The tense confrontation between Xie and Zhang suddenly discovered there was a third person in the corridor.

Song Muchuan, who had just bid farewell to Madam Gantang and was leaving Wangxue Cottage, happened to witness this scene.

He felt somewhat awkward and didn’t know how to handle the situation. He didn’t know what had happened between these two, but he clearly saw it all. It was inappropriate to leave now, but also inappropriate to stay. With a mind toward peace and harmony, Song Muchuan stepped forward and cupped his hands.

“Gentlemen, a gentleman uses words, not fists…”

“What business is it of yours?!” The two men were surprisingly unanimous in their response.

Song Muchuan’s remaining words were rudely cut off. A scholarly gentleman full of learning and politeness, he now felt like a scholar meeting soldiers, suddenly rendered speechless.

Zhang Yuehui angrily flicked his sleeves and left. Xie Queshan also snorted coldly, giving no face at all, too lazy to even greet Song Muchuan, and departed in the opposite direction.

Song Muchuan was completely baffled.

He lingered without leaving because he was somewhat hesitant about whether to go see Xie Queshan.

He actually had a hundred questions he wanted to ask him. After rescuing Princess Lingfu, she told him that when the Yucheng Army was in trouble, it was Xie Queshan who told her to find him at the Shipping Bureau. Why did he do this? This clearly went against the interests of the Qi People.

He very much wanted to ask for clarification, but seeing Xie Queshan’s current domineering appearance, he inexplicably felt angry.

“Xie Chao’en.” He called out to him with slight severity.

Xie Queshan stopped, turning back with suspicion and gloom.

Song Muchuan scolded earnestly: “You’re being too unreasonable.”

Xie Queshan fell silent, his arrogance diminishing. Somewhat embarrassed, his tone became much gentler: “…Why haven’t you left yet?”

In ordinary times, he would think it better for everyone in the world to consider him an unreasonable and brutal person. But ever since he had grasped that thread of light leading upward from the abyss, deep down, he also wanted to make himself more respectable.

The two men stood under the corridor, gazing at each other from a distance. Xie Queshan felt somewhat amused—Song Muchuan was exactly this kind of person who always maintained his principles. He valued propriety very highly.

This familiar feeling made Xie Queshan feel a strange warmth flow through his heart—discipline was a good thing, meaning he still had expectations of him.

His thoughts suddenly returned to long ago. When he first arrived in Bianjing, he was still a newly retired warrior with quite a temper, often mocked by the capital’s young masters as an abandoned bastard son, a brute. He cared about face and had strong self-respect, frequently getting into conflicts with others.

Song Muchuan would nag in his ear like a monk, reciting about a gentleman restraining himself and returning to propriety, that the use of ritual is harmony being precious, that a gentleman doesn’t compete in verbal sparring, doesn’t show off momentary abilities…

His ears grew callused from it. While he found him verbose and annoying, he learned scholarly demeanor from him. However, the reason he could become close friends with Song Muchuan was precisely because he wasn’t a pedantic scholar. Song Muchuan was a proud person who only felt frustrated with those he looked up to for not living up to their potential. As for those he looked down upon, he would politely see them off on their wayward paths without saying an extra word. He understood him, knew his ambitions, but after becoming familiar, he talked too much.

Xie Queshan had once been proud of this—being able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Song Muchuan, expressing different views on literary matters as equals, while also sharing wine and speaking freely from the heart.

How long had he deliberately avoided remembering these things? Tonight he seemed particularly sentimental.

Song Muchuan was silent for a while, struggling internally, but finally gave up on questioning Xie Queshan. If he only occasionally showed kindness, then by asking this question, he would expose the secret that Xu Kouyue was with him. He couldn’t take that risk.

So he found a perfunctory excuse: “I got lost.”

Xie Queshan turned back, raised his hand to guide the way, and said naturally: “I’ll see you out.”

Song Muchuan didn’t refuse and walked forward alongside him.

This familiar understanding made Song Muchuan feel somewhat dazed. He still impulsively wanted to know—were those parts of him that belonged to Xie Chao’en still there?

“Chao’en, the Cold Food Festival is approaching,” he said quietly.

“I won’t go.” Before he could finish, Xie Queshan refused. He knew him too well—he knew what he wanted to say the moment he opened his mouth.

Invite him to pay respects to the deceased? He didn’t have the face for that.

Song Muchuan didn’t insist further, smiling: “Then if I die, will you come pay respects to me at next year’s Cold Food Festival?”

Xie Queshan replied coldly: “If you’re dead, you’re dead. What use are offerings? If you have the ability, stay alive.”

Xie Queshan’s attitude immediately sobered Song Muchuan—what was he expecting? They clearly stood on opposing sides, so what was the use of bringing up these pointless sentiments? He sighed heavily in his heart.

“I’ll see myself out from here.”

They had already rounded the screen wall and reached the main gate. Song Muchuan stepped back, subtly creating distance, and cupped his hands in farewell.

Xie Queshan watched Song Muchuan step away from him. He stood still without moving, feeling somewhat sad.

Suddenly he said: “I buried Zixu in a plum grove on Hugui Mountain. When the heavy snow fell last year, the flowers had just bloomed.”

Song Muchuan once said that a gentleman should be like plum blossoms, having the integrity not to flatter worldly customs, and the backbone to stand proudly in cold snow.

All three of them remembered this.

Song Muchuan looked up in shock, tears welling in his eyes.

——

Outside, a pattering night rain began to fall, and the courtyard was so quiet it seemed only the sound of rain remained.

Nanyi stood in her room, neither standing nor sitting properly, her whole body weak. Wanting to pour some water for her parched throat, her hands shook terribly. Thinking she was cold, she went to close the door tightly, fastened the bolt, pulled down the curtains, and guiltily lit a candle.

The room suddenly became so bright it felt like there was nowhere to hide. She quickly extinguished the flame.

Only then did she notice a box on the table, which seemed to be what Zhang Yuehui had left when he came in earlier.

Opening the box, she found a bracelet inside. The broken parts had been wrapped with gold inlay, forcibly piecing the shattered bracelet back into a perfect circle. It lay quietly in the box, proclaiming a certain determination.

The object felt scalding hot. Nanyi snapped the box shut and put it back in its place.

These two men—had they both gone mad?

Nanyi collapsed onto the bed, burying her head under the covers. After holding her breath for a while, she suddenly began frantically pounding the bed, writhing on it like a worm.

……

The next day, Nanyi got up and, after much thought, feared she might encounter Xie Queshan if she went out for breakfast. Her stomach was terribly hungry, so she claimed to feel unwell and had food brought to her room.

While eating, a half-grown boy led his sister into her room.

“Mother.” Xie Qin performed a childish bow.

Nanyi was so startled she dropped her spoon into the bowl, unable to understand how she suddenly had such a big son.

“Mother.” The dumpling-like little girl also followed her brother’s call.

She had a daughter too???

Nanyi stared wide-eyed at the two little ones, feeling the world was about to collapse.

Madam Gantang’s smiling voice came from outside the door: “Nanyi, did we startle you?”

Being their real mother after all, Xie Fu and Xie Qin immediately threw themselves into Madam Gantang’s arms. She gathered the two children and sat down, explaining the situation to Nanyi.

Although the two children were registered under the main branch, Madam Gantang usually raised and taught them. Xie Qin’s studies couldn’t be neglected, so she had asked Song Muchuan to be his tutor. Song Muchuan was usually busy with Shipping Bureau affairs and could only teach during rest days. Madam Gantang said she was too busy with household matters to spare time, hoping Nanyi would personally escort Xie Qin to his lessons in the future.

Nanyi immediately understood—Madam Gantang was finding a reasonable excuse for her to meet with Song Muchuan and coordinate information in a timely manner.

She felt relieved. First, she very much wanted to leave the mansion to see Xu Kouyue. Second, there was another reason… she felt restless staying at Wangxue Cottage. She had originally wanted to stay here to investigate Xie Queshan with clear and pure intentions, but after Xie Queshan’s behavior, she didn’t know what to do… Could Xie Queshan be deliberately using this method to seduce her?

He even said he was somewhat fond of her, when he had clearly said that men’s love for women was all cheap!

Bah, bah, bah, as if something dirty had entered her mind.

Now whenever she thought of him, her mind became chaotic. She wanted to go outside the mansion to find a place where she could calm down and think carefully about what to do.

Before that, she didn’t want to see Xie Queshan.

But what she feared most was exactly what happened.

——

As the population at Wangxue Cottage gradually decreased, to conserve resources, since Madam Gantang’s arrival, the individual kitchens in each courtyard had been removed, and all three meals were taken together.

Xie Queshan didn’t dine with the household women, knowing that his presence made everyone eat nervously, so he simply stopped appearing.

Nanyi had intended to continue claiming illness, but hearing that Xie Queshan wouldn’t come, she felt safe to bring her appetite to dinner. But unexpectedly, just as everyone was seated and about to begin eating, he came walking leisurely in.

He had even changed out of his usual dark clothes, wearing a moon-white round-collar narrow-sleeved robe that gave him somewhat the appearance of an elegant young master, as if deliberately trying to seem more approachable.

Everyone trembled as they prepared to rise and bow, but Xie Queshan raised his hand to stop them.

“No need for ceremony, just act as usual.”

He sat in the seat opposite Nanyi, his gaze imperceptibly sweeping over her face. Nanyi stiffened her neck and pretended not to know him, but her heart suddenly raced, her face flushing all the way to her ears, no longer daring to look at him.

Nanyi silently cursed herself for being useless, already thrown into disarray by her opponent before even making a move, while burying her head in her bowl like a shrinking turtle.

Seeing the terribly cold atmosphere at the table, Madam Gantang started a conversation, asking Xie Queshan: “Why did you come today?”

Xie Queshan smiled and said: “Second Sister, do I need a reason to come home for dinner?”

Even Madam Gantang found this difficult to respond to, awkwardly smiling as she replied: “Yes, well, family should eat together.”

Thus the conversation ended, and for a time only the sounds of chewing and chopsticks could be heard at the table.

But Nanyi felt a mix of emotions, her thoughts complex—he usually didn’t come, but came today of all days. Could it be for her?

Yet she felt she was being presumptuous. This cunning Xie Queshan might be plotting something bad!

The meal no longer tasted good. She was very anxious and couldn’t help bouncing her leg.

Suddenly she felt someone kick her foot. Like a startled bird, she stopped her movement and looked up sharply at Xie Queshan in bewilderment.

Xie Queshan didn’t look at her, but calmly lowered his eyes to look at Xie Qin sitting beside him, saying: “Qin boy, don’t bounce your leg—it will bring financial loss.”

Xie Qin looked at Xie Queshan in confusion—he wasn’t bouncing his leg.

But being a little gentleman who reflected on himself three times daily, he immediately introspected that he must have made some movement that disturbed Third Uncle, and quickly apologized: “Qin’er has noted it. Thank you for Third Uncle’s teaching.”

Xie Queshan smiled with a terrifyingly “kind” expression: “Continue eating.”

Heaven knows how frightening his “kindness” was.

After this small episode, everyone continued eating quietly with their heads down.

Before Nanyi could look away, he brazenly glanced at her, his expression unmoved by wind or rain, very naturally raising his chin toward the bamboo grove outside the window.

Across the table, Nanyi clearly received his message—this was an invitation.

Her mind exploded with a bang—how dare he do this in broad daylight before everyone?

Nanyi buried her face in her bowl, not daring to look up at all.

Xie Queshan acted as if nothing had happened, naturally put down his chopsticks, said he was full, stood up to bid farewell, and left leisurely.

As soon as he left, everyone felt relieved, the atmosphere immediately relaxed, the women chatted about household matters, and the dinner table became lively again.

But Nanyi found this meal extremely long and tasteless. She dawdled and dragged out the time, wondering whether she should go.

This kind of avoidance wasn’t a solution and would delay important matters. Nanyi still decided to gather her courage and find Xie Queshan to get things straight!