When night fell, Nanny Su came out and waved at Chang Yuncheng who was still standing at the door.

“She’s sleeping.” She said quietly. “Lord, you should go rest too. You’ve just returned from such a long journey…”

Chang Yuncheng grunted acknowledgment but didn’t move.

“Lord, you know madam’s temperament…” Nanny Su hesitated before speaking.

Chang Yuncheng grunted again, unclear whether he was responding or just happened to interrupt Nanny Su’s words.

Nanny Su couldn’t continue.

The atmosphere became oppressive.

“Nanny Su.” Just as Nanny Su was about to turn and go inside, Chang Yuncheng spoke. He looked at the closed door as if seeing through it to the inside. “Tell me, mother loves me most, doesn’t she?”

Nanny Su was stunned.

“Lord, naturally.” She said hurriedly, stepping forward in her urgency.

“Mother also hopes I’ll be happy, right?” Chang Yuncheng said again, his gaze still on the door.

Nanny Su understood his meaning.

“Lord, madam is so insistent precisely because she wants you to be happy…” She said choking up.

“What I think is good, why doesn’t mother believe it?” Chang Yuncheng interrupted her, or rather, he wasn’t listening to her at all, but speaking to himself.

Nanny Su couldn’t answer this question, because she couldn’t very well say that what the Lord thought was good wasn’t good…

Chang Yuncheng also knew he wouldn’t find answers here, so he turned and walked away.

Nanny Su instinctively wanted to follow him, taking a few steps before stopping.

Chang Yuncheng also stopped.

“Nanny Su.” He turned around.

Nanny Su quickly responded.

“My feelings for mother are like mother’s feelings for me. Only when she’s well can I be well and happy. If something happens to her, I’d be more upset than if something happened to myself.” Chang Yuncheng said slowly.

“Madam feels the same way about you…” Nanny Su said quickly, choking up again.

“Then.” Chang Yuncheng interrupted her again. “Mother needs to eat well, take her medicine well, and be well. When she’s well, I can be well too. When I’m well, isn’t that good for her?”

Nanny Su was stunned. Chang Yuncheng said nothing more and walked away slowly.

She gently pushed open the door and entered the room. Two maids were standing anxiously holding medicine bowls.

“Give them to me.” Nanny Su sighed and reached out.

The maids were overjoyed, quickly handing over this hot potato.

Nanny Su carried the medicine bowl into the inner room.

Madam Xie was lying on the bed facing inward, seemingly asleep.

On the nearby table sat cold food and dishes.

Nanny Su sighed and sat down, calling out “Madam.”

“I won’t eat. If I die, wouldn’t that be exactly what they want? Don’t even mention kneeling – even if they kneel until dawn, don’t expect me to eat…” Madam Xie said coldly.

Nanny Su sighed.

“Madam, the Lord has left.” She said quietly.

“…If he truly wants me to be well, then he should quickly… What?” Madam Xie suddenly turned around, looking at Nanny Su with disbelief.

“The Lord has gone to rest.” Nanny Su couldn’t bear to look at her face and said with lowered head.

The room fell silent, then came the crackling of breaking things.

Nanny Su was splashed with medicine, watching the medicine bowl shatter on the ground. The broken porcelain pieces kept multiplying until finally the table was completely clean.

Chang Yuncheng hadn’t rested but walked out the door. He didn’t know where to go, just walked slowly until he saw Chen Shi’s residence.

He stared at it for a while, then simply sat down by the roadside, feeling his pockets and regretting not bringing wine.

Just sitting there in a daze, the door suddenly opened.

Chang Yuncheng stood up and moved into the shadows.

“So late and you’re still going out, madam?” The gatekeeper said with some unease.

“Going for a walk.” Qi Yue replied, pulling up the hood of her thin cloak.

The gatekeeper looked at the maids and guards following behind her.

“Take this lantern.” They quickly handed over a lantern marked with “Duke Deqing Chen.”

The guards didn’t take it, looking at Qi Yue.

Qi Yue looked at the lantern, lost in thought.

It seemed like a long time passed.

“Take it.” Qi Yue nodded and turned to step forward first.

Cai Qing, standing behind the trees in the courtyard, let out a breath. Watching the guards take the lantern and surround Qi Yue as they walked away, she turned and hurried off.

“Miss Qi took the lantern.” She whispered to Chen Shi.

Chen Shi lowered her gaze without speaking, slowly closing her eyes.

Cai Qing lowered the bed curtains and tiptoed out.

A’Ru and A’Hao lit the lamps in the room, and Qianjin Hall brightened up.

“Hu San said in a few more days he’ll hire some assistants. A house needs people to have vitality, and business needs to emphasize popularity.” A’Ru said.

Qi Yue nodded, sitting down in a chair.

“Oh right.” She suddenly remembered something, looking at A’Ru. “Go call Hu San over, I have something to discuss with him.”

A’Ru nodded without asking questions and left with a guard.

Qi Yue immediately stood up from the chair.

“Xiao Qu, Xiao Qu, quickly go to the street corner and buy some wine.” She said hurriedly.

Everyone was stunned, and some couldn’t help but laugh.

The laughter came from outside the door, and Xiao Qu and others immediately became alert and defensive.

“Drinking wine, is that necessary?” Chang Yuncheng entered with a smile.

Seeing him enter, Qi Yue was overjoyed.

“How did you get here?” She asked. “No, how did you know I came out?”

Chang Yuncheng smiled without answering.

“Xiao Qu, go buy wine.” He just said.

“Let’s go out to drink.” Qi Yue pulled his arm. “I originally wanted to go out anyway, but it’s inconvenient alone. Now it’s perfect.” She turned to instruct a guard, “You stay and wait for A’Ru and them, just make up some excuse.”

Qi Yue looked at the water surface rippling with lamplight, moonlight, and starlight, rubbing her somewhat sore legs.

“Walking so far just to feel the river breeze!” She laughed. “I thought you were taking me to some high-end luxury entertainment venue.”

Chang Yuncheng had already sat down.

“The ground is cold.” Qi Yue reached out to pull him up, looking around. “There’s a tea pavilion over there, let’s go there. We can still feel the river breeze.”

Chang Yuncheng pulled her down to sit with him instead.

“We’re staying right here.” He said firmly.

“Quite the romantic.” Qi Yue laughed, sitting properly beside him. She opened the small wine bottle in her hand, took a sip while looking up, and exhaled while gazing at the star-filled sky.

Chang Yuncheng didn’t speak, also taking a sip and silently looking at the sky like her.

“Did you see your mother?” Qi Yue asked proactively.

Chang Yuncheng grunted.

“Did Master Zhou tell you everything?” He asked.

Qi Yue shook her head.

“No, I haven’t seen my adoptive father yet.” She said, shaking the bottle and smiling.

Without seeing Zhou Maochun, today’s events were already chaotic enough.

She didn’t ask what happened. Chang Yuncheng didn’t say either.

The two each took another sip of wine.

“I feel really sorry for you.” Chang Yuncheng said, looking at the rippling river water.

“Don’t say that.” Qi Yue said. “In this lifetime, no one can have everything perfect. There are always unsatisfactory and disappointing things. That’s why it’s called life. Otherwise, if everything were worry-free, we’d be immortals.”

Chang Yuncheng smiled, turning to look at her and putting his arm around her.

“That’s why I feel even more sorry for you, such a good person.” He said.

Qi Yue chuckled.

“Who knows who’s sorry to whom.” She laughed, pursing her lips at the end and taking a sip of wine.

“Of course it’s me.” Chang Yuncheng emphasized without doubt. “If you hadn’t married…”

“If I hadn’t met you…” Qi Yue interrupted him.

Chang Yuncheng was stunned, feeling her tone was strange this time.

“…where would I be now?”

“How would life be?…”

“…should life be treasured?…”

“…Maybe I’d meet someone else, living an ordinary life, not knowing whether… there would also be love sweet as honey…”

Qi Yue leaned against his shoulder, singing softly, stopping here to take a sip of wine.

“Don’t stop, continue.” Chang Yuncheng pinched her ear.

Qi Yue laughed.

“You like hearing me say sweet words, don’t you?” She said.

Chang Yuncheng smiled and agreed.

“I want to hear them for a lifetime.” He said.

“Then listen for a lifetime.” Qi Yue laughed, sitting up straight. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. This time you’ll leave first, and I’ll probably wait until the second half of the year to see you, traveling with the second batch of supplies.”

“That’s fine, I can come see you too.” Chang Yuncheng said.

Qi Yue smiled at him, bringing the wine bottle over. Chang Yuncheng also smiled and clinked bottles with her.

“Cheers.” He said.

They each took a sip, and Chang Yuncheng reached over to take the wine bottle from Qi Yue’s hand.

“Hey, hey, I’m not finished drinking yet.” Qi Yue quickly tried to grab it back.

Chang Yuncheng smiled and held it high.

“Enough, just a sip or two for the experience.” He said.

“Aren’t disappointed people supposed to get drunk to express themselves?” Qi Yue laughed, poking his face. “Shouldn’t we two be drinking ourselves senseless and crying together?”

Chang Yuncheng laughed heartily.

“You know me, I know you. Where’s the disappointment?” He laughed. “I’m quite satisfied right now.”

Saying this, he pulled Qi Yue up.

“We can still catch the Eastern Suburbs night market if we go now.” He said, then thinking of something, he felt his waist. “But I didn’t bring money…”

Qi Yue laughed and patted his arm.

“Don’t worry, big sister will pay.” She laughed.

“If you’re paying, that’s good. You have more money than I do anyway.” Chang Yuncheng laughed, poking her forehead and stepping forward first.

Qi Yue covered her forehead.

“Hey, be more polite to your benefactor.” She said, laughing as she caught up and took his arm.

Watching the two walk away hand in hand, A’Ru sighed with relief.

“I told you not to worry, but you insisted on coming to check.” Hu San said. “With the Lord watching, how could he let her drink too much? The Lord is actually very considerate, not like…”

“Shut up.” A’Ru turned to glare at him.

Hu San immediately obediently shut his mouth.

A guard behind them chuckled.

“How about you two also take a stroll?” He smiled.

Hu San quickly nodded at these words.

“Good, good.” He said, then looked at A’Ru with full apology. “I’ve been too busy. After coming to the capital, I haven’t taken you around…”

“Who cares?” A’Ru gave him a sideways look and walked toward the direction Qi Yue had gone.

Hu San stood there slightly dazed.

“Aren’t you going? Are you really too busy to think straight?” The guard laughed.

Hu San smiled and hurried to catch up.