Hongdou had actually wanted to stay behind to watch He Yunqin and Wang Bide analyze the clues, but He Yunqin gave her no room to discuss it—the moment he finished speaking, he headed downstairs first.

She followed after him unwillingly, thinking as she walked that if this were her brother, she’d only need to wear him down patiently for a while and he’d soon give in.

He Yunqin walked ahead, feeling somewhat puzzled himself. He’d assumed Hongdou would surely find some way to insist on staying, yet she was strangely quiet. By rights he should have felt relieved, but for some reason he instead felt a little let down.

Just as they were about to go downstairs, Hongdou decided to make one last attempt: “Will Mr. He be developing the film tonight?”

She was clearly hoping to negotiate with him, her tone noticeably softer than usual. He paused for only a second, then obligingly stopped in his tracks and turned back, feigning surprise: “Does Miss Yu need something?”

Hongdou smiled brightly: “Brother’s gone to raid the Yuan household, and Mr. He and Inspector Wang are staying behind to do the research—that’s only two pairs of hands between you, and there’s really only so much you can do. We still don’t know where that weapon came from, and the Yuan family matter is full of unresolved questions. I was thinking, since I’m the one who found that copy of Records of the Mysterious Ancestor’s Wilderness Tales, why don’t I take some of Inspector Wang’s occult materials home with me as well, and have a good look through them tonight—maybe I’ll find something before dawn.”

It was late at night, and she wanted to help with something, but couldn’t very well stay behind, so taking home the materials they hadn’t gotten through yet to search seemed like a good idea too.

He Yunqin pondered without answering right away, and after waiting a moment and seeing Hongdou wasn’t going to keep pressing, he finally nodded indifferently: “Very well.”

The two of them carried a large stack of materials downstairs.

Once in the rickshaw, Hongdou spent the ride absorbed in flipping through the materials, while He Yunqin puzzled over the case; neither of them spoke.

When they reached Tongfu Lane, He Yunqin saw the alley entrance was pitch dark, so he parked the car by the roadside and personally walked Hongdou down to her building.

Hongdou walked slowly, the stack of old books in her arms, her mind replaying the events of the afternoon. Though she still didn’t understand why this man had taken it upon himself to help with the investigation, he no longer seemed as irritating as he had those first few times—at least when the two of them weren’t bickering, he was reasonably easy to get along with.

Tailor Peng’s household had already put out their lights, the streetlamp casting a dim yellow glow over the concrete walk in front, everything around utterly silent. Just as she was about to step onto the stairs, Hongdou suddenly remembered her bicycle was still at Wang Bide’s place, and hurriedly turned to ask He Yunqin about it—only to find he too had been lost in thought and couldn’t dodge in time. Hongdou’s forehead knocked with a “thunk” right into his chin.

Hongdou cried out in pain and quickly stepped back.

He Yunqin hissed, apparently having taken quite a hit himself.

Once she’d steadied herself, Hongdou frowned and rubbed her forehead, thinking to herself: the top of her head only reached his chin—could he really be taller than her brother? He looked tall and lean, but his chest had felt surprisingly solid. At least his clothes were clean, without any hint of sweat smell.

A jumble of thoughts crowded her mind, and only then did she remember to ask: “Are you all right, Mr. He?”

He Yunqin, after a moment, took his hand away from his chin and looked at her with some amusement, his tone lightly teasing: “Miss Yu really does have a hard head.”

Hongdou said sheepishly: “I just remembered my bicycle is still at Inspector Wang’s place.”

He Yunqin paused: “It’s too late—going back for it now probably won’t work.”

“Then I’ll go to Fuhua Lane tomorrow morning to get it.”

The two fell quiet again. A few insect chirps sounded from the grass — far less lively than in high summer, now that autumn had come. After a moment of silence, she looked up at him, just about to thank him, when suddenly someone pushed open the door behind them. There was a soft “oh” of surprise, followed by a voice, extremely sweet and coquettish: “Mr. He?”

Hongdou recognized that voice at once and turned to look.

Miss Qiu stood poised in her high heels, graceful and swaying, by the doorway.

She seemed to be on her way to work at the Bailemen, dressed in a lake-green velvet qipao with a matching knit cardigan over it. Her hair was freshly permed, dark and full like a burst of fireworks; her face was petite as a palm, her lips glossy and vivid red, her eyebrows drawn thin and long.

He Yunqin’s smile faded slightly: “Miss Qiu.”

Miss Qiu looked at He Yunqin, then at Hongdou, her tone carrying a hint of probing curiosity: “Miss Yu, so you know Mr. He.”

Hongdou, remembering He Yunqin had come to the third floor to see Miss Qiu once before, found she had no wish at all to make small talk with the two of them, and gave a cool nod: “Miss Qiu, Mr. He, I’ll head up now — you two carry on.”

So saying, she pushed open the door and went into the building.

The two of them seemed to exchange a few more words; for a while, she didn’t hear the sound of departing footsteps.

Hongdou went upstairs. Her mother, worried about Yuqi, was still waiting up. After exchanging a few words with her mother, she thought of what had just happened and walked to the window of the inner bedroom, looking down out of curiosity.

Below, all was quiet, not a single figure in sight. He Yunqin had already gone.

Hongdou spent half the night going through old books and old newspapers, but found nothing of value. Remembering she needed to go to Fuhua Lane first thing to retrieve her bicycle, she finally went to sleep past three.

She got up at six, and going downstairs, found — to her astonishment — a bicycle parked under the awning outside the tailor shop. She stood dumbfounded for a moment, then walked over and bent down to examine it carefully by feel — it was indeed her bicycle, without a doubt.

Could He Yunqin have brought it over for her first thing in the morning? She stood stunned for a good while. Well, that was just as well — she wouldn’t have to take the tram specially to Wang Bide’s place, saving quite a bit of time.

Pleased with herself, she rode off on the bicycle. Seeing it was still early, and guessing that Commissioner Bai wouldn’t be at his office reporting for duty quite this soon, she rode over to the police station, meaning to ask around and see whether her brother had come back yet.

Just as she reached the station gate, a car pulled up as well. The door opened, and the first to step out was Yu Chongyi, followed by a pale, thin, middle-aged woman.

This woman seemed to have suffered a great shock; the moment she got out of the car, she pressed a hand to her chest, her voice trembling steadily: “I told you, I didn’t kill anyone.”

Yu Chongyi’s expression was set hard, though his tone remained fairly polite: “Mrs. Yuan, please go inside first and wait to be questioned. If it truly wasn’t you, we certainly won’t wrong you. Right now we have several important leads we need you to confirm — they concern the other two missing women. Please cooperate, Mrs. Yuan.”

The woman seemed rather unstable emotionally; hearing this, she said in a shrill voice: “So you already know I’m Mrs. Yuan. Go fetch Yuan Ruoli for me — even if I failed to give him an heir, even if I’ve wronged the Yuan family, we were married ten years. Now that I’m in trouble, he shouldn’t be avoiding me like this.”

Yu Chongyi said: “Mr. Yuan is also someone we need to question.”

Mrs. Yuan’s face went pale: “What exactly do you people want? We already let Wang Meiping go long ago. She’s dead — you shouldn’t be questioning us about that, you should be looking for the real killer—”

Hongdou watched from across the street without blinking. So this was Yuan Ruoli’s former wife — her looks were passable enough, but her frame was rather too frail. Her words, in every line, still seemed thick with lingering attachment to Yuan Ruoli.

Thinking back to that tea party, Yuan Ruoli did seem to be courting her cousin, and her cousin seemed rather taken with him too — if the two of them married, this former wife would truly have nothing to do with any of it anymore. Could that be exactly why Mrs. Yuan had come up with such a wicked scheme?

Whatever the case, now that the investigation had reached this woman, her cousin should surely have news soon.

At this thought, Hongdou’s mood lifted considerably, and seeing it was getting late, she rode her bike back to school.

Having barely slept the night before, she dozed off in her very first class.

When class let out, Gu Yun went with her to the mailbox at the entrance to get the newspaper, and, remembering something, suddenly said: “I heard someone’s been pursuing Li Lulu lately — guess who. That Lu Jingheng from Nanbao Trading who bothered you before.”

Hongdou raised her eyebrows — the man had switched targets that fast? How marvelous. He was like an annoying fly — now that he’d changed the object of his pursuit, he naturally wouldn’t come pestering her anymore.

The two of them chatted as they walked, and from a good distance off they could already see an extravagant-looking car parked at the school gate.

Looking closer, there was Lu Jingheng, standing brazenly in front of the car, holding a large bouquet of rich, velvety red roses, apparently waiting for someone.

Seeing Hongdou, Lu Jingheng was visibly startled for a moment, but quickly turned his head away with obvious disdain. Hongdou, remembering how He Yunqin had put this man in his place a few times, wasn’t sure whether it was because of He Yunqin that Lu Jingheng had changed his attitude, but she still felt quite pleased, and pulled Gu Yun along as she walked on.

Before long, Li Lulu, the belle of the foreign languages department, came out. Lu Jingheng, flowers in hand, went to meet her with great flair.

Li Lulu looked a bit bashful still, and pulled along two other female classmates; the three of them walked hand in hand to the car.

The Lu family’s chauffeur went over to open the door.

Because the driver stood so ramrod straight and walked with such a brisk stride, Hongdou couldn’t help glancing at him again — the driver wore a proper Western suit, was in his forties, with a broad, square face and an obsequious smile all over it.

He respectfully opened the door for Li Lulu and the others, then went around to sit up front.

Back in the classroom, Hongdou saw there was still time, so she put her head down on the desk to nap.

Gu Yun asked her: “He Zhuyun’s mother’s big birthday is next week — there’s a party at the house, and they’ve invited quite a few classmates. Are you going?”

Hongdou answered without even opening her eyes: “He Zhuyun hasn’t asked me yet. Once she formally invites me, I’ll consider whether to go.”

Gu Yun said, puzzled: “You’re usually the first one up for going out and about — with such a good opportunity, why are you playing hard to get?”

Hongdou waved a hand: “I’ve got things going on at home lately, my mind’s all in a jumble, I’m not in the mood to go out and have fun.”

Gu Yun propped her chin on her hand and looked out the classroom window, just as Duan Mingyi walked past alongside the head of the foreign languages department, Wang Meili.

She watched Duan Mingyi’s graceful figure recede and said: “They say Miss Duan is only twenty-three or twenty-four, but somehow it always feels like there’s a whole generation between her and us. Did you know Miss Duan was actually schoolmates with her brother-in-law back in middle school? I heard He Yunqin has always carried a torch for his sister-in-law—”

Hongdou looked up with a cold laugh: “Gu Yun, with all your learning, how can you still go gossiping on hearsay like that?”

Gu Yun startled: “I was only saying it offhand, I never said I actually believed it. Why are you getting so worked up?”

Hongdou touched her own face: “Am I getting worked up?”

Gu Yun nodded very seriously: “You are.”

Hongdou thought it over for a moment, then quickly stretched: “Sorry, I didn’t sleep well last night, my temper’s running hot. Don’t talk to me, let me sleep a bit more.”

Gu Yun asked her: “So are you going to He Zhuyun’s invitation or not? If you’re not going, I won’t go either.”

Hongdou lifted Gu Yun’s wrist to check her watch: “I’ve got something important going on at home — I’m waiting for word from my brother at noon. Only once that’s settled will I have any mind left for going out and having fun.”