“She won’t manage to get away, will she?” That was Yan Qin’s voice, edged with uncertainty.

“She’s a cripple — is she going to climb out through the window? Relax, she’s not going anywhere. Let’s go back first.”

The window was more than three feet from the ground. Yan Qing genuinely could not climb out — though some sensation had begun returning to her legs, she was still far from a full recovery.

This time, Yan Qin and Shi Yutong were pulling the same trick as before, but this was no mere scare tactic. Judging by the tone of Shi Yutong’s words just now, they had a next step planned.

Yan Qing looked around the side room. It was tidy enough, but clearly hadn’t been occupied in a long time.

As she was taking stock of her surroundings, she heard faint footsteps approaching outside.

“She’s in there — go on in.” A sharp, thin female voice called out, accompanied by the clinking of a copper lock and key.

The door swung open, and a shifty-looking man slipped inside.

He wore a grey three-piece suit with a fashionable grey-blue silk cravat at the throat. His hair was slicked back with pomade in a sleek, gleaming style, leaving his forehead bright and bare. A pair of narrow, slanting eyes gave off an air of flippancy and greed.

Yan Qing didn’t recognize him, but the person beside her said quietly: “Li Wen. Son of a silk merchant.”

And standing beside her was none other than Shi Ting.

Just before Li Wen had entered, Shi Ting had opened the window and brought Yan Qing out of the side room. Rather than leaving at once, the two had concealed themselves in the narrow gap between the room and the rear wall, settling in to watch events unfold.

While they waited, Yan Qing couldn’t suppress her curiosity. “I half expected that casually having someone deliver a tea tray to you would get no response at all.”

The gap was narrow, and Shi Ting’s frame was nearly pressed right against the wheelchair. With the advantage of his height, the young woman’s slender, graceful figure was visible to him in full — and with it, the faint, elusive scent of medicine drifting from her, reaching both eye and nose.

Shi Ting’s gaze shifted, somewhat self-consciously, toward the wall. A few morning glory flowers were blooming there in soft pink and violet.

“If it had been anyone else who sent it, I likely wouldn’t have paid attention.” Shi Ting’s smooth, low voice came slowly. “Because it was you, I found myself thinking a little more carefully. The bamboo used to make that tea tray is quite common in the Shun Cheng area — the locals call it ‘qiu zhu.’ Read it by sound, and it can be understood as ‘seek help.’ Combined with the white tray, which carries the suggestion of ‘please’ or ‘I entreat you,’ I began paying attention to your movements.”

“Director Shi lives up to his reputation.”

In truth, Yan Qing had sensed Yan Qin’s hostility long before this. When Yan Qin and Shi Yutong sat together talking, their eyes would drift, intentionally or not, in her direction. Having studied microexpressions under her second uncle, and having dealt with criminals for years, Yan Qing had no difficulty reading what the two of them had in mind.

Her situation at the time was deeply unfavorable. She had limited mobility, Madam Yan sided with Yan Qin, and Father Yan was too far away. In a crowded estate full of strangers, the only person she could think of and trust was Shi Ting. And so, when she spotted that bamboo tray, the idea had come to her in an instant. She believed that with Shi Ting’s sharp mind, he would decipher her meaning.

And he had not disappointed her.

“Where is she?” Li Wen’s voice floated out from the room, full of puzzled bewilderment. “Strange — wasn’t she supposed to be in here? Something is off!”

Just as Li Wen began poking his head toward the rear window to peer around, a commotion of footsteps sounded from outside.

Among the voices, one sharp female tone was unmistakably familiar — Yan Qin’s voice, carrying a trace of tears.

“Just a moment ago Sixth Sister was right here — she’s disappeared in the blink of an eye. Her legs are not well, and I’m so worried something might have happened to her.” Yan Qin moved with clear purpose, evidently steering the group she’d brought along in this direction.

—