Chapter 163

Chapter 163

Five years later, in Suizhou.

“Zhou Wei, is that fish stew ready yet?” Jin He called toward the kitchen, a plate in her hands.

Zhou Wei lifted the pot lid and took a look. “Almost! Get ready to eat!”

Dish after dish emerged from the kitchen. Zhou Lingsheng had just come in through the courtyard gate. At the sight, he set down his herb basket and went over to help.

“Auntie Dai Rong, you should rest. Let me do it.”

Dai Rong stepped back, keeping the plate out of Zhou Lingsheng’s reach, and smiled. “There are more dishes inside. Go fetch the bowls and chopsticks.”

Zhou Lingsheng nodded and answered cheerfully, “All right.”

It was September, and the autumn breeze was beginning to stir.

The summer heat had yet to leave the air. At the foot of the mountain stood a courtyard enclosed by three connected buildings, with a broad open space in the middle. Vegetables filled the plots on either side, while several rows of flowers grew along the courtyard walls, their brilliant colors vying for attention.

A wooden pavilion had been built beside the eastern wing, near the courtyard gate. A long wooden table stood inside.

Sheng Yuanzhong wiped the dust from the table, then turned and went into the house. Glancing at Lady Lu, who was cutting fabric for clothes, he said, “Put that aside for now. Call Ning’er and Yaoyao. It’s almost time to eat.”

Lady Lu set down her needlework and looked outside. Through the window, she called to the two figures in the rear courtyard, one large and one small, “Take a break from training and come eat.”

A maple leaf drifted from a branch, fluttered through the dusty air, and landed on Sheng Zhaoning’s shoulder.

She lazily raised her head from the reclining chair. Warm, gentle sunlight filtered through the leaves and between her fingers, spilling down like golden sand.

“How long have you been holding that horse stance?”

Sheng Zhaoning picked up the maple leaf that had fallen beside her and looked toward the tiny figure in the courtyard.

Sheng Yao’s little face was scrunched up in misery. Her two horn-shaped pigtails curved jauntily upward, and beads of sweat dotted her small nose. Aggrieved yet too intimidated to complain outright, she whimpered, “Forever!”

In truth, it had not been long at all.

Only enough time for a stick of incense to burn had passed since she started. Besides, Sheng Yao had been slacking the entire time, secretly shifting her arms and legs whenever Sheng Zhaoning was not looking. Her stance had never been particularly steady.

But Sheng Zhaoning had not told her she could stop, so Sheng Yao did not dare move her feet.

Sheng Zhaoning lifted her eyes slightly. The little girl’s woebegone face held enough resentment to sustain every wandering ghost for miles around, and the sight amused her. “Have you mastered the sword technique I taught you last time?”

Sheng Yao’s gaze faltered. Feeling guilty at once, she turned her head away.

Half a month ago, Sheng Zhaoning had taught her a new sword technique. She had explained it aloud and drawn diagrams, breaking down every stance and move in painstaking detail for Sheng Yao.

Unfortunately, while the little girl was remarkably gifted, she was far too fond of playing.

She spent every day roaming up and down the mountain. If she was not hunting with Zhou Wei, she was gathering herbs with Zhou Lingsheng.

Climbing trees to raid nests, wading into the river to catch fish, shooting birds with a slingshot-if it counted as fun, she had mastered it.

Combined with the martial arts Sheng Zhaoning had personally taught her, this had made five-year-old Sheng Yao a little girl who ran wild around the village.

She could learn anything after being shown just once, yet she had dragged this lesson out for half a month, refusing to practice properly and vanishing every day before anyone could catch her.

Sheng Yao pursed her lips. Not daring to look at Sheng Zhaoning again, she turned a pleading gaze on Lady Lu.

The moment Lady Lu met those pitiful eyes, her heart melted completely.

Standing by the window, she shot Sheng Zhaoning a reproachful look. “Yao’er is still so young! You study and practice swordsmanship yourself, and you’ve had her swinging a blade around since she was three. Just watching her frightens me!”

After being told off, Sheng Zhaoning’s imposing air faltered. Unable to talk back, she turned and shot Sheng Yao a dark, menacing glance. The girl immediately shivered.

“I’m giving you one last day. If you still refuse to study seriously, it’ll be time for the disciplinary ruler on the cabinet to shake off its dust,” Sheng Zhaoning threatened.

Sheng Yao’s little face turned deathly pale, and even her twin braids trembled. With a wail, she ran off with a long-suffering look on her face.

On top of the wall, the orange cat, growing plumper by the day, licked its paw before jumping down and burrowing into Sheng Zhaoning’s arms. It meowed twice, almost as if it were begging for affection.

The tension faded from Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes, and her imposing demeanor immediately melted away. With a curl of her lips, she reached out to stroke the cat’s belly, her hand sinking into a patch of soft, fluffy fur.

She leaned back in her chair and looked up into the distance at the maple leaves on the branches, their edges just beginning to blush with autumn color.

Before she knew it, five years had passed.

After fleeing the Capital City, their carriage had headed straight for Suizhou.

With Chi Yu’s people making the arrangements, the journey to Suizhou had been completely unobstructed.

Zhou Lingsheng was the last to catch up with them.

He had received Zhou Wei’s message first. He found the cat, which had refused to leave the Eastern Palace, and unearthed the wooden box Sheng Zhaoning had buried beneath a tree. Inside were the Plum Blossom Vermilion Seal and a victory report.

After Wei Heng’s death, she had not dared to keep the cat by her side, nor had she dared to show anyone the things inside that box. No matter how reluctant she was to part with them, she could only pretend they had nothing to do with her and ignore them completely.

But Zhou Wei remembered.

After escaping from the Temple of Ten Thousand Blessings, she had told Zhou Lingsheng how to contact Zhou Wei.

Once Zhou Wei received his message, he was overwhelmed with excitement. He immediately took the Sheng Family and Jin He and hurried to Suizhou.

But that time, Sheng Zhaoning did not come.

After his disappointment had passed, he wrote a secret letter and sent it to Zhou Lingsheng. He told him that if he ever had another chance to leave, he had to find the wooden box and take the cat with him. They were the things Sheng Zhaoning could never bring herself to let go of.

Zhou Lingsheng did exactly that.

He had taken the cat in and raised it at his residence ahead of time. When the fire at Changhua Hall rose into the heavens, he had also seized the opportunity to retrieve the wooden box from the Eastern Palace amid the chaos.

Once they reached Suizhou, everyone was reunited.

As for Dai Rong, Sheng Zhaoning had asked Zhou Wei to bring her back from Liangzhou in the second year after she left the Capital City.

For the fire at Changhua Hall, Chi Yu had found a condemned prisoner whose build was extremely similar to hers. The body was burned beyond recognition, and he had actually managed to deceive Wei Yi.

The moment Sheng Zhaoning “died,” all the vigilance and surveillance that had formed around her instantly collapsed.

Dai Rong left without a sound, and no one stopped her or asked any questions.

It seemed that all the turmoil in the Capital City had been reduced to ashes in that fire.

Sheng Zhaoning had never asked what happened after the fire, and naturally, no one had taken the initiative to mention it in her presence.

And so, she spent five years in Suizhou.

Five years that felt like a dream.

“Sheng Zhaoning, come quick!”

At the foot of the wall, Zhou Wei craned his neck and called out.

Sheng Zhaoning concealed the thoughts in her eyes. When she raised her head again, her gaze had returned to its usual calm. She answered, “Mm, I’m coming.”

She rose, smoothed the wrinkles from her robe, and walked toward the front courtyard.

The shade of the tree slowly moved away from her, inch by inch. Sheng Zhaoning stepped into the brilliance of the sun, golden light spilling across her shoulders as she walked radiant beneath the clear autumn sky.