Chapter 39: A Sense of Peace

Yet, this display of what could be called cold-hearted indifference was, ironically, more reassuring. Xiao Ze withdrew his probing gaze and continued to write his letter with an air of nonchalance, casting aside the brief suspicion he had harbored toward Gu Zhaozhao.

The test had come to an end. He waved a hand and said, "You may return. I have urgent matters to attend to upon my return to the capital, and I must keep a close eye on the third prince myself. As for the Willow Leaf imprint in the Northern Territory, I leave that to your diligent care."

Gu Zhaozhao ceased her attempts to persuade him. "Understood."

"Wait." Xiao Ze suddenly called out to her.

She paused, sensing the uncertainty in his tone. Her heart skipped a beat as she quietly listened to his question: "You are a woman yourself—tell me, when would a woman desperately want to part ways with her husband?"

He gritted his teeth, subtly beautifying Dou Hongyan’s attitude. Her desire was far beyond mere separation; given how she avoided him at every turn, it was as if she were frantic to cast him off.

Gu Zhaozhao arched an eyebrow, her tone remaining steady as she pondered, "Perhaps her heart belongs to someone else."

The temperature in the study plummeted, turning icy in an instant. Gu Zhaozhao waited a moment, and seeing he had no further instructions, she withdrew without a word. Her pace remained calm as she returned to her own courtyard, where she proceeded to process official business with a blank expression and burned the letters sent back from the Northern Territory. As always, she was meticulous and devoid of personal sentiment—the very reason she had remained an assistant Xiao Ze had been deeply satisfied with for years.

"Her heart belongs to someone else..."

A blot of ink fell onto the stationery, ruining the letter Xiao Ze had just begun. He crumpled the paper violently and threw it to the floor with a callous gesture.

His heart remained in turmoil long after. Everything before him was an eyesore, but the most offensive sight of all was that man who had returned from the dead, whose very existence was a disruption: Shen Yishu!

Why hadn't he simply died?

He had been careless to let him hide away all these years. He should have rooted him out from the very beginning and made sure Shen Yishu was truly, irrevocably dead—wiped from the face of the earth!

"Shen Yuhang."

Xiao Ze let out a scornful sneer, stifling the murderous intent rising within him. After several probes, he had finally gauged the weight Shen Yuhang held in Dou Hongyan’s heart. He could not move against Shen Yishu just yet. The existence of Shen Yuhang was destined to keep his hands tied, preventing him from even disposing of a mere waste of space.

He let out a derisive laugh, his voice drifting into the steady night breeze of the Crown Prince’s estate, seeming to carry all the way to Gu Zhaozhao’s study. She felt it, and as she looked up, her dark, unfathomable gaze settled toward the Marquis’s estate.

...

It was not until the first light of dawn that a maid’s shriek pierced the air of Dou Hongyan’s courtyard.

"Oh! Master—"

"Why are you lying out here!"

Liuyun, carrying a basin of water, covered her mouth and gasped in shock to find Shen Yishu sprawled out on the ground, his face frozen a deathly pale blue.

The washbasin clattered to the ground. Shen Yishu was startled awake.

He felt a dull ache at the back of his neck, but before he could even raise a hand to touch it in confusion, Liuyun nimbly helped him up, her words tumbling out in a rush: "Master, you are too careless! You came to see the Madam, yet you somehow fell and slept outside all night? And your attendants weren't even following you!"

Shen Yishu’s consciousness grew increasingly muddled. The swaying made his stomach churn, and he nearly blacked out again.

"Oh! He’s running a fever, too!"

The Marquis’s estate was thrown into chaos early in the morning.

Although she now had a younger son, the Old Madam still held a place in her heart for the eldest she had not seen for over a decade. Seeing Shen Yishu unconscious, she grew anxious. With a surge of desperation, she gathered her courage and sought out Dou Hongyan: "Yishu is terribly ill. Could you, could you please allow us to use your token for the Chief Imperial Physician? We, our Marquis’s estate..."

A token interrupted the Old Madam’s stammering.

Dou Hongyan handed it over with indifference. "Take it."

She surrendered the Imperial Physician’s token without a second thought, ignoring the Old Madam’s endless expressions of gratitude. Instead, she rested her chin on her hand, pondering how Xiao Ze would react once he discovered this.