Fearing the servants might notice something, Hongdou had already sprung up from the bed early.

In the heat of the moment before, she hadn’t felt it, but once she calmed down, embarrassment set in. Looking down, she saw her clothes were already wrinkled. If she went to eat like this, her parents-in-law would surely see through it. She reached up and tugged at the hem, but it wouldn’t smooth out, so she found the wool sweater she’d taken off earlier and put it back on.

Once she’d tidied herself up, she turned to look and saw He Yunqin still lying motionless on the bed.

She rarely saw He Yunqin lose his temper. In all the days she’d known him, she’d only seen him angry twice—once when Chen Jinsheng had driven off with Chen Baidie right under their noses, and now this time.

Seeing his face unusually dark, she naturally understood why he was frustrated. She’d always thought of him as steady and clever, never expecting he’d have such a childish side too. She couldn’t help finding it a little funny, but pretended not to notice and urged him, “Are we going or not?”

He Yunqin glanced up at her. Though the He family had long been thoroughly Westernized from top to bottom, Hongdou had only just married in, and if word of anything got to his father and mother’s ears, it wouldn’t do Hongdou any good. So he got up.

The red silk bedding had already been rumpled into waves by their earlier activity. Hongdou noticed this as she turned around, and remembering what had just happened, her face flushed hot enough to burn. She glared at him lightly, then turned back to smooth the sheets, smoothing them several times until they were more or less flat again before letting it go.

Outside the door, He Yunqin naturally took her hand. After what had just happened between them, the two of them no longer felt the slightest awkwardness with each other.

Yet Hongdou could still feel that his palm was noticeably hot, which showed that, like her, his outward composure was entirely put on.

Fortunately, no one in the dining room paid attention to their being late. From Madam He down to He Lanzhi, everyone was discussing the murder of Manager Xu of Langyuan Bookstore the previous night. Since everyone there had known him, the news that morning had struck them all with a shock tinged with unease at the unknown.

While eating, Hongdou deliberately glanced at Duan Mingyi across from her. This person’s bearing while eating was extremely graceful and dignified—quiet and silent from start to finish, occasionally setting down her bowl and chopsticks to rest her chin and listen quietly to He Lanzhi and the others talk. When she accidentally met Hongdou’s eyes, she would give her a gentle, warm smile, her manner so open and generous that it made Hongdou suspect she was reading too much into things.

Just as they finished eating, several rickshaws arrived at the mansion gate—it turned out to be various ladies close to Madam He. They hadn’t had enough fun at the wedding the day before, so today they’d come together again to see Madam He, partly to offer congratulations, partly to play mahjong for entertainment.

Madam He smilingly had the servants lead everyone in. He Yunqin glanced up and immediately abandoned any plan of taking Hongdou back to their room for an afternoon rest.

Downstairs, in the large parlor, his father often received guests; upstairs, in the small parlor, his mother liked to play mahjong. Though it was several rooms away from his bedroom, it was still on the same floor, and with people constantly coming and going, there was no guarantee someone wouldn’t accidentally wander in.

After what had happened earlier, he had clearly gained Hongdou’s tacit consent, and he kept scheming about what to do with his new wife. Though he wasn’t sure whether Hongdou would make any noise, at the very least the bed frame would creak—if someone overheard, that wouldn’t do at all.

The back of his ears grew hot, and he abruptly stood up, tucking his hands into his trouser pockets, and looked at Hongdou. “I’ll take you around the house today, show you everywhere.”

The moment Hongdou thought of what had just happened, her face burned again, and she always felt that going back to their room in broad daylight in front of everyone had a guilty, thief-like feel to it. This suggestion suited her perfectly, so she smiled. “All right.”

The two of them greeted the visiting ladies, then left the banquet hall one after the other.

They walked slowly along the path outside. He was silent for a long while, and she looked up at him. “Oh right, this morning I heard Detective Wang say something about the scene at Manager Xu’s, and it reminded me of something.”

As soon as she mentioned it, the smile on her face faded somewhat. “Years ago, my aunt secretly fell in love with a young master from a foreign trading firm. Because that young master’s affections shifted elsewhere, my aunt couldn’t get over it, and secretly hanged herself in an empty classroom at a girls’ normal school. By the time my mother and uncle found her, it was already too late. Afterward they brought in a coroner from the police station to examine it, and everyone said my aunt had taken her own life. My mother said my aunt never smoked, yet there were several cigarette butts on the floor of the room where she’d hanged herself. But the police officer just said someone had dropped them there earlier, and refused to investigate further. That was the end of it, nothing more ever came of it.”

He Yunqin was startled. He’d heard Hongdou mention this before, but he hadn’t realized her aunt had died in this way.

“What year did it happen to your aunt?”

Hongdou’s expression dimmed. “Over ten years ago. I don’t even remember what my aunt looked like anymore. Besides, it’s been so long—maybe it really was just a coincidence.”

Eager to dispel the sorrow in her heart, she quickly asked him, “Oh, right, weren’t you studying engineering in Germany? How did you end up studying forensic trace analysis?”

He Yunqin glanced at her—she really did want to know everything about him. It was rare for her to be so unreserved in front of him, so he answered candidly. “Engineering was dreadfully dry to study, and the advisor I’d chosen was extremely strict, only agreeing to let me graduate a year early no matter what. To broaden my knowledge, I’d long planned to study another subject on the side. One time, a close friend of my advisor happened to come lecture at our university—it turned out he was an expert in forensic trace analysis. He posed three questions of logic on the spot, and I answered all of them. After class, the professor had my advisor bring me to meet him, and talking with him sparked my interest in trace analysis. Afterward I kept discussing it with my advisor, and eventually persuaded the old man to let me pursue a degree in trace analysis on the condition it wouldn’t interfere with my original degree. Then, in my second year of study, Wang Bide, who’d hit a wall in his self-directed study of detective work, paid his own tuition to come to Germany to study under this same trace analysis professor. That’s how Wang Bide and I came to know each other.”

By this account, He Yunqin was practically formally trained, while Wang Bide had come to it by a roundabout path—no wonder Wang Bide came to He Yunqin whenever he ran into a thorny problem.

Listening to him recount all this so casually, evidently intending to lay his past life bare before her without reservation, Hongdou felt a warm, melting sense of happiness rise slowly from her chest. She quickly lowered her head, racking her brain—was there anything about her own past that he wanted to know but didn’t already?

Thinking it over, her life had been far too simple. The only thing that came close to an episode was Qin Xuekai, but ever since the incident with his proposal, He Yunqin clearly already understood her feelings about Qin Xuekai perfectly well—no wonder he didn’t seem to mind at all.

She felt a faint twinge of grievance in her heart. By comparison, she had already suffered several rounds of jealousy over Duan Mingyi. She was dying of curiosity, but because he was always so open and forthright, it somehow made it hard for her to ask.

She could only blame the fact that the two of them had married in haste without ever properly courting first—otherwise they’d have long since developed an understanding, and she wouldn’t still be holding this in her heart after the wedding. Since the mood right now was just right, she really should speak up and ask, so as not to let this become a point of friction later on.

Just as she was composing her words internally, the group passed through the garden toward the Western-style glass flower conservatory inside. Leading the way were two people, one somewhat plump, one somewhat tall and elegant—Duan Mingyi and He Lanzhi.

He Yunqin looked at Hongdou, then suddenly said, “When I was in private middle school, your elder sister-in-law and I were classmates in the same grade.”

Hongdou’s heart jumped—speak of the devil. From He Yunqin’s tone, he seemed to be voluntarily bringing up the subject of Duan Mingyi.

She held her breath and slowed her pace to walk alongside him.

He Yunqin said, “She was the treasured daughter of the Duan family, quite good-looking too. At the time there were many admirers at school. Perhaps I was too young then—I honestly didn’t notice anything different about her compared to the other female students, and naturally had no thought of courting her. Later my elder brother began formally pursuing her, and I went to study in Germany. By the time I returned, she had already become my sister-in-law.”

A few short sentences, but he’d evidently said all that needed saying.

Hongdou listened silently. In his words, he only made clear his own attitude, neither praising nor criticizing anyone else—there was a gentlemanly quality to it. It was one thing for him to be sharp-minded, but for him to be this forthright as well was rare. Her heart suddenly felt much lighter. Whatever suspicions she might have harbored before, after this explanation from him, she should thoroughly let them go.

Not wanting him to see the corners of her mouth curling up high, she turned and walked off in another direction, saying deliberately, “Oh, I haven’t seen the flower beds over there yet.”

After a few steps, seeing he was still standing there watching her, she turned back to his side. “Are you going back to school to teach tomorrow?”

“I still have one more day off. I’m planning to go see Wang Bide—will you wait for me at home, or come along?”

Her face flushed slightly, and she said softly, “I’ll come with you.”

He Yunqin’s heart stirred. He looked up at the sky—still a clear blue. The more he looked forward to nightfall, the more reluctant it seemed to come.

Hongdou looked up in puzzlement. “What are you looking at?”

He Yunqin kept a straight face. “Checking whether it’ll rain tomorrow.”

Does trace analysis even teach that? Hongdou wondered suspiciously, thinking of those German notes back in the bedroom—she wasn’t sure if they were about trace analysis. Tonight, once they were back in their room, she’d have to pester He Yunqin into teaching her no matter what.

After dinner, the two returned to their room. As soon as He Yunqin entered, he checked his wristwatch—seven o’clock, finally time to bathe. Fortunately, after being out all afternoon, Hongdou seemed to have worked up a sweat, and without waiting for him to hint around the subject, she took her nightclothes on her own and went to the washroom to bathe.

By the time she came out, he was leaning back on the sofa, absently holding a book, though who knew how long he’d been at it—the page in front of him hadn’t turned once.

Once she’d gotten into bed, blushing, and lay down quietly, he glanced at her, then went into the bathroom to take off his shirt. His gaze naturally landed on the bathtub. Actually, the bathtub in his room before had only been half this size—this large tub was something the household steward had bought on impulse when a manager from a French trading firm had come pitching it before the wedding. When he’d studied in Europe before, he’d seen in some tabloid that married couples could do things in a bathtub, though he hadn’t known exactly how one was supposed to go about it. Of course, yesterday such a thing had still seemed out of reach—but now it seemed almost within easy grasp. He just didn’t know whether Hongdou would be willing to cooperate.

This bath was the fastest he’d ever taken. When he came out, Hongdou’s black hair spilled loose over her shoulders and back along with her soft, smooth nightclothes. Propped up on her chin against the pillow, she was reading the very book he’d just been looking at, with an air of utter leisure. Though she couldn’t recognize a single word of German, she still pretended to be absorbed in it. Hearing him come out, she didn’t look toward him, but her pearl-like earlobes had already quietly turned red.