What was the point of bickering with a kid who hadn’t even grown all his hair yet? It was quite beneath his dignity.

Shen Qiyuan thought he had important matters to attend to—he should just drag Liu Ruyi away directly. There was no need to bother with such a person.

But just as he lifted his foot, he put it back down, his face stormy: “A twenty-foot bamboo cannot pass as a bamboo shoot, but a one-inch tender shoot cannot build a house either. Fine as a dish, but only fit to be a dish.”

Both Ruyi and Tinglan looked at him in surprise.

He talked back? This was truly unprecedented. A dignified Lord Zongzheng arguing with common street folk?

The young man didn’t know his identity and naturally wasn’t afraid of him, snorting: “What’s wrong with being a dish? Being something the shopkeeper can taste makes a dish good. I’m happy to be a dish.”

As he spoke, he leaned closer to Ruyi and took her left hand: “You should come with me instead?”

Shen Qiyuan laughed coldly, his laughter dark and mocking: “Ask her—will she go with you?”

“The shopkeeper promised me she’d accompany me to float river lanterns tonight.” The young man swayed her hand.

Ruyi was quite pleased, squeezing his hand and stroking it: “Good boy.”

“Did you hear? The shopkeeper called me a good boy.” The young man immediately glared at him triumphantly.

“That’s worth your happiness?” Shen Qiyuan sneered disdainfully. “A simple ‘good’—the kind of praise you’d give a cat or dog. When she praised me, she said I was peerlessly handsome.”

Having spoken, he nearly bit his tongue.

What was he doing? Fighting over a woman’s affections? And in front of her, no less?

His face instantly turned iron-blue. Shen Qiyuan stopped looking at the expression of the person beside him and yanked the silver chain forward.

Ruyi was forced to follow him, a moment of bewilderment in her eyes, but only for a moment. She quickly recovered and said to Tinglan and the young man behind her, “I’m going to handle some matters with Lord Shen. I’ll be back shortly—don’t worry.”

The young man stamped his feet in anger, asking Tinglan, “Who is that man? So crude and barbaric.”

He Tinglan didn’t know what to say.

Call him a mortal enemy? Which mortal enemy would use fine silver chains to restrain someone? She had just seen that the silver chain under the shopkeeper’s sleeve was clean, not marring her skin in the slightest.

Call him a government official? But if he were truly a government official, arresting the shopkeeper for business wouldn’t be so secretive, and he wouldn’t let her hide the chains in her sleeves.

Call him a friend? But if he were truly a friend like before, Lord Shen wouldn’t have bound her with chains.

With a long sigh, He Tinglan simply pretended not to hear the question.

Ruyi followed behind Shen Qiyuan, looking at his back, also somewhat bewildered.

She had thought that after he regained all his memories, he would selectively ignore their time together, which was why he became so cold and ruthless. But that slip of the tongue just now showed he still cared, able to blurt out exactly how she had praised him.

Then she didn’t understand—how could he break with her so completely without a word of explanation?

Ruyi was about to ask, but before she could, she caught sight of some people from the corner of her eye.

On both sides of the official road leading to the Ministry of Justice, people who looked like refugees lay scattered about. They wore ragged clothes, their faces so dirty their features were indistinguishable. Some were injured and wailing, some held their heads and muttered while trembling like the mad, while most sat numbly against the walls behind them, like fish waiting to die on the shore.

One person close to her even wore what appeared to be a dirty, torn silk garment.

Natural disasters and demonic calamities had destroyed too many people—even formerly wealthy households hadn’t been spared.

All living beings suffered. She had always known that even gods couldn’t save everyone, but seeing this scene of devastation again, Ruyi still lowered her eyes slightly.

If even she, a demon, was moved, how much more so Shen Qiyuan with his compassionate heart.

No wonder he had suddenly opened the gates of Shen Manor to take in refugees that day. When his memories returned, it must have been his most painful moment.

Perhaps he didn’t hate her so much as he hated himself, which was why he didn’t even have the strength to talk with her calmly, only wanting to make amends quickly. And their opposing positions meant that for him to make amends, he had to become her enemy.

Thinking of this, Ruyi nodded in understanding, no longer intending to ask him anything.

However, understanding was one thing. As someone who had been betrayed, suspected, and threatened with sword and blade by him, she had no reason to magnanimously forgive just because she understood the cause and effect.

Benevolence was the business of immortals—she was merely a beautiful, enchanting, and wealthy demon.

With a light snort, Ruyi followed Shen Qiyuan into the Ministry of Justice courthouse.

The gavel struck once, and all fell silent. Shen Qiyuan placed items on a tray and pointed, asking her: “Why would Wuyou have a handkerchief used by mortals on her body?”

Ruyi knelt below, saying irritably: “Handkerchiefs have always been tokens of love between mortals. Wuyou was driven to desperation by a man’s false love. After becoming a demon, she would naturally carry this thing that pierced her heart.”

So she knew handkerchiefs were tokens of love. Seeing how generously she had given one to Zhou Tingchuan before, he thought she didn’t know.

Shen Qiyuan pressed his lips together and pointed to the next item: “What about this hairpin?”

“Does My Lord think I would use a wooden hairpin?” Ruyi sneered. “The plainest one in my jewelry box is still a magpie-on-branch yellow jade hairpin.”

Her words were factual, but somehow they sounded particularly grating.

Shen Qiyuan picked up the most important piece of evidence: “This wine cup is unique to your Huixian Restaurant—it even has ‘Huixian’ carved on it.”

“That only proves this Wuyou’s lover was formerly a drunkard who loved drinking at Huixian Restaurant,” Ruyi looked up at him. “My restaurant loses three to five cups every day. I even have a standing arrangement with the pottery workshop west of the city to deliver replacement cups on the third of each month. If My Lord doesn’t believe me, feel free to inquire.”

A pile of things, and truly, not one was related to her.

Shen Qiyuan was silent for a long moment, then said quietly: “Why did this demon carry everything on her body?”

“Before reaching desperation, Wuyou were also ordinary women from good families. Most became demons because they couldn’t find justice in the mortal world, their resentment grew too heavy, and they became neither living nor dead, forced to transform. They wear things from deep memories so that as the years pass, they won’t forget the harm men caused them.”

Ruyi raised her eyes: “Just as slaying demons is an immortal’s calling, killing men is their instinct.”

“That still doesn’t justify indiscriminate killing,” Shen Qiyuan said, somewhat angry. “Those who could become laborers were already refugees with nowhere to turn. What wrong had they done?”

Ruyi fell silent.

He felt sorry for mortals, she felt sorry for demons—they couldn’t see eye to eye.

These Wuyou near Lin’an had originally been peacefully living off incense offerings. Their sudden rampage two days ago—she hadn’t had time to find out the reason before they attacked people. Though it could be considered helping her cause, she didn’t like things happening outside her control.

She was certain Shen Qiyuan couldn’t convict her precisely because these Wuyou weren’t acting on her orders at all.

But Shen Qiyuan didn’t believe it.

He said in a deep voice, “I’ll send someone to notify Huixian Restaurant. I must trouble the shopkeeper to remain at the yamen for a few days.”