"It's not someone from his family, but a close friend who works at the Ministry of Justice," Ying Xiaoman explained, sitting on the edge of the kang bed. "Someone in the Seventh Young Master's household wants to harm him, so he didn't inform his family. He only told his best friend, known as the 'Eleventh Young Master.'"
The adoptive mother grumbled, "Whether it's a random family member or a friend, as long as they take him away, it's fine. A grown man can't keep living in a household of women."
"Mother, I've already agreed to go with the Seventh Young Master and stay at the new house for a while. The villains in his household who are plotting against him haven't been caught yet, so it's not that he's overstaying his welcome," Ying Xiaoman whispered, tugging at her adoptive mother's sleeve. "Let's listen to what's happening in the west room. There are too many bad people in the Capital City. We should find out if his friend is here to help him or harm him."
The Eleventh Young Master's voice carried from the west room, his speech slow, making him sound even colder.
"I thought you were dead. We couldn't find your body for a hundred miles up and down the Bian River, though we recovered the bodies of your two servants. Your family was preparing to build a cenotaph for you."
The Seventh Young Master chuckled lightly, "Well, isn't it disappointing for some in my family that I'm alive and well?"
The Eleventh Young Master's voice deepened further, "So someone in your family really did try to harm you? Who?"
The voices in the room lowered, becoming inaudible.
Suddenly, the Eleventh Young Master raised his voice: "Who in the court doesn't know that we stand together? You accepted my invitation to take on an important task, and this time, you've taken a hit for me!"
The Eleventh Young Master, who usually spoke slowly, now enunciated each word distinctly in his anger, unlike most people who speed up when agitated.
Ying Xiaoman suddenly remembered that the Seventh Young Master had mentioned his friend had a slight stutter as a child, which improved as he grew up, but he still didn't like talking much.
Tonight, the Eleventh Young Master was clearly furious, speaking in long sentences:
"It was at the banquet I hosted that night! The wine was tampered with, and I drank it too! Someone in your family dared to plot against both of us. Tomorrow morning, I'll go to your house and expose everything!"
The Seventh Young Master let the Eleventh Young Master finish his tirade before calmly saying, "Hey, Eleventh Brother, calm down. Haste makes waste, while patience brings success. This plot must involve both insiders and outsiders, with the mastermind still lurking in the shadows. Let's wait a bit longer."
The voices in the west room lowered again.
After a long silence, there was a creak as the west room door opened.
The adoptive mother muttered while sewing, "The debt hasn't been cleared yet. No matter how sweet his words are, it's all just empty talk if he doesn't pay. Xiaoman, you'll see what kind of person is in the west room tonight."
Ying Xiaoman crouched down from her mother's kang bed.
The main hall was pitch dark, with only a sliver of light coming from the open door of the west room. She saw the Seventh Young Master standing by the door, gesturing as if seeing off a guest, while the Eleventh Young Master stood inside with his hood up.
Ying Xiaoman asked the Seventh Young Master, "Are you done talking? Are you leaving tonight?"
Both men turned to look at her. The Seventh Young Master seemed slightly surprised, but his voice remained calm as usual.
"Didn't we agree earlier that I'd move with you?"
Ying Xiaoman remained silent, staring intently at him from the darkness.
Their eyes met, and Ying Xiaoman's eyes glowed like a cat's. The Seventh Young Master suddenly realized something and turned to the Eleventh Young Master, "You didn't forget to bring the money and goods I asked for in my letter, did you? I owe a debt here, and it wouldn't be right to move with them without paying."
The Eleventh Young Master nodded slightly, gesturing for a guard beside him to take out a banknote from his pocket and hand it to Ying Xiaoman in the darkness.
"A banknote for ten strings of cash, young miss. Please accept it," the guard said.
The banknote felt thin in her hand. As Ying Xiaoman took it, her fingers rubbed it slightly, and the tension that had been in her shoulders since the Eleventh Young Master's arrival suddenly eased.
The Seventh Young Master had kept his promise and cleared his debt.
Now she could tell her mother that they had seen what kind of person he was tonight. The Seventh Young Master was indeed a man of his word, and they could feel at ease taking him to their new home to continue staying with them.
Ying Xiaoman's eyes gleamed like a cat's in the darkness, her hand clutching the paper banknote, her round black eyes gradually curving into crescents.
The Seventh Young Master stood by the west room door, his clear peach blossom eyes glancing in her direction.
He shouldn't have been able to see her clearly from the lit area, but somehow, she felt that when she was suppressing a smile, a deep amusement also appeared in his eyes.
The Eleventh Young Master finally deigned to speak to Ying Xiaoman.
He immediately started giving her orders.
"The Seventh Young Master will stay with you for a few more days. Serve him well with meat dishes for all three meals. If you serve him well, there will be more rewards later."
The Seventh Young Master frowned halfway through and interrupted, "Miss Ying is my savior. It's not right to speak to her like that."
The Eleventh Young Master snorted and turned away, looking quite dismissive.
Ying Xiaoman pouted in the darkness. She really didn't like the Eleventh Young Master's pervasive arrogance.
She still held the banknote in her hand. She walked closer to the stove to check the denomination in the firelight.
Indeed, it was a banknote for ten strings of cash, a large denomination she had never seen before.
In front, a guard held up a lantern as the Eleventh Young Master walked into the small courtyard in the night. Behind him, light footsteps rushed out of the main hall.
Amidst the alert stares of the many strong guards turning back, Ying Xiaoman shouted to the Eleventh Young Master in the courtyard, "Wait! I need to settle an account with you."
The Eleventh Young Master didn't stop. As if he hadn't heard, he continued walking towards the gate.
The guard who had handed over the banknote earlier turned back to block her, saying, "Young miss, if there are any unsettled accounts, I can go over them with you in detail. Don't disturb the Eleventh Young Master with trivial matters—"
Ying Xiaoman sidestepped, slipping past the guard like a swimming fish, and blocked the Eleventh Young Master's path.
The lantern held by the guard in front illuminated the dim courtyard. The night breeze lifted the plain clothes of the young woman, revealing her fair face and side profile in the lamplight. The light and shadows were dappled, faintly highlighting her straight, delicate nose and skin as clear as moonlight.
The moment the Eleventh Young Master clearly saw Ying Xiaoman's face, his breath hitched, and his pupils dilated dramatically.
His steps towards the exit immediately halted. He waved his hand, signaling the guards to stand down, and stood still, clasping his hands behind his back, waiting for her to speak.
However, in the lantern light, everyone present simultaneously saw... the young Miss Ying's delicate little nose wrinkle slightly, revealing a look of disdain.
Ying Xiaoman really didn't like this friend of the Seventh Young Master.
She waved the banknote in her hand and began to settle accounts in a businesslike manner.
"I've received a banknote for ten strings of cash, but the Seventh Young Master only owed four strings. His injuries have healed well, so there's no need to find a doctor for medicine anymore. For his meals while staying with us, let's say two strings in advance. The rest can be prepaid for rent at the new house—"
She mentally calculated, "Four strings of cash should be enough for the Seventh Young Master to stay for four months. That should settle everything between us."
After Ying Xiaoman finished reporting the accounts in person, she turned back to the eaves, lowered the hanging basket, and tossed in ten strings of paper money. She casually tucked her wind-tousled hair behind her ears and was about to enter the house.
"It really is you!" The Eleventh Young Master suddenly spoke up from the courtyard. "The young lady who guts fish at the market! That time on the boat..."
Ying Xiaoman paused, puzzled.
"I do gut fish at the market. You've seen me before?"
The wind lifted the Eleventh Young Master's hood, revealing the demon mask concealing his face.
He stood still for a moment, then raised his hand to remove the mask.
In the lantern light, half of his face was revealed. Narrow, single-lidded eyes, thick black eyebrows, and distinct features. For some reason, he looked oddly familiar.
Ying Xiaoman's gaze fixed on him, a look of confusion crossing her face.
But before the Eleventh Young Master could fully remove his mask, the guards rushed forward to stop him.
"It's not safe here," several burly men advised in low voices. "A noble shouldn't stand in danger. Eleventh Young Master, don't reveal your face so carelessly. The person is here anyway, let's go back and discuss this further..."
The demon mask remained in place. The Eleventh Young Master gazed back deeply, then pulled up his hood and left Ying's small courtyard.
The guards escorted the Eleventh Young Master away, disappearing into the darkness at the end of Tongluo Alley.
Ying Xiaoman's gaze followed thoughtfully to where the lantern light had vanished in the distance.
That fleeting glimpse in the night—the vaguely familiar thick eyebrows, narrow hawk-like eyes, sturdy build, and the Eleventh Young Master's exclamation about "the boat"—all led her to some unsettling associations.
If the Eleventh Young Master were to change into a bright robe, his poised stance as he waited for her to speak earlier would be seven parts similar to—
The enemy she had been secretly tailing these days, the one who had looked down at her from the official boat when the matchmaker had dragged her there at dawn—that dog official, Yan Rongshi!
Surely it couldn't be.
The Capital City was so vast, with over a million inhabitants. How could it be such a coincidence... that the friend the Seventh Young Master had brought to visit would turn out to be the very enemy she was tracking?
Light once again illuminated the courtyard that had fallen into darkness. The Seventh Young Master walked out of the main room carrying an oil lamp, went to close the courtyard gate, and stood beside her.
"The Eleventh Young Master has seen you before—"
"What's your friend the Eleventh Young Master's surname—"
Just as the Seventh Young Master began to speak, Ying Xiaoman's question also burst forth. Their eyes met briefly, and Ying Xiaoman insisted, "You go first."
"His surname is Zhao," the Seventh Young Master answered.
Exhaling softly, the slight tension in her shoulders relaxed.
She knew it couldn't be such a coincidence.
Among the million-plus inhabitants of the Capital City, there must be tens of thousands of young men in their twenties. Even if one in a thousand had a similar height, build, and facial features, there would still be dozens or hundreds of young men who, at a glance, resembled her enemy. Running into one or two wasn't unusual.
Moreover, the Seventh Young Master had mentioned earlier that his friend worked in the Ministry of Justice. Her enemy, Yan Rongshi, was an official in the Court of Judicial Review. Clearly, they didn't match up.
Ying Xiaoman turned her head and smiled apologetically, "So the Eleventh Young Master's surname is Zhao. The same as the royal family in the Imperial Palace."
"Indeed," the Seventh Young Master said, lighting the way as he slowly led them into the house. "My friend has only just arrived for the first time, and you're already asking about his surname. We've known each other for nearly a month, yet Xiaoman has never asked for my name."
Ying Xiaoman let out a dismayed "Ah."
There were too many bad people in the Capital City, and with elderly and young ones at home, she hadn't intended to exchange names with the Seventh Young Master before.
Later, when he started calling her Xiaoman familiarly, and she addressed him as "Seventh Young Master" all day... she had inadvertently overlooked the matter of exchanging names.
"Your friend looked somewhat familiar, and I was afraid of mistaking him for someone else, so I asked about his surname. Thankfully, he's not the person I'm looking for," she explained honestly.
It seemed to make sense at first, but upon closer consideration, something felt off.
The Seventh Young Master pondered as he entered the main room.
Logically, one should be disappointed when not finding the person they're looking for, so why did she sound almost relieved?
"What do you mean? You sound quite happy that the Eleventh Young Master isn't the person you're looking for," he probed.
Ying Xiaoman remained silent, entering the room with her head down. She hadn't decided whether to tell him or not.
Your friend looks like my enemy, but thankfully he isn't.
Otherwise, with one blow of a door bolt, your friend would be gone, and our relationship would have to end right here...
"Hard to explain?" In the silence that filled the room after her lack of response, the Seventh Young Master had already answered for her, placing the oil lamp on the table in the main room.
"Then there's no need to force yourself. If you don't want to say, then don't. If you want to tell me how the Eleventh Young Master knows you, feel free to mention it. If not, then don't."
He was truly too considerate. In this world, only her mother had been nearly as understanding towards her. Her adoptive father cared for her wholeheartedly, but the rough man's actions were far from what one would call "thoughtful."
Ying Xiaoman suddenly felt a surge of emotion, her eyes glistening in the warm lamplight:
"You're not angry that I won't tell you anything? Just because I once did you a life-saving favor?"
"A life-saving favor certainly deserves to be repaid to the best of one's ability. But I'm even more unwilling to see you troubled. I've told you before, if there's any difficulty at home, feel free to let me know at any time."
Saying this, the Seventh Young Master stood by the door of the west room, his bright, rippling peach blossom eyes turning to rest on Xiaoman for a moment. His gaze was clear and luminous, seemingly smiling yet not.
"There are indeed many wicked people and deeds in the Capital City, but it's not all muddy waters and filth everywhere. Meeting Miss Xiaoman in Tongluo Alley was my great fortune; as for Xiaoman meeting me, perhaps you can let your guard down a little."
Ying Xiaoman stood in the warm light of the main room.
The spring nights in the Capital City in March were unseasonably cold, but she didn't feel cold at all at that moment. The Seventh Young Master's few brief words had warmed her heart.
Though she had recently encountered several bad people, it was due to the sheer number of people in the Capital City. In fact, there were quite a few good people in the city as well. Although she didn't like the Eleventh Young Master's temperament, he and the Seventh Young Master shared a deep, loyal friendship.
She gestured for the Seventh Young Master to wait as she ran outside to lower the hanging basket, grasped the ten strings of paper money she had just received, and went inside to hand them to her adoptive mother.
"Mother, the Seventh Young Master's debt is cleared, and he's even paid two strings in advance for provisions and four months' rent for the new house. Can he move with us tomorrow morning when the donkey cart comes?"
Her adoptive mother, who hadn't slept all night, had been listening intently from inside the room.
"The Seventh Young Master is a good person," her adoptive mother said, no longer referring to him as "the one in the west room," and cautiously whispered a reminder:
"Someone in his family wants to harm him, so it's fine for him to stay with us for a few months. But that friend of his, the one called 'Eleventh Young Master'... although he seems generous, he doesn't sound like he has a good temperament. We should have less to do with him in the future."
Ying Xiaoman agreed, "We'll ignore him."
Mother and daughter reached an agreement, and Ying Xiaoman felt at ease.
Since everyone was moving to the new home together, living under the same roof from now on, seeing each other frequently, there was no reason to be wary of one another.
She left her mother's room, carrying an oil lamp, and directly called Seventh Young Master to talk in the courtyard.
"I don't know when your friend saw me. He looks a bit like the person I'm looking for, but fortunately, he's not. The person I'm searching for in the Capital City doesn't have the surname Zhao and doesn't work in the Ministry of Justice."
Getting straight to the point, she was ready to come clean.
The oil lamp placed under the window cast a dim light, illuminating the silhouettes of two figures talking face to face in the small courtyard.
The young lady before him was finally willing to let down her guard and reveal her secrets. Seventh Young Master listened attentively, his gaze showing a hint of relief.
"So you're looking for someone in the Capital City. That person has upset you greatly. Is it because of some past conflict or grudge with your family?"
Ying Xiaoman nodded, frankly uttering two words:
"A vendetta."