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Fan Changyu stepped out of the new house with two thick quilts in her arms. Something felt off. She glanced up and swept her gaze along the top of the courtyard wall. Two large black shapes instantly dropped below the rim. Fan Changyu: "..." She would know Fan Da and his wife even if they were burned to ash. So the two of them had heard about her taking a husband and were scared she had grabbed some stranger off the road to fool them. They had spent the better part of the night climbing ladders to eavesdrop over the wall instead of sleeping. Outside the Fan family courtyard, Fan Da and his broad, bear-built wife Liu each stood on a wooden ladder, heads craned over the wall, speaking in hushed tones. "See, I told you! That girl just found someone to pretend!" Liu said, with the blunt confidence of a woman used to being right in her own home. "They're sleeping in separate rooms on their wedding night. What were you panicking for?" Fan Da felt hope ...

Wan Kun breathed slowly, in and out, as if Hu Fei's words hadn't touched him at all. Hu Fei stared at him and felt his anger rise. "Say something. What are you going to do?" Wan Kun sneered. "What's it to you? I'm not telling you." "You can't take a leave of absence right now. If you won't cooperate, I'll have your family come in and process the withdrawal." Hu Fei's voice hardened. "Give me your parents' contact information. Now." Wan Kun's eyes narrowed. He went quiet. His gaze slid briefly toward He Lizhen — cold, unhurried, carrying the same familiar malice. He Lizhen stood her ground beside Hu Fei, as if she were in a contest with something she couldn't name. She knew her own expression was no warmer than Wan Kun's. Hu Fei kept at it, but Wan Kun's face stayed flat and mocking throughout. Hu Fei had been drinking, and the anger was making his head swim. He swayed. He Lizhen had been w...

When the dishes arrived, the waiter refilled the wine. Li Changjia poured himself a glass and stood. The table went quiet. "This..." He started to laugh before he could get a word out. "You're all teachers, but the moment I stand up, everyone goes silent and stares. I feel like a student again." Laughter rippled around the table. "We haven't eaten yet, so I'll be quick," Li Changjia said. "The reason I invited everyone today is simple: I want us to know each other. The paperwork is done, the procedures are settled, and classes start next week. We're from different schools, but from here on we're colleagues. I'll drink to that. I hope this cram school runs without a hitch." He Lizhen thought it was no wonder his students loved his classes. His voice was warm, his pace unhurried. There was something deeply bookish about him, the kind that came not from performance but from years of living inside language. The other tea...

 Volume 3: Sad Snow Ridge Cai Zhao was eight years old when the silk shop across the street changed hands because the owner's son had gambled it away. That was when she understood: everything in the world needed an heir. From a roadside sugar stall to the Jade Emperor's throne, it made no difference. The Qingque Sect's rule was simple — competence first. No matter whose son you were, if your martial arts fell short, the seat was not yours. The eldest prince's graceful abdication looked selfless on the surface. It was actually a hard lesson for everyone watching. The Qingque Sect led the six sects of Beichen. Outside, the Demon Cult kept its eyes sharp. Inside, the brother sects smiled pleasantly and meant none of it. A weak sect leader meant the Demon Cult would smell blood by nightfall and be sharpening blades by morning. Even if the Demon Cult somehow swore off violence entirely, there were still the other Beichen descendants to consider — those who admired the sheer ...

Fan Changyu was probably the first bride in history who had to slaughter pigs and prepare braised meat on the morning of her own wedding. She butchered the pig she had sold off earlier, then turned the leftover pig's head and cooking water into braised cuts. Combined with the other two pigs, she managed to fill two full pots by the time she was done. The aunts who had come to help leaned in over the steam and said it smelled wonderful. It was nearly noon before Aunt Zhao shooed her back to her room to change into her wedding clothes and put on her face. She also asked Aunt Zhao about the local customs. Apparently there were two ways a man could marry into the bride's family. The first: the groom arrives by sedan chair, carried in -- what people called "carrying the groom's head." The second: no different from an ordinary wedding, where the groom stays at the bride's home the night before and the bride processes out along the flower bridge and back, as thou...