After one round of passionate lovemaking, Hongdou was utterly exhausted — let alone walking, even lifting an arm was an effort. She lingered in the bathtub, refusing to get up no matter what.
He Yunqin, having just enjoyed a sumptuous feast, was in a thoroughly relaxed and satisfied mood. Seeing Hongdou lying there languidly, he assumed she was just being coy and didn’t want to walk on her own. He got dressed and came back, simply grabbing a large blanket and wrapping her whole body in it with a laugh.
Carrying her out, he couldn’t help teasing her. “So lazy.”
Hongdou only lifted her eyelids to glance at him in response — she didn’t even have the strength to talk back.
He Yunqin felt a faint unease. Admittedly, he had been rather reckless just now, but there had been times before, during their intimacy, even more excessive than this — he’d never seen Hongdou this drained before.
He pressed his lips to her forehead and asked gently, apologetically, “Are you not feeling well?”
She kept her eyes closed, burying herself against his chest, and after a good while said petulantly, “Tired.”
He let out a breath, feeling a pang of tenderness mixed with concern, and laid her on the bed. He personally took a towel and dried her hair; seeing she still hadn’t moved, he fetched clean sleepwear and helped her dress, then rang the bell to have a servant bring some porridge and snacks.
While feeding her the porridge, he said seriously, “I’ll have Ruide come take a look at you.”
Having rested for a while now, Hongdou already felt much of her strength returning. Seeing He Yunqin about to go make a phone call, she quickly stopped him. “Ruide still has Auntie to look after — it’s this late already, if you call him over and something happens on that end, what then? I’m just tired, I’m not sick — there’s no need to call a doctor over something so trivial.”
He Yunqin changed his mind. “Then I’ll have Steward Yu ask Dr. Cheng to come take a look.”
“Even worse.” This late at night, disturbing Steward Yu was as good as disturbing her parents-in-law — and besides, if Dr. Cheng were called, how would He Yunqin even describe her symptoms? Say outright that she was worn out from too much lovemaking? Then she wouldn’t be able to face anyone tomorrow either.
She buried her head in the crook of his arm and mumbled, “I’m just too worn out. I’ll be fine after a night’s sleep.”
He Yunqin had no choice but to change his plan. “Then I’ll have Ruide come by tomorrow.”
Hongdou nodded, and seeing he was full of energy, clearly with no intention of sleeping, she said languidly, “Mother mentioned the idea of studying abroad to me during the day — worried the situation might spiral out of control, she wants Fourth Sister and me to go study in America.”
He Yunqin gently brushed back the hair from her forehead. “What do you think about it yourself?”
“I just heard Mother say Father’s been preparing the Shanghai Factory Relocation Committee recently?”
He Yunqin made a sound of assent. “War has already broken out in Beiping and Tianjin. Father’s worried Shanghai’s industries will take a heavy blow from the fighting, so he’s recently joined forces with several major enterprises in Shanghai, planning to relocate part of the factories to Chongqing as soon as possible. First, to transfer important supplies so as to continue supporting the front line. Second, to preserve our lifeline.”
Hongdou was taken aback — indeed, many factories in Beiping and Tianjin had recently been relocating one after another to places like Wuhan.
Those who left in time were fortunate enough to escape the flames of war. Those who hadn’t prepared enough were, of course, utterly destroyed by the shelling.
With these two cities as cautionary examples, Father-in-law, as chairman of the chamber of commerce, naturally had an obligation — to avoid excessive hardship for the people after the war — to organize the chamber’s members to plan ahead, all in order to minimize losses and preserve strength for the future.
And the relocation of the factories involved transporting machinery and equipment, reorganizing personnel, and rebuilding factory sites in the rear — by any reckoning, an enormous undertaking. He Yunqin, as the family’s second son, could not possibly stay out of it.
No wonder, when the wives of various families had come visiting, Mother-in-law had paid special attention to entertaining those ladies who’d come from Chongqing. And yesterday, several of the He family’s stewards had been arranged to fly to Chongqing — it seemed they were meant to go ahead of time to make preparations, at the very least getting the He family’s several residences in Chongqing in order. That way, even if the He family had to temporarily relocate to Chongqing, they could quickly integrate into the local political and business social circles there.
She shook her head. “I have thought about studying abroad — one, to broaden my horizons, and two, to enrich my learning. But the premise is not being separated from you. Right now, with the nation in crisis and the family facing such major matters, how could I possibly go abroad with an easy mind? Besides, I can’t bring myself to leave Mother and my brother behind either.”
He Yunqin caught her hand. The idea of studying abroad had actually been his own suggestion, the reason being simply to keep Hongdou and Fourth Sister safe. But because deep down he didn’t want to be separated from Hongdou, he hadn’t been able to make up his mind before understanding her feelings on the matter.
Her attitude was now very clear and firm. The furrow between his brows eased at once. “Good. Then we won’t go abroad. Tomorrow I’ll ask Fourth Sister — if she doesn’t want to go either, I’ll start arranging your transfer paperwork. Once we’re in Chongqing, you’ll both continue your studies. But you should be prepared — over the next month, there’ll be too much to manage, both at home and outside. It’s bound to be chaotic for a while.”
Hongdou thought it over — if they really were to move, transferring schools aside, even just moving the personal belongings of the three women in the household would be a hassle. Just Mother-in-law’s clothes and jewelry alone would fill up quite a few trunks.
She checked the time — it was two o’clock, and he still showed no sign of intending to rest.
She sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Do you have a mission to carry out? Besides relocating supplies, are you also trying to find that batch of gold bars as soon as possible?”
He Yunqin didn’t deny it. “Shanghai or Chongqing, other matters can wait — but this batch of gold is the troublesome one. Right now there are at least three factions searching for it. With a sum this large, everyone hopes to find it and claim it before war breaks out fully. The ideal outcome, of course, would be to use this gold to support the front lines. If that’s not possible, better to leave it buried in the ground than let it fall into enemy hands.”
Hongdou’s expression gradually grew grave. In just a few short days, so much had already happened — more sorts of unsavory characters would surely keep emerging. He Yunqin was both watching from the sidelines and waiting, but even more than that, he was scheming.
“The nurse’s death is one thing, but Bai Haili’s identity was complicated — not only was he Commissioner of the Public Concession Police, he was also in collusion with Wu Ruhai. His death is bound to stir up a huge uproar. If the killer’s only goal was to create trouble in order to leave the house empty again, there’d be no need to target someone so troublesome —” She sat up straight. “Could Bai Haili have also had his eye on this gold?”
Bai Haili was greedy by nature — hearing of such a huge sum of money, it would be strange if he weren’t tempted.
He Yunqin must have already suspected as much. “He started associating with Chen Baidie last month. Right after that, Chen Baidie put the house up for sale in the papers. Before the house even sold, Bai Haili was killed at the tea party. If he really knew something, it was most likely something he’d heard from Chen Baidie.”
“Then why is Bai Haili dead, while Chen Baidie is fine?”
He Yunqin checked his wristwatch. “That’s one point. The second thing I don’t understand is why the killer targeted Mrs. Pan — simply because she happened to be outside the tea party venue when it happened? But Mrs. Pan still can’t remember seeing anything. If even she isn’t sure, why would the killer take such a huge risk to act against her?”
Hongdou fell silent — this point had also left her utterly baffled.
He Yunqin thought for a moment. “Do you remember, a few days before the incident, Bai Haili followed our car?”
Hongdou started. “I remember.”
“There must be some point of intersection between these two people that made them targets of the same group, one we’ve overlooked. I’m looking into the relationship between the two of them right now — it’s this late already, they should have gotten back to me with news.”
Just as he finished speaking, a servant knocked outside the door. “Second Young Master, there’s a call for you.”
The phone in the small study had no extension, and it was normally the quietest place — He Yunqin, presumably for ease of conversation, always went to the small study to take calls.
He got up. “Go to sleep first, I’ll be back once I finish the call.”
Hongdou watched his figure leave, and though utterly exhausted, still felt no sleepiness.
After quite a while, He Yunqin returned. She quickly sat up. “How did it go?”
He Yunqin stood by the bed. “In the days before the tea party — that is, the night Bai Haili followed our car — the men from the police department left Tongfu Lane and then went to Shengmei Road, where the Pan residence is located. They parked the car across from the Pan house and stayed watching there for a good half the night before leaving.”
Hongdou was startled, silent for a moment as she worked through the implications, then said with a hint of sarcasm, “So this group first followed your car, then went to stake out my uncle’s house. If you say this wasn’t aimed at us, I simply won’t believe it. Could it be he wanted to use watching the Pan house as a way to find some angle against us? What a low, despicable scheme — and to think that petty thug came up with it.”
He Yunqin said, “That’s something I hadn’t considered before. I’m now wondering whether, during those two days Bai Haili was watching the Pan residence, Mrs. Pan happened to see something without realizing it. Let’s try a different approach — when Mrs. Pan wakes up tomorrow morning, we’ll ask her whether she saw Bai Haili anywhere near the Pan residence. Maybe this time she’ll remember something.”
The next day, Hongdou slept until the sun was high before getting up. When she woke, He Yunqin was already long gone from her side. She lay in bed in a daze for a good while, still feeling drowsy, and simply turned over to keep sleeping.
She didn’t know how long she’d slept when, her drowsiness finally worn off, she glanced at the small Western-style clock on the dressing table — it was already eleven o’clock.
She was startled — no one in the He household had come to wake her, letting her sleep the entire morning.
It was too late for school now. She hurriedly washed up and got dressed, and since she was home anyway, she felt she ought to at least show her face in her mother-in-law’s room.
When she arrived, all the He family’s womenfolk were there. Mrs. He was directing the servants to pack away lightweight silks and satins into trunks, to be transported to Chongqing. Even from a distance, soft laughter and chatter could be heard — the room was lively.
He Lanzhi and Duan Mingyi, sister-in-law and sister-in-law by marriage, were helping sort things out at the side. Seeing Hongdou arrive, He Lanzhi smiled. “Second Brother said Sister-in-law wasn’t feeling well — first thing this morning it was all about finding Ruide, then Dr. Cheng. If you ask me, Sister-in-law doesn’t look sick at all — your color’s clearly better than it’s been these past few days.”