Just as she was overwhelmed with shock, she felt something soft and drooping brush across her face—she gave a start, then realized it was the curtain.

Before she had time to think further, footsteps outside grew louder, coming closer, and one person walked briskly toward the inner room.

At the door, that person seemed about to come in and check, paused for a moment as if concluding the room was empty, and in the end did not open the door.

“I specially had the opera troupe start singing in the garden just now, everyone’s out there. My son and the others were originally going to play bridge here too, but I sent them off as well. No one will be coming this way anytime soon—say what you need to say, and make it quick. Let me ask you this—who gave you the nerve to show up here uninvited?”

Hongdou held her breath. This man’s voice was deep and resonant, carrying an air of authority without anger. Hearing him mention his son was going to play bridge, she was secretly alarmed—could this man be He Mengmei?

She grew so tense that a thin sheen of sweat broke out on her back. Behind her, He Yunqin said nothing at all, so she had no choice but to remain motionless, pressed against his chest.

The woman wept for a while, then finally spoke: “Mengmei, you’ve been avoiding me these past few days—you’ve clearly made up your mind to cast me aside. I’ve been with you these several years, and now that you won’t even acknowledge me, don’t I deserve a clear answer?”

He Mengmei laughed in fury: “So to demand a clear answer, you’d disregard my wife’s birthday and brazenly come to my door to confront me? Chen Baidie, no wonder they say beauty leads men astray—I must have been out of my mind back then, to have entangled myself with a woman like you. Not only did I ruin my own reputation for nothing, I brought disaster upon my own family.”

Chen Baidie?

Hongdou’s eyes widened in astonishment.

Chen Baidie sneered coldly: “Was it I who forced you into this back then? Now you’re sick of me having opinions of my own? It’s simply that you find my looks not as fresh as before, and you’re tired of me in your heart—Mister He, just say it outright, why bother with these vague accusations to reproach me?”

He Mengmei laughed coldly: “These past few days I’ve been busy arranging Xiuli’s birthday celebration, with no time to talk things through with you properly. I had planned to go to your residence in a day or two to settle things once and for all. Since you’ve come knocking yourself, let’s speak plainly then. Let me ask you—when you were with me, did I ever force you in the slightest? What you yourself have done—don’t you know perfectly well in your own heart?”

Chen Baidie seemed to choke for a moment, but still spoke defiantly: “Ever since I’ve been with you, I’ve always kept myself in check. Aside from the servants around us, has a single outsider known about our relationship all these years? Why bother provoking me with these ambiguous words—if I’ve done something wrong, dare you say it plainly?”

He Mengmei said sternly: “Three months ago, Yunqin and his elder sister-in-law were rumored into a scandal for no reason, and overnight the whole of Shanghai was abuzz with it. You don’t know about this?”

Chen Baidie paused for a long while, and when she spoke again, her voice sounded somewhat unsteady: “What a strange question. Since Mister He already knows this matter has spread everywhere, of course I know about it too.”

He Mengmei’s voice turned icy: “First you found some obscure little tabloid to write a gossip piece thoroughly slandering the second son and his elder sister-in-law, then you fanned the flames to spread it quickly through society, and at the same time deliberately left clues to make the second son suspect the young man surnamed Lu. Once this affair was exposed, first it would ruin the second son’s reputation, and second it would successfully drive a wedge between my two sons. The most clever part is that even if this scheme were exposed, there was someone else ready to take the blame for you. Chen Baidie, you truly have quite the talent—every step calculated without the slightest error. I truly underestimated you back then.”

Chen Baidie was silent for a good while before forcing out a retort: “Truly, if you want to condemn someone, there’s no shortage of excuses. Why would I do such a thing? What good would it do me? Even if you ruined your precious son’s reputation, would you, He Mengmei, then marry me properly and bring me into the family?”

He Mengmei said: “These past two years, your nature has never changed—you’ve always felt that no one in this world was as clever as you, Chen Baidie, and that everyone deserved to be toyed with in your palm. Half a year ago you became pregnant. I set aside funds and bought you a house, sent my most capable servants to attend to you well, feeling I had wronged both Xiuli and you. I told you long ago—whether you continue with me or find another match in the future, I would see you properly settled either way.

“Though you never said it outright, ever since you became pregnant, you’ve said more than once in front of the servants how you envied Xiuli’s good fortune—simply because her background was better, she got everything first. By comparison, you’re pregnant with no name, no status, and even once the child is born, at most you’d be a concubine. Afraid of being discovered pregnant, you don’t even dare take acting jobs now. These words of yours were meant, in essence, to air your grievances, so that I might give you more money to secure your future. But as you kept talking, the tone shifted, and every word carried a bitter edge. You ask what good it would do you? Simply making Xiuli unhappy would be enough to satisfy your spite.

“By ruining her son’s reputation, you’d plant a thorn in Ningzheng’s heart, laying the groundwork for conflict between the brothers down the road. If the brothers turned against each other, it wouldn’t just make her life difficult—it might make me so disgusted with both my sons that there’d be no peace in the household at all. This would benefit you and your child in every way, with no downside at all. If you hadn’t miscarried three months ago from carelessly playing mahjong with friends, who knows how much more trouble you might have stirred up?”

Chen Baidie said, trembling: “Absolute nonsense—this is all your own speculation, He Mengmei. Do you have proof?”

Someone came from outside, saying quietly: “Sir, sir.”

He Mengmei said, his tone icy: “You truly won’t shed tears until you see the coffin. Someone already brought me the evidence—I would never wrong you unjustly. Since you want to see proof, I’ll have someone deliver it to your residence tomorrow morning.”

Chen Baidie’s voice was thick with suppressed anguish: “Mengmei…”

Footsteps sounded, and He Mengmei, seeming not to acknowledge her at all, opened the door and left.

Chen Baidie wept alone for a while longer, and when He Mengmei still didn’t return, her crying gradually subsided. After a moment, there was a sudden cold snort, and she too left.

Hongdou listened in secret amazement—Chen Baidie truly was a great star; she could change her expression faster than anyone.

Outside, there was no sound for a long while. After standing dazed for a moment, Hongdou suddenly remembered she was still in He Yunqin’s arms, and startled, hurried to struggle free. As she moved, her scalp gave a slight twinge of pain, but she was too nervous to think much of it at the time.

The heavy curtain was drawn back, and a cluster of lights from the garden behind streamed straight through the glass into the room.

By that light, she saw He Yunqin lowering his eyes to look at her, his expression unclear in the half-light and half-shadow. She could only make out that his eyes held a hidden gleam, darker and brighter than usual.

Though they’d pulled apart, the two were actually still very close, and with everything around them silent, they could almost hear each other’s breathing. She looked at him for a moment, and seeing him gazing quietly back at her, her heart suddenly began to pound without warning.

Just as she was about to speak first, he grasped her hand and pulled her toward the door: “This isn’t a place to linger—let’s go.”

They walked all the way outside. The corridor was silent. A servant emerged from the small parlor, nodded discreetly at He Yunqin, then quickly walked away.

Hongdou looked at He Yunqin in astonishment—no wonder he had seemed so calm even knowing his father was coming in; no wonder he hadn’t shown the slightest surprise upon hearing his father’s conversation with Chen Baidie.

It seemed he had already known about this matter, and had made arrangements in advance because of it.

He Yunqin was somewhat distracted—the full, soft warmth that had just been within reach still seemed to linger against his chest. He clearly hadn’t drunk that calculated glass of “aphrodisiac,” and yet his body was inexplicably restless.

Seeing her looking at him, he steadied himself and said, “There’s something I need to learn from Chen Baidie’s own mouth—it’s a matter of great importance, and even if I asked her directly, she likely wouldn’t tell me. I knew that her showing up uninvited tonight was most likely to arrange a meeting with my father, so I made some preparations in advance. Who knew you would barge in at that moment—it was only once you were close that I realized it was you. If my father knew you had witnessed him and Chen Baidie together, it certainly wouldn’t do you any good, so I had no choice but to bring you into hiding.”

Hongdou’s heart stirred faintly. She looked to the side and said softly, “The room was pitch dark—how did you know it was me?”

He Yunqin looked at her for a moment, then deliberately changed the subject: “You didn’t go watch the opera in the garden—why did you come to the bridge room instead?”

Hongdou looked up at him: “That servant who brought you tea just now seemed odd. He clearly had martial training, yet deliberately fumbled twice—once right after you drank that drink, and once when he spilled water on your elder sister-in-law’s dress. The more I thought about it, the more it troubled me, so I planned to use the washroom as an excuse to wander near the bridge room. If I happened to run into you, I could give you a word of warning. But then both rooms were silent, and only then did I realize you weren’t playing cards at all. Since I’d already come this far, I thought I’d change clothes in the washroom before going to find Gu Yun and the others—but once I went into the other room, I realized that was also a bridge room. I was just about to leave when you pulled me back.”

What did he want to learn from Chen Baidie? He surely already knew about that scandal—his father’s suspicion of Chen Baidie was likely also because He Yunqin had sent someone to deliver the evidence. So there must be something else about Chen Baidie that concerned He Yunqin.

No wonder he had spared no effort searching for this woman a few days ago.

Judging by how Madam He had entertained her guests wholeheartedly in the small parlor earlier, Madam He probably didn’t know about this connection between her husband and Chen Baidie—otherwise, upon learning Chen Baidie had come, she wouldn’t have appeared so composed.

He Yunqin had appeared so carefree in front of his mother, yet behind the scenes he had quietly resolved a poisonous growth the He family had been harboring outside, all for his mother’s peace of mind—and to spare her worry, he probably wouldn’t breathe a word of it.

The two of them walked to the entrance of the small parlor, and she suddenly remembered Duan Mingyi—her dress had been soaked, and she hadn’t seemed to see through the servant’s scheme. Not knowing where she was now, Hongdou was about to ask him how Duan Mingyi was doing, but before she could speak, she discovered a pearl-colored celluloid hair clip that had fallen into the breast pocket of his shirt—it must have come loose from her hair when she’d emerged from his arms just now.

She glanced around and saw no one, and quickly reached up to retrieve it. Just then, inside the house, He Zhuyun, searching for Hongdou, had pulled her eldest sister He Lanzhi back from the garden to the small parlor, and happened to glance down the corridor toward the door—just in time to see Hongdou standing before her brother, about to reach up for something, while her brother looked down at Hongdou without any sign of avoidance. Compared to how they usually behaved, there was something subtly different about the expressions on both their faces.

Author’s Note: No hanky-panky scenes here, but Hongdou and Second He’s marriage still needs a strong push. Tomorrow I’ll compile the list of readers who left comments, thanks to everyone who commented and left kudos, this humble author has no way to repay you except to keep the double updates coming.