Shen Zhuxi sat down on the ground with a thump, no longer caring about the mud and pebbles beneath her.

“I can’t go on, I can’t take another step, I’m going to die!” she cried.

Waves of pain radiated from the soles of her feet. The stones along the mountain path had been digging into her feet the entire way up, and she had long since reached her limit. The only thing that had kept her from turning back was the thought that going back down would take just as long.

Why was this wretched path so long? Why was this wretched mountain so tall? Why did this wretched Li Wu keep lying to her?

Her feet ached, and her heart ached too. Her aggrieved gaze silently accused Li Wu as tears fell one after another.

Li Wu walked back and crouched down in front of her, a hint of exasperation crossing his face. “You’ve already climbed all the way to the summit with so much effort — how can you be dying now? Don’t you think it would be a waste to die at this point?”

“Not a waste at all!” Shen Zhuxi shot back stubbornly.

“The mountainside is crowded with people and there’s not much to gather there. The inner areas are dangerous — you might run into a bear. The summit has a beautiful view and fewer people. Are you thirsty? I know a spot where the wild fruits are very sweet. I’ll take you there.”

“I’m not going. My feet hurt. I can’t walk another step.” Shen Zhuxi choked out, “I — ah! What are you doing!”

Li Wu gripped her right foot and, before she could react, slipped off her embroidered shoe. Shen Zhuxi’s face went pale with alarm. She yanked her foot back in fright, but her right foot was firmly held in Li Wu’s grip. In desperation, she kicked at his arm with her left foot — only for that foot to end up in his grasp as well.

“Didn’t you say your feet hurt? Let me take a look.” Li Wu said, and with perfect ease, removed her foot wrappings.

“You — you — you shameless scoundrel! Lecherous brute! Lying cheat!” Shen Zhuxi’s face flushed crimson as she threw all dignity aside and unleashed a torrent of abuse.

“Go on, yell louder. With that limited vocabulary, even a six-year-old in Yutou Town could out-curse you. If you ever get the chance, have Fan Sanniang give you some lessons,” Li Wu said, unbothered.

Shen Zhuxi cycled through every insult she knew, but Li Wu kept his head down, examining her feet with the focused intensity of a great wolf that had gone a full day without food and had suddenly spotted a tender piece of fresh meat.

Her own gaze drifted down to her feet.

She had never walked so much on mountain paths. Large red patches had formed along both her big toe and little toe, standing out starkly against the pale white of her skin — a pitiful sight.

“Not too bad,” Li Wu said.

“What do you mean, not too bad?!” Shen Zhuxi gave him an indignant kick.

Her feet were still captive in Li Wu’s hands, so the force she managed was nothing more than a feeble nudge against his chest — less like anger, more like a spoiled pout.

“Lucky there are no blisters.” Li Wu said, gently pressing his hands against her soles. “A little massage and you’ll be fine.”

This insufferable man actually has a shred of conscience. Shen Zhuxi thought, reluctantly, between her sniffles.

Li Wu’s large hands were bigger than her entire foot, able to wrap around it with ease. Having someone give her a foot massage was genuinely comfortable — Shen Zhuxi had grown accustomed to the palace maids doing this in the imperial palace, and at first she thought nothing of it. But then, without quite knowing when, her attention drifted to the color of Li Wu’s skin.

The sun-bronzed warmth of his complexion pressed against the pampered, snow-white pallor of hers, and the awareness that a man was massaging her foot grew sharper and sharper.

Li Wu looked up and met the burning flush on her cheeks. Was it her imagination? His eyes seemed softer than usual.

“Does it still hurt?”

The suddenly tender atmosphere made Shen Zhuxi feel as though she were sitting on pins and needles. She looked away uncomfortably and murmured, “No…”

Before she could finish the word, she let out a wretched shriek.

“Li Wu! Li Wu! You lying, stinking dog — you — ahh!”

Shen Zhuxi writhed in a mixture of sharp pain and numbing sensation, screaming continuously, wishing she could roll on the ground to escape it. Li Wu held her foot firmly, his right hand balled into a fist and pressed against her sole, the knuckle bones working steadily along the meridian points beneath.

Li Wu remained unmoved by her cries. “Once the blocked meridians are cleared, you’ll feel better,” he said coldly. “Keep it down — anyone who hears you will think I dragged a pig up the mountain to slaughter.”

Shen Zhuxi was still in tears — real tears this time, from the pain. After what felt like an agonizing full cup of tea’s worth of time, Li Wu finally released her foot.

“How is it? Much more comfortable now, isn’t it?” Li Wu asked.

Shen Zhuxi was beyond words, tears streaming down her face.

Father Emperor, Mother Consort — why did you leave your child to suffer alone in this world?

Li Wu helped her back into her foot wrappings and embroidered shoe, then crouched down in front of her and reached toward the tears on her face.

“Get those stinking hands away from me — hands that just touched my feet!” Shen Zhuxi startled and pulled back from his reach.

“These ‘stinking hands’ touched your ‘stinking feet,'” Li Wu retorted without grace, wiping his hands on his waist before yanking up his sleeve and roughly pressing it to her face. “How can you even be embarrassed by your own feet?”

By the time he had nearly rubbed her face off, he finally let go.

“Get up and walk around a little. See if it isn’t much better now.”

Li Wu reached out a hand toward her. Shen Zhuxi still harbored a grudge over the foot massage ordeal, so she slapped his hand away and pushed herself to her feet on her own.

When her soles touched the ground, it truly was far better than before. Shen Zhuxi felt a quiet wonder in her heart, though she refused to say a single word about it — she silently brushed the dirt off her clothes.

“Still sulking?” Li Wu said.

Shen Zhuxi did not answer him, nor did she look at him, and instead went about carefully searching her clothing for any stains she might have missed.

“All right, I’ll admit — I shouldn’t have lied about how close we were. But look, you still made it up here, didn’t you?” Li Wu said. “If I hadn’t lied, how would you have made it up here? And how would you have tasted the sweet wild fruit and the flower nectar sweeter than honey?”

“I still haven’t tasted them yet!” Shen Zhuxi huffed back.

“Fine, fine — I’ll go find some for you right now. Stop looking so sour-faced.”

Shen Zhuxi let out a soft, dismissive hum through her nose.

Li Wu stepped off into the dense woods, glancing back as he went. “Keep up. If you get lost out here, you’ll end up as bear feed.”

“I’m not afraid.”

Shen Zhuxi said it firmly, yet her feet quickened their pace all the same.

“Of course you’re not afraid. If you ran into a bear, you’d just let out a couple of howls like you did just now — that would be enough to scare it off.” Li Wu said.

He is utterly full of nonsense. Shen Zhuxi repeated this silently to herself, refusing to dignify it with a response.

The forest floor was blanketed in wild grass, with thick moss growing even over the stones. Walking here was far easier than the bare mountain path from before. The sights were all new to her, and she was filled with curiosity — the hardships of the climb forgotten entirely as she looked around with wide, eager eyes.

Li Wu occasionally pointed out nearby medicinal herbs and wild mushrooms clinging to tree trunks, noting which ones were edible and which were deadly poison. Whenever Shen Zhuxi spotted something she had never seen before, she would ask:

“What’s this?”

Li Wu walked over to where she was pointing and snapped off a tall-stemmed plant growing among the wild grass. It looked somewhat like a bamboo shoot, segmented and jointed, with red markings along the stalk.

“This is spotted knotweed. You can eat it raw — it tastes sweet and sour. Try some.” Li Wu held out the freshly broken end toward her.

Shen Zhuxi shook her head cautiously, not daring to take a bite. Li Wu paid no mind and simply put it in his own mouth, biting down with a crisp crunch.

“Spotted knotweed can be used in cooking and as medicine. Once you bring it back, the tender upper shoots can be stir-fried, and the lower root section can be boiled down into a cooling herbal tea. Not bad for beating the summer heat.” Li Wu finished off the tender shoots in a few bites, tossed the remainder aside, and crouched down to break off a new stalk. “Zhou Sao makes a good batch of herbal tea. We’ll bring some back and have her brew a crock of it.”

Shen Zhuxi crouched down beside him and, following his lead, managed to snap off a stalk herself.

“We didn’t bring a basket. We can only carry so much back down.”

“Someone knows to bring us a carrying basket.”

“Who’s going to bring us a carrying basket?” Shen Zhuxi asked, puzzled.

The sound of footsteps came from the path leading up the mountain. Without looking up, Li Wu said, “Speak of the devil.”

Li Kun and Li Que made their way up the path. When Shen Zhuxi looked up, Li Que broke into a wide grin and waved enthusiastically.

“Sister-in-law! Big Brother!”

A large bamboo-woven basket was strapped to Li Kun’s back. He covered ground at three times her pace and was at their side in no time. Li Kun set down the basket, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the spotted knotweed scattered on the ground.

“Knotweed — braised meat. Gather lots. Lots.”

Li Que came to stand beside Li Wu and crouched down to help snap knotweed alongside him.

After a while, Shen Zhuxi lost interest in the knotweed and stood to look around. Li Wu noticed her moving away and called out without looking up, “Don’t go too far.”

“I’ll just take a look nearby.” The words had barely left her mouth when she spotted a cluster of plants covered in fuzzy little purple flowers. She studied them curiously for a moment, then turned and called out to Li Wu, “Li Wu — what kind of plant is this?”

Li Wu set down the knotweed in his hands and walked over to her.

Before he even reached her, he recognized the plant in front of Shen Zhuxi.

“Thoroughwort,” he said. “You can pick some to take home. Dry it and stuff it into a pillow, or make it into a sachet to wear.”

At the mention of a scented pillow, Shen Zhuxi’s eyes lit up.

“How do I pick it? Where do I start?”

Li Wu simply crouched down and plucked a sprig himself as a demonstration. Once Shen Zhuxi had the idea, she began picking thoroughwort alongside him.

Thoroughwort was easier to gather than knotweed, and before long, a generous pile had grown beside them.

Li Wu paused and looked at Shen Zhuxi, who showed every sign of intending to strip the entire cluster bare. “That’s enough for a pillow and a few sachets,” he said.

“I want to give some away as gifts too.” Shen Zhuxi kept picking without looking up.

“To whom?”

Shen Zhuxi set down her handful and began counting on her fingers. “I want to make a thoroughwort pillow for Zhou Sao, and some sachets — for Sang Niang, Sui Rui, Jiu Niang, the next time we all get together…”

Li Wu said drily, “Didn’t you forget anyone?”

“Did I?” Shen Zhuxi looked up in surprise. “Are you thinking I should include Zhu Daniang too? But my embroidery really isn’t presentable enough — I’d have to ask Zhou Sao to do it for me, and if there are too many, I’d feel embarrassed asking…”

“Does this man count as dead?”

“Of course you’re not dead.” Shen Zhuxi said, startled.

The two stared at each other for a long moment. Li Wu fell silent, his gaze dark with quiet grievance. Then a flash of realization cut through Shen Zhuxi’s mind, and she finally understood what he meant.

“If you want one…” Shen Zhuxi hesitated, “…I suppose I could spare one for you.”

“Spare what? A sachet made by Zhou Sao?” Li Wu yanked off a sprig of thoroughwort. “Forget it!”

What had gotten into him all of a sudden? Shen Zhuxi was completely baffled as she watched him rise to his feet with a sour expression and walk off toward Li Que and Li Kun.

Utterly inexplicable!

Shen Zhuxi decided to ignore this insufferable man and went back to picking thoroughwort. Before long, the cluster in front of her thinned, and she glanced around until her sharp eyes caught another patch growing at the bottom of a nearby slope.

She gathered her skirt and carefully picked her way down the slope.

“Ahh!”

Her foot landed on something soft and yielding underfoot. Shen Zhuxi lost her balance and stumbled, tumbling down the slope.

“Shen Zhuxi!” Li Wu’s voice rang out from behind her.

Shen Zhuxi grimaced and rubbed her backside. The slope was not very tall, so the fall was not enough to truly injure her — only her poor backside had paid the price, landing squarely on an uneven rock.

“I’m fine — “

The words died in her throat, and she let out a sharp scream.

There, directly before her eyes, at the bottom of the slope —

A male corpse lay face-down, blood-stained all over, with one hand protruding from the sleeve — gnawed down to bare, pale bone by some unknown animal.