The water in the tea kettle had come to a boil, gurgling steadily. Water droplets spattered across the table. The slanted sunlight cut across the screen — the crabapple blossoms were as bright in one half as they were obscure in the other.

Xue Qiu ladled a full scoop of cold water into the kettle, and its violent boiling stilled once more.

Lin Sui’an closed her eyes and forced back the tears gathering in them. When she opened them again, she watched Hua Yitang slowly fold Lian Xiaoshuang’s last letter, place it back into the wooden box, and close the lid.

Ling Zhiyan sat in silence, as though he wanted to say something, and then said nothing at all.

Xue Qiu replaced her handkerchief and wiped the water droplets from the tea table. “Xiaoshuang was a foolish child. How could the death of a single woman with a lowly register possibly topple something as colossal as the Su family? Her plan was never going to work.”

Hua Yitang: “And so you devised a new plan, supplementing and completing Lian Xiaoshuang’s original scheme. The first step was to kill Wu Zhengqing at the Su family’s night banquet at Sanhua Tower, and establish his identity as the peach blossom murderer — stirring up a great storm that would force the authorities to reopen the old case.”

Xue Qiu’s eyes snapped up, staring at Hua Yitang in astonishment.

“Mi Nina invited Wu Zhengqing to meet privately in a chamber on the day of the banquet, threatening him that if he refused to come, she would make his relationship with Lian Xiaoshuang public. The candles in the room had been laced with a sleeping incense in advance. Once Wu Zhengqing was rendered unconscious, she and Duan Hongning would work together to kill him, then fabricate a scene of two women forced to kill in self-defense. Because time was so short, Mi Nina had even branded the peach blossom mark on her own thigh beforehand.”

“But no one anticipated that Wang Jingfu would create an unexpected complication, and the outcome was Mi Nina’s tragic death, with Wu Zhengqing escaping unpunished. If I am not mistaken, it was Wu Zhengqing who placed the Longshen fruit in the candles that night. Knowing full well that his relationship with Lian Xiaoshuang could not be exposed, he tried his old trick — using the Longshen fruit to control Mi Nina — not expecting that it would ultimately become Mi Nina’s death knell.”

Xue Qiu lowered her eyes. Her fingernails dug into the edge of the table.

“Afterward, Duan Hongning led us to the Moon Matchmaker Shrine — that was to tell us of the relationship between Wu Zhengqing and Lian Xiaoshuang,” Hua Yitang frowned. “Giving Qu Hui the crabapple handkerchief was also part of your plan.”

Xue Qiu curled her fingers inward. “The moment I set eyes on Qu Hui, I understood — she was the one who had killed Xiaoshuang. Giving her the handkerchief was only a reminder that she would eventually have to pay for her crime.”

“So you also incited Qu Hui to kill Wu Zhengqing?!”

“General Hua thinks too highly of us,” Xue Qiu shook her head. “Qu Hui managing to kill Wu Zhengqing was an unexpected stroke of fortune for us as well.”

Hua Yitang closed his eyes tightly.

Ling Zhiyan frowned. “Do you know Pi Xi’s origins?”

“Pi Xi had previously served time in prison for theft, and almost no one dared to employ him. But Jiu Niang was kindhearted and took pity on him, took him in — only to end up… nurturing a tiger that turned on us!” Xue Qiu’s fingers clenched tighter and tighter, blood seeping from between them. “Perhaps Xiaoshuang was angry with us for acting presumptiously on her behalf, and so refused to watch over us…”

Lin Sui’an’s chest ached with a dull, suffocating pressure: four women, giving everything they had, risking their very lives — yet because of those creatures no better than animals, again and again the threads of fate tangled against them, and all their efforts fell just short of success…

Another long silence fell. Hua Yitang let out a slow, long breath. “Ma family held a tea banquet at the guest compound and originally invited only you. You deliberately brought Hua San Niang along with you — was that intentional?”

Xue Qiu released her fingers and slowly dabbed the blood on her palm with the handkerchief. She raised her head, her smile at once tender and ruthless. “Even if a hundred commoners die, it cannot compare to the worth of a single young lady from a distinguished family. If the Third Lady of the Hua family had died there, so much the better!”

Hua Yitang’s pupils contracted sharply, the veins on his neck standing out. Lin Sui’an and Ling Zhiyan moved swiftly — one on each side — and pressed down on his shoulders.

Xue Qiu smiled and poured fresh tea for all three, then rose from her seat, walked behind the screen, and sat down before the crabapple embroidery, a pipa cradled in her arms. “Every time we parted at our gatherings, Xiaoshuang would play a piece called ‘Autumn Moon Sees You Off.’ My playing is far inferior to Xiaoshuang’s. I beg the three of you to forgive the shortcomings.”

With that, she propped the pipa sideways in her arms and slowly raised her hand toward the strings. A thin ray of sunlight fell across them, refracting into an emerald glow. Lin Sui’an’s breath seized. Her body moved faster than her mind — she drew her blade in a flash, the sword light flickering. The pipa in Xue Qiu’s arms burst apart, its strings scattering across the floor. Yet not a single hair on Xue Qiu’s head had been touched. The whole person froze.

Ling Zhiyan stepped forward, using his sleeve to pick up one of the pipa strings and examined it. “Coated with a lethal poison. Contact with blood is instant death.”

Lin Sui’an breathed out slowly. It was fortunate she had reacted in time — otherwise Xue Qiu would already be a corpse. “The person who actually wanted to die at the Ma family’s guest compound — was you, wasn’t it.”

Xue Qiu stood there, frozen — then suddenly she let out a scream that did not sound quite human, collapsed to the floor and wept, “Aaaaaaaaah—”

Like a cuckoo crying blood, every cry a severed heartstring.

Hua Yitang’s throat worked up and down several times. He stood, walked slowly to Xue Qiu, and said quietly, “Come somewhere with us.”

After the five major sects pledged allegiance to Jing Men, Jing Men’s standing in Yidu rose with the tide. In barely half a month, the remaining sects also extended olive branches to Jing Men — either proposing cooperative partnerships or directly placing themselves under Jing Men’s banner. The disciples of the various sects were a mixed assortment, and managing them took considerable effort. Fortunately, Jin Ruo held the fort, and with Gan Hongying and the veteran figures of the Yidu branch working in concert, no major problems arose, and Jing Men’s expansion project was moving along steadily.

Jin Ruo had captured Shen Xun and earned a hundred taels of gold from Hua Yitang, all of which she donated to the Jing Men branch. Gan Hongying used the funds to purchase the entire stretch of Fortune Teller Street in the Old Tree Ward of the Eastern Four District as the site for the new branch. Returning to familiar ground, this time Lin Sui’an was met with a corridor of admiration and warm welcome all along the street.

Hua Yitang did not go to Fortune Teller Street — he went instead to the adjacent Magpie Bridge Street. At the archway at the entrance to the street, Lin Sui’an spotted the Hua family’s clan emblem, and ahead of them appeared a residence with the characters “Academy” written above the wide gate. The courtyard was open and bright, and standing at the entrance, one could faintly hear the clear sound of children reciting their lessons.

Xue Qiu stared blankly. “This place is —”

“All the children we rescued are here. During the day, people from the Hua family look after their daily needs, and tutors have been hired to teach them to read and write.” Hua Yitang explained.

The bell rang; lessons were over.

The children poured out in a swarm, jostling and teasing each other while debating what meat they would have for supper. Two tutors over fifty years old hurried along behind them like a pair of fussing old hens, and the children pulled faces at them, calling them “Old Head Qu and Old Second Qu” — infuriating the two men until they sputtered and glared. The boisterous crowd brushed past them all, and the front courtyard settled back into quiet.

Lin Sui’an: “Those two tutors have the surname Qu — could they be —”

“They are Qu Hui’s two uncles. The Qu family ran a private school originally, and resuming that old trade suits them well,” Hua Yitang said.

Lin Sui’an was astonished. She had expected Hua Yitang to make arrangements for the children, but had not imagined he would buy up an entire street, build an academy, and even find work for Qu Hui’s family members.

And judging by Ling Zhiyan’s expression of surprise, he too had not known.

Hua Yitang seemed to hear the unspoken thoughts of the two of them and curled his lip. “It wasn’t me. It was someone else.”

“Fourth Brother, Xiao An, you’re here.” Hua Yimeng came stepping through the wind out of the schoolhouse, her sweeping skirts billowing against the blazing vermilion clouds of sunset, her nation-toppling beauty in full splendor.

Lin Sui’an heard the sound of her own gulp. She also heard Ling Zhiyan stop breathing altogether. From the corner of her eye she saw that he had gone completely stunned.

Hua Yimeng glided gracefully toward them and waved her hand in front of Ling Zhiyan’s eyes. “Ling the Sixth, what are you staring at?”

Ling Zhiyan snapped back to his senses, his face crimson. He stepped back half a pace and bowed with clasped hands. “Greetings to the Third Lady of the Hua family.”

Hua Yimeng smiled. “Ling the Sixth may call me Academy Director Hua from now on.”

Xue Qiu was greatly startled. “This academy was built by the Third Lady?!”

“Who else would it be?” The smug expression on Hua Yimeng’s face bore six parts resemblance to Hua Yitang. “This location was carefully chosen by me — one turn and you reach the Jing Men branch. Couldn’t be more convenient for learning martial arts in self-defense.”

Ling Zhiyan’s expression carried a trace of surprise. Hua Yimeng raised an eyebrow. “What, does Ling the Sixth believe women have no business learning martial arts?”

Ling Zhiyan shook his head rapidly. “Women are as delicate as flowers — they ought to be properly cherished and cared for. To keep company with swords and blades is too harsh —” (Lin Sui’an: Ahem, ahem, ahem!) “— what Ling means is, in the eyes of the world women are considered as flowers, but Ling believes… that is… Lin Niangzi and the Third Lady are naturally different…” By the end of it he couldn’t even smooth over what he’d said himself and broke out in a cold sweat.

Lin Sui’an and Hua Yimeng exchanged a glance and burst out laughing.

Ling Zhiyan’s face turned even redder. Hua Yitang raised his fan to his forehead. “Hopeless.”

“As fellow women, we are really not so different.” Lin Sui’an said.

Hua Yimeng’s luminous gaze rested on the schoolhouse. “Women are flowers — but they are also tenacious and unyielding, with spines of steel. A hundred flowers are born of heaven and earth, stand in heaven and earth, and should face the frost and snow with pride, blooming in all their glory.”

The wind lifted Hua Yimeng’s skirts and set Lin Sui’an’s sword scabbard ringing softly.

Both Hua Yitang and Ling Zhiyan fell into a daze.

Xue Qiu stared at the backs of the two women, tears streaming down her face.

Hua Yimeng looked toward Xue Qiu with gentle warmth. “Would Xue Niangzi be willing to come and help me?”

Xue Qiu stepped back several paces. “A person like me… is not worthy!”

Hua Yimeng sighed softly. “I once made a promise with Qu Hui that we would plant shu-mallow, hibiscus, crabapple, and seven-colored chrysanthemums in the garden — admire the blossoms in spring, listen to the rain in summer, watch the moon in autumn, and breathe in the snow in winter, brewing tea from the snowmelt… Now that they are gone, would Xue Niangzi be willing to live the remaining days in their stead?”

Xue Qiu’s face went white, and she shook her head frantically. Before she could move, Lin Sui’an caught her wrist. Xue Qiu startled and looked up, and met Lin Sui’an’s clear eyes, cool as summer ice spring water.

Lin Sui’an’s voice dropped very low — only the two of them could hear.

“These children appear unharmed on the surface, but you, having been through the same experience as they have as white livestock, know better than anyone how agonizing those memories are, and how difficult it is to emerge from them. The children still have a long road ahead. If the day comes when they can no longer hold on — only you can understand and guide them, and help them through!”

Xue Qiu was stunned. “How do you… how could you possibly know…”

“Xiaoshuang’s crabapple blossoms are not only blossoms in the sunlight — they are also crabapple blossoms reborn in blood beneath the moon,” Lin Sui’an released Xue Qiu’s wrist. “They believe you will remember that.”

Xue Qiu’s tears flooded out and she wept so hard no sound came.

Lin Sui’an smiled gently and pressed a finger to her lips in a hush. In that instant, Xue Qiu seemed to glimpse behind Lin Sui’an three sisters who had once been her entire world — smiling, looking at her.

The sun was sinking in the west, the evening clouds the color of rouge.

Lin Sui’an watched the retreating figures of Xue Qiu and Hua Yimeng walking side by side and let out a long, slow breath. She thought it over, then asked one more question: “Strictly speaking, Xue Qiu is also an accomplice — do the two of you truly intend to let her go just like that?”

Hua Yitang flapped his little fan back and forth. “Hua merely had nothing better to do and dropped by a teahouse for a cup of tea. Accomplice? No idea what that means.”

Ling Zhiyan said with a straight face, “Ling merely had tired eyes from reading dossiers and stepped out for a stroll.”

Lin Sui’an: “…”

Hua Yitang had thoroughly corrupted this impressive specimen of a man — his ability to look you in the eye and speak utter nonsense was becoming more polished by the day.

Hua Yitang stretched lazily. “The time is about right. We should go and meet the real peach blossom murderer.”

Short Extra Scene

Jin Ruo squatted on a stool, her abacus beads flying, calculating — and as she calculated, she began to sink into a pit of gloom.

The more she calculated, the richer Jing Men grew. The more she calculated, the poorer she herself became.

At this rate, she would become the poorest sect master in the wealthiest sect in all of Tang history.

“Sigh — if it really comes to it, I might have to fleece a bit more wool off that one surnamed Hua…”