Wang Yu glanced around and lowered her voice. “The Yu household… you shouldn’t go there for the time being.”

Hua Zhi was taken aback. She hadn’t expected her to say that.

Wang Yu tugged at her hair with a hint of agitation, keeping her voice low. “Weiwei has never been the type to stay cooped up indoors, yet since she got married at the start of the month, she hasn’t come out at all — something that has never happened before. A few days ago I went to her home, but the one who came out to see me was her new husband. He said Weiwei was feeling unwell and couldn’t receive guests. Weiwei and I have grown up together since we were children. She might be indisposed to others, but she could never be indisposed to me.”

Wang Yu paused to collect herself, then continued, “I have no basis to say any of this to others. But after you left, Weiwei always had you on her lips. She even said that Jinyang is close to the capital and that she hoped to find an opportunity someday to come looking for you there. People are strange — if I didn’t know the two of you had only known each other for such a short while, I’d have thought you were friends of many years.”

Hua Zhi let the somewhat mocking edge of those last words pass without acknowledgment and simply asked, “What sort of man is Miss Yu’s husband? And how is Master Yu faring?”

“Master Yu’s health has been declining since last year. That’s actually why he was in a hurry to see Weiwei married. Aside from appearing at the wedding, he has not received any visitors since. As for Weiwei’s husband —” Wang Yu thought it over. “He carries himself rather well. Although he married into the family, his bearing is not lacking. A poor match would never have been endorsed by Weiwei’s elder male cousin.”

Hua Zhi’s thoughts immediately turned suspicious. If Zeng Xianglin was connected to the Chaoli Tribe, what guarantee was there that he bore no hidden malice in the matter of the Yu household?

“Miss Wang actually wants me to pay the Yu household a visit, doesn’t she.”

Wang Yu raised an eyebrow. “Whatever would make you say that, Miss Hua?”

“We’ve done little more than play a few rounds of cards together. For the depth of what you’ve just said, our acquaintance is far too slight.” Hua Zhi gave a light flick of her sleeve. “A great household can occasionally raise a harmless little lamb. But Miss Wang is clearly not one.”

“I’ve underestimated you, it seems.” Speaking to a sharp mind, Wang Yu dropped any pretense of concealment. “I’m worried about Weiwei, but I can’t keep showing up at her door. I was hoping to ask you to go once, so I might know whether she is all right.”

Now that made sense. She had said one thing while meaning another — urging her not to go while presenting the matter in a way that was deliberately veiled, and then invoking the warmth Weiwei had shown her to stir up her concern, nudging her toward visiting the Yu household. The calculation was plain to see. Yet Hua Zhi didn’t find it objectionable. The intent behind it was not bad.

“Miss Wang herself said that people are strange. The last time I came, Miss Yu showed me kindness. I had already planned to call on her now that I’m back.” Hua Zhi dipped into a light bow. “I will be here again the day after tomorrow.”

Wang Yu returned the bow and watched the carriage pull away. She began to understand, a little, why Weiwei would have taken this person of uncertain origin as a friend. Some people needed no particular words, no particular promises, yet carried about them a certain quality that made you trust them instinctively. It never even crossed her mind that this person might turn around and sell her out.

Hua Ling was right. Great households do not raise harmless little lambs. She was not one. Hua Ling was not one. And Weiwei couldn’t possibly be one either.

“Huahua, are you going to that Yu household?” Listening to the noise from the street outside, Shaoye asked.

“I never wanted to use Yu Weiwei for anything.” Hua Zhi leaned against the carriage wall, thinking of the girl who had turned away to hide her tears when she cried. “When I heard she had gotten married, I thought I shouldn’t disturb her anymore. But with what Wang Yu has told me, I ought to go — and besides, I remember she once mentioned that her husband was someone Zeng Xianglin had chosen for her.”

Shaoye grasped it at once. If Zeng Xianglin was suspect, then this person was suspect as well.

Once Gu Yanxi heard the news, he immediately sent someone to look into the man’s background. The results, as it turned out, were not at all surprising. His personal history appeared clean. Though his family was poor, he had studied from a young age and even held the title of a licentiate. Had his parents not fallen gravely ill and left the family with no way to sustain itself, he would never have agreed to marry into a wife’s household. If what had been found was true, such a son-in-law would not be considered a poor choice.

The trouble was — how much of it could be trusted?

Gu Yanxi was reluctant to let Hua Zhi go into danger. “We have Zeng Xianglin’s thread in hand. Resolving this is only a matter of time. The Yu household is not somewhere you must go.”

“I have already sent a calling card, and they have replied.” Hua Zhi explained, “The women of Jinyang are not quite like those of the capital. Perhaps because they go about more freely, their temperaments tend to be a bit wilder — and Weiwei most of all. If she has sensed something is wrong with her husband, she would never simply sit and wait for doom. If we have the same goal, cooperation would benefit us both.”

Gu Yanxi knew all of this perfectly well. Yet — “Your safety matters more.”

“If I had been in Jinyang for a long while, I wouldn’t take this risk. But I only arrived yesterday. The most they could have found out is that the mushroom trade in Jinyang is mine. Even if my surname leads them to suspect I am from the Hua Family, that would actually put them more at ease. After all, what everyone in the capital knows of me is my reputation as a merchant. Bringing my business to Jinyang — the city closest to the capital — is hardly strange.”

“And if they take a liking to your ability to turn things to gold, and decide they want you making money for them?”

Hua Zhi smiled. “I am a Hua. No one would believe a member of the Hua Family would betray their country. My grandfather is merely in exile — he has not died. And the Hua Family’s fall has been too recent for their spirit to be broken. Any truly capable mind within the Chaoli Tribe would understand this.”

Gu Yanxi took her hand and was quiet for a moment.

“Do not feel guilt over things beyond your control. If I blamed you for any of this, I would never have walked this far with you — we could never have started at all.” Hua Zhi bent her head and pressed her lips to the back of the man’s hand, then returned to what she had been saying. “Yu Weiwei is not someone easy to dislike. If she has any will to save herself, I want to help her. This world is far too unkind to women. It cannot do without them, yet it still treats them as lesser. I am a woman too. If I can benefit while helping her at the same time, why not?”

There was nothing Gu Yanxi could say against that. He yielded. “Take Shaoye with you.”

“As if I’d dare leave her behind — she’d turn the roof over.”

Shaoye, her cheeks puffed out on both sides with food, appeared utterly absorbed in her eating, as though none of this had ever occurred to her.

Early the next morning, Hua Zhi went through the things she had brought and selected a few items to bring as gifts. They weren’t especially valuable, but they had been brought from the capital, and that itself made them a small token of sincerity.

On the way there, Hua Zhi said, “Wang Yu mentioned that Weiwei has been feeling unwell. When we see her, take a look at her condition — but don’t take her pulse directly. A visual assessment only. Your role right now is my quiet cousin. Your name is Ling Niang.”

“Ling Niang.” Shaoye murmured it once, then suddenly burst out laughing. “Huahua, do you know what my real name actually is?”

Hua Zhi shook her head. To her, Shaoye was simply Shaoye — it had nothing to do with a name, and so she had never thought to ask.

“Gu Qiaoling. My name is Gu Qiaoling.”

Well, wasn’t that something. Hua Zhi laughed in spite of herself. “What a coincidence.”

Shaoye leaned her head against Huahua’s shoulder and laughed too. Yes, what a coincidence — so perfectly coincidental that it felt as though the name had always been meant for her.