The words were so thick with sarcastic venom that Liao Jingxuan was struck speechless for a moment, eyes wide, unable to say a thing.

Tao Yashu’s gaze, gentle as the spring waters of March, traveled slowly and deliberately from head to toe, studying the man before her with care.

Yet her mouth was like a freshly sharpened blade, cutting into Liao Jingxuan without a shred of mercy: “You were nothing more… than a plaything to pass my idle hours before I married. Can you not look at yourself in a mirror — what quality do you have that could possibly be worthy of me? Just because I showed you some warmth, did you take that as a promise to spend the rest of my life with you? Tutor Liao, you are not so young anymore — can you not stop dreaming and think a little more clearly?”

Liao Jingxuan had come today with courage summoned from deep within himself.

But he never could have imagined that the quiet, somewhat stubborn Tao Yashu would ever speak to him with words so venomous and so utterly without mercy.

After words like these, anything else would be nothing but pitiful self-delusion.

When Liao Jingxuan’s temples pulsed with raised veins, his fists clenched, and he turned away without a word, Tao Yashu felt as though the spine had been yanked from her body — she collapsed into her chair.

Just then, from behind a curtain at the side of the front hall, a woman stepped out. It was Chu Linlang.

Tao Yashu had deliberately invited Chu Linlang to arrive a step ahead of time.

This was a precaution for the sake of her reputation — a married woman alone privately inviting a male guest was something that could not be spoken of well anywhere.

But if another female student were present, inviting a teacher to call was perfectly reasonable and proper. And so Chu Linlang had been summoned in this manner.

Chu Linlang had not expected that both parties would approach her for different kinds of help.

Having agreed to assist both, she had now stood behind the curtain and awkwardly witnessed the entire scene.

Late-realized feelings worn openly on one’s face, paired with the cold finality of “it is all too late now” — no matter how one looked at it, it was heavy with sorrow, yet it had singed the heart of her, the helpless witness to the performance.

Now the show had ended and the players had departed. She should have had the sense to excuse herself. But looking at her young friend unable to rise from her chair, Chu Linlang’s heart was filled with a pain she could not bear — and she could only hold Tao Yashu like an older sister as she wept without restraint.

“Even if you had to refuse him, you need not have said it so coldly — why cut things off so completely?” Chu Linlang stroked her hair with one hand and asked softly.

Tao Yashu choked back sobs for a moment before saying in a low voice: “If I had not been cold, he would still have clung to caring about me. He was willing to stake everything to take me away. If he still harbored some foolish hope, would he not be destroying his own future? Did Situ Sheng not also mention it to you — the meritorious service he rendered in the northern territories? Situ Sheng has petitioned His Majesty, and Tutor Liao will certainly receive a promotion. But if he had taken me away like this, dishonorably — the moment it came to light, he would not only destroy his own future, he would implicate his parents as well… I cannot harm him!”

Having said all this, Tao Yashu blinked her tear-brimming eyes and looked up at Chu Linlang.

Something had come to her mind, and she gave a bitter smile before continuing quietly: “You must be wondering — if I had thought it all through so clearly, why did I lead him on to begin with… But I am just that wicked. Knowing full well that we were a bird and a fish, creatures that should never have any place in each other’s lives, I still wanted to carve some trace of myself into his heart… At least that is proof that I passed through this world once — even if it is hate, at least it can leave someone remembering me…”

Chu Linlang heard the direction of these words and felt a sudden alarm. She gripped Tao Yashu’s arm with both hands and said with utmost seriousness: “Yashu — no matter what happens from here on, you are absolutely forbidden from thinking in such a narrow direction! What use is it being remembered! A person has to learn to be kind to herself. Even if it is bitter and hard, it is still the flavor of this mortal world — why not taste it all, one thing at a time? That is the true meaning of passing through this life! How do you know that ahead of you there is not a bright village waiting beyond the dark willows?”

The verse she had once learned at the academy had finally found its purpose — though whether such words could truly persuade Yashu, their power was admittedly quite limited.

Fortunately, Tao Yashu also gradually managed to suppress the sorrow within her heart.

Today she had come to know Liao Jingxuan’s true feelings. Though she could not be with him, she had at least been known by him — and that tiny sweetness was enough to stand against the thousand kinds of bitterness in a person’s life.

She gave a bitter smile and held Chu Linlang’s hand, momentarily unable to find words.

On her way home that day, Chu Linlang too felt somewhat low-spirited because of her young friend’s circumstances, and had no appetite even for food.

Two days later, when Situ Sheng, having finished his official duties, came to her place for a meal, Chu Linlang relayed the whole affair to him and asked with dissatisfied indignation: “Did His Majesty truly accept Gu Youjin as the Third Imperial Prince just like that? Is he not going to investigate further?”

Even now, Chu Linlang was still hoping for some small miracle that might turn her young friend’s terrible fate around.

Situ Sheng, however, seemed completely unaffected by the romantic suffering of his close friend Tutor Liao, and continued to add rice and pick up vegetables with complete composure, saying: “The ironclad evidence that Gu Youjin is the Third Imperial Prince cannot be disputed. Besides, even if Gu Youjin were a fake, Tao Yashu could not fly off and live together with someone else.”

The words seemed heartless, yet that was simply the reality. Chu Linlang found herself unable to refute him.

But thinking of Tao Yashu’s situation, she still felt unsettled. Unable to help herself, she asked quietly: “If you and I had been in that situation, what would you have done?”

Hearing her ask this, Situ Sheng actually set down his chopsticks and gave it genuine thought.

When predicting the thoughts and actions of others, Situ Sheng was nearly always right.

But when it came to guessing Chu Linlang, this young woman managed to defy his expectations every single time — and so she was truly quite difficult to predict.

After thinking for a moment, Situ Sheng could only say one thing with certainty: “Let me set aside what I would do — if it were you, you probably would have made a scene with your family the moment you were supposed to enter the palace. You likely never would have entered the palace at all. This kind of heartbreaking, estranged, mouth-saying-one-thing-heart-feeling-another drama — I would say you are simply not capable of performing it for a lifetime.”

Hmm… Chu Linlang found she could not refute this. Because Situ Sheng was right. To make her look at the person she loved and yet cruelly refuse him — push him a thousand miles away — even she herself could not quite imagine it.

Because that was simply her nature. Whether the road ahead was a mountain of swords or a sea of fire, as long as she had enough conviction to sustain her, she could stand firm — and walk forward, side by side with the person she loved.

But this sort of answer was too perfunctory, and truly unsatisfying.

“How can you say it like that! Not even a shred of devotion to follow someone through life and death! You should say — if I had gone into the palace, you would do everything in your power to follow me inside, without complaint or regret, accompanying me day and night — how romantic would that be?”

Situ Sheng looked at the utterly shameless Linlang with an expression beginning to darken.

He was to follow her inside day and night?

Did she not know that besides the Emperor and young imperial princes, the only ones who could remain in the inner palace day and night were… eunuchs!

He could only draw out his words and ask: “Do you truly want me to enter the palace to accompany you in such a fashion? Leaving a bit less behind before going in would be all right?”

After he said this, Chu Linlang realized what he meant, and burst out laughing at his question.

She flung herself over and pressed him down, saying: “Not even a little bit less will do! Our Situ Sheng is still young — there is room to grow even bigger yet!”

This remark about “still being young” had touched Situ Sheng’s most sensitive spot. He could not help but reach out and pinch Linlang’s mischievously grinning face, pressing close to her ear to ask in a low voice: “Oh? Not enough for you? Who was it crying out last night, who couldn’t bear to stop?”

Just as the two were playing and teasing each other, there came a knock at the door as someone came calling in the night.

It turned out to be a young manservant from Liao Jingxuan’s household who had come in urgent search of them.

According to him, his master Liao had been in poor spirits for the past several days. A man who was ordinarily cheerful and easygoing had become somewhat melancholy and despondent.

Yesterday, after receiving a letter, his master’s expression had changed drastically. He had taken his manservant with him and hurried to a ruined temple in the outskirts of the capital to keep an appointment.

But when they arrived, his master had gone into the woods for a private conversation with someone, after which he had sent the manservant back ahead of him.

A full day and night had passed, yet his master had still not come home.

The manservant had no idea what to do, and knowing that Liao Jingxuan often came to eat here, had come to ask whether anyone had seen his master.

Situ Sheng listened, asked a few questions, and then sent the manservant back home to wait for his master.

Chu Linlang, upon hearing this, felt somewhat worried — fearing that Liao Jingxuan had done something rash out of despair.

Before Linlang and Situ Sheng had even exchanged a few words, Guanqi came rushing in again to say that a message had come from the palace summoning the lord on urgent business. No one could find him at the city residence, and so a manservant from the city household had come all the way here to deliver the message.

Situ Sheng, hearing this, told Guanqi to bring his official robes, then said quietly to Linlang: “I may not be able to return tonight or for the next several days. If you have nothing pressing, do not go back to the city for now. If anything needs to be handled, have the servants go. And if something major comes up — wait until I return before doing anything.”

At that moment, distant thunder rolled across the sky, as though a great rain were on its way.

Linlang had Xia He fetch a rain cloak and handed it to him with concern: “Why so many things happening today? Is something big about to happen?”

Situ Sheng replied: “In the next few days, no matter what you hear, there is no need to worry. When all is settled, I will explain everything to you.”

Having said this, he departed swiftly.

Linlang leaned against the doorway, and through the pouring rain, kept her gaze fixed on them until their figures dissolved into the rain and mist.

That great rain fell heavily and thoroughly, and continued without pause for a full three days, washing out several stretches of the road between the outskirts and the capital.

Throughout those days, Chu Linlang received not a single piece of news about Situ Sheng.

But on the second day after the rain stopped, once the roads had been cleared, an unexpected visitor arrived.

When Tao Huiru appeared in her front hall, Chu Linlang was genuinely taken aback.

After all, the last time the two of them had been alone together, Chu Linlang had pinned this hypocritical and venomous woman to the ground and beaten her.

Since that time, though they had encountered each other at social gatherings, Tao Huiru had always deliberately avoided her, with one pretext or another.

Chu Linlang studied Tao Huiru from head to toe, and without offering her a seat, simply smiled with an air of amusement: “People don’t visit without a reason — what brings Lady Tao here today?”

Tao Huiru smiled faintly, and without waiting to be invited, chose a chair and sat down of her own accord, saying with elegant composure: “What remarkable self-possession you have, Niangzi — to have stayed outside the city all this time without returning. I was just passing by while visiting a friend today, and thought I would look in on you. Besides, there is something I wished to speak to you about privately… Lord Situ has gotten into such serious trouble — how can you look so unconcerned?”

Chu Linlang felt her heart tighten, but her face betrayed nothing as she laughed lightly: “It is not as though you are Lord Situ’s mother — yet you keep such close track of where he goes and what he does. How do you know where he went and what he did? And what sort of trouble — serious or trifling?”

Tao Huiru had already guessed that because of the heavy rain, Chu Linlang probably had not yet heard of the developments in the city.

She shook her head with a look of sympathy and regarded Chu Linlang with what appeared to be pity: “Chu Linlang, do you truly not know? Lord Situ has had quite the nerve — he apparently stirred up disorder in the imperial palace, introducing some person or another and causing complete havoc inside. It has now come to light, and the dragon’s fury has been roused. He can no longer protect himself. I am here out of pure goodwill, coming to warn you and point out a way forward for you!”

Chu Linlang’s expression cooled slightly as she said in a low voice: “Try saying one more word to slander Lord Situ — just try.”

The time Tao Huiru had been beaten in the bamboo grove had left certain lingering after-effects. Whenever Chu Linlang’s expression shifted even slightly, she reacted like a mouse spotting a cat.

Tao Huiru could not help but flinch. Noticing that she had lost the upper hand in presence, she quickly forced herself to sit up straight again and said: “How am I slandering? His Majesty has issued an imperial edict rebuking Situ Sheng, on the charge of showing disrespect to the sovereign — he has been arrested and cast into the imperial prison. This news has spread throughout the entire capital. How can it be that you have been leisurely hiding outside the city and know nothing of it?”

Chu Linlang knew that no matter how bold a liar Tao Huiru might be, she would never dare to fabricate an imperial edict on the spot. If she said it with such certainty, could this really be true?

Tao Huiru watched her face with a faint air of satisfaction, smiling: “Situ Sheng is in the imperial prison right now — you won’t be able to see him even if you try. If I were you, I would be thinking about my own options, or buying myself a way out.”

Chu Linlang’s brows did not move. She simply asked in a level tone: “And how does one go about buying such a way out?”

Tao Huiru smiled and said: “Give me that letter belonging to my son. Your past grievances and mine will be wiped clean, and I will also give you a sum of money — consider it a reward.”

Chu Linlang now understood completely: Tao Huiru had hurried here to announce the catastrophic news of Situ Sheng’s downfall for the express purpose of intimidating and threatening her — a petty merchant woman who had now lost her powerful backer.

Tao Huiru was terrified that letter would fall into someone else’s hands, and so had come to pressure her in person, to probe where the letter might be, and to lure her into using it as a bargaining chip in a trade with Tao Huiru — to buy some security for herself.

Chu Linlang had to acknowledge that this Aunt Tao’s skill at reading and manipulating people was truly formidable.

Like a venomous spider crouching in a shadowed corner, watching its prey’s every movement — waiting for the moment to ripen, then leaping out to spin its silk, entangling and choking the prey caught in the web.

An ordinary woman, at this moment, would surely have been thrown into chaos by her words — leaping up to go into the city to find out what was happening.

And indeed, without Situ Sheng, it would be far easier for this poisonous woman Tao Huiru to manipulate her.

Yet beyond worry and anxiety, Chu Linlang was also inwardly very much on guard.

This Tao Huiru must have been conspiring with the Crown Prince on some scheme, which was why her information had come so swiftly.

Thinking of this, Chu Linlang smiled and said: “That letter I have already entrusted to a reliable person. If I am well, it too will be well. If anything should happen to me, rest assured it will reach His Majesty’s hands in a manner you will not expect. Do you believe me or not?”

Tao Huiru had not expected Chu Linlang to be so composed. Her lover had already been thrown in prison — yet she showed no sign of panic?

But perhaps Chu Linlang simply did not yet understand the urgency of the situation. No matter — the bait had been laid. As long as she knew Situ Sheng was in trouble, she could not help but fall into disarray.

Once Chu Linlang truly grasped how dire things were, she would naturally rush about everywhere trying to find help to rescue Situ Sheng. When that moment came, Tao Huiru would simply wait, patient as a fisherman, for Chu Linlang to come seeking terms.

Tao Huiru rose to leave and, just before departing, delivered one final remark to Chu Linlang: “Your origins are too humble. You thought that by hooking a capable man, you could ride the winds and waves of this capital — how naive. If I were you, I would know which way the wind blows and leave the capital’s vortex sooner rather than later. The waters here run too deep — the nobles and generals who have drowned in them number more than ten thousand. Do not, for the sake of a man who will never marry you, run yourself into a dead end!”

Having said this, Tao Huiru gave a cold laugh, rose, and walked out.

After Tao Huiru had gone, Chu Linlang — who had maintained an unruffled appearance throughout — immediately sprang to her feet.

She remembered that Situ Sheng had told her not to return to the city in the coming days. So she raised her hand and summoned several reliable manservants, sending them separately to the residence of Elder Qi Gong, the Imperial Academy chancellor, and to the Third Prince’s residence to gather intelligence.

After two hours had passed, all those sent to gather information had returned.

The manservant who had gone to Duke Qi of the Qi Principality’s residence came back first. The news he brought was much the same as what Tao Huiru had said: on the day Situ Sheng had been temporarily summoned into the palace, something had happened — for unknown reasons — that had aroused the Emperor’s fury, and he had been confined to prison on the spot, with no one permitted to visit him.

Elder Qi, upon hearing the news, had attempted to enter the palace to plead on Situ Sheng’s behalf, but had not even managed to obtain an audience with His Majesty.

This manservant’s account thus corroborated what Tao Huiru had said. To serve the sovereign was to serve a tiger — Situ Sheng had indeed angered the Emperor and been thrown in prison.

The one who had gone to the Third Prince’s residence returned somewhat later. He had brought back not a verbal message but a densely written letter in Tao Yashu’s own hand.

Chu Linlang unfolded it with eager impatience and read. In her letter, Tao Yashu had described exactly what had happened at the palace that day.

Several of the Empress Dowager’s prized flowers had happened to bloom in succession over those few days.

Looking at the flowers at their peak, the Empress Dowager could not bear to let them pass unappreciated, and so she had invited several of the imperial princes’ wives and daughters, as well as the higher-ranking consorts in the palace, to come to the imperial garden and appreciate them.

Tao Yashu had gone along with the Crown Princess and the Sixth Prince’s Consort.

At the height of their cheerful flower-admiring, as the noblewomen were talking and laughing together, they turned around — and saw a coarse, crude man, reeking of wine, fat-bellied and bare-chested, staggering out from somewhere, stumbling and lurching.

In an instant, the palace consorts were white with shock and scattered in all directions. But the Crown Princess in her panic had twisted her foot and was knocked to the ground by that man as he stumbled into her.

The palace maids and nannies nearby rushed over frantically to pull him away — but that fat man had no fear whatsoever, and bellowed loudly in a breath reeking of wine: “I am the Emperor’s son — letting you lot have me is a favor to you! You women, how dare you run from me! Just you wait — I’ll have my father chop all your heads off!”

As he shouted this, the disgusting man pressed his face against the Crown Princess’s face — which had gone pale with shock — and slobbered on her cheek several times, all the while hollering about how soft and fragrant the palace women were.

The Crown Princess, pinned beneath him, was both horrified and terrified, eyes rolling back as she came close to fainting.

The drunk and bellowing lout made such a loud ruckus that it was only at this point that the guards finally arrived, dragging him off and escorting him out of the imperial garden.

Yet the fact remained that the Crown Princess had been knocked to the ground by an unidentified man — and in full view of everyone present!

For such a noble woman as the Crown Princess to be molested by a man in this manner — how could the matter be so easily settled?

The Crown Princess, burning with shame and fury, sobbed and wanted to dash herself against the wall of the imperial garden. The situation had grown so large that even the Empress Dowager in the traveling palace was disturbed by it. The Crown Prince, upon hearing the news, rushed urgently into the palace as well.

What happened afterward, Tao Yashu did not know.

She only knew that in the end, Situ Sheng had been summoned into the palace, received a torrent of abuse from the Emperor in the imperial study, and was then escorted into prison.

Tao Yashu had written everything she knew into the letter, describing it all as though it were someone else’s tangle of official troubles.

Yet the letter paper was spotted with little drops of water — clearly Tao Yashu had been crying as she wrote, tears falling with every brushstroke.

The letter ended with a single line: “My heart is like the bright moon — it will never shine upon a muddy ditch!”

Though the women who had attended the flower-viewing gathering that day were all confused about why a wine-mad man had suddenly appeared in the palace, Tao Yashu, upon hearing the man’s drunken ravings, had understood everything in an instant.

So… this odious man who had pinned the Crown Princess down and made a drunken scene was the very Third Imperial Prince that Situ Sheng had found and brought back for His Majesty — and the man who was, in all legitimacy, her husband, Tao Yashu’s.

This cruel truth had shattered what little will remained in Tao Yashu to simply go on living.

And so she had written to inform her friend of Situ Sheng’s situation — but could not hold back the grief within her heart. The wish to be shattered rather than surrender whole, to be broken jade rather than intact clay, was entirely contained in that final line of the letter.

After Chu Linlang finished reading Tao Yashu’s letter, she could sit still no longer.

That Gu Youjin! How had he managed to get so thoroughly drunk inside the palace? And to so deeply shame and humiliate the imperial family in such a manner? And how had he managed to stumble into the imperial garden with no one stopping him?

Even without knowing the full reason, just hearing the account made it plain that the whole affair was riddled with conspiracy and scheming — all of it aimed squarely at Situ Sheng, who had been the one to find this Gu Youjin and bring him in.

His Majesty was clearly enraged. Whatever moves the Crown Prince had made behind the scenes, he had somehow managed to turn the Emperor’s fury onto Situ Sheng and have him thrown into prison.

Chu Linlang could no longer remain peacefully hidden away in her little courtyard outside the capital. She had to go back to the city and find a way to see the Empress Dowager — to understand the full story of what had happened.

But before she could even board her carriage, Sui Qiye stepped forward and stopped her: “Proprietress Chu — have you forgotten what the lord said? The arrow has left the bow and there is no turning back — the arrow is still in flight. You must be patient and wait a little longer!”

Chu Linlang stared at this weathered old man, and for some inexplicable reason, felt a strange sense of calm settle within her.

Things being as they were, she had to choose to trust Situ Sheng. He had promised her he would return safely. What she could do now was stay here quietly and wait for the arrows falling in chaos to land.

Back in the city, Tao Huiru had been keeping people posted to watch Chu Linlang’s movements.

By her reckoning, Chu Linlang should by now have had people investigate and learn the full story. What would follow was Chu Linlang falling into chaos and trying to save someone.

The moment Chu Linlang entered the city, the people Tao Huiru had long ago asked the Crown Prince’s trusted attendant Chen Fang to arrange would spring into action, slipping several military maps into Chu Linlang’s carriage.

Then the guards at the city gates would use the pretext of her smuggling military maps to detain her and escort her to the Court of Judicial Review for imprisonment.

Once there, all manner of torture instruments would be waiting for the woman. It would only be a matter of whose stubbornness outlasted whose — hers or the instruments’.

After one round of torture, she could not fail to hand over that letter.

Tao Huiru’s love for her son was such that she would tolerate absolutely nothing going wrong with her dear Zan.

As long as the letter was in hand — and Situ Sheng had already fallen from favor and been thrown into prison — the blade hovering over her head would be entirely removed, with nothing more to fear!

Yet the plan was so thorough, and still Chu Linlang had not entered the city.

Even the ordinarily composed Tao Huiru was growing somewhat anxious and restless, suppressing the urge to find Chen Fang and ask whether it was possible to simply send more men to storm the courtyard on the outskirts and seize Chu Linlang directly.

—