As the hammering sounds from above the Hidden Chamber grew louder, the sky gradually darkened bit by bit. The Yan Mansion blazed with lights as bright as day, but the Hidden Chamber remained pitch black, so dark that one couldn’t see one’s fingers even when reaching out.
Even wrapped in Wei Qin’s clothes, Jiang Yinyue still felt cold.
The coffin parked not far away looked especially eerie in the darkness. Not only Jiang Yinyue, but even the experienced Lin Yu felt his hair stand on end.
Hunger and thirst also tested the four trapped people.
“If Your Highness is thirsty, this official is willing to offer his blood!”
Lin Yu’s emotions surged as he sought to make up for his well-intentioned blunder, lest the Crown Prince settle scores later.
Wei Xichen lowered his eyes without responding. His body, not yet fully recovered, faced a severe test, leaving him too lazy to waste a single word.
The tabby cat in his arms meowed, begging the Heir Apparent for goat milk. But deep in peril, even boundless wealth was useless—not even a single grain of rice was possible.
Damp chill swept in, and thin brocade robes couldn’t withstand the waves of penetrating cold. Yet Wei Xichen still removed his outer robe and tossed it across. “Drape it over her.”
The light Song Brocade spread out like a net in midair, landing on Jiang Yinyue’s face with a whiff of Dragon Saliva Incense that entered her nostrils. She immediately yanked it off and threw it to the ground.
She showed no weakness, accepted no favor, and failed to read the room.
She had slighted the Heir Apparent’s dignity.
Wei Qin glanced at the vague outline of the garment but didn’t blame his wife’s rashness. Instead, he rubbed her arms and back to warm her.
The warm, fragrant, soft jade was on the verge of freezing solid.
Amid his shivering, Lin Yu couldn’t help coughing a few times. He sighed heavily—the Hidden Chamber crafted by Yan Hongchang was as cold as a cellar.
At over forty years old, he couldn’t endure this torment.
Suddenly, a woman’s mocking laugh came from across the way. “Prefect Lin, it’s time for you to offer your blood.”
Lin Yu glared darkly at the opposite side. He was just currying favor to avoid later reckoning, yet this girl took it to heart.
“If Your Highness needs…”
“No need.”
Lin Yu secretly rejoiced and curled up, hoping for rescue soon.
Two more hours passed, and the four fell asleep one after another in silence.
Wei Qin awoke to a murmur, sensing the discomfort of the person in his arms.
The proud sun dims in winter; delicate flowers wither in the cold. Jiang Yinyue had caught a chill in the dampness, and her body burned with fever.
Clothing rustled from across the way—not from Lin Yu, who was dozing, but from Wei Xichen rising to approach the young couple.
“How is she?”
“She has a fever.”
Wei Xichen picked up the Song Brocade outer robe from the ground. Without giving Wei Qin a chance to refuse, he draped it over Jiang Yinyue. Then, from the Gilded Sachet at his waist, he took out a Clear Fire Pill prepared by the imperial physician, which had fever-reducing effects.
“Feed it to her.”
Even as rivals in romance, Wei Qin wouldn’t risk Jiang Yinyue’s safety out of spite. He took the pill and brought it to her lips. “Yinyue, open your mouth.”
Jiang Yinyue refused to accept Wei Xichen’s kindness and turned her head away, burying her face in Wei Qin’s chest. “Take it away.”
Wei Xichen persuaded her. “This isn’t the time to be stubborn—your health comes first. Niannian, This Prince won’t harm you.”
The call of “Niannian” summoned the tabby cat crouching across from him. But no matter how it meowed, it failed to draw Wei Xichen’s attention.
That “Niannian” also made Wei Qin hold the woman in his arms even tighter. He leaned to her ear and coaxed her a few words, mentioning her father Jiang Song and her elder brother Jiang Taolue far away at the border. “If you fall ill, Father-in-law and Big Brother will blame your husband.”
Hearing Wei Qin mention her family made Jiang Yinyue’s eyes well up.
People become fragile when their bodies weaken.
The disturbed Lin Yu reminded them in a low voice. “Fever and weakness make swallowing difficult. Such a large pill needs water to go down.”
Out of spite, he stepped forward and suggested. “Transport Judge Wei, feed her the medicine with your blood.”
Unexpectedly, Wei Qin and Wei Xichen both bit their wrists open in unison.
Lin Yu, still smug, shuddered in shock.
“Your Highness…”
Why harm yourself like this for a subordinate’s wife?
This middle-aged man with three wives and four concubines couldn’t fathom it.
But after biting his own wrist, Wei Xichen didn’t rush forward to compete.
Had Wei Qin not bitten his, he wouldn’t have hesitated. But Wei Qin had bitten his without a second thought.
He had no reason to supplant another man’s husband in offering such care.
Wei Xichen silently leaned back to the side, pressing the wound with his other hand.
The rescuers for the Crown Prince worked frantically, plastering recruitment notices everywhere. Though they didn’t reveal the truth of the rescue, the generous rewards drew crowds of onlookers.
“What are Mechanism Arts?”
“Those skilled in Mechanism Arts are all extraordinary experts.”
“What happened? Why suddenly recruit such experts?”
“Who knows! Let’s just watch the excitement.”
The Wei Family, having gotten wind of it, was blocked outside the Yan Mansion, anxiously awaiting the rescue results.
The frail Wei Ying had stood outside the mansion for hours, her legs weak, yet stubbornly refusing to leave, her heart tied to her brother and sister-in-law’s safety.
The prefect’s deputy arrived outside with a mournful face. Looking at the rotating soldiers and bailiffs waiting, he shouted loudly. “Those with great strength, step forward—great rewards await!”
Soldiers and bailiffs surged forward, but none could budge the hidden door an inch.
As dawn broke, the officials and guards grew frantic.
Old Master Wei, blocked outside, stormed up and quarreled loudly with the gate servants. “My grandson and granddaughter-in-law are trapped inside—why won’t you let this old man in?”
“What can you do if you go in? Don’t cause trouble!”
Elderly, Old Master Wei saw stars after a few exchanges and was supported away by the eldest Wei master.
Second Master Wei Zhongchun hobbled forward. The usually mild-mannered man steeled himself to negotiate, revealing his position as Salt Field Deputy Envoy and colleague to many officials inside. “Could you make an exception and let this official in?”
The deputy at the gate, worn out from Old Master Wei’s arguing, directed bailiffs to drive them off.
“Go, go— you’ve crowded the gate half the day! We’ll inform you the moment there’s news!”
Seeing her father nearly shoved to the ground, Wei Ying hurried forward to support him, but a hunched figure beat her to it, steadying Wei Zhongchun from behind.
“It’s you…”
Manager Xie.
Xie Jingcheng helped Wei Zhongchun step aside, nodded smilingly at Wei Ying, then strode forward with a notice tucked under his arm.
“This humble one is untalented, but he can give it a try.”
The deputy recognized the hunched man as the renowned jeweler. “Manager Xie wants to get rich—fair enough, but this fortune won’t be easy to earn. Don’t cause trouble! If you delay things, we’ll hold you accountable!”
“Let this humble one try.”
“Really?”
“Really!”
With no experts to be found, the deputy was at his wits’ end and treated this like a last resort. He led the man into the mansion.
Wei Ying suddenly spoke up. “Manager Xie!”
Thank you for your trouble.
She couldn’t casually reveal the matter of the Crown Prince and her brother and sister-in-law being trapped, so she kept the words in her heart, filled with hope and gratitude.
Xie Jingcheng, ascending the stone steps, turned his head for a glance and nodded smilingly once more.
Like a spring breeze.
Entering the woodshed, Xie Jingcheng paced along the crisscrossing grooves, prodding them with his cane. Some onlookers frowned, others rolled their eyes.
A shady merchant proficient in Mechanism Arts?
After a while, Xie Jingcheng faced the crowd, hands folded atop his cane handle. “Everyone, step back.”
Some retreated, while a few stayed put.
Just putting on a show.
Xie Jingcheng didn’t press further. With a tsk tsk, he jabbed his cane at a certain intersection in the grooves. Two hidden doors opened simultaneously.
Those who hadn’t retreated tumbled in like dumplings into boiling water.
Eliciting cries of alarm.
Xie Jingcheng shrugged and peered below. “Is everyone all right?”
Groans of ouch ouch came from underneath.
As Wei Qin carried the wrapped Jiang Yinyue out, he cast a light glance at the hunched middle-aged man.
The man shrugged and extended a hand to the Crown Prince ascending the ladder behind.
Wei Xichen offered the hand not stained with blood and climbed up slowly, his other hand still clutching his outer robe.
Ignoring the chorus of concerned inquiries, his gaze withdrew from the young couple and settled on Xie Jingcheng’s face.
“Manager Xie?”
“Call this commoner by name.”
“Impressive skills, one of a kind. This Prince intends to recommend you for the Ministry of Works.”
Xie Jingcheng paid no mind to the onlookers’ gazes shifting from doubt to admiration. He grinned lazily. “Talents sprout like bamboo shoots after rain—as long as given a chance to grow, they flourish in abundance. We’re not short one commoner like me. This commoner is used to coarseness and dislikes being bound by rules, Your Highness overestimates me.”
Before entering the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Personnel would strictly review an official’s background and history. Xie Jingcheng had no desire to seek fortune amid risks.
When Wei Qin brought Jiang Yinyue back to the residence, Du Juan hurriedly fetched hot water.
“Shall this servant help the Second Young Madam bathe?”
“No need.”
Wei Qin set Jiang Yinyue on the embroidered stool before the vanity, undid her outer robe, and removed her red skirt, leaving only her middle trousers and dudou.
No lingering caresses or tenderness—he just wanted her immersed in warm water quickly.
Stepping over the piled clothes, Wei Qin scooped her up and carried her to the bathtub.
Her skin was unusually cold, even cooler than Wei Qin’s already abnormal body temperature.
“Miss.”
Placing her in the water, Wei Qin crouched by the tub and touched her cheek, calling softly.
“Miss, wake up.”
The imperial physician’s pill had sedative effects, keeping the woman in deep sleep. Her plain little face gradually regained color amid the steam, and her shoulders and neck above the water restored their pinkish hue.
Seeing signs of her waking, Wei Qin breathed a sigh of relief. He cupped the back of her neck and pressed his forehead to hers.
“Wei Qin…”
Mumbling before fully awake, the woman who depended on him even in delirium slowly opened her eyes. Startled by the handsome face right before her, she shrank back into the water.
Water droplets trailed from her dazed face. Then she leaned toward the man.
One retreat, one advance—the movements stirred ripples across the surface.
Her wet, long hair clung to her smooth back, the tips tangling with her dudou strings before drifting free with the waves.
“Let me see your hand.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not.”
Jiang Yinyue seized Wei Qin’s left hand and looked at the mangled flesh on his wrist.
It must hurt a lot.
Fearing she’d catch cold again, Wei Qin pulled a long cloth towel from the rack and draped it over her shoulders, then used its ends to wring out her hair.
“Rinse your mouth.”
Having drunk Wei Qin’s blood, Jiang Yinyue didn’t rinse immediately. Instead, she urged him to tend his wrist wound first.
The Mechanism Arts incident had been accidental, so Wei Qin took a day off. After Jiang Yinyue took the medicine and fell asleep, he sat alone on the bed, pondering the Hidden Chamber’s mechanisms.
Around noon, a square wooden frame appeared in the courtyard, piquing Qi Bao’s curiosity.
Dressed in plain cloth robes with sleeves rolled up, Wei Qin straddled the ladder, adjusting his carpentry work.
Failure after failure, adjustment after adjustment. At dusk when lamps were lit, he finally replicated a miniature Hidden Chamber that could trigger Mechanism Arts.
Its crisscrossing grooves were somewhat crude, far less refined than the Yan Mansion’s Hidden Chamber, but enough to test one’s cracking ability.
Meanwhile, Wei Xichen stood by a green plum tree in the post station’s courtyard with his own miniature Hidden Chamber. He had dismissed the sycophants, leaving only the tabby cat on his shoulder.
His wrist wound wasn’t deep and needed no bandaging. He gazed down at it, then flipped his wrist to inspect a small ring of tooth marks on the back of his hand.
Scabbed over with blood.
The last time the back of his hand was injured was at three years old, the year before he was named Heir Apparent.
Back then in the palace, only two officials were proficient in Mechanism Arts: the Minister of Works and the Dali Temple Minister.
To please Your Majesty, the Minister of Works often crafted intricate little gadgets and sent them into the palace.
That year’s Mid-Autumn Banquet featured an iron cage torture device used for extracting confessions, displayed publicly by the Minister of Works. Once a prisoner was thrown inside, even the most stubborn couldn’t endure the torment of skin splitting and flesh blooming.
Your Majesty was greatly pleased.
But that very night, the iron cage was dismantled.
Your Majesty flew into a rage. A strict investigation revealed that his own two princes were responsible.
The court and the public were shocked.
Wei Xichen and Eldest Prince Wei Yihe were summoned to the imperial study.
Your Majesty gripped the punishment ruler and struck the Eldest Son’s arm while demanding, “Was it you who instigated your younger brother?”
The Second Son was obedient and sensible. He must have been led astray by the Eldest Son.
Three-year-old Wei Yihe stiffened his face and said nothing, stubborn as a calf.
Wei Xichen at the side lowered his head and muttered, “It was this son who asked Elder Brother to help.”
Your Majesty was stunned. “Why?”
“That torture device was too cruel. This son couldn’t bear it.”
Your Majesty lashed the back of the Second Son’s hand with the ruler, leaving fresh red bloodstains.
“Those who achieve great things must not show woman’s benevolence!”
Your Majesty’s furious roar echoed in his ears as the Eldest Brother’s stubborn expression resurfaced before his eyes. Wei Xichen suddenly realized that some of his childhood acquaintances were already separated by life and death.
Eldest Prince Wei Yihe had perished at age four when a carriage exploded, taking Yide Empress with him.
The Eldest Prince’s study companion, the youngest son of the Dali Temple Minister, Xie Chengyan, had died of illness.
The foster son of the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Rites, Seal-Holder, had gone mad after castration and jumped into a well.
The third son of the Palace Guard General had drowned.
In his childhood memories, a childhood acquaintance passed away every few years. Looking back, Wei Xichen sighed endlessly.
He rubbed the wound on the back of his hand, recalling his royal eldest brother, who had helped him dismantle the torture device. Without the struggle for the throne, they might have grown up like ordinary brothers.
The weight of the past stirred random thoughts. As he pondered, Wei Xichen’s mind turned to Jiang Yinyue, the childhood acquaintance who pained him the most.
His rubbing slowed. He slowly raised his hand and brushed his nose against the ring of tooth marks.
Late at night, when all was quiet in the modest yet elegant city dwelling, Wei Qin disassembled the miniature Hidden Chamber and piled it in the corner. He patted the dust from his hands and returned to the East Wing.
Jiang Yinyue, who had been drifting in and out of sleep, was wrapped in quilts and leaning against the bedhead. Her complexion had mostly recovered, and she seemed much more lively.
“Figured it out?”
“Pretty much.”
Wei Qin washed his hands and changed into clean clothes before sitting on the edge of the bed. He touched her forehead.
She was no longer feverish, but her cheeks were still flushed red.
The embarrassment of being carried into the bath bucket half-naked paled compared to the mortification of being carried out, wiped down, and dressed—eyes closed or not, he had still touched…
Thinking of their one-month agreement made Jiang Yinyue’s face burn even hotter.
“You… when did you start liking me?”
Wei Qin answered honestly, “I don’t remember.”
“Then when did you realize you liked me?”
Wei Qin paused slightly. Perhaps it was during the lingering thrill after his heart had first pounded for her.
An irrepressible throb shattered his naivety, clearly telling him what a heartbeat felt like.
Jiang Yinyue knelt up and leaned in curiously. “Why won’t you answer?”
The woman smiled to break the awkwardness. “I know!”
“Is that so?” Wei Qin asked faintly.
Jiang Yinyue suddenly pressed her ear to his chest, listening to the strong, steady thump of his heart. Her eyes curved in a smile. “Your heart told me—it was on the way to Yangzhou.”
Day and night together, feelings grew with time.
It was also the outcome Jiang Song had hoped for most.
Wei Qin admitted candidly, “Much earlier than that.”
It was an ordinary late night after their marriage. Lying on the floor mat in her boudoir, he caught the faint, warm fragrance drifting from her bedside and lay awake all night.
Jiang Yinyue playfully poked his chest. “Then your heart doesn’t understand you. It gave the wrong answer.”
Wei Qin gazed at her and suddenly pressed his large hand over her heart, filling his palm with the frantic beat beneath.
It raced wildly.
“Then let your heart figure itself out. In one month, give me a clear answer. You can refuse me, but liking is liking—no forcing, no half-measures.”
Jiang Yinyue’s face flushed scarlet where his hand pressed against her chest.
That large hand covered more than just her pounding heart.