Hou Jingshu remained mad for the rest of the day.

That morning, after their normal exercise, the group ate breakfast in silence, then traveled to the training hall with the other students. Instructor Lan was already waiting for them and had everyone line up in rows, lectured them on the importance of increasing their strength, then had them begin doing our stretches.

After that…

…They sparred.

“I want to spar with you,” Hou Jingshu said suddenly, pointing her finger at Wu Jian.

It was a bit of an unusual request. She normally sparred with Wu Meiying, though she sometimes sparred with the other girls. Perhaps that was why he couldn’t respond right away, and when he did, his response wasn’t what he would have called intelligent.

“You want to spar with me?” Wu Jian pointed at himself.

“That’s right. Spar with me. Right now.”

There was a demanding quality to her tone that she hadn’t used before and it set him on edge, though he also didn’t see a reason to deny her request. Nodding once, he and Hou Jingshu walked over to a section of the sparring mat where they wouldn’t get in anyone else’s way, and no one would get in theirs. They stood a few feet apart. Wu Jian could see Wu Meiying out of the corner of his eyes. One of the boys in their class had asked to spar with her.

If he’s using that as an excuse to touch her inappropriately…

“I’m the one you should be looking at, not Wu Meiying,” Hou Jingshu snapped.

Wu Jian’s eyes swiveled back to her as he twisted his neck around so fast he thought he heard a loud crack. Hou Jingshu glared at him with stern disapproval. Her eyes were like fire. She had already set herself in a basic martial art stance.

The martial art Hou Jingshu was learning was called Wing Chun, and it was a concept-based martial art and form of self-defense that utilized both striking and “sticking” or controlling while specializing in close-range combat. It was an exceedingly popular martial art. It was especially popular among women because of their slighter frames and body mass.

According to legend, it was created by Ng Mui, a cultivator who had reached the pinnacle of cultivation many centuries ago and passed this martial arts down. She was a legendary figure who created this style because of a traumatizing event in her past. Nobody knew if that was true. However, the style had grown in popularity recently, especially in the Shang Kingdom. It was a very practical style that could be learned in a short period of time and could be practiced by people of all shapes, sizes, and degrees of athletic ability.

Wu Jian set himself in his style, which he called “Formless Style” because he still didn’t have a martial art to call his own. None of the ones he had looked at felt right.

A moment of tension ran between them. Hou Jingshu narrowed her eyes as Wu Jian waited. She tapped her foot against the ground. She rolled her shoulders back. He knew it would only be a matter of time before she attacked. Hou Jingshu lacked the patience that he did.

As expected, she burst from the ground seconds later and sped toward him. Her first attack was not a punch, but a low kick aimed at taking his knees out.

He stepped back. Her foot flew past him in a wide arc, but she didn’t stop moving. Planting her foot back on the ground, Hou Jingshu used the momentum gained from her original kick to spin around and threw another kick at him, this one aimed at his chest.

He sidestepped that one too, allowing her foot to sail past him. He could have followed up with a counter, but he didn’t.

“Why won’t you fight back?!” Hou Jingshu shouted at him.

“I don’t see why I should. If I keep dodging your attacks, you’ll wear yourself out eventually,” Wu Jian replied with poise.

His words only seemed to make Hou Jingshu angrier, and she launched more attacks his way, throwing a series of punches and kicks. Unfortunately, Wing Chun was not a style that was meant to initiate assaults. It was based on reflexive movements. That meant it was best used when someone else was the aggressor. The principal behind the style was to respond instantly and instinctually to a surprise attack. Hou Jingshu was not using it as she was meant to be used.

Her fighting had become sloppy.

Despite using her martial art in a haphazard manner, she was still fairly strong and fast. A number of punches slipped through his fleet-footed dodging. However, those were all redirected when he used the back of his hand to slap her attacks aside.

Hou Jingshu eventually began to tire.

“Are you upset that Mei slept with me last night?” Wu Jian finally asked.

Hou Jingshu’s face turned red. “Of course, I’m upset! I’m your fiancée, and yet you! You! You dare to invite another girl to your—mph?!”

Before the girl could say anymore, Wu Jian closed the distance, wrapped an arm around her back, pulled her close, and placed a hand over her mouth before she could say more. She tried to struggle, but she was far too tired. Overpowering her was easy.

“Look, I know you’re upset, but please hear me out. Mei and I have been sleeping together ever since we were small. It’s not a big deal.” He paused, then sighed. “Besides, I love Mei and plan on marrying her alongside you.”

Wu Jian was old enough now to understand the difference between boys and girls, which meant he and Wu Meiying should have stopped sleeping with each other, but neither of them was willing to give that time together up. They never did anything more than kiss, and it never escalated beyond that. He didn’t see the problem.

Unfortunately, his words were the wrong thing to say. Without warning and before he could do anything, something powerful and heavy slammed into his gut. He staggered back and gasped as the breath was driven from his lungs. It normally wouldn’t have been a problem. He was trained to take hits, but he hadn’t prepared himself.

Hou Jingshu put her foot back on the ground. It seemed she had used her incredible dexterity to knee him. She glared at him with tears pricking at her eyes, and it was as he stared at her that he realized his mistake.

“Hou Jingshu… I…”

“You’re horrible,” Hou Jingshu whispered in a voice that, while soft, traveled to him just fine.

Before he could say anything, Hou Jingshu stormed out of the training hall. Everyone else stared at the girl as she left, but then, as if their eyes were drawn to spectacles like moths to flames, they looked at him. Wu Jian felt the stares pierce his back but paid them no mind. He looked at where Hou Jingshu was last spotted, replaying the incident in his mind. He wondered if there was something different he could have done or said to prevent what happened from happening.

“That was not your best moment,” Wu Meiying said as she walked over to him.

He sighed. “I know, but I’m not sure what else I could have done.”

“Given how angry she is, I’m not sure there is anything you could have done,” Wu Meiying admitted with a soothing smile. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “That’s why I’d like you to leave this matter to me.”

“To you?” Wu Jian frowned as he thought over her offer, but then sighed again and nodded. “I suppose leaving this to you would be for the best. I’m not really sure I’m cut out for stuff like this.”

“Give it time. You’re still young, so you don’t know the subtleties of a woman’s heart.”

There were plenty of times in his life where he often thought that Wu Meiying seemed far older than her physical age suggested. She would sometimes say things like this that caught him off guard. Looking at her now, as she stood over him with a gentle and loving smile, he could not help but think she was many years his senior.

“Will I ever understand the subtleties of a woman’s heart?” he asked.

“Probably not completely, but that’s why you have me,” Wu Meiying said, her smile turning into a mischievous grin that finally made her seem her age.

***

The sun had gone down and the moon had come out. Hou Jingshu sat on her bed with her knees drawn to her chest, pondering her outburst earlier that day. She wondered why she had been so upset at Wu Jian for his actions and words. He was a nice person, and she considered him a friend, but it wasn’t like she loved him. This entire marriage was something her dad had arranged because he didn’t want her staying in the capital.

“Why should I care if he loves Wu Meiying more than me?” she muttered to herself. “It’s not like it matters to me.”

Yet even as she tried to convince herself, tears began stinging her eyes as pain pricked at her chest. It hurt. She tried to wipe them away. When that didn’t work, she buried her face between her legs and silently sniffled to herself.

If only I couldn’t feel anything. If only Wu Jian was just another noble trying to use me to get to my father, this would all be so much easier.

Ever since she made her debut in noble society years ago, many people had come up to her with flattering words about her beauty, her pedigree, and so on. All those people had malicious intent hidden behind their words. She might have been young, but Hou Jinshu had been taught by the best to discern someone’s intentions by observing their actions and mannerisms.

That was also how she knew that Wu Jian had no malicious or evil intentions toward her. He was nice to her because he was a good person and considered her a friend.

Having grown up in the imperial court where backstabbing and politics were the main source of a noble’s sustenance, Hou Jingshu never had anyone with whom she could call a friend. That might explain why she felt so drawn to Wu Jian and (Wu Meiying to a lesser extent). He was someone she didn’t have to worry about taking advantage of her, someone she could let her guard down around.

Of course, it was because she had let her guard down so much that she found herself in this situation.

As she was lamenting what happened between her and Wu Jian, something hit her window. She jumped. She nearly shrieked, but she managed to just barely keep her scream contained, wandered over to the window, and opened it just a crack. Standing on the other side was a grinning Wu Meiying.

“Good evening, Jingshu. You weren’t at lunch or dinner today.”

Hou Jingshu looked away. “I wasn’t hungry.”

As if to dispute that, her stomach gurgled. The loud sound caused Wu Meiying to look down and Hou Jingshu to feel heat burn the tips of her ears.

“S-so maybe I’m a little hungry,” she admitted.

Smiling, Wu Meiying said, “Yeah, I figured you were. Anyway, come on.”

“Come… on? Are we going somewhere?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“First, we’re going to sneak into—ahem, I mean, we’re going to visit the kitchens.”

“I feel like you almost said something very dangerous there.”

“After that, we’re going to spend the night with Jian.”

“!!!”

Hou Jingshu froze after Wu Meiying revealed her plan. The other girl looked at her curiously, as if wondering why she wasn’t climbing out the window to follow her.

“I… don’t want to see him,” she said at last, turning her head.

“I see. Well, that’s too bad.” Wu Meiying shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “In that case, you can stay here while I spend the night with him. Alone.”

Hou Jingshu’s eyes widened as Wu Meiying turned around. Her heart pounded in her chest. For just a moment, everything seemed to move in slow motion. It felt like her best chance to fix things with Wu Jian was about to slip through her fingers. She had the irrepressible sense that if she didn’t do something right now, she would end up regretting this moment for the rest of her life.