The upheaval in Huicheng had begun swiftly but ended slowly.

Setting aside the pursuit of the fleeing assailants, the most pressing matter for the local officials was to arrange prompt medical attention for the distinguished guests, followed by baths and changes of clothing.

So Han Linfeng wrapped Luoyun in his cloak and escorted the ladies to the residence of the local official.

Once he had seen them delivered safely, however, Han Linfeng vanished without a trace.

Luoyun was attended by the maids and finally managed to get herself cleaned up.

She was still lost in the joy of her restored sight, unable to pull herself free of it. Even the ordinary tables and chairs in the room — she had to go and examine each one carefully.

But once that first flush of elation subsided, she began to reproach herself. Even though her sight had been restored, she had still managed to be blind in exactly the wrong moment.

Her own husband — the man she lived with day and night — how could she have failed to recognize him, even if she had never actually seen his face?

Then again, when she thought it over, in the chaos of that life-and-death moment, mistaking one person for another was quite understandable, wasn’t it?

If he was going to fixate on this and refuse to let it go, that would just be petty.

But the more Luoyun thought about it, the less certain she felt. Especially the way he had barely spoken a word to her during the escort back just now — was he truly that angry?

Men of great standing were supposed to have the magnanimity of a prime minister, with room enough in their hearts to float a boat.

Her prime-minister-magnanimous husband, at this particular moment, was having a very hard time letting this particular matter go.

Han Linfeng had been praised for his looks his entire life, to the point where he had grown rather tired of hearing it. He had never cared much about his own appearance.

But he had never in a thousand years imagined that his own newly sighted wife, in the very moment her vision was restored — in the water, with both him and that scoundrel Qiu Zhen right before her eyes — would swim toward Qiu Zhen without a single moment’s hesitation.

This was beyond toleration. Along with the deep affront to his masculine pride, a deep suspicion had taken root: was his face actually inferior to Qiu Zhen’s?

He was so unsettled that he almost wanted to drag people over and put it to a vote — between himself and rebel commander Qiu, who was better-looking?

At the moment, he and Luoyun were in the same residence, just in different rooms.

Qingyang and two attendants helped the Shizi bathe, then held up three or four garments fetched from the clothing chest in the carriage, waiting for their master to choose.

The Shizi was ordinarily not at all particular about such things. Even during his days of powder and rouge in the capital, he had simply picked the most ornate option from whatever was available.

He had never, as he was doing now, stood before a bronze mirror and deliberated over clothes for what felt like half the evening. And then — as though he had been addled by one of those saltpeter blasts — he actually frowned and asked if there were no brighter-colored garments to be found.

Qingyang stood to the side, momentarily stunned, then carefully ventured, “But didn’t you give orders that you never wanted to wear those garish, flashy things again, and told us to sort them all out and throw them away?”

Han Linfeng tilted his chin and thought about it — that did sound like something he had said. He pulled off the robe with some dissatisfaction, preparing to try another, when Qingyang finally grasped the crux of his young master’s fussiness. He hastily held up a white robe. “If you want to look striking, there’s nothing like white! Every time you wear white robes and a white jade crown, the young women and young wives along the street can’t even walk straight. If you can’t decide, just wear white.”

Han Linfeng’s brow smoothed slightly at these words. He finally took the white robe and put it on.

Once a nimble-fingered maid had arranged his hair into a neat topknot, Han Linfeng studied himself in the bronze mirror with lingering dissatisfaction and touched his own cheek. “Have I gotten a bit darker these past few days…?”

Qingyang tilted his head and looked. “Not bad at all — strong and resolute. Better than some pale, soft-faced melon.”

Han Linfeng rubbed his cheek slowly, as if in thought. “That Qiu Zhen — he seemed to be quite fair-skinned. Was he good-looking?”

Qingyang had no idea that his master and the Shizi’s consort had just had a falling-out.

The senior guard simply thought of Cao Pei’er, who had been completely bewitched by Qiu Zhen, and then of himself — how that male fox spirit had gotten him into trouble and ruined his assignment as escort. He shook his head and said with genuine feeling, “Well, I have to say — those peach-blossom eyes of his are really something. A young girl who got caught in his trap would truly be ruined from the first look.”

Before the last word left his mouth, the Shizi’s face in the bronze mirror darkened by several more shades.

Han Linfeng turned slowly to look at his guard and said in an unhurried tone, “Your eyes must be going as well. Find time to see a physician.”

Qingyang, inexplicably scolded for having bad eyes, could only smile in baffled bewilderment.

Once dressed and with his hair crown straightened, Han Linfeng satisfied himself that no blood or grime remained on his face, and then made his way toward Su Luoyun’s room.

When Luoyun had been blind, his looks had not mattered one way or the other — he had never needed to worry about whether she found him pleasing to look at.

But he had never anticipated that once Luoyun’s sight was restored, the first person to catch her eye would not be him.

Could it truly be as Qingyang had said — that the scoundrel’s peach-blossom eyes were more captivating to women?

And of all the bad timing — because of the fight, with oil and blood splashed across his face, he had appeared before a freshly sighted Luoyun in an absolutely wretched state.

Set against Qiu Zhen by comparison, might Luoyun’s heart now be sinking with disappointment?

Han Linfeng had lived this many years without ever imagining he would one day feel anxious and uncertain about his own appearance.

By the time he was walking along the garden path and the night breeze hit him, his head had cleared somewhat. He gave a self-mocking smile and thought: even if she didn’t like what she saw and had regrets, what could she do about it? She was already the Han family’s daughter-in-law — was he going to give her time to think about someone else? Next time there was an opportunity, he would carve up Qiu Zhen’s seductive, corrupting face even at the cost of his own life. Then that male fox spirit could see who he managed to bewitch after that.

Turning it over in his mind this way, his mood lifted slightly.

When he arrived at the door to Luoyun’s temporary room, through the lamplight he could see the silhouette of someone inside combing out her long hair before the mirror — clearly finished with washing and dressing.

He knew Luoyun had been through a fright tonight, so he deliberately made his footsteps heavier as he approached, and knocked on the door as well, to give the person inside a little warning.

Luoyun had barely called out to ask who it was when Han Linfeng pushed the door open and walked in.

The half-moon hung in the sky; the lamplight was small as a bean. Against the hazy nightscape, a tall, strikingly handsome man in white robes and a white jade crown stood at the doorway, his eyes bright and burning, his brows bold as sword strokes, broad-chested and narrow-waisted, one hand clasped behind his back.

This image — like a painting — finally entered Luoyun’s eyes. For a brief moment, her mind went completely blank, and she simply stared at his face.

Han Linfeng was holding his breath just as she was.

He kept his gaze fixed on the fine movements of her expression, yet found he could not read whether what was frozen in her eyes was disappointment or something else entirely.

So the two of them looked at each other in silence, neither speaking, while the night breeze drifted in through the doorway and set every gauze curtain in the room swaying — a wash of cool air.

In the end it was Han Linfeng whose composure faltered first. His heart had been gradually going cold, and he conceded defeat, his voice dropping low and flat. “What is it? Does it disappoint you that I’m not as good-looking as Qiu Zhen?”

The man before her was extraordinarily handsome, yet to Luoyun he felt like a stranger she was meeting for the first time.

When he said nothing, she had not even dared to recognize him.

Only when that familiar low voice sounded did she realize she had been holding her breath — and now she could let it out in one long, slow release.

This devastatingly handsome, clear-eyed man was actually her husband?

Luoyun had never considered herself the sort of person who judged by appearances. But suddenly discovering that her husband was this beautiful… it truly felt like stumbling over a pile of gold ingots lying in the road — so much precious wealth tumbling into her arms all at once that she did not know how to receive it.

But to Han Linfeng’s eyes, her awkwardness looked like silent protest against his appearance.

Han Linfeng understood perfectly well the principle that one man’s honey is another man’s poison.

Though many women had praised him, there were also those who could not accept his looks — the faint trace of foreign blood in his features.

In the feelings between men and women, most began with the eyes. For either party, if the other’s face did not suit their taste, the more they looked, the more repelled they would become.

She had already refused to bear him children. If she now felt an aversion to his face, was she going to clutch her golden pillow and scheme to escape him again…?

The man’s handsome face grew even more taut, his lips pressing into a thin line.

Luoyun, having snapped out of her initial daze, noticed him still standing in the doorway without coming in. She could not help teasing him: “What is it… does the homely new bride not dare face her in-laws? Why won’t you come in?”

She had no idea that the word “homely” was a razor-edged blade that drove straight into the Shizi’s most vulnerable point, knocking the air clean out of him so he couldn’t draw breath.

Luoyun realized that the joke she had made to ease the tension had, in fact, made the atmosphere even more strained.

She could not help getting up. In her lotus-embroidered slippers she walked toward him, and slowly reached out to touch his arm.

When the familiar warmth met her touch, and she caught the familiar scent of him, Luoyun finally felt as though her feet had found solid ground — confirming that this impossibly handsome man truly was her husband.

Han Linfeng looked down at the woman nuzzling against him like a cat, his tone less than warm. “Not finding me ugly anymore? What are you pressing up against me for?”

Guessing that he was still brooding over her mistaking Qiu Zhen for him, she put her arms around his waist and said, “Who could have known that in just a moment downstairs, you’d been smoked into a lump of black charcoal? If your face had been clean, I absolutely would have swum toward you with all my strength.”

Hearing this, the man’s glacial expression thawed somewhat. Then, slowly, he pressed further: “Still, Qiu Zhen is a bit younger than me, and his looks are genuinely decent — especially those eyes of his; they’re rather… captivating…”

Luoyun’s eyes were perfectly clear now. Watching Han Linfeng’s expression — seven parts probing, full of barely concealed grievance — she could not help letting out a laugh. She decided to smooth down this temperamental creature properly, and so she lavished on the flattery: “Those rotten peach-blossom eyes only look good at first glance. Once you have something to compare them to, they’re third-rate goods at best. Besides, you’ve been so good to me — after all this time together, even if you had the face of Zhong Kui, I still couldn’t bring myself to dislike you.”

Han Linfeng found that this infuriating little creature truly was getting bolder and bolder. Even if she didn’t find him appealing, surely he didn’t look like Zhong Kui?

He let out a cold snort and scooped her up sideways in his arms. “You dare dislike me? Do you think I earned all those years as the notorious profligate for nothing? You are a commoner woman I carried off by imperial decree — have you ever seen a powerful scoundrel willingly release the plump morsel he’s already got in his grasp?”

As he spoke, the high bridge of his nose was pressed close against hers, and that pair of deep eyes — like a river of gathered stars, with not a single impurity — bore into her with a burning, focused intensity.

Even a woman with a heart of ice would have melted under that focused gaze into the softness of spring water, going limp in his broad, solid embrace.

Luoyun’s heart fluttered. She looped her arms around the man’s neck and murmured, “Please be gentle, my lord… I’m afraid…”

The Shizi had not expected this little minx to suddenly play at being helpless and soft.

And yet he fell for it completely — he was utterly beguiled, and for a hazy moment he truly felt as though he had swept away a delicate, yielding beauty.

The desperate, bloody fighting at the restaurant had set his blood racing in a way that still had not calmed. And now she was provoking him like this — if he could resist turning into a beast, could he even call himself a man?

Han Linfeng’s long leg kicked back hard, and the door swung shut with a firm click.

The next moment, the little beauty was tossed onto the bed and left to tumble into the brocade quilt, watching the man before her slowly undress.

When the elegant white robe fell to the floor and the man’s strong chest was revealed — along with the sculpted lines of his abdomen — Luoyun swallowed hard and could not look away.

All the time she had been blind — how many wonderful things had she swallowed whole without truly tasting? It turned out that a man of extreme beauty could be called the finest sight the world had to offer — enough to make one’s mouth water…

In that moment she finally understood Fang Jinrou’s madness.

If one could take just one bite of something this rare and tender… it truly would be worth abandoning every last shred of feminine restraint to fight for it…

But before she could do any fighting, the rare and tender prize had already come tumbling onto the bed of its own accord.

After a moment of lingering, passionate kisses, Luoyun cried out urgently, “The lamp — we haven’t put out the lamp!”

Han Linfeng looked down at her, his eyes half-lidded. “Before, it was you who was afraid of me seeing you — that’s why you wanted the lamp out. Now you can see as well. Neither of us is at a disadvantage. Why would we put it out?”

In the art of convoluted reasoning, Luoyun could grow another mouth and still not outmaneuver Han Linfeng.

In the end, the candle on the small bedside table was not put out.

In the dim and intimate room, the flame danced and flickered — and from time to time, in the wake of the soft sounds of two people entangled together, the wick let fall a small ember with a quiet, delicate crackle.

Luoyun had never imagined that she would have her sight restored one day only to be in danger of having it ruined immediately.

So when she woke the following morning, she drew a long, deep breath before slowly opening her eyes.

The soft light of dawn had already filtered into the room.

She could see clearly the man who lay asleep with his arm around her. His lashes were truly thick — when pressed together in sleep, they curved like a pair of black fans, enchantingly beautiful.

The quilt had slipped to settle just at his waist. In the candlelight of the previous night Luoyun had finally opened her eyes fully to what she had been missing.

She was long past her wedding night, yet she had not anticipated that the addition of a visual element could be so utterly soul-shaking… and all the more stirring…

Her cheeks flushed hot in an instant. She did not dare to let her thoughts continue — otherwise the reputation for lasciviousness that the Shizi had only just shed would find its way to her instead.

He had fought hard through two consecutive battles the night before, both of which had drained him terribly. Luoyun hadn’t the heart to wake him, and decided to let him sleep a while longer.

But the household had no intention of being obliging — noise broke out not long after, making any further sleep impossible.

Han Linfeng was soon roused by a knock at the door.

It turned out that General Zhao Dong had been away inspecting a military camp near Huicheng when he received news the previous night that Princess Yuyang had been caught in an attack at Tianbao Restaurant. He immediately led a detachment and rode hard the whole way to Huicheng.

The Princess had actually been rather composed throughout the night — she had been by far the most ferocious and spirited of anyone in dealing with the black-clad attackers. But the moment she heard that her husband had arrived, she was off — barefoot, hair unbound, face drained of color — running and weeping, and then throwing herself headlong into Zhao Dong’s arms.

“You’re here — I nearly… I nearly never got to see you again.” With that, she proceeded to do exactly what the Consort of Prince Zong had done the day before: she burst into heaving, broken sobs.

Zhao Dong was not ordinarily in the habit of coddling his princess wife, but seeing her face so pale, her shoulders trembling with her crying, he felt a sharp pang of tenderness. He picked her up as he would a child. “The floor is so cold — why didn’t you put on shoes? Have you forgotten you were bedridden for half a month the last time you got ill? I told you not to come, and you came anyway. Well? You nearly ended up fed to someone’s blade.”

Princess Yuyang, hearing her husband scold her with a furrowed brow, found it entirely satisfying. She simply curled up obediently in his arms and made herself small.

Coming along with Zhao Dong was Lord Beizhen.

When he arrived at the Consort of Prince Zong’s side, she had not yet risen — after the shock of the previous night combined with her fall into the water, her frail constitution had given way and she had come down with a high fever.

Lord Beizhen, with a stern expression, ordered someone to summon his son and daughter-in-law to the Consort’s bedside. He then had Luoyun and Han Linfeng kneel, and berated them for having no consideration for the season, insisting on coming to Huicheng to amuse themselves at this particular time, and nearly causing a catastrophe.

If anything had happened to Princess Yuyang in Huicheng, the entire Beizhen household — every last one of them — would not be enough to be buried with the Princess as atonement.

Luoyun and Han Linfeng both knew perfectly well that Qiu Zhen had orchestrated this whole episode with them as his target. They had earned this scolding and could not argue otherwise, so they knelt and accepted it without protest.

But the Consort of Prince Zong could not sit still and listen.

Lord Beizhen’s words were directed at his son and daughter-in-law, yet she had not burned up her brain with fever — she understood perfectly that he was using them as the nominal target while aiming the insults squarely at her.

After all, it was she who had been swayed by Princess Yuyang’s urging and insisted on coming to Huicheng. What did any of this have to do with Luoyun and Han Linfeng?

The Consort of Prince Zong struggled upright and shouted at Lord Beizhen, “If you want to scold someone, just come out and say so directly — why use Linfeng and Luoyun as a pretext? It was clearly the Princess who suggested this in the first place — was I supposed to openly offend the Princess by refusing? I hear the General showed great care and tenderness for the Princess just now. Even if you want to hold someone accountable, you should at least wait until the person’s wits have come back to her. I endured a night of terror — I nearly drowned in the inner river — and all you can do is blame and lecture. If you’re afraid the Princess and the General will hold us responsible, just truss me up and hand me over to them. What are you ranting at in here? Who is going to hear your great impartiality and integrity?”

Lord Beizhen slapped the table in fury. “You still think you’re in the right? I can see that Han Xiao takes entirely after you — no sense of proportion or timing whatsoever.”

Luoyun quietly raised her head and took a look at her father-in-law. He appeared youthful for his age, dignified in bearing — he must have been a handsome man in his youth.

Yet when he spoke to the Consort of Prince Zong, there was not a trace of tenderness in his expression — only unconcealed contempt and displeasure.

Luoyun sighed quietly and decided to step in and create a distraction before the standoff between her parents-in-law could get any worse.

She cleared her throat and announced loudly, “Father, my eyes are better!”

Her voice was loud enough to cut off the quarrel entirely.

Lord Beizhen turned at the sound and looked at Luoyun. Indeed, his daughter-in-law’s large, clear eyes — bright as autumn water — were gazing steadily back at him.

While he was still blinking in surprise, Han Linfeng added from beside her, “It was the physician in the city that Mother found who cured her. If Mother hadn’t kept worrying about us younger ones and insisted on coming, none of this would have led to her putting herself at risk…”

This was obvious nonsense, and Lord Beizhen had long since known that his daughter-in-law’s eyes had been improving. If her sight was now truly restored, no city physician seen in a few sessions could possibly have cured it.

But Luoyun’s recovery was certainly good news. And the previous night had ended without serious harm to the capital’s distinguished guests — that, at least, was a relief.

He had been shouting loudly just now, and the sound had surely carried to the General and the Princess. He had made his point; saying any more would serve no purpose.

So Lord Beizhen let his tone ease somewhat and turned to the servants. “Has the Consort’s fever broken? Has she been given medicine?”

The Consort of Prince Zong still had a chest full of grievances and had no intention of offering her husband a way out. She let out a cold snort. “The fright you gave me just now broke a sweat — if it doesn’t get better, at least I’ll die sooner, and stop being an eyesore to everyone…”

Seeing the threat of another skirmish brewing, Han Linfeng helped Luoyun to her feet and said to Lord Beizhen, “Luoyun’s eyes have only just improved. She still has acupuncture treatment shortly. If there’s nothing further, we’ll take our leave.”

Lord Beizhen had just been silenced by the Consort’s words and was in a dark mood. He waved a hand and let the two younger ones go.

Luoyun stepped out of the room and walked some distance before finally letting out a long breath.

She had now seen her mother-in-law’s face as well. Middle-aged, but well-preserved — yet between her brows were distinct lines of worry, the kind that could only come from a lifetime of swallowed grievances beside that husband of hers.

At this thought, she asked Han Linfeng with a vague melancholy, “When we reach middle age, do you think we’ll grow to resent the sight of each other the way they do?”

Han Linfeng found that this little creature was growing unerringly accurate in finding his most vulnerable points. He stopped in his tracks and looked down at her with cold eyes. “Oh? You’ve barely looked at me for one night and you’re already tired of it? Or could it be that you think those peach-blossom eyes make for a more enduring view?”

Luoyun burst out laughing and punched him in the chest. “Nonsense! If you bring that up one more time, just hand me a letter of divorce and be done with it.”

This touched a raw nerve again. Han Linfeng simply grabbed her, turned back, strode into the room, pulled down the bed curtains, and set about disciplining this disobedient creature properly.

* * *

Across the whole of Huicheng, an overnight curfew had been imposed. The entire city, inside and out, was searched from top to bottom.

The dead assassins were all identified as members of the hidden guild — several of them were of foreign origin, the sort who recognized only money, not faces.

As for Qiu Zhen — he was as slippery as a greased rat. He had already cut a hole in the inner river’s floodgate long in advance, and had slipped away without a trace.

The incident had caused too great a shock. Tianbao Restaurant had suffered many deaths, and there had been no shortage of civilian witnesses on the day.

Even so, the details of what had happened inside the restaurant were unknown to ordinary people.

You Shanyue, however, appeared to have remarkable reach. He sent a letter inquiring after Han Linfeng and his wife, and between the lines, it was clear that he knew the events of that Spring Festival night in considerable detail.

After reading it, Han Linfeng passed the letter to Su Luoyun.

Luoyun read it over twice. Han Linfeng asked, “What do you make of it?”

Su Luoyun said with certainty, “It seems you’ve entered the race, and become a horse that old Master You thinks very highly of.”

Han Linfeng let out a short laugh. Luoyun’s way of putting it was blunt and a little rough — but it was, in essence, exactly right.

It seemed that his display of power that night — cutting down several men — had shown You Shanyue his potential.

The old gentleman was quite willing to place a wager on Han Linfeng as a dark horse who had appeared out of nowhere, even as he maintained his bet on Qiu Zhen.

But Han Linfeng was not satisfied with that. He intended to drive Qiu Zhen completely off the track — to eliminate any possibility of anyone wagering on him again.