今晚这扇门对你关上

The day Mulan moved into the Murong mansion, the trunks arrived before she did.

Rosewood, porcelain, blankets shipped from the South Seas — carried through the hall one by one, like a self-introduction that did not need words.

Mother has already asked twice whether these things are too showy.

Being showy is the point. She wants the whole mansion to admit that the person moving in is a daughter of the Fang family.

She has always been my fiancée.

The word fiancée cannot protect her face.

What it protects is this family's need to treat her as a guest, not as a suspect.

Are you still going to turn that one look at the engagement banquet into evidence?

That one look is not enough.

So I changed my mind.

From today on, I will not ask whether she is Susu.

I will watch whether she lets someone who has seen Susu live long enough to speak.

You are setting a trap inside the house.

She moved the house into the trap first.

Qingyi says he will take her back to the mansion.

Mulan looks at him once, then still gets in the car.

The cabin is not large, but the last three years suddenly feel very close.

After you move in, the servants will start calling you young mistress.

What they call me does not change who I am.

Yes. The things that cannot be changed are the most troublesome.

You are going to bring up Ren Susu again.

I sat three years for this woman.

Not three years under house arrest. Three years I could not leave, and could not be believed.

If you are her, do not expect me to let go.

Putting old hatred on a woman who has just moved in will only make Qingyu's position harder.

Qingyu is in a hard position because he must protect this family's respectability.

I am in a hard position because I must find out who is sitting beside that respectability.

Have you seen clearly yet?

Not yet. So I will find someone who saw her earlier than I did.

Steward Li's ship docks tomorrow.

The station will be chaotic. Chaos is most convenient for someone who wants to silence a witness.

You are sure she will go?

If she only looks like her, Steward Li means nothing to her.

If she is Ren Susu, Steward Li is a knife that has not been taken away yet.

You are going to bring him to the banquet to identify her?

First let him live through tonight.

If she goes to the station, I will know whom she fears.

The real man is already off that road.

What if she does not go?

Then I will admit that perhaps I was wrong.

But I am betting she will go.

A person who is not afraid of being recognized does not need to rush to the station in the night.

Mulan arrives exactly on time.

The man in the hat sits in the shadow, the curve of his shoulders like someone who has just left a ship and has not yet had time to look up.

Steward Li? Do not make a sound. Come with me.

There is no arm inside the sleeve.

The dummy falls outward. The hat lands on the brick, showing a collar stuffed with cloth.

You replaced him with a dummy.

Your first words were not "hello." They were "do not make a sound."

Where is he?

Somewhere you cannot reach.

You protect an old servant because you love that dead woman, or because you hate me?

I protect him because he remembers a face. What you came to do tonight is clearer than admitting a name.

You did not see me do anything.

I saw you come, and I heard you stop him from speaking. Taking the person away is the same as firing a gun.

When Mulan returns, her cloak is still unfastened.

Qingyi stands in the hall, his eyes on what her right hand is hiding.

There is no time for a second trip.

Move.

A knife.

A dinner knife hidden behind your back is not for cutting fruit.

You are very pleased with yourself tonight.

I am not pleased. I am only sure of one thing: the person who saw Susu is still alive, and you cannot go out again.

You are putting your future sister-in-law under house arrest in your own home?

I am keeping a person who came to silence a witness where I can see her.

Tomorrow Steward Li will stand in the garden.

Then you can decide whether you still want to say, "I am Mulan."

You think one old face can end three years?

It cannot. So tonight this door closes on you. What cannot be ended can at least be stopped inside the door.

The newly moved furniture still smells of the packing crates.

Mulan stands inside the identity she stacked up with money, and for the first time understands that these things can also block the road.

The dinner knife stays by the plate, like a letter that does not need a name.