Chapter 66: A Woman in Hibernation Is Just as Frightening

“Not bad,” Qin Daofei said.

Fang Qing turned, glanced at the dungeon, and in a soft voice replied, “Then congratulate me.”

“Congratulations,” Qin Daofei said. As soon as he finished, Fang Qing’s tears began to fall. She said, “When he admitted it, I wasn’t sad at all. I even felt, at last, that I had been released.”

“The words you waited for have come. Now you should look ahead. Someone is waiting for you on the next road.” Qin Daofei said, and he left first.

Not long after, Linglong arrived.

“You said no one should dare to call you out in winter, didn’t you?” Fang Qing looked at Linglong with a gentle smile.

Linglong frowned, looked to either side, then said in a conspiratorial tone, “I forgot to tell you. I’m actually afraid of dealing with Madam Qin.”

“Why?”

Linglong sulked. “When I came back, I swore I’d track down the culprit within six months and then leave Xiyao Manor. But six months passed ages ago, and I’m still here. How can I stand this?”

“You really think your face is ruined? I’ve never seen anything hanging on yours.” Fang Qing mocked her without mercy.

Linglong pointed at her with trembling fingers. “Woman, are you starting a quarrel?”

“Not at all. I’m not in the mood to fight you. If you’re bored, go find Lord Qin. I’m going to pack my things and go home for New Year.”

Fang Qing still smiled, but Linglong knew her: smiles and hurts were both buried beneath that delicate exterior.

“Ah.”

Linglong stepped close and rubbed her shoulder. “Will you come back?”

“I will. I promised Qin Daofei I’d protect you safely, so I’m going home first to see if my father and uncles have any plans for Mu Rongxiao,” Fang Qing said, then lifted her eyes to the snow and added softly, “There’s not even snow in Jiangnan yet, is there?”

“Then go and come back quickly… Why don’t I go with you to Jiangnan?”

“I’ll be fine,” Fang Qing laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to seek danger and death. I’m the Fang family’s only daughter. If I were to die, my father and uncles would die from grief. Maybe when I return next year I can even bring Mu Rongxiao for you. You’ve earned quite a lot from him already; I know you won’t dislike him.”

“Really now, what are you saying? How could I have made money off him? I’m a good person. A good person!” Linglong insisted.

Fang Qing smiled. “Yes, you are. I’ve always known it.”

“Your idea of truth is always loud and blunt,” Linglong said with a crooked smile.

“I’ll pack my bag and leave tomorrow. Don’t come to send me off. I’ll be back soon.”

“Fine, I won’t send you. When you’re back, you come and I’ll fetch you.” Linglong said with a smile.

Fang Qing smiled back. “All right, I’m going to prepare my things.”

After Fang Qing left, Linglong stood alone in the snow and laughed a strangely desolate laugh.

Perhaps from age, she truly could not endure farewells. Even though she knew Fang Qing was running toward happiness, the image of her solitude made Linglong’s heart ache.

The next morning, Fang Qing left early.
Qin Daofei had prepared a carriage and attendants, yet he did not come out to see her off.
That, strangely, made her feel relieved.

At noon, with no one to play with, Linglong called Aifei down and asked her to play chess. After a few moves, Linglong flipped the board over and said, “Let’s go play with Tanxiao’s concubine instead. I don’t feel like this at all.”

“She’s been quiet lately. How dare you go to her?” Aifei said coldly.

“It’s true, yes,” Linglong said. “These past days she’s been quietly frightening.”

“Isn’t that what people call the calm before a storm?” Aifei teased.

Linglong grinned. “At least it’s good. If I could kill her in one stroke, it would be clean.”

“Madam Qin has clearly wanted to find an opportunity to send you away. You clinging to this place—is that wise?” Aifei taunted.

Linglong lowered her head. “I know she wants me gone. But what can I do? I can’t leave now.”

“Do you think if you kill Tanxiao she’ll let you go?” Aifei asked, her tone sharp.

Linglong stood, flustered and furious. “If I decide to go, nothing can keep me.”

“I do hope you can actually do it,” Aifei said. She knew Linglong’s heart had already begun to warm again, though Linglong refused to admit it.
And Qin Daofei—so determined, so certain he would have Linglong for life—no wonder that a man like him had marked her and she could not simply walk away.

“Will you help me or not?” Linglong asked.

Aifei rolled her eyes. “Ask yourself if you really want to go.”

“I do. His kindness toward me—I can’t explain why, but it is not because of love,” Linglong said.

Aifei stared at her as if staring at someone daft.

Feeling insulted, Linglong snapped, “Woman, don’t look at me that way. I truly want to go.”

“Feng Linglong, by your conscience, do you really want to?” Aifei asked, then climbed back up to the beams.

In that instant, Linglong saw the door pushed open by Xiahe through the wind and sleet, and Qin Wang Xiangyu entered behind her. Xiahe removed the frost-laden fur that had clung to Linglong and bowed her in.
Only after Linglong was inside did Qin Wang Xiangyu close the door and hang the cloak on the rack.

“Mm. So industrious, Madam. You brave the storm just to visit me?” Linglong’s brazenness only made Qin Wang Xiangyu cold.

She stared at Linglong and sat opposite her. The first thing she said was, “When you came back, you told me you’d leave once you found the culprit. Later you said Tan Xiyan was backed by someone else and that you wanted to continue investigating. I put up with that. But, Feng Linglong, have you done any investigating?”

“I have been investigating all along,” Linglong said, certain.

“Hmph.”

Qin Wang Xiangyu sneered. “I haven’t seen any investigation. I have seen you inciting my son to wander everywhere and neglecting your proper work.”

“I can understand that Madam Qin wants me gone. I know I broke my word. If it hurts you, scold me and accuse me. But until Tan Xiyan is dead, I will not stop,” Linglong said, icy and flat.

Seeing that sharpened expression, Qin Wang Xiangyu suddenly became frightened, then blurting out, “Then when Tan Xiyan is dealt with, is it my turn next?”

Linglong froze, memories of torture flashing through her mind. She gave a grim smile. “You should be glad you’re his mother.”

“So… do you still love him?” Qin Wang Xiangyu asked with a tremor.

No one had spoken to Linglong so directly.

Linglong lowered her eyes. Her color was faintly white. “I do love him. But between us there is no possible future. I know that clearly; you needn’t remind me. I will go. Between the two of us, there is no bridge we can cross.”

“Swear by your father’s honor!” Qin Wang Xiangyu stood abruptly, eyes cold.

Linglong only stared at her, saying nothing.

Xiahe tugged at Qin Wang Xiangyu’s sleeve, but she slapped the sleeve away and pointed at Linglong. “Dare you?”

“Let her be. Why do you have a right to demand it?” Aifei could no longer bear it. She dropped from the beam, drew a sword, and held it to Qin Wang Xiangyu’s throat.

Qin Wang Xiangyu, shaking, turned to Linglong. “You have assassins hidden near you?”

“Qin Daofei knows.”

“Feng Linglong, you terrifying woman—you came back only to destroy my son!” Qin Wang Xiangyu suddenly lunged at Linglong.

Aifei took back her sword, but by then she had already moved in and seized Qin Wang Xiangyu’s neck.

“So you’re so frantic to have Linglong swear because you fear that once she learns your son put her in jail and then she’ll never leave?” Aifei shot out. “You made sure there would be no way back.”

Aifei’s words sent a chill down Linglong’s spine.

And they sent Qin Wang Xiiangyu into panic.

“Lies! Lies! Lies!” Qin Wang Xiangyu shouted.

Aifei withdrew her blade and pushed her hard to the ground. “You cannot bully Linglong. Mind your life if you value it.”

“Miss, let’s go,” Xiahe said, tugging her away.

Neither of them even took their cloaks. At the doorway, Qin Wang Xiangyu gave Xiahe a hard slap. “Do you know what you’re doing? You almost exposed the truth of what happened all those years ago.”

“Miss,” Xiahe said, covering her face but not crying, “you are unfair to young master. He likes Feng Linglong. If she plans to stay, why force her to leave? If she truly leaves, young master will leave too.”

“You’re a servant dog, what do you understand?” Qin Wang Xiangyu snapped.

“Madam, I am a servant dog, yes, but I watched Master grow up. I know his nature. Forcing Feng Linglong is exactly forcing him away,” Xiahe said, kneeling in her place, all servant’s humility intact.

Qin Wang Xiangyu glared down at her. “If you love kneeling, kneel till dawn.”

She turned away toward the Pine-and-Cypress Hall without looking back.

Xiahe remained kneeling in the snow, her eyes like dead ash.

After they left, Linglong looked at Aifei. “Do you know something?”

“I don’t,” Aifei said coldly. “I’m just reading her expression. I won’t believe you feel nothing.” With that, she leapt back onto the beam.

Linglong sat alone, with every emotion tangled inside her.

An hour later, Qin Daofei returned to Xiyao Manor.

As he entered, Jifeng stepped out and reported, “Master, this afternoon Madam went to the Great Mistress’s room. We don’t know what happened, but when she came out she beat and punished Xiahe. Xiahe has been kneeling outside in the snow for an hour already.”

“Call the doctor,” Qin Daofei said, and went toward the main hall.

When he arrived, Xiahe still knelt in the snow. The cold had turned her lips purple, and snow had settled in thick on her clothes, yet she did not move.

Qin Daofei took an umbrella from a servant and walked slowly behind her.
When Xiahe saw the umbrella block the snow from her and then lifted her eyes to him, she met Qin Daofei’s hawk-like gaze.

A flicker of light passed through hers. She moved her lips, but could not speak from the cold.

“Get up,” Qin Daofei said. He grasped her arm and pulled her to her feet.

She staggered twice and shook her head, still wanting to remain kneeling.

“In Xiyao Manor I am the highest authority. No one has the right to make you kneel, and I have not done that. Stand up!” He held her arm and told a servant, “Take Xiahe back to her room.”

“If Madam takes offense, what then?” the servant asked.

“Tell her to come to me. I’ll speak with her,” Qin Daofei said flatly.

The servants, aware of his displeasure, bowed and withdrew.

Then Qin Daofei pushed open the door and entered. Wind and snow came in with him. He stood at the threshold, shook off the flakes, and only after a while stepped into the inner room.

Linglong sat with her hands covering her face, lost in thought. She had no idea he had come in.

He sat beside her. Seeing no reaction, he cleared his throat. “Mm. Lost in thought?”

“I’m dead,” Linglong said, rolling her eyes impatiently.

Qin Daofei gave her a cold look and asked quietly, “Has your mother come?”

“Yes. Her coat was still on her. Xiahe has been kneeling out there so long; you didn’t see her, did you?” Fang Qing’s words came out especially taunting—no, Linglong’s, not Fang Qing; we mean Linglong: we continue.

Qin Daofei did not like seeing her so distant.

“What’s wrong?” he said, setting her shoulders so she faced him.

Linglong thought a moment and said, “Qin Daofei, I want to go home.”

“Isn’t this your home?”

“Because I said that, this isn’t my home?”

“This is not your home anymore. You can’t go in.”

“I just want to see the Fang estate,” Linglong said stubbornly. “I don’t even know whose house it is now, or whether anything is as it used to be, but I need to see.”

“It’s no longer yours. You can’t enter.”

“Yet I want to see. Even if only to Qingyun Hall of Charity, that would be enough.”

“Because Mother drove you out?” Qin Daofei could think of no other cause.

Linglong laughed coldly. “No. If she drives me out, I leave.”

“But from the beginning you told her you’d leave. So you returned only for revenge on Tan Xiyan. You find her guilty and then leave, is that it?” Qin Daofei’s tone trembled.

He pulled Linglong into his arms, holding her with force enough to embed her against him. “Tell me what I must do to bring us back to what we were.”

“And what was that?”

Linglong did not push him away, only gave a cold laugh.

Qin Daofei froze. “Linglong, I won’t let you leave. Even if it means down to the underworld and across all seas, I will keep you by my side. Unless you ask me to die, do not think of leaving.”

“Ai, why do you speak so solemnly? It’s terrifying. I just want to visit my old father. Is that too much?” Linglong pushed at him.

Qin Daofei did not allow her to escape, held her fast, and said softly, “You miss your father—I can go with you.”

“I miss him, but as long as Xiang Wang lives I have no face to see him. It’s enough. I can’t explain it clearly. I’m hungry. I’m going to find Huar. Huar. Huar!” Linglong pulled loose of him and rushed out of the room like prey chased by dogs.

Qin Daofei looked at his cold, empty embrace and said with a helpless smile, “You ran after me for seven years. Shall I spend the rest of my life chasing you too?”

He rose, took Madam Xiangyu’s cloak, and walked to the Pine-and-Cypress Hall.

Linglong pushed into Huar’s room and saw on her desk a vivid red fox fur cloak. The color was pure and perfect; no one could mistake it for lesser work.

“Well now, a beautiful cloak. Which gentleman gave it to you?” Linglong teased.

Huar wailed, “Miss, I did something very embarrassing. What should I do?”

“Tell me what you did.” Linglong was in a cheerful mood.

Huar explained, in stammers, about sending clothes and socks to Tang Li. After hearing it, Linglong laughed until she swayed.

“You’ve been played by Jifeng and Aifei.”

“Who are her pair?” Linglong asked.

“Aren’t they a pair? Do you really need to be this spoiled?” Aifei quipped.

Jifeng and Aifei hurled snowballs at Linglong from opposite sides.

Linglong complained dramatically, “You two lovers and fools! Wasn’t it your little scheme that Tan Li is going to freeze to death? Huar lost her footing, and that’s why she sent him gifts!”

What they did was clever, but Huar’s skin was thin. If Linglong did not give her an out, she’d die of embarrassment.

“Oh, you fool,” Aifei said. “I’ve lived with you two years and know your heart already.”

Jifeng still didn’t understand. He pointed at Huar. “He even sent her a pin, a token of commitment. Doesn’t that count as a declaration?”

“Do you think my Huar can be promised by someone simply sending a fox fur and a cheap pin by proxy?” Linglong asked quickly, then swiftly enough to surprise. “Huar, let me see it. Is it worth anything?”

“Miss, have you gone mad?” Huar stamped her foot.

“I’m only curious,” Linglong replied, pretending innocence.

“Curious, my foot.” Huar pushed her out. “Go find your missy and he, I don’t want to deal with you.”

“Not now, I just came from him. If you send me away now, what face do I have? Leave me outside and let the wind and rain wear me down, then let me fall sick and die. That would be convenient.”

“So you’re so pitiable?” Huar hissed.

Linglong nodded with obvious gravity. “Yes. Yes, you are.”

“Then go stand in the cold.”

“Aha, you’ve become a hard woman.”

“Yes I have,” Huar admitted.

Linglong started shaking Huar in theatrical alarm. “Give me back my Huar. Give her back. You aren’t my Huar—where is my Huar?”

Linglong had become addicted to this game. She shook Huar’s arm hard enough to rattle her.

“Miss, stop. I’ll be sick,” Huar begged.

Linglong shook her anyway, checking her body from head to toe. When she saw a shape protruding near Huar’s chest, she grabbed it and weighed it in her palm.

“By the way, that gold pin Tang Li sent has weight. Hmm—pure gold,” Linglong said, putting it toward her mouth.

Huar snatched it back quickly. “Don’t bite it.”

“Why not?”

“The pin,” Huar said, sweating, “I have to return it to him.”

“Why?”

“How can I accept such a precious thing for nothing?” Huar muttered.

Linglong felt she might faint with fury.

“I’m asking you, are you stupid? You sent him gifts first, he replied, and now you can’t decide?” Linglong said. Huar had no right to reject Tang Li.

Huar lowered her head. “Miss, I cannot forgive myself. I should not expect him to still have room for me.”

“What happened in the past is not something you can govern. Why must you fixate on it?” Linglong asked. She did not want Huar to overthink, yet thought of herself, trapped in a mire too.

Huar’s face had gone somewhat pale. “I need to think.”

“Then take this time. Since you two are not together, calm down. If your heart still cannot rest, don’t force yourself. Life is not guaranteed to be long for any of us. Don’t waste it.” Linglong gave back the pin somehow without knowing exactly how to console her.

Huar took the pin and said nothing.

“Fine. Come on. Let’s make some drinking food, and call Aifei to drink with us.” Linglong dragged Huar up before sorrow could stay.

The two of them cooked several dishes and called Aifei to drink downstairs.

In Pine-and-Cypress Hall, another scene unfolded.

When Qin Wang Xiangyu saw Qin Daofei enter with her cloak, she knew her son had come for trouble. Yet she kept the look of innocence and smiled faintly. “Why are you here?”

“She gave a terrible tirade in my room and left Xiahe to kneel in the snow alone. I came to see what made Madam so angry.”

Qin Wang Xiangyu narrowed her eyes. “Son, do you think I’m making trouble by bullying Linglong?”

“I did not say that, and I do not think it,” Qin Daofei answered. “Mother relied on Xiahe for so long. For her to treat her like this is difficult for me to understand.” He still did not mention Linglong.

The less he avoided it, the angrier Qin Wang Xiangyu became.

“It is exactly that,” she said. “I am here to drive Feng Linglong away. She told me she would stay in Xiyao Manor for six months, and then leave once she found the culprit. Yet six months passed, the culprit was found, and she still stays. I want to send her away. I don’t like her. I don’t want her here. I am afraid she will take revenge on you.”

“Mother, spoken that way, this becomes meaningless,” Qin Daofei said in a hard voice.

“I know you can’t bear to lose her, but she wants to leave,” Qin Wang Xiangyu said bitterly.

“If she truly wanted to leave,” he said, “would Mother really require her to swear on my father-in-law’s honor? Don’t you know what place Linglong has in me? I told you: I love her. I loved her much earlier than you imagine. Because of Mother’s force, I was compelled to marry her—but I married her because I loved her, because I could not let her go. Mother has never been able to control me. Now that I am grown, Mother can control me even less. Do you understand?”

“I do. Both you and your son are self-willed. No one controls either of you, and I no longer want to either. I was wrong. Kill me or cast me out—either is fine. Say it!” Qin Wang Xiangyu was no longer in control, hair coming loose, bloodshot eyes blazing.

Qin Daofei inhaled deeply. “Mother, rest. We are both too worked up tonight. Your son apologizes. But about Linglong, I will not yield one step.”

He left in long strides. As he shut the door, he seemed to hear her voice: “You and your son both refuse to yield for one woman.”

It was too faint to hear clearly. He turned, listened again, and could only make out his mother’s sobbing. Restless, he went away.

That day of harsh snow, Qin Daofei returned inside and, not seeing Linglong in her room, went next door.

He had just reached the doorway when he heard her shout hoarsely, “You two won’t drink, so that’s it? I’ll drink alone then!”

“Little drunkard,” Qin Daofei said. He felt no fault in drinking; for someone like Linglong, a measured sip could ease her pressure.

He stood there for a moment, then went to the study.

As soon as Qin Daofei sat down, he heard the familiar scraping sound of Tan Xiyan’s wheelchair rolling over packed snow. He set his documents aside with a faint frown and looked toward the door.

“Brother Daofei, are you in the study?” Tan Xiyan asked.

“Come in,” Qin Daofei said.

A maid pushed her chair in. That day Tan Xiyan seemed in good spirits, wearing a white coat and matching inner skirt, with a red cloak outside.

“If Mother sees you in red, she’ll speak,” Qin Daofei said without warmth.

In a grand household, a concubine had no right to wear red. Madam Xiangyu came from an official family, and such transgression was impossible. Linglong, as everyone knew, never cared about such rules.

“It’s my birthday. Let me wear it for a while,” Tan Xiyan said with a hint of coyness.

Qin Daofei paused. Yes, Tan Xiyan had been born in winter.

Still, he could not imagine this woman—the one who had once ended her own parents’ lives—deserving such a cheerful mood on her birthday.

“I made you a cloak, in your favorite deep blue,” Tan Xiyan said and had the maid bring it over. Qin Daofei did not look at it, setting it aside.

She rubbed her own arms and said, “Brother Daofei, every year you came and spent a birthday with me. Can’t you set aside your duties for one day and stay with me?”

“Xiyan,” he said, “the conflict with Xiang Wang has reached a point where one small relaxation could strike Xiyao Manor like a heavenly disaster.”

Tan Xiyan’s voice dimmed. “I understand. Brother Daofei, I understand. You need not continue.”

So Qin Daofei fell silent.

“Then I won’t disturb you,” she said, and turned away with a faintly grieving expression. Through all of it Qin Daofei did not so much as lift his eyes.

At the doorway, Tan Xiyan lifted her face to the snow, letting the flakes settle and melt down into cold streams along her neck, paying them no mind.

“Before, even if Brother Daofei was unwilling, he would still make time. If he had truly no time, he would send gifts. But now… hm… he remembers not a shred of what came before,” Tan Xiyan said to herself.

The maid did not speak, only steered her toward Mingyinge Hall.

“Take me to the main room. I want to see the Great Mistress.”

It was the first time since she had become “paralyzed” that Tan Xiyan asked to see Linglong. The maid was alarmed.

“Second wife, the Great Mistress barely moves in winter. You’ve had only a few quiet days. Why now?” she asked despite herself.

“I want to see whether her life is as sad as mine,” Tan Xiyan said flatly.

She knew Madam Xiangyu’s nature well. A woman like that could not tolerate Linglong and her remaining in the manor. She did not move against Tan Xiyan because she owed Tang Shen a debt as great as heaven, but Feng Linglong had no such shield.

The maid, now familiar with Tan Xiyan’s stubbornness, dared not interfere and only pushed her onward.

In the courtyard before the main hall, Tan Xiyan’s wheelchair was set down in the snow. She called out clearly, “Great Mistress, Xiyan requests audience.”

In Huar’s room, where they were still laughing over wine, Linglong heard the voice and looked at Huar with disbelief. “It can’t be, I almost heard Concubine Tan’s voice.”

“It’s no mistake. She’s in the yard.” Aifei handed Linglong a sword while she drank. “Take it. Split it into three.”

“Fine!”

Huar, seeing Linglong move for the sword, snatched it herself and placed it far away. “Both of you only know how to make trouble!”

“Ha-ha, we’re not the troublemakers,” Linglong said, bottle in hand, as she strolled from the room. Leaning at the doorway, she looked at Tan Xiyan lazily. “Well then, has concubine Tan suddenly started missing me?”

When Tan Xiyan saw Linglong’s blooming smile, her fingers clenched into a fist. “Yes. In this storm I came simply to see whether the Great Mistress is well.”

“Well, can’t say exactly good or bad,” Linglong said, still lounging in her gaze. “As long as there is the man you like beside you and the man I like beside me to drink with, life is comfortable enough. It’s just this storm keeps me from coming to visit.”

Tan Xiyan looked up at the sky of falling snow. “Do you remember? Today is my birthday. In previous years, Brother Daofei would always be here with me.”

“I remember,” Linglong said. “But you, concubine Tan… you even had the courage to poison your own father and mother. How can you still have the face to keep a birthday?”

Tan Xiyan was taken aback briefly, then said quietly, “My father’s and mother’s deaths were not intentional. The Great Mistress has clung to that until now and won’t let go. It is tiring.”

With sudden force, Linglong walked over and slapped Tan Xiyan several times. “So you have no shame then. I am not your father or mother. I can never forget you killed my child.”

Tan Xiyan covered her cheek and laughed bitterly. “But you cannot kill me either. What then?”

Linglong replied, voice switching from rage to teasing in a flash, “You infuriating creature. You know very well I cannot kill you—that important fact. So tell me how clever you are.”

Tan Xiyan was taken aback.

“Now what?”

“Come with me, drink!” Linglong tugged at her arm as if pulling her inside.

For one instant Tan Xiyan instinctively planted her feet on the ground, then realized she had overstepped, pulled them back, and began to fall.

Before she could even land, Aifei came out, caught her and set her into the wheelchair. The brutal jolt made Tan Xiyan vomit blood.

“Sorry, Concubine Tan. My dear miss is rather reckless in what she does. Did I hurt you?” Linglong said, already lunging with both hands toward Tan Xiyan’s chest.

The last time Tan Xiyan had been hurt badly. This time she clutched her chest and cried out, “Great Mistress, don’t hit me!”

As she cried, Aifei snatched the wine jar from Linglong’s hand and gave it to Tan Xiyan. “Hold it tight.”

Tan Xiyan still did not understand. In one swift motion Aifei struck the top of her own jar against Tan Xiyan’s skull; the bottle shattered instantly.

Aifei had not failed as a killer—fast, precise, merciless. A long cut opened by the temple, and the wine soaked in, making it burn so much she could not speak.

Most crucially, once it was done, Aifei disappeared so quickly no one clearly saw her move.

The only thing everyone could see was Tan Xiyan apparently raising the bottle and smashing it upon herself.

Naturally, those who arrived first saw exactly that.

Linglong bit down on her anger. “I haven’t finished my own wine yet.”

“Ah, I invited you to share my wine kindly. If you won’t come, I can understand. If you grab the jar from me, I can understand that too. Why did you snatch it so fiercely?” Linglong held out her hand, and there were indeed a few finger marks on her own fair fingers.

Linglong was falsely accusing Tan Xiyan while cursing Aifei inwardly for being so merciless.

“I didn’t,” Tan Xiyan said. The first time Linglong struck her, she had been equally stunned.

Linglong pointed at the maid beside Tan Xiyan. “When she came, was the bottle in my hand?”

“It was.”

“Did you see her, while crying for help, snatch the bottle from my hand?”

The maid had seen it, but dared not speak. She lowered her head and said timidly, “I… your servant did not see clearly.”

“Not clearly, is it?” Linglong said meaningfully, stepping forward swiftly. She took Tan Xiyan’s hand and placed the fingers over the wound on Linglong’s back, and said with deep ache, “Look. The wound fits perfectly. How can you say you didn’t see?”

“Steward Zhang, call the Master,” Linglong said after seeing Tan Xiyan’s fingers stained with her blood. “I want him to investigate himself.”

Soon Qin Daofei arrived.

Tan Xiyan looked at him with pitiful insistence. “Brother Daofei, I truly came only to greet the Great Mistress. She… she bullied me.”

“Linglong, what happened?” Qin Daofei stood between them and asked coldly.

Linglong repeated her statement once more. Qin Daofei took Tan Xiyan’s fingers and examined them. “Your fingers do have blood traces from scratching someone,” he said quietly.

“That was put on there by her just now,” Tan Xiyan said.

“Fine,” Qin Daofei said, eyes narrowing. “Even if that is so, everyone saw her seize the jar and strike herself on her own head. She can’t do that so quickly as she claims.” Linglong protested while clutching her hand.

Qin Daofei ignored her and asked the maid, “What did you see?”

“I saw Second Wife snatch the wine jar from the Great Mistress and strike it at her own head,” the maid said, fear making her precise.

Tan Xiyan pointed and shouted, “You lie! You lie!”

“Second Wife, perhaps you have not slept well. Your mood is poor. This period makes everyone confused. You need to understand,” the maid said. Strange as it was, those words made Linglong look at her with new respect.

Tan Xiyan froze, then held her face and cried.

Qin Daofei gave her one cold glance and said, “Find a doctor for her, check the injuries and prescribe medicine. Since her mind is not stable, do not drag her out wandering anymore.”

“Brother Daofei…” Tan Xiyan began, but her maid knelt and pressed a cloth to her forehead, gently saying, “Second Wife, let’s go home.”

Tan Xiyan bit her lip and said nothing.

After they left, Linglong laughed and crouched under a pillar, patting her thigh.

Qin Daofei came over with a cold smile, bent down and lifted her into the room.

“Enough mischief?” he asked.

Linglong kicked her legs and said with a laugh, “I think my little Fei has become increasingly improper.”

“Today she came to provoke you, and she had no one but herself to blame. But can you be careful and not keep arguing with her?” Qin Daofei said, ever fearing Linglong might be outdone by Tan Xiyan.

Linglong pouty, displeased. “She came on purpose to invite trouble. Why shouldn’t I trouble her? Besides, she’s not only provoking; she seems to be testing.”

He laid her gently on the bed. Linglong said, “This blanket is like an ice block.”

Qin Daofei got into bed as well, warming her with him.

With a little exclamation, Linglong said, “Ah, this is so comfortable, truly.”

“Tonight someone said she wanted a moment alone with you, and had matters to entrust to you,” Qin Daofei said. He let Linglong rest her cold hands and feet against his abdomen without changing expression.