Every inch of lovesickness breeds ten thousand threads of yearning.

Shen Yanxi ultimately could not withstand the persuasion of her maidservants and ordered the boats to dock at the shore. With abundant supplies and personnel, the scale of her camp was far beyond anything Lu Jin could compare to.

In truth, it was not that Lu Jin lacked the conditions, but rather that he was going to play the role of a water bandit. How could one pull off such a grand spectacle while pretending to be a bandit?

Inside a massive tent, Shen Yanxi sat upon a soft cushion, flipping through the account books sent from her family mansion, yet her mind remained restless. She had no idea how he was doing right now, nor why no news had arrived from him yet.

"Shuqing, is there still no news from my husband?" Shen Yanxi looked up and asked.

"My lady, it has been less than two quarters since you last asked," Shuqing replied helplessly. Ever since the master had left, her lady had lost her soul. She could spend half a day staring at a single blank page.

"You wicked girl, of course you are not anxious since he isn't your husband," Shen Yanxi retorted, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Shuqing curled her lips, as if she had any other man to worry about.

Shen Yanxi stood up and started walking toward the exit, whereupon Siqi hurriedly draped a cloak over her shoulders.

"My lady!" Su Nian, who was standing guard outside, greeted her respectfully.

"Hmm, you don't need to stay outside all the time; go inside and sit for a while," Shen Yanxi said.

"My lady, it is not cold outside. On the contrary, I feel stuffy inside," Su Nian replied. How could she possibly rest easy inside? No matter what, there were men everywhere, and it would be disastrous if some blind fool happened to offend her lady.

"A-Li is looking quite proper these days," Shen Yanxi remarked, watching A-Li practice martial arts in the distance.

"With the master away, he has nothing else to learn, so he might as well practice his martial arts more." A-Li was Su Nian's apprentice and also someone valued greatly by the master, so Su Nian naturally taught him with utmost dedication.

"That's good. Walk with me; it really is too stuffy inside," Shen Yanxi said as she stepped forward, followed closely by Su Nian and the maidservants.

Along the way, the group deliberately picked flowers and played around, laughing and teasing one another. Their sole intention was to help their lady escape from her longing for the master.

The effect was quite good; amid the laughter and play, Shen Yanxi finally revealed a rare smile.

The sun was setting, and the crimson glow of the evening clouds reflected off the lake, combining with the dancing birds and withered water weeds to form a magnificent landscape painting.

Growing up within the confines of towering walls and grand mansions, Shen Yanxi rarely witnessed such scenery.

Beside the vast expanse of water, their laughter and jubilation added vivid colors to the otherwise serene painting, bringing the entire scene to life.

Especially Shen Yanxi. This proud daughter of the Shen family had not faded into a weary, sorrowful matron after marriage; instead, she had blossomed with even more enchanting radiance.

Her light-gray, wide-sleeved robe outlined her graceful curves, the golden mink cloak draped over her shoulders swayed gently in the breeze, and her dark hair fluttered in the wind. Although a hint of melancholy lingered on her delicate and ethereal face, the smile playing at the corners of her lips injected a touch of vernal spring into the late autumn and early winter of Yunmeng Lake.

Even Siqi, who was well-accustomed to her mistress's beauty, could not help sighing in admiration. Amidst such water-and-sky scenery, her mistress remained peerless, still the most breathtaking brushstroke in the entire landscape.

"A beauty in the southern realm resides, peerless and standing alone. A single glance could topple a city, a second glance could topple a state," Siqi softly chanted. How on earth had the master managed to compose such magnificent verse? Most importantly, it fit her mistress so flawlessly.

Now that the master had only been gone for a few days and was not truly lost to her, the girls harbored no taboos about touching upon the subject.

Hearing Siqi's recitation, Shen Yanxi paused for a moment, and soon that familiar face seemed to appear right before her eyes. That foolish, endearing man was her husband, her lover, and her entire world.

"Do you not know of the cities and states overthrown? Such beauties are hard to find again," Shuqing chimed in, reciting the next lines.

Shen Yanxi's cheeks flushed slightly. It was on that eerie night, when she was overwhelmed by despair and a desire for death, that she had been won over by that man's endearing foolishness and an exquisite poem.

"My lady, how is the master's mind wired? This servant only knew that my lady is beautiful, yet the master never used a single 'beauty' character in the entire poem, and yet he brought your beauty vividly to life," Siqi praised.

"And that's not all. My lady, do you remember the couplet the master composed on the boat when we returned to Shangqing? Clearly intending to praise my lady, he did not say it directly, but instead wrote it from my lady's own perspective. The master's ingenuity is simply marvelous, and he didn't use a single word meaning beauty either."

"Especially the way my lady looks right now—it truly matches those two lines of the master's. It's just a pity the master isn't here to see it." Finished speaking, Shuqing felt a twinge of sorrow and regret.

"I see the green mountains as charming and seductive, I presume the green mountains see me the same in return."

Shen Yanxi chanted softly, her beautiful eyes looking far beyond the distant mountains and flying toward her husband.

She wondered what he was busy with at this very moment, and whether he was taking good care of himself. And last night...

Thinking of last night, Shen Yanxi recalled the instructions she had given to Nie Wuci, and she wondered how they had spent the night... A sharp pain suddenly gripped her heart.

She had personally delivered her own husband into the arms of another woman. Though she repeated comforting words to herself over and over again, telling herself to treat the other woman merely as a personal maid, how could it ever truly be the same? A maid served both her and her husband, but Nie Wuci exclusively possessed her husband.

Things would inevitably turn out this way in the end; it was merely a matter of sooner or later.

She understood the logic of it all, but... it still hurt so terribly!

"My lady, my lady..." Su Nian and the two maidservants were frightened out of their wits as their mistress, who had been fine just a moment before, suddenly squatted down onto the ground.

"My lady..." The girls who rushed over saw their mistress crouching on the ground, weeping silently. Their eyes instantly reddened—their lady was missing the master.

"My lady, shall I go find the master for you?" Shuqing asked with concern.

"Do not disturb him. Just let me be for a little while."

The entanglement and contradiction in Shen Yanxi's heart were burdens she could share with no one.

...

After a long while, Shen Yanxi finally stemmed her tears and sorrow.

Willingly or not, this was the path she had chosen. As long as her husband was safe and well, nothing else mattered to her.

The sun had already set, and the sky was gradually growing dim. Black clouds rolling in from the northern horizon were driving away the last remnants of the sunset, and waterbirds on the lake wailed low in the damp air, suggesting that tomorrow's Yunmeng Lake would not be peaceful.

"My lady, the wind is picking up, let us return inside," Su Nian said.

Just as Shen Yanxi was about to agree, she suddenly saw Jiang Shangxing running toward them from the direction of the river.

Shen Yanxi's spirits instantly lifted, and she hurriedly led her maidservants back.

"My lady..." Jiang Shangxing started to speak as soon as he reached them, but the mistress cut him off mid-sentence.

"Is there news from my husband?"

"..." Jiang Shangxing sighed inwardly; thank goodness there actually was news from the master, otherwise he shuddered to think how heartbroken her eager, hopeful expression would be if there weren't.

"Well, is there or isn't there?" Shen Yanxi urged anxiously.

"Ah, yes, yes, yes. A letter has arrived from the master." As Jiang Shangxing relayed the intelligence from over there, he produced the letter and handed it to Shen Yanxi.

Shen Yanxi snatched the letter away so abruptly that Jiang Shangxing jumped in surprise.

"The master said in the letter that they plan to tomorrow..." Jiang Shangxing stared blankly in utter bewilderment. Tomorrow his foot! Her ladyship had grabbed the letter and strode right into the tent; she hadn't heard a single word he'd said!

Back inside the tent, Shen Yanxi didn't even spare a glance for the servants. She walked over to the desk, hurriedly pulled two sheets of paper from the envelope, and carefully unfolded them under the lamplight.

The paper was densely covered in meticulous, fly-head standard script. When her eyes caught the opening lines—"My wife, do you miss your husband?"—her tears fell uncontrollably.

Shen Yanxi read every single character with extreme care; between the lines, the master's longing and affection for her overflowed. Shen Yanxi laughed and cried by turns. What a blockhead! He wouldn't even eat the meat delivered right to his mouth, yet he had the nerve to ask for a reward!

Though she thought thus in her heart, a spontaneous wave of joy blossomed within her.

"My wife, although we are separated, we are not actually far apart. Your husband has always been right beside you, and my longing for my wife is everywhere. I have composed a short poem to record this."

The corners of Shen Yanxi's lips curled upward into a slight arc. Silly husband, who are you trying to fool?

Though she thought this, Shen Yanxi's beautiful eyes nevertheless drifted down to the poem below.

"Endless longing rises from the waters, moonlight shadows and a lone figure wander together. If my wife should ever ask how much, a turtle pounds the jade terrace beneath the moon."

Shen Yanxi's vision was blurred with tears. Not only was she missing her husband, but her husband was missing her too, yet he could only wander alone beneath the moonlight...

Huh? Shen Yanxi's pretty eyebrows knitted together slightly. Why did this poem sound a bit strange? Especially what did the last line mean? It didn't seem to connect at all!

Her husband missed her dearly, and she asked him how much he missed her? He replied... or rather, he wanted a turtle to pound the jade terrace beneath the moon?

A turtle? A jade terrace? And it needed pounding? Shen Yanxi's mind raced at lightning speed. Suddenly, a flash of insight struck her, and she froze!

In an instant, Shen Yanxi's face flushed crimson, her expression turning one of mortification and bashful anger as she furiously wadded the letter paper into a ball and hurled it onto the desk.

"Bad husband! Despicable scoundrel!"

Both Siqi and Shuqing stared in utter astonishment. A moment ago, their mistress had been full of deep devotion, moved to tears. What on earth had happened to make her suddenly snap like this? Bad husband? Despicable scoundrel? Was she going to break ties with the master?

Shen Yanxi was about to be driven mad with embarrassment and anger. This wretched husband of hers had stopped writing proper poems lately; wasting all that talent on doggerel was one thing, but now he was going even further!

I simply won't let you pound! Isn't there one right beside you? Go pound Nie Wuci instead!

In Shen Yanxi's mind, the phrase "turtle pounds the jade terrace beneath the moon" had changed colors, the fiery red characters seemingly radiating an endless blaze that ignited every inch of her skin.

Shen Yanxi felt that the tent was suddenly far too stuffy, making it hard to breathe.

"Eh? The master wrote quite a nice poem!" Siqi wondered aloud. The place where Shen Yanxi had tossed the wadded paper happened to be quite close to Siqi, prompting her to pick it up and see just how the master had managed to provoke their mistress.

"Quite nice? Hey, you..." A mortified Shen Yanxi only then realized that Siqi had picked up the letter and was reading it.

Shen Yanxi instinctively wanted to snatch it back, but halfway there, she withdrew her hand. Go ahead, read it! See what your bastard of a master has written!

"It really is quite nice!" Siqi remarked.

"..." Shen Yanxi was left speechless. Perverted husband! Clueless maid! Your mistress is being flirted with from afar by your master, and you still think it's nice?

Of course Shen Yanxi wasn't genuinely angry; after all, she wasn't some sheltered daughter from a rigid, minor household. She and her husband were as close as glue and lacquer; what intimate things hadn't they done together?

What caused her bashful fury was the fact that this wicked husband had used such a refined, literary way to pull off such a stunt.

Did this perverted husband look anything like a proper scholar? Heaven knows how many wicked books he must have read to come up with so many tricks!

After a brief wave of embarrassment and anger, Shen Yanxi finally calmed down bit by bit.

When all was said and done, this was merely the playful banter and intimacy between a husband and wife.

Shen Yanxi retrieved the letter paper, carefully unfolded and smoothed it out, flattening every single crease.

Her fingers gently brushed over every character, and as she savored it a second time, it took on an entirely different flavor.

"Pfft!" Shen Yanxi couldn't help letting out a soft chuckle, yet the tears in her eyes dripped right onto the paper.

The parting sorrow that had clung to her for two days and a night dissipated a great deal without her noticing. The moments of sweet affection shared with her husband completely reclaimed the previously empty chambers of her heart.

My dear lord, Xier has made you worry!