“General Xu… you can’t taste flavors?”

Qingqiong was stunned. He almost couldn’t believe his own ears.

Xu Hexue didn’t respond. He calmly withdrew his hand from Ni Su’s palm and wiped her tears clean. “It’s cold—don’t cry anymore. Your cheeks will hurt.”

Then he slowly stood up. Before him, Ni Su looked up at his face. At his side, Qingqiong also stared at him intently. He sat down close beside Ni Su and said: “Remember what I told you last night? The battle at Mushen Mountain—it wasn’t just one cause, not just one person.”

“Yelu Zhen didn’t kill Miao Tianning back then. On the contrary, he himself was severely wounded and retreated in panic. He wanted to rendezvous with Mengtuo, but by that time Mengtuo was already dead. The thirty thousand Jing’an Army and fifty thousand barbarian soldiers were all annihilated. He saw someone carry me away from the mountain of corpses.”

“That person was named Dou Yingzhang. He was the personal troop commander of Juhan Pass Supervisor Pan Youfang.”

Xu Hexue’s hands supported his knees. “Pan Youfang is now the Commissioner of the Three Judicial Offices. The reason I never suspected him was because he was someone my teacher trusted. On the court, factional strife grew increasingly intense. My teacher and Minister Meng, to keep me from harm, had this person appointed as supervisor. Yet while I was at Juhan Pass, Pan Youfang as supervisor never interfered in military affairs. It was also he who constantly shielded me from pressure in the court, allowing me to deploy troops without constraint.”

“That’s why I trusted him.”

“…He betrayed you? Why?”

Qingqiong drew closer.

“From Tan Guangwen’s statements, he should have been covering for Wu Dai, or perhaps also covering for himself. If he already had private dealings with Wu Dai at that time, then reinforcements not arriving could only mean he intercepted my military orders.” When Tan Guangwen was questioned by Han Qing, Xu Hexue could no longer condense his form. These matters—half were told to him by Qingqiong, half were his own speculation.

Why Pan Youfang changed his position—only he himself knew.

“At that time my eyes couldn’t see. When I was conscious, someone forced me to drink a bowl of medicine.”

“What…”

Qingqiong was about to ask what medicine, but saw Ni Su suddenly stand up. The words about to leave his mouth were suddenly swallowed. A belly full of shock and doubt left him momentarily unable to speak further.

What medicine could it be?

Ni Su supported herself with one hand on the table. Her jaw tightened. Cold wind made her moist cheeks sting painfully. As a physician, though she didn’t know what exactly that bowl of medicine was, she understood that medicinal substances in this world were half medicinal properties, half toxic properties. Used correctly, they were good prescriptions to save people. Used incorrectly, they were deadly poisons to harm people.

Just as among all herbs there was raw pinellia. Poisoning from raw pinellia caused unbearable burning pain in the throat, complete loss of taste, and inability to speak.

What Xu Hexue suffered in life, leading to damaged spirit and soul after death, repairs incomplete—though fine during day yet unable to see at night, though able to speak yet completely without taste.

Ni Su bit down hard on her teeth.

Xu Hexue suddenly stood up and lifted her horizontally in his arms.

“Qingqiong, do you have money?” Xu Hexue looked at Qingqiong.

“…Yes.”

Qingqiong’s voice was hoarse.

“Don’t eat the too-salty wontons anymore. Go to the food stalls outside and buy some.”

Qingqiong stood blankly in the corridor, watching Xu Hexue carry Ni Su toward the room across the way. Outside the covered corridor, flying snow filled the sky. He looked at Xu Hexue’s back.

A ghost or spirit who couldn’t taste the human realm’s flavors—then what difference was there between being here and being in the Nether Capital? Either way, equally lifeless and joyless.

Ni Su’s face remained buried in his chest. The moment Xu Hexue stepped through the door, he suddenly heard her say: “I really want to kill them…”

He paused and lowered his eyelids.

She was trembling.

Xu Hexue placed her back on the bed and bent down to remove her shoes and socks.

Ni Su sat at the bed’s edge looking at him. “What kind of justice is this? The guilty rise high, while the innocent have no remains?”

“As long as there are people, the jade palaces under heaven can never be absolutely clear and bright.” Xu Hexue placed her feet on his knee, rolled up her pant leg, his fingertips dipped in medicinal ointment, movements very gentle as he rubbed it on her knees. “Some are muddy, but some are clear.”

“There is injustice, but there is also justice.”

Xu Hexue set down the ointment, pulled down her pant leg, then supported her shoulders to help her lie down, pulling the cotton quilt to wrap her up. “I already know the truth. This is more important than anything.”

Ni Su looked at him from within the quilt.

She felt that though she was the one still living, this solitary soul before her saw this human world even more clearly than she did. Precisely because of this clarity, precisely because his heart was bright, he never gave himself room to harbor resentment. The truth of Mushen Mountain, the Jing’an Army’s injustice—even having died, he still had to personally seek justice himself.

“You come up too.”

Ni Su shifted further inside the bed.

Xu Hexue said nothing. He removed his shoes and socks before lying down beside her. She immediately went into his embrace. Xu Hexue naturally held her and wrapped her well in the quilt.

“You’ve wrapped me so I can’t get my hands out.”

Ni Su said.

“The room hasn’t burned a charcoal brazier—afraid you’ll get sick.”

Xu Hexue lay on his side, one arm around her.

Ni Su refused to obey. She struggled within the quilt to extend her hand, encircling his neck, nestling into his embrace. “I thought you could taste flavors, so I kept giving you sugar cakes. I thought this would make you a bit happier.”

“I was very happy.”

Xu Hexue couldn’t dissuade her, but actually he also very much wanted to be close to her like this. His fingers touched her temple hair. “By your side, I’ve always been very happy.”

“But whenever I think of how I gave you sugar, asked if it was sweet, if it tasted good, you always…” Ni Su’s forehead pressed against his chest. Her voice caught—she couldn’t quite continue.

He always said it tasted good, always said it was sweet.

Yet perhaps he didn’t even remember what that taste was like.

Ni Su raised her head, both hands cupping his face. “Xu Ziling, even without taste, let’s try to see if we can let you know what flavor is.”

“What should I do?”

Xu Hexue was very cooperative.

“You don’t need to do anything—just answer my questions.” She said.

“All right.”

The moment Xu Hexue responded, unexpectedly she suddenly drew close and kissed the corner of his mouth.

He froze.

Ni Su’s finger touched his thin eyelid, watching his thick, long lashes blink once. She asked: “When I kiss you, what feeling is in your heart?”

“Are you happy?”

“Mm.”

He came back to himself and responded lowly.

“Then you can consider it sweet.”

Ni Su said with a smile.

“I only stared at Little Lord Zhou’s mother’s belongings a bit longer, and you ran up a tree by yourself, even asking if I wasn’t marrying. I said I would, and you turned your face away, ignoring me.”

Hearing her suddenly mention this matter, Xu Hexue felt somewhat uncomfortable. His lightly colored lips pressed together slightly. “Ni A’xi…”

“The taste of vinegar is sour. Do you know, at that time you were like you’d drunk a lot of vinegar?”

Ni Su released his face. “Actually when I saw Little Lord Zhou wearing official robes, I was thinking—if it were Xu Ziling, what would he look like in official robes?”

“It would definitely be very handsome, right?”

Xu Hexue didn’t speak. Even his face remained bland, yet he couldn’t help but tighten his arms, holding her closer.

“The taste of bitterness—I don’t want you to taste it at all, but you’re always not good to yourself.”

Ni Su leaned in his embrace. “As for the remaining flavors, I haven’t yet thought of how to tell you. You must listen to me and stay by my side. When I think of it, I’ll tell you.”

“All right.”

Xu Hexue gently kissed her forehead.

The two held each other like this, neither speaking. After being quiet for quite a while, Xu Hexue suddenly thought of something. “A’xi.”

“Mm?”

Ni Su raised her head.

“Can you give me some money?”

He said.

“What do you want to buy?”

“On our way back, there was a hairpin that looked very nice, but I was afraid you were cold and your knees hurt, so I didn’t ask the price.” Xu Hexue looked at her hair knot with almost no ornaments.

“Use my belongings to exchange—don’t use your money.”

He said.

Ni Su’s lips curved up. “Why didn’t you say so on the road? I don’t even know what that hairpin looks like.”

“Sleep a while. We’ll go look. If you don’t like it, we’ll choose something else.” Xu Hexue’s eyes curved minutely.

“What you choose will definitely be beautiful.”

Ni Su’s half-face pressed against the soft pillow. “I’ll also choose a hairpin for you. You must always wear it—wherever you go, you’re not allowed to lose it.”

Xu Hexue made an “mm” sound. “Definitely won’t lose it.”

Ni Su looked at him for a moment, then hugged his waist again. “Being like this is really quite good. In winter if you’re afraid I’ll be cold, we’ll hug less. In summer, we’ll hug more. I’ll manage your belongings, your money—then you won’t have any private savings.”

Knowing the words she spoke were something to hope for yet unattainable, Xu Hexue still compliantly said: “I don’t want private savings. I’m willing to let you manage me.”

Ni Su laughed once, suppressing her emotions. She deliberately asked him: “If I manage everything about you, then who am I?”

Outside the door, the sky was gray-blue, and snow fell in flurries.

Xu Hexue lowered his eyelids, looking at the woman in his embrace in this cold-tinged light. His face was cold and clear, yet his voice revealed his solemnity:

“My wife, A’xi.”