The small interlude of the overturned wine cup quickly subsided. A servant brought new wine. Li Hantai leaned back against a plum tree, his face mottled with tree shadows. Only his tightly pressed lips could be clearly seen. He sat rigidly in his chair, motionless, like a startled bird hiding in the tree’s shadow. His gaze stopped on each person as if verifying whether this was a coincidence or someone’s deliberate doing.

“I, Xu Shuyi, curse you to never have peace from this day forward. I curse you—mother and son—to one day meet a bad end!”

He had thought that after so many years had passed, he had long forgotten. He hadn’t expected that he had never forgotten for even a single day. The woman dying, coughing blood on the ground, unwilling to close her eyes—the image was vivid in his mind. She said he would never have peace from then on. Since that time, he truly had never had peace.

Thinking of this, Li Hantai couldn’t help closing his eyes. “This concubine’s resentful death brings no rest, disturbing you without peace. In life there were no peaceful days, in death I also descend to the Yellow Springs…” Who would know? That night at Azure Dragon Temple, besides him and Consort Shu, who else would know these words?

The story in the pavilion continued. After the scholar killed to silence the witnesses and hurriedly left, he hadn’t expected that all this would be discovered by a female Daoist in the temple. She collected the young lady’s belongings and found the love token exchanged between the two, determining to seek justice for her. So she went alone to the capital to lodge an imperial complaint, publicly exposing the scholar’s evil deeds.

In the end, the scholar was sentenced to beheading, his head separated from his body—he truly met a bad end. Scattered cheers and applause came from the lakeside. After a while, music started again. The curtain in the pavilion slowly opened, revealing a woman in white sitting inside, her face covered with white gauze. She lowered her head and lightly passed her fingers over the zither strings, and a cascade of musical notes flowed from her fingertips. The woman began to sing softly—still that “Willow Song.” One could tell at once that she was the young lady who had performed in the pavilion earlier.

By now, quite a few people at the banquet had recognized that the person in the pavilion was Fragrant Pond Garden’s Mei Que, but she seemed somewhat different from usual. At that moment, Qiu Xinran felt this wasn’t the Mei Que she knew from Drunken Spring Tower, nor the Mei Que she’d met at the official residence. Behind the zither music seemed to hide another person—noble as white snow, ethereal as a clear breeze.

Other silk and bamboo instrument sounds gradually arose, but whether pipa or flute, in this melody all were accompaniment to the ancient zither. Those listening to the music were immersed in it, almost unable to detect the sounds of other instruments, able to hear only the resonant zither tones.

When the piece ended, the courtyard fell silent for a moment. Everyone was intoxicated by the zither music. When they came to their senses and realized the one playing this piece was a musician from a music hall, the female guests, mindful of their status, were unwilling to lead the applause. The male guests worried that rashly cheering would make them appear frivolous and rash among the crowd. For a moment, the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

At this time, someone downstairs suddenly called out in praise. Everyone turned their heads in unison and discovered it was actually one of today’s protagonists. Zheng Yuan Wu stood up, smiling and clapping: “Excellent zither playing!” His voice was clear and full of vigor, his tone natural and sincere, his manner not at all affected. Not only did it not make people feel he was frivolous, but it rather had a bit of the elegance of finding a kindred spirit.

Sitting on the second floor, Qiu Xinran smiled: “Heir Apparent Zheng is utterly pure-hearted. This kind of temperament is extremely rare.” Li Hanru scoffed coldly, noncommittal.

Perhaps seeing someone lead the applause, applause gradually arose from various places downstairs. The woman in white rose with her zither and curtsied in thanks to those below. Before long, music started again on the bridge—the melody cheerful and bright. The atmosphere gradually loosened.

The banquet quickly began on both the east and west sides. At the wine tables, everyone exchanged toasts. Li Hantai looked unwell. After sitting in his seat for a while, he claimed there was business at his residence and took his leave early. His relationship with Zheng Yuan Wu and Xia Xiuyan wasn’t deep. On such an occasion today, showing his face briefly before leaving wouldn’t make people think much of it. As he left, he happened to run into Wu Peng, who was somewhat surprised: “Elder Cousin is leaving already?”

Li Hantai said: “There’s business at the residence. I cannot stay long.”

Though Wu Peng felt some regret, he didn’t insist: “Elder Cousin and I haven’t seen each other in a long time either. Next time there’s an opportunity, I can’t let you leave so early again.”

Li Hantai smiled and asked as if casually probing: “Today’s program in the pavilion was quite original. Did you arrange it?”

Wu Peng rarely heard this cousin of his praise him. Hearing this, he immediately smiled gleefully and took credit: “Who else but me? To arrange tonight’s banquet well took me considerable effort. I personally reviewed every single detail.”

Li Hantai observed his animated expression, forced a smile, and asked again: “How did you think to arrange this performance?”

Wu Peng asked strangely: “Does Elder Cousin think this play wasn’t good?”

“Not exactly.” Li Hantai looked him over several more times, unable to tell whether he did it unintentionally or was deliberately playing dumb.

The two chatted idly for a few more sentences before parting. When they separated, Wu Peng somehow felt his cousin seemed to have something weighing heavily on his mind today. However, he didn’t take it to heart. Once Li Hantai left, he found a young servant at his side and asked: “Who was the one singing in the pavilion today?”

The servant had followed him for a long time and immediately understood. Very perceptively, he inquired: “Has Master taken a fancy to her?” Wu Peng gave him an approving look: “Master is staying here tonight. You understand my meaning?”

“Master, just leave it to me.” The young servant chuckled twice, patted his chest in assurance, and turned to find the steward in the garden.

On the female guests’ side, Li Hanru didn’t sit on the second floor for long before rising to go to the small building on the west side. Qiu Xinran remained where she was and casually ate some food. Midway through, a servant suddenly approached to report that Mei Que had requested she come to Pindong Courtyard for a meeting.

Qiu Xinran was slightly startled and instinctively felt something was wrong about this. She stared at the servant and confirmed again: “Miss Mei Que sent you?” The servant nodded. Qiu Xinran pondered for a while, deciding to go see what medicine this person was selling in their gourd. She rose and followed him toward Pindong Courtyard.

Today’s banquet was set in the east and west sections, so the gardens on the north and south sides seemed more secluded. Qiu Xinran followed the servant to the pavilion outside Pindong Courtyard. The servant said to her: “Miss, just go further inside.”

“You said Mei Que is waiting for me inside?”

“Miss, please wait inside for a moment. Mei Que will arrive shortly.”

After saying this, he quickly bowed and withdrew. There was no one around. Once he left, only Qiu Xinran remained. She was certain something fishy was going on, but she also wanted to see the intent of the person behind this. So once the other person left, she looked around and walked toward the artificial hill beneath the pavilion.

Beside the artificial hill was a small pond with reeds growing as tall as a person. Qiu Xinran waited by the pond for a while. Soon enough, in the quiet night, she heard two sets of footsteps approaching together.

Qiu Xinran hid beside the reed cluster by the pond, listening to the two people walk successively into the pavilion, guessing the identities of the arrivals in her mind. After a long while, she finally heard one of them ask: “Did the Princess summon me here to say something?”

Qiu Xinran’s expression paused. She thought: What is Zheng Yuan Wu doing here? From what he just said, could the other person who came be Li Hanru?

Indeed, as if confirming her guess, Li Hanru’s voice immediately sounded: “If I have nothing to say, I can’t summon you?”

Zheng Yuan Wu was probably choked speechless by her. The pavilion fell silent again for a moment. The two people above moved closer to the railing in the pavilion. Qiu Xinran’s heart jumped, knowing that if they discovered her here at such a time, it would be impossible to explain. With Li Hanru’s temperament, she would most likely fly into an embarrassed rage. So she quickly took a few steps toward the artificial hill, trying her best not to let them discover her.

The moon quietly peeked out from behind the clouds, scattering silver radiance. Qiu Xinran leaned back against the artificial hill and looked down to see her shadow in the moonlight falling by the pond’s edge. Her heart jumped sharply—this was bad. Suddenly, everything went dark before her eyes. A hand reached out from behind and dragged her into darkness.

The moment her wrist was grabbed, Qiu Xinran’s heart leapt to her throat. Her startled cry was muffled and not a sound escaped. The other person, fearing she would struggle, skillfully used all four limbs to tightly restrain her movements, so that dragging her into the cave was like wind blowing across grass tips. Before this scene beneath the artificial hill could attract the attention of those in the pavilion, it had already vanished into darkness.

The light beneath the artificial hill was dim. When she’d just come down from the pavilion, she hadn’t noticed there was a small path here connecting to the pavilion above, like a small cave. The small cave that should have only accommodated one person was now squeezed with two. Though Qiu Xinran’s eyes had gradually adapted to the dark environment in the cave, because the space was too small, she still couldn’t stretch her limbs inside or raise her head to look at the other person’s face. She could only smell a faint white sandalwood fragrance on the other person’s clothing.

Qiu Xinran grasped the hand covering her mouth and gently pinched his finger. The person in front of her seemed to freeze for a moment. He probably feared she would cry out and didn’t immediately release her. After waiting a while and seeing she showed no signs of struggling, he slowly moved his hand away from her face.

Qiu Xinran indeed didn’t call out. Like someone who had just emerged from water, she took several deep breaths, turned her head to glance outside the artificial hill. Zheng Yuan Wu stood by the pavilion’s railing. His shadow was projected on the ground—him standing with hands behind his back—right where she had been moments ago.

Conversation came from above again. It was Li Hanru: “I summoned you privately today because I have only one question I want to ask you.” She fell silent for a moment before asking through gritted teeth: “Why were you unwilling to marry me back then?”

With this question, never mind Zheng Yuan Wu in the pavilion—even Qiu Xinran in the artificial hill cave was stunned. Her heart went cold, knowing that now more than ever, she absolutely could not let the people above discover she was here…

Zheng Yuan Wu didn’t speak. After a long time, he asked: “Has the Princess not chosen a prince consort all these years because of me?”

Li Hanru blinked and quickly denied: “No.” As if fearing he wouldn’t believe her, she added: “This Princess isn’t someone who must have you! Asking you this now is merely because I’m still bothered by it.”

This did indeed sound like something Li Hanru would say. Zheng Yuan Wu laughed softly: “That’s good then.”

Li Hanru looked over coldly, not letting him off: “Back when Father Emperor intended to bestow me upon you, why were you unwilling?”

Zheng Yuan Wu stood in the pavilion looking at her, revealing a hesitant expression. Li Hanru seemed to see through his thoughts at a glance and softened her tone to say: “I’ve long since stopped liking you. I just want to know clearly. Tell me the truth and I’ll let it go.”

Hearing this, Zheng Yuan Wu pondered for a long time before slowly saying: “I’ve always regarded the Princess as a younger sister.”

But Li Hanru stared at him, unwilling to accept this explanation: “Is there no other reason?”

“No more.”

“I don’t believe it.” Li Hanru said stubbornly: “If you won’t tell me the truth, I’ll think about this matter for the rest of my life.”

Zheng Yuan Wu smiled wryly: “This is the truth.”

Li Hanru didn’t speak, only looked at him with narrowed eyes. The man, helpless, thought for a moment before saying: “Because the Princess is the Second Prince’s younger sister.”

Li Hanru paused. She seemed to have been mentally prepared for this answer. So she pressed her lips and asked again: “Then let me ask you—if Mother Consort only had me as a daughter, would you have been willing to marry me?”

This time, Zheng Yuan Wu was silent for a long while before answering: “That the Princess has an elder brother is an unchangeable fact.”

He was gentle-natured. In her memory, he had almost never lost his temper with anyone. When young, Li Hanru was willful and spoiled. Whenever something didn’t go her way, she would throw a tantrum. Even Li Hanyi often quarreled with her, but only Zheng Yuan Wu always indulged her. No matter how unreasonable she was, he would smile tolerantly and not argue with her. Today, refusing to speak a single soft word no matter what—this rather surprised Qiu Xinran.

Indeed, hearing his words, Li Hanru’s eyes immediately reddened, though she still stubbornly endured, unwilling to let him discover it: “If that’s the case, why have you still not married all these years?”

“After returning to the southwest, I devoted myself to training in the military, which delayed the marriage.” Zheng Yuan Wu hesitated, then added: “Actually, before coming to the capital, my family was already discussing marriage matters. After I return this time, I may become engaged soon.”

“Which family’s young lady?”

“Princess Changping.”

Princess Changping was the eldest daughter of Prince Anjiang. The Zheng family guarded the southwest. If the two families united through marriage, it would be something many expected. Li Hanru had originally pressed this question only to see whether he was just making excuses. Now, hearing this, she knew it probably wasn’t a lie.

Qiu Xinran stood in the artificial hill beneath the pavilion and heard him say again: “I hope the Princess will also soon find a good match and find your ideal husband.”

She sighed softly. The man standing in front of her seemed to lower his head to look at her. Qiu Xinran gently tugged at the corner of his robe. The other person paused, thinking she had something important to say. After hesitating a moment, he leaned his head closer. He heard her say seriously in a soft voice by his ear: “Marquis, you’re stepping on my foot.”