Back at Bai Mansion that afternoon, Chang Er and Pei Yuan gathered inside Bai Jue's study while Da Yi placed the information collected from Everleaf on the table.
"The hidden room contains Nanlyu military blades, iron arrowheads and several boxes of unregistered gold," Chang Er reported. "There is another passage leading toward the river warehouse, but we did not enter because someone was guarding the lower level."
Pei Yuan frowned. "Counselor Su?"
"Most likely."
Bai Jue studied the documents before him, but after several moments Da Yi realized his master's eyes had stopped moving.
"My lord?"
No answer.
"My lord."
Bai Jue finally looked up. "What?"
Chang Er exchanged a glance with Pei Yuan.
Da Yi already knew.
"Lady Yang Mi smiled at Scholar Ren three times today."
Bai Jue's expression darkened. "Four."
Silence filled the study.
Pei Yuan slowly sat down. "You counted?"
"He also made her laugh."
Chang Er rubbed his forehead. "We are discussing treason."
"I am aware."
"We found weapons beneath the tea house."
"I heard you."
"And yet you are thinking about Scholar Ren."
Bai Jue placed the document down. "I can think about two threats at once."
Da Yi looked at him. "Threat?"
"Potential threat."
"To the kingdom?"
Bai Jue did not answer.
Pei Yuan laughed.
Bai Jue pointed toward the door. "Leave."
"My lord, we still need instructions."
"Continue watching Everleaf. Do not move until we know where the weapons are going."
Chang Er nodded. "And Scholar Ren?"
Bai Jue paused.
"Investigate him."
Da Yi sighed. "Again?"
"I want everything."
"We already have his residence, servants, merchant contacts and supposed family history."
"Supposed?"
"Because most of it appears too clean."
Bai Jue's eyes narrowed.
That only confirmed his suspicion.
"What else?"
Da Yi hesitated. "Nothing useful."
"Has he ever been married?"
Pei Yuan began coughing.
Chang Er turned away.
Da Yi stared at his master. "How is that related to Counselor Su?"
"It may become relevant."
"How?"
Bai Jue glared at him.
Da Yi bowed. "I will investigate."
Bai Jue walked toward the window. "Also arrange a lilac viewing walk."
Chang Er looked confused. "For the investigation?"
"For Yang Mi."
"Oh."
"And tell the kitchen to prepare the tofu dish she likes."
"No scallions," Da Yi said automatically.
"Obviously no scallions. She hates them."
Pei Yuan looked at Chang Er. "The future of the Three Realms is safe."
Bai Jue ignored him.
"And send her a silk fan."
"What design?"
"Peach blossoms."
Da Yi took a breath. "What should I write?"
Bai Jue considered it seriously.
"A storm may shake the heavens, but my heart belongs only to you."
Nobody spoke.
Bai Jue looked at them. "What?"
Chang Er shook his head. "Nothing."
"Sign it anonymously."
Da Yi blinked. "Why anonymously?"
"She may refuse it if she knows it came from me."
Pei Yuan finally laughed.
Bai Jue threw the nearest brush at him.
Three days later, Yang Mi received an invitation from her cousin to attend a royal ladies' garden luncheon.
She had almost refused.
The idea of spending an afternoon surrounded by noblewomen discussing jewelry, husbands and family connections did not interest her, but remaining inside Bai Mansion while Bai Jue followed her around pretending not to follow her sounded even less appealing.
More importantly, Tan Qi mentioned one name among the invited guests.
Su Er Rong.
Counselor Su's daughter.
Yang Mi immediately remembered the sealed crates at Everleaf and Ren's warning to notice less.
She told herself it was only curiosity.
By noon she arrived at the garden.
The gathering was held beside a large lotus pond surrounded by covered pavilions and flowering trees. Noblewomen dressed in colorful silk sat in groups drinking tea while servants carried trays of fruit and small pastries between them.
Yang Mi kept mostly to herself.
Her simple dress attracted attention almost immediately.
She was admiring a row of blooming lilies when Tan Qi leaned closer.
"My lady."
Yang Mi followed her gaze.
A beautiful young woman dressed in deep rose silk approached with several noblewomen behind her.
"Su Er Rong," Tan Qi whispered.
Yang Mi remained still.
Su Er Rong stopped in front of her and smiled. "So you are Yang Mi."
Yang Mi returned the polite smile. "And you are?"
The women behind Su Er Rong looked shocked.
Her smile stiffened.
"Su Er Rong. Daughter of Counselor Su."
Yang Mi nodded. "I see."
That calm response irritated Su Er Rong far more than admiration would have.
"I have heard a great deal about you."
"Then people in the capital have too much free time."
A woman behind Su Er Rong hid a laugh behind her fan.
Su Er Rong's eyes sharpened. "You are quite bold for someone who does not seem to belong in gatherings like this."
Yang Mi looked around the garden. "I was invited."
"Of course." Su Er Rong smiled sweetly. "Sometimes unusual things are brought along for entertainment."
The women around her giggled.
Yang Mi's expression remained calm.
"I did not come here to entertain you."
"No. Apparently you are better at entertaining powerful men."
Tan Qi's face changed immediately.
"My lady—"
Yang Mi lifted one hand and stopped her.
Su Er Rong stepped closer. "Everyone knows you suddenly appeared inside Lord Bai's mansion. No respectable family background anyone recognizes, no position worth mentioning, yet somehow you became his wife."
Yang Mi looked directly at her. "My marriage has nothing to do with you."
"Marriage?"
Su Er Rong laughed.
"Do you really believe men like Lord Bai marry women like you?"
The words struck somewhere Yang Mi had been trying not to touch.
Sun Jin's voice returned painfully in her memory.
Mortal.
Unworthy.
Someone who did not belong beside him.
Su Er Rong noticed the brief hesitation and smiled with satisfaction.
"Powerful men become interested in beautiful things all the time. They keep them close, spoil them for a while and eventually grow tired. When that happens, they return to women who actually belong in their world."
Yang Mi's fingers tightened around her fan.
"Have you ever wondered why Lord Bai has never publicly introduced you properly?" Su Er Rong continued. "Perhaps even he understands that a quiet poor woman cannot stand beside someone of his status forever."
Before Yang Mi could answer, a familiar voice came from behind them.
"I never left her."
The entire garden fell silent.
Yang Mi turned.
Bai Jue stood beneath the stone archway dressed in a dark robe embroidered with silver thread, his expression calm enough to make Su Er Rong immediately lose some of the color in her face.
He walked toward them without hurrying.
Su Er Rong quickly curtsied. "Lord Bai."
Bai Jue barely acknowledged her.
His eyes went directly to Yang Mi.
Only after confirming that she was unharmed did he finally look at Su Er Rong.
"I heard you were discussing my wife."
Su Er Rong swallowed. "There has been a misunderstanding. I was only concerned that—"
"I did not ask what concerned you."
Her face reddened.
Bai Jue stopped beside Yang Mi.
"Since you seem confused, I will make this simple. Yang Mi is my wife. She does not stay in Bai Mansion because I allow her to. Bai Mansion is her home."
Several women lowered their eyes.
Su Er Rong tried to smile. "Of course, Lord Bai. I did not mean to question—"
"You questioned her status."
Bai Jue's voice remained calm, but the coldness behind it made everyone nearby uncomfortable.
"You are correct about one thing. Her status cannot be compared with yours."
Su Er Rong's expression brightened for only a second.
Bai Jue continued, "Because even if you borrowed every title belonging to the Su family, you would still not be qualified to stand beside her."
Her face went completely red.
Yang Mi stared at him.
The man beside her was the same man who had hidden behind vegetable carts, argued about jasmine tea and sent her a ridiculously dramatic anonymous fan, yet in front of everyone else there was nothing foolish about him.
He turned toward her and held out his hand.
Yang Mi looked down at it.
Bai Jue did not reach for her.
He waited.
That small difference mattered more than he probably understood.
After several seconds Yang Mi placed her fingers in his palm.
The tension in Bai Jue's shoulders disappeared almost immediately.
His fingers closed gently around hers.
"Come home with me?"
Yang Mi looked at him and then at Su Er Rong.
"Yes."
Bai Jue almost smiled.
"Let's go home."
That evening Yang Mi sat alone beneath the peach tree in the inner garden, turning the silk fan slowly between her fingers.
She had already figured out who sent it.
Bai Jue was terrible at hiding his handwriting.
When footsteps approached, she did not turn around.
Bai Jue stopped beside the table.
"May I sit?"
Yang Mi looked at him in surprise.
Normally he simply sat wherever he wanted.
"You are asking?"
"I am learning."
She looked at the empty chair beside her. "Sit."
He immediately sat down.
Yang Mi opened the fan.
"A storm may shake the heavens, but my heart belongs only to you," she read softly.
Bai Jue suddenly became interested in the lantern.
"Very dramatic."
"I would not know."
"You wrote it."
"Do you have evidence?"
Yang Mi turned the fan around. "Your handwriting."
Bai Jue remained silent.
"And you followed me to Everleaf."
He looked at her.
"Yes."
"Every day?"
"Not every day."
"Bai Jue."
He sighed. "Almost every day."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Fine. Every day."
Yang Mi stared at him in disbelief. "Why?"
"Because you kept leaving."
"I always came back."
"I know."
"Then what were you afraid of?"
Bai Jue did not answer immediately.
Yang Mi waited.
Finally he looked at her. "That one day you wouldn't."
The irritation in her expression slowly faded.
For several moments only the sound of water moving through the pond filled the garden.
Then Yang Mi looked down at the fan.
"Why did you come today?"
"To bring you home."
"I could have come home myself."
"I know."
"You humiliated Su Er Rong in front of everyone."
"She insulted you."
"You could have ignored her."
"No."
Yang Mi turned toward him. "Why do you care so much what they think of me?"
Bai Jue's expression changed.
"I don't."
She frowned.
He moved slightly closer, but this time he still left enough distance between them that she could choose whether to stay.
"I don't care if they think you are poor, noble, ordinary or unworthy. Their opinions mean nothing to me."
His voice became quieter.
"I only care what you think of me."
Yang Mi looked at him for a long time.
There were still too many things between them that Bai Jue had not explained, too many questions surrounding Sun Jin, the Heaven Realm and the life he had hidden from her. She had not forgiven him yet.
But for the first time since everything had fallen apart, she also understood that whatever truth Bai Jue was afraid to tell her, his feelings for her were not part of the deception.
Yang Mi slowly closed the peach-blossom fan.
"Then perhaps," she said, looking directly at him, "you should stop deciding what I am allowed to know."
Bai Jue froze.
She stood before he could answer and walked toward their chamber, leaving him alone beneath the peach tree.
He watched her disappear through the doorway.
Then, several seconds later, her voice came from inside.
"Are you planning to sleep in the garden?"
Bai Jue's head immediately lifted.
Yang Mi did not appear again, but the bedroom door remained open.
For the first time in days, Bai Jue smiled.
He rose quickly and followed his wife inside.