At a place where a landslide had occurred, Liu Da relayed through Tao Laoda’s words: “During their parents’ generation, they had lived in this very spot for over twenty years. When the landslide came, eleven people perished. Later, they also witnessed fire breaking out here for no apparent reason. With no other choice, they moved to where they live now. This is the fourth place they have relocated to.”

Hua Zhi looked at that blackened patch of ground and felt a stirring in her heart. “Yu Tao, go and fetch me a handful of that to look at.”

Yu Tao went without a word. When he returned, he had gathered a pile of it in the fold of his robe.

She gestured for him to set it on the ground, then crouched down to examine it closely. There were not many substances that could catch fire on their own — coal happened to be one of them. And by the look of this material, it very much resembled coal.

“Do you recognize it?”

She turned her head toward Gu Yanxi and, after a brief hesitation, shook her head. “I was merely curious.”

The Great Qing dynasty was not an industrial age — demand for coal was not high. For personal use alone, the trees on the mountain were more than sufficient. If she were to speak up carelessly and reveal the uses of this substance, it might not prove to be a good thing. Ever since the black powder incident, she had become far more cautious.

Once coal’s existence became known to others, it would be the nobility who profited, while the common people would be the ones mining and washing it, bearing all the risks. In an era where human life was worth less than grass, no matter how many commoners died, no one would speak up for them. Why should she volunteer a single word to benefit the powerful at the expense of those people’s safety?

Since it was not something urgently needed, let it remain undiscovered until future generations had need of it.

That day they spent the night in Ling Village. The following day they retraced their route, familiarizing themselves with the surrounding area in broad strokes. In the evening, each of them sketched out a map of a proposed canal route, and after careful discussion they settled on a preliminary course.

Hua Zhi handed the agreed-upon blueprints to Gu Yanxi. “This matter will still need to be handed over to specialists. When the Ministry of Works takes over, these can serve as a reference — the specifics will ultimately have to follow their judgment.”

Gu Yanxi tucked the blueprints away and rose to his feet. “Shall we go for a walk?”

Hua Zhi raised an eyebrow. Take a walk — in a place like this?

Gu Yanxi smiled and reached out a hand toward her. She responded with easy indifference, extending her own hand, and the two of them walked side by side up to higher ground.

Bao Xia and Xu Ying exchanged a glance, both of them quietly anxious. Their young mistress was truly too daring — an unmarried man and woman alone together in the dead of night. If word got out, what would become of her reputation? Yet their mistress thought nothing of it…

Well, never mind. That Master Lu seemed to have genuine feelings for their mistress. Surely he wouldn’t be the one to let it slip… Bao Xia consoled herself with this thought, though the worry rising within her was nearly enough to drown her.

The two of them had already climbed to the summit. On the bare expanse of stone, with nothing to block the view in any direction, moonlight fell upon them both, casting long shadows that intertwined and could not be told apart.

Hua Zhi turned back, laughing. “Have you seen any beautiful scenery?”

“I have seen a beautiful person.” Gu Yanxi kept his gaze fixed on the woman who, bathed in the soft, hazy moonlight, seemed almost to float like an immortal. As if truly afraid she might drift away, he instinctively took hold of her hand.

Being praised by the one you love is something that makes anyone happy. Hua Zhi counted herself an ordinary person and was happy accordingly. Following the gentle pull of his grip, she stepped closer to him, and they sat down together on a flat stretch of stone.

The two sat pressed close together. Both of them knew it was more intimate than it ought to be, yet neither made any move to draw back. To Hua Zhi, the so-called propriety of a man and woman not touching was simply something she never took seriously. To Gu Yanxi, this was the woman he intended to marry — an intimacy of this degree was entirely unproblematic.

“When we return, head north straightaway?”

Hua Zhi propped her chin on her hand and gazed at the waning moon above. Another month-end had come. “Let’s rest for a few days. There are preparations to make as well, and that takes time.”

Gu Yanxi drew her close, letting her lean against his shoulder, and said quietly: “After the Yuzhou affair broke, I once suspected several princes had a hand in it. When I sent people to investigate, the Emperor told me there was no need to look into the First Prince — that it had nothing to do with him. That was how I learned the Emperor had dispatched men to Yinshan Pass. He mentioned the Hua Family in passing, and it was clear that the Hua Family’s conduct there had left him very satisfied.”

On the surface Hua Zhi nodded, but inwardly she thought: this would not be the only time. Even if there had been nothing before, there would be more in the future. She needed to remind her grandfather when she saw him — even if it meant performing even more mediocrely than before. The Emperor’s attention must never again fall upon the Hua Family.

“Has the Emperor placed informants there? If I go, and he learns of it…”

“You would rather he didn’t know?”

Hua Zhi considered for a moment. “Let him know. The Great Qing code places no restriction on visiting exiled relatives, nor does it make any distinction by sex. If his attention falls on me, it is better than having him keep his eyes trained on the other members of the Hua Family.”

Gu Yanxi reminded her: “If his attention falls on you, your movements in the capital will no longer be hidden from him.”

“There will come a day when it can no longer be hidden regardless.” She wanted him to see what kind of daughter the Hua Family had raised. If even a daughter of the Hua Family could accomplish such things, then by driving the men of the Hua Family into exile, what had he truly lost?

She knew she was acting out of spite. But this resentment had been lodged in her throat for a year now, and she could not swallow it down. How much had the Hua Family sacrificed for the Gu Family’s dynasty? Those Hua Family men had devoted themselves solely to the study of the sages, never daring to take a single misstep — and in return they received nothing but a sentence of having their home seized and being sent into exile. She resented it on their behalf!

The Hua Family men accepted it. She did not.

She could not stand against the highest power of this age. There was nothing she could do — but she could do well by herself. She could use her own life as proof, to let that Emperor who sat high above all see that the Hua Family he had condemned had not collapsed. The Hua Family that had upheld the integrity of the scholarly class for the Great Qing dynasty had not collapsed!

She wanted the Emperor to see this — even if the price was stepping into the open and letting him watch her every move!

She was a daughter of the Hua Family. What she had learned came from the Hua Family. Her conduct, her character, everything about her, had its roots in the Hua Family — and so she represented the Hua Family!

The better she fared, the more it proved that the Hua Family was good, and the more it demonstrated how baseless the Emperor’s seizure and exile of the Hua Family had been!

If she could make the Emperor see this, then what did it matter that she had stepped out into the open?

Gu Yanxi reached up and gently touched her face, holding her close as he tilted his head toward the sky. The greatest obstacle standing between him and A’Zhi was the exile of the Hua Family. Even now, though he had every intention of taking her as his wife, if her family members could not return, A’Zhi would never give her consent.

Yet for the Hua Family to return at this time was impossible. Even if he worked from within to mediate, with the Emperor’s word spoken as law, the Hua Family’s return would never be permitted so easily — that would be slapping the Emperor’s own face!

Thinking of that old man who had always regarded him with genuine familial warmth, Gu Yanxi let out a quiet sigh and shifted the subject. “I have not yet reported Hao Yue’s existence to the higher authorities. A’Zhi, I would like you to meet her — perhaps you can discern something I cannot.”

Knowing he did not wish to speak of the Emperor, Hua Zhi gave a soft huff. Unwilling to make things hard for him, she picked up the thread of conversation: “Why have me meet her? Is something wrong with her?”

“The feeling she gives me is a little strange. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Wait until you’re back from the north and have a look for me.”

Hua Zhi smiled faintly. “Her goal is you. Whatever you say, she will agree to.”

“Her goal is the leader of the Seven Lodges. And right now, in her eyes, the leader of the Seven Lodges is Chen Qing.” Gu Yanxi pressed his forehead gently against hers. “Jealous?”