Chapter 6

I had just left the bridge when I met an old acquaintance.

“Miss Wen.”

Zhang Yan—Censor Zhang.

His refined face was slightly flushed. The crimson official robe suited him. Four years ago, he had worn patched clothes and lived in grinding poverty. Now he stood before me in fine robes and a jade crown.

I had sponsored many impoverished scholars with talent. Zhang Yan was one of them.

As for where I got the money: four years earlier, Xing Ye had kept his promise. He told the Wen family that I had saved him from drowning and declared me his benefactor. His reward was ten thousand taels of gold, vast tracts of farmland, and several businesses.

I smoothed a wrinkle from my sleeve. “Have you come to watch the fireworks too, Censor Zhang?”

He carried a dim red lantern and kept a respectful distance beside me. After some hesitation, he said, “You did not come on the summer solstice. I feared something had happened.”

That night, my passion curse had flared.

Zhang Yan had visited with evidence that Wen Changrong, Wen Mingzhu’s father, had seized farmland and allowed his servants to murder civilians. While he discussed the case, I had abruptly asked whether he was married.

“I am not,” he answered.

Did I truly need Xing Ye?

“Zhang Yan, if I said I wished to…”

I set down my cup and walked out.

“Think about it. If you are willing, meet me tonight at the Warm Fragrance Pavilion.”

He had gone completely still.

If Xing Ye had not appeared that night, would I have set aside my dagger and gone to the pavilion?

I did not know.

Perhaps the fox mask was not unfair after all.

“You went?” I asked.

Sweat beaded on Zhang Yan’s brow in the summer heat. “Miss Wen, I—I was willing.”

His voice faded until I could barely hear it.

For one moment, I was moved.

Unfortunately, Zhang Yan and I were not the same sort of people. We had both crawled out of the mud, but he had risen through true talent and learning.

Lian Yao had risen with her face and body.

I smiled and prepared to tell him not to take the invitation seriously.

Before I could speak, an overpowering voice sounded directly behind me.

“Aunt, Mingzhu is looking for you.”

Xing Ye stood so close that his body nearly touched my back. Heat shot through me for no reason.

When had he arrived?

Zhang Yan quickly bowed. Xing Ye acknowledged him with a cool murmur, then lowered his voice.

“Has Aunt finished playing? Will you return with me now?”

I said nothing. His hot fingertips seemed to brush my thin robe by accident, ticklish enough to make me lose composure. In the crowded stream of people, no one would ever notice.

My face began to burn.

“I am finished. Let us go.”

Despicable man.

I looked at Zhang Yan. “We will speak another time.”

Disappointment crossed his face. Behind me, Xing Ye laughed without warmth.

He led me into a misty grove beneath the bridge, where ornate carriages waited in the shadows.

Something suddenly dropped over my face.

“Xing Ye!” I caught the red fox mask and tried to tear it away.

“Would Aunt rather be seen entering my carriage and failing to emerge for half the night?” he asked lightly.

I looked up. He had placed the snarling hound over his own face.

Then he gripped my hand, threading our fingers tightly together.

“A vicious hound and a sly fox. A perfect pair, would you not say?”