Palace maid Shuoning

(Up)

The fire at Changmen Palace spread rapidly, with thick smoke billowing into the sky over a corner of the palace, alarming all other palaces.

Fengchun, who was guarding the entrance to the sleeping quarters, looked up at the night sky illuminated red by the firelight and frowned, saying:

"Which palace gate is on fire?"

Consort Rong emerged, draped in a scarlet nightgown. She glanced at Feng Chun, her voice still tinged with drowsiness, and asked, "What's all the noise outside?"

Just then, Jiang Shuoning also rushed over from the backyard, glanced in the direction the smoke was coming from, and quickly walked to Consort Rong's side:

"This servant thinks they're from the Imperial Hospital."

Feng Chun squinted and examined it: "No, it looks like Changmen Palace."

Consort Rong's brows twitched slightly, as if she had thought of something, and she turned and walked towards her bedchamber:

"Go and see what's going on."

Jiang Shuoning had already stepped out first: "This servant will go and see."

Before he finished speaking, he had already strode towards the palace gate.

Consort Rong paused, turned back to look at her hurried figure, and whispered to Feng Chun, "Follow her and see."

Feng Chun understood, bowed and replied "Yes," and quickly followed.

The Changmen Palace was in complete chaos. Guards, eunuchs, palace maids, and even people from the Imperial Household Department had rushed over. The fire was still spreading, and everyone was frantically trying to put out the water.

A young eunuch suddenly pointed at Zhou Zhengyin's room, his voice cracking with anxiety:

"Quick! Quick! The mute slave just rushed in! Save him! Quick!"

Jiang Shuoning ran all the way to the palace gate, just in time to hear those words. She stopped abruptly and looked up.

Flames shot into the sky, and thick smoke billowed. Everyone carried buckets of water but only poured water around the perimeter; no one rushed inside.

They saw that half of the eaves of Zhou Zhengyin's room had been burned down.

The sounds of that night suddenly exploded in his mind. He grabbed her shoulders, crying, and said with tears streaming down his face:

"Auntie, please don't abandon me. You're all I have left in this world."

Jiang Shuoning barely hesitated before rushing into the crowd. Someone called her name, but she didn't hear. Smoke choked her, but she didn't stop.

Even as the flames licked at her, she didn't back down. Only one thought occupied her mind: he was still inside.

She had promised him that she couldn't abandon him.

Jiang Shuoning immediately snatched the bucket of water from a eunuch and poured it over his head, soaking him completely in an instant.

She shook the water off her face, grabbed a wet cotton-padded jacket that someone had thrown down next to her, wrapped it around herself, and rushed into it.

Someone called her from behind, but she didn't turn around.

Just as she rushed into the house, Zhou Zhengyin, wrapped in a quilt, ran out quickly. The two bumped into each other and froze at the same time.

Zhou Zhengyin called out subconsciously.

"aunt……"

Jiang Shuoning looked at him standing safely in front of her, with a bulging bundle slung over his shoulder, and her heart, which had been hanging in suspense all the way, finally settled down.

Without saying a word, she grabbed his wrist and quickly pulled him aside to a quiet place.

All eyes turned to the two of them.

Bao Zhong, despite his illness, rushed over and saw Jiang Shuoning and Zhou Zhengyin from afar.

He paused, feeling as if something had crushed his chest.

He recognized that look in her eyes; it was a look he had never seen her give to anyone before. He looked away, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly as he swallowed back the words that welled up inside him.

"What are you all standing there for? Put out the fire!"

He spoke, his voice hoarse as if sandpaper had been scraped, yet as steady as ever.

Everyone then came to their senses and rushed to the fire with buckets of water.

(under)

Zhou Zhengyin glanced at Jiang Shuoning, who was soaking wet, and hurriedly took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders, his throat tightening:

"Auntie, she went in to save me just now, right?"

Jiang Shuoning lowered his eyes and did not respond. He simply tightened the clothes he was wearing and looked up at Bao Zhong in the crowd.

He had his back to this side, and was directing the firefighting efforts in a hoarse voice, his shoulders and back taut and straight, like a bow that had been drawn for too long.

Zhou Zhengyin followed her gaze and saw only Bao Zhong's stiff back. Just as he was about to look away, he caught a gray figure at the palace gate out of the corner of his eye.

A woman dressed in gray was wiping the corner of her eye with an embroidered handkerchief and was being helped away by a palace maid.

If a fire breaks out in Changmen Palace, will any of the concubines make a special trip to see it? And then cry?

His heart sank, and he immediately ripped the bundle off his shoulder and stuffed it into Jiang Shuoning's arms: "Auntie, please hold this for me."

After saying that, he chased after her towards the palace gate.

Jiang Shuoning, clutching the bundle in his arms, watched his figure rush into the night and, almost without hesitation, immediately followed after him.

But before she could run a few steps, a tall figure blocked her way.

Baozhong.

He emerged from the crowd at some unknown time, his robes stained with ashes, his face deathly pale, yet his voice was as cold as ice:

"Go to Panting Lake and wait for me!"

After saying that, Bao Zhong turned and walked towards Song Zhang's house, which was mostly burned down.

Jiang Shuoning hesitated for a moment, but ultimately, clutching the bundle in his arms, he quietly withdrew from the crowd.

She walked quickly to the outside of Changmen Palace, looked around, but did not see Zhou Zhengyin.

Just as they were about to search again, they saw Zhou Zhengyin walking back from the other side of the palace wall, looking dejected.

"Where have you been?" she asked, suppressing her anger.

Zhou Zhengyin shook his head without answering, looking somewhat dazed.

Jiang Shuoning didn't ask any further questions. He simply stuffed the bundle in his hand into his arms and turned to leave.

Zhou Zhengyin was taken aback, then, clutching the bundle, chased after her, calling out, "Auntie..."

At this moment, Feng Chun, who was hiding in the shadows, squinted at this scene and repeated softly, "Aunt?"

Immediately, his eyes lit up, and he turned and ran quickly toward Yihua Palace.

Panting Lake, inside the artificial hill.

"Snap—"

A resounding slap landed on Zhou Zhengyin's left cheek.

Jiang Shuoning finally unleashed the anger he had been suppressing all along:

"What exactly is in that bundle that made you insist on running in to get it? Is it more important than your life?"

Zhou Zhengyin's eyes suddenly reddened. He looked at Jiang Shuoning, who was burning with anger, bent his knees, and knelt down in front of her:

"Auntie, please don't be angry. There are indeed things inside that I care about, things more important than my life."

He lowered his head, slowly laid the bundle on the ground, and gently opened it.

Inside were three neatly folded pieces of clothing, along with books and a stack of Xuan paper covered with his calligraphy.

Jiang Shuoning's pupils contracted slightly. Before she could speak, Zhou Zhengyin pulled something out from the bottom of the bundle, tilted his head back, and handed it to her—a tinderbox.

"This tumbler was given to me by my aunt on the night of the winter solstice."

His voice was a little hoarse, and his eyes were red, but he spoke each word with utmost seriousness:

"I can't throw away the three pieces of clothing my aunt gave me and the book Baozhong gave me."

He glanced down at the tinderbox in his palm, his voice even softer:

"Especially this one, it was the first thing my aunt gave me. I've kept it all this time. For me, it's the beginning of how I met my aunt."

"Other things can be burned, but this tinderbox cannot."

Jiang Shuoning looked down at the tinderbox in his hand. The anger he had felt earlier suddenly dissipated, leaving only a thin layer of bitterness stuck in his throat, making him unable to speak.

She remained silent for a long time, then turned her face away and said in a soft voice:

"Don't do that again. Things can be replaced if they're gone. But if a person is gone, they're truly gone."

Zhou Zhengyin gripped the tinderbox and nodded vigorously.

At this moment, Bao Zhong walked into the depths of the artificial hill with his hands behind his back. His gaze swept over Zhou Zhengyin, who was kneeling on the ground, and then fell on the open bundle.

He glanced at the books, his expression calm to the point of indifference: "In the end, all that reading was for nothing."

Zhou Zhengyin froze, about to speak, when Bao Zhong waved his hand and said, "You can go out now."

Zhou Zhengyin glanced at Bao Zhong, then at Jiang Shuoning who was silent with his eyes down. After a moment's hesitation, he picked up his bundle and walked out.

The footsteps faded into the distance, leaving only two people in the artificial hill.

Bao Zhong then turned to the side, his gaze falling on Jiang Shuoning, a very faint curve at the corner of his mouth, more like a blunt knife than a smile:

"Jiang Shuoning, you've raised him for so long, taught him to read, given him books to read, and pulled him out of the mud. Are you going to teach him how to live upright, or how to die for you?"

Jiang Shuoning looked up at him but didn't say anything.

Bao Zhong's gaze swept over her soaked clothes and fire-blackened cuffs, as if confirming something, before he looked away:

He cherished your tinderbox as his lifeblood, and you rushed into the fire to find him, risking your life. In the end, neither of you owed the other anything.

But if he learns the phrase "to risk his life for someone" later on, not from a book, but from you.

You'd better think carefully about whether what you're teaching him is a path to survival or another dead end.

After Bao Zhong finished speaking, he turned and left the artificial hill without waiting for her response. His pace was neither fast nor slow, just as it had been when he arrived.

Jiang Shuoning stood there, his hand gripping his sleeve tightening and loosening, but in the end, he said nothing.