With Baili Xiaosheng saying nothing, Ziqing didn’t press either — she couldn’t very well go tearing open someone else’s wound on purpose.

Baili Xiaosheng had never been much of a talker. Facing Meng Duo’er and Situ Jing’er, she didn’t have much to say either, only smiling faintly when she’d first seen them.

As for Meng Duo’er, Xiaosheng had never much cared for her — to be precise, she disliked her somewhat, so having nothing to say was only natural.

As for Situ Jing’er, back in Nanzhao the two of them had had a bit of friction, but none of that mattered now — she wasn’t about to bicker over such things with a young girl.

Baili Xiaosheng held the little princess, playing with her. The little princess wasn’t the least bit shy around strangers, smiling at everyone, which left Meng Duo’er and Situ Jing’er, now shunted off to the side, thoroughly indignant, feeling like they’d doted on this little princess for nothing.

Yet neither of them noticed that they weren’t the only ones sidelined — even Jun Buli, who usually loved to scramble for a turn holding the little princess, had retreated off to one side as well.

“Xiaosheng, are you comfortable staying here at the residence?” Ziqing asked.

“It’s fine — just please stop sending me ginseng broth. My constitution isn’t weak,” Baili Xiaosheng said earnestly. These past days, all that nourishing medicine had nearly made her throw up.

“That’s what the physician prescribed, not me,” Ziqing said with a laugh, then thought for a moment before speaking again. “Xiaosheng, there’s something I want to discuss with you.”

“Discuss?” Baili Xiaosheng was puzzled — what matter could Aunt Qing possibly need to discuss with her? She hardly felt worthy of that.

“Shiliang… is still locked up in the dungeon. I think… keeping her around will only be trouble in the end. Better to destroy her, once and for all,” Ziqing said earnestly.

Baili Xiaosheng had nearly forgotten about this matter entirely. Now that Ziqing brought it up, she remembered — but she didn’t answer right away.

Seeing this, Ziqing had already made something of a guess. She understood this girl well — she was never the type to compromise, never one to swallow her pride to please anyone.

Aside from her master, there was no one in the world who could make her give ground against her will.

Sure enough, as Ziqing had expected, Baili Xiaosheng had no intention of giving up on Shiliang, nor was she willing to force herself to agree simply because Ziqing had asked.

“Aunt Qing, Shiliang… I want to keep her. My master personally trained her, raised her by hand — she’s practically a treasure of mine. I don’t want to destroy her,” Baili Xiaosheng said honestly.

The poison corpse Shiliang held memories shared between her and her master, and moreover, she was practically Xiaosheng’s own magic weapon, a formidable tool — should danger come, with a single command, Shiliang would stand between her and harm.

Something like that, she had no intention whatsoever of giving up, deep down.

Ziqing still wanted to persuade her, but Baili Xiaosheng said earnestly, “Aunt Qing, I promise you, keeping Shiliang around won’t cause trouble. What happened with Sheng Zimo was just an accident. Really!”

Seeing how sincere Baili Xiaosheng was, and thinking of how Baili Weisheng had left without a word, Ziqing truly couldn’t bring herself to take Shiliang away — yet she couldn’t explain that to Guxi either.

She thought it over and still tried to persuade her. “Girl, if you stay here with me, who would dare bully you? What use would Shiliang be then?”

Yet to her surprise, this drew a strong reaction from Baili Xiaosheng. “Aunt Qing, I don’t want to stay in the palace!”

Hearing this, Ziqing couldn’t help but glance at Jun Buli, who turned his head away to look elsewhere, secretly amused.

“Aunt Qing, once my head wound heals, I want to go back to the Poison Den,” Baili Xiaosheng said, a flicker of guilt in her eyes. “The Poison Den… I’m the one who destroyed it. I want to take Shiliang and rebuild it.”

To her, the Sheng family didn’t hold nearly as much meaning as the Poison Den did.

That was the place where she’d grown up — hers and her master’s old lair.

At this, Jun Buli finally spoke up, warning her, “Next month, Da Zhou will send troops against Nanzhao. Think it through carefully.”

To his surprise, Baili Xiaosheng laughed. “Times of chaos are even better — easier for me to recruit soldiers and buy weapons.”

With the destruction of the Xiao clan’s beast tribe, Nanzhao had once again fallen into a fresh round of chaos and warfare. With Da Zhou making its move now, it would surely throw Nanzhao into even greater disorder — and at times like this, all those talented individuals afraid of war would naturally scramble to find somewhere to settle. Baili Xiaosheng believed the Poison Den would be their best choice.

“What, planning to take a share of the spoils from me?” Jun Buli teased.

“Wouldn’t dare — I’d only ask Your Majesty’s beast army to spare its claws,” Baili Xiaosheng shot back teasingly. She knew that when Jun Buli marched into Nanzhao, he would certainly deploy the beast army as the vanguard.

Watching the two of them joke around like this, Ziqing felt a pang of regret she couldn’t quite express, but she didn’t try to persuade otherwise either — she wasn’t about to ruin Xiaosheng’s entire life over one Consort Li.

This wild girl belonged out in the untamed wilds — the high walls of the palace would only clip her wings, keep her from ever flying free.

As for Shiliang, Ziqing thought that rather than trying to persuade Baili Xiaosheng, it would be better to persuade Guxi instead.

That evening, Baili Xiaosheng stayed to dine in Ziqing’s chambers. Situ Jing’er and Meng Duo’er found an excuse to slip away early. Baili Xiaosheng sat on the tatami mat beside Ziqing’s bed, keeping her company, chatting about many things — though she never brought up why she was leaving, nor did she speak up for the Sheng family of Nanzhao.

Watching this child, so strong and resilient, Ziqing’s heart ached. She couldn’t help but think — if only she were this girl’s real mother, how wonderful that would be!

Perhaps then, she might have been able to reach her heart.

She could never become her daughter-in-law now, but Ziqing couldn’t help asking, “Girl, if you go back to the Poison Den, who will dare marry you?”

“I won’t marry,” Baili Xiaosheng blurted out without a second thought.

Ziqing burst out laughing. “When I was young, I said the same thing — never marrying!”

“I’m ugly. No one would want me,” Baili Xiaosheng added.

“I’m ugly too — uglier than you. You’ve seen it yourself,” Ziqing said.

“Not competing with you over who’s uglier — I should get going!” Baili Xiaosheng quickly deflected the topic, rising lazily to her feet. Seeing the little princess had fallen asleep, she leaned in gently to steal a kiss on her tiny cheek, smiling. “Prince Yao will be back soon — I’ll head off now!”

It really was quite late. Jun Beiyue had been busy with Nanzhao affairs these past days, otherwise he’d have been back earlier.

Ziqing was reluctant to let her go, and only agreed to release her once Baili Xiaosheng promised to stay a while longer.

The moment she stepped out of the courtyard gate, Baili Xiaosheng suddenly felt the whole world go silent. Only now, coming down from the earlier joy, did she realize she was, in the end, always alone — the liveliness always belonged to others.

She walked with her head down, silent, letting the moonlight stretch her shadow long.

The farther she walked, the quieter and lonelier it became. In truth, she’d been used to being alone before too — but before, even though her master wasn’t by her side, he hadn’t abandoned her.

Now, things were different — now, truly, she was left completely alone.

Without realizing it, Baili Xiaosheng’s steps grew slower and slower. She thought she should just head back to the Poison Den sooner rather than later — she really didn’t belong here.

But before long, she sensed a presence behind her, and spun around abruptly to find…

…