The moon hung low beneath a frosty sky scattered with cold stars.

A man in yellow robes left the bustling lantern festival street, carrying a belly full of resentment as he headed toward the pleasure district.

The festival behind him was filled with noise and light, but the surrounding alleys untouched by lantern glow lay like beasts lurking silently in the darkness, eerie and dangerous.

Fortunately, only one street over stood Flower Street, lined with hanging red lanterns, where the lights once more turned warm and seductive.

As the yellow-robed man walked down the road everyone had to pass through after leaving the festival, something suddenly dropped over his head, blocking his vision.

Startled, he was just about to scream when a heavy blow slammed into his stomach. The pain made his whole body curl up, and the scream that had reached his throat instantly died out.

Immediately afterward, a brutal kick landed on his backside, sending him tumbling into a pitch-black alley nearby. A rain of blows from sticks and clubs came crashing down on him.

The yellow-robed man howled miserably while curled into a ball inside the sack, both hands covering his head.

“Heroes, stop hitting me! Stop! I have money! You can have all the silver on me, just spare me!”

No one answered him.

Instead, several more punches smashed into his face through the sack.

His screams became even more pitiful.

Passersby who heard the miserable cries coming from the dark alley didn’t dare approach for fear of getting involved. Only after running farther away did someone shout, “Quick, report it to the authorities! Someone’s getting beaten in that alley!”

Hearing that, Fan Changyu quickly put away the laundry-beating stick. Afraid of leaving behind evidence, she very cautiously yanked the burlap sack off the yellow-robed man’s upper body as well.

Unfortunately, she pulled a little too hard.

The yellow-robed man was dragged forward by the force and smashed face-first into the ground. One of his front teeth snapped clean off, and his scream was so shrill it could probably be heard all the way from Flower Street.

Fan Changyu froze for a moment.

Hearing chaotic footsteps already approaching from the street entrance, she no longer cared about anything else and bolted toward the opposite end of the alley.

She had deliberately chosen a dark alley with streets on both ends precisely for an easy escape.

Xie Zheng waited at the alley’s far end with Changning in his arms. The moment they met, neither said a word. With perfect tacit understanding, they quickly left the scene together.

Only after passing through two streets did Xie Zheng finally ask, “What did you do to him?”

Judging from those miserable screams, it sounded like far more than a simple beating.

Fan Changyu replied, “I didn’t do anything serious. He was just stupid. When I yanked off the sack, he stumbled and smashed his face into the ground, knocking out a tooth.”

Xie Zheng glanced sideways at her, clearly unconvinced.

Fan Changyu added, “…I’m really not lying.”

Xie Zheng asked, “What about the others? Going to teach them a lesson too?”

Fan Changyu thought, What does he take me for?

“No. If I beat all of them up in one day, I’d basically be announcing it was me. That loudmouth had the filthiest mouth, so I beat him first to vent my anger. I’ll deal with the others slowly whenever I get the chance.”

At the same time, the yellow-robed man, still howling in the alley, was finally helped up by the constables who had rushed over.

Both eyes were bruised black and blue. Blood filled his mouth from the broken tooth, and two streams of blood still ran beneath his nose. By torchlight, he finally spotted the broken tooth lying on the ground and burst into miserable wailing.

“My tooth is broken! How am I supposed to enter officialdom in the future now?!”

As the county magistrate’s actual nephew, he barked arrogantly at the constables.

“Why aren’t you investigating already?! Arrest the criminals who attacked me!”

The constable on duty wiped sweat from his forehead and asked, “Young Master, have you made enemies recently?”

The yellow-robed man thought carefully before baring his teeth in pain.

“A few days ago, that little bastard from the Wang family competed with me over a courtesan at Wind and Moon House. I humiliated him badly. It could very well be him! There’s also the Liu family’s son. He acts all lofty but failed the metropolitan exam, and I mocked him for it. It could also be him! And the Li family’s…”

The constable’s head hurt from hearing such a long list of enemies.

Only near the end did the yellow-robed man suddenly remember the incident at the lantern festival.

“Tonight I also mocked Brother Song’s former fiancée for him.”

The matter itself wasn’t particularly glorious. After all, so many people at the lantern festival had witnessed several famous academy scholars being verbally crushed by a live-in husband.

Stopping himself there, he asked, “Were Brother Song Yan and the others attacked by the assailants too?”

The constable shook his head.

The yellow-robed man immediately declared, “A butcher woman and her sickly live-in husband wouldn’t dare do something like this. Go thoroughly investigate the families I mentioned earlier!”

The constables went off to investigate while the yellow-robed man groaned pitifully as he was helped toward a nearby clinic for treatment.

—

When Fan Changyu arrived at the temporary residence arranged by Yixiang Tower, the supervising old woman was still awake.

Seeing them return, she smiled and asked, “Was the lantern festival fun?”

Changning had already fallen asleep on Xie Zheng’s shoulder during the walk back. Fan Changyu still felt somewhat guilty about beating someone up, so she only answered vaguely, “It was nice. There were people everywhere. Very lively.”

The old woman led them to a room and opened the door with a smile.

“This is the only room left vacant. Please make do with it for tonight.”

After thanking her, Fan Changyu requested a pot of hot water for washing.

She simply wiped down Changning’s face and hands before laying the little girl on the bed to sleep.

Then she washed her own face. Realizing there wasn’t much hot water left in the kettle afterward, and feeling too embarrassed to trouble the old woman into boiling another pot so late at night, she poured the used face-washing water into a foot basin and made do with soaking her feet.

After Xie Zheng finished washing his face with the remaining hot water, Fan Changyu still had both feet soaking in the basin.

Seeing him about to carry the wash water outside to dump it, she hurriedly said, “Pour it into the foot basin instead.”

Xie Zheng hesitated briefly before carrying the wooden basin over.

Fan Changyu immediately lifted her feet and rested them against the basin’s edge so he could pour more water in conveniently.

Perhaps because they rarely saw sunlight year-round, her feet were very pale, glowing like warm jade beneath the candlelight. A tiny black mole near her ankle was oddly eye-catching.

Xie Zheng only glanced once before lowering his eyes to hide his gaze.

In the capital, for a woman’s bare feet to be seen by others was nearly equivalent to losing her chastity. But in this frontier town, customs were far more open. Women washing clothes by the river often went barefoot, seemingly thinking nothing of exposed feet.

Fan Changyu herself had always been careless and straightforward by nature. She clearly hadn’t considered this inappropriate.

Yet Xie Zheng still felt a strange disturbance rise in his chest.

Seeing him sit far away after pouring the water, Fan Changyu asked, “Aren’t you soaking your feet too?”

Xie Zheng replied, “You wash first. Later I’ll just rinse mine with cold water outside.”

Fan Changyu immediately glared at him.

“In weather this cold, you’re going to wash your feet with cold water? Won’t you catch a chill tomorrow?”

After spending more than a month together, she had discovered Yan Zheng was someone who liked cleanliness. Assuming he simply didn’t want to use water she’d already soaked in, she said:

“Our family always used the same basin for soaking feet. I forgot you’re a clean freak. In a bit I’ll ask the supervising auntie and boil another kettle of water for you in the kitchen.”

Xie Zheng frowned slightly before finally saying, “No need. This water is fine.”

The Fan family all valued cleanliness. They changed their socks and shoes frequently, so the water didn’t even look dirty.

The problem was that his own thoughts were a mess.

The moment he placed his feet into the basin and noticed the damp marks along the rim, he instinctively recalled her feet resting there moments ago.

Xie Zheng’s brows immediately furrowed even tighter. He had barely dipped his feet in before abruptly standing and carrying the basin out to dump the water.

Seated by the table, Fan Changyu opened her mouth slightly in surprise. After he returned, she said with complicated emotions:

“Having a cleanliness obsession isn’t really a problem. I never thought you were looking down on me or anything. There’s no need to force yourself this much…”

Xie Zheng looked at her clear, sincere eyes glowing beneath the candlelight. A trace of self-disgust appeared between his handsome brows.

“It’s not what you think.”

There was only one bed and one blanket.

After setting the wooden basin back inside, he headed for the door.

“Get some rest early.”

Fan Changyu thought he was acting extremely strange and asked, “Then what about you?”

Surely he wasn’t planning to sit outside all night. The supervising auntie had already said this was the only room left.

Xie Zheng replied, “I’ll go ask if I can squeeze in with the workers from Yixiang Tower for the night.”

Only after he left and the door shut again did Fan Changyu remain sitting there in confusion.

Why was he suddenly acting as though she were some terrifying beast?

Did the sack ambush scare him?

Or was the foot-soaking water really that traumatizing?