Yan Ling walked slowly toward the bed, her eyes fixed on the sleeping man, her heartbeat quickening.

She knew that Master Yan had no regard for her and would never trouble himself over her marriage prospects. With only Er Yitai’s standing to rely on, the best she could hope for was a match with some ordinary merchant household.

So she had decided to take a gamble.

If word got out that Shi Ting, in a drunken stupor, had taken advantage of her and ruined her virtue and reputation, then the Shi Family — in order to give the Yan Family an account of what had happened — would have no choice but to have Shi Ting take her as a concubine.

Even becoming a concubine in the Shi Family was far better than marrying an ordinary merchant. And besides, once given the foothold of a concubine’s position, who was to say she could not one day displace the legal wife?

With that thought, a cold and calculating smile curved at the corners of Yan Ling’s mouth.

Just as she reached out her hand, a sudden iron grip closed around her wrist. The man who had appeared to be sleeping opened his eyes. His gaze was like a fathomless abyss, swirling with a terrifying current.

“It hurts.” Yan Ling felt as though her wrist was about to shatter. Cold sweat broke across her skin.

Shi Ting looked at her with cold, flat eyes, and then the corner of his mouth curved slightly upward. “It hurts?”

Yan Ling was about to beg him to release her when a sharp crack split the air. Her wrist had been wrenched out of its socket — dislocated by his bare hand.

Zhi’er heard the agonized scream from inside and rushed in. At the sight of her mistress collapsed on her knees before the bed, tears and cold sweat streaming down her face, Zhi’er clapped a hand over her own mouth, too shocked even to make a sound.

Shi Ting released Yan Ling’s hand. She crumpled to the floor, clutching her wrist, nearly suffocated by the pain.

“Miss.” Zhi’er finally recovered herself and dashed over in two quick strides to support Yan Ling.

“Put away those fantasies of yours.” Shi Ting sat up from the bed and regarded Yan Ling — trembling with pain — with an ice-cold gaze. “To enter the Shi Family, you are not worthy.”

Yan Ling kept her head bowed, teeth clamped down on her lip. Though she did not know how Shi Ting had seen through her plan, she forced out through clenched teeth: “If I cry out now and claim you’ve assaulted me, Seventh Young Master, even you would find it difficult to argue your innocence.”

Shi Ting looked at her the way one might regard a pile of rubbish — as though she had just said something faintly amusing. “When I was stationed at the front, I once encountered a certain kind of woman. By day, they cooked and did laundry. By night, they were thrown into the sleeping quarters of various military units. Those soldiers had been away from home so long that their longing for a woman outweighed even their hunger for a good meal. Tell me — if Miss Yan were sent to such a place, what do you suppose would become of her?”

Yan Ling stared at him, unable to believe such words could come from the mouth of a man with such a striking, refined face. But she knew Shi Ting was not bluffing. She had indeed heard of such things.

“Miss Yan is perfectly free to scream. I only wonder — what will come for her first? The Shi Family’s wedding sedan, or a soldier’s tent?”

Yan Ling bit down hard, glaring at the man before her with seething eyes.

“Miss, let’s go — quickly.” Zhi’er was the first to regain her wits. She pulled Yan Ling to her feet without delay.

Yan Ling may have been shaken senseless, but she understood the gravity of what she had walked into. The Seventh Young Master of the Shi Family was not someone she could afford to provoke.

“I’m sorry, Seventh Young Master-in-law.” Zhi’er apologized repeatedly on their behalf. “My mistress only meant to bring you the sobering soup. There was nothing else intended. It’s all a misunderstanding.”

Shi Ting said coldly, “The soup has been delivered.”

“Yes, yes, we’ll leave immediately.” Zhi’er helped Yan Ling retreat from the room. However unwilling Yan Ling may have been, she had no choice but to let Zhi’er escort her out of Yan Qing’s courtyard in silence.

By the time Yan Qing returned, the courtyard had been restored to perfect calm. Shi Ting was seated at the table, a book in hand.

“Why are you up already?” Yan Qing plucked the book from him and chided him gently. “You drank so much — you should have slept longer.”

“It’s nothing.” Shi Ting took her hand and drew her down to sit beside him.

Yan Qing caught the lingering smell of wine on him and couldn’t help feeling a pang of sympathy. “You could have just made a show of drinking at the table. Did you have to actually drink that much?”

“Father-in-law had already been carried off the field. Would it not have been terribly out of place for me to still be standing?”

Yan Qing laughed. “My father has no head for wine, yet he can never resist it. I’ve told him so many times and he still won’t listen.”

She speared a piece of mango from the fruit platter with a small fork and held it up to his lips. “Here, eat some fruit — fruit has vitamin C. It’ll help with the alcohol.”

Shi Ting turned his mouth away. “I’m allergic to mango.”

Yan Qing blinked in surprise, though it was not so strange — many people shared that allergy. So she ate the mango herself, then speared a strawberry and popped it into his mouth. Only when she saw him eat it with evident satisfaction did she break into a bright smile.

“If you’re feeling rested enough, shall we head back?”

“Mm.” Shi Ting said nothing to Yan Qing about the matter with Yan Ling. He had no wish to burden her with such an unpleasant thing, and besides, the two of them would have very little to do with each other from now on anyway.

The two of them returned to the Shi Mansion, and life settled into a quiet, steady rhythm.

Each day, Yan Qing divided her time between reading medical texts and going over account books. Her father had given her ten pharmacies as part of her dowry, and they were now hers to manage. She had no prior experience in business, but she thought she could always draw on what she remembered of commerce from her previous life.

With Jianguo keeping watch over them, Yangliu and Yangzhi had been considerably more compliant. But having them underfoot was still a constant irritation. Fortunately, Di Huai had been investigating their backgrounds, and results came back quickly.

It turned out that before coming to the Shi Mansion, Yangliu and Yangzhi had served a family called Xu who ran an oil press. The Xu family’s young master, however, was a spendthrift, and the family fortune did not survive long in his hands. Once the Xu family went under, their servants scattered — Yangliu and Yangzhi included. Because they were twins with striking looks, the First Madam of the Shi household had taken notice of them. After signing a contract with the Shi Mansion, they had stayed on.

“Miss, Yangliu went sneaking off to the First Madam’s quarters again today,” Jing Zhi reported with a spit of contempt. “Everything that happens in our courtyard — she reports every last detail without leaving anything out. Having someone like that in the household is like having flies buzzing around. They don’t bite, but they’re endlessly aggravating.”

Yan Qing lifted her teacup and took a slow sip, her lowered eyes giving nothing away.

“Miss, why don’t we just find some pretext to throw them out?”

Yan Qing shook her head. “If we dismiss them now, the First Madam will simply find another excuse to send more people into our courtyard. That’s treating the symptom, not the cause.”

She needed to find a way to ensure the First Madam could never force anyone upon her again. Whatever she did, it had to be done in a single, decisive move — with no loose ends left behind.

“Let me think on it a bit more.” Yan Qing set down her teacup. “Is the medicine ready? It’s time to bring it to Mother.”

“It’s ready.” Jing Zhi had initially worried that Yan Qing would suffer under the constant cold reception, but after these weeks of persistence, Luo Huaimeng’s expression had visibly softened. Though she had never once smiled, at least she had stopped sending Yan Qing away at the door.

Luo Huaimeng drank her medicine, set the bowl down with a blank expression, then opened her mouth to accept the candied fruit Yan Qing offered her.

“Has Mother been feeling better these past few days?”

“Mm.” Luo Huaimeng’s reply was equally blank. Since the prescription had been changed and Yan Qing had persisted in bringing the medicine every day, her condition had indeed improved significantly — but she would not admit it aloud.

Luo Huaimeng told herself that the prescription had come from one of Shi Ting’s physician friends. All Yan Qing had done was run it over each day. The credit was hardly hers to claim.

Thinking it through this way, Luo Huaimeng felt somewhat lighter — though she could not quite say who it was she had been competing with all along.

“Those two maids in your courtyard — how are they?” Luo Huaimeng asked.

Yan Qing was briefly caught off guard, but she quickly composed herself and replied with a smile, “Does Mother mean Yangliu and Yangzhi — the ones sent by the First Madam?”

This was the first time Luo Huaimeng had ever voluntarily raised such a topic with her. Yan Qing was almost startled by the gesture.

“Mm.” Luo Huaimeng did not look at her. “Since they were sent by the First Madam, her intentions were never simple. You’d do well to be more on your guard.”

“Thank you for your concern, Mother.”

Luo Huaimeng let out a quiet “hmph.” “I only said something because I don’t want the two of them causing chaos in the inner household and disturbing Xingzhi.”

“If Mother would prefer them gone, I can send them away.”

“You make it sound simple.” Luo Huaimeng frowned. “They are the First Madam’s people. Do you think a word or two from you will be enough to dismiss them? Manage this poorly and you’ll fail to remove them while also making an enemy of the First Madam.”

Yan Qing pressed her lips together, wearing the expression of one who has just received a lesson. “Mother is right. I hadn’t thought it through.”

Luo Huaimeng saw how readily she accepted the correction and gave a small nod. “All right, go back for now. We’ll revisit this matter another time.”

Yan Qing bowed respectfully and withdrew.

The weather in late May was neither cool nor hot. Yan Qing recalled the gazebo nestled among the trees and flowers, and took a detour with Jing Zhi to have a look.

“Miss, Er Yitai’s attitude toward you has been improving more and more lately. Today she even took the initiative to speak with you about matters in the inner household.”

Yan Qing smiled. “Sincerity moves even the hardest stone. Mother is not a wicked woman — she’s just an ordinary woman who loves her son with everything she has.”

The two of them made their way to the gazebo, where Yan Qing sat down and idly rearranged the chess pieces on the board. She didn’t know how to play chess, so she was simply moving pieces about at random.

By the time she had arranged them into the shape of a large character, she noticed Jing Zhi had slipped down into the flower bed below. The flowers in the vase needed changing — the peonies of this season were the most vivid and lovely.

“Yan Qing.”

She was in the middle of gathering up the chess pieces when someone behind her called her name. Recognizing the voice, her brow furrowed involuntarily.

“Playing chess alone?” Shi Guang had appeared from the staircase on one side of the gazebo without her noticing.

Yan Qing looked at him, the frown barely perceptible.

“It’s no fun playing by yourself. Let me keep you company for a game.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Yan Qing rose to her feet. “I have things to attend to. I’ll be going.”

Just as she turned to leave, a forceful grip closed around her wrist. She spun around, her face filled with shock and fury.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

She had not expected Shi Guang to be so bold — not here, on Shi Family grounds, where anyone might see. She had assumed he would show at least some restraint.

Shi Guang’s dark eyes were heavy, and the gaze he fixed on her smoldered with a barely contained heat. “You’ve always known how I feel — haven’t you?”

“What does how you feel have to do with me? All I know is that I am your younger brother’s wife. Let go of my wrist.” Yan Qing pulled hard twice, but could not free herself. The chess table stood between them as they faced each other.

“The greatest regret of my life is that I didn’t fight Mother to the very end back then.” Shi Guang looked at the woman before him, and sorrow moved across his face.

—