Qin Jianmei frowned, somewhat perturbed by Yun Ruoyan’s sudden request to pray with her. “Second Miss, you’re not religious, are you? May I ask what sparked your interest in prayer?”

Yun Ruoyan smiled. “I’ll be undergoing a difficult trial soon, so I’d like to try anything that might help.

“What’s the matter, Second Miss?”

“Madam Qin, you might not know this, but I’ve been chosen by Kongming Academy to participate in an expedition to an alternate dimension, and I’ll be heading off in the near future.” She sighed. “This trip will be exceptionally dangerous, so I thought that it might be a good idea to come over to your cottage to pray, Madam Qin. Given how devout you are, I’m sure that my prayers have a better chance of being heard.”

Yun Ruoyan pivoted around Qin Jianmei and hurriedly rushed to that strange chamber. Qin Jianmei and Yun Ruoyu exchanged a glance with each other before they quickly followed her. Before Qin Jianmei could stop her, Yun Ruoyan pushed open the door and entered the chamber.

A bout of concentrated fragrance struck her, causing her to frown and cover up her nose. By then, Qin Jianmei and Yun Ruoyu had reached her side. Because she had already opened the door, however, they didn’t stop her.

Yun Ruoyan waved a hand in front of her nose to dispel the smoky air that wrapped around her. Once her eyes got used to the dim lighting, she was able to see into the interior of the chamber. By the western wall was a long table, and on that table was a Buddha statue. Before the statue burned sticks of incense, with smoky trails emanating from their tips.

The incense sticks seemed to surround the Buddha in a smoky mist, making its features difficult to discern with the naked eye.

“This chamber’s situated in a rather shaded location, and there’s not much lighting available. I’m afraid you won’t be used to it, Second Miss, so why don’t we talk in the living room?” Qin Jianmei murmured softly, as though she were afraid of disturbing someone by being too loud.

“That’s right, Sister Ruoyan. The living room’s nice and heated, and the tea and snacks are ready now. Why don’t we talk there?”

“Since I’m already here, I might as well pray.” Yun Ruoyan smiled, then stepped inside. She walked to the front of the Buddha and found two tatami mats laid out, one old and one new. The old one was rather badly worn, likely Qin Jianmei’s, and the new one was likely Yun Ruoyu’s.

“Second Miss, here.” Qin Jianmei lit two sticks of incense and handed them to Yun Ruoyan, who knelt down on the worn tatami mat, bowed her head deeply twice, then took the sticks of incense that Qin Jianmei handed her. She was just about to stick them into the incense burner when Qin Jianmei stretched a hand out. “Second Miss, why don’t you let me do it?”

Yun Ruoyan handed her the incense sticks in her hand, and Qin Jianmei deferentially placed them into the incense burner in front of her.

At that precise moment, for some reason, Yun Ruoyan felt as though Qin Jianmei’s visage had suddenly turned into that of the smoky Buddha whose features she still couldn’t fully discern.

She blinked, and the vision was gone. Qin Jianmei was still Qin Jianmei, her face unadorned with any makeup, but beautiful and clean in her asceticism. However, when she saw it shrouded in shadow, Yun Ruoyan felt a sudden sense of unease.

“Second Miss, are you alright?” Qin Jianmei asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

The three of them walked out of the chamber and into the living room. They had a few snacks and chatted a little, whiling away the morning. As noon approached, Qin Jianmei offered to have Yun Ruoyan stay for lunch, but she declined in favor of checking up on Yun Moxiao.

As Yun Ruoyan and Ling Lan returned to her cottage, they met Yun Moxiao.

“Brother, what’s the matter? Have you found any information?” Yun Moxiao was walking with urgency, his eyes bright.

“Yes, I did! I found a very important piece of information from an old servant. Let’s discuss it more inside.”

The siblings entered Yun Ruoyan’s cottage and sat by her table. “Brother, what did you find out?”

“Ruoyan, do you still remember Old Zha?”

“Old Zha?” Yun Ruoyan thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I don’t. Is there something wrong with him?”

“He used to be a servant in Mother’s quarters a decade or so ago.” Yun Moxiao put down the teacup in his hands and leaned forward. “I’ve investigated all the old servants in the Yun household that were present during that time, but none of them were familiar with Mother. I thought back to my childhood and remembered a laborer who did odd jobs around the cottage, Old Zha. Yesterday, I found out that he had returned to his hometown to retire. I rushed there overnight and learned something very important from him.”

“What was it?”

“Old Zha told me that, the year Mother contracted a deadly illness, Father sent for famous physicians all throughout the capital to no avail. One day, however, someone recommended a wandering physician into the Yun household.”

“And then?”

“Old Zha said that the physician was indeed quite capable. After consuming a few batches of the medicine that he prescribed, Mother’s illness got better. From then on, that physician was hired and made responsible for Mother,” Yun Moxiao continued. “In order to thank him, Father even set up an apothecary for him in the capital. However…”

Yun Moxiao’s tone turned dismal, and his expression forlorn.

“However, Mother’s expression soon took a sharp turn for the worse. In the end, even this physician was helpless against the onslaught of the disease, and Mother’s body began to decompose all over. Not long afterwards, she passed. Because of the strange circumstances surrounding Mother’s death and the possibility that Mother had contracted some sort of rare, infectious disease, it was decided that Mother’s corpse would be buried immediately.”

Yun Moxiao paused, and the two siblings recalled the miserable condition their mother had been in when she passed.

“I wasn’t even five years old by that point, but I still have some recollection of the event. When Mother got a little better, Father would bring us to her quarters for a visit. She could still speak a few words to me through a beaded curtain then, but after her illness took a turn for the worse, I was never allowed to visit. By then, I had already been sent to General Huang for his tutelage, and rarely came home after that.” Yun Moxiao sighed.

Yun Ruoyan had no recollection of this part of her life; after all, she was barely an infant during that time. She was unable to remember her mother except through brief snatches of memory from a time before she was fully able to think. She would only see her brother once or twice a year; after General Huang had taken him away for his apprenticeship, it became once every two or three years.

Yun Ruoyan’s thoughts meandered to the memories she had tried long and hard to forget, but which felt as though it had been imprinted in her soul. The dormant poison in her body had awoken, disfiguring her and ruining her cultivation. She was humiliated in the duelling arena, forced out of the family academy, isolated by Yun Lan and bullied by her sisters and cousins, then taken advantage of and thrown out to die…

When she next opened her eyes, her gaze was as lucid as it had ever been.

“I believe Mother’s still alive!”

“But how did she manage to survive, and why did she pretend to be dead?” Yun Moxiao felt as though he were surrounded by fog. Just when he thought he had gotten somewhere, he found that what awaited him was mystery after mystery.

“Ruoyan, do you think Father knows about Mother’s deception?”

“We discussed this at Grandfather’s place, didn’t we? Based on Father’s behavior all these years, he couldn’t have known that Mother’s still alive!”

“But why would Mother hide this from Father?” Yun Moxiao appeared even more confused. “Father treated Mother so well, so why did Mother leave? Doesn’t she care about us? Or…”

Yun Moxiao’s brows furrowed. “Was Mother threatened or forced to leave?”

To Yun Moxiao, Yun Lan was passionately in love with Lin Yuemei, and he naturally thought that Lin Yuemei reciprocated his feelings. However, Yun Ruoyan knew the sordid truth.

“Brother…”

“What is it?”

Yun Ruoyan didn’t want to hide this secret from Yun Moxiao, but she also didn’t know how to tell him about it. Even her own understanding was confused, and she hadn’t even told Li Mo about this matter.

“I think Mother must have had her own predicaments. Once we find her, we’ll have an answer to everything.”

Yun Moxiao nodded. “I… feel like we shouldn’t hide this from Father.”

“No, we can’t tell Father about this,” Yun Ruoyan immediately replied. “Mother intentionally faked her death without letting Father know. Now that we have some clues, we should keep investigating further on our own. Also, didn’t you say that Father was embroiled in a political feud with the head of the Rong family, Rong Tianling? It’s best not to cause him any more trouble.”

“In that case, let’s tell him once we’ve found something of note. If Father were to find out that Mother’s still alive, I’m sure he’d be very happy.”

“In that case, Brother, what should we do next?” Yun Ruoyan abruptly changed the topic.

“Our only clue is that wandering physician who treated Mother. Old Zha told me where his apothecary in the capital was located, and I’m ready to head there now if you’re free.”

“Alright, let’s have lunch, then head there immediately afterward.”