“Your child is unfilial.” The tears falling on her shoulder were like an autumn rain of farewell. The young gentleman lay limply in her arms, “But mother still has Tan’er.”

Unlike Li Ruantang, who was all alone.

“Mother, please bring them back to our mansion.” He no longer cared about anything. Those beautiful phoenix eyes flashed a final brilliance as he smiled faintly.

“Jiulang!”

Meng Xiaozhi grasped his hand, “Mother promises to help you marry her. But you must also promise mother that once you marry into the Su Qin Wang mansion, you must consider the whole household. You must not… must not recklessly give up your life!”

“Mother, you agree to let me marry her?” Meng Jun’s thoughts were unclear in his confusion. He struggled to look up, “Really?”

“Really, mother never lies to you.”

Meng Xiaozhi gently coaxed the young gentleman who was clearly becoming delirious, “If you’re willing to marry into the Su Qin Wang mansion, you need to get better quickly.”

These words were like a torch, illuminating Meng Jun’s confused mind. He nodded dazedly, obediently allowing the servant to feed him medicine.

His eyes were still clouded, but much better than the previous gloom.

Meng Xiaozhi sighed in relief. Enough, she couldn’t think about the future path anymore. As long as this silly young gentleman could recover, she had no other wishes.

Meng Xiaozhi understood very well the heartbreaking feeling her young gentleman was experiencing now. She had been through it herself, and knew he was still lost in this love. But one day, like rivers flowing into the sea, like spring touching all things, everything would start anew.

In the night.

Meng Xiaozhi knelt silently outside Linhua Palace. She lowered her head indifferently, as if she hadn’t heard the extremely ambiguous pleading of the young man through the window.

Fortunately, the Empress didn’t make her wait too long.

Meng Xiaozhi bowed and knelt properly behind the screen at the entrance of the hall.

The room was filled with incense.

Lin He knelt uneasily at the Empress’s feet, his face burning hot. Not just from the recent pleasure, but also from the humiliation of being treated as a plaything.

These days, she favored him exclusively, but also became increasingly casual. But if it were those gentlemen in the harem, she probably wouldn’t treat them this way.

To put it bluntly, what she wanted was not him, Lin He, as a person, but his womb.

Perhaps once he successfully gave birth to an heir, there would be no more Lin He in this world. The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became. He couldn’t help shivering, and was immediately pulled up by the Empress and held in her arms, “What’s wrong?”

How could Lin He dare to tell the truth? He lowered his head and shook it lightly.

“Go rest in the inner chamber, I’ll come accompany you after I finish dealing with state affairs.” The Empress fondly stroked his hair. After Lin He walked stiffly into the inner chamber, she leaned against the soft pillow and said lazily, “Beloved Official Meng, have you been so busy these days that you forgot to check the time?”

“This subject is terrified.” Meng Xiaozhi calmly lowered her head. Indeed, it was past the time for entering the palace now, but with her Censorate token, she could enter the palace at any time.

“Terrified?” The Empress raised an eyebrow and snorted with a laugh, “I don’t see any trace of that. You’ve come so late, I fear it’s for that marriage arrangement.”

“Your Majesty is perceptive.” Meng Xiaozhi wasn’t surprised, “I beg Your Majesty to fulfill my son’s foolish love.”

She kowtowed properly and pleaded. The Empress’s face was as still as water, “Beloved official, you must think carefully. Once my decree is issued, Young Master Meng will belong to the Su Qin Wang mansion for life.”

“This subject understands. Since this is what my son desires, this subject has no objections.”

“In that case… so be it.” The Empress paused, then waved her hand to dismiss her. Lin He, hiding in the inner chamber, heard this conversation between monarch and minister clearly, and his heart was filled with uncontrollable fear.

Since nightfall, he had been accompanying the Empress, yet she knew clearly why Meng Xiaozhi had come. It was likely that his own misdeeds had already been completely exposed.

Lin He’s face turned deathly pale. He tremblingly touched his belly, feeling that the future was bleak.

A crescent moon hung in the pitch-black sky, its silver light falling to the ground, stretching people’s shadows long and thin.

The Meng family’s carriage swayed on its way back. Meng Xiaozhi, sitting against the carriage wall, had already broken out in a light sweat at her temples. After more than ten years as monarch and minister, she already understood that if she hadn’t come to volunteer tonight, the decree would still fall on Jiulang’s head one day. By then, all initiative would be lost.

In this capital, there truly were no secrets.

She gathered herself a bit, then went to check on Meng Jun’s courtyard again.

The young gentleman was still somewhat confused, but had already arranged for Zhidong to bring over many embroidery patterns. Seeing her, he didn’t forget to confirm the marriage arrangement once more.

She had managed to coax him today, but what about tomorrow and the day after?

Meng Xiaozhi felt a lump in her throat, but couldn’t say anything more. As she watched, Meng Jun’s mind became clearer day by day after taking the medicine. Several large blisters had already formed in Meng Xiaozhi’s mouth.

According to custom, the minor burial of the feudal lords would take place on the fifth day. Meng Xiaozhi tried every means to coax the somewhat better young gentleman to go pick flowers in the suburbs.

The trees in the suburbs were lush, standing tall between heaven and earth.

Meng Jun strained to look up into the distance, but couldn’t see the end of this forest. The trees seemed to connect directly to the clouds in the sky, with endless branches and leaves extending, bringing along this patch of sky, making one feel particularly carefree.

At his feet, various wildflowers were in full bloom, like the bustling crowds on the streets during the Lantern Festival. With a gentle breeze, they swayed into a sea of flowers.

Meng Jun reached out and plucked a few, spreading them in his palm to look at them. Suddenly, he remembered how she had taught him to make flower crowns.

At least he had come out today.

The young gentleman’s eyes curved in a smile. He hurriedly instructed the servant to go back and break off a few willow branches. He gathered up the hem of his clothes, plucking a flower whenever he saw one he liked.

“Young Master Meng?”

The young gentleman, who was sitting in the flower patch carefully selecting flowers, was startled. He looked up at Qi Yun, who was dressed all in white.

There were still traces of tears in the corners of his eyes, as if he also hadn’t expected to encounter Meng Jun here.

Qi Yun was stunned for a moment, then sat down next to Meng Jun. In between sobs, he said softly, “I was just wondering why I hadn’t seen you. So you came here.”

“Actually, it’s better not to see. After all, her heart wasn’t with either of us. Going there would only add to the sorrow.”

Qi Yun kept talking to himself. The young gentleman listened in confusion, wanting to ask, when he heard him say, “At this point, anything said is meaningless. However, there is one thing that perhaps only Young Master Meng can help me understand.”

The young gentleman looked at him questioningly. Qi Yun sighed and said softly, “You probably also knew that I liked Ruantang before, right?”

“Mm.” Knowing was one thing, but having to listen to him talk about it made Meng Jun feel a bit uncomfortable. He was about to stand up.

Qi Yun, immersed in pain, spoke again, “Actually, before you fell off the cliff, I had drugged Ruantang.”

“At that time, I just wanted to see if she would forget me, who knew she would fall off the cliff to save you.”

He spoke lightly, as if it was of no consequence.

Thinking of the suffering Li Ruantang had endured during those days, the young gentleman felt his back stiffen. He lowered his brows and suppressed his anger, saying in a deep voice, “What exactly does Young Master Qi want to say?”

“Nothing else.” Qi Yun casually pulled off a handful of flowers and trampled them under his feet. He turned his head and said word by word, “That drug wasn’t anything harmful, but it would make people forget the most important person or thing, especially the person they admired.”

“…Forget the person they admired?” The hem of his clothes tightened in his palm. Meng Jun was stunned, suddenly remembering the day she woke up hazily, not remembering him.

“That’s right.” Qi Yun sighed heavily, “If she became emotionally stirred during the period of memory loss, she would also suffer from severe headaches, even forgetting again.”

His words were like a thunderbolt, dispersing the confusion that had been troubling him these days.

So—

The young gentleman pursed his lips. Was this why she repeatedly forgot him, forgot Jiujiu?

“In any case, she’s gone now. Young Master Meng fell off the cliff with her, so who exactly was the person she forgot?”

Meng Jun, coming back to his senses, glared at him, silently cursing his careless words. The young gentleman stood up, unwilling to say more to him.

Qi Yun thought he was avoiding suspicion and followed behind, saying, “I know this matter involves Young Master Meng’s reputation, but Ruantang is already gone. Please, young master, consider my…”

“What did you say?”

The young gentleman who had suddenly stopped walking turned deathly pale. The wind in the forest gently brushed against the hem of his clothes, making that thin figure seem as if it might be blown away by the wind.

In his mind, some dreams kept surging back. Sometimes it was her in armor, sometimes it was that all-encompassing white.

The young gentleman suddenly felt a sweet taste in his throat. He grabbed Qi Yun’s collar, “Who… who did you say is no longer in this world?”

“You don’t know?” Qi Yun’s face turned red as he struggled. He forcefully pushed away the seemingly possessed Meng Jun. After coughing several times, he finally caught his breath, “Five days ago, someone brought Ruantang’s coffin into the capital, entering through the east gate. Many people saw it at the time.”

“Meng Jun.” He curved his lips in a big laugh, as if to exhaust the sorrow in his heart, “Then you surely don’t know that just now, during the minor burial, Her Majesty has already arranged your marriage to her.”

“Actually, before you, Her Majesty had asked my mother the same question.” He changed his previous sadness, raising his eyebrows and saying, “But my mother cherished me and didn’t want me to marry into an empty mansion.”

“You really are pitiful.” In the drooping sleeve, silver light flashed. Qi Yun smiled foolishly, “But she is indeed lonely by herself.”

“In my opinion, rather than bestowing marriage,” he suddenly raised the dagger in his hand, “It would be better to send you down to accompany her directly!”