As the night watch ended, the chirping insects of the emerald-waving, cinnabar-flowing summer night were instantly drowned out by uniform footsteps.
Wave after wave of troops swept through the streets like a storm, and Prefect Lin Yu personally led the soldiers. Before dawn broke, he shouted loudly and clearly, “Seal the city!!”
The heavy city gates closed one by one.
The startled Eldest Princess hurried from her estate to the posthouse. She bypassed the bitter-faced, fidgeting Fu Zhongcai and stormed into the upstairs chamber with great momentum. “Your Highness mobilized troops on such a grand scale for what reason?”
Wei Xichen did not turn around. He gazed faintly at the waves of troops racing past outside the window, his hollow eyes devoid of any ripple.
The hazy moonlight turned into bitter vinegar wine, blurring his clear gaze into something dim and indistinct.
“Searching for Yan Zhuyu.”
The Eldest Princess stood still a step away, her hands clasped over her abdomen, looking out at the tense and oppressive scene alongside her nephew.
“That woman was kidnapped, her life and death unknown. She may not even be in the city. Your Highness should think twice.”
The Eldest Princess knew that the Crown Prince had sent people to secretly search for Yan Zhuyu’s whereabouts, but she did not understand the reason for tonight’s massive search.
“This Prince has a premonition. The ones who kidnapped Yan Zhuyu are the same group that intercepted Gong Fei. Some of them are in the city, often lingering near This Prince.”
Otherwise, they could not have orchestrated the abduction and interception so promptly.
Wei Xichen said no more. A heart ailment required heart medicine. Yan Zhuyu was not his cure, but she could serve as a pill compounded of antidote and poison, swallowed down with a mix of flavors to numb the pain. Or she could be a straw target, pierced by a hail of arrows to vent his inner fire.
He could not share this feeling with anyone. Was Yan Zhuyu the only one responsible for creating this situation?
He knew full well.
Inside Doctor Zhao’s clinic, a dim lamp illuminated the slender silhouette of a woman.
Because she had smelled roadside wildflowers in the evening, Wei Ying’s entire body itched fiercely, covered in a rash. Wei Qin and Jiang Yinyue had rushed her to the clinic overnight.
Doctor Zhao, who was familiar with Wei Ying, sat on a stool at the door decocting medicine, occasionally craning his neck to glance at the situation on the street.
“The authorities are searching house to house? Could there have been a murder in the city?”
Jiang Yinyue, half-holding Wei Ying on the small couch, paid no attention. She focused single-mindedly on flipping through the medical book spread across her lap.
Allergies could be minor or fatal. This time it was just a rash; next time, it might cause her to faint and not wake.
“Wei Qin, let’s take Ying’er back to the capital together.”
If Wei Ying was willing.
The Imperial Medical Bureau was filled with renowned physicians who might improve Wei Ying’s frail constitution.
Wei Qin had sought famous doctors for his sister over the past decade or so, but with little effect. Still, he agreed.
A yawn came from behind the hanging curtain of the clinic’s inner room. Manager Xie, who had been staying there, sauntered out lazily. “Eh yo, you three look familiar.”
The pale-lipped Wei Ying heard the familiar yet strange teasing and struggled to open her eyes. “Manager Xie.”
Xie Jingcheng, with his grinning face, looked at the girl as frail as a willow in the wind and lost interest in joking. “Old Zhao, these people trust you so much. You need to bring out your best skills.”
Doctor Zhao shook his head helplessly.
A congenital weakness was hard for even renowned doctors to cure at the root.
Xie Jingcheng pulled over a stool and sat by the couch, crossing his legs.
Wei Ying offered a piece of candy. “Manager Xie.”
“Yo, more candy. Thanks.” Xie Jingcheng smiled as he took it, peeled it open, popped it into his mouth, and puffed one cheek while leisurely fanning himself. “This old vegetable peddler still has people thinking of him.”
Wei Ying said weakly, “For last time, many thanks to you, Manager.”
“No need to be polite.”
Jiang Yinyue chimed in. “Those mechanisms are complex and hard to unravel. Did Manager Xie learn them on your own or from a famous teacher?”
“Self-taught.” Xie Jingcheng tapped his temple. “A good brain does the trick.”
At that moment, a group of yamen runners approached the clinic. “No need to panic. Routine search.”
Doctor Zhao hurriedly stood. “Officers, who are you searching for? Fugitives?”
“Don’t ask questions.”
The yamen runners flooded into the clinic, rummaging through every room inside and out.
“Nothing here.”
“Nothing here either.”
The lead runner put his hands on his waist, glanced at the brightening sky, and led his men to the next unclosed shop.
Wei Qin glanced at the rolled-up portrait at the leader’s waist.
Likely the portrait of the fugitive being pursued.
Xie Jingcheng stretched lazily and said with a smile that he needed to step out for a moment.
Soon after, the hunched man leaning against the wall held an extra portrait in his hand.
When he unrolled it, the smile at the corner of his mouth vanished abruptly.
Troops crowded in front of the Huai Jin County Princess Mansion, and Prefect Lin personally led soldiers to search.
Cui Shihan blocked the mansion gate. “Prefect Lin, you’re arresting people and searching all the way to this County Princess’s mansion? Could it be that this County Princess is in cahoots with fugitives?”
Prefect Lin smiled without mirth. This little ancestor was no ordinary yamen runner could suppress.
“This official acts on the Crown Prince’s orders to capture someone. I hope the County Princess understands.”
“The Crown Prince must have a legitimate reason. There has to be one!”
“Huai Jin County Princess, this official is not here to negotiate with you! The Crown Prince’s order is reason enough!”
This was no time for hesitation. Under the Crown Prince’s command, not even a hundred Huai Jin County Princesses could block his path!
“Come on, search immediately!”
A large group of yamen runners surged past the mansion gates on either side of Cui Shihan. Prefect Lin walked in with hands behind his back, signaling the over a hundred servants in the mansion not to move about randomly and to stay in place.
Cui Shihan suppressed her anger, her fists clenched with cracking sounds.
Prefect Lin had come personally, surely on the Crown Prince’s instructions—perhaps his real aim lay elsewhere. While searching for criminals, he was also checking if the mansion hid anything detrimental to the Eastern Palace, to test the Cui Clan’s loyalty.
The usually refined and elegant Crown Prince would not suddenly mobilize troops like this. Just who was he pursuing?
A nearby maidservant muttered, “Do they really need to search for so long?”
Cui Shihan took over. Her hoarse tone was no different from Grand Tutor Cui’s.
“Search away! The Cui Clan is loyal to Your Majesty, vowing to be faithful ministers who brook no second loyalties. We can withstand the search!”
The girl leaped onto the high wall of the mansion, cupped her hands like a megaphone, and repeated the words over and over, raising her voice each time. Her willful and flamboyant demeanor made Prefect Lin shake his head.
How had the Cui Clan produced such a little demon?
As Cui Shihan shouted, she glanced sideways in another direction. From her vantage point overlooking, she could vaguely see large groups of yamen runners milling about in a nearby alley.
Hearing a knock at the door, the young man with a scar on his cheekbone opened the residence door.
“So slow. Suspicious!”
The leader barked an order and gestured for the youth to step aside. “Search!”
The youth coldly eyed each yamen runner passing before him, the scar on his cheekbone trembling like swallow wings.
“Boss, found a secret chamber!”
The leader glared fiercely at the youth, signaled his subordinate to watch him, and hurried to the empty secret chamber himself, having the youth brought in.
“Explain yourself!”
The youth curled his lip. “What secret chamber? This is a cellar. Are you officers desperate for merit?”
“Insolent!”
“This commoner is a butcher. This is for storing meat.”
The youth pulled out an official household registry proving his identity as a butcher.
The leader blew away the hair falling over his forehead. After tossing half the night, they had nothing to show.
Once the yamen runners were far away, the youth slammed the door shut and stared at the registry in his hand. “Butcher. What a clever idea from those dog things.”
In a certain secret chamber on the other side, Yan Zhuyu—who had been moved there at some point—looked haggard and disheveled. She stared unblinkingly at the hunched man before her.
“The Crown Prince is looking for me?”
“Yeah.” Xie Jingcheng noticed the spark of desperate hope reignite in the woman and sneered. “Still dreaming? You think the Crown Prince looking for you means anything good?”
“Better than falling into your hands.”
Xie Jingcheng could not guess the Crown Prince’s sudden reason for the massive search for Yan Zhuyu. He hesitated whether to risk sending her ahead to the Capital City early or continue hiding her.
If not for Yan Yi’s momentary soft-heartedness in not dealing with the old horse, causing all city gates to be tightly guarded, he would have moved Yan Zhuyu out of the city long ago, avoiding today’s peril.
At the mao hour second quarter, Jiang Yinyue, who had just returned to the Wei Residence not long before, was startled awake by Qi Bao’s frantic barking.
Uncle Song led two women into Hanlan Courtyard.
It was the Han Yan and Han Xun sisters.
“Qi Bao, no barking.”
Qi Bao lifted its head stubbornly, clearly unwelcome to these two women—perhaps related to Yan Zhuyu.
In Qi Bao’s memory, they left no good impression. It ran off alone, picked up a toy, and scratched at Lady Gu’s door.
As soon as she saw Jiang Yinyue, Han Yan hurried forward, choking with sobs. “Please, Lady Jiang, help us!”
Unable to wait for news of their brother, the sisters had been anxious all night without sleep. At dawn, they went out to search the streets. In the end, word came from the posthouse: Chief Steward Fu, out of pity, had secretly sent someone with a message.
“Our brother angered the Crown Prince and was injured by him. His life hangs in the balance. Please, Lady Jiang, speak on our behalf. My sister and I are willing to be your cows and horses!”
The sisters knelt and wept, sobbing uncontrollably.
Jiang Yinyue helped one up, but the other kept kneeling.
“You must explain clearly. Why did the Crown Prince injure Han Jian? Han Yan, you tell me!”
Jiang Yinyue, who had noticed Han Jian’s oddity yesterday, had some idea.
She had heard some rumors from Manager Xie then. The authorities’ massive mobilization was to find Yan Zhuyu, who had disappeared for days. So, Han Jian must have confessed something to the Crown Prince, prompting the urgent search for Yan Zhuyu.
As for what he confessed, Jiang Yinyue could not guess.
As Yan Zhuyu’s personal attendant, Han Jian might know some of her hidden misdeeds—ones that enraged the Crown Prince, meaning Yan Zhuyu had harmed his interests.
Han Yan clutched Jiang Yinyue’s skirt. “My sister and I went to the posthouse and were stopped outside. We asked the guards for details and were scolded and driven away. Helpless, we came to beg your help!”
No matter the time or circumstance, in their eyes, Jiang Yinyue would always be a guest at the Crown Prince’s table, never turned away.
Jiang Yinyue fell silent for a moment, her peripheral gaze landing on the cured meats in the courtyard corner. She did have a slight connection with Han Jian.
Before the chen hour, Jiang Yinyue rode to the posthouse and stated her purpose directly.
She requested to see the Crown Prince.
The guard stepped aside to let her pass.
Jiang Yinyue lifted her skirt and ran upstairs. She exchanged a glance with Fu Zhongcai, who guarded the door. Before she could speak, he immediately pushed the door open.
Bypassing the announcement protocol.
This seemingly simple omission crossed the line for a personal attendant, bordering on overstepping.
Noticing the subtlety, Jiang Yinyue sneered coldly. “Chief Steward Fu kindly informed the Han sisters. How very kind!”
Fu Zhongcai broke into a sweat. The Eastern Palace Chief Steward, who got whatever wind or rain he wanted, felt ashamed before this young lady.
“Please, Lady.”
Jiang Yinyue’s thoughts raced as she savored Fu Zhongcai’s unusual action. Was this luring her into a trap?
The Crown Prince was waiting for her.
Did Han Jian’s matter concern her?
No greeting, no small talk. Upon seeing that figure in white who had just stood, she turned her head away and got straight to the point. “Release Han Jian.”
Wei Xichen fastened his brocade robe and buckled his jade belt with a reverse hand, without hesitation or airs. He said warmly, “Alright.”
Jiang Yinyue found it even stranger. “Your Highness, why did you injure him?”
Wei Xichen stood, his snow-white robes lifted by the wind from the window, accentuating his tall and ethereal figure.
He came before Jiang Yinyue, gazing through the morning sun’s floating dust at the wary woman.
This stretch of morning sun between them condensed three years of love and hate, forming a barrier of time, a divide of hearts.
Her passionately beating heart had been pierced by him, and he had been bitten back by his own suspicions.
Desires for revenge, distance, and forgetting clashed with palpitations, unwillingness, and entanglement, locked in stalemate, mutually destructive, leaving heart ailments.
But in the end, it was merely his own bout of suspicion.
Jiang Yinyue had nearly lost her life for him.
His childhood sweetheart, whom he cherished like a pearl, remained pure and translucent, unchanged.
“Niannian, This Prince is ashamed.”
After hearing the true reason for the conflict between Wei Xichen and Han Jian, Jiang Yinyue’s vigilant almond eyes flickered slightly, early morning mist gathering within, hazy and swirling.
He said he felt ashamed for not trusting her.
He said she was wronged and that he would clear her name and restore her reputation.
He said he would compensate her.
But could that erase the grievances she had suffered back then?
When she needed him the most, what was he doing? Standing by coldly, adding fuel to the fire!
“Wei Xichen, do you think that letting go of your grudges and suspicions would allow you to be open and honest, calm and composed? That you could return to the past? You were wrong. The Jiang Yinyue of the past was strangled by your own hands!”
In those days of mockery, doubt, and abuse, she not only received no salvation but was personally kicked out of the game by him. She fell gravely ill, lay bedridden for a long time, and nearly lost her life.
He knew nothing of this. He was busy discussing his marriage with Yan Zhuyu! Busy writing the beautiful tale praised by Your Majesty!
All he heard were words of praise: overcoming countless difficulties, love as firm as gold, unwavering to the end.
What did he want to make up for? A shallow regret in his heart?
That was her lingering nightmare, a brand deeply imprinted on her heart.
“Wei Xichen, you are so selfish.”
“Niannian… Niannian!”
Wei Xichen grabbed Jiang Yinyue’s arm, not wanting her to leave just like that. The sincerity in her that he had strangled was also the root of the affliction in his heart.
“Let go of me! Let go!”
Jiang Yinyue shook off his hand and ran a few steps before suddenly stopping.
Wei Xichen instinctively stepped forward. “Niannian?”
As long as she turned back, everything could still happen. He could go experience the mockery and doubt she had suffered, mend the shattered “mirror.”
Jiang Yinyue did not turn back. Her tone was as faint as the morning mist dispersed by sunlight. “Let Han Jian go.”
With that, she left quickly.
The burly man who had been quietly squatting in wait outside the post station also left with Jiang Yinyue’s departure.
One headed east, the other west.
At noon, under the intense sunlight with cicadas chirping incessantly, Wei Qin, who had hurried back from the yamen, appeared before the woman sitting silently with her head down.
He first stood at the gourd-shaped gate of Hanlan Courtyard, quietly observing for a moment, then silently walked up to the woman, supported her bent knees, and slowly squatted down.
“Miss.”
Jiang Yinyue lifted her reddened almond eyes and sniffed. “Why are you back?”
As soon as she spoke, her voice was hoarse.
Wei Qin did not have time to take out a handkerchief and used his sleeve to wipe away the tears she could not hold back.
“What happened? Tell your husband.”
Jiang Yinyue did not answer immediately. She gazed at Wei Qin’s warm and mild face and truly realized how different he was from Wei Xichen.
A gentle and amiable demeanor was a mask for suspicion.
A warm and indifferent composure was an illusion of deep affection.
Both Wei Qin and Wei Xichen were complex and multifaceted, as people always were.
Jiang Yinyue suddenly felt fortunate that she had been betrayed by hypocrites back then, allowing her to meet someone like Wei Qin, cold on the outside but warm at heart.
“Wei Qin, I have no strength left. I need a little more time to recover. Can you hold me?”
Like her father, mother, or brothers— no matter how useless she was or how big a mess she made, they would set aside right and wrong first and just hold her.
Wei Qin did not hesitate. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her, gently patting her back, feeling the trembling of her thin back under his palm.
He tightened his arms, holding her closely in his embrace, so that even as Qi Bao rubbed and squeezed, it could not wedge between the two.
Even the most lingering floral passions amid snow, the thunderous romances, could not compare to the steady companionship of fine, flowing waters.
In that familiar embrace, the woman’s tearful eyes gradually cleared.
The noonday sun blazed brilliantly, and their seamless embrace was worth a thousand words.