Zhang Yinyue was deeply troubled, her delicate little face scrunched into a knot. No matter how long she turned it over in her mind, she couldn’t make sense of it.

Chen Baoxiang, however, seemed to have grasped the answer.

“Not family,” she murmured, rubbing at the injury on her shoulder. “No matter how much one appears to be family, they’re not truly family.”

“What?” Yinyue hadn’t caught it clearly and turned to look at her.

Chen Baoxiang gave a couple of quiet laughs. “What I mean is — compared to Young Official Zhang, the General naturally cares more about you. You are his actual sister. When matters don’t concern your interests, the General and Young Official Zhang are family. But the moment your interests are involved, Young Official Zhang stops counting as family.”

Family — for people like them with neither father nor mother, that was simply far too difficult.

Yinyue was taken aback.

Chen Baoxiang seemed to have suddenly arrived at some understanding and gave a small nod in her direction. “I’ll be going first.”

“You’re not waiting for Second Brother?”

“He and the General are discussing serious matters. It won’t be finished in less than an hour.” She waved a hand at Yinyue. “While it’s not completely dark yet, I’ll take a stroll near Xuanwumen.”

There were nothing but residences in every direction around Xuanwumen — what was there to stroll about?

Yinyue didn’t understand, but seeing Baoxiang Sister looking quite cheerful, she didn’t dwell on it, gathered her skirts, and continued on to ask about Zhang Xilai’s condition from the physician.

·

Zhang Zhixu left the large residence and searched the entire way without finding any trace of Chen Baoxiang.

He circled back twice and returned to the Pearl Tower, only to walk right into Hanxiao in the middle of packing things up.

“What’s all this — where are you going?” Jiuquan asked, puzzled.

Hanxiao cheerfully answered while folding clothes: “My mistress says that you and I together are bad luck, so she’s moving out.”

Jiuquan: “…?”

Zhang Zhixu’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Where is she?”

“Right here.” Arms wrapped around a stack of boxes, Chen Baoxiang barely managed to turn her head to reveal her face from behind them. “Great Immortal, were you looking for me?”

Zhang Zhixu stepped forward and took half the boxes from her, his gaze dropping to her arm: “Not hurting anymore?”

“It wasn’t a very serious injury to begin with. I’ve already had medicine applied.” She grinned. “You’ve come at just the right time, actually — I was just about to go find you. While I was at Xuanwumen Second Street earlier, I spotted a small courtyard. It’s not as presentable as the one I’d looked at before, but it’s conveniently close to the Military Affairs Bureau, so I’ve rented it from a house agent.”

The expression on his face — already not particularly pleasant — darkened completely at those words.

“You’re not comfortable staying at the Pearl Tower?”

“It’s very comfortable.”

“Then why are you—”

Chen Baoxiang sorted through her things as she smiled: “But Great Immortal — comfortable as it is, I can’t stay here forever, can I? We’re not family, we’re not even related. My injury has healed. If I continue to impose on you, that really isn’t right.”

The jewelry and ornaments inside the box were sorted out and set to one side. She tucked her large sword and her official uniform inside, then looked at the remaining items with reluctance: “These I won’t take. My courtyard is small — if a thief got in, the loss would be too great.”

Zhang Zhixu’s fingers tightened. He held his jaw rigid, his expression stormy enough that she could tell at a glance he was displeased.

But Chen Baoxiang never once looked at him, only moved about the room, muttering as she went: “I rather like these quilts — could I take them with me?”

“And that dressing mirror and the rouge boxes beside it — I like those too. Can I take those?”

“And—”

“What about me?” Zhang Zhixu asked, his face cold.

Chen Baoxiang startled, and turned to look at him in bewilderment.

He lowered his gaze and said, in a muffled voice: “What I mean is — you’re just moving out like this. What am I supposed to do if something goes wrong?”

“Nothing will go wrong.” Chen Baoxiang waved a hand. “I’ve noticed — you’re a clever one. You don’t need my help at all.”

She had almost forgotten that he was playing the role of Second Young Master Zhang.

Zhang Zhixu felt a swell of frustration. “Don’t you mind that living alone is more expensive?”

“I’ve worked it out. With just me and Hanxiao, as long as we don’t put on airs in our daily life, the expenses won’t be so high.” Chen Baoxiang counted on her fingers. “That courtyard only has five rooms. Hiring just one odd-job worker won’t cost much at all.”

Zhang Zhixu stood up restlessly and paced around the room twice.

He knew, of course, that the two of them living together like this wasn’t proper. There was gossip outside, and she wasn’t truly his mistress. Even for her own sake, the two of them ought to keep a proper distance. Chen Baoxiang might very well need to marry someone someday.

—But the moment he thought that, his expression grew even darker.

The person across from him was in good spirits and even turned around to reassure him: “It’s all right, Great Immortal. I’ll be right at Xuanwumen — if you move back home, we won’t be far apart.”

“Isn’t the whole point to keep proper distance? Farther apart is better.” His voice was cool. “Best if you live at Xuanwumen, I live at Heyue Lane, and we never see each other’s faces again.”

How was he suddenly sulking over this?

Chen Baoxiang was caught between laughter and exasperation. She poured tea for him and generously offered him refreshments as well.

Zhang Zhixu couldn’t eat a single bite and watched helplessly as she finished packing her things, and then watched helplessly as she settled on a time with the porters for the following morning’s move.

“If something comes up, we can still communicate through the Buddha figurine.” She held out the figurine toward him.

Using that to communicate was no different from never seeing each other’s faces again.

Zhang Zhixu left her room with an expressionless face, unable to account for where his irritation was coming from, only that it kept burning hotter and hotter.

He asked Ningsu: “Has she had any private contact with Pei Ruheng recently?”

“In reply to the master — not once.”

“Then she’s taken a liking to some other young gentleman and wants to draw a clear line between us?”

“In reply to the master — it doesn’t seem so either.”

Then why?

Zhang Zhixu couldn’t work it out, and said irritably: “No matter. I never much liked sharing space with people anyway. With just me alone in that high tower, I’ll have peace and quiet.”

Ningsu and Jiuquan stood to one side, not daring to breathe.

Zhang Zhixu returned to his own room, calmly bathed and changed, calmly climbed into bed, calmly closed his eyes, and prepared to have a calm dream.

“We’re not family, not family, not family—” Chen Baoxiang’s voice inexplicably surfaced in his mind.

His eyes flew open.

He sat up, and said in a voice heavy with suppressed anger: “Fine, ‘not family’ indeed. How is it that when you got drunk and slept in the same room as me, you had nothing to say about that?”

“Master?” Jiuquan heard the noise and immediately pushed the door open and came in.

Zhang Zhixu composed his expression and said listlessly: “The wind up here in this tower is still too strong.”

“This servant will close every window at once and also bring in the folding screen.”

“And this bed — I can’t sleep comfortably in it either. It’s not as good as the bed in the main residence.”

Jiuquan was stunned: “Master, but this is the bed that was moved here from the main residence?”

“…” Zhang Zhixu narrowed his eyes and fixed him with a prolonged stare.

Jiuquan quickly slapped the back of his own head: “This servant understands. We’ll move back to the main residence tomorrow morning — first thing in the morning.”