Liu Laizi lived far away. Having successfully made his scene, he whistled smugly, looking to be in excellent spirits, completely unaware that someone was following behind him.
As they passed through a quiet alleyway, Yun Lou casually snatched a black long gown that was hung out to dry in front of a door.
Yinyin's heart pounded like thunder. She whispered, "Madam… Madame… what… what are we going to do?"
They were already in a secluded lane with no one around. Yun Lou shoved the gown into Zhong Shi's hands. "Go throw it over his head. Don't let him see your face."
Zhong Shi took the gown and strode forward without hesitation.
Yinyin covered her mouth, utterly tense. "Madam, what if we get caught? A scoundrel like Liu Laizi will surely report us to the authorities and make endless trouble!"
Yun Lou fixed her eyes on the swaggering figure ahead. "Who cares? Hit him first, we'll deal with the rest later."
Zhong Shi approached Liu Laizi with silent footsteps. Just as Liu Laizi sensed something and began to turn, Zhong Shi whipped the gown over his head, clamped one hand over his mouth, and slammed him hard to the ground.
He dropped to one knee and pressed his other leg across Liu Laizi's body, pinning him so he couldn't move.
Liu Laizi struggled wildly, but he was pressed down so firmly that he couldn't get any leverage or make a sound.
Yun Lou strode over, grabbed a piece of wood from the corner of the wall, and signaled Zhong Shi with her eyes to move aside. The moment he shifted, she raised the wood and brought it down on Liu Laizi's head and body without mercy.
The blows fell like rain. Liu Laizi let out agonized yelps, but with his mouth sealed shut, he couldn't cry out at all. He was like a fish on a chopping block, helplessly at their mercy.
Yinyin and Zhong Shi were stunned by how effortlessly Madam carried out the entire sequence.
Yun Lou got a good beating in, careful to target only the thickest fleshy parts, leaving the man half-dead but not dead. By the end, Liu Laizi had no strength left to struggle—he just lay there twitching in pain.
Yinyin even ran up and kicked him twice.
Only when Liu Laizi passed out from the pain did Yun Lou signal Zhong Shi to let go. They bound his hands and feet behind his back with the gown, leaving him sprawled on the ground like a turtle that couldn't flip over.
Their crime accomplished, the three retreated in calm composure. Yinyin's cheeks were flushed, whether from nerves or excitement, but she felt a great sense of satisfaction—it was justice for her master!
After walking a short distance, Yun Lou turned around and looked at them seriously. "This stays between the three of us. No one says a word."
Yinyin nodded emphatically. "Don't worry, Madam! I'd rather die than tell! I'll take this secret to my grave!"
Zhong Shi nodded gravely and thumped his chest.
Yun Lou clapped her hands, in high spirits. "Time to go home and eat!"
At the Pei residence, Pei Xu returned home and found that his wife hadn't come back from shopping yet.
Zhao Shitou emerged from nowhere and said, "Don't worry, Master. Zhong Shi is with her—he'll keep Madam safe."
Pei Xu glanced at him and gave a nod.
He waited in the front hall for a while. Before long, the soft tinkling of jade pendants sounded from the entrance, and a patch of crimson skirt hem caught his eye. Yun Lou strode in light-footedly, her eyes lighting up the moment she saw him. She gathered her skirt and ran toward him.
Pei Xu hurried forward two steps, and just as he was about to catch her, he noticed Yinyin and Zhong Shi trailing behind. He slowed his pace again and asked with measured calm, "Did you enjoy your shopping?"
Yun Lou nodded. "I did! Bought lots of things I like." She pouted at him. "But my feet hurt from all the walking."
Pei Xu said, "Then I'll hire a sedan-chair bearer. From now on, you can ride out in a sedan."
Yun Lou waved her hand. "No need for that. I prefer strolling around." She tilted her head, her dark, lively eyes sparkling. Suddenly she stood on her tiptoes, leaned in close, and whispered with a smile, "As long as you massage them for me tonight, husband, it'll be just fine."
Pei Xu turned bright red in an instant, but with others present, he forced himself to look composed. "Time to eat."
He hurriedly turned away, only to hear his wife's teasing laugh behind him. Helplessly amused, he looked back and sighed. "Aren't you coming?"
Yun Lou puckered her lips. "My feet hurt."
Knowing full well she was putting on an act, Pei Xu still walked back to her with resignation and crouched down in front of her. "I'll carry you."
Yun Lou bounded onto his back with sheer delight, wrapping her arms around his neck and rubbing her nose against his nape, her breath soft as silk. "Husband, you're wonderful."
Pei Xu finally gritted his teeth. "Stop squirming."
Yun Lou buried her face against his neck, shaking with laughter.
As they crossed the veranda, a delicate floral fragrance drifted through the air. Yun Lou sniffed twice. "What flower is that? Smells lovely."
Pei Xu, carrying her on his back, replied, "The peonies under the rockery have bloomed." His tone carried a hint of nostalgia. "My mother planted them a long time ago. They were her favorite."
Yun Lou turned to look. Beneath the brown stones, clusters of pink-and-white blossoms crowded together, blooming in riotous, radiant splendor.
She wrapped her arms around Pei Xu and rested her head on his shoulder. "You haven't taken me to visit Mother yet."
Pei Xu smiled. "We'll go once the red silk comes down."
Seeing the master carrying the madam on his back again, the servants of the Pei household had long grown used to it. Newlyweds, after all—what else was there to expect?
Le'an was still fuming over the Liu Laizi affair. When Yinyin went to find Zhao Shitou, she spotted him crouched by the wall, muttering to himself and drawing circles with a twig. She wanted to go over and comfort him, but she was afraid of leaking their secret with Madam, so she quietly left.
Zhao Shitou stared at the bamboo tube of green tea Yinyin handed him, utterly flattered. "Did Madam buy this for me?"
Yinyin nodded. "Yes, she specially asked me to bring it back for you."
Zhao Shitou's face flushed with excitement. He rubbed his hands on his clothes before taking it. "Please thank Madam for me!"
Yinyin smiled and nodded. After she left, Zhao Shitou cradled the tea with utmost care and took a sip, savoring it with a smack of his lips. The moment Zhong Shi stepped into the room, he was greeted by a chorus of appreciative sounds.
The moment Zhao Shitou saw him, he hurried over. "Back already? Look—Madam bought this for me."
Zhong Shi ignored him.
Zhao Shitou took another sip and asked, "What about yours? Didn't she get you one?"
Zhong Shi said flatly: "What you're drinking is mine."
Zhao Shitou clutched the bamboo tube and took two steps back, dead serious. "Impossible. Miss Yinyin said Madam specially had it brought for me."
Zhong Shi didn't want to talk to him anymore.
-
After dinner, Yun Lou dove straight for her beloved bed. Pei Xu went out for a moment and returned carrying several branches of peonies in full, blazing bloom.
He stood before the table, trimming the stems, and arranged them in a slender white jade vase. Soon the room was filled with the delicate fragrance of flowers.
Yun Lou lay on the bed watching him. She thought his silhouette looked a little lonely.
He must be missing his mother.
A woman who could raise a man as pure and refined as Pei Xu must have been a wonderful person.
Pei Xu finished arranging the flowers and turned around. "Going out again this afternoon?"
Yun Lou yawned. "Not sure. I'll decide after my nap."
Pei Xu nodded. "Then I'll head to the clinic. I'll come home a bit earlier today."
He stepped out and closed the door behind him, leaving only the drifting scent of blossoms in the room. The fragrance of peonies was said to aid sleep, and Yun Lou curled up under the covers and slept a wonderfully sound afternoon nap.
In the afternoon, the clinic was quiet. Pei Xu sat in the inner room flipping through a book while the assistant prepared herbs in the back courtyard. For the most part, the Hall of Benevolence was a peaceful place.
Before long, Bian Yu's voice sounded from the entrance: "Is Mr. Pei in?"
Pei Xu put down his book and walked outside, only to see Bian Yu standing at the door with two constables. He thought they must have news about the thief from his wedding day, but as he approached, Bian Yu frowned and said, "A man named Liu Laizi from the north of town has filed a complaint with the authorities claiming you hired someone to beat him. What's going on?"
Before Pei Xu could speak, Le'an came shrieking out of the clinic: "Is there no justice?! Is there no justice at all! That scoundrel not only tried to extort medicine from us, but now he's repaying kindness with spite and slandering our master! Constable Bian, you must see that our master gets justice!"
The patients who had visited the clinic that morning were also present, and between Le'an and the patients going back and forth, Bian Yu finally pieced together what had happened.
From the moment Liu Laizi left the clinic to the time he was beaten, no more than fifteen minutes had passed. Throughout that time, Pei Xu had remained in the clinic preparing medicine, and Le'an hadn't left either.
Liu Laizi was a notorious, shameless troublemaker in Fengping City, having pulled every petty trick in the book from theft to swindling. Had it not been for the fact that the man was beaten so badly—three teeth knocked out—while still babbling Pei Xu's name, Cui Zeshi wouldn't have bothered with him at all.
Le'an said hatefully, "Liu Laizi stirs up trouble everywhere and owes a fortune to the gambling dens. Half the city wants to beat him—why does he have to pin it on our master? How dare he slander our master! I want to sue him for defamation!"
Bian Yu nodded. "I understand. Magistrate Cui will handle the matter."
Le'an saw the visitors to the door, weeping and wailing dramatically the whole way, but once they were out of sight, she turned and dashed back into the clinic, grinning like a blooming flower: "Master! Someone avenged us! What goes around comes around!"
Pei Xu gave a faint smile and shook his head.
Le'an then remembered what her master had said to her that morning—that a man like Liu Laizi would meet his reckoning at the hands of someone even worse, and that there was no need to waste words on him. Whether or not the man came begging for medicine, Xuanji Hall would still treat Madam Luo.
After all, when the old madam had first brought young master to Fengping City, Madam Luo had been kind to the mother and son. Over the years, her master had been repaying the kindness of the townsfolk.
And wouldn't you know it—the master's words had come true! Justice had arrived so swiftly that it must have been his morning drawing of a curse circle that did the trick!
Le'an was beaming with delight.
Pei Xu, however, gave the matter no further thought, just as Liu Laizi's provocations that morning had rolled off him without effect. After tying up the day's business at the clinic, he glanced at the sun and decided to head home a little earlier than usual.
In the old days, returning to the Pei residence meant walking into a house of quiet stillness. The servants knew their master preferred peace, and so they went about their work with muffled steps and hushed voices.
But ever since Yun Lou had moved in after the wedding, the liveliness from that very first day of marriage seemed never to have faded.
Pei Xu walked through the corridor where the fragrance of peonies drifted in the air. Approaching the rear courtyard, he heard the maids cheering and clapping.
"The mistress won again!"
"The mistress is amazing!"
Pei Xu quickened his pace and pushed through the door, only to see his wife's shuttlecock launched high into the air by the tip of her foot. She lifted her skirt and spun with light, effortless grace, her crimson garment fluttering like a nimble, dancing swallow.
The shuttlecock traced a beautiful arc through the air. Across from her, Zhong Shi couldn't match her agility, and the shuttlecock fell to the ground, its feathers on top quivering slightly.
Zhong Shi looked embarrassed and gestured something, but somehow his wife could understand sign language. She laughed brightly and said, "You lost today. We'll have a rematch next time."
Her eyes sparkled, a fine sheen of sweat lay across her pale forehead, and the tip of her nose glistened with perspiration. Her cheeks were flushed with healthy color—like the cluster of radiant peonies he had picked this morning, there was a vivid, exuberant beauty to her.
"You're home, my lord."
Yun Lou turned at the sound. Her eyes lit up at the sight of him, and she waved at him with a bright smile.
Pei Xu smiled too as he walked over, picking up the silk handkerchief from the tray a maid held and handing it to her. "What's with the shuttlecock today?"
Yun Lou dabbed at the sweat on her temples with the handkerchief. "Zhao Shitou said it's better to keep the body moving. If I always lie around, I'll only end up more sickly."
Pei Xu looked down at her feet. "Does your foot not hurt anymore?"
The girl immediately pouted and tugged at his sleeve, whining, "Well, it suddenly hurts a bit again now. Would my husband be willing to rub it for me?"
Pei Xu instinctively glanced at her snow-white shoes and socks, his mind involuntarily flashing to the image of her the night before—lying on her stomach with her ankles playfully kicked up.
After a long pause, he said in a low, husky voice, "Let's go back to our room."
