Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

Xiao Yanzhi was already familiar with the layout of the corridors of the Northern Shuo Royal Court. He carried her through a side corridor that was rarely used, bypassed two moon gates and an empty side hall, and climbed in through the back window of the Imperial Preceptor's bedroom.

He placed Xi Yueli on the low couch. When she leaned against the back of the couch, she tried to sit up straight by supporting herself with her hands on the edge of the couch, but her fingers loosened as soon as she exerted force.

Her face was even paler than it had been in the corridor, and sweat had seeped down to her temples. But she gritted her teeth and suppressed the muffled groan in her throat, letting out only a very shallow breath through her lips.

"Envoy Xiao," her voice was a little hoarse, "thank you, you can go now, I'll rest for a while."

Xiao Yanzhi stood in front of the bed and looked at her. His gaze moved from her pale lips to her hand, which was pressed against the edge of the bed with white knuckles. He was silent for two breaths, and then he took a step back.

"Okay, you get some rest," he said, then turned and climbed out of the back window, landing silently as the window closed gently behind him.

Xi Yueli leaned back against the couch alone, the nerve in the back of her head tensing up again after Xiao Yanzhi left, even more so than it had been in the corridor.

She curled up, resting her forehead on her knees, clasped her hands behind her neck, and pressed her fingertips down on the Fengchi acupoint. Compared to how she used to curl up on the floor of Jinxian Courtyard and bite her wrists, at least she could now control herself from making a sound.

Fu Yuan had said before that soul fusion would have aftereffects. Countless fragments of memories tore at her mind. She shrank herself even tighter, her forehead pressed against her knees, her breathing compressed into a thin, short rhythm.

Around midnight, the window was silently opened from the outside.

The moment Xi Yueli heard the sound of the window bolt loosening, she straightened up from her curled-up position. The sharp pain in the back of her head was still there, but her right hand had already reached for the hilt of the thin-bladed knife on the edge of the hidden compartment on the low couch.

The instant the figure approached the bed, she suddenly raised her hand, a thin blade held horizontally in front of her, its tip precisely pressed against the person's Adam's apple.

Xiao Yanzhi stood before her, her thin blade lying half an inch below his Adam's apple. His left hand was raised to his side in a gesture of surrender, while his right hand held a roll of extremely fine silver needles, which gleamed softly in the moonlight.

The moment she held a knife to his Adam's apple, he didn't even take a step back. He just looked at her, his voice as low as when he carried her back during the day.

"it's me."

Xi Yueli loosened her grip on the knife. "Envoy Xiao, you've crossed the line."

"I know." Xiao Yanzhi did not move, his Adam's apple bobbing very slightly beneath the tip of her blade. "The ailment that the soldiers developed while guarding the pass on a snowy night is somewhat similar to the symptoms the Grand Preceptor is experiencing tonight."

He gestured to the acupuncture kit in his right hand, saying, "If you don't trust the Grand Preceptor, I'll leave the kit on the table and you can do it yourself. But I think you might not have enough strength to insert the needles yourself tonight."

Xi Yueli looked at him, the thin blade in her hand still pressed against his Adam's apple, the tip of the blade pressing against his skin and leaving a very shallow white mark.

The moment the thin blade moved away from below Xiao Yanzhi's Adam's apple, her wrist went limp, and the blade slipped from her hand, landing on the edge of the couch with a short, crisp sound.

She fell backward, her back slamming into the blankets. Cold sweat streamed down her forehead, and she raised a hand to cover her eyes, her breathing erratic.

Xiao Yanzhi unfolded the needle bundle on the edge of the couch. The silver needles were arranged in two rows, of varying lengths, their tips gleaming coldly in the moonlight. He sat down beside her and whispered, "Don't be afraid."

When the first needle entered the Fengchi acupoint on the back of her neck, her whole body tensed up suddenly.

The moment the needle pierced her flesh, a sharp chill spread from the acupoint outwards, like an ice pick stabbing into scalding soil. She bit her lower lip, and the teeth marks quickly turned white.

The second needle landed on the Yuzhen acupoint at the back of her head, half an inch deeper than the first needle. She felt the tightly wound string at the back of her head suddenly loosen by half a turn.

Xiao Yanzhi's needle-twisting technique was unhurried, his fingertips gently rotating at the needle's end. By the sixth needle, Xi Yueli slowly loosened the hand covering her eyes.

Her hand, which had been clenched on the edge of the bed, was no longer clenched. Her fingers were outstretched, resting on the edge of the blankets, trembling slightly, but no longer in a spasmodic tremor.

Xiao Yanzhi lowered his head and twisted the needle, his voice rising from below, "When does the Imperial Preceptor's old ailment flare up each month?"

"A moonless night." Her voice was hoarse, but the tremor at the end was gone. "The end of each month. Sometimes it lasts half the night, sometimes until dawn."

"It's rare to see someone so young suffering from such a severe headache," he asked. "Isn't it poison?"

"……no."

He didn't ask any more questions. After the needle was inserted, he withdrew his hand, sat down on the edge of the couch, leaned against the bed frame, and didn't move again.

Moonlight streamed in through the window cracks, falling on his profile and casting a fine shadow on his lowered eyelashes.

He closed his eyes, his breathing was even, one hand rested on his knee, and the fingertips of the other hand were still hovering above the silver needle at her Baihui acupoint, as if ready to adjust the needle at any time.

About an hour later, Xi Yueli's eyelids drooped, her consciousness floated in the shallow layers for a while, and then slowly sank down.

As dawn broke, the first rays of sunlight peeked through the cracks in the window and fell onto the edge of the tatami mat.

When Xi Yueli opened her eyes, the pain in the back of her head had completely subsided. She turned her head and saw Xiao Yanzhi still sitting by the bed. He had changed his position, resting his elbows on his knees, his hands on his chin, his eyes closed, and his breathing steady.

The silver needles have been put away, the needle case rolled up and placed on the edge of the couch, next to a cup of water.

She stared at his profile for a few moments. The morning light made the angles between his eyebrows and eyes more defined, a bit harder than under the moonlight, but beneath that hardness was a kind of relaxation she had never seen before.

When she spoke, her voice was much better than the night before, still a little hoarse from just waking up: "Envoy Xiao sat all night."

Xiao Yanzhi's eyelashes fluttered. When he opened his eyes, it took him less than a breath for his gaze to go from unfocused to focused. He saw her sitting on the couch, her complexion mostly recovered. He slowly released the hand that had been resting on his knee.

"The Imperial Preceptor woke up earlier than I expected." He sat up straight, straightened his clothes, and a shallow crease appeared on his dark blue casual clothes.

"The Imperial Preceptor was fast asleep when the last needle was removed last night, so I didn't disturb him."

Xi Yueli glanced down at the bundle of needles on the edge of the bed. "Xiao Yanzhi, thank you. If it weren't for these needles last night, I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep until dawn."

Xiao Yanzhi took the needle case and put it into his sleeve. When he looked down at her, the light in his eyes was dazzling. "No need for thanks, Imperial Preceptor."

"I only did what I could. The burden on the Grand Preceptor of Northern Shuo is too heavy, so heavy that it is harmful to his body and mind. If the Grand Preceptor keeps carrying it until he can't hold on any longer before asking for help, I will have to grind my needle bag before the next moonless night."

Xi Yueli leaned against the back of the couch and looked at him, the morning light falling on her face. "Next time Envoy Xiao comes, you can knock before climbing through the window."

Xiao Yanzhi looked at her, and a faint smile appeared in his usually calm and deep eyes.

He turned and walked to the window, pushed it open, glanced at her one last time, the sunlight falling on the contours of his brow bone and nose, and then he climbed out the window.

Xi Yueli sat alone in the morning light, reaching out to touch the Fengchi acupoint on the back of her neck. The needle mark was still there, gleaming with a faint warmth in the morning light.

She got off the bed, walked behind the desk and sat down. On the desk was a plain white handkerchief, and underneath it was a note: "I left a pair of silver needles in the hidden compartment on the windowsill. You can use them next time."