Chen Yuanwai could not find the words for a moment, and could only laugh awkwardly, expressing that he trusted his own judgment—he felt that Niangzi Chu looked every bit like someone born to attract wealth.

The signage rights were not as expensive as she had made them sound, and if the rent was unsatisfactory, it could still be negotiated.

Chu Linlang had laid everything out plainly, and so she put away her abacus, rose to her feet, smiled faintly, and said: “Chen Yuanwai, you have a nephew serving at the Crown Prince’s side—naturally your connections run wide and your backing is solid, and you can afford to take on large-scale trade. But my brother-in-law and I are small merchants operating on a modest scale. How could we possibly afford signage rights of that caliber? Brother-in-law, don’t you think that’s right?”

Her elder brother-in-law found the conversation veering further and further from propriety—it was making things increasingly uncomfortable for Chen Yuanwai. Fearing that this distinguished guest might storm off in anger, he frantically shot Chu Linlang pointed looks.

But Chu Linlang paid him no mind whatsoever, and continued smiling as she spoke: “Chen Yuanwai has even taken the trouble to find out how many boats I own, so he must also know that my elder sister and I are half-sisters, sharing only a father. The bond between sisters amounts to helping one another when we can, and not overreaching our capabilities when we cannot. My elder sister and I have never had any business dealings together, so if Chen Yuanwai and my brother-in-law find each other agreeable, then I shall simply wish you both a prosperous trade… I have other matters to attend to, so I shall take my leave first!”

With that, she did not spare a glance for her elder sister Chu Jinyin’s embarrassed expression, rose from her seat, and went downstairs.

She bore no resentment toward her elder sister—it was simply that, seeing her brother-in-law’s insatiable greed, if she did not draw a clear line now, she feared that Chen Yuanwai would use him as a handle, and that her elder sister would suffer for her husband’s sake.

If her elder sister blamed her for it and grew distant, that would also be fine.

For the Crown Prince to have dispatched someone and gone to such lengths to set up such an elaborate scheme, the purpose behind it was surely something that could not be spoken openly.

Severing the connection would be better—so as not to implicate her elder sister.

On the way back, Chu Linlang’s heart was heavy with worry. She truly wished she could see Situ Sheng right away and tell him about the Crown Prince sending someone to approach her with the intent of turning her to their side.

After all, he was a man who stood in the court, understood far more than she did, and could see farther ahead.

Unfortunately, Situ Sheng had gone with the people from the Ministry of Finance to inspect the public service fields, and would not be back for the next two days.

Unexpectedly, no sooner had she returned to the residence than her elder sister Chu Jinyin came hurrying after her.

Chu Linlang had assumed she was coming to reproach her for putting her brother-in-law in an awkward position. But instead, Chu Jinyin wore a look of shame and said: “I understood it all—that Chen Yuanwai’s real intention is to get acquainted with Lord Situ! No wonder such a wealthy and powerful merchant would seek out small grain traders like us. Your brother-in-law has always been shortsighted. He was once cheated to the point of nearly losing everything, and yet he still hasn’t learned his lesson. Please don’t take any of this to heart.”

Hearing her elder sister say this, Chu Linlang felt the weight in her chest ease, and she smiled: “As long as Elder Sister understands my difficulties and doesn’t blame me, I could never take out my frustrations on you.”

But at these words, Chu Jinyin did not relax—instead, tears welled in her eyes and she choked out: “But… but your brother-in-law not only signed a rental contract with him early on, he also borrowed additional silver from Chen Yuanwai on top of that, rented several more boats, loaded them full of goods, and is now brimming with confidence and ready to make a great go of it. Yet according to your figures, this venture is destined to be a losing proposition! After you left, Chen Yuanwai turned on your brother-in-law too, stating plainly that in business one speaks only of business—that if the silver cannot be produced when the time comes, he’ll drag him before the magistrate! My two children are still so young… how did they end up with such a wretched father! Sister, you have to save your brother-in-law!”

With that, Chu Jinyin could hold back no longer and dissolved into heaving, broken sobs.

Chu Linlang did not know how to comfort her sister, and could only say helplessly: “I told you long ago—if your husband wants to do any business, he must consult me first. Yet for such a significant matter as this, you’re only telling me now!”

Chu Jinyin lowered her head in shame: “In our household, your brother-in-law makes all the decisions. I cannot manage him.”

Chu Linlang sighed, found the banknotes that her elder sister had just returned to her, and pressed them back into her sister’s hands: “Don’t bother repaying this for now—take it back to manage the emergency. Go home and tell your husband: even if it means accepting a loss, he must not go sailing north. The forces behind Chen Yuanwai are very powerful—he is capable of murder and robbery. Losing a bit of silver is not such a great matter. Cutting ties with Chen Yuanwai as soon as possible—that is the most important thing… You also said that Chen Yuanwai was trying so hard to draw me in purely because of Lord Vice Minister. He has shown me genuine kindness, and I absolutely cannot allow him to become entangled in trouble on my account. For the silver your husband owes him, first return some of the goods, then slowly think of another way. Losing silver is something that can gradually be made up. But if you allow them to get a grip on you, what comes after will no longer be something that silver can resolve.”

At this point, Chu Linlang paused and reminded her elder sister: “If you still won’t listen to me, then I truly am powerless. And if something like this comes up again, I may not be as accommodating to your husband as I was today. By the time I begin to scold people openly, Elder Sister will also be caught in the middle.”

Chu Jinyin knew her third younger sister’s temperament—this was someone who had dared to stand her ground against their own father. The fact that she hadn’t flipped the table today was genuinely a great deal of face given to her as the eldest sister.

Chu Jinyin nodded with some shame, and could only go back first to relay Linlang’s words to her husband.

After seeing her elder sister off, Chu Linlang felt a tightness in her chest, and her stomach began to ache somewhat.

The pain was familiar. Ever since the year of her new marriage, when she had been transporting goods and got frostbitten standing in the snow, every time her monthly cycle came, she would suffer for several days.

When she was young, she had paid it no mind, but now the root illness had taken hold deep. Especially when she was troubled by worries, the reaction would be all the more fierce.

Sometimes when the pain was at its worst, she could not stop herself from wanting to bang her head against the wall. When she went back to her room and looked, her cycle had indeed come.

Xia He prepared a long cloth bag filled with wood ash for her, made up the bed, and after Linlang changed her clothing, she wrapped herself in her quilt, hugging the warming bottle against her stomach, and then drank down a bowl of ginger-sweetened water—and lost every last bit of her energy, wilting onto the bed.

Following her usual pattern, the first two days were always an agony. Chu Linlang could do nothing at all, and could only lie there.

She slept this way until the middle of the night, when the pain intensified further as expected. She got up to relieve herself, and on her way back through the small courtyard afterward, the pain bent her double—she could not straighten her back, and could only crouch down on the ground.

She was in such pain that cold sweat beaded on her forehead and white sparks were beginning to float before her eyes, when someone suddenly asked from behind: “What’s wrong?”

Chu Linlang turned her head with great effort and looked—it was Situ Sheng, returned to the residence at some unknown hour.

The normally nimble and versatile household manager was now in too much pain to even manage a greeting—her lips were trembling.

Situ Sheng immediately bent down and gathered her—curled into a ball as she was—into his arms, and in a few strides carried her to the bedchamber, then turned to go call someone to ready the carriage and fetch a physician.

Chu Linlang had no wish to make a spectacle of herself in the middle of the night, and hurriedly caught hold of his sleeve: “It’s nothing—just… a woman’s common ailment. It’ll pass in two days. There’s no need to call a physician.”

Situ Sheng raised his head and looked at the several bags of wood ash hanging on the washbasin rack, and only then understood what ailment Linlang was referring to. He said nothing more, and turned and went out.

Chu Linlang buried her face in the pillow with some embarrassment.

If it hadn’t been unavoidable, she wouldn’t have said it either. During these days for a woman, the blood was considered inauspicious—men would generally step back from such ill omens and keep their distance of their own accord.

Her former husband, for instance, would move himself to the study without fail during these days and live there for a few days.

Situ Sheng must also have found it inauspicious—that was surely why he had walked out without a word.

She tried with great effort to shift her position in the bedding, but could not find a comfortable posture no matter what she tried.

After a while, only the creak of the room’s door was heard. Chu Linlang turned her head to look—it was Situ Sheng, now changed into casual clothes, coming in carrying a wooden tray bearing a small earthen pot in one hand, and his own pillow tucked under the other arm.

Chu Linlang poked a head of tousled hair out from under the covers and stared at him, asking quietly: “What are you… doing?”

His appearing in her courtyard at midnight before had been easy enough to explain—he had simply come off a day of official duties and wished to return to the residence to seek out a bit of warmth and comfort from her.

But now she had plainly told him her cycle had come, and he was still coming in with his pillow tucked under his arm, looking for all the world as though he intended to spend the night—what did that mean?

Could it be that he had some unspeakable predilection? Though she really had heard that certain men had the preference for exactly this sort of thing…

While Chu Linlang was clicking her tongue at the thought, she also resolved: if he truly dared to attempt something so brazen, he couldn’t blame her for being impolite—she would kick him out of bed and sweep him out the door!

But when she tested the waters with her words, Situ Sheng looked at her with a strange expression: “Niangzi Chu truly is well-informed—she knows of all sorts of curious and unusual things…”

With that, he lifted the lid of the earthen pot that had been kept warm. Inside were three patches of medicinal plaster, steaming with heat.

“The imperial physician I had called for you last time said you suffer from cold in the body, and that days like these would surely be an ordeal. So I asked him to prescribe a few medicinal plasters for you. Several of the ingredients were somewhat difficult to procure, which is why they were brought only just now. The physician said these plasters must be replaced after two hours, and doing so during the day would be more convenient. But you couldn’t wait, so rest easy and sleep—when it’s time to change them, I will put the new ones on for you.”

Ah, so that was it… Chu Linlang realized she had wrongly accused the lord, and had even said such bold and startling things aloud, handing Situ Sheng yet another amusing tale to laugh at her with.

Now her stomach hurt, her head hurt, and she could only laugh dryly as she burrowed back into the covers and refused to come out.

But Situ Sheng would not let the little turtle retreat into its shell. He handed Chu Linlang one of the softened plasters and had her press it over her navel herself, then arranged his pillow beside Linlang and leaned against the headboard behind her, using his warm palm to massage the eight-hollow points on her lower back.

His fingers, practiced from years of boxing, were remarkably skilled at this—applying pressure with steady, measured depth.

It was hard to say whether it was the plaster taking effect or the massage being so skilled, but the gut-wrenching pain from moments ago gradually eased considerably.

After the massage, Situ Sheng still did not leave. He simply shifted position and wrapped his arms around Linlang from behind, letting her lie in the broad crook of his arm.

Chu Linlang quietly urged him to go, saying: “Don’t you know that a man who gets too close to a woman during her blood days will bring misfortune upon himself? Better to stay away from me!”

Situ Sheng was silent for a moment, then said with quiet self-mockery: “I have seen far too much blood in my time… this little bit of yours makes no difference.”

Chu Linlang assumed he meant the blood and gore he had witnessed interrogating prisoners in the punishment chambers. That was fair—a man who had once been a feared harsh official: what manner of bloody and gory scene had he not seen?

Lying in his embrace like this, wrapped as though in a quilt that had been sunned warm, was genuinely comfortable beyond measure. Chu Linlang was too lazy to send him away again, and simply nestled obediently against him.

As the two lay with their heads close together, the amulets each wore around their necks became tangled without their noticing. Chu Linlang stretched out her fingers to unravel the twisted cord, but he had already begun to peck soft kisses on her fingers.

Chu Linlang giggled and could not help but cheekily nibble at his slightly stubbled chin—then she heard the man let out a muffled sound, and say close to her ear: “You really think I’m a dead man? Keep provoking me like this, and careful I don’t go ahead and charge right through…”

Chu Linlang hurried to draw back, staring at the man who was looking at her with a smile, feeling that this person seemed to have been led astray by her—how did he dare say anything now?

She dared not tease him further, and hurried to bring up something proper.

When she mentioned that the uncle of the deputy commander of the cavalry camp seemed to have been preparing to set a trap for her, the arm around her waist instinctively tightened.

Chu Linlang’s purpose in bringing it up was not to complain about being implicated by him, but to warn him: “You’ve hired so many new people for the outer courtyard since moving. Since someone is determined to plant useful people inside your residence, they’re surely not only targeting me… Should we not reduce the number of people in the courtyard, to avoid too many mouths and ears?”

Situ Sheng buried his face in her slender neck and said indistinctly: “No need. If he can manage to plant some people in here, that’s actually fine—with other eyes watching, they won’t go to the trouble of tormenting you anymore. This isn’t a deep palace, so there’s no need to make it an iron wall with not even water dripping through. Making people more curious would only draw more attention. Just don’t let the newly hired people come into the inner courtyard—let them mill about in the outer courtyard.”

Chu Linlang sighed helplessly: “But if someone wants to frame you, and just arranges for someone to slip some evidence into your residence, what then? Whoever wants to convict you will find a reason—there is never a shortage of pretexts.”

Situ Sheng felt the household manager’s words made sense, and said: “In that case, how about you take a boat to the south in a couple of days? Once things settle down politically, I’ll come and fetch you.”

Chu Linlang was nearly driven to distraction—she was not afraid of being implicated by him. What kind of thing was he saying?

But before she could say another word, she found that the man nestled against her neck had drifted off to peaceful sleep at some unknown moment. He had not been back to the residence for several days, and goodness only knew how he had been eating and sleeping while away.

Chu Linlang carefully shifted a little, pulled the quilt up to cover him more, and watched by the flickering candlelight the mountainous contours of his brows and nose.

This man was truly handsome—he gave off an air of unreachable heights. Yet in private he was so thoughtful and considerate. What woman could withstand these tender, gentle maneuvers of his?

Thinking this, Chu Linlang carefully pressed a light kiss to the corner of his lips.

Though he was not a man she should be touching, he had been delivered right before her eyes—she would allow herself this shallow taste and recklessly claim this brief moment of warmth…

When the oil lamp burned itself out, Linlang too nestled in his embrace and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

During the night, Situ Sheng rose twice to take the plasters warmed by the charcoal brazier in the room and replace them for her.

Linlang roused half-awake and tried to do it herself, but was coaxed back to drowsiness by the man’s low, unhurried voice: “I’ll have it done in a moment—you don’t need to open your eyes. Sleep…”

By the time dawn broke, Chu Linlang finally slept through, and the first night—which always used to torment her nearly to death—she actually slept through more deeply and soundly than usual.

And by this time it was Situ Sheng, who had been busy all night, who slept deeply.

But when Chu Linlang stirred, he awoke too. The moment he opened his eyes, he found the woman in his arms staring at him like a little cat.

Situ Sheng could not help but bend down and press a gentle kiss to her soft cheek—and then heard her say in the raspy, slightly husky voice of someone just woken from sleep: “Don’t be too good to me. If I can’t give it up afterward, what am I to do?”

The sleepiness in Situ Sheng’s eyes vanished. He looked at her steadily, and said nothing in reply—though the deep meaning in his gaze was something difficult to fathom.

Situ Sheng was the sort of person who seemed never to speak honeyed words to deceive a woman. After Chu Linlang had said those words that were almost like talking to herself, she hadn’t expected him to say anything either—nothing along the lines of “if you can’t give it up, then stay with me forever.”

The truth was that there was no one in this world who truly could not be given up—it was simply a matter of how much time and distance the parting would cost.

Hearing Xia He’s voice faintly drifting in from outside, Linlang’s drowsiness dispersed entirely. With no further time for foolish, dream-like words, she hurried to urge Situ Sheng quietly to go out.

But when he was about to leave, Chu Linlang grabbed hold of his sleeve in a panic, gesturing that he must not go out through the main door—he had to jump out the back window.

Seeing Situ Sheng glare at her, Chu Linlang still insisted: “My reputation! What is the relationship between the two of us right now? If the maids see you, are you trying to drive me to drown myself?”

Situ Sheng no longer believed this woman would actually throw herself into the river over anything. But when she glared at someone, her eyes looked ready to kill, and her cheeks puffed up as though she were about to burst into tears.

And so the dignified lord thought it over, and actually lifted the back window, swung his long legs over, and leaped out—but unfortunately there was a wooden nail on the window frame, and with a tearing sound, the lord’s newly made robe was snagged and ripped.

Just as Xia He was pushing open the door and coming in with the washbasin, Chu Linlang had just finished waving her arm and hurling Situ Sheng’s pillow out the back window like a sandbag.

Xia He looked up to see the young mistress standing at the open window, and assuming she was airing herself in the breeze again, she set down the washbasin and said: “Why are you letting in the wind again—don’t you know to take care of your own body!”

Chu Linlang stood by the window and saw the man in the back courtyard, who had been bonked on the back of the head by the pillow, glaring at her.

She pretended not to see, slammed the window shut with a bang, and then turned to smile at Xia He.

Xia He looked up to see the young mistress’s smile looking distinctly peculiar, and touched her own face in puzzlement, asking: “What are you laughing at? Is there something on my face?”

Chu Linlang stopped smiling and slumped back onto the bed with a slackened sense of release, thinking a little wistfully: so having a secret affair with someone is this exhausting on the heart and mind. No wonder Zhou Sui’an used to come home every time after his dalliances in a listless state, with no energy to speak to anyone.

This business of sneaking around with someone—she really was not very good at it!

Now that the courtyard was large and there were more tables, there was no longer any need, as there had been back in Juicui Lane, for everyone to squeeze around a single table to eat.

But because of the lord’s orders, the newly hired people were all barred from the inner courtyard, so the inner courtyard still held only the original few people from Juicui Lane.

When Dongxue brought the lord his breakfast, Chu Linlang had also just been called to the lord’s room to help him mend the torn robe.

Seeing the gash in the robe, Dongxue laughed and asked: “My lord, did you go climbing over rooftops? How did you end up with such a big tear?”

She said it as a joke, but unfortunately the other two people in the room neither picked up the thread nor responded—the room was perfectly silent.

Dongxue felt the atmosphere was strange, set down the breakfast, and hurried out of there.

Once Dongxue was gone, Situ Sheng walked to the dining table and said: “Stop sewing—eat first.”

Chu Linlang kept her head down and would not look at him, saying in a muffled voice: “I’ll go eat in the kitchen with Dongxue and the others later. Since when have you ever seen a household manager eat at the same table as the master?”

At these words, Situ Sheng set down his chopsticks and clenched his jaw: “Since when have you ever seen a household manager who dares to order the master to jump out a window? If you don’t come over right now, I’ll carry you over.”

Chu Linlang put the needle and thread back in the sewing basket, came to the table and sat down. Situ Sheng picked up a radish oil cake and held it to her mouth, then asked: “Does your stomach still hurt?”

Chu Linlang took a bite of the cake and said indistinctly: “It doesn’t hurt anymore. By the way, how is it you didn’t go to morning court today?”

Situ Sheng said: “Today is a rest day… and I also need to keep a low profile for a while.”

He had recently stirred up quite a large hornet’s nest in the court. In the course of auditing the public service fields at the Ministry of Finance, the Yongning Ducal House—the maternal family of the Crown Prince—had very extensive landholdings and was also on the list for investigation, and a problem of no small scale had been uncovered.

The Crown Prince was furious, and on behalf of the Duke petitioned His Majesty to strictly investigate the treacherous official Situ Sheng who had insulted and besmirched the reputation of an honored elder.

In front of all the officials, His Majesty gave Situ Sheng a reprimand of neither too much nor too little weight, and also ordered him to stay home and reflect on his conduct for three days, so that he might be more cautious in handling official duties going forward.

Yet although Situ Sheng had been penalized, His Majesty had not asked for the audit of the public service field accounts on that side to be slowed or halted.

In truth this was a heavy measure carried out lightly—a way of smoothing things over.

That His Majesty would show such partiality toward this young man who had only just emerged on the scene was genuinely beyond the expectation of all the officials. And it made those officials understand clearly: Situ Sheng’s brazen auditing of their accounts was, in fact, the true intention of His Majesty.

As for Situ Sheng, being penalized was as good as being rewarded. He had not had a moment of leisure in a great many days, and now he could make good use of these three days to stay home and keep company with the household manager whose health was not at its best.

The following day was the mid-spring Flower Festival. This solemn festival of the second month had always been one of the great sights of the Dajin dynasty.

Every household, regardless of whether the flowers were rare or common, would arrange them to fill the entire courtyard.

Linlang had the servants buy two cartloads of flowers, then directed them to arrange the flowers throughout the courtyard, and also sent the maids out to select and purchase several baskets of more precious and rare varieties.

Since his adoptive mother’s passing, Situ Sheng had not properly celebrated the everyday festivals of the mortal world.

The kind of worldly festivals centered on flower-viewing had even less to do with him.

But now that the residence had a flower-loving household manager, this festival could not be treated carelessly.

Chu Linlang prepared six flower baskets—using Situ Sheng’s name—to send to his superiors and colleagues. Along with the flower baskets she sent various kinds of decorative cakes, pastries, and blessing inscriptions, so that by gifting one another flowers to the Flower Goddess, the warmth of the occasion might be spread around.

Only, the greeting cards accompanying the flower baskets had to be written by Situ Sheng himself.

While the two of them sat in the study drafting the cards, whatever Chu Linlang said, Situ Sheng responded absently with agreement, and kept busy with his own affairs.

In the end, Chu Linlang grew exasperated, gave Situ Sheng a shove, then straightened her own disheveled collar and said with a mix of anger and embarrassment: “I told you to write what treats to send and who you’d had… had treats with!”

As she said this, her own face went a vivid scarlet flush.

If someone had told her before that Situ Sheng was a lecherous man, she would not have believed it for anything. In the past, when the two of them were alone together, he had always been completely composed and proper.

Yet now… how did he keep getting more and more improper?

Situ Sheng was pushed back against the armchair and blinked his long, curling lashes, looking somewhat aggrieved: “The night before last you yourself used such fierce and dangerous words as ‘charging right through’—I thought…”

Not waiting for him to say anything more face-reddening, Chu Linlang reached out and pinched his mouth shut, then leaned close to his ear and whispered: “It will have to be a few more days—come after dark…”

Words so thoroughly scandalous they’d have her thrown into a drowning cage—yet to the man who heard them they sent the blood surging hot through his veins.

But thinking back to the words she had let slip without intending to on occasion before, Situ Sheng suspected she was merely hungry for his body—wanting to sample the flavor and then walk away without a backward glance.

Having heard his beauty’s invitation for a rendezvous at dusk, he narrowed his eyes and fixed her with a long stare, saying nothing.

Chu Linlang had only just been stirred up by his teasing until her head was clouded with foolishness, and had grown bold enough and dizzy enough to say such an inviting thing.

But this man who had just been clinging to her without letting go was now gazing at her with profound, unfathomable eyes, like someone who had eaten his fill.

His gaze was deep and dark—when he looked at a person, it was always impossible to see to the bottom of it.

No wonder even full-grown princes became docile as lambs in his presence.

But Niangzi Chu was no weak and spineless prince—this old lady was simply done playing!

Feeling too embarrassed to face him, she forcefully shook off the arm Situ Sheng had wrapped around her, intending to stand up and walk out.

Situ Sheng caught hold of her again and asked in her ear: “Why are you angry now? I was only thinking—should I come in through the door, or jump through the window?”

Chu Linlang fumed and thumped him on the shoulder: “Don’t even think about coming in either way—I’m locking everything!”