What Shen Zhuxi never could have anticipated was that Fan Sanniang’s tent was pitch dark.

Pitch dark — meaning no lamp had been lit.

And with no lamp lit, what else could they possibly be doing? The answer needed no words.

Shen Zhuxi stood there clutching her heavy jewelry case, circled the tent once, confirmed there was no light leaking from any direction, and felt her head spin with rage — was Li Wu really that impatient?!

She turned to leave, walked two steps, and slowly stopped. She looked back and glared ferociously at the darkened tent — then gritted her teeth, ducked her head, and charged inside.

Something had been left at the base of the tent flap, and with the light so extremely dim, Shen Zhuxi’s foot caught on it, and she pitched forward, clutching her jewelry case, unable to stop herself.

Her heart leapt straight to her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut in fright, bracing breathlessly for the oncoming impact with the ground — but the expected pain never came. At the very last instant, a hand shot out and caught her firmly by the arm, hoisting her entire person upright and smoothly pulling her into an embrace.

“What are you doing here?” Li Wu asked, startled.

The tent flap fell behind her, and the tent plunged back into darkness.

In that one panicked glance a moment ago, Shen Zhuxi had not seen Fan Sanniang. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, the first thing she did was scan the dim tent for any trace of Fan Sanniang —

Aside from herself and Li Wu, the tent was empty.

“Where is Fan Sanniang?” she couldn’t help asking.

“Fan Sanniang isn’t here.”

She wasn’t here — so what was Li Wu doing alone in her tent?

While Shen Zhuxi stood there dazed, Li Wu took the jewelry case from her arms — which she had somehow kept clutched tightly to herself even while falling.

“What is this?”

Before Shen Zhuxi could say a word to stop him, Li Wu had already lifted the lid.

Pearl-studded, jade-inlaid gold jewelry and silver ingots of every size gleamed with a muted luster in the dim light. Shen Zhuxi’s mouth hung open in mute dismay as she watched Li Wu lift her phoenix medallion from among them.

The pure gold token was no larger than her palm, yet even in the dark of night it glowed with a liquid radiance. A phoenix rendered in exquisite detail spread its wings in soaring flight, and along its slender, graceful tail feathers, a line of characters no larger than grains of rice was engraved — bearing her title and name.

She had brought everything she owned.

Li Wu held the phoenix medallion — seeing it for the first time — and looked up at Shen Zhuxi, whose eyelashes still caught the glint of tear-drops.

“What did you bring this for?”

Shen Zhuxi was struck speechless. Even knowing Fan Sanniang wasn’t here, she still scanned every corner of the tent with a flush of embarrassment.

Right — if Fan Sanniang wasn’t here, why had she come?

“I — I was worried about you…” Shen Zhuxi stammered.

Li Wu was not a man who let himself be deceived when he didn’t wish to be. His brow arched, and he replied without hesitation: “Nonsense.”

“You’re scolding me!” Shen Zhuxi said, aggrieved.

“You’ve been acting strangely ever since you saw Fan Sanniang. You don’t get jealous over Li Qingman or Wang Shiyong, yet you go green over Fan Sanniang. You thought Fan Sanniang and I — a man and a woman alone, in the dead of night — were together in a tent, and you came charging in with a chest full of gold and jewels —” The more Li Wu spoke, the more suspicious his expression became. “You don’t think I was up to something disreputable, do you?”

Shen Zhuxi couldn’t bear to hear another word. Her heart simply was not strong enough to confront, face-to-face, the moving tale of her nominal husband selling his person to support the household.

“I did not!”

Shen Zhuxi rushed to deny it, her voice going high and small — like a cornered little creature puffing itself up in hollow defiance.

Li Wu had only meant it as a casual remark, but Shen Zhuxi’s guilty, caught-in-the-act reaction confirmed his jest without a single word being spoken.

Under his incredulous gaze, her face burned as though pressed against a sun-scorched river stone on a sweltering summer afternoon — Shen Zhuxi, consumed by shame and indignation, felt herself roasting alive, and turned to bolt for the door.

She hadn’t taken two steps before Li Wu hauled her back.

“Shen Little Fool —”

Li Wu pinched her cheeks between his fingers and forced her to look him in the eyes, and said through gritted teeth:

“What exactly did you think I was doing in Fan Sanniang’s tent?”

“I — nuffing — I dunno…” Shen Zhuxi frantically shook her head in his grip.

“You don’t know?” Li Wu brought his face close to hers, his voice low and edged, “Then what did you bring a whole chest of jewels here for — to show Fan Sanniang your collection?”

“Yes — yes, that’s it… nighttime appreciation, they — they always say the colors look better…”

“Shen Zhuxi!” Li Wu’s voice dropped into a sharp command.

The bluff had run its course. Shen Zhuxi, cornered and past caring, blurted out recklessly: “I knew already!”

“Knew what?”

“I knew you were keeping yourself as a kept man to support the household!” The words tumbled out of Shen Zhuxi’s mouth.

The words fell. Silence.

Time seemed to stop. Where had the crickets outside gone?

Only Li Wu and she remained, face to face — shock and confusion tangled in his gaze, and then blazing fury surging up to replace them.

This reaction — something was wrong.

Even setting aside any prior knowledge, just looking at those furious eyes, Shen Zhuxi knew she had made a catastrophic blunder.

Heavenly Mother above!

Xi’er has committed an unforgivable offense — she would be coming to join you very soon!

“I —” Li Wu stopped, so angry he had gone incoherent, “What exactly gave you the impression that I needed to sell my person to put food on the table?”

“You — you sent Fan Sanniang a sachet, and let her slap your — your backside… if you weren’t after her money, were you — were you really after the person herself…”

Shen Zhuxi struggled and shook her head every which way, but she could not escape Li Wu’s iron grip.

She tried pushing against his chest with her hand — and the next instant, that hand was caught by Li Wu’s free hand at the wrist.

His palm was far warmer than hers, and the moment of contact made her acutely aware that a vigorous, red-blooded man was holding her.

Her heart beat faster. She grew more flustered, and her struggling grew more frantic.

“Shen Zhuxi!”

Li Wu pressed her down onto the low couch and locked her in place with his body.

The jewelry from the case scattered across the couch.

Smooth, lustrous tourmaline bracelets. A gold phoenix hairpin as thin as a cicada’s wing. A gleaming plum blossom diadem ablaze with light… brilliant splendor framed Shen Zhuxi on all sides, and she looked up at Li Wu above her, dazed. His dark and clear eyes — they too seemed like jewels she had scattered.

“Why did you come here?” Li Wu held her gaze unflinchingly.

“I — I thought you were… doing something improper… I wanted to help you…” Shen Zhuxi stammered.

She tried to push herself up from beneath him and was pressed back down without ceremony by his single hand.

“Help how? Were you going to buy me?” Li Wu lowered his head toward her.

The proximity sent every alarm bell in Shen Zhuxi’s mind shrilling at once, and her heart pounded as though it would roll out of her throat at any moment.

“Not — not buy… give — give you…”

Terrified that a single wrong word would bring punishment, she opened her eyes as wide as they would go and looked at him pleadingly.

“How generous of you.” Li Wu ground out sarcastically, “Then I’ll give you something too.”

Her hand was taken in his and drawn to one side.

The sensation that came back through her fingertips made Shen Zhuxi go first puzzled, then blank, then suddenly, blindingly understanding — and finally, utterly overcome with shame —

She squeezed her eyes shut, wrenching her hand back with all her might, but her hand wouldn’t come. Li Wu’s grip was like an iron shackle clamped around her wrist.

“Only for you,” Li Wu said against her ear. “Do you want it?”

“No, no, no!” Shen Zhuxi was on the verge of crying from sheer mortification, her voice coming out in a teary whimper.

“Are you sure you don’t?” Li Wu continued, his voice murmuring against her ear like a lure. “Think carefully — no one else could have it even if they wanted. Only you — only you, Shen Zhuxi. I would give it to you and throw in money besides.”

Those three words — “only you” — plucked at something deep in Shen Zhuxi’s heart.

She opened her eyes timidly and met Li Wu’s gaze. The hand he had been holding gave a tug, and this time it slipped free.

“You’ll still marry someone else eventually,” she murmured.

The moment those words left her lips, she felt a sharp pain pass through her chest.

“I won’t,” Li Wu said without a moment’s hesitation.

“You will,” Shen Zhuxi said softly, yet with unmistakable conviction.

Li Wu frowned. “Is it you who’s marrying someone or me? I say I won’t, then I won’t — are you going to push me into someone else’s bed yourself?”

“What kind of thing is that to say!” Shen Zhuxi’s face flared red, and she started struggling again to get off the couch, the pillow and sheets rumpling and shifting beneath her, deepening the already charged atmosphere.

Li Wu pressed her shoulder down firmly, held her gaze steadily, and said, with slow and deliberate certainty: “Listen to me — apart from you, I have no desire for any other woman.”

“You might not want one now, but who knows about later —” Shen Zhuxi said, the words rising unbidden.

Her father the Emperor had once declared that after her mother, the imperial harem would receive no new additions. And yet — how had that ended?

“Then take a blade and castrate me in my sleep,” Li Wu said, each word distinct and unhurried. “A man who breaks his word and abandons those who trust him deserves nothing — certainly not you.”

Shen Zhuxi’s struggling stilled at his blunt and unvarnished vow.

She looked at him with uncertain eyes, warring with herself inwardly.

“I, Li Wu, swear: in this lifetime, I will have no other woman but Shen Zhuxi.”

Li Wu suddenly raised his right hand, three fingers pointed straight at the sky.

“Should I break this vow, I am unworthy of the name of man —”

Shen Zhuxi’s face went white with alarm. She reached out to pull his oath-taking hand down. Li Wu evaded her, and finished speaking the rest of his vow without pause.

“May lightning strike me down, and may I die with nowhere to be buried.”

Shen Zhuxi was stunned into speechlessness by this oath — so bare of all artifice, leaving not the slightest room for escape. She could only stare at Li Wu, motionless.

Those calm, steady eyes held hers without wavering.

“Trust me, just this once. All right?”

Everything had aligned — the moment, the place, the person.

Something inexplicable pushed the answer from Shen Zhuxi’s lips before she knew she had spoken:

“…All right.”

The tension in Li Wu’s face eased.

Only now, with something to compare against, did Shen Zhuxi realize that in the brief moment he had waited for her answer, his face had worn something rare — a trace of unease. Of nervousness.

A warm, quiet stillness moved through the air between them.

Shen Zhuxi felt as though she were sitting on pins and needles. She was just about to ask him to let her up when the sound of furtive footsteps came from outside the tent.

Li Wu’s whole demeanor shifted instantly. He clapped a hand over her mouth.

The footsteps outside hesitated for a moment, then — seeming to find no one paying attention — finally pulled aside the tent flap and crept inside —

Quick as a lightning flash, Li Wu launched himself upright, and in an instant had kicked the uninvited visitor at the entrance flat to the ground. By the time Shen Zhuxi had pushed herself up, he had already twisted the intruder’s arms behind his back and pinned him down.

“Who’s there? Who’s in here?!” the intruder cried in a panic.

Li Wu said coldly: “Who do you think I am?”

The intruder craned his head to look — and the sight struck him with absolute terror. “Li Wu! How is it you?!”

By the moonlight filtering through the tent flap, Shen Zhuxi made out the intruder’s face — it was the actual owner of the Ding’s Pastry Shop that had relocated with the Qingfeng Army, the husband of Ding Sanniang who had passed away just a year ago!

“Didn’t Fan Sanniang already tell you not to come? Yet here you are, pushing yourself right up to her door — have you no shame at all?” Li Wu planted a foot on the man’s back and pressed down hard. Master Ding’s face went ashen, but he didn’t dare cry out loudly. “Does your new wife know you’re sneaking over to a widow’s tent in the middle of the night?” Li Wu demanded coldly.

“What — what does that have to do with you…”

“Fan Sanniang saved my life. Her affairs are my affairs —” A sharp crack rang out as Master Ding’s arm gave way.

The scream that began to rise from his throat was cut off by a brutal kick to the abdomen, the sound strangled before it could emerge.

Shen Zhuxi winced, feeling as though the blow had landed somewhere on her own arm and stomach.

“If I find you harassing her again —” Li Wu said, “it won’t just be the arm next time. Get out.”

Master Ding clutched his abdomen, his dislocated arm hanging loosely and swinging with each lurching step, and fled the tent in blind terror.

“You see now?” Li Wu spread his hands toward her. “Your husband and Fan Sanniang — clean as a whistle.”

“So he was…” Shen Zhuxi asked, puzzled.

“After Ding Sanniang passed, someone played matchmaker between Fan Sanniang and this man, pushing them to give it a try. Fan Sanniang thought he seemed decent enough and agreed to consider it. But the old scoundrel turned right around and married a sixteen-year-old girl instead —”

Li Wu noticed the look on Shen Zhuxi’s face shift, and suddenly caught himself. He declared with great moral authority:

“A heartless, worthless piece of human refuse! Even I — a former entertainer — find him beneath contempt! If it were me —”

Shen Zhuxi couldn’t help perking up to listen.

“I would hang up my blade and keep faithful to you until you were gone!”