“What did Concubine Lu do to Nanyi?”

When Xie Queshan asked this, it was actually just a probe, but his expression appeared too unfathomable, making it hard to tell whether this was an inquiry or a questioning from someone who already knew the full situation.

How could Concubine Lu handle such pressure? Her legs immediately went weak, but she still held onto a thread of hope, forcing out a smile as she said: “What matter is the master asking about?”

This reaction from Lu Jinxiu made Xie Queshan even more certain. His tone immediately became stern as he questioned back: “What do you think it is?!”

“These are all misunderstandings, I was afraid they would disturb your ears…”

Xie Queshan was too lazy to continue entangling with Lu Jinxiu, his gaze falling on the maid beside her: “She won’t say, then you speak. If you can’t explain clearly, go receive your death yourself.”

His words were heavy, and the maid was so frightened she prostrated on the ground, no longer daring to conceal anything.

“Master, spare my life! One night the concubine saw wrongly and misunderstood that the young madam and you had…” The maid really found it hard to speak, glancing up at the thunderous expression on Xie Queshan’s face, she could only steel herself to continue, “had improper relations… and, fearing this matter would stain the Xie family’s reputation and wrong the deceased eldest son, she brought poisoned wine to privately… execute the young madam. But the young madam refused, so later she called for examination matrons to prove the young madam’s innocence, only then did she realize it was all a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?” Xie Queshan was furious, “If she hadn’t fought back and died from your arbitrary judgment, would this human life also be just a misunderstanding?!”

Concubine Lu collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably: “I made an incorrect judgment without proper investigation, but I was also thinking of the Xie family’s pure reputation! Please, master, forgive my crime!”

Nanyi sat in the dark bedroom. She was no longer crying, calmly listening to the conversation beyond the screen, feeling dazed for a moment as if she were hearing someone else’s story.

She hadn’t expected that Xie Queshan would help cover up her theft, much less that he would pursue Concubine Lu’s wrongdoing to the very root, even becoming angry.

This was the first time Nanyi had seen Xie Queshan angry.

“The Xie family’s purity?” Xie Queshan laughed coldly, “Since you thought she had improper relations with me, why didn’t you come question me, come punish me?”

Lu Jinxiu was stumped by the question, sobbing and unable to answer.

“Someone who bullies the weak and fears the strong, yet insists on using purity and righteousness to glorify herself. Even in court trials, one must ask who is the victim and who is the perpetrator. Women’s bodies are naturally weaker than men’s, being forced to submit is not uncommon, but according to your judgment, regardless of right or wrong, should every victimized woman die for her misfortune? What dog shit world is this, that can’t even tolerate a woman? Which Xie family rule is this?!”

Lu Jinxiu’s mind buzzed, finally realizing what iron wall she had hit—Xie Queshan’s anger was not only about Nanyi’s matter, but also his mother’s old affair! Lu Jinxiu trembled, unable to even speak words of plea.

Xie Queshan said coldly: “The maids who participated that day, twenty lashes each, sold out of the manor; Lu Jinxiu, twenty lashes, confined to her room, never allowed to step outside without permission.”

…

After Lu Jinxiu and the maids were dragged out of Zheyue Pavilion crying and wailing, the room remained silent for a long time.

“Thank you.”

He sat alone, suddenly speaking in a heavy voice.

After a while, rustling sounds came from behind the screen, and Nanyi walked out. She stood before him, somewhat at a loss and somewhat constrained.

“Thank me for what?”

“Thank you for not dying.”

Memories of his youth came rushing back—he and his mother were kidnapped by bandits on their escape route. His mother refused to submit to the bandits and wanted to die to preserve her honor, but he cried and begged his mother to live for his sake. His mother said that once her chastity was gone, returning would also mean death. Then, he killed someone for the first time.

That was a fifteen-year-old youth, raised in luxury and comfort, who had once sentimentally composed poetry about spring flowers and autumn moons, who had once wielded his sword with grand ambitions, but in that moment became an Asura covered in blood. But he was grateful—the bandits were dead, and his mother lived.

That entire escape route was filled with terror, sleeping rough and eating poorly. He hated the father who had abandoned them, but his mother always counseled him not to harbor resentment, that whatever his father did to them was right, that the father was heaven, the family clan was heaven, and they lived under this heaven’s protection, forever grateful.

He believed it, he endured it, but later on, rumors still spread. His mother used her cold corpse to defend that useless chastity, and even before dying she remained grateful, grateful to the hypocritical noble house for giving her shelter.

But that was what she deserved. It wasn’t only the noble houses that gave those women wealth and honor—these women who followed the three obediences and four virtues also upheld the nobility of the great houses. They completed each other; they should have been equals.

So Xie Queshan was grateful to Nanyi, grateful for her resistance, grateful that she wasn’t bound by those useless and harmful proprieties, so he didn’t have to face another corpse.

“With me here, I won’t let you have nothing.”

He was responding to what she had said before Concubine Lu arrived.

The consecutive events had plunged Nanyi into extreme anxiety and pessimism, believing that everything about her was controlled by others, that she could lose everything at any moment.

Tears fell silently down Nanyi’s face. She tried desperately to control them but couldn’t close the floodgates of emotion. She hated Xie Queshan, hated him to death, but it was also this person who gave her a promise she had never received in her entire life.

Nanyi still shook her head: “I don’t believe it. You just see me as a chess piece.”

He knew what she feared. As usual, he could just threaten her with life and death. He had warned himself—crossing a single-log bridge, one wrong step meant falling.

But still, he took a step toward her, breaking his own rules.

“Don’t betray me. After things are accomplished… I’ll let you leave, let you live peacefully for the rest of your life.”

He was originally a lone Asura in the human world, needing no one’s trust. But he still lowered his gaze and pitied a small blade of grass.

Such a promise was fatal for someone like him who should be heartless.

The best distance should have been her constant fear of him.

Xie Queshan watched as Nanyi approached him through her tears, her eyes like a misty sea.

The waves carefully wetted the hem of his robes.

“Really?”

“Really.”

He stood there, letting that sea wash over him.

“May I confirm this?”

He paused, not answering, not knowing how she wanted to confirm it.

Nanyi stepped forward and embraced him directly. Her arms circled his waist, and warmth and fragrant softness filled his embrace.

She was a small beast born in the wild, retaining a beast’s instincts in her body. She couldn’t understand language or read expressions, knew nothing of human hearts. In complex environments, she only trusted what her body’s instincts could feel.

So she embraced him. Closing her eyes, she heard his heart beating powerfully in his chest, then gradually quickening, like distant drumbeats finally reaching her ears with passion. Those drumbeats had warmth, gently enveloping her, completely different from his usual coldness.

After a long while, Nanyi released Xie Queshan.

She finally looked at him without dodging, and he discovered the unease in her eyes seemed to have faded.

Like a drifting feather that had landed, lying there quietly and peacefully, pure white and clean, without any romantic undertones.

“I believe you now. I won’t steal things anymore.”

Xie Queshan didn’t know what power this embrace had given her, what she was thinking when their skin touched, what her logic was.

Xie Queshan didn’t know. He had encountered a difficult problem.

Compared to Nanyi’s pure heart, he panicked.

When he couldn’t understand her in that moment, something seemed to have deviated from its predetermined track.

Xie Queshan desperately tried to hide his stiffness, and a faint blush involuntarily appeared on his face.

He tried to open his mouth to speak, but the words all caught in his throat. In the end, he said nothing and fled like an escapee.

—

By the latter half of the night, Xie Queshan still felt inexplicably anxious and restless. He spent a long time writing characters to calm his mind, but finally gave up on himself and pushed the door open to walk outside and clear his head.

He Ping, following Xie Queshan, also noticed something was wrong with his young master.

“Young master, is there something troubling you?”

“No.” Xie Queshan immediately denied it.

After walking a few more steps, Xie Queshan stopped and turned back to look at He Ping.

“He Ping, why do you think people embrace?”

“To express love?”

Xie Queshan immediately denied it: “Impossible.”

“Then to exchange trust?”

Xie Queshan pondered this thoughtfully. This made some sense, but it couldn’t fully explain the strangeness in his heart. He thought for a moment, then beckoned to He Ping.

“Come here.”

He Ping obediently walked over. Xie Queshan tried embracing He Ping, but it was far from that warm and fragrant feeling, and he immediately pushed He Ping away in disgust.

He Ping felt wronged: “Young master, what is that expression?”

“You should change your clothes,” Xie Queshan shook his head and walked away, “It seems not everyone you trust can be embraced.”

He Ping sniffed his own clothes, finding nothing wrong with them, and watched Xie Queshan’s departing figure in complete bewilderment, truly unable to understand—what medicine did the young master take wrongly today?