The evening wind grew stronger and stronger, and before long fine rain began to fall.

Ruyi had no mood to ask Shen Qiyuan anything more. Raising her sleeve to shield her hair, she dismounted and walked into the estate. Zhou Tingchuan followed behind her, still somewhat excited: “What was that thing flying at us just now? Did Miss Liu see it?”

“No.” She answered perfunctorily.

“When did Miss begin practicing martial arts? Which master did you study under?”

“Self-taught from the womb.”

Zhou Tingchuan was stunned. Just as he was about to ask more, he saw the person in front turn her head sideways, the corner of her eye lifting as she touched his lips with a half-smile: “Young master, asking more would be annoying.”

Her cool fingertip brushed past lightly, taking away the warmth from his lips, but the next instant, the place she had touched began burning hotly.

Zhou Tingchuan’s face gradually reddened as he stepped back half a pace, stuttering and waving his hands: “No, I won’t ask anymore.”

She smiled with satisfaction, but the smile disappeared the moment she turned around. Pressing her lips together indifferently, she pushed open the door and returned to her side room.

Her slender figure was even more desolate than the autumn rain.

The sound of rain gradually grew noisy. Zhou Tingchuan felt the pounding in his chest was livelier than the commotion on the roof tiles.

“Come back to your senses.” Someone reminded him coolly.

With a sudden shiver, he hurried back to Shen Qiyuan’s side, touching the back of his head somewhat guiltily: “My lord, I…”

Shen Qiyuan didn’t even look at him, only saying: “Whether mountain bandits and peddlers or aristocratic families, she only treats them as things for amusement. Before it was so, now it is also so. If you take it seriously, you’ll only end up with a burned heart and shattered soul.”

“How can my lord speak of Miss Liu this way? She just saved my life.” Zhou Tingchuan muttered.

After a moment, he realized something was wrong: “My lord knew Miss Liu before?”

Shen Qiyuan closed his eyes with slight irritation, not answering this question.

The rain grew heavier, pattering steadily, immersing all of Lin’an in misty obscurity.

Shen Qiyuan sat indoors, receiving the plum blossom dart that had embedded in Ruyi’s carriage.

In Lin’an there wouldn’t be more than ten blacksmith shops capable of making such exquisite hidden weapons. His evidence had gained another item. However, if he couldn’t capture living testimony, he would always lack that final strike against that person.

He couldn’t help looking toward the side room across the way.

The black market seller had murderous intent toward her, so naturally she was the best bait. Only she could emerge unscathed from danger without losing her life.

Somehow her words echoed in his mind.

“Doesn’t my lord think so? You and I are truly well-matched.”

“Which young lady would dare look at corpses and find evidence for you? Only me.”

The words were spoken ambiguously, but her eyes were full of malicious teasing intent.

He frowned, his fingers suddenly tightening, crumpling the rice paper on the table into a ball.

At the end of the hai hour, thunder suddenly arose in the sky.

Shen Qiyuan had changed his robes and was about to retire when someone suddenly knocked on his window.

He frowned: “Who?”

A head squeezed through the window frame, asking him with a grin: “My lord, sleeping alone—aren’t you cold?”

Shen Qiyuan: “…”

Was this something an official’s daughter could say?

His face darkened as he rose and walked to the window, mercilessly pushing her head out and shutting the window with a snap, bolting it.

Really without any propriety. It was fortunate he wasn’t a clan administrator who loved writing memorials of complaint, or she would have been dragged away for flogging long ago.

Rolling with anger back to bed, Shen Qiyuan wrapped himself well in bedding.

A thunderclap shattered the sky, lightning even falling outside with such commotion that children in distant households began crying.

Shen Qiyuan suddenly opened his eyes.

He sat up, lost in thought for a moment, then suddenly grabbed his cloak and walked outside.

Ruyi was pressed against the base of the wall, slowly inching along. Having barely made it outside Zhou Tingchuan’s side room and just about to slip through the window, someone grabbed her by the back of her collar.

She turned back to see Shen Qiyuan looking down at her from above.

Lightning split the sky behind him, the backlighting outlining him like a ghost.

She blinked, her teeth chattering, but still smiled: “You’re also afraid of thunder?”

Her hair tips were already soaked through, water droplets sliding down one by one, splashing into the hollow of her shoulders. There was no emotion in her eyes, even seeming somewhat nonchalant, but her knuckles were pale without a trace of blood, each joint ice-cold and bone-piercing.

Shen Qiyuan looked at her twice, pulled off his cloak and threw it over, answering with slight impatience: “Everyone is afraid, probably.”

The silver-gray rabbit fur cloak was warm and soft, carrying a faint mint fragrance.

Ruyi relaxed slightly, and sensing him tugging the cloak, followed his force forward.

“You sleep here.” He pointed to the small couch in the outer room, then moved the screen beside it across to separate the inner and outer chambers.

Holding hot tea, Ruyi finally regained some color and couldn’t help raising the corner of her eyes: “My lord need not be so guarded—I don’t eat people.”

Shen Qiyuan ignored her, bringing bedding from the cabinet to place on the couch, saying coolly: “As payment for shelter, please trouble Miss to help me with another matter.”

She knew he wasn’t this kindhearted.

Ruyi hummed twice: “If it’s not dangerous work, this young lady would help without a second word. But if it’s again like today’s life-threatening business, my lord’s small favor might not be sufficient.”

“What else do you want?”

“Simple.” Ruyi said, “I’ve now left the Grand Preceptor’s mansion and offended quite a few powerful people. I’d like to request my lord serve as a backer so my shops can continue operating smoothly.”

Shen Qiyuan frowned: “Great Qian’s laws are strict and clear, the sovereign benevolent. As long as it’s legitimate business, why would you need me as a backer?”

A child who hadn’t suffered hardship.

Ruyi clicked her tongue twice, reaching out to stroke his chin: “This world is treacherous, my lord.”

He nimbly dodged her hand, staring at her fingertips like staring at something dirty, his eyes full of disgust.

She didn’t mind, folding her fingers back and tucking them away, continuing to drink hot tea: “If my lord would just nod, tomorrow I’ll serve as bait for my lord to catch the person my lord wants.”

Shen Qiyuan felt inexplicably guilty: “How do you know what I want to do?”

The person before him looked at him with a half-smile, her eyes carrying some mischief: “This must be what they call spiritual connection.”

He knew there wouldn’t be any proper answer.

Annoyed, he turned his back: “Deal.”

The candle flame extinguished and the room quieted.

Ruyi looked at the lightning reflected on the window frame, still sweating in her palms. But perhaps because there was another person in the room, she wasn’t as terrified as before. Closing her ears and eyes, she entered dreamland before long.

In her dream the world was chaotic, with someone standing on a distant cliff, black robes like wind, suddenly flying over to wrap around her throat.

“Do you want to leave?” His cold voice was like a blade, cutting to the bone with each word.

“Really.”

She still answered carelessly, the corner of her eyes flying upward, showing no mercy.