After Hongdou finished reading Madam He the passage about the club news, and was about to continue reading further, He Yunqin glanced at his wristwatch and urged her: “It’s eleven o’clock — if we don’t leave now we’ll be late.”

Hongdou then said her goodbyes to the family and came out with He Yunqin. Since they still needed to pick up her mother and elder cousin-brother to go look at houses together, the two of them, instead of riding bicycles, took a rickshaw-car. Halfway there, Hongdou rolled down the car window, letting the wind blow against her face, and sighed with genuine feeling: “What lovely weather.”

As she spoke, she rested her chin on her arm, squinting contentedly in the sunlight.

Hongdou, not noticing the smile on He Yunqin’s face, was truly just like a lazy cat — the fluffy, silly kind of cat.

Hongdou, recalling the newspaper item from earlier, asked with puzzlement: “Why would Chen Baidie suddenly think to sell her house?”

She had a guess — having learned that Chen Baidie had been spreading scandalous gossip, He Mengmei had angrily cut off all ties with her. Chen Baidie, having grown used to a life of luxury cars and grand houses these past years, had suddenly lost a major source of income, and presumably found herself unable to move freely in many things, forced by necessity to start selling off her assets.

Just now, while reading the paper, her father-in-law had seemed quite surprised too — clearly he hadn’t known about this beforehand either.

He Yunqin was also mulling over the matter: “This woman is full of tricks. Since she’s putting that house up for auction, why don’t we go take a look.”

Hongdou turned to look at him — that house was already listed at ten thousand silver dollars, a sum ordinary people wouldn’t dare even inquire about — yet He Yunqin’s tone was as casual as if he were going shopping for vegetables or flowers.

She didn’t respond for a while. He Yunqin, slightly surprised, glanced at the rearview mirror and only then noticed she was staring at him, so he explained: “That house was not a gift from my father — otherwise, no matter how strapped for cash Chen Baidie was, she’d never dare sell it. This alone makes the house’s origins suspicious. Second, for this woman to suddenly want to sell the house is one thing, but to deliberately publicize it so prominently in the papers is another — she’s not a stupid woman, surely she knows that given the current market conditions, the higher the price gets driven up, the harder it’ll be to sell? So I say her intention isn’t really to sell the house at all — clearly she has some other purpose. We have to go take a look.”

This matter was indeed suspicious. Hongdou thought it over, resting her chin on her hand: “Come to think of it, could it be like that news item Fourth Sister read earlier — is Chen Baidie’s house haunted too?”

He Yunqin laughed. “Miss Yu is so well-read — surely you don’t believe in such things?”

“Of course I don’t believe it, and even if there were ghosts, how could a ghost be as terrifying as a real, living villain? I’m just thinking — if, as you say, she’s not currently short on money, then the house must genuinely have some problem. But why would it only start ‘haunting’ suddenly, after she’d lived there perfectly fine for so long? Chen Baidie should know that selling too cheaply only invites more speculation, yet she’s deliberately making a big show of it.”

He Yunqin’s expression turned serious. “What was the address of that haunted house mentioned in the paper earlier? Since it was a Western-style clinic that hired a nurse, they surely wouldn’t easily believe in nonsense like hauntings. For the nurse to have died under such unclear circumstances, the clinic’s management couldn’t just let the matter drop. I wonder if Wang Bide has any information on it — why don’t we first accompany your mother to finish looking at houses, then go see Wang Bide afterward.”

This suited Hongdou perfectly. As they talked, they arrived at Tongfu Lane. They parked and went upstairs, where the Pan family had also just arrived. Mrs. Yu was busy in the kitchen preparing lunch, while Yuqi and Yuyuan, the two sisters, sat in the living room chatting with their cousin.

After exchanging greetings, Mrs. Pan quietly pulled Hongdou aside and said: “The papers say the eldest young madam of the He family is holding a tea party at St. John’s — I hear the eldest young madam intends to make it quite grand and elegant, specially inviting many talented young men from Shanghai. If it’s convenient, could you get Yuyuan an invitation too? Her temperament is willful, and she really ought to attend more gatherings like this — otherwise, cooped up at home all day, how will she ever broaden her horizons?”

Hongdou knew that ever since her cousin Yuqi had gotten engaged to Yuan Ruoli, her aunt had shifted all her attention to her younger daughter. “Broadening her horizons” was just a pretext — finding a promising son-in-law was the real goal. But Yuyuan was far more strange and stubborn than her elder sister, and no matter how her mother tried every trick in the book, she simply refused to be managed.

Gatherings like this tea party would draw crowds, and Yuyuan surely wouldn’t want to go — but if she refused outright, Hongdou worried it might hurt her aunt’s feelings, so she said with a smile: “All right, I’ll have someone send the invitation to your home shortly.”

Her aunt’s face brightened, and she said with a beaming smile: “What a good child you are. Look at Yuyuan — she’s only a few days younger than you, and you’re already married, yet her engagement is still nowhere in sight. If you happen to meet any suitable young men among Second Young Master’s friends, please keep Yuyuan in mind.”

Hongdou smiled and nodded.

While the two of them talked, Yuyuan kept glancing over, clearly guessing what her mother was scheming again, looking thoroughly displeased.

Fortunately, the uncle’s family left after lunch. Mrs. Yu and Yu Chongyi then came downstairs together, and the group went to look at the houses they’d arranged to see beforehand. After looking at several throughout the afternoon, Mrs. Yu was drawn to a detached small Western-style house on Camphor Road, only worried the price might be too high — but when she asked, it turned out to be even cheaper by several hundred silver dollars than an older house they’d looked at earlier.

Such a price wasn’t impossible, but it seemed too good to be true. Mrs. Yu and Yu Chongyi exchanged glances: “Could the price have been misreported?”

He Yunqin said with a smile: “The house’s owner has gone to Hong Kong and is currently busy liquidating several properties in Shanghai all at once. He urgently needs the money, so he hasn’t bothered pushing up the price.”

Mrs. Yu immediately understood — all the other houses had been ones she and her son had found themselves; this one alone had been brought to their attention by their son-in-law. The house looked somewhat worn on the outside, but inside, the furniture and flooring were all brand new, complete with Western-style radiators and hot water — truly warm in winter and cool in summer. Trees shaded the front of the house, the surroundings were quiet and secluded, and it was quite close to St. John’s — in short, it suited them perfectly in every way.

How could such a perfect house simply fall into their laps out of nowhere? Clearly, their son-in-law had arranged this in advance. Fearing they might feel they owed him too much, he had deliberately fabricated a pretext. And to make it even harder to refuse, he’d set the price at just the right level — neither too high nor too low, leaving them with no good reason to decline.

She deliberately put on a stern face: “You, child.”

Yu Chongyi, also feeling he couldn’t accept this, said: “Yunqin, this absolutely won’t do—”

He Yunqin raised his eyebrows with a smile: “Mother, Elder Brother, don’t overthink this. It really is just the going price — if you don’t believe me, I’ll go find my friend right now, and you can ask him directly.”

Even if they did track the person down, the two of them would surely have already agreed on their story beforehand, and that person would clear He Yunqin’s name completely regardless. They could hardly force He Yunqin to accept payment against his will.

Hongdou met her mother’s pointed gaze and found she could no longer stand to stay in the room, so she simply stepped out to wander in the small garden in front of the house. They looked at a few more houses afterward, but after much deliberation, Mrs. Yu still preferred the first one. Being a woman of great practical wisdom, she realized that with her son-in-law having handled things so thoroughly, even if word got out, no one would be able to find fault with it. So she stopped putting on airs of reluctance, and that very evening happily paid the deposit.

With this major matter settled for the family, Hongdou was unusually pleased. By the time they returned to the Yu residence, it was nearly six o’clock. Most of the dishes on the table were ones He Yunqin loved, and Hongdou wouldn’t let her mother lift a finger, insisting on personally serving He Yunqin his food. He Yunqin accepted every bite without complaint — she’d serve a spoonful, and he’d eat it.

The meal passed pleasantly, everyone in high spirits. Leaving Tongfu Lane, the two of them still planned, as originally arranged, to go find Wang Bide to ask about the “haunted house” and the nurse’s mysterious death. Once they were in the car, He Yunqin was about to start the engine when, glancing casually in the rearview mirror, his gaze suddenly turned cold. Hongdou asked, startled: “What’s wrong?”

He Yunqin said: “Don’t look back, I’ll tell you in a bit.” Without waiting for Hongdou to press further, he drove off toward Fuhua Lane.

No sooner had the He family car vanished around the corner of the street than another rickshaw-car pulled out from a dark corner.

Three people sat inside the car. Bai Haili sat alone in the back seat, his legs propped up high on the back of the front seat, jacket half-open, a cigar clenched between his teeth, glaring darkly at the car disappearing into the distance. Ash had accumulated to quite a length on his cigar without his noticing. After a long while, he narrowed his eyes and said: “Why does my heart feel so unsettled?”

The man in front turned his head and said with a fawning smile: “If you’re unsettled, sir, this humble servant is unsettled too. But going by your own reasoning, we shouldn’t openly go against the He family — even if we want to deal with the two He siblings, we can’t make it too obvious. Besides, in this humble servant’s opinion, Young Master He seems to have genuinely fallen for that Yu Hongdou — it won’t be easy to trip them up.”

Bai Haili scoffed coldly: “He’s just infatuated with Yu Hongdou for now — give it some time and you’ll see. Say what you will, but there’s no man alive who doesn’t tire of the old for the new. As long as we can manage to cool He Yunqin’s feelings for Yu Hongdou, do you think her days will still be so comfortable? Once Yu Hongdou is unhappy, naturally I’ll feel much better.”

He paused, then raised an eyebrow sharply: “Didn’t I tell you to find a way through Yu Chongyi? Why is there still no progress on that front — bunch of useless fools.”

The man said: “Yu Chongyi’s been solely occupied with buying a house lately, not planning to open any shop, and moreover, this fellow has already grown wary of us — it’s genuinely difficult to get anywhere through that angle.”

“This won’t work, that won’t work — are we just going to give up, then?” Bai Haili spat to the side. “This family is far too ungrateful for the courtesy shown them. I’ve got this ball of resentment stuck in my chest, desperate for somewhere to vent it. If you all just keep stalling me, let’s see how much longer you can keep it up!”

The man’s eyes darted about: “Please calm yourself, Commissioner. This humble servant has looked into it thoroughly, and believes there are two possible angles worth pursuing. One is Yu Chongyi’s uncle, Pan Maosheng, who serves as a comprador at Nanbao Trading Firm and has two lovely daughters — I hear Mrs. Pan is quite the social climber, actively seeking out respectable, well-off sons-in-law for her daughters. The other is that apparently Yu Hongdou had quite a few male students courting her back in her school days, and these days Yu Hongdou keeps performing in some church drama called ‘The Human Skin Mask’ — who knows if He Yunqin even realizes his own wife is drawing so much attention. This humble servant has also heard that St. John’s will be holding a tea party in a few days, hosted by none other than the He family’s eldest young madam — all things considered, these seem like promising opportunities worth exploiting.”

“Oh?” Bai Haili perked up with interest, pinching his cigar between two fingers as he fell into thought, a smile spreading across his face. He tapped off the ash and said: “Not bad — you’re finally putting your mind to use, good student. Go dig deeper, especially around the Pan family. Remember to do it without leaving a trace, so the He family doesn’t grow suspicious of us.”