Passing through the narrow path, Yang Shi’s steps faltered.

She had expected to see a tightly guarded courtyard, sentinels standing in rows — yet what met her eyes in the moonlight was the Half-Moon Lake Pavilion: a clear stream, a low fence, an earthen wall. It was as peaceful and serene as a country farmstead.

“Yiniang, please follow me this way!” The one leading her was a young manservant of eighteen or nineteen, tall and slender. In the darkness of night, a pair of eyes gleamed with sharp brightness, carrying a trace of keen intelligence.

Yang Shi quickly composed her mind and followed the manservant noiselessly.

The wind passed, and the leaves swayed in a rustling dance. Among the trees, it seemed as though countless shadows floated and shifted.

She fixed her eyes on the ground before her — eyes on her nose, nose pointed at her heart — and followed the manservant into the main hall of the farmstead.

The main hall was utterly still. The long table, the curtained canopy, the flower stands stood silently in the darkness. Only on the square table, a gourd-shaped sheep-horn palace lantern had been lit, gleaming like a little moon, casting out a gentle ring of soft radiance.

Xu Lingyi sat in the armchair beside the sheep-horn palace lantern. The pure light fell on his face, lending a gentle softness to his already striking features.

Yang Shi felt a measure of relief and quietly knelt on the floor.

“I, Yang Shi, pay my respects to the Marquis!”

A coolness crept upward through her knees, yet the surface did not press into them.

The floor here must be laid with water-polished blue-gray bricks.

She suddenly recalled the first time she had seen the Marquis of Jianning — that, too, had been an evening like this, kneeling on water-polished blue-gray bricks. At that time the family was poor and she had only trousers under her skirt, shivering with cold, yet feeling no chill at all — only the excitement and trepidation of one who glimpses the gate to a better life. Now, though she wore embroidered plum-blossom knee-warmers beneath, her heart felt hollow and untethered…

“Rise and speak.” Xu Lingyi’s voice was even, with a trace of warmth in it.

Yang Shi’s heart settled somewhat.

She did not obediently rise to her feet. Instead, she continued to kneel, her bowed head lowering still further.

“I, your concubine, dare not.” She stilled her breath and steadied herself, trying her best to keep her voice clear and composed. “I have come in so brazen and shameless a manner — it is truly an act born of helplessness and despair…” A slight tremor crept into her words.

Fangxi carried a lantern and tiptoed along ahead, glancing back now and then at Shiyiniang.

Shiyiniang moved with a lightness and ease of step, carrying herself with a quiet, unhurried grace — like a willow branch in a gentle spring breeze.

Fangxi had worked her way up from the rank of small maid, and no task showed her skill better than holding a lantern. Whenever she lit the way for the Mistress, she need only slow her pace by the slightest half-beat to walk with a confident, upright bearing ahead.

But tonight…

Whether she slowed down or quickened her step, whether she was too close or too far behind, it never seemed quite right — somehow always off.

Fangxi was growing anxious, and when she turned again, her eyes went to Zhuxiang.

Zhuxiang saw her looking and gave a slight shake of her head.

From the moment they left the door, the Mistress’s step, though as fluid as moving clouds and flowing water, had faltered at the Fangxi Pavilion and gradually slowed. By the time they reached the main walkway, it had returned to its usual composed pace… and now, looking up ahead, she could already see the Chunyan Pavilion, and the Mistress’s steps were slowing again.

Zhuxiang thought it over, then said softly: “Mistress, if you are tired from walking, shall we rest at the Chunyan Pavilion for a while?”

It was not a trip through the garden — they had brought neither cushioned mats nor duster-whisks. And the Chunyan Pavilion was built on a small hillock, not tall, but with a long path leading up to it. If the Mistress was tired, why not rest on one of the stone benches along the main walkway, rather than going out of the way to climb up to Chunyan Pavilion?

Fangxi could not help but stop and turn around, the smile already forming at the corners of her mouth, her lips just parting, ready to suggest — but in the next moment she heard Shiyiniang’s voice, soft and somewhat hesitant: “All right — let us just sit a while at the Chunyan Pavilion.”

In the darkness, Zhuxiang’s expression eased.

Yang Yiniang was the Marquis’s concubine, and if she had something urgent to bring before him, it was naturally for the Marquis to say whether or not he would see her. The Mistress rushing over like this was anything but the bearing and magnanimity of a first wife. Even if Yang Shi had her way in the end, it would amount to nothing more than an ill-timed moment. And if she truly had some pressing business with the Marquis, the Mistress charging in would only make the whole household laugh at her, and all her years of being virtuous and gentle would ring hollow. Not to mention — who knew what she would witness?

But this was not something Zhuxiang could say aloud.

It was not her place to speak of it — and in any case, it was none of her business. For a moment the heart is caught off guard, and even a clear-headed person can act in haste. Shiyiniang was a sensible woman; she had simply been caught off guard in that instant.

Playing for time, letting the Mistress think it through herself.

Once she had thought it through, she would know what to do!

Zhuxiang smiled and called out ‘Fangxi,’ signaling her to lead the way ahead, and took Shiyiniang’s arm to guide her toward the Chunyan Pavilion.

“…From the moment I entered the Xu household, I have observed every propriety — I have never once transgressed. In this life and in death, I belong to the Xu household.” Yang Shi raised her head. In the lamplight, the beads of moisture at the corners of her eyes shone like dew. “I know full well that at this moment I ought to keep silent and ask nothing. Yet to be a child and know that one’s parents are suffering, and to simply sit by — how is that possible? Marquis…” She was kneeling and shuffling herself forward, until her knees came to rest just a single step from Xu Lingyi’s feet. “I have no virtue and no ability, and I would never presume to ask for the Marquis’s favor. I only beg the Marquis to take pity on me, alone and with no one to turn to — as one who walks down a road and, coming upon a beggar, tosses them a copper coin so that beggar may live another day — grant me one word of guidance, to help me through this calamity of a broken family and a ruined home…” Saying this, she bowed her head, and tears fell onto Xu Lingyi’s knee. “Marquis, Marquis… I am terrified and lost — aside from the Marquis, there is no one I can beg…”

From the Chunyan Pavilion, looking northward, one could see the shimmering waters of the Half-Moon Lake Pavilion, the miniature-scale farmhouse, and the faint dot of lantern light within the main hall.

The second-month night wind still carried a chill against the skin.

She knew perfectly well that Xu Lingyi would do nothing rash at a time like this. She knew she ought to smile it off as she had always done in the past. And yet she could not contain the restlessness in her heart — why had she ended up here at the Chunyan Pavilion, not thinking of anything at all?

Shiyiniang crossed her arms over her chest and stood there in silence, watching the Half-Moon Lake Pavilion without a word.

There were questions she could no longer afford to leave unanswered.

Hold firm, or yield… a choice had to be made!

At the thought of it, a dull ache began to press in her heart.

Perhaps, had Xu Lingyi not met herself, his life would have been simpler.

Amid the soft sobbing, the lamp wick gave a faint, quiet pop.

Xu Lingyi sat there without moving a muscle.

He said quietly: “I have heard that your Yang Family is a landed household in your village. So why, when your father has been humiliated, is there no one in the family to stand up for him?”

Yang Shi’s heart gave a startled jolt.

In Xu Lingyi’s words there was clearly a rebuke — that her father’s conduct was lacking, and so his own kin had turned against him.

She dared not hesitate, and said in a quiet voice: “Children do not speak of their parents’ faults. I, too, feel great unease in my heart.” Even as she said it, her eyes darted a swift, glancing look at Xu Lingyi.

No evasion, no denial — only the quiet acknowledgment of her own helplessness.

Quite clever indeed!

The corner of Xu Lingyi’s mouth curved slightly, as though with a faint trace of a smile.

After several tests and probings, she had finally found the way.

Yang Shi’s eyes lit up. She began, in some part, to understand why Shiyiniang was the one who had won Xu Lingyi’s affection.

“Marquis!” She took her cue from Shiyiniang and tried to keep her voice as composed and measured as she could. “I know this request is without grounds to stand on. I only dare ask the Marquis to help me past this one calamity. From this day forward, I will see to it personally that my family keeps the peace with their neighbors and looks after the poor and the weak… I will never allow the name of Yongping Marquis’s household to be used for any act of bullying or oppression…” Her voice began to trail off before she had finished the sentence.

The faint trace of a smile at the corner of Xu Lingyi’s mouth had become a deep, unmistakable scorn and contempt.

Where had she gone wrong?

All the blood in her body seemed to rush to her head, and beads of sweat broke out at the tip of her nose.

Her mind raced wildly, yet she dared not let the words cease — afraid that if silence fell, there would be no way back.

“I will make things plain to my father. After what he has been through, he will surely have come to understand how cold the world can be, and will think more carefully before he acts…”

Xu Lingyi was a man who had crawled out from a field of the dead. He had respect for all those who fought hard simply to survive. Watching her perform her act before him again and again — going through all these motions — was somewhat ridiculous, yet it also had a ring of genuine character to it.

He had been thinking he would simply let it go and spare her further embarrassment.

Yet he had not expected that in the moment of her father’s imprisonment, her first thought was not how to save her family — but how to use this weakness as a means of advancing her own position.

He looked down at the two hands that had been placed on his knee.

Yang Shi felt as though a burning coal had dropped onto her hands.

She understood at once.

If she had truly been worried about her family, how could she have resorted to such a storm of tactics?

Both hands drew back instinctively, and she was filled with bitter regret.

“Marquis…” Her eyes became somewhat frantic, and her voice had lost all of its earlier fluency. “You have a generous heart and a broad tolerance… My father, once he hears of it, will surely feel deeply grateful for your kindness…”

Someone slipped inside without a sound.

She dared not turn to look, but from the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of a pair of black silk shoes embroidered with auspicious characters, coming to a stop beside her knee.

The newcomer paid no attention to the fact that she was still speaking. With a respectful call of ‘Marquis,’ he bent close and began speaking in a low voice into Xu Lingyi’s ear.

Yang Shi breathed a quiet breath of relief.

It was fortunate someone had come — for she truly did not know how she would have gone on.

In a flash, she stole a glance at the newcomer.

It was the manservant who had led her in.

Though close in proximity, she could not make out what they were saying, but she had the dim impression that the three words ‘Chunyan Pavilion’ had been spoken.

She saw the expression in Xu Lingyi’s eyes immediately soften, like the sheep-horn palace lantern on the table beside him.

“Understood,” he said quietly. “Keep an eye on things out there — it is dark, and the path is slippery. Mind their footing. If they should come in, do not bar their way.” His tone was level, yet carried within it a trace of a lightness that was barely perceptible.

* * *

Fangxi and Zhuxiang stood in silence at Shiyiniang’s side. As time stretched on, they both began to feel the cold creeping into their hands and feet. They could not help but shift quietly from foot to foot.

As though she felt their movement, Shiyiniang let out a long, quiet breath and suddenly turned: “Let us go back.”

“Go back!” Fangxi stared at Shiyiniang in surprise.

Were they truly to leave Yang Shi there at the Half-Moon Lake Pavilion just like that?

If the other yiniangss heard of this and followed suit, what would they do?

But Zhuxiang was here — if she needed to say something, it was not Fangxi’s place to be the one to speak up.

She quickly shot a glance at Zhuxiang.

But Zhuxiang only smiled and took Shiyiniang’s arm: “Mistress, the night dew is heavy — mind your step.” And with that, not another word.

Fangxi had no choice but to purse her lips, take a step forward, and walk ahead to light the way down the stone steps.

The manservant withdrew, and the room returned to its earlier quiet.

Yang Shi knelt before Xu Lingyi, both hands laid on her knees, her spine held straight and upright. She appeared composed and dignified.