Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

Fan Changyu found it strange and was about to continue heading home when the woman said with a peculiar expression, "The gambling den people went to your house again. Your husband—"

Before the words could fully register, Fan Changyu grabbed a carrying pole from the wall and rushed toward the alley.

The woman hadn’t expected Changyu to be so impulsive and shouted, "Your husband wasn’t hurt! It was the gambling den people who got their legs broken by him!"

But Fan Changyu was already too far away to hear clearly.

From a distance, she saw a crowd gathered outside her house again, and her heart tightened. Gripping the pole harder, she yelled, "Move aside!"

The onlookers quickly scattered to both sides as they saw her charging toward them with the pole.

Just then, the gambling den’s small-time boss, Jin Ye, hobbled out of the Fan family’s doorway—now missing its gate—leaning on a long stick, his face twisted in a vicious snarl. Before he could react to the furious Fan Changyu, he was struck by the pole and sent flying sideways, collapsing to the ground.

Fan Changyu planted the pole firmly on the ground and was about to shout threats into the courtyard when she noticed the gambling den’s thugs staring at her in terror. Those who had been dragging their injured legs to escape now scrambled backward instead.

But under the eaves inside, a cold-faced man with a cane sat in the Grand Tutor chair, his expression shadowed and grim.

The thugs, caught between a rock and a hard place, huddled together in the courtyard, trembling. These burly, rough-looking men now resembled pitiful little cabbages, wilted and miserable.

Fan Changyu: ?

She looked incredulously at the man under the eaves. Did he take all of them down?

Injured like that, barely able to walk without a cane—how could he still fight?

A neighbor at the gate, thinking Fan Changyu was about to beat them up again, quickly called out, "Changyu, don’t hit them anymore! Your husband already did. Every one of them has a broken leg! Who knows how much we’ll have to pay for their medicine!"

Hearing about compensation, Fan Changyu immediately yanked the "dead" Jin Ye up by his collar.

Pale-faced and with two streams of blood from his nose, Jin Ye begged, "Miss Fan, Miss Fan, please be merciful! Spare me, I’ll never dare again!"

He shielded his face with both hands. "No more hitting…"

Fan Changyu scowled and pointed at the demolished gate. "You dogs acting tough because of your master! You wrecked my family’s gate—how are you going to pay for that?"

She needed to tally the damages fast—better to make sure they wouldn’t dare demand compensation for their broken legs!

Her gaze swept the courtyard again, but apart from the cowering thugs, nothing else seemed broken.

The man under the eaves sat in the Grand Tutor chair, pale but exuding an intimidating aura. The door behind him was intact—clearly, the thugs hadn’t even made it inside.

Fan Changyu’s eyes lingered on the man for a few moments before spotting a trace of blood seeping through his robes. Finally, she found another reason to vent and barked, "My husband is injured! You ganged up on him, outnumbering him! Look at what you’ve done—forget the external wounds, who knows how bad the internal injuries are! How much silver will it cost to see a doctor?!"

Jin Ye frantically dug into his clothes and pulled out a handful of silver coins and coppers, shoving them toward Fan Changyu. "I’ll pay, I’ll pay! Just let me go, Miss Fan!"

Fan Changyu: "..."She had only intended to scare these gambling den thugs, but the situation seemed to have spiraled out of control?

Her momentary distraction loosened her grip on Boss Jin's collar. Terrified out of his wits, the man hastily dropped the broken silver coins and copper coins on the ground before scrambling away on all fours.

Seeing this, the trembling enforcers in the courtyard froze for a breath before each fished out some copper coins from their robes, placed them on the ground, and then limped hastily out of the Fan Family's gate.

The onlookers stared at Fan Changyu and her sickly pale live-in husband as if they were freaks.

These gambling den enforcers not only collected gambling debts but also routinely extorted protection money on the streets. This was the first time someone had taken money from them instead.

Fan Changyu was also somewhat stunned.

Only after the crowd dispersed did she point at the gate—its hinges seemingly kicked apart, now hanging inward—and ask, "They did this, right?"

The man under the eaves nodded, and Changyu finally exhaled in relief.

At least she hadn't wronged anyone!

With mixed feelings, she picked up the scattered silver and copper coins from the ground and approached him. "I see blood soaking through your bandages. Did your wound reopen?"

Xie Zheng remained silent.

Changyu recalled how all the gambling den thugs had limped away. "You're injured. If something like this happens again, try to endure it and wait for me to handle it..."

Still met with silence, Changyu grew slightly awkward. After all, these troubles had arisen because of her. "If your wound keeps reopening, you'll only suffer more."

Xie Zheng finally spoke: "They were too noisy."

The slanting sunlight cast a sharp divide across his face—his upper half shadowed beneath the eaves, his lower half illuminated. His pale skin took on a translucent, icy quality, aloof and detached, yet undeniably handsome.

But his temper was far from agreeable.

Hearing his reason, Changyu was momentarily at a loss for words.

Xie Zheng seemed disinclined to continue the conversation and rose to return to his room.

Xiao Changning timidly peeked out from the kitchen, calling softly, "Elder Sister."

Changyu walked over and patted her younger sister's head. "Were you scared?"

Changning nodded, then shook her head. "Big Brother... I mean, Brother-in-law is amazing!"

Changyu paused at the title, guessing Aunt Zhao must have taught her to say it. "Amazing at beating up bad guys?"

Xiao Changning nodded vigorously. "Those people called Brother-in-law a 'pretty boy' and mocked him for being lame. But then Brother-in-law made all of them limp away!"

The little girl's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Elder Sister, what does 'pretty boy' mean? Is it because Brother-in-law's face is very white?"

Changyu's mood grew complicated as she recalled her earlier words. She told her sister sternly, "That's a rude term. Ning Niang must never say it, understand?"

Xiao Changning obediently nodded.

Changyu handed her the packet of malt candy she'd bought, instructing her to play in the courtyard without wandering off. Then she fetched the household's wound medicine and hesitated briefly before knocking on Xie Zheng's door.

"What is it?" came the man's cool, magnetic voice from within.

"I brought you some medicine," Changyu said.

Silence lingered inside.

Pressing her lips together, she finally added, "I'm sorry. I should have realized sooner—after you married into my family, they'd say all sorts of horrible things..."The door suddenly swung open, cutting Fan Changyu's words short.

The man seemed to have been tending to his wounds earlier. Now, his outer robe was draped over his shoulders, and only the lower ties of his inner garment were fastened, leaving the top ones undone. This revealed his striking collarbones and a glimpse of his well-defined chest. His strikingly handsome face carried an unpleasant expression: "You think breaking one of their legs wasn't enough?"

Fan Changyu quickly shook her head.

Xie Zheng half-lifted his eyelids: "A few pieces of trash talking nonsense wouldn't bother me. I told you, they were just too noisy."

He turned and walked back into the room. Fan Changyu followed him inside and instinctively asked, "Do you need any help?"

He suddenly turned his head and gave her an inscrutable look before fastening the last tie of his inner garment: "It's already taken care of."

Fan Changyu: "..."

As if she had some ulterior motive for helping him with his wounds!

She was still holding the newly bought hair ribbon in her hand. Giving it to him now would make it seem like she really had improper thoughts about him. When his gaze swept over it, she expressionlessly tied it around her high ponytail instead. "This is a hair ribbon I bought for myself."

The dark blue color wasn't typically suited for women, but on her, it looked unexpectedly dashing.

Xie Zheng's expression turned slightly odd.

Fan Changyu felt she had salvaged her dignity. Not one to hold grudges, she set the medicine bottle on the table and recounted her visit to the Yamen that day: "Uncle Wang told me that Fan Da has submitted a petition to the County Government Office. Until the case is settled, I can't transfer the property deeds. I suspect the gambling den, still smarting from their humiliation last time, colluded with Fan Da to drive you away this way."

To the gambling den thugs, he was just an outsider—unfamiliar with Lin'an Town, injured, and easy to manipulate.

After all, most ordinary people would have been scared out of their wits after such intimidation.

If her live-in husband ran away, her entire marriage arrangement would have been for nothing, and the property would ultimately go to Fan Da.

The man, who had seemed indifferent to her words, suddenly remarked, "The Great Yin Law's section on female-headed households should include an amendment allowing orphaned girls to establish their own households."

Fan Changyu knew widowed women could head their own households, but she had never heard of orphaned girls doing so.

In cases like hers, where both parents had passed away, it was customary for clan relatives to seize the property and then "care" for the orphaned girls until they were married off.

But the quality of that "care" depended entirely on the relatives' conscience. Those with no conscience might sell the girls into brothels, while most would treat them like servants, ordering them around until marriageable age—then sell them off to the highest bidder like livestock.

When her parents first died, Fan Da and his wife had come to take her and Changning away, promising to raise them as their own daughters. But Fan Changyu knew exactly what kind of people they were and adamantly refused. That was why Fan Da had repeatedly tried to seize the deeds afterward.

She clearly didn't take his words seriously. "The laws are made by those high-ranking officials in the capital. Which of those lords doesn't have multiple wives and concubines, with children aplenty? Their families would never face extinction. Even if disaster struck and only an orphaned girl remained, the relatives taking her in would be influential figures who wouldn't stint on food or clothing. How would those officials know what life is like for orphaned girls in the common world? Why would they ever legislate for them?"Xie Zheng remained silent. Before his fall from grace, he truly hadn't even heard of the plight of orphaned girls in commoner households.

Seeing his silence, Fan Changyu thought she had rebutted him too harshly. She scratched her head and awkwardly tried to make amends: "But if any officials knew about the situation of orphaned girls and were willing to propose legislation for them, that would be a good thing."

Xie Zheng, however, was considering the feasibility of orphaned girls establishing female-headed households: "The court has reduced corvée labor and taxes for female-headed households. If orphaned girls can become household heads, they should receive the same treatment. However, if an orphaned girl marries out or takes in a live-in son-in-law, adding male members to the household, they would no longer qualify for tax exemptions. The paperwork involved would be quite complicated."

Changyu looked utterly confused: "How do you know so much about the Great Yin Law?"

Realizing he had said too much, Xie Zheng lowered his gaze and replied, "Just picked up more knowledge from traveling around."

Changyu didn't suspect anything. She pulled out a household registration document from her collar pocket: "By the way, your household registration is ready. The county officials are now arresting all refugees and beggars they see. Outsiders without household registration or travel permits get thrown in jail when entering towns. Getting replacement documents isn't easy these days - Uncle Wang had to pull some strings to get yours processed."

Hearing this, Xie Zheng's expression darkened immediately: "Officials are arresting refugees?"

Changyu nodded: "I saw it with my own eyes on my way back. They say it's because the northwest got a new Military Governor who's worried about bandits raiding homes during the New Year season."

Suddenly she looked up at Xie Zheng: "I also heard that the Wu'an Marquis died on the Chongzhou battlefield. Since you fled from Chongzhou, do you know if that's true?"

"I don't know."

Changyu sighed: "If the Wu'an Marquis really died, that would be quite a pity."

A faint, almost mocking smile appeared on the man's pale face as he asked, "Why pity?"