“W-wait!” Hou Jingshu called out.

Wu Meiying turned her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t wait. The next guard on patrol will be coming by soon. I need to leave before he arrives.”

“J-just let me get my cloak! I’m coming with you!”

“Sounds good.”

When she saw the smile on the other girl’s face, Hou Jingshu could not help but feel like she had been played. However…

There’s no helping it. I can’t let this chance slip by.

No matter how angry she might have been at Wu Jian, she knew it wasn’t really his fault. He couldn’t help the way he felt. Her mother had once told her that love was not something that could be controlled, and she could tell from how Wu Jian and Wu Meiying acted around each other that they were very much in love. They might have included her in their daily life. However, she often felt like those two were locked inside their own personal bubble, a world in which no one but them existed.

Perhaps that was where this sharp pain came from. Maybe what she really wanted from Wu Jian was for them to have their own world where it was just him and her. Maybe she wanted what Wu Meiying had with him.

She couldn’t say one way or the other.

Hou Jingshu slipped on her cloak, climbed out through the window, and set her feet on the cold ground. Wu Meiying reached out behind her and closed the window’s boarding shut. Then she gestured for Hou Jingshu to follow her.

The kitchen was connected to the dining hall. Wu Meiying navigated past the guards and slipped inside through a window that had been left unlocked. Having never been inside of one before, Hou Jingshu looked around at all the tables, stoves, and racks filled with cookware. Did all kitchens look like this? There was so much cutlery lying around! Everything was neat and tidy and there was nothing out of place. It was clear the Wu Clan took great pains to maintain their kitchen’s cleanliness.

“The food is in cold storage. This way,” Wu Meiying said.

There was a door at one end of the room, which led into a basement filled with sacks and boxes. Hou Jingshu shivered when a blast of cold air swept over them. Wu Meiying, on the other hand, simply walked up to several boxes, stuffed some fruits, veggies, nuts, and dried jerky into a bag she produced from within her cloak, then turned to smile at her.

“Let’s leave now. A guard will come and notice the window is unlocked soon, so we had better hurry.”

“O-okay.”

As Wu Meiying led her outside and began traveling around the patrol routes, Hou Jingshu thought about how amazing this girl was. It was like she could see into the future. Hou Jingshu also felt envious. If she’d had this talent for stealth, she would have been able to sneak past the palace guards with ease.

It wasn’t long before they made it to Wu Jian’s courtyard. Most of the building was dark, but light emitted from a window on one side. Wu Meiying traveled over to that window, where she and Hou Jingshu found Wu Jian already waiting for them with the window open.

“Hurry up. Come inside before the guards return,” he said.

Wu Meiying leapt through the window. Hou Jingshu was a bit slower as she climbed on top of the windowsill. There must have been moisture on the wood because her foot slipped. She almost screamed, but Wu Jian caught her before she could fall or make a sound. Hou Jingshu found herself frozen as her ear pressed against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat thudding in her ears. The warmth of his embrace was one of the most comforting things she had experienced since coming here.

“You okay?” asked Wu Jian.

“I am… fine,” Hou Jingshu muttered. She shuddered once, then pushed Wu Jian away from her. She looked away from the boy who made her heart race, only to find Wu Meiying grinning at her, which made her wrap her arms around herself as though to hide her embarrassment. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing. Anyway, since you’re hungry, let’s sit down and eat,” Wu Meiying said.

She sat down on the bed and patted it. Hou Jingshu got the hint. As Wu Jian closed the window, she sat down next to Wu Meiying, who had taken out the bag of food.

“Hold out your hand,” Wu Meiying instructed.

Hou Jingshu did as she was told, and Wu Meiying placed several nuts, berries, and some jerky on it. She took the jerky to her nose and sniffed. It didn’t smell bad, but she had heard that dried meats like jerky didn’t taste very good, that they were hard and stale. However, when she saw Wu Meiying begin eating some jerky, she decided to try some herself.

It wasn’t bad per se. However, just like Uncle Liu had said, it was tough to chew and very salty. She didn’t want to seem rude, though, so Hou Jingshu chewed the jerky, swallowed, and took another bite.

“Good?” asked Wu Meiying.

“Very,” said Hou Jingshu.

“You don’t have to lie. We all know jerky is tough and salty. They’re used as military rations or for long journeys because they keep well, but they aren’t very tasty unless you prepare them in something like a stew. Sorry we couldn’t do that.”

“It’s fine.”

As Hou Jingshu and Wu Meiying talked, Wu Jian walked back over to the bed and sat down further away from the two. He crossed his legs, leaned over, and reached into the bag when Wu Meiying offered it to him.

“Oh. Want some, Jian?”

“Thanks. Don’t mind if I do,” he said.

For a few minutes, there was no conversation as everyone ate. Hou Jingshu focused almost entirely on her food. Part of the reason for that was because she had missed lunch and dinner, but another reason was because she just didn’t know what to say. She knew she should probably apologize for her outburst. However, whenever she thought of doing so, her haughty nature would rear its ugly head and prevent her from speaking.

“I owe you an apology.”

Fortunately for her, Wu Jian decided to speak first.

“Huh?” Hou Jingshu mumbled.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Wu Jian looked awkward as he tried to explain himself. “I thought over what happened this morning and realized I could have worded myself better. I also… didn’t take your feelings into account. I’m sorry.”

“Oh. Um. No. I… I’m the one… who should apologize.” Hou Jingshu turned away. “My outburst was uncalled for and immature. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were just being honest with me.”

“That might be true, but he could have expressed himself much better. Honestly, Jian is pretty hopeless when it comes to dealing with women,” Wu Meiying said, leaning back on her arms as she gave Wu Jian what might have been an amused smirk.

“I won’t deny that,” Wu Jian said with a sigh.

“I also overreacted,” Hou Jingshu said slowly. Her cheeks and ears were burning, but since Wu Jian had apologized, she knew she couldn’t afford to not do the same. “I was… jealous.”

“Jealous?” Wu Jian tilted his head.

Hou Jingshu nodded. “Of Wu Meiying. I knew from the moment we met that you two share a special bond and love each other very much, but I ignored it. I told myself your bond was normal for family, that it didn’t affect my relationship with you. But the truth is, I was always jealous of how close you two were.”

Wu Jian scooted closer until he was sitting next to Hou Jingshu. They were so close he could have reached out and touched her, though he didn’t, instead making a gesture for her to continue.

“Go on.”

“I, uh, don’t have any friends at the palace,” Hou Jingshu confessed. “A lot of people would set me up with playmates my own age, but those other kids never cared about me. They never saw me. The children of noble clans are taught from an early age to get close to people with more status and power than them so they can help elevate their own clan. I remember meeting a whole bunch of kids from various noble clans and sects, and not one of them ever cared about anything other than using me to raise their own status.”

“That’s pretty harsh,” Wu Jian said. “There wasn’t anyone you could trust?”

Hou Jingshu gave him a wan smile. “You’d think out of all the kids I met, there might be one who was different, but no. They were all like that.”

Wu Jian almost couldn’t believe what Hou Jingshu was telling him. It seemed like such a different lifestyle than the one he was used to that he simply couldn’t fathom it.

Life in the countryside was simple. Strength ruled everything. Those who had strength could do what they wanted, and those who didn’t had to be careful not to anger those who did lest they trampled under foot. What happened between Ming Shen and that stall vendor had been par for the course of the kind of interactions between commonfolks and powerful clansmen.

He was sure strength was also important in the capital. This was a world of cultivators and those who lacked strength would never survive, but it sounded like there were other elements of noble life that he hadn’t been aware of.

“You can’t trust people who only see you as a tool for their own purpose,” Hou Jingshu continued. “That’s why I didn’t have a single person I could call my friend… until I came here.”

While Hou Jingshu missed her father terribly, there was nothing else of her old home that she missed. Her mother was dead, her brothers were busy fighting amongst themselves, the noble clans only saw her as a pawn in their political games, and her father was often too busy dealing with her brothers and the noble clans to pay attention to her. As she reflected on this, she realized that was why she hadn’t really felt homesick. The palace had never quite felt like a home.

“I guess that’s why I was jealous. I want the kind of relationship that you two have. I thought I was getting closer to you… to both of you… but then I learned that you two sleep together… and I got angry.”

Hou Jingshu wore a wistful smile as she placed her hands on her knees, lifted her feet off the floor, and kicked them back and forth. She looked vulnerable, sad even.

Wu Jian grimaced before patting her on the knee. “I understand now. I definitely didn’t consider your feelings in all of this. To be honest, I always thought it would just be me and Mei until you came along. I was shocked when Father said you would be marrying me. I didn’t even know what to do. I guess I was also kind of ignoring the fact that we’re engaged.”

“It seems we were both being stupid,” Hou Jingshu said with a smile.

“All of us were,” Wu Meiying interrupted, moving to sit on Hou Jingshu’s other side. “I could have been more proactive and avoided this situation, but I didn’t. Part of me still didn’t want to accept you as a part of our group. Turns out I’m also quite possessive. I am sorry.”

“It’s okay. I think I understand how you feel… at least a little,” Hou Jingshu said.

The three of them felt better after apologizing. It was clear in the way their shoulders relaxed and their smiles became more natural. The tension that had been filling the air as they spoke disappeared completely as if it had never existed.

“Well…” Wu Meiying tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she smiled at them. “Now that we’ve all apologized, I believe it’s time we did something even more important.”

Something more important than apologizing? What could that be? Hou Jingshu wondered.

Wu Jian and Hou Jingshu looked at her in curiosity. Neither of them could think of anything more important than making up after a fight.

Wu Meiying grinned. “We need to kiss. You can’t make up without kissing.”

“K-k-k-kiss?!” Hou Jingshu’s face burst into flames. Figurative ones, of course. “Th-there’s no way! I mean, we’re still just kids. Kissing is… it’s for adults.”

“Nonsense. Maybe adult kisses are inappropriate, but normal kisses are just fine. Jian and I kiss all the time,” Wu Meiying said.

Hou Jingshu froze. “You do?”

“Yup. Let’s show her, Jian.”

“I feel like you’re getting joy out of embarrassing Hou Jingshu,” Wu Jian said, though he still crawled over to Wu Meiying. Under the watchful eye of Hou Jingshu, who had covered her face with her hands but was peeking out between her fingers, Wu Jian leaned over and kissed Wu Meiying on the lips. It really was just a simple kiss, a touching between two lips and nothing more. Even Hou Jingshu would have called it chaste if she wasn’t so embarrassed.

He leaned back a second later.

Wu Meiying beamed broadly as she turned to Hou Jingshu. “See? A kiss isn’t a big deal. We’ve been kissing since we were five.”

“That’s not something to be proud of,” Hou Jingshu snapped. Her face was so red and hot that she felt like fanning herself.

“Do you want to kiss Jian too?” asked Wu Meiying. “You can if you want.”

Hou Jingshu stared at Wu Jian, who silently waited for her to make a decision. Yet the longer she looked at him, the redder her face became, until at last she couldn’t stand it and turned away.

“… I’ll pass,” she said at last.

Wu Meiying shrugged. “Suit yourself. That just means more kisses for me.”

“What?!”

Hou Jingshu’s loud voice reverberated around the room. Seconds later, thudding was heard outside and someone knocked on his door.

“Young Lord, is everything okay? I’m coming in!” said someone from the other end. It was one of the guards who patrolled his compound at night.

Wu Jian quickly pulled up the covers of his bed and gestured for the girls to get inside. They didn’t hesitate, and he quickly pulled the covers over them just as the door slid open and a young man in his early twenties stepped inside. He kept his legs raised rather than pulling them down. This formed something of a tent with the blanket and hid Wu Meiying and Hou Jingshu better. It would have looked suspicious if he had several large lumps on his bed.

Hou Jingshu’s heart was pounding in her chest as she lay on her side and stared at Wu Meiying on Wu Jian’s other side past his legs. It felt like she was going to burst. Her cheeks were burning as if a dragon had breathed fire on them.

I’ve never been so close to a boy before! W-w-w-what do I do?! Stay calm, Hou JIngshu! Breathe! Practice meditation! Gaaaaah! I can’t medidate like this! Wu Jian… he’s so close… and he smells… so good. Masculine. Did he just take a bath? What type of soap is that?

While Hou Jingshu struggled to maintain her calm, she listened to Wu Jian speak.

“What is it?” asked Wu Jian. Hou Jingshu thought he seemed nervous.

“I… thought I heard shouting,” the guard said.

“Ah.” Wu Jian paused as though unsure of what to say. “That was just me.”

“You?”

“I, um, woke up and there was a spider crawling all over my face. It surprised me.”

“Is… that so?” The guard didn’t sound like he believed Wu Jian.

“Oh, don’t worry. I already killed it. Anyway, you can leave now. I’m going to try and get some sleep. Thank you for checking up on me.”

“Of course, Young Lord.”

The guard bowed to him, swept his eyes across the room one more time, and left. Hou Jingshu held her breath and listened to the thumping of feet as they grew softer and softer, then disappeared.

“Whew,” Wu Jian breathed out. “That was too close.”

“I’ll say.” Wu Meiying peeked her head out from underneath the blanket. “Anyway, since Jingshu and I are under the blankets, you should join us. We can talk until we get tired.”

Hou Jingshu was embarrassed by the idea, but she didn’t say anything against it and instead looked at him expectantly from where she lay.

Since both seemed eager to talk more, Wu Jian ducked inside of the covers. He, Wu Meiying, and Hou Jingshu spoke until they all fell asleep huddled together.

They would be discovered by Wu Taohua the next morning and scolded for an hour about propriety.