When Juan’er told her the news, Xiao Chan had been folding the newborn baby’s little clothes, and the look on Juan’er’s face genuinely frightened her.

For now, this was something that could only be told to her — telling Xing’er wouldn’t do any good, and there was no way to report it to their mistress at a time like this either. Xiao Chan found it hard to believe at first, her mind going blank for a moment, but Juan’er never spoke of things she wasn’t sure of. Even though there was, for the moment, no way to properly think it through, the two of them acted on instinct, hurrying toward the side gate of the Su residence, trying to find Ning Yi and bring him back.

Xiao Chan knew where Ning Yi had gone, but at this moment, she couldn’t decide whether to go check the road or have a carriage readied to go out. Walking along, she was nearly in tears.

On his way back, Ning Yi came across the two young women just as they’d stepped outside.

The moment Xiao Chan saw him, she froze, looking as if she might cry, took a step back the way she’d come, then turned around again. Juan’er stood off to the side, head lowered. The scene was rather strange, and Ning Yi blinked, standing there for a moment. He already had things on his mind — he’d realized by now what that look from Su Wenxing and the others yesterday had meant — but the tail had only just been caught, so nothing serious should have come of it. What he couldn’t understand was why Xiao Chan and Juan’er were acting like this. After a good while, Juan’er finally gave Xiao Chan’s sleeve a quiet tug. “What’s wrong?” Ning Yi asked.

Xiao Chan clenched her fists and stood there a moment, head down, then finally looked up — not quite at Ning Yi’s face, but at his sash — and said, “Young Master, they said, they said…” She started the sentence but couldn’t get any further. Juan’er reached over and poked her in the side; Xiao Chan glanced at her, then finally continued, “They said Young Master’s been keeping a woman outside — a… a reformed courtesan named Nie Yunzhu, Young Master…”

She looked up at Ning Yi, her eyes full of questioning and uncertainty, tears about to spill over. Ning Yi fell silent, looking first at her, then at Juan’er. “And then what?”

“They called some of the aunts and cousins from the second and third branches, and… anyway, those women… went out to give that Miss Nie trouble…” Sensing how conflicted Xiao Chan must be feeling right now, Juan’er, who had kept her head down the whole time, finally looked up, though rather timidly, and added, “At least they didn’t go bother the young mistress.”

“That’s rare of them — actually did something halfway sensible for once.” Hearing this, Ning Yi couldn’t help but let out a short laugh, though it vanished from his face almost instantly. He patted Xiao Chan on the shoulder, then pulled her briefly into a one-armed embrace — right there at the side gate of the compound, which made Xiao Chan’s face flush red at once. “Go on back, both of you. I know what to do now.”

He went back into the Su residence, took a horse, and rode off toward the Qinhuai River. Xiao Chan and Juan’er exchanged a glance at the gate; even now, neither of them had any idea how things would turn out…

…

For Yun Zhu and Jin’er, the whole thing came entirely out of nowhere. They had just returned from Bamboo Record around noon that day. Their lives had always been quiet ones; at that hour, there was no one else at home besides Jin’er’s maid Kou’er, Yun Zhu’s maid Hutao, and her husband Ernu — five people in all. Normally Ernu would help with heavier chores around the place and then head back to his own home not far away with his wife in the evenings. That day, though he hadn’t yet left, when more than twenty people suddenly stormed the gate, the token resistance the five of them could offer amounted to nothing at all.

Besides a group of women from the second and third branches, several of the Su family’s own manservants and guards had come along as well. When the crowd suddenly burst in, Ernu, who had been chopping firewood in the kitchen, dropped his cleaver and grabbed a wooden club to fight back, but was quickly beaten down in a pool of blood. Amid the women’s screams and cries, both Yun Zhu and Jin’er were, for that first instant, utterly stunned — by the whole situation, all at once.

In this era, when the women of a wife’s household went after a man’s mistress kept outside the home, there was a certain built-in sense of righteousness to it — even brought before a magistrate’s court, few officials would side with women like Yun Zhu and Jin’er in a matter of this sort. At most, people might say the man himself had been foolish — what should have been a simple dalliance, left with loose ends he couldn’t tie up cleanly. For Yun Zhu, perhaps she’d braced herself for something like this happening someday, or had witnessed similar things before — but caught in the middle of it now, she was, at first, utterly at a loss. Watching those fierce, hostile women pour in, followed at once by cursing, shoving, and jostling, some part of her understood exactly what this was about, yet most of her mind remained blank, with no idea what to do.

She remembered calling out “Jin’er!” and Jin’er calling back, “What are you doing!” — and after that, everything blurred into a kind of daze. Countless voices rang in her ears without end; someone grabbed her hair, someone struck at her, her face took a couple of blows though she barely registered them, her whole body had gone numb. Someone even tried to tear at her clothes, and all she could do was hold herself tightly. She tried to find Jin’er, but they’d been pulled apart.

Yuan Jin’er, for her part, only managed to struggle for a moment before being swallowed up by the noise. Her usual fiery temper meant little in the face of a mob like this — without Ning Yi’s particular nerve, there was little any single person could do against sheer numbers, and perhaps more to the point, deep down she didn’t feel her side had righteousness on its side here either. When the women first rushed at her, her instinct had been to fight back fiercely — but it was useless soon enough; outnumbered from the start, her hair yanked loose, blows landing on her body, seven or eight hands grabbing at once, struggling accomplished nothing. When she felt someone’s nails rake across her face, a hot, searing pain, she thought her looks were ruined, and burst into tears.

The clamor of shouting turned the street beside the little tower into a spectacle. There weren’t usually many passersby along that road during the day, but before long a crowd had gathered, word of what was happening passing from mouth to mouth. Soon people could see the two women being dragged out, a mob of women cursing and grabbing at them, while others explained the situation further to the onlookers gathering around.

“My cousin just had a baby, and today I hear about this…”

“How outrageous!”

“Just gave birth yesterday, her body’s already weak as it is, who knows how bad this could get for her…”

“That little vixen, shameless!”

“Really, this is just too much…”

Amid the exaggerated retellings, the crowd around them grew increasingly indignant.

“How can something like this be allowed…”

“Drown them in a pig cage…”

“Slash their faces, see if they’ll go around seducing men after that…”

“Douse them in filth first…”

“Pretty enough to look at, who’d have thought they were this kind of woman…”

“It’s exactly women like this who go around seducing men everywhere…”

“Where’s the man in all this, he ought to be dragged over here too!”

The buzz of voices swirled around them, reaching Yun Zhu and Jin’er’s ears as well. Jin’er, having finally managed to grab hold of Yun Zhu, was already crying; Yun Zhu held her tightly, wrapping her arms around them both, jaw clenched, lips pressed shut, trying with everything she had not to break down in tears herself. When someone reached to tear at her clothes again, she finally struck out, which only drew louder curses and another blow to her face. As the women kicked and struck at her, there came a ripping sound — her outer robe had been torn open at the seam. Staggering in the struggle, she fell to the ground; Jin’er let out an anguished cry, but it did no good at all.

“Tear off her clothes, let everyone see!”

“Drown them in a pig cage…”

“Bring that man over here too…”

The crowd had begun egging things on now, the noise growing louder and louder. Yun Zhu felt she could barely make out anything anymore, and then, in the chaos, for one brief moment, she thought she heard the sound of hoofbeats. The noise around her seemed to pause for an instant — but as far as she could see, it was still nothing but countless hands and skirts, herself and Jin’er surrounded in the middle of it all…

When Ning Yi leapt down from his galloping horse, the brawling crowd did indeed fall quiet for a moment — some had already spotted him. A few of the ringleading women exchanged glances; the rest of the crowd, unaware of what was happening, kept up their jeering. Several of the Su family’s guards moved to intercept him, trying to block Ning Yi, who was shoving his way rather roughly through the crowd toward the center.

One of the women shouted loudly, “Son-in-law Ning! You have no business interfering in this! You’d better think about how you’re going to answer for yourself!”

The rest of the women joined in the chorus, shouting “That’s right, exactly!”

“Look what you’ve done!”

“Tan’er only just gave birth…”

“We couldn’t just stand by, so we came to stand up for her!”

Only now did the crowd realize that the scholar who’d just shoved his way in was the very man at the center of it all. One woman moved to grab at him from the front, and at the same moment, a middle-aged guard stepped forward — a man of fairly high standing within the Su household, with some skill in martial arts, roughly on par with Guard Geng, composed and formidable in bearing. He reached out and blocked Ning Yi’s path, a huge, fan-like palm landing on his shoulder. “Young Master.”

The guard was in his thirties or forties, built broad and tall like a wall, while Ning Yi, in his scholar’s robes, looked slight and delicate by comparison — which was exactly why the onlookers behind them had dared to interfere so casually in the first place. The guard had no intention of hurting Ning Yi; he sank his stance, meaning only to push him back and hold him there. But Ning Yi didn’t break stride — as he stepped forward, he swung a backhanded slap at the man without breaking pace.

A sharp crack rang out through the air, blood and teeth flying, and the guard staggered several steps backward before toppling sideways into the Qinhuai River.

The man who’d been pulling at his left arm was dragged several steps forward along with Ning Yi’s momentum before Ning Yi seized him with a reverse grip and flung him aside — the man let out a cry as his body spun through the air and slammed to the ground. All of this happened in the space of a moment; Ning Yi’s steps were remarkably fast, and another guard who rushed at him found himself seized one-handed by the throat, dragged forward several steps, then thrown aside, left coughing violently on the ground with both hands clutched at his neck.

In the blink of an eye, Ning Yi had closed the distance to the women, and there, in the middle of the crowd surrounding them, he saw Yun Zhu struggling to hold together her torn, gaping robe, and Yuan Jin’er kneeling and clutching her, sobbing uncontrollably.

The noise surged up again at once: “Son-in-law Ning, how dare you show up here!”

“You’re the one who did wrong, and now you’re hitting people…”

“Do you have any shame, after what Tan’er’s done for you…”

“Filthy adulterers, beat them to death!”

“You’re nothing but a kept son-in-law, and now you think you can do whatever you please…”

In situations like this, even officials of considerable rank and standing were expected to grit their teeth and hold back — the women had assumed, deep down, that Ning Yi wouldn’t dare act rashly. Yet even believing this, here he was, having charged straight into the thick of it. Word of what Ning Yi had done in Hangzhou had already been circulating for some time, but the fact that he’d always treated his family well was precisely what led them to believe he wouldn’t go too far — his sudden charge in, they assumed, must be mostly bluster. Amid the uproar, one woman shoved her way through the crowd carrying a chamber pot. “Here, here it comes…”

She was one of Su Wenxing’s cousins by marriage, a large, coarse woman known throughout the Su family for her sharp tongue and aggressive manner; she’d been the one to run off and fetch something to humiliate Yun Zhu and Jin’er with. Seeing Ning Yi approaching now, she faltered for a moment, but quickly recovered with a cold snort. “Son-in-law Ning, even if you’ve come, there’s nothing you can do to save them!”

Ning Yi’s expression had turned grim and cold. He had already passed Yun Zhu and Jin’er and was closing straight in on her. Several women tried to grab and pull at him, but could only be dragged along in his wake.

“Put it down!”

He said this even as he kept walking. One of the women had already grabbed hold of his robe; Ning Yi simply backhanded her aside, sending her staggering back. If striking down a few guards had merely surprised everyone, this slap truly stunned the whole crowd — what kind of man behaved so unreasonably? If he’d looked like some butcher or brute, perhaps, but he was dressed in a scholar’s robes, of all things…

Someone shouted, “How dare you!”

The cousin holding the chamber pot froze as well, then began stamping her feet in outrage. “This is beyond the pale! Ning Yi, you—”

“Put it down!”

Ning Yi was already closing in on her.

“Ahh—”

A sharp crack rang out, followed at once by a splash — the woman flung the chamber pot’s contents straight at him, and an instant later, a slap rang across her face, knocking her to the ground. A foul stench spread through the air, the pot clattering noisily across the ground; Ning Yi was drenched down one side of his body, and several people nearby were splattered as well. But this time, the crowd truly fell silent — even Jin’er, still sobbing, froze mid-cry.

Ning Yi stood there, seemingly unbothered by the stench soaking his clothes. The woman on the ground had lost several teeth from the blow, though Ning Yi had actually held back. She spat out blood and teeth, wailed loudly, and began cursing through her broken mouth, the crowd around them starting to shout again as well — until Ning Yi drove a kick into her stomach, cutting her wailing short.

This only stirred the crowd further, voices rising up all around — until suddenly, a flash of fire flickered, and Ning Yi raised his hand. A deafening boom shook the entire scene; several meters away, branches and leaves were blasted from a tree, raining down on the heads of the onlookers. Though he’d been drenched in filth, the firearm had been tucked inside his robe and had stayed dry; he’d fired it into the air. As the woman began to recover her senses and started to wail again, he walked over and pressed the barrel against her forehead — empty of powder and shot now, of course, but still warm from having just been fired.

“Cause any more trouble and I’ll kill you,” he said, each word deliberate. “Believe me or not?”

Whether or not anyone believed him, no one dared make another sound. Even among the onlookers, though some had been muttering, within moments no one dared raise their voice to shout anything more — most of them, it seemed, had decided Ning Yi must simply be out of his mind. After a moment, he stood, turned, and walked back toward Yun Zhu. “Go tell Su Wenxing I’ll be coming to settle accounts with him shortly.”

With that said, he walked a short distance to stand in front of Yun Zhu and Jin’er, gestured somewhat awkwardly at himself, and then, with a faint smile, said, “Is there somewhere I could clean up?”