Yan Sanhe’s voice choked.

“Do you know what Lu Shi said about you?

He said: He already did his best;

He said: He enjoyed glory and wealth but walked on knife-mountains and fire-seas—he had it harder than anyone.

At the end he also said: It’s also thanks to him that he buried me so thoroughly.

For someone like Lu Shi to willingly be a hidden chess piece—besides for the Tang Family, wasn’t there also other reasons?

After you died, who knew of this hidden piece’s existence?

Yet year after year, day after day, he continued being his hidden piece. After Tang Zhiwei’s death, he mercilessly drew his sword of vengeance—was it only for the Tang Family?

He was also crying injustice for you, Zhao Lin.

Tang Jianxi is outside the courtyard right now. He only met you three times in his life, yet has always firmly believed you were innocent and blameless, and still carries with him the jade pendant you gave him.

He said—

‘I was unwilling to follow him like Chu Yanling did, so he let me go and allowed me freedom for the rest of my life. Freedom for the rest of one’s life—in this world, how rare is that!

A reigning Crown Prince actually said to his junior disciple: Little junior brother, grow up slowly.

How precious!

How could he not remember you for a lifetime?

Now this jade pendant is with Dong Chengfeng.

Dong Chengfeng calls you ‘Fox Zhao’ with his mouth, and often curses you in his heart for calculating against him.

But do you know?

For a wild cub born on the grasslands—drinking large bowls of wine, eating large chunks of meat, being romantically unrestrained—these things were in his blood.

Because of you, he changed all of it.

Later, you said his qin music gained a bit of spiritual energy and lost a bit of turbidity.

Do you know what a qin master seeks in life?

Nothing more than someone who can understand the joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness in his music.

The first time he met me, before playing the qin, he said: One sound enters the ear, ten thousand matters leave the heart.

Were these words said to me?

No.

I think he was speaking to you.

During those three years in the Crown Prince’s residence, when he burned incense and cleansed his hands before playing qin for you, he must have also said this sentence. Insomnia comes from excessive worry; excessive worry comes from too many concerns.

He urged you to set aside the matters in your heart and sleep well.

He always said he never put you in his eyes, but everything proves that to this day, your every word and deed still influences him.

Later he entered the Prince of Han’s residence, became the Prince of Han’s strategist, instigating the Prince of Han to raise troops in rebellion.

Son rebelling against father—doesn’t this pattern resemble yours?

A wild horse that no one could tame willingly entered the cage, using the method of repeating the past to settle old accounts.

For whom?

Only for Shen Duruo?

Also for you!

Oh yes, before parting, he asked me to bring you a message. He said he had eight lifetimes of bad luck to have met you.

The other sentence was for Shen Duruo. He said how much merit he must have accumulated in his past life to meet her in this one.

But if he hadn’t met you, how could he have met her?

The person he likes is her; the person he resents is not you.

Rare are true companions; when strings break, who listens?

In Dong Chengfeng’s lifetime, he had two true companions—one was Shen Duruo, one was you.

When everything was finished, he threw away his qin, never to play another piece in this life, because his true companions were all gone.”

When Yan Sanhe’s last word fell, the Yin Realm was utterly silent.

The fierce wind retreated into the firmament, black clouds gradually dispersed.

The pupils of the crow before her remained pitch black, but if examined closely, one could see that deep within the pupils, tender warmth was slowly, bit by bit, spreading outward.

“Shen Duruo was the most special woman in the capital, with the most far-reaching aspirations.

Someone like her—no worldly thing could bind her, much less that ephemeral emotion between men and women.

To her, men weren’t as important as a medicinal herb.

Yet she actually came to love you—an old man who could have been her father.

How exceptional must this old man have been to make the intelligent and perceptive Shen Duruo love him deeply?”

The pride in Yan Sanhe’s eyes couldn’t be suppressed.

“After Dong Chengfeng discovered this, he didn’t even dare voice his own feelings, because he knew that no matter how hard he tried, exhausting his entire life, he couldn’t compare to even a fraction of you.

After Shen Duruo left the Crown Prince’s residence, she never again drew close to another man.

Dong Chengfeng followed her for so many years, hinted so many times—all useless.

Was she keeping herself for you?

Not keeping herself.

Rather, having seen the best person, other people could never again enter her eyes.

In this world, no one would stand up for her and say to the old Prince: Whether there’s a blade at the neck doesn’t matter; whether there’s a conscience in the chest—that’s what matters.

Nor would anyone bury deep feelings and tell her: The world lacks a good physician, a good healer. In two more years, you may leave the residence.

She used this self-torturing method to repay your feelings for her and your understanding and magnanimity in letting her go free.

Seventeen years—day and night, was it difficult for her?

No one had it harder than her, living each day on memories and longing.

Did she have resentment?

She had no resentment.

She watched mountains, waters, and the human world for you all; burned incense for you on Qingming, burned paper for you at Zhongyuan, recited rebirth sutras for you, made appointments to meet again in the next life.”

Yan Sanhe’s tears flowed again.

“All because in this lifetime, she met you.”

At this moment, the crow’s eyes filled with sorrow and tender affection.

In an instant, at the edge of the firmament, a thread of dawn light appeared. The blood moon that had been pressing overhead had somehow risen higher and higher, its color growing fainter and fainter.

“Finally, let’s talk about your wife, Liang Sunyi.”

Yan Sanhe looked at the crow, her eyes and brows curving.

“Zhao Lin, do you know—when she was very young, she looked forward to standing beside you. To be worthy of you, she worked hard for many years.

In her heart, you were more important than herself. You were her heaven.

When heaven collapses, others might survive, but she alone couldn’t. She couldn’t wait to follow you, to accompany you—so resolute and brave.

Crown Princess was actually just a role. From childhood to adulthood, all her thoughts, all she learned, was how to play this role well.

But as she played, she entered the drama, moved her heart. Why?

Because you were Zhao Lin.

There may be many Crown Princes in this world, but there’s only one you, Zhao Lin.

Walking into your heart was difficult, but once inside, wanting to leave was also difficult.

Liang Sunyi said you put everyone in your heart, so naturally she was also in your heart.

Therefore, you could so naturally eat what she served, drink the wine she brought to your lips. This wasn’t the tacit understanding of a day or night—this was the result of years of mutual companionship between you as husband and wife.

Actually, a woman’s confidence in the inner chambers is given by her man.

You gave her everything except romantic love, so she repaid you with life and death together.”

Yan Sanhe sighed softly.

“How many couples share the same bed but different dreams, each thinking their own thoughts, calculating their own schemes. You two, from beginning to end, had identical goals, concerns, and calculations.”

She looked into the crow’s eyes, word by word.

“Even ants steal life. What about humans? Not everyone can make a woman follow in life and death. Zhao Lin, you’re simply extraordinary.”