Tao Qiao’er walked over with small steps, patting Tang Jianxi’s back rhythmically, smiling apologetically at Yan Sanhe.

“Miss, don’t mind him. He’s sometimes like a child.”

Yan Sanhe hummed acknowledgment and stepped forward to look directly at Tang Jianxi. “You call Zhu Yanting Senior Martial Brother—he’s older than you by how many years?”

Tang Jianxi nodded.

Yan Sanhe: “You admire him?”

Tang Jianxi nodded again.

Yan Sanhe: “The reason you admire him is that he risked everything, while you fled.”

Tang Jianxi retreated in panic, shaking his head frantically while retreating.

“It’s not like that, it’s not…”

“If not like that, then what way?”

Yan Sanhe walked forward several steps, her gaze pressing on Tang Jianxi.

“You cannot speak of various Tang family matters. But regarding Zhu Yanting’s past—if it’s unrelated to the Tang family, can you discuss it with me?”

Tang Jianxi hesitated, not speaking.

“Master.”

Tao Qiao’er sighed softly. “Speak it all out!”

These years they’d lived secluded in the mountains, seemingly carefree and at ease. Only she, the pillow companion, knew that Zhen-gege had a knot in his heart, never untied. At night in dreams, he’d call that person’s name.

That person—not Master, not Junior Martial Sister, not the one he hated, but precisely Zhu Yanting, who was as close as a brother to him.

Tang Jianxi looked fixedly at his first wife, exhaled, and finally made his decision.

“Yanting was two years my senior. I could study under Master thanks to his introduction. He became Master’s disciple at age ten—Master’s prized pupil.”

Just as Yan Sanhe was about to exclaim “So early,” she suddenly felt someone tug her clothing from behind.

Looking back, it was Third Master.

Xie Zhifei pointed at the chair, indicating she should sit and listen.

Though Yan Sanhe had steeled her heart to draw clear boundaries with this “romantic rake,” she still felt her heart warm slightly at his small gesture.

She returned to her chair. “So saying, Zhu Yanting had very deep roots with the Tang family?”

Matters concerning the Tang family—Tang Jianxi didn’t speak, only nodded.

Yan Sanhe immediately looked at Xie Zhifei. “Third Master, in what ways might two families have deep roots?”

Xie Zhifei: “One way is kinship relations. Another is like Mingting and me—bonds from the previous generation extending to the next generation, even the generation after. Another is marital alliance between families.”

Yan Sanhe: “Master Tang, which kind were the Zhu and Tang families?”

Tang Jianxi extended one finger, tapped it on the table, then extended two fingers and touched his forehead.

Kinship relations plus marital relations?

Xie Zhifei looked at Yan Sanhe: This is somewhat complex!

Yan Sanhe narrowed her eyes slightly. “I’ll make a bold guess. The two families’ elders had kinship relations. Otherwise, Zhu Yanting wouldn’t have come to the Tang residence to study at age ten.”

Tang Jianxi nodded.

“The two families’ elders felt they were well-matched and knew each other thoroughly. They hoped the younger generation could form a marriage alliance.”

Yan Sanhe: “Master Tang, am I correct?”

Tang Jianxi was no longer surprised by Yan Sanhe’s intelligence and nodded slightly.

Yan Sanhe: “Besides Tang Zhiwei having someone else in her heart, was there another reason they didn’t form a marriage alliance?”

Tang Jianxi nodded again.

There was!

Yan Sanhe’s eyes brightened—then this reason should fall on Zhu Yanting.

Just then, Young Master Pei suddenly spoke. “The Crown Prince had designs on your junior martial sister. One ruler, one subject—Zhu Yanting had to be cautious?”

Tang Jianxi shook his head.

Guessed wrong?

Young Master Pei hummed and said offhandedly, “Could it be Zhu Yanting also had someone else in his heart?”

Tang Jianxi nodded.

Ha!

Young Master Pei looked excited. “Quick, tell us—who was that person?”

Tang Jianxi threw him a “boy, you can shut up now” look.

Unfortunately, Young Master Pei completely failed to grasp the essence in Master Tang’s eyes. He leaned forward toward Yan Sanhe. “He won’t say, so that person must be related to the Tang family.”

Young Master Pei, excellent analysis.

Yan Sanhe: “The Tang family only had one daughter, Tang Zhiwei, so then…”

“So then.”

Xie Zhifei continued, “This person should be Tang Zhiwei’s… personal maid.”

As the last four words fell, light flashed in Tang Jianxi’s eyes.

Correct.

The person Yanting truly liked was Junior Martial Sister’s personal maid.

That maid was called Lin Bi, a household-born servant of the Tang family, carefully selected from among all the Tang household servants by Master’s wife.

Lin Bi’s appearance was average to slightly above, not particularly clever either, but excelled in honest reliability, careful attentiveness.

Master’s wife personally trained her for three years before placing her beside Junior Martial Sister to serve.

After Master’s wife passed, though Junior Martial Sister’s intelligence matched any man’s, her mind was only on music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Managing the household, keeping accounts, receiving guests—these trivial matters she had no patience for.

Thus Lin Bi became half the head of the Tang household.

She not only cared meticulously for Master Tang and Junior Martial Sister but also managed the Tang residence’s inner chambers with perfect order.

Master often lamented that Master’s wife had great foresight, leaving them such a reliable person.

Zhu Yanting boarded at the Tang residence, seeing Lin Bi constantly.

Plus Master’s wife had instructed Lin Bi before her death to be especially attentive to the future “son-in-law,” Lin Bi naturally placed him on the same level of importance as Master Tang and Junior Martial Sister.

Day by day, year by year, Yanting unknowingly developed feelings.

Tang Jianxi would forever remember that moonlit night.

Yanting walked drunkenly into his room, sprawled on the bamboo couch, speaking wine-talk and heart-talk alike.

“Jianxi, do people have distinctions of high and low, but do hearts?”

“Do so-called well-matched couples necessarily have harmonious marriages?”

“I actually don’t know what’s good about her. I only know that when I sleep in bedding she’s arranged, I sleep soundly. When I drink tea she’s brewed, I drink comfortably. The shoes she makes for me are never an inch too large or small—always perfectly fitting…”

“Jianxi, I want… I want to marry her.”

Tang Jianxi’s scalp exploded on the spot.

Master regarded Zhu Yanting as his son-in-law. Yet this fellow had developed feelings for a maid.

“Junior Martial Sister is so intelligent, so beautiful. Which aspect can’t compare to that maid Lin Bi? You—have you gone mad?”

He propped himself up, drunken eyes revealing bewilderment.

“Junior Martial Sister is good in every way, excellent in all aspects, but I… I feel unworthy of her. When she frowns, I feel afraid. Lin Bi is different… she’s different…”

Tang Jianxi grabbed his collar, wanting to slap him.

“Speak! You tell me—how is she different?”

“Martial Sister says my calligraphy is ugly. She says she only knows a few characters. Martial Sister says my essays are poor. She says doing one’s best is enough. Martial Sister says I don’t work hard. She says Young Master Zhu shouldn’t stay up too late at night—it harms the body…”

Though drunk and barely able to sit, his voice was clear as ice shards.

“Jianxi, in Junior Martial Sister’s eyes, I’m nothing. But in her eyes… I… I… am a man who stands tall between heaven and earth…”