Yongning Lane, Pei Residence.
Shen Yujiao, in a moon-white plum-patterned jacket, stood by the desk supervising Di Ge’er writing large characters, but her eyes kept flicking toward the carved window.
After court today, her brother immediately sent someone with news: the emperor had issued a pardon, sparing Pei Xia from prison and demoting him to serve as an official in Luoyang.
The anxiety that had hung over them for two days finally eased.
She had wanted to fetch Pei Xia herself at the Ministry of Justice, but thought better of it. He was fastidious, always changing into clean robes and washing before returning to the courtyard, would he want her to see him looking so disheveled just out of prison?
So she sent only Jinglin to meet him, with a carriage prepared with clean robes, fresh water, towels, tea, cakes, and other daily necessities.
Looking at the slightly darkened sun on the horizon, Shen Yujiao clenched her fingers tightly.
“Should have received it by now, right?
The sun’s already setting—why hasn’t he come back yet?”
She once again confirmed with the maid that the hot water was ready, and that the medicine and tonic had all been prepared. Finally, from outside came Qiulu’s excited announcement:
“He’s back, madam! The young master has returned!”
Shen Yujiao’s eyes lit up.
Di Ge’er, too, lost all interest in writing. He lifted his little head, face full of delight.
“Mother, is Father back?”
“Yes.”
Shen Yujiao patted his head. When Qiulu came in, she asked,
“Where is the young master now?”
Qiulu replied,
“He went to the study first. He sent me ahead to tell you, so you wouldn’t worry.”
Shen Yujiao nodded.
“Did you see him? Is he hurt?”
Qiulu said,
“I didn’t see him myself, it was Jinglin who told me.”
After a pause, she added softly, “Young master will be coming to the rear courtyard soon, madam. Why don’t you take a look yourself?”
Shen Yujiao couldn’t help but smile.
“You just let me relax for a breath and already dare tease me? Seems I’ve spoiled you too much.”
Qiulu playfully shrank her neck.
“As long as you can smile again. You’ve been so tense these past two days, even I’ve been worried.”
As they chatted, the taut string in Shen Yujiao’s heart finally began to ease.
Half an hour later, when Pei Xia entered the courtyard, that string fully loosened.
Under the dim glow of dusk, the young man’s figure was tall and slender, his blue robe slightly travel-worn. Though his handsome, jade-like face was mottled with bruises, overall he still looked composed.
Shen Yujiao let out a long breath. Just as she was about to step forward, Di Ge’er beat her to it.
Like a small whirlwind, the boy ran on his short legs and flung himself forward.
“Father! You’re finally back!”
From the moment Pei Xia stepped through the gate, his gaze had fallen on the slim, light figure standing by the door.
Caught off guard by the little whirlwind hugging his leg, he couldn’t help but laugh, his heart softening.
“Yes, Father’s back.”
“Father, what happened to your face? Did you get into a fight?”
“This…”
Pei Xia, rarely embarrassed, said,
“I accidentally bumped into something.”
“That must hurt! Come on, let’s go put on medicine.”
“All right.”
Pei Xia agreed, taking the child’s hand and walking toward his wife at the doorway.
Their gazes met in the peaceful glow of the setting sun.
Pei Xia said, “I’ve made you worry.”
Shen Yujiao’s eyes shimmered faintly with tears, and she smiled. “As long as you’re back.”
Her gaze then fell upon the bruises on his face. “Those prison guards, how could they be so rough, striking you right in the face?”
If they were to administer punishment, weren’t canes and whips used? Since when did they beat people until their faces were swollen and bruised?
And besides, Pei Xia was a scholar, one of the foremost men of letters in the land.
Hearing her murmured concern, a shadow flickered in Pei Xia’s eyes.
“Let’s talk inside,” he said.
“All right.”
As they walked in, Shen Yujiao asked,
“Aside from the bruises on your face, do you have any internal injuries?”
“Bai Ping, go bring all the ointments we have for external wounds. And, better fetch a doctor—”
“No need.”
Pei Xia smiled reassuringly.
“It’s just some scrapes. A few days’ rest will do.”
He wanted nothing more than to spend some tender, peaceful time with his wife and son, but he couldn’t stop his mind from returning to that urgent dispatch from Yanbei.
Xie Wuling had originally been returning home with him, but the moment he saw that the message came from Yanbei, he couldn’t sit still.
“I need to see what’s going on.”
“You hurry home, don’t let Jiaojiao keep worrying. As for that pouch she owes me, I’ll come collect it when I have the time.”
Leaving those words behind, he lifted the carriage curtain and galloped off in haste.
Even though Pei Xia had come home, his heart remained uneasy.
An urgent report from Yanbei at this time could only mean trouble.
Was it an invasion from the Rong Di tribes or some other calamity?
He couldn’t focus even through dinner.
Later that night, after washing up, Shen Yujiao stood by the bed, carefully applying medicine to his face once more. “Did something happen? You’ve seemed absent-minded ever since you came back.”
Her slender fingers, wrapped in cloth with ointment, gently traced over the sharp lines of his face, her touch light, afraid to hurt him.
Pei Xia came back to himself and looked up at the worry etched in her brows.
After a brief hesitation, he said, “On my way home, I happened to encounter an urgent dispatch from Yanbei.”
Shen Yujiao froze.
“An urgent dispatch? What happened?”
“I don’t know yet.”
After a pause, Pei Xia continued, “Xie Wuling was with me on the way back. He got off the carriage to pursue it.”
Shen Yujiao’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You and… Xie Wuling?”
How did those two end up together? And from the sound of it, they even shared a carriage?
Pei Xia didn’t hide anything from her.
That man had shown such magnanimity, there was no reason for him to be petty and unforgiving.
Though truthfully, he still didn’t want to accept it.
In his heart, he wanted to have his Yuniang entirely to himself.
“This afternoon, he came to the imperial prison with Rong Qing to deliver an edict…”
Pei Xia briefly recounted what had happened there. In the end, he lifted his eyes to his wife and asked quietly, “Did you embroider a pouch for him?”
Still caught up in the shock of the two men fighting in the imperial prison, Shen Yujiao was caught off guard by the question.
“Ah?”
Pei Xia said, “He told me you promised to embroider him a pouch in exchange for rescuing me.”
Shen Yujiao pursed her lips slightly, then nodded. “He did say that the other day but I didn’t agree to it.”
Pei Xia looked at her. “Why not?”
Shen Yujiao gave a faint tug at the corner of her lips. “I already owe him too much, debts I can’t repay in this lifetime. Rather than trouble him again, I’d rather find my own way…”
Though in the end, it was still Xie Wuling who helped.
At that thought, a complicated feeling clouded Shen Yujiao’s heart.
The couple fell into silence.
Only when all the medicine had been applied, the lamps extinguished, and the bed curtains drawn did quiet truly settle.
Shen Yujiao lay on her side. From behind, the man’s warm, solid body pressed close against her.
She thought he meant to make love; just as she was about to remind him of his injuries, Pei Xia only drew her into his arms and held her tightly.
Their bodies pressed together, each feeling the other’s warmth and breath clearly.
His chin rested atop her hair; the faintly bitter scent of the salve mingled with the familiar sandalwood fragrance he always wore, filling Shen Yujiao’s senses.
She didn’t move, letting him hold her for a long time. When he still did nothing more, she softly called, “Langjun?”
“Mm.”
“Nothing, just calling you.”
He probably only wanted to hold her, she thought.
With that in mind, she closed her eyes, letting drowsiness take her.
These past few days while he’d been imprisoned, she had barely slept. Now, breathing in his familiar scent, her heart finally eased.
“Yuniang.”
In the darkness, his low, steady voice suddenly sounded, his chest vibrating faintly against her back.
“Embroider him that pouch.”
The drowsiness she’d been gathering vanished instantly.
She was startled and puzzled.
His hand stroked her back. “I can tell, this time, he truly let go.”
“A single pouch to complete his long-held wish, it’s better than leaving him with regret later.”
He didn’t want his wife to look back on this someday and feel remorse.
The woman in his arms was silent for a long time before she finally spoke. “All right.”
“There’s a length of Shu brocade in the storeroom, dark silk patterned with hidden clouds. I’ll cut ten inches tomorrow.”
Pei Xia murmured his assent, then asked, “Have you thought of what pattern to embroider?”
After a brief pause, Shen Yujiao said, “A qilin, perhaps. On dark fabric, stitched with red and gold silk threads, it’ll be bright and dignified, and the meaning is auspicious.”
Pei Xia brushed his chin lightly against her forehead.
“Good. Then embroider that.”
After a short silence, he added,
“You may have to hurry. I doubt he’ll remain in Chang’an for more than a few days.”
In truth, he didn’t even stay that long.
At dawn the next morning, Xie Wuling was already mustering his troops, preparing to depart for Yanzhou.
The urgent military dispatch, delivered over eight hundred li, reported that a spy had been uncovered within Yanzhou. The Rong Di tribes had learned of Yan Wang’s current lack of defenses and launched a massive invasion. Half a month ago, they had already taken Baicheng and Jinzhou.
Yan Wang had led his troops into battle but was struck by a hidden arrow. He urgently summoned Xie Wuling to return with reinforcements, funds, and supplies to repel the enemy with all strength.
When Emperor Chunqing received this dispatch yesterday, his first reaction was: How did a war break out?
His second: Pei Xia actually predicted it right.
But how could Yan Wang, who had guarded Yanbei for so many years, be wounded by a stray arrow? Too careless.
And before this, the border had been mostly calm with only minor disturbances. How could they have grown so lax as to let the enemy invade so suddenly and so massively?
The emperor couldn’t help his irritation—
Blaming Yan Wang for his incompetence.
Blaming Pei Xia for jinxing it.
Blaming Heaven itself for refusing him peace.
But now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to calm himself and hasten Xie Wuling’s return.
In truth, there was no need to urge him.
The moment Xie Wuling heard that Yan Wang was injured and the Rong Di were invading, he could no longer sit still.
After three years, Yanbei had become his second home. The soldiers of Yan were his brothers, men who had fought and bled beside him. Now that the frontier was in danger, he would go through fire and water without hesitation.
Yet one problem remained—
The wagons laden with military funds, grain, leather, and weapons would take at least two months to reach Yanzhou.
Meanwhile, Xie Wuling and his five thousand Yan troops were burning with impatience, as if they could sprout wings and fly straight to the battlefield to clash with the Rongdi.
Two months—they couldn’t afford to wait. Neither could Yan Wang.
“I ask Your Majesty to send a trustworthy man to escort the provisions and armaments to Yanzhou as soon as I depart,”
Xie Wuling bowed to Emperor Chunqing.
“On the battlefield, every moment counts. To seize even one step ahead is to win a greater chance of victory. I implore Your Majesty, don’t let down the three hundred thousand brothers of Yanbei!”
The emperor, once a commander himself during the Huainan Rebellion, understood well how crucial the transport of supplies was.
He needed someone dependable.
Steady and cautious, honest and upright, calm under pressure, unafraid of hardship—
As these traits flashed through his mind, a familiar figure surfaced before his eyes like a breeze over bright moonlight.
Pei Xia. Pei Shouzhen.
That comrade who had once fought beside him in Huainan—truly, there was no better choice.
But he had only just thrown Pei Xia into prison, and then demoted him to an official post in Luoyang. To now appoint him to escort the supplies to Yanbei…
Emperor Chunqing found the words hard to say.
He kept his expression even and replied to Xie Wuling, “Go with peace of mind. Such an important matter, I will see it properly arranged.”
Xie Wuling glanced at the emperor, whose eyes kept shifting uneasily, and couldn’t help thinking, this d*mned emperor really isn’t reliable without Pei Xia around.
To ease his mind, before the army’s departure, he rode straight to the Pei residence.
When Pei Xia heard he’d come, he hesitated briefly, but agreed to see him.
When the two men met again, the air between them was far calmer than before.
When he understood Xie Wuling’s purpose, Pei Xia’s gaze toward him took on a different kind of scrutiny.
“You think His Majesty is still willing to listen to me now?” Pei Xia’s tone carried faint mockery.
“I know you have a way.”
Xie Wuling clasped his hands and bowed slightly. “Do it for the soldiers of Yanbei, for the land of Great Liang. Please, trouble yourself one more time. Don’t let him act foolishly and drag us all down.”
It was rare for Pei Xia to see him so solemn and serious.
Truly, after three years apart, he was no longer the same man.
Xie Wuling could no longer be seen as the same street scoundrel he once was.
After a long silence, Pei Xia finally spoke. “Go without worry. I’ll keep an eye on the escorts.”
Xie Wuling smiled. “Good. With that, I can leave in peace.”
He should have left then, but his steps faltered.
Seeing this, Pei Xia guessed what was on his mind. “She’s in the back courtyard, embroidering a sachet.”
Xie Wuling’s eyes lit up instantly. “For me?”
Pei Xia knew Xie Wuling had beautiful eyes—clear, bright, and when they shone like that, they carried a kind of indomitable vitality, like a wildfire that could never be extinguished.
If it were any ordinary friend, he might have admired it.
But knowing that this light shone because of his wife stirred another kind of feeling entirely.
He couldn’t help but feel jealous. He couldn’t help but resent it.
Yet now he restrained himself, keeping his tone calm. “Yes, for you.”
The joy in Xie Wuling’s brows could no longer be hidden, he looked like a child who’d just been given candy.
Something indescribably complicated flickered in Pei Xia’s heart.
Truly, this man coveting another’s wife was despicable.
But all these years of persistence and shameless pursuit, wasn’t it all because of that one word, love?
Love—an enigma of the world.
Neither of them had escaped it.
“She only started today,” Pei Xia said. “You likely won’t be able to take it with you this time.”
“When she finishes, I’ll have the quartermaster send it along.”
Xie Wuling nodded. “Alright.”
Then, glancing at Pei Xia’s calm and collected expression, he lifted a fist to his lips and coughed lightly. “Then… can I see her once more? To say goodbye?”
Pei Xia’s brows drew together as he looked at him. “Don’t push your luck.”
Xie Wuling immediately reacted like a cat with its tail stepped on. “Pei Shouzhen, aren’t you being too stingy? I’m heading to the battlefield, who knows when I’ll return to Chang’an again? I might die for my country out there, and this is how you treat a soldier defending your land?”
Jealous husband—first-class jealous husband under heaven.
Even knowing he was being unreasonable, Pei Xia’s heart still gave a jolt at the words die for my country.
This man—he always spoke so carelessly, with no sense of taboo.
“Pei Shouzhen,” Xie Wuling went on, “I already said I’ll step aside and never disturb you two again. Just let me see her this once.”
Watching Pei Xia’s expression, he narrowed his eyes and hummed, “If you don’t agree, then after I return from war, I’ll come back to Chang’an and continue pestering you and Jiaojiao…”
Pei Xia: “…”
As expected—rivers may change their course, but a scoundrel never changes his nature.
Rubbing his temple with a long finger, Pei Xia finally said, “Just once.”
“Good, just once.”
***
What Pei Xia thought would be “once” was a face-to-face farewell, a few parting words.
But when he brought Xie Wuling to the back courtyard, the man stopped outside the powder-white wall by the gate.
Pei Xia looked at him. “…?”
“I’m not going in.”
Xie Wuling smiled faintly. “I can see from here.”
His gaze passed through the flower-shaped window in the wall, falling upon the young woman sitting sideways beneath the lacquered, gilded veranda, quietly embroidering with a frame in her hands.
She wore a light blue embroidered jacket; her forehead smooth, brows delicate, hair black against snow-white skin, slender hands deftly at work.
The winter sunlight was soft and warm as it fell upon her face, tinting it a faint rose, delicate and luminous like the freshly peeled flesh of a lychee—pure and sweet.
For a moment, Xie Wuling felt as though he had returned to that small courtyard in Jinling years ago.
Every time he came home then, he would see her sitting in the yard on a little stool, embroidering quietly.
Even when silent, she gave him an indescribable sense of peace.
That was his little wife.
Just the thought of her made his heart light.
He hadn’t realized how precious those ordinary days were.
“I’m leaving,” he said at last, turning around.
“Take good care of her.”
“Don’t tell her I was here.”
