The woman in the painting stirred something deep within Wen Zhiyun.
It was like a strand of willow fluff teasing the most sensitive corner of her heart, back and forth. Her butterfly-like lashes trembled uncontrollably, casting a soft, lingering shadow across her delicate features.
“Did you… paint this?”
“Yes.”
Tang Huaiyuan gazed deeply at her.
“I’ve always remembered what you looked like back then.”
Wen Zhiyun wanted to smile, but tears slipped down her cheeks instead.
They fell directly onto the painted girl’s brows and eyes before tracing a path down her face, making it seem as though the girl in the painting were crying too.
“But I’ve grown old. I’m no longer the person I was back then.”
“No.”
Tang Huaiyuan hurriedly tried to reassure her.
“You’ve never changed in my eyes.”
“But you’re no longer that mischievous young man either.”
Wen Zhiyun raised her head and looked at him through tear-filled eyes.
“You’ve remained unmarried all these years. Were you waiting for me?”
A trace of pain surfaced in Tang Huaiyuan’s eyes.
“In this life, the only woman I, Tang Huaiyuan, have ever wanted to marry is you, Wen Zhiyun.”
“Even though I’ve already been married and have had a child?”
“A-Wen, you know that I’ve never cared about those things.”
“So what if you’ve been married? So what if you’ve had a child?”
“As long as you’re still standing alive and well in front of me, and you’re still willing to be with me, that’s enough.”
“Why have you never said any of this to me before?”
“I’m six years older than you. I always thought you were still young and didn’t yet understand matters of the heart, so I didn’t dare confess my feelings recklessly.”
Tang Huaiyuan gave a bitter smile.
“I thought I should wait until you were grown.”
“Back then, I planned to formally ask for your hand once you came of age.”
“But the late Emperor’s imperial decree arrived at your coming-of-age ceremony before I could.”
“Yes.”
Wen Zhiyun smiled sadly through her tears.
“Back then, I thought I would naturally marry you…”
Tang Huaiyuan suddenly looked up.
His eyes erupted with overwhelming joy.
“A-Wen, you mean that? You’re telling the truth?”
“Of course.”
Tears still clung to Wen Zhiyun’s lashes.
“So the reason I’m here in this private residence today was something you planned long ago?”
“Even my being thrown into the Cold Palace, then being sent out of the palace because I was on the verge of death, was all part of your plan?”
“And the deaths of everyone in my Wen family…”
“Did you have a hand in that too?”
The accusations came one after another.
Tang Huaiyuan couldn’t bear to face the disappointment in Wen Zhiyun’s eyes.
He could only offer a pale, powerless explanation.
“Whatever else may be true, my feelings for you are genuine.”
“But your genuine feelings had to be proven with the lives of my father and my younger siblings?”
“A-Wen!”
Tang Huaiyuan lowered his head dejectedly.
“But now that things have come this far, you’re the only one I can save.”
“I’ll take good care of you.”
“Won’t you give me a chance to make amends?”
He cautiously reached out to take Wen Zhiyun’s hand.
She violently shook him off.
Tang Huaiyuan no longer dared to look at her expression, afraid that he would see nothing but disgust in her eyes.
Instead, he turned toward the servants and maid outside the door and said,
“From now on, wherever she wishes to go within this residence, do not stop her.”
“That includes this study.”
With that, he fled.
After Tang Huaiyuan had gone, Xiaoshuang wanted to enter the study and offer some words of comfort.
But before she could even step through the doorway, a cup came flying from inside.
It smashed violently against the doorframe.
Fragments of porcelain flew everywhere, and one nearly struck Xiaoshuang in the eye.
“Get out!”
“All of you, get out!”
Xiaoshuang jumped in fright.
She hurriedly bowed and backed away, thoughtfully closing the study door behind her and leaving Wen Zhiyun alone to regain her composure.
At last, there was no one else around.
Wen Zhiyun’s tears stopped instantly.
It was as though the grief-stricken crying from moments earlier had never happened.
Her tear-filled eyes lingered on the painting for only a brief moment before she turned away expressionlessly.
Her gaze became cold as she carefully examined every corner of the study.
At the same time, she recalled what Wen Zhiyi had quietly told her while she was drifting in and out of consciousness.
“Sister, if my guess is correct, you should meet an old acquaintance after leaving the palace.”
“Although this person must have some connection to our family’s case, you don’t need to oppose him for our sake.”
“Your safety must come first.”
“If you get the opportunity, find evidence that he framed Father.”
“If you don’t get the chance…”
“Sister, please take care of yourself.”
There is a chance.
Little sister, there is a chance.
The words she hadn’t been able to say back then…
She would tell her little sister everything slowly when they were reunited.
As the legitimate eldest daughter of the Chancellor’s household, she had grown up adored by her parents and had always been regarded as a model among the young ladies of the capital.
Apart from the twists and turns surrounding her marriage and the birth of her child, Wen Zhiyun’s life for more than twenty years had been remarkably smooth.
She had never been interested in putting on false appearances or playing these kinds of deceitful games.
But now, the Wen family was fighting for survival.
At a time like this, love and hatred, affection and resentment, none of it mattered.
Even moral conventions and social propriety could be thrown aside.
As long as she could protect her family, she was willing to sacrifice anything.
As for Tang Huaiyuan, she had always regarded him only as a fellow classmate and friend.
She had never once considered marrying him.
Everything she had just said was a lie.
Tang Huaiyuan was an extremely cautious man.
If he truly possessed something he didn’t want others to see, he would never leave it in his own residence.
But in a place like the capital, where every inch of land was precious, his wealth wasn’t enough to afford two separate private residences.
She had used a hunger strike to force Tang Huaiyuan to give her unrestricted freedom of movement.
She had searched every corner of the residence.
And found nothing.
Then there was only one place left.
This study.
Her eyes carefully swept over every corner as she considered every possible hiding place.
Nothing on the bookshelves.
Nothing inside the vases.
Nothing inside the lamp bases.
Nothing beneath the floor tiles.
There were no hidden compartments behind the walls either.
Where was it?
Wen Zhiyun was growing frantic.
A thin sheen of sweat had already appeared across her back.
Outside, Xiaoshuang estimated that enough time had passed.
She tentatively knocked on the study door.
“Miss, are you feeling better? Would you like me to come in and attend to you?”
Wen Zhiyun pressed her fingers against her throat, forcing herself to choke out the sound of someone crying.
Then she snapped viciously,
“Get lost!”
Xiaoshuang withdrew anxiously.
But Wen Zhiyun knew she didn’t have much time left.
Where could Tang Huaiyuan have hidden the thing she was looking for?
Her anxious gaze searched the room again and again.
Eventually, it returned to the scroll spread across the writing desk.
The young girl in the painting had bright, expressive eyes and an enchanting smile.
She looked capable of both laughter and anger, her every expression vivid and alive.
Their eyes unexpectedly met.
For a fleeting moment, it was as though the young Wen Zhiyun from years ago had crossed the long river of time to meet her again.
Something suddenly clicked in Wen Zhiyun’s mind.
She reached for the paperweight lying on the painting.
At first glance, it appeared to have been carved as one solid piece.
But the weight…
Something felt wrong.
Wen Zhiyun carefully ran her fingers over it for a moment.
Sure enough, she found a concealed compartment along the side.
She pressed it.
A tiny storage compartment sprang open.
Inside was a small seal.
And carved into it was a single character.
Wen.
It was identical to the seal Wen Zhiyun had seen in her father’s possession since childhood.
Her father’s seal had been used for many years, and the final stroke of the character “Wen” had already been worn down considerably.
But the one in Wen Zhiyun’s hand was completely different.
Every stroke was sharp and crisp, as precise as a hook.