Though Huang Zixia didn’t understand why, she still nodded and walked over to that person, relaying Li Shubai’s words exactly as they were spoken.

He leaned against the tree in a daze, looking in Li Shubai’s direction. Seeing no reaction from him, he sighed, closed his eyes, and said softly, “My body is weak now. I don’t know if I can still whistle.”

Huang Zixia, the culprit responsible for his weakened state, showed no remorse as she crouched before him, pointing a dagger at his chest while untying his bound hands.

He gave her a bitter smile, then raised his hand to his lips and whistled.

Despite his weakness, the clear whistle still resonated through the forest, carrying for several li. Huang Zixia tied his hands again and looked around, only to see a black horse racing through the dense forest like an arrow amid the rustling pine trees.

“Di’e!” Huang Zixia stood up, and in her excitement, couldn’t help but want to embrace its head—after this long night, she suddenly felt that having a horse by her side was a kind of support.

Di’e completely ignored her, disregarding her outstretched hand and brushing past her to head straight for Li Shubai.

Huang Zixia speechlessly turned and slapped its rump, but when she saw it raise its hind legs as if to kick her, she quickly jumped back a step to escape. While still annoyed, she heard someone chuckling softly.

She turned to look—it was the captive who was laughing. Though it was just one sound, she suddenly felt something familiar about it.

She frowned, studying his appearance. But on that stiff, flat face, she couldn’t find any trace of her memories. She thought to herself, if Zhou Ziqin were here, according to his bone-reading theory, would he be able to see this person’s true face?

But then she thought again, Zhou Ziqin couldn’t even tell that she was a woman disguised as a eunuch, so what hope could she place in him?

When she turned back and saw Di’e lowering its head to nuzzle against Li Shubai gently, all its fierce demeanor gone, she couldn’t help but think of her own horse Fusha, remembering its pitiful whinnying when it fell wounded in the bushes. Grief welled up inside her, and without a word, she walked over to the captive, gagged him, and gave him two hard kicks.

He looked bewildered, glared at her, then turned his face away.

After taking another dose of the antidote, Li Shubai’s condition was improving, and he could barely stand, though his high fever hadn’t broken. In such a remote wilderness, Huang Zixia could only wet a cloth to press against his forehead; there was nothing else she could do.

She tied the captive more securely and went to look for food and medicinal herbs nearby. When she emerged from the dense forest, she stood in the sunlight, surveying the surrounding mountains.

The mountains were a vast expanse of green, trees stretching endlessly. Birds crossed the high sky, and clouds surged and rolled like waves.

She gazed at the mountain ranges, observed the nearby peaks, and became excited. She immediately returned to Li Shubai’s side and said softly, “Let’s go.”

Li Shubai opened his eyes to look at her, somewhat surprised.

“This area is already near Chengdu Prefecture, a place I’ve been before. I know somewhere nearby that’s better than camping out here.” As she spoke, she patted Di’e’s head.

Di’e glared at her but still knelt.

She helped Li Shubai mount, and seeing how he could barely support himself, she grew worried. After some thought, she mounted as well, her arms reaching around his waist to grasp the reins.

Feeling her arms gently encircling his waist, Li Shubai’s body tensed slightly, but he quickly straightened up and turned to look at the captive behind them.

The captive sat cross-legged on the ground, tightly bound to the tree by Huang Zixia, yet maintained a leisurely demeanor. However, when he saw Huang Zixia sitting behind Li Shubai, protecting his body, those eyes that had been constantly watching her flickered involuntarily.

Following Li Shubai’s gaze, Huang Zixia looked back at the captive, then gripped her dagger, showing it to Li Shubai.

Li Shubai slowly shook his head and said, “Let him go.”

Huang Zixia was stunned, not expecting the Prince of Kui, known for his coldness, to show such mercy to this person. But seeing his determined expression, she had no choice but to dismount and cut the ropes binding the captive to the tree, leaving only the bonds on his hands, then sheathed her dagger and mounted again to leave.

The captive leaned against the tree, struggling to stand. Huang Zixia truly admired him—after a day and night in these mountains without food or water, and severely wounded, he could still stand up, something only extraordinary strength and will could achieve.

His gaze remained fixed on her, unwavering, making Huang Zixia turn back to look at him again after riding several steps.

He gazed at her, his eyes bright as stars, deeply etching themselves into her heart as she turned back.

These eyes seemed somehow familiar as if she had seen them somewhere before.

She turned back, confused and lost, tightening her arms around Li Shubai from behind, controlling the reins as she said softly, “I’ll handle the horse, you just focus on the direction and path.”

Li Shubai responded with a “mm.”

They proceeded slowly through the dense forest in silence, the only sounds being Di’e’s hoofbeats and the rustling of grass leaves.

But the horse’s jolting made Huang Zixia, sitting behind, worry that the weakened Li Shubai might fall off, so she unconsciously kept tightening her embrace around him, then realizing this wasn’t appropriate, would quickly loosen it a bit.

The entire way, her hands kept loosening and tightening, like the wind flowing past them, now gentle, now urgent.

Li Shubai silently gazed ahead until her hands tightened once more, and his hand unconsciously covered her hand, calling softly, “Huang Zixia…”

“Yes?” Huang Zixia responded, but he fell silent, not knowing what to say.

Seeing his silence, and feeling his slightly feverish palm resting on the back of her hand, she felt an inexplicable tension.

He said softly, “There seems to be a temple ahead, stop for a moment.”

She made a surprised sound and quickly looked ahead, then exclaimed happily, “Yes, this is it! My memory wasn’t wrong!”

He turned his head slightly, gazing at her joyful expression, and said, “I wonder if anyone’s in such a dilapidated temple.”

“There shouldn’t be, because last year there was a bloody incident here.” Huang Zixia jumped down from the horse, leading Di’e forward, following the sparse grass path on the ground. “The temple originally had an abbot and two monks. After the abbot died, for such a small ruined temple, one monk killed the other while fighting for the abbot position and secretly buried him in the garden behind.”

Li Shubai casually asked, “Such a ruined temple had visitors who discovered the murder?”

“It was their bad luck,” Huang Zixia said, leading Di’e around the stream and rocks. “Yu Xuan and I… were playing in the mountains at the time, got lost on the wrong path, and ended up here. While I was praying to Buddha, I noticed a faint bloodstain on the dharma banner, splattered there.”

Li Shubai nodded, “No matter what, even if the temple residents secretly ate meat, they wouldn’t slaughter animals in the main hall.”

“Yes, based on how the blood splattered, I deduced that person must have been kneeling on the meditation cushion in front of Buddha striking the wooden fish, and the killer must have quietly approached from behind, stabbing his back. Judging from the height and angle of the blood spray, only that spot where the wooden fish was being struck was most likely.”

“So, from this, one can also deduce that the deceased must have been a monk?”

“Right, and the only person who could fearlessly kill a monk in a temple without worrying about discovery, and clean up the crime scene so thoroughly, must be the remaining monk.” Huang Zixia had led the horse to the yellow earthen wall, pushing open the spider web-covered door. “So I intentionally questioned the monk then, and he said after the abbot died days ago, his senior brother had gone wandering. I pointed at the meditation cushion in front of the wooden fish in the hall and asked him, ‘Then who is that monk kneeling there constantly striking the wooden fish, and why does he keep staring at you with wide eyes?'”

At this point, she couldn’t help but smile, “And guess what? He immediately collapsed in terror, unable to say a word!”

“So after that monk was arrested, the temple has remained empty?”

“Yes, it seems even the occasional worshippers who would come to burn incense don’t come anymore. After all, how could a temple where a murder occurred still be considered a sacred Buddhist site?”

The temple was small, with just one gate, a front hall, and a back hall. Several parts of the wall had collapsed, the courtyard weeds were waist-high, and the rotting doors and windows emitted a musty smell. Fortunately, there was still a low bed in the side room by the hall. She quickly helped Li Shubai sit down, then took the cloth strips torn off yesterday to wash clean at the mountain spring behind the temple. She wiped down the low bed, helped Li Shubai lie down, gave him another dose of antidote, changed his medicine, and pressed a wet cloth to his forehead.

Li Shubai lay on the bed, somewhat confused by the high fever, the dark heat invading his senses. He struggled to sit up, leaning against the window to watch her every move.

She parted the waist-high reeds in the courtyard, walking toward the front hall. The white fluffy flowers of the wormwood and cogongrass in the courtyard swayed with her movement, floating around her like clouds.

She first bowed to the Bodhisattva in the hall, then scraped off the remaining two or three incense candles from the altar, dusted them off, and tucked them into her sleeve.

Li Shubai couldn’t help but lean on the windowsill, breaking into a slight smile.

Huang Zixia turned her head, and through the flying fluff, saw Li Shubai’s smile through the window, that smile catching her eye unexpectedly.

She couldn’t help blushing, slowly edging to his window, saying somewhat awkwardly, “I thought we might need these tonight.”

Li Shubai rested his chin on his elbow, a faint curve to his lips, gazing at her as he asked, “Then why did you still bow to the Bodhisattva first?”

Huang Zixia looked at him in surprise: “When you stay at someone’s house and need to take something, shouldn’t you first ask them?”