After being reborn, the aloof prime minister was once again forced by a tyrant.

But the person sitting across from him now is not the same person as the little girl with the missing front tooth from back then.

Her hands were still those small hands, with bright red nail polish on her nails, no longer the muddy fingers of yesteryear; her eyes were still those almond-shaped eyes, but now a knife was hidden in their depths.

Xie Qinglan couldn't understand how Pei Yuning, who was only fifteen or sixteen years old, had become like this.

In his previous life, he was imprisoned in Lan Yue Pavilion. Xiao Jingyuan guarded him so closely that Pei Yuning's people couldn't get in, and he couldn't get out either. Therefore, she never had a chance to make a move against him, and he lived peacefully for three years. This life is different. Xiao Jingyuan removed the locks, giving her an opportunity. As she had said in her previous life, she acted much earlier.

That day, he did think about revenge. A weak woman who couldn't even kill a chicken could have her neck snapped with a simple twist in his hands.

He had even reached out his hand.

But in the end, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He only slapped her with all his might, watching her body fly out and crash into the wall, watching blood seep from her forehead, watching her lose consciousness. That slap exhausted all his strength, and it also exhausted the resentment from his two lifetimes.

Because she ultimately failed in this life, and even more so because—she was, after all, the child he had raised himself. From the age of five to fifteen, he taught her to read and write, to distinguish right from wrong, to play musical instruments, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and held her hand as they walked through every gate of the Nanyue Imperial Palace.

One slap, two lifetimes of enmity, all reduced to dust. From this day forward, let bridges be bridges and roads be roads.

"That was a long time ago," Xie Qinglan said indifferently.

Pei Yuning's smile faded slightly. She was silent for a moment, then suddenly changed her tone—no longer the deliberately feigned weakness and ingratiation, but a deeper, slower, and more serious voice.

"Brother Qinglan, I came here today not just to apologize."

Xie Qinglan looked at her without saying a word.

Pei Yuning took a letter from her sleeve, placed it on the stone table, and pushed it in front of Xie Qinglan. The sealing wax on the envelope had been removed, revealing two thin pages of paper inside. The paper was Chengxintang paper, the official paper of Nanyue, which Xie Qinglan recognized at a glance.

"This is a secret letter sent by my imperial brother on horseback; it just arrived today." Pei Yuning lowered her eyes and spoke softly. "My imperial brother asked about you. He said that the marriage alliance has returned home, but the prime minister has not yet returned. There are rumors in the court that the emperor of Beishuo has detained the prime minister of Nanyue, which is detrimental to the dignity of the country. In his letter, he asked me how you were doing in Beishuo and whether you had been harassed by anyone."

Xie Qinglan looked at the letter but did not reach out to take it.

He knew what Pei Nanchi's letter said without even reading it. It was nothing more than a pretense of concern, saying "hoping for the Prime Minister's early return to the country," while thinking, "How come you're still alive and well out there?"

"What did you reply to him?" Xie Qinglan asked.

Pei Yuning was slightly taken aback, then lowered her head, twisting her handkerchief in her hands, as if she was making a difficult decision.

"I haven't replied yet." She bit her lip. "Brother Qinglan, there's something... I've been wondering whether I should tell you."

Xie Qinglan looked at her quietly.

Pei Yuning raised her head, her eyes slightly red, and her voice was extremely low, as if afraid of being overheard: "My brother... he might be plotting against you."

Xie Qinglan's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Here she comes. Her most adept tactic—weaving lies with truth, and concealing a razor's edge with sincerity.

"You are the Prime Minister of Nanyue, and more than half of the ministers in the court are your people. You have been away from the country for too long, and my brother has made many changes in the court—Minister Zhou of the Ministry of Personnel has been transferred to Lingnan, General Han of the Ministry of War has been dismissed and investigated, and even Li Yun, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites whom you personally promoted, has been imprisoned on some pretext." Her voice grew softer and more urgent, "Brother Qinglan, you can't go back. At least not now. My brother... he is no longer the little emperor who listened to you in everything."

Xie Qinglan listened without any expression on her face.

No one told him these things in his previous life. He was imprisoned in the Lan Yue Pavilion, isolated from the world, unaware of what was happening in the court. Those people—Lord Zhou, General Han, Li Yun—were all his trusted advisors, the pillars he left for Nan Yue.

Some of them followed him through thick and thin during the Rebellion of the Three Kings, while others were talents he personally selected from humble backgrounds.

But now they've all been implicated by him. Because he's not in court, because they are his people, they've been transferred, dismissed, and imprisoned. No one speaks up for them, no one stands in their way.

"I understand." Xie Qinglan's voice remained indifferent, devoid of any emotion.

Pei Yuning was stunned. She thought he would be angry, shocked, question her about the details, and anxious to find a way back to Nanyue to take charge. But he did nothing. He just sat there, holding a cup of tea, as if listening to a trivial matter that had nothing to do with him.

"Brother Qinglan...aren't you worried?" she asked tentatively, her voice tinged with an unnatural urgency.

"Since Your Majesty has detained me, I will not return for the time being." Xie Qinglan put down his teacup, his gaze falling on Pei Yuning's face. "Does the princess have anything else to say?"

An order to leave.

Pei Yuning's nails dug into her palms. She stood up, trying to maintain a smile: "Then Ning'er won't bother Brother Qinglan any longer. I'll come to see you another day."

She walked to the courtyard gate and suddenly turned around.

"Brother Qinglan, you've lost so much weight." Her voice suddenly became very soft and gentle, like the little girl who used to follow him around calling him "brother." "Were you unhappy in Beishuo?"

These words were like a needle, subtly and accurately piercing the softest spot in Xie Qinglan's heart.

Are you happy?

In his past life, he was a captive, a bird kept in a gilded cage, a prisoner whom Xiao Jingyuan cherished but could not even spread his wings.

In this life, he was a neglected envoy from the Southern Yue, cast aside in the cold palace. The person planted a garden full of crabapple trees for him but refused to even glance at him. Even though the crabapple blossoms filled the garden and the honey-soaked plums were sweet to the core, he neither came, nor asked, nor listened, nor spoke.

He wouldn't even ask why he was crying, why he was sick, or why he cut his wrists.

Is he happy?

Xie Qinglan did not answer.

He clutched the jade pendant engraved with the character "Lan" tightly in his sleeve. The jade was warm and smooth, warmed by his body heat, and the strokes of the character "Lan" pressed against his fingertips.

Pei Yuning looked at his silent profile, a faint smile flashing across her eyes, which was quickly hidden by her lowering her head to wipe away her tears.

"Brother Qinglan, please take care." Her voice trembled slightly, as if she had just choked up. "In this harem of Beishuo, there are only the two of us from Nanyue. If we don't help each other, who else will?"

She turned and left.

Xie Qinglan sat alone under the crabapple tree, looking at the secret letter from Nanyue on the stone table.

He picked up the secret letter, unfolded it, and read it word by word. He was too familiar with Pei Nanchi's handwriting—it was the handwriting he had taught him by hand. When he started writing, he habitually flicked the pen slightly upward at the end of each stroke, just like his own handwriting, but it lacked some strength and had more frivolity.

The letter's contents were exactly as he had expected. Pei Nanchi's words were concerned, asking if he had been mistreated in Beishuo, his tone revealing his worry for his mentor. But Xie Qinglan could read what lay beneath that concern—he was afraid, afraid that he would return to Nanyue alive, afraid that he would find a backer in Beishuo and return to Nanyue, afraid that he, this pawn, would escape his control.

But Pei Yuning came specifically to inform him of the situation in Nanyue, trying to force him to return to the country as soon as possible. This brother and sister are really interesting.

He didn't care whether Xie Qinglan's people were still in those positions in the Nanyue court.

He owes those former subordinates who were transferred, dismissed, or imprisoned, and he will repay them at the appropriate time—but not on the chessboard of Pei Nanchi and Pei Yuning.

What he wanted was a different game of chess, a game that belonged only to him.

But in this life, he has no desire to return to Nanyue.

From the moment he was reborn and opened his eyes, he had no intention of returning to the court where he had devoted himself for ten years, or to the emperor before whom he had helped him ascend the throne.

In his past life, he devoted himself to Nanyue, paving the way for Pei Nanchi, only to die far from home, bleeding from all seven orifices. The child he had raised with his own hands ended his life with a cup of wine under the midnight moon.

He had no relatives or friends left in Nanyue.

In this life, he only wants to live for himself once.

He wanted to start over with that person—but that person was hiding somewhere, away from him.

Xie Qinglan stood up, walked to the crabapple tree, and gently touched the newly opened crabapple blossom on the branch. The petals were tender, glistening with dew, and trembled slightly on her fingertips.

He remembered that in his previous life, when he put that crabapple branch into the drawer, the petals were also covered with dew.

Xie Qinglan withdrew her hand, looked at the dew on her fingertips, and suddenly whispered—

"The flowers are in bloom. When will you come?"