Deep into the night.

The lights in Marquis Dingxi’s mansion gradually dimmed. The night watchmen in the front and rear courtyards wrapped their cotton coats tightly around themselves, striking wooden clappers and calling out as they passed.

Chang Yuncheng’s courtyard was still brightly lit. The courtyard suddenly had many more maids, yet it was quieter than usual.

Qi Yue stood inside Chang Yuncheng’s room.

“Is this the third or fourth time I’ve come in here?” she said, looking around with a sigh.

Chang Yuncheng stood to the side, his face tense and looking very displeased. Naturally, he didn’t answer her.

Qi Yue actually wasn’t expecting an answer either.

Her gaze fell on the large bed, where bright red mandarin duck bedding was arranged side by side, decorated like a joyous wedding chamber.

This Marquis Dingxi really was…

“You can’t blame me for this,” Qi Yue exhaled and looked at Chang Yuncheng, speaking somewhat helplessly.

Chang Yuncheng sat down in a chair nearby. He appeared expressionless, but his slightly clenched grip on the armrest showed his inner turmoil wasn’t as calm as his exterior suggested.

“Let’s take it step by step. I’ll think of another way,” Qi Yue paced back and forth a few times, then looked at the bed again. “So how do we sleep?”

Chang Yuncheng felt his body suddenly stiffen.

“Though it’s not very polite to say this, I am a woman after all, so I should sleep in the bedroom. It’s next to the washroom, so it’s convenient for me to wash and such,” Qi Yue continued, turning to look at Chang Yuncheng. Seeing his strange expression, she asked, “You… disagree?”

Chang Yuncheng looked up at her. In the lamplight, this woman’s expression was calm, as if she were simply asking about the weather.

His hand involuntarily tightened on the armrest.

“I disagree,” he said.

Though he somewhat regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, seeing the woman before him frown—finally not wearing that distant expression—actually made him feel somewhat better.

“This is my bedroom. Why should I give it up?” Chang Yuncheng leaned back in his chair and said slowly, “Sleep or don’t sleep, I don’t care.”

Qi Yue looked at him for a moment, then helplessly raised her hands.

“Fine, fine. I can’t provoke you, but I can avoid you. Better to avoid trouble than seek it. I really don’t have the energy to deal with you people right now,” she said, calling for A’Ru.

While the couple stood in the room looking at the bed, Qiu Xiang had been standing quietly in the main hall, as silent as if she didn’t exist.

This time she had narrowly escaped disaster. Marquis Dingxi had originally intended to sell her off like the two unfortunate concubines from before, but the young madam had spoken up to keep her.

“This girl isn’t that kind of person. She does her work well and is clever. With several girls crowded in one room, there happens to be an empty room, so reward her with it. This way the other girls will have more space too. It’s not just for her sake—that girl isn’t someone who would harbor inappropriate thoughts,” the young madam had said to Marquis Dingxi.

These words were conveyed to her word for word by someone sent by Marquis Dingxi.

No thoughts—she had no thoughts left at all. Qiu Xiang knelt on the ground kowtowing frantically in her heart.

Marquis Dingxi rarely made decisions, but once he did, few people could make him change his mind. To escape this disaster, she truly owed it to the young madam’s mercy…

Qiu Xiang looked over there. Her gaze remained fixed on Qi Yue, seeing that Qi Yue seemed to have finished inspecting the bedroom and the couple had exchanged a few words. But it didn’t seem very pleasant.

As soon as Qi Yue called for A’Ru, Qiu Xiang hurried over.

“Young Madam, Sister A’Ru went to arrange things for Que Zhi and A’Hao. Let this servant attend to your washing,” she said in a low voice with some caution, nervousness, flattery, and humility. As she spoke these words, she didn’t even glance at Chang Yuncheng. In her eyes, aside from the young madam, no one else existed.

“I can wash myself. Please help me make up the daybed over there,” Qi Yue said to her kindly.

Qiu Xiang stood frozen in place, somewhat stunned.

What… what?

Steam enveloped Qi Yue in the bathtub. A’Ru was beside her helping dry her already-washed hair. Not hearing Qi Yue speak for a long time, she looked over with some concern and saw Qi Yue leaning back against the edge of the tub with her eyes closed, as if asleep.

“Young Madam, you can’t sleep here,” she quickly reminded her.

Qi Yue came back to her senses and got up, putting on her undergarments before coming out. Only Chang Yuncheng remained in the room, sitting there with a book in his hands.

The moist, clean fragrance of a woman after bathing spread through the room. Chang Yuncheng gripped his book and frowned slightly.

His eyes looked at the book, but he could clearly see the woman wearing white silk undergarments with peach-red trim, her waterfall-like long hair swaying as she walked past, speaking quietly with the maid. Soon the maid also withdrew, and the door was closed.

Finally, only the two of them remained in the room.

Chang Yuncheng felt his body finally relax. He stood up and walked toward the washroom.

Everything seemed no different from usual, except for an extra bathtub—one empty, the other filled with hot water. But the air was permeated with a scent unfamiliar to him, the scent of a stranger invading his territory. After all these years, his territory had another person’s scent for the first time.

How uncomfortable!

When Chang Yuncheng emerged, he saw the lamp over there had been extinguished. There was no door on the partition, so he could see at a glance the human form under the covers on the daybed, lying small on her side. Seeming to sense his gaze, the lying figure turned over.

Chang Yuncheng withdrew his gaze, feeling his heart beating violently. When he realized this, he couldn’t help but spit at himself.

Bah, what was there to be flustered about? It wasn’t as if he’d never seen a woman before!

He walked over and slammed the door shut, then turned to blow out the lamp.

The room plunged into darkness.

Chang Yuncheng lay in bed but stared wide-eyed.

The events of the day had been too shocking. That girl had died, and moreover, she had been killed by her own master, Concubine Zhou. The person who had been determined to kill Qi Yueniang was actually Concubine Zhou.

He originally had no particular impression or memory of either this concubine or Qi Yueniang, but at this moment, he somehow recalled long ago when he had passed by the old marchioness’s courtyard and seen Concubine Zhou holding Qi Yueniang’s hand, not knowing what she was saying to her, smiling so affectionately. That intimacy had made Chang Yuncheng stop in his tracks. That intimacy was something he had seen on his mother’s face. Although he could no longer remember his mother’s appearance clearly, when he thought of her, that kind of smile would surface in his heart.

Chang Yuncheng suddenly sat up.

He listened carefully and could hear another person’s breathing through the door—no sobbing or other unusual sounds.

Learning that someone you had always considered family wanted your life…

Chang Yuncheng threw off the covers and got out of bed, opening the door.

Quiet darkness across from him, with even breathing.

She brought this on herself! Who told her to be someone the old lady brought in? She deserved her bad luck.

Chang Yuncheng stood frozen for a moment, then raised his hand to close the door again, turned around, and walked to the table to pour water, slowly taking a sip.

In that situation, when everyone was shouting that he was the murderer, it was she who saw the truth that others didn’t see.

This woman—did she trust him that much…

Chang Yuncheng couldn’t help but grip the teacup tightly.

Someone had died during the day, and she had crouched there looking for so long, examining so carefully. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have discovered the unusual cause of death.

Women were women after all, and it was someone she was familiar with and trusted who had died. She must be very frightened inside…

Chang Yuncheng slowly finished his water and walked over to open the door again.

“Big brother…”

A woman’s sigh drifted eerily through the room.

The sound was sudden, and combined with what he had just been thinking about, Chang Yuncheng couldn’t help but feel his scalp tingle.

“What exactly do you mean by this?” Qi Yue’s voice came from across the room.

Chang Yuncheng’s body relaxed, and he immediately felt somewhat annoyed.

“In the middle of the night, what are you randomly calling out for!” he couldn’t help but whisper angrily.

The sound of bedding rustling came from over there. Chang Yuncheng, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, could see Qi Yue turn over and lie on her side looking over at him.

“Big brother, you know it’s the middle of the night,” she said with helplessness. “No matter how fun that door is, could you play with it enough during the day?”

Chang Yuncheng flew into a rage.

But Qi Yue wasn’t finished.

“Or perhaps you have some… unseemly hobby?” she said with some speculation. “Like enjoying watching women sleep?”

Her answer was a loud bang of the door.

“Ungrateful!” along with a muffled angry shout.

Qi Yue frowned. What ungrateful? This person was truly inexplicable. But fortunately, that side finally quieted down. She turned over to face upward, looking at the dark ceiling, and exhaled softly.

Did someone just die like that?

Die so quietly?

Did she know why she died?

It was better not to know…

The people here, the people of this marquis mansion, who could already eat their fill and dress warmly, who had no worries about food and clothing for life—were they still not satisfied? What exactly were these people thinking?

Qi Yue reached out to grab the covers and slowly pulled them over her face.

When the dawn light was hazy, Qi Yue naturally woke up. She got up and got out of bed, habitually clutching her head and squinting as she looked for the washroom. Only when she bumped into the partition did she remember she was living in a new place.

That man…

Qi Yue poked her head to look over there. The bedroom door was wide open, and she hesitated before walking over.

The bedding on the bed was thrown back, and no one was there.

“Chang Yuncheng?” she called out.

No one answered.

“Lord?” she called again.

The room remained quiet.

This man was a soldier—he must have gone to practice martial arts early in the morning.

Qi Yue breathed a sigh of relief and walked directly toward the washroom. Just as she entered, she saw a man with his back to her, naked, pouring a bucket of water over himself with a splash.

Qi Yue instinctively cried out and closed her eyes.

“You pervert! Would it kill you to answer when I called?” she said angrily.

“I didn’t hear you,” Chang Yuncheng replied leisurely, pouring another bucket of water down, while turning around.

Qi Yue quickly retreated with her eyes closed.

When Chang Yuncheng leisurely finished washing and came out, Qi Yue was sitting in a chair, looking at him with displeasure.

A’Ru and Qiu Xiang were tiptoeing around making beds and tidying up. The door was also open, and the winter morning light made the room bright.

Seeing Qi Yue’s tense face, Chang Yuncheng unconsciously curved his lips.

“…Again like this. Who exactly has the unseemly hobby?” he said.

Qi Yue knew what he was referring to and glared at him for a moment, then exhaled and regained her composure.

Chang Yuncheng watched her expression, and the smile at the corner of his mouth also disappeared.

“I know you’re not used to it, and I’m not used to it either,” Qi Yue said. “But if I go tell your father now that I insist on moving out, you’ll probably get a good beating…”

Chang Yuncheng, who had been looking down with a sullen face, couldn’t help but purse his lips upon hearing this. Sweet words were useless on the master…

“Of course, you getting beaten isn’t the main point. The main point is that after beating you, your father will feel he’s vented his anger for me but still won’t let me leave. Instead, I’ll have to spend mental energy making up a bunch of explanations to cope with it. Right now, I don’t want to talk to you people at all…” Qi Yue said with a troubled sigh.

Chang Yuncheng’s mouth immediately turned down.

This… wretched woman…