A man and woman sleeping together—must they be extremely, extraordinarily careful?

Yan Sanhe had never heard such a claim before.

“Why?”

“Men are yang, women are yin. When male and female bodies unite, fundamentally their fortunes unite as well. Let me use myself and Lady Ling as an example.”

Zhu Yuanmo cleared his throat.

“If Lady Ling’s fortune is poor, declining, then when I engage in carnal relations with her, inevitably my fortune and hers will exchange a portion.”

Yan Sanhe understood immediately.

“In other words, your good fortune goes to her, her bad fortune comes to you, and then your respective destinies undergo subtle changes.”

Zhu Yuanmo’s eyes showed appreciation: “Miss Yan, that’s precisely the principle.”

“And conversely—”

Yan Sanhe: “If Lady Ling’s fortune is good and yours is slightly poor, then her good luck goes to you and your bad fortune goes to her.”

Zhu Yuanmo: “Yes.”

Yan Sanhe frowned in thought for a moment. “Don’t medical texts say that harmonizing yin and yang brings peace to all things? Aren’t relations between men and women precisely this harmonization of yin and yang?”

“When a man and woman of similar fortune unite, that’s true harmonization of yin and yang. Otherwise…”

Zhu Yuanmo changed direction: “Miss, do you know the Six Rites of Grand Marriage?”

Yan Sanhe: “Proposal, name inquiry, auspicious selection, betrothal gifts, date selection, and ceremonial welcome.”

“Among the Six Rites, name inquiry and auspicious selection involve taking the man and woman’s eight characters to a temple for calculation. If the eight characters match, the fortunes match; if the families are well-matched, the fortunes also match.”

Zhu Yuanmo paused, then continued: “The monks at temples calculate simply—they only check for conflicts. Truly particular families will come to us for calculations.”

Hearing this, Yan Sanhe couldn’t help but recall something Third Madam had mentioned.

“The Second Household has no sons. The lady bought two maids from outside—ones with wide hips who could bear children. Master Zhu made a rare show of displeasure. Was it because of this reason?”

This matter involved the Second Household. Zhu Yuanmo looked deeply at Second Brother.

“Women bought from outside are of unknown background. If their eight characters were randomly fabricated, forget about my father—even an immortal would struggle to calculate good from bad.”

So that was it.

Yan Sanhe: “Then what’s the significance of age fifteen?”

“After a man passes fifteen, he truly begins to grow and develop—growing taller, developing an Adam’s apple, his voice changing…”

Zhu Yuanmo: “For people in our profession, before fifteen is when yang energy is most abundant, when spiritual energy is most abundant. If one fails to preserve one’s virgin body at this time, what’s lost isn’t merely vital essence and yang energy—most importantly, it’s spiritual energy.”

Yan Sanhe: “If spiritual energy is lost, what changes occur?”

Zhu Yuanmo: “Spiritual energy is the concentrated essence of heaven and earth. When spiritual energy encounters turbid energy, one’s destiny and karmic burden both worsen.”

“Doesn’t that essentially amount to changing one’s fate?” Li Buyan blurted out.

Zhu Yuanmo paused, then nodded: “It’s almost like changing one’s fate.”

A shadow crossed Yan Sanhe’s brow.

Zhu Xuanguang was originally someone with spiritual energy, but he shared a bed with a maid before turning fifteen, losing his spiritual energy early;

Then he got entangled with the cook’s daughter, his spiritual energy turned turbid, his fortune deteriorated.

But the key question was—

As a member of the Zhu family, having grown up under Old Master Zhu’s instruction, how could Zhu Xuanguang make such a fatal error?

“Zhu Jing.”

Her gaze turned to the old steward. “What kind of person was Zhu Xuanguang as a child?”

Asked this, the old steward was filled with unspeakable regret.

He’d watched the eldest master grow up from childhood. That child had looked very much like the old madam, with bright, luminous black eyes that clearly showed his spiritual energy.

“The eldest master was truly clever and quick-witted as a child. He learned everything fast, remembered everything firmly, and conducted himself with proper rules and etiquette. Everyone who saw him praised him as exceptional for his young age.”

Yan Sanhe: “What of his character?”

Old Steward: “Miss Yan, I can’t speak to other matters, but let me tell you about something that happened to me personally.”

Yan Sanhe: “Please do.”

One year when the Zhu family returned to their ancestral home for tomb-sweeping, they encountered refugees on the road. The refugees came to snatch food and got into a fight with the guards.

The eldest master and old madam were sharing a carriage. He broke free from the old madam’s hand, jumped down from the carriage himself, rushed to the old master’s side, dropped to his knees, and begged.

“He begged the old master to give the refugees some food, saying those people were too pitiful.”

Yan Sanhe: “How old was he then?”

Old Steward: “Three years old.”

Yan Sanhe: “Did Old Master Zhu give them food?”

“He did.”

Old Steward: “And it’s fortunate he did, because there were actually one or two more waves of refugees behind them. If they’d all surrounded us, the guards couldn’t have held them off. The old master gave them all the silver and food, avoiding disaster.”

In this matter, Zhu Xuanguang had two shining qualities: first, a soft and kind heart; second, proper etiquette.

This etiquette was evident in his kneeling and beseeching.

For a three-year-old child, unless his parents had taught him extremely well, he wouldn’t yet have formed such etiquette. He would have simply tugged at his father’s hand to plead for help.

Clearly, Zhu Xuanguang as a child was someone with proper etiquette!

Yan Sanhe narrowed her eyes: “When did Zhu Xuanguang begin to change?”

This time the old steward remained silent for a long while.

“I don’t remember. It seemed to happen all at once. Even the old madam said this child had changed so much that she, his own mother, didn’t recognize him anymore.”

Yan Sanhe: “When your old master realized this son was ruined, what did he say?”

Old Steward: “What could he say? Just that he was disappointed, lamenting that iron wouldn’t become steel. He also blamed the old madam for spoiling him too much.”

Yan Sanhe: “Did the old madam spoil him?”

Old Steward: “Even if the old madam spoiled anyone, she wouldn’t have spoiled the eldest master. Everyone thought he would be the next family head.”

Yan Sanhe: “Who selected the young servants around the eldest master and the maids in his courtyard?”

Old Steward: “The old master selected the young servants, and the old madam personally selected the maids.”

Parents wouldn’t harm their own child.

These people should all have been carefully chosen. The master’s future was their future—how could things have reached the point of breaking the rules?

“What was the name of the maid who had an affair with the eldest master? What did she look like?”

“Miss Yan?”

Third Master Zhu looked confused. “We’re currently resolving my father’s heart demon. Is it necessary to ask so carefully about my eldest uncle’s romantic affairs from the past?”

Yan Sanhe’s dark eyes looked at him coldly: “What do you think?”

Second Master Zhu shouted sharply: “Third Brother!”

Under his eldest brother’s gaze, Third Master Zhu awkwardly turned his head away.

The old steward’s cloudy eyes blinked several times: “Miss Yan, that maid was called Chunyu. This old servant can’t remember what she looked like.”

Yan Sanhe had been at the Zhu residence for two days and had seen quite a few maids, inside and out—especially those serving the masters, all quite attractive.

“Did the old master investigate this matter?”

“Not only did the old master investigate, the old madam did as well.”

“What did they find?”

“The two had their first stirrings of love and had been secretly eyeing each other for a long time. It just so happened that night it was that maid’s turn to keep watch. The eldest master was thirsty in the middle of the night and wanted tea, so that maid brought water to his lips.”

The old steward’s face showed some embarrassment.

“It was the height of summer, everyone wore thin clothes. At that age, the eldest master’s internal fire was naturally strong, and he just couldn’t restrain himself…”

Something’s wrong!

Yan Sanhe bit out two words in her mind.