Inspector Crawford looked up to discern the situation. The washroom door opened a crack, smoke billowing out, and there seemed to be a figure quickly darting out and merging into the panicked crowd.

Someone shouted in classically accented English: “Miss Louise holds no affection for thee, coward! Give up thy hope—”

The bewildered people found it hard to believe.

Romantic rivalry? Pistol duel? This was the nineteenth century—how could there still be such retro drama?

But socialite Miss Louise had briefly appeared at the music concert earlier, attracting a swarm of admirers and drawing the displeasure of various wives, which people remembered vividly.

Manager Jardine held the confiscated Chinese gun in his hands, standing dumbfounded, when suddenly his finger was hurt as the gun was rudely snatched away.

The person then rushed toward the exit, pushing gentlemen and ladies every which way.

“No, no, someone’s trying to assassinate, there’s a Chinese person…”

Several foreign merchants realized what was happening. Someone immediately drew a pistol, aiming at the crowd but not daring to pull the trigger.

The matter of “hiring local gangs to scheme against Chinese merchants” was something Jin Nengheng knew was unseemly and hadn’t publicized widely. Among the foreigners present—Municipal Council leaders, priests, patrol officers, sailors, and their families—most had come to hear the music concert and were completely unaware of the situation.

“How could this be? How could there be Chinese people here? Which servant was so bold?…”

Inspector Crawford finally began to understand, quietly giving orders: “Detain all the Chinese on the ship! Don’t let a single one escape! Act normally, don’t alert them!”

The amateur musicians on stage dropped their violins and oboes, returning to work mode, shouting in unison: “Yes sir!”

Then they dispersed with professional efficiency.

Su Minguan saw several patrol officers approaching his direction, ducked behind a velvet curtain, and suddenly learned a phrase, shouting: “The foreigners are capturing Chinese people! Run!”

This immediately “alerted the prey.” The Chinese servants were frightened into panicked screaming.

“We’re innocent, masters! We’ve been proper and haven’t done anything—”

The ship cabin’s entrance stairway was steep, and everyone crowded together, smashing cups, plates, and dishes all over the floor.

Su Minguan pulled off the black cloth from his waist and squeezed out with the crowd.

A patrol officer lunged at him. He sidestepped to avoid him, smoothly grabbed the flute from the man’s hand, and quickly inserted it into a closing door crack.

Inside was a mop closet. Su Minguan saw the informant hunchback, still wearing an apron, his hands protecting his front, hiding terrified in the corner with a face full of horror, not knowing why the foreigners had suddenly turned hostile.

Su Minguan had a sudden thought, leaned close and whispered: “You’re no longer useful to the foreigners. Now they want to silence you, run quickly!”

The hunchback had a guilty conscience. Since boarding this ship, he’d been absent-minded, fearing the foreigners would discard him after use without giving him a good future.

Now, someone suddenly exposed his inner fear, and he immediately lost his soul, not bothering to think why Su Minguan was being so generous to him, saying in terror: “Then… then what should I do? I don’t want to die!”

“Didn’t you hear they’re hunting Chinese people? If they catch you, it’s over. Foreigners don’t pay for killing Chinese.”

Su Minguan said this ominously, then meaningfully glanced toward the gangplank outside the ship’s rail.

At this time, the Chinese servants were in panic, and even those who didn’t understand English began shouting wildly: “Foreigners are killing Chinese people—”

The hunchback bowed deeply to Su Minguan. In his heart, he felt this generous ship owner had saved him once and was now risking himself again, regardless of past grievances, so he would surely save him a second time.

He had already died once in the corrupt city of Jiangning; he didn’t want to die a second time.

The hunchback dropped his mop, hunched his turtle-shell-like large back, trotted all the way, jumped over the gangplank, and leaped onto shore.

Sharp-eyed patrol officers immediately spotted him. Three or four people rushed onto the deck, raised their guns, and aimed at the fleeing black shadow.

Amid continuous gunfire and screaming, Su Minguan crossed to the other side of the deck and calmly climbed down the iron ladder on the ship’s side.

Clang, clang, clang—the customs bell punctually struck twelve times.

Su Minguan hung onto the rope on one side of the ship’s rail with one hand, the water waves and bell sounds resonating beside him, radiating tiny ripples. He suddenly shivered.

Midnight hour. The witching hour.

The tension and exhaustion of this night suddenly hit him like hail. He had busied himself with so many things, yet ultimately hadn’t made it back in time.

The young lady was probably thoroughly disappointed in him, thinking he was drunk in some tavern, avoiding that final farewell. She might have even searched everywhere for him. But no one could have imagined that in the final hour, he was trapped on foreign territory, hiding on a sailing ship on the river.

She was probably exhausted and had already gone back to sleep.

Those “extended” four hours had been silently wasted by him.

Su Minguan sighed softly, hearing the sound of patrol boats cutting through the water.

Soon, the patrol officers would discover they had killed the wrong person. He didn’t have much time left.

Suddenly, a bright light swept across his back.

Bang!

Su Minguan released his grip and fell into the water. The lead bullet slowed in the current as he used Jin Nengheng’s briefcase to shield his chest. A tremendous force pushed him into deep water, everything before his eyes becoming murky, stirring up vast white foam.

“The criminal jumped into the river! Escaped by water!”

People quickly realized what had happened.

Seventy to eighty percent of the foreign patrol officers had gathered at tonight’s band performance. Their mobilization capacity was unprecedented.

Inspector Crawford personally led the team, jumping onto patrol boats, spreading searchlights, and carefully searching along the river.

The case was too chaotic; he wasn’t immediately clear about the background of the troublemaking Chinese person. But to dare fire a gun in a foreign club was simply courting death.

Someone set up binoculars, using the illumination from the customs buoy lighthouse to see the black dot appearing and disappearing in the water current.

“That’s him! Charge!”

On shore, the performance had ended, and the crowd dispersed. The Chinese people who had come to watch the show and make noise had all returned home, leaving only a faint smell of fireworks on the street.

The speedboat rapidly approached. Suddenly, several black-awning boats came rowing toward them, splashing loudly and completely blocking the river surface.

If they encountered isolated Chinese small boats, the patrol officers wouldn’t care and would just ram through. But they were faced with numerous boats creating a massive traffic jam, blocking dozens of night-returning vessels behind them. People with various accents made a commotion, asking what had happened ahead.

Inspector Crawford had someone shout: “Move aside! Civilian boats move aside!”

But the civilian boats had poor organizational discipline. After several boats yielded politely, some turned around while others reversed, instead blocking the way in all directions.

The patrol officers angrily fired warning shots—several deafening bangs.

A graceful girl ran out of a cabin. Seeing the patrol officers’ gun barrels, she dramatically screamed but stood without moving.

“They’re… they’re all relatives,” she shouted frantically while looking toward the distant “Bacchus,” “watched the show too late, going home now, going home now! Don’t shoot!”

If a man had rushed up to “interfere with official business,” the patrol officers would probably have kicked him into the water.

But since it was a harmless woman, the patrol officers couldn’t be bothered arguing with her, saying impatiently: “Move aside, move aside, we’re arresting a criminal! Anyone who doesn’t cooperate will be treated as an accomplice!”

The girl tremblingly rowed her boat, the small vessel spinning in place before finally clearing a path after a long time. The patrol officers waited until their patience reached its limit, then pushed with their oars and squeezed through shakily.

…

Several patrol boats finally disappeared in the distance. Lin Yuchan dropped her oar and lay at the bow, gasping heavily.

She looked far off at the foreign sailing ship in chaos, then back at those patrol boats. The continuous gunfire still echoed in her eardrums. She was so anxious that she paced in place, not knowing which direction to go.

She felt like a student desperately working on the final, difficult problem. Using every crooked method possible, she was just one step away from solving it when that series of dense gunshots seemed like the merciless school bell, directly turning her entire night’s efforts to nothing.

The night sky was boundlessly vast—where was her correct answer?

No matter how tough Su Minguan was, he was still flesh and blood. That popcorn-like, continuous shooting—just one stray bullet could end his dramatically self-destructive life prematurely at twenty-two.

The heartstring that had been taut for several hours was already stretched to its limit. Just a tiny bit more disappointing pressure and it would snap.

“Su Minguan is unreliable!” she complained breathlessly to the several men on the boat, “the revolution hasn’t succeeded yet, what gives him the right to put himself in a position to catch enemy bullets!”

The two big simpletons under Yixing’s command, Jiang Gaosheng and Hong Chunkui, stood dejectedly at the bow, not knowing how to answer this question.

“Does he think that after midnight, he’d be a lonely ghost with no one caring about him or managing him?”

Others didn’t know what magical significance “tonight at midnight” held and dared not respond carelessly.

Like a high dam bursting, torrential emotions poured forth, and her voice already carried a crying tone.

“Knowing this place was crawling with patrol officers…”

A splash of water. Lin Yuchan turned around sharply.

A hand silently emerged from the water, forcefully grabbing onto the wooden board at the stern, knuckles white and trembling from exhaustion.

Several people rushed over simultaneously, pulling a dripping wet black figure from the water.

“Didn’t we agree you’d wait for me on the boat? You almost made it impossible for me to find you.” The voice from the stern carried weary laughter, “Miss Lin, you’re the one who’s unreliable.”

The Yixing Shipping storefront was low-key and quiet. Several figures busily went in and out, quietly coordinating and commanding, slowly retracting the people-searching network that had been spread throughout the city.

The black-awning boat returned to its berth, with a pile of luohan bean shells remaining in the cabin.

Su Minguan cleaned himself up, pouring a basin of hot water over himself from head to toe. After putting on dry clothes, he came out and, facing a group of anxious subordinates, said only one sentence:

“Thank you for your hard work. Tomorrow is a day off.”

Everyone heard this familiar business tone and felt a weight lift from their hearts. Confirming that this boss was indeed whole and unharmed with his brain intact, seemingly having just taken a swim in the Huangpu River.

So they all gathered their weary bodies and bowed farewell. Even Jiang Gaosheng tactfully left.

Someone called out, “Miss Lin, see you later.”

Lin Yuchan was still angry, glaring at Su Minguan, her head seeming to contain a steam engine, rumbling and puffing white steam.

“You…”

“You…”

Both started talking at the same time.

Only one spoke with anger, the other with laughter.

Lin Yuchan suppressed her emotions and asked quietly: “What exactly happened tonight?”

With no one else in the shop, Su Minguan leaned against the wall, his eyes crinkling, seemingly finding her angry appearance amusing.

“Want to know?” He suddenly came closer quite improperly, slightly closing his eyes, still with undried water droplets on his cheek, “Kiss me.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

Instead, she stepped back.

Instinctively, he felt his state was off tonight. He was completely different from a few hours earlier.

Of course, being able to break through the deadly trap the foreigners had set for him and safely escape from the encirclement of gunfire, he naturally had the right to be proud.

But he couldn’t be this proud! It was like Victor had possessed him!

Seeing she didn’t respond, Su Minguan laughed softly and brazenly pulled her into his arms, rubbing twice.

“No more smoke smell, it’s all washed off, don’t mind…”

Lin Yuchan kept a straight face, broke free, and persistently asked: “Did you come from that ship?”

Su Minguan groaned, actually being pushed back several steps by her, his arms obviously weak, hanging at his sides.

Lin Yuchan was startled, only then noticing he had bruising at his temples and faint strangulation marks on his neck. Rolling up his sleeves, she saw several places of subcutaneous bleeding on his arms.

Her heart ached as she gasped: “You fought?”

Subduing even one eight-foot strong man wasn’t easy, let alone six. It wasn’t like in movies where you could knock someone down with one light chop. During fighting and wrestling, physical strength was enormously depleted.

Then, swimming in the river for a long time while dodging patrol officers’ telescopes and bullets—being able to hold on until Lin Yuchan brought a boat was already the end of his strength.

Su Minguan put on a nonchalant air, his voice slightly hoarse, smiling at her: “I thought you didn’t care about me anymore, so… I didn’t take very good care of myself.”

Lin Yuchan was momentarily speechless.

She seemed to have something to say to him, some very important words to throw forcefully in his face.

But at this moment, her mind was in chaos, her rationality shattered into pieces.

Her face felt cool as he gently cupped it.

“A’Mei, shall we renew the contract?” Su Minguan looked deeply at her, his eyes carrying the madness of putting everything on one bet, speaking very slowly: “This way when I do bad things in the future, I won’t have to rush.”

Like a fine needle piercing her heart, her whole body tensed, her chest feeling sour and itchy, the person before her becoming double images.

Su Minguan exhaled softly, smiling as if a great burden had been lifted.

What a small matter. Life was precious—even that Miss Louise, who fainted at will, knew to seize the day. What about him?

Alone, he had turned defeat into victory and escaped from a losing situation. Such a remarkable night surely deserved a little extra joy, right?

Having spoken, not caring whether she agreed or not, he turned to support himself on the railing, his arms trembling slightly as he pulled himself up the stairs step by step and collapsed onto the bed.

Lin Yuchan stood stunned for a good moment before following.

Su Minguan’s cheeks were pale, and when he turned his head, his profile showed exhaustion. Sunk into the soft quilt, his whole person displayed a slight fragility.

He occasionally stole glances at her, seeming to hope she would speak but unwilling to urge her aloud.

She waited until he was impatient before curling her lips deliberately and saying: “No renewal.”

His previous madness dissipated by seventy percent, and he immediately said, “Are you tired of me?”

His voice carried some dejection.

Lin Yuchan shook her head, raising her eyebrows with a smile: “Renewing year by year is troublesome. Do you think this is a fixed-price contract?”

Su Minguan was slightly stunned, then his eyes brightened, and color flooded his face.

His peripheral vision scanned the familiar household furnishings around him as he said softly, “Actually, I only learned today that foreign trading houses’ fixed-price contracts don’t necessarily have to be for one year. The first year is a rigid contract that can’t be violated, but if both parties trust each other, it can be converted to a flexible contract in the second year with no expiration date, where either party has the right to propose termination at any time…”

Lin Yuchan’s face reddened slightly as she sat on the bed, leaning down to look at him, smiling: “So advanced? If termination is desired, how much advance notice is required?”

Su Minguan raised an eyebrow, his finger touching her chin, giving it an extremely light twist.

“Up to you.”

She bit her lip, saying earnestly: “This is too irregular. I don’t agree. I think at least advance notice of…”

Su Minguan’s finger moved up, gently pressing her lips.

“The contract is forever valid for me. For you, whatever you want.” He traced those soft, thin lips with his finger, his voice low like a whisper, “Miss Lin, I rarely sign such favorable contracts. You’d better agree quickly while I’m confused.”

The gentler his voice became, the more oppressive Lin Yuchan felt. Suddenly her ears grew hot as she said quietly: “You have problems.”

She’d never seen anyone so eager to sign an unequal treaty!

“I do have problems,” the person in the quilt laughed lazily. “Will you cure me?”

Saying this, he vengefully pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly through the quilt layer. His arms were sore and bruised, unable to exert much strength, and she cooperatively didn’t move.

He felt like a charlatan fraud and like a penniless person in debt, fleeing everywhere. He thought he had grown accustomed to the heavy pressure on his heart, not daring to face that aggressive reality. But suddenly, those trivial, dull knife-like grinding pains were gently pushed away by an invisible hand, swept away like autumn wind clearing fallen leaves, revealing brightness and giving him the illusion that those heavy past entanglements had never existed.

He gently pressed the delicate skin behind the girl’s ear, the slightly cool skin jumping with the warm blood hidden within.

Even if she laughed at him, he’d accept it. Even if the whole world looked down on him, he’d accept it. If just now even one bullet had found its mark and he had failed this world’s one and only little enchantress, he wouldn’t rest easy even in death.

He urged softly, “You haven’t agreed yet.”

Lin Yuchan was embarrassed: “Didn’t I nod…”

“You need to say it out loud.”

She pressed her lips together, saying quietly: “We won’t end. We’ll always be good together. Unless…”

Su Minguan looked into her eyes, silently urging.

She had to translate that unspeakable clause into normal language, speaking even more quietly: “Unless I don’t want to be with you anymore.”

“What else?”

Lin Yuchan was puzzled. What else was there?

“Also,” Su Minguan’s lips were close to her ear, his voice somewhat hoarse, speaking each word quickly as if he had rehearsed many times in his heart, “this is a confidential contract. Except for the most trustworthy friends, don’t tell others. Also… this is an agreement between just the two of us, it doesn’t involve assets and shops, neither of us is allowed to…”

He paused, his cheeks slightly warm, shamefully finishing: “…no monetary transactions.”

This improper relationship was really difficult to define. He could only rely on his limited common sense and imagination to construct a few safe boundaries. Like a half-filled explorer, he stumbled and groped for rules that the world couldn’t tolerate.

Lin Yuchan turned away, laughed for a long time, then not to be outdone, added a clause: “During the contract period, no being with others, no receiving matchmakers.”

“I won’t,” he immediately said. “As long as Miss Lin doesn’t break the contract, you’ll be my only one.”

After a moment of silence, he added: “Even if you break the contract, there won’t be anyone else.”

Lin Yuchan covered his mouth.

Such a heavy promise—she couldn’t bear it.

Though she loved hearing it.

Su Minguan said no more. He closed his eyes, shutting away the silent pleading in them.

But he didn’t let go of her hand. After a very long time, he heard her awkward smile: “Tomorrow there’s still the chamber of commerce regular meeting…”

Su Minguan laughed softly, pinching her ear.

The usual shy little excuse. But this time, he wasn’t anxious at all.

The countdown was gone. He had all the patience in the world.

“A’Mei,” he said conversationally, “the briefcase at the foot of the bed—a contract renewal gift for you.”

The big merchant was truly exhausted today, giving her big gift packages one after another.

Lin Yuchan had long noticed the briefcase Su Minguan carried with him. It wasn’t his own, seeming to be high-end foreign goods with very good sealing inside and out, but only the outer edges were wet.

Turning it over, she saw a black lead bullet neatly embedded in the leather surface. The bullet had long since cooled in the water, and the sturdy leather surface wasn’t burned, only showing radiating patterns from the impact.

Lin Yuchan gasped.

Even in the critical moment of swimming and fleeing, Su Minguan hadn’t thrown it away, showing how much he valued it.

She knew it must contain important items, evidence of his earth-shaking night.

But she didn’t open it, instead putting the briefcase in the cabinet and gently stroking his head.

“It’s too late today, I’ll look tomorrow.”

Su Minguan was startled, pleading like a spoiled child: “Open it, there are fun things inside.”

Lin Yuchan wouldn’t indulge his every whim. She put on a stern face, taking on the airs of a girlfriend, lecturing him with pampered arrogance.

“Since you very much hope I’ll manage you,” she said, “then I ask you—putting yourself in a position where you have to block bullets with a briefcase, isn’t that a bit too outrageous?”

Su Minguan’s smile froze.

“Not just outrageous, it’s utterly unconscionable,” Lin Yuchan said. “If any link had gone wrong, what would I do? What would the entire Yixing Shipping do?”

“Aren’t I fine right here?” Su Minguan skillfully argued with her, helplessly shaking his head. “Alright, I owe you one opera performance, I’ll make it up later…”

“You clearly heard the opera troupe’s secret signal,” Lin Yuchan covered his silver tongue, lowering her voice, “you clearly knew we were looking for you!”

“Yes, I could have pretended to cooperate and escaped with a fake signature. I could have responded to the opera troupe’s signal and waited for the brothers to safely rescue me,” Su Minguan spoke righteously under her hand. “But if I had done that, the foreign merchants wouldn’t have paid any price, and they would use the same tricks again in the future. If I only run away when encountering trouble, they will intensify their oppression of me.”

“But I was very worried,” she turned away, her voice rough. “When I heard that series of gunshots, I didn’t dare imagine what was happening on that ship…”

“Next time, don’t be so anxious to find me, and you won’t hear gunshots.”

The meaning was clear: I was wrong, but I’ll dare to do it again.

Su Minguan closed his eyes and said this roguishly, only then hearing something off in the breathing so close by. Opening his eyes, he saw red-rimmed eyes filled with rigid anger, but looking deeper, there was unconcealed heartache.

He put away his frivolous expression and sighed softly.

“It’s my fault.”

She persisted, pointing out: “You just promised not to unilaterally break the contract.”

“I’ll be more cowardly in the future.”

His expression was docile, caught between exhaustion and the excitement of surviving disaster, his speech already somewhat slurred, submissive beyond belief.

Lin Yuchan said no more, gently stroking his forehead, letting him sleep.

She went downstairs to fetch water and wash.

It was past midnight, and she couldn’t go out, so she’d make do here for the night.

The guest room was unusually barred shut. Light snoring came from inside.

Only then did Lin Yuchan remember that Su Minguan had mentioned earlier that Uncle Cheng was bringing some old brothers to the city for business these days.

…He could have given her a heads up!

Otherwise, she would have left with the Yixing brothers when they finished work!

She could only go back upstairs to look at Su Minguan’s single bed. Though only about five feet wide, compared to the narrow wooden plank in the capsule ship cabin, it was as spacious as a 500-square-meter bed.

The person on the bed had just escaped death, was mentally and physically exhausted, aching all over, with combat effectiveness near zero.

Lin Yuchan hesitated for exactly one second, then turned to lock the door, unceremoniously opened Su Minguan’s wardrobe, found a nightgown to change into, then climbed onto the bed, claimed a territory, and lay down generously.

So spacious! She could stretch out her arms and legs!

By the time she realized her mistake, it was too late. Although certain people had gotten themselves to critical health, their recovery speed was also extremely fast.

When the night watch drum sounded for the fourth time, Su Minguan drowsily turned over and suddenly touched a delicate, smooth arm.

He immediately woke up.