It had been seven days and two hours since he last saw Ye Jiao.
Thankfully, time had not altered her in the slightest. She was just as he remembered—lively, radiant, and utterly captivating. Her beauty was unmatched, yet she carried an air of reckless innocence. Her skin glowed with a healthy flush, starkly different from his own pallid, sickly complexion. Her presence was warm, exuberant, full of life—irresistibly magnetic.
Li Ce gazed at her in silence, forgetting to answer her question.
To draw his attention, Ye Jiao reached out and grabbed the front of his robe. "Well?" she pressed, stepping closer.
That simple gesture brought a flush to his ears. "No," he answered firmly.
She exhaled in relief, but suspicion soon crept back in. The corpse had been taken away by the Jingzhao Prefecture the moment it was unearthed. Li Ce had never met her father, so he couldn't possibly have recognized the remains. Her interrogation seemed unfounded.
"Forget it," Ye Jiao sighed. "I'll go to the Jingzhao Prefecture myself. I'm worried…" She turned around, her gaze dropping briefly. For a fleeting second, a deep fear—one she never showed—surfaced in her eyes. Her greatest fear.
Li Ce saw that look and felt as though his heart had been sliced open.
"It wasn't him," he called after her. "I heard he's currently cultivating on Mount Tiantai."
The news had come from Li Jing.
"Fifth Brother!" Li Ce called out, "Tell her—tell her her father is still alive."
Li Jing strolled over with exaggerated leisure, eyeing Li Ce with mild amusement. In his memory, this man was always calculating and reserved, a strategist who thought ten steps ahead and spoke only one-tenth of what he knew. But in front of Ye Jiao, he suddenly seemed... simple.
"Oh," Li Jing chuckled, swallowing the last bite of his bun. "Yes, your esteemed father lives. He's now cultivating on Mount Tiantai. I used that information to barter for Ninth Brother's supervision over the Jade Pavilion's construction. It's reliable."
Mount Tiantai—far away, in Jiangnan.
Ye Jiao straightened, slinging her bow back over her shoulder. She bowed solemnly to Li Jing with great courtesy.
Startled, he took two steps back, instinctively reaching for the Taishan stone in his sleeve. One was already thrown at Li Lian and left behind in the Jade Pavilion. This one, though smaller, was still on him—whether its magical power would suffice, he wasn't sure.
She had always been bold and brash even without a weapon; now armed with a bow, she was even more formidable.
Yet this time, Ye Jiao didn't demand anything, nor did she speak insolently. Instead, she asked with great seriousness, "May I ask, Your Highness Prince Zhao, how did you come by this information about my father?"
The sudden shift to formality caught Li Jing off guard. He stifled a shiver and replied in a low voice, "Naturally, I heard it from the palace. His Majesty is all-knowing; there is little in this world beyond his grasp."
In truth, he had eavesdropped on a conversation between the Emperor and the Imperial Guards. For years, surveillance on Ye Jiao's father had never ceased. Though to the An State Duke's household he was a long-lost, absent family head, the Emperor even knew what he last ate, how many disciples he'd taken, and which scripture he'd recently torn.
"Then…" Ye Jiao steadied her breath, "if you are not lying, and the remains under the Jade Pavilion are not my father's—then whose are they?"
A man in Taoist robes, in his thirties, wearing a fish emblem, found dead at the inn closest to the Duke's estate—how could it all be such perfect coincidence?
"It doesn't matter who he was," Li Ce said quietly. "This has nothing to do with you. Nor with me. Nor with Fifth Brother. I will continue building the pavilion, and you may continue dining and drinking in the West Market. The Jingzhao Prefecture will conduct the investigation. Whatever they find—that's the truth."
In short, he would neither involve himself, nor interfere.
But Ye Jiao could not let it go.
"I must see the remains for myself," she said, shaking her head. "My father broke his shin once. I need to confirm it with my own eyes."
But entry to the mortuary was not so easily granted.
Li Ce hesitated for a moment, then said, "I'll make some inquiries."
She understood at once. He wished to avoid suspicion and thus could not approach the Prefect Liu Yan directly as he had before. Avoiding suspicion meant fearing trouble.
She nodded. "No rush. Take your time. Thank you for your efforts."
Then she turned and walked toward the West Market—deliberately in the opposite direction.
"So obedient?" Li Jing muttered, watching her go.
"She's not being obedient," Li Ce murmured, eyes following her. "She didn't thank me."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Li Jing huffed, indignant on her behalf. "She's a young lady—must she repay your help with her life?"
That wasn't it.
Li Ce's gaze deepened. He coughed lightly and said, "Whenever she truly entrusts me with something, she sends a proper token of gratitude—never stingy with gold. That's her way. But this time, she merely said thanks and gave nothing. That means she plans to handle it herself."
She had seen through his desire to keep a distance—and chose not to burden him.
"I don't care," Li Jing stepped aside with a hand over his chest. "That ghastly corpse already brought bad luck once. If you dare go near it again, don't bother coming back to my Prince Zhao Manor!"
The threat was utterly ineffective.
That very night, outside the An State Duke's residence, Li Ce waited in the shadows—and saw Ye Jiao approach in night-cloaked garb.
He could hardly meet her gaze.
She wore tight-sleeved riding attire—clothes fit for a man. A narrow sash cinched her waist, accentuating every curve with stunning clarity. Her outfit, so mismatched with her noble status, made her look like a rogue from the jianghu.
"What are you doing here?" Ye Jiao asked, removing her silk veil in surprise.
Li Ce sat casually atop his carriage, glaring at her. "Where did you get those clothes?"
Ye Jiao looked down. "Bought them earlier today. Were you waiting for me? The Duke's wall is so long—how did you know I'd climb over here?"
He leaned lazily against the carriage wall. "Because there's no grass on this part of the wall."
Too many climbs had turned it into a path—nothing could grow.
Ye Jiao nodded in understanding, then waved him off. "I'm leaving."
And she meant it—she began to walk away.
Li Ce followed her in the carriage. The moonlight stretched their shadows long and intertwined.
"Fine," he relented. "I'll take you there."
"Did you go to see Prefect Liu?" she asked.
"No," he replied. "I just happen to know the way to the mortuary."
He knew far too much.
The back gate of the Jingzhao Prefecture creaked open with a mere push. Li Ce hesitated at the threshold, then stepped inside.
The normally well-guarded compound had few sentries tonight. The path to the mortuary was easy to find. Li Ce handed Ye Jiao a handkerchief. "Cover your nose."
It was slightly damp, laced with an unknown substance. When pressed to her face, a faint orchid fragrance masked the stench of death.
Li Ce lit his fire striker and pushed the door open. "Are you afraid?"
"No," Ye Jiao replied.
She feared only one thing—that her father's bones lay here. Nothing else—not ghosts, nor the dead—could frighten her.
"Wait here," Li Ce said.
He searched the wooden racks and finally found the remains. "Come look."
She stepped forward, eyes locking on the shin.
Suddenly, a sharp beam of light pierced the room.
Dozens of torches surged forward with a cacophony of voices. The leader shouted, "Just as the informant said—someone has broken into the Jingzhao Prefecture! Seize them!"
Ye Jiao froze.
Li Ce acted as if he hadn't heard. He leaned closer to the skeleton's leg, whispering, "See? No signs of a fracture. It's not your father. You can rest easy now."
He had known it was a trap—and walked straight into it anyway.
Just so she could find peace.
The torchlight danced across his face as they stood before the corpses, studying the bones intently…