Having said all she needed to say, Chu Linlang rose, put on her veiled hat, and led her maids out of the restaurant.

There were a few things Chu Linlang had not told the second Miss Xie — namely, that she had already commissioned someone to draft a disclosure letter and had it delivered to the Xie family elders.

Xie Youran had been right about one thing: how could a salt merchant’s daughter with no backing hope to contend with a family of the capital’s officialdom — all the more so when the woman’s elder sister had married a prince of the imperial blood?

But a barefoot person has nothing to fear from someone wearing shoes. Before things came to an open break, it was far better to reveal her survival cards early, so that all parties would exercise some restraint in their conduct.

In that letter, she had made it plainly clear to the Xie family: the evidence of Xie Youran’s private affair had already been drawn up in formal legal complaint documents.

She had witnessed enough back in her hometown — there were cases of men driving their legitimate wives to death before taking a new wife, let alone now, when Zhou Sui’an had entangled himself with a family of this standing.

She had best have smooth sailing through these coming days. If something untoward happened to her, people she had paid to stand ready would deliver the legal complaint to the Court of Judicial Review — and the scandal of the Zhou and Xie families conspiring to drive the legitimate wife to her death would be written up as announcements and plastered across the entire city.

When they left the restaurant that day, Xia He and Dongxue, walking behind Chu Linlang, were both stupefied.

Their Young Mistress had been making quiet, solitary inquiries and arrangements all this while. The two of them had only known that she had been pawning quite a bit of jewelry these past days and going to many different places, distributing money to people everywhere.

They had not imagined that in the end, their Young Mistress had been laying the groundwork for how to divorce Master Zhou.

For a moment, both of them were so anxious they were nearly in tears, urging their Young Mistress to proceed with caution.

Chu Linlang let out a slow sigh and explained their current situation to the two maids in brief.

Given how things had reached this point, weeping was the most useless thing she could do. She needed to plan carefully for what path her life should take going forward.

But on one matter — one that didn’t even require thinking about — she would never become any man’s concubine.

Hearing this, Dongxue stopped trying to dissuade her. But Xia He still couldn’t accept it. There was clearly still room to maneuver — why wasn’t her Young Mistress looking for a way through, instead of stubbornly insisting on divorce?

Chu Linlang had no desire to return to the city just yet. Since she was already out, she may as well take a stroll along the Wangshan Lake nearby and let her mood settle a little.

Once they reached the lakeside, growing impatient with Xia He’s continued coaxing, she used the cold as an excuse and sent the two of them back to the carriage to fetch a warming brazier and a cape, and to bring a folding chair as well.

Left alone by the lake, she happened to see an autumn grasshopper fall into the water. The small autumn insect was struggling desperately with its delicate legs on the surface.

A grasshopper after autumn’s end — its life would be short regardless. There was no real reason to save it.

Yet watching the grasshopper still refusing to accept its fate and fighting with everything it had, Linlang felt a twinge of wistful recognition — it reminded her rather of herself.

Moved to pity, she decided to fish it out. At the very least it could still hop around on the dry grass for a few more days.

But the lakeshore mud was thick and deep. She looked down at the newly made silver-thread embroidered shoes on her feet, and decided to take off her shoes to wade in — at worst she could peel off her dirty socks afterward and put the shoes back on.

So she gathered her skirts, removed her shoes, and stepped one foot at a time toward the water’s edge…

Just as she was drawing close to the lake, a sudden gust of air came from behind her. Before she could react, someone seized her around the waist with one arm and yanked her sharply backward.

Completely unprepared, Chu Linlang was so startled she let out a scream. In her struggle, the mossy lakeshore — slippery even on a normal day — proved treacherous for the oxhide-soled boots of the person who had grabbed her. The attacker lost his footing, and the two of them tumbled into the lake together, his arm still wrapped around her slender waist.

As her whole body plunged into the water, it rushed into her mouth and nose.

This was much like the time in her youth when she had been dragged into a lake and nearly drowned.

Ever since that incident — when the pestilent wretch had held her head underwater — Chu Linlang, despite having known how to swim, had never dared enter the water again.

Now that terror surged back without warning, throwing her into such panic that she forgot even how to hold her breath, and could only thrash helplessly at the person who had pulled her in with her.

Fortunately, the man had extraordinary arm strength. He braced himself from behind, hoisted her up by the waist, and said: “The water is not deep here — don’t panic…”

Lifted upright, she steadied herself and found that indeed her feet could touch the bottom. She immediately turned her head to see which blundering troublemaker had pulled her in.

But the moment she looked, she couldn’t help but draw a sharp intake of breath — the culprit who had set this whole disaster in motion was yet again a familiar face.

She ground her teeth and demanded: “Situ Sheng… what are you trying to do? Silence me by killing me?”

Situ Sheng frowned at her with undisguised irritation: “Wasn’t it you, Madam, who was trying to end your own life? And now you’re worried about being silenced?”

As it turned out, Situ Sheng had spotted Chu Linlang from a distance as she came out of the restaurant and drifted like a wandering spirit all the way to the lakeshore.

After she had sent her two maids away, she stood staring blankly at the water — then took off her shoes and began walking toward the lake’s edge.

Any person witnessing this scene would have assumed she had lost the will to live and intended to drown herself. Acting on an impulse of goodwill, he had rushed forward — only to be dragged into the lake by her, leaving them both soaked through.

Chu Linlang knew there had been a misunderstanding and found the situation both exasperating and faintly absurd. She tried to explain that she had not been trying to drown herself but to rescue a grasshopper.

But Situ Sheng simply stared at her with an inscrutable expression, looking very much as though he thought she was taking him for a fool.

At this moment, Xia He and Dongxue — who had gone to fetch the warming brazier and the folding chair — returned to the lakeside, just in time to catch Situ Sheng’s remark about Madam Chu throwing herself into the lake.

This sent things into an uproar at once. The two maids flung down everything in their hands and came running to the water’s edge, wailing.

Chu Linlang truly could not find enough mouths to explain herself — she had only been trying to save a grasshopper. How had it turned into everyone assuming she no longer wished to live?

Meanwhile, Situ Sheng, piecing together fragments from Xia He and the others’ crying and shouting, roughly gathered that Madam Chu was seeking a divorce from Master Zhou — and had been so distraught she had jumped into the lake.

Having worked this out, the glance he directed at Chu Linlang turned noticeably colder — rather like… looking at a pile of dung that would never become gold.

“Madam Chu, do you truly believe you cannot live without a man?”

Chu Linlang was nearly dizzied by fury. She forcefully shook off the two maids who were trying to support her arms, and pointed a long finger directly at Situ Sheng’s dripping chest: “As long as Lord Situ would stop sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong, I’ll live to a ripe old age just fine!”

She was hardly about to credit this man with good intentions. Could it be the pestilent wretch still bore a grudge and had been waiting to get revenge for the time she had kicked him into the water in their youth? Or was he seizing the chance to silence her permanently and eliminate a future source of trouble?

Situ Sheng, being pointed at in the chest with a single finger, retreated a few steps backward. He pursed his lips and decided it was beneath him to argue with a woman, turning to walk toward the bank.

After thrashing about in the water, his clothes were soaked through. His manservant quickly brought him a long robe. Perhaps he was still in a foul mood, but Situ Sheng showed not the slightest sign of self-consciousness — standing with his back to the lake, he calmly stripped off his wet clothes and changed.

By rights, Chu Linlang should have turned away and averted her eyes out of propriety.

She had intended to do exactly that. But out of instinct and a flicker of idle curiosity, she couldn’t resist stealing a glance at his strong back.

But that one glance froze her eyes in place, and she found she could not look away.

His back was powerfully built, yet covered with thick, vivid red scars — fresh enough that the wounds still looked new, the color of the marks unmistakably recent.

Word had it that earlier, in order to “make amends to scholarly dignity,” he had endured punishment alongside a certain official and had worked through the better part of the Court of Judicial Review’s instruments of punishment. So the presence of injuries on his body was hardly remarkable.

But Chu Linlang clearly remembered: on his back, near the shoulder blade, he had borne a vivid red birthmark in the shape of the character for “eight.”

Now, where the birthmark should have been, there was only a savage, mottled burn scar — and the red birthmark itself was gone entirely.

She even began to wonder whether she had simply misremembered what she saw last time.

But when Situ Sheng finished dressing and turned around, fixing her with a long, searching look, Chu Linlang’s breath caught in her throat — and in that instant, she seemed to understand.

Could it be that because she had recognized the birthmark last time, he had taken advantage of the opportunity of being punished to brand it off with a hot iron?

Even having a mother who had lost her mind was not truly shameful enough to constitute a scandal.

Yet Situ Sheng had gone to such calculated, painstaking lengths to sever himself from his former identity — showing a ruthlessness toward his own body that genuinely unsettled Chu Linlang.

The shock of it was so great that, under Situ Sheng’s predatory, wolf-like gaze bearing down on her, she couldn’t help but shrink back and retreat two more steps in the water.

This caused Xia He and the others to misread the situation again, assuming she had another moment of despair, and they broke into sobbing cries of “Young Mistress, please don’t do anything rash!”

By the time she finally waded ashore, Situ Sheng had already built a fire on the bank. He said to Chu Linlang: “I’ll have someone rig up a cord to hang something across. Dry yourself by the fire — and if there’s no change of clothes in your carriage, get inside and I’ll send someone to buy some.”

Chu Linlang indicated that she had a clothing trunk in the carriage, and that there was no need to bother with the fire. She wanted nothing more right now than to put as much distance as possible between herself and Situ Sheng.

Situ Sheng stepped in front of her path yet again, and said in an entirely pleasant tone: “I think it would be better for Madam to warm herself by the fire before leaving.”

Clothes could be changed. But her long hair was completely soaked through — going back in this condition would invite unwanted talk.

His words were mild, but his manner carried an unmistakable firmness that allowed no refusal.

Chu Linlang understood that he was likely using the moment to say something to her, and gave a quiet nod.

Once she had changed and was sitting by the fire, Situ Sheng kept his word: he used his own cape as a hanging curtain around her to provide privacy, then seated himself on a stone just on the other side of the cloth barrier and spoke to her through it.

As for Xia He and Dongxue, they were sent far enough away by Situ Sheng’s attendants that they couldn’t get close at all.

With the crackle of burning wood as a backdrop, Situ Sheng’s voice came through: “Aside from ending your life — what other plans do you have?”

Chu Linlang had no patience for explaining herself again, and said curtly: “This is my family’s affair. Why is a lord official as curious about such things as a gossiping woman?”

Situ Sheng turned to look at the curtain. By the light of the campfire, the silhouette of the woman on the other side was cast clearly against the cloth — a graceful, shapely outline. At this moment, she was lifting her slender arm to rake fingers through her wet, trailing hair, coaxing it to dry faster.

That silhouette was exquisite, the posture alluring. He found himself thinking that perhaps this was the vision her husband saw every night, standing before the bed curtains — a hazy, captivating sight…

Situ Sheng turned his head away and looked elsewhere. He cast his gaze downward, and said in a low, measured voice: “Master Zhou is inconstant by nature. This time, the person he has entangled himself with is not one you can easily contend against. I’m afraid that no matter how patient and accommodating you remain, this will not come to a good end…”

Before his words had fully landed, the cloth curtain was yanked down in one swift motion, and Chu Linlang stepped up close to Situ Sheng, her voice tight and urgent: “How do you know whose family he has become entangled with?”

They had not mentioned the Xie family at all just now. How had he come to know?

Situ Sheng raised an eyebrow and looked at Chu Linlang, hair loose and unbound around her.

Her face was naturally small. In ordinary times, the way women wore their hair pinned up made her appear somewhat older than she was. But now, framed by a cascade of dark unbound hair, she looked all the more delicate and lovely — her robe ungathered at the waist, making her frame seem slight and slender. A pity only that her bright, expressive eyes lacked any quality of softness — the fierce light blazing from them now was like a flame burning against the skin.

He looked away again, and said evenly: “Master Zhou was not particularly discreet in his conduct. On a few occasions, their meetings were witnessed by me.”

Chu Linlang bit her lip and pressed further: “Apart from you — who else has seen?”

Situ Sheng did not try to conceal it, and answered honestly: “General Li — the one you met earlier.”

Chu Linlang paused a moment before it clicked: he meant General Li Chengyi, who had helped her find carriages on the day they arrived in the capital.

Recalling now how he had looked her over with such a meaningful gaze that day, she finally understood — it had been the look a person gives to a woman already being discarded.

They had known all along. Her husband had found a higher branch to climb to, and she was likely to become a cast-off wife — and they had stood by, waiting to watch the spectacle.

The thought of it caused all the frustration she had long been pressing down to suddenly catch like a spark, impossible to contain any longer. She fixed Situ Sheng with a fierce glare and said in a low voice: “Why didn’t you tell me when we entered the city that day? Are all you men like this — covering for one another, conspiring over things that can’t bear the light of day?”

Situ Sheng picked up a dry bit of grass and turned it slowly between his fingers, unhurried: “I believe I did warn you once already — in a prosperous place like the capital, how many people can truly hold fast to their principles? You should have considered your bedmate’s character long before now. This day was always going to come. Why hold it against others?”

Chu Linlang opened her mouth and closed it again — and found she had nothing to say.

After all, it had not been Situ Sheng who had encouraged Zhou Sui’an to sleep with the young lady from the prominent family. And back when they were at the mountain temple in Lianzhou, Situ Sheng had indeed warned her not to let her husband climb too high…

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but lean back against a nearby tree trunk, and laughed at herself with a bitter edge: “You’re right. How can I blame anyone else…”

Situ Sheng watched her, lost in a dazed stupor, her fair white face suffused with a sense of helpless dejection.

He felt he had already lingered here far too long. In truth, when he had first spotted her standing alone by the water’s edge earlier, the thought had crossed his mind: if she was truly choosing to end her life, it might not be such a bad thing.

The birthmark on his back had already been removed. With her death, there would likely be no one left who could connect him to the orphan he once was in the port of the Jiang River — the cleanest and simplest outcome.

Yet when she took off her shoes and prepared to step into the water, he had rushed forward without thinking…

Reflecting on it now, it was probably because her situation at this moment resembled so closely that of his mother — who had lived only for love, been willing to die for it, and in the end was left utterly alone with no one to care for her, descending into madness and dying forgotten, having entirely forgotten that she still had a young son…

This thought prompted him to speak again — with what he felt was the full measure of his duty: “If you truly cannot find a reason to go on and still intend to end your life, no one can stop you. But remember — you still have a daughter…”

By now, Chu Linlang had already gathered herself. She had never been one to linger too long in sorrow.

It seemed Situ Sheng did not know that Yuan’er was not her biological child. Seeing that he appeared to feel some measure of sympathy for her plight, her mind was already moving swiftly, working out what her next move should be.

With that thought settled, she dropped to her knees on the ground before him, tears streaming down a face like a pear blossom in rain, and said: “My lord — you are now the esteemed Vice President of the Court of Judicial Review, a magistrate and protector of the common people. If your humble servant should meet with any misfortune going forward, you must see justice done on my behalf!”

Situ Sheng had not been remotely prepared for how quickly Chu Linlang could shift her expression. He looked down at the pale stretch of her neck visible above the collar of her robe, and said in a low voice: “You… want me to come catch your husband in the act with you?”

Chu Linlang wiped at her tears and immediately replied: “Oh, nothing so dramatic — there is no need for such a scene. But I am currently in the middle of negotiating the terms of a divorce with the other party, and I only fear that if the talks break down, someone might turn around and bully this helpless and defenseless woman. You know, in this entire capital, you are the only incorruptible and righteous official I know. I am begging you, my lord, to stand up for me should the need arise! If you will not promise me this, I shall remain kneeling and not rise!”

Hearing this, Situ Sheng’s eyes narrowed slightly: “What terms have you negotiated — and what makes you fear the talks breaking down?”

After Chu Linlang had laid it out in full, Situ Sheng was quiet for a good while before saying: “Your asking price is far too high. Both the Zhou family and the Xie family will find it very difficult to agree…”

Chu Linlang had already thought this through. She lowered her voice: “When you’re doing business, you can’t give away your floor price right away, can you? I set it high on purpose — to leave room for bargaining back and forth later…”

Situ Sheng continued his silence, then said coldly, grinding the back of his teeth: “For someone who was just talked into throwing herself into a lake because she’s been abandoned by her husband — you’ve managed to strike first with your demands for money and shops, and now you’re roping me in as your backer. Madam Chu doesn’t quite seem like a woman broken by heartbreak.”