The downpour drenched them both like drowned rats. Yan Sanhe was fine, but Xie Zhifei developed a high fever.

In the depths of a stormy night, no imperial physician would make a house call.

Li Buyan ordered Tang Yuan to bring out all the strong liquor in the house and pour it into a basin. She then ordered Ding Yi to soak towels in the liquor and wipe Third Master’s palms, soles, and temples.

Pei Xiao asked where this method came from.

Li Buyan said it was her mother’s homemade remedy. When she had high fevers as a child, her mother would use this method to reduce her temperature—it was guaranteed to work within an hour.

At that moment, Pei Xiao’s curiosity reached its peak.

Li Buyan mentioned her mother often, but she never spoke of who her father was.

Who was her father?

In less than an hour, Third Master’s fever indeed subsided somewhat.

Meanwhile, Tang Yuan had cooked thin rice porridge.

Third Master drank a bowl while it was hot and covered himself with the quilt to sweat it out. Yan Sanhe moved a chair beside the bed to keep watch.

Xie Zhifei drifted in and out of consciousness. Each time he opened his eyes and saw Yan Sanhe, his heart felt at peace.

It was as if no matter how fierce the wind outside, how heavy the rain, none of it had anything to do with him.

It was as if he could grit his teeth and endure all those people and events of the Zheng family.

He didn’t let Yan Sanhe go rest. Even when asleep, his hand clutched hers tightly.

As he lay there, his facial features became more pronounced, his contours more defined. When Yan Sanhe grew tired, she would doze with her head on the bed. When she woke, she would stare at his face.

This face was truly beautiful.

She never seemed to tire of looking at it.

Since they had acknowledged their feelings for each other, they hadn’t spoken many sweet words or done many intimate things. The most improper thing they’d done was that long embrace in the rain just now.

Yet she always had this feeling that they had accompanied each other for a very, very long time—so long that even without him saying “stay,” she knew…

He didn’t want her to leave!

Through the beaded curtain, Pei Xiao watched the two of them, and for some reason felt so moved he wanted to cry.

One with increasingly failing memory, one with recurring heart palpitations—how had their lives come to this?

Back when Yan Sanhe hadn’t yet arrived in the capital, he and Xie Wushi would visit pleasure houses to hear songs and gambling dens to gamble every other day. How carefree they were!

Heart palpitations didn’t exist then.

Even in the first year after Yan Sanhe and the others arrived in the capital, life was still pleasant. While resolving inner demons, he could bicker with Li Buyan when he had nothing else to do.

Back then he hadn’t yet realized he had feelings for Li Buyan.

Back then Yan Sanhe was just a spirit medium.

Back then he was his parents’ treasure, and Xie Wushi was the Xie family’s darling.

And now?

Pei Xiao let out a long sigh in his heart, turned, and left.

…

At dawn, Xie Zhifei’s fever broke completely, and only then would he release Yan Sanhe’s hand.

Yan Sanhe returned to her room and slept deeply for two hours. When she opened her eyes, Xie Zhifei had changed positions—now sitting by her bed, smiling as he watched her.

“Half an hour ago, Shen Chong came to the estate asking about the inner demon. I made an excuse that you were sleeping and sent him back first.”

Xie Zhifei pinched her chin. “How to handle this matter and what approach to take—you need to decide.”

“Why do you always like sitting by my bed?”

Though Yan Sanhe didn’t particularly care about her appearance, in front of her beloved, like any other young woman, she didn’t want to be seen disheveled.

“Habit. Don’t mind that you look terrible.”

Xie Zhifei ruffled her hair.

“Get up. We still need to give Huairen an explanation—this matter can’t be avoided.”

“Eat first, then discuss.”

Yan Sanhe said in a muffled voice: “It’s time for a conclusion.”

…

At the dining table, Lu Da had joined them, making exactly one full table.

Li Buyan and the others kept piling food into Lu Da’s bowl, their ingratiating smiles three times thicker than that crucian carp and tofu soup.

In literature there is no first place, in martial arts no second.

When masters meet masters, it’s all about one word: “respect.”

One meal nearly stuffed Lu Da to death. He threw a sentence at Yan Sanhe: “Young Master, you discuss matters. I’ll go outside and stand guard.”

As the door closed, the light inside the room dimmed.

Yan Sanhe stood up, habitually paced around the room a few times, then began:

“The inner demon of the Zheng family divides into two parts. One is the Zheng family’s unjust case. After the Emperor issued his edict of self-reproach, the warhorses improved by half. The other part is the old general’s cause of death.

Now his cause of death has been completely clarified. This means the inner demon can be concluded here by lighting incense. Only one loose end remains—that’s my own matter, unrelated to the inner demon.”

Xie Zhifei had heard her mention this: “You want to find out who leaked the Haitang Courtyard matter to the Emperor?”

“Yes.”

Yan Sanhe: “The plan to send me away was hastily arranged, but Old General Zheng’s protection of Haitang Courtyard was airtight—it was also reasonable and justified.

So who spied on Haitang Courtyard’s secret? And why did they leak the secret to Emperor Yonghe?”

At this point, she suddenly gritted her teeth.

“I must find this person and kill them.”

Xie Zhifei’s heart was also full of hatred. If not for this person, the Zheng family wouldn’t have been exterminated, the old general wouldn’t have died in battle, none of the tragedies would have happened.

If Emperor Yonghe was the chief culprit of the Zheng case, then this person was the instigator.

“Killing with one blade is too simple.”

Xie Zhifei sneered: “This kind of despicable wretch should be torn apart by five horses.”

Li Buyan slammed the table: “Dismembered into ten thousand pieces.”

Pei Xiao clenched his fist: “Even after death, drag them out for public flogging.”

The words grew increasingly vicious. Yet the tightly clenched teeth in Yan Sanhe’s mouth slowly relaxed. How strange—when hatred had people to share it with, it seemed to lighten considerably.

“Next we need to discuss something.”

She took a deep breath: “How to face Crown Prince His Highness.”

At these words, everyone’s minds conjured the same two sentences:

First sentence: Why do we have to face Crown Prince His Highness again?

Second sentence: Can we not face him?

“Shen Chong came early this morning, which means whatever Yan Xi told us, the Crown Prince knows. He can’t wait any longer.”

Yan Sanhe paused, then said with difficulty: “And for the Zheng family’s inner demon, the person who lights the incense should be me.”

The two sentences seemed disconnected at first, but everyone understood what Yan Sanhe meant.

Old General Zheng’s cause of death involved the Haitang Courtyard twins.

If Yan Sanhe lit the incense, it would be tantamount to admitting she was from the Zheng family.

Why would she be from the Zheng family?

How did she escape from that massacre?

Was she one of the twins?

One question connected to another, one truth led to another—Yan Sanhe’s shocking identity could no longer be concealed.

Xie Zhifei: “Can’t tell him!”

Pei Xiao: “Can’t tell him!”

Li Buyan: “Can’t tell him!”

The three voices shouted out almost simultaneously.

That Li Buyan would say this made sense. Xie Zhifei looked at Pei Xiao with some surprise.

The corner of Pei Xiao’s eye twitched slightly: “I don’t know why I shouted that. Maybe intuition told me to.”

Pei Xiao hadn’t told the truth.

It wasn’t intuition that told him, but rather he was shocked by Emperor Yonghe’s scheme to murder Old General Zheng Yu.

“Third Master.”

Zhu Qing’s throat moved: “If we don’t tell him, we can’t explain things to His Highness.”

Huang Qi’s face was bitter: “We need to think of some good solution.”

Ding Yi: “What solution can we think of? His Highness is very clever.”

Inside the room, complete silence fell.