Chapter 24

Proofreader: Mim

Li Zhi remembered that day vividly.

Jia Sui had clasped her hands with devotion, promising that no matter how perilous the road ahead, she would stand by her side.

Even if it cost her life.

She had sold herself into servitude again, solely to fulfill that oath.

Li Zhi couldn’t help but be moved by such unwavering loyalty. Gripping Jia Sui’s hands tightly, she suppressed the ache in her heart and said with a faint smile, “I am merely a lowly servant now, barely worth mentioning. Don’t call me ‘Miss’ anymore.”

Before Jia Sui could object, Li Zhi continued, “If you do not look down upon my current position, let us refer to each other as sisters from now on.”

“How could this servant ever despise you, Miss!” Jia Sui exclaimed in shock, hastily denying it.

“In that case, don’t address yourself as a servant anymore, and I am no longer a ‘Miss,’” Li Zhi said. “If you truly don’t mind, call me by my childhood name, Banban.”

Li Zhi explained, “Li Xia is no longer with us. Using her childhood name is my way of keeping her memory alive.”

“This Serva—” Jia Sui paused before correcting herself. “I understand. If that’s what Banban wishes.”

Finally, Li Zhi smiled.

“Did Steward Tang tell you where you’ll be assigned?” she asked.

“He did. I’m to report to Fufeng Courtyard shortly.”

Li Zhi, by now, had a general understanding of the household’s layout.

“Fufeng Courtyard is the Young Master’s residence. I haven’t heard of him treating his servants harshly. Once you’re there, as long as you fulfill your duties, there shouldn’t be any major issues.”

With tasks of her own to attend to, Li Zhi briefly introduced the household members to Jia Sui before hurrying to Xuan Zhi Courtyard.

As a third-rank maid, Li Zhi’s responsibilities were minimal, mostly limited to cleaning indoors.

The shell bracelet was still pawned at the general store. She needed to find a way to earn some reward money to redeem it quickly. Fortunately, opportunity came her way.

Unlike the previous third-rank maids, Li Zhi moved furniture to clean behind them. While dusting behind the wooden shelf, she discovered a small pearl.

The pearl had a hole in the middle, as if it had fallen from a hairpin.

After finishing her chores, Li Zhi waited until Lu Xuan was alone and handed her the pearl.

“What’s this?” Lu Xuan asked in surprise.

“I found it behind the wooden shelf while cleaning today,” Li Zhi explained. “I believe it must have fallen from one of Miss’s hairpins.”

Lu Han only had one daughter, whom he adored to no end. Lu Xuan had so many adornments that losing a pearl from one wouldn’t even cross her mind.

Summoning the head maid, Lu Xuan had her investigate the jewelry. Sure enough, one hairpin was missing a pearl.

Though a single pearl wasn’t valuable to Lu Xuan, for the maids—especially someone like Li Zhi, a contracted servant without a monthly stipend—it represented nearly a year’s wages.

Moved by Li Zhi’s honesty, Lu Xuan decided to reward her with the pearl.

“I was only returning something to its rightful owner. Such a reward is too much,” Li Zhi demurred. “If Miss wishes to reward me, I do have one request.”

“What is it?” Lu Xuan asked curiously.

“To save my younger brother, I pawned some old belongings at a general store. Redeeming them now requires four taels of silver.”

“I thought it was something serious…” Lu Xuan chuckled. “Pei’er, fetch her a bag of loose silver.”

The head maid quickly brought a bag of silver shards.

Li Zhi bowed in gratitude.

—-

After her duties, Li Zhi postponed going to the Bamboo Courtyard and first visited the pawnshop where the bracelet was held.

When she handed over the money to redeem it, she was hit with shocking news.

“It’s already been sold,” the shopkeeper said.

The same middle-aged man from before was sitting at the shop’s entrance, flicking water off his fingers onto the displayed fruits.

“Yes, someone bought it the day after you pawned it,” he said nonchalantly.

“Shopkeeper, we agreed you’d give me seven days to redeem it!” Li Zhi exclaimed.

“That’s my fault,” the shopkeeper admitted, setting down his water pot. “You pawned it for a tael of sugar. I’ll give you ten taels—or cash if you prefer. Deal?”

Realizing anger would achieve nothing, Li Zhi forced herself to calm down. In an even tone, she asked, “Who bought it?”

The shopkeeper hesitated.

“I’m not trying to trouble you,” Li Zhi said. “Just tell me who bought the bracelet. Unless you’d prefer to sort this out at the authorities?”

Under her cold glare and subtle threats, the shopkeeper finally relented.

“It was a young lady in pink, wearing a veiled hat. I didn’t see her face clearly.”

“How much did she pay?” Li Zhi pressed.

“Fifty taels,” the shopkeeper replied reluctantly.

“And when did she buy it?”

“The day after you pawned it.”

Li Zhi already had a suspect in mind.

Ignoring the shopkeeper, she left without looking back.

The Bamboo Courtyard was as tranquil as ever.

When Xigua led Li Zhi into the study, Xie Lanxu was seated on the bed, idly toying with a jiulianhuan puzzle.

She had arrived late, and it was already dark. No stool had been prepared for her by the bed.

Li Zhi had intended not to disturb him, but Xie Lanxu spoke without lifting his head. “I thought you weren’t coming, so the stool was put away.”

“…I was delayed by something. My apologies for keeping Your Highness waiting.”

“Only half an hour,” Xie Lanxu said with a gentle smile. “Not long at all.”

“What must I do for Your Highness to forgive my tardiness?”

He tossed the jiulianhuan puzzle to her and said, “Unlock this within the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, and I’ll consider the wait forgotten.”

Holding the puzzle in her hands, Li Zhi couldn’t help but feel a pang of melancholy.

She wasn’t adept at solving jiulianhuan puzzles, but there was someone in the Li Family who had loved such toys—her late brother, Li Huizhi.

“What’s wrong?” Xie Lanxu noticed her change in expression and inquired.

“…It’s nothing,” Li Zhi replied, shaking her head as she examined the jiulianhuan.

“Find yourself a seat,” Xie Lanxu said casually, lifting his teacup.

Li Zhi didn’t stand on ceremony and sat at the opposite end of the couch.

Despite her efforts, the jiulianhuan seemed like a rebellious child in her hands, constantly thwarting her attempts to solve it.

She struggled with it for so long that Xie Lanxu’s hand went numb from holding his teacup.

“Give it to me,” he sighed.

Li Zhi knew she had far exceeded the time it took to drink a cup of tea. Xie Lanxu had already given her ample leeway, but she still failed to unlock the puzzle.

Taking the jiulianhuan from her, Xie Lanxu deftly solved it in the time it would take to drink half a cup of tea.

“Did you get it?” he asked, looking up at her.

“…Your Highness overestimates me,” Li Zhi replied, forcing a bitter smile.

Perhaps noticing her lack of enthusiasm, Xie Lanxu discarded the puzzle.

Li Zhi caught a fleeting trace of melancholy in his eyes.

“…In the past, I always dreamed of leaving. But once I did, I found that everything was much the same.”

“What does Your Highness mean by ‘leaving’?” Li Zhi asked. “Leaving the Eastern Palace?”

Xie Lanxu didn’t answer.

“Does my presence bring Your Highness any comfort?” Li Zhi asked directly.

Her bold question drew Xie Lanxu’s gaze from the bamboo outside back to her. She met his eyes head-on, showing no sign of shyness, though her hands clenched into fists within her sleeves.

Xie Lanxu appeared lost in thought.

Outside the window, bamboo leaves rustled in the breeze. The full moon hung in the sky, its light pure and serene, unblemished by clouds.

The moonlight cloaked Xie Lanxu in a pristine, ethereal glow. He looked like a fragment of the moon itself, tender and elusive. His benevolent visage could easily deceive the world.

But Li Zhi wouldn’t forget how cold moonlight truly was.

She posed another question. “Why did Your Highness buy my bracelet?”

“Your bracelet?” Xie Lanxu echoed softly, as though unaware of what she meant.

Li Zhi gazed at him silently.

“Why do you think I bought it?” Xie Lanxu asked.

“The person who bought it wore pink clothing and a veiled hat,” Li Zhi said. “If I’m not mistaken, the day I first saw Xigua, she was dressed in pink.”

“There are many people in pink at Mingyue Tower. Are you basing your assumption solely on that?”

“There may be many who wear pink there,” Li Zhi replied, “but only one person could have purchased the bracelet the day after I pawned it—Your Highness.”

“…”

“It was only that day, when I tested medicine before Your Highness, that you had the opportunity to notice my wrist was bare,” Li Zhi said.

Others might not have understood the bracelet’s importance to her, but someone as perceptive and suspicious as Xie Lanxu couldn’t have overlooked it.

When her sleeve slipped down during the test, exposing her empty wrist, he should have noticed. Though he didn’t ask about it at the time, he must have investigated afterward, discovered where the bracelet was, and quietly bought it back.

“Why?” she asked.

Xie Lanxu was silent for a moment before smiling at her. “I wanted to know what secret this bracelet, which you never part with, might hold.”

“Secret?” Li Zhi smiled as well. “And did Your Highness uncover the secret?”

Xie Lanxu didn’t respond.

“I’ll tell you what the secret is—”

Li Zhi leaned forward, supporting herself on the couch as she drew closer to Xie Lanxu.

He remained motionless, even as their faces neared, close enough to see the moonlight reflected in each other’s eyes.

In a whisper by his ear, she said, “This bracelet for me is the final blood-stained plea for help from a desperate soul.”

“Your birth mother, or your twin sister?” Xie Lanxu asked, reading her expression.

“Your sister,” he concluded. “You approached me to avenge her.”

“Does Your Highness know my sister?” Li Zhi countered.

“We’ve never met.”

“In that case, what purpose would approaching Your Highness serve in my quest for vengeance?”

“You want to use me to return to the capital,” Xie Lanxu began but immediately dismissed the thought. “No, you couldn’t have known me, nor would you gamble on me returning to the capital someday.”

“You’re overthinking,” Li Zhi said.

She gazed into his eyes.

Though she looked at him, she saw a face identical to her own.

“I admit that I schemed to get close to Your Highness, but my reasons are not as Your Highness suspects.”

The moonlight flowed between them with each breath.

Xie Lanxu stared into her eyes, his heartbeat faltering for a moment.

Her eyes reminded him of a mist-shrouded lake, just like the one visible from the Lakeside Pavilion. Each winter morning, the lake was blanketed in an endless fog.

Through the haze of sorrow, he could vaguely see the broken soul behind it.

“I am willing to give everything for Your Highness.”

“Even if it means eternal damnation.”

“All I ask is for Your Highness’s happiness.”

The lake that surrounded him.

The mist that imprisoned him.

Once again, they closed in.