The small parlor was filled with constant laughter and chatter—clearly the guests were not few in number.

He Zhuyun turned back and smiled at them: “My mother and sisters-in-law are inside.”

Hongdou went in and looked—sure enough, several bejeweled, elegantly-dressed matrons sat properly on the sofas.

The one seated in the center was plump and fair-skinned, clearly a woman who had spent years in comfort and luxury. She wore a smoke-grey qipao, her neck adorned with a few pieces of jadeite-and-gold jewelry. What was rare was that despite her air of nobility, she gave off no sense of arrogance—she smiled before she spoke, and her gaze was gentle and warm.

Whether in looks or bearing, this woman bore some resemblance to He Zhuyun. Hongdou guessed privately that this must be Madam He, the guest of honor tonight.

Sure enough, she heard He Zhuyun say with a smile: “This is my mother.”

Then to Madam He: “These are a few of my St. John’s schoolmates—Yu Hongdou, Gu Yun, and Mei Lizhen. They’re a year above me, studying in the Education Department.”

Hongdou and the others handed the gifts they’d brought to the servants, saying in unison: “We wish Auntie boundless happiness and longevity.”

Madam He was amused by the girls’ sweet, crisp voices. She raised her eyes and swept them over the group, her gaze naturally settling on Hongdou.

The reason she had sent out invitations so widely to St. John’s students this time was that she harbored the intention of scouting a girlfriend for her son. Before the banquet even began, she had specially instructed her daughter to be sure to bring every young lady who attended to her for inspection. Tonight she had already looked over quite a few of these girl students, and among them all, this child before her was the most outstanding—not only was she beautiful, but there was a bright, joyful air about her every movement. The moment she’d walked in, she had outshone every other young person in the parlor.

Madam He raised her hand with a smile and pointed, asking her daughter: “This is Miss Yu?”

He Zhuyun pressed her lips together and said, “Yes.”

Madam He then pointed, without any obvious intent, at Gu Yun and Mei Lizhen: “Miss Gu, Miss Mei? Seems my memory isn’t so bad after all—I’ve remembered them all. Miss Yu, you look very familiar. Have we met somewhere before?”

Hongdou was startled—with her own excellent memory, she couldn’t recall ever having met Madam He, so clearly Madam He was mistaken. But since she was an elder, it wouldn’t do to contradict her, so she smiled and said, “It must have been at the gates of St. John’s that I met Auntie.”

He Zhuyun cut in: “Senior Yu is a top student in the Education Department—even Professor Yan, who loves to scold students the most, often praises her.”

Madam He, who was intent on finding someone outstanding for her son, was even more pleased to hear this. She looked around and asked a servant: “Where is Young Master Number Two?”

He Zhuyun said, “I’ve been looking for Second Brother too. He was out front just a moment ago, and then he vanished.”

Hongdou couldn’t help but also look around. He Yunqin was nowhere to be seen—he still hadn’t made an appearance.

Madam He’s brow furrowed slightly. Since her son had returned from abroad, he had been reluctant to date, and had once been embroiled in that scandal with Duan Mingyi. To find him a girlfriend, she had made countless arrangements over the past several months, yet her son simply wouldn’t take it seriously. Now that she’d finally used her birthday banquet as an excuse to invite so many fine young ladies, she had planned for him to mingle on his own—yet here he was, not even coming near the women at all. At this rate, no matter how many more beautiful girl students showed up, tonight’s scheme would still come to nothing.

With this thought, her enthusiasm dimmed somewhat. She glanced toward a corner of the parlor, where Duan Mingyi sat at the piano with elegant poise, playing. Behind her stood a cluster of Shanghai socialites, not too close, not too far, all smiling as they listened to her play.

Madam He watched for a moment, then coolly withdrew her gaze, unable to suppress the doubt in her heart. Her son was behaving so carelessly—could it be that he truly harbored some feelings for this woman?

Over there, her daughter had already pulled Miss Yu and the others to sit down and eat and chat. As Madam He conversed with the other matrons, she couldn’t help but catch snatches of their conversation. Miss Yu’s words were direct yet gentle, clearly a witty and open-minded character. It seemed she was talking about something at school, and the content was quite entertaining—before long, a crowd of young men and women had gathered around, all listening to Miss Yu speak.

Just then, a few young men passed by the doorway, chatting and laughing as they made their way toward the bridge room inside.

Madam He spotted her son at a glance and said to a servant, feigning anger: “Go drag that wretched boy back here for me.”

The other matrons burst into laughter: “Listen to Madam He talk—your Second Young Master must be in his twenties by now, quite dignified they say, and yet from Madam He’s mouth he still sounds like a little boy.”

Madam He said deliberately: “He’s so scatterbrained, there’s not a trace of adult sense in him.”

The servant ran off laughing and said a few words to He Yunqin. He Yunqin turned to look and saw his mother sitting properly on the parlor sofa, glaring at him. He couldn’t help but find it amusing. He had to excuse himself from the friends beside him, and once he arrived, greeted the elders seated near his mother before saying, “Mother, what did you need me for?”

Madam He’s mouth voiced displeasure at her son, but in her heart she wasn’t truly angry: “So busy entertaining out front that you forgot about the guests in the back? I’m going to the garden with Madam Zhuang and the others to play mahjong. There are a dozen or so young people back there, all schoolmates from Zhuyun’s school. Since you’re Zhuyun’s elder brother, you ought to go entertain these young friends properly.”

He Yunqin looked over in that direction and spotted Hongdou at a glance. It was the first time he’d seen her in a qipao, its color like pale moonlight, like a wisp of cloud, setting off her whole figure like a delicate cherry blossom in radiant full bloom.

At that one glance, it felt as though countless beautiful sights had all been delivered before his eyes at once. His gaze lingered a moment, and just as he was about to look away, He Zhuyun was already waving at him from over there: “Second Brother, we’re guessing riddles over here, come help quick.”

He Yunqin had no choice but to go along with it and walked over.

Ever since finding cousin Yuqi again, the two of them hadn’t seen each other for several days. The moment He Yunqin walked in, Hongdou had spotted him, but he showed no sign of coming over on his own, so she simply sat still as well.

He Yunqin greeted everyone in a circle, and only at the end did he look toward her, smiling slightly: “Miss Yu.”

Hongdou smiled faintly: “Mr. He.” She glanced over his attire—nothing but a simple Western-style shirt, yet on him it looked more dashing than on anyone else.

She wouldn’t let herself look at him too long. She picked up a card from the small round table and said with a smile, “I couldn’t figure this riddle out myself—can any of you solve it?”

He Zhuyun said eagerly, “My Second Brother is the best at riddles. As long as he’s here, I’m not afraid of any riddle.”

Hongdou glanced up at He Yunqin: “Is that so?”

He Yunqin looked at her once, originally intending to just stand for a moment and leave, but who would have thought his feet felt nailed to the floor, unable to move.

Just then He Zhuyun said, “Oh right, Second Brother, did you see Chen Baidie out front just now? I heard from the servants that she came too. Wasn’t she just discharged from the hospital? I wonder if she’s fully recovered.”

Hongdou was startled—Chen Baidie had been discharged so quickly. It seemed cousin Yuqi had indeed been right that day—the large bloodstains on Chen Baidie must truly have belonged to someone else.

But now that all of Shanghai knew Chen Baidie had only recently been rescued, unless it were an essential social obligation, Chen Baidie could easily have made an excuse not to attend—why would she rush all the way here to Madam He’s birthday banquet?

She recalled again that the reason Chen Baidie had been saved was largely thanks to He Yunqin. Given the relationship between the two of them, could it be that Chen Baidie had come to the birthday celebration specifically for He Yunqin’s sake?

He Yunqin didn’t respond to his sister’s words. Distracted, he set down a card, then glanced up at the Western standing clock in the corner. The appointed time had arrived; it wouldn’t do to linger any longer. He said, “You all keep playing, I’m going to check on the bridge room.”

Just then a servant brought over a tray of Western-style stemmed glasses of drinks and delivered them to He Yunqin: “Second Young Master, have something to drink.”

He Yunqin glanced at the man coolly, casually picked up one of the glasses and drained it, then set the empty glass back on the tray.

The servant then went to bring the tray over to Hongdou and the others, but unexpectedly stumbled, spilling quite a bit of the drink—fortunately it all spilled onto the tray itself, without breaking any glasses, and it didn’t disturb Duan Mingyi and the others.

Even so, because the tray was now too messy, it wasn’t fit to bring over for everyone to drink from. The servant had no choice but to quietly withdraw and bring in another tray of drinks.

Hongdou glanced at the man—surely the He family wasn’t short on staff, so why send such a clumsy servant?

Busy solving the riddle, she didn’t think much more of it. But when the man brought the drinks over to their table, her gaze inadvertently swept past his feet, and only then did she notice his footwork was extremely nimble—not at all like someone who would trip over his own feet.

Puzzled, she watched as this servant, after delivering the drinks to their side, turned back toward the other end of the room. She stared fixedly at his retreating back. She remembered that her brother, during his martial arts training at the police academy, had once said that to tell whether someone had trained in martial arts, one need only look at their gait and their hands. This man not only walked with a light, brisk step, but his knuckles were also unusually large.

The man walked straight up to Duan Mingyi and bowed with a smile: “Please, refresh yourselves, madams.”

Duan Mingyi turned around and was just about to pick up a glass to drink, when the servant, as if he’d stepped on a nail, suddenly swayed—and spilled an entire glass of orange juice right onto Duan Mingyi’s qipao.

It happened so fast that Duan Mingyi couldn’t dodge in time. Startled and displeased, her face darkened at once: “What is the meaning of this?”

The servant was too frightened to lift his head.

Several of the young madams nearby took out handkerchiefs to dab at the juice on Duan Mingyi’s dress: “This can’t be worn anymore, you’ll have to change right away.”

Duan Mingyi had no choice but to rise apologetically, saying, “Let me go back to my room and change. Excuse me for a moment.”

But then Duan Mingyi was gone for a long while and didn’t return. The other young madams grew impatient waiting, exchanging glances and laughing in surprise: “Mingyi’s been changing clothes for so long—can we even get this mahjong game going?”

Another said, “Mingyi would never leave us hanging without reason. She must have been held up by something.”

Someone laughed and said, “Perhaps she ran into her He Ningzheng, and the two of them went off to whisper sweet nothings.”

Just then, a young man who looked like someone from a wealthy family happened to pass by, and hearing the chatter, poked his head in and said with a smile: “They’ve invited Bai Fengfei to sing opera in the garden—won’t you ladies come join the fun?”

Hearing this, the young wives had no more patience to wait around, and laughingly left the table one after another. Gu Yun and the others also grew restless, saying, “Should we go take a look at the garden too?”

Hongdou, thinking again of that strange servant just now, found it more and more odd the more she thought about it. Remembering that He Yunqin was going to the bridge room to play cards, she wanted to give him a word of warning, but was worried about being left alone, so she made an arrangement with Gu Yun: “Wait for me a moment, I’m going to the washroom and I’ll be right back.”

Once outside, she asked and learned that the washroom was in the same direction as the bridge room, which suited her purposes perfectly, so she made her way down the corridor.

Everywhere was quiet—it seemed all the guests had gone to the back garden.

She walked all the way to the end of the hall, where she found two rooms side by side. Standing there listening, both rooms were silent, and for a moment she couldn’t tell which was the washroom and which was the bridge room. She had originally meant to warn He Yunqin, but as it turned out, there was no one inside playing cards—she’d come for nothing, and had no idea where He Yunqin had gone. Seeing that the door to the inner room was slightly ajar, she guessed this must be the washroom, and planned to go in and freshen up before going to find Gu Yun and the others.

She waited a moment, but no servant from the He household appeared, so she had no choice but to go in on her own. It turned out to be an extremely lavish sitting room, with another room inside it, specifically for changing clothes.

She pushed open the door and went into the inner room, only to find that this room had no lights on. She fumbled along the wall for the light cord for a while without success, and thought to herself—could it be that neither of these two rooms was the washroom, and the washroom was actually at the other end of the corridor?

She was about to hurry back out, but the moment she moved, she heard someone enter the outer room. One of them was clearly a woman, her voice choked and trembling—whether it was moaning or weeping, she couldn’t tell. Hongdou froze in place, not knowing whether to go out or stay hidden in the room, when suddenly, in the darkness behind her, someone pulled her into their embrace and whispered in her ear: “Don’t say anything.”

Hongdou’s hackles rose at first—but the moment she heard that voice, so achingly familiar, she realized it was He Yunqin.