After Old Master Cui had returned to the capital to take up his post, he had heard vaguely of the Lang Family’s affairs, though not in any detail. Upon arriving at the Lang Family estate, he had not found Lang Jiuchuan — who should by rights have been at home in mourning — and had harbored some questions about this. It was not until Cui Shi fainted and Lang Zhengping urgently sent servants to find her that he had asked a few questions.

Even to a grandfather-in-law, Lang Zhengping had not disclosed much about Lang Jiuchuan’s affairs — not from any wariness of the old Cui patriarch trying to take the girl away, but because these were matters touching on Lang Jiuchuan’s own private affairs. As her elder uncle, it was not his place to circulate them, even to a close family member by marriage.

So Old Master Cui knew only that Lang Jiuchuan had a degree of ability, without knowing its depth. But he was also a veteran of many years at court — a cunning old fox, of aristocratic stock, well-practiced in reading people and situations. Simply from observing Lang Zhengping’s attitude toward Lang Jiuchuan, he could tell that the man was concealing something. And seeing him trust Lang Jiuchuan so fully — sending for her to administer acupuncture and see to the patient, without even summoning an imperial physician — he was all the more certain that Lang Jiuchuan was far more than the lightly-described account Lang Zhengping had given.

Just a moment ago, from their first encounter, he had been startled by the aura that radiated from Lang Jiuchuan’s entire person. If he remembered correctly, Lang Jiuchuan had only come of age this past fourth month — she was still a child, still a girl. How could she carry such a murderous edge?

She was like a cold and deadly war god.

Looking at her again now, it was not his old eyes playing tricks. Lang Jiuchuan’s bearing was simply unlike anyone else’s — slender and fragile in form, cool and detached in manner, the aura around her impossible to describe, as though she kept the world at a thousand li’s distance — yet somehow one did not find her disagreeable.

And her brows and eyes — they truly resembled his son-in-law, who had died so young. So his daughter had been imagining ghosts and shadows all these years, truly in the wrong.

Old Master Cui straightened his back slightly, his bearing somewhat less imposing, and said: “These years — you have suffered much hardship. Your mother is the way she is — stubborn and headstrong from childhood. I will not make excuses for what she has done to you. It was her wrong, however one looks at it. Whatever else, she should never have left you to fend for yourself on a rural estate. But now you and she depend on each other, and you are the only family she has. Some tangled knots between people — it is always better to untie them than to pull them tighter. Do you not think so?”

His voice was neither overly warm nor flat — without deliberate ingratiation, without reproach. As though he were simply an ordinary elder offering a considered piece of advice.

Lang Jiuchuan replied evenly: “As for tangled knots, the knot between you and my lady runs far deeper than anything between us, Old Master. I have heard that the two of you are estranged, father and daughter.”

Old Master Cui’s face went dark.

Lang Jiuchuan continued: “The closeness between people — the bond of kinship — comes in degrees, near and far. If the mother-daughter bond between us is shallow, then perhaps that is simply our fate. So there is no need for you to concern yourself.” She clasped her hands toward the two men in a departing gesture and made to take her leave. But one foot had barely crossed the threshold when she turned back. “Your liver is not well. Find an imperial physician to treat it soon. If you let it go, once the illness takes root, it will be a deep-seated affliction — difficult to cure even if one wishes to.”

Having said this, she departed without a backward glance.

Old Master Cui was so furious his beard practically quivered. Every semblance of aristocratic composure vanished in that instant. His prior gentleness was gone entirely, and with it came an upsurge of authority: “Is she always this headstrong and unruly? How exactly does the Lang Family raise its children?”

Lang Zhengping said awkwardly: “With my second sister-in-law still present, even if I had the intention, it wouldn’t be my place to overstep and take a hand in raising her.”

Old Master Cui choked, and his irritation flared further. This was as much as saying that the Cui Family’s upbringing left something to be desired as well.

He shook his sleeve and made to leave. Lang Zhengping quickly followed. “Though Ninth Miss speaks harshly and has lost her temper, she will never stand by and watch the second sister-in-law fade away. Rest assured.”

“I will have an imperial physician come.” Old Master Cui said flatly.

“That’s for the best — and while you’re at it, have one take your own pulse as well and look at that liver of yours. If there’s nothing wrong, all the better. If there is something wrong, addressing it early is far better, isn’t it?” Lang Zhengping ignored Old Master Cui’s eyes going wide with fury and smiled sheepishly. “You may not know, Old Master — there is something rather uncanny about Ninth Miss’s mouth. Especially in the sense that auspicious predictions tend not to come true, but ominous ones invariably do.”

Old Master Cui: “!”

No wonder this Lang Zhengping could only manage to maintain what had been handed down to him. With such a simple-minded and bumbling nature, the fact that he could maintain anything at all was purely the blessing of the Lang Family’s ancestors.

Lang Jiuchuan stepped out of the east wing to find Lang Caize and Madame Pan, the couple. Seeing her, they both froze, a touch of awkward unease between them. They came forward and said: “Ninth younger sister, we have come to attend to the second aunt’s needs.”

Lang Jiuchuan’s temper was already fraying, and with a glance at Madame Pan’s heavily swollen belly, she said with unvarnished bluntness: “You are nearly at term — stop coming here and making a nuisance. If something goes wrong, it will be detrimental to the delivery. As for attendance — she is unconscious. What exactly are you attending to? Are you more capable, more considerate, more attentive than the maids and nurses who are already here? There is no need for these surface-level gestures. Tend well to this pregnancy, deliver the child safely — that is your filial act.”

The couple’s faces reddened. Their mouths moved, wanting to say something, but finding nothing to say.

Lang Jiuchuan made no move to placate them. “Go back. There is nothing useful either of you can do right now. Once she recovers, there will be ample opportunity for the two of you to show your care.”

She stepped past them and left.

Lang Caize said quietly: “Is Ninth younger sister unhappy about the adoption? Is she angry at me?”

Madame Pan, one hand supporting her back and one hand resting on her large belly, furrowed her brow. “I don’t think so. From what I can see, she is not that kind of person.”

In truth — she and Lang Caize probably weren’t even worthy of drawing her anger. Somehow it always felt as though Lang Jiuchuan and the rest of the Lang Family simply were not cut from the same cloth.

In truth, Lang Jiuchuan herself did not know quite what she was angry about — perhaps it was frustration that Cui Shi would not improve, or perhaps something else entirely. On the whole, seeing Cui Shi in that half-dead state simply made her feel agitated.

When she was angry, someone had to pay.

Grievances find their source, debts find their owner. The straw that had finally broken Cui Shi and sent her spiraling — the one who had caused her to expend her golden needles again — was that man Xie Zhenming. He needed to be dealt with.

That night, Lang Jiuchuan appeared in the secure prison of the Surveillance Division and found herself face to face with Gong Qi.

Gong Qi’s expression was dark. “I was wondering why my eyelid had been twitching so relentlessly this evening. Of course — it’s you. What exactly are you here to do?”

“What do you think I’m here to do?”

Gong Qi frowned. “The spirit medium has already been extracted from the Enforcement Hall for you through a great deal of trouble with the Young Master. And now the Marquis of Zhenbei — well, he no longer holds the title — this Xie fellow is already in prison, and it is only a matter of time before he is finished. Can’t you just wait?”

“My apologies — I cannot wait even a moment.” Lang Jiuchuan lightly brushed aside his hand. “If a fight is what it takes to let me in, shall we?”

Gong Qi stepped aside. “I saw nothing tonight. You had best keep it restrained. After all, the Surveillance Division is not run by me alone — members of multiple Xuan clans are here, each with their own calculations.”

This makeshift assembly, such as it was — still with each faction harboring their own intentions.

Lang Jiuchuan said nothing and walked in.

Gong Qi watched her retreating figure and stroked his chin, murmuring: “Strange — how does this person seem to have grown even more attractive?”

Lang Jiuchuan applied a concealment technique to herself and moved without obstruction to the cell where Xie Zhenming was being held. The moment she saw his current state, a laugh escaped her.

The once mighty and imposing Marquis of Zhenbei had fallen to the state of a stray dog driven from its home. Was this not the workings of heaven’s own justice?

Lang Jiuchuan looked at Xie Zhenming, who lay curled up like a dead dog, adrift in existential despair — and like a wicked demon risen from hell, she unhurriedly formed seals, drawing wisps and tendrils of dark, deathly energy toward herself. She worked them into a mass and cast it over him.