Yan Qin sat there with disheveled hair and a face covered in injuries, sobbing in great, heaving cries — every trace of the perfect image of a noble young lady completely gone.

“Isn’t that Yan Qin, the Fifth Miss of the Yan Family?” Someone in the crowd of onlookers recognized her.

“It really is.” Someone said sarcastically. “Fifth Miss Yan actually came to blows with these lowly women like some shrewish commoner — all over a man?”

“Those dancers are vulgar by nature, but that’s just who they are. How has Fifth Miss Yan stooped to this same level of vulgarity?”

“Wasn’t she divorced by the Shi Family? She’s probably had a breakdown and decided to throw caution to the wind. A woman like this — what kind of man wouldn’t want her, as long as she satisfies him.”

Every one of these whispered comments fell clearly into Yan Qin’s ears without exception. She raised her head and glared furiously toward the direction of the voices.

But her eyes were so swollen they had nearly become slits. In the blur, she couldn’t make out who was speaking — and even if she had been able to see clearly and identify them, what could she have done? She had no face left to go up and argue with anyone.

This dance hall had no small number of ladies and noble wives who came to dance. Everyone moved in the same upper-class social circles, if not close acquaintances then at least nodding acquaintances.

And in these circles, good news traveled slowly while bad news spread like wildfire. The events of tonight would very quickly spread throughout Shun Cheng’s aristocratic society, and Yan Qin had effectively become “famous” overnight.

“Enough — stop making a spectacle of yourself here.” Yan Qi pulled Yan Qin up from the floor. “Get yourself home immediately.”

~

Hearing the commotion outside, Yan Qing paid it no particular mind and simply trimmed the lamp wick.

The kerosene lamp’s light flickered, and for a moment the room was flooded with a bright glow.

Shi Ting sat in the lamplight with several documents spread before him. Ever since his promotion to Young Marshal, his work had grown increasingly demanding.

Yan Qing had been staying at the Yan Mansion these past few days to care for Old Master Yan. She had not intended for him to come as well, but this man would still return here after finishing his work, even though the Blue Brick Building was much closer to the Shi Mansion than to the Yan Mansion.

“Drink this soup first — it’ll taste terrible if it goes cold. I simmered it over the stove for a full five hours,” Yan Qing said, lifting the lid off the clay pot. A clear, fragrant aroma wafted out.

Shi Ting set down the documents he was holding and looked out the window again. “No need to go check?”

“Yan Qin hasn’t been seen for several days. She was probably caught by Big Brother.” Yan Qing’s thoughts were entirely occupied with Old Master Yan. She had no desire to deal with Yan Qin’s messy affairs.

She and Yan Qin had never been close. And after Yan Qin had schemed against her time and again, any sense of sisterly affection she might have held had long since withered away. Whether Yan Qin lived or died, flourished or suffered, Yan Qing no longer wished to give it much thought.

The moment Yan Qing finished speaking, Jing Zhi knocked on the door from outside. “Miss.”

Yan Qing ladled a bowl of soup for Shi Ting and placed it in front of him, then rose to open the door. Jing Zhi peered inside, and upon seeing that Shi Ting was also present, sought silent permission from Yan Qing with her eyes.

“Come in and speak,” Yan Qing said, letting her inside. “He’s not in the middle of official business — you can say what you need to.”

Only then did Jing Zhi speak. “Just now I heard the servants saying that the Young Master brought Fifth Miss back from outside, and Fifth Miss appeared to have been beaten — her face was swollen.”

“Beaten? Who would dare strike her?”

“I heard it was… it was that Fifth Miss had kept herself a pretty boy on the outside. This man claimed to be a man of letters. He used the excuse of seeking inspiration to frequent dance halls every day. But he was taking Fifth Miss’s money — not for inspiration at all; he used it all to be with women. After the Young Master found Fifth Miss, he took her to confront this pretty boy. They caught him red-handed right then and there. The Young Master gave the man a severe beating and sent him to the public security office. As for Fifth Miss, she got into a brawl with those dancer women. Those women are all shrews — Fifth Miss was no match for them, and in just a few moments she ended up with a swollen, bruised face.”

Jing Zhi narrated this with such vivid detail that even Shi Ting, who was in the middle of drinking his soup, looked over with curious eyes.

“Many young ladies and noble wives were there watching the spectacle at the time. Fifth Miss has certainly made a name for herself now — although the face she lost is not just her own, but the face of our Shi Mansion.”

Yan Qing said, “Big Brother and Father had originally found her a perfectly good match — a family of clean repute, and they didn’t even mind that she was a divorced woman. The man’s character was said to be quite upright, and his relationship with his former wife had been one of mutual respect. If she had been willing to marry him obediently and build a harmonious life with her husband, things might have turned out better than they are now. But with this commotion of hers, word will reach that side very soon. Never mind that this match is surely off — from now on, in all of Shun Cheng, I’m afraid there will be no man willing to marry her.”

“I heard that Fifth Miss was going to those places precisely to fish for a wealthy husband. This man was most likely a con artist who had his eye on Fifth Miss’s money, so he used every method to capture her heart, then sweet-talked his way to both her money and her affections.”

Yan Qing shook her head lightly. “A person’s ambitions can be one’s own undoing — Yan Qin thought herself clever, but she has traded away her entire life.”

Yan Qin had never had much cunning. In the past, she had been used as a pawn by no small number of people. Anyone with even a modicum of guile could easily win her trust.

Someone like her had the nerve to go fishing for a so-called wealthy husband — but what she caught was no golden turtle; it was an ungrateful white-eyed wolf.

“Please pass a message to Big Brother on my behalf — have someone keep watch over Yan Qin, and make sure she doesn’t stir up trouble in front of Father.” Old Master Yan’s health was frail right now and could not withstand such a shock. If he were to learn that his own daughter had disgraced herself before the entire city, that breath in his chest would likely never recover.

After Jing Zhi left, Yan Qing filled another bowl of soup for Shi Ting and waited until he had finished drinking before she said with satisfaction, “When you’re at the Blue Brick Building, your three meals a day are all irregular — you often skip lunch.”

Shi Ting looked puzzled. “How does Madam know this?”

“I naturally have my sources,” Yan Qing blinked. “So you had better eat your meals properly.”

Shi Ting smiled. “Madam even has sources?”

He thought carefully for a moment. “It’s no one but Liu Yin, is it.”

She was immediately caught out, and Yan Qing said in exasperation, “You figured that out so fast — couldn’t you at least pretend not to know, for appearance’s sake?”

Shi Ting smiled and pulled her onto his lap, one arm encircling her slender waist, his face brushing gently against the side of her ear. “The only person you’re acquainted with is Liu Yin.”

Liu Yin, on Shi Ting’s orders, usually sent people to protect Yan Qing’s safety, and so she had the most contact with him. Although Liu Yin was technically under the Marshal’s command, now that Shi Ting had risen to the rank of Young Marshal, the head of the guard unit could hardly avoid growing close to Shi Ting — and the Marshal had no way of knowing that Liu Yin had long since ceased to be in his camp.

“You are absolutely not allowed to make trouble for Captain Liu,” Yan Qing said with feigned reproach. “I only asked him to keep an eye on your daily meals.”

Shi Ting laughed. “Never mind Liu Yin — even if you stationed two people in my office to monitor me around the clock, twenty-four hours a day, I would not dare raise a single objection.”

Yan Qing was tickled into laughter as well, and she playfully pinched his cheek. “The great Young Marshal — so it turns out you’re henpecked.”

“I can’t help it. I’m simply afraid of my wife,” Shi Ting said, his eyes gleaming as brilliantly as stars. When he looked at her, it was as though his gaze harbored an entire vast cosmos. “Whatever my wife says goes; I don’t dare say otherwise. Wherever my wife points, I dare not go the other direction.”

“That obedient?”

He nodded like a little bird pecking at grain.

Yan Qing couldn’t resist leaning over and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Don’t say that outside — where’s the great Young Marshal’s dignity?”

“In front of you, I don’t need dignity.” He pulled her close into his arms. “I’ve eaten my fill, and I’ve finished enough work for now.”

“So?” Yan Qing tilted her head up, her fingers grazing his jaw.

“So…” As he spoke, he had already scooped her up into his arms. She was slender to begin with, and carrying her like this cost him no effort at all. “So now I have the energy to devour you.”

Yan Qing was laid down on the bed. Her hands looped around his neck, her eyes soft as autumn water, her red lips pliant and dewy. The gaze she turned upon him was filled with tender, flowing affection.

“When you look at me like that, I find it very difficult to control myself,” Shi Ting said, lowering his head until the tips of their noses just barely touched.

Yan Qing leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his approaching lips, then smiled. “As if you could hold back even when I’m not looking at you.”

“Madam knows me well.” Shi Ting smiled warmly, and using her kiss just now as a catalyst, he lowered his head and let his warm lips trace softly over hers — then deepened into an intense, passionate kiss that set himself ablaze and scorched her too.

The night was gentle as water. In the warm room, the air was thick with the lingering warmth of their closeness.