When Pei Xu mentioned Jiangling, Yun Lou’s thoughts immediately turned to the Shen family matter.
That martial world bounty notice was the least of her worries. What truly concerned her was that if the leader caught wind that she was suspected of the killing, her pretense of being gravely wounded and retreating from the jianghu would be exposed. And if that happened, it wouldn’t just be her who suffered—Situ Yan, who had helped her, would also meet a miserable end.
Still, with Zhaoying around, he ought to help her navigate this. Zhaoying knew her blade style well—one look at the weapon wounds would tell him whether or not she was the killer. If only she could get word to him and have him investigate on her behalf.
Pei Xu noticed that his wife remained silent, lost in thought, and asked gently, “Is something the matter?”
Yun Lou said, “I want to go to Jiangling too. I’d like to personally pick out a gift for Miss Cui.”
She thought that with Pei Xu’s usual indulgence toward her, he would agree. To her surprise, he refused—something he rarely did. “You heard Wenze mention last time how unstable Jiangling is right now. The waterways aren’t open yet, and the road from Fengping to Jiangling has to wind around Bei Wu Mountain. If you run into bandits along the way, it’d be dangerous. Once I’ve gone ahead at the end of the month to scout the situation, I’ll take you there for a visit next time.”
If their party ran into bandits, it would only cost them some valuables. But traveling with a beautiful woman in tow—that was a different matter altogether.
Since he put it that way, Yun Lou could only agree. “Fine then.”
With Zhaoying’s sharp mind, once he heard word of her situation, he would surely investigate on his own without needing her to spell it out. Otherwise, all their times drinking together and admiring handsome men would have been for nothing!
With that thought, she felt at ease.
Besides, nothing had happened yet—there was no point in worrying ahead of time. Worrying still meant passing the day, just as happiness did. And even if the leader truly did track her down, she could always run again.
Yun Lou quickly talked herself into calm and continued to laze about.
Once her health improved, the Pei household regained its liveliness.
He’d grown used to quiet days over these years—surely he should have been more accustomed to silence. Yet when the bustle suddenly returned, Pei Xu found himself sighing with a sense of satisfaction, as if it were long overdue.
When he returned from the medical hall and stepped onto the veranda, he heard the maids’ shrill voices from the inner courtyard: “Madam! Do be careful! Please be careful!”
Pei Xu quickened his pace.
Pushing open the door, the first thing he saw was his wife climbing up a bamboo ladder propped against the eaves. The ladder swayed precariously, and she swayed with it, while Yinyin and Wensi steadied it from below, looking terrified just watching her.
Pei Xu’s temples throbbed. But he was afraid that shouting to stop her might startle her, so he could only watch helplessly as she climbed all the way to the rooftop.
Her jade-green skirt hem fluttered in the wind beneath the emerald shadows of the parasol tree, and the pale blue silk ribbon in her hair whipped about as well. For a moment, it seemed she might ascend to immortality amid the green leaves and summer breeze.
Pei Xu stood at the door, gazing up at that ethereal figure, his breathing growing shallow.
Yun Lou scrambled nimbly onto the gray-tiled roof and brought down the nest of baby swallows that had been blown from the tree by last night’s storm. If she were alone, this tiny eave would be nothing more than a single leap. But now she was supposed to be a delicate, helpless lady, so she had to rely on the ladder to get up and down.
As she stepped back onto the bamboo ladder and turned, she saw her husband standing tall and composed at the courtyard gate, she didn’t know how long he’d been watching.
“Pei Xu~!”
She waved at him with vibrant energy, the baby swallows chirping in her hands. Sunlight danced around them, and everything in sight seemed to come alive with vigor.
Most days she lay wan and frail on a sickbed. But on rare occasions, she let this kind of bold, untamed vitality shine through in their lush courtyard—just a hint of it, two or three parts at most, was enough to shake his placid, subdued heart.
Pei Xu strode over quickly. “Come down now, be careful.”
Seeing his furrowed brows and worried expression, Yun Lou tilted her head, feeling mischievous. “I’m jumping down right now! Pei Xu, you have to catch me!”
Pei Xu’s face changed. “No!”
“I’m jumping! I’m really jumping!”
“No! Wife, no! I can’t catch you!”
Watching him fluster and spin in place below her, Yun Lou clung to the ladder and laughed until she could barely stand.
After lunch, the two of them found some twigs and grass in the courtyard and patched up the swallow’s nest. This time, Pei Xu absolutely refused to let her climb anything high again. He called Zhao Shitou over and had him place the nest back on the parasol tree.
Thinking of the pair of swallows, building a nest at your eaves—that’s what a home is. Pei Xu stood under the tree, watching the two swallows circle their nest with cheerful chirps, then turned his head to glance at his wife standing beside him. A smile bloomed in his eyes.
Just as they were talking, Yinyin ran over: “Madam, Miss Cui is here. She’s inviting you out for tea.”
Pei Xu’s smile froze at the corners of his eyes. “Again?”
Miss Cui had been calling on his wife every afternoon for the past several days, leaving for tea and not returning until dark. Sometimes she didn’t even come back for dinner.
Pei Xu couldn’t help but wonder—she had refused to see him when he went to apologize, so was this her way of getting back at him?
Yun Lou, on the other hand, was delighted to hear that Cui Lingyi had come. “Ask her to wait in the front hall. I’ll change my clothes and be right there.”
Pei Xu quietly simmered with irritation.
When his wife emerged from the bedchamber in a bright peach-pink ruqun skirt, radiant and lovely, he couldn’t understand why she felt the need to change her clothes every time she saw Miss Cui.
When she occasionally came to find him at Xuanji Hall, she never changed her outfit.
Pei Xu called out to his wife: “Will you be back for dinner this evening?”
Yun Lou didn’t even turn around, waving a hand dismissively behind her. “If I’m not back by dinnertime, just eat without me. I’m off now.”
And here she was, the one who once said that husband and wife should share all three meals together.
At the front hall, Cui Lingyi was standing on her toes, peering toward the hanging flower gate. When she saw Yun Lou emerge with tinkling accessories, she immediately dashed over with delight. “Ruyi Tower has hired a new performer—apparently he’s from the capital and sings like an angel. The place has been packed for two days straight. I managed to book two seats with great difficulty, come with me quick!”
She too was dressed in pink. Walking side by side, the two of them looked like close sisters, utterly inseparable.
Over these past few days, the two had grown familiar, opening their hearts to each other and talking about everything under the sun. When the topic turned to admiring handsome men and indulging in pleasure, they found they were of one mind—like two old friends meeting after a lifetime, regretting they hadn’t met sooner.
Ruyi Tower was hardly a house of ill repute—it actually had a reputation for elegance. It often hired handsome, talented young men and entertainers to recite poetry and sing, making it a lovely spot for tea and theater.
That said, it wasn’t exactly a suitable venue for a young lady still unmarried, nor for a newlywed married woman.
But neither of them saw any problem with it. Arm in arm, they merrily headed out. Just as they reached the street corner, they saw Bian Yu standing there like an avenging spirit.
Cui Lingyi grabbed Yun Lou and spun around to run. “Quick, quick!”
But given Bian Yu’s speed, catching up to them was child’s play. His stern, forbidding figure blocked their path, and he spoke in icy tones: “The magistrate has ordered that Miss Cui is not to set foot in Ruyi Tower again.”
Cui Lingyi was furious. “Are you a constable or my bodyguard? Instead of doing your patrols, you spend your time policing me? I’ll report you for dereliction of duty!”
Bian Yu’s face remained expressionless. “I am merely following the magistrate’s orders. If anyone is derelict, it’s the magistrate himself.”
“You!” Cui Lingyi stomped her foot in rage. “Bian Yu, if you keep meddling in my business, I’ll never speak to you again!”
Bian Yu’s cold face didn’t so much as twitch. “Speak or not, you’re not stepping foot into Ruyi Tower today.”
Yun Lou saw that she was about to draw her sword in fury, so he hurriedly pulled her back: "Forget it, forget it. If we're not going there, then we won't. I'll take you somewhere else nice instead."
Bian Yu shot him a frosty glare.
Yun Lou pretended not to notice, coaxing Cui Lingyi along as he led her toward the northern part of the city.
Bian Yu followed unhurriedly behind them, but as the streets grew increasingly familiar, they finally came to a stop in front of the Zhenwei Martial Arts Hall.
Just then, from up ahead drifted the delighted whisper of Pei Xu's beloved wife: "What's so interesting about those fully-dressed escorts at Ruyi Tower? Better to come here and see the ones who aren't wearing any clothes."
Bian Yu: "!!!"
He could hardly believe those words had come from the mouth of Pei Xu's dainty, delicate wife. He stepped forward to stop them, but Yun Lou had already shoved the door open and dragged Cui Lingyi inside.
In the spacious courtyard, a group of burly young men, bare-chested and sinewy, were throwing powerful punches under the blazing sun. Their bronze skin, their clearly defined muscles—it left Cui Lingyi staring wide-eyed, utterly unable to look away!
She grabbed Yun Lou's hand, her voice trembling with excitement: "Little Lou, you... you really know how to pick a place!"
"Oi! Madam Pei, Miss Cui, your esteemed presence truly brings honor to my humble abode!"
Luo Batian, who had been lying under the awning fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan and munching on watermelon, jumped to his feet. The watermelon, as big as a bowl, that he'd shown them last time was now hanging plump and heavy from the vines, and on the wooden table beneath the awning sat freshly cut slices of melon, bright red and crisp.
Ignoring Bian Yu's shouts from behind, the two of them fluttered in like a pair of lively butterflies.
"Master Luo, last time you invited us to come by and enjoy some melon whenever we had the chance. Would today be a welcome occasion?"
"What are you saying! Of course, you're more than welcome! That you two would grace my humble place is this old Luo's honor! Sit, please sit! Er Shunzi, bring out two chairs and cut two more melons!"
Luo Batian enthusiastically ushered them under the awning, then turned to see Bian Yu also striding in with a dark face, looking somewhat surprised: "Captain Bian? What are you doing here? Did your father send you to substitute-teach again?"
Bian Yu didn't want to talk. He walked over with heavy steps.
Cui Lingyi paid him no mind at all. Her eyes were completely fixed on his shirtless junior apprentices.
He then looked at Yun Lou and found her even more intense than Cui Lingyi.
Luo Batian sliced melons and poured tea, and the two of them lounged comfortably under the awning, eating melon and enjoying the breeze. Yun Lou even called out: "Let them keep practicing. No need to hold back."
Bian Yu's mouth twitched.
Luo Batian, for his part, was delighted to have these two ladies sit with him, drinking tea and chatting—it brought a bit of charming scenery to a courtyard that was usually full of stinking men, wasn't it? So he chatted away about all sorts of things, keeping both women laughing with his tales.
After a while of swapping amusing stories from his escorting days, Luo Batian suddenly lowered his voice: "Speaking of which, have you two heard anything recently about a massacre in Fumei Town?"
Bian Yu, who had been silent ever since walking in, frowned. "That matter is best not brought up."
Seeing him like that, Cui Lingyi deliberately went against him and immediately said, "Master Luo, go ahead and tell us! I want to hear!"
Luo Batian glanced at Bian Yu. He wasn't particularly afraid of this young nephew of his, so he said cheerfully, "It's not really a secret anyway. It's just that you ladies don't usually come into contact with such things, so word travels slower. It would have reached you eventually."
"Not long ago, a wealthy merchant named Rong in Fumei Town had his entire household wiped out overnight—over a dozen people, including the big yellow dog in the yard, none of them survived!"
Cui Lingyi clicked her tongue in shock, then turned to ask Bian Yu: "You knew about this too?"
"The county magistrate of Fumei Town filed a file asking for assistance. Magistrate Cui has been racking his brains over this case lately."
Cui Lingyi asked, "Is there any suspected culprit?"
Bian Yu said nothing, but Luo Batian picked up the thread: "It was a tragic midnight horror. Truly inhumane. The killer left not a single trace behind. How are they supposed to find anyone? All they know is that everyone in the house was killed with a single slash to the throat. They say the killer came and went like a shadow..."
Yun Lou, who was in the middle of chomping on a slice of watermelon, paused: "...?"
Wait, that description sounds a little familiar...
Heh. It couldn't be her again, could it?
