The painted pleasure boat soon drifted into the distance, yet our small vessel seemed to retain the lingering sway from the departing guest’s footsteps. I stretched languidly and remarked, "Dealing with literati is the most tiresome thing—all that fussing and hedging. Just give a straight answer, yes or no!"
"He will agree," Wei Qingming said, looking over the whisk in her hand as she carefully trimmed away a few frayed strands. "And even if he doesn't, it won't hinder the overall situation."
Yindeng was also rubbing her wrists, a smile playing on her lips. "Judging by the expression on Young Master Fang’s face when he read that jade slip, the matter is as good as settled. What sort of divine sorcery did you employ this time, Lord Wei?"
"Does Secret Envoy Yindeng know the reason why Fang Weisong has refused to take office for so many years?"
"I do. To be honest, it actually has a bit of a connection to us." Yindeng covered her mouth with a light laugh. "Prime Minister Zhang’s youngest son is roughly the same age as Fang Weisong and was supposed to enter the imperial examinations in the same year. The Prime Minister himself personally hinted that he wanted Fang Weisong to act as a mere foil for his son in the examination halls. Master Feng acted as the intermediary, using the occasion of the Prime Minister’s return to his hometown for a period of mourning to arrange for Fang Weisong, Hou Tianyong, and a group of other disciples from the East Society to pay their respects to the Prime Minister and show their loyalty..."
"So that was it. Young Master Fang and Young Master Hou must have refused, while Wei Qijun and Chen Zhenyun complied. Chen Zhenyun even became the youngest Supervisor of the Maritime Trade Bureau in this dynasty—and in Dongyue, no less, the wealthiest place under heaven. Truly a case of gaining both fame and fortune," I sighed. "No wonder Young Master Hou stopped studying and spends his days idling with actors and entertainers."
"The jade slip contains Master Feng’s personal handwriting. As one of the heads of the Five Great Families, his calligraphy is known throughout the realm; Young Master Fang recognized it," Wei Qingming said. "With this, the obstacles to his entry into officialdom have been cleared. Such an opportunity comes but once in a lifetime for most. If he truly wishes to maintain his reclusive principles, that is his choice. However, after refusing time and time again, he would have little hope left for the rest of his life."
I shook my head silently, keeping my thoughts to myself. Was she not exactly like the snow described in that *Snow Fu*? Adapting to the shape of the world, compromising for the sake of the whole, and committing every necessary evil, all to desperately preserve that one spark of a pure, noble heart...
Yindeng let out a soft yawn and smiled. "Ah, I’ve grown so used to resting at sunset lately that I’m not quite accustomed to being awake at this hour. If Lord Wei has no further instructions, this subordinate shall take her leave."
"Very well. My thanks for your hard work tonight, Secret Envoy Yindeng." Wei Qingming gave a slight, respectful bow.
Yindeng watched her quietly for a moment, appearing as though she wanted to say more, but ultimately she only said, "Please take care of your health, My Lord. The affairs of the state... they are never truly finished."
Wei Qingming merely smiled at those words, offering no reply.
After the small boat came to fetch Yindeng and departed, Wei Qingming raised a hand to her temple and leaned against the table. In an instant, the exhaustion she had been masking was laid bare; she was utterly spent. I hurried to her side, pulling her into my arms. "So you were just forcing yourself earlier? You really are..."
"Don't worry..." She reached out to hold me tighter, murmuring, "Let me sleep for a while... just a little while..."
Hearing my urgent call, Honglu rushed in. With practiced ease, he produced a pill and gave it to her, then turned to comfort me instead. "The side effects of taking over-tier pills have already been suppressed by Martial Uncle Tancun. This has happened a few times in recent years. Let her sleep; she will be fine. Please rest easy, Mistress."
She slept through the entire night and the following morning. It wasn't even sleep; it was a total coma, alternating between high fevers and bone-chilling shivers. In this unfamiliar place far from the capital, any doctor we could find likely wouldn't be able to treat her condition. I was both anxious and angry—angry at myself for not noticing sooner, and for accompanying her on that little game of drifting on the lake to lure in the 'willing fish.' No wonder she had barely spoken after Fang Weisong boarded the boat; the symptoms must have already begun then.
While she slept, I thought about many things.
In my heart, she had always been omnipotent. Not just to me, but to the friends and family in the Orange Orchard and her subordinates as well. It was only at times like this—much like the three days when my fifth brother was blinded during the Tianshan Assembly—that we realized she was, after all, not yet a god. She once said that status, reputation, profit, and power—the things the world scrambles for—were not what she valued. All she wanted was a realm where she could exercise her talents. In truth, I had wondered more than once: by serving as a claw and tooth of the Temple, was she truly fulfilling her heart's desire? Was it worth it to neglect even her own life?
But in the end, there was nothing I could do... I couldn't even bring myself to say the words to persuade her to retire early. We were caught in an irresistible tide of grand events; once in the game, it was like being stuck in quicksand. Moreover, I was born into a life of ease and had never possessed any great ambitions. To ask her to "idle away the years" with me in a life of leisure—how could that ever be worthy of a talent as celestial as hers...
She slept without any awareness, her hand resting in mine. To the touch, it felt as fragile and cold as the jade handle of that whisk. I turned her hand over and over, looking at it until I touched the Envoy’s signet ring she never removed. After a moment of hesitation, I quietly slipped it off and stared at it in my palm. To an outsider, it looked like an ordinary family crest ring; who could have imagined that the souls of countless people from numerous great clans were entangled within it...
I sighed and slid the ring back exactly as it had been. What I could do was so limited; I would simply stay by her side for as long as I possibly could.
When Wei Qingming finally woke, she was surprisingly spirited. Seeing me pouting and teary-eyed, she laughed and pulled me into her arms. "This is a sign of recovery. Look."
As she spoke, she raised her hand and waved it before my eyes with mock seriousness, signaling me to watch closely. She then extended her left index finger and slowly brushed her right hand over it. When she pulled her hand away, a plump, round silver tit bird was perched on her finger—exactly like the one that had landed on her hand the day we first met. The little bird was lifelike, its tiny round head twitching from side to side. Though this was the lowest form of illusion, the fact that she could cast it at will meant that the meridians Martial Uncle Tancun had sealed were beginning to loosen.
I rubbed my eyes and let out a sudden laugh. Wei Qingming smiled and said, "Back then, A-Zhi was quite afraid of me. Terror and disbelief were written all over your face."
"What? Was it that obvious!" My face flushed. "I thought I’d hidden it quite well..."
She was amused by my reaction, and after laughing, she teased me intentionally. "Mm, like a little kitten. The more you put on a front, the more it makes one want to..."
I was quick enough to cover her mouth before she could finish.
After playing around for a bit, I leaned into the crook of her shoulder and sighed. "Time truly flies. Those little silver tits... I wonder what they look like now in the hands of the Wen family children. Even the purple thrush you gave me has become an old bird." Back then, I had been ignorant and innocent, she had been a youth full of spirit, and the world had been peaceful and quiet, where everything could be done according to one's heart.
"You've been rather sentimental lately." She tilted my face up, looking into my eyes with a faint smile, as if she could see through all my worries. "Are you feeling sorry for me?"
"I am. How could I not be..." I said gloomily.
"I have, of course, asked myself a thousand times what the meaning of living like this truly is," she said. "Other possibilities for my life were once laid before me. For instance, the senior in the Star-Plucking Realm who taught me the Bright Spirit Art, Perfected One Zhai, once hinted that he could step forward to take me as a formal disciple. From then on, I would have watched the returning swans and fished in the long rivers, free from all secular entanglements, truly at peace with the world. I refused almost without a second thought. Primarily, of course, because I held no chips in my hand at the time; the opportunity to enter the Wujing Sect was a gift from Master Feng, and the Yingzhao Temple represents the imperial will. Even with Perfected One Zhai’s high status, it would not have been convenient for him to violate the unspoken principles held between the Wujing Sect and the Imperial Court for a thousand years. Besides..."
She paused and laughed. "I truly cannot imagine myself with my hair in twin buns, brewing tea and sweeping snow, diligently serving a Master of the Star-Plucking Realm... Ultimately, such a life of idle non-action is not what I desire."
"Do you think I don't understand that?" I shook my head. "It just hurts my heart. You were meant to be infinitely luminous..."
"The Yingzhao Temple has a notorious reputation, and before Master Feng took charge, it was indeed a mire of filth," she said. "Master Feng served only in the inner palace until he was seventy. After the late Emperor passed away, the court was in turmoil, and the current Emperor faced danger several times; Master Feng himself nearly lost his life on multiple occasions. He said that his initial desire for power was solely to protect the Empress Dowager and the current Emperor. He made the decision to seize control of the Yingzhao Temple because of the 'Comet Eclipsing the Sun' incident in the forty-fifth year of the Tianshun era. Perhaps A-Zhi has heard of it."
"I’ve only seen it in books; I don't know the details," I said. "Though it was named after an abnormal celestial phenomenon, it was actually a massive natural disaster, wasn't it?"
That great catastrophe twenty years ago began with a solar eclipse at high noon. A rare red comet took the place of the sun, and the sky immediately began to pour a continuous "Yin-corroding Rain" that lasted for three years. That comet was gargantuan, its color as thick and vivid as fresh blood, possessing a degree of eeriness unprecedented in history. Countless people died directly from that prolonged rain, to say nothing of the thousands of miles of barren fields where not a single grain could be harvested. Except for the mineral deposits buried deep underground that were temporarily uncontaminated, the output of spiritual veins—including celestial herbs and spirit grasses—was nearly non-existent for those three years.
"It wasn't entirely a natural disaster," Wei Qingming said. "Moreover, natural disasters often breed man-made calamities. In short, someone took advantage of the current Emperor—who was then Prince Cheng—while he was in Xiangzhou providing disaster relief and
