The moment Lu Jingheng’s figure appeared at the entrance of the police station, the Lu family’s servants swarmed forward: “Young master, you’ve suffered these past few days.”

Lu Jingheng shrugged off the coat a servant had draped over his shoulders and strode toward the car, his face dark as thunder.

It was simply an unwarranted disaster — taking the blame for Chen Jinsheng for no reason at all, and on top of that, forced to spend an entire night at the police station just to have his testimony verified. The more he thought about it, the more furious he became — venting his anger, he half wished he could smash his newly acquired car right then and there.

He’d never been one to accept being wronged. The first person he meant to settle scores with was Bai Haili — this man, who usually addressed his father as a sworn brother, had turned on him faster than flipping a book. It was just that this man had now found himself the right patron, making him difficult to move against for the time being. But now that the grudge had been planted, given enough time, an opportunity would surely present itself.

He braced both hands on the car frame, his face dark as he carefully recalled the events of the previous night. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned to see one of Bai Haili’s lackey-like officers walking straight up behind him.

This man addressed him with great respect: “You’ve been wronged these past two days, young master Lu. Our commissioner will personally come to your door tonight to apologize.”

“Come apologize in person?” Lu Jingheng sneered repeatedly. “Commissioner Bai is far too exalted a personage — please, don’t even mention apologizing. We common folk couldn’t possibly deserve such an honor.”

The officer smiled. “Young master Lu suffered such an unjust wrong, it’s only natural to be this furious. The Commissioner also knows this whole affair was handled poorly — it’s not that he means to defend himself, it’s just that, to be honest, there was a bit of a misunderstanding the other night. If someone hadn’t insisted, with seemingly solid evidence, that young master Lu’s villa and car were suspicious, the Commissioner, in his eagerness to solve the case and rescue the victims, wouldn’t have been misled.”

Lu Jingheng had no intention of listening to this nonsense to begin with, but his thoughts snagged on something — he suddenly recalled that the other night, outside the Lu residence, Chen Jinsheng had warned him that there was a car following behind them. If he hadn’t been mistaken, that had been He Yunqin’s car without a doubt.

Could it be that his arrest that night had something to do with He Yunqin?

The officer, determined to pin the whole affair on Yu Chongyi, simply spelled it out plainly: “The officer handling this case, Officer Yu, is careless in his work and always prone to jumping to conclusions based on partial information. Because bloodstained clothing was found at the villa, he became convinced young master Lu was the murderer, and insisted — citing the urgency of saving the victims — that Commissioner Bai have young master Lu arrested. The Commissioner, eager to save lives, was unwittingly led astray by Officer Yu. Tracing the matter back to its root, it truly can’t be blamed on the Commissioner — the fault lies entirely in Officer Yu’s rash judgment.”

Lu Jingheng would never have taken a lowly officer seriously to begin with. His thoughts remained fixed on what had happened that night — he and He Yunqin had been at odds for quite some time now. Three months ago, when He Yunqin had gotten caught up in a scandal with Duan Mingyi, He Yunqin had been convinced that he was the one who’d spread the rumor, and had nearly had him beaten to death over it.

What infuriated him even more was that, even though he knew for certain He Yunqin was behind it, he had no way to openly confront He Yunqin about it for lack of evidence.

Unable to swallow this humiliation, he’d made a huge scene from his hospital bed, forcing his own father to go to the He family to demand an apology on his behalf.

But the old man had only said that He Yunqin had always been a man of propriety, and would never do such a thing — the fault lay with Lu Jingheng himself, always carousing about outside and offending no small number of people; who was to say whose hands he’d fallen into this time.

His father had also said that, as his father, he’d long wanted to teach this good-for-nothing son a lesson himself, and since someone else had already done it for him, he needn’t bother lifting a finger.

Not only did his father refuse to go to the He family, he’d scolded him thoroughly at his own bedside instead.

Lu Jingheng knew perfectly well the real reason his father refused to go was that his father had several important business dealings tied up with the He family, and didn’t want to burn that bridge with He Mengmei — so he’d simply fobbed him off with high-minded lectures instead.

Months had passed since then, and every time he thought of it, it still infuriated him. Now, learning that He Yunqin was still convinced he was behind the scandal and kept coming after him even now—

Before being tipped off by Chen Jinsheng the previous night, he hadn’t even known how long He Yunqin had been tailing his family’s car. Thinking it over now, he was certain his being wrongly framed as the murderer had everything to do with He Yunqin stirring the pot behind the scenes.

Old grudge piled onto new — it felt as though he’d swallowed a fistful of chili peppers, burning a fiery trail from his throat straight down into his chest. He had no more patience left to listen to the officer prattling on beside him. He got in the car and slammed the door shut hard, loosening his collar, and said to his usual right-hand man sitting up front: “To St. John’s!”

The man startled. “Young master, what business do we have at St. John’s?”

“To make trouble for He Yunqin!” Lu Jingheng said venomously. “This man’s fate is just naturally at odds with mine — back in school he never got along with me, and now that he’s back from abroad, even though he’s the one carrying on improperly with Duan Mingyi, somehow it’s me who gets blamed for it. To vent his own private grudge, even though that newspaper business happened months ago, he still managed to engineer things so I’d spend a night in jail. If I don’t settle this score, what kind of coward would that make me? How could I still show my face around the Shanghai Bund after this?”

The servant said, troubled: “Young master, you know full well old master He dotes on this younger son of his. If you really go to St. John’s to make trouble for He Yunqin, and it comes to blows, what if it ends up affecting the dock business? If the old master hears about it, he’s sure to invoke the family disciplinary rules.”

“Even if the old man beats me to death, I don’t care anymore.”

The servant blinked slowly. “Young master, you’re seven feet tall and fear nothing, certainly not family discipline. But what if the old master, in his fury, cuts off your allowance instead?”

Lu Jingheng faltered. He was famous throughout the city as an extravagant young master, always spending without restraint — sometimes, on a whim, he’d throw away tens of thousands of silver dollars on a woman without batting an eye. If his family cut off his allowance, what capital would he have left to go carousing outside?

Seeing he’d struck Lu Jingheng’s weak point, the servant pressed his advantage: “Young master, if you want to make trouble for He Yunqin, there are plenty of ways to do it without bloodshed. Why go and stir up a citywide scandal and drag yourself down with it?”

Lu Jingheng’s eyes narrowed. “What idea do you have?”

The servant smiled. “Isn’t it said that He Yunqin is carrying on improperly with his own sister-in-law? A few months back when that news broke, the He family spent no small effort suppressing it — publicly claiming the brothers’ relationship was entirely unaffected, that it was all just a misunderstanding. But the two of them are only related by a stepmother, after all — who’s to say what’s really going on between them. Since young master, you’ve been unfairly saddled with this reputation anyway, why not take the opportunity, at Mrs. He’s birthday banquet in a few days, to ruin He Yunqin’s reputation all over again?”

Lu Jingheng considered this. “You mean, set He Yunqin up with a woman?”

The servant said: “This one is on decent terms with several of the He family’s servants. With so many people at the banquet, as long as preparations are made in advance, setting up He Yunqin and his sister-in-law would be no trouble at all.”

Lu Jingheng hesitated. “Just find any random wife of some wealthy family, does it really have to be Duan Mingyi specifically?”

The servant shook his head. “The whole Shanghai Bund already believes He Yunqin and his sister-in-law are having an affair. If we set him up with some other woman instead, first, no one would believe it, and second, it would just add another scandal to He Yunqin’s name — he’s not even married yet, so what does it matter to him how many women are involved? Only by confirming, again and again, that he’s carrying on with his own sister-in-law can we truly drive a wedge between He Yunqin and his elder brother. The He family’s fortune is massive, and dividing it up was never going to be entirely fair to begin with — if we can get He Yunqin’s elder brother to thoroughly hate this younger brother of his, we won’t even need to lift a finger ourselves — others will deal with He Yunqin for us from then on.”

Lu Jingheng frowned. “But that way, Duan Mingyi’s reputation would be ruined too.”

The servant pressed on: “This eldest young mistress never gave young master a good look even before she married in, and after marrying, she’s never so much as glanced your way properly. Unrequited feelings on your part — young master, you have great things ahead of you, why waste any more thought on a woman like this? Just think about it — what’s a little physical suffering compared to making sure He Yunqin suffers endlessly from here on out? That’s what would really satisfy you.”

Lu Jingheng said darkly: “This matter still needs careful planning. He Yunqin is cunning and sharp — it won’t be easy to set him up. Whatever we do, we mustn’t fail and end up getting set up by him instead.”

Hongdou came back from school, had Auntie Zhou prepare hot water, and took a good bath in the washroom.

She came out, opened her wardrobe in her bedroom, pulled out all her seasonal clothes, and patiently tried them on one by one in front of the mirror.

Downstairs, Mrs. Yu was on the phone with the Pan residence when, on the stairs, she ran into her daughter’s classmates Gu Yun and Mei Lizhen. Knowing they’d come to invite her daughter to the birthday banquet together, she smiled and said: “Hongdou’s still bathing. Don’t wait downstairs — come sit inside.”

The two girls followed her upstairs.

Mrs. Yu pushed open the door to the living room, and seeing her daughter’s bedroom door shut, curiously pushed it open to look, only to find her daughter wearing nothing but a thin white slip, bent over in front of the bed picking out clothes.

She kept complaining that this outfit didn’t flatter her skin tone enough, or that dress wasn’t fashionable enough. After trying on quite a few outfits in a row, none of them satisfied her.

Something stirred in Mrs. Yu’s mind. She walked over to the bed, casually picked out a pink Western-style dress, and held it up against her daughter. “What about this one?”

“No good.” Her daughter shook her head sure enough. “The waist is too loose.” She demonstrated as she spoke.

Mrs. Yu grew even more puzzled. Her daughter had never been picky about clothes before — she’d always worn whatever was given to her, even when going out with classmates, simply grabbing whatever was clean and presentable.

“Gu Yun and the others are already here.” She took down a finished qipao from the wardrobe. “Don’t dawdle too long. You haven’t worn this qipao even once since it was made — it’ll be perfect to wear to the banquet tonight.”

Hongdou turned to look at the qipao — pale moonlight-colored georgette fabric, with large clusters of soft pink jade hairpin flowers, the petals seeming to flutter softly across the fabric, giving it a rippling, gentle quality.

This was the one her mother had taken her to Dingxiang to have made for her birthday last year. The fabric alone had cost an outrageous sum — a single qipao worth a whole month’s household expenses.

The garment wasn’t cut loosely, and since she’d grown a bit more this year, it fit even more snugly now. She’d tried it on several times at home, but had always felt too shy to wear it out.

After much deliberation, she couldn’t think of anything more presentable to wear, so she finally put it on. Looking at herself in the mirror from every angle, she felt her chest looked too full, her hips too curved, and the slit of the qipao was cut a touch too high — every movement revealing a flash of snow-white leg. No matter how she looked at it, she felt uncomfortable.

Mrs. Yu’s gaze swept over her daughter’s raven-black hair and snow-white neck, and seeing her daughter about to change her mind again, quickly stopped her: “What’s gotten into you tonight, child? Taking it off again for what? No more changing. All this back and forth — are you even still going or not?”

Even Hongdou herself found it strange — she’d spent a good half hour trying to find a presentable outfit. Worried Gu Yun and the others were waiting too long, she had no choice but to abandon the idea of changing again.

Once dressed in the qipao, she picked up a comb and combed her hair neat and tidy, looking herself over in the mirror from every angle, before finally saying with satisfaction to Mrs. Yu: “Mom, I’m off.”

Mrs. Yu, unable to suppress her curiosity, followed behind her and said: “Have your brother come pick you up tonight.”

Hongdou agreed, and went out. Gu Yun and Mei Lizhen’s eyes lit up at the sight of her, and they both stood up at once, saying: “Hongdou, you look so beautiful tonight.”

The three of them hailed a car together and headed to the He residence. As soon as they got out of the car, servants from the He family came to lead them inside.

Hongdou handed the invitation to the servant, and the three of them followed him up the steps. All around, elegantly dressed guests filled the grand entrance hall, arriving for the banquet. As they walked a stretch along the spacious corridor, they saw neither He Zhuyun nor He Yunqin, and couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. They walked on a bit further, and Hongdou, feigning nonchalance, glanced down to check that her qipao was still smooth and unwrinkled, not having creased from the car ride — this put her mind somewhat at ease. Just then, she heard someone calling from behind: “Senior Yu, Senior Gu, Senior Mei!”

He Zhuyun walked up with a smile. “I was just about to go find my second brother — I didn’t expect you all to be here. It’s too crowded here, let’s go to the small parlor to talk.”