Thái Trường Đình rushed out, and when he returned, he was in a very good mood.

Gu Qingzhu dined with Mrs. Hirano before Shiro Hirano returned from camp. They dined in silence, only the gentle sound of chopsticks clinking against the porcelain dishes.

After dinner, Mrs. Hirano chatted with Gu Qingzhu about Thái Trường Đình while they waited.

He had been gone for exactly three hours.

“Milady, you’d like to have some plum blossoms in your chamber,” he said to Mrs. Hirano.

Immediately, a servant brought in two large plum blossom vases containing two vibrant yellow branches.

The plum blossoms had been trimmed very artfully, their graceful branches leaning into the vases with elegance and poise.

The faint, sweet fragrance of plum blossoms permeated the room.

“Qingzhu, I shall send a vase for you as well, but smaller, to place on the tea table,” said Thái Trường Đình.

Gu Qingzhu asked, “Did you go out so late just to pluck plums?”

Mrs. Hirano stood up and gently circled the plum blossom vase, plucking a small branch and holding it in the palm of her hand to admire it.

The branch was brown, and her palm was as white as jade, creating a striking contrast of colors. A few red plum blossoms adorned the yellow branch, adding to its beauty and making it as radiant as blood.

Mrs. Hirano looked up and answered Gu Qingzhu on Thái Trường Đình’s behalf, “I told him to.”

They were both in high spirits.

Gu Qingzhu, who was not privy to their secret, remained calm and expressionless.

She felt that they had done something, but she couldn’t guess what it was or how it related to her.

“The flowers are beautiful,” Mrs. Hirano said to Thái Trường Đình with satisfaction. “Trường Đình, you are quick and decisive.”

Thái Trường Đình thanked her.

As time passed, Mrs. Hirano continued to praise the beauty of the plum blossoms, saying that they could be painted, and then she yawned.

Gu Qingzhu immediately stood up and bid them farewell.

Thái Trường Đình still accompanied her.

On the way, Thái Trường Đình spoke about the yellow plum blossoms, as if telling a story to Gu Qingzhu.

“My yellow plum blossoms were taken from a forbidden garden outside Sanqing City, stolen by peeping beside the plum blossom branches. Do you know that story?” Thái Trường Đình asked.

Gu Qingzhu replied, “I’ve never heard of ‘peeping’.”

“There was a garden of plum blossoms, which did not bloom in winter and only bloomed on the tenth of the first lunar month. In just one night, the entire garden burst into bloom,” said Thái Trường Đình.

Gu Qingzhu asked, “Was it because the soil temperature there was special, causing the flowers to bloom late?”

Thái Trường Đình was stunned, then laughed: “Qingzhu, you are so unromantic. I said it was a story, but you insist on explaining it in such a dry manner.”

Many beautiful legends, stripped of their glamour before science, reveal their ordinary nature, which can be disappointing.

Gu Qingzhu hid her hands in the pockets of her coat and said, “Continue. I won’t interrupt you anymore.”

Thái Trường Đình did indeed continue the story.

He told Gu Qingzhu about the story.

The story was quite vulgar, about a love affair between a man and a woman, where the man betrayed the woman, and the woman cursed the plum garden. Every year on the tenth of the first lunar month, the anniversary of her death, her vengeful spirit would return, causing the entire plum garden to bloom in vibrant red, as if bathed in blood.

Thái Trường Đình spoke slowly, his voice pleasant to the ears.

Gu Qingzhu listened in silence.

Thái Trường Đình asked her, “If your husband were to break his vows and find new joys, would you be like that woman, choosing death over submission?”

Gu Qingzhu replied, “No.”

“Why?”

“My husband would not break his vows,” she said.

Thái Trường Đình: “…”.

“Trường Đình, you are sharp, ruthless, and cruel. How can you still believe in such stories? Strictly speaking, your teacher’s books do not mention such vulgar things,” continued Gu Qingzhu.

Thái Trường Đình smiled and finally spoke up: “You find me cruel?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Even if I am not, it is truly an honor to be judged so by you,” said Thái Trường Đình. “Qingzhu, love is beautiful, and even vulgar stories have their own kind of beauty.

”

“You tell this story, making it sound terrifying. What beauty is there in that?” Gu Qingzhu asked him.

Could it be that he enjoyed this kind of perverted love?

Speaking of love, Gu Qingzhu thought of Ah Xing.

Thái Trường Đình and Ah Xing, did they love each other? Gu Qingzhu couldn’t tell. Thái Trường Đình was an enigma, untouched by the world.

Even when he told a vulgar story, he carried an ethereal elegance, which made Gu Qingzhu a little jealous and thus led her to tease him.

Soon they arrived at the gate of Gu Qingzhu’s courtyard.

Gu Qingzhu subconsciously glanced down at the courtyard gate.

When she had left in the morning, there had been no flowers on the gate, but perhaps she had been thinking too much.

Now, looking again, it was even more clear that there were no flowers.

Thái Trường Đình’s words today had been very confusing, making it impossible for Gu Qingzhu to see through him.

She was secretly observing the changes.

As she entered the gate, Thái Trường Đình still accompanied her to the steps, suddenly saying, “This is very good.”

“How is it good?”

“I can send you home. It’s been a long time since I did, so it’s good,” said Thái Trường Đình.

Gu Qingzhu looked at him.

In his refined eyes, a hint of arrogance suddenly appeared, but only for a moment.

The look in his eyes was very complex, not the familiar kind, and it was difficult to grasp the exact meaning.

Gu Qingzhu didn’t understand that look in Thái Trường Đình’s eyes, but when she looked back, his smile was bright and flawless, like that of a gentle, doting brother.

Gu Qingzhu paused inwardly.

“Thank you,” said Gu Qingzhu.

“It’s my pleasure,” said Thái Trường Đình. “Qingzhu, we can’t leave you. I’m willing to do anything for you.”

We…

Gu Qingzhu smiled and said, “Putting your hopes on others can lead to disappointment. Trường Đình, I know that you won’t just have me, and that you can’t leave me either.”

As she spoke, she stepped up the stairs.

Thái Trường Đình took a step down, so he had to look up to see her face.

“Your trust is hard to come by,” Thái Trường Đình concluded.

Gu Qingzhu didn’t comment.

She said nothing more, simply bid him good night, and returned to her room.

After returning, she thought back on Thái Trường Đình’s words and always felt that he was misleading her, manipulating her thoughts to serve his own purposes.

What was going on?

Gu Qingzhu pondered. Mrs. Hirano had just acknowledged her identity. It was an open acknowledgement, not just a vague gesture of goodwill, so they must need something from her.

“What secret lies behind this?” Gu Qingzhu became even more curious.

She thought for a long time, but couldn’t find a clue.

Early the next morning, Gu Qingzhu visited Ye Wu as usual and then worked with her to earn a living.

General Ye returned home at noon, bringing a telegram for Gu Qingzhu.

“From Si Xingbai,” said General Ye.

Si Xingbai’s telegrams were written in code, and the codebook was kept in the safe in his office.

Gu Qingzhu said, “I’ll go home for a while.”

When she got home, Er Bao was gone, having gone to the Kang family to accompany Kang Ham. He was said to be staying there.

The servants and the adjutant guarded the gate well.

Gu Qingzhu went upstairs, found the codebook, and began to decode Si Xingbai’s telegram.

The contents of the telegram were very brief.

After reading it, Gu Qingzhu frowned slightly, thinking to herself, “Is this the plot of Mrs. Hirano and Thái Trường Đình? Is their goal to sow discord between me and Si Xingbai?”

But it didn’t feel quite right.

Gu Qingzhu thought for a while, looked again at the contents of Si Xingbai’s telegram, and then went to see General Ye.

“General, please help me send two telegrams,” said Gu Qingzhu, handing the telegrams to General Ye.

One was to be sent out, and Gu Qingzhu had simply written five words: “Send the person to me.”

The other was also a code.

The code was much more complex and long-winded, and General Ye didn’t understand it, so he nodded in agreement.

At the same time, he asked, “Who are you arresting?”

“You’ll know soon enough,” said Gu Qingzhu.

With that, she gave a mysterious smile, a smile without goodwill, which made General Ye frown.

At dusk, General