"Later I thought, it all started the day after he sat in the study for half a day and then suddenly called Jing Bi in," she said.
....
Perhaps it was there that things began to happen.
In her memoirs, long afterwards, Xu Chang noticed that quiet sparkle in his eyes and the paused words full of concern. The man, under the guise of sorrow, became someone else. He started to leave early and return late, spending entire nights alone in his study. Finally, after one night, Xu Chang rose at dawn to open the door, only to find him just returning from outside.
There were faint traces of struggle on him, but they were subtle. Xu Chang thought he had gone to Xianqiao Peak again, but he stopped her worried words, turned his calm, breath-stealing eyes on her, with a seriousness she had seldom seen.
"I'm going out, A Chang," he said softly, "I'll be back in seven or eight days, just carry on with your days as usual—keep an eye on Jing Bi, don't let him run around."