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Xiuyu was initially ecstatic, but soon fell into a panic at having lost her benefactor, muttering tremulously, "How could this happen?"

Beside her, the maid checked Yuezhi’s pulse and was seized by panic. "She isn't dead, she’s just fainted... What if she wakes up and goes to the authorities?"

Though Qi Miao was old, he was the only man in the Qi family capable of handling serious matters. As long as he was alive, his connections in the bureaucracy and throughout Yanjing meant that no matter how grave their crimes were, they would never fall upon their heads.

But he was dead. Others might not know that Yuezhi had a capable "younger brother," but Xiuyu did, and her panic intensified.

The maid asked, "Mistress, should we tell the Madam about this?"

Xiuyu shook her head violently. "Are you stupid? The Master ordered us to do this; he would have shouldered the blame while alive. Now that he's dead, the Madam will only cast us out as scapegoats to sweep the matter under the rug."

She paced the room frantically until her feet stepped into a pool of fresh blood. Choked by the metallic stench, she snapped back to reality in horror and kicked the unconscious Yuezhi’s head with disgust.

"It’s all this jinx’s fault! How could she still be alive after drinking so much sleeping potion?" Furious, she lashed out at Yuezhi, "Why couldn't you just accept your fate? If you had been compliant earlier, none of this mess would have happened!"

Xiuyu heaved a long sigh and ordered the men to carry the one dead and one unconscious person out.

*

Yuezhi felt her whole body heavy and her head aching dully. Habitually reaching out to grab the bedsheets, her hands instead clutched damp, soft hay.

She scrambled up from the floor, opening her eyes to see where she was, only to find that no matter how hard she tried, everything before her remained a blur.

In her field of vision, the surroundings were dim. Only a small window in the back allowed a faint trace of white light to filter through. She could distinguish the intensity of the light, but not a single detail.

Panic gripped her. She reached out, fumbling to find a way out, but bumped into rough wood.

Is this... the magistrate’s jail?

Yuezhi pounded on the cell door in a panic. "Why are you locking me up?"

After she knocked for a while, a jailer walked over and struck her hands—which were gripping the bars—with the hilt of his blade without a hint of pity. Yuezhi pulled back in pain and asked him, "What crime have I committed? Why are you imprisoning me?"

The jailer was impatient. "You beat Master Qi Miao to death. The Qi family's concubines and servants all saw it. With both human and material evidence present, the Prefect has already ordered your execution after autumn."

"I am innocent!" Yuezhi tried hard to recall what happened that day. "They tricked me into going to make clothes, but they drugged me and tried to force themselves on me. I had no choice but to hit him with a vase. He was just old and frail; I didn't mean to kill him."

"So you're saying a man of Master Qi’s status and reputation would set a trap to defile you, only to end up beaten to death by you?" The jailer sneered.

"I, I..." Yuezhi felt deeply aggrieved; her lips trembled as she spoke.

What was going on? Where did things go wrong?

The Qi family... was it the same Qi family that had once stayed at the Marquis's residence? She had never provoked Qi Miao, let alone known him. The only person from the Qi family she knew was Xiuyu.

"It was his concubine who framed me!" she shouted at the jailer. "I am truly innocent! Please, ask the Prefect to retry this case!"

"People in this prison shout that they are innocent every day. How special are you that you think you can get the Prefect to retry your case?"

The jailer gave her a look, hinting for a bribe, but Yuezhi’s vision was nothing but black blur; she couldn't even tell that the jailer had made a gesture.

"Hmph, ungrateful." The jailer turned and left. No matter how much Yuezhi screamed until her throat grew raw, no one paid her any heed.

The jail was perpetually sunless, damp, and sweltering. Insects and rats scurried through the hay, so terrifying that she didn't dare to sit, only leaning against the wall to stand.

She rubbed her eyes hard, closing them and opening them again, but no matter what she tried, she couldn't see anything.

Her heart was filled with fear: Pei Heng had gone to the capital and vanished without a word; Huaqing was home alone; she herself was inexplicably burdened with a murder charge and had become blind...

Leaning in the corner, Yuezhi wanted to cry several times, but the dull ache in her eyes made it impossible to shed tears; she could only suffer in silence.

She didn't know how much time had passed. Hungry and cold, she knelt against the wall, on the verge of fainting.

*

"Sister!" It was Huaqing’s voice.

"Yuezhi, are you alright?" Wang Qiushi accompanied Huaqing to see her. They had only managed to enter the cell after bribing the jailer.

The cell door unlocked, and Huaqing rushed to her side to check on her. "Sister, are you hurt? I went home that day and heard from the neighbors that you had been taken away. I found that house, but they said it had been empty for years and no one lived there."

She had thought Yuezhi was kidnapped by villains and called the Wang family to search. It wasn't until a day later that she learned the Qi family had rented the house briefly. When she found the Qi residence, they were in the midst of mourning for Qi Miao.

"I went to Xiuyu to demand an explanation, but I couldn't even get through the door... Sister, Xiuyu is a plague! The whole Qi family bribed the Prefect; they are all snakes of the same nest. Even if we had money, we have no path to take."

Huaqing had a quick temper and began to cry as she spoke.

Listening to her, Yuezhi realized she had been unconscious for more than two days; it was already afternoon.

She comforted Huaqing, "Don't rush to cry yet. It is not the end of the road."

Huaqing straightened up, seeing that Yuezhi’s eyes were devoid of light. She waved her hand in front of her, but those dark pupils did not track the movement.

"Sister, your eyes..."

Yuezhi lowered her gaze. "I was unconscious for a long time, and I was like this when I woke up... Listen to me. The Jing’an Marquis’s residence has dealings with Pei Heng, and the Marchioness is kind. Although I killed him, it is a fact that Qi Miao deceived me and intended to violate me. Tell the Marchioness what happened. If she helps, perhaps she can save my life."

"Alright, I will go to the Marquis's residence right now." Huaqing took the food box from Wang Qiushi and set out the meal. "Sister, eat something first."

"Cough, cough." Yuezhi coughed twice, her expression embarrassed. "I can't see clearly. If I eat ungracefully, please don't laugh at me."

"I'll feed you." Huaqing pouted and began to feed her, one chopstick at a time.

Her cousin had asked her to look after Yuezhi, but she had been too preoccupied with her own wedding, failing to stay by Yuezhi’s side and leaving her to be plotted against while alone.

Wang Qiushi couldn't help much, so he busied himself laying out the bed, clearing away the moldy hay and spreading out the thick straw mat and bedding he had brought from home. Fearing Yuezhi would catch a cold, he even brought her two sets of thick clothing.

After filling her stomach and drinking warm soup, Yuezhi felt much better.

The visitation time was up, and the jailer came to drive them out.

She held Huaqing’s hand, reluctant to let go. "With things as they are, I don't know if I can finish your wedding dress before the date."

"Forget about the wedding dress. I’ve told Brother Qiushi: if you don't come home, we won't get married." Huaqing pulled at her, unable to part. "Don't worry, I will definitely beg the Marchioness to help us."

The jailer tried to pull them apart, but Wang Qiushi blocked him. They spoke a little longer through the bars until it was nearly dark, and Huaqing was finally led away.

As the footsteps faded, the light filtering through the small window vanished, leaving Yuezhi in total darkness.

She fumbled to find the bed and lay down, exhausted.

Quiet—dead silence.

The nearby cells seemed empty. Aside from her own breathing, she heard nothing, as if she had been forgotten in a corner—everyone had left, leaving her all alone.

Ever since Pei Heng started sleeping in a separate room when he was ten, she had spent eight years sleeping alone. Though she hadn't fallen asleep in his arms since, she had never felt this lonely or helpless.

And now, that sense of hollow loneliness surged like a tide, threatening to drown her in the silent darkness.

*

Huaqing’s plea worked. The Marchioness petitioned the Prefect, and the original death sentence was commuted to one year of imprisonment and a fine of three hundred taels to the Qi family.

The day after the sentence was changed, the Marchioness came to the jail to see her in person, bringing the best physician in the city to examine her eyes.

"I thought someone in the capital wanted us dead, but I never expected to be dragged into the mud by that old fool Qi Miao." The Marchioness sighed repeatedly.

The Marquis of Jing’an and Qi Miao were old acquaintances. If the truth became public, it would tarnish Qi Miao's reputation and implicate the Marquis. Publicly, the Marchioness couldn't say anything, but privately, she couldn't help but feel indignant for Yuezhi.

"I have ordered the jailer to prepare your meals specifically. You don't have to stay the full year; once the Marquis returns victorious, there will be a reason to have you released."

"Thank you, Madam." Yuezhi was in low spirits; even hearing such good news, she couldn't bring herself to smile.

After feeling her pulse, the physician examined her eyes with a troubled expression. "The young lady may have sustained an injury to the brain. If she can keep a cheerful mood and be happy every day, supplemented by herbal medicine, perhaps one day she will see the light again."

But she was trapped in a jail, surrounded by darkness and dampness; it was no place to recover from an illness, let alone be happy.

The physician added, "The young lady can also refrain from taking the medicine for now and focus on resting. After a period of time, we can observe again; perhaps the blood stasis in the brain will disperse on its own."

Yuezhi’s heart was bitter enough, and she felt that brewing medicine every day was too much of a burden on others, so she chose to rest quietly for a few months.

The Marchioness said, "Every medicine has its side effects; it is fine not to take it."

She urged her to rest peacefully and wait for good news from the front lines before leaving with her attendants.

With no one left by her side, Yuezhi felt an involuntary tension.

She couldn't see; everything was chaotic. She couldn't tell if the light through the window was morning or afternoon. Sometimes, on damp, overcast days, her eyes would remain in dimness for days, as if she were living in an endless night.

At first, the visits from Huaqing and Wang Qiushi would lift her spirits, but gradually, she realized... she had become a burden.

She could no longer hold a needle and thread.

Because of her, their wedding date was pushed back again and again.

Yuezhi felt guilt and self-reproach, dreaming several times of the day of the murder, crying and begging herself not to strike, yet unable to hold back the hatred, wishing she could hack that disgusting man to pieces.

He and Xiuyu had destroyed her life.

Time passed; the weather changed from hot to dry and cold. The Marchioness hadn't come for a long time, and Huaqing, who usually visited these past few days, hadn't appeared either.

Yuezhi suspected something was wrong with her mind and that she had misremembered the date.

Day turned to night and back to day. Suddenly, she was jolted awake by a nightmare, drenched in cold sweat, unable to move.

She could discern light filtering through the small window; it was daytime. Yet, there was no sound in the jail. Instead, outside the small window, across the courtyard and beyond the magistrate’s walls, came the sound of thundering hooves.

Refugees fleeing for their lives screamed and wailed. Barbarian invaders had broken into the city, plundering, setting fires, and seizing people everywhere. The air was filled with the stench of scorched flesh.

Yuezhi struggled to stand on tiptoe by the small window, hearing the language of those foreigners, and curled herself up in tension.

Women captured by the barbarians would suffer a fate worse than death.

She covered her mouth to keep from making a sound, but the smell of smoke carried on the wind made her cough uncontrollably.

More and more hooves surrounded the magistrate’s office. The sounds of fighting grew closer. Perhaps in the next second, a stray arrow would pierce through, or a blade would swing down to end her life.

Yuezhi felt both fear and agony in her heart. She hugged herself tightly and wept silently. "Mother... Mother..."

The sound of hooves finally broke into the magistrate's office.

She heard heavy footsteps, the clatter of metal armor, and the whistling of swords being drawn. Those dangerous sounds pressed down on her like a collapsing mountain, so terrifying she couldn't breathe.

The chaotic noise filled her ears until the chains securing the cell door fell to the ground, and strange footsteps marched straight toward her.

"Don't come over!" Yuezhi screamed, shrinking into the corner, waving her weak hands to resist the barbarian man’s approach.

A large, broad hand gripped her struggling arm. Amidst her frantic, trembling breakdown, a youth’s voice spoke, hoarse and nearly choked with emotion.

"Yuezhi, it’s me."

"I have returned."