The door slammed open, sunlight and paulownia shadows pouring in, and Pei Xu's eyes immediately landed on his new wife, who had fainted by the window.
He rushed over, his first instinct to check if she was breathing. Finding her breath steady, the blood that had frozen in his veins began to flow again.
The young woman's body was soft and warm. Pei Xu lifted her onto the bed and called out urgently, "Yun Lou, wake up..."
Yun Lou was just about to stir awake when another burst of footsteps sounded from the courtyard, along with a stranger's voice: "What happened here?"
"Magistrate Cui, please help!" Le'an wailed at the doorway. "Our mistress's two maidservants have been knocked out by someone, and the mistress—her life hangs in the balance!"
Yun Lou: "..."
Magistrate Cui? The county magistrate of Fengping City? Then she'd better stay "unconscious" a while longer.
She quietly regulated her internal energy and breathing, careful not to let Pei Xu notice anything amiss.
Cui Zeshi hurried over, clutching his robes: "Nephew Pei, what happened? Is your wife all right?"
Pei Xu said, "My wife is unharmed, just unconscious." He suppressed the lingering fear in his chest. "Magistrate Cui, how is it that you've come?"
"Bian Yu spotted several suspicious figures at the gate and was about to question them, but they bolted! Do you remember last year in Fumei Town, when a wealthy merchant's bride was kidnapped by mountain bandits on her wedding day, and they demanded a ransom?"
He'd worried something might happen, so he'd wanted to speak with Pei Xu about it—but after searching the front hall and finding no one, he'd had to come to the back courtyard. And sure enough, something had happened.
That merchant had ended up shelling out a full hundred taels of gold to get his wife back. If bandits were really operating in the city, then as the local magistrate, the responsibility fell squarely on him: "There are signs of a struggle in this room. Bian Yu, see if you can find any clues."
Bian Yu, the constable who had come with Cui Zeshi to the wedding feast, took the order and began investigating the bridal chamber.
Cui Lingyi, trailing behind her father, poked her head in from outside but ultimately didn't enter. She thought sourly to herself: the newlyweds are all lovey-dovey in there, so why would she cram herself in?
She'd just wander around outside instead.
And that wandering led her to a shocking discovery: "Father! Come quick! Someone's been killed!"
Bian Yu also found marks of the intruder climbing out through the window. Standing by the table, he scanned the room, eyeing the shattered teacups and the puddle of water on the floor, and narrowed his eyes.
Cui Lingyi shouted, "Father, this man died not long ago—the body's still warm!"
Cui Zeshi's head was throbbing. "Stop adding to the chaos. Bian Yu, go check it out."
The burly man's corpse lay sprawled on the ground like a small hill. Bian Yu flipped him over, saw the blood streaming down his face, and thought of the broken teacups inside the room.
Cui Lingyi crouched nearby. Having grown up tagging along with constables, she was long accustomed to murder cases and felt no fear: "That's strange. Apart from the cuts on his face, there's not a single wound on his body. How did he die?"
Bian Yu felt around the corpse's body.
"Bones in the hands are shattered. The neck was twisted—killed in one blow."
Combined with the signs of struggle in the room, a picture gradually formed in his mind. He walked back into the room and bowed to Cui Zeshi: "Sir."
"What is it?"
Bian Yu spoke slowly: "My inference is that thieves snuck into the room intending to abduct the bride, but were stopped by someone else, who used the teacup as a weapon and drove them off. This person is extraordinarily strong and highly skilled in martial arts."
He pointed at the toppled wooden chair: "Although there are signs of struggle in the room, they are shallow and scarce, which shows that the other party subdued the enemy in an extremely short time without causing much chaos. He broke the thieves' arms, then twisted their necks. His methods were clean and ruthless—every move lethal. He may have sensed us approaching, so he tossed the corpse aside and left on his own."
Cui Zeshi frowned: "Who could have saved Mrs. Pei? And how did he know the thieves were here? Why would he save someone, only to hide his tracks?"
At that, everyone in the room turned to look at the man standing by the bed.
Pei Xu said in a grave tone: "I wouldn't know either."
They pondered for a long while, still at a loss, until Bian Yu suddenly asked: "Young Master Pei, you were in the front hall toasting the guests. Why did you suddenly come to the back courtyard?"
Le'an glanced at his young master, thinking of that box of mysterious jewelry.
Pei Xu let out a sigh: "My wife has always been frail and prone to illness. I worried the wedding festivities might exhaust her, so I felt uneasy and came to check on her."
His master was lying. But that was all right—his master must have his reasons.
Le'an said nothing. Bian Yu searched the room and surrounding area again and confirmed there were no other clues: "Then we'll have to wait until the wife and the maids wake up to question them."
Yun Lou's reputation as the frail, sickly wife was so deeply ingrained that no one even thought to suspect her.
She had only been pretending to be unconscious, but lying there, she actually fell asleep for real.
The truth was, her body really wasn't in any shape to be fighting right now. Exchanging only a few blows with that burly man had been enough to send her internal energy into chaos, crashing through her meridians. Lucky for her that the man was all brute force with no real skill—his so-called kung fu was like flower fists and embroidery kicks, easy enough to handle. But she wasn't exactly feeling great herself, either.
Still, Yun Lou was curious: who exactly were the thieves who came to kidnap her? Were they really bandits from Mount Beiwu?
If so, there was old hatred and new grievance stacked together now—she'd have a proper reckoning with them later.
The wedding feast in the front hall continued as usual. Cui Zeshi had Bian Yu dispatch several constables to carry away the corpse and guard the back courtyard, just in case any audacious thieves tried to strike again.
But until nightfall, when the feast came to an end, the entire Pei residence remained calm.
Yinyin and Wensi woke up first. They had been knocked out from behind and had no idea what had happened. From them, they learned that the mistress had been having her afternoon nap, and the constables deduced that the bride had likely been rendered unconscious in her sleep.
They had planned to wait for the bride to wake up to question her, but Yun Lou didn't wake until after the feast had already ended.
Pei Xu checked her pulse and found it weak and disordered. He attributed it to fright. She had always been frail, and after today's ordeal, she would need extra care to recuperate.
In the end, it was all his fault for dragging her into this.
Pei Xu sat by the bedside keeping watch. Le'an came in a few times to refill his tea, hesitating as if about to speak, then finally lowering his voice to ask: "Young Master, about that box of jewelry..."
Pei Xu kept his eyes lowered: "Today, when Constable Bian questioned me, why didn't you expose me on the spot?"
Le'an said immediately: "I'm on your side through and through! Whatever you say is what goes!"
He had been picked up off the streets by the old madam when he was a child—had it not been for her treating his illness and feeding him, he'd have died long ago. His young master treated him like a brother, and he would never, ever repay that kindness with betrayal.
Even if his master had secrets, he would guard them to the death!
After a long pause, he heard his master speak in a low, heavy voice: "That box of jewelry was a gift from an old acquaintance. Don't worry about it."
Yun Lou didn't wake until evening, and when she did, her chest felt tight and her limbs weak—a side effect of her internal energy going haywire.
In the bridal chamber, the dim candlelight flickered over the red curtains and warm marriage bed. Pei Xu, still in his bright red wedding robes, sat by the bedside, seemingly lost in thought.
Time to show off the real acting skills!
She let out a soft moan and spoke in a feeble voice: "I... why did I sleep for so long?"
Pei Xu snapped out of his daze, his face brightening: "You're awake! Do you feel any discomfort?"
Yun Lou whimpered: "My head feels a bit dizzy."
That was from sleeping too long.
Pei Xu slowly helped her sit up, then went to pour water and carefully brought it to her lips, briefly telling her about the afternoon's danger.
His delicate, timid new bride turned pale with fright after hearing it, tugging at his sleeve and asking fearfully, "Then... have the thieves been caught now?"
Pei Xu shook his head. "Constable Bian said it seems the culprits had some internal quarrel and killed each other."
Mm-hmm, good job, Bian Yu. Keep thinking that way.
"Magistrate Cui sent two constables to keep watch outside the courtyard. Don't worry. Once it's light tomorrow, I'll go into town and hire two guards from the martial arts school," Pei Xu said softly, then suddenly apologized. "I'm sorry."
Yun Lou tugged at his sleeve. "What's wrong?"
"If it weren't for marrying me, you wouldn't have nearly been kidnapped by thieves. If they had truly taken you today, I wouldn't be able to atone for it even if I died a hundred times."
Yun Lou thought he was such a bookish fool. She suddenly raised her hand and smiled brightly, ruffling his hair. "It's not your fault. They're the bad ones."
The wide embroidered sleeve slid down from her wrist, revealing a slender, fair arm beneath, the faint scent of a young woman's warmth lingering close by.
Pei Xu looked away, his thin lips parting slightly, but in the end he just lowered his lashes like dark feathers. "I'm sorry. I dragged you into this."
"Alright, enough of that. Is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."
Pei Xu immediately stood up. "There is. I had Aunt Zhou prepare things long ago."
He stepped out to call for the meal to be served. After they finished eating and washed up, the sky had turned completely dark. Yinyin and Wensi withdrew, leaving only the two of them in the room.
After Pei Xu hung up his outer robe and returned to the bedside, he saw his bride had put the phoenix coronet back on herself. The beaded veil shimmered brilliantly in the candlelight, and the girl looked adorably playful as she called to him, "Pei Xu, you haven't lifted the veil yet."
This afternoon's mishap had ruined their wedding banquet, and the evening's rituals of teasing the newlyweds and watching the wedding rites were all gone now.
But his wife didn't seem to mind the disappointment. She was perfectly happy going through the motions on her own.
So Pei Xu turned back, put on the red wedding robe again, and solemnly picked up the wedding scales adorned with pearls and silver leaf from the tray, walking to stand before her.
The red candles burned high, the flames flickering, casting a shifting warm glow over the bridal chamber.
The wedding scales slowly lifted the beaded veil, revealing a strikingly beautiful face beneath. Her jade earrings caught the candlelight and gave off a soft, luminous sheen.
The veil was lifted, they drank the nuptial cup of wine, and each cut a lock of their hair to place together in a pouch.
These were all steps that Matchmaker Liu had told her were essential on the wedding night.
Yun Lou breathed a sigh of relief.
Successfully married, no accidents!
Next up: the bridal chamber!
Matchmaker Liu had given her a little booklet, and she'd already studied it pretty thoroughly!
Pei Xu removed his outer robe, revealing a red silk inner garment underneath. The luxurious fabric shimmered with a thin layer of lustrous water-like sheen, the material clinging to his shoulders and subtly outlining the contour of his waist and torso, making him look tall and striking, and very much like someone worth provoking.
Yun Lou waited a moment, but when he just sat on the bed without making any further move, she thought it over and asked without shame, "Do you need me to help you take it off?"
Matchmaker Liu hadn't mentioned this step.
Whatever!
She immediately reached out to strip off Pei Xu's clothes.
