Yun Rao sniffed, snuggled closer into his arms, and buried her face in his chest. "It's just a common cold toxin." An Zi yuan looked down at her, his gaze deep and steady, saying nothing. Yun Rao pushed herself deeper into his embrace, speaking casually. "You're knowledgeable about medicine—according to your judgment, can the toxin from Chiman Luo be cured?" As soon as she finished speaking, her chin was suddenly caught and lifted. He gazed at her intently, his dark eyes heavy, his voice slightly tightened. "Have you been affected by the toxin from Chiman Luo?" Yun Rao's heart skipped a beat, yet her expression remained slightly puzzled. "No, actually—it's Xiao Mengyun who has contracted the toxin. She's Xiao Run's wife, someone I've always held in high regard. She's so young, and if she passes away now, it would be a great loss." "Unrecoverable," An Zi yuan replied calmly and decisively. The two simple words instantly extinguished her last hope. "If I'm not mistaken, her mother fell victim to this very poison back then. With Xiao Xiaotian's capabilities, if there were a remedy for this poison, how could she have passed away just three months after giving birth to Xiao Mengyun?" An Zi yuan said calmly, his fingers gliding through her slightly damp hair. Yun Rao pulled at a smile, leaning into his arms. "Indeed." When Xiao Mengyun's mother was eight months pregnant, she accidentally consumed the red Manluo, succumbing to this rare and deadly poison. Xiao Mengyun was born prematurely and came into the world already burdened by this unique toxicity. From childhood, she endured constant illness, surviving only because other poisons were used to suppress the original one. Yet it remained only a palliative treatment—while using one poison to counter another helped maintain a relatively peaceful life, the two poisons eventually clashed and undermined her body over time. As she aged, her physical strength steadily declined. To live a healthy life, the original red Manluo poison had to be fully eradicated. Yet it was only the toxin of Chiman Luo that had made the world renowned and fearful. This poison was exceptionally potent, and due to its inherent coolness that shifted with the seasons, no one had ever succeeded in formulating a remedy to counteract it. Xiao Xiaotian and Xiao Run had experimented for over twenty years, but still failed to discover a true antidote. "Yun Rao," An Ziyuan's hand gently and unconsciously held her wrist, making her heart subtly suspend itself—she wanted to withdraw, yet felt awkward, so she merely settled quietly in his arms, softly responding, "Hm?" He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he suddenly turned her two wrists over. Yun Rao stiffened slightly, lowered her gaze to her left wrist, and felt a sudden pang in her heart—there, the fierce red thread had vanished, just as if it had appeared out of nowhere. An Ziyuan stared at her pale wrist, his fingers gliding over it, saying nothing, merely lightly pressing on her wrist. Yun Rao remained silent, still nestled quietly in his arms. His embrace was warm and comforting, yet she would never have the fortune to dwell in it for life. The next day, Yun Rao rose early and, while having breakfast, remembered the token. She looked at An Ziyuan and asked, "Could I borrow the token for a while?" "Do you wish to see Princess Xi Yue?" he asked. Yun Rao nodded, speaking lightly, "Yes. Had it not been for her, I would have been gone long ago. I promised her that if I were still alive, I would notify her. In the past, I had simply forgotten, so I never reached out. Now, though..." She smiled and looked at him. "No matter what, I should definitely see her." "What caused your memory loss back then?" An Ziyuan suddenly asked. Yun Rao's smile seemed slightly stiff, and then she lowered her gaze. "At that time, I was seriously injured and faced sudden, overwhelming changes. I felt utterly hopeless. Xiao Run, in order to ensure my survival, prescribed a medicine called 'Forget-Sorrow Powder,' which erased all the memories of that period." The Forget-Me-Well Powder was a secret medicine concocted by Xiao Ming, the founder of the Yōu-Míng Sect, who blended venomous toxins into it. In addition to easily erasing someone's memories, it could even completely erase a person from memory—merely by collecting a few drops of blood from their fingertip, combined with the Forget-Feeling Gū and the Forget-Me-Well Powder, the person could be effortlessly wiped out of the recipient's memory. All the Yōu-Míng Sect's previous Masters were born as Gū practitioners, deeply skilled in Gū techniques. Yun Rao had once shared a close relationship with Xiao Run, who had privately taught her several Gū techniques. At that time, she was often unwell, confined to bed, and finding daily life dull, so she diligently studied these techniques in secret. However, the skills she acquired proved ineffective in producing subtle, refined effects—such as scaling down or transforming—only offering basic poisoning techniques. These were indeed useful when traveling on the road, though rather harsh in execution; she would only resort to them when absolutely necessary. Over the course of two years abroad, thanks to the constant protection of Bai Li Kong and Qu Xiaoman, An Zi yuan didn’t know whether to believe what she had said, but simply served her a plate of food with quiet attention, his expression calm and composed. "I’ll go with you later." "No…" Yun Rao instinctively wanted to decline, but An Zi yuan had already turned to her. "Otherwise, we’ll wait until the day of her wedding to the Emperor, and then surprise her." The words of refusal hung on Yun Rao’s tongue. "Alright," she finally said, "we’ll go together after breakfast." "Let’s go again in the afternoon. I’ll have someone notify her in advance." An Zi yuan spoke softly, looking at her. "You’ve been so tired these days—why don’t you go back to your room and rest a while first?" His words made her blush slightly, and she nodded hesitantly. "Yes." After dinner, An Zi yuan accompanied Yun Rao back to her room. Yun Rao was truly exhausted and had a strong tendency to sleep. Not long after returning to her room, she fell into a deep sleep. An Zi yuan covered her with the quilt, and as his fingers brushed the edge of the blanket, he paused, gently pulling her hand from the pillow An Zi yuan gazed at her calm face, then gently placed her hand into the bedsheet, before stepping out of the room. Qu Xiaoman waited outside. An Zi yuan glanced at her. "Miss Qu, could I have a moment to speak with you?" Qu Xiaoman looked at him, her eyes slightly hesitating. An Zi yuan added, "I simply wish to better understand the condition of your young lady." Qu Xiaoman nodded gently. "Very well." They walked together to a pavilion nearby. "Which poison has your young lady contracted?" An Zi yuan stopped at the pavilion, turned to face her, and asked, his gaze direct and intense. Qu Xiaoman was caught by his intensity and lowered her eyes. "Did your young lady not mention it to you?" "She did, but perhaps not the full truth," An Zi yuan's tone deepened as he looked at her. "Miss Qu, you have known her for many years, haven't you? Surely you are well aware of what illness or poison she has contracted." "Having heard of An Zi yuan's skill in medicine, wouldn't he be able to determine what kind of poison Lady Yun has been afflicted with?" Qu Xiao Man sensed from An Zi yuan's tone that Yun Rao had deliberately withheld the fact of her poisoning, yet she couldn't quite grasp why—so she only hesitated, playing it safe. An Zi yuan, however, wasn't easily fooled, his voice now colder and more measured. "I can diagnose illnesses, but I cannot detect the specific poison." He didn't linger or circle around the issue. "Is it the poison from Chiman Luo?" Qu Xiao Man stiffened slightly, her expression calm. "No!" "Really?" His dark eyes swept over her face, full of inquiry. Qu Xiao Man nodded steadily. "Yes, she has only caught a cold-related poison." That day, after her symptoms first appeared, while they were on the mountain, she had already told them—should anyone ask, she should simply say she had caught a cold. At that time, seeing that they were still not fully aligned, with their positions still unclear, she had fully supported this explanation. But now, she had not revealed this to An Zi yuan, and Qu Xiao Man found herself unable to understand why. An Zi yuan withdrew his gaze from her. "She's forgotten everything, isn't she? What happened?" Qu Xiaoman lowered her eyes. "Perhaps it would be better if the lord asked the lady directly. I'm not bold enough to interrupt." An Zi yuan glanced at her, then let it go, turning away. "He's delicate in health—please take care of her more diligently from now on." With that, he was gone. Qu Xiaoman patted her chest, exhaled deeply, and only turned back to her room once she was certain he had disappeared. As she reached the door of Yun Rao's room, she saw it pulled open from within, and Yun Rao stood there in a fur-lined fox coat. "Has he left?" Yun Rao asked, her tone soft. Qu Xiaoman nodded. "Yes." Yun Rao looked at her. "What did he ask you?" Qu Xiaoman briefly recounted what had happened. Yun Rao sighed helplessly. "I knew he wouldn't let it go." Qu Xiaoman furrowed her brows. "Why did you need to keep it hidden from him?" "Yun Rao exhaled, looking at her, "What good would it do to tell him? It's注定 unsolvable—only adding more worries. Why not simply live through these months without any burden? If I were to pass away, he'd forget me. If he hadn't discovered it, she never intended to tell him that she was Sù Wǎn. He would have felt guilty, but she didn't want him to feel any guilt at all. Anyone else in her position would have made the same choice back then. When Sù Wǎn was absent, he might have felt only a sense of regret and a mild sense of guilt—something shallow, which would fade over time and eventually be forgotten. But if she *were* Sù Wǎn, looking at her now, he might feel deep guilt, even self-blame. The longer her life grew harder, the deeper his remorse would grow. Especially when he fell in love with her, he might blame himself for her departure for the rest of his life. That guilt would become a tumor, unremovable. A person destined to live only a few months—there's no need to make a man carry that guilt for life." "Will he forget you?" "Qu Xiao Man's brows and eyes furrowed deeper," "How can you be so certain?" Though men often forgot the old for the new, this was rather absolute. Yun Rao shook her head, a faint smile still playing at her lips, yet pale and uncertain. "He will forget." Qu Xiao Man looked at her with suspicion. Yun Rao showed no intention of continuing, and turned to close the door. "Xiao Man, I'd like to go for a walk outside." "Very well," Qu Xiao Man replied, following her. "Don't disturb the servants in the courtyard." Yun Rao whispered, walking to the end of the veranda, where she saw no one around. She quietly gathered her strength, leaping into the air with grace—only to begin to descend straight down at the halfway point. "Miss," Qu Xiao Man watched, leaping forward to catch her just before she landed. Yun Rao's face was pale, even slightly dazed. Qu Xiao Man watched with growing concern, urgently asking, "Miss, are you all right?" Holding onto Qu Xiao Man's hand, Yun Rao shook her head. "I'm fine." Once again, she subtly exerted her inner strength, only for her body's qi to become disordered and collide with one another—yet no matter how hard she tried, she could not lift herself as lightly and smoothly as she had in the past. Her face grew paler and paler, and unconsciously, she spread out both hands, which remained as delicate and pale as ever, empty and still.