Lin Sui’an crept stealthily onto the rooftop, pricked both ears up, and readied herself at all times to catch some gossip.

Her position had every geographic advantage: the pavilion in the east courtyard garden was diagonally below, and by slightly bending down and tilting her head she could take in everything happening in the garden at a glance.

Hua Yitang and Bai Ruyi stood facing each other in the pavilion. Bai Ruyi wore a plain white cotton robe, graceful as a beautiful jade. Hua Yitang wore a pure-white fox-fur cloak, his fine clothes and handsome face vivid as embroidered silk. It was an exceedingly pleasant sight to behold.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere between the two was anything but pleasant — in fact, it was rather tense, like drawn swords and strung bows.

Especially Hua Yitang: one eyebrow arched up, one eye half-squinted, one shoulder twitching — however you looked at him, he looked like a street-corner ruffian spoiling for a fight.

Bai Ruyi seemed to have been intimidated by Hua Yitang’s bearing. He bowed his head, breathing deeply, and said nothing for a long moment.

He wouldn’t speak, but Hua Yitang had no qualms. He opened with: “Say what you have to say, let out what you need to let out, show what you’ve got and bring it on — Hua Family’s Fourth Young Master has never feared anyone from the day he was born!”

Bai Ruyi drew a deep breath, then jerked his head up. His gaze blazed. Hua Yitang jolted. “Let’s establish the ground rules now: as for reciting books and composing poetry and prose — I’m not equipped! As for fighting — I’ll give you a three-move head start. As for a war of words — I’ll give you ten sentences of advantage!”

Bai Ruyi: “Wh — what?”

Hua Yitang stood with arms akimbo. “You’re not here to challenge me to a contest?”

“Why would we have a contest?”

“Naturally because when rivals in love meet, their eyes blaze with—” Hua Yitang caught himself mid-sentence, saw Bai Ruyi’s expression shift from puzzlement to shock, and immediately caught on. “Then what exactly do you want?”

Bai Ruyi took a third deep breath, bowed to Hua Yitang with earnest courtesy, and said: “Bai wishes to invite Fourth Young Master Hua to join me in giving lectures to the students of Sanhe Academy.”

Dead silence.

The cold winter wind swept past Hua Yitang’s fox-fur cloak, blowing off two hairs.

Lin Sui’an nearly burst out laughing, and hastily clamped her hands over her cheeks.

Hua Yitang’s face twitched twice. “Bai Thirteenth Young Master, who knew — you look so fair-skinned and nice, yet your heart is this vicious!”

Bai Ruyi was baffled. “What?”

“You calculated that you can’t beat me in a fight, can’t out-argue me, and can’t look better than me — so you decided to torment me to death instead?!”

“I — I — this… how does Fourth Young Master Hua arrive at such a conclusion?!”

“Since I was small, I’ve hated nothing more than reciting books and schoolmasters. The moment I set foot in a schoolroom, I’d get dizzy and nauseated. At the sight of classical particles, I’d get diarrhea and leg cramps. And you want me to give lectures — and you say it’s not to torment me?!”

Bai Ruyi stood there slack-jawed for a long moment. “It — it was my oversight. I was being too — too — too rash!”

Hua Yitang let out a huff and kept bouncing his foot.

It was the depths of winter, yet Bai Ruyi had been pressured by Hua Yitang into breaking out into a full-head sweat. He clutched his sleeve and wiped at it for a long while, and finally managed to find his way back to his point. “Bai is filled with remorse, and so wished to make it up to Fourth Young Master in some small way.”

This time it was Hua Yitang’s turn to be baffled. “Huh?”

“The truth is… the Imperial Book Repository was established after a memorial Bai submitted to His Majesty — unexpectedly, His Majesty approved it. After the Imperial Book Repository was founded, the folk academies and private schools benefited greatly, and from I know not where, word spread of the origins behind the founding of the Imperial Book Repository. For the Longxi Bai clan, there was much praise and gratitude…” The compliments were apparently too extravagant; thin-faced Bai Ruyi couldn’t bring himself to finish and swallowed it all back down.

Hua Yitang was even more confused now. “What does this have to do with me?”

Bai Ruyi looked straight at Hua Yitang. “The credit for all of this should rightfully be yours!”

Hua Yitang’s eyes went perfectly round. “What?!”

Bai Ruyi took his third deep breath, straightened his back, lifted his face toward the sky, and recited aloud in a ringing voice: “The foundation of the literary lineage lies not in any one prominent clan, nor in a handful of great families, but in the common people. The will of the nation is seen only in the will of the people — the backbone of the people becomes the backbone of the nation—”

Lin Sui’an felt a momentary daze, as though she were once again seeing that evening at Yingtian Tower under the New Year’s lanterns — a youth like a flower among the first-ranked new graduates, speaking freely before the wind:

【If every household could recognize words and understand reason; if Tang’s youths and children could all receive schooling — then why fear that the literary lineage would falter, or that the nation would lack its spine? At such a time, Tang’s literary lineage would flow unbroken, and Tang’s destiny would naturally endure for ten thousand years!】

Hua Yitang gaped in disbelief. “Remarkable — Bai Thirteenth Young Master, you only heard it once and yet you’ve repeated it word for word?!”

Bai Ruyi turned around. His gaze was bright and shining. “Bai has read ten thousand books since childhood, and has read texts like ‘all under heaven belongs to all people under heaven’ — but as to what truly constitutes ‘all under heaven belonging to all people,’ Bai believed he understood, when in truth he did not at all. I was born into a great family and grew up in a great family. All that I heard and saw from childhood onward was this: the roots of a great family are the foundation of the nation; the glory of the great families is the glory of the nation. As for the common people, the ordinary folk — how many of them had I ever truly laid eyes on? I did not know how the common people lived, how they ate, how they farmed. I did not know how ordinary people could come to read and study. I did not know how someone like me — unable to shoulder a load, unable to work with his hands — could serve the country.”

“Fourth Young Master’s words were for me like a sudden awakening. Bai Family’s Thirteenth Young Master knows how to read books, and only how to read books. The Longxi Bai clan has many books, and only many books. Then let us give our books to the people, let us teach the common folk to read, let the children of all under heaven be schooled — that is the finest thing I am capable of doing.”

Bai Ruyi’s eyes reddened faintly. “And so, all the credit for this should rightfully belong to Fourth Young Master Hua — while I am nothing more than a petty person who has stolen Fourth Young Master’s due merit.”

Hua Yitang blinked, and blinked again, then erupted in thunderous laughter: “Hahahahaha! Bai Thirteenth Young Master, who would have guessed — you truly are a bookworm! Hahahaha! Good heavens above, is there really a greater stickler than Lord Ling the Sixth out there?! Hahaha — you’re killing me!”

Bai Ruyi: “Did Bai — did Bai say something… wrong?”

“Entirely wrong!” Hua Yitang flicked away the tears of laughter with a finger, folded his arms across his chest, and said: “You’ve read so many books — surely you know the saying that understanding is easy but acting is hard?”

“Bai is of course aware of that…”

“Then you should understand that what Hua said at Yingtian Tower was nothing more than moving his lips and boasting. For all the good it did. There was a whole crowd that heard me boast that day — but in the end, the only one who truly put in the effort to turn it into reality was you. Hua Yitang said with a solemn and respectful expression, “Those words of mine may have been nothing but an unachievable dream, but I believe the one who can overcome every obstacle to turn that dream into reality — will be you, Bai Ruyi.”

Bai Ruyi stared blankly at Hua Yitang, his eyes glistening with emotion. “What Fourth Young Master has said strikes like a thunderclap in the ear. Bai believes this principle ought to be taught carefully and in full to the assembled students—”

“Oh, spare me!” Hua Yitang said, half-exasperated and half-laughing, giving Bai Ruyi a pat on the shoulder. “This matter of giving lectures — Hua truly can’t manage it. If someday you’d like to teach them gambling, cockfighting, backgammon, horse racing, cricket fighting, cursing, brawling, and eating dog droppings — that, Hua might give a try.”

Bai Ruyi “Ah?” — and on the rooftop, Lin Sui’an snorted a laugh.

Bai Ruyi and Hua Yitang had only then noticed Lin Sui’an. Hua Yitang’s face went awkward and he let out several dry coughs. Bai Ruyi’s face turned blazing red — he thought about it, and then actually raised his voice to call out: “Lin Niangzi, might you speak with Bai alone?”

Hua Yitang’s foot slipped, and he nearly twisted his own neck.

Lin Sui’an raised her eyebrows with a smile, vaulted off the roof, and landed lightly in the pavilion. “Certainly.”

Inside the room, He Sishan and Hua Yifeng had been trading glances and silent communications for some time. Fangke found it excruciating to be there and made an excuse to step out for some air. She walked along the covered corridor to the east courtyard garden, and raising her eyes, saw what appeared to be a backside — or more precisely, someone raising their backside and stretching their neck, apparently watching something.

There was only one person in all under heaven who could wear such gorgeously outlandish clothing and yet assume so inelegant a posture — Hua Yitang, and no one else.

Fangke saw that no one else was around, and sauntered over. Tilting her head for a look, she suddenly understood — Lin Sui’an was not far away in the garden pavilion, and with her was Bai Ruyi.

“You’re keeping watch on Lin Sui’an?” Fangke asked.

Hua Yitang jolted, grabbed Fangke and yanked her down. “Shh! No noise — I have important business here!”

Fangke: “……”

Given Lin Sui’an’s hearing, she must have long since detected Hua Yitang here — yet she was pretending not to know. And clever as Hua Yitang was, how could he not guess Lin Sui’an’s thoughts? Hmm — it was hard to say whether this was a case of concern clouding judgment, or whether these two simply had some strange enjoyment in this kind of game.

Well, she’d come this far. She might as well watch and see what further mischief these two cooked up.

Fangke pulled Hua Yitang’s magnificent fox-fur cloak over and spread it out, then sat cross-legged and settled in quite openly to eavesdrop.

Lin Sui’an of course knew Hua Yitang was nearby, but there was nothing she could do about it — even if she told him not to listen, that person certainly wouldn’t comply. Besides, she could roughly guess what Bai Ruyi wanted to say. There was nothing to hide. If Hua Yitang wanted to listen, she’d let him.

What Lin Sui’an hadn’t expected was that Dr. Fang would come along to join in the excitement — that really didn’t seem in keeping with his character.

Bai Ruyi sat on the stone bench across from her in a state of nervous excitement, nervously rubbing his knees, and nervously giving a foolish smile. Lin Sui’an kept the smile going for quite a while until her face went stiff, and she had no choice but to speak first. “Book Attendant Bai, I am a straightforward person — you may speak plainly.”

Bai Ruyi affirmed this, then from inside his robe drew out a small scroll, and slid it across to Lin Sui’an. “For you.”

Lin Sui’an unrolled the scroll and found it was indeed one of Bai Ruyi’s poems — only this copy was written with far greater care. Judging by the color of the paper and ink, it must have been written some time ago.

Lin Sui’an nodded. “A fine poem.”

Bai Ruyi stared with eager expectation. “Do you… like it?”

“To be honest,” Lin Sui’an said, rolling the scroll back up, “if Yuanhua and the others hadn’t explained it, I never would have understood it.”

Bai Ruyi went rigid.

From the covered corridor, Hua Yitang let out a cold laugh. “So today has finally come for Tang’s foremost scholar, Bai Thirteenth Young Master — heh.”

Fangke: You have no room to talk.

“But I understand it now,” Lin Sui’an said.

Bai Ruyi’s eyes instantly lit up brilliantly. Hua Yitang yanked a tuft of fur off the fox-fur cloak.

Fangke suddenly felt her seated position wasn’t entirely safe.

Yet Lin Sui’an’s very next sentence was: “Bai Ruyi — has your family been pressuring you into a marriage arrangement again?”

Bai Ruyi’s face flushed scarlet, then drained white. He waved his hands frantically. “No, no, no, no — this isn’t that. I am — am — am — am completely sincere!”

Lin Sui’an’s eyes went wide.

Bai Ruyi rose to his feet, straightened his collar and sleeves, and bowed with respectful formality. “This poem — and those other poems — were in fact written over the past year and more. Whenever I thought of you, I would write a poem. Without realizing it, I wrote many. There are more still, back in the Eastern Capital. What you have seen here are those I wrote from memory last night…”

Lin Sui’an gaped. Fangke’s mouth fell open. Hua Yitang stripped half a panel off the fox-fur cloak.

Bai Ruyi was red from head to toe, like a red egg wrapped in cotton wadding.

Lin Sui’an couldn’t hold back a laugh — she hastily let out a dry cough to suppress it. “Thank you.”

Bai Ruyi carefully observed Lin Sui’an’s expression. “Are you — pleased?”

Lin Sui’an stifled the laugh, nodded, and said: “To be liked by someone is a very pleasing thing.”

Bai Ruyi swallowed. “Then what does Lin Niangzi think of — of of of me?”

Lin Sui’an smiled. “I quite like you too.”

Hua Yitang leaped up. The cloak went flying. Fangke was yanked off-balance and landed on the ground with a thump, greatly startled — she’d thought Hua Yitang was about to charge over and fight Bai Ruyi. But Hua Yitang didn’t move. He dug his fingernails into the corridor pillar and ripped off a chunk of wood, crushed it to pieces, then quietly crouched back down.

Fangke was immediately filled with a new respect for Hua Yitang — who would have thought that when this pampered dandy was seething with jealousy, he still had the presence of mind to remind himself to plan before acting.

Bai Ruyi gazed blankly at Lin Sui’an. The young woman before him had elegant curved brows and the eyes of a phoenix, her gaze clear and bright, her whole bearing like a gracious wind on a clear day. His heart slowly, slowly sank.

“Your liking and my liking are not the same…”

Lin Sui’an nodded with a serious expression: “I know.”

“Is it because… you already have someone in your heart?” As Bai Ruyi’s voice reached that last word, it trembled slightly.

“No.” Lin Sui’an said.

Bai Ruyi’s face showed surprise.

Fangke swiftly glanced at Hua Yitang. Hua Yitang’s expression lay as still and silent as a dry well. Even his breathing seemed to have stopped.

Lin Sui’an lowered her eyes. After a moment of silence: “The problem lies not with others, but with myself.”

Bai Ruyi: “What — what do you mean?”

Lin Sui’an raised her eyes again; a flicker moved through them. “As a friend, Lin would go through fire and water for that person, life and death together. I trust friends — I trust those who stand behind me. But I — cannot place my trust in the feelings between a man and a woman.”

Bai Ruyi was puzzled. “It seems Lin Niangzi’s words carry a deeper meaning?”

Lin Sui’an frowned. Memories from her previous life flashed through her mind one after another like a spinning lantern: those scenes of filth, the laughable vows, the reality of betrayal, the cruel persuasions, the tragic death — all of it at last transformed into an unseen blade, embedded in her heart, absorbed into her blood, woven into her very bones and cells, made a part of her — something she could never escape.

Lin Sui’an closed her eyes, then let out a soft sigh. “The human heart is unpredictable and changeable. I do not believe I will ever meet a love that can last a lifetime… No — perhaps what I mean is… I cannot even trust myself…”

Bai Ruyi was stunned. Lin Sui’an surely did not know — as she spoke those words, her expression was calm, yet her eyes looked as though they were weeping.

“The poem is fine, but I cannot accept it.” Lin Sui’an placed the scroll back on the stone table. “Lin will take her leave.”

Lin Sui’an departed. Bai Ruyi sat upright in the pavilion, looking at the poem he could never give away, and began wiping tears with his sleeve.

This does not bode well.

Fangke turned her gaze over, frame by frame, and saw that Hua Yitang had curled up entirely within the cloak, his earlobes red from the cold, his eyes also red, staring blankly as though his soul had left his body.

Fangke: “Don’t cry.”

Hua Yitang: “I’m not crying.”

“…Don’t be discouraged.”

“Not discouraged!”

“Hmm… this matter won’t be easy, but it’s not entirely without hope…”

“Dr. Fang — did you just hear?!” Hua Yitang suddenly whipped his head around, his big eyes blinking rapidly. “Lin Sui’an just said she’s willing to go through fire and water for me, life and death together!”

Fangke’s face twitched. “…That’s not the key line…”

“That IS the key line!” Hua Yitang’s smile grew wider and wider, flashing a row of dazzling white teeth. “When I first met Lin Sui’an in Yangdu, she trusted no one — yet now, she actually said with her own mouth that she trusts me!”

Fangke gritted her teeth. “She said she trusts friends — not only you.”

“Hua is her partner! Closer than a friend!” Hua Yitang rose to his feet, triumphant with arms akimbo. “Hua is now the person closest to Lin Sui’an’s heart! He is only one step away from success!”

Fangke found Hua Yitang’s insufferably smug expression truly an eyesore, and with clean, crisp efficiency doused him with cold water: “Lin Niangzi said she does not trust — the feelings — between — a man — and — a woman!”

“No matter! My trust is enough for both of us!” Hua Yitang flung open his half-balded cloak with a dramatic flourish, and strode off with a broad, swaggering gait.

Fangke stood beneath the covered corridor, slowly pressing a hand to her forehead.

“I really want to crack open this dandy’s skull and see how his brain is put together. Has he gone mad? Hmph — makes sense, actually. If one weren’t mad, how could one fall for someone as strange as Lin Sui’an—”

Skit

Hua Yitang urgently summoned Mu Xia to his room.

Hua Yitang: “This time, much credit goes to Bai Ruyi for scouting the path for Hua. If Hua had also declared his feelings outright the way he did, Hua would surely have been cut off by Lin Sui’an in an equally merciless stroke — and any hope of renewing that bond afterward would be harder than hard.”

Mu Xia: “Then what does Fourth Young Master think he should do?”

“Naturally, proceeding slowly and steadily remains the best strategy!”

“…Slowly until when, exactly?”

“If one year isn’t enough, then three; if three isn’t enough, then ten; if ten isn’t enough, then twenty. In any case, I will never leave her in this lifetime.”

“Fourth Young Master’s insight is supreme!”

Meanwhile, Lin Sui’an was secretly crouched on the rooftop watching Bai Ruyi wipe his tears. Her conscience was in great pain.

Bai Ruyi had been crying for nearly half an hour. Her legs had gone completely numb from squatting.

It was all over — had she been too harsh with her words?