Su Tan’er had been troubled about something lately.

It was a private trouble, and for her, this particular feeling was still fairly unfamiliar. Ever since the major family matters had been settled, these past few days, whenever it crossed her mind, she would find her face flushing. She hadn’t spoken much about it even to Cousin Danhong, but in her heart she’d been forcing down her embarrassment, trying hard to think things through.

If only she hadn’t run off on their wedding night…

She was regretting it now. In life, many things could never be foreseen in how they’d unfold or where they’d lead, and so regret, in truth, was a rather useless emotion—but since what weighed on her mind had nothing to do with business, after much anxious deliberation, all she could do was purse her lips and blame herself for her own lack of foresight and immaturity.

Either way, it was a blow she’d have to take sooner or later—she’d thought it through back then too, and in the end had still bolted, unable to help herself, though looking back now she could no longer remember what she’d been thinking at the time. If only she’d simply closed her eyes and endured it that night, resigned to whatever came, she wouldn’t be tormenting herself daily over such an embarrassing matter now.

Consummating the marriage… after all, it needed the right mood, the right natural moment to arise. But these past days had been consumed with family business, and now that the results she needed had already been achieved, there was still plenty else to keep busy with. Her husband probably assumed she’d still be occupied like this for a while yet—he was a decent, upright man, and now that things between them had settled into a comfortable rhythm, he wasn’t the type to suddenly decide one day to push her down onto the bed. In fact, if he really did do such a thing right now, she wouldn’t even mind…

But now she had no choice but to think this through and plan for it herself. Between husband and wife… surely they couldn’t drag this on past the whole winter. Yet when she really considered the phrase “between husband and wife” from this angle, she had to admit that the relationship the two of them now had was one she herself had initiated, and which had grown from there. She’d always thought that so long as things had the shape of a proper household and she treated her husband well, that was enough. But thinking on it now, when it came to truly fulfilling her role as a wife, she… really hadn’t lived up to it at all.

Still, she wasn’t the type to spend all day moping in self-pity. Her years in business had toughened her with a certain resolve. After several days of anguishing over it, her first instinct, naturally, was that she’d have to solve this herself. Of course, this wasn’t something she could simply lay bare and discuss openly with her husband either—she still had her pride, after all, and now, worrying over Ning Yi as she was, she cared all the more about how she appeared in his eyes.

In any case, the problem needed solving. It was a bit troublesome, but once her mind got working, it was no match for this young woman with the bearing of a formidable businesswoman. That morning, upon waking, she’d hit on an idea—one that might seem absurd or wildly excessive to an ordinary person, but to Su Tan’er, it was no different from making a decisive call in the marketplace. With the same resolve she’d bring to commanding a deal worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, she decisively settled on this little plan. She came home early at midday, then had Chan’er, Juan’er, and Xing’er all sent off on errands, while also arranging for the servants and guards of the neighboring courtyards to be occupied elsewhere, ensuring none of them would come swarming over on short notice. Once everything was in place, she gritted her teeth and set to work.

She carefully studied the structure of the small building, then carried dry, thin sticks of firewood from the woodshed and piled them up around it. At first she’d considered a great many things—the fire needed to burn evenly, the point of ignition needed careful thought, and whether it should look like an accident. But arson clearly wasn’t her forte; she shook her head and thought: never mind all that—it’s my own house, if I want to burn it down, I’ll burn it down. No one’s to question me about it afterward—who would dare say a word?

In the quiet of the afternoon, this young woman, head of the Su family’s main branch, went about her furtive business with tense concentration. Then, something occurring to her, she ran into her husband’s room, apparently intending to do something else there as well.

Outside the door, Ning Yi pressed close in puzzlement, watching through the gap as the woman inside threw open his cabinets, hurriedly pulling things out to examine and sort through.

“Brushes, ink, paper, inkstone, clothes—oh, this is… an essay husband wrote before?”

“A fan… this one should still be kept…”

“This robe… never mind, burn it…”

“What’s written on this one…”

“A painting… a diagram…”

“A storybook… hm, should this be burned or not?”

She sorted through things while muttering to herself. Anything she decided was worth keeping, she moved farther away from the back window; old clothes and the like she simply tossed onto the windowsill. She fetched the brush rack and hung a few writing brushes on it. She found an inkstone Ning Yi had used, thought better of it, and swapped it for one that had barely been touched, poured in some tea, and rubbed the inkstick a few times. A large stack of storybooks she first carried to the far side of the room away from the window, but after a moment’s thought, she gathered them all back up again and put them on the doomed table by the window. Watching this, Ning Yi felt a pang of regret—there were a few he hadn’t even finished reading yet.

Once she’d more or less sorted everything, she huffed and puffed her way through rearranging the furniture in the room, and once done, wiped the sweat from her brow and nodded, satisfied. Seeing her about to come out, Ning Yi quickly slipped away, making his way with great interest to the empty courtyard next door, where he stepped up onto a pile of earthen bricks in the corner and climbed up onto the wall to watch the goings-on behind the building.

Before long, Su Tan’er, coughing, came over carrying a lit stick of firewood in both hands. The stick was fairly large and apparently not fully dried, and hollow besides—one end ablaze, the other end pouring smoke from a small hole. Su Tan’er had evidently grabbed it thinking it would serve as a torch, and was now choking on the smoke, squinting and waving her hand about, thoroughly uncomfortable.

Ning Yi covered his face, laughing so hard he could barely stand it.

Su Tan’er, decisive as ever, wasted no time and set the piled-up firewood alight bundle by bundle, brow furrowed in concentration, though the smoke kept getting in her way. Most of the building was wooden, so with this kind of ignition, a fire catching was all but guaranteed. Su Tan’er went ahead and lit two of the window frames as well, tossed the fat, smoke-belching stick of firewood that had been tormenting her through the small hole in the window, then clapped her hands clean. Ning Yi rather liked the crisp, decisive way she clapped her hands—but at that same moment, a roof tile on the wall shifted slightly. He reached out to steady himself, and in the next instant, froze.

He glanced toward Su Tan’er, only to find her looking straight back at him. Her delicate, oval face wore an expression of pure shock, her lips pressed together as though about to purse into a rabbit’s mouth—the once composed and cultured woman now wore an expression of sheer, catastrophic panic.

Ning Yi, half his head poking over the wall, held her gaze for about half a second before his first move was to duck his head back down without a moment’s hesitation, his cheeks bulging with suppressed laughter. The most important thing right now was to get away, but his foot suddenly slipped—the pile of earthen bricks, having sat there a long while, had a loose corner—and he tumbled to the ground in a heap, nearly twisting his ankle in the process. Still, he walked off, stifling his laughter the whole way.

…

Ning Yi lingered on the nearby path for about two minutes, leaning against a wall to process the whole delightfully absurd scene he’d just witnessed, while also making sure no one else was coming by, so the fire in the pavilion could keep burning a bit longer. Su Tan’er hadn’t come chasing after him either, and it was hard to predict her mood at this point. Of course, if the first emotion he displayed upon seeing her later turned out to be uncontrollable laughter, then the odds of an actual “murder of one’s own husband” tragedy occurring in this courtyard tonight would probably exceed eighty percent.

A smart man ought to know when to bring out his sense of humor, when to be serious, when to look baffled, when to act utterly devastated… Still, it really was funny… ha ha ha ha…

He mentally spent all the laughter he owed himself in advance, and by the time he emerged, his face bore little expression at all. Two servants passing by were sternly stopped by him. “Hey, where are you two headed?”

“Ah, young master, we just finished delivering something and are heading back to report to Steward Zhou.”

“Delivery’s done?”

“Yes.”

“I might need to go out for a bit later. No need to report back to Steward Zhou for now—go to the side gate and get a carriage ready for me. Come with me to take care of something… though, if I haven’t shown up within half an hour, that means everything’s fine, and you can go report to Steward Zhou then.”

By now, no one in the household dared to take Ning Yi lightly. The two servants agreed at once and turned to leave. Ning Yi glanced back and judged that the fire had probably built up a fair amount by now. Just then, he heard his wife’s voice ring out from over there.

“Help, someone, help! Fire, fire! Someone come quickly…”

Her voice, he noted, sounded remarkably composed.

…

The fire had started, and the two servants who’d caught wind of it nearby were the first to rush in through the courtyard gate. The flames were still confined to the back of the building for the moment, but smoke had already begun billowing out from the front. In the middle of the courtyard, Su Tan’er stood frowning. “There’s a fire, hurry and think of something to put it out!”

“Yes, ma’am—buckets, water vats—where are the water vats, young mistress…?”

“Someone, help, fire!”

The two servants were momentarily flustered, but the young mistress who’d just taken over the main branch’s business was someone accustomed to handling weighty matters, and she kept her composure. “Wait, wait. There’s no water in the kitchen… You two, go call for more people, and hurry and get the things out of the room before they burn! Quickly.”

As she spoke, another servant came running up. Su Tan’er said, “Hurry, you go too…” Before she’d even finished speaking, Ning Yi’s figure had already appeared at the courtyard gate. She had no way of registering her husband’s expression at that moment—her face simply flushed abruptly, her eyes widening in a brief daze before she turned to the servant. “You go help too!”

She turned her head back to look at the smoking building, her chest rising and falling, her heart pounding wildly.

Then Ning Yi came running over too. “What happened! What happened! How did this catch fire!” His face was full of shock and grief. Hearing this tone from him, Su Tan’er too flinched slightly and glanced his way, only to see Ning Yi panting, brow furrowed. “How—how did this catch fire…”

As he said this, he glanced at her, and Su Tan’er’s face flushed crimson again. She turned away, forcing herself into her professional business demeanor. “I—I don’t know either, it just suddenly caught fire, maybe… while no one was around, I heated some water, and then… then I didn’t put it out properly… I was just resting a moment ago…”

“Ah.” Ning Yi nodded, and after a moment of silence, said, “Er… well, it’s winter, the air’s dry, fires happening… it’s pretty normal, actually.” Grasping for something to say, he noticed one of the servants dashing out of the little kitchen nearby with a water bucket, calling out to another servant, “A-Shan, there’s only two buckets of water left here! Go check the courtyard next door…”

The man made to rush toward the building, and Ning Yi ran over. “What are you doing?”

“P-putting out the fire…”

“Two buckets won’t put out a fire like this—move things first, move the things out! Find some bedsheets, soak them so they won’t catch…”

“Right…” The servant nodded, dumped an entire bucket of water over his own head, and charged straight in.

The flames blazed fiercely, smoke billowing upward, as servants and maids came running one after another, carrying things out from the building. Su Tan’er and Ning Yi stood in the middle of the courtyard, the girl’s expression stern and focused, brow furrowed, though she barely glanced Ning Yi’s way. Their voices rang out amid a chorus of shouting.

“Get that chair out first… cough cough…”

“There’s a box by the headboard…”

“Never mind the eight-immortals table!”

“The books, the books—those bamboo scrolls, right, get those…”

“Put the things over there under the eaves for now…”

“Chan’er’s things! Right… quickly, quickly, be careful they don’t catch fire…”

“Anyone burned, go draw ten taels of silver for medicine later…”

“Everyone gets a reward…”

Amid all the bustle, Ning Yi called out instructions, directing the servants on what to carry where, while Su Tan’er pointed and gestured, having the servants set things down on the other side of the courtyard. Firefighting was already underway, with people running back and forth carrying buckets and basins of water. Before long, Chan’er and the others came hurrying over as well, calling out, “What happened, how did it catch fire?” A steward, apparently having missed seeing Su Tan’er resting nearby and Ning Yi already helping fight the fire, came rushing in shouting, “How did this catch fire, how did this happen! Was anyone hurt…?” making the whole afternoon that much livelier.

“Well… it’s winter, the air’s dry, fires happening is pretty normal…” Ning Yi splashed a bucket of water onto the flames, then walked over and patted the steward’s shoulder. “Everyone’s in a rush and on edge right now, no need to keep asking why. Less talking, more doing—here, take this bucket and go help put the fire out.”

Over by the courtyard gate, Chan’er came running in carrying a basin, along with several other maids. Su Tan’er called out, “Chan’er, don’t go over there, you’ll get burned.” Chan’er turned her head. “It’s fine.” The basin clattered to the ground with a bang, water splashing everywhere, rolling about wildly amid the general shouting, and once again everything descended into chaos…

…

After the fire had burned and then been doused with water, the smell of smoke and dampness lingered in the air. By the time the setting sun cast its warm golden glow, the small building—more than half charred black, part of it collapsed—still stood in the courtyard, though it had clearly been rendered uninhabitable.

The courtyard was cluttered with all manner of things that had been carried out—tables, chairs, cabinets, and various odds and ends. Servants were cleaning up at the scene, and several relatives had gradually arrived; Su Yu and Su Boyong had also come by just now. The important figures were all talking over one another, while the lesser figures didn’t dare make much noise. Under the stewards’ direction, servants began moving the salvaged items into the other building on the far side of the courtyard. Chan’er was to be housed in the room next to Juan’er’s and Xing’er’s, and this was duly arranged. As the servants carried things over, Chan’er, along with Juan’er and Xing’er, began sorting through the items that had been rescued.

Her own belongings had a clear place to go; but many of the other items had a somewhat more ambiguous status.

When the steward went to consult Su Tan’er earlier, she’d been busy talking with an uncle, and had simply pointed offhandedly. “Put them on the table in the bedroom for now.” The steward had done exactly that.

Those were some of Ning Yi’s odds and ends, and the room she’d pointed to was her own bedroom. Of course, at the time she’d said it as no more than an idle answer, and it hadn’t drawn anyone’s attention.

She was busy, after all, and no one was going to notice that this offhand remark, made amid such chaos, might have carried some deliberate intent behind it. She was simply busy.

As the sun sank lower, lamps and torches were lit around the courtyard. By the time dinner was nearly ready, the servants handling the cleanup were told to stop work for the time being. In the small courtyard, a certain strange atmosphere began to settle in.

There was nothing left sitting out in the courtyard anymore. Even the chair Ning Yi had been sitting on had been pulled along with him into the dining hall. It was around this time that some people began to notice that most of the earlier items had, in fact, all been temporarily stuffed into Su Tan’er’s room, leaving it now rather cramped and cluttered.

No one quite understood how it had ended up this way. In the courtyard earlier, Su Tan’er had been busy attending to the many relatives and hadn’t directed anyone on where to carry anything; Ning Yi, meanwhile, had been busy with other cleanup matters. Somehow, gradually, the items had simply vanished from the courtyard—exactly whose idea it had been, whose instruction had set it in motion, no one, thinking back, could quite trace.

Su Tan’er went and looked at the cramped, cluttered room, seeming somewhat troubled, though she said nothing. Ning Yi went to have a look as well, and seemed equally troubled—he had no idea where he was supposed to sleep tonight. Chan’er, Juan’er, and Xing’er went to look too, and likewise had no idea how to even begin sorting it out.

No one could say exactly when the atmosphere had started to turn strange.

What lay ahead might well be an awkward evening. Then again, it might turn out to be an interesting one, too…