Because she was backlit, most of Yan Sanhe’s face was hidden in shadow, making her eyes appear extraordinarily bright.

Lu Shi paused slightly. “I’ll only speak of what can be spoken.”

As his words fell, a large hand grasped Yan Sanhe’s arm and gently lifted her up.

As she settled into her seat, she quickly forced the tears in her eyes back, then turned to nod at Xie Zhifei.

But she was still too slow—the bit of moisture at the corner of her eye fell fully into Xie Zhifei’s sight.

This girl has such a soft heart!

“You said her heart demon was a segment of gong sounds.”

Lu Shi began speaking unhurriedly.

“When the Tang family was raided, it happened to be when I, having passed third in the imperial examinations, was parading through the streets. At that time, the opera ‘Single Sword Meeting’ was being performed on the Tang family’s opera house stage.”

Such a coincidence?

Yan Sanhe slowly let out a breath.

She remembered Xie Zhifei once saying that when the top three scholars paraded through the streets, they’d have gongs and drums clearing the way.

“So the gong sounds in her heart demon weren’t just referring to opera gongs?”

Lu Shi seemed not to hear Yan Sanhe’s voice, speaking to himself.

“The top three parade must pass over the Golden Water Bridge. Near the Golden Water Bridge there’s a shop belonging to the Tang family. Looking down from the second floor, you can see the entire parade spectacle clearly.

We’d agreed—she’d wait for me on the shop’s second floor and toss a flower into my arms, as her way of proposing marriage to me.

I forgot to mention, I’m a man without roots. Originally I’d planned to marry into the Tang family after passing the examinations.

I joked, what if you miss? She said not to worry—she’d prepare a hundred or so flowers. One would surely hit me. That year she was nineteen, having waited three years for me already.”

When he, wearing a golden flower and black gauze hat, dressed in a bright red robe, holding the imperial edict in his hands, sat atop a tall horse and looked up at the second floor, he didn’t see her figure.

At that moment, Lu Shi’s heart gave a heavy thud.

“Later I asked the shop attendant. He said the young miss had been delighted hearing the gong sounds from afar. But just then, a secret guard from the Crown Prince’s residence came with a message saying the Embroidered Uniform Guard was about to raid the house.

The attendant said the young miss’s face instantly turned white as a sheet, her body swaying unsteadily, then Lin Bi forcibly dragged her away.”

He described it vividly. Yan Sanhe couldn’t help but picture the scene—

Tang Zhiwei returning home terrified, discovering the Embroidered Uniform Guard had already surrounded the Tang residence. Yet at that moment, the festivities on the opera house stage were still continuing, small gongs tapping away, completely unaware of the catastrophe about to befall them.

“So her heart demon was actually two segments of gong sounds. One was the large gong—her beloved being escorted and acclaimed, walking to the peak of life amid gongs and drums.”

Yan Sanhe: “One was the small gong—the opera on stage had just begun, but the scene belonging to the Tang family was about to fall.”

Lu Shi nodded. “The world says opera is like life, but they don’t know life is far harder than opera. At least in opera there are happy endings.”

That light remark contained so much bitterness.

Yan Sanhe, Xie Zhifei, and Pei Xiao all fell silent.

House raids—they’d experienced this half a year ago.

When the great edifice came crashing down, no matter how high, noble, or prominent you once were, in the end you were nothing but meat in others’ hands, subject to humiliation and slaughter at will.

Young Master Pei sighed. “The old lord must have been frantic with worry.”

“More than frantic—it was like having my bones crushed to ash.”

Lu Shi gazed at the lantern outside the water pavilion. “It was the feeling of calling to heaven with no response, crying to earth with no answer—wishing for death.”

I’ve tasted that feeling.

Young Master Pei sighed again. “What happened after, old lord?”

“After, someone found me.”

Yan Sanhe’s heart stirred. “Who was this person?”

Lu Shi seemed not to hear, his eyes gradually becoming distant.

“He told me this case had both witness and physical evidence—it was iron-clad and couldn’t be overturned. He told me Teacher had sent him a message from prison: ‘Mountain stone can bear heavy responsibilities.’ He also asked if I was willing to take another path to restore the Tang family’s innocence?”

Not just Yan Sanhe was stunned—Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao were dumbfounded too.

So there was another person hidden behind Lu Shi?

Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao turned to look at Yan Sanhe: Who could this person be?

Who else could it be!

Someone who could investigate case evidence within half a day, who could reach into the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s prisons—looking at the whole world at that time, only one person could do this.

Yan Sanhe asked with trepidation, “Was it the person Tang Zhiwei rejected?”

Lu Shi nodded slightly.

He would forever remember that day in the dark room—it was very quiet. He could only hear his own breathing.

That breathing was like someone on the verge of death, the last few hurried gasps clinging to life.

After a long while, that person spoke.

“I don’t know who’s turning clouds and rain behind the scenes, but things definitely aren’t that simple.

Though I’m the Crown Prince, there are many things I cannot do. Even shouting once that he’s innocent—the price of that single cry of innocence might be eternal damnation.”

Lu Shi looked at him, feeling all his clothes soaked through with cold sweat.

“As long as green mountains remain, there will be firewood. We must preserve ourselves first before we can preserve them. I won’t force you. Think it over carefully. Give me an answer before dawn.”

That night was very dark, so dark you couldn’t see your hand before your face.

Lu Shi sat alone in the chair, motionless, like a true mountain stone.

He seemed to return to that night in Liuhe County, curled up alone in his bedding, his whole body ice-cold, hoping for a gentle hand to touch his forehead and save him from the gates of hell.

But he knew clearly in his heart—that hand would never come again.

Lu Shi bent down, burying his face in his palms. Tears slipped through his fingers, unstoppable.

This was the last time in his life he wept bitterly—for that girl, for this damned fate.

As dawn faintly broke.

Lu Shi walked out of that dark room and immediately saw the Crown Prince standing beneath a tree.

Lu Shi walked forward and met his gaze.

Overnight, his face seemed to have aged considerably, his eyes full of bloodshot streaks.

“I have one condition.”

“Speak.”

“Don’t let her suffer too much.”

Lu Shi’s eyes reddened slightly. “She’s such a proud person—she can’t bear humiliation.”

The Crown Prince slowly closed his eyes, his voice trembling slightly.

“Lu Shi, when I first knew her, she was only three. Sixteen years—I watched her grow up bit by bit. She called me big brother. Seeing my brow always furrowed, she told me not to frown, saying it would make me age faster.”

Lu Shi didn’t want to hear more.

He licked his parched lips and said three words:

“I’m willing.”

…

The Crown Prince—it was actually the former Crown Prince.

The three of them looked at each other. Many things that had been incomprehensible suddenly became crystal clear.

Why didn’t Lu Shi sign that blood petition, refusing to vindicate Tang Qiling?

Because he knew in advance that these small tricks would be useless for the case.

Why was he unscathed in the Tang Qiling affair and even able to become a minor official at the Censorate?

Because the Crown Prince helped secretly.

Why wasn’t he in the capital for so many years?

Because he needed everyone to forget his relationship with the Tang family, laying the groundwork step by step for future vindication.

Why did he refuse Chu Yanting’s proposal not to be the honored guest on Tang Zhiwei’s courtesan debut night?

Because he needed to play the role of an ungrateful, heartless scoundrel, letting the whole world see his cold-blooded side.

“Did Tang Zhiwei know about this?” Yan Sanhe asked.