Shen Zhuxi sat at home unable to keep still, watching helplessly as the sun sank and clouds gradually yielded to the clear, bright crescent moon.

Just when she was on the verge of sending someone to look for him, a servant announced that Li Wu had returned.

She hurried out of her room to welcome him, and the two of them met in the corridor of the rear courtyard.

They walked back to the bedchamber together, and once Shen Zhuxi had personally closed the door, she could not help but come straight to the point: “Did he grow suspicious?”

“…He tested me once more afterward. He has likely not fully accepted the explanation yet.” Li Wu’s face showed not a trace of relief. “What exactly did you hear from behind the Buddha statue?”

Shen Zhuxi gathered her thoughts and gave a brief account of the shocking exchange between Fu Xuanmiao and his mother.

When she came to the part about the Shang River Weir, she choked back tears several times.

Li Wu held her with a steady, patient gaze throughout, encouraging her without a word, until she had said everything she needed to say.

“…Why aren’t you the least bit shocked?” Shen Zhuxi noticed his calm expression.

Li Wu was silent for a moment, then said: “After the Shang River Weir collapsed, I already suspected it was his doing… I didn’t tell you because I had no proof.”

No proof. No grounds for accusation.

Given the history between him and Fu Xuanmiao, saying so without evidence might even lead this foolish woman to think he was stooping to slander a rival out of desperation.

Moreover… he didn’t want her burdening herself with guilt over someone who had nothing to do with her.

Shen Zhuxi stood in stunned silence, at a complete loss for words.

Three people now knew Fu Xuanmiao’s true nature — and yet what of it? Without proof, no one would believe that the foremost young lord under heaven was a depraved demon.

The reputation Fu Xuanmiao had built among the common people was more than enough to crush the three of them a hundred times over with ease.

Even if she told everything — who would believe her?

Li Wu suddenly reached out and flicked her on the forehead.

“Stop thinking so hard — any more of this and you’ll crack that foolish head of mine.” He said lightly. “The elders always said: walk by the river long enough, and sooner or later your feet get wet. As long as he keeps doing evil, there will always come a day when he falls. And when that day comes…”

“When that day comes?”

Li Wu flashed a grin, his dark eyes bright.

“Beating a man while he’s down — your husband has done that more times than he can count.”

For some reason, Shen Zhuxi thought of the scenes back in Yutou County, where she had so often watched ducks pecking at dogs, and couldn’t help but laugh through her tears.

“All right — what you can handle, you handle. What you can’t —” Li Wu softened his voice. “Isn’t there still me?” His warm fingertips gently brushed the tears from her lashes. “Remember: even if the sky comes crashing down, your husband will be standing in front of you. Whatever happens — do not panic.”

Shen Zhuxi was deeply moved. She looked at him without blinking, and nodded sincerely: “All right.”

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and broke into a smile. “You must be hungry. We never got to have that grand meal I’d planned — what if we go eat at Jiu Niang’s shop?”

Li Wu looked apologetic. “You’ll have to eat alone tonight.”

“Where are you going?” Shen Zhuxi asked in surprise.

“Fu Xuanmiao has invited me to a banquet this evening at Juxian Tavern.”

Shen Zhuxi felt a knot of unease in her stomach. “Only you?”

“Also the officials of Xiangzhou and the local wealthy households.” Li Wu said. “He intends to raise a political donation — it seems the matter of establishing a capital is finally being settled. Where is Bai Rongling?”

“Still in the rear courtyard side room…”

“It’s time to send this cousin-in-law of ours home.”

As he spoke, Li Wu opened the door and headed toward the rear courtyard. Shen Zhuxi quickly followed along and watched him enter the side room where Bai Rongling was being kept under house arrest.

Bai Rongling was stretched out on the bed with his long legs crossed, thoroughly bored. When he heard the door open, he shot bolt upright.

“Are you ever going to stop?! I already handed over the grain vouchers — when are you finally going to let me go?!”

“Now.”

Li Wu walked over, kicked the black boots beneath the bed with his toe, and said:

“Put those on. You’re leaving this instant.”

“Seriously? Are you serious?” Bai Rongling stared at him in stunned disbelief. “Is this some new torment you’ve invented? Let me go, then haul me back — like capturing and releasing Meng Huo seven times, just to humiliate me?”

“I don’t know what Seven Captures or Meng the Goods means — if Cousin-in-law doesn’t want to leave, he’s welcome to stay and keep —”

Bai Rongling scrambled and rolled his way into his boots, terrified that Li Wu would actually lock him in the Li residence forever.

“You said it yourself! No taking it back! You can’t drag me back once I’m out!” Bai Rongling declared at full volume, his startled eyes wide, then still feeling uneasy, turned to Shen Zhuxi: “Cousin, you witnessed it — he personally said he would let me go. If anything happens to me on the road… then it was definitely his doing. You must avenge me!”

Li Mister Wild had always been unpredictable, and Bai Rongling’s frantic hollering had even Shen Zhuxi a little worried. But she trusted that Li Wu wouldn’t say something untrue in front of her, so she said soothingly: “You can set your mind at ease. Since he’s said it in front of me, he will not go back on his word.”

“How can a grown man be so long-winded about everything…”

Li Wu’s impatient muttering was caught by Bai Rongling, who snapped: “What did you say?”

“I said, Cousin-in-law, let’s get moving — or we’ll miss the timing!”

Li Wu threw an arm around Bai Rongling’s neck and marched him out the door. Bai Rongling, only slightly shorter than Li Wu, was pinned under Li Wu’s arm, bent over and hunched like a coughing little chick.

“You — let go of me! If you don’t let go, I — I’m going to yell for help —”

“Why so distant with me, Cousin-in-law? Given our relationship, we ought to be closer than this…”

“Pfft — cough, cough, cough!”

Bai Rongling, unable to break free, was forcibly hauled away by Li Wu.

Shen Zhuxi watched their retreating figures with some unease.

He would be released… but from the look of Li Mister Wild, the road home for Bai Rongling was not going to be easy.

……

Bai Rongling found himself tucked under Li Wu’s arm and somehow ended up inside a carriage.

“When are you going to let go of me?!” He pulled and pried at the iron-hoop grip around his neck, fuming. “What do you want?”

“Cousin-in-law, you’re being too formal. We’ve been together all this time and we’ve never had a proper heart-to-heart.” Li Wu kept him locked in his grip without releasing, his face arranged into an expression of warm camaraderie. “Cousin-in-law, what do you think of Fu Xuanmiao?”

“Think of him how?” Bai Rongling looked at him strangely. “He’s excellent in every way, of course! Who wouldn’t want a man like Fu Xuanmiao as a relative by marriage? You just got lucky — a woman as heavenly as my cousin, after losing everything, happened to land on you, this pile of duck droppings…”

Li Wu had already begun to darken his expression, but upon hearing “duck droppings,” something oddly magnanimous stirred in him.

Duck droppings it is. Better than dog droppings.

Bai Rongling finally managed to wrench himself free from Li Wu’s grip. He stuck his head out the window and looked suspiciously in all directions: “Where on earth are we going? Aren’t we supposed to be leaving the city? Why are the streets getting livelier the farther we go?”

Li Wu said: “I’m taking you to meet someone who, according to you, everyone wants as a relative by marriage.”

Bai Rongling stared at Li Wu for a long, frozen moment, then slammed the carriage door open and tried to fling himself out of the still-moving vehicle.

Li Wu’s hand shot out and pulled him back in a flash.

Bai Rongling crashed down onto the bench. Before he could get up again, Li Wu’s muscular arm was back at his throat.

“Let — let go!” He coughed as he spoke.

“Why is Cousin-in-law being so distant? Given our relationship, we should be closer —”

“I refuse! I refuse!” Bai Rongling’s face had gone ashen. “This young master commands you to send him out of the city immediately!”

“How could I let Cousin-in-law travel out of the city alone? The roads are so dangerous these days. Of course it’s safest to leave with the convoy of the current Participating Counsellor of State — who knows, Fu Xuanmiao might even take pity on you as a member of the Bai Family and personally escort you home,” Li Wu said.

At the thought of that scene, Bai Rongling’s breathing nearly ceased.

“You — you want to get yourself killed, don’t drag me into it…” Bai Rongling said with a look of horror. “Are you out of your mind? Have you forgotten that you stole his wife?”

“Nonsense!” Li Wu’s face hardened. “Shen Zhuxi never even set foot in the Fu household — what kind of wife does that make her?”

“Go tell that to Fu Xuanmiao, and let me out of this carriage!”

Bai Rongling struggled desperately to get out, but his slender arms and legs were no match for Li Wu’s brute strength. With one hand alone, Li Wu pinned him firmly to his seat.

“What are you so afraid of? Do you really think I’d stand by and watch you get swallowed alive?”

“You’re dreaming!” Bai Rongling yelled. “I’m not going! If you want to walk into that, go by yourself!”

“That’s enough —” Li Wu finally lost patience. “We’re already grasshoppers on the same string, you and I. When I do well, your cousin does well, and the Bai Family does well. If you want to cut and run and leave me to face this alone, go ahead.”

Li Wu released the hand pressing on Bai Rongling’s shoulder, sprawled back into his own seat with careless ease, and said lazily: “The moment Fu Xuanmiao comes for me, I’ll hand over those grain vouchers bearing your personal seal, Bai Family’s eldest young master.”

“You —”

“You have plenty of time to think of an explanation. Whether he’ll believe it, though — that’s not something I can answer.” Li Wu tilted the corner of his mouth upward and asked deliberately: “Based on Cousin-in-law’s understanding of this so-called foremost young lord under heaven — what do you think his reaction will be, upon seeing those vouchers for two hundred thousand bushels of grain?”

Bai Rongling sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. A chill crept up from the base of his spine to the back of his neck.

What other reaction could there be?

Two hundred thousand bushels of grain — enough to sustain an entire army. Even if Bai Rongling claimed he had been coerced into giving it, would Fu Xuanmiao believe him? Never mind Fu Xuanmiao — even if he put himself in that position, his first instinct would be to suspect that the Bai Family had known all along and had decided to back Shen Zhuxi’s husband with those two hundred thousand bushels.

“You… you wanted those two hundred thousand bushels for… this reason…” Bai Rongling stared at Li Wu in disbelief, as though seeing this man for the very first time.

Li Wu let out a short laugh. His expression remained loose and casual as before — yet in Bai Rongling’s eyes, it was completely different from how it had ever looked before.

“Cousin-in-law,” Li Wu said, “whether you like it or not, the Bai Family is already on the same boat as me. Perhaps you’d like to reconsider — and stay to share this meal with me?”

Bai Rongling felt the strength drain out of him along with the chill at the back of his neck. He slumped on the bench, and after a long while, squeezed out a voice from his throat:

“…What do you want me to do?”

……

Juxian Tavern was always packed with guests and lively company, yet today it had shuttered its doors for the entire day. Not until nightfall, when the bright moon made its appearance, did the tavern finally open its gates.

Customers hoping to come inside for food and drink were politely turned away by the attendants, and had no choice but to leave with reluctant steps.

Carriage after carriage — some lavish, some imposing — pulled up in a steady stream at the tavern entrance.

Composed officials and jewel-bedecked wealthy merchants walked in one after another.

The ground floor of the tavern was clean and bare, all the tables and chairs pushed to the corners. The second floor blazed with light, and every door along the corridor was shut tight — all except the grandest suite, the “Sky Room,” from which came a constant stream of laughter and the chiming of cups.

Fu Xuanmiao sat in the seat of honor, receiving round after round of toasts with unruffled composure. Li Wu, occupying the seat of next highest rank at the table after the Participating Counsellor, sat at Fu Xuanmiao’s left and bore personal witness to what was, without question, the most effortless fundraising he had ever seen in his life.

He still remembered how these wealthy households had looked when he had once gone around trying to persuade them to donate. Now, each and every one of them was like a fly drawn to dung — enthusiastic and eager, crowding in to offer silver and grain, competing to be first. Some even dropped hints from the side that their daughters had long admired the young master and would be delighted to make a contribution along with the young lady herself.

Was the title of “foremost young lord under heaven” really that powerful a thing?

Li Wu sat sourly at the left, committing each of these bootlicking faces to memory one by one — and just waited for the right opportunity, when he could have the pleasure of stripping each of them of a layer of their skin.

Midway through the banquet, Fu Xuanmiao had already raised a donation of one million in political funds. He lifted his cup and, in the name of Emperor Yuanlong, offered his thanks to the officials and wealthy households who had contributed.

“We are all subjects of Great Yan — to be of assistance to His Majesty and to Fu the Young Master is an honor for us!” Chen the Elder, who ran several taverns in Xiangyang and was also the proprietor of Juxian Tavern, boomed out loudly.

Lu the Elder, who operated a timber trade, saw that the flattery was getting away from him and was the first to chime in: “Exactly, exactly! Putting this money in the young master’s hands — we have complete confidence!”

Among Li Wu’s old acquaintances was the Magistrate of Junzhou, who had ridden an entire day’s journey to attend the banquet. The last time they met, the Magistrate of Junzhou had still been grandly proclaiming his intention to serve as Li Wu’s “guide and mentor.” This time, the moment they came face to face, the Magistrate of Junzhou dropped to his knees and offered Li Wu a deep kowtow of greeting.

Such a petty man who followed the wind — there was no point in making a fuss over him. Li Wu pretended to have forgotten the look on his face when he had once looked down on him, and allowed him to take a seat at his left.

The Magistrate of Junzhou also wanted to flatter the Participating Counsellor, but with so many merchants present who outranked him, he held his dignity back, and after much deliberation managed to produce only one sentence: “I hear the court has set its sights on establishing a capital — might I ask which prefecture or county has been chosen?”

The table fell quiet. Every person present was burning with curiosity over this question.

Fu Xuanmiao set down his wine cup with an unruffled expression and was just about to speak — when rapid, pounding footsteps rang out from beneath the tavern’s windows. In just a moment, the footsteps gave way to the sounds of a scuffle. Then a voice, indignant and furious, rang out loudly:

“How dare you! Do you know who this young master is?! Take your filthy hands off me — this young master is not someone you can push around!”

Fu Xuanmiao’s composure faltered. His gaze dropped toward the window below.

Li Wu lowered his head, picked up the wine cup in his hand, and drained it in one go.

He wanted to see —

What expression would appear on the face of the so-called unshakeable foremost young lord under heaven, upon learning that his betrothed had died in the flood that he himself had caused.