She had turned back — so she had turned back. But why had she stood at the Spring Blossom Pavilion for so long?

Xu Lingyi looked at Eleventh’s air of breezy unconcern and laughed to himself.

She still did not know her own nature — the more tightly she held something to heart, the more she had to pretend indifference.

He was interested in the first half of what she had said.

“Why did you think to come see me?” The gaze he turned on her held a trace of warm amusement. “I have Linbo to look after me, and there are the rough-work matrons as well. I’ve stayed at Half-Moon Pond for a month at a stretch before, with changes of clothes and all necessities fully provided for. There’s no need for you to worry so much that you run over in the middle of the night — only to end up making me worry that you might have slipped along the way.” As he spoke, he even glanced at the embroidered shoes on Eleventh’s feet, with their red satin and magnolia blossom pattern.

Eleventh’s feet instinctively drew back.

Her original thinking had been that the weight of her words would fall on “turned back halfway” — which would then make Yang Yiniang’s presence at Half-Moon Pond a subject naturally worth discussing. She had already prepared her response. If he asked, she intended to say: Half-Moon Pond is the Marquis’s study, and with the Yang Family having been ransacked, Yang Yiniang seeking a late-night audience must mean an urgent matter of some importance. As an inner-quarters woman, I naturally ought to keep my distance.

He might even tell her everything Yang Yiniang had said at Half-Moon Pond upon hearing that.

But he had not raised the subject at all — instead he had fixed on the first half of what she’d said, and his tone was as though she had been unable to help herself and had gone sneaking off to a private rendezvous with him.

Eleventh felt a surge of vexation. If she didn’t answer, it would seem as though she was confirming his implication; but if she did answer, she couldn’t immediately find a sufficiently plausible reason. In her desperation, her mind was spinning at full speed, yet she only sat more uprightly than before, her smile growing all the warmer, and in an unguarded moment her gaze swept past the jade plate behind Xu Lingyi — where agate-carved cherries rested — and she said off the top of her head: “The Marquis came back at noon to look in on Jin Ge’er and then left again without staying for a meal. The maids had gathered some fragrant spring cedar shoots, and made a spring cedar pastry. Since it was the first picking of the season, tender and fragrant and quite refreshing — I was going to bring some over to add to the Marquis’s morning breakfast.”

Was that so?

Spring cedar shoots had to be gathered early in the morning before sunrise, didn’t they? Although he had not stayed for the noon meal, he had spent quite some time playing with Jin Ge’er — and if she had really made spring cedar pastry, knowing Eleventh’s nature, she would either have had a servant boy bring it over with him then and there, or else had a maid sent over first thing the next morning. She was simply not the sort of person who would go running to Half-Moon Pond after dark for something like that.

A gleam of mischief flashed in the depths of Xu Lingyi’s eyes.

“Has it already come time to eat spring cedar shoots?” he said with a smile. “I’ve been so busy with one thing and another lately that I’d quite forgotten about that.” Then he said, “As long as you’re all right. Have a young maid pack up some of the spring cedar pastry and send it over with Linbo.”

In truth, they had gathered spring cedar shoots that morning — not to make spring cedar pastry, but spring cedar noodles.

“I hadn’t expected the Marquis to come by.” Eleventh smiled. “Just so happened that Nanny Du came on an errand to look in on Jin Ge’er, and seeing them, she found them charming and took them back with her.” She added, “Since the Marquis has a taste for them, I’ll have a young maid go and pick spring cedar shoots first thing tomorrow morning.”

Xu Lingyi made a noncommittal sound and said: “There should still be spring cedar shoots in the house, shouldn’t there?”

A statement, not a question.

Eleventh smiled slightly.

A genuine lie usually has nine and a half truths in every ten words.

Spring cedar shoots had to be gathered before sunrise, when they were most tender. She had already instructed the kitchen to make spring cedar flatbreads for Xu Sizhun and Xu Sijie first thing tomorrow morning — with the sun rising before they could be gathered, the kitchen would certainly have kept some spring cedar shoots in reserve.

She smiled brightly and answered “Yes.”

The gaze watching him shone and sparkled, like a child who had pulled off a successful prank. Xu Lingyi barely managed to hold back his laughter.

“I’ve been busy until just now and still haven’t eaten. Make me a bowl of spring cedar noodles!”

You want to eat — fine, I’ll make them for you.

“Very well!” Eleventh said with a smile as she climbed down from the platform. “How is it that the Marquis still hasn’t eaten at this hour?”

You don’t usually eat late-night snacks, do you? I’ll make a big bowl — and then we’ll see whether you eat it or not.

She smiled sweetly: “Please wait a moment, Marquis — the noodles will be ready shortly!”

But Xu Lingyi followed her to the small kitchen.

“First Shizhen came and talked with me at length, then Wang Li arrived.” He sat at the square table in the outer room of the kitchen, watching Eleventh knead dough. “Everyone was in high spirits talking, and we lost track of time. Everyone had originally planned to stay for the evening meal. But then a servant boy came hurrying over from the Princess’s residence, saying there was an urgent matter and asking Shizhen to return quickly. The meal had just been set out — and then the Wang household’s head steward came looking for Wang Li as well, saying an inner court attendant had come under the Emperor’s orders to ask him a few questions… The dishes had barely reached the table when Yang Yiniang requested an audience. The result is that to this day my stomach is still empty.”

Eleventh listened with a warm smile. The kitchen matron Nanny Wu, who stood nearby attending to things, was inwardly quite at a loss.

She couldn’t quite make out what game the Marquis and the Madam were playing.

Even if the Marquis wanted the Madam to make him a bowl of noodles, a word to the small kitchen would have been enough — why on earth did the Madam need to do it with her own hands?

And the Marquis — if he wanted noodles, he could have just sat and had tea while he waited. Why come to the small kitchen to sit and watch?

She thought of Eleventh’s frail constitution, and then noticed Eleventh’s slender arms with the bracelets removed, how the hand pressing down on the dough left only a shallow print. Her heart quietly grew anxious.

Kneading dough was hard work — if the dough wasn’t properly worked, the noodles would turn into lumps once they went into the pot.

Her eyes stayed fixed on Eleventh without blinking.

Finally, when Eleventh’s sleeve slipped down, giving her the opening she needed, she hurried forward to help Eleventh push the sleeve back up, and took the chance to murmur close to her ear: “I’ve already told the kitchen wife to knead dough outside. In a moment, when I give you a signal with my eyes, you’ll roll out the noodles and go in to the stove room to boil them!”

Eleventh continued kneading without any change in expression, chatting lightly with Xu Lingyi: “The people say: food is the people’s heaven. Marquis, if you encounter something like this in the future, please eat your fill first before discussing matters.”

Xu Lingyi, who understood nothing of what had just passed, found only that Eleventh’s movements were gentle and unhurried, conveying a kind of composed, untroubled beauty that he found pleasing to the eye. He leaned back in the armchair to enjoy the sight: “I thought we could finish in a few words, but it went on chattering away for the longest time.”

“What did you all talk about?” Eleventh asked with a smile.

She wanted to know whether Yang Yiniang had succeeded in persuading Xu Lingyi to help.

“Yang Yiniang says she wants to enter the monastic life,” Xu Lingyi said with easy calm. “I have agreed. Tomorrow I will have Steward Bai find a suitable meditation hall. When the time comes, you can have someone help her pack her things. If you feel your energy is low, it’s fine to leave the matter to Wen Shi.”

This news was so sudden.

Nanny Wu, Zhuxiang, and Qiuyu exchanged glances, then fell utterly silent, holding their breath.

The expression on Eleventh’s face also showed a flicker of surprise.

“Why would she suddenly think of entering the monastic life? Is she going to the temple for a period of time to stay, or is it…”

If the former, Yang Yiniang still had the possibility of returning; if the latter, it was tantamount to being expelled from the Xu household.

“She has already decided to enter the monastic life!” In the quiet space, Xu Lingyi’s voice came through not only clearly but with a certain resonance. “She will spend some time at the temple as a lay devotee, and then take the tonsure!”

What exactly had happened between them?

Eleventh’s mood was somewhat complicated. She wanted to ask what had transpired, yet with no fewer than ten people standing about inside and outside this kitchen, she felt that pressing the question further was not quite appropriate. Suppressing the doubt in her heart, she answered softly: “Yes. I will arrange for someone to help Yang Yiniang pack her things tomorrow.”

Xu Lingyi sensed that Eleventh’s mood had turned a little subdued, and felt a twinge of regret for having brought up the topic and dampened the atmosphere. He called out cheerfully: “By the way — when will these noodles be ready?”

* * *

Yang Yiniang was half-carried out of the narrow path by two young servants.

“Concubine, we can only escort you this far.” The servants released their hold, and Yang Yiniang’s legs gave way beneath her. She sank down into the grass at the side. “It grows late. Please return to your room quickly, concubine, lest the patrolling matrons mistake you for someone up to no good and you receive a beating.”

The pain in her foot jolted her back to her senses.

What time was it now? She had not been thinking about how to escape danger — instead she had been drifting about in a daze, as if she had lost her wits.

At that thought, she quickly struggled to her feet.

A searing, bone-deep pain shot from her left ankle.

Could she have twisted it?

Yet the night was dark in every direction, without a single shadow to be seen… If she called out loudly and startled the patrolling matrons, and they asked why she was here…

She pressed her lips together, forcing herself to endure the pain, and limped forward step by step.

* * *

Everyone attending in the room had understood the implication of Xu Lingyi’s words.

“Almost ready now, almost ready,” Nanny Wu said quickly with a smile. “If the Marquis is hungry, there is a stewed black-bone chicken and ginseng soup on the stove. Shall I ladle out a bowl for the Marquis to have something to eat first?”

“No need!” Xu Lingyi sat where he was, perfectly at ease. “I’ll just wait for the Madam’s noodles!”

As he spoke, Nanny Wu noticed the kitchen wife’s head poking out from the stove room.

She understood at once. She caught Eleventh’s eye: “Madam, I think it’s about done — time to roll out the noodles!” And she held out the rolling pin.

Eleventh looked at Xu Lingyi’s expression of eager anticipation and found it rather amusing. The small flicker of displeasure from a moment before dissolved like mist and clouds. She took the rolling pin from Nanny Wu’s hands.

* * *

Nanny Yang, who had been waiting anxiously by the garden gate, saw a lurching, stumbling figure approach and called out in alarm with a hushed voice: “Who’s there?”

“Nanny,” came Yang Yiniang’s slightly feeble voice. “It is I.”

“Concubine!” Nanny Yang was greatly startled. She quickly stepped forward to support her, then, seeing that her clothes were in disarray, her heart grew all the more unsettled. “Concubine, what has happened to you?”

“Nanny, help me quickly to the grove of trees nearby.” Yang Yiniang glanced at the red lantern of the Ripple Pavilion drawing closer and closer. “That must be the patrol matrons. Whatever we have to say, let us go back first.”

Nanny Yang consented and hurried to support Yang Yiniang into the trees nearby.

* * *

“Not bad!” Xu Lingyi set down his chopsticks and accepted the tea that Zhuxiang offered, rinsing his mouth. “The noodles are chewy and firm, and the spring cedar clear and fresh. Make spring cedar noodles again tomorrow!”

Nanny Wu and the others all let out a quiet breath of relief and then exchanged a glance.

Fortunately, Xu Lingyi had not followed them into the stove room, or he would certainly have caught them out.

“There’s barely any left!” Eleventh scolded gently as she placed the large red lacquered tray Qiuyu had offered before him. “I was saving them to make spring cedar noodles for Zhun Ge’er and Jin Ge’er first thing tomorrow morning!”

Unexpectedly, Xu Lingyi ate three large bowls in one go.

“Then they can have theirs the day after tomorrow,” Xu Lingyi said with a smile, rising from his chair. “After eating so much, I need to walk it off.” He took Eleventh’s hand. “Let’s make two rounds of the courtyard!”

* * *

Nanny Yang moved the lamp closer to Yang Yiniang’s foot. The ankle had already swollen high.

“Let me get some cold water to compress it!” Nanny Yang said quickly. “First thing tomorrow, I’ll report it to the Madam and ask her to send for a physician to take a look.”

“No need!” Yang Yiniang grasped Nanny Yang’s sleeve. “Just go and borrow some medicinal oil from Wen Yiniang for me to rub on it.”

In the lamplight, her face carried a somewhat somber cast.