Pan Meiér walked straight across the vast banquet hall as if no one else were present, waded barefoot through the golden water channel, went over to the other side, kicked the serving girl’s hardened body away with one foot, then raised her foot and ground it against the woman’s chest.

“Even to wipe my feet on — you’re not fit for it.”

Governor Sun had been sitting in his gold-traced, silver-chased chair from beginning to end, watching in cold silence. His attendants, seeing he had nothing to say, read the room accordingly and called for people to carry the serving girl’s body away, swift and efficient — as if nothing had happened at all.

Pan Meiér cast a sidelong glance at Governor Sun, her gaze carrying a deliberate insolence. After that look, she turned her eyes quickly toward the man in front of her, and those almond-shaped eyes looked as if they were about to spill over.

“Master Yanzi, do you still remember me? We have met before.”

The man called Yanzi glanced at her. His expression was no different from the one he had given the serving girl.

“I don’t remember.”

Xiao Nanhui suppressed the urge to laugh and, bowing her head, added another plate of salted dried plums to the portly gentleman’s table.

Pan Meiér only paused for an instant before pressing on with no sign of discouragement whatsoever. She simply sat down beside him, poured both of the empty cups on the table full, picked one up, held it near her lips, and toyed with it — half-wanting to drink, half not — watching him sidelong.

At this juncture, Governor Sun seemed to have finally registered the young man’s identity. He raised his cup from across the room and called out in toast: “Word has long reached me that Yanzi, the beloved protégé of Master Bai, is a being of celestial quality. Now that I see him in person, he truly is exceptional. Governor Sun offers you this cup.”

Yanzi picked up the cup on the table with one hand, tipped it toward Governor Sun in acknowledgment, then drained every drop without a word.

Xiao Nanhui’s mood had become tangled and unsettled. A moment ago she had still been able to watch with something close to detached amusement, but now that she knew this person was one of Bai Shi’s people, she couldn’t help thinking ahead to the day they would face each other. Whatever way one looked at it, having someone of this caliber on Bai Shi’s side would make things considerably harder to deal with in the future.

After one round of drinks, Yanzi behaved as if he had never drunk before — a flush crept across his cheeks. Governor Sun observed this from the corner of his eye, and a desire to press him into a disadvantageous position took shape.

“Yanzi has come from so far away — I should properly welcome you with a feast. Now, Chief Pan and I have known each other for many years. Why not have her offer you another cup on my behalf, and let us drink together to the success of our shared enterprise?”

Pan Meiér was perceptive enough to understand what was meant in the space of a breath. This was a ploy to get the man drunk — in that state, the ensuing negotiations would be far easier. She herself had a mind to test him, and without hesitation she filled his cup to the brim.

“Master Yanzi — this is first-rate Burning Jade spirits. Do not let it go to waste.”

Seeing that Yanzi still did not move, Governor Sun added with languid indifference: “If Master Yanzi is worried about getting drunk — that is quite all right. Should he happen to fall asleep, he is welcome to rest here in my estate tonight. The people in my household are all accommodating and quick-witted; they will see to Master Yanzi’s every comfort.”

With all sides pressing from every angle, it was plainly a matter of forcing the man to drink.

The other guests in the hall settled back to watch the show. After all, no one had expected that the seemingly untouchable Bai Shi would send such a young man to conduct negotiations — being pushed around a little seemed only natural.

Yet Xiao Nanhui had a feeling that the one who was about to be embarrassed was not this young man in purple but Governor Sun himself.

As it turned out, she was right. Pan Meiér’s poured cup sat untouched where it was. The man in purple did not spare it so much as a glance. He rose abruptly and walked straight toward Governor Sun at the head of the room.

Governor Sun was not without hired guards — among them were several of the curved-blade riders who had come to collect the bride the day before. Seeing this, they moved quickly to block the way.

Coming to this kind of banquet, one could not bring weapons — yet that man seemed to radiate, without any weapon at all, the feeling that he simply did not consider weapons worth the effort of using.

All four of them attacked at the same time. He didn’t even bother to dodge. He simply waited until the blades were nearly upon him, then flicked his hand as if swatting flies.

The blades that should have landed on him abruptly changed direction. One cut open the throat of the nearest attacker, then in the next instant swept off the fingers of two others who were still gripping their weapons.

The fourth man stared blankly. His curved blade hit the ground.

The ceaseless laughter and jibing of the guests fell silent in an instant.

Xiao Nanhui clicked her tongue in astonishment. To possess such power at so young an age was truly unnerving — she wondered what school of martial arts had produced him. She knew too little of the jianghu’s fighting styles. If Bolao were here, he might have been able to tell at a glance.

Yanzi climbed the steps one by one until he stood before Governor Sun, then with a level expression swung out a palm from a distance. Everything on the Governor’s table — the wine jugs, the cups and bowls, the fruits and dishes — went sweeping to the side like leaves in a wind.

Having done all this, he flexed his wrist, with no apparent sense that anything about his behavior had been out of the ordinary, and produced a rolled sheepskin scroll from within his robe. He placed it on the now-clear table.

“Master Bai says to give you this agreement to look over. If you find it acceptable, sign here. If not, return it to me as it is.”

Governor Sun looked down at the sheepskin scroll and swallowed. “Ah — you see, Yanzi, the wine has gone to my head somewhat. Could you allow me to read it once I’ve sobered—”

Yanzi creased his brow slightly in genuine deliberation, then looked at him. “When will you be sober?”

Governor Sun smiled, revealing a row of yellowed teeth. “Perhaps by tomorrow.”

Yanzi nodded, his expression utterly indifferent: “Then I will wait until tomorrow.”

And with that, he strolled back to his seat by the way he had come, as though the blood and chaos spread across the floor had nothing to do with him.

Pan Meiér clenched her teeth and stared at the full cup she had just poured. Having no other choice, she drank it herself.

After composing himself, Governor Sun decided to find something else with which to reclaim a little of the face he had just lost. He deliberately raised his voice: “I nearly forgot the main business — this is a wedding feast, after all. How can there be no bride? Bring up the woman the Tian family sent over.”

As the words landed, the whole hall came back to life, laughter breaking out from every direction, each voice carrying a teasing, insinuating tone, as if everyone had long known this moment was coming.

Before long, Tian Weiér was led into the hall by two old nannies. She was still dressed in her red wedding clothes, and held a round fan firmly in front of her face. In the next moment, one of the nannies reached out and snatched the fan, flinging it aside.

Xiao Nanhui glanced over at Wu Xiaoliu standing not far away — he was visibly flustered, with no idea what was about to happen. A sense of foreboding began to take shape in her chest.

Governor Sun surveyed this lovely young woman who had just been delivered to his door with evident satisfaction.

“Just drinking and listening to music is dull. They say your Tian family’s ancestors once served as dance instructors in the palace — one assumes performing a dance to liven up the occasion should not be too great a hardship. There are distinguished guests from all quarters seated here today — you might count yourself fortunate.”

Xiao Nanhui frowned. She had underestimated this Sun fellow’s talent for inflicting humiliation.

To summon a newly arrived bride on her very first day and have her dance for guests as entertainment — that would be an insult no concubine could bear, let alone a young mistress raised in sheltered comfort from childhood.

Tian Weiér’s face went white on the spot. Her vividly red lips trembled — like two rose petals about to fall. The sight of a beauty on the verge of tears only made the scene more entertaining for the guests, who found it all the more amusing: where could one see a performing girl anytime one wished, but a bride in full wedding regalia was rarely seen — and this sense of trampling over propriety and decency set everyone buzzing with a giddy excitement.

But amid all those faces eager to watch the spectacle, one person’s expression was plainly wrong — the richly dressed Jia gentleman. Xiao Nanhui could see that the white jade cup in his hand was on the verge of being crushed.

“What kind of dance can you do? Come, tell the musicians.”

Governor Sun pressed relentlessly, but Tian Weiér could not get out a single word. Her whole body had begun to shake.

An eager troublemaker among the guests had already begun to call out: “Governor Sun — surely someone hasn’t deceived you into taking home a mute?”

Governor Sun had lost face once already. His expression had now gone very dark.

“Someone — teach Tian Shi how to start dancing.”

The moment the words fell, a nanny dressed in flowered clothes with vivid painted patterns on her face emerged from among the dancing performers — the very instructing nanny who had led Tian Weiér to her room earlier. Her face wore an exaggerated smile, and if one looked at it too long it became unsettling.

She walked to a spot ten steps from Tian Weiér and stopped, then slowly drew from her sleeve a golden whip.

Xiao Nanhui had never seen a whip of such length — long yet extraordinarily thin, like a supple willow branch in early spring. But seeing the involuntary terror that flashed across the faces of the nearby dancing performers, she knew this whip was nothing like its appearance suggested.

Tian Weiér looked at the nanny before her with confusion, her breathing growing heavier.

Then the golden whip began to move — like a coil of lightning concealed in the air. When the nanny lashed it out, it was like a bolt of lightning striking the earth, erupting with a crack that rang like a thunderclap.

The tip of the whip fell just a few inches from Tian Weiér’s toes, sending her stumbling back a step in fright. Before she could react, the next lash followed immediately, landing just behind her — and she could only scramble forward to dodge.

Lash to the left, lash to the right — Tian Weiér was compelled, almost involuntarily, to jump about across the floor. From a distance, she looked like a clumsy person attempting a dance. She didn’t dare stop — the moment she hesitated, the whip would flick over her ankle like a tongue of fire, and in the wake of the numbness would come a drilling, bone-deep pain. Without noticing, she was moving faster and faster, sweat streaming down her forehead, the carefully arranged coiffure coming loose, hairpins and ornaments scattering across the floor. She nearly tripped on one and almost fell. The mocking laughter of the guests reached a crescendo.

Then, from the center of the hall, there was a sharp crack.

A white jade cup had been thrown to the ground by someone, shattering to powder. The one who had thrown it was breathing hard, his face flushed with anger as he looked around at the guests — the Jia gentleman.

Governor Sun raised an eyebrow. “Master Jia? What is the meaning of this?”

“What kind of head of a household stands by and allows his own new bride to be humiliated in his hall like this? And you — all of you — have you all lost your sense of decency?”

Xiao Nanhui was stunned by this sudden reversal, and began to worry whether this Jia gentleman, who spoke with such pointed directness, was going to be able to walk out of here alive.

As it turned out, the banquet fell silent for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Governor Sun joined in with a few chuckles, though that smile looked more frightening than no smile at all.

“Master Jia is a person of standing, and should know that once a woman has crossed the threshold, she is a member of the Sun household. You are an outsider — not of kin or connection to her. I would advise you not to let a small matter lead you into actions unbefitting your station.”

These words left a third part of room — they were an invitation for the Jia gentleman to take the offered step down with some dignity. But the other party did not accept the gesture at all, and refused to let the matter be put to rest.

“The Sun household is a distinguished family and should know the principle that a woman who has married into a household cannot be lightly exposed in public. To treat her in this manner — how is she any different from a slave-registered dancing girl?”

Governor Sun’s expression turned completely dark. “What exactly do you want?”

“If Governor Sun regards this woman as no more than a common dancer, I am willing to offer gold and silver to purchase her. What does the Governor say?”

This time, Xiao Nanhui had a fairly clear picture of what was happening. And looking at Tian Weiér’s expression as she gazed at the Jia gentleman — eyes brimming with tears, face flushed with both gratitude and humiliation — she was now about eighty percent certain what kind of story this was.

A young gentleman and a beautiful young woman who had pledged their hearts to each other — then one day the sky changed, their fated union was severed, and the young gentleman, unwilling to accept it, had followed her across a thousand li.

She could see it plainly enough, and so could everyone else in the room.

What no one had anticipated, however, was that Governor Sun did not flatly refuse.

“What Master Jia proposes — I still need to consider it. Why not let Master Jia stay a few more days in my estate together with Master Yanzi? A matter of only a few days — think of it as taking in the scenery for a while.”

The Jia gentleman found himself caught — he had no good way to refuse, and could only agree for the time being.

Tian Weiér was led away. The banquet reverted in an instant to its earlier festivity, the guests laughing and talking as before, nothing apparently changed — yet every person sat with a few more private calculations turning in their minds, and none of them knew about the others.