the water while saving Princess An Ya and lost consciousness. Imperial Physician Wei attended to her pulse and examined her, and at the time, commoner had not yet fully regained her senses, and vomited while on the bed. So there is no need to find Imperial Physician Wei again to conduct the test.”

Empress Xu’s eyes lit up, and she made a subtle sound of interest. “So you truly cannot be touched by any man?”

Ling Jingshu lowered her voice in quiet acknowledgment: “Indeed. Imperial Physician Wei noticed something wrong with commoner, and commoner implored him at length not to speak of the matter. He reluctantly agreed.”

If that is so, then Wei Yan and Ling Jingshu should have no private feeling between them.

Empress Xu’s mood immediately lifted. Even looking at the kneeling Ling Jingshu before her, she found the sight less disagreeable: “Very well, you need not go on kneeling. Rise and speak.”

The first hurdle had at last been passed.

Ling Jingshu’s heart loosened, and with brimming gratitude she thanked the Empress and rose to her feet.

She had been kneeling for too long; her legs were numb and aching. As she stood, she staggered before barely steadying herself.

Empress Xu performed a show of sighing: “I never imagined that you, a young girl so well-favoured, could be afflicted with such a strange ailment. It seems the matter before has been a wrong done to you on my part.”

Ling Jingshu said earnestly, one protestation after another: “Your Majesty must not speak so — commoner is mortified. As for Prince Yan’s kind regard and deep favour, commoner is truly unworthy of it. Please, Your Majesty, do not find fault with this.”

Empress Xu said in a mild tone: “This matter was not your intention, so there is nothing to blame you for. As for Prince Yan — I will see to that properly in due course.”

“Gratitude to Your Majesty.” Ling Jingshu wore another expression of moved thankfulness and gave her thanks again.

Empress Xu pulled the corners of her lips aside and said, her voice pivoting sharply: “However — I cannot simply take you at your word on a matter this grave. You yourself said that Imperial Physician Wei witnessed your affliction with his own eyes. I shall ask Imperial Physician Wei about it now, right in front of you. If what Imperial Physician Wei says matches your account without discrepancy, I will believe you provisionally.”

“If what Imperial Physician Wei says is different from what you have told me — then do not blame me for having no mercy!”

With that, Empress Xu called out, and a palace maid came in. She gave her instruction: “Go and summon Imperial Physician Wei.”

The palace maid acknowledged the order and withdrew swiftly.

The wait felt stretched beyond all measure.

Empress Xu casually instructed palace maids to attend to her appearance. Two maids immediately moved to the bedside — one to redress her hair, the other to apply powder and rouge.

In a matter of moments, Empress Xu was transformed — luminous, radiant, and renewed.

After the maids withdrew, Empress Xu turned her idle gaze upon Ling Jingshu, who had been left standing to one side this entire time. “Imperial Physician Wei will be here shortly. If there is still anything you have not yet told me, now is the time.”

This Empress Xu — her suspicion was truly profound.

“Commoner has already told all she knows without withholding a single thing. If Your Majesty is not satisfied, there is no harm in questioning Imperial Physician Wei in thorough detail,” Ling Jingshu answered with a composed expression.

In truth, her heart was far from as steady as her outward manner conveyed.

Wei Yan did know about her ailment, but neither of them could have anticipated that Empress Xu would so quickly take Ling Jingshu as an object of suspicion, nor had they ever discussed an agreed-upon account to present to others. If Wei Yan lacked that unspoken understanding between them — if, meaning well, he tried to conceal things without telling a consistent story — today would be in ruinous trouble.

Ling Jingshu’s heart surged and fell inwardly, but not a trace of it showed on her face.

Empress Xu said, her smile barely reaching her eyes: “I can only hope that what you have said is the truth. You are a young girl still in the bloom of life, with such a bright spring ahead of you. I would not wish to be the kind of person who acts without mercy.”

Those words, floating and weightless — and yet through them cut a forest-cold chill, enough to make one’s heart tremble with dread.

Ling Jingshu lowered her head slightly to avoid Empress Xu’s gaze. “Once Imperial Physician Wei arrives, everything will become clear.”

Empress Xu pulled her lips aside in a thin smile and said no more.

The silence did not last long.

“Reporting to Your Majesty — Imperial Physician Wei has arrived and awaits without the hall.”

A strange light leapt into Empress Xu’s eyes. “Let him in.”

Very soon, Wei Yan’s figure appeared in Empress Xu’s inner chambers.

Wei Yan’s gaze swept across the room and fell upon Ling Jingshu’s face — composed on the surface, yet, he could see, subtly taut beneath. He was caught off guard.

Was she not supposed to be at Wei Jieyu’s palace today? How had she ended up here in Empress Xu’s Jiaofu Palace?

Ling Jingshu cast a swift glance at Wei Yan, her eyes full of layered meaning, as though ten thousand words were pressing to be said at once.

Wei Yan’s heart sank, and an ominous foreboding rose within him.