When Cheng Tianxun returned, Qin Yan was already home.
She had just finished lunch and taken a short nap. She had changed into another outfit and was getting ready to go out.
They met face-to-face. She nodded in greeting.
“Marshal.”
Then she added, “I’m leaving first. I still have a few things to take care of this afternoon.”
“I came back specifically because I heard about what happened at the newspaper office,” Cheng Tianxun said.
Qin Yan stopped.
“I didn’t cause any trouble. I didn’t kill anyone. I only fired a shot beside Miss Du’s ear. The bullet grazed her earlobe and made it bleed quite a bit. She fainted from fright.”
A gunshot could indeed damage someone’s hearing, though it was only a possibility, not a certainty.
As for the shot she had fired at the attendant, she had deliberately aimed to avoid any vital areas. He wouldn’t be permanently disabled.
Qin Yan was still quite confident in her marksmanship.
“I didn’t say you caused trouble,” Cheng Tianxun said. “Relax. I didn’t come back looking for a fight.”
He gestured toward the stairs.
“Come upstairs. Let’s talk.”
Qin Yan handed her handbag to the maid and followed him upstairs.
The bed for the master bedroom had not arrived yet, so the couple sat down in the sitting room adjoining the bedroom.
A maid brought them tea before carefully retreating.
Qin Yan picked up her teacup and held it in both hands.
She remembered hearing that Du Zhuojun and Cheng Tianxun had grown up together and had quite a history between them.
She also remembered Ling Manyun saying that Cheng Tianxun had secretly met Du Zhuojun in the middle of the night a few days ago.
And she remembered what Du Zhuojun had just said—that Qin Yan had only caught Cheng Tianxun’s attention because she happened to look somewhat like Du Zhuojun, which was why he had agreed to marry her.
Which of those things were true and which were lies, Qin Yan had no interest in finding out.
She only hoped her life wouldn’t become too complicated.
After a moment of silence, she spoke.
“Miss Du barged into my newspaper office with a group of people. If I had simply let her come and go as she pleased, I would have lost all authority. Managing my staff would only become harder from then on.”
She continued, “My chief editors are people I worked hard to cultivate. I stayed up late with them to get their work done, helped each of them establish their own style, and even found respected scholars to endorse them.
“Now that they’ve made a name for themselves, there are bound to be plenty of newspapers trying to poach them. If I let myself be treated like a soft persimmon, all the effort I put into them would have been wasted.”
She paused.
Seeing Cheng Tianxun light a cigarette, his expression still perfectly calm, she asked, “Do I need to apologize to Miss Du?”
Cheng Tianxun exhaled a cloud of smoke.
“You didn’t kill her. That hardly counts as a serious offense. There’s no need to apologize.”
Qin Yan: “……”
“When I was young, I did something foolish. She’s always used that incident as a shield to throw her weight around. If she provokes you again, just shoot her dead or cripple her. You don’t need to answer to me. As for the Marshal, I’ll deal with the aftermath for you.”
At this point, he paused, seemingly waiting for Qin Yan to ask something.
But Qin Yan had never been interested in listening to long, tangled stories of love and resentment. When it came to the romantic affairs of “strangers,” she had absolutely no desire to investigate.
If he were teaching her how to seize territory, manage subordinates, or make money, she would listen attentively.
But she remained silent.
Cheng Tianxun asked again, “Did you get frightened?”
“No.”
“It’s still early. What are you doing this afternoon?” he asked.
Before Qin Yan could answer, he continued, “I’m leaving for my post the day after tomorrow. I’ll also have to make a trip to Sucheng this time, so I may not be back for two or three months.”
The implication was obvious.
Qin Yan understood exactly what he meant.
She fell silent for a moment before saying, “The bed hasn’t arrived yet.”
“We don’t have to do it on the bed.”
“We don’t have to do it at all,” she replied.
Cheng Tianxun said, “I don’t like eating vegetarian food. I ran all the way back here in the middle of the afternoon, not to hear you say that.”
Qin Yan: “……”
“Guest room or sofa? The bathroom works too.”
Qin Yan: “……”
He walked over to her, a cigarette between his lips, and hooked a finger around one of the buttons on her qipao.
Smoke drifted around them as he looked at her.
His desire was obvious, but he had no intention of forcing her. Qin Yan had turned him down twice before, and each time he had respected her wishes without pressing her.
Even now, his touch was gentle. It was a question, a test.
And a tease.
Qin Yan took the cigarette from his lips, drew a puff herself, then pressed her lips to his.
Amid the crisp scent of tobacco, Cheng Tianxun pulled her into his arms and settled her onto his lap.
The sunlight outside the window was still bright. Sparrows chattered noisily from the branches, while the legs of the sofa seemed almost unable to bear their weight, creaking in rhythm with the birdsong.
Qin Yan eventually lost herself in the moment, leaning against the armrest of the sofa, and Cheng Tianxun, unusually considerate, slowed down.
His lips brushed over the thin sheen of sweat on her back.
“You’re very fair.”
Her skin was lustrous and radiant, almost like polished pearl, a pleasure to look at. When her dark hair fell loose, the contrast between black and white was striking.
When his hand closed around her waist, Cheng Tianxun found the sight even more stimulating. It was as though snow had fallen across endless golden sands, an exquisite, intoxicating scene.
It was almost unbearably pleasurable.
Even looking at her was enough to satisfy him.
He turned her face toward him and kissed her lips.
“Tired?” he asked.
Qin Yan gave a couple of soft, contented hums.
“Mm.”
“I’m not finished yet.”
Qin Yan: “……”
Later, she told Cheng Tianxun to be gentler and not break the legs of the sofa along with everything else.
“I really like this sofa. The owner of the furniture shop said it was imported from Nanyang. If I wanted another one, I’d have to wait six months…”
She continued rambling, but Cheng Tianxun kissed her, silencing the rest of her words.
By evening, Qin Yan was fast asleep in the guest room while Cheng Tianxun went up to the third floor to hold a meeting with his trusted aides.
The next day, when Qin Yan arrived at the newspaper office, the four chief editors came to see her one after another.
“Miss Du slandered me. I never intended to resign.”
“Miss Du had someone send pastries to my wife. There were two gold bars inside the box. My wife is rather easily tempted by money, so she accepted them. I questioned her until she finally told me the truth. These are the gold bars. Please return them to Miss Du for me.”
“You pay me well, Chief. There’s no way I’d leave unless you told me to go.”
“I’ve never even met Miss Du. She sent one of her attendants to find me. With an attitude that arrogant, why would I ever want to work for her?”
Qin Yan reassured each of them in turn.
Sometimes she offered a few words of appreciation, sometimes a gentle warning, and then she talked with them about the future.
She also promised them a raise.
After they left, Secretary Ling Manyun brought Qin Yan a cup of coffee.
“The effects of yesterday’s gunplay,” she said.
Qin Yan turned her head and glanced at the broken window behind her desk, which still hadn’t been replaced. She nodded.
“You were right. Sometimes a gun is more effective than a pen.”
The secretary noticed the broken window as well.
“The weather isn’t cold. Leave the bullet hole there for a few more days and let everyone downstairs take a good look at it.”
Then she asked, “Are you really giving them raises?”
“Rewards and punishments,” Qin Yan replied. “The chief editors get raises. No one else does.”
The newspaper had always been doing very well, and Qin Yan was making quite a lot of money.
Now that others were trying to poach her talent, if she wanted to keep her people, she couldn’t rely solely on their past loyalty. Giving them raises was only reasonable.
Cheng Tianxun had also given her one hundred thousand silver dollars.
She spent the entire day busy in her office.
Near closing time, Secretary Ling Manyun told her that Du Zhuojun had not yet been discharged and had gone home, and that her father had been admitted to the hospital as well.
“Director-General Du seems to have been beaten up,” the secretary said.
“I know. Cheng Tianxun did it,” Qin Yan replied.
After everything had ended the previous day, Cheng Tianxun had insisted on bathing with her and had told her everything that had happened at the military government.
Qin Yan had only asked, “Will the Marshal be angry?”
“No,” Cheng Tianxun had replied.
His answer had been brief and utterly certain, so Qin Yan had decided not to concern herself with it.
Whoever had been beaten had nothing to do with her.
Another day passed, and Cheng Tianxun went away.
That was how he usually was.
Whether he was leaving or returning home, he never informed Qin Yan in advance, and she had grown accustomed to it.
While Cheng Tianxun was away at his post, the Marshal’s wife summoned Qin Yan to the Marshal’s residence.