Tang Bohong was not what he appeared to be on the surface — this revelation struck Xiao Zheng Shi’s mind like a thunderclap, leaving her head buzzing once more.

With the old Dowager Consort presiding over the household, the Tang family’s conduct was indeed respectable. Her own parents had thoroughly investigated before agreeing to the match, and after she had married in, things were indeed as they had been told — although the first branch was born of the original wife, her eldest brother-in-law and his wife were both even-tempered people. There was no quarreling among the sisters-in-law, and they all got along quite well.

But now, Lang Jiuchuan was saying that Tang Bohong was two-faced?

Xiao Zheng Shi felt that after today, her life would undergo a tremendous upheaval.

“That eldest brother-in-law of yours — his face is round as the full moon, his features appear honest and kind, and he greets everyone with a smile. At first glance, he seems entirely agreeable and amiable. But he has a pair of triangular eyes — and they turn inward at that.” Lang Jiuchuan said. “Although nothing is absolute, triangular eyes generally give people an unfavorable impression. Those who possess such eyes tend to be deeply calculating and suspicious, driven entirely by self-interest.”

Xiao Zheng Shi wanted to protest that it wasn’t so — her eldest brother-in-law had his own official post, and a lucrative one at that. He was quite generous as a person; when Tang Bozhen fancied some brush or inkstone and happened to be short of funds, he would even lend or outright gift the money.

He was warm and courteous, and never behaved improperly in front of her, his younger sister-in-law. How could he possibly be that sort of person?

Yet from the very first moment she had laid eyes on Lang Jiuchuan until now, everything the girl had said had come true without exception. So — was her eldest brother-in-law truly someone who concealed treachery beneath a virtuous exterior?

Xiao Zheng Shi recalled the expression Tang Bohong had worn just a moment ago — that feigned look of gentle concern — his lips slightly curved upward in a smile. Now, in her mind, it all melted away, transforming into a cold and venomous serpent flicking a barbed tongue at her.

She shuddered, a chill running through her entire body.

Lang Jiuchuan glanced toward the east wing and said, “His triangular eyes are even more sinister than most. Just now, in that one look, I observed that his inner eye corners are sharp as needles, his outer corners droop downward, and his irises show far more white than black. Moreover, when he looks at people, his eyelids hang half-lowered while his pupils roll upward from beneath — and though he works hard to adjust this, he cannot entirely conceal that insidious quality. In ordinary times, you would not notice anything amiss, because the corners of his mouth are perpetually lifted in that three-part smile, giving him the air of an agreeable and pleasant man — so naturally, no one pays close attention to his eyes. One suspects he also rarely makes sustained eye contact with others, since if the gaze lingers too long, that cold and calculating feeling becomes impossible to hide.”

Xiao Zheng Shi stiffened. This was entirely true. When her eldest brother-in-law looked at people, he rarely met anyone’s eyes directly — more often he would sweep a brief glance and then look away. He behaved the same toward her. She had always assumed it was out of propriety, that he avoided lingering looks at his younger sister-in-law to prevent impropriety.

So it turned out he was afraid of others discovering the scheming and calculation lurking within his eyes?

A face like a Buddha, a heart like a snake.

The phrase surfaced in Xiao Zheng Shi’s mind. The moment she matched it against her eldest brother-in-law’s appearance and conduct, her stomach turned over violently, and a wave of nausea rose within her.

Just then, a manservant’s wife arrived leading a bone-setting physician — this, she was told, was a doctor Tang Bohong had sent someone to fetch, a practitioner well-versed in fractures and sprains. Xiao Zheng Shi, for reasons she herself could not quite name, insisted on having Nanny Wang support her as she walked over to the east wing.

Lang Jiuchuan silently pressed a pill into her hand — one she had rolled herself. “Take it. You’ll have the strength to manage.”

Xiao Zheng Shi took it without a second thought and popped it into her mouth. Before she had even swallowed it, Lang Jiuchuan added, “I’ll need to count the cost of that.”

Xiao Zheng Shi: “!”

Neither swallowing nor spitting it out seemed possible — yet the pill had already dissolved in her throat.

Supported by Nanny Wang and Songxiang, she made her way to the east wing. Lang Jiuchuan thought for a moment, then followed along.

In the east wing, Tang Bozhen was howling in agony, thrashing about as if dying. His mother wept beside him, crying my son, my son, while she urged the physician to do something — anything — and Tang Bohong stood to one side offering comfort.

The room was not especially large, yet it was packed with people. The mingled scents of incense from their clothing, hair oil, and various other smells combined into a thick and unpleasant fog.

When Xiao Zheng Shi and the others arrived, she immediately frowned and dismissed most of the maidservants and matrons — crowding in like this helped no one and only added to the noise and chaos.

The eldest sister-in-law paid her no mind, her entire attention fixed wholly upon her son. As for her daughter-in-law forcing herself out of a sickbed to come, she took it as a sign of concern and felt inwardly pleased — as expected of a young lady raised in a family of scholarly refinement, so devoted and attentive to her husband. This was all very good.

What she did not know was that Xiao Zheng Shi was holding herself back — enduring, barely suppressing her fury over Tang Bozhen’s unfaithfulness — while her gaze shifted to her eldest brother-in-law. “You said he went to a poetry gathering. How did he come to break his leg?”

Tang Bohong glanced toward her, then looked away almost immediately — just as he always did. Before, Xiao Zheng Shi had never found anything wrong with this. Now, having heard Lang Jiuchuan’s words, the more she looked at him, the more uneasy and strange he seemed.

She was preoccupied with her own thoughts and did not notice that the moment she spoke, even Tang Bozhen’s howling quieted somewhat.

Tang Bohong was about to reply when, with a slight narrowing of his eyes, he caught sight of Lang Jiuchuan standing behind Xiao Zheng Shi. His gaze paused fractionally. He looked at her sidelong, the outer corners of his eyes tilted obliquely — as if weighing something.

His sister-in-law had dismissed all her own maidservants and matrons, yet she kept this young girl close at her side. Who was she to the Zheng family? If she were a female guest, propriety would dictate she take her leave when the household faced a crisis like this — yet she had not gone. She had even followed them into the wing room.

As though she were here to watch the spectacle unfold.

Lang Jiuchuan sensed his scrutiny. She did not flinch or evade — she looked back at him directly. Her eyes were a deep, dark black, like a still and fathomless pool, yet they shone clear as a mirror. The moment their gazes met, one felt an instinctive unease in one’s chest, the sensation of having been seen through entirely.

Tang Bohong wrenched his gaze away after only a single instant, cold sweat breaking out across his skin, his throat going dry. The habitual upward curve at the corners of his mouth — the smile he wore for everyone — went stiff and wooden, so that his expression became unmistakably false.

Realizing he had been startled, Tang Bohong’s half-lowered eyes filled with a frigid coldness, as though a razor-sharp blade lay concealed within them, refracting cold light.

Lang Jiuchuan understood at once. His guilty conscience had shown itself.

This person harbored treachery within a virtuous exterior. His mind was deep and calculating. He carried some karmic debt upon him — yet none of it was direct. It was all indirect. He was the type who lurked in the shadows and whispered suggestions into others’ ears.

He wore the appearance of an elder brother who was kind and a younger brother who was respectful — yet when he looked at Tang Bozhen, he could not conceal the envy in his eyes.

Lang Jiuchuan lowered her gaze and recalled what Nanny Wang had once told her of how the Chengle Earl’s household had risen to its current standing. The family’s origins were as a minor sixth-rank official household. After the Dowager Consort entered the palace, they rose two ranks to fifth rank; then, having backed the right side at the right moment, they rose two more. When the Dowager Consort’s brother died heroically saving the Emperor, the family was granted a noble title, which the eldest son — Tang Bangsong — inherited. When the household was still of modest means, Tang Bangsong had married an ordinary official’s daughter — a woman of merely passable looks, though quite virtuous — and the son and daughter she bore him were equally unremarkable.

After Tang Bangsong remarried, the second wife came from a more distinguished family and was moreover a beauty, so the children she bore were tall and handsome. One had only to look at Tang Bozhen — that polished, literary young nobleman — to understand this fully.

The wife Tang Bozhen had taken came from a respected family of scholarly lineage. Nothing like the eldest son, who had married a young noblewoman from a declining earldom whose family had since lost even their title and came around constantly to sponge off them.

Given all of this — if she were Tang Bohong, would she not feel envious?

The answer was beyond question.

Especially since the Chengle Earldom’s heir had not yet been formally petitioned for — would there not be some scheming to be done?

Already possessed of a nature that was purely self-serving, and willing to go to any lengths to achieve his aims — what exactly might this man be capable of?

Thinking then of the geomantic layout of this compound, Lang Jiuchuan smiled to herself and shook her head slightly. A great household — the more people it held, the fewer who were truly at peace. How very typical.

Suddenly a sharp and wretched howl pierced the air. She looked over — the bone-setting physician was pushing the broken bone back into alignment. But that technique of his…

Lang Jiuchuan’s expression cooled in an instant. She stepped forward two paces and said, “Is that how you set a bone — or how you break one?”