Several months ago, at a drinking party, Li Ziao had met Lord Yuexi for the first time.
That evening, Lord Yuexi had performed a fan dance, his movements as graceful as a startled swan taking flight and as fluid as a swimming dragon. He had seemed like a cold, solitary immortal beneath the moon.
With just one glance, he had captured the young man’s heart. From that moment on, Li Ziao had fallen hopelessly in love.
Li Ziao had spent a fortune and challenged Lord Yuexi’s Poetry as the Price of an Audience three times, only to fail every time. Despite repeatedly being turned away, the young General Li’s infatuation with Lord Yuexi of Shuyu Pavilion had become the talk of the entire capital.
Undeterred, Li Ziao eagerly booked another visit.
When the news reached his residence, however, it coincided with an eruption of fury from his father, Li Hao, the Marquis of Jingbei.
The Marquis of Jingbei commanded military power and had always been scrupulous about his words and conduct. How could he tolerate a member of his family frequenting brothels and pleasure houses, let alone causing such a public scandal?
Li Ziao was dragged into the ancestral hall and subjected to thirty lashes as family punishment. His flesh was torn and his back left bloody. Afterward, he was placed under strict supervision and confined to his residence for an entire month.
Throughout that long, agonizing period, the burning obsession in his heart never diminished in the slightest. Day and night, his thoughts revolved around that cold, proud figure.
It was only on the eve of his confinement ending that he happened to learn a piece of news from a friend.
As it turned out, shortly after he had been confined, Lord Yuexi had already been exclusively engaged by Prince Yi, Xiao Ying, and was no longer receiving guests.
The lash wounds on Li Ziao’s back had yet to heal. Even the slightest movement pulled at the newly formed flesh, causing excruciating pain.
Yet this physical torment was nothing compared to the jealousy and anguish burning inside him, a fire that threatened to sear through his internal organs.
At long last, the day his confinement ended arrived. Ignoring his still-healing wounds, Li Ziao rushed straight to Shuyu Pavilion, only to have a bucket of ice-cold water dumped over his hopes.
The master of Shuyu Pavilion merely greeted him with a cold, polished smile and politely turned him away with a single explanation.
“Lord Yuexi has already been exclusively engaged by His Highness Prince Yi and is no longer receiving guests. Unless he personally agrees, no one can see him.”
Unwilling to give up, Li Ziao offered a substantial sum to anyone willing to deliver a message on his behalf. The only response he received, however, was two indifferent words from Lord Yuexi.
“Not seeing.”
In Li Ziao’s mind, Lord Yuexi could not possibly be so heartless. This could not have been what Lord Yuexi truly wanted.
He still remembered the tender, affectionate glance Lord Yuexi had given him when he had lowered his eyes while playing the qin.
Li Ziao was convinced that Lord Yuexi had been forced into submission and placed under house arrest against his will, cowed by Prince Yi’s overwhelming power and influence.
Impulsiveness and jealousy consumed his reason. With his head clouded by hot-blooded indignation, Li Ziao did not even bother to submit a formal calling card. He charged straight to the gates of Prince Yi’s residence alone, demanding in an angry voice to see the prince.
When Lan Ningcheng received the report, he merely gave a calm instruction.
“Ask him to leave.”
Not only was Prince Yi not even at the residence at that moment, but the man had shown no basic courtesy whatsoever. Why would Lan Ningcheng possibly allow him inside?
To everyone’s surprise, the young General Li was not the least bit intimidated when the prince’s personal guards attempted to drive him away. Instead, he began shouting loudly outside the gates.
It was as though he had thrown caution to the wind. In front of everyone, he denounced Prince Yi for abusing his power, forcibly taking the person another man loved, and imprisoning him against his will.
The commotion quickly attracted a crowd of curious onlookers.
At last, the heavy gates of the prince’s residence slowly swung open.
But the person who emerged was not Prince Yi, Xiao Ying. It was Lan Ningcheng, the chief steward of Prince Yi’s household.
Dressed in a dark blue robe, Lan Ningcheng had a gentle, jade-like face and a mild smile that revealed not the slightest flaw. Yet there was not a trace of warmth in his eyes.
He did not berate Li Ziao for his discourtesy. Instead, he descended the steps at an unhurried pace and stopped in front of him. In a cool, quiet voice audible only to the two of them, he said,
“If Young General Li feels that thirty lashes were not enough, by all means, continue making a scene here. But if you dare utter even one more word slandering His Highness, this will no longer be a matter that thirty lashes can settle.”
The words struck Li Ziao like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing his fury.
His entire body stiffened. His face turned alternately pale and red as he clenched his teeth and glared at Lan Ningcheng’s faintly smiling eyes. In the end, with humiliation and resentment filling his heart, he could only mount his horse and ride away in disgrace.
But he still refused to give up.
Unable to gain entry openly, he became almost obsessed, keeping watch day and night in the narrow alley outside Shuyu Pavilion.
His stubbornness and recklessness finally attracted the attention of someone who had been watching him from the shadows for quite some time.
One evening, a Shuyu Pavilion servant slipped him a message while no one was paying attention.
“Lord Yuexi actually wishes to see you as well. He’s simply being kept under Prince Yi’s strict control and has no way to meet you. If Young General Li still has feelings for Lord Yuexi, I can deliver a letter on your behalf.”
The words were irresistibly enticing.
Li Ziao was overjoyed. That very day, he sat down at his desk and wrote a long, eloquent letter filled with emotion.
Every line was a vow to rescue Lord Yuexi from his suffering and protect him for the rest of his life. His intense longing and deep affection leaped from the page.
He solemnly entrusted the letter to the servant, then waited with eager anticipation for Lord Yuexi’s reply.
He had no idea that the letter carrying the full weight of his ardent, sincere feelings had barely turned the corner before it fell into the hands of another intermediary.
With an impassive expression, that man tossed the letter into a brazier and watched it burn to ashes. He then took another letter, prepared well in advance, from inside his robe and handed it to a different Shuyu Pavilion servant.
By the time this supposed “letter from Li Ziao” had passed through several attendants and finally reached Lord Yuexi, he was sitting by the window, gazing indifferently at the envelope.
He knew that Li Ziao had been keeping watch outside the pavilion for the past several days.
An image surfaced in his mind: Li Ziao’s passionate, earnest eyes, brimming with affection.
In the past, he had indeed considered making use of Li Ziao’s status as the son of the Marquis of Jingbei, along with his connections, to investigate the truth behind the Wu family’s purge years ago. But while he was still observing the situation and making his plans, Xiao Ying had appeared.
Now that he had chosen to take the path offered by Xiao Ying, he naturally could not drag Li Ziao into this mess as well.
He sighed softly. At first, he had intended to write a cruel letter that would finally make Li Ziao give up on him.
He opened the letter, expecting to find it filled with passionate declarations of love. Instead, its contents made his heart sink.
“I now know that you are the second son of the Wu family, and that you have also been secretly investigating the Wu family’s case from those years ago. Recently, I made inquiries in several places and happened upon a fragment of an old ledger. It appears to be a remnant of some accounts, but I am too ignorant to decipher its details. I wish to meet with you to determine whether it is genuine.
“However, I have recently sensed that someone may be watching me from the shadows, and I fear something untoward may happen. To avoid attracting attention, let us meet at midnight tomorrow at the abandoned kiln south of the city. This matter is of great importance. I beg you to exercise the utmost discretion and tell no third person.”
Lord Yuexi lowered his eyes and studied the letter.
The handwriting did indeed bear a striking resemblance to Li Ziao’s bold, free-flowing script. Yet he had never revealed even the slightest detail about his background to Li Ziao. There was something deeply suspicious about this letter.
It was very likely a carefully laid trap.
In fact, he was almost certain the letter was forged.
And that was precisely why he could not simply burn it.
Lord Yuexi’s gaze turned abruptly cold.
He had spent three whole years investigating the truth behind the Wu family’s extermination. He could no longer afford to wait. Not only was his career as Shuyu Pavilion’s most sought-after male courtesan limited in duration, but Xiao Ying was not an entirely reliable source of support either. He had no way of knowing how long the prince would be willing to help him.
Whether or not the person behind the scenes truly possessed the old ledger, the fact that they had made the first move meant this was his only opening to tear the truth into view.
He would rather risk his life once than allow this lead to slip through his fingers.
And Li Ziao had already become a pawn in the hands of the mastermind. He could not simply stand by and do nothing.
However, he did not act on his own. Instead, he passed the letter, completely untouched, to Xiao Ying through the people the prince had stationed at Shuyu Pavilion, leaving the decision about how to handle this crisis in Xiao Ying’s hands.
After receiving Xiao Ying’s instructions, he picked up his brush and wrote a brief reply, then had an attendant deliver it to the servant who had originally brought the message.
Meanwhile, Li Ziao received what had supposedly been “Lord Yuexi’s reply,” passed along through several different hands.
He tore open the envelope impatiently. The slender, elegant handwriting was unmistakably Lord Yuexi’s, but the words on the page seemed to have been written in blood and tears.
“Prince Yi regards Yuexi as nothing more than a possession, a plaything for his amusement. Yuexi has endured this humiliation for far too long and can bear it no longer.
“If the general’s feelings are truly sincere, meet me tonight at midnight at the abandoned kiln south of the city. Yuexi is willing to flee with the general to a place far removed from all this turmoil. From now on, we shall grow old together and never part.
“I write in haste and cannot express everything I wish to say. I beg the general to understand.”
Clutching the letter, Li Ziao felt his eyes redden instantly, his heart breaking into pieces.
He had long heard that Prince Yi, Xiao Ying, spent much of his time frequenting pleasure houses and led a notoriously debauched life. Never had he imagined that the man could be so cruel and vicious as to torment Lord Yuexi in this manner.
He secretly tightened his grip on the sword at his waist and swore that even if it cost him his life, he would rescue the person he loved from that den of evil and flee with him to a place far away!
◆◇◆◇◆
That night, the sky was as dark as ink. Thick clouds layered over the waning moon, while the cold wind rustled through the desolate outskirts.
The abandoned kiln south of the city lay in ruins.
Sword in hand, Li Ziao stepped into the overgrown kiln grounds and finally caught sight of the figure who had haunted his dreams.
Beneath a sliver of moonlight, Lord Yuexi stood amid the ruins in a moon-white robe. He was as cold and ethereal as an immortal, every bit as breathtakingly aloof as he had been when they first met.
“Yuexi!”
Li Ziao hurried forward, his heart surging with excitement, ready to pour out all the longing he had kept bottled up inside.
To his surprise, Lord Yuexi stepped back half a pace, his expression wary and his voice icy.
“Where is the item mentioned in your letter?”
Li Ziao was completely bewildered.
“What item? Yuexi, wasn’t it you who wrote to say that Prince Yi treats you as a plaything and asked me to take you away…?”
Looking at Li Ziao’s utterly confused expression, the last trace of expectation in Lord Yuexi’s eyes vanished.
He had not expected much, but he could not help feeling disappointed all the same.
“…So you really weren’t the one who wrote that letter.” His voice was so flat that it held not a trace of emotion. “Young General Li, you’ve fallen into a trap. Come with me at once…”
Before he could finish speaking, a series of soft but hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the kiln!
Through the broken window lattice, several figures in dark, fitted clothing could be seen approaching swiftly through the night. At the waist of the person leading them, a piece of black metal flashed in the moonlight.
Li Ziao had sharp eyes. He immediately recognized the standard-issue waist token worn by the prince’s personal guards, and his expression changed drastically.
The letter’s tearful accusations flashed through his mind. He assumed Xiao Ying had discovered their secret meeting and sent his men to seize Lord Yuexi and drag him back for further torment.
In the moonlight, the strangers’ swords gleamed coldly.
“Prince Yi’s men have found us!”
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Ziao seized Lord Yuexi by the wrist and drew his sword.
“Come with me!”
“Wait…”
Before Lord Yuexi could explain, Li Ziao had already hauled him away with brute force, dragging him into the dried-up riverbed behind the abandoned kiln.
“Don’t be afraid! As long as I’m here, I won’t let you fall into Xiao Ying’s hands!”
Steep earthen banks several zhang high rose on either side of the riverbed, covered in withered reeds that reached a man’s height and rustled in the wind.
Li Ziao’s heart pounded wildly as he dragged Lord Yuexi along, running desperately beneath the moonlight.
The silver bells around Lord Yuexi’s ankles rang rapidly with every step.
Stumbling as Li Ziao pulled him along, Lord Yuexi glanced back, and his expression darkened.
The supposed “personal guards” had stopped at the entrance to the riverbed. Instead of pursuing them, they spread out in a fan formation, sealing off their retreat.
“Young General Li, stop! Those men aren’t from Prince Yi’s residence at all!” Lord Yuexi shouted.
“I saw the token at the leader’s waist! It’s the prince’s guard insignia. Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here!”
Li Ziao did not even turn his head. He kept running.
Furious and unable to pull free, Lord Yuexi could only continue explaining as they ran.
“You… You need to stop first. His Highness has already made all the arrangements. Don’t—”
Before he could finish, killing intent suddenly erupted from the reeds ahead!
Several black-clad assassins burst out through the grass, their blades flashing like snow as they charged straight at Lord Yuexi.
Li Ziao’s expression changed drastically. He swung his sword and rushed forward to meet them, engaging the assassins in fierce combat.
At that very moment, another group of highly skilled fighters in dark, fitted clothing surged out from behind and from the shadows. Their movements were swift and ruthless as they charged directly at the assassins.
“Young General Li, don’t panic! We serve His Highness Prince Yi. We’ve come specifically to protect Young Master Yuexi!” the leading guard shouted.
But by then, Li Ziao had already been blinded by the heat of battle.
Only moments earlier, he had been driven into this place by the “prince’s personal guards,” only to be attacked by black-clad men. Now another group had appeared, claiming to be Prince Yi’s subordinates and wearing similar waist tokens.
He trusted none of them, and he certainly did not trust Prince Yi.
“Save your act! You’re all in this together!” Li Ziao roared.
He shielded Lord Yuexi tightly behind him, attacking with his sword whenever anyone approached and refusing to let anyone come near.
The scene immediately descended into a chaotic melee.
Amid the fighting, a crossbowman among the assassins crouching on a distant ridge saw that the situation was turning against them. A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes as he raised his crossbow, took aim at Prince Yi’s men, and began firing bolts coated with a powerful sedative.
Several personal guards were struck during the melee. Even those who did not lose consciousness immediately collapsed, their bodies limp and powerless.
Amid the chaos, Li Ziao spotted an opening and immediately seized Lord Yuexi by the wrist, preparing to break through and escape.
Suddenly, a faint, sharp whistle cut through the air.
That wasn’t the wind!
In that instant, the instincts honed through years of martial arts training and military experience erupted without warning.
He had no time to think, nor even to identify the killing intent concealed in the darkness.
In the blink of an eye, acting purely on instinct, he spun around and shoved Lord Yuexi violently away from him!
A dull thud sounded.
The faintly gleaming crossbow bolt did not bury itself in Lord Yuexi’s back. Instead, it sank deep into Li Ziao’s right shoulder.
Li Ziao grunted and staggered backward two steps.
He saw a rare flash of shock and disbelief in Lord Yuexi’s normally cool, detached eyes.
Then a violent numbness suddenly spread from his right shoulder, racing down his arm. His fingers gradually lost all sensation, one by one, until his sword slipped from his grasp and clattered heavily to the ground.
Lord Yuexi’s figure blurred before his eyes, and a wave of blackness swept over him.
He tried to steady himself, but collapsed into the cold, damp grass.
“Li Ziao!” Lord Yuexi cried.
“Yuexi… Run…”
Li Ziao managed to force out those final, feeble words before collapsing heavily into Lord Yuexi’s arms.
Lord Yuexi immediately examined Li Ziao’s injury. Although several personal guards had also been attacked, they had merely fallen unconscious and were in no danger of losing their lives. Li Ziao’s wound, however, was different. The flesh surrounding it had turned an abnormal bluish-purple, suggesting that he had been poisoned.
Lord Yuexi immediately shouted, “Quick! Young General Li has been poisoned! Take him back to the residence for treatment!”
One of the guards heard him, withdrew from the battle, and hurriedly carried the young general away.
Seeing that their attack had missed its intended target and had instead wounded the son of the Marquis of Jingbei, the assassins lurking in the shadows realized that another wave of reinforcements from Prince Yi’s residence was already closing in around them.
They immediately blew a whistle and ordered a decisive retreat.
However, before they had even withdrawn ten zhang, several short, sharp signals suddenly sounded from beyond the seemingly deserted reed beds.
Ghostlike figures darted out of the shadows, swiftly cutting off every escape route. Their cold blades formed an iron net, surrounding the assassins in the center of the riverbed in the blink of an eye.
◇◆◇◆◇
When Li Ziao opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar canopy of purplish-pink silk. The fragrance of sandalwood lingered in the air, but it could not mask the heavy smell of blood and medicinal herbs.
His head throbbed as though it were splitting apart, and his entire body felt dreadful. The agonizing pain in his shoulder sent sharp jolts through his nerves.
He turned his head slightly and saw Lord Yuexi standing not far away, speaking quietly to someone who appeared to be a physician.
After packing away his medical kit, the physician said in a low voice, “The poison has been neutralized, but traces remain in his body, and the wound needs time to heal. He only needs to take the medicine prepared according to this prescription every day.” With that, he left.
Hearing movement from the bed, Lord Yuexi turned around. His exquisitely handsome face remained as expressionless as ever, his gaze as cool and tranquil as still water.
Li Ziao looked at him and managed a faint, somewhat feeble smile. His voice was hoarse, and his relief at seeing the person he loved after surviving such a close brush with death was unmistakable.
“Thank goodness… you’re safe.”
“…”
“Was it you who saved me?” he asked, touching the bandage covering his wound.
Lord Yuexi remained silent for a moment before letting out an almost inaudible sigh.
“It was not Yuexi who saved you. It was His Highness.”
The smile froze on Li Ziao’s lips.
Only then did he take a closer look at the room’s furnishings and decorations. They were far more luxurious than anything found in an ordinary household.
He finally realized that he was inside Prince Yi’s residence.
His mind immediately descended into confusion. How had he ended up here?
Lord Yuexi lowered his eyelids, concealing the faintest flicker of emotion in his eyes.
He looked at this impulsive, somewhat self-important young nobleman who, at the critical moment between life and death, had not hesitated for even an instant to take an arrow meant for him.
Lord Yuexi did not know whether he ought to scold the man for acting so recklessly or thank him.
After contemplating the matter for a long while, he decided to repay this willingness to risk his life with the cruelest form of honesty.
“Young General Li,” Lord Yuexi said politely, yet with unmistakable distance, “Yuexi is grateful that you risked your life to save me. But have you ever truly questioned who ‘Lord Yuexi’ is?”
Li Ziao froze, confusion filling his eyes.
“That letter wasn’t written by Yuexi, yet you believed it. If you truly understood me, you would not have been deceived.”
Lord Yuexi’s voice was calm, but for once, it no longer carried the perfunctory detachment he usually showed him.
“Perhaps you really do love ‘Lord Yuexi.’ But how much of the Lord Yuexi you love is actually real?”
He continued slowly, “From the very first time you wrote a poem for me, Yuexi already knew.”
“Knew\… what?” Li Ziao asked uneasily.
Lord Yuexi looked at him and spoke each word clearly.
“I knew which version of Lord Yuexi you loved.”
A complicated emotion flickered through his lowered eyes.
“That person is nothing more than an illusion, a flower reflected in a mirror and the moon reflected in water, existing only within Shuyu Pavilion. What people see is merely a phantom shaped by their own desires, an image of what they wish to see and what they wish to possess.”
“Lord Yuexi” was a beautiful illusion he had created with his own hands. But it was the people who saw Lord Yuexi who had truly given that illusion life.
He looked at Li Ziao and delivered the truth with almost merciless bluntness.
“You, too, are not the person Yuexi seeks.”
His words were like a sharp blade, slicing through the beautiful dream Li Ziao had constructed entirely on his own and shattering it to pieces.
“What Yuexi wants has never been love. Nor is it merely to leave Shuyu Pavilion. Yuexi… I did once consider using your identity and connections. I knew you liked me, but I never once returned your feelings or made you any promises. You were the one who spoke on my behalf. I let you spend a fortune on me simply because I was a ‘commodity of Shuyu Pavilion.’ Now\… none of that matters anymore.”
His words were cruel, but this time, there was a complicated sincerity in Lord Yuexi’s gaze as he looked at Li Ziao.
Li Ziao’s face turned deathly pale, and his lips trembled.
“No… I don’t believe you. Prince Yi is forcing you to say this, isn’t he?”
Lord Yuexi shook his head gently, his gaze unwavering.
“I was the one who chose His Highness. Not because he bought me, and not because I was forced into it, but because I made that choice myself. I will not betray my own decision just because you say a few words. You should understand what that means, shouldn’t you?”
Li Ziao lay rigidly on the bed, his heart aching as though it had been torn apart. The pain was even worse than the injury to his shoulder.
Yet as the initial shock and sorrow gradually receded, the fog that had clouded his mind began to disperse.
He felt as though he had just awakened from a beautiful dream and returned to reality.
He often accompanied his father to court. His father had once warned him never to let his emotions dictate every decision, but to remain calm and think things through.
The people one encountered at court were never merely individuals. Each was part of an intricate web of relationships.
Everyone was closely connected to others, so before engaging with anyone, one first had to understand the web that lay behind them.
The Lord Yuexi before him was no longer the person he had originally believed he knew.
Lord Yuexi had chosen Xiao Ying.
It was not that someone had stolen him away from Li Ziao. Lord Yuexi had voluntarily chosen to stand at Prince Yi’s side.
That meant that even when the one-year agreement came to an end, the web that had already been woven would not simply disappear.
He sat dazed for a long time before finally pulling his lips into a bitter smile.
Looking back carefully on the moments he had shared with Lord Yuexi, he realized that the affectionate glances he remembered had existed only in his imagination.
Lord Yuexi had always been cool and detached, neither warm nor cold in his manner.
He had made no promises and never asked Li Ziao for anything.
Everything… had truly been nothing more than Li Ziao misunderstanding his intentions.
“I used to think that as long as I loved you enough, I could make you happy…”
Li Ziao’s voice was hoarse.
“But now, it seems I don’t even understand what you truly want.”
He finally realized how blind and arrogant he had been.
He had never asked Lord Yuexi what he wanted. He had never tried to understand the man’s past, nor did he know the reason for the pain that occasionally surfaced in Lord Yuexi’s eyes.
He had simply immersed himself in his own self-congratulatory fantasy.
Lord Yuexi watched as Li Ziao’s expression shifted from shock to despondency.
His tone remained indifferent as he said, “A promising young man like you should not continue entangling himself with someone like me. Allow me to offer you one piece of advice, Young General: regard everything that happened between us as a dream from the past, and forget it.”
Li Ziao was still unwilling to accept it. In a low, hoarse voice, he asked,
“…What about His Highness, then?” He looked at Lord Yuexi. “Does he truly understand you?”
Lord Yuexi turned to look at him, his gaze calm and his tone indifferent.
“He knows everything.”
Seeing the disbelief in Li Ziao’s eyes, Lord Yuexi continued.
“He knows who I was in the past and who I am now. He understands that I am using him, and he knows what I truly want.”
Li Ziao felt even his final glimmer of hope shatter.
He was unwilling to accept it.
And yet, he had lost completely and utterly.
He had known Lord Yuexi before Xiao Ying had, yet he had failed to see through the illusion of “Lord Yuexi” even a moment earlier than the prince.
Lord Yuexi handed Li Ziao the prescription the household physician had given him earlier.
“There is still some poison in your body. Once you return home, take this medicine for several days, and the remaining poison should be cleared. Your wound also needs time to heal, so stay home and rest properly for the next few days.”
Li Ziao accepted the prescription, his heart lifting. For a moment, he thought Lord Yuexi was showing concern for him.
But from Lord Yuexi’s neither-warm-nor-cold manner and his cool gaze, he could also sense the deliberate distance the other man was maintaining.
A sharp ache twisted through his heart.
He mocked himself inwardly.
So this is what heartbreak feels like?
This was the first time in his life he had truly fallen in love. He had always assumed that with his family background, appearance, and martial prowess, there was nothing he could not obtain with ease.
Yet this time, he had taken a terrible fall, leaving him battered and bruised from head to toe.