When His Highness Yin woke from his hangover, he felt momentarily confused, his thoughts similar to Feng Yue’s. With great effort, he turned to look at the bedside.

“Brother Yin!” Zhenzhu Keeper Yi’s eyes were swollen from crying as she sobbed, “My father is dead! He was murdered in prison!”

After a brief pause, Yin Gezhi propped himself up to sit, his voice hoarse: “I know.”

“How could he have been murdered? Zhenzhu doesn’t understand! He was such a good person, who would want him dead? This kingdom of Wu was conquered through his efforts, and it’s because of him that Wu’s common people can live peaceful lives!”

Feng Yue, who had been buried under the covers, finally poked her head out and spoke truthfully: “The Wu kingdom was conquered by the royal ancestors. General Yi truly didn’t have such great merit – his victories were all from foreign invasions. It had little to do with Wu’s common people.”

“You…!” Startled by this sudden interjection, Zhenzhu Keeper Yi looked at Feng Yue in disbelief, then slowly turned to Yin Gezhi, tears streaming down her face: “At a time like this, Brother Yin, you’re still here being intimate with her?”

Yin Gezhi frowned and glanced at Feng Yue.

Feng Yue shrugged – she couldn’t be blamed. Last night he had fallen asleep mumbling and wouldn’t let go of her hand, leaving her no choice but to sleep here. Besides, which eye had seen them being intimate? They were both fully clothed!

Seeing their silence, Zhenzhu Keeper Yi choked back sobs and turned away: “Fine! Now that my family is ruined, none of you care about me anymore. I… I’ll just leave!”

“Zhenzhu,” Yin Gezhi said, “You still need to collect General Yi’s remains. Where would you go?”

“I collect them? What about you?” Looking at him again with hatred in her eyes, Zhenzhu Keeper Yi said through gritted teeth: “You claimed to respect my father, so why aren’t you going to collect his body? How can you not investigate when he’s been murdered?”

“Miss Yi.” Looking at her frenzied state, Yin Gezhi’s gaze turned sharp and his tone suddenly changed: “Collecting remains is a right reserved for the three branches of the family. I have no authority to overstep. As for the General’s murder, His Highness the Crown Prince has already ordered Grand Secretary Meng to investigate thoroughly – it’s not something I can interfere with. Before you question others, could you please understand the situation first?”

Shocked by his tone, Zhenzhu Keeper Yi stared at him blankly, bewildered.

“You are kind-hearted and were raised pampered by General Yi, innocent and unworldly – these are precious qualities. But the General is gone now. You can’t be willful forever, seeking others to take responsibility and crying to them whenever something happens. No one was born to serve the General’s mansion. You’re troubling others and asking for help – shouldn’t you be more courteous?”

Zhenzhu Keeper Yi had never been scolded like this in her life and was stunned into silence.

Yin Gezhi, already in a poor mood from being awakened and suffering from a hangover, finally spoke without restraint: “You always say the Crown Prince has wronged you, that he doesn’t help or dote on you anymore. But do you remember how you’ve treated him all these years? The dignified Crown Prince was not only shut out by you but had to be at your beck and call, prioritizing you above all else – otherwise, you’d be unhappy and complain to Her Majesty the Empress. He has a good temperament and shows you much favor, but what about you? When have you ever considered his face when meeting me? Haven’t you always cast him aside without giving him any face at all?”

“You also blame me for not doting on you, not being good to you, not knowing how to speak properly. But Miss, when have you ever properly spoken with me? Instead of directly saying what you want or need, you expect me to guess, and then get angry when I can’t. After this happens many times, naturally my patience wears thin.”

“To receive love, one must first love oneself. But if you only love yourself and don’t return others’ love, who wouldn’t be disappointed in you except the General?”

Feng Yue listened and gave a silent round of applause. That was exactly right.

Zhenzhu Keeper Yi remained silent for a long while, staring deeply at Yin Gezhi before saying through gritted teeth: “If love requires repayment to continue, then Your Highness’s feelings are truly worthless!”

At first hearing, it seemed like such a reasonable statement! Love should be selfless, requiring no repayment!

But Feng Yue blinked and asked: “Miss Yi, didn’t you really like Prince Yin at first? How come you don’t seem to like him so much now?”

“After how he’s treated me, should I still keep clinging to him?!” Zhenzhu Keeper Yi said angrily, “I’m a lady – I’m not that shameless!”

“…” So men should be shameless, continuing to be good to someone one-sidedly to maintain this noble love? And once they can’t maintain it anymore, does it mean their love wasn’t true or deep enough?

Feng Yue smiled and buried her head back under the covers.

Yin Gezhi sighed: “Enough, you should go handle the funeral arrangements.”

Standing up angrily, Zhenzhu Keeper Yi asked: “So you mean you won’t help?”

“Forgive my inability to assist.”

“Fine!” Taking a deep breath, Zhenzhu Keeper Yi nodded: “Remember you said that.”

With that, she turned and left.

Yin Gezhi rubbed his temples, got up to close the door, then removed his outer robe and lay back down to rest.

“Your Highness,” seeing he was now awake, Feng Yue didn’t dare to be presumptuous anymore and asked respectfully in a low voice: “Aren’t you worried about Miss Yi at all?”

“Her father died by your hand, and you want me to worry about her?” Turning his head to stare at her with deep eyes, Yin Gezhi said: “Should I tie you up and send you to the main hall then?”

Shrinking her neck, Feng Yue smiled apologetically: “Didn’t you say yourself that you liked Miss Yi? Now that her father has indirectly died by your hand, shouldn’t you express some guilt?”

“Whatever guilt needed to be expressed has been expressed over this past year,” Yin Gezhi said. “Since entering Wu, I’ve granted her every request – that’s all I could do since Yi Guoru had to die, but she was innocent.”

“Now, those who needed to die have died, what needed to be expressed has been expressed, and we each go our separate ways.”

Shuddering slightly, Feng Yue couldn’t help but say: “I thought this servant was ruthless enough, but you’re truly the ancestor of ruthlessness! You’ve been compensating her since a year ago. If Miss Yi knew that your claimed affection was all compensation for her father’s impending death, wouldn’t she die of anger?”

“She was the one who asked me to say I liked her, I didn’t volunteer it,” Yin Gezhi said. “It was her request for her coming-of-age ceremony at fifteen.”

What? Feng Yue’s mouth fell open – there was such a coming-of-age ceremony?

Yin Gezhi explained matter-of-factly: “When we first entered Wu, many young ladies from Bu Yin City liked to visit the envoy’s mansion. Miss Yi wasn’t happy about it, and once when she happened to overhear someone asking if I had someone I liked, she told me that whenever anyone asked in the future, I should say I liked her. Seeing my hesitation, she said to consider it her coming-of-age gift.”

Feng Yue was stunned. Thinking about it, she could understand completely – someone like Yin Gezhi would be pursued by young ladies wherever he went. He had been brought back by General Yi and was good to Miss Yi, so naturally, Miss Yi felt this person should be hers and shouldn’t be coveted by others. Yin Gezhi had truly been very good to Zhenzhu Keeper Yi, so much that Feng Yue had almost believed he was foolishly in love with her.

“But…” Feng Yue frowned: “After spending so much time together, they say familiarity breeds affection – do you truly feel nothing at all?”

Giving her a cold look, Yin Gezhi said coldly: “If she were a young lady whose company felt pleasant, perhaps I would have hesitated when making the decision.”

Unfortunately, he found her so tiresome that he felt one year of compensation was enough and felt not a shred of guilt.

He truly wasn’t a good person.

After silently watching Yin Gezhi for a while, Feng Yue got up to wash.

Yin Gezhi wanted to continue sleeping, but the noise outside gradually grew louder until he couldn’t sleep anymore.

News of General Yi’s death hadn’t spread beyond Bu Yin City. At daybreak, the Emperor had even issued an edict calling for physicians to treat General Yi, dismissing all charges against him and ordering him to return to the battlefield once recovered.

Everyone was bewildered for a moment. When Yin Gezhi returned to the envoy’s mansion with Feng Yue, even Guan Zhi came to ask: “Has General Yi been saved?”

With a cold laugh, Yin Gezhi shook his head: “Who could save someone who’s already reported to the underworld?”

“Then…”

“General Yi was Wu’s pillar general. Song has been repeatedly violating the borders with intentions to attack Wu. If they learned of General Yi’s death, their army would likely march on the border immediately,” Yin Gezhi sat down and said: “This must be the royal family’s strategy to buy time.”

Unfortunately, they could only buy time temporarily, not forever. Song would attack Wu sooner or later.

Uninterested in listening to him, Feng Yue yawned and looked around lazily. Ling Shu bounced over with some mung bean cake. She no longer tried to hide anything and opened the hidden compartment to look at its contents right in front of Yin Gezhi.

“Everything is prepared. Three people will return to Wei first, with people waiting to receive them in Li Capital.”

These people must have been waiting – as soon as they heard the news of Yi Guoru’s death yesterday, they started packing to return home, right? Feng Yue smiled and shook her head. They were all people who disliked leaving their homeland, yet they had accompanied her in Wu for three years – it couldn’t have been easy.

The entire Xiang Yu Street had once been burned down. After reconstruction, all the shops on the street changed owners, with new general stores, pastry shops, blacksmiths, and vendors selling flowers and wine. For a while, Bu Yin City considered this street peculiar because it recovered so quickly, and many were refugees from Wei. The authorities even increased patrols on this street to prevent any unrest.

However, three years had passed, and Xiang Yu Street had become prosperous and lively because of these people, without a single incident. People often praised the warmth and friendliness of the street’s residents, not knowing that the general store owner was once a Wei centurion, the muscular blacksmith was once a famous strongman in Li Capital, and even Mrs. Zheng who sold pastries had once worn armor and served in the military. Every ordinary-looking person wearing plain clothes and wearing a smile had an extraordinary story behind them.

But there was no need to frighten people by revealing this.

“Want to return to Wei?” Yin Gezhi suddenly asked.

Feng Yue snapped back to attention, raised an eyebrow as she looked at the letter in her hand, then at the person who hadn’t even turned his head toward her, and couldn’t help but frown: “Do you have eyes in the back of your head?”