Wei Yun comes around. He tells Chu Yu he won’t die so easily and that he still has to live to carry out his revenge. He also tells her that he must survive for Chu Yu.
Some time after, though, Wei Yun starts drifting off again, worrying Chu Yu. She calls to him again, telling him he mustn’t fall asleep. Wei Yun opens his eyes, trying hard to keep them open.
Chu Yu suggests Wei Yun have a chat with her. Wei Yun gets up and waits for Chu Yu to speak, but she seems to lack something to speak about. Seeing as she was struggling to come up with something, Wei Yun decides on talking about the grilled fish she had made for him to eat when he first woke and her cooking skills.
Chu Yu wasn’t good at cooking, yet, as Wei Yun had complimented, her grilled fish tasted delicious. He wondered if she had learned it from her father—which she confirmed. The conversation about Chu Yu’s father catching fish and her gradually learning to roast fish like her father’s fish has Wei Yun remark that she was similar to her father. Chu Yu again confirms, telling him that she was most like her father amongst her siblings. They both have no ambitions and only want a simple and carefree life. She wanted to live in a place with natural beauty and fine weather where there were few people who knew about it. It would be sufficient for her abode to provide shelter and have a yard that allowed her to gaze at the stars.
She mentions including Xiaoqi as part of that ideal modest life. Wei Yun mistakes it to mean him, forgetting about Chu Yu’s puppy for a second until Chu Yu reminded him.
Wei Yun decides to confess his feelings for her at this point. The talk about all the things she wanted in her life has Wei Yun tell Chu Yu that he liked her and wanted to be part of her future. He told her that he was actually jealous of the puppy named Xiaoqi. He had warned himself not to like her, but he couldn’t help liking her. He tells her that he never dared to say it before, but considering the circumstances, he had to tell her and asks whether she could accept his feelings.
For a few moments, Chu Yu just stared at Wei Yun. Her hands were fidgeting on her lap. She appeared as if she could, but was afraid. Wei Yun slowly moves to reach for her hand only to see her hand snap back, but Wei Yun can’t let her go. He boldly holds on to her hand and keeps holding on to it even as Chu Yu makes another attempt to retreat and not answer him. Wei Yun was giving his all to holding on to her to see if she could see the depth of his feelings. But Chu Yu wasn’t willing. She couldn’t accept his feelings and pulled her hand out from his hold.
Chu Linyang’s search for Chu Yu and Wei Yun has led them to the cliff they were on before they were forced to jump. Lu Qiba and Wangyue discussed whether they jumped off the cliff and whether Chu Yu and Wei Yun could’ve survived. They’ve reached a point where they’ve got no further places to look and can’t find any other traces.
They’re not out of options, though. Lu Qiba has a special compass that seems to be able to detect life forces. However, he doesn’t offer it up initially, as he’s waiting on Chu Linyang to call on him for his help (Chu Linyang and Lu Qiba don’t get along, like how Wei Yun and Lu Qiba once clashed with each other). The compass needle shows little movement until Lu Qiba heads to the cliff’s edge, where the needle starts to move erratically, directing them to go in the direction of the waterway below.
Chu Yu and Wei Yun meet a woman called Shen the next morning. Out of caution, Wei Yun doesn’t reveal their real identities out of caution. He tells her a story about being a married couple from Qingzhou who was on their way to Huajing City to see some relatives. To explain why they were below the cliff, he tells a story about having encountered bandits who took all their belongings and pushed them off the cliff, causing him to hurt his leg. Chu Yu asks Shen whether there was a physician in her village.
There doesn’t seem to be a physician available, but Shen looks to have treated leg wounds that were more serious than the one Wei Yun has and knows a massage technique that can help Wei Yun’s leg recover. The wound (that was above the knee on the thigh) was heavily bruised, but she believes a daily two-hour massage using her technique can unblock the congested blood vessels and heal the leg.
Shen suggests Chu Yu do the massage therapy and offers to teach it to her. Shen thought that a wife giving the massage was less awkward than a male stranger (whom Wei Yun tried to pay Shen to have her find) giving the massage. To drive home her point, Shen adds that since they were husband and wife, they’ve been more intimate than this, and so there’s nothing to be shy about.
If only she knew.
Unable to reveal that they were not a real married couple, Chu Yu learns the massage technique and applies it to Wei Yun’s leg. Wei Yun lets out a breath and relaxes his expression after Shen leaves to show a bit of pain he was enduring during the massage. He denies feeling any pain when Chu Yu asks him about it. He didn’t want to her worry her, but it worries her all the same when she hears him say that he doesn’t feel pain. She worries about him losing his leg, which will impact his future.
Wei Yun makes light of the thought, telling her that he’d still be the marquis without ambition. He’ll take her to Sishui and be local gentry. It has Chu Yu remark that no one will want to marry him by then. It gives Wei Yun the opportunity to express how he has no intention of marrying anyone and that he only wants her to be around. Wei Yun tries her again, leaning in and staring directly at her. “How about you support me for a lifetime?” he casually asks.
Sensing Chu Yu’s discomfort—because he’s basically short of asking her to marry him—he adds that he’d bring the whole family, including her puppy, Xiaoqi, and they can all live together as celebrities, allowing the subject to change from living together like a couple to living with the rest of the family.
It allows Chu Yu to focus on this ambitionless existence and how unbelievable it is for Wei Yun to be fine with such a life. She expresses that no one would believe he could accept living this way.
Wei Yun doesn’t deny it. There was still Yao Yong. He won’t rest until he dies in his hands. Once he’s dealt with, his powerful backers are next.
The awkwardness between the two had finally dissipated during the topic of Yao Yong and his backers, but Chu Yu managed to get lost in her thoughts about the safety of the village (she felt it was safe enough) and how she would go about sending word to her brother to reassure him. She lost focus on her task, as her hand kept moving further and further up Wei Yun’s leg. It kept moving right to the point of almost massaging the underside of his backside. It was only Wei Yun’s silence, his avoidant downward gaze, and pursed lips that gave her the hint she’d moved to an even more private area.
Wei Yun slides away and lets Chu Yu go, suggesting the massage therapy should be sufficient for the day. Chu Yu agrees, taking the opportunity to head outside to cool herself down.
Seeing Shen outside mending a fish net, Chu Yu learns that the village has no men, as they’ve all gone to war. Most of the people who live there are old. Her husband, Cui, would be on the battlefield, too, had her not lost his leg. With not many people of her age in the village, Shen and Cui help build and fix things for the villagers as they are able.
Shen expresses the people’s state of sadness during this period of wartime. As long as the war continues, people in border cities, such as Qingzhou and Fengling City, as well as Huajing City, won’t experience peace and security. Chu Yu tries to comfort her, telling her that the war will end. It will end someday.
Chu Yu moves to ask about a way to contact her relatives. She uses the reason of needing their help with Wei Yun when they leave the next day. Shen knows a way but suggests Chu Yu stays until Wei Yun’s leg is recovered. She tells Chu Yu that the weather hasn’t been great lately and worries that if the wound gets wet in the rain, it could worsen the leg. She assures their location is remote and unlikely to be raided by bandits. If there are, they leave when they discover they’ve got nothing of value to take.
Over on Chu Linyang’s side, Lu Qiba’s compass has led them to the area where Chu Yu and Wei Yun had landed. The discovery of the grilled fish Chu Linyang recognises as his father’s speciality gives him the assurance Chu Yu and Wei Yun are alive. With this latest discovery, Chu Linyang and his team continue to search along the waterway for them.
Back at Shen’s place, Wei Yun and Chu Yu wait at the table while Shen prepares some food. Chu Yu and Wei Yun sit in silence and awkwardness, both having not recovered from the awkwardness of the massage therapy.
Chu Yu is the first to try to break the awkward silence after noticing Wei Yun tugging at the material around his leg. He also went to move the material to cover his leg.
From the looks of things, Wei Yun was trying to keep busy, but Chu Yu worried Wei Yun might be hiding the pain just like how he was hiding it earlier when she was massaging his leg. In case Wei Yun was pretending to be fine again, she checked on him.
Wei Yun tells her his leg is fine, which has her tell him she can rest easy knowing that he is fine. The concern has Wei Yun let out a small smile.
Chu Yu and Wei Yun meet Shen’s husband, Cui, a moment later just as Shen brings out the last dish. Shen moves to introduce Wei Yun and Chu Yu to Cui before assuring Cui that her guests weren’t bad people. Her words suggested that Cui is very wary of strangers coming into their home. The reason is soon revealed to be because of his possible connection to North Qi.
Shen had brought out a milky-white wine for Cui to drink, which Chu Yu immediately noted was unique to North Qi. Shen explained away Cui’s possible connection to North Qi by saying that Cui had secretly learned to brew a small quantity after tasting it at the border.
Cui doesn’t come off as a threat, but without knowing exactly who he is, Chu Yu and Wei Yun can’t be too careful. They had noticed that Cui was also equally suspicious of them during their meal together. Cui had noted that Wei Yun and Chu Yu didn’t come off as a married couple with how distant they appeared to him. Both sides were cautious about the identities of each other.
As such, at the end of the night, Chu Yu and Wei Yun can’t risk exposing themselves by asking for separate rooms. They also couldn’t go with asking for an extra quilt, so one of them sleeps on the floor. It would be found out the next morning when Shen discovers dirt on the quilt.
So, the decision was to sleep on the same bed. Chu Yu seemed to have been able to sleep. Wei Yun, though, lay there, staring at the ceiling before he decided to roll onto his side to take in the sight of her next to him. His gaze lands on the bangs over her eyes. He moves to brush it aside, but before he gets there, Chu Yu flips her eyes open, wondering why he was still awake and whether it was because he had a nightmare.
Wei Yun wasn’t sure how he should answer her. He muttered a word, “I…”, before he decided he’d just brave it out and show her what he was thinking. He lifted himself and slowly leant into her.
