During the day, Gao Yuexing entered the Third Prince’s quarters. Not long after, she came out unharmed and intact.
The news quietly spread to the ears of various masters in the palace.
Some breathed a sigh of relief.
Some regretted not having any drama to watch.
Following the Third Highness’s instructions, Gao Yuexing waited patiently. She waited until nightfall and then until nearly the third watch of the night.
Suddenly, the door to the west wing was kicked open.
Cold wind rushed in.
Startled, Gao Yuexing’s heart skipped a beat. Luckily, she hadn’t fallen asleep yet.
Fu Yun hurriedly went out to investigate. Gao Yuexing heard her softly call, “Third Highness…” but before her words were finished, a short cry of surprise and muffled pleas for help echoed back.
Gao Yuexing rushed out.
At the door, she saw Li Fuqiu with two guards behaving like bandits. They had tied Fu Yun up with a rope, gagged her, and tossed her aside.
Gao Yuexing had underestimated his audacity.
“What are you doing? Let her go! Aren’t you under house arrest?”
Li Fuqiu grinned and said, “Did you really think I cared about house arrest? Come on, I’ll take you to someplace fun.”
He deliberately emphasized the words “someplace fun.”
Gao Yuexing didn’t even have time to put on a coat before being dragged out by him. They sneaked out through the side door.
There wasn’t much fear, but the cold was real.
She followed Li Fuqiu, running a few steps and turning down two alleyways. Strangely, they didn’t encounter any guards on night patrol, likely because Li Fuqiu had calculated the timing to avoid them.
As Gao Yuexing glanced at the high walls on either side, she suddenly realized—this path led straight to the Xiaonan Pavilion!
The Xiaonan Pavilion?
The chill was suddenly forgotten. Gao Yuexing quickened her pace to catch up.
Li Fuqiu glanced at her with amusement and lowered his voice against the wind. “Have you ever seen a ghost before?”
Looking ahead, Gao Yuexing couldn’t make out the Xiaonan Pavilion clearly in the dark, but she counted her steps and knew they were getting close. Hearing his question, she replied honestly, “I’ve never seen one.”
Li Fuqiu asked, “Are you afraid?”
“When I was little…” Gao Yuexing almost let something slip but quickly swallowed the rest of her sentence and corrected herself. “I used to be afraid.”
Li Fuqiu smirked. “Not anymore?”
“Not anymore.”
Li Fuqiu’s smile widened. “Good. Let’s see if you’re still brave in a moment.”
Gao Yuexing found his words utterly baffling.
See what? Could there really be ghosts in the palace?
After running down the path,
Li Fuqiu indeed stopped at the Xiaonan Pavilion.
Gao Yuexing clutched her pounding chest.
Li Fuqiu grabbed the back of her neck and said, “There’s an old legend in the palace: a baby has been imprisoned in the Xiaonan Pavilion, never seeing the light of day. Every midnight, it crawls out from underground on all fours. It will grab your neck, tear at your flesh with its teeth… just like this!”
Li Fuqiu deliberately lowered his voice, and as he spoke the final words, he suddenly lunged as if to bite her neck.
Prepared in advance, Gao Yuexing swiftly pressed a finger against the pressure point on his elbow.
Caught off guard, Li Fuqiu’s arm went limp, and he let go of her.
Gao Yuexing seized the opportunity and darted away like a cat, using the tall withered grass to conceal herself in the night.
She was petite, and the overgrown weeds were tall. Thankfully, she wasn’t wearing light-colored clothing that day, so she blended into the surroundings. Li Fuqiu lost track of her and didn’t dare shout for fear of attracting guards, stomping his feet angrily in frustration.
By the third quarter of midnight,
Gao Yuexing was inching along the wall towards a hole, moving stealthily.
Suddenly, an ethereal, distant singing began, sometimes near and sometimes far.
Li Fuqiu froze mid-search, turning toward the direction of the song.
The haunting, otherworldly melody sent a chill down Gao Yuexing’s spine.
She had reached the wall hole.
But something was off about it.
The hole had grown larger. The bricks around it had been removed, and the earth beneath was loose, as if it had been dug out.
Frowning, Gao Yuexing peered inside.
She heard faint rustling noises. After a moment, a head emerged from the ground, and someone crawled out.
Li Fuxiang!
Gao Yuexing kept an eye on the emerging Li Fuxiang while ensuring she remained hidden.
The woman’s singing was drawing closer, coming from her left. Gao Yuexing could vaguely make out a white figure slowly drifting towards her.
Meanwhile, Li Fuqiu was following the sound of the song, approaching from her right.
… She might be trapped like a dumpling wrapped in dough.
Without hesitation, Gao Yuexing reached out and shoved Li Fuxiang’s head back into the hole before he fully emerged. Then, she quickly slipped inside the hole herself, crossing the wall to enter his territory.
Inside, Gao Yuexing and Li Fuxiang found themselves face-to-face, staring at each other.
The woman’s singing was now at her ears.
Gao Yuexing glanced outside and saw a pair of delicate cloud-patterned embroidered shoes.
Not a ghost—she had feet.
Where the cloud-patterned embroidered shoes stepped, the withered grass bent low, and in the damp soil, a clear footprint was left behind.
Strange.
The palace was indeed lively at night.
But no matter how lively, Gao Yuexing had no intention of getting involved today.
Li Fuxiang had some dirt on his head, making him look even more disheveled. Gao Yuexing wasn’t much better off herself. In Li Fuxiang’s overly clear eyes, she could see the messy strands of withered grass tangled in her own hair.
In both her past and present lives, she had never experienced such a humiliating situation.
Gao Yuexing plucked the grass out of her hair and helped Li Fuxiang brush the dirt off his head and shoulders.
The singing and footsteps faded away, and silence returned to the area outside the wall.
Gao Yuexing gestured with her hands, saying, “I’ve come back.”
Li Fuxiang’s eyes sparkled. He was happy to see her. “Wife.”
Finally, she could truly connect with him.
Gao Yuexing hesitated for a moment but couldn’t resist her impulse. She suddenly leaned forward and threw her arms around his neck.
Li Fuxiang trembled, likely startled.
Ignoring his reaction, Gao Yuexing buried her head in his shoulder. His sharp bones were uncomfortable to lean on, but she felt an unfamiliar sense of peace.
Her peripheral vision caught sight of the hole in the ground. Gao Yuexing straightened up and smiled. “Did you dig this?”
As she was smiling, her expression froze.
“An old palace legend says a baby is imprisoned in the Xiaonan Pavilion, never seeing the light of day. Every midnight, it crawls out from underground on all fours…”
Gao Yuexing vividly recalled Li Fuqiu’s words, and her expression gradually hardened.
“He’s seen you!?”
She grabbed Li Fuxiang’s collar.
Unfortunately, Li Fuxiang couldn’t understand what she was saying and couldn’t give her any response.
Realizing that speaking further was pointless, Gao Yuexing crossed her arms and shivered. She was still dressed in light clothing, and it was nearing winter.
Feeling her icy hands, Li Fuxiang led her into the house.
Gao Yuexing obediently followed him, estimating his height as she walked behind him. He seemed to be about the same height as her. Her nose stung with the urge to cry—what kind of life had her prince been living?
Inside Li Fuxiang’s room, there was no lamp or brazier. It was colder than outside, like an ice cellar. And it wasn’t even winter yet—what would it be like in the harshest days of winter?
The bed was hard, but the quilt was thick. Li Fuxiang wrapped the quilt around Gao Yuexing, and as she lowered her head, she caught a simple scent of soap.
Though Li Fuxiang lived in poor conditions, he kept everything about himself meticulously clean.
Gao Yuexing curiously observed the room.
It was just a side chamber with no decorations. Against the wall were two small wooden beds neatly arranged. Gao Yuexing sat on one of them, and the other bed beside her was spotless, with no signs of anyone having slept there.
Could it be that the mute auntie was no longer with him?
Li Fuxiang now seemed to be living alone, by himself in the Xiaonan Pavilion.
Gao Yuexing held one corner of the quilt and draped the other corner over Li Fuxiang’s shoulders. The two naturally drew closer, and Gao Yuexing’s soft body leaned against Li Fuxiang once again.
Li Fuxiang sniffed her neck, then wrinkled his nose and leaned back. After a moment, he couldn’t resist leaning forward again to take another sniff.
He had never smelled the fragrance of a girl before and found it delightful.
The faint scent on Gao Yuexing was subtle, like a delicate thread—barely there but enough to stir Li Fuxiang’s curiosity, keeping him fixated on her. Gao Yuexing simply took off her scented sachet and handed it to him. Li Fuxiang cupped it in both hands, brought it to his nose, and then let out a silent sneeze.
Gao Yuexing laughed, holding her face.
At this age, Li Fuxiang was still small. When he grew taller, matured, and eventually married, he would still love to nuzzle close to his wife’s neck. It was both a gesture of possession and affection.
Moonlight spilled across Gao Yuexing’s profile, casting a soft white glow.
Hugging her knees, Gao Yuexing murmured, “I wish I could stay here with you.”
But she couldn’t. By dawn, if her absence was discovered, it would alarm the entire palace.
Since coming to the Third Prince’s side, she realized she had been pulled into a vast whirlpool. Yet at the center of that whirlpool stood Li Fuxiang. And so, rather than fear it, she willingly embraced it.
She had to recover all the memories she had lost.
Because within those three years of memories, it wasn’t just about her.
She had forgotten everything, but he had remained, forever.
Thinking about it, she felt like a deserter.
Gao Yuexing huddled under the quilt for a while but gradually felt colder and colder.
There was no helping it—the quilt was just an ordinary cotton one. Gao Yuexing ran her small hand along its rough texture and recalled that one of the Emperor’s rewards today included a very beautiful fox fur. It would make the perfect knee-length cape. She had already started planning to sneak it in for Li Fuxiang after leaving the palace.
As dawn approached, Gao Yuexing glanced uneasily out the window.
Sensing she was about to leave, Li Fuxiang tugged on her sleeve and gestured: “Will you come back?”
Gao Yuexing said she would.
She couldn’t promise when, as her movements were not entirely her own, but she firmly told him that she would return.
When she did, she would bring the finished fox fur cape to keep him warm in winter. Gao Yuexing thought of his future frail health, which was likely rooted in illnesses from his childhood.
The soil beneath the wall hole had been dug into a chaotic mess.
Gao Yuexing crouched by the wall, hesitating. She wasn’t sure if Li Fuqiu had left and worried about running into him.
As she hesitated, Li Fuxiang quickly slipped through the hole first. He nimbly climbed to the other side, looked around, and then gestured back to her, indicating that it was safe. Only then did Gao Yuexing crawl out.
Li Fuxiang helped her brush the dirt off her clothes.
The early morning was freezing. Gao Yuexing huddled her shoulders, her nose turning red from the cold, as she made her way back to Jingmen Palace.
The door to Li Fuqiu’s eastern chamber was tightly shut.
Gao Yuexing paused briefly in the courtyard before turning to push open the door to her own room.
—“Mmm! Mmm!”
Fu Yun was still lying on the ground, her hands tied behind her back and her mouth gagged.
The handiwork of Li Fuqiu and his men from the night before!
Gao Yuexing quickly untied the ropes binding her.
Having spent the entire night lying on the cold stone tiles, Fu Yun didn’t even complain about her sore arms. Instead, she rubbed Gao Yuexing’s icy little hands, her voice trembling: “Oh, my lady, where on earth were you all night until dawn? And without even putting on a coat…”
Gao Yuexing found it hard to explain. Exhausted from a sleepless night, she couldn’t muster the energy to come up with a flawless excuse. She blinked a few times, then thought of a brilliant solution—fainting.
She rubbed her forehead, closed her eyes, and collapsed to the ground.