The Yu Family Residence.

Yu Weiwi sat before her dressing table and studied her own reflection in the bronze mirror for a moment. She dipped a brush into vivid crimson lip rouge and painted it onto her lips, then blotted away the excess. The sweetness of a young maiden and the allure of a young matron intertwined, making her look breathtakingly vivid.

She smiled at her own reflection, then stood and walked out. “Where is my husband?”

“At this hour he should be in the study.” Her personal maidservant, Xiao Tao, answered as she draped a cloak over her mistress’s shoulders. “Do you need something, miss? I’ll go and send word for him.”

“No need. Have the steward come to me.”

The wind howled outside. Yu Weiwi stood beneath the covered walkway to wait, letting the cold air sharpen her thoughts.

Wu Zhen, the steward who had served the Yu household his entire life, felt his eyes grow hot at the sight of the young miss like this. His young miss had finally pulled herself together.

“Uncle Wu, what is the state of the household at present?”

Wu Zhen started. “Miss, are you…”

Yu Weiwi looked at him steadily, her voice quiet but firm. “Every order that has been given through Qi Qiu’s mouth in recent days is null and void. Uncle Wu — do you understand?”

Even if he had not understood before, Wu Zhen understood now. He sorted through the recent affairs of the household and relayed to the young miss the parts he thought she would want to know. “A few days ago, the young master-in-law brought six unfamiliar people into the household. He said he had purchased them as attendants, to prepare for his eventual journey to the capital to sit the imperial examinations. He also visited the master’s study on the pretext of looking for books.”

He glanced up at the young miss and continued. “The master and mistress stepped back from household affairs long ago. With miss being ill and rarely seen, the young master-in-law has been the only head of the household visible to the servants — naturally, they have been following his orders. If this goes on much longer… miss, it would be best for you to take the reins of household matters back into your own hands.”

“It was my negligence. Uncle Wu, have trustworthy people round up all the newcomers who were brought in recently and keep close watch over them — not one is to slip away. Find a plausible excuse for it.”

“Yes, miss.”

“And assign a few people to follow me.” Yu Weiwi lightly shook out her sleeves. “We’re going to teach my husband-in-law some manners.”

Wu Zhen felt this was perhaps not entirely proper — but upon reflection, he thought it was entirely proper. The young master-in-law had been making himself quite at home lately. If the miss had sanctioned it, they would simply have to accept it. But the miss clearly had no intention of letting him trample over her head, so he would simply do his duty and stand by her.

In the study, Qi Qiu was poring over a map. When the door was pushed open, he looked up with a frown of displeasure — then, seeing who had entered, he quickly rose and came forward. “Why are you up? Did the physician not say that exposure to the wind could cause a relapse?”

“I’ve been cooped up inside for days. I needed some air.” Yu Weiwi walked past him into the room. The study had been fitted out more recently — it lacked for nothing.

Qi Qiu smiled with practiced warmth. “It’s the end of the second month now. Once you’re well again, it will be the perfect season to go out and enjoy the spring. If you don’t take proper care of yourself, you may not be well enough to go out even then — wouldn’t that be a pity?”

“It’s nothing but a minor ailment. It doesn’t matter.” Yu Weiwi looked up at him. “I heard from the steward that new people have been brought into the household?”

“Ah, yes. Don’t laugh at me, Weiwi — when I am eventually admitted to study under Elder Pan, I’ll naturally need a few attendants to keep up appearances. If I were to use the Yu household’s people, others might talk. So I purchased a few unfamiliar faces. That way, if anyone brings it up, I’ll have a reasonable explanation.”

His reasoning was sound, and he had even placed himself in a position of apparent humility. Had she not known the truth of the matter, Yu Weiwi might well have felt a pang of sympathy for him. As things stood, however, she had only one thing to ask. “Where are their bond contracts? All the contracts for the household’s servants are in my keeping. You ought to hand these ones over to me to hold as well.”

Qi Qiu faltered for a moment, then quickly recovered. “I’ll go and look for them.”

“You only just purchased them — how could you need to go and look? Tell me where they are and I’ll send someone to fetch them.”

Qi Qiu looked at Yu Weiwi, dressed so carefully and vividly today, and felt a faint unease. He ran through his thoughts rapidly and then his brow furrowed. “What do you mean by this? If you are displeased that I bought people into the household, just say so plainly. I know I am a husband who married into this family — if you forbid it, I would not dare disobey.”

Yu Weiwi looked the picture of surprise. “What do you mean by that, husband? Surely the bond contracts of servants ought to be kept by the mistress of the household? Or is it somehow different because this is a family that took in a son-in-law?”

Caught off guard, Qi Qiu was momentarily speechless. In the days since their wedding, Yu Weiwi had been so easy to manage that he found it difficult to adjust to this sudden shift. He had not seen it coming.

Before he could recover, Yu Weiwi pressed on. “Unless there is something unusual about them? In that case, all the more reason I ought to see those contracts. Husband — will you give them to me or not?”

“…I am in the middle of studying. I’ll find them for you later.”

Yu Weiwi rose and walked toward the desk. She caught a clear look at what was spread open on its surface — a map of Jinyang City.

Qi Qiu casually folded it up, creasing it several times, and set it aside. A moment later he had recovered his gentle, soft-spoken manner. “I know you’ve been restless cooped up inside. But the physician’s words should still be heeded — your health matters most, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t change the subject. Give me the bond contracts.”

“Weiwi, I’ll definitely find them for you — is that not enough? Is a small matter like this more important than my studies? Trust me — my teachers have all praised my scholarship. One day I will pass the examinations and make it to the capital, and then you will be the wife of an official.”

“Perhaps you don’t know me very well yet, husband.” Yu Weiwi smiled faintly — it was a brilliant smile, yet cold at its core. “When I have set my mind on something, I do not let go until it is resolved. So — until you give me those bond contracts, I will not discuss anything else with you.”

“Weiwi…”

It was a name of utmost intimacy. The first night of their wedding, when she had heard him call her by it for the first time, Yu Weiwi’s heart had trembled. But the sweeter the memory of that moment, the more bitterly it cut at her now.

This was her husband. Her own husband. And yet this person wanted her life.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then called out in a cold, clear voice: “Someone come.”

Wu Zhen entered with several of the household guards. “Miss.”

“Escort my husband back to his chambers.” Yu Weiwi turned and walked out ahead of them. “Perhaps once he returns to his room, my husband will recall where the bond contracts are kept. And if he still cannot remember — then help him remember.”

“Yes, miss.” Wu Zhen gestured with one hand, and the guards spread out to flank Qi Qiu from all sides. “Sir, this way, please.”

Qi Qiu knew things had taken a bad turn. There were no bond contracts for him to produce — he had simply never obtained any. He had been careless. He had assumed Yu Weiwi had given him her heart entirely and would remain under his thumb from then on. He had not anticipated that she would change so suddenly, so completely. Looking at her now, she actually bore some resemblance to the rumors he had heard of the Yu family’s eldest daughter — the one said to have a rather formidable temper.

Wu Zhen bowed once more. “Sir, this way, please.”

Qi Qiu glanced at him, then stepped out from behind the desk and walked out, his mind working all the while. Unless Zeng Xiangling appeared at this very moment to vouch for him, there was no way to smooth this over.

At the door of the bedchamber, Qi Qiu looked at Yu Weiwi with an expression of tender softness. “Weiwi, if you don’t trust me, surely you trust your elder cousin? Would he have arranged this match if I were a man of poor character? Don’t believe me — go and ask him yourself.”

“I will certainly ask him. This way, please.”

The bond contracts, of course, were nowhere to be found. Qi Qiu simply stopped trying and sat himself down with an air of a man wrongly accused. Yu Weiwi let out a cold laugh and gave Wu Zhen a look.

Wu Zhen led the men in a thorough search of everything Qi Qiu owned. No bond contracts were found. Nothing of any use was found either — as though the man himself was worth nothing at all.