Li Shubai gave his room to Jing Yu and Zhang Xingying, taking another room for himself. Though the servant boy nearly cried seeing the bloodstained bedding in the room, since the room was registered under Zhou Ziqin’s name, he could only remind them, “Sir, please remember to pay extra for the bedding…”

Before dawn, Huang Zixia was already awake. After washing up and getting dressed, she went out to see Li Shubai coming from Jing Yu’s room. He closed the door and told her: “His condition is alright, he has a slight fever, but much better than last night.”

Huang Zixia nodded, breathing a sigh of relief.

As the two ate breakfast in the front of the inn, Huang Zixia spoke softly: “Last night I suddenly remembered something I wanted to ask Your Highness about.”

Li Shubai nodded once, raising his head to look at her.

“Besides the symptoms of arsenic, do people who die from poison show other marks? For instance, would their fingertips show black marks?”

Li Shubai thought briefly, then asked: “You mean the black marks on Fu Xinruan’s fingers?”

“Yes.”

“There shouldn’t be any. I think those black marks must have come from somewhere else.”

“Then this is another major point of suspicion,” Huang Zixia said softly. “Fu Xinruan was a woman and such a beautiful one at that. Your Highness, would a woman not care for her body and appearance before death? Why would she let her hands, as delicate as spring onions, be stained with such unsightly colors in death?”

Li Shubai nodded, then said: “Speaking of this, I noticed you looked hesitant yesterday when examining Fu Xinruan’s boxes and cosmetics – did you discover something else?”

“This is something you men wouldn’t know about.” She looked around, seeing they were still alone in their corner eating breakfast, and spoke softly: “Your Highness, do you remember? When Fu Xinruan died, she wore her hair in a complex bun, wearing a grey-purple robe, blue skirt, and plain silk shoes.”

He nodded, looking at her questioningly.

“I saw in her cabinet, everything was in light blue and pale red colors. Fu Xinruan usually preferred bright, vivid clothes. That grey-purple robe looked more like a faded purple silk garment that had become old, used as casual daily wear.”

“You mean that normally women would change into their favorite new clothes before dying, and wouldn’t wear such clothes?”

“Moreover, she was dying with her lover – would she ignore a cabinet full of fine clothes and wear such old clothes to join hands with her lover in death? At the very least, wouldn’t she tidy herself up?” Huang Zixia said, then thought and shook her head, saying, “Though we can’t make conclusions yet. After all, when determined to die, with all hope gone, one might not care about looking good anymore.”

“So, our next step is to investigate what could have made them lose all hope,” Li Shubai said.

Huang Zixia nodded, finishing breakfast with him. As they walked out of the inn together, she finally couldn’t help turning to look at him, wanting to speak but stopping herself.

“Say it,” he said flatly.

“I just find it strange… Don’t you ever think about the previous assassination attempt?” His daily manner of investigating cases with her made her almost doubt whether they had experienced that brutal assassination attempt a few days ago.

He just glanced at her lightly, saying: “What’s the hurry? It won’t be long before the next one comes.”

“Fine… Since you even know the assassins’ leader, I suppose you have everything under control. I spoke too much.” As she said this, she rolled her eyes, returning his glance.

Seeing this expression from her for the first time, Li Shubai couldn’t help smiling slightly, turning his head to tell her: “It’s fine to tell you, actually that leader…”

Before he could finish, his gaze suddenly fell on someone ahead, and his words came to an abrupt halt.

Standing across the street was Yu Xuan, in blue robes stirring in the wind, appearing pure and otherworldly.

And the person standing opposite Yu Xuan made them exchange a glance – it was Zhou Ziqin’s sister’s future husband, Qi Teng.

The sky was still early, with few people on the street, and these two stood at the roadside talking about something. Yu Xuan’s expression was very unpleasant, and no matter what Qi Teng said, he just shook his head, slowly but firmly.

While Huang Zixia was still hesitating, Li Shubai had already patted her shoulder, saying: “Come with me.”

He led her through the morning streets, walking toward them.

Huang Zixia followed behind him, head lowered and silent, like a servant.

Just as they were about to reach them, Li Shubai stopped at a stall, saying: “Two steamed buns.”

They watched the vendor prepare the buns, their backs to Yu Xuan and the others, listening to the two men still talking –

Qi Teng said: “Yu Xuan, I truly can’t bear to waste your talent. Though we haven’t interacted much daily, I most admire your scholarship. Now the Huang Governor’s family is all dead – can you live freely just on the salary from the prefecture? General Fan appreciates your talent, that’s why he invites you to join the Military Commissioner’s office, starting as Chief Secretary, and after the new year promoting you to Support Commissioner – the General said this himself!”

Yu Xuan’s voice was cold, seeming to completely ignore his main point, only saying: “The Huang Governor’s family isn’t all dead – there’s still one daughter.”

“Hmph… Huang Zixia? If she dares come back, won’t she just die? This vicious woman who poisoned her own family, how can she count as a person?” Qi Teng sneered, his tone neither soft nor hard. “It was you who exposed her to General Fan back then, why are you bringing her up now?”

Yu Xuan was silent for a moment, then turned to walk away: “I have matters to attend to, excuse me.”

Qi Teng pivoted on his heel to block him: “Hey, what matters could you have? Give it up – they’ve been dead for over half a year, why do you keep sweeping the Huang family’s graves and burning paper money every few days? You were just an adopted son – it was just the official world cultivating future support…”

Yu Xuan’s voice suddenly turned cold, like ice striking water: “I am but a speck of dust, how dare I approach General Fan? Please help me reply to General Fan – in this life Yu Xuan is just a grave sweeper, not daring to dirty the Military Commissioner’s door!”

“Hehe, you’re noble, aren’t you?” Qi Teng laughed coldly, sneering, “I heard when you were recommended to the Imperial Academy as an instructor, you were getting quite close with Princess Tongchang, almost climbing the path to an official career through that connection. What a pity – how unfortunate that Princess Tongchang happened to die, and you slunk back to Shu Prefecture? Now that you’re back in Shu Prefecture, you’ve forgotten everything you did in Chang’an and become a sage again?”

“Sirs, the steamed buns are ready, careful they’re hot,” the vendor wrapped the buns in taro leaves and handed one to each of them.

Li Shubai saw Huang Zixia’s outstretched hand trembling slightly, so he took them for her, saying in her ear: “Watch more, don’t make a sound.”

Yu Xuan didn’t make a sound either. He just stood in the street, letting out a long breath, and after a very long time, finally said: “In this life, I only seek to be without guilt in my heart.”

“Haha… hahahaha…”

Qi Teng burst out laughing, so violently that he almost knocked over a nearby peach seller’s carrying pole. After several vendors hurriedly moved away to avoid him, he pointed at Yu Xuan, laughing breathlessly: “Without guilt in your heart… hahaha, of course, you live without guilt! Because if you felt guilty, you’d be dead already!”

Yu Xuan didn’t understand what he meant by these words, just coldly stared at him.

Qi Teng slapped the large tree beside him, laughing uncontrollably. In his laughter, Yu Xuan finally felt a cold sensation slowly rising from his heart, spreading to his limbs, and stabbing like needles into his temples, causing unbearable pain.

He clutched his head, where the blood vessels were throbbing, making him almost unable to support himself.

He heard Qi Teng’s voice, asking strangely and mockingly in his ear: “Do you remember where my little red fish went?”

Yu Xuan’s eyes widened in shock. Those eyes that were usually clear and pure were now bloodshot, staring so wide, frightened and confused, as if glimpsing heavenly secrets he dared not comprehend.

“Ah, you see, I only wanted to get you a good position, who knew you’d treat me this way.” Qi Teng crouched down, patting his cheek, “Go home and think about it well, I’ll wait for your answer – after all, our friendship isn’t actually that shallow.”

Yu Xuan clenched his teeth, disgustedly slapping his hand away.

Qi Teng laughed again, though this time it wasn’t the wild laughter and sneering from before, but returned to the gentle smile he always wore, saying: “You’re overthinking it, I’m not Wen Yang, what are you afraid of?”

With that, he brushed off the hem of his clothes and walked toward the Military Commissioner’s office. This confrontation ended there, leaving only Yu Xuan with unsteady steps, pushing through the crowd of onlookers to walk alone toward the end of the street.

Some people pointed at his back, saying: “Isn’t that Yu Xuan! They used to say the Governor’s mansion had two shining lights – one was the Governor’s daughter Huang Zixia, and one was the Governor’s adopted son Yu Xuan. This pair of jade-like people complemented each other, both brilliant talents, admired by everyone in Shu Prefecture. Who would have thought in just a few short months, it would become like this.”

Huang Zixia stood silently by the street for a long time before turning to look at Li Shubai. He took a steamed bun from her hand, saying: “Let’s go.”

The originally fragrant steamed bun now tasted like chewing wax. She remembered she had already eaten breakfast, but what did that matter – she woodenly took another bite.

Li Shubai led her forward, following Yu Xuan all the way.

Yu Xuan walked alone steadily until they were almost at the city gate when he finally sensed people behind him and slowly turned to look at them.

Li Shubai said to him: “Nice to meet you.” His expression was calm as if truly just happening to meet on the roadside.

Yu Xuan nodded once, looking at Huang Zixia.

Huang Zixia truly couldn’t understand herself – why at such a moment was she still holding that steamed bun, and had unconsciously eaten most of it? She held the bun, neither able to throw it away nor eat it, finally just holding it awkwardly in her hand as she nodded to him.

Yu Xuan spoke first, asking: “Where are you two headed?”

Li Shubai said: “We’ve been in Chengdu Prefecture many days but haven’t yet toured the surrounding scenery. Today we’re taking time to visit some famous sites in the suburbs.”

Yu Xuan just followed his words: “Yes, Mingyue Mountain’s Guangdu Temple is an ancient temple in Shu. The mountain has strange rocks and flowing springs, dense forests and tall bamboo – the scenery is extraordinary, quite worth visiting.”

Huang Zixia nodded, saying: “We also want to visit Master Shan.”

“I’m familiar with Master Shan, I can introduce you.” Yu Xuan said this, gesturing toward the suburbs.

Shu had many steep mountains, and Mingyue Mountain was particularly magnificent.

Following the stone steps up from the mountain’s foot, Huang Zixia walked behind Yu Xuan, climbing step by step, suddenly remembering that this time last year, on a fine day, they had also climbed Mingyue Mountain.

At that time they had walked side by side, laughing and talking as they climbed the steps together. At dangerous spots, when she fell slightly behind, he would turn back to look at her, extending his hand to her.

Sometimes she would completely ignore it, saying “I can walk myself” and stubbornly trying to pass him; sometimes she would grab his hand, borrowing his strength to leap up two or three stone steps; sometimes she would place small flowers picked from the roadside in his palm, pretending not to understand his meaning.

The flowers she had picked last year still bloomed by the path now.

As she passed, she unconsciously picked one, holding it in her hand as she looked up at the two men ahead.

Yu Xuan is like a tall bamboo, and Li Shubai is like a jade tree.

One was her heart-carved first love, her first girlhood dream.

One was someone she could rely on, her current companion walking side by side.

One seemed to be in the past, one seemed not yet arrived.

She looked down at the small yellow flower in her hand, then raised her hand to let the mountain wind carry it away to the distant horizon.

She let out a long breath as if wanting to exclude all distracting thoughts, letting the present wind carry away her confused emotions like those light floating little flowers.

— How could she let such things infect her mood when she had not yet completed the most important thing in her life?