The dying sun bled red across his lapels.
Wei Qin, not yet off duty, calmly folded the note in his hand as a colleague poked his head out the office window. He spun it on his fingertip and tucked it into his sleeve.
The colleague teased with a grin, “Someone’s here to pick up Brother Wei.”
Another colleague crowded to the window. “What luck, Brother Wei.”
The two were Wei Qin’s former classmates from the same private school, seated one behind the other, and on good terms with him. They were the only two in the entire Salt Transport Office willing to get close to him.
Wei Qin guessed what it was and quickly tidied his desk before stepping out of the office.
Seeing Jiang Yinyue waiting outside the office, he could still faintly hear the pair’s banter behind him.
“With a wife like this, what more could a husband want?”
The woman stood amid the twilight glow, her willow eyes and plum cheeks sparkling brilliantly, as radiant as the sunset.
Wei Qin walked over, unconcerned with others’ gazes. He never thought his wife should stay cloistered in the inner residence or parade about in the spotlight. She was herself, free to do as she pleased.
“I got off duty late today.”
“Mm.” Jiang Yinyue nodded slowly, hands behind her back as she led Chasing Wind by the reins, her beautiful eyes curved in a smile. “So I came to pick you up. Let’s go, Lord Wei.”
The two walked side by side through the intoxicating dusk, passing the waterside they crossed every day.
Jade Creek’s willows swayed gracefully, warm breezes twining the branches.
As they passed the waterside, they heard hoofbeats accompanied by a melodious whistle.
Jiang Yinyue turned to see Cui Shihan riding toward them, bathed in the glow of sunset.
Lately, as she went back and forth to the posthouse to care for Qi Bao, Jiang Yinyue had less time to spend with this new confidante. She waved her hand with a smile, wondering whether she should “abandon” her husband to keep her little sister company for a bit. Just then, a vendor carrying a shoulder pole suddenly tripped, and the wenwan walnuts in his baskets rolled all over the ground.
This startled Cui Shihan’s mount.
The wenwan walnuts were unusually hard. The galloping steed slipped on them, neighed sharply, and toppled to one side.
Cui Shihan inwardly cried out “Oh no.” Her body flew uncontrollably through the air and landed in the water.
“Ah, someone fell into the water!”
Pedestrians by Jade Creek cried out in alarm and rushed toward the water’s edge. Some nearly stepped on the walnuts.
The fallen vendor paid no mind to anything else. He hurriedly lay flat on the bank and reached out a hand. The water was deep here, and he dared not jump in lightly.
But the girl who fell in had hit her head and lost consciousness. She drifted away with the current, her body sinking.
All in the span of moments.
By the time Jiang Yinyue and Wei Qin turned back to the bank, the girl’s figure had vanished from the water’s surface. Screams filled the air from the surrounding crowd.
A young man who was a strong swimmer hesitated. Men and women should avoid physical contact. If he touched the girl’s body, would he get blamed for it? He dared not risk his marriage prospects on a strange girl, yet saving a life was worth more than building a seven-level pagoda.
As the youth wavered, another figure plunged into the water without hesitation, vanishing beneath the surface.
The figure’s cyan robe floated on the water for only a moment.
Jiang Yinyue stared intently at the water, which gradually lost its ripples. Worry filled her face. She did not know how well Wei Qin swam, nor whether Cui Shihan had already suffocated.
Her tightly clenched hands grew ice-cold, her heart pounding like a drum. She crouched by the bank and, borrowing the glow of the setting sun, searched for the two figures underwater. But the sunset refracted off the surface in crimson hues, obscuring her view.
“This water is extremely deep, full of water weeds below. They might get tangled…”
Upon hearing this, the onlookers grew tense as well.
Jiang Yinyue fell silent. As time dragged on, she could no longer hold back. She stood and prepared to dive in.
She had practiced swimming as a child; perhaps it would come in handy.
But before she could move, a heavy hand clamped down on her shoulder.
“Wait a little longer.”
Wei Xichen suddenly appeared and blocked Jiang Yinyue, gripping her shoulder tightly.
In her urgency, she wanted to shake him off, impatience on her face. But then she saw several guards dive into the water.
Without Wei Xichen’s order, they only protected their master and would not act on their own.
Jiang Yinyue quieted down. She twisted her shoulder to free herself from his grasp and fixed her gaze on the water.
Wei Xichen, standing diagonally behind her, unconsciously frowned. Just now, she had truly meant to jump in and save the girl. That burst of courage came from her heartfelt concern for a friend, fearless and heedless of consequences.
Without a strong physique, it was hard to save two people—especially one man and one woman.
A woman this brave had abandoned him back then? Or had the current Wei Qin become far more important to her than he had been three years ago?
Wei Xichen sank into thought, staring unblinkingly at the woman’s profile.
Jiang Yinyue paid no attention to the gaze from behind. Every ripple on the water tugged at her heart.
The guards surfaced one after another to catch their breath. One shouted, “A knife!”
Knives were thrown into the water—not just the guards’ sabers, but also sickles, cleavers, and small knives.
Cui Shihan was tangled in water weeds and needed them cut free. But buoyancy made the sabers hard to control, so the guards grabbed whatever knives they could and dove back in.
Yet Wei Qin never resurfaced for air.
Jiang Yinyue grew even more anxious. Her pretty face paled, her mind blank. She could not think about the situation, nor accept or believe it.
Wei Qin…
She silently repeated his name again and again, receiving no response.
She herself felt on the verge of suffocation.
Just as the suffocating sensation pressed down on her, a splash broke through the air. A man in a robe of cyan jade swam toward the shore, clamping an unconscious woman under his arm.
“Wei Qin, over here!”
Jiang Yinyue breathed rapidly and reached out. When a drenched hand grasped her empty palm, all her anxiety and tension vanished like smoke.
She gripped that hand tightly and pulled him onto the bank.
Without a word of concern for Wei Qin, she laid Cui Shihan flat and pressed on the girl’s body to force out the water she had swallowed.
Wei Xichen watched the scene and raised a hand, signaling the guards to face outward and form a human wall, shielding the unconscious girl from the onlookers’ gazes.
The crowd dispersed upon seeing this, wary of offending this unfamiliar noble figure. Some commoners recognized the Crown Prince and whispered among themselves.
Wei Xichen did not linger. He left silently.
The other guards followed closely.
The Crown Prince had not mentioned it himself, so the guards dared not speak of it. His Highness had been secretly escorting the horseback-riding Jiang Yinyue alone. After she met up with Wei Qin, he should have left, but he had followed anyway and unwittingly witnessed the scene.
When coughs came from the girl, Wei Qin asked a guard for a dry garment. He passed through the human wall, wrapped the shivering Cui Shihan, and lifted her horizontally into his arms.
“Chasing Wind.”
The sleek black steed trotted over at the call.
The couple took the girl to a medical clinic.
When Cui Shihan fully came to, she sat dazed on the clinic’s wooden couch, as if weighed down by a thousand worries, not uttering a word.
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Yinyue asked with concern.
“So embarrassing.”
“What’s embarrassing about it?”
“Falling in the water and passing out right away—isn’t that embarrassing?” Cui Shihan huddled in the blanket, thoroughly irritated. “Yours Truly swims excellently!”
Wei Qin leaned against the side, ignoring her.
Jiang Yinyue chuckled and stayed patiently by her side. When servants from the County Princess Mansion arrived, the couple took their leave.
A fragrant breeze dried their damp clothes. The bright moon stretched their shadows long. They walked silently through the night, neither breaking the quiet. When they reached the alley behind their residence, Jiang Yinyue suddenly stopped. She looked around for something, dragged over a stone, and placed it in front of Wei Qin.
Wei Qin did not ask what she was doing. He waited quietly for her next move.
Jiang Yinyue stepped onto the stone but still did not reach his height. She barely managed to look him in the eye. Without explanation, she leaned forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly.
Wei Qin stiffened. The only thing stirring was his heart. He slowly raised one hand and placed it on her back.
Jiang Yinyue had no need for explanations. She had fetched the stone to make up for the height difference, avoiding the awkwardness of not reaching. She hugged him because it was the comfort kin gave kin, nothing to do with romance between man and woman.
Her mother had once hugged her this way when scolding voices nearly overwhelmed her. Her father had hugged her this way when she wept for her lost mother.
She had hugged her brother this way before he left to guard the border, unsure if he would return safely.
In the silent alley, under dim lamplight, the two embraced quietly.
Fine drizzle fell from the inky sky, gradually turning heavier. Back in the side room, Little Lady Jiang stood with hands on hips, staring at the leaking roof. She ground her back teeth with a skin-deep smile.
That boastful roofer had probably been chased off by the Manager Xie he bragged about.
His craftsmanship was subpar.
Wei Qin, having changed out of his official robes, picked up his tools. He climbed onto the roof in the pouring rain and patched the cracks.
Jiang Yinyue held an umbrella and sat nearby, half her body getting soaked.
Yet not a drop wet Wei Qin’s hair.
When he finished and turned around, he discovered his wife’s clothes were drenched. Even her loose hair had clumped, dripping from the tips.
Jiang Yinyue smiled brightly. “It’s fine. I’ll just wipe it off.”
She wiped her face and started to stand when her body suddenly lightened.
Wei Qin scooped her up and carried her down the ladder, straight back to the side room.
The roof no longer leaked. A puddle of rainwater marked the floor.
Wei Qin kicked the door shut behind him and set the thoroughly soaked woman on the table.
A single candlestick provided a tiny glow, not reaching between them.
In the blurry dimness, Jiang Yinyue belatedly released her hold around Wei Qin’s neck. “Take a bath.”
“I’ll fetch the water.”
His response in the darkness was especially husky.
Jiang Yinyue looked up at Wei Qin, who stood motionless by the table. An indescribable shyness came over her. She averted her eyes, twisted the hem of her skirt, wrung her wet hair—pretending to be busy.
Wei Qin’s hand still rested at her waist, like it covered exquisite jade.
His palm felt the woman’s graceful curves.
As she pretended to be busy, her unintentional twists made her waist dance lightly in his palms, soft to the extreme.
The darkness amplified the subtle threads of intimacy, entwining the naive man and woman.
Jiang Yinyue did not know what Wei Qin’s gaze meant. His pupils were ink-black, deepened by the night into bottomless depths.
What she truly did not know was that the flickering lamplight gilded her wet figure, outlining her graceful, undulating form.
Even the legs usually hidden by her skirts were faintly visible through the soaked silk.
Straight and shapely.
“I want to bathe.”
Jiang Yinyue murmured, not daring to look at Wei Qin’s face. She remembered clearly that he cared for her, but this forthright woman panicked and lost her nerve.
“The water…”
“Mm.”
Wei Qin responded but remained by the table, unmoving. The hand at her waist shifted slightly.
Jiang Yinyue swallowed, her breathing unsteady, lips trembling.
The large hand withdrew at the right moment.
In the end, he was the restrained one and would not force her.
Wei Qin turned and walked out the door.
Torrential rain poured outside, unknown if it quenched the fire in their hearts.
One thought of indulgence, one thought of restraint.