After Li Wu made his assurance that there was no need to worry, nothing came to pass.

On the tenth day after Sui Rui’s departure, a courier arrived from Xiangyang with a letter of greeting. Sui’s Chicken Shop had put down roots in Xiangyang, and Sui Rui was doing well in every regard; she extended repeated invitations for Shen Zhuxi to come visit her at home whenever she was in Xiangzhou.

During this period, Li Wu had taken Li Kun and gone to Shangzhou. He had not said what for, and Shen Zhuxi had not asked. As ever, Li Wu left one of his brothers behind to keep watch over her safety.

When she went out in the daytime, Li Que accompanied her at all times. When she went to bed at night, Li Que would borrow a small girl of four or five from a nearby family to sleep in the same room as her, while he spread his own bedding openly in the courtyard, making sure every passerby could see that no unattached man and woman were sharing the same roof.

What she had feared never came to pass. Zhou Zhuang vanished from her life as cleanly as if he had never existed.

One day, Shen Zhuxi went to He Liu Hall to deliver the stationery and took the opportunity to buy some fresh vegetables and produce from the market in town. Once there, Li Que suggested they split up and go their separate ways.

“Sister-in-law, once you have finished at He Liu Hall, come to the usual spot. I will buy the vegetables and wait for you there,” Li Que said. “Besides the vegetables, is there anything else you would like?”

“We have run out of bathing powder — pick some up,” said Shen Zhuxi.

“Understood. Go on ahead, sister-in-law,” Li Que said with a smile.

Shen Zhuxi agreed, and the two parted ways to see to their separate errands.

Arriving at He Liu Hall, Shen Zhuxi found the proprietor in the middle of sorting through a newly arrived stock of the four scholarly treasures. She cast a brief glance over them — all rough-quality goods that did not merit a second look.

“Wait, wait, wait — do not leave those here with me,” the proprietor called out when he saw her place the stationery on the counter. “How many sets do you have?”

“Four.”

“Perfect. Chunfeng Yuan placed an order for all four at once — take them there and deliver them yourself. I am tied up verifying stock here and really cannot step away.”

“Chunfeng Yuan — where is that?” asked Shen Zhuxi, perplexed.

“The bright red building deep in the entertainment quarter on the main street — that is Chunfeng Yuan. Just go knock on the door and tell them you are there to deliver goods for Madam Cui.”

“Oh…”

Shen Zhuxi walked out of He Liu Hall with a blank expression.

Chunfeng Yuan? She had never heard of such a place before.

Shen Zhuxi made her way to the main street, the liveliest in town, and walked into the entertainment quarter where all manner of food, drink, and amusement were to be found. Her attention was drawn in turn by the display of clay figurines, puzzle rings, and other trinkets in the stalls on either side, while from the corner of her eye she kept scanning for the brightly red building the proprietor had described.

The brightly red building had yet to be found, but a brightly red rack of candied hawthorn skewers was spotted straightaway.

Shen Zhuxi came to a stop, bought a skewer of hawthorn candy from the vendor, and continued searching for her destination while she ate.

She had eaten half the skewer by the time she finally spotted a brilliant red building tucked deep in the entertainment quarter. The three flourishing, dramatically styled characters of “Chunfeng Yuan” were hung prominently above the entrance, and red ribbons and silver bells were strung along the eaves and railings; when the wind passed through, the bells beneath the eaves chimed in a bright, cascading jingle.

Shen Zhuxi had not even stepped through the door of the red building before she was hit by a sharp, heavy scent of face powder and perfume.

Having had a moment of cautious forethought, she called over a small boy who was clutching a spinning top and about to run past her.

“Little friend, could you do me a favor?” Shen Zhuxi crouched down and said gently. “Go deliver a message for me at that place over there, and I will give you this — all right?”

Shen Zhuxi fished several copper coins from her pouch.

The boy’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the coins, and he agreed without hesitation. Once Shen Zhuxi had explained what she needed, he sprinted off toward the tightly shut main entrance of Chunfeng Yuan.

Standing on tiptoe, the boy knocked on the door for quite some time before anyone came to open it. A gaunt, drowsy-looking man listened to the boy, turned and went back inside, and after another interval, a woman in gauzy, thin clothing stepped out of Chunfeng Yuan, her gait languid and swaying, her bearing carrying the kind of allure that comes with maturity.

She exchanged a few words with the boy, then looked in the direction of Shen Zhuxi.

A moment later, the woman walked up to where Shen Zhuxi stood — but did not stop in front of her. Instead, she walked into the wonton stall behind Shen Zhuxi and sat down.

“Standing while you eat is so tiring, is it not? Why not sit down?” The woman did not look at Shen Zhuxi, yet the remark was plainly addressed to the girl holding the candied hawthorn skewer.

Shen Zhuxi was about to politely decline when the woman raised her eyes. Her gaze was captivating, full of allure, and the fine lines at the corners of her eyes only added to her charm.

“If you are here to have me inspect the goods, you still need to sit down, do you not?”

Shen Zhuxi had no choice but to take a seat across from her. The stall owner brought out the fresh pork wonton soup the woman had ordered. The woman picked up the bowl and chopsticks in front of her, and said at an unhurried, deliberate pace:

“Have you eaten yet?”

When Shen Zhuxi said she had not, the woman said:

“I have not eaten a single thing since last night, and my stomach is aching with hunger right now. You will have to let me eat a couple of bites before we look at the goods.”

What could Shen Zhuxi say to that? She could only watch as the woman scooped up a wonton at a leisurely pace, blew on it leisurely, and at last sent it into her mouth leisurely, then chewed each mouthful a full fifty or sixty times —

Shen Zhuxi finally understood the impatient, vaguely tormented feeling Li Wu experienced when he watched her eat.

“Why did Li Que not come with you?” the woman said suddenly.

Shen Zhuxi was taken aback. “How do you know—”

The woman glanced at her in amusement.

“Madam Li, I have known Li Que far longer than you have.”

That remark left considerable room for interpretation. Just as Shen Zhuxi was wondering what exactly the relationship between these two was, the woman swallowed the wonton she had been chewing for what seemed like an eternity, and said with a casual air, “Do not get the wrong idea. I know him because he once worked in my establishment as a porter.”

The woman looked up at her with a meaningful smile. “Do you know what a porter means in a place like mine?”

Shen Zhuxi flushed: she had read enough theatrical scripts to know perfectly well what a porter in such an establishment was.

The woman saw her expression and smiled with understanding.

“Good that you know — saves me having to explain.”

Shen Zhuxi knew little enough about Li Wu’s past — how would she know anything of his two brothers? But the moment the woman said Li Que had once been a porter in such a place, Shen Zhuxi immediately thought of Li Wu, who was working as a male consort —

So it was a family trade passed down through the generations!

Shen Zhuxi was eager to hear what the woman would say next, but the woman was entirely at her own unhurried pace, attending to her wontons. Shen Zhuxi waited a long while before she swallowed another wonton and spoke again:

“My surname is Cui — everyone calls me Madam Cui. This establishment, Chunfeng Yuan, I have been running for close to twenty years.” The woman spoke.

Shen Zhuxi stared at her in open-mouthed astonishment. “Then you…”

Madam Cui had apparently been asked this by many people before, and one look at her expression told her exactly what had caused the shock.

“I turned fifty-two this year,” Madam Cui said, touching the flower pinned at her temple with a hint of pride.

“You look no more than forty…” said Shen Zhuxi, incredulous.

“When you earn your living this way, aging too fast will not do,” said Madam Cui, setting down the barely touched bowl of wontons and gently dabbing her mouth with the embroidered handkerchief from her lapel.

“You said just now that Li Que once worked at Chunfeng Yuan—” Shen Zhuxi still could not bring herself to say the word “porter.” “When was that?”

“He was still here six or seven years ago. Then afterward, he killed one of the women in my establishment—”

“Sister-in-law, what are you doing here?”

A cold voice cut through Madam Cui’s words. Li Que stood outside the wonton stall’s awning, wearing a smile that was chilly and stiff.

Madam Cui startled and involuntarily straightened up.

“I came to deliver goods for He Liu Hall…” Shen Zhuxi said hurriedly, picking up the stationery and rising to her feet.

“He Liu Hall sent you to make a delivery to a place like this by yourself — I should have a private word with the proprietor,” Li Que said with a smile. “All kinds of people come through here. When sister-in-law is alone, it is best to stay away from this area.”

“Understood…”

“Go outside and wait for me, sister-in-law. I will be right there.”

“But this—”

The stationery in Shen Zhuxi’s hands was lifted away by Li Que. “Allow me,” he said with a smile.

Shen Zhuxi could see that he had something to say to Madam Cui in private, and tactfully made her way back out to the main street.

Li Que remained, his cold smile fixed on Madam Cui, who was eating her wontons and sending them into her mouth with a shifty, preoccupied air.

“Madam Cui. It has been a while.”

“…Oh my, is this not little Brother Que?” Madam Cui said, as though she had only just noticed Li Que, her expression comically exaggerated as she stood up. “It has been so long — why have you not come to visit this sister of yours?”

“I might dare come to visit you, but would you dare to see me?”

Madam Cui was just about to speak when Li Que stepped forward. She immediately took a large step back by reflex.

With that, whatever pleasantries she had been about to offer died in her throat, and she could only manage an awkward, strained smile.

Li Que stepped forward again until only a hand’s breadth separated them. Madam Cui was blocked by the stool behind her with nowhere to retreat, afraid yet unable to pull away, her smile stiff with fear.

“Brother Que, whatever you have to say, let us say it civilly — this is not good for your reputation…”

“I came out of Chunfeng Yuan. What reputation do I have?” Li Que said softly near her ear. “Madam Cui — do you still remember what Yingying looked like when she died?”

Madam Cui’s complexion worsened further, and fear overwhelmed the false smile on her face.

“Madam Cui, you have always had a mouth that cannot keep still,” Li Que said quietly. “If you enjoy talking about Yingying so much, I can arrange for you to end up just like her… would you like that?”

“No, no, no — I will never speak of it again!” Madam Cui went pale as she shoved Li Que aside and fled back into Chunfeng Yuan as if running for her life.

“Madam Cui! You have not paid yet!” the wonton stall owner called after her.

“Consider yourself lucky,” laughed a nearby vendor. “Madam Cui is inviting you to come collect tonight!”

The men all around laughed in tones that were suggestive and full of crude implication. Li Que stood in the midst of all those ill-intentioned laughs, his expression cold as ice.

He walked to the entrance of Chunfeng Yuan, faced the porter who looked like he was bracing for the worst, and said: “Give her this.”

He pressed the stationery into the porter’s arms, turned, and walked out of the entertainment quarter.

Shen Zhuxi had been waiting for him beneath the entrance to the quarter. Seeing him come out so quickly, she let out a quiet breath of relief. While she had been waiting alone outside, she had been afraid the whole time that he would get into a confrontation inside.

“Did they accept the goods?” she asked.

“They did,” said Li Que.

The two fell into momentary silence, walking without words in the direction of home. When they passed by Ding Family’s pastry shop, from which the smell of fresh cakes drifted out, Shen Zhuxi suddenly said, “Wait for me a moment — I am going to buy some taro…”

“Li Kun and big brother are in Shangzhou,” Li Que said.

Shen Zhuxi was taken aback, then laughed with a touch of embarrassment.

“…I forgot again.”

“Big brother said the trip would take about half a ten-day period, and five or six days have already passed — they should be back soon,” Li Que said.

“Shangzhou is so far away. What did Li Wu go to Shangzhou for?”

Shen Zhuxi had been talking to herself more than expecting an answer, yet to her surprise, Li Que picked up the thread of her words.

“Big brother went to Shangluo County in Shangzhou to buy tea for you.”

“What?” Shen Zhuxi froze, and asked without thinking, “All the way there to buy tea?”

“Big brother said only the capital has the finest tea, but the capital is not only far away — it is unsettled right now. Shangluo County in Shangzhou is close to the capital, and all manner of fine goods find their way there. He accepted a piece of work at the same time, so he was able to earn some money on the same trip.”

Shen Zhuxi was too surprised to say a word.

She could never have imagined that Li Wu’s sudden trip to Shangzhou had been for the sake of buying her tea.

She could not help but think back to something not long before Li Wu had set out. She had saved up the silver she had earned herself, gone to the largest tea shop in town in high spirits, and bought the most expensive tea they had. But when she got home and brewed a cup, she had swallowed one mouthful and could not keep herself from spitting it right back out.

The inferior-grade tea was laden with a bitter, dusty dryness. Even the fragrance it gave off was hollow — surface appearance with no lingering depth whatsoever.

Li Wu had seen it at the time, but said nothing. She had assumed he had not given it another thought. Even she herself had not given it another thought.

She had drawn a clear line in her own mind — even without fine tea, life still had to go on.

“I never said a word…”

Li Que interrupted her: “You do not have to say it out loud. Big brother knows what is on your mind.”

“…”

“Because he watches you all the time. Sister-in-law simply does not know it.”

“Why would he watch me?” Shen Zhuxi said, startled.

Li Que laughed in spite of himself, and looked at her for a long moment, leaving her thoroughly bewildered.

When he spoke again, it was no longer about Li Wu.

“Sister-in-law, look at both sides here — not a single soul.”

They had already left the town behind. On both sides of the path were farm fields, and the wheat — tall and robust — blocked the view entirely. Even if there were farmers at work somewhere in there, nothing would be visible from where they stood.

Shen Zhuxi was still taking in what he said, looking to either side, when Li Que said:

“If I killed you here, who would ever know?”