Mrs. He beamed: “How did Hongdou sleep last night.”
Hongdou, careful not to appear too bashful, followed He Yunqin to the table and said with a smile: “I slept very well.”
As she spoke, she and He Yunqin greeted everyone in turn: “Father, Mother, Elder Sister, Elder Brother, Sister-in-law.”
Hongdou had already formally met the He family a few days earlier; today was the first meal together as a family since the wedding.
He Ningzheng and Duan Mingyi both wore quiet smiles, He Ningzheng especially composed. He looked Hongdou over and said warmly: “Sister-in-law.”
Seated beside He Lanzhi was her husband Zhang Mingjing. Since Zhang Mingjing currently served as Director of the Finance Bureau in the government and was usually occupied with official duties, He Lanzhi, with nothing to do at home, often came to visit her natal family.
Last time Zhang Mingjing had happened to be occupied and hadn’t met her, so this was their first formal meeting. Hongdou turned her smiling gaze toward this elder brother-in-law—the man could hardly be called dashing, but being tall and fair-skinned, he was pleasant enough to look at, though from lack of activity he’d already grown somewhat stout past thirty.
His face wore an amiable expression as he looked Hongdou over, then said to He Lanzhi with a laugh: “It seems the in-laws’ family doesn’t just produce good-looking children of their own—even the daughter-in-law they picked out is exceptional. All the finest talents of Shanghai seem to have gathered at the in-laws’ house.”
He Lanzhi turned her face aside with a smile: “Leave it to you to have such a way with words—praising your sister-in-law is one thing, but how did you manage to work yourself into the compliment too?”
He Zhuyun rose and greeted them gently: “Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law.”
Hongdou smiled and sat down beside He Yunqin.
He Mengmei’s face carried a dignified, pleased smile as he said to Hongdou: “Second Son here is thoughtless himself—from now on, if anything comes up at home, just instruct the servants directly. If the servants aren’t attentive enough, tell your mother-in-law or your elder sister-in-law.”
Hongdou turned and met Duan Mingyi’s gentle gaze, smiling: “Yes, I understand.”
Her voice was bright and sweet, her smile radiant. Watching this, He Mengmei’s expression grew even more pleased. Glancing up, he saw that though his son said nothing, his face carried a hint of spring-breeze contentment, and his heart settled completely.
While the servants were setting out the bowls and chopsticks, Mrs. He said to He Yunqin with a smile: “There’s nothing pressing today—once you’ve had breakfast, why don’t you take Hongdou around to see the house.”
He Yunqin glanced at Hongdou: “That was my original plan, but I just remembered Wang Bide has something going on—I think we’ll head over to Fuhua Lane instead.”
Mrs. He said, displeased: “Inspector Wang’s place is nothing but cases. You’re newly married—what business do you have going there?”
Worried Hongdou might be upset, she privately blamed her son for being so willful—she prayed the young couple wouldn’t fall into a quarrel on their very first day of marriage.
He Zhuyun stole a glance—Second Brother seemed perfectly composed. She recalled that Second Sister-in-law had always loved these strange, curious matters back at school—in this respect at least, Second Sister-in-law and Second Brother were well matched, and probably wouldn’t be upset at all.
Sure enough, Second Sister-in-law’s face showed not the slightest displeasure, her eyes bright as she calmly ate her congee. He Lanzhi and the others watched, both surprised and admiring.
They would never have guessed a woman could take interest in such things—they simply assumed Hongdou’s restraint was first-rate, and no wonder she’d had Second Brother wrapped around her finger in just a month or two.
After breakfast, Hongdou chatted a bit with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, then returned to the room with He Yunqin.
“Are we really going to see Inspector Wang?” The moment he’d shut the door, she turned and asked him.
He looked down at her. It was broad daylight, and there was hardly anything improper he could get up to in the room anyway—and besides, he still wasn’t certain whether Hongdou would even agree to any mischief. Rather than sit there staring at her uselessly, better to take her to see Wang Bide instead.
“There was a strange strangling case at the Keyu Theater a while back. Inspector Wang had no leads, so he called me twice about it, but seeing I was busy with the wedding, he stopped following up after that. It’s been over a month now, and I’m quite curious about who the culprit is—I want to go see how the investigation’s progressing.”
As he spoke he walked toward the inner room, glancing back at her: “Do you want to come? If so I’ll wait for you to change—you can’t go out in that.”
“The Keyu Theater strangling case?” Hongdou’s interest was immediately piqued—how could she pass up the chance? “Then wait for me outside.”
Did this mean, since she needed to change clothes, he wasn’t allowed into the inner room? There’d been nothing improper on her mind at first, but this made it feel oddly charged.
Ten minutes felt like a full hour. At last she emerged, having put away the necklace, changed into a long tunic and trousers—still red from head to toe.
Hongdou hadn’t failed to notice the faint surprise in He Yunqin’s eyes, but she kept reminding herself constantly that this was her honeymoon with He Yunqin, and though she’d changed clothes, she still wanted good luck on her side, not wanting him to see through her little scheme. She walked over with an air of nonchalance: “Let’s go.”
But she’d clearly underestimated He Yunqin’s perceptiveness. He looked her over from head to toe, and seeing she’d practically worn red shoes as well, immediately changed his mind: “Actually, what Mother said earlier makes sense too. We just got married—why does it have to be today of all days? Let’s go another day. I’ll take you around the house today instead.”
Hongdou froze—this man’s perceptiveness was truly startling. She stared at him a moment, her face gradually growing hot.
He Yunqin had originally meant to pull open the door and leave, but turning his head, he saw Hongdou staring fixedly at him, looking faintly bashful, and felt a sudden stir of temptation. His hand rested on the door handle, hesitating over whether to go out, when someone knocked outside: “Second Young Master, Inspector Wang is here.”
The two of them froze—well, this settled it. No need for them to go out after all; Wang Bide had come to them.
Guessing he’d come about the case, He Yunqin opened the door: “Please show Inspector Wang to the small study. My wife and I will be right there.”
In the study, Wang Bide was indeed sitting and drinking tea, waiting patiently. Perhaps because of the visit, he was dressed with unusual formality today, and for once his eyes looked clear and sharp, clearly not having been drinking so early in the morning.
Seeing the two of them enter, Wang Bide rose. Compared to his usual lazy, careless manner, today he actually seemed a touch sheepish, chuckling and half-joking: “I only drank at your wedding yesterday—by rights, I really shouldn’t be here today disturbing you two lovebirds.”
He Yunqin knew that although Wang Bide carried himself casually, he wasn’t someone who acted without a sense of proportion. His visit today must mean something quite serious. He exchanged a glance with Hongdou and dismissed the servants: “What happened?”
Seeing He Yunqin get straight to the point, Wang Bide didn’t bother beating around the bush either: “Another person’s died. Died the exact same way as that Yang Yutian, the actor from the Keyu Theater case.”
Author’s note: The second arc was originally going to be called the “Tangyuan Case,” but since it’s near the Lantern Festival and the author is a glutton who didn’t want to spoil her own appetite for tangyuan, she changed it to the “Five Firsts Case.” The main plotline is the same, of course—this arc’s culprit is quite hard to guess, hehe.