“Truly clever, truly clever!”

Lu Shi forcefully patted Yan Sanhe’s shoulder several times.

Yan Sanhe looked up at him. “…I guessed correctly?”

Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao both raised their heads. They felt their blood turning cold with fright.

Lin Bi—this, this was impossible!

Lu Shi looked at these three young faces and slowly walked to the window.

Black clouds pressed against the horizon. He felt his knees aching faintly—the weather was about to change.

“In the first two years, I was at a complete loss. I’d lived in the Tang household for seven years—I knew every single person. You could count on ten fingers those who could enter Teacher’s study, and not one had any motive.

Until one day, I offended someone and was being hunted. Ah Da and I were fleeing for our lives…”

“Neither of you abandoned the other. Even at the moment of life and death, even with just one breath left. In that instant, you suddenly thought of Lin Bi.”

Yan Sanhe looked at Lu Shi’s desolate figure. “My lord, did I guess correctly?”

Not a single word wrong.

In that instant, it was as if lightning struck him, splitting his muddled mind open with a flash of white light.

A thought suddenly rose from the bottom of his heart, and then everything became clear.

“She was a dark piece carefully planted in the Tang household. Her suicide wasn’t because of humiliation, but because of guilt. The young miss treated her with complete sincerity, considering her family, telling her everything.”

When Lu Shi spoke these words, his tone remained calm, but the impact on the three of them was like raging waves.

Lin Bi had been personally trained by Tang’s mother and left for her daughter’s use. This person had lived in the Tang household since childhood, as close as sisters with Tang Zhiwei.

This showed the person who planted the piece had been plotting against Tang Qiling many years ago.

And moving against Tang Qiling was aimed at the former Crown Prince.

In other words, the person now sitting on the throne had harbored ambitions for succession many years ago, constantly plotting in secret.

How terrifying!

So damn terrifying!

Yan Sanhe asked in a trembling voice, “After discovering Lin Bi, what did the old lord do?”

“I didn’t truly discover her—just suspected. I sent the suspicion to the former Crown Prince.”

Lu Shi slowly turned around. “The former Crown Prince had someone investigate, but found nothing.”

Yan Sanhe immediately grasped the key point. “The reason nothing was found is that all the leads were deliberately erased.”

“Wiped clean, but I trust my intuition won’t be wrong—it was her.”

Lu Shi was silent again for a moment, then said quietly, “At the same time, I developed another intuition—the former Crown Prince couldn’t take that position, and even if he did, he couldn’t hold it.”

Even though this intuition had long since become reality, Yan Sanhe’s heartbeat still involuntarily quickened.

“Why do you say that?”

“In my heart, Tang Zhiwei was undoubtedly brilliant, but compared to Miss Yan, she still fell somewhat short.”

Lu Shi shook his head helplessly.

“Miss Yan, people fear comparison. It’s not that the former Crown Prince was soft-hearted or his schemes shallow—it’s that the current Emperor’s ambition is vast, methods ruthless, and planning profound. Looking across the realm, no one can match him.”

Yan Sanhe didn’t know much about court politics. These words didn’t strike her as deeply as they did Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao, and both simultaneously thought of another person: the Prince of Han.

Must say, like father, like son.

The Prince of Han had ambition and ruthless methods, identical to the current Emperor.

Would events repeat themselves?

Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao shivered involuntarily.

“Did you warn the former Crown Prince?” Yan Sanhe asked.

Lu Shi suddenly laughed.

This child wasn’t entirely clever about everything—regarding court politics, she seemed quite naive.

“This matter didn’t require my warning. Someone in his position probably slept with one eye open and one ear alert. I only needed to constantly remind him of one thing.”

“I know.”

Yan Sanhe: “Find a way to redeem Tang Zhiwei from the Jiaofang Bureau.”

Lu Shi’s face showed a hint of gratified smile. “He did it. Li San was his arrangement.”

Yan Sanhe felt bitter. “So long—it took eight years.”

“He did his best. I know that.”

Lu Shi’s eyes gradually dimmed.

“Farmers have farmers’ difficulties, officials have officials’ difficulties. Someone of his status and position, enjoying wealth and honor while walking on blades and through seas of fire—he had it harder than anyone.”

Speaking here, Lu Shi suddenly glanced at Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao.

Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao froze, then realized—yes, the current Crown Prince’s position was also difficult now.

At this moment, Yan Sanhe asked again, “Whose idea was Water Moon Convent?”

Lu Shi lowered his eyes. “Her idea.”

“Why?”

Yan Sanhe looked at this old man before her, suddenly feeling powerless.

“Why didn’t you flee far away, find a place no one knew, even if it was deep mountains and old forests, even if it was a remote border town, to spend the rest of your lives together?”

Lu Shi turned around, hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the night for a long while before saying, “Miss Yan, do you have someone you care for?”

These words made the entire water pavilion suddenly quiet.

Yan Sanhe could sense two gazes falling on her. She didn’t look at either of them, lowering her head in silence.

“If Miss Yan has someone you care for, you’ll understand—the opera of the past, the people of the past, they’re all in the past. They can’t be brought to today, nor can they walk into tomorrow.”

Lu Shi’s spine seemed to bend downward a bit more, his voice gentle as water.

“Tang Zhiwei was a high and mighty young miss of wealth and jade. Lishui was a prostitute in the Jiaofang Bureau. Tang Zhiwei could call my name recklessly. Lishui had to carefully address me as Lord Lu.”

He turned around again, slowly walking to sit in the chair, his pale complexion tinged with a hint of gray.

“I could take her to deep mountains and old forests, to remote border towns, but with what identity would she spend the rest of her life with me? What identity would let her peacefully spend the rest of her life with me?”

Everything had long since changed beyond recognition.

Yan Sanhe only felt immense bitterness in her heart.

So there was a kind of love in this world that must separate.

Not because you’re not good enough, but because when I’m with you, my state isn’t good.

I’m fragile, irritable, anxious, guilty, ashamed, doubtful, resentful, bitter, enduring… When I cannot change these emotions, leaving is the best choice.

Lu Shi’s bloodless lips trembled several times before he spoke again:

“Why was that segment of gong sounds her heart demon? Because from that day forward, she actually knew—in this life, this lifetime, the path to happiness couldn’t continue.”

He closed his eyes. “She knew everything.”

What a transparent person!

Thinking of that slender gold calligraphy, Yan Sanhe suddenly developed respect for Tang Zhiwei.

Most women in this world were weak, dependent on men for survival. Men were their sky. For this sky, most of them served carefully, tried to please, and schemed with all their might.

Tang Zhiwei was different.

When she left the Jiaofang Bureau, the Crown Prince was still heir apparent. Even without spending the rest of her life with Lu Shi, she actually had many other choices.

But she chose Water Moon Convent, hiding her name and avoiding this turbid world. Heart-dead despair was one possibility, but there was another—

She was using this method to bury those eight years of collapsed life, not revealing another word to others, not begging for mercy from anyone.