Outside, the streets were as lively as ever — which only made the Hua Family’s courtyard seem that much quieter. Everyone moved on tiptoe, afraid of disturbing the sleeping figure inside.

When Hua Zhi finally stirred from her dazed slumber, she thought she had slept all the way to nighttime. The ample light filling the room told her otherwise.

There was another person’s breathing beside her, someone wrapped around her like an octopus. She didn’t need to turn her head to know who it was — the only person who would be this free with her hands was Shao Yao. Yanxi, even if he had the inclination, would know where to draw the line. He would never hold on quite so thoroughly.

Every inch of her ached, yet compared to the earlier numbness, this kind of pain was actually a relief. Pain meant she had sensation throughout her entire body. No damage was irreversible. As long as it was an injury, it could be healed.

Her immediate problem was that she needed to use the chamber pot.

She was just about to nudge Shao Yao awake for help when Shao Yao suddenly snapped upright on her own, eyes flying open. Seeing Hua Hua’s gaze, she let the tension drain from her body and lay back down. “I knew it — I felt your breathing change.”

“Help me to the privacy screen.”

Shao Yao blinked, caught on, and rolled her eyes nearly to the ceiling. “With injuries like yours, don’t even think about getting out of bed for twenty days. You have damage to your internal organs, do you understand?”

“I can hardly relieve myself in the bed.”

“So what if you did? Who would dare say a word!” Even as she said it, Shao Yao was already getting up. She slipped out and returned a moment later with a brand-new basin, tucking it under the covers.

Hua Zhi had lived two lifetimes, and this was the first time she had ever been attended to as though she were completely incapacitated. But with internal injuries, she truly didn’t dare be careless. She endured the awkwardness and took care of the most pressing of life’s three necessities.

Shao Yao served her as though it were entirely natural — this usually heedless person had, for once, paid careful attention. She went and fetched water for Hua Zhi to wash her hands and face.

Her entire body was dripping with perspiration from the pain, yet Hua Zhi was as composed as if nothing were amiss, directing Shao Yao to bring the blanket over to prop behind her back.

Shao Yao carried out the instruction while muttering, “You should keep sleeping. That medicine still needs to be fully absorbed — you mustn’t waste it.”

“When I want to sleep, I won’t force myself to stay awake.” Hua Zhi caught her hand, her voice soft. “You frightened yourself badly, didn’t you?”

Shao Yao recalled her own wild thoughts from earlier, her brows drooping, and curled up close to Hua Hua with an honest nod. “I was terrified. I thought we were going to be ghost sisters.”

Hua Zhi didn’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for her. Mostly she felt a pang of tenderness — for Shao Yao to have let her mind go that far, she really had been frightened out of her wits.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anything beyond the moment.”

Shao Yao shook her head. “I understand. It was for family, wasn’t it? I’ve thrown my life away for family too.”

Hua Zhi paused. “You’ve remembered it all?”

“Not all of it. Sometimes images float up in my mind. I know I was going to die alongside a woman — I just can’t remember her face.”

“If you saw that woman, do you think it would come back to you?”

“There’s no need to remember. I guessed long ago who it was. Yan-ge has held himself back for so many years — it can’t be that he doesn’t want to avenge me. I’ll follow his lead.”

Hua Zhi rubbed her chin lightly against the top of Shao Yao’s head — the only gesture she could make right now without effort. “That’s right. Yanxi hasn’t forgotten. His mother’s grudge, and yours — he holds them both.”

Shao Yao looked up and smiled agreeably. That smile reached the softest part of Hua Zhi’s heart.

“Oh, Hua Hua — do you know who was behind all this?”

Hua Zhi’s smile faded a little. “I have a rough idea. It couldn’t be more than a handful of people.”

“Who?”

“Wait until Yanxi comes back and ask him. He should know far more clearly than I do.”

Shao Yao was just about to press further when the door was pushed open. Seeing it was Yan-ge, she let out a pointed huff. “Tell me — is it the Second or the Third?”

“The Second.” Gu Yanxi didn’t spare her so much as a glance, his eyes fixed entirely on A’Zhi, afraid she might hold this against him.

Yet Hua Zhi seemed to not have heard any of it at all. She reached out a hand toward him. Gu Yanxi caught it immediately, and the knot in his chest eased.

“Have you been awake long?” He sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Just woke up.”

A’Zhi didn’t ask — but Gu Yanxi knew he couldn’t leave it unsaid. He glanced at the extra person present. “Go and make A’Zhi some medicinal cuisine to restore her strength.”

Shao Yao was furious. She had known it — she had known the moment Yan-ge arrived he would chase her away! She wrapped both arms around Hua Hua’s and balled herself up at her side, her expression radiating absolute defiance.

“You don’t want to make something nourishing for A’Zhi?”

Of course she wanted to! But — but she simply did not want to be chased away! She was not the slightest bit extra here!

Shao Yao was filled with furious resentment. She was almost ready to launch herself at him and bite. But then she thought of the terrible injuries Hua Hua had suffered, all the blood she had lost — if she didn’t replenish it, her whole constitution would be depleted.

Weighing it back and forth, Hua Hua’s health still mattered more. She fumed silently and climbed out from the bed’s inner side — and rather than take the wide, open space on the far side, she squeezed deliberately through the narrow gap between the two of them. “Excuse me!”

As long as it got rid of the unwanted party, Gu Yanxi didn’t mind letting this go. He shifted himself half a seat-width back — but he did not release her hand, confident this paper tiger of a girl would not step on A’Zhi’s hand.

“All right, stop teasing her.” Hua Zhi tried to take her hand back. Seeing that he had no intention of letting go, she gave up and said gently to Shao Yao: “You just need to tell the Hua Family’s servants how to prepare it. Go and check on Jia Yang — his injuries are no lighter than mine… Jia Yang should be alright, shouldn’t he?”

Hua Zhi looked uncertainly at the man beside her, her heart lifting with worry. The situation that day had been…

“He’s tougher than you. He took some injuries, but the Hua Family has given him a room and is looking after him well. He’ll be up and about in three to five days.”

“No matter how well they look after him it’s no more than he deserves. That day, without him — and without one other person — the Hua Family would have shared the same fate. “

“Don’t worry. He won’t be short-changed.”

Shao Yao suddenly had the distinct feeling that she actually was a bit extra here… She pursed her lips, stepped into her shoes, and climbed down from the bed. “I’m going to go check on him. Hua Hua, if you want to sleep, sleep. Don’t force yourself. That medicine still has more absorbing to do.”

“Alright.”

The inconvenient third party finally gone, Gu Yanxi drew closer and smoothed back the stray strands of hair from her face. His voice was full of a quiet warmth. “The Second Prince wanted to get hold of Yinshan Pass. He’d already poisoned Wu Yong before — that was also why I left Shao Yao behind the last time, to help with the antidote. What your grandfather was doing there interfered with his plans, so the assassination was arranged.”

“I don’t quite understand,” Hua Zhi said. “He’s a prince. His focus should be on the capital. Why would he want to control a border pass like Yinshan? What good does it do him?” She genuinely couldn’t see it. Even if he had Yinshan Pass in his grasp — what of it? Did he actually think he could use a border post to threaten the capital?

“Ambition outstripping ability — not unusual.” Seeing her wear that rare look of puzzlement, Gu Yanxi reached out and touched her cheek. “On the inside, Noble Consort Hui has spent a lifetime competing with Noble Consort Gui and always come off second-best, pressing him forward. On the outside, restless maternal relatives egging him on. And then Zeng Xian came along to tempt him. That was enough.”

In an instant, Hua Zhi’s mind wove the threads together. Zeng Xian had somehow made contact with the Second Prince and won his trust. Getting a grip on Yinshan Pass wasn’t necessarily about raising an army and staging a revolt — it could be used to cooperate with the grassland tribes on all manner of dealings. The post of frontier garrison commander didn’t have that many people competing for it. If Wu Yong were dead and the Second Prince installed his own man there, skimming money through that border pass would be far easier than doing it in the capital. After all, war was the greatest drain on silver of all. As for the grassland tribes — grain, pressed tea, porcelain, whatever they wanted, just give it to them. Whether that might eventually whet their appetites for more, the Second Prince probably hadn’t thought that far ahead.

And Zeng Xian had certainly not had good intentions of his own.

Indeed. Everything had begun after Zeng Xian arrived at Yinshan Pass.