Bloodstains?
The smile on Jiang Weiyao's face faltered, but was quickly replaced by panic.
She turned around. "What bloodstains?"
Pei Yunheng lowered his eyes. "On your back. There's a drop of fresh blood."
Jiang Weiyao's breathing hitched for a moment. She looked at him helplessly. "Where would bloodstains come from? Husband, don't frighten me."
Pei Yunheng drew closer.
Between the two of them, it had always been Jiang Weiyao who took the initiative to close the distance. This was the first time he had ever approached her on his own.
Coming to stand behind her, his restrained, austere presence immediately enveloped Jiang Weiyao. He stood so close that only the fluttering of their garments served as the sole, fragile barrier between their two bodies.
As he bent down, his warm breath even lingered briefly at Jiang Weiyao's snow-white nape.
Jiang Weiyao's fingertips curled slightly. A chill ran down her spine.
Even though he was near, even though the breath falling on her neck was scorching hot, it did not feel the least bit intimate. It was more like the low sniffing of a tiger or wolf before it feeds—carrying a strong sense of oppression and danger.
Jiang Weiyao had no doubt that his momentary pause just now had been him deliberating whether or not to snap her neck.
She turned her head to the side and saw Pei Yunheng with his eyes lowered, his thick, dense lashes casting a small patch of shadow beneath his eyelids.
Spring garments were thin. The moment Pei Yunheng's finger landed on her spine, she could clearly feel the coolness emanating from his fingertip, and her body trembled involuntarily.
His fingertip was sliding downward, inch by inch.
The pressure was not heavy—it could even be called gentle. Had anyone else done it, it might have seemed like deliberate flirtation. Yet Jiang Weiyao felt as though she were lying on a chopping block, prey being disemboweled by him.
Finally, it stopped at her waist.
With a light hook of his fingertip, it was stained by the fallen red. Pei Yunheng raised his eyes slightly, observing the way the woman's body trembled faintly.
He said in an unhurried tone, "I was mistaken. It was just a flower petal."
Her cherry lips pressed together, Jiang Weiyao's lashes quivered.
A flower petal and fresh blood—how could he mistake one for the other?
Impossible!
She immediately put on a wounded expression and raised her hand to swat Pei Yunheng's palm. "Husband clearly knows I'm timid, yet you deliberately tease me!"
The force that came at him was not heavy, yet it left Pei Yunheng's hand numb.
He flexed his wrist casually, and the pitiful flower petal on his fingertip drifted away with the wind.
He regarded Jiang Weiyao with an easy, unhurried air.
Was that how she understood it?
Should he believe she was truly slow on the uptake, or was she a cunning woman well-versed in putting on an act?
Recalling the broken wooden hairpin in his robes, Pei Yunheng's thin lips curved slightly. "It was my mistake."
This "my mistake" was clearly different from the apology in the woods.
The tone was flippant, the tail of the sentence lilting upward—more like provocation and veiled mockery.
—That was how Jiang Weiyao interpreted it.
"It's all Zhang Da's fault. He made you rush about all night without proper rest, until you were so exhausted your old eyes grew blurry." She blamed him, then could not help worrying. "Husband, have you found Zhang Da? He hasn't already escaped back to the village, has he?"
Pei Yunheng said lightly, "He's dead."
"Dead?!" Jiang Weiyao took a step back, her gaze seemingly falling to the side out of instinct. "H-how did he die…"
"Bad luck. He lost his footing and fell off a cliff while trying to escape." Pei Yunheng watched her quietly.
But Jiang Weiyao did not dare look at him. There was a barely perceptible tremor in her voice. "So that's what happened. Then—then should we report it to the authorities?"
Pei Yunheng said slowly, "I'll do whatever my wife says."
He talked a fine game—saying he would do whatever his wife said, yet in reality, the moment he returned, he had begun testing her.
Jiang Weiyao sneered inwardly. She was just about to speak when she suddenly noticed something, and her heart gave a violent jolt.
Wife?
He had actually called her wife!?
Wait—when he had tested her with the bloodstain earlier, had he also addressed her as wife?
Jiang Weiyao's eyelid twitched hard.
Oh no.
Just now, all her attention had been on responding to the bloodstain. She had been so focused on acting afraid that she had overlooked that sudden "wife."
This clearly did not match the lovestruck persona she had carefully crafted for herself—the girl who had eloped for love.
No wonder Pei Yunheng had worn that faint, ambiguous smile when he approached.
But at this point, she might as well roll with the mistake. She turned her face away and said nothing, keeping silent.
Pei Yunheng asked, "Wife doesn't want to report to the authorities?"
"I…" Jiang Weiyao hesitated for a moment, then said cautiously, "I'm worried that when the authorities investigate, they might mistakenly take you and me for the killers. After all, we were the ones who tied the man up and brought him here."
Pei Yunheng raised an eyebrow. "A clear conscience fears no shadow. The authorities shouldn't be that incompetent."
"Better safe than sorry!"
Hearing this, Jiang Weiyao seemed somewhat agitated. She turned to look at him, barely managing to keep her tone steady. "Our identities are inconvenient. It's best we have as little to do with the authorities as possible."
Pei Yunheng let out a short laugh. "I never noticed before how cautious you are. Then we'll do as you say. No doubt Zhang Da's family will report him missing after all this time—no need to wade into those troubled waters."
Her white teeth bit lightly into her lower lip. At these words, Jiang Weiyao clutched the hem of her clothes uneasily and lowered her head, falling silent again.
"This place isn't safe to stay for long. We should leave." Pei Yunheng looked away from her and walked past her toward the cave.
Jiang Weiyao did not hurry after him as she usually did. She stood in place for a few breaths before taking a step.
Maintaining a distance—neither too close nor too far—Jiang Weiyao's gaze fell on Pei Yunheng's receding figure.
The anxious expression faded from her face. Her delicate brows arched slightly, and she smiled without a sound.
It seemed her husband had likely found that wooden hairpin. This was him putting on a show with her.
Wonderful.
Since he had fallen into her trap, from now on, this play would no longer be hers alone to perform.
She was looking forward to it.
She hoped Pei Yunheng could sing this opera to the end with a clear head.
The sun rose in the east, spreading rosy clouds flat across the sky.
A new day drew back the curtain.
Daya had not yet escaped her identity as a Flower Maiden. If she were to disappear, it would surely implicate Aunt Zhou, who was still in the village.
She had no choice but to return to the village.
Since Li Anbo had already sent villagers up the mountain to search, the cave was no longer a safe place to stay.
Back at the medicine hall, Jiang Weiyao and Wang Mingke had played off each other, and in the end, Pei Yunheng had used his jade pendant to cover the cost of the medicine.
That jade pendant of his was indeed of fine quality. Jiang Weiyao and Wang Mingke had argued their case, and after deducting the medicine fee, they had also gotten a few taels of broken silver.
After renting a courtyard and covering food and drink for those days, there was still some left. But last night's hasty flight up the mountain meant that aside from a few copper coins they carried on them, they had nothing else of use.
Going back to the village to retrieve it now would be no different from walking into a trap.
Fortunately, there was still Daya. She handed the two pieces of broken silver to Jiang Weiyao. "Find somewhere to settle first. I'll figure out a way to find you."
Jiang Weiyao accepted the silver and, on cue, sobbed a couple of times—which actually startled Wang Yulan and Erya, who had been genuinely worried and reluctant to part, into stopping their own tears.
A quarter of an hour later, they split into two groups.
Without the donkey cart, they could only rely on walking to enter the city. Jiang Weiyao had always acted delicate in front of Pei Yunheng. Though she was now so exhausted that her steps faltered, she stubbornly did not call for a single stop.
They walked from day into night. Fortunately, an old man driving a cart into the mountains to sell goods lent them a hand, and only then did they manage to get inside before the city gates closed.
The old man was not from Hedong Village. He was very kind and even invited them to travel with him when they returned, and to stop by his home for a visit.
After thanking him, they parted ways. The group found an inn near the Chunxi Restaurant that Daya had mentioned.
When they reached the room at the end of the second floor and pushed open the back window, they could see Chunxi Restaurant.
It had just turned night, and the restaurant was lit with candles inside and out, with decorative lanterns hung up. Seen from afar, it looked utterly opulent.
"Actually, I heard about this restaurant a long time ago," Jiang Weiyao suddenly said. "Its Three Fresh Fish is very famous, but I never got to taste it."
Wuming County bordered Wufeng County, so Jiang Weiyao saying this was not particularly strange.
Erya leaned against the window. "Weren't we going to investigate inside tonight? We can try it then."
Wang Yulan hesitated. "That dish is very expensive. I'm afraid we can't afford it."
"How expensive? Sister gave us two pieces of broken silver," Erya said, tilting her head in confusion.
Wang Yulan said, "They say one order of Three Fresh Fish costs three taels of silver."
"What?!" Erya sat up straight with a jolt.
Jiang Weiyao could not help sighing as well. "Let's just go downstairs and find something to eat. First fill our stomachs."
Erya was already hungry, and upon hearing this she immediately followed.
Passing the neighboring room, Jiang Weiyao knocked on the door. "Husband, do you want anything to eat?"
After a brief silence, Pei Yunheng's voice came from inside the room. "No need."
Jiang Weiyao said nothing more and led Wang Yulan and Erya out of the inn.
Inside the room, Pei Yunheng's knobby fingertips rubbed the jade pendant.
This jade pendant was the one Jiang Weiyao claimed to have redeemed from Wang Mingke using the earrings left behind by her deceased mother.
The same jade material, the same patterns.
It was no different from the jade pendant that had been hanging at his waist when he woke, except that it lacked the fragrance.
After waking, he had carefully examined everything on his person, naturally including this jade pendant, and quickly discovered that it carried a strange fragrance, very faint, impossible to detect without careful smelling.
At the time, he suspected the fragrance might be unusual and deliberately washed the jade pendant, yet the fragrance did not dissipate.
But the jade pendant Jiang Weiyao returned to him had no such unique fragrance.
The matter of drugging the plain congee had indeed been beyond his expectations, but with this counterfeit jade pendant weighing on his mind, he could not let go of his suspicions about Jiang Weiyao.
And moreover…
now there was also that wooden hairpin.
That wooden hairpin that had appeared where Zhang Da fell off the cliff.
But rather than suspicion, what he now felt toward Jiang Weiyao was more curiosity.
Curiosity about what kind of person she really was.
Curiosity about what she wanted to do.
Curiosity about which of her words were true and which were false.
Curiosity about what she hoped to gain from him by weaving such a web.
Was it only trust?
Putting the jade pendant away, Pei Yunheng walked to the window and casually looked out at the busy long street.
Yet at a glance he saw Jiang Weiyao walking along the street.
Perhaps it was a matter of hearts being in accord. The moment his gaze fell, Jiang Weiyao suddenly turned around and looked up, meeting his eyes exactly.
Lanterns large and small hung along the long street, and the dim yellow halos spilled down, falling upon Jiang Weiyao's delicate and gentle brows and eyes.
Her skirt lifted in a light, playful arc with the wind. She was momentarily startled, then her eyes curved into a smile as she bounced on her heels, waving at him.
This long street was bustling and lively.
She stood amid the tide of people coming and going, with brilliant stars and moonlight overhead and the warmth of mortal life around her, yet her apricot-colored eyes passed over the clamorous world to look straight at him—elated because of him, rooted in place because of him.
Pei Yunheng found himself unable to look away for a moment.