In truth, Xu Hexue had long forgotten what sugar cakes were like.

His habits and preferences as a living person—after wandering the netherworld for nearly a hundred years, he had long since forgotten them clearly. Only some things happened to be connected to certain memories he had barely managed not to forget.

Just like this sugar cake related to his elder brother and sister-in-law.

It emitted heat, pressing against his palm. At this moment, Xu Hexue finally realized his own palms were cold as piled ice and snow, which made it seem extraordinarily scalding.

The sky outside wasn’t yet very bright. With the bamboo curtain lowered, the interior of the carriage was even darker. Xu Hexue vaguely saw the young woman lying on the carriage seat beside him, one cheek pressed against the back of her hand, opening her mouth to bite into the sugar cake.

He lowered his eyelashes and looked at the sugar cake in his own hand.

Tentatively,

He slowly took a bite.

What did sweetness taste like?

He had forgotten.

But it certainly wasn’t what entered his mouth now—that dry, numb sensation like chewing wax.

It seemed to have no flavor at all.

“The brown sugar inside is still hot. Be careful not to get burned.” When Ni Su bit through the golden, crispy outer layer, she tasted the syrup inside. “It’s really so sweet.”

Xu Hexue couldn’t see the syrup inside very clearly. He only saw a dark red color within the blurry white glutinous rice. Hearing her say it was sweet, he couldn’t help but look up at her.

“Is it good?”

Ni Su met his gaze and asked.

“It’s good.”

He answered.

Ni Su managed to eat a few bites of sugar cake. Before long, she fell into a stupor again in the swaying of the carriage. She didn’t even know when the carriage stopped steadily at the entrance of the Grand Commandant’s residence.

Only that there was no longer the smell of blood and dampness in her nostrils. She dreamed she was in a clean, comfortable room, very much like her home in Que County.

“What an imposing Court Gentleman for Ceremonial Service! You’re the only scholar sprout in our family, and now your eyes have grown to the top of your head!”

Half-asleep and half-awake, Ni Su heard some voices speaking. Suddenly, a bright woman’s voice rose sharply, startling her into immediate wakefulness.

Behind a blue gauze curtain, one could vaguely see a plump woman dodging the hand of a tall, thin man.

“Chunxu, please lower your voice a bit. Don’t wake the young lady inside.” The man, still wearing his green official robe, spoke carefully with a hint of grievance. “The Court of Judicial Review has been organizing criminal records of officials and garrison officers sent from various places these past two days. As a Judicial Commissioner, how could I get away…”

“Not even for half a day? Don’t you know what kind of place the Yinye Bureau is? Because you were late in asking someone to mediate, she was tortured into this state!”

“Chunxu, didn’t the medical worker say the wounds on her body were from punishment beatings—flesh wounds? You don’t know the methods of the Yinye Bureau. If someone is truly guilty, whoever goes there will lose a layer of skin, or simply won’t come out. But Envoy Han of the Yinye Bureau clearly didn’t use torture on her. After all, she’s innocent.” The man tentatively patted the woman’s shoulder lightly. “The Yinye Bureau doesn’t torture people indiscriminately. Envoy Han has his own measure in his heart. Didn’t we bring her out? Just don’t be angry anymore…”

The woman was about to speak again when she heard someone coughing inside the curtain. She immediately pushed away the man beside her and lifted the curtain to enter.

The young woman on the bed looked pale and sickly, her eyes gazing over in confusion.

Seeing her lips were dry, the young woman called out, “Yuwen, bring water.”

The maid called Yuwen immediately poured hot water and carefully helped Ni Su sit up to drink a few sips.

Ni Su only felt her throat was somewhat better. Looking up again at the woman sitting on the soft stool—plump and radiant, brilliant as a lotus flower: “Are you Sister Cai?”

“That’s right. This servant’s name is Cai Chunxu.” She reached out to support Ni Su’s shoulders and had her lie back down, then personally took a soft cushion to place underneath her. “You’re injured. Don’t move anymore.”

As she spoke, she pointed to the gentle, mild-mannered young man behind her. “This is my husband, Miao Yiyang.”

“Miss Ni, I apologize. I came too late.”

This second young master of the Grand Commandant Miao’s residence was like a cat, staying close to his wife and speaking softly from behind.

“This matter was entirely my own doing.”

Ni Su shook her head. “If I hadn’t gotten entangled in a lawsuit for no reason, I wouldn’t have troubled you at all.”

“Don’t say that. Your grandfather was kind to my maternal family. If all of you are so unwilling to trouble others, when will my family have a chance to repay what we owe you?”

Cai Chunxu used a handkerchief to wipe the fine sweat from Ni Su’s temples. “At least you’ve come out of that kind of place. Just rest assured and stay in our courtyard to recover. If there’s anything wrong, just tell me.”

“Thank you, Sister Cai.”

Ni Su thanked her softly.

Cai Chunxu wanted to say more, but Miao Yiyang standing behind her poked her back twice. She dodged once and glared back at him, then reluctantly stood up. “Does younger sister have a childhood name?”

“At home, my father, brother, and mother all called me ‘A’Xi.'” Ni Su said.

“A’Xi, younger sister, I’ll leave my maid Yuwen to look after you. Right now I have some matters. I’ll come see you again later.”

With that said, Cai Chunxu turned around and lifted the curtain to leave.

“Miss Ni, take good care of yourself.”

Miao Yiyang dropped this sentence and hurriedly followed her out.

Seeing Ni Su gazing in confusion at the second young master’s back as he lifted the curtain and ran off, the maid Yuwen laughed and said, “Please don’t take offense. The second young master is rushing to ask our mistress to test him on his poetry!”

“Test on poetry?”

Ni Su was startled.

“You don’t know—our mistress’s father is the second young master’s teacher. But the second young master was born with less talent for writing beautiful essays and poetry. Fortunately, His Majesty, remembering our Grand Commandant’s military achievements, allowed the second young master, with his status as a provincial graduate, to obtain an official position through hereditary privilege.”

Although the Judicial Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review was only an eighth-rank assignment, His Majesty had still given Miao Yiyang the sixth-rank position of Court Gentleman for Ceremonial Service.

“The court is full of officials who passed the metropolitan examination. Literary men have such great tempers—how could they look favorably upon our second young master who entered office as a provincial graduate? Naturally, they ostracize him from all sides. The second young master often has to deal with poetry gatherings, but he can’t exert any force in this area. Fortunately, our mistress is well-read in poetry and books and often helps him.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Ni Su’s chin rested on the soft pillow.

“Miss, if your body hurts, rest a bit more. When the midday meal is delivered, this servant will call you to eat.” Yuwen smiled as she pulled down the hook and lowered the bed curtains, then lifted the door curtain and went out.

On this sunny day without rain, sunlight was broken up by the latticed window, slanting across the floor. The scent of incense in the room floated faintly. Through the gauze bed curtains, Ni Su saw a shadow as faint as mist standing by the window.

He was quiet and still. She didn’t know what he was looking at.

Ni Su thought this but said nothing, only lowering her eyelids.

At noon, she ate some plain congee. In the afternoon, Ni Su developed a high fever. Cai Chunxu had Yuwen fetch a medical worker again. In her sleep, she didn’t know how many times she was forced to drink medicinal decoctions. The bitterness numbed her tongue coating, and her consciousness grew hazy.

Yuwen changed Ni Su’s damp handkerchiefs several times during the night. In the latter half of the night, exhausted, she fell asleep beside the table.

Ni Su burned with confusion. A lamp burning in the room wasn’t one she had lit with her own hands. Before Xu Hexue’s eyes was pitch darkness. He could only follow the sound of her sleep-talking to determine her direction, moving over step by step.

Her consciousness was unclear. Sometimes she called out “elder brother,” sometimes “mother.”

Xu Hexue reached out to touch her forehead, but his blindness caused him to misjudge the direction. His fingertips unexpectedly touched her soft cheek.

Just then, a teardrop from her eyelid rolled down, warm, falling onto his finger.

His finger joints curled slightly.

Xu Hexue immediately withdrew his hand.

He sat at the bedside. Beneath his cloak, the hem of his robe was frost-like. His thick, long eyelashes half-covered his spiritless eyes. After a long while, he raised his hand again. This time he accurately touched the handkerchief on her forehead.

It was no longer very damp.

Ni Su seemed to be in a furnace. In her dream, her brother was still a youth, telling her vividly about a monkey being put into an alchemy furnace but emerging with fiery golden eyes.

Suddenly,

Ni Su felt heaven and earth turn abruptly. Looking up, she saw branches full of ice and snow falling all over her head.

Almost at the instant that icy, cold, seeping temperature arrived, Ni Su opened her eyes wide.

Only one lamp burned in the room.

She stared blankly at the young man sitting beside the bed, realizing that the ice and snow in her dream was actually his palm resting on her forehead.

“Xu Ziling.”

Ni Su’s throat was burned dry and hoarse. The sound she could make was extremely small.

“Mm?”

But he still heard it.

Sensing her intention to struggle up, Xu Hexue pressed her forehead and said, “No need.”

She wanted to get up to light lamps.

He knew.

“Then what will you do?” Ni Su breathed lightly, struggling to half-open her eyes in the dim light to look at him.

“I can wait.”

Xu Hexue’s spiritless eyes were full of withered coldness.

“Then you…”

Ni Su’s eyelids seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. Her speech grew increasingly slow. “You just wait for me a little while. When I’m better, I’ll ask someone to buy you lots of incense and candles…”

“All right.”

Xu Hexue raised his head. The lamplight illuminated his shoulders and back. Beneath his cloak, his bone structure was lean and upright.

His hand rested on Ni Su’s forehead. Just like this, in the soundless depth of night, he sat motionless until dawn.

As soon as day broke, Ni Su’s high fever subsided.

Cai Chunxu brought the medical worker to check. In her sleep, Ni Su was again forced to drink medicinal decoction. Close to noon, she finally awakened.

Yuwen brought a bowl of congee with a small dish on the side containing brown sugar cut into small square pieces. “This servant doesn’t know how much the young lady prefers. If the young lady finds it bitter, add some brown sugar to suppress it.”

Seeing that Yuwen was about to leave after speaking, Ni Su said, “Could you buy some incense and candles for me?”

Incense and candles?

Though Yuwen didn’t understand, she still nodded. “The things the young lady wants are also available in the residence. This servant will go find them for you.”

Ni Su thanked her. Yuwen quickly waved her hands saying she didn’t dare, then withdrew.

The room grew quiet.

Ni Su leaned against the soft pillow and looked toward that blue gauze curtain, calling softly, “Xu Ziling?”

Light misty vapor carried by the wind gradually formed into a person’s tall, slender figure outside the curtain. Then a hand with pale, bony joints lifted the curtain, and those translucent eyes looked toward her.

But Ni Su was still looking at his hand.

Last night and afterward, she kept remembering that in her dream, she had looked up to see branches full of ice and snow falling onto her temples and head, dissolving the boundless bitter heat of being in raging flames.

“Come here.”

Ni Su’s spirits were much better. She pinched an extremely small piece of brown sugar from the sky-blue porcelain dish and said, “Let’s eat sugar together.”