Prince Jia’s life was saved.

The news that poison had been mixed into Prince Jia’s food also spread like wildfire that very night. The poisoner had not yet been discovered, but in court, the New Party seized upon the incident and fought bitterly with the Old Party.

Within just a few days, rumors that the Noble Consort had viciously poisoned Prince Jia intensified.

But at this very moment,

The Noble Consort braved wind and snow to petition for Prince Jia outside Qinghe Hall.

She was pregnant, so naturally Emperor Zhengyuan would not let her stay long in the cold wind. That day, the Noble Consort remained in Qinghe Hall until dark before emerging.

On the fifth day of the twelfth month, Emperor Zhengyuan personally issued two edicts.

One lifted the confinement of Prince Jia and his consort. The other demoted Princess Consort Jia, Li Xizhen, to commoner status.

“Your Highness, Commoner Li has been married to you for many years yet remains childless,” Liang Shenfu, Director of the Palace Domestic Service, personally came to announce the decree. Seeing Prince Jia’s pale, much thinner face, he felt some pity and consoled him generously: “His Majesty is also planning for your future. After all, the imperial bloodline cannot be treated as child’s play.”

While Prince Jia was still unconscious, palace servants had already moved Li Xizhen out of Chongming Hall. When Prince Jia awoke, he couldn’t even ask where Li Xizhen was now.

He lay on the cold floor, his eyelids red and swollen, saying not a word.

“Quickly help His Highness back onto the bed. We absolutely cannot let His Highness catch cold again.” Liang Shenfu sighed helplessly and summoned several young eunuchs.

Though the prohibition on Chongming Hall was lifted, Prince Jia was gravely ill and couldn’t step out the door even once.

Emperor Zhengyuan had just demoted Princess Consort Jia née Li to commoner status when, after only a few days, news spread through the palace that the Noble Consort wanted to bring her niece to the capital as a suitable match for Prince Jia.

“I heard the Noble Consort’s niece is only fifteen years old?”

The Imperial Medical Bureau was sometimes a place of gossip, but they usually just threw out such remarks coldly, then others would respond with “Yes” or “That’s right,” keeping the rest of their words prudently in their hearts.

Ni Su hadn’t expected that the Noble Consort would also want to bind Prince Jia through marriage ties. If she bore a son, she would only lose a niece. If she bore a daughter, then she could use her niece to curry favor with Prince Jia.

“Old Qin.”

Ni Su bent over medical texts, hesitating for quite a while before asking in a low voice: “Do you know where Commoner Li was sent?”

Hearing her question, Old Imperial Physician Qin raised his head and stroked his beard. “I heard she was sent to a separate estate in the southern suburbs. That place originally housed Emperor Taizu’s concubines.”

When mentioning “Emperor Taizu,” his voice dropped even lower.

“I heard her health is poor. Has anyone gone to treat her?”

Ni Su asked.

“We were just discussing this matter these past two days—who knows who will be assigned to the separate estate. Nobody wants that assignment,” At this point, Old Imperial Physician Qin couldn’t help but shake his head. “No need to think about it, they’ll certainly try to shirk it.”

“May I go?”

Old Imperial Physician Qin paused and raised his eyelids. “You want to go?”

Ni Su nodded. “Since Commoner Li is no longer imperial family, I should be able to prescribe medicine for her, right?”

Old Imperial Physician Qin studied her. “Why do you want to go?”

“I heard that in Tongzhou, Commoner Li was also a woman of considerable renown. I cannot bear that in her time of destitution, she should also suffer illness, so…”

“Don’t say such words praising her in the palace,” Old Imperial Physician Qin raised his hand to stop her. “I know you’re a woman with a compassionate heart, and you study women’s medicine because you cannot bear women’s suffering. Since that’s the case, I’ll speak on your behalf about this matter.”

“Thank you, Old Qin.”

Ni Su showed a smile.

The Imperial Medical Bureau had plenty of Imperial Physicians unwilling to go to the southern suburbs estate. With Ni Su volunteering, this assignment naturally fell to her as a matter of course.

Only before she could go to the southern suburbs estate, news that Prince Jia knelt outside Qinghe Hall with his sick body to refuse the marriage spread throughout the palace.

Prince Jia refused food and drink. In his fury, His Majesty issued an edict ordering Prince Jia to return to Tongzhou.

Great Qi’s princes had no fiefdoms and could not leave the capital, but Prince Jia had always been an exception. He had no fiefdom but was permanently stationed at the Tongzhou traveling palace.

The reason was simply that Emperor Zhengyuan didn’t want to see him.

This time returning to the Tongzhou traveling palace, Emperor Zhengyuan increased the Imperial Guard deployment, ostensibly to protect the traveling palace, but actually to confine Prince Jia within it.

But this obviously could not satisfy the Old Party.

“The Noble Consort is utterly confused! Using her niece to curry favor with Prince Jia—isn’t this openly breaking with us?”

That night, Duke Luguo drank tea with someone at his mansion. “Look at that Prince Jia—he won’t accept her kindness.”

“Duke, now is not the time for us to feel smug.”

Pan Youfang leaned back in his chair, his expression grave. “Today in court, Meng Yunxian brought up again that batch of wealth from Princess Wenduan’s mansion years ago. The amount in the state treasury doesn’t match the amount inventoried at the Princess’s mansion back then.”

“I know.”

“Of course you know.”

Pan Youfang raised his eyelids. “You and Wu Dai both know how that Princess mansion captain Lu Heng died.”

The room suddenly fell silent.

Duke Luguo had a portly build with chubby cheeks that made his eyes appear smaller, yet very sharp. He smiled. “Liyu, are you blaming my father, or Wu Dai?”

Pan Youfang said nothing.

“I know you hate Wu Dai,” Duke Luguo blew on the tea foam. “But Liyu, no matter how much you hate him, aren’t you the same type of person now?”

“Once you’ve become a whore, stop thinking about erecting that memorial arch.”

Pan Youfang’s heart contracted. He gripped the chair’s armrest tightly, saying in a deep voice: “Duke, you should know His Majesty most resents people accumulating wealth without limit right under his nose.”

“Naturally I know.”

Duke Luguo’s face was expressionless. “I also know that if this matter is exposed, His Majesty will find it hard to tolerate me.”

Princess Wenduan was, after all, His Majesty’s sister from the same mother. The siblings had a large age gap, and before Princess Wenduan married, His Majesty doted on this young sister extremely.

The Prince Consort Xu Qingyu died of illness, then later General Yujie Xu Hexue was executed by slow slicing for treason. Princess Wenduan could not accept such heavy blows and died of grief.

Princess Wenduan and the Prince Consort had no children. The Princess’s mansion had no heir either. His Majesty decided to put all the Princess mansion’s assets into the state treasury for national use.

Actually, most of the Princess mansion’s wealth came from the Xu clan of Qingya Prefecture. Years ago when Prince Consort Xu Qingyu and his mother Zhou Shi brought the young Xu Hexue to the capital, they brought along all the family wealth of Xu Xian, father of both Xu Qingyu and Xu Hexue.

That was the accumulated wealth of a centuries-old aristocratic family’s direct line.

“Only forty percent is in the state treasury. The remaining sixty percent is in the hands of your father Prince Nankang and Wu Dai,” Pan Youfang took up the thread. “I once thought that only that Lu Heng knew this matter clearly. Once he died, no one could investigate this mess of accounts. But now it seems that’s not entirely true.”

“You mean his son?”

Duke Luguo couldn’t remember the person for a moment. “He changed his surname? Changed to what?”

“Now surnamed Dong, named Dong Yao. He took his maternal uncle Dong Chengda’s surname—his uncle is a county magistrate in Linyang. He was among those Master Zhang sent to Daizhou to investigate the grain case. I suspect the reason Meng Yunxian brought up this matter again is because he got the information from them.”

Pan Youfang said.

“Liyu, you need to clean this up.”

Duke Luguo’s face carried a smile.

Pan Youfang’s fingers curled. His face showed no excess emotion, only nodding. “I’ll think about it.”

One misstep, and he would spend his entire life cleaning up messes for Prince Nankang father and son and Wu Dai.

“But right now, Prince Jia’s matter also cannot be handled carelessly,” Duke Luguo put away his smile and set the tea bowl aside. He fixed his eyes on Pan Youfang. “You understand my meaning, right?”

Pan Youfang stood up to straighten his robes. “The Duke can rest assured.”

His Majesty ordered Prince Jia to return to Tongzhou, but sent few Imperial Guards to escort him. Wasn’t this allowing Prince Jia to fend for himself? What if he died on the road?

This was destined not to be a peaceful night.

The snow fell heavier and heavier. The road froze over. Prince Jia’s carriage left the city in the afternoon, the wheels getting stuck again and again in the mud, moving very slowly.

When the sky turned completely dark, the procession of carriages and horses stopped at a crude postal station.

A personal guard in the room urged Prince Jia to have some hot soup. Seeing him just sitting there saying nothing, the guard grew anxious. “Your Highness, at least have some hot soup to warm your body!”

Prince Jia only shook his head.

The guard didn’t know how else to persuade him when hurried footsteps sounded outside the door, followed by an anxious voice: “Your Highness, Lord Yuan, something’s not right!”

The guard surnamed Yuan’s spirit tensed. He immediately said, “Your Highness, stay in the room and absolutely do not go out!”

The door opened and closed again.

The wind and snow outside intensified, while Prince Jia sat upright in the room, motionless.

The postal station was quickly surrounded by people of unknown origin. They were clearly prepared—as soon as they rode up on horses, they first released fire arrows.

Flames soon shot skyward inside the postal station.

The two sides clashed. The guards outside Prince Jia’s door, seeing the fire spreading toward them, immediately went in to bring Prince Jia out.

At this moment, these masked assassins, seeing Prince Jia appear, attacked even more fiercely.

An Imperial Guard shot through with arrows fell at Prince Jia’s feet. He looked down into those eyes that wouldn’t close. The firelight all around scorched his cheeks painfully.

“Take His Highness and go first!”

Guard Yuan led people together with the accompanying Imperial Guards to hold off the enemy’s assault, shouting to the guards protecting Prince Jia.

However, the gap they tore open quickly closed. Behind them was a sea of fire, before them assassins pressing ever closer.

They rushed desperately toward Prince Jia.

Just as the people protecting Prince Jia were about to be overwhelmed, no one knew when another mass of chaotic hoofbeats arose beyond the sounds of combat.

Guard Yuan and the others looked—another group of masked people.

Seeing them charging forward with blades, Guard Yuan’s heart turned cold.

But the next moment, he saw those people actually begin cutting down the assassins fighting the Imperial Guards.

They had come to save Prince Jia!

Guard Yuan’s spirits lifted. He shouted: “Come on, kill them!”

The several hundred assassins who had held the advantage were immediately surrounded by both sides. Guard Yuan seized this opportunity to run to Prince Jia’s side and together with other guards protected Prince Jia as they broke out.

Guard Yuan quickly helped Prince Jia onto a horse, then the group immediately ran toward the depths of night.

But the muddy places on the road had frozen. Prince Jia’s horse’s hooves slipped and the entire horse with its rider fell out.

“Your Highness!”

Guard Yuan immediately dismounted and ran to help up Prince Jia, who had fallen onto the frozen river surface at the roadside.

At this moment, several dozen more people surrounded them from somewhere.

Guard Yuan was shocked—they still had reinforcements!

With no other choice, the guards blocked in front while Guard Yuan led Prince Jia struggling to walk on the ice. They ran toward the opposite bank. Before long, people were chasing behind them.

Guard Yuan blocked in front of Prince Jia, drew his blade, and immediately engaged with the pursuers.

The attackers outnumbered the guards. Someone inevitably freed themselves and step by step approached Prince Jia. Guard Yuan dealt with the person before him, but with one glance back saw two black-clothed men raising blades toward Prince Jia.

Prince Jia was completely unaware, still running forward.

But his shoes were slippery. He stepped on a weak spot in the ice, one foot breaking through. Instantly cold water wrapped around it, chilling him to the bone.

The cold wind carrying the sound of blade edges swept toward him. He turned his head and saw cold light flashing.

“Your Highness!”

Guard Yuan blocked off the assassin before him and desperately ran toward Prince Jia.

Prince Jia instinctively turned his face aside.

Suddenly from the shore came a horse’s long whinny. A figure carrying a lantern stepped across the shoulders and backs of the people on the ice, sweeping forward almost like the wind. The sword in his hand flew free, piercing through cold mist and bitter wind, striking squarely into the back of one person before Prince Jia.

The other person’s blade therefore halted. He watched the person beside him fall. He immediately recovered and moved to strike Prince Jia again, but it was already too late.

Guard Yuan, using the slippery ice surface, slid his feet forward, his body leaning back, one blade stabbing into the man’s leg bone. Taking advantage of his pained kneeling, he gave him another blade, thoroughly ending this person’s life.

Guard Yuan pulled Prince Jia’s numb frozen foot from under the ice layer. The cold mist closed in. Prince Jia and Guard Yuan turned back to see that white-clothed figure shuttle among those fierce assassins.

In less than the time to drink tea, those people either died by his hand or by the hands of Prince Jia’s guards.

In the goose-feather snow,

Prince Jia watched his back.

He sheathed his sword and actually headed toward the shore.

By the cold white moonlight, Prince Jia barely saw a white horse at the shore, and there seemed to be another person on the horse’s back.

One of Prince Jia’s feet was already frozen numb. He limped forward, supported by Guard Yuan, walking toward the shore. Reed flowers spread in continuous patches, blown wildly by the wind.

“…Who are you?”

The closer he walked, the more Prince Jia’s heart became shrouded with an indescribable feeling.

Hearing this, Xu Hexue turned back. Actually, with the veiled hat covering him, he couldn’t see Prince Jia’s face very clearly.

Heavy snow fell profusely.

His old friend Yonggeng was already over thirty years old.

No longer the youth he barely remembered, no longer those scenes from before.

“Why won’t you speak?”

Prince Jia swallowed cold air, his throat itching with unstoppable coughing.

“Your Highness.”

Xu Hexue deliberately made his voice sound more hoarse. He wanted to see this person more clearly but couldn’t lift the veiled hat. “Just strangers meeting by chance. Why ask?”

“You know my identity. Whose man are you? Why save me?” Prince Jia nearly slipped on the ice again, but fortunately Guard Yuan steadied him in time.

He staggered forward step by step, staring intently at the person on the shore.

“Your road back to Tongzhou won’t be peaceful, but someone will protect you.”

Meeting again, facing each other unrecognized.

Xu Hexue’s heart felt somewhat unbearable. His throat rolled lightly. “I hope Your Highness will treasure your own life.”

Prince Jia saw him turn to mount his horse. He felt this person’s excessively hoarse voice pierced his chest with sourness. The woman on the horse’s back suddenly called to him: “Prince Jia, the Princess Consort is at the southern suburbs estate. You need not worry. Now there is a medical worker specifically treating her, and she will be cared for very well.”

Prince Jia didn’t recognize her.

That was also a woman with covered face.

In the distance, a mass of firelight approached. They were loudly calling “Prince Jia.” In this instant, the white horse raised its hooves and galloped toward the depths of night.

“Stop!”

Prince Jia staggered toward the shore. He shouted loudly: “Wait!”

The sound of hoofbeats gradually faded away. The lantern’s light also disappeared. Prince Jia ran forward a few steps and was supported by Guard Yuan. “Your Highness, what’s wrong?”

“Bring them back…”

Prince Jia’s lips trembled as he murmured: “Bring them back…”

Guard Yuan immediately ordered people to give chase, then asked again: “Your Highness, do you know them?”

He didn’t.

But Prince Jia clutched his own lapels tightly. He slowly crouched down, as if a hand were fiercely gripping his heart.

Zhou Ting arrived with his people and saw Prince Jia crouching in the middle of the mountain road. He walked forward. “What happened to His Highness?”

Seeing his covered face, Guard Yuan asked: “You are…?”

“I’m someone Minister Meng sent to protect His Highness.”

Zhou Ting said.

Hearing the three words “Minister Meng,” Guard Yuan truly breathed a sigh of relief. He bent down to help Prince Jia up. At this moment, Zhou Ting saw Prince Jia turn around and realized his eyelids were wet with tears.

He froze. “Your Highness, this is…”

“Just now a man and woman were here. Thanks to that young gentleman, otherwise His Highness would have been in danger.” Guard Yuan still felt some lingering fear.

“Where are they?”

Zhou Ting looked around.

“They’ve already left. I just ordered people to give chase.” Guard Yuan said.

Zhou Ting frowned. A man and a woman—at this critical juncture, what other group of people would come to save Prince Jia?

The night deepened and the snow intensified.

Xu Hexue rode swiftly, shaking off the people chasing behind. He said not a word, seemingly unable to hear even the increasingly urgent wind sound by his ears.

Ni Su looked up at him.

But one of his hands fell down, pressing on her hood that was about to slide off.

“Really… won’t you acknowledge him?”

Ni Su wrapped her palms around his hand holding the reins.

“Zhou Ting is there, Yonggeng’s guards are all there. If I let more people know I’ve returned, I would be disregarding the laws of the netherworld.”

Between life and death, the waters of hatred that separate them are boundaries, and also reverence.

People revere life and death, only then knowing the preciousness of life, the meaning of death. Thus, people learn to cherish their own or others’ lives.

“Moreover, if he knew I was here, I fear he would risk defying the imperial edict,” His voice remained calm, but he couldn’t help lowering his head. Snowflakes brushed his temples as his chin rested on Ni Su’s shoulder. “His situation is already dangerous. If he defies the edict again, he would be handing a blade to Duke Luguo and Pan Youfang.”

Temporarily avoiding to Tongzhou was better than continuing to stay in Yun Jing.

The glass lantern extinguished in the jolting, and Xu Hexue’s vision returned to complete darkness. He heard the sound of hoofbeats, the fierce cold wind.

He remembered the reed flower shore,

On the ice surface, that blurred, staggering figure.

Since Xu Hexue left the capital at age fourteen, he had never seen him again.

Though letters came and went regularly, they remained each other’s confidants.

“In his life,”

Xu Hexue looked up, a few strands of light hair by his temples lifting slightly. Snow particles fell on his brow and eyes, yet could never melt. “My only hope for him is that he can live well.”