He Yunqin lifted the covers and got into bed; Hongdou still didn’t move an inch. If sheer willpower alone could teach one German, then just from the intensity with which she was staring at that page, she should have reached fluency by now.

Suddenly the page before her dimmed—it seemed his shadow was blocking the light cast from the silver lamp on the headboard. Her heart pounded like a drum, but she pretended nonchalance and turned the page.

Sensing him draw closer, she pointed randomly at some word on the page. “What does this word mean?”

He Yunqin looked at it and said, “die Präambel.”

His voice was hoarser than usual, and as he spoke each word, it seemed to faintly shake the air around them, quietly plucking at the strings of her heart. Her breathing suddenly grew difficult. Afraid he’d notice her flustered state, she deliberately looked up at him. “What’s that in Chinese?”

Light spilled down from above, tracing her features—as gorgeous as a painting—in a golden glow. His gaze wandered slowly across her face, and after a pause, he said, “‘Preface.'”

She gazed at him; his eyes reminded her of a dark night sea holding countless great waves within it, effortlessly holding her gaze captive. Not until his breath was already right by her ear did she hurriedly lower her eyes and point to another word. “And what about this one?”

He Yunqin looked distractedly at where her finger pointed. “Prägung—’imprint.'”

A surging undercurrent was closing in on her. She felt as if bound by some spell, utterly unable to keep her focus on the page, and could only keep grasping for something to say. “Then how do you say ‘hello’ in German?”

“Guten Tag.” He pulled the book from her hands and tossed it aside, then flipped over to pin her beneath him, both hands braced beside her head, gazing at her intently. “If you really want to learn German, I’ll teach you every night from now on.”

Hongdou squirmed a bit without effect, and, blushing, closed her eyes. After a good while she said softly, “How do you plan to teach me?”

His heart pounded like a drum, his gaze drifting slowly downward to fix on her lips. “Küssen.”

“Küssen?”

He lowered his head and kissed her, savoring the sweet fullness of her taste with his eyes closed, and taught her hoarsely, “‘Kiss.'”

The next morning Hongdou woke before He Yunqin. Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was his face in the morning light. The two of them lay facing each other; his sleeping face was calm, his breathing steady, one arm still wrapped around her waist.

This was already the second time she’d opened her eyes to find herself in his arms. She wasn’t sure whether it was that he unconsciously liked to hold people in his sleep, or that she herself liked to burrow into his arms. She lay quietly for a while, looking up at his face, and seeing he showed no sign of waking, planned to gently move his arm off her and go to the washroom to bathe.

Who would have known that at her movement, he frowned and abruptly opened his eyes.

Their gazes met, and she suddenly remembered the way he’d been drenched in sweat over and over on top of her the night before. Her face instantly burned as if it might catch fire. She glared at him reproachfully, pushed him away, swung her two bare feet down, fumbled her way into her slippers, and went into the washroom.

He Yunqin watched her retreating figure with sleepy eyes; seeing the door close before him, he was stunned for a moment, then also lifted the covers and got out of bed.

When Hongdou came out from inside, she opened the door to find He Yunqin standing outside, his hair somewhat mussed, wearing only a pair of pajama pants, bare feet on the floor.

His expression was still a little dazed. He looked up, saw her come out, and came back to himself, saying, “Hongdou.”

The moment Hongdou thought of what had happened the previous night, embarrassment and irritation welled up beyond words. What kind of strange habit was this—tormenting her was one thing, but then he kept covering her mouth so she couldn’t make a sound. She’d already been gasping heavily as it was, and with his hand over her mouth, she’d nearly lost her breath several times.

After all, this being a new marriage, such subtle feelings from the marriage bed were hard to put into words, and in the end it could only crystallize into a kind of displeasure, plainly written across her face.

He Yunqin had already noticed Hongdou was unhappy, and thought to himself—could it be she resented how wild he’d been the night before, not gentle enough with her?

She moved to walk past him toward the dressing table, but he pulled her back, asking in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”

She looked up at him and said nothing.

He thought about it, then asked tentatively, “Still feeling unwell?”

Hongdou still ignored him.

He paused, then said, “Or should I stay home with you today, and not go anywhere?”

Hongdou’s eyes flickered, and after a long, stifled silence, she said in an extremely low voice, “Why did you cover my mouth last night…”

He Yunqin’s face flushed hot—so that was what she was upset about. How was he supposed to explain? He’d always thought her voice was sweet and soft to begin with, and at those moments it turned even more melodious and tender without reason. The first time, it was precisely because of the soft sounds she made beneath him that he hadn’t been able to hold back and had surrendered early.

So by the second and third times, fearing he’d finish too quickly again, the moment he sensed things going that way, he’d cover her mouth in advance, worried that if she made any sound, he wouldn’t be able to hold back.

Hearing her put it this way, he realized he really had only been focused on his own pleasure the night before, without considering her feelings.

She stared at him with wide, clear eyes, obviously waiting for his explanation. There was no getting away with vague excuses, so he rubbed the bridge of his nose and finally murmured something low into her ear.

Hongdou’s eyes widened in astonishment—so that was how it was.

Seeing her anger dissolve, He Yunqin asked, “Still angry?”

Hongdou pushed him away, walked to the dressing table, picked up her jewelry, and leaned toward the mirror to put on her earrings. Her gaze flickered—he was still behind her, watching. She lowered her eyes and said, “Aren’t we still supposed to go see Detective Wang? Let’s wash up quickly so we can go down for breakfast.”

Only then did He Yunqin come back to himself. He smiled and went into the washroom.

After finishing breakfast, the two of them reached the gate of the He mansion. He Yunqin asked Hongdou, “Fuhua Lane isn’t far from here—do you want to take a rickshaw or ride the bicycle?”

In the more than a month of wedding preparations, Hongdou had almost forgotten about He Yunqin’s bicycle. She paused, then said, “The back of your bicycle has a wire sticking out—it tore my trousers last time. I don’t dare ride it.”

He Yunqin, somewhat amused, pulled her over to the bicycle, crouched down first to examine it carefully himself, then said to her, “There shouldn’t be any wire this time. If you don’t believe me, check for yourself.”

Hongdou reached out and felt around for a moment—sure enough, there wasn’t a single rough spot on the back seat. Could it be that He Yunqin had specially had the bicycle fixed because of what happened last time?

A sweet feeling welled up inside her—if she was told this had nothing to do with her, she wouldn’t believe it no matter what. So she readily hopped onto the seat behind him. “Let’s go then.”

Seeing she showed not the least reluctance, He Yunqin’s mood instantly turned as bright and pleasant as the blue sky overhead. He glanced back at her. “Sit tight then.”

He rode off with her.

The servants trimming the lawn nearby, seeing this, gaped in astonishment. It wasn’t the first time the Second Young Master had ridden his bicycle out—they were long used to that. But they hadn’t expected the new Second Young Mistress they’d married in would be just as eccentric as the Second Young Master—passing up a perfectly good rickshaw to ride on the back of his bicycle instead, and by the looks of the Second Young Mistress’s beaming smile, there wasn’t a trace of reluctance about it—clearly she genuinely enjoyed it.

Upstairs, several of the He family women who witnessed this scene were all rather taken aback.

After a moment, He Lanzhi said with a smile to Madam He, whose face was also lit with a smile, “Second Sister-in-law and Second Brother really do get along.”

Madam He laughed. “You couldn’t find a second person in all of Shanghai willing to carry on like this with Old Second. No wonder he’s so pleased with her.”

He Yunqin rode his bicycle out of the He mansion like an arrow, and after riding a stretch, deliberately teased Hongdou. “Want to learn the German word for ‘bicycle’?”

He Yunqin rode much faster than his elder brother did. Hongdou, afraid of losing her balance, was already shyly holding tight around his waist. Hearing this, she suddenly remembered what had happened the night before, and her face flushed red. She said crossly, “I don’t want to learn.”

“Then I’ll teach you tonight.”

She flatly refused. “Even less so tonight.”

“Then when will you be willing to learn?”

“I’m never learning German again, ever.”

“Is that so?” he said slowly. “Then who was it just now in the room holding my German dictionary and reading it?”

Hongdou gave a light huff. “I’ll teach myself. I don’t need you to teach me.”

“Can you learn faster on your own than with me teaching you?”

Hongdou fell silent.

He Yunqin smiled silently, his mood extremely pleased. He still couldn’t quite tell whether he’d truly fallen in love with Hongdou, only that when he was with her, even in silence, everything felt easy and unrestrained.

By the time the two of them reached Wang Bide’s residence, Wang Bide had just changed clothes and was about to head out.

Seeing the two of them, he said, “You’ve come at just the right time. I’m about to go to Keyu Theater to see Bai Fengfei—come along.”

Author’s Note: It’s Lantern Festival, and tonight I plan to spend good time with my family, so there’s no second update today. Happy Lantern Festival everyone, remember to eat plenty of tangyuan—I like the sesame filling ones myself.