After provoking the holy maiden of Miao territory, she was infected with a love curse.

Sang Che didn't stay in this small room for many days; most of the time, she shamelessly insisted on sleeping on Yin Huaixi's bed.

The room was decorated very elegantly.

Yin Huaixi gave Sang Che such good treatment, granting her the status of a servant, out of consideration for her illness.

Such actions caused countless maids to tear their handkerchiefs to shreds.

But now, we are making steady progress.

The elegant orchids are still there, their slender leaves still fluttering, but the charming person who used to sit by the window idly flipping through a book is long gone.

"Miss, perhaps Chen Wan has simply returned to her hometown to visit relatives."

"She also has an elderly mother and a younger sister who works in another household. Their family is poor, so it would be good for her to come home and visit often."

Seeing the expression on her young mistress's face, Qingmei felt a pang of pain in her heart.

She quickly comforted him.

With her eyes closed, Yin Huaixi could still hear the unspoken meaning in Qingmei's words, but she knew better than anyone that Sang Che's identity as "Chen Wan" was fake.

Yin Huaixi: "Qingmei, bring her letters."

Qingmei dared not disobey her mistress's orders.

She immediately took out a letter from her sleeve and handed it to Yin Huaixi, saying in a low voice, "Miss, Chen Wan wrote this for you, but we haven't dared to open it."

"I don't even know what's written in here."

Looking down at the words on the letter, Yin Huaixi was certain that it was written by Sang Che in the last few days.

Unlike the tender and lingering love stories described in that medical book, this letter reads more like a farewell letter.

"Huaixi, I know you're going to be angry with me for writing this."

"But I didn't mean to disobey you. The priest was in danger, and he saved me. I owe him a debt, so I had to go and save him."

"I promise, once things in Miao territory are settled, I will come back to your side."

"I will have the priests choose a new Miao king. There will be no more fighting with the court, and I will no longer abduct your people. I am not deceiving you; what you love is what I love."

"I've placed the Gu King's larvae under your pillow. With it there, even if I don't return, no one in Miao territory can control you."

"If I leave, you don't need to be sad. Huaixi, you have an older sister, you have a family, and you have the same responsibilities as me."

"A gift for my beloved, Yin Huaixi."

The brown letter paper was covered with words of varying shades, and before Yin Huaixi knew it, a crystal tear had soaked a corner of the paper.

She was breathing rapidly, her heart clenching painfully.

When Qingmei saw her mistress like this, she panicked. She didn't know what Chen Wan had written in the letter.

That would make the young lady cry like this!

This is an absolutely heinous crime!

In a panic, Qingmei pulled out a handkerchief and stood on tiptoe to wipe away Yin Huaixi's tears.

"Miss, what's wrong?"

"Miss, you can tell me anything. Qingmei will definitely take care of it for you."

Despite Qingmei wiping her eyes, Yin Huaixi put away the letter Sang Che had written.

She can't afford to break down right now.

She had more important things to do.

...

study.

Yin Baishuang sat at her desk, looking at the bills sent by the accounting department and checking them.

"Didn't I already tell that store in the north of the city not to stock this kind of fabric anymore? What's going on here? They have surplus stock but aren't reporting it?"

The accountant standing in front of Yin Baishuang was reserved and was about to explain.

The door was pushed open, and Yin Huaixi stepped in.

"elder sister."

Her urgent call snapped Yin Baishuang back to reality. Seeing Yin Huaixi's pale face, she immediately put down the account book in her hand.

"Huaixi, what's wrong with you?"

"Is there something you need from me?"

Knowing that her sister never came to the temple without a reason, Yin Baishuang gave the accountant a wink, and the man wisely withdrew.

I also closed the door.

The sunlight outside was blocked, and the room became dim. Yin Huaixi's eyes were serious, and she said directly, "Elder sister, I need to go to the capital."

"Will you allow it?"

Only upon arriving in the capital could Yin Huaixi explain the situation in detail to Zhao Huining, and the letter would not be intercepted by the Miao people monitoring Lingshui City.

She knew how the plot would unfold and how the emperor would conquer Miao territory. She needed to inform Zhao Huining of the specific battle plan and the locations of attack and defense in advance.

This would give Zhao Huining the greatest confidence to keep the emperor in check, and Sang Che would also be safe and sound.

Whether Zhao Huining should ascend the throne as empress or support another imperial bloodline was of no concern to Yin Huaixi, nor did she want to get involved in the mess of the royal family.

She only asked for one thing: to save Sang Che.

Yin Baishuang was quite surprised when her younger sister suggested going to the capital. They did have business dealings in the capital, but it was far away, with mountains and rivers to the south and north.

Yin Baishuang couldn't really manage those shops, so she had to hire people to manage them, which meant the profits weren't very good. In the early stages, Yin Baishuang was also spending money to build a good reputation.

Fortunately, the shop's profits have rebounded in recent years, so all the hard work over the years hasn't gone down the drain.

Yin Baishuang had been thinking that although Lingshui was their homeland, it was too close to Miao territory. In previous years, the weather was good and the harvest was plentiful, which made people feel at ease, but now the world was not peaceful.

"Going to the capital is a good thing, Huaixi. Lingshui, you're getting too bored staying here."

"It just so happens that your second sister is in the capital to take care of things. After some time, I will hand over the family shop to someone else to manage, and then we will go to the capital together."

"It will be much safer there than in Lingshui, and you won't have to put up with the gossip of those men."

Yin Baishuang's words made perfect sense, but Yin Huaixi felt inexplicably guilty.

She knew that her best course of action was to follow the path her elder sister and Sang Che had laid out for her, to stop getting involved in the Miao conflict, and to stay at home obediently.

She continued to be the glamorous third young lady of the Yin family.

But she couldn't bear to part with it.

Yin Huaixi no longer wanted to submit to fate.

She didn't want Sang Che to die in front of her, but she was like an utterly incompetent coward, unable to do anything, and could only watch helplessly as Sang Che bravely faced death.

She knew that a war between Miao territory and the imperial court was inevitable, and she would use the information she had to help those she cared about win everything.

Military power and powerful families were what emperors relied on.

She had read this book, and it was also a powerful tool in her hands.

Yin Huaixi sighed inwardly. She had to thank the readers who had argued with her back then, otherwise she wouldn't have been so concerned about what happened later in the story.

They scrutinized every single word.

If Sang Che was so confident in rescuing her, then she could also use the information gap to bring Sang Che home.

"Eldest sister, I'm not going to the shop in the capital; I'm going to save someone."

Hearing this, Yin Baishuang understood what had been wrong with her younger sister all along.

Yin Baishuang sighed, her tone full of helplessness: "Are you going to rescue that Miao woman?"

"Huaixi, isn't it a good thing that she left you and stopped bothering you?"

"Do you know how worried your second sister and I were when you disappeared? Qingyue stayed outside the Miao village the whole time, just in case something happened to you."

"You were kept hidden away by her for so long, Huaixi... how could you still fall in love with her?"

"You like women, and your sisters agree, but there are so many beautiful women in the world, why do you insist on having only her?"

The words of criticism were even more piercing than the words of reproach. Yin Huaixi lowered her eyes. Unlike in the past when she was being scolded, she would not talk back. This time, she silently endured everything.

"Elder sister, what I didn't tell you is... the imperial guards sent by the court didn't come to rescue me. They were afraid I would reveal the secret, so they shot me with arrows."

"It was A-Che who saved me."

Having anticipated this, Yin Baishuang silently looked at Yin Huaixi this time.

After a long pause, she finally spoke: "Huaixi, you've fallen for her."

"Even without the love potion, you still love her."