Chapter 3

Chapter 3

During my time guarding the Imperial Mausoleum, I walked the mountain path every morning at dawn.

The mud beneath my feet was frozen hard, and the only sound in my ears was the wind.

As I walked, I recited the salt laws and water transport regulations, stuffing my head with numbers.

I had to, because the moment I stopped, a voice in my heart would ask:

“Where exactly did you lose?”

Eventually, I found the answer.

I didn’t lose to Ning Zhiheng, nor did I lose to the political situation.

I lost to my own naivety-the belief that “he wouldn’t have the heart to let me hurt.”

On the day of Yin Xianshan and Ning Zhiheng’s grand wedding, all of the capital was drenched in rain.

I had been ordered by imperial decree to oversee the reform of the salt transport system, so I had no choice but to attend.

At the palace banquet, the music was deafening, and waves of congratulations from the officials never seemed to end.

I sat at the furthest table, slowly peeling a tangerine while watching them perform the wedding bows.

After the ceremony was complete, Ning Zhiheng came to my table to offer a toast. The corners of her eyes were just red enough to make her look as though she had suffered some great grievance.

“Junzhu, please look after me in the future.”

I popped a segment of the tangerine into my mouth, a faint smile on my lips.

“That’s easy to say. If you ever want to learn how to audit fraudulent accounts at the Ministry of Revenue, I’ll teach you for free.”

The noblewomen sitting nearby nearly choked on their drinks.

Ning Zhiheng’s expression stiffened for a moment before she regained her gentle poise.

“Junzhu certainly knows how to joke.”

I looked up at Yin Xianshan.

He was dressed in scarlet wedding robes, his features still as sharp and handsome as I remembered.

Only, when his eyes met mine, there was a fleeting moment of wretchedness.

I raised my glass.

“I wish the Regent and his Princess Consort a harmonious union for a hundred years.”

As the wine went down, it burned my throat.

I suddenly remembered that bowl of bitter ginseng soup from seven years ago.

It turned out that bitterness, too, came in different degrees.

Three months after the wedding, the Ning Family used the Prince’s Mansion’s name to interfere in salt transport, embezzling silver meant for military rations.

I arrested the culprits according to the law, but Ning Zhiheng went crying to the Emperor, claiming I was acting out of personal vendetta.

The Censorate submitted eight consecutive memorials, impeaching me for being “consumed by jealousy and corrupting the court’s discipline.”

Yin Xianshan was ordered to preside over the trial.

In the hall of justice, he sat in the high seat while I knelt on the floor below.

He asked, “Shen Zhiwei, do you plead guilty?”

I looked up at him, suddenly finding it hilarious.

Back when I was stitching his wounds in the Cold Palace, he said he owed me a lifetime.

Now he sat there, asking if I pleaded guilty.

“I do not.”

“Where is the evidence?”

“It was all burned by the people from your Prince’s Mansion.”

The courtroom erupted in an uproar.

Yin Xianshan’s face darkened terrifyingly. “Mind your words.”

“Is it I who should mind my words, or you?” I said, enunciating every syllable. “Yin Xianshan, do you dare let the Dali Temple re-examine the Ning Family’s ledgers?”

He said nothing.

That silence was louder than any verdict.

Ultimately, the imperial decree was issued: I was stripped of my post at the Ministry of Revenue and sentenced to guard the Imperial Mausoleum for three months.

The Ning Family escaped completely unscathed.

On the day I left the capital, Yin Xianshan blocked my path at the city gate.

The rain was heavy. He stood before my horse holding an umbrella, calling me “Zhiwei” just like he used to.

“Wait for me,” he said. “Give me a little time, and I will return everything to you.”

I looked at his soaked sleeves and suddenly remembered that red string.

“Do you know?” I said softly. “The stupidest thing I’ve done in this life is believing you every time you said ‘wait for me’.”

I snapped the whip and rode away, never looking back.