Chapter 3

I was taken to the marquis’s residence.

The old marquis had always loved the country south of the Yangtze. A few years before, he had taken his wife and concubines there and never returned.

Now Zhou Zhi, the young marquis, was the house’s only master.

When he carried me inside, Pei Xiang stood at the main gate, gritting her teeth and fixing me with a poisonous stare.

“Husband, what do you mean by bringing her here?”

Pei Xiang had her pride.

She stood blocking the entrance, refusing to let Zhou Zhi pass.

He said nothing, merely watched her with deep, untroubled eyes.

“We were married only yesterday, and today you bring home a brothel woman. Have you no regard for me, your lawful wife, or for my father’s reputation?”

Invoking the Chancellor seemed to give her courage. She straightened and advanced two steps.

“Are you afraid of her father, my lord?”

I spoke softly. Zhou Zhi immediately shot me a look that told me to be quiet.

We had several years of understanding between us, after all.

I knew he was probably a little angry, so I obediently lowered my head, curled up in his arms, and said no more.

The sight stung Pei Xiang.

She could no longer maintain her gentle, dignified air. Glaring at me, she spat, “Bitch. Shameless bitch!”

“Enough!”

Zhou Zhi looked at her, his voice utterly cold.

“Pei Xiang, I married you because of that imperial decree. But if you dare hurt someone under my protection again, I won’t spare you, even with the Chancellor behind you.”

With that,

he carried me straight past her, knocking her aside as he strode toward the inner courtyard.

Pei Xiang was left screaming behind us.

“She’s a seductress! Zhou Zhi, don’t let her bewitch you. She’s a bitch!”

The place Zhou Zhi gave me

was the finest courtyard residence in the house after his own.

“You’ll live here from now on. Since you’re its mistress, we’ll call it Moon Pavilion. I’ve also sent for Xiaotao from the brothel. She’ll continue serving you.”

He first had the physician take my pulse. On learning I had only caught a chill from falling into the water, he relaxed a little.

I leaned back on the bed, my clothes already changed. Looking at Zhou Zhi, who had not yet had time to change his own, I said softly, “Someone wants to kill me. You’ll keep protecting me, won’t you?”

He was silent.

Then he suddenly bent close and pinched my cheek.

“Don’t imagine I can’t see your own scheming in what happened today.”

There.

Everyone in the capital said the young marquis was a worthless rake who would never amount to anything. Without the Emperor’s affection, no respectable noble girl would look at him.

But I alone knew just how sharp his mind was.

Sometimes,

living as an idle man who coveted nothing was the only way to live a long life.

“If you guessed, why did you give me what I wanted?”

Since he had spoken openly, I followed his lead.

Zhou Zhi pinched harder. My cheek hurt, and I could not help slapping his hand away.

He frowned, then pinched it hard again.

“You’re too much trouble. If I didn’t bring you back, you’d find some other way to hurt yourself and force me to protect you. So I might as well give you what you want. As for Pei Xiang, she can’t hurt you under my roof.”

He sounded supremely confident.

And he was not wrong.

Perhaps to stop Pei Xiang from harming me again, he had several servants follow whenever I left my courtyard. Pei Xiang could find no opening to act against me.

She could find none. But I had to give her one.

After recuperating in Moon Pavilion for several days, I decided to take a stroll in the rear garden.

Sitting at my dressing table, I suddenly thought of something and hurried to instruct Xiaotao.

“Xiaotao, find me a dagger. A knife will do.”

She did not move. Shaking her head, she said, “His Lordship said we must guard against Pei Xiang hurting you, but also stop you from attacking her. So there won’t be any daggers or knives in Moon Pavilion.”

I laughed in anger.

“Then what if I want some fruit? I won’t eat it unless it’s properly peeled.”

I was not actually so particular.

But I had to find some reason to get a dagger.

Xiaotao smiled helplessly. “His Lordship also said that if you want fruit, just tell someone. Even if you want it carved into flowers, they’ll bring it as quickly as possible.”

Tsk. How dull.

Annoyed, I pulled the plain jade pin from my hair and replaced it with a rather conspicuous gold hairpin.

No sooner had I reached the rear courtyard than I saw Pei Xiang approaching from the other side. The residence was only so large, after all. If we both came out for a stroll after dinner, we were bound to meet.

“Staying here without so much as a recognized position. You really have no shame.”

Pei Xiang looked as though she wanted to eat me alive.

But several servants guarded me from behind, closing in especially tightly at the sight of her.

I pushed past them and went straight to her, laughing softly. “You couldn’t hold your husband’s heart. You swallowed your pride and begged for that imperial marriage decree, but aren’t you still spending every night alone?”

There had been no pretense of civility between us from the beginning.

At first she had despised me for ensnaring her brother and nearly ruining the wealth and rank within their reach. Now she hated me for stealing her husband, and wanted to kill me.

And I hated her just as much.

My brother and sister had not even been ten. They were at such a sweet, innocent age, yet they had been thrown from a height and killed. Blood blurred their faces until I could no longer make out their features.

Ah Nuo had treasured her looks. Of the New Year money I gave her, she always saved half toward a dowry for me, her elder sister. The rest she spent on rouge and powder.

I used to tease her. How could she care so much about beauty when she was still so little?

Her face would turn red, and she would burrow into my arms, refusing to look up at me.

As for Ah Yuan,

he would turn and fetch his own savings, giving half to me and half to Ah Nuo.

It was perfectly normal for girls to want to look pretty, he said.

If they were still here,

my Ah Nuo would turn fifteen this year.

And my Ah Yuan was so clever, his teacher never stopped praising him. Perhaps he would be ready to sit the first imperial examination.

All of it was gone because of the woman before me.

Hatred surged through me. Without the slightest hesitation, I snatched the gold hairpin from my hair and drove it savagely into Pei Xiang’s chest.

“Pei Xiang, a murderer must pay with her life!”