Gu Yun also had a supporting role in this play, and being conscientious and meticulous by nature, she naturally cared a great deal about this matter. Hearing that the lead had been found, she let out a sigh of relief and said, “That’s for the best, then. Tomorrow is Monday, and Miss Duan is holding a tea party at a club near the school. To liven up the atmosphere, she’s sent invitations to every student in the department. Since there’s no formal performance for the troupe tomorrow, would you like to come show your face at the tea party?”
Hongdou pondered without answering right away. Back when Duan Mingyi had first proposed this, He Yunqin had tactfully declined on her behalf. But since the tea party’s location was set near St. John’s, if she — as a sister-in-law — didn’t even show her face, it would inevitably invite suspicion. So she said, “Let’s go. After class, we’ll head over together.”
After dropping off Gu Yun, the two returned to the He mansion. The moment they walked in, Hongdou turned to He Yunqin. “There’s something I need to ask you.”
He Yunqin tossed his coat casually onto the sofa, lowered his eyes to look at her, and said gently, “Ask away.”
“Why did you go find Miss Qiu upstairs last time?”
“To ask about something.”
“Ask about what?”
He Yunqin looked at her for a moment, then smiled. “Can’t tell you.”
There he went again with this routine. She dodged his hand. “Then why did you measure the dimensions of my family’s study, and why do you know the origins of that haunted house?”
He Yunqin paused, then simply pulled her into the inner room. “Hongdou, why is your curiosity so strong?”
“I’m only curious about your business. Anyone else’s affairs, even if they begged me to ask, I wouldn’t bother.”
He Yunqin stopped walking and turned to look at her. “Then can you tell me, what is the play you’ve all been rehearsing lately about, and what’s the deal with that male student surnamed Yu?”
Hongdou was startled — he never usually asked about her school affairs, and she hadn’t expected him to care about the play. She pushed him away. “To expose Bai Fengfei and Fu Zixiao’s wrongdoing, the students of the Education Department and the Chinese Literature Department joined forces to put on a play called Painted Skin. You just heard — the male lead suddenly had to rush back to Wuxi, so we had to find a replacement.”
“You’re the female lead?”
Hongdou walked to the dressing table, bent over the mirror to remove her earrings. Hearing this, she raised an eyebrow, lowered her eyes, and put the earrings back into the jewelry box. “Yes.”
He Yunqin found her more and more like a cat — but unlike this morning, she’d now turned lazy and coquettish.
He sat on the edge of the bed, undoing his wristwatch. “This person is playing the male lead? Quite presentable in appearance?”
Hongdou lifted her chin. “I haven’t seen him yet, but Mei Lizhen and the others all say he’s quite presentable. We’ll know once we run through a scene together.”
“When do you have a performance? Invite me to watch.”
He kept her in the dark about everything, and she felt stifled with resentment. She deliberately played coy. “Our troupe doesn’t welcome outsiders to watch our rehearsals.”
He Yunqin hissed. “You’ve already brought in an outsider to perform, but won’t welcome outside audiences?”
Hongdou turned, leaning her back against the dressing table, and looked at him with a smile. “What’s strange about that — our troupe has all sorts of odd rules. If I say you can’t watch, then you can’t.”
With that, she walked past him proudly, intending to head to the washroom. But just as she reached the foot of the bed, he reached out, grabbed her, and flipped her onto the bed.
She kicked and struggled. “What are you doing.”
He bit her lightly. “Yu Hongdou.”
She pretended to be angry, ready to bite him back, when a servant outside knocked on the door. “Second Young Master, the Master requests you come to the study to discuss important matters. The Eldest Young Master is there too.”
Hongdou looked at He Yunqin in surprise. Since their marriage, neither her parents-in-law nor anyone else in the He family had ever come to disturb them at night without reason. What “important matters” required discussion this late? She suddenly remembered the conflicting news in the papers lately — the He family surely wouldn’t sit idle; they must already have some plan of response.
He Yunqin was still watching Hongdou, but his mouth said, “Understood.”
He lowered his head and pecked her lips. “Wait for me to come back.”
He rolled off the bed. She hurriedly propped herself up on her arms and sat up, watching him leave with wide eyes. After staring blankly for a while, she meant to get up and bathe, then suddenly remembered her aunt had asked her to get an invitation to the tea party for Yuyuan. So she rang the bell to call a servant in, instructing them to go ask the Eldest Young Mistress for an invitation card, and only then went into the washroom.
After going to bed, she waited a long while, but He Yunqin never came back. Her eyelids grew heavy with drowsiness, and in the end she couldn’t resist and fell asleep.
The next day, after a full day of classes, it was nearly five o’clock when they let out. A group of female students walked together; Hongdou discussed the play with Mei Lizhen and the others as she walked. At the school gate, she remembered He Yunqin had said that morning he’d come straight to the tea party at seven to find her, so she didn’t bother waiting for him and headed straight for the garden mansion where the tea party was being held.
The banquet hadn’t officially begun yet; guests were arriving one after another at the door — from St. John’s own President Johnson, a figure of great standing, down to the wealthy young ladies close to Duan Mingyi, managers from major publishing houses, and well-known professors from various schools. Nearly everyone invited today was someone of standing. Light, soothing music flowed quietly through the room; the whole hall was filled with the rustle of fine clothes and jewelry, and the spacious mansion was decorated in lavish, opulent style.
Just as the papers had said, Duan Mingyi had truly put considerable effort into preparing this tea party.
Hongdou helped Duan Mingyi greet guests, occasionally glancing toward the door, but saw no sign of Yuyuan. Instead, Mei Lizhen beside her laughed in surprise. “Oh, Yu Rui.”
She said to Hongdou and the others, “This is the person we pulled in on short notice for the play.”
Hongdou looked over and saw a young man with a crew cut, sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, extremely handsome features — only his complexion was a bit pale, not as tall and robust-looking as He Yunqin.
He swept his gaze slowly across the crowd in the hall after entering, as if searching for someone. Mei Lizhen waved to him. “Classmate Yu.”
Only then did Yu Rui walk over quickly. As he approached and saw Hongdou, his gaze paused slightly.
Mei Lizhen introduced her to him. “This is the Yu Hongdou I told you about.”
Yu Rui looked at Hongdou. “Nice to meet you, I’m Yu Rui.”
Hongdou smiled lightly. “Hello, I’m Yu Hongdou.”
Yu Rui smiled and was about to say more when someone among the students said indignantly, “Why did this person come?”
Hongdou turned to look, and at first thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. Looking again more carefully, the arrogant, self-important middle-aged man at the door was indeed Bai Haili.
Bai Haili’s reputation preceded him; anyone who’d even heard a little about his misdeeds despised him deeply.
Someone chimed in, “This man is thriving in both political and business circles these days. If he’s come with sincere intentions, even Miss Duan probably can’t stop him.”
“Pah, what thick skin.”
Bai Haili swaggered into the hall with his subordinates in tow, working the room smoothly on all sides. Not knowing the meaning of shame at his own lack of standing, the moment he entered he grabbed hold of several university presidents and began holding forth loudly. Hongdou felt uncomfortable just looking at him; she wasn’t in the habit of inviting trouble for herself, and He Yunqin still hadn’t arrived, so she pretended not to have seen anything.
Before long, Yuyuan also arrived, awkwardly dressed in a Western-style gown, her face maintaining a forced smile — clearly she’d been made to come by her aunt.
Hongdou hurried to bring her in, saying in a low voice, “These are all our classmates over here. If you feel out of place later, just stay with them.”
Yuyuan’s expression eased somewhat. She said to Hongdou, “You know my mother’s temperament — watching me walk in isn’t enough for her, she’s sitting outside in the car watching too. I plan to just sit around a bit and leave. As long as I can account for myself in front of her, that’s all that matters.”
Hongdou said with a smile, “Lots of people came from our school today, and among them plenty of talented young men. Take a look around — if there happens to be someone you fancy, you’ll have something to tell your mother afterward. No need to keep fighting with her over it.”
With that, she led Yuyuan over to Mei Lizhen and the others, introducing her one by one.
Over there, Bai Haili glanced a few times toward Hongdou’s direction and gave one of his subordinates a look.
Just then, the sound of car horns rang out, and there was a stir at the door as several young gentlemen in fine, expensive clothes entered. The one leading them was He Ningzheng; Hongdou recognized the rest from before — some close to He Ningzheng, others close to He Yunqin, all in all family friends of the He family.
The group came in chatting and laughing. Duan Mingyi and the others turned to look and hurried over with beaming smiles.
He Yunqin was the most relaxed of the group, trailing behind the others, listening to their conversation as he walked. Once inside, he glanced first — seemingly by chance — at Bai Haili, who was in the middle of animated conversation, and then looked toward Hongdou in the crowd, and smiled.
Author’s Note: Bai Haili’s lunchbox is served — next Hong Dou Sheng Min Guo – Chapter goes up. Lately I’ve genuinely had too much going on. Though I really want to update two or three times a day to finish this story so I can focus on exam prep, sometimes I truly don’t have the energy despite the will. If there’s a missed update or only one update, please forgive me (I’ll post in advance in the author’s notes, so remember to check). One more thing — Hongdou and He-er will have a little bun on the way and live happily ever after. The era may be what it is, but the pen is, after all, in the birth mother-author’s hands.