Chapter 2

Su Yanbai and I put on a little performance.

I acted as though I would rather die than accept Pei Ye’s money and begged him through my tears not to abandon me.

“Ah Ye, I only want to go with you. Please do not leave me…”

Su Yanbai took the money instead and hauled me to my feet.

“Sister, stop crying. Let him go—he is not worth it!”

One of us wept while the other supported her.

After a long silence, Pei Ye crouched before me and wiped away my tears.

“Ah Qing, I have wronged you. Take care of yourself.”

He left his handkerchief with me.

Then he turned to Su Yanbai and said solemnly, “Brother Xu, I have no choice but to leave. Please take good care of her for me.”

Su Yanbai glared at him.

“My own wi—” He caught himself just in time. “My own little sister. Of course I will take care of her. I do not need you to tell me how.”

Pei Ye said nothing. He mounted his horse in one fluid motion, looked at me one last time, then rode away without another backward glance.

With him gone, the courtyard felt empty.

Only Su Yanbai, three hundred taels of gold, and I remained.

The gold glittered almost frighteningly.

“Quick! We have to hide it!”

Never in our lives had we possessed such wealth.

Neither of us dared leave the house. We lay on the bed guarding the gold until our eyes turned red from lack of sleep.

“Who do you think he really is? How can he be so rich? I heard them call him ‘Your Highness.’”

Su Yanbai was the better informed of us.

“If they call him that, he must be either a prince or an imperial son.”

“Oh.”

I picked up a gold ingot and tossed it idly in the air.

Su Yanbai watched me, a trace of tension in his voice.

“Ah Qing, it is not too late to change your mind. He cannot have gone far.”

I laughed carelessly.

“Change my mind about what? The only thing special about him is that he was born into the right family. Even without you, he and I would never belong to the same world.”

I had once felt guilty about secretly using Pei Ye to conceive a child.

That was why I had treated him so well during his stay.

But after the way he had abandoned me—as though terrified that I might latch on to him—it was clear he was the sort of man who scattered his seed wherever he went.

My guilt vanished.

“Husband, he should be far away by now. We ought to decide what to do with all this money.”

Su Yanbai was a thoroughly devoted husband.

“Whatever you say.”

I spread my arms and gathered the gold toward me in delight.

“Good. Then we do it my way!”

Within days, Su Yanbai and I moved away.

We settled in a picturesque town connected by roads and waterways in every direction. Its morning markets and evening bazaars were always bustling.

I bought a grand residence with three courtyards.

“Madam has an excellent eye. This used to be a magistrate’s private estate. It would never have come onto the market if the Crown Prince had not visited recently and arrested a whole group of corrupt officials.”

I slipped my arm through Su Yanbai’s, pressed my thumbprint to the deed, and smiled.

“Then I truly must thank His Highness the Crown Prince.”

We made our home there.

Half a month later, I secretly bought a medical clinic and led Su Yanbai to it with an air of mystery.

“Do you like it?”

He stared at the sign reading *Su Medical Clinic* for a long moment.

“This is… for me?”

As the disciple of a poison physician, Su Yanbai possessed extraordinary medical skill.

Back in the mountains, he had done nothing but gather herbs and sell them to apothecaries for a little silver. It had been a terrible waste of his talent.

“I am afraid I will fail and waste all the thought you put into this,” he said.

I cradled his face in my hands.

“Pei Ye was half dead when we found him. Could he ever have woken without you? If you do not trust yourself, at least trust my judgment.”

Su Yanbai’s eyes reddened as he pulled me into his arms.

After that, he gave the clinic his all.

Just as I had expected, he excelled at treating difficult illnesses and soon earned a modest reputation.

Even the Crown Prince, who was temporarily staying at the prefect’s residence, summoned him for treatment.

When Su Yanbai returned, he brought me yellow apricot cakes from the residence.

“Did you truly see the Crown Prince? What does he look like?”

It was early summer, and the days were growing hot. Pregnant as I was, I could not go out much, so I had to hear about the world from him.

Su Yanbai shook his head.

“I did not see him. Powerful nobles are examined from behind a curtain. His pulse, though…”

“What about it?”

“He is weak from serious injuries, and…” Su Yanbai leaned close and lowered his voice. “From excessive indulgence. He was probably not very restrained even while recuperating.”

“Oh…”

My imagination immediately supplied a vivid picture of the Crown Prince’s colorful private life.

Su Yanbai laughed at my expression.

“I imagine no one else dared tell him, so they assumed he had some mysterious illness. I prescribed several rare medicines. He should be fine.”

He sat down and took my pulse as well.

“Ah Qing, you are nearly three months along. The pregnancy is very stable.”

I leaned closer, staring straight at him as my fingertip traced his palm.

“The auntie next door told me that after the first three months, we can…”

Su Yanbai understood. The tips of his ears slowly turned red.

“Ah Qing, that is merely hearsay. You should not trust it.”

I bent down and kissed him.

“You are the physician. You know how careful to be.”

Su Yanbai lowered his head and fell silent.

I could not help laughing.

That was exactly how he looked whenever he was preparing to be wicked.