“What did you do to her?” Shen Du asked.

Mo Qianzhi shrugged. “Just sleeping powder.”

Shen Du kept his eyes fixed on Mo Qianzhi, making sure he wasn’t lying. Only then did his furrowed brow slightly relax. He naturally knew about sleeping powder, but feared it might be mixed with other poisons he wasn’t aware of. He had fallen victim to such a trick; Zhu Yan couldn’t.

After adjusting Zhu Yan to a more comfortable sleeping position, Shen Du looked at Mo Qianzhi, who was also watching him. Mo Qianzhi said mockingly, “To die beneath peonies, even as a ghost would be romantic. Shen Du, I didn’t expect you to be so obstinate, insisting on protecting this woman from the enemy camp.”

“You’re almost dead. Haven’t you woken up yet?”

Coughing lightly, Shen Du retorted, “Do you think if I were to beg Chen Huoe now, he would give me the antidote?” Ice crystals formed in his eyes. “No, he won’t spare me. Between us, it’s a fight to the death.”

Mo Qianzhi didn’t think the other party would spare Shen Du either. He pondered, “Out of respect for our teacher, I did ask Chen Huoe, but he insisted there was no antidote. I even secretly searched his room, but found no trace of an antidote.”

Mo Qianzhi didn’t continue, but Shen Du finished for him: “So you came under the cover of night to bid me farewell, to settle our grievances. Is that right?”

Mo Qianzhi nodded, confirming this thought: “Reform always requires sacrifice. Since you insist on being my enemy and serving that woman, only one of us can remain. There’s no other way.”

He sighed, “If our teacher blames me, I’ll personally apologize to him once my cause succeeds.”

Shen Du’s face remained impassive as he raised an eyebrow and responded, “So, you’ve come to see if I’m truly dead.”

Mo Qianzhi was taken aback. Though that was the idea, hearing Shen Du put it that way made it seem somehow wrong. “I… came to see if you were still alive.”

Ah, that still didn’t sound quite right.

Mo Qianzhi seemed at a loss, but Shen Du gave a wry smile. He slightly raised his arm to show he could still move, not yet on the brink of death.

But the light-hearted atmosphere quickly dissipated.

Both men’s eyes simultaneously dimmed. The change in their relationship made even sitting quietly together feel extremely awkward.

Finally, Shen Du spoke: “You didn’t come just for this, did you?” He reached out to brush Zhu Yan’s shoulder, dusting off non-existent dirt.

“I dreamed of our teacher,” Mo Qianzhi said solemnly. Shen Du’s hand stopped moving. Mo Qianzhi’s hand rested on his sword hilt, his mood heavy. “I just wanted to see you, to talk with you for a bit.”

His tone was sincere, but Shen Du looked at him warily, seemingly not quite believing his words. His jawline was tense.

“Since we’ve already come to this point, there’s no need for pleasantries anymore, is there?”

Shen Du’s gaze was as sharp as an arrow, but Mo Qianzhi didn’t care.

“Having experienced the Empress’s dynastic change and family upheavals, I believe I have the right to reminisce.”

The world changes, but the past remains unchanged.

“What’s this? I’m not dead yet, and I’ve already become your past?” Frost crept into Shen Du’s eyes. “Lord Mo seems a bit impatient.”

Mo Qianzhi was about to retort, but instead laughed bitterly, his laughter growing, causing Shen Du to laugh along.

This laughter contained all their shared past, from becoming disciples to their current life-and-death separation. They say life is long, but looking back, it passes in the blink of an eye. A lifetime has gone in an instant.

“It’s laughable, tragic, and lamentable.”

Stopping his laughter, Mo Qianzhi wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and said wistfully, “Do you know, with your death, I, Mo Qianzhi, will truly be alone in this world.”

Leaving Yingzhou behind, his wife and children dead.

The once-respected Governor of Yingzhou no longer existed.

Now he stood in irreconcilable opposition to the Great Zhou, fighting with his back against the wall. Though victory seemed assured, no one would ever enter his heart again, no one would understand his loneliness, his revenge, his ideals.

Shen Du was about to die, and he found no joy in that either.

“Come to think of it, the time when our teacher was alive was the happiest and most carefree period of my life,” Mo Qianzhi said, gazing at the pitch-black night sky outside, his guard completely down, his eyes distant.

“Now that I’m mired in this quagmire, our teacher and you are my greatest and only solace.”

Seeing no response from Shen Du, Mo Qianzhi continued reminiscing: “When I became our teacher’s disciple, you were only fourteen, with a gentle and lively temperament, always mischievous, but serious when studying. You were a person who knew his boundaries well.”

When their teacher-tested Shen Du, his answers flowed effortlessly, leaving their teacher at a loss.

But later, when the Shen family met with disaster and was executed en masse, their fates were rewritten.

“I know you came out of the palace harem, and I know you became the Chief Minister. I also heard you had become cold-blooded and ruthless, cruel and vicious. I was glad. You were the only survivor of the Shen family. If you had remained as gentle and easily bullied as before, how could you avenge our teacher and the Shen family?”

“I originally thought your loyalty to Zhou Zhao was a facade. This time, when you strongly advocated for bringing in people from the Prosecutor’s Office, I thought you were trying to eliminate your opponents. I hoped that one day when we reunited in the capital, we would work together to overthrow Zhou Zhao and restore peace and justice to the world. But you…”

“But you actually pledged true allegiance to Zhou Zhao. You… you’ve disappointed me so much.”

Just listening, one could feel Mo Qianzhi’s anger born of utter despair. He had believed Shen Du was his only ally and had been secretly planning for over a decade based on this belief. But in the end, his ally had become his enemy on the opposite side. The person who should have been his ally had betrayed him.

What could be more heart-wrenching than this reality?

Shen Du suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for Mo Qianzhi. He had thought his own hatred ran deepest because he was a member of the Shen family, and it was his father who had died. But now it seemed that Mo Qianzhi was the one most deeply entrenched in hatred.

For all these years, hatred had sustained both of them, propelling them to where they were today. But they had ultimately taken different paths, ending up on opposite sides due to the same hatred.

A sense of sorrowful helplessness swept over Shen Du. He shifted his body, stiff from lying for so long, not knowing where to begin:

“If you hate the Empress so much, why did you take the imperial examinations and even become a minor official like the Judicial Commissioner in such a remote place?”

Shen Du’s doubts were also the answers he had been seeking for years.

When the Shen family was implicated and their entire clan was punished, Mo Qianzhi did not think deeply about it. He simply felt that the Shen residence had suffered a great injustice, and he wanted to rectify it. So, he crawled on his knees from Zhuque Street to the Empress’s palace, with his knees nearly showing the bones beneath. He thought that if the Empress decided to execute him, he would at least be able to explain to his mentor.

However, the Empress praised his loyalty and bravery, pardoning Shen Du from the death penalty and charges of disrespect.

At that time, he felt that he had misjudged the Empress. She was not as cruel as he had thought; rather, it was he and the world that failed to understand her.

The Empress even offered him the opportunity to take the imperial examinations. Although a woman, she was far-sighted, principled, open to advice, and did not commit unnecessary cruelty.

Thus, even when he was initially appointed as the Magistrate of Chang’an but was later demoted to the Sima of Yingzhou, he bore no resentment. He diligently performed his duties and, through his efforts, eventually rose to the position of Governor of Yingzhou.

Especially when Shen Du was recommended by Xu Wan and received important responsibilities, he saw renewed hope.

He believed he was getting closer to the truth of those past events, and his mentor’s death would not be in vain.