Late at night.

Laughter, music, and the songs of courtesans still drifted from deep within the Chen family residence. Chen Liqin’s direct subordinates, unable to wait for the banquet three days later, arrived in droves with their servants and gifts, virtually wearing out the threshold of the Chen manor. Yet, the bustling activity of the Chen residence had nothing to do with Mingquan Garden.

At this moment, Chen Ji lay on the four-poster bed in Mingquan Garden, staring blankly at the canopy above. Wuyun lay beside him, equally lost in thought.

The bed had three layers of bedding: a palm-leaf mat at the bottom for moisture protection, followed by a freshly fluffed cotton mattress, and finally a silk sheet. The bed was soft, infinitely more comfortable than the communal bunks in the apprentices’ dormitory. Here, there was no foot odor or snoring, yet Chen Ji couldn’t sleep. He felt as though there were still many things he needed to do before leaving Luocheng, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on them.

Wuyun, wide-eyed, suggested, “Chen Ji, if you really can’t sleep, why don’t you sneak back to the medical hall to sleep and then return at dawn?”

Chen Ji chuckled, “It’s not that I must live at the medical hall; I just can’t sleep in this new place.” Besides, all those people who snored, hogged the blankets, and kicked around weren’t at the medical hall anymore either.

Chen Ji then asked, “Wuyun, once we rescue the Princess, shall we go to sea together? We could take a boat all the way from Qiming to Lushun Port in Jing Dynasty.”

Wuyun rolled over and meowed curiously, “To find your uncle?”

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, “No, we won’t look for anyone. We’ll become hunters in the mountains and build a hut there. In winter, I’ll take you to catch hibernating bears and foolish dogs; in summer, I’ll take you to dig for clams and catch cicadas. In late autumn, we’ll pick all the pears and make frozen pears to eat. Then we’ll go further north to see the aurora and ride a snow vehicle.” He was lost in the beautiful hometown Wu Hongbiao had once described, and even Wuyun seemed to yearn for it.

Chen Ji thought to himself that as an official of the Xiantian realm, he could practically walk sideways in the mountains. Dealing with animals was far better than dealing with people.

Wuyun asked curiously, “If you hide in the mountains, the Mountain Lord’s path won’t have any ice currents. If you don’t reach the Dao-seeking realm before you’re thirty-six, you won’t live long.”

Chen Ji replied easily, “What’s the point of living so long? Master always said, ‘Long life brings more humiliation.'”

Wuyun was silent for a moment. “But I think Master is quite happy every day.”

Chen Ji looked puzzled. “Happy? We almost drove him crazy every day at the medical hall.”

Wuyun casually remarked, “He just says that. Master watches you play in the courtyard from the crack in the window of the main house, and he laughs quite happily.”

“Really…”

As they spoke, there was a knock at the door of Mingquan Garden. Chen Ji threw back the covers, got out of bed, and wrapped in his robe, walked into the courtyard. “Who is it?”

Chen Liqin’s gentle voice replied, “It’s me.”

Chen Ji unlatched the courtyard gate. As soon as he opened it, a strong smell of alcohol assailed him. Chen Liqin’s dark face was flushed with purplish-red, his intoxication evident.

Chen Ji asked, puzzled, “Elder Chen, why are you here so late at night?”

Chen Liqin had grown accustomed to hearing the title “Elder Chen” and didn’t even frown. “Why are you staying in your own home and still latching the courtyard gate? Don’t worry, our Chen family guards patrol at night; no scoundrels will get in.”

Chen Ji smiled without answering. Chen Liqin suddenly realized that Chen Ji wasn’t guarding against villains from outside the Chen residence, but from within. He was momentarily speechless, then quietly asked, “Aren’t you going to invite me in for a seat?”

Chen Ji stepped aside. “Please come in, Elder Chen.”

Chen Liqin entered the courtyard and looked around. “Are you satisfied with this place?”

Chen Ji smiled, “Of course, I’m satisfied.”

The two stood in the courtyard, suddenly speechless, looking at each other. The atmosphere was eerily quiet.

After a long while, Chen Liqin cleared his throat. “When we get to the capital, the residence will also set aside a separate courtyard for you. Don’t worry, it won’t be any worse than Wen Zong’s or Wen Xiao’s.”

Chen Ji cupped his hands in thanks. “Thank you, Elder Chen.”

After saying this, Chen Liqin didn’t know what else to say for a moment, and Chen Ji wasn’t in a hurry to speak, simply waiting quietly.

After another long pause, Chen Liqin sighed, “Today, in front of outsiders, I couldn’t directly expose our family’s shame. The Chen family’s reputation is not just my own; as members of the Chen family, you and I must maintain it well and not disgrace our family name. If outsiders knew of our family’s disgrace, no one would truly worry; they would only laugh at us.”

Chen Ji simply hummed in acknowledgment.

Chen Liqin stood with his hands behind his back, in front of a wintersweet tree. “I know you’ve endured much hardship and injustice over the years. Rest assured, you will no longer suffer such undeserved wrongs in the future.”

Chen Ji cupped his hands in thanks. “It’s good that Elder Chen knows I am innocent.”

At this moment, Chen Liqin turned around and drew a paper deed from his sleeve, handing it to Chen Ji.

Chen Ji asked, puzzled, “What is this?”

Chen Liqin explained, “When the Directorate of Ceremonials confiscated the properties of Prince Jing’s Mansion and the Liu family, some less important assets were sold off on the spot. The one in your hand is the land deed for Taiping Medical Hall. I know you lived there for two years and have an attachment to the place, so I had someone buy it back. I thought, even though we’re going to the capital, this could be a memento left in Luocheng…”

Chen Ji’s expression shifted, and he quickly unfolded the deed. At the top, five large characters were written: “Household Land Allocation Certificate.”

“Thirty-third District, Sixth Ward, by explicit decree of this prefecture, surveyed land, fields, and ponds, Anxi Street No. 12…”

Chen Ji carefully folded the deed and tucked it into his sleeve. Then, with his hands clasped, he bowed deeply. “Thank you, Elder Chen. You are very thoughtful.”

Chen Liqin looked at Chen Ji with a complex expression. When he had sent the tunnel-grown cucumbers worth a thousand coins, Chen Ji hadn’t been moved. When he had offered to arrange for Chen Ji to study at Donglin Academy and pave his way through the imperial examinations, Chen Ji also hadn’t been moved. Only now did he finally feel Chen Ji’s heartfelt gratitude.

Chen Liqin felt a little awkward for a moment. He helped Chen Ji up. “What is this for? As father and son, it’s only right for me to do this for you—”

Before Chen Liqin could finish, Chen Ji had already gone back inside, dressed, picked up Wuyun, and strode quickly out of the courtyard. “Elder Chen, I’m going out for a bit.”

“Where are you going—” Chen Liqin raised his hand, watching Chen Ji’s retreating back, then slowly lowered it.

Liu Family Lane.

From a dilapidated house came the coarse roar of a man: “I told you not to study medicine, don’t study medicine, but you insisted, saying you could earn money for me. I spent so much silver to arrange for your studies, and before you earned a single coin, the medical hall was gone. Now all the silver I spent has gone down the drain. How do you propose we settle this account?”

Inside the house, a dim oil-residue lamp flickered on the table. The blue bricks on the floor were chipped, and the vermilion Eight Immortals table was peeling paint. A man in his early thirties sat panting on a chair, his obese body trembling slightly, exhaling a heavy scent of alcohol.

Liu Quxing knelt with his head bowed at the doorway of the main hall, his mother kneeling beside him, on the verge of tears. “My lord, the medical hall’s closure couldn’t be helped; it has nothing to do with Xingxing.”

“Nothing to do with it?” the man sneered. “Do you think it has nothing to do with it just because you say so?”

Liu Quxing asked in a low voice, “Then what do you propose?”

The man squinted his eyes. “That person who spoke to you at the Secret Service office the other day, was he a high-ranking official? I’ve seen him before. He used to be an apprentice at your medical hall, right?”

Liu Quxing hummed in affirmation.

The man asked again, “I heard he’s from the Chen family?”

Liu Quxing hummed again.

The man said, “The fact that he was willing to help that day shows you still have a friendship from your time as classmates. Go find him tomorrow and ask him to arrange a position for you. When you work at the Directorate of Ceremonials, won’t you be able to control anyone among Luocheng’s dignitaries and nobles as you please?”

Liu Quxing stubbornly refused, “I won’t go. There’s no friendship between us.”

The man grabbed the wine bowl from the table and threw it. Liu Quxing turned his head to dodge, and with a *thud*, the bowl shattered on the ground in the small courtyard behind him. Liu Quxing’s mother quickly embraced her son. “My lord, if Xingxing doesn’t want to go, then let him not go. There are plenty of ways to earn money. Didn’t you get all the dividends from the Preparation Bureau before? That silver is enough for our family to live on for several years.”

The man sneered, “Talking about money just infuriates me. I was doing fine at the gambling den, but you had to come and bring me bad luck, making me lose all my silver. You’re a jinx, woman! Since I married you, nothing has gone right!”

The woman knelt dumbfounded. “It’s all gone? My lord, you lost all five hundred taels of silver? We had agreed that if Xingxing couldn’t become a court physician, this money would be left for him to open a medical hall. How could you lose it all?”

The man stood up and kicked the woman in the face, knocking her to the ground. “Who are you to question me?!”

Liu Quxing, who had been enduring silently, suddenly raised his head, his back straightening. “Don’t hit my mother!”

The man paused, then slapped Liu Quxing across the face. “You’re rebelling against Heaven! Sending you to study medicine has made your wings hard, has it?”

Liu Quxing’s face was turned away by the slap, but he turned it back. “Don’t hit my mother!”

The man sneered, “I don’t know how that old fossil at the medical hall taught you, to teach you to defy your father!”

Liu Quxing stood up, grimacing. “Don’t insult my master!”

The man slapped Liu Quxing across the face again. “Did that old fossil teach you how to be a person like this?”

Liu Quxing turned back and said, word by word, “I said, don’t hit my mother again, and don’t insult my master again.”

The man laughed in furious defiance. “What’s wrong with me insulting him?”

Liu Quxing hesitated for a moment, then turned and went out, returning from the kitchen with a cleaver. He held up the cleaver, his whole body trembling as he said, “Try hitting my mother one more time? Try insulting my master one more time!”

The man tore open the front of his robe, exposing his bulging belly. “Are you really going to chop me to death? Come on, chop your old man—”

Before he finished speaking, the man dodged to the side. With a *thud*, the cleaver embedded itself in the Eight Immortals table behind him. The man was still shaken. If he hadn’t dodged, that blow would likely have disemboweled him. He turned to look at Liu Quxing, seeing a ferocity in his expression he had never witnessed before.

Liu Quxing pulled the cleaver from the tabletop and said chillingly, “Divorce my mother. Write the divorce papers now. If you don’t, none of us will live!”

The man stepped back. “All these years, you and your mother have eaten and drunk from me—”

Liu Quxing took a step forward, holding the cleaver. “Five hundred taels of silver isn’t enough to repay you? My mother and I owe you nothing! Are you writing it or not? If not, I’ll chop you to death right now!”

The man’s body trembled. “Alright, I’ll write it! Let’s see where you two go to starve after leaving me. This house is mine, so get out of my home tonight!”

Liu Quxing sneered, watching the man write the divorce papers. “Press your handprint!”

The man grumbled, “There’s no inkpad at home.”

Liu Quxing cut an incision into his own palm, then opened his hand and extended it towards the man. “Use my blood to press it!”

The man’s body shuddered. “You must be possessed by some evil spirit! I don’t think you’ll live long. Tomorrow, the City God will take you away.”

Seeing the man press his handprint, Liu Quxing tore a piece of his robe to wrap around the wound on his hand. He took the divorce papers, pulled his mother, and headed out. As soon as he pushed open the door, Liu Quxing stood blankly at the entrance—where were they to go?

Just then, his mother whispered, “Xingxing, what’s this on the ground?”

Liu Quxing looked down and saw, on the bluestone path of the small alley in front of the door, a piece of white paper weighed down by two silver ingots. He bent down to pick up the silver and then the white paper from the ground. He examined it. “This is—this is the land deed for Taiping Medical Hall!”

The woman gasped, then looked back at the man behind them and whispered, “How could the medical hall’s deed be here?”

Liu Quxing didn’t answer. He anxiously scanned both ends of the alley, seeing a thin figure who had just reached the end of the alley, turning into the darkness without looking back. He ran as fast as he could to chase, but once he was out of the alley, that figure was nowhere to be seen in the darkness. Liu Quxing suddenly squatted on the ground and began to wail, “Don’t go! All of you, come back!”