Page 21 of The Scholar's Improper Wife

“I’mfine. Ihatesitting still.” Even through the wall, she could hear the frustration in Qing-he’s voice.

Yun-shan exhaled sharply. “And I hate watching you hurt yourself.”

“I’m not fragile!”

“No,” her brother’s voice grew quiet. “But you’re not invincible either.”

For a long moment the silence stretched.

“...I’ll rest.” Qing-he’s voice was softer than Yun-si had ever heard it. “Please. Don’t be angry.”

Yun-si covered her mouth with both hands to keep from gasping aloud. Herbrother—

She rose on unsteady legs and crept away.

“Third Sister!”

Yun-si started, nearly jumping out of her skin.

“Did you just come from Big brother’s residence? I’m taking this little fox to him to see if he can help it. It’s injured.” Yun-hai gently stroked the fox in his arms.

Yun-si forced a smile. “Come, Yun-shan. Big brother is busy. I’ll take a look at the little fox.”

She did not wait for his protest but gently steered him away from Clear Mountain Lodge.

The fox in Yun-hai’s arms was red with a white-tipped tail. A silver-white patch of fur in the shape of a crescent moon marked its forehead, as if it had been marked by the moon itself. It was all sharp bones beneath its pelt, one leg bent wrong, a half-healed gash along its side. Yet its golden eyes burned bright, tracking Yun-si with unsettling awareness.

“Where did you find it?” asked Yun-si.

“I heard her call last night. So I grabbed my sword and went into the woods to find her. Two big foxes had her cornered, but I fought them off.” He tried to mime the sword slashes one-handed for emphasis, then caught himself and dropped the hand quickly back to cradle the fox before it slipped.

Yun-si let the part about him charging alone into the woods at night pass without comment—there was no point. Yun-hai had been racing toward danger since before he could properly walk, and scolding him about it accomplished nothing beyond making him more determined to do it again unsupervised next time.

“You heard it,” she said instead, slowly. “From inside the house. At night.”

“Mm-hm.”

“The woods are nearly half a li from your window.”

“I know.” He said this without any apparent awareness that it should be strange, already absorbed in resettling his grip on the fox. “I almost thought I dreamed it. But I knew it was real, so I went.”

Yun-si stared at him.You knew it was real.As if that settled the matter entirely—no surprise that he’d heard a single fox’s cry through walls and across half a li of forest in his sleep, only the calm certainty that having heard it, he was obligated to act.

Wu. Eldest sister had said the Wu blood runs in Yun-hai too.

“Let’s give it some bone broth in the kitchen first,” she said carefully. “Before we bother Big brother.”

Yun-hai lit up, already turning toward the kitchens. Over his shoulder, the fox’s gaze flicked to hers before turning away, nose tucking into his elbow.

Chapter 9

The manuscript rested safely inside Yun-si’s sleeve, its reassuring weight a quiet promise.

After two months of work, it was finally time to submit it.

The early winter air nipped at Yun-si through her veil as she walked through the bustling market street towards the familiar, faded sign of Autumn Leaf Literary Treasures.

She’d poured everything into this one – the gritty realism of sword practice Qing-he had demonstrated, the desperate secrecy of the fugitive swordsman, the fierce loyalty that sparked between unlikely allies. It wasperfect.