The military camp had no women’s clothing. Ni Su had no choice but to change into a clean, new man’s robe and wrap a cloak over it. Lifting the tent flap, she first saw the figure sitting by the fire.

He had also changed into a vermillion robe, no different from the clothing worn beneath the other soldiers’ armor. He held a porcelain bowl in his hands, sitting quietly and properly.

The moment Ni Su approached him, he seemed to have already distinguished her footsteps and turned his face.

She walked to his side. Her reflection flashed through those dim, unseeing eyes. Her every move—he listened silently.

“Still cold?”

Sensing her sitting beside him, Xu Hexue spoke.

“Much better.”

Ni Su reached her hand toward the fire, but saw him raise his hand, following her direction, and pass her the porcelain bowl. She lowered her eyes and saw the snow-white fish soup simmered in the bowl. Hot mist drifted lightly, the fragrance assailing her nose.

Ni Su took it. The spoon lightly touched the bowl’s edge. She drank a mouthful and looked up at him. “Have you drunk some?”

“Mm.”

Xu Hexue nodded.

The two hadn’t exchanged more than a few words when Ni Su heard footsteps. She looked to the other side and saw Qin Jixun walking over with his personal soldier Duan Rong.

“General Qin.”

Ni Su was about to stand when she saw Qin Jixun press his hand downward. She sat back down.

“Please forgive us—the military camp has no better clothing. Tonight you’ll have to make do.” Qin Jixun sat down on Xu Hexue’s other side. Duan Rong stood behind him.

“No problem.”

Xu Hexue’s words were brief.

Qin Jixun looked at him. “I still don’t know the young master’s name and surname?”

Xu Hexue still wore the long cloth covering, preventing people from seeing his expression clearly. He parted his lips: “Ni.”

Ni Su’s movement drinking the fish soup paused. Crackling sparks from the fire burst several times. She turned her head sideways. His face was covered by the long cloth, his thick lashes lowered lightly. Facing this firelight, beneath his eyelids was an extremely faint shadow.

“So it’s Young Master Ni. Then what about this young lady?”

Qin Jixun shifted his gaze to Ni Su.

Ni Su held her spoon and spoke softly: “This humble woman is Ni Su.”

Hearing this, Qin Jixun was stunned and turned to exchange a glance with Duan Rong behind him.

They both have the surname Ni?

Duan Rong asked curiously: “Could you two be siblings?”

“No.”

Ni Su spoke. Seeing Duan Rong and Qin Jixun’s gazes both fall on her, she pressed her lips together and said: “Just a coincidence.”

“I see.”

Qin Jixun nodded. He couldn’t help but scrutinize Xu Hexue. “Forgive my presumption—may I ask why you continually cover your face, young master?”

“In childhood I encountered a great fire,” Xu Hexue’s tone was bland and rippleless. “My face was afflicted with an illness that cannot be cured. Because of this, my career path has not been smooth—no way to serve the nation.”

Back when he was in Yongzhou, Qin Jixun had been in Commander Miao’s Huning Army and was not in this place, so Qin Jixun had never seen him. He wasn’t worried that Qin Jixun would recognize him.

“I have a cousin who is also ugly in appearance. Clearly his learning is excellent, yet nearing forty, he still hasn’t been employed.” Hearing these words, Duan Rong immediately felt some emotion. “If you ask me, how can becoming an official depend on this face? As long as one’s learning is good and one has ability, isn’t that enough?”

His mouth was quick. After speaking, seeing Qin Jixun glancing at him, he realized his slip of tongue and couldn’t help but feel awkward. “My apologies, Young Master Ni—I’m not saying you’re naturally ugly…”

The more he spoke, the more confused he became. Duan Rong simply closed his mouth.

“Even if your official career is not smooth, you were unwilling to live an ordinary life, so you came to Yongzhou to fulfill your aspiration to serve the nation—though dead, yet living…”

Qin Jixun did not know that the “though dead, yet living” from Ni Su’s mouth actually referred to true death in the literal sense. He only thought this was the determination and aspiration of the young man before him.

He pondered for a moment. “If this is the case, why doesn’t Young Master Ni become my aide? How about it?”

Hearing this, Xu Hexue’s lashes lifted lightly. He still couldn’t see anything.

“The honor is mine.”

“Good.”

Qin Jixun slapped his thigh. “Since this is the case, then I’ll speak frankly. As for persuading Shen Tongchuan, I think I should go in person. Only if I resolve past unpleasantness with him face to face will he trust me.”

“But Prefect Shen holds grudges… his mind is very petty.” Duan Rong muttered quietly from behind.

“I previously didn’t understand matters in Yunjing’s official circles, nor did I know he was Minister Meng’s disciple. But I do know Minister Meng. I think he probably didn’t take disciples casually. If Shen truly understands righteousness, even if I must learn from Lian Po and offer my apology, I can do it.”

With national affairs at hand, Qin Jixun could let go of anything, even so-called face.

“General Qin need only explain clearly to him: when Song Song supervised the military in Yongzhou, Minister Meng had not yet returned to court. But if Song Song is gone, Minister Meng will have the opportunity to install his own people, and Shen Tongchuan will no longer be constrained at every turn.”

When Xu Hexue was still in the capital, he had met Shen Tongchuan several times. Now that Qin Jixun was willing to go in person, it saved him some trouble.

“I understand. You two rest well.”

After Qin Jixun finished speaking, he stood up and strode toward his military tent.

“If you two need anything, just find me.” Duan Rong hastily spoke a sentence to them, then hurried to follow.

The porcelain bowl in Ni Su’s hands was already empty. She set it aside. The burning fire made her face somewhat hot. She shifted backward a bit. In the prolonged silence, she secretly looked toward Xu Hexue.

“Sleepy?”

Xu Hexue suddenly spoke.

Ni Su wanted to shake her head, then suddenly realized he couldn’t see. She immediately said: “Not sleepy.”

“You…”

Immediately after, she couldn’t help but ask: “Why did you say your surname is… Ni?”

Hearing this, Xu Hexue turned his face slightly. His eyes lowered, yet followed her direction as he asked: “Is it acceptable?”

“…It’s acceptable.”

Ni Su responded in a low voice.

But there were so many surnames under heaven. He clearly could have casually said any surname, yet he specifically blurted out the character “Ni.”

Suddenly,

Ni Su recalled that sentence he had once said—I am attached to you.

Her hand abruptly gripped the edge of her sleeve.

Xu Hexue had already died. This remnant soul attached to her placed himself under her surname before others.

“Then that’s good.”

The long cloth covered Xu Hexue’s face, but his eyes curved slightly.

Ni Su looked at him, then suddenly picked up a piece of dry firewood from the side and tossed it into the fire. In that instant, it stirred up countless sparks, reflecting in his pupils.

His eyes, usually dim without light, became clear and translucent for that moment.

The flames danced wildly. Xu Hexue unexpectedly caught a clear glimpse of her face. The confusion in his eyes hadn’t faded when he heard her suddenly say: “You’re very happy, aren’t you?”

She felt she could already detect his changes from his sparse emotions. A person like him, whose entire body was soaked through with snowy intent, revealing everywhere the bleakness of deep winter—yet today he had some subtle, vivid emotions.

When he sat here alone holding a bowl of fish soup, he would extend a hand trying to feel the fire’s warmth. When he heard her say “it’s acceptable,” his eyes would curve.

Beneath the moonlight, the luminous dust floating all around him seemed to reveal a silent joy.

Xu Hexue was slightly stunned, but after a moment, he made an “mm” sound.

“Why?”

Ni Su pressed the question.

Why? Xu Hexue thought of that phrase “though dead, yet living,” thought of her standing beside him, supporting his arm, speaking those complete words to Qin Jixun.

“This is the second time you’ve stood by my side, asking someone to trust me.”

In Yunjing, on that rainy night when Jiang Xianming was attacked, she had also stood beside him like this, asking Jiang Xianming to trust him.

Ni Su immediately thought of Jiang Xianming. She couldn’t help but tighten inside, her voice somewhat hoarse when she spoke: “At that time I didn’t yet know he was the one who back then…”

Jiang Xianming was the person who subjected Xu Hexue to death by a thousand cuts in Yongzhou.

The one hundred thirty-six cuts on the stone monument—Jiang Xianming had personally supervised the execution.

To this day, she dared not look at the execution platform where he had been tortured.

Ni Su couldn’t hold back the sourness at the bridge of her nose. “He treated you that way—why did you still save him then? If I had known earlier, I…”

“With ‘ironclad evidence’ before him and public resentment boiling over, he was the one who ordered my torture, but he was not the one who killed me.”

Xu Hexue looked at her. “He is an upright good official. My death—the fault does not lie with him, but rather someone used his uprightness to make a good official kill me.”

“I know.”

Ni Su lowered her head, looking at her own hem. “But I still…”

A cold chill wrapped around her heart. Even sitting by the fire, she felt that chill wedged into the cracks of her bones. The person hidden beneath the truth was too cruel, too vicious.

Xu Hexue could completely hate Jiang Xianming, yet he didn’t. He faced his own death rationally, endured the severe pain of flesh being cut away, and even for the greater situation, he could set aside past grievances, save Jiang Xianming’s life, and investigate the Daizhou grain case together with him.

“Perhaps I’m the narrow-minded one.”

Firelight leaped in Ni Su’s eyes. The moment she thought of the humiliation and suffering this person beside her had endured while alive, she had no way to calmly regard Jiang Xianming.

But what he said was correct—Jiang Xianming was the one who ordered his torture, but was not the one who truly killed him.

“This is not narrow-mindedness.”

Night wind blew Xu Hexue’s long cloth. Those cold, clear eyes of his fixed on her. “You have never been narrow-minded.”

She had never been a narrow-minded woman. Her heart was broad and benevolent, holding the ailments and pains of the people, and also feeling indignation for him.

The last person who felt indignation for him was his teacher Zhang Jing.

His teacher had already died.

And the woman before his eyes—

He wanted to protect her well.

The fire burned and collapsed, and another burst of sparks scattered. Ni Su suddenly came back to herself. An ice-cold hand had already grasped her wrist, drawing her toward him, avoiding the scattered light splashing toward her hem.

He quickly released her hand.

But Ni Su felt that sensation of being wrapped in ice and snow remained. She raised her eyes to meet his. Not far away, the night patrol soldiers marched in unison, their armor clanging loudly.

“Ni Su, I’ll go to Su Qile’s military camp alone.”

Ni Su heard his voice again. She saw him turn his face sideways. Moonlight shone brightly, luminous dust floating all around him, making his entire person like an illusion, mesmerizing. “Listen to me—just wait here for me.”

Delayed by a full sixteen years,

With a ghostly body, he encountered this woman.

Before knowing his tainted reputation, she first knew him the person beyond rumors, beyond life and death, gave him trust, defended him.

In this world,

No one was like her.