Chapter 43

Proofreader:- Mim

“Splash—”

As Li Xiangsheng exerted his strength, the fishing net was yanked from the stream, and seven or eight small fish flopped about inside, flicking their tails.

“Have you learned it?” Li Xiangsheng stood barefoot in the rushing stream, squinting against the sunlight as he looked at Jia Sui and Li Cien on the shore.

“I’ve learned it! Let me try!” Li Cien clapped her hands excitedly and couldn’t wait to take off her cloth shoes and socks.

The open and unrestrained way of life in Mingyue Tower had made Li Cien, who was never close to the grace of a noblewoman, stray even farther from it.

Jia Sui, being older and with more deeply rooted values, was less affected by the casual local customs. For now, she stood in place, waiting for Li Xiangsheng to walk further away before removing her shoes and socks.

Li Xiangsheng handed the fishing net to the excited Li Cien, who waded into the water, and then went ashore. He picked up his bow and arrows and, barefoot, headed deeper into the grasslands.

“Brother, where are you going?” Li Cien shouted after him.

“I’m going to see if I can find a rabbit or deer.”

“Remember to come back early!”

Li Xiangsheng nodded at his sister’s reminder, his figure slowly disappearing into the vast grasslands.

After he left, Jia Sui finally took off her shoes and socks, rolled up her skirt, and stepped into the stream.

The icy water made her let out a little shriek, and the exhilaration of freedom breaking past societal rules caused her to exchange a joyful glance with Li Cien.

The two waited for the stream to carry more fish into the net while chatting casually.

“What’s the occasion today that the meal will be so lavish?” Jia Sui asked curiously.

Li Cien stood on one foot, leaning toward Jia Sui as she whispered something. Jia Sui’s face showed surprise.

“It’s today?”

Li Cien smiled and nodded.

“Banban is really thoughtful toward His Highness,” Jia Sui sighed. “I hope His Highness remembers her kindness…”

The smile on Li Cien’s face faded as her gaze drifted to the distant Xian Naiyue Mountain.

The sacred mountain was untouchable—holy and ethereal, it remained in the same place forever, its light impossible to resist.

“Whether he remembers or not doesn’t matter… I just hope that after Sister achieves her goal, she can go back to how she used to be.”

Jia Sui looked at Li Cien in surprise. In her perception, Li Cien was a naive and innocent little sister, and she shouldn’t be saying something so ambiguous.

Li Cien’s gaze fell back to Jia Sui’s face. Seeing her expression, she quickly returned to her usual cheerful, innocent demeanor.

“Sister Li Zhi hasn’t truly smiled in a long time. I just want her to be genuinely happy. Sister Jia Sui—did I say something wrong?”

Jia Sui smiled and shook her head, quickly dismissing the strange feeling she’d had earlier.

When the orange-red glow of sunset covered the Xian Naiyue Mountain, the group happily made their way home.

In just the short time between finishing work and returning home, the three had gathered an impressive haul.

Li Xiangsheng had shot three wild rabbits, while Li Cien and Jia Sui caught a bucket full of small fish. When they returned, they saw that Li Zhi had already washed and prepared a basket of fresh red berries, and they knew the evening feast was already in progress.

The three barely had time to drink a sip of water before hurrying to the small kitchen with the rabbits and fish.

In the grasslands, where even the smallest spark could set everything ablaze, the small kitchen stood independently outside the horse farm, forming a triangle with the two servant quarters.

Li Zhi had already completed most of the food preparation. With Jia Sui’s arrival, she gained an extra set of hands, and everything moved even more smoothly.

At dusk, Xie Lanxu returned to the small courtyard by bullock cart. He held little expectation for what kind of meal Li Zhi could prepare. After all, this was a desolate grassland far from civilization. Without access to inns or markets, even the most skilled cook couldn’t work miracles without ingredients.

However, when he was invited into Li Xiangsheng’s room, the sight of the table full of food refreshed his understanding.

The table overflowed with fish, meat, vegetables, and soup. The four-by-four-foot wooden table could hardly contain everything. Even the garlic green vegetables and stir-fried mushrooms were piled up like a small hill.

While there were no particularly rare or fancy dishes, it was undeniably a feast.

Xie Lanxu was surprised, as were his attendants, Xigua and Taozi. Neither of them had expected Li Zhi to create such a sumptuous meal in the remote grasslands by Mingyue Tower.

“Please sit, Your Highness. It’s just simple fare, so I hope you won’t mind,” Li Zhi said with a smile, inviting everyone to take their seats.

“Did you make all of this?” Xie Lanxu asked, eyeing the food suspiciously.

“Jia Sui, Cien, and Xiangsheng helped me a lot. I wouldn’t dare claim it’s all my work,” she said, introducing each dish with a smile. “I was the one cooking, but Xiangsheng handled the rabbit skinning and cleaning. Jia Sui and Cien were a huge help, too—without them running around for me, I’d only be lighting the stove till now.”

The square table was small, and no one bothered with any taboos about men and women sitting together. Xigua and Taozi seemed nervous about sharing a meal with Xie Lanxu but, at his insistence, reluctantly sat down on the bench.

Judging by their stiff posture, they seemed ready to spring to their feet at any moment.

Given Xie Lanxu’s special status, everyone automatically left him his own bench.

Li Zhi was about to squeeze in with Jia Sui when Xie Lanxu smiled and said, “The cook worked hard. Why don’t you sit next to me and tell me how each dish was made?”

Li Zhi didn’t overthink it and sat down beside him without hesitation.

If they were in the capital, proper etiquette when hosting an imperial grandson would involve endless formalities before inviting him to eat.

But this was Mingyue Tower—and here was the Xipeng Grasslands, an untamed place far more wild than even Mingyue Town.

Li Zhi skipped all preliminaries and simply invited Xie Lanxu to start eating first.

Xie Lanxu didn’t refuse. After scanning the table full of food, he picked up a piece of braised rabbit with his chopsticks.

“How is it?” Li Zhi asked.

All eyes were on Xie Lanxu’s face.

He chewed slowly, his expression unreadable. Finally, he looked up at Li Zhi and nodded. “Not bad.”

Xie Lanxu’s approval launched the feast in earnest. One by one, people reached for the food with their chopsticks.

Xigua, seeing that even Taozi was eating, carefully stretched her chopsticks toward a plate of stir-fried mushrooms. When the thin mushroom slices melted in her mouth, her round face lit up with surprise.

“I also prepared a surprise—” Jia Sui announced, pulling out a wine jug from behind her.

“What’s that?” Li Cien asked.

“I traded it for rabbit skins with Uncle Zhang from the neighboring courtyard—top-grade mulberry wine!” Jia Sui grinned and poured a cup for everyone.

The refreshing mulberry wine paired perfectly with the meal, balancing out the richness of the dishes. The group enjoyed the dinner even more.

When they had eaten their fill, Li Cien gently pushed Li Zhi away from the cleanup and, winking toward Xie Lanxu, dragged Jia Sui along to wash the dishes.

Li Zhi turned her head to see Xie Lanxu standing alone in the courtyard, looking quietly at her.

The moonlight had already descended, leaving him as the only figure standing in the courtyard. Li Zhi walked out of the room and stood before him.

“I’m full. Your Highness, would you like to take a walk with me?” Li Zhi asked with a smile.

Xie Lanxu seemed as though he had been waiting for some time. He replied softly, “Alright.”

The two of them walked toward the night outside the courtyard.

“Why would the daughter of a Second-Rank Chancellor work in the kitchen?”

“Your Highness forgets, I’m merely an unloved concubine-born daughter. A child born of a servant girl, yet accompanied by strange omens at birth.” Li Zhi smiled. “Though the official wife wouldn’t openly make things difficult, she wouldn’t allow us to live as well as the legitimate children in the Mansion either.”

Without realizing it, they had walked out of the courtyard gate and arrived at the vast, boundless grassland under the night sky.

The night wind sweeping across the meadow felt like the most expensive silk in the capital, flowing gently like water between them, invisibly connecting the two.

“Every special day, my twin sister and I would make a feast together using the small kitchen.”

“‘Special day?’” Xie Lanxu’s tone rose slightly.

“Special day,” Li Zhi replied.

On a small hill overlooking the grassland, the two sat shoulder to shoulder, facing the night wind that blew gently against their faces.

Though they sat so close, without actually touching, the wind still tangled their dark hair together as if inseparable.

“Your Highness, today is your birthday,” Li Zhi said. “Have you forgotten?”

Xie Lanxu’s face revealed a look of sudden realization, but moments later, doubt surfaced on his features.

“How do you know?”

“Perhaps Your Highness doesn’t know—my nanny in the Li Mansion, Chunlan Momo, was once the stewardess of the Crown Princess’s residence before she left the palace.”

At the mention of this name, memories related to it surfaced in Xie Lanxu’s mind.

“So, after my mother and I moved into Lakeside Pavilion, she left the palace and went to the Li Mansion,” Xie Lanxu said.

“Chunlan Momo and I were close. She often told me stories about life in the Eastern Palace,” Li Zhi said.

“What did she say?” Xie Lanxu’s expression was calm, giving nothing away.

“She said the Crown Princess was talented, gentle, and quiet. She never bullied the servants despite her noble status. The osmanthus cakes the Crown Princess made were so good that even the palace chefs admitted defeat.” Li Zhi smiled. “As for Your Highness, Chunlan Momo said that back then you were still very young. Because you were the only legitimate son, the Crown Prince guarded you carefully. She had only seen you a few times from afar and praised you for being elegant and extraordinary, unlike ordinary people.”

“There was a famous little prodigy in the capital who people said was as exquisitely carved as jade, resembling the small attendant of a Bodhisattva. I asked Chunlan Momo who was better, the prodigy or Your Highness.”

“Chunlan Momo said that if Your Highness was the clouds in the sky, that prodigy would be the dirt on the ground—there was simply no comparison.”

Li Zhi laughed. “From that time on, I became curious about Your Highness.”

“So you’ve admired me since then,” Xie Lanxu said, his tone flat as though stating a fact.

Li Zhi continued, “The Crown Princess’s death was a regretful event for me.”

“Why?”

“Chunlan Momo spoke so highly of the osmanthus cakes made by the Crown Princess. I once dreamed of tasting the cakes that even the palace chefs could not match.” Li Zhi sighed. “It’s a pity the Crown Princess passed away so early.”

In the corner of her vision, Xie Lanxu’s expression was as elusive and distant as the night.

“Even if she were alive, she probably wouldn’t have been able to make osmanthus cakes anymore,” he said.

This time, it was Li Zhi’s turn to ask why.

“She went mad,” Xie Lanxu said. “She was mad for many years, but unrelated people would not have known.”

Li Zhi suppressed an unexpected moment of panic, continuing to watch Xie Lanxu, waiting for him to go on.

Xie Lanxu lowered his eyes, staring motionlessly at one spot.

Following his gaze, Li Zhi saw a cricket resting on a blade of grass.

“One time, a gecko entered my mother’s room. It was no bigger than a pinky finger,” Xie Lanxu said slowly. “My mother ordered me to kill it.”

“You couldn’t bear to?” Li Zhi asked.

“Bear to?” Xie Lanxu coldly repeated the word, his thin lips curling slightly. “I’ve done things far crueler than that. I just felt there was no reason to kill it.”

“I wrapped it in a handkerchief and let it go outside,” Xie Lanxu said. “When my mother found out…”

Xie Lanxu’s voice trailed off as he stared at the cricket, lost in thought.

Li Zhi watched him, waiting for him to return from his memories.

Suddenly, he was back in Lakeside Pavilion, faced with the furious Princess Cui.

She pinned him to the ground, forcing a live gecko into his mouth, then clamped her hand tightly over his lips, preventing him from spitting it out.

“Even a lowly servant like you dares defy me? Go back and tell your master—I was born a princess of Cui, and I will die a princess of Cui. I will never bow to you traitorous usurpers!”

What crushed his resistance even more than her violent strength was the scar on the ring finger of her left hand, which gripped his shoulder.

His mother’s angry screams echoed in his ears, her furious face gradually replaced by Li Zhi’s concerned expression.

A foreign emotion stirred in his chest—an emotion that rose and fell like the tide at sunset, born from her gaze of concern and care.

“When my mother found out, she was furious and captured the gecko, forcing me to eat it.” Xie Lanxu said, “Such small matters were countless.”

After his words fell, there was a long silence.

Xie Lanxu opened his mouth, as if to say something, but before he could, the girl before him stretched out her arms and embraced him.

The moonlight was bright and untainted. The verdant meadow was like a vast ocean, with the swaying grass in the night breeze resembling waves.

Xie Lanxu sat still, allowing Li Zhi’s arms to wrap around him.

The clear, gentle full moon cast rippling light onto the stream.

A veil-like mist draped over the grassland, covering the clear stream, as fish swam beneath, softly nibbling at the moon’s reflection, whispering vows of eternal devotion.

“…It’s all right.”

Li Zhi gently patted his back, as though in this moment, he was her most cherished younger sibling.

As though he was not Xie Lanxu—not the fearless, untouchable imperial grandson—but someone far weaker, who needed shelter under her wings.

“It’s all in the past,” Li Zhi said softly. “From now on, I’ll stay by Your Highness’s side.”

Xie Lanxu seemed to forget to resist.

He gazed into the endless quiet night, silent and obedient.

The two sat a while longer before returning to the courtyard together, before the night wind grew colder.

After they parted, Li Zhi returned to her room.

She closed the door, along with the gentle and admiring expression on her face.

The screams and cries of Chunlan Momo before her death resurfaced in her mind.

Zheng Gong wasn’t the first person she killed. Chunlan Momo was.

Amidst the raging fire, with the sky lit red by flames, Chunlan Momo’s final words echoed in Li Zhi’s ears, “All the treasures of the Cui dynasty are hidden in a treasure map—it’s absolutely true! I overheard this while the Crown Princess was offering prayers to the spirits!”

After this, Chunlan Momo’s voice was cut off.

Not because she wanted to stop, but because she no longer had the chance.

Back when she aided the wicked, she should have known this day would come.

The only truth Li Zhi told Xie Lanxu was that she was willing to give everything for him.

Because he was the only one who could guide her to the Cui dynasty’s treasure.

To her, he was hope.

And treasure.