When He Simu woke, she felt sensations in her body that were difficult to describe. First came warmth, then pain, then soreness—a feeling both comfortable and uncomfortable. Complex sensations rose and fell within her body, far more intense than when she had first exchanged the sense of touch.

She lazily opened her eyes to see Duan Xu playing with her hair. He propped up his head, smiling, his fingers twirling circles in her hair. Their skin touched; she was still hugging his waist, her legs intertwined with his.

This skin-to-skin contact felt subtle yet heart-stirring.

Seeing her awake, Duan Xu smiled brightly and said, “Simu.”

He Simu narrowed her eyes and flipped him beneath her in one motion.

The next moment, she deeply regretted her action. Her body creaked from the movement, aggravating the painful areas and making the sore spots even more sore—truly self-inflicted suffering.

She glanced at the blue-purple marks covering her body, then leaned down to stare at Duan Xu and asked, “Duan Xu, are you a dog?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she froze. Was that her voice? Why was it so hoarse?

Duan Xu stroked her neck and helpfully explained, “You shouted for too long yesterday. Now your body is no different from a mortal’s—quite fragile.”

He Simu swatted his hand away and raged in her broken voice, “You knew?”

Duan Xu blinked innocently, pointing to the bite mark on his shoulder: “I think you’re more like the dog.”

He Simu slammed a fist into his chest, gritting her teeth: “Duan Xunxi, you…”

Before she could finish, Duan Xu raised his head and silenced her scolding with a kiss. The moist, lingering sensation made He Simu tremble. He released her and lay back down, submissively saying, “I was wrong.”

His specialty—actively admitting fault while never truly repenting.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her down. Her already weakened body collapsed onto him, fitting against him perfectly. He stared at her with innocent eyes and asked, “But I was careful later. How did you feel afterward? Was it good?”

“…”

The four-hundred-year-old Ghost King, who had initiated the intimacy, actually blushed at this moment.

She raised her finger at him with feigned fierceness, saying, “You better shut—”

Before she could finish, the door burst open. A lively young woman leaped into the room, shouting as she ran, “Third Brother, I heard…”

Duan Jingyuan stared, dumbfounded, at the disheveled room, her third brother lying in bed, and the beauty on top of him with bare shoulders. Just as she was about to cry out, her third brother quickly covered the beauty’s shoulders with the blanket and put his finger to his lips.

“Jingyuan! Don’t shout!”

The scream was smothered in Duan Jingyuan’s throat. She froze for a moment, then stood there, filled with indignation, neither entering nor leaving, and whispered angrily, “You… in broad daylight, what have you done to my brother?”

He Simu raised an eyebrow, her face full of disbelief, thinking she had misheard.

“You’re talking about me?”

In the current situation—a man and woman embracing in bed, this man being a military officer, and this woman covered in bruises—how could anyone ask what the woman had done? It was obvious what had been done to her!

Besides, what is “broad daylight”? Everything that needed to be done had been done in the dark of night.

Duan Jingyuan nodded vigorously, fuming, “What did you do to my pure and innocent third brother?”

Her “pure and innocent” third brother, upon hearing the phrase “pure and innocent,” immediately burst into laughter.

He Simu narrowed her eyes, glancing at Duan Xu before looking back at Duan Jingyuan. Pointing at Duan Xu, she said calmly and assuredly, “It was your pure and innocent third brother who seduced and abandoned me.”

Eventually, they managed to move this awkward encounter to the point where they were properly dressed, sitting at the table, and talking calmly. Duan Jingyuan sat with arms crossed, her gaze filled with suspicion as she assessed them. Duan Xu took the teapot and poured a cup of tea. Just as Duan Jingyuan was about to tell him not to think he could placate her or gloss over the matter, she saw her brother hand the tea to the strange woman beside him.

“Drink some tea to soothe your throat,” he said, patting her back.

The unfamiliar young woman glared at Duan Xu, took the teacup, and drained it in one gulp. Duan Xu refilled her empty cup.

“…”

Duan Jingyuan felt that although there were three people in the room, somehow it seemed like they only saw each other. She cleared her throat and said to Duan Xu, “Third Brother, what’s going on? Yesterday at the wedding, your wife just disappeared, how could you already…”

“Indeed, you iron-hearted fellow. In Shuo Prefecture, you swore mountains of promises to me, yet turned around and abandoned me in the South Capital to marry another. I traveled to South Capital seeking an explanation from you, only to find you on someone else’s wedding night…” He Simu promptly picked up Duan Jingyuan’s thought. Her voice was also hoarse as she raised her sleeve to cover her eyes, looking genuinely emotional.

Duan Jingyuan choked, struggling to ask, “Third Brother… did you really… seduce and abandon her?”

Duan Xu watched He Simu’s smiling eyes beneath her sleeve. He adjusted his expression, sighed heavily, and said, “I never thought you would see me this way.”

He Simu raised an eyebrow.

Then Duan Xu took her hand, holding it neither too tightly nor too loosely, and said softly, “Back in Shuo Prefecture, I expressed my love to you hundreds of times, but you repeatedly rejected me because of your family background. Disheartened, I returned to South Capital, thinking it made no difference who I married besides you, and thus hastily wed. On my wedding day, disaster struck, and I thought I might as well not burden any other woman, so I decided not to marry anyone for the rest of my life. When you came looking for me, I thought you had changed your mind. Overwhelmed with joy and unable to contain my emotions, I… Have you changed your mind?”

He squeezed her hand, his sorrowful, pitiful gaze hiding a hint of craftiness as if saying, “That’s enough, stop pretending.”

He Simu stared at him for a moment, threw off his hand, then embraced him, burying her head in his chest without a word.

Duan Jingyuan suddenly felt like she was sitting on pins and needles as if watching a storybook come to life. How could her brother say such sappy things? What was happening? Was there something wrong with her third brother, or with her, or with the world?

Rubbing her temples and struggling to organize her thoughts, she said, “Third Brother, you… no matter what, you must… take responsibility for this young lady… but you just swore an oath… how will you give her a proper status? This young lady… what is her surname and given name? What is her family background?”

“Her name is He Xiaoxiao. She’s from the jianghu, and her family has been single-line inheritance for generations. If I want to be with her, I must marry into her family,” Duan Xu answered smoothly. He Simu looked up from his embrace and added, “Mere status means little to us jianghu wanderers.”

“Marry into her family? Mere status?”

Duan Jingyuan looked at them with confusion. Growing up, she had only been to Dai Prefecture and South Capital, never encountering anyone from the jianghu. Were jianghu wanderers really like this?

Duan Xu patted He Simu’s back and lightly kissed the top of her head, then said to Duan Jingyuan, “To everyone, especially Father, say she is Chen Ying’s elder sister who came from the north to visit Chen Ying. During this time, I’ll have to trouble you to help take care of her.”

Duan Jingyuan nodded stiffly.

She felt something wasn’t quite right, but since the various oddities of this morning had already exceeded her tolerance, she was starting to think it normal even when she saw her brother kiss He Xiaoxiao’s hair.

He Xiaoxiao yawned, complaining of fatigue and wanting to continue sleeping. Her fair arms extended beyond her sleeves, revealing kiss marks of varying depths. Duan Jingyuan immediately covered her eyes, peeking through her fingers to see her brother smilingly take He Xiaoxiao’s arm, pick her up, and place her back on the bed. He removed her shoes, tucked her in, and told her to rest well.

Then Duan Xu turned around, put his arm around Duan Jingyuan’s shoulders, and led her out of his room.

“Next time you come to my room, remember to knock first.”

“Who could have imagined there would be… someone else in your room.”

“Now you know for the future.”

Duan Jingyuan walked a few steps and then stopped, turning back to carefully observe her brother’s expression. Puzzled, she asked, “I thought you would be heartbroken over yesterday’s events. Aren’t you worried about Miss Wang? You seem rather heartless.”

Even Duan Jingyuan, who always put Duan Xu first, couldn’t help but question him. Duan Xu patted her shoulder and said with a bright smile, “Of course, I still need to find Miss Wang. Being worried or sad is useless. But if outsiders ask, remember to tell them I am indeed very sad and worried—better yet, say I’ve lost my appetite and cannot sleep, tossing and turning all night.”

Duan Jingyuan’s eyes widened as she watched Duan Xu adopt a deeply troubled expression and walk out of the courtyard. She stood frozen for a long while. How had she ever wanted to marry someone like her third brother?

Her third brother was too callous!

She couldn’t help but genuinely wonder if her brother had indeed seduced and abandoned He Xiaoxiao.

On the day after the wedding farce, as soon as Duan Xu met his father, he received a resounding slap.

Duan Xu didn’t dodge. The red mark of five fingers gradually appeared on his face. He lowered his eyes, the corners of his lips curving almost imperceptibly, then looked up at Duan Chengzhang standing before him.

His father, weak, usually sat whenever possible. Yet now he didn’t even sit, but stood before him, burning with rage. Pointing at him, he scolded, “How could you be so impulsive? Do you know who was sitting in that hall? You made such a heavy oath on the spot—did going to the border make you so arrogant that you think you can defeat the Hu Qi people within a few years? Now that you’ve said this, what will happen in the future?”

Duan Xu remained silent, allowing his father to rage until he began to cough. Only then did he seem to thaw, reaching out to help his father calm his breathing, saying softly, “The Hu Qi people humiliated me so, I was too angry to control my words.”

Duan Chengzhang pointed at him, his finger trembling for a long while, before finally lowering it with a sigh of exasperation. The Duan family already had few descendants. With Duan Xu’s declaration that he wouldn’t marry for years, even if he had children with a concubine, they wouldn’t be legitimate heirs and couldn’t be publicly acknowledged.

If not for Duan Yiqi among the grandchildren, he would have fainted from anger at Duan Xu.

Given the situation, having slapped and scolded him, Duan Chengzhang fell silent for a moment before saying, “This matter is not entirely without benefit.”

In the case of Noble Consort Yu’s witchcraft, Sun Zi’an’s home was confiscated, not only confirming the Horse Administration corruption case but also uncovering many other instances of bribery and lawbreaking. Jing Yan, a principled and upright official, presented the clues and evidence directly to the Emperor to avoid complications. The Emperor had not publicized the matter widely but had privately reprimanded several officials involved. Among them, Qin Huanda, most deeply implicated, had been ostensibly promoted but demoted, losing his real power in the military.

With Qin Huanda stripped of power, Prince Pei’s influence in the military suffered a severe blow. Naturally, Duke Du’s faction would seize the opportunity to expand their military influence. Considering rank and position, no one was more suitable than Duan Xu.

Duan Chengzhang briefly explained the background to Duan Xu. He said gravely, “Although I’m reluctant, Duke Du has made his position clear, and I have no choice. You will likely remain in the military, and your bold statement yesterday will spread throughout South Capital within a day. When the Emperor hears of it, he will surely commend you. I suppose that’s the only benefit.”

Duan Xu smiled and calmly replied, “I’ll follow Father’s arrangements.”

The plan was proceeding smoothly—just as he had hoped.