Hongdou came in and shut the door, standing quietly in a daze for a moment. She raised her eyes to meet the warm, golden sunlight filling the room, and couldn’t help feeling a little lost. Through the door, she heard He Yunqin’s voice, cold in tone, say a few words to the servant, and quickly sent the person away. Right after, the doorknob turned as he pushed from outside to come in.

Hongdou was still standing there in a daze, unable to move out of the way in time.

He Yunqin pushed twice, feeling that Hongdou was blocking the door from inside, and frowned, saying in a low voice, “Hongdou, let me in.”

Only then did Hongdou come back to her senses—the scene looked as if she’d deliberately been pressing against the door to keep him out. Startled, she quickly stepped aside, letting him push the door open.

Once he came in, their eyes met, and Hongdou, remembering how he’d just been shut out, forced her expression to stay composed so she wouldn’t burst out laughing. She had no room left to be angry, and said sheepishly, “I didn’t mean to do that just now.”

He Yunqin gazed at her quietly, not responding, his mood unreadable.

Being looked at like that made her feel a little guilty inside, and her usual willful, spoiled streak surfaced again. She turned and headed further into the room, saying, “I’m tired, I’m going to rest inside for a bit.”

He Yunqin stood outside for another moment before coming in. Entering the room, he saw that Hongdou had taken off her outer wool sweater, and underneath, her bare feet were slipped into a pair of lotus-purple soft satin slippers embroidered with gold thread. She held a hair comb in her hand, sitting at the dressing table combing her hair, stroke by stroke.

Their eyes met again in the mirror. Hongdou set down the comb, not saying anything—it felt embarrassing to get into bed in broad daylight. Her gaze swept around the room and landed on a book of his lying on the couch. She got up, kicked off her slippers, sat down on the couch, tucked her two bare feet up under her, and picked up the book to read.

He Yunqin was quiet for a while, then walked over and sat down beside the couch too, taking the book from her hands and tossing it aside. “Why were you angry just now?”

Hongdou snatched the book back. “Who said I was angry?”

He Yunqin’s gaze fell on the book in her hands. “That’s my book.”

Hongdou lifted a pair of dark, glossy eyes. “Can’t I read your book?”

He Yunqin’s tone carried a hint of teasing. “It’s in German. Can you even understand it?”

Hongdou looked down—it really was a German book. She’d been so intent on arguing seriously with He Yunqin just now that she hadn’t even noticed the title page.

Her ears burned hot, and she raised her fine eyebrows. “I was just flipping through it casually. I’ll be able to understand it eventually anyway.”

He Yunqin stared at her without blinking. “And how exactly do you plan to learn to understand it?”

She could feel his gaze slide slowly down the bridge of her nose to her lips, and her heart skipped a beat for no reason. She said stubbornly, “There are German professors at school. I can go learn from them.”

“There’s someone right in front of you who knows German. Why not learn from him?”

A faint, glistening light showed in Hongdou’s eyes. “Because that person is annoying.”

“How is he annoying?”

Hongdou watched, wide-eyed, as he drew closer and closer, her chest feeling as if spring willow branches were lightly brushing across it, her whole body going soft. “Annoying is just annoying, that’s all.”

His breath grazed her lips. “The whole He family knows I studied forensic trace analysis.”

A short sentence, but its meaning went far beyond the words.

Hongdou’s heart pounded rapidly as she stared fixedly into his ink-black eyes, at the high, straight bridge of his nose. She had never been this close to him before—close enough to clearly see the fine, clean texture of his skin.

Her voice came out soft and faint, almost a murmur. “Why are you bringing that up.”

His gaze lowered, and he kissed her lips. “Because you’re jealous.”

Hongdou’s lashes trembled lightly, and instinctively she closed her eyes. It felt as though a light feather brushed across the back of her neck, and the flutter went straight to her heart. For a moment, her body went so soft she could barely hold herself up, and she didn’t know what to do with her hands—in the end she could only lift her arms and press them softly against his chest.

He pretended to be composed, though in truth he was hardly more practiced than she was. After a somewhat clumsy round of exploration, he finally stopped merely bumping her front teeth and managed to properly claim her sweet kiss. Fortunately, she didn’t mind his technique in the least—amid her shyness there was even a touch of reckless eagerness in her response, an innocent kiss, a kiss that left them both intoxicated.

His heart wouldn’t stop fluttering. He wrapped an arm around her waist and laid her down among the bright red bedding. Hongdou gave a small start, but meeting his unusually dark, jet-black gaze, she gradually softened again.

He Yunqin’s heart pounded deafeningly. What was there left to be uncertain about? Even if their marriage had come about out of some necessity, she had clearly married him because she liked him. Not only did she show no resistance at all to his closeness, but toward his past, she also carried a possessiveness that was innocent and unknowing, yet utterly unmistakable.

He took hold of her wrist and raised it above her head, then leaned down, gazing at her, and murmured by her ear, “Hongdou.”

Before her marriage, Hongdou had received some instruction from her mother, so how could she not know that He Yunqin was asking her for intimacy? She was instantly too embarrassed to speak, and quickly turned her face aside. With that motion, a warm, brilliant flush spread rapidly across her cheeks, her eyes shimmering with a crystalline light, her lips flushed red like petals dewed with drops of moisture.

Her whole face was unbelievably beautiful—both a kind of tacit consent and an invitation. He Yunqin, as always, knew how to seize the moment. He lowered his head and, without the least hesitation, kissed her earlobe, while his other hand reached toward her waist.

Who could have known that at that moment someone knocked on the door outside, and the next instant, a servant’s voice came through: “Second Young Master, Second Young Mistress, lunch is ready downstairs. The Master and Madam ask you to come down and eat.”

The two of them froze.

Hongdou hurriedly pushed him away and rolled to the side.

He Yunqin was stunned for a moment, and seeing Hongdou run off, could only collapse backward onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling, and said furiously, “Understood.”