A gentle breeze swept by. On the desolate burial grounds, flames flickered, casting dancing shadows as figures moved back and forth.

Both sides were on guard, and for a while, no one moved.

After a long silence, the person lying down slowly propped himself up and sat, glancing around. His gaze fell upon the other two straw mats, and he fell into silence.

Shi Buyu patted A’gu’s arm and stepped out from behind her.
“Do you know where you are?”

The man looked up at the voice but said nothing.

“So, you do know,” Shi Buyu nodded. “Then you must’ve planned to come here. I suppose your case of smallpox was just a ruse.”

Still, the man said nothing.

“A pack of wild dogs will be here soon. If you want our help, give us a reason to help you. If you think you can escape a pack of wild dogs on your own, then we’ll part ways here.”

Shi Buyu spoke with calm confidence.

Traces of wild dogs were everywhere here, and their barking could still be faintly heard. Even if this man had somewhere to go, without help and in his current state, it would be difficult for him to leave alive. Shi Buyu had never expected to find a living person in this graveyard; through him, many questions could be answered. If she could have him owe her a favor, future matters would be easier to pursue.

If he didn’t owe that favor now, then she’d find a way to make sure he did.

Seeing he remained silent, Shi Buyu had already begun plotting all kinds of strategies. In any case, one thing was certain—this debt must be incurred, willingly or not.

Just as she turned to leave, a hoarse voice called out behind her,
“It wasn’t smallpox.”

Shi Buyu turned back to look at the speaker. Now that he was sitting up, he appeared small and delicate—like a boy who hadn’t yet fully grown.

“Why are you here in the middle of the night?”

“Investigating a matter.”

He pointed at the two others nearby.
“Is it… related to us?”

Shi Buyu answered bluntly, “Yes.”

The man didn’t ask what they were investigating.
“Take me away from here. I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“Deal.”

Yan Shian waved his hand for someone to come forward. Though the man claimed it wasn’t smallpox, everyone remained cautious. They covered their own faces with scarves, then also covered his, carefully lifting him with his outer robe while avoiding direct contact.

Once they reached a place to rest, under the brighter firelight, Shi Buyu could see how pale he was, his face soaked with sweat.

“Let someone check your wounds. When dawn comes, we’ll get you some medicine. You’re not in a position to see a proper physician.”

There was no need to spell it out—the man understood. These people had realized he was a eunuch but clearly had no intention of sending him back.

He looked at the people who still hadn’t removed their veils.
“Who are you? Why were you there?”

“We’re not anyone you’d know. As for why we were there…” Shi Buyu touched her own face covering.
“We found out by chance that Zhu Ling was regularly dumping bodies at the mass grave. It seemed suspicious, so we started watching him.”

“The Zhu family,” the man muttered, then asked,
“Do you have a grudge against them?”

“Not with him, but with the person behind him.”

The person behind him…

The young-looking man suddenly thought of a possibility and looked at her in disbelief.

“The emperor,” Shi Buyu gently lifted the veil of secrecy and uttered the two words softly.

The man’s body trembled, visibly shaken. It was like a gift from heaven—exactly what he lacked, now being given. He wanted to believe it, yet dared not.

Shi Buyu had already seen the confirmation she wanted from his reaction. There was no need to push further, so she changed the topic.
“Do you have anywhere to go?”

The man hesitated, then shook his head.

Shi Buyu pretended not to notice his hesitation. Either way, she had no intention of letting him go. She turned and was about to call out “Yan Shian” but changed her tone at the last second:
“Cousin, find him a place suitable for recovery.”

“I’ll handle it,” Yan Shian replied, secretly pleased—it had been a long time since she’d called him cousin.

Having received help so easily—without giving anything in return—the man grew uneasy. He even began to suspect their identities. Was it all just a coincidence? And who would come to a place like that in the middle of the night? Especially at the exact time he woke up? But if their goal was him…

That made even less sense.

Although he hid his emotions well and seemed calm, Shi Buyu wasn’t fooled. She caught his doubts immediately and addressed them directly:
“You’re injured. And this matter isn’t so urgent that it needs to be unraveled right now. There’s time. You just escaped danger—you’re bound to have doubts about us. Why not use this time to observe us? Decide how much you can trust us, and how much truth you’re willing to share. I can wait.”

Shi Buyu stood up.
“It’s still a while until dawn. I’m going to get some sleep.”

No pressure, no deception, no attempts to exploit his current vulnerable state. She didn’t even ask for a real promise—just gave him space to collect his thoughts. This attitude relaxed the man. At least for now, he could afford to let down his guard a little.

Shi Buyu didn’t mind unfamiliar beds—she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. When she woke early the next morning, she reminisced about the events of the previous night with A’gu.
“Just as I got sleepy, someone delivered a pillow. Who says I’m a jinx? I’m clearly a lucky charm.”

“You are a lucky charm,” Wan Xia replied efficiently as she tidied her things. Young Master Yan had to head back to the academy and needed to return to the capital early.

As soon as they opened the door, there he was—already waiting in the courtyard.

Yan Shian greeted Wan Xia with a good morning and then turned to Shi Buyu.
“He’s running a fever. It’s not suitable to call a physician here. I’ve arranged for someone to take him to Fengrao County to stay for a few days.”

Fengrao County was the nearby town they’d once stayed in, the closest to the capital. Shi Buyu nodded, but asked,
“Is it okay to get a doctor for his condition?”

“No problem.” So long as he didn’t have to drop his pants for inspection, it was easy enough to hide. But that didn’t need to be explained to Miss Shi.

The place wasn’t safe, so even though Yan Shian had plenty to say, he waited until he returned from the academy at noon before finally speaking his mind.

“If the emperor trusts Zhu Ling so much, why is he just a mid-tier fifth-rank official? And he hasn’t been promoted for years.”

Shi Buyu had been pondering that all morning.
“Could it be this wasn’t something the emperor directly assigned to Zhu Ling?”

Yan Shian mused,
“You mean there’s someone in between?”

“According to Old Whitebeard’s description, the emperor is no fool. Over the years, although all sorts of disguised taxes and extortions have made people’s lives harder, and court sessions have become less frequent—once daily, then every three, then five, now seven days—but his hold on power and the military has never wavered. A man like that wouldn’t just hand someone a weapon to use against him.”

Yan Shian nodded.
A fool couldn’t have seized the throne and held it this long.

“No rush. We’ve already caught the tail—he won’t get away.” Shi Buyu tapped her fingers as if counting names.
“We still have to keep an eye on the mass grave. I need to continue working on those portraits—they’ll be of great use later.”

“I’ll assign someone. If we keep leaving the city around the same times, it might draw suspicion.”

That was true, so Shi Buyu didn’t press the issue.

“I still think something’s odd about this,” she muttered after pondering. “So many people tortured to death—there’s no way that didn’t cause a stir. Sure, the emperor can silence people, but you can’t kill off all the palace consorts and court officials. Even if only a few knew, word would get out. There must be dozens, even hundreds, of concubines, right? But not a single rumor has leaked.”

“My mother has connections in the palace, and even she’s never mentioned this. So clearly, she doesn’t know either.” Yan Shian frowned. His mother had cultivated influence for years—she even held the emperor’s trust to a degree. How could she know nothing?
“I’ll write to her. Ask her to look into it.”

“That little eunuch knows the most about what’s going on. Once he’s better, get him into the capital as soon as possible. To play dead and escape right under the emperor’s nose—that takes more than just brains.”