Gu Yun led Mrs. Pan and Yuyuan to seats toward the front, settling them in before hurrying off to attend to other matters.

The audience seats were nearly half full, with more spectators still filing in one after another. Onstage, the curtain remained closed, and the air was filled with a buzz of chatter and laughter. Yuyuan waited quietly for the show to begin, while Mrs. Pan, her attention not really on the play, kept glancing left and right after sitting down, occasionally catching a whiff of fragrance drifting over from a neighboring seat, her mouth watering, silently regretting she hadn’t brought salted peanuts to snack on.

After waiting a while, He Yunqin entered with a friend, looking for seats. Mrs. Pan’s eyes lit up, and she quickly straightened up, waiting for He Yunqin to come closer so she could bring Yuyuan over to greet him. But as the two men approached, chatting and laughing, Mrs. Pan only then noticed that the person beside him was a foreigner.

She was startled—let alone Yuyuan, even she herself had never entertained the idea of her daughter finding a foreign husband, and this thought alone dashed most of her scheming intentions.

Passing by, He Yunqin glanced this way unintentionally, paused for a moment, then nodded in greeting. “Aunt, Yuyuan.”

Mrs. Pan, knowing he’d always been mindful of etiquette, quickly pulled Yuyuan up too, plastering on a full smile. “Yunqin.”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but size up the foreigner—twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, high-bridged nose, fair skin, looking up close much like a Greek marble bust from a Western trading house, his eyes like sea-blue glass beads. She’d never been able to appreciate foreigners’ features, and only kept up her smile out of courtesy, not daring to look too much.

He Yunqin said to Mrs. Pan, “This is my friend, Dr. Ruide.”

Then to Ruide, “This is my wife’s aunt and cousin—Mrs. Pan, Miss Pan.”

Ruide extended his hand. “Good day, Mrs. Pan.”

Mrs. Pan had been cultivating her social manners in recent years, and knowing this wasn’t presumptuous of him, extended her hand in kind, giving it a token shake. “Pleased, pleased to meet you.”

Ruide turned to Yuyuan.

Yuyuan calmly extended her hand. “Hello.”

Ruide smiled slightly. “Miss Pan, hello.”

His Chinese was not only fluent but even carried a hint of Shanghainese inflection. Yuyuan glanced at him in surprise, only to find he was looking right back at her; their eyes met, and she quickly looked away.

Just then He Zhuyun’s voice came. “Second Brother.”

She took He Yunqin’s arm naturally, greeting Ruide as well. “Ruide.”

He Yunqin smiled at Mrs. Pan and Yuyuan, then led He Zhuyun and Ruide away.

Hongdou truly hadn’t reserved a seat for him in advance. He Yunqin led the two of them around for a long while; the front rows were all full, with no seats to be found anywhere. After circling around, even Ruide grew dizzy. “Hey, Yunqin, what’s going on here—did you really not reserve seats beforehand?”

He Yunqin gave a wry smile, mocking himself. “Just being permitted to come watch the play at all is no small feat—how could I dare hope for good seats?”

Ruide was stunned for a moment, then laughed heartily. “Your wife really is a delightful character. No, the two of you together are quite the delightful pair.”

In the end, it was only thanks to He Zhuyun’s familiarity with the troupe members that, after much negotiation, they finally found seats in the front row.

They’d just sat down when the lights went out. Onstage, the curtain slowly drew open, and a tall young man in a long scholar’s robe walked unhurriedly to center stage.

He Yunqin glanced at the man, asking He Zhuyun, “Is this your new leading man?”

He’d crossed paths with President Yu of Shanghai University a few times before, but had no impression at all of his eldest grandson. Looking at him now, he seemed thoroughly ordinary—how had he earned the reputation of being “presentable”?

He Zhuyun nodded. “His name is Yu Rui.” The lighting was dim, making it hard to see his sister’s expression clearly, but he could only sense her eyes were shining brighter than usual.

Something stirred in He Yunqin’s mind. He rubbed his chin, turning his gaze back to Yu Rui.

Just then, a female student emerged from stage right, elegantly dressed with lovely features—looking closer, who else could it be but Hongdou. From the seats behind, a few male students said, “Look, that’s who I was telling you about, the belle of the Education Department—see, isn’t she pretty?”

He Yunqin’s brow furrowed slightly, forcing down the urge to turn around.

“So what if she’s pretty? Didn’t you say she’s already married? What’s that got to do with us?”

He Yunqin sneered inwardly—good, at least you know that much.

“You wanted to see what the department belle looks like, and I told you who she is—now you’re getting all sentimental about it. Here, look at this other one, her name’s Mei Lizhen. Not as pretty as Yu Hongdou, but still easy on the eyes.”

At this point Yu Rui’s scene reached a temporary pause, and He Zhuyun leaned close to He Yunqin. “Brother, I’m going to the washroom.”

He Yunqin gave his sister a sidelong glance; He Zhuyun’s face flushed, but she got up and left anyway, insistent.

Watching Hongdou’s scene finish and still seeing no sign of his sister returning, He Yunqin, worried she might have a low blood sugar episode while changing, told Ruide he’d be right back and went out to find her.

There were a few students responsible for stage duties in the corridor. He Yunqin approached them and asked where the washroom was, then made his way straight to the back door. The washroom was next to the storage room; to get there, one needed to pass through a short hallway. The chapel had been built by an American missionary organization, following Western style throughout—men’s and women’s washrooms were separate, the left being the men’s washroom, the right reserved for women to change.

The corridor floor was laid with crimson carpet, silent underfoot. The lighting was dim, and there wasn’t a single figure in sight.

He walked to the end and stopped at the washroom door, listening for a moment. Hearing no sound, and being a man, he felt it wouldn’t do to linger too long outside the women’s washroom. Besides, even if his sister were having an episode, surely he’d hear at least her breathing—it seemed she likely wasn’t in the washroom after all, so he turned to head back.

But if his sister wasn’t in the washroom, where had she gone? He walked a couple of steps with his hands in his pockets, head down, thinking, and remembering the look in his sister’s eyes as she’d watched Yu Rui just now, he had a vague realization. He decided to go check backstage—it was about time for Hongdou’s scene to pause as well, and he had something to say to her anyway.

Just as he turned, his gaze landed on a very faint footprint at the entrance to the women’s washroom—it looked as though it had just come from crossing the lawn, the sole marked with dew and mud, the stain standing out sharply against the red carpet. Nothing unusual about that in itself, but the size of this shoe seemed rather too large for a woman’s—a full size 39.

He stared at it for a moment. Thinking back to what he’d seen on campus earlier, tall female students were rare, though not entirely nonexistent. He stood there for a moment, then made his way out along the corridor.

Reaching the end and just turning the corner, he ran straight into Mrs. Pan, apparently on her way to the washroom.

“Oh, Yunqin.”

He Yunqin, wanting peace of mind, said, “Might I trouble you, Aunt, to check whether my sister is in the washroom? She has an old problem with low blood sugar, and I’m worried she might have an episode inside.”

Mrs. Pan nodded quickly. “Oh, wait here a moment.”

He waited in place for a while, but hearing no word from Mrs. Pan calling out, he lit a cigarette and, rounding the corner, glanced down the corridor. The end was empty—Mrs. Pan had clearly already gone into the washroom.

He was silent for a few seconds, then walked into the corridor, calling out cautiously and quietly as he went: “Aunt? Mrs. Pan?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he heard a loud “bang” from inside, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass.

He Yunqin’s expression changed; he flung the cigarette away.

The next instant, Mrs. Pan’s pig-like scream rang out: “Murder! Young Master He, help me!”

He Yunqin rushed over, and just as he was about to push the door open and charge in, Mrs. Pan burst out from inside screaming, blood dripping steadily from her neck down the front of her clothes, her face deathly pale, slamming into him.

He Yunqin was shocked, quickly steadying Mrs. Pan. Looking up, he saw the two large windows of the washroom still swinging.

Mrs. Pan clutched desperately at his sleeve, trembling too much to speak, then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed limply to the ground.

He Yunqin had no time to investigate inside; he crouched down quickly to hastily examine Mrs. Pan’s wound—it appeared her external jugular vein had been pierced, though fortunately not the artery, or she wouldn’t have survived. Even so, the bleeding was still severe. Without pausing to look further, he scooped Mrs. Pan up into his arms and strode quickly outside. Ahead, people who’d heard the commotion came running toward them: “What happened?”

He Yunqin said, “Someone’s been hurt here. Quickly, go find Dr. Ruide in the second row of the audience.”

Seeing the blood on Mrs. Pan, those people all assumed someone had died, and fled in fright, shouting as they ran: “Dr. Ruide! Quick, go find Dr. Ruide!”

Hongdou had just finished a scene and was looking for He Yunqin. Hearing from Ruide that He Yunqin had gone to the washroom, she’d just come over, and seeing He Yunqin first, then her aunt, was badly startled. She hastily pulled out her handkerchief and ran up to them. “What happened? Why is there so much blood?”

He Yunqin took the handkerchief, pressing it against Mrs. Pan’s bleeding wound. “Someone attacked Mrs. Pan. Hongdou, I don’t have time to examine the scene right now—while the culprit’s just left, have Gu Yun call Wang Bide and ask him to come over. The troupe’s washroom needs to be sealed off for now—make sure no one gets near it. Ruide’s clinic is right near your school; Mrs. Pan’s wound is serious, and Ruide and I need to take her there to treat it right away.”

Hongdou agreed to everything at once, not wasting a moment, getting up to arrange things.

More people surged forward, Yuyuan among them; seeing her mother, her face instantly turned pale. “Mom!”

He Yunqin looked up toward the direction the crowd was running from, not seeing Ruide, but catching sight of his sister instead—with so many people crowding and pushing, she nearly got knocked over, but luckily someone beside her caught her. He looked closer—it was Yu Rui.

At this point the crowd parted on both sides as Ruide strode quickly through.

An hour later

Just as He Yunqin had predicted, Mrs. Pan hadn’t been hit in a major artery. After the wound was treated, there was no immediate danger to her life, but because the wound area was large, she’d need to stay under observation at the clinic for a few days.

Hearing this news, not only Pan Maosheng and Yuqi, but Mrs. Yu and Yu Chongyi had also rushed over, all anxiously waiting outside while Ruide stitched up the wound.

He Yunqin, having settled Hongdou, also arranged for someone to send He Zhuyun back to the He mansion, and only then came to the clinic with Hongdou.

Wang Bide pulled the two of them aside. “The culprit escaped by jumping out the washroom window. He used a dagger, and likely intended to kill with a single strike, but probably lost precision because you arrived just in time.”

Hongdou asked He Yunqin, puzzled, “Why would this person attack Aunt?”

“Once she wakes up, we’ll ask her whether she’s offended anyone recently, or gone somewhere she shouldn’t have.”

Just then Yu Chongyi came out from inside, looking somewhat better than before, and said to He Yunqin and Hongdou, “Yunqin, Hongdou, Aunt is awake.”