Lu Qingrong was thrilled. She knew that in sheer grandeur, her family’s residence could not compare to a commandery princess’s — but these hidden mechanisms and clever contrivances, who would see them and not click their tongue in admiration?

“This room inside holds the accounts I review from time to time. Occasionally, when matters need to be discussed, I have people speak here as well.” She stepped inside and picked up two wine cups from the curio shelf, turning to show him. “These were a birthday gift from Father — made of glass, you can’t find these outside.”

Xie Lanting followed her into the room and watched the door close behind him. He smiled and asked suddenly, “Does this place also muffle sound — no matter what stirs inside, nothing can be heard from the outside?”

Lu Qingrong had been about to say yes, but thinking carefully about his words, she was instantly so flustered with embarrassment she couldn’t stand still. “I — we’d better go back out.”

He gave a soft laugh, and reached out to pull her into his embrace. “Having brought me to such a fine place, wouldn’t it be a shame to simply leave?”

Lu Qingrong’s legs went weak, and she grasped his arm with a touch of alarm. “You — what are you trying to do?”

Xie Lanting leaned close to her ear in a tease. “Take a guess.”

“No, we have to go through the Three Letters and Six Rites first, before we can—”

Before the words were out, he leaned down and pressed close again.

The customs of the Great Sheng dynasty were open and far more lenient toward women than in previous dynasties, but she was not yet married, and such goings-on were still improper no matter how one looked at it.

Lu Qingrong struggled for a moment.

Xie Lanting sensed her resistance and immediately let her go, stepping back. “Forgive me — if you’re not willing, then we can…”

“I — I didn’t say I was unwilling.” She hastily pulled him back. “I’m only a little frightened.”

“Afraid I’ll act improperly?” Xie Lanting raised a brow.

“Not exactly…” She murmured, trying to explain, then felt it was too difficult to put into words — so she simply closed her eyes and leaned up on tiptoe herself.

Her clumsy kiss knocked into his lips, and he drew in a sharp breath at the impact.

Xie Lanting shook his head with exasperated resignation. He lifted her up and set her on the writing desk, then held the back of her neck and gently showed her, one step at a time.

Lu Qingrong may have seemed imperious and domineering on the surface, but in matters of intimacy she was quite awkward and inexperienced. Being kissed like this, she did not dare open her eyes, and her body softened and kept leaning into his embrace.

Xie Lanting, entirely at his ease, kept her well in hand. One hand covered her eyes, while the other naturally began flipping through the things on the desk.

As it happened, a draft slip from Xiao Hui Money House was tucked inside an account book — already signed and sealed for payment, under Lu Huan’s name.

Then looking at the account book itself — Lu Qingrong was rather bold: undisguised unofficial ledgers lay spread out openly. Most of it was written in code, but someone with extensive experience in handling cases could see through the system at a glance.

Beside it were several letters as well. Unknown who had written them, but instinct told him they were useful.

Xie Lanting simply took everything together, tucked it into the binding straps on the back of his leg, and then laid the layers of his robe back over it, one by one.

The person in his arms let out a soft murmur, and her hands moved toward the fastenings of his lapels.

Xie Lanting swiftly caught her hands. “Qingrong — what do you think you’re doing?”

He had no intention of sacrificing himself for a court case.

Lu Qingrong snapped back to her senses abruptly, so mortified she buried her head against his chest. “I — I…”

“It’s stuffy in here — let’s head back out.” He lifted her up in his arms, and said with an easy smile, “Your legs have gone so soft you can’t walk — allow me to do the honours.”

“Please say no more…” Her voice was trembling.

Honestly, compared to the celebrated entertainers at Chunfeng Tower, someone as green and unwitting as her was really not his type at all.

But given that she had — unknowingly — done him a great service, Xie Lanting still resolved to attend to her properly: coaxing her, teasing her, and even accompanying her in chess and tea.

The way Lu Qingrong looked at him, which had started out as a young girl’s first stirrings of love, had by this point transformed into an unwavering resolve — the kind that said if you are to be the immovable stone, I shall be the yielding reed.

He had seen such looks often enough that they held no great novelty, so he simply smiled along with practiced familiarity, and in the meantime took the opportunity to draw out a few things in conversation.

·

Zhang Zhixu returned to Mingzhu Tower, and had just settled himself into the bath when the door was kicked open with a bang.

“Great Immortal!” Chen Baoxiang stuck her head through the doorway with her usual lack of ceremony. “Xie Lanting’s side has come through — everything has already been sent to the Princess Imperial’s residence.”

Zhang Zhixu: “…”

He looked at his unclothed self, then looked at the wide-open door. “Come in to talk?”

Chen Baoxiang was not the least bit polite. She stepped across the threshold and crouched down beside the bathing pool. “When do you think the Princess Imperial will make her move?”

“I don’t know.” Zhang Zhixu shook his head. “If it’s quick, it’ll be before Lu Shouhuai’s promotion goes through. But if she has other considerations, then it’s hard to say when she’ll bring it out.”

“Ah?” Chen Baoxiang wrinkled her nose. “Yanglin Village can hardly afford to wait.”

“Great Immortal, is there any way to give the Princess Imperial a nudge?”

Zhang Zhixu pointed at his own back.

Chen Baoxiang, understanding the hint, picked up the scrubbing cloth. “Should I cover your eyes too?”

“Why?”

“Last time we bathed together, didn’t you have me cover them?” She mimed the gesture.

Jiuquan, standing to one side: “…”

No — he had sworn an oath to serve his master for life and never betray him, but did certain private matters need to be discussed so openly in front of him?

“Chen,” he murmured softly, “this subordinate is still here.”

“Oh — isn’t that convenient then?” Chen Baoxiang picked up the sash from beside him and held it out. “Then you come and cover them.”

Jiuquan: ?

Zhang Zhixu, in the pool, pressed a hand to his forehead. It was difficult to explain to Jiuquan that bathing together was not that kind of bathing together, and equally impossible to make Chen Baoxiang understand that circumstances change with time and place.

He could only take the sash himself and say to Jiuquan, “You go on outside.”

“Yes.”

Jiuquan fled at speed — not only pulling the door shut behind him, but also driving away all the attendants who had been standing guard nearby.

“Fine.” Zhang Zhixu sighed, and pointed at the sash in her hands. “Put it over your own eyes.”

“Hmm?” Chen Baoxiang stared. “When I was the one bathing, you covered my eyes. Now that you’re the one bathing, you’re still covering my eyes?”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“Oh.”

Proceeding from the philosophy that “since the Great Immortal said so, there must be a reason for it,” Chen Baoxiang covered her own eyes, and began groping about to find the bathing cloth to scrub his back.

“Great Immortal, you’ve had the composure to take a bath, so you must have already thought of a plan, haven’t you?”

“The Princess Imperial is a person of capricious moods, and rarely willing to act as others wish.” Zhang Zhixu extended his arm toward her. “This side has more grime — scrub a little harder.”

Chen Baoxiang fumbled about, found his arm, and pressed down with more force. “You mean we can’t press her?”

“We can — but not us doing the pressing. Someone she doesn’t despise needs to first raise the matter before the Emperor, and only then will she be willing to go along with the current and act.”

“Who is it that she doesn’t despise?”

“In the Three Departments and Six Ministries, apart from her own disciples, everyone else earns her contempt.” Zhang Zhixu smiled faintly. “But my eldest brother is a valiant and battle-hardened warrior who once saved her life — she can just barely bring herself to look on him with some measure of approval.”

Zhang’s eldest brother?

Chen Baoxiang asked immediately, “Where is he now?”

“He just returned to the capital.”

“Then isn’t this easy to handle?” She brightened. “We go directly and ask your elder brother for help.”

“Do you know what temperament my elder brother has?”

“I don’t, but someone who raised a young master as upright as Little Zhang must not be a bad person himself.” Chen Baoxiang grew more and more excited, pinching the cloth as she switched directions and kept scrubbing. “This can work!”

The person in the pool suddenly let out a muffled sound.