After the fireworks faded, firecrackers still crackled intermittently somewhere in the distant streets. Faint barking drifted through the night.

Xie Zheng lightly knocked his knuckles against the edge of the table where Fan Changyu lay sleeping.

“Wake up.”

Under the combined assault of alcohol and drowsiness, Fan Changyu only gave a vague murmur. She shifted her head atop her arms into a more comfortable position and promptly sank back into deep sleep.

Seeing there was no waking her, Xie Zheng hesitated briefly before standing and walking over to help her back to her room.

The movement stirred her just enough that she drowsily opened her eyes.

Her cheeks were still flushed red, making it impossible for Xie Zheng to tell whether she was truly awake or merely drunkenly conscious.

Supporting one of her arms to keep her from falling, he asked, “Can you walk back to your room yourself?”

Fan Changyu tilted her head while staring at him. Her hair had become fluffy and messy from sleeping against the table, making her look both dazed and oddly obedient. Her eyes were unfocused, as though she had not yet recognized who he was.

Xie Zheng froze briefly before looking away.

“You don’t even know your own alcohol tolerance and still dare drink recklessly.”

He tugged at one of her arms, intending to help her up, only to hear her mumbling something incoherent.

Unable to make it out, he leaned closer and tilted an ear toward her.

“What?”

Fan Changyu’s mind was completely muddled. Her head bobbed sleepily, and just as Xie Zheng leaned closer to listen, her head drooped again.

Her lips lightly brushed against his cheek.

Then her head dropped directly into the crook of his neck, and her already hazy, sleepy eyes fully closed.

She had absolutely no idea what she had just done.

Xie Zheng, however, went completely rigid.

Time itself seemed to stop in that instant.

The sound of wind, snowfall, and crackling firewood all vanished.

Her soft, fluffy head rested against the side of his neck. Her breathing was shallow and steady—she had clearly fallen fully asleep again.

He remained motionless for a long while.

Until a tiny voice weakly called out nearby:

“Sis?”

Turning his head, he saw Changning had apparently just woken up. One hand still clutched her red envelope while the other rubbed at sleepy eyes. She looked at him and Fan Changyu in confusion.

Xie Zheng lifted a finger to his lips in a quieting gesture.

His loose hair fell over his forehead, and beneath the lantern light his eyes appeared dark and calm.

“Your sister fell asleep. Don’t wake her.”

Changning obediently nodded.

Xie Zheng pointed toward the oil lamp nearby.

“Can you carry the lamp?”

The little girl nodded even harder.

Holding the lamp carefully with both hands, she walked ahead while Xie Zheng slipped one arm beneath Fan Changyu’s shoulders and the other beneath her knees, lifting her into his arms.

Fan Changyu had carried him back from the wilderness twice before.

Yet this was the first time he had ever held her.

She was lighter than he expected.

Of course she was.

In only two short months she had lost both parents, been abandoned by her childhood sweetheart, watched her uncle seize her family property, and more recently endured two assassination attempts that would terrify ordinary people for a lifetime.

Yet on the surface she behaved as though nothing had happened.

Every day she still left early and returned late to earn money and support the household. She never lost her appetite at meals. When comforting her younger sister, she still joked and laughed with the child.

Previously, Xie Zheng thought she was simply thick-skinned and broad-hearted.

But at this moment, he suddenly realized—

Perhaps she was not naturally carefree at all.

Perhaps she simply knew she could not allow herself to stay trapped in grief.

So she forced herself to work hard, eat properly, sleep properly, and avoid getting sick. She did not dare let herself collapse.

Because her little sister had no one else left to rely on.

She could not fall.

The walk from the main hall to the north room was not long, yet amidst the alternating darkness and lantern light, countless complicated emotions rose within Xie Zheng’s chest.

Once inside the north room, Changning’s height was insufficient to place the oil lamp on the table, so she first set it atop a small stool.

Xie Zheng laid the sleeping Fan Changyu onto the bed.

Changning immediately toddled over, grabbed Fan Changyu’s shoes with both hands, and tugged backward with all her might to help remove them.

The little girl strained with all her strength but lacked technique entirely.

“I’ll do it.”

Xie Zheng crouched down and removed both shoes for her.

Originally, he intended to simply cover Fan Changyu with the blanket after that, but Changning suddenly said:

“Sis’s padded jacket isn’t off yet.”

Xie Zheng’s fingers paused slightly.

Then he gently coaxed the child, “Your sister’s asleep. Taking off her jacket might wake her. Let her sleep like this.”

Only then did Changning give up.

As he tucked the blanket around Fan Changyu, the child also kicked off her own shoes and climbed onto the bed, solemnly helping tuck the blanket corners around her sister like a little adult.

Once Changning had lain down too, Xie Zheng moved the oil lamp onto the nearby wooden table.

Before leaving, he glanced once more toward the bed curtains.

Under the dim yellow light, Fan Changyu’s face still held the faint flush of drunkenness. Her sleeping expression looked quiet and gentle.

Suddenly, he remembered that night he had taught her the laws of Great Yin.

She had fallen asleep while memorizing legal statutes, slumped over the desk, softly choking out a tearful cry of “Mother” in her sleep.

That strange, unfamiliar emotion stirred within him once more.

“Brother-in-law?”

Changning blinked at him curiously after noticing he had been standing there staring for so long.

Xie Zheng came back to himself.

“Don’t tell your sister what happened in the other room earlier.”

The little girl looked confused.

“What happened?”

Xie Zheng fell silent briefly. Thinking she had probably been too sleepy to notice anything anyway, he said:

“Nothing.”

Just as he was about to extinguish the lamp, Changning asked:

“Brother-in-law, won’t you need the lamp going back?”

“No.”

The moment he finished speaking, the lamp went out, plunging the room into darkness.

Xie Zheng calmly walked out through the shadows, closing the door behind him as he left.

Before returning to his own room, he also took the gyrfalcon’s cage from beside the fire pit.

Once inside, he relit the lamp and ground fresh ink, finishing the letter he had been unable to complete earlier that day. He then rolled it into a bamboo tube and tied it to the falcon’s leg.

The bird’s wing and leg injuries had mostly healed. Since it had not flown for days and had been fed bowls of fresh meat and organs daily, the falcon had noticeably grown rounder.

When Xie Zheng raised an arm for it to perch on, he felt the extra weight and frowned faintly.

“After delivering the letter, keep flying until dark before you come back.”

The falcon’s tiny bean-like eyes instinctively darted toward the large bowl used for meat scraps in the main hall. Sensing the dangerous chill from the man behind it, it immediately flapped its wings and shot into the dark night sky.

After watching the falcon disappear into the distance, Xie Zheng still did not return inside.

Instead, he stood beneath the eaves with his hands behind his back, silently watching the heavy snow drift down like willow catkins.

When he instructed Zhao Xun to purchase grain, he had already anticipated the authorities would eventually notice.

During Zhao Xun’s previous visit, Xie Zheng had ordered him to secretly transport the grain to a designated location. The letter carried by the falcon tonight instructed his former subordinates to move those supplies.

The Wei family’s calculations had been excellent.

Without spending a single soldier, they intended to remove him and smoothly take control of the hundred thousand troops under his command in Huizhou.

But since he had not died, the good days of that father and son pair would soon come to an end.

Months ago, rumors regarding the Battle of Jinzhou sixteen years prior had suddenly spread through the capital. Originally, he had not believed them.

Yet once his dear uncle learned he was secretly investigating Jinzhou, he immediately set a trap on the battlefield to murder him.

That alone confirmed the rumors beyond doubt.

Before reclaiming military authority in Huizhou, he still needed to use the Wei family’s own hands to uproot every spy they had planted around him.

Thinking of how he had mistaken an enemy for family and acknowledged a thief as his father for sixteen years, Xie Zheng’s lips curved with bitter mockery.

If that woman had not chosen death alongside his father after hearing news of his death…

Would he have avoided being raised under Wei Yan’s hand?

Would he have avoided calling his enemy “father” for sixteen years?

He slowly closed his eyes.

The lantern hanging beneath the eaves cast shadows across the bridge of his nose.

For some reason, his thoughts drifted once more to the Fan sisters.

For a brief moment—

Xie Zheng found himself envying that little girl.

When tragedy befell him in childhood, he had been about the same age as Changning.

But when the Xie family collapsed, there had been no one left standing behind him to shelter him from wind and rain.

How fortunate that child was.

Though she had lost her parents, she still had an older sister willing to hold up the sky for her…

When Xie Zheng opened his eyes again, every trace of emotion within them had already settled back into silence.

He returned to his room.

After removing his outer robe and lying down, he immediately sensed something unusual beneath his pillow.

Sitting up, he lifted the pillow and found a red envelope hidden underneath.

For a rare moment, clear surprise appeared across his handsome face.

New Year money.

The word “year” shared a pronunciation with “evil spirits,” and folk belief held that gift money during the New Year could ward off misfortune and protect one’s peace.

Had that woman left this for him?

Xie Zheng opened the envelope.

Inside were several small silver ingots.

None weighed even a full tael, yet holding them in his hand now, they somehow felt incredibly heavy.

He could not remember how long it had been since he last received New Year money.

After his parents died, the only time he ever received any was from his grandmother while she was still alive.

Wei Yan had been cold and severe his entire life. He had never shown warmth even to his own sons, much less to a nephew like Xie Zheng.

Naturally, he would never have anyone prepare red envelopes during festivals.

Lying back on the bed, one arm pillowed behind his head, Xie Zheng held a small silver ingot before his eyes beneath the candlelight and quietly examined it.

A different emotion appeared within those beautiful eyes.

After her parents died, no one would give her New Year money anymore either, would they?

—

The next morning, when Fan Changyu awoke, her head throbbed painfully.

Because of the alcohol, she had slept late. Changning was already no longer in the room.

She slowly climbed up and realized her clothes were still perfectly in place.

Trying hard to recall what happened the night before, she found her drunken memories hopelessly blank.

Still, since she had made it back to her room, either she had walked back herself…

Or Yan Zheng had helped her back.

The moment she imagined the latter possibility, embarrassment instantly heated her face.

This was utterly humiliating.

She had actually gotten drunk off rice wine. If word got out, people would laugh themselves to death.

Rubbing her aching forehead, she finished a simple wash just in time to hear Changning crying loudly from the main hall.

Walking out, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Changning was squatting beside the birdcage, crying so hard her nose was running.

“Falcon’s gone…”

Seeing the empty cage, Fan Changyu also froze momentarily before saying, “Maybe the cage door wasn’t shut properly last night. Its wing healed, so it flew away.”

Changning cried even harder.

Left with no choice, Fan Changyu reused her previous explanation that the falcon must have gone back to find its falcon father and mother. Only then did Changning slowly stop crying.

Xie Zheng had apparently heard the crying from his room as well. After coming out and seeing Changning still teary-eyed beside the cage, he calmly said:

“It’ll fly back again.”

Changning immediately looked up with watery eyes.

“Really?”

Fan Changyu assumed he was simply comforting the child. Worried that Changning would become even sadder later if the lie was exposed, she quickly shot him a look.

At first Xie Zheng failed to understand the meaning behind it.

Only after Fan Changyu coaxed Changning away did she whisper to him:

“You really don’t need to lie to her like that. Changning’s probably just lonely. Once spring comes, I plan to raise a flock of chicks. Once she has new playmates, she’ll forget about the falcon.”

“I wasn’t lying to her.”

This time it was Fan Changyu’s turn to stare blankly.

Since he still could not reveal the matter of using the falcon to deliver letters, Xie Zheng lied smoothly without the slightest change in expression.

“When training hawks and falcons, eventually you release them to fly freely again. If they return on their own, that means they’re truly tamed.”

After hearing this, Fan Changyu still felt uncertain.

“You’re really that confident it’ll come back?”

Xie Zheng nodded calmly.

Though she still felt suspicious, she knew nothing about falconry and thus said nothing more.

Many strips of cured meat still hung above the fire pit from the previous weeks. Most were intended for sale, though a small portion had been kept for household use.

When her parents were alive, her father always brought meat to visit the Fan grandparents on this day each year.

Now that her parents were gone, although Fan Changyu had never been close with the old couple, appearances still had to be maintained.

So after breakfast, she planned to bring over a piece of cured meat and immediately return. After asking Xie Zheng to watch Changning for her, she left the house carrying the meat.

Since Fan Da had died not long ago, the New Year at the old Fan residence was bleak and joyless.

When Fan Changyu arrived, only the elderly couple remained home. Liu Shi had already taken her children back to her maiden family for the holiday.

Perhaps because both their sons had died within a single year, the old couple had been deeply shaken.

Old Madam Fan was bedridden outright.

Old Master Fan’s already graying hair had turned almost completely white. Even during the New Year, his clothes were wrinkled and dirty.

Whether because he lacked the energy to care anymore or because life had become difficult now that his daughter-in-law managed the household, he looked far more haggard than before.

When he saw Fan Changyu, he invited her inside to sit by the fire.

But Fan Changyu only wanted to drop off the meat and leave.

“Changning’s still waiting for me at home, so I won’t stay long.”

Old Master Fan looked at the cured meat she brought, likely remembering how her father used to bring meat over every New Year too. His eyes reddened.

“Come inside and sit for a while. There are some things about your father… that I think you should know.”

Fan Changyu froze.

What could there possibly be about her father that she did not know?

Seeing Old Master Fan slowly shuffle back into the house after saying this, she hesitated briefly before finally following him inside.