After leaving Da Ning District, Zhou Ziqin headed southwest while Huang Zixia went southeast, the two parting ways to return to their respective destinations.

When Huang Zixia reached Xing Ning District, she suddenly saw many people running on the streets, with some shouting, “Quick, to the Sixteenth Prince’s residence! You’ll miss it if you’re late!”

Confused, Huang Zixia watched as an elderly woman running with the crowd was pushed and fell to the ground, crying out in pain. Huang Zixia hurried to help her up, asking, “Grandmother, where is everyone going?”

“Oh my! They say near the Princess’s residence by the Sixteenth Prince’s mansion, the Emperor and Noble Consort Guo are throwing money everywhere! We’re all going to pick up the money!”

Still bewildered, Huang Zixia followed the crowd, walking quickly in that direction.

When she arrived, she saw many people gathered around the mansion gates, everyone bent over searching for something on the ground. She had to ask someone clutching something in their hand, “Brother, is it true the Emperor and Noble Consort Guo are throwing money?”

“Money? How vulgar!” The man, who appeared to be a scholar, opened his palm to show her. Huang Zixia saw a silver hairpin inlaid with pearls in his hand, exquisitely crafted – an ornament from the palace.

“Just now, the Emperor and Noble Consort Guo visited the Princess’s residence to watch Li Keji’s newly choreographed dance performance. The entire path from the palace to the Princess’s residence was laid with brocade. Hundreds of people came from the Great Ming Palace to here, singing and dancing along the way, and these hairpins fell as they danced. Everyone here is picking them up.”

Huang Zixia suddenly understood. Listening carefully, she could faintly hear the sound of music and dancing coming from inside, above the bustling crowd.

She avoided the main gate and walked to where the crowd was thinner. Indeed, she could hear hundreds of voices singing in unison. The melody was mournful, full of sorrow, and as she stood there listening from afar, she felt thousands of sorrowful thoughts well up in her chest, unconsciously growing melancholic.

She leaned against the wall, quietly looking up at the sky. On this summer afternoon, without wind, the distant melody drifted over, its grief-stricken notes piercing her heart like countless threads, bringing tears unbidden to her eyes.

Feeling the tears streaming down her face, she reached for her handkerchief, only to find it contained the incense ashes from earlier and couldn’t be used.

As she stood there lost in thought, holding the remains of the Ling Ling incense, someone silently offered her a pure white handkerchief from behind.

She turned her head, eyes wide, looking at him through her tears.

Yu Xuan.

He wore sky-blue clothing, standing in the grey-blue alley – such plain colors, such beautiful features.

She slowly raised her hand, taking the handkerchief and pressing it to her face.

All the hot, burning tears were absorbed by the soft linen, leaving no trace.

As if drained of strength, she couldn’t help but lean against the wall, burying her face in the handkerchief he had given her, not raising her head for a long while.

It carried his scent – faint, ethereal, like lotus flowers blooming on a summer night, winter plum blossoms falling, the fire and ice of her dreams.

“I saw you at the entrance of the Ministry of Justice,” his voice softly rang in her ears, somewhat dazed but reaching her. “I saw you hiding behind that tree, avoiding me. I suppose you’re right – even if we met, what could we say?”

His voice was so slow; Huang Zixia could feel the hesitation and sorrow in his mood.

He must have been like her, thinking of the days they spent together, thinking of many things that could neither be forgotten nor fade away.

“I saw that girl – she must be the one you rescued from the Ministry of Justice.” He lifted his head, gazing at the blindingly white clouds in the sky, his tone slow and distant. “On my way back, I thought about many things. I remembered how years ago, you would travel thousands of miles, rushing day and night just because of one questionable sentence in a case file, trying to overturn verdicts for people you’d never met. Even now, bearing an evil reputation, you still strive to help others despite your difficulties. In comparison, I should have been the person closest to you in this world, yet I stubbornly believed you were the murderer… I truly… wasted all our years of feelings.”

Huang Zixia bit her lower lip, silent, only her violently trembling shoulders betraying her.

Yu Xuan heaved a long sigh, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.

They had been more intimate before. But this first contact since their long separation made Huang Zixia unconsciously turn away, leaving his hand suspended in the air.

After a long while, he silently withdrew his hand, saying softly, “You shouldn’t have said those things to me, shouldn’t have done those things. Otherwise, I would never have believed you could do such a thing, would never have believed it no matter what.”

Huang Zixia lowered the handkerchief, her expression now calm except for her slightly reddened eyes.

She asked, “What… did I say to you? What did I do?”

He stared at her unblinkingly, his voice very low but clear: “The night before your family’s tragic death, when you returned from Long Zhou, I went to find you… and saw you staring at a package of arsenic in your hands, with a strange expression on your face.”

Huang Zixia’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at him, murmuring, “What?”

“That day, when you had just returned from Long Zhou. I still remember the letter you had just written to me, saying that in the Long Zhou case, a daughter had poisoned the family’s food with heartbreak grass because of a thwarted romance, killing the entire family. You even wrote in the letter, asking if we would also abandon our families and take the path of no return if we found ourselves in such a situation.” Yu Xuan’s gaze was full of pain as he looked at her. “Those words in the letter worried me greatly, and when I saw you take out arsenic as soon as you returned, I immediately told you to throw it away, but you just put it back in the drawer, locked it, and said it might be something that could help us be together.”

Huang Zixia looked at him bewilderedly, as if looking at a stranger: “I remember Long Zhou, remember the contents of that letter, but I don’t remember ever taking out arsenic to look at… I certainly don’t remember saying such words!”

Yu Xuan stared at her, his gaze sharp as a knife, but her face showed only grief and bewilderment, revealing no flaws he could detect.

His face turned slightly pale as he held his temple, his breathing heavy from agitation.

He spoke with difficulty: “Xia’er, it seems I truly misunderstood your actions then… but that moment when you held the arsenic, that expression was too terrifying, and that night, your family all died from arsenic poisoning… how could I trust you again?”

“Impossible!” Huang Zixia interrupted with a trembling voice, “After buying that arsenic, I went straight to Long Zhou, and until I returned, that arsenic had never been touched! How could you have seen me holding it?”

Yu Xuan stared at her intently. This usually elegant and poised man now showed only terror on his face, mumbling, “Impossible? Impossible…”

The entire world seemed to stop, leaving only them standing beneath the unreachable sky, looking at each other – so close yet eternally separated.

Scorching heat and icy cold, blood and killing intent, unfathomable fate, and inscrutable heaven’s will, all poured down upon them.

“Yang Chonggu.”

A cold, almost emotionless voice came from behind, breaking the deathlike silence that had nearly solidified between them.

Huang Zixia turned to see Li Shubo standing at the alley entrance, motionlessly watching them. The backlight from behind him prevented her from seeing his expression, only his silhouette, but an inescapable pressure invisibly approached.

She saw his deep, clear eyes, which instantly pulled her from that dazed, dreamy state, making her realize she was standing in this deserted, cold alley. The distant singing still carried over, its sorrowful melody moving people to tears, faintly echoing in the sky, where even the flowing clouds seemed held back by the music, no longer moving.

Across from her, Yu Xuan seemed to come to his senses as well. Though thin cold sweat still covered his forehead, his expression had calmed.

He bowed to Li Shubo, and as he turned to leave, he stopped and looked at Huang Zixia.

Huang Zixia silently gazed back at him, countless complex thoughts making her hesitate to speak on her pale face.

He asked softly, “You told me last time you would return to Shu to uncover the truth?”

Huang Zixia nodded once, saying, “I will return.”

“Then, I will wait for you in Yizhou.”

His gaze deeply met her eyes, just like many years ago when she, still ignorant of love, first met him and saw her deep reflection in his gazing eyes.

No one in this world knew that in that instant, she had transformed from a little girl into a young woman.

When Li Shubo and Huang Zixia entered Princess Tongchang’s residence, the Hundred Years Lament dance troupe had already dispersed.

On the stone ground bleached white by sunlight, scattered pearls and jewels appeared particularly dazzling. Princess Tongchang’s body had already been placed in a coffin, but the room was still filled with blocks of ice, large and small.

Beside it was a smaller coffin containing the Princess’s wet nurse, Cloud Lady, the marks of strangulation still visible on her neck as she accompanied the Princess in eternal rest with a twisted expression.

The Emperor and Noble Consort Guo sat in the hall, with palace maids and eunuchs wiping tears behind them. The Emperor’s face showed vicious rage – the ruthlessness that accumulates when desperate emotions cannot be vented.

The eunuchs and palace maids near the Emperor visibly relaxed when they saw Li Shubo bring in Huang Zixia. Seeing Li Shubo looking at Wet Nurse Cloud, the Emperor said, “It would be too lonely for the Princess alone below, so We had Cloud Lady go down to continue caring for the Princess.”

Seeing the person was already dead, Li Shubo could only remain silent as he sat beside the Emperor.

Noble Consort Guo covered her face and sobbed, “And those few maids and eunuchs – the others aside, but those few close attendants, they bear responsibility for what happened to the Princess!”

The Emperor pondered for a long while before slowly saying, “Last time, Eunuch Yang pleaded for them, and We think he had a point – let’s delay for now.”

“Your Majesty shows them mercy, but I think of Linghuijun alone underground!” Noble Consort Guo’s breathing grew rapid as she cried more sorrowfully, “Linghuijun has always feared being alone since childhood, always needing someone by her side. Now she’s gone all alone, with few to serve her – how can I, her mother, be at peace…”

Her crying was mournful, but Huang Zixia only felt a chill rise from her feet, climbing up her spine to the top of her head.

Li Shubo’s gaze also turned to her, and they both saw Noble Consort Guo’s intentions in each other’s eyes.

“Consort Shu, say no more, My heart aches,” the Emperor sighed deeply, but didn’t object, instead turning to Li Shubo to say, “We just summoned Yu Xuan, that Imperial Academy instructor the Princess liked in life.”

Noble Consort Guo’s expression wavered beside him as she gently placed her hand over the Emperor’s. The Emperor seemed not to notice, only saying, “We’ve also heard the rumors in the capital, that Linghui invited Yu Xuan to lecture for her but was refused multiple times. Later she went to the Imperial Academy personally to speak with the Director, and only then did he agree to come to the Princess’s residence to lecture on the Zhou Rites – We laughed it off at the time, but thinking of it now, Linghui in her prime must lie alone forever underground. Since she enjoyed hearing Yu Xuan speak of the Zhou Rites, how can We not fulfill her wish?”