The first snow had fallen in the capital, blanketing everything in a vast expanse of white.
A carriage with a blue roof swayed to a stop in front of the Ministry of War. Gu Ning, wrapped in a thick fox fur cloak, stepped down from the carriage with the help of her maid, Hong Yao, who carried a red lacquer food box decorated with gold patterns.
She had come here many times before, bringing meals to her recently betrothed fiancé, Shen Jinyan.
Three months ago, every clerk in the yamen envied the deep affection between the engaged couple. But now, the gazes that fell upon her were tinged with something strange.
“Miss…” Hong Yao took in the surrounding looks, her voice tinged with worry.
The reason was simple: a scandal had recently erupted in the household of Gu, the Vice Minister of Rites—the child born to Madam Gu had been swapped at birth. Gu Ning, the beautiful and elegant young lady, turned out to be an imposter!
Her fiancé, however, was the genuine son of the General of Distant Peace. Their marriage was now impossible.
“Don’t mind them, I’m fine… *cough cough*,” she pulled out a handkerchief to cover her mouth as she coughed a few times. “Let’s hurry.”
After all, in three days, she would be leaving.
Every blade of grass and every tree here was intimately familiar to Gu Ning, especially the peach tree outside the study, whose peaches were exceptionally sweet.
She remembered last summer, when Shen Jinyan had suddenly decided to climb the tree to pick peaches for her, only to be caught by his father. The two men stared at each other, and Shen Jinyan, trembling, slipped and nearly fell headfirst. As expected, he received a whipping. But when he saw her, his eyes immediately curved into a smile, his lips parting to reveal sharp little canine teeth as he secretly slipped the sweetest peach into her hand.
He had laughed and said he would pick even sweeter ones for her next year.
Heavy snow had weighed down the branches, and Gu Ning sighed softly.
There would be no next year.
Even without the farce of the true and false daughters, she would still have to return to Jiangnan.
Someone was waiting for her there.
Gu Ning had returned to the Gu family in the capital at sixteen to find medicine for her senior martial brother, Chi Yan. Chi Yan had saved her life, but he had been born with a strange illness that would only allow him to live until twenty-five. Though there was a cure, two medicinal ingredients had never been found.
A year and a half ago, Gu Ning suddenly received news that one of the ingredients, Purple-Sight Grass, was in the General of Distant Peace’s mansion in the capital. Coincidentally, the Gu family had sent someone to fetch her, so she seized the opportunity to return to the capital.
Purple-Sight Grass was precious, and no matter how much Gu Ning offered, the general’s mansion refused to sell it. After a long stalemate, Gu Ning gritted her teeth and devised a risky plan: seduce Shen Jinyan, the son of the General of Distant Peace, and obtain the Purple-Sight Grass through him.
It was a dangerous move, but surprisingly effective. A month ago, Shen Jinyan brought the Purple-Sight Grass out and gave it to her.
Snow rustled down from the peach tree, covering the ground. The sweetest peach seemed to still hang on the branch, sleeping, waiting to awaken next summer.
Her chest felt heavy, and there was a dull ache.
If it really couldn’t be helped…
If it really couldn’t be helped…
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Gu Ning froze.
The study window had been blown half-open by the wind, casting a warm yellow glow. She saw two figures by the window drawing closer and closer, almost overlapping.
One of them was Shen Jinyan.
The young man who had once offered her his sincere heart.
He stood with his back to her, his dark hair tied into a high ponytail cascading down. Across from him, Gu Lin, the newly recognized daughter of the Gu family, adorned with jewels and pearls, smiled radiantly. She glanced triumphantly out the window, locking eyes with Gu Ning, then rose onto her tiptoes.
The two figures finally overlapped.
Outside the window, snow drifted slowly.
Gu Ning stood in place as if in a trance. She pressed a hand to her chest, unable to describe exactly what she was feeling—only that it seemed as though the north wind had pierced right through her. But…
Perhaps this was for the best.
Yes, for the best.
Inside the window, the young man seemed to sense something, his back stiffening slightly.
Yet the overlapping shadows cast by the lamplight never separated.
“Miss,” Hong Yao, having clearly seen it too, fumed with indignation and flung the food box onto the ground. “Young General Shen and Miss Lin are going too far! Especially Young General Shen—he’s already engaged to you, yet he… he…”
“What is there to ‘yet’ about?” Gu Ning said calmly. “This status was always hers. Now, everything has simply returned to its rightful place.”
Summer had passed, and the peach tree had shed all its leaves.
Come spring and summer next year, the peach tree would grow new leaves and bear new fruit, but it would never be the same tree as before.
“Let’s go,” she turned around. “From now on, we need not come here again.”
Today, she had wanted to bid him a proper farewell, to lay everything out clearly.
But now… it seemed unnecessary.
*Bang—* The wooden door of the study was pushed open, and Shen Jinyan rushed out of the room.
“A-Ning! I…”
He seemed frozen in the doorway. After that single “I,” nothing more followed.
“Young General Shen,” she stood where she was, her hair tousled by the wind and snow, smiling faintly. “There’s no need for explanations. Go back inside—keeping a beauty waiting is hardly the act of a gentleman.”
Young General Shen?
Such a distant address.
The step he had taken forward was abruptly retracted. Snowflakes fell ceaselessly from the sky, and before long, a thin layer had settled on his shoulders.
The two stood facing each other in silence.
Finally, unable to bear the cold any longer, Gu Ning tightened her fox-fur cloak and spoke with a light laugh. “Why are you looking at me like that, Young General Shen? Hurry back inside. I must return home as well.”
“A-Ning,” he pressed his lips together. “Don’t you… have anything to say?”
Gu Ning thought for a moment, then smiled again. “Then I wish Young General Shen and my sister a harmonious union and a lifetime of happiness together.”
A lifetime… of happiness.
She actually wished him a lifetime of happiness with someone else?!
Shen Jinyan’s breathing suddenly grew ragged.
He stared into her eyes—those unnervingly calm eyes—his voice catching in his throat, unable to utter a single word.
“Young General Shen, farewell.”
She gave a slight curtsy, performing a respectful bow, then disappeared into the vast expanse of snow.
Without a trace of lingering attachment.
The thick felt curtain fell back into place, and the carriage wheels left two long tracks in the snow.
After the scandal of the switched daughters had come to light, their carriage no longer carried silver charcoal for warmth. The wind seeped through the gaps in the curtain, bitingly cold.
Remembering what had just happened, Hong Yao grew even angrier. “And here I thought Young General Shen was a decent man! Turns out he’s just another faithless scoundrel! You sent him soups and snacks regularly, cared for him day and night when he was ill. But the moment he found out you weren’t the Gu family’s true daughter, he turned around and got involved with Gu Lin. All that sincerity was truly wasted on a dog!”
“Don’t be angry. I’m not upset, so why should you be?” Gu Ning patted her hand soothingly. “Look at all the nobles and officials in the capital—which of them doesn’t have multiple wives and concubines, shifting affections like the wind?”
In youth, they swear undying love; by middle age, they surround themselves with beauties of every kind.
Sincerity is fragile. Once lost…
Well.
It does leave one with a sense of emptiness.
“And Gu Lin, what a shameless creature!” Hong Yao spat fiercely on the ground. “She clearly knows you and General Shen are in love, yet she insists on meddling!”
“Yes, you did take her place, but what good is that identity? Sent to that wretched Taoist temple since childhood, if not for the young master’s rescue, you might have lost your life! And she—putting on the face of a victim, taking advantage and still acting innocent!”
The more Hong Yao spoke, the more aggrieved she felt, her eyes reddening. “You grew up by the young master’s side—when have you ever suffered such humiliation? If we’d known it would be like this, we never should have come to the capital!”
“Don’t be angry, don’t be angry,” Gu Ning patted her back. “Isn’t this all to find the Purple-Sight Grass for the senior brother? Fortunately, we’ve already found it. Once we return to Jiangnan in a few days…”
*Tap, tap.* Before she could finish, something suddenly knocked twice on the carriage window. Gu Ning lifted the curtain to find a familiar plump white pigeon perched on the windowsill, gently nuzzling the back of her hand.
A small note was tied to the pigeon’s slender red leg. Gu Ning unfolded it:
*Personnel arranged. Situation changed.*
*Tonight at midnight, feign death and return immediately.*