Chapter 4

Chapter 4

During the palace coup at the end of summer, Ah Ying nearly died beneath the Vermilion Bird Gate.

At the Young Emperor’s birthday banquet, someone took advantage of the Imperial Guard’s rotation to stage a coup. Rebel forces, carrying fire oil, stormed the palace gates. As Gu Yanzhi escorted the emperor out of the hall, a bolt from a hidden crossbow grazed his shoulder. Though not fatal, it slowed his pace. Worse still, Shen Zhiheng was in the inner palace accompanying the Empress Dowager at the time. If she fell into the hands of the rebels, the marriage alliance between the Shen Family and Gu Yanzhi would immediately become a blade aimed at the court.

Gu Yanzhi gave only one command: “Protect His Majesty. Protect Shen Zhiheng.”

Ah Ying went at his word.

She first ushered the Young Emperor, who was hiding behind a screen, into a secret passage, then doubled back to save Shen Zhiheng. By then, the side hall was already ablaze. Beams crackled as they fell, and several rebels blocked the entrance. Ah Ying fought her way in alone. She took a blade to the back and the fire scorched her wrist down to the flesh, but she managed to get Shen Zhiheng out.

Choked by the thick smoke, Shen Zhiheng’s eyes were red as she clutched Ah Ying’s sleeve, trembling. “You’re injured…”

It was the first time Ah Ying had ever been so close to her.

She saw the genuine concern in the eyes of the minister’s daughter, and she saw her face illuminated by the firelight. Suddenly, she understood why Gu Yanzhi loved such a person.

Clean and soft, like she could melt away all the blood and coldness he had gathered along his path.

Ah Ying said in a low voice, “Miss Shen, please leave first.”

As she turned to find Gu Yanzhi, Shen Zhiheng called out to her.

“What is your name?”

Ah Ying froze for a moment before finally answering, “Ah Ying.”

“Ah Ying,” Shen Zhiheng repeated earnestly. “You must come back alive.”

That was the first time in many years that someone had spoken her name with such gravity.

But when she returned to Gu Yanzhi’s side, he only spared her a glance. After confirming the emperor and Shen Zhiheng were safe, he said coolly, “Well done.”

Just that one sentence.

Yet Ah Ying felt as though she had received a grand reward.

She lowered her head and retreated into the shadows, a small smile slowly pressing into the corners of her lips. The smile was faint, so light that even she could barely catch it.

After autumn arrived, the decree for the bestowed marriage was issued.

The wedding date for Gu Yanzhi and Shen Zhiheng was set for the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The entire capital was decorated with lanterns and streamers; even the Regent Prince’s Mansion began to hang red silk. Everyone in the mansion was busy preparing for the wedding, except for Ah Ying, who was transferred away from the main courtyard to guard an abandoned Cold Palace Old Courtyard on the west side.

That place had originally been a courtyard where a favored consort of the previous dynasty was sent after losing favor. No one had set foot there for years. Gu Yanzhi assigned her there, saying only one thing: “Those injuries of yours are too conspicuous. Stay away from the front courtyard before the wedding so you don’t startle Shen Zhiheng.”

Ah Ying lowered her eyes and obeyed.

In truth, she understood. It wasn’t that Gu Yanzhi found her ugly, nor was he particularly worried about her startling anyone. He was simply instinctively isolating anything that might make Shen Zhiheng uneasy.

And she happened to be the thing that could least bear the light.

The Cold Palace Old Courtyard was very quiet. There was a withered plum tree in the yard, and whenever the wind blew, the ground was covered in dust. At night, Ah Ying often sat under the corridor wiping her blade, looking up to see the lights of the Prince’s Mansion’s main courtyard.

With the red silk hanging, even the moon seemed to reflect a warm glow.

She wrote many more words in her thin notebook.

“Today, the Prince had the Ministry of Rites change the wedding music, saying Miss Shen prefers something more elegant.”

“Today, the Prince went to try on his wedding robes. When he came out, the gold thread on his cuffs was so beautiful.”

“Today, the Prince asked the kitchen if the bird’s nest soup was sweet enough.”

Every page was pitifully short, as if all the tenderness she could claim from Gu Yanzhi in this lifetime could only be pieced together by watching from the sidelines.

When Bai Qingheng came to deliver her medicine, he checked her pulse. His expression was even worse than last time.

“The poison has reached your internal organs. The toxins from those old blade and arrow wounds were never fully cleared. Now they’ve layered upon each other. You can hold on for two months at most.”

Ah Ying nodded, appearing as if she had long expected this.

Bai Qingheng frowned. “Aren’t you afraid?”

Ah Ying looked at the distant lights and said softly, “I was never going to live to old age anyway.”

She was a shadow.

For a shadow to die when the moon is at its brightest is already a good enough end.