The world before her eyes was bright yet hazy. In the spring day’s pavilion, through a half-open window, branches of brilliant crimson cherry blossoms bloomed full and lush. It seemed that with just a gentle breeze, they would all fall from their branches, dissipating into a pink haze.

Huang Zixia pushed open the window, gazing toward the Prefecture Lord’s mansion. The morning air was fresh to the point of being biting as it rushed toward her, yet her mind was blank and clouded, completely unaware of what she was seeing. Before her was the Prefecture Lord’s mansion – her parents and elder brother lived in the front courtyard, while she had moved to a small pavilion in the garden a few days ago because she loved the blooming crimson cherry blossoms there.

A garden separated the front courtyard from where she was. She could see the layered rooftops, the flying eaves, and bracket sets. People hurried back and forth in the courtyard, their bustling sounds faintly carrying over.

She was slightly puzzled, not knowing why so many people had suddenly come to her home today. Hastily putting on her clothes, she selected a silver hairpin from her dressing table to put up her hair, then took up the bracelet there and slipped it onto her wrist.

This was the bracelet Yu Xuan had given her last year. After passing the provincial examinations, he used his first month’s salary from the prefecture to select a piece of mutton-fat white jade and had it carved by a craftsman. Yu Xuan didn’t have much money, so the jade wasn’t of particularly good quality. They studied it together for a long time before finally deciding to carve it into two small fish connected head to tail, which allowed them to remove the imperfections while maintaining flowing lines.

The fishes’ eyes were inlaid with two white rice pearls, both unique and delicate. The milky white jade bracelet with its rice-white pearls wasn’t striking at first glance, but upon careful observation revealed two different textures and lusters. At the time, it made many of her close friends envious, but sadly there wasn’t a second piece of jade in the world that could replicate it.

She slipped the bracelet onto her wrist, and before she could lower her hand, she turned her head to look around, only to find black fog gradually encroaching. Everything around her became blurry. She was bewildered, not knowing where she was, only feeling herself being gradually enveloped by that black fog, seemingly unable to escape.

She looked around in panic, walking straight ahead, but not knowing where she had come from or where she was going. In her ears, she heard someone calling: “Huang Zixia… Huang Zixia…”

She turned around but couldn’t see anyone. In the darkness, she was alone in her search.

She looked back at the surrounding darkness and asked bewilderedly, “Who… who’s calling me?”

“You are alone now…”

A cold sensation slowly seeped down from above her head. Her entire body stiffened, and she could only mechanically repeat those words: “I am… alone now?”

“Your father, mother, brother, uncle, grandmother – they’re all dead…”

She stood there blankly, feeling a buzzing in her head, her clouded mind left with nothing but emptiness.

Until the ringing in her head passed, her legs could no longer support her body, and she could only collapse to the ground. Before her eyes were nothing but darkness, and upon that darkness, countless crimson colors flowed, like blood within her body being slowly stirred, all her internal organs torn to pieces.

In this extreme pain, she clutched her chest, bending over and gasping desperately for breath. Yet at this moment, she suddenly thought: it’s a dream, it must be a dream, just a nightmare returning!

Because of this feeling of extreme, extreme pain – she had experienced it countless times before.

After her parents’ death, she had this dream again and again, dreaming that she returned to that day, dreaming that all the beautiful spring days crumbled and rotted, her life from then on beyond redemption.

Understanding that she was in a dream, the darkness before her eyes suddenly dispersed in an instant.

She found herself in the front courtyard, surrounded by clamor. Standing among the noisy crowd, she immediately saw the corpses of her parents.

They were covered with white cloth, lying quietly on wooden boards, placed in the courtyard on the blue brick ground.

Standing before the corpses of her relatives, she who had seen countless dead bodies since the age of twelve felt it was no different from before, yet also felt that since the entire world had collapsed, it didn’t matter whether it was the same or not.

She heard the voice of Jiang Songlin, the most senior coroner in the prefecture, coming as if from ten thousand feet away yet also as clear as if right beside her ear—

“Examination results: Prefecture Lord Huang Shijun, Lady Huang née Yang, eldest son Huang Yan, Prefecture Lord’s mother Lady Huang, and Prefecture Lord’s cousin Huang Jun, all died of poisoning. Five deceased, Huang Yan and Huang Jun showed traces of vomiting in their throats, all five had rice soup-like diarrhea in their lower abdomen, and among them, Lady Yang had bloody stools. All five victims showed signs of abdominal pain and convulsions before death. Upon examination, death was undoubtedly caused by arsenic poisoning.”

The nightmare before her eyes shattered in an instant, transforming into thousands of sharp fragments that pierced her eyes and heart. The pain, along with darkness, surged forth and engulfed her.

Huang Zixia suddenly sat up in bed, breathing in fear, staring wide-eyed at her surroundings.

The frozen dark blue sky, the darkness just before dawn – she sat up alone, her face covered in still-warm tears.

Not knowing where she was, nor where she was heading.

After a long while, the darkness in her mind gradually receded. This was in the post station of Hanzhou.

After her parents’ death, she was falsely accused of being the murderer who poisoned her entire family, and a warrant was issued for her arrest across the empire. She could only disguise herself and flee Shu territory, coming to Chang’an, hoping to petition the imperial court to retry that wrongful case and clear her family’s unjust deaths.

And she met Prince Li Shubai of Kui.

Now her identity was Yang Chonggu, a minor eunuch of the Prince of Kui’s manor.

She and Li Shubai had set out from Chang’an, heading south, now traveling toward Chengdu Prefecture. Hanzhou was only a day’s journey from Chengdu Prefecture.

The closer they got, the more terrified she became.

She sat blankly in the darkness for a long while, waiting until the tears on her face dried before lying back down on the bed, staring wide-eyed as she watched the sky outside gradually brighten.

After half a year of wandering as a fugitive, she finally won the chance to return to Shu. Though mountains and rivers lay between here and Chengdu Prefecture, and half a year had passed since her family’s massacre, she didn’t know if she could truly fulfill her vow and bring peace to her family’s spirits in heaven.

That day when her fate turned, that unbearable grief, appeared again and again in her dreams, making her experience that powerlessness and pain over and over. She repeatedly pondered everything that might have happened, but in the end, nothing could be deduced through empty speculation. The only way was to return to the scene and reinvestigate everything.

Perhaps only when all the truth came to light would be the time for her release.

She curled up, burying her face in the crook of her arm, staring blankly out the window.

The deep blue sky gradually changed to light blue, the light becoming piercing – today would be another scorching day.

Rubbing her throbbing temples, Huang Zixia got up to wash and went out for breakfast.

The official post station in Hanzhou saw many coming and going officials, and today Prince Li Shubai of Kui was staying there, so naturally the group of officials was extremely attentive. And as a minor eunuch on the Prince’s side, she too was treated as an honored guest.

She pushed open the door and saw the bamboo grove path in the courtyard, beside which large patches of hollyhocks were in full bloom. On stems taller than a person’s height, clusters of flowers bloomed like piled brocade, extraordinarily brilliant. Hollyhocks, also known as “ten-foot red,” had extremely bright and beautiful flowers, most common in Shu.

Huang Zixia remembered that back at the Prefecture Lord’s mansion, they had also planted large patches of hollyhocks. In the summer mornings, before she had risen, Yu Xuan would often gently knock on her small window, bringing her a hollyhock.

Sometimes pink, sometimes light purple, sometimes single petals, sometimes double petals. She would pin the flowers he brought in her hair, choosing a dress to match. A summer passed just like that, and though she might not remember exactly when things happened, she always remembered the deep red and light yellow colors of those days.

She unconsciously raised her hand to touch the hollyhock petals, looking through the flowers to the other side of the bamboo grove path, where Li Shubai was handing his long sword to Jing Yi and turning his head to look at her. The brilliant colors of the flowers made his plain sky-blue brocade robes appear vivid as well, among the deep and light colors around him, his was the only cool shade, stirring the heart.

She couldn’t help but admire this person. From Chang’an to Shu Prefecture, the journey of countless mountains and rivers was already arduous enough, and all the prefectures along the way mobilized their forces, resulting in countless official social occasions. She could always escape using her status as a minor eunuch, but Prince Li Shubai naturally couldn’t escape – yet this person had such self-discipline that no matter how tiring the previous day’s journey had been or how late the social obligations had kept him, whenever she got up, she would always see that he had already risen for morning exercise, rain or shine, without exception.

Li Shubai had a light sweat on his brow. He took the handkerchief from Jing You’s hand to wipe it while walking toward her. She watched him approach and hurriedly bowed to him: “Your Highness… good morning.”

He made a sound of acknowledgment and passed by her side without a sideward glance.

She followed him, taking a few steps, then saw him stop again and hand the silk handkerchief to her.

She was bewildered by his meaning, and only when she raised her hand to take it did she see that her fingertips were stained with the brilliant yellow hollyhock pollen.

She hurriedly lowered her head to take the handkerchief and clean her fingers.