That night, the veiled lady’s legs appeared to have improved yet again.

Feng Jiu had always known it — this woman’s body and bones were extraordinary. When injured, she recovered faster than anyone else.

Among all the women Feng Jiu had ever known, she was the most remarkable: eyes that looked as though they had weathered many long years of life, yet a body that was clearly no more than in its early twenties.

Her feet told the story of those years. The rest of her skin was flawless — but the heels of both feet were covered in thick calluses, left behind by years of walking and exertion.

She was certainly not some sheltered daughter raised behind palace walls. She was someone who had spent long stretches of time out in the world.

Feng Jiu’s curiosity about her identity deepened, though she remained unable to piece it together.

“How did things go today?” The veiled lady noticed Feng Jiu staring at her feet in a daze and asked, her expression calm.

“How things went today — that, my lady should know better than I do.” Feng Jiu set down her feet and began removing the needles.

The veiled lady smiled faintly, the warmth in it reaching her eyes effortlessly. Time spent with this girl always carried a certain lightness.

“You remind me of myself when I was young,” the veiled lady said suddenly.

Feng Jiu paused, and instinctively looked up at her.

The face behind the veil was half-visible, half-obscured — but as always, impossible to see clearly. “I take that as a compliment,” she said.

“Why would you assume it is one?” The veiled lady raised an eyebrow. Had she said that resembling her was a good thing?

“My lady is a woman of great confidence — and, one would imagine, considerable self-satisfaction. Since she considers me similar to herself, she must be quite satisfied with me as well.”

There was not a trace of embarrassment in Feng Jiu’s voice as she said this — her expression remained as still and mild as water, neither cold nor warm.

The veiled lady studied her face. To speak such praise of oneself without so much as a flicker of self-consciousness.

She let her gaze settle on Feng Jiu, and after a long moment, said with sincerity, “Ni Sui resembles me — yet surpasses me.”

This, Feng Jiu had not expected. For someone so confident — even self-assured to a fault — to say that another person was better than her?

“When I was your age, I did not have your calm and composure.”

“I simply do not care much for standing out,” Feng Jiu replied lightly — and it was the truth.

The veiled lady’s smile faded. She raised a hand — she seemed about to touch Feng Jiu’s face.

Feng Jiu faltered, and instinctively moved out of reach.

The veiled lady stared at her for a moment, something complex moving through her eyes. “You were not always like this. Was it the hardships you endured outside that shaped you this way?”

Feng Jiu still could not quite read this veiled lady’s thoughts. But in this moment, she felt no ill intent from her whatsoever.

After a pause, she gave a small nod. “There was… a fair amount of difficulty.”

“And yet your heart seems perfectly still — why?” If there had been suffering, there must have been someone who caused it. So why was there not even a trace of resentment when she spoke of it?

Feng Jiu looked at her, then allowed herself a quiet smile. “Why harbor resentment toward those one no longer cares about? Not that I am some saintly soul without reproach…”

She stopped herself. “Saintly without reproach” — that expression probably meant nothing to this veiled lady.

Feng Jiu clarified, “What I mean is — those who have harmed me, I will repay them when the opportunity comes. But if the opportunity has not yet come, there is no need to dwell on it constantly. After all, dwelling on it only harms me. What would be the point?”

The veiled lady was slightly taken aback. This sort of reasoning — no one had ever put it to her before. Let alone from a girl of sixteen or seventeen.

Something shifted in the depths of her eyes, a glimmer passing through — but in very little time, the flicker of confusion was gone, and in its place Feng Jiu saw unmistakably the killing coldness of deep-seated hatred.

The murderous intent was heavy; the ferocity hidden beneath the surface could not be concealed. The hatred this veiled lady carried within her ran extraordinarily deep.

Still, everyone had their own past that others were not privy to. Feng Jiu saw no reason to pry.

To say nothing of others — did she herself not carry her own hatreds? For those who had tried to harm her beside Ninth Imperial Uncle, for those who had hurt the people she cared about — she hated them too.

But as she had said: when the chance to settle the score came, she would settle it. For now, she truly had no opening — because those people were all individuals who could be of use to Ninth Imperial Uncle, people he needed.

Being human was sometimes a deeply contradictory thing. You hated; the opportunity even stood before you — but if she were to take her revenge and kill Emperor Ji and Ye Luosha, what would become of Ninth Imperial Uncle and Mu Mu?

It was a contradiction that wore her out. Better to set it aside for now. At worst, she could handle those like Leng Yue the way she had today: meet them once, beat them once.

“My lady — at the rate you are recovering, your legs should be ready to try bearing weight next month.”

“Truly?” The veiled lady was mildly startled. The girl spoke with remarkable boldness. Most physicians would not dare make such promises — if they could not be kept, the disappointment would be crushing.

“Truly.” Feng Jiu finished tidying her things and looked back at her. “My lady’s body and bones are extraordinary. She is one of the fastest-recovering patients I have encountered in all my years of practicing medicine.”

“One of?” The veiled lady seemed particularly inclined to conversation tonight — she was saying considerably more than usual.

“Yes — one of.” Feng Jiu gave a small nod with a smile.

The second and third were Ninth Imperial Uncle and Mu Mu.

These three recovered from injury faster than anyone else she had known. But the veiled lady was ultimately a woman, and a woman’s constitution was generally somewhat more fragile than a man’s.

And yet this lady’s physical condition was comparable to Ninth Imperial Uncle’s and Mu Mu’s. Were she a man, she might have surpassed them both.

Among women, her constitution was the finest Feng Jiu had ever encountered — without exception.

She had even carried this injury to her legs for so many years — meaning her constitution must once have been even more formidable than it was now, in the years before. How remarkable that must have been.

What was strangest was that for all this extraordinary strength, she appeared outwardly delicate and gentle. That was a rare quality indeed.

No wonder even Emperor Qiwen had been utterly captivated by her. How she must have swept men off their feet in her youth was not difficult to imagine.

“My lady, I should take my leave.” Feng Jiu rose to her feet.

But the veiled lady looked at her and asked, unhurried, “If the Nanmen clan were to change leadership — in your view, who would be most advantageous to Emperor Qiwen as the one holding power?”

Feng Jiu paused. She had not expected such a question to come so suddenly.

Her expression shifted slightly. But the veiled lady smiled and said, “If you try to play any mind games in front of me, I’m afraid I will not be pleased.”

Rather than answering, Feng Jiu turned the question around: “My lady is not one of the consorts of the inner palace. May I ask — does my lady stand entirely on His Majesty’s side?”

“You have quite the audacity.” Though the veiled lady said the words, there was no trace of actual displeasure in her manner.

On the contrary, she smiled. “When things go well for him, it is, in certain respects, well for me also — but we each have our own designs.”