The winter of the third year of the Jingde reign brought heavy snow to the ground; snowmelt dripped from branches outside the window, carrying a biting chill.
Inside the boudoir of the Shen residence, several maids bustled about, bringing in basins of water and trays of food one after another.
On the carved wooden bed lay a woman with pale cheeks, her long hair spilling across the pillow. Her sickly appearance made it seem as if her life might slip away at any moment.
“Has the young lady woken yet?” one maid asked.
“No—this is the third day now,” another replied.
The two exchanged worried glances. Their young lady had been unconscious for three full days and nights since being pulled from the river—what were they to do…
As if disturbed by their conversation, the woman on the bed furrowed her brows and slowly opened her eyes, only to squeeze them shut again as bright light from outside pierced her vision.
“Tianxiang… look! The young lady seemed to wake just now!”
The two maids rushed to the bedside at once, asking anxiously: “Young lady—are you feeling unwell?”
Shen Xi rolled over, her limbs aching sharply. A cry of pain escaped her lips, startling the maids, who hurried to help her sit up. The moment she rose, the world seemed to spin around her, and she instinctively raised a hand to steady her forehead.
“Young lady, are you alright?” Hongxiu asked, her voice tight with concern.
Shen Xi shook her head, then looked carefully at the two maids before her—her former personal attendants, Hongxiu and Tianxiang. “I’m fine,” she said. “What year and month is it now?”
“Young lady, it’s the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the third year of Jingde,” Hongxiu replied. “A while ago, you went shopping with the Su family’s eldest young lady, Su Yao. When you passed by the bridge, somehow you fell into the water. You’ve been asleep for three days—you frightened Master, Mistress, and the young master half to death!”
Shen Xi sat up and looked around the room. She had not expected to wake up in the third year of Jingde. She still remembered vividly being poisoned to death by Yuan Jingxian, and the entire Shen clan being executed and their estates confiscated. How had she suddenly returned three years into the past—the very year she was to meet Yunxiao…
Lost in thought, she suddenly began to cough, bringing up a mouthful of dark red blood.
At the sight, the two maids were terrified. They dropped to their knees and wept: “Young lady! Please, you mustn’t have anything happen to you—what would we do if something happened to you?”
The drowning, the coughing blood, the shopping trip, Su Yao—everything came flooding back.
In her past life, Su Yao had befriended her only to do Yuan Jingxian’s bidding. After Yuan Jingxian became Empress, she had promoted Su Yao’s father, Su Qiyuan, to the position of Grand Councilor. And when the Shen family was destroyed, both the Su and Yuan clans had played their part!
She recalled how, during that trip to the market with Su Yao, the latter had disappeared for two whole hours. She had sat by the bridge for a while when suddenly her limbs went weak and she fainted—leading to her fall into the water.
Shen Xi’s voice was cold as she asked: “When I fainted and fell in—did the Su young lady come by?”
“Yes, young lady!” Hongxiu said. “When you first fell into the water, Miss Su was frantic with worry. She stayed at our residence for half a day before she would leave.”
Tianxiang spoke softly from the side: “Young lady… when the young master came back and heard about your accident, he was in a terrible state. Now that you’re awake—should we inform him?”
“No need,” Shen Xi waved a hand dismissively. She gazed out at the snow covering the ground, lost in thought. “Go fetch a physician for me.”
“Yes, young lady,” Tianxiang replied.
Tianxiang bowed and withdrew, returning shortly afterward with a physician whose hair and beard were completely white. He carried a medicine chest on his back and walked with steady steps. Upon entering the room, he clasped his hands in a formal greeting: “Greetings, Miss Shen.”
(Note: In ancient China, clasping one’s hands and bowing was a common gesture of respect between people of different social standings.)
Leaning against soft pillows, Shen Xi’s face remained pale, her voice hoarse from illness: “Please, sir, there’s no need for such formality. I would be grateful if you could examine me—why is it that after waking, I cough up blood and feel so extremely weak?”
The physician nodded, moved to sit by the bed, and placed his fingertips on her wrist to feel her pulse. His initially calm expression grew increasingly serious, his brows furrowing more deeply with each moment. After a while, he switched to her other wrist, examining it carefully for a long time before withdrawing his hand. “During the days the young lady has been unconscious—has incense been burning in this room?” he asked.
Hongxiu spoke up: “In reply to you, sir—we burn calming lily incense in the young lady’s room every day. It’s the kind we always use in the residence; we’ve never changed it.”
The physician shook his head, stood up, and walked to a corner of the room. His eyes scanned the incense burner before he bent down to smell the remaining ash inside. He then picked up a small amount between his fingers and rubbed it gently. His expression grew even graver: “This incense is not what it seems.”
A chill ran through Shen Xi’s heart—just as she had suspected. “What do you mean?”
“The base of this lily incense is genuine,” the physician turned to face her, his tone heavy. “But it has been mixed with powdered ruanjincao—‘soft tendon grass.’ This herb is not poisonous on its own, but when processed using special methods and mixed into incense for long-term burning, those who inhale it will first feel weak in the limbs, with symptoms that mimic a cold or wind illness. Over time, however, it will slowly erode the muscles and bones, draining the body’s vital energy. The blood you coughed up just now is a sign that your vital energy has already been damaged.”
He paused, looking at her: “From what I can tell, the young lady’s vital energy has already begun to decline. If you were to continue inhaling this incense for another six months—I fear… your strength would gradually fade away entirely, until you could barely lift even light objects.”
Hongxiu and Tianxiang turned pale with shock, falling to their knees with a thud: “Young lady! How… how could this be? We light your incense every day—we never noticed anything unusual!”
So that was it……. Shen Xi felt an urge to laugh, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.
Ruanjincao—a seemingly insignificant herb, yet a vicious tool for harming those who practiced martial arts.
In her past life, as the legitimate daughter of a general’s household, her martial skills had not been equal to her elder brother’s, but she had been more than capable with spear and sword. Yet after entering the palace, she had often felt exhausted, slowly losing even the strength to lift a sword. Now she understood—this incense had been targeted at her by Su Yao and Yuan Jingxian.
“Who brought this incense here?” Shen Xi asked slowly, her voice giving no hint of her emotions.
Tianxiang trembled as she answered: “It… it was a few days ago, when Miss Su came to visit. She said she had obtained a new batch of top-quality lily incense and specially brought it as a gift for you…”
Shen Xi closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her gaze was as cold as ice. The debts from her past life—this time, the ones she would collect from were more than just Yuan Jingxian and Yunxiao.
“Sir—can this be cured?” she asked.
The physician replied: “Yes. The young lady must stop using this incense immediately. I will prescribe a formula to strengthen your foundation and replenish your vital energy. If you take it regularly and rest well for three months, you should gradually recover. However, during this time, you must avoid becoming agitated or overexerting yourself.”
“Thank you, sir,” Shen Xi nodded. “Hongxiu—fetch the consultation fee and see the physician out.”
Once the physician had left, Shen Xi looked at the two still-trembling maids and spoke gently: “Get up. From today onward, no items brought by outsiders are to enter this room without my inspection. And no one is to speak of what we’ve learned about this lily incense—not to anyone.”
Hongxiu and Tianxiang hastened to agree. Looking at their young lady’s unprecedented sharp gaze, they felt that something about her had changed since she woke up from this drowning accident.
Shen Xi gazed out at the snow outside, slowly clenching her fist. None of those who had harmed the Shen family would escape justice.