A fleeting trace of surprise crossed Qin Ye’s face, but it quickly disappeared behind his usual cold detachment. “Yun Si, do you really think I’m that easy to fool?”
Back then, she had been willing to die alongside him just to secure a divorce. That alone showed how deeply she despised him. Even if she had now learned that the tragedy at the Marquis’s estate had nothing to do with him, there was no way her feelings could have changed so drastically in barely over a month.
“Since I’ve already agreed to divorce you, you can leave without any worries. I neither need nor want your compensation.”
“Qin Ye…”
“No more.”
Yun Si let out a bitter smile. A profound sense of helplessness washed over her. She wanted to explain herself, yet no explanation seemed capable of making him understand.
Forget it. She had wounded Qin Ye too deeply. How could a few words possibly mend the hurt she had caused? It would take time. As long as he didn’t drive her away, everything else could be worked out slowly.
Back in Qiwu Courtyard, Yun Si settled in.
Several days passed. Qin Ye never expelled her from the residence, but he never came to see her either.
Qiwu Courtyard had originally been reserved exclusively for the Princess Consort. When Yun Si returned, Qin Ye personally carried her back there. Even though she was no longer his wife in name, he had made no arrangements for her to move elsewhere.
So Yun Si remained there with peace of mind. During those days, she carefully sorted through memories from her previous life, along with the valuable information she had gathered during the five years after her death, when her soul had remained trapped beside Qin Ye.
Yun Si had been born prematurely. From the moment she entered the world, she was the noble eldest legitimate daughter of the Marquis Yongyi’s household.
Her maternal grandfather was Jiangnan’s wealthiest merchant. Her parents loved each other deeply, and her father had devoted himself to only one woman throughout his life. Together they had three children. Yun Si had two elder brothers and, as the family’s only daughter, had been cherished by everyone from birth. Moreover, she displayed extraordinary gifts from a young age. She learned everything with remarkable ease, often mastering things without formal instruction. Unfortunately, her health was extremely frail. Illness plagued her constantly, leaving her without the strength to pursue many of the things she wished to learn.
Her relationships with others were just as poor. She never understood why the young ladies around her seemed to dislike her so much. Even the young noblemen tended to avoid her whenever possible.
Only Shen Qian was different. He often visited the estate to see her. When she was too sick to leave the house, he would bring her all sorts of novel and interesting things. When others isolated her or mocked her for being a sickly invalid, he would stand up for her and tell her not to mind them. He promised that he would always stay by her side. Gradually, Yun Si came to regard Shen Qian as her one and only friend.
“My lady.” Lu Yu entered from outside, interrupting Yun Si’s memories.
“Young Master Shen is here.”
Shen Qian had come? After all these days, he had finally shown up. A bloodthirsty smile slowly curved Yun Si’s crimson lips.
Outside Prince Xiao’s Residence.
Shen Qian stood before the gates dressed in a moon-white brocade robe. Silver-threaded cloud patterns shimmered faintly with his movements. His dark hair was bound beneath a jade crown. Tall and elegant, he moved with the refinement and noble grace expected of a young master from a prestigious family. Yet few knew that beneath his gentle and courteous facade lay a heart that was cold, calculating, and deceptively malicious.
That night, the villa had gone up in flames, reducing everything to ashes.
The Shen family suffered not only enormous financial losses, but also the destruction of many important secret letters in the fire.
Shen Qian had been furious. Only after dealing with the aftermath did he realize that Yun Si had disappeared.
No one could find her alive. No one could find her dead. After searching extensively, he had never imagined that Yun Si would return to Prince Xiao’s Residence on her own. He had to find out what had happened.
Had Yun Si discovered something? Otherwise, why would she suddenly return to Prince Xiao? And that fire that night had been suspicious as well.
Shen Qian had waited outside the residence for nearly half an hour without seeing Yun Si appear. Instead, Prince Xiao’s carriage returned and slowly stopped before the gates.
Qin Ye stepped out. The moment he saw Shen Qian, before either man could speak, he noticed Yun Si emerging from the residence. A cold smile tugged at his lips. It carried both mockery and ridicule.
Shen Qian approached first and bowed respectfully. “Prince Xiao, since you and A-Si have already divorced, I ask that you show mercy. Let her go, and let yourself go as well.”
“Your Highness.”
The temperature around Qin Ye seemed to drop instantly.
Yun Si quickly walked over and lightly hooked one finger around his hand. “I’d like to speak with him alone for a moment.”
Looking up at him, her eyes shimmered like water as though she were seeking his permission. “May I?”
Qin Ye’s body stiffened ever so slightly. When her fingers lightly hooked around his, it felt like a feather brushing faintly across his heart.
The Yun Si of the past had never taken the initiative to get close to Qin Ye, let alone speak to him so gently.
Qin Ye lowered his gaze to look at her. A breeze stirred her hair, carrying a faint, pleasant fragrance to his nose. Emotions he could scarcely name churned within his chest. “As you wish.”
Only after a long silence did Yun Si hear him speak. His voice was as cold and indifferent as though the matter had nothing to do with him. His dark sleeve brushed across the back of her hand. Without drawing attention to it, he tightened his fingers slightly, then turned away, deliberately slowing his pace. From the corner of his eye, he caught the subtle change in Shen Qian’s expression. An uncontrollable flicker of satisfaction rose within him, quickly replaced by self-mockery.
Yun Si watched until Qin Ye had disappeared into the distance before withdrawing her gaze. She could not help but sigh inwardly. The road to winning back her husband’s heart was truly a long one.
“A-Si.” Shen Qian looked at Yun Si with a dark, unreadable gaze. Yet the moment she turned to face him, his eyes softened and filled with concern once more. “Why did you leave without a word? The villa suddenly caught fire. Do you know how worried I was about you?”
“Worried about me?” After a lifetime apart, seeing Shen Qian again instantly reignited the overwhelming hatred coursing through her veins.
Yun Si slowly clenched her fingers. Forcing herself to remain calm, she smiled sweetly at him. “But aren’t I perfectly fine?”
“As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters.” Shen Qian stepped forward, intending to take her hand, but Yun Si deftly avoided him.
His hand froze in midair. Puzzled suspicion filled his heart. “A-Si, you finally managed to break free from Prince Xiao. Why did you come back? Could it be… that I’ve done something wrong and upset you?”
“What nonsense.” Yun Si smiled faintly. “How could you have done anything wrong?”
Suddenly, her voice turned icy. “The ones in the wrong are those who framed and destroyed my entire family!”
“Then why have you returned to Prince Xiao’s Residence?”
Yun Si’s attitude toward Prince Xiao had been completely different just now. For the first time, Shen Qian couldn’t understand her. He could not figure out what had changed to make her behave so strangely.
“Did Prince Xiao do something? Is he threatening you?”
“What do I have left for anyone to threaten?”
Yun Si lightly touched his sleeve in reassurance. “The reason I returned to Prince Xiao’s Residence is to find evidence proving that Prince Xiao framed my family. Once I find it, I’ll figure out a way to leave.”
“Why are you suddenly looking for evidence?” Shen Qian felt increasingly uneasy. His eyes darkened as he stared at her. “You don’t trust me?”
“Of course I trust you.” Without revealing a trace of emotion, Yun Si replied calmly, “But what good does my trust do? Without evidence, my parents will never come back. How am I supposed to avenge them?”
“You… want revenge?”
“Of course!”
The two words came out sharp and decisive. For a brief moment, Shen Qian’s expression froze. “But…”
“Enough. This is Prince Xiao’s Residence. If people see us talking alone, it won’t look good. It could interfere with my search for evidence.” She smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. Once I find the evidence, I’ll make him experience what true pain and despair feel like.”
Clearly, the “him” Yun Si referred to was supposedly Prince Xiao. Yet for some reason, Shen Qian felt oddly uncomfortable hearing those words.
After speaking, Yun Si gave him no chance to question her further and turned toward the residence.
Shen Qian suddenly grabbed her arm. When she looked back, scrutiny and suspicion lingered on her face for a moment before he finally spoke.
“Everything in the villa was destroyed in the fire. Only this survived. I found it in the lakeside pavilion outside the study. Don’t you want it anymore?”
Yun Si lowered her eyes. It was a piece of mutton-fat jade. The token of love Shen Qian had given her. When she divorced Qin Ye, this jade pendant had been the only thing she took with her. When she was fifteen, her mother had taken her to Jiangnan to visit her maternal grandparents. During that trip, an accident left her trapped in a mountain cave during a violent rainstorm. She had been drenched through and nearly died. For days, she burned with a raging fever, drifting in and out of consciousness. Through the haze, she knew a young boy was caring for her. He fed her water. When she was cold, he held her to keep her warm. When she was burning with fever, he wiped her body to cool her down. Day and night, without removing his clothes or resting properly, he devoted himself to nursing her back to health, pulling her from death’s very doorstep. Only after regaining full consciousness did she finally see the face of the boy who had cared for her. It was Shen Qian.
After that incident, the Marquis’s household and the Shen family arranged a marriage alliance between them. Shen Qian gave her his personal jade pendant as a token of their betrothal and promised that in two years, once Yun Si’s health improved, he would marry her. But no one had expected Qin Ye to suddenly enter the picture and disrupt everything.
Yun Si looked at the jade pendant Shen Qian was offering her. Once, it had been the thing she treasured most. But now, seeing it again only made her feel physically ill. She wanted to throw up.
“Of course I would. I must have accidentally lost it. It’s a good thing you found it.” She accepted the pendant and said to Shen Qian, “I’ll keep it forever.”
She would keep it as a constant reminder of just how foolish she had been in her previous life.
Shen Qian stared closely at her face, searching for any unusual reaction. Finding none, he slowly smiled. The smile, however, never reached his eyes. “Good. Be careful while looking for evidence. If you discover anything, make sure to tell me immediately.”
Yun Si nodded, then turned and left without looking back.
Shen Qian watched her retreating figure, his gaze gradually growing cold. Turning to the attendant who had accompanied him, he ordered, “Investigate. Find out when she left the villa on the night of the fire and whether she met anyone before leaving.”
Inside Prince Xiao’s Residence.
Yun Si stopped at a pavilion to rest and casually placed the jade pendant on a stone table.
Thinking back to her previous life, Qin Ye had needed a full five years to uproot the Shen family completely. If she wanted to deal with Shen Qian herself in this life, how could it possibly be easy?
The Shen family was a century-old aristocratic clan. More than half of its members served as officials in the imperial court. Shen Qian had already risen to Vice Minister of War (Rank Four) at such a young age. Not even Qin Ye, a prince of imperial blood, could openly contend with him right now, much less her. Most importantly, there was her own frail and battered body. Suddenly, something occurred to her, and her eyes lit up.
The year she returned to the capital after visiting her maternal grandfather’s family in Jiangnan, a wandering master had passed by the Marquis’s estate. Claiming they were fated to meet, he said he wanted to take her as his disciple and teach her medicine and other skills.
Yun Si had been very interested and studied under him for several days. Her master praised her intelligence and talent, saying she learned everything exceptionally quickly. Unfortunately, her poor health held her back. He advised her to focus first on learning medicine. Once she mastered it, she could use that knowledge to improve her own condition.
But Shen Qian had told her that the so-called master was nothing more than a fraud, a wandering charlatan hoping to freeload at the Marquis’s estate. He warned her not to trust him.
At the time, Shen Qian was already her fiancé. She trusted and depended on him more than anyone. Although, deep down, she felt her master didn’t seem like a swindler, she still agreed to drive him away so as not to upset Shen Qian.
Looking back, there had truly been something wrong with her mind. She would rather believe someone else than trust her own judgment. After that, she never saw her master again. A few days after her death, however, something strange happened. As her soul followed Qin Ye on an outing, they passed by the Marquis Yongyi Estate. There, she saw a familiar figure entering through the front gate.
Qin Ye probably hadn’t noticed. But she had seen clearly. It was the master she had driven away years ago. As he stood at the entrance, he paused briefly and turned to glance toward their carriage.
At the time, Yun Si was sitting on the roof of the carriage. For a moment, she felt as though her master could actually see her. Then he entered the estate. She hurried after him and watched him go straight to the chamber that had once been hers. Unfortunately, her soul could not stray too far from Qin Ye. As a result, she never discovered what he had done inside her room.
Could he have left something behind for her? Calculating the timing, it should have happened around these very days.
Back then, she had been dazed and confused and couldn’t remember the exact date. In her previous life, she had already died when her master came. Whether fate would allow master and disciple to meet again in this life remained uncertain. It seemed she would have to find an opportunity to return home and see whether her master had truly left her something.
When Yun Si left the pavilion, she remained lost in thought. The jade pendant was forgotten, left alone on the stone table. Only when she was nearly back at Qiwu Courtyard did she realize she had left it behind. She immediately turned around to retrieve it. But the sight that greeted her when she returned left her completely dumbfounded. The jade pendant was gone. All that remained on the stone table was a pile of green powder.
A gentle breeze swept through. The powder scattered into the air and vanished in an instant.
This… Who did it?