Zhang Zhixu didn’t even turn his head. “Sorry for what?”

“I’ve brought shame to the Zhang Family.”

Xie Lanting chimed in from the side: “What’s there to be ashamed of? He was the one who harassed the young lady of your Zhang Family first.”

Zhang Zhixu replied irritably, “You don’t know anything, so keep your mouth shut.”

Xie Lanting wanted to argue back, but then he saw Zhang Xilai press his bruised and purpled lips together and say earnestly, “I didn’t manage to beat that man, and I got injured on top of it. It’s truly shameful.”

Xie Lanting: ?

Hold on — he’s a civil official. Wasn’t it perfectly normal for him not to be able to beat a military ruffian? Was this something worth reflecting on?

He turned to look again, and Zhang Zhixu was even nodding along in genuine agreement. “When we get back, I’ll find you a martial arts teacher. You can’t just keep yourself locked in that study forever — you need to learn at least some basic combat.”

“Understood.”

The uncle and nephew finished speaking and fell into silence, as though there was nothing else worth raising.

Xie Lanting stared wide-eyed. “Wait, that’s it? The Zhang Family is famous for its strict household discipline, and this was after all a brawl — you’re not going to say anything more?”

The look Zhang Zhixu gave Xie Lanting was nothing short of disdainful.

He said, “Even Yinyue knows that the laws of Great Sheng only punish those who start the trouble. And you, the one who presides over criminal affairs, don’t?”

“I know that, but…”

“Lord Xie is trying to say that a moment ago, upstairs, your nephew also behaved somewhat improperly.” Zhang Xilai was frank about it, and stepped forward to acknowledge it himself. “When I rushed over, I didn’t observe proper decorum — I reached out and pulled my aunt behind me without ceremony.”

Zhang Zhixu was unperturbed. “What of it? When she was little and got drunk and caused trouble, which time did you not carry her home on your back?”

Carrying her on his back was far more intimate than simply reaching out to shield her.

Zhang Xilai lowered his gaze, the tips of his ears turning faintly red. “But we’re both grown now. Father’s intention is for me to observe proper propriety.”

“If you’re going to follow your father’s rules, then things are going to get very complicated.” Zhang Zhixu snapped his folding fan shut. “By that logic, you could have simply not come to this banquet today.”

Though Chen Baoxiang had sent the invitation to him, if Zhang Xilai had said something about the difficulties at home, she would surely have understood.

And yet Zhang Xilai had come anyway. Not only had he come — his gaze had never once strayed far from Zhang Yinyue. Yinyue herself hadn’t noticed, but Zhang Zhixu had seen it all perfectly clearly.

“Little Uncle.” Zhang Xilai’s complexion went pale. “I have no other intentions.”

Zhang Zhixu looked at him with an indecipherable smile and said nothing.

The garden was alive with brilliantly blooming spring flowers. Zhang Xilai gazed at them in a daze, then suddenly said, “Little Uncle — do you know what it means to be fond of someone?”

Zhang Zhixu’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The usually well-behaved nephew before him was, for once, letting his true feelings show — something pained and conflicted. “Little Uncle, do you know? I’m not sure when it started, but things between her and me… they changed.”

“When I look at her, my face flushes and my heart races. When I’m beside her, my palms grow warm.”

“Even as reason tells me again and again that this violates all propriety, my eyes simply refuse to obey. No matter what I do, they always want to look toward wherever she is.”

“And yet she is now my aunt, and she is already betrothed to another.”

Zhang Xilai lifted his head. His gaze was fragile, like glass that would shatter at the slightest touch. “Little Uncle — hit me.”

Hit him hard. Hit him hard enough to shatter every last one of his wretched desires.

Zhang Zhixu listened, his brow slowly creasing. “Aren’t you overthinking it? When you’re around someone and your face flushes and your heart races — or your palms grow warm — isn’t that perfectly normal? How can you call that being fond of someone?”

Nearby, Xie Lanting had been tactfully stepping aside, not intending to eavesdrop on the Zhang Family’s private affairs.

But upon hearing those words, he took one swift step back in. “Who? Who gives you that kind of reaction?”

Zhang Zhixu clicked his tongue. “What does it have to do with you?”

“How is it nothing to do with me? I’m a seasoned veteran of matters of the heart — I can judge these things more accurately than your family’s divine healer can identify medicinal herbs.” Xie Lanting seized the rare upper hand. “If you let this man who knows nothing about love do the teaching, he’ll lead young Lord Zhang astray before you know it.”

With that, he turned to Zhang Xilai and said, “Any normal man, when he sees the person he’s fond of, will have a flushed face and racing heart. Some even have their moods swayed — furious one moment, and then completely appeased by a single word from that person. That’s what it means for your heart to be moved.”

Zhang Zhixu: “…”

He dropped his expression in displeasure. “Don’t interrupt.”

“What interruption? I mean it sincerely. Young masters like us who’ve never read romance novels or watched romantic plays — where would we ever learn what it’s like to be fond of someone? Of course we have to rely on our elders passing it down in person.”

“Xilai, take my advice — if you like someone, you have to go after them. No matter how many obstacles stand in the way, a person only lives once. Why leave yourself with regrets… hey, hey, hey — Ningsu, put me down!”

Zhang Zhixu frowned and waved at Ningsu. “Throw him farther.”

“Yes, sir.”

Zhang Xilai watched Xie Lanting’s struggling silhouette disappear into the distance, and shook his head with a lingering sense of alarm. “I will keep the Zhang Family’s household code in mind. From now on, I will never conduct myself this way again.”

The person across from him said nothing.

Zhang Xilai looked up uneasily, only to find that his little uncle appeared to have drifted off in thought.

The half-folded fan rested motionless against his knuckles. His deep, dark eyes were fixed blankly on the bluestone pavement below.

Zhang Xilai blinked, then made a bold guess. “Little Uncle — are you thinking about Miss Baoxiang?”

“No.” Zhang Zhixu came back to himself, lowering his gaze. “She and I are only friends.”

Only friends.

Zhang Xilai puzzled over this. If she were the same kind of friend as Xie Lanting, would Little Uncle have Ningsu throw Miss Baoxiang around like that as well?

Inside the room, Chen Baoxiang — who had been blissfully cracking melon seeds — let out a sneeze.

She rubbed the tip of her nose and sat up straight. “Go on, keep talking.”

Across from her, Yinyue wore a long face. “I already tested the waters with Big Brother — I asked if he might let me take a minor position under his command. But he refused. In his eyes, a woman ought to stay quietly in her chambers.”

“But if I keep living under their roof, eating and spending their money, what right do I have to say I want to decide my own marriage?”

She was thoroughly dispirited. “And to make things worse, the Cheng Family has been pressing harder and harder.”

“The Cheng Family.” Chen Baoxiang thought for a moment. “Lu Shouhuai is already in prison, and Cheng Huaili’s leg is crippled. The situation a year from now may look very different from today.”

“I’m hoping things will turn around within the year.” Yinyue frowned. “But if I just stay home waiting for an outcome, isn’t that no different from a fish on a chopping block? I want to fight for my own fate too — yet Big Brother won’t give me any path forward.”

Chen Baoxiang thought it over. “Do you know of Cen Xuanyue?”

“I’ve heard of her.”

“She’s now serving as deputy officer in the Medicine Division of the Bureau of Creation.” Chen Baoxiang clapped her hands together. “A clever woman, and ambitious. Just a moment ago, someone from the Medicine Division told me that Deputy Officer Cen stands a good chance of being promoted to full officer next year.”

“How wonderful.” Yinyue said enviously. “With an official position, she doesn’t have to be like us — just waiting at home to be married off.”

“What I mean is — if you have any ambitions, you might as well try going under her.” Chen Baoxiang said. “Compared to the environment of a military camp, that place is mostly staffed by female officials. Your big brother might still have some room for negotiation on that front.”

Zhang Yinyue’s eyes lit up.

She grabbed Chen Baoxiang’s hands and asked, “Can I really? Would that truly be possible? I haven’t read nearly enough medical texts.”

“Compared to some of the people who entered the division not even knowing how to read, you’re already quite impressive.”

Chen Baoxiang gestured for her to hold out her hand.

Zhang Yinyue didn’t understand, but did as she was told — only to find that all the melon seeds Chen Baoxiang had been cracking this whole time, she hadn’t eaten a single one herself. She had gathered a large pile of white kernels and split half of them into Yinyue’s palm.

“When Officer Cen first took up her post, I helped her with a small matter. Giving you a letter of recommendation shouldn’t be difficult at all.” She smiled warmly. “As long as you don’t give up on yourself, I’m willing to help you.”

For a person to break free from the fate they were born into, beyond their own efforts and luck, they often need someone to reach out and pull them up.

Chen Baoxiang had grown accustomed to being looked down upon. It was a rare thing for her to be the one doing the lifting.

Hearing these words, Yinyue was overjoyed — and Chen Baoxiang was overjoyed as well. The two young women buried their heads together in the room, plotting away in animated voices.