She'd braced for a long wait before catching Qin Zheng. Instead, the moment Li Funing went to bed, the ghost delivered himself.
Ling Wu went on high alert, yellow talisman clutched in her hand.
What was this evil ghost up to now?
Yunshu hid behind her, peeking out timidly.
And then Qin Zheng dropped to his knees with a thud, the murderous air gone from him entirely.
Ling Wu was more baffled than ever.
"The one I wronged was Shen Ci," he said. "All of it—one misunderstanding stacked on another."
Only now, from Qin Zheng's own mouth, did the two of them finally piece together the whole thread between Shen Ci and Li Funing.
That year, at the lantern festival, Li Funing had at last been allowed out of the house—on the condition that she never remove her mask.
The dynasty had an unwritten rule: a woman of wealth and standing was not to show her face daily before marriage. If she went out at all, she wore a veiled hat and watched her every step, keeping up the dignity of a well-bred young lady.
Li Funing was the only daughter of the Li household, and the discipline there ran strict.
Over the years she could count her outings on one hand. She'd broken down over it more than once.
But there was no standing up to her father, so day after day she stayed shut in her little courtyard, wearing herself out on the dull rounds of qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
Then, by lucky chance, came the lantern festival. On that night the whole town's young men and women wore masks they'd prepared in advance—and that gave her her opening.
As long as her face stayed hidden, everything else could be negotiated.
Her father, after all, meant to trade her for good connections. Scarcity sets the price: the more hidden and proper she was, the higher her value.
Setting all that ugliness aside, Li Funing joined the crowd—buying lanterns, guessing riddles, drifting past the pleasure boats.
At one point she stopped at a small stall, staring blankly at a rabbit lantern.
She'd been born in the year of the rabbit, and this one was astonishingly lifelike. Look close, and you'd see the eyes weren't simply dotted with red ink—the rabbit had actual rubies set into them. The longer she looked, the more she wanted it.
She was just about to ask the price when a frivolous whistle sounded beside her.
Li Funing looked up in confusion—and straight into a man's ill-intentioned gaze.
Even through the mask she could read the sleaze all over his face.
"Does the little miss like this one? Want me to buy it for you?" He closed in as he spoke, reaching out a hand toward her.
Li Funing slipped just out of reach, voice sharp with anger. "Who are you? How dare you!"
"Get acquainted and we won't be strangers, will we? You seem curious about me too. Why not come home with me?" He stepped closer again.
Fear crept up on her. Something was wrong with this man.
Nobody much had noticed. The stall vendor kept his head down, clearly unwilling to wade in for a stranger's sake—everyone's thinking was the same: less trouble the better.
Just as the man's wandering hand was about to land in her hair, someone pulled her behind them.
A faint, clean fragrance reached her. Li Funing looked up, dazed, and saw only the man's broad back.
He flicked open a folding fan and knocked the hand away. "Harassing a young woman in broad daylight—or rather, lantern light. You've got some nerve."
Robbed of his fun, the thug flew into a rage and came swinging. He threw one blow after another and never so much as grazed the man's sleeve.
Done wasting words, the man said with contempt, "Scram, before I make you."
The scuffle had drawn a crowd by then—the same bystanders who'd wanted no part of it were now eager to watch. Seeing how the wind had turned, the thug melted into the mass of people.
Danger passed, Li Funing let out a breath she'd been holding.
She was about to thank him when the man picked up the rabbit lantern and handed it to her with a smile.
"Fond of rabbits?"
She nodded. "And why did you help me, sir?"
He met her eyes, his own crinkling with the smile. "Anyone would. It's what you do when you see wrong being done."
"You're traveling alone—a young woman ought to have attendants with her. What will you do the next time a rogue finds you?"
He got one thing wrong, though. The rescue was no accident. He had marked her the moment she set foot on that street.
White robes, a graceful figure; the small, delicate lower half of her face left bare by the mask; an uncommonly fine pearl pin in her hair and an air in her every gesture that spoke of money or breeding—likely both.
He'd been away perhaps as long as one cup of wine when he saw the thug latch on to her.
Had crossing the street not cost him a bit of time, that thug would never have earned a second word from her.
Something stirred in Li Funing's chest at his words.
She couldn't make out his face at all, yet somehow she was certain he must be extraordinary.
For once she grew bold. "If you're so concerned, sir—why not come to the Li residence and be my attendant? Guard me from now on."
Her eyes were very clear, and just then fireworks bloomed overhead and spilled into them, glittering. To the man, everything else in the world drained of color.
Over the crack and boom of the fireworks, all he could hear was his own heart, pounding.
He was about to say more when a friend waved from down the street, calling, "Don't you dare slip out of your round of drinks, Young Master Shen!"
That man was Shen Ci.
Li Funing caught only the last few words—the "slip out of your drinks."
She smiled. "If you have matters to attend to, sir, go ahead. The days are long. We'll meet again."
She wanted to ask his name—but thinking of her family's situation, she held her tongue.
What good would knowing do? Would her father ever let her marry as she pleased? And really, she only felt this particular gratitude because he'd saved her. It wasn't even that—her heart hadn't moved like that.
Love at first sight was simply not something that happened to her.
Shen Ci, though, took every word to heart. He looked at her steadily and promised, "The next time we meet, I'll be carrying it. You must be sure to recognize me, Miss Li."
Yulin was only so big. For Shen Ci, finding out which family was surnamed Li took no effort at all.
With a wave, he hurried back to the tavern.
The crowd tonight was all idle young lords, and he had no wish to let them lay eyes on Li Funing.
She watched the direction he'd vanished into, feeling an odd hollowness.
Would they really meet again?
She couldn't say.
Who knew when she'd next be allowed out? He'd probably said it on a passing whim.
After the episode she'd lost all taste for strolling. She bought a few books to pass the long days at home and returned to the residence.
There Qin Zheng stopped, unwilling to go on.
Reliving the past his beloved had shared with another man—few hearts could bear it easily.
But Ling Wu was only halfway through and thoroughly hooked.
"And then? And then? Did Miss Li and Young Master Shen have their second meeting? Where? Did they finally speak their hearts?"
Yunshu pressed a hand to her forehead, her eyelid twitching hard.
This Ling Wu had no instincts at all.
Get her into a story like this and she went deaf and blind to everything else—couldn't even follow basic logic.
If Shen Ci and Li Funing had already confessed their feelings, what business would Qin Zheng have had in any of it?
Luckily Qin Zheng didn't take offense. He only smiled, desolate and tired. "No. There was no second meeting for them—because the second meeting they'd promised was the first one between Funing and me."
Ling Wu felt lightning strike her. Their second meeting had become his first with Li Funing—what did that even—
What was this called again? Poaching? Poaching the very woman his sworn brother had his heart set on!
No wonder Shen Ci had later cut him off. The man had stolen his own match out from under him.
For the first time, Ling Wu found herself feeling sorry for Shen Ci.