Lian’s voice was light as ever as he set his bowl down in front of me.

  “If it’s meat broth you want, I have some here.”

  The clear surface shimmered with a few floating greens, carrying the faint scent of meat.

  My eyes lit up instantly. I reached out in a hurry—but he didn’t let go. He merely lowered his lashes, voice quiet.

  “Hot. Be careful.”

  I froze for half a beat and looked down.

  He was actually shielding the rim of the bowl with his own hand—just so I wouldn’t burn myself.

  The line I had been preparing—“You didn’t poison it, did you?”—died pitifully in my throat. Wordlessly, I took the bowl and drank.

  It was fragrant. It was also scalding. My tongue trembled from the heat, but warmth spread down my chest all the same.

  “…Not bad,” I muttered with all the false composure I could muster.

  Lian’s lips curved ever so slightly. He didn’t reply, but there was a glint in his eyes—like he’d gotten exactly the reaction he wanted.

  When I finally finished drinking and reached about seven-tenths fullness, exhaustion washed over me. Leaning against the wall, I felt sleep creeping in like a rising tide.

  Somewhere between waking and dreaming, it felt like someone had set a small furnace beside me—warm enough to ward off the prison chill.

  I stirred, confused. A furnace? In a cell?

  Cloth brushed softly beside my ear, but I was too drowsy to open my eyes. The warmth wrapped around me, coaxing me deeper into sleep.

  I don’t know how long I slept before a thunderous voice blasted into my skull.

  “Prefect says get up! It’s your turn for questioning!”

  I bolted upright on pure instinct and blurted,

  “Is it raining? The laundry—grab the laundry!”

  A beat later I realized—right, I was in prison, not the Nangong estate.

  I looked down and nearly died on the spot.

  I was sleeping on Lian’s shoulder.

  No—scratch that—half my entire body was curled up in his arms.

  His face looked pale, a hint of fatigue in his brows.

  Awkwardly, I straightened myself. “…I pressed on you like that. Why didn’t you wake me?”

  He gave me a cool sideways glance.

  “It’s hardly the first time you’ve been on top of me. Would calling you even work?”

  “…”

  Something about that sounded… weird.

  The jailer stomped to the door, impatient. “Move it! Prefect Li wants you now!”

  I waved frantically. “Wait, wait. Why me? You sure you didn’t get the wrong guy? What could a small fry like me possibly know?”

  The jailer rolled his eyes. “He wants you. You. Now move.”

  He reached out to drag me forward—

  Lian’s wrist flicked. His hand blocked the jailer’s in a flash.

  “Mind your manners.”

  The fool must’ve been born without a sense of danger, because he actually tried to shove back.

  Panicking, I jumped between them. “Hey hey hey! Don’t—don’t! I’ll go, I’ll go! I’m going!”

  Before leaving, I turned back toward the cells and hollered,

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  “Lian! Hua! I’ll be right back! Don’t miss me too much!”

  Hua groaned in irritation from the next cell.

  Lian merely half-lidded his eyes at me—too dark to tell whether it was worry or quiet calculation.

  The jailer marched me down a long hallway, around two corners, then shoved open a carved wooden door.

  I stopped dead.

  This… this was an interrogation room?

  Redwood table. Silk screens.

  A spread of hot dishes on the table.

  Warm palace lanterns glowing in the corner.

  It wasn’t an interrogation room—it was a springtime banquet.

  And the biggest shock—

  Right in the main seat sat my dear elder brother, Nangong Bo, arms crossed, expression lazy, as if he were evaluating a horse auction.

  Meanwhile, Prefect Li—supposed interrogator—was off to the side, pouring tea for him like a dutiful servant.

  I rubbed my eyes. Was I still dreaming?

  “Ah! Young Master, you’re here!”

  Prefect Li sprang to his feet with a smile bright enough to blind a man.

  “Come, come! Sit! My deepest apologies—truly unforgivable that I failed to recognize the young heir of the Nangong estate! Please forgive my offense!”

  The next thing I knew, I was shoved into a seat and smothered in flattery:

  Nangong estate this, young master that…

  Prefect Li filled a cup to the brim and personally handed it to me.

  “Yesterday at Qingyin Hall, when I saw your esteemed brother, I thought he looked familiar. After pondering half the night, I finally remembered—back in the capital, when General Nangong returned triumphant—ah, what a sight that was…”

  After sending servants to bring more dishes, he finally stepped away.

  I immediately leaned toward my brother and whispered,

  “Didn’t you say the Nangong estate got confiscated? How are you still this—effective?”

  My brother sipped tea, brow arching slightly.

  “I’m not sure. My guess is this Magistrate took office at just the right time—missed all the capital turmoil, holed up here in Luoyan City for three months, doesn’t keep up with court news… He may genuinely have no clue.”

  I slapped my thigh. “Talk about luck!”

  Since the heavens had kindly delivered this coincidence, of course I wasn’t wasting it.

  I sat up straighter, ate and drank like a proper young master, and declared:

  “Prefect Li, the people you locked up—they’re all my friends. Hurry up and release them.”

  Prefect Li laughed politely but shook his head.

  “Young Master, I would if I could. But the Blood-Lotus Sect is an imperial-level criminal organization. I must report to His Majesty.”

  I blinked. “What case could be so serious the Emperor himself has to deal with a jianghu matter?”

  Prefect Li lowered his voice mysteriously.

  “It concerns His Majesty’s private affairs. I only know fragments. They say the Blood-Lotus Sect crossed paths with the Emperor while he was traveling incognito. Offended him gravely. Thus the order came to wipe them out entirely. Now that the Sect Leader is in my prison, I intend to present him to the throne and earn a handsome reward.”

  My brother’s brows lifted.

  “The Sect Leader? You caught him? Who? The one with the folding fan?”

  “No fan,” Prefect Li waved. “The one in red. The one with the permanent scowl.”

  My heart lurched violently.

  This was it. After all my effort hiding it—Lian had been exposed anyway.

  The moment the words left Prefect Li’s mouth, my brother’s teacup hit the table with a sharp thunk.

  He turned to me slowly—too calmly.

  “You told me—he was a servant.”

  The tone wasn’t loud.

  But it chilled my spine like someone had emptied a bucket of snow down my back.

  I forced a smile and raised my wine cup.

  “Brother, I can explain—”

  “Explain?”

  His brow arched—and the rest of his face dropped into a very familiar “I’m about to beat sense into you” expression.

  I lifted my cup at once, drained it in one go, and respectfully refilled my brother’s.

  “My fault, my fault. I’ll take the penalty—three cups, all right?”

  Prefect Li, though utterly lost, saw the two of us drinking with such enthusiasm that he happily joined in.

  “If the young master insists on punishment, then allow me to be punished as well!”

  And so cup followed cup, warmth following warmth.

  The wine, the lantern glow, the false camaraderie—everything began to blur pleasantly around the edges.

  I don’t know how long we drank before Prefect Li’s eyelids began to droop.

  Still holding his cup crookedly, he let out a sloppy laugh.

  “Haha—young master, you drink like a hero!”

  Just then, as the Prefect slumped sideways, teetering on the edge of sleep, my brother leaned toward me.

  His voice dropped so low it nearly blended into the candle crackle.

  “You must get him to summon that Lian of yours. Have him hand over the jade. Then we leave.

  If we stay even a few more days—once he learns what truly happened to the Nangong estate—not only our identities, but our lives will end here.”

  I nodded, throat suddenly dry. I licked my lips—only to taste the faint tang of leftover wine.

  But my mind was already spinning fast.

  This wasn’t just about two lives.

  If the court discovered the Nation-Seal Command Token was truly in the hands of the Blood-Lotus Sect…

  Who knew how many people would be dragged into the fire that followed?