Like a large handful of sugar melting on her tongue, Li Huaiyu smiled until her eyebrows disappeared and her eyes vanished, reaching out to hold him tightly!

“I liked you very much before, and I like you very much now too!”

Pausing for a moment, then continuing forward, Jiang Xuanjin faced ahead and said in a light, breezy tone: “I know.”

“No, no, no, you don’t know at all!” Huaiyu gestured with him, “When you used to go to Longyan Palace to teach Huailin, you’d always encounter me on the way, right? I was deliberately blocking your path on the palace road. Once, I even pretended to twist my ankle so you’d escort me back to the palace. Do you remember?”

Jiang Xuanjin’s expression was complex: “It would be hard to forget even if I wanted to.”

That was a scorching summer. Danyang Grand Princess wore an extremely elaborate and complex palace dress, stepping in pearl-studded embroidered shoes, charging down like a fierce tiger descending a mountain, throwing herself straight at his feet.

“Oh my, this palace has fallen and needs Jun Shang’s embrace to get up!”

Her resounding voice, combined with the shocked gazes of surrounding palace attendants, became Jiang Xuanjin’s indelible nightmare that summer.

Walking through the corridor toward Moju, he bounced the person on his back and asked expressionlessly: “Do you know why I ignored you back then?”

Li Huaiyu scratched her head: “Because I was too beautiful and you were afraid of having improper thoughts?”

“No, I was afraid stupidity might be contagious.”

Li Huaiyu: “…”

“Grr!” Taking a bite of his shoulder, she was very angry: “The thoughts of a maiden in her prime are all precious treasures, and you ruined them all!”

“Who told you to put on a wolf’s skin?” Jiang Xuanjin said. “Seeing you and keeping a respectful distance is human instinct.”

“Wasn’t it all for Huailin…” Her expression suddenly dimmed, and Huaiyu hung her head, asking in a muffled voice: “How is Huailin?”

“He’s been granted the title of Prince Nanyang upon abdication. His days won’t be too difficult.”

Huaiyu found Li Huailin’s abdication quite incredible. After all, she was no longer of royal blood, yet he still brought out the Late Emperor’s testament, essentially finding an excuse to give up the throne.

Did he feel that only she and Jiang Xuanjin could stabilize the currently chaotic Northern Wei?

But he loved that throne so much – how could he just give it up? With his previous temperament, sitting on it for a few more months, the situation might not have failed to improve.

“He has something he asked me to give you.” Jiang Xuanjin carried her back to Moju’s main building, placed her on the soft couch, then brought over that large box.

Huaiyu opened it to find five clay figurines inside. Four were already old, showing her standing, peeking through a doorway, standing in the court hall, and embracing him while sitting on the acacia couch in Feiyun Palace, her eyebrows curved with laughter, her expression gentle.

The last one appeared recently made, also in her likeness, with hands folded in front, holding a string of prayer beads, with two small children nestled on her shoulders, left and right.

Slightly startled, Huaiyu pressed her lips together.

“Imperial Sister, don’t look at me now, only able to carve wood and sculpt clay figures. When I become skilled, I’ll make you a lifelike ceramic statue!”

“What’s the point of making ceramic statues? There are portraits in the palace.”

“Their paintings don’t look like you – I understand Imperial Sister better!” He smiled, revealing a pair of small dimples. “Once I make it, even if Imperial Sister is busy with affairs and not in the palace, the ceramic statue will keep me company.”

Her throat tightened slightly. Li Huaiyu reached out to touch those old ones. Before the fourth year of Daxing, Li Huailin had been very dependent on her, reluctant to part from her. But after Li Shan’s death, he met with her less frequently. Though she felt they were still as close as before and received various birthday gifts every year, everything was different for Huailin.

She had no idea at all, thinking he had simply grown up and no longer clung to Imperial Sister, and had been sad about it for a while.

Her eyes moved, and Huaiyu said, “I want to enter the palace once.”

Since he was willing to give her so many years’ worth of birthday gifts, Huailin must have found peace in his heart. She wanted to see him, even if it meant having another argument.

However, just as she stepped out of Moju’s door, Chengxu came running over with a panicked expression.

“Master, Madam, something has happened in the palace!”

Her pupils contracted. Li Huaiyu watched his mouth opening and closing before her eyes, momentarily feeling as if she couldn’t hear any sound.

“Giddyup!” The steed galloped, charging straight through the palace gates. Huaiyu gripped the reins, her face pale.

The palace was in chaos. The closer to Hexi Palace, the more people fled in all directions.

“Your Highness!” Seeing Li Huaiyu approaching on horseback from afar, Jiu Wu raised his hand and shouted, “Don’t go any further! The fire is very fierce!”

Billowing smoke shrouded the entire Hexi Palace. Burned roof beams crashed down with thunderous sounds. Li Huaiyu reined in her horse, staring blankly at the flames shooting toward the sky, feeling as if all the blood in her body had frozen.

“What happened?” she asked softly.

Jiu Wu glanced at her, looking somewhat troubled. Li Huaiyu shouted: “What happened? Speak!”

At the first quarter of the wei hour, Prince Nanyang entered Hexi Palace and dismissed all palace attendants, allowing no one to approach. In the third quarter of the Wei Hour, this servant discovered that Hexi Palace was on fire, but it was already too late. The fire spread very quickly – oil had been poured both inside and outside the palace, so bringing water was useless.”

Her voice suddenly rose in pitch, startling Jiu Wu into no longer daring to conceal anything. He bowed and said: “At the first quarter of the wei hour, Prince Nanyang entered Hexi Palace and dismissed all palace attendants, allowing no one to approach. At the third quarter of the wei hour, this servant discovered Hexi Palace was on fire, but it was already too late. The fire spread very quickly – oil had been poured both inside and outside the palace, so bringing water was useless.”

Her hand gripping the reins trembled, and Huaiyu’s eyes reddened: “He’s inside and hasn’t come out?”

Jiu Wu lowered his head in acknowledgment.

This was a long-premeditated suicide. From the moment he returned to the capital with them, Li Huailin had been waiting for this day – waiting to return to Hexi Palace, waiting to seek Li Huaiyu’s forgiveness, so he could follow Consort Ning in death. Otherwise, he should have laid Consort Ning to rest long ago. Why would he bring her back to the palace over such a long distance?

Though Jiu Wu could think this way, he dared not say it. Everyone knew how much the Grand Princess cherished this person. Even with deep hatred between them, she would never want to see Li Huailin meet such an end.

The fire blazed fiercely with crackling sounds. Palace attendants were rapidly containing the blaze to prevent it from spreading. A gust of wind brought choking smoke that made tears stream down faces. Li Huaiyu covered her eyes with her hand, pressed her lips together, and gripped the reins tightly.

How dare this wretched boy do such a thing!

“Your Highness.” Han Gu approached from the side with a lowered head, red-eyed, presenting a letter with both hands. “This is what Prince Nanyang left for you.”

Her fingertips trembled. Huaiyu wiped her eyes and took the letter.

“Imperial Sister, as if meeting face to face upon seeing this letter.”

The clear voice seemed to ring right beside her ear. Huaiyu choked up, clutching the letter tightly, her vision blurred.

“I failed to learn what Imperial Sister taught me, didn’t listen well to Ziyang Jun’s words, and couldn’t even keep the person I loved most.” Li Huailin walked into Hexi Palace with a smile, dismissed the palace attendants, and sat beside Ning Wangwei’s coffin.

“I did regret it. Even before Imperial Sister’s death, I already regretted it, but it was too late. Liu Yunlie said Once you step on this path, you can’t turn back – either Imperial Sister dies, or I perish.”

The fire blazed in the palace, but he seemed oblivious, carefully arranging his robes and crown.

“Imperial Sister was right. I’ve done nothing good in this life – one wrong step led to more wrong steps. If there’s a next life… perhaps you wouldn’t want to be my Imperial Sister anymore. Then in the next life, let you kill me while I’m responsible for cherishing and doting on you, alright?”

Oil-soaked flames leaped swiftly. Li Huailin slowly lifted the coffin lid and lay down beside Ning Wangwei, seemingly unafraid, reaching out to embrace her tightly, smiling gently with those two small dimples showing.

“Wangwei didn’t know until death that I liked her, so I must catch up and tell her. Imperial Sister will scold me for being worthless, but the rest of life is so long – I can’t continue alone.”

“She lived with me, so I’ll die with her. Even if it’s shameless persistence, I want to go to the same destination as her. Imperial Sister, do you think when I catch up to her, will she be very hard to appease?”

The words after that became increasingly unclear. Huaiyu’s eyes, which she had wiped, blurred again. She couldn’t make out the rest, no matter how hard she tried. Li Huaiyu clutched the letter while sitting on horseback, finally breaking into wailing sobs, her cries so mournful that even Jiu Wu felt his throat tighten.

“Your Highness…”

“What kind of person is this? Tell me, what kind of person is this!” Huaiyu choked out curses. “Worthless! Completely worthless!”

Her nose was blocked, and her throat felt choked as if she’d swallowed cold wind.

Jiu Wu hastily shook his head: “It wasn’t me!”

Jiang Xuanjin caught up from behind, seeing her crying so hard she couldn’t breathe, his brows furrowed tightly. He immediately lifted her down from the horse and shot Jiu Wu a cold glance.

Clutching Jiang Xuanjin’s lapels, Huaiyu cried even harder, her pair of reddened almond eyes looking up at him with tears streaming down in large drops: “I have no little brother anymore. No one will ever call me Imperial Sister again…”

Frowning as he patted her back, Jiang Xuanjin softened his voice to coax: “Stop crying.”

“I… I never even blamed him. Why did he have to die?” Sobbing intermittently, breaking one sentence into several parts, “I can live, I’m still alive…”

Feeling heartbroken, Jiang Xuanjin used his sleeve to wipe her face, but the more he wiped, the more tears came, stirring his heart into chaos. He couldn’t help but raise his voice: “Stop crying!”

Huaiyu hiccupped, staring at him blankly for a moment, then tears burst forth like a dam breaking: “You’re still being fierce to me…”

At his wits’ end with this person, Jiang Xuanjin frantically held her, softening his tone: “I’m not being fierce anymore, not fierce, alright? Crying like this will make you unable to breathe. Can you calm down first?”

Shaking her head vigorously, Huaiyu cried louder and louder, looking at the billowing smoke, her chest so tight she could barely breathe.

In the ninth month of the ninth year of Daxing, Prince Nanyang abdicated to the Grand Princess’s son. That same month, Prince Nanyang died by fire in Hexi Palace. The Grand Princess knelt before the Late Emperor’s spirit for an entire day and fell gravely ill. Chaos erupted in the capital. Ziyang Jun led troops into the city to stabilize the situation, and the Grand Astrologer scheduled the young emperor’s enthronement for early October.

Some among the people discussed: with the new emperor being the son of Danyang Grand Princess and Ziyang, was Ziyang Jun planning to control the realm through the young child?

However, this discussion was quickly refuted by others. Don’t be ridiculous – Ziyang Jun only had eyes for the Grand Princess; where else would he find room for the world? Look, as soon as the Grand Princess fell ill, the entire capital’s atmosphere became tense. Everyone attending court was on edge, afraid of being caught in some mistake by Jun Shang and facing eternal damnation.

“It’s been over half a month now. Won’t Your Highness go out for a walk?”

Huaiyu sat on the bedside, wrapped in outer garments, with Jiu Wu and others lined up to try to cheer her up.