“From the moment you came out, I have been following you the whole time. Your vigilance is simply too poor.” Mu Mu stepped out from the shadows.

Feng Jiu’er shot him a look of disdain. “Who says my vigilance is poor? Your light-body skills are just too exceptional.”

Never mind — she despised nothing more than being looked down upon by someone with superior light-body skills. This entire journey into the ancient era had been undone precisely by her lack of them.

“Today is a day off. Why not go home for a visit?” Mu Mu regarded her with his usual composure.

Feng Jiu’er let out a breath. She did want to go home — mainly to check in on Yanu.

“What is it? Are you homesick? Is there someone at home you miss so dearly? Your parents?”

“My mother… I have no memory of her whatsoever. As for my father…” Jiu’er laughed, a touch of helplessness in the sound.

Whether that man was truly her birth father was genuinely in question. No real father could be that heartless toward his own child, could he?

Something flickered in the depths of Mu Mu’s eyes as his gaze rested solely on her slender figure.

“If it is not your parents you miss, then… could there be someone else at home you are thinking of?”

“There is, actually. I have a friend waiting for me there.” Thinking of Yanu, a warmth of delight surfaced in Jiu’er’s eyes. “He is truly wonderful. I have been away from home this long — he must be missing me as well.”

“If that is so, why not head back to see him on your day off? Though, if he is merely a friend, why would he be staying at your home? Who is he?”

“He is a servant of the Feng Family who has looked after me for many years. In my eyes, though, he is not a servant — he is my friend.”

“I should go back to see him. But…” Feng Jiu’er turned her gaze in the direction Zeng Lanyue had gone. “That girl…”

“Are you worried those people will not let her go?”

“I do not know whether it is those people or just that one person.” Who could say whether the man behind her was acting alone or as part of a group?

Someone capable of infiltrating this place as a spy did not necessarily operate alone.

She knew Zeng Lanyue would never speak. That foolish girl — she had never intended to force anything out of her anyway.

In any case, the girl had already left. Whatever those people did next would certainly never reach her ears. The real question was whether they would silence her to eliminate any witness.

“Did your father never teach you that those who achieve great things cannot afford to be soft-hearted?”

Mu Mu came to stand beside her, and together they looked in the direction Zeng Lanyue had gone, his expression detached.

“Sometimes, a heart that is too soft can easily lead oneself into danger. Perhaps more often than not, the wiser course of action is to sweep the snow from one’s own doorstep.”

“But don’t you find that kind of life far too cold and utterly pointless?” She had always been one to meddle in other people’s affairs.

Even so, she knew the difference between right and wrong, and she knew what was worth involving herself in and what was not.

She simply had no wish to let herself become that numb and indifferent. After all, she was still a physician.

“Never mind — today is a day off. I am going home to see Yanu!”

……

Zeng Lanyue never could have imagined that every word Feng Jiu’er had spoken would come true.

Perhaps it was more accurate to say that she had, in some corner of her heart, already sensed it — she simply could not bring herself to believe it.

“He sent you here?” She stared at the black-clad figures before her, her heart turned to cold ash. “He truly wants to kill me?”

No one answered. The black-clad figures leveled their long swords, and in unison, several blades drove straight toward the vital point at her chest.

For one fleeting moment, Zeng Lanyue was seized by a despair so absolute that she was ready to surrender everything — even her own life.

But just as the wind of those blades closed in upon her heart, the will to survive suddenly surged back up within her. Why should this be done to her? She had served him with unwavering loyalty — so why, why did this have to be the fate that loyalty earned?