In the long silence, Zhu Lingyun asked softly, "Sister, do you think someone will rescue us? The Liu Family is gone, and the Empress Dowager has never visited Jingyang Palace… Didn't you and brother befriend a Jianghu swordsman named Liang Gou'er? And those many Jianghu knights father once helped, will they find a way to clear father's name?"
Bai Li suppressed her pain and said, "Probably not anymore."
Zhu Lingyun asked in confusion, "Why?"
Bai Li said softly, "Lingyun, there's no Jianghu anymore."
Zhu Lingyun asked again, "You and brother also befriended that little apprentice at the Medical Hall, what was his name, seemed like Chen Ji? If he makes it to the Imperial Hospital, could he come to Jingyang Palace to help us?"
Bai Li froze for a moment upon hearing that name.
It felt as if someone had punched her in the heart, the pain etched as if on her very heartbeat—throb after throb, pain after pain.
Bai Li said softly, "Lingyun, we can only rely on ourselves."
