On a summer afternoon, cicadas chirped incessantly. The Wei Mansion had little vegetation, and the stone slabs reflected the blazing sunlight, adding to the oppressive heat. The doors and windows of the rooms were open, with bamboo blinds half-drawn, offering a cooler refuge compared to the outside. Ming Shu sat by the window, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan while waiting for Lu Chang to emerge. The cicadas’ chorus induced drowsiness, and having barely slept the previous night, she found herself drifting off.
When Lu Chang came out, he saw Ming Shu’s head bobbing up and down, her palm-leaf fan moving intermittently without conscious effort. The meal had already been laid out—no elaborate dishes, just light fare like porridge and simple side dishes. As the mealtime passed, Lu Chang helped himself to some porridge and casually ate some pastries, careful not to disturb Ming Shu.
After a brief nap, Ming Shu’s head suddenly dropped, nearly hitting the window frame, startling her awake. When she rubbed her eyes and looked up, Lu Chang had finished eating and was quietly clearing the dishes.
“Let me, let me,” Ming Shu hurried over to help. How could they let an injured person do such work?
Lu Chang didn’t stop, but neither did he prevent Ming Shu from helping, and together they packed the dishes into the food box. This was Lu Chang’s habit from his youth when his family was poor. Living alone with Madam Zeng, he learned to take care of household chores at a young age to reduce her burden. He would always clean up immediately after meals, sparing Madam Zeng the trouble. Even now, with his household and servants at Wei Mansion, his habit remained unchanged.
Ming Shu was different. She grew up as a pampered young lady who never had to lift a finger, living a life of luxury where everything was done for her. But now she had adopted Lu Chang’s habits. Despite Lu Chang’s secret efforts to treat her well, her lifestyle had imperceptibly changed.
The change wasn’t necessarily bad, though it carried a touch of melancholy.
After clearing the dishes, Ming Shu returned the food box to the servants outside, who expressed several words of gratitude before leaving. When she turned back, she saw Lu Chang standing by the window, staring at her lost in thought.
“What are you daydreaming about?” Ming Shu asked, walking to the washstand and pulling down a dry towel. “Sit down, let me help dry your hair.”
Lu Chang had just bathed, emanating the pleasant fragrance of bath powder. He wore only a thin, moon-white robe over his undergarments. Perhaps due to his shoulder injury, the robe wasn’t tied tightly, leaving his collar loose and his collarbones visible. His wet hair hung uncombed over his shoulders and back, giving him an unusually relaxed appearance, quite different from his usual proper demeanor.
Every bit of the beautiful invalid.
He didn’t refuse Ming Shu’s kindness, sitting by the window and allowing her to tend to him. Ming Shu gathered all his hair, wrapped it in a clean towel, and pressed down firmly from top to bottom to absorb the water. She then slowly wrung it out, spread the towel, and covered his head, massaging gently.
“Elder Brother’s hair is truly beautiful,” she remarked while drying it. It was better than a woman’s hair—thick, black, and silky, like a handful of fine silk.
Lu Chang frowned. “Why are you calling me Elder Brother again?”
“It just comes naturally—it’s not easy to change,” Ming Shu replied. “Besides… you make such a good elder brother, I’d hate to lose one for no reason.”
“…” Lu Chang was extremely reluctant to hear the term “Elder Brother” again. “Even if you don’t consider me your elder brother, I would still treat you the same. What’s there to lose or keep?”
“The difference is vast. If you weren’t my elder brother, how could I help dry your hair?” Ming Shu tossed the wet towel into his lap and pulled out her small jade comb from her purse.
“Why couldn’t you?” Lu Chang asked.
“Well… besides family members, I would only comb hair for my husband. Right now, I’m just taking advantage of having you as my elder brother, understand?” Ming Shu used her comb to slowly brush Lu Chang’s hair from top to bottom.
Lu Chang’s expression froze slightly.
Ming Shu’s words carried deeper meaning. She was responding to what he had confessed to Song Qingzhao that night.
Ming Shu had heard it and couldn’t pretend otherwise. She knew Lu Chang had done much for her and was aware of her stirrings of emotion toward him. But with her memories still missing and knowing nothing of the past, she remained in a fog. Even though her dreams had cleared, her feelings remained confused.
In such circumstances, it wasn’t appropriate for her to confirm any relationship beyond that of “family.”
Elder Brother—let him remain Elder Brother for now.
“I understand,” Lu Chang didn’t argue with her, then asked, “Don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”
“That depends on what you want to tell me.” Ming Shu continued slowly combing his hair.
Lu Chang fell silent, gazing out the window. Ming Shu quietly waited, her hand still gently running the comb through his long hair.
After a long while, Lu Chang seemed to make a difficult decision and spoke: “I’m helping the Third Prince investigate a robbery case in Jiangning.”
Ming Shu would eventually need to know what had happened to her family. Perhaps it would be better to let her accept it gradually rather than suddenly learning the whole truth a month later?
Lu Chang thought her pain might not lessen, but the shock might be smaller.
Hearing the word “robbery,” Ming Shu’s heart skipped a beat, feeling a slight pain.
“The local officials have concluded the case, but there are still suspicious points, so His Highness ordered me to investigate secretly. My men in Jiangning recently caught a key witness and were escorting them to the capital, but they were ambushed outside the city, and I was also attacked here in the capital.” Lu Chang spoke while watching Ming Shu’s expression carefully.
If she showed any signs of distress, he would stop immediately.
But Ming Shu grabbed his hair and pushed his face forward: “I’m combing your hair, don’t turn around.”
The hair was only half-dry; it needed to be eighty percent dry to prevent headaches.
“The two men who ambushed me have been captured by Uncle Wei. This morning, I went to interrogate them. According to their confession, they were acting on orders from Gao Shicai, the Deputy Magistrate of Jiangning, to assassinate two key witnesses. One is the person I was having escorted to the capital.”
“Two key witnesses? So the other one… is it you or me?”
Besides Lu Chang, she had also been attacked yesterday, so who was the second important witness?
Hearing her calm tone, Lu Chang paused before continuing: “They tried to kill me because I’m the main investigator of this case. After failing to assassinate that witness, they turned their attention to me. As for the other important witness…”
“It’s me, isn’t it?” Ming Shu said.
The combing stopped, and Lu Chang turned around to see Ming Shu staring at the ground, holding the comb.
“Before I was injured, did I know something important? Is that why they kept trying to kill me? But what did I see, what did I hear? Why can’t I remember anything… Was it very important?”
She mumbled, growing increasingly agitated. The jade comb fell with a clang, breaking in half.
Lu Chang quickly stood up, grabbing her arms: “Ming Shu, calm down.”
Ming Shu couldn’t control her urge to remember. The familiar sharp pain returned, but this time she didn’t give up trying to remember despite the agony, instead pushing harder to recall.
“What I saw and heard—was it very important? Elder Brother, I want to remember… I want to…” The long-standing anxiety about her missing memories overwhelmed her as she tried to remember through the intense headache.
She wanted to recover her lost life.
However, the more she tried, the worse the pain became, like a life-or-death tug of war.
Lu Chang watched as she clutched her head, her eyes reddening, her face contorted in pain… This was exactly what he had feared most.
He had only revealed a few details, yet she was already suffering terribly. How would she bear it when he told her everything a month later?
“It hurts so much, Elder Brother, my head hurts so much!” The hurricane of pain was unbearable for Ming Shu. She swayed, barely able to stand, breaking out in a cold sweat.
“Ming Shu, stop trying to remember.” Lu Chang no longer hesitated, pulling her into his embrace with one arm while painfully raising his injured arm to gently cover her forehead. “Even if you can’t remember, I can still investigate the case. Don’t force yourself. Ming Shu, be good.”
Whether it was the warmth of his palm or the gentleness of his soft voice, her pain gradually subsided. She leaned against his chest, breathless and unable to speak, but still wanting to recover her memories.
Rather than learning the truth from others, she would much prefer to remember on her own.
It was rare for Lu Chang to be willing to mention things related to her past, but due to her weakness, he was forced to stop and refused to speak of it again.
Knowing he was worried about triggering her soul-leaving condition, Ming Shu only blamed herself for being so useless.
Wei Zhuo had allocated a separate courtyard in the Wei Mansion for the three members of the Lu family to stay temporarily. Besides the regular mansion guards, he had assigned an additional squad to patrol outside the courtyard day and night, keeping it completely secure.
Lu Chang stayed home to recover from his arrow wound and didn’t go to the office, though he still had to handle official business, which Ying Xun brought from the office. Madam Zeng also stayed in the courtyard to recover, rarely leaving her room, occasionally doing some quiet embroidery in the courtyard, and no one came to disturb her.
Three days passed like this.
Ming Shu was worried.
Lu Chang, fearing danger, wouldn’t let her go out. But Man Tang Hui was still open, business needed to be conducted, some customers’ ordered gold items had reached their delivery dates, and she had promised to bring new designs to several ladies’ mansions for their review… Now everything was stuck because of this situation.
She was anxious to go out.
Meanwhile, Ying Xun came as usual at sunset to collect the documents Lu Chang had reviewed.
“A human trafficking case from seventeen years ago? Why does she want to investigate it?” After handling all the documents and giving instructions, Lu Chang finally asked about one matter.
Ying Xun saw him pressing his hand on the inquiry document he had submitted.
It was an old case Ming Shu had asked him to look into.
“A lady surnamed Liu asked Madam Lu to investigate her background, involving a trafficking case from seventeen years ago. She suspects Lady Liu might be one of the trafficked children, so she wants to review the old case…” Ying Xun relayed Ming Shu’s words to Lu Chang.
“Why didn’t she come to me directly?” Lu Chang frowned—why did she need to involve an outsider?
“Perhaps… she’s disagreeing with you, Sir.” Ying Xun raised an eyebrow—how would he know about their sibling matters?
Lu Chang didn’t ask further, only mentally calculating the timing—it must have happened when she had just learned she wasn’t his blood sister.
“Then pull out the case files and take a look.” Lu Chang said while writing his approval on Ying Xun’s document.
Very well, it was just an ordinary case of investigating someone’s background, likely without risk. Let her investigate; it would also keep her from overthinking about recent events.
Though thinking this way, Lu Chang still instructed: “She can investigate, but keep an eye on her.”
Ying Xun accepted the document with a bow, only realizing after leaving the room:
Ming Shu’s request was a personal matter; Lu Chang’s word made it an official matter.
So was it official or personal?
Just as Lu Chang finished handling official business and was massaging his temples for a break, Wei Zhuo’s trusted aide came to summon him.
The Imperial Guards had searched the entire city and finally, at noon today, captured the bandits’ leader, Wu Si.