Chapter 416: Extra 11.

"Is she always like that?" the child asked, pointing at Bai Li.

Yan Cijin followed the gesture. Bai Li was speaking to one of the market guards, her face composed, her voice low. "Like what?"

"Scary."

Yan Cijin’s eyes brightened with mischief. "Only when someone deserves it."

The child considered this, then glanced at the broken sword being carried away. "Did that man deserve it?"

"Yes," Yan Cijin said. "He did."

The answer was so simple that the child seemed satisfied. She went back to her sweet, and Yan Cijin rose to stand beside Bai Li. Her wife had finished giving instructions. When she turned, she found Yan Cijin watching her with an expression that was not quite teasing and not quite admiration. Bai Li knew that look well. It was the one Yan Cijin wore when she was proud of her and intended to make that pride impossible to ignore.

"What?" Bai Li asked.

"Nothing."

"You are looking at me again."

"I am married to you."

"That does not explain why you are looking at me."

Bai Li considered the point. "It explains everything."

Yan Cijin laughed and slipped her hand into Bai Li’s. The market slowly returned to its ordinary noise around them. The vendor began gathering his goods. The shopkeepers returned to their counters. A few people came forward to thank the Matriarchs, but neither woman encouraged a crowd to gather. They accepted the thanks politely and made sure the merchants understood that someone from Mount Hua would return to check whether the Iron Sand Lodge had fulfilled its promises.

An elderly shopkeeper near the bridge brought them a box of freshly baked pastries. He insisted that the Matriarchs accept it as a gift for protecting the market. Yan Cijin thanked him warmly. Bai Li offered to pay, but the man shook his head so firmly that she let the matter rest. Instead, she bought a few more items from his stall and gave him a fair price. He seemed pleased by that compromise.

They left the square with the pastries tucked into a paper bag and the remaining candied hawthorn carefully wrapped in cloth. Yan Cijin walked close to Bai Li, her hand still linked with her wife’s. Once the market sounds had faded behind them and the road opened toward the mountain, she looked up at Bai Li again.

"Did you enjoy yourself?"

Bai Li glanced at the bag in her hand. "I had a pleasant morning."

"Even with the interruption?"

"I was standing beside my beautiful wife."

Yan Cijin slowed her steps. "You make that sound as if it explains everything."

"It does."

She stepped closer, brushing her shoulder against Bai Li’s arm. "Such a shameless woman."

Bai Li bent her head toward her. "Only for you."

Yan Cijin pressed a quick kiss to the back of Bai Li’s hand before the road curved behind a stand of pine trees. "You should be grateful that I am kind enough to tolerate you."

"Every day."

"And that I am generous."

"Constantly."

"And beautiful."

Bai Li stopped walking and turned to face her. "That one does not need to be said."

Yan Cijin’s teasing expression softened. She held Bai Li’s gaze for a moment, and the world around them seemed to settle into the quiet rhythm of wind through the pines. Then she laughed softly and pulled her wife onward by the hand.

"Come on. If we take too long, you will start saying things that make it impossible for me to think."

"I thought you liked that."

"I do. That is the problem."

They walked back toward Mount Hua as the sun climbed above the ridges. The pouch of silver had grown lighter, the sweets had begun to disappear, and the Iron Sand Lodge would soon have to face the consequences of its own behavior. None of those things had required the Matriarchs to fight seriously. Their strength had been enough to stop the confrontation before it became a battle, and their judgment had turned a moment of fear into an opportunity for the town to become safer.

By the time they reached the upper stone steps, Yan Cijin had finished the last of her candied hawthorn and was asking whether Bai Li had saved any pastries for them to eat after lunch.

Bai Li held the bag out of reach. "That depends."

"On what?"

"Whether you admit that I was right about buying extra."

Yan Cijin stared at her in mock disbelief. "You are holding a bag of pastries hostage."

"I am asking for a fair acknowledgment of my sound judgment."

"This is tyranny."

"Then I suppose you should overthrow me."

Yan Cijin stopped on the steps and looked up at her wife. For a moment her face grew serious in a way that made Bai Li pause. Then Yan Cijin reached up, caught the front of Bai Li’s robe, and pulled her down far enough to kiss her cheek.

"I would never overthrow you," she said. "Who else would buy me sweets?"

Bai Li’s laughter followed them all the way to the inner gate.

By the time Bai Li and Yan Cijin returned to their residence, the afternoon sun had warmed the stone courtyard. The frost had vanished from the pine branches, and the servants had opened the lattice windows to let the clean mountain air move through the rooms. Tea had been prepared in the sitting room. A tray of sliced fruit rested on a low table, and several sealed reports waited beside it, arranged in the order Lu Wenshu had marked as most urgent.

The Matriarchs intended to review the documents before the evening council.

They genuinely intended to.

Bai Li sat on the cushioned couch with a report open across her lap. Yan Cijin settled beside her, close enough that their sleeves overlapped. For the first few minutes, they made a respectable attempt at work. Bai Li read about the condition of the northern road. Yan Cijin checked the

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TO BE CONTINUED.