“Mm, it’s me.” His hoarse voice rumbled low against her neck, hot breath making her itch.
Shen Yujiao tilted her neck slightly. “You’ve been drinking? I’ll have someone cook a sobering broth—”
“Don’t move.”
Before she could rise, the arm around her waist tightened, drawing her closer still.
His face still buried in her neck, he murmured, “Let me hold you for a while.”
Low and heavy, almost a sigh, yet carrying something of a plea: “Just a while.”
Shen Yujiao’s long lashes trembled. “…”
This was the first time, since she had known Pei Xia, that she had seen him so… out of control.
Was it because he was drunk? Or had Madam Wang’s words that day truly wounded him?
The scent of wine in the bed-curtain grew stronger with the rising warmth. He must have drunk a great deal.
Shen Yujiao knew her husband had always been self-restrained, seldom touching wine or women. He had said before that drink and lust cloud the mind, ruin the body, and wear down the will; unless necessary, best not to drink at all… And yet tonight he had drunk, and drunk so much.
So that was why he hadn’t come back for supper—he had been alone in the study, drowning his sorrows.
With a faint sigh in her heart, Shen Yujiao stopped moving, quietly letting him hold her.
Neither of them spoke. For a time, in the dusky amber glow beneath the bed-curtain, only the sound of each other’s breathing filled the space—one calm and gentle, the other hot and unending.
She didn’t know how long it had been when, just as Shen Yujiao thought he might have fallen asleep, the man behind her lifted his face. “Yuniang, forgive me.”
The sudden apology startled her. “Ah?”
“My mother still owes you an apology. I cannot make her come and admit her fault to you, so I can only say it in her place.”
So that was it. Shen Yujiao let out a quiet breath. “I know you’ve already done all you could. Those who owed lives have paid with lives, those who deserved punishment have been punished. The guilty have all met their retribution—that is enough.”
Besides, with Madam Wang’s lofty and arrogant nature, even if you burned her to ashes, that tongue of hers would likely still stay hard.
Her shoulders eased. “In this world, how could everything ever go smoothly? Every family has its hard-to-recite scripture, every person their own helplessness.”
“These truths I know. But Mother, she…”
Pei Xia closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “I never imagined she would be like this.”
She was, after all, the only kin he had in this world.
To suddenly discover she was such a person—that disappointment and grief was like having flesh cut from bone.
“Don’t think on it. It’s all in the past now…”
Shen Yujiao spoke softly, though once the words were out, she felt the comfort sounded hollow.
After all, if her own birth mother, Madam Li, had done something that broke her heart, and then went on to scold and mock her without remorse, she too might collapse in despair and never rise again. For she was her mother. In this world, no kin could ever be closer than mother and child.
All the more so since in Pei Xia’s twenty-some years of life, Madam Wang had been nearly his only relative.
Her heart ached. After a pause, she reached for the hand he had laid at her waist, and slowly guided it onto her rounded belly.
The man’s hand seemed to stiffen, but he followed her lead, spreading his long fingers to rest upon it.
“Langjun, this is our child.”
Lowering her head, Shen Yujiao covered the back of his hand with her own. “Sometimes it moves.”
Through the thin fabric of her under-robe, their warmth passed silently to each other.
Pei Xia said nothing, but in his heart—he knew.
In the past nights, he would hold her as they fell asleep, his hand resting on her belly, and more than once he had felt the stirring of the child within.
The first time it moved, it felt strange, and he thought it was just an illusion.
He waited quietly for a long while. When it moved again, that strangeness gradually transformed into a warmth he had never felt before, surging and filling his chest.
This was the child he and Yuniang shared.
It was growing strong, and before long it would come into this world, calling her “Mother,” calling him “Father.”
From then on, their family would live together in harmony and happiness…
In that instant, his empty heart seemed to find a new place to rest. Pei Xia tightened his long arms, holding the warmth in his embrace even closer.
Sensing this closeness, Shen Yujiao’s heart stirred, welling with a complexity hard to put into words.
After a long silence, the man beside her pillow spoke again with his usual calm: “Yuniang, thank you.”
“You and I are husband and wife, no need for such polite words. I see you’ve drunk quite a bit of wine—let me have them bring you a bowl of sobering soup…”
She had just begun to turn when Pei Xia lowered his face, burying it once more against her neck. “Don’t turn.”
Shen Yujiao was puzzled. “Why not?”
The man behind her was silent for two breaths before he said, “I still feel some guilt—unworthy to face you.”
Shen Yujiao: “…?”
After a pause, his slightly dejected voice came again: “Besides, when I’m drunk, it really isn’t a good sight.”
Shen Yujiao was taken aback, then let out a muffled laugh.
He spoke of having no face to see her, yet held her so tightly—did he think that by embracing her from behind, as long as she couldn’t see his face, it counted as “not seen”?
This restrained, self-disciplined gentleman of Hedong, after drinking, actually revealed such a “shameless” side.
“How much did you drink, Langjun?” she asked with amusement.
“Not much,” Pei Xia replied. “I am not very drunk.”
But Shen Yujiao did not believe him. If he weren’t drunk, how could he be so forward in seeking closeness?
Other than when in bed together, usually if she clung to him like this, he would surely push away her hands and feet, and lecture her with rules such as: “When seated, do not move the knees; when standing, do not sway the skirt. Only by keeping one’s bearing upright can one be a proper person.”
Whenever she heard such words, she would always want to argue: liking someone means wanting to be close to them—how could that be wrong? But his face would be so serious, and what he spoke were all words of sages, that she would end up confused instead—was she truly being too unreserved and lacking decorum?
But that confusion only lasted for a time. Later, when she saw how the other Pei gentlemen interacted with their wives, it wasn’t the same. Then she knew the problem wasn’t with her. Pei Xia was simply unconventional, oblivious to matters of affection.
Her thoughts drifted back. Lazily closing her eyes, she said, “I’m a little sleepy.”
“Then sleep.”
Pei Xia’s jaw brushed lightly over her hair. “Once you’ve fallen asleep, I’ll go fetch the sobering soup.”
“Go now—what if you fall asleep later?”
“No rush. Let me warm your hands and feet first.”
Beneath the smooth silk quilt, Pei Xia held the small figure in his arms tightly, his half-drunken voice hoarse with weariness: “I won’t fall asleep so quickly.”
And besides, holding her after drinking, even if he wanted to sleep, it would be hard.
Hearing this, Shen Yujiao asked no further and drifted into sleep.
When she woke the next morning, the man’s figure was already gone.
If not for the marks left on the pillow, she would have wondered if everything from last night had been just a dream.
Pei Xia actually held her in his arms the whole night?
If this had happened before, it would truly have felt like a dream.
When Bai Ping and Qiulu, the two maids, saw her awake, they quickly brought hot water and cloths to serve her in washing. One was from the north, the other from the south, yet they seemed to get along exceptionally well. After knowing each other less than half a day, Qiulu was already calling Bai Ping “older sister,” making her smile with delight.
Sitting before the mirror to have her hair dressed, Shen Yujiao remembered how she had dozed off last night, and casually asked, “Did Langjun eventually have the sobering soup?”
“He did.” It was Bai Ping who had kept the night watch yesterday. Holding a carved ivory comb dipped in jasmine oil, she carefully combed through Shen Yujiao’s thick black hair. “Perhaps fearing the wine smell might disturb my lady’s rest, my lord even went next door to bathe and change into clean robes before returning to sleep.”
Shen Yujiao recalled—the scent of wine had been on him, but not unpleasant. She hadn’t paid it much mind.
“As long as he drank the sobering soup. Otherwise, waking with a headache makes the whole day hard to bear.” She asked again, “What time did he leave this morning?”
“He rose at the hour of chen. Early on, he first went to the main quarters to pay respects to Madam, then summoned Second Master and Third Master to the study.”
At this, Bai Ping glanced toward the half-opened window lattice. “I wonder if they’re still in the study now?”
In the main courtyard’s study, the late autumn sun climbed over the roof ridge, its beams sifting down through the branches of the locust tree at the door.
After an hour, the tightly closed study doors finally opened again.
When they had gone in, both the Second Master and Third Master were full of unease.
But upon coming out, Second Master’s face was dark, as if mourning the dead, while Third Master tried to suppress a smirk, pretending calm.
“Second Brother, I see that after our nephew’s time away in the outside world, he has changed greatly—his spirit and bearing are entirely different…”
No longer the detached recluse indifferent to fame and fortune. Judging by this posture, he meant to step into office, into the world itself, grasping real power and prestige firmly in his hand.
Third Master thought this to himself. Glancing at Second Master’s sunken face and unwillingness to speak, he sneered inwardly, but outwardly patted Second Master’s shoulder, speaking with concern: “This matter, you truly must handle carefully. Do not let a small loss turn into a great one.”
Second Master Pei kept a stern face: “Naturally I know this reasoning. It’s not your place to teach me how to act.”
With that, his shoulder jerked, shaking off Third Master Pei’s hand, and he stormed off toward the Second Branch’s courtyard.
Third Master Pei looked at his short, stout back and snorted: “Serves you right.”
Now, as for these two masters, though both were concubine-born, the Second Master’s mother had been Old Madam Pei’s dowry maid, while the Third Master’s mother was the daughter of a minor official.
The dowry maid relied on her bond with the mistress and looked down on the minor official’s daughter. And that daughter, priding herself on her learning, a proper young lady from her own household, likewise looked down on a mere dowry maid of the Second Branch. … The two concubines never saw eye to eye and competed openly and in secret.
Thus, although the Second and Third Masters were brothers, born of different wombs, their bond of kinship never ran deep.
Over the years, neither of the two brothers had accomplished much. But the Second Branch’s eldest son was diligent and studious, becoming the first among the younger generation to earn an official title, which brought considerable honor to the Second Branch. Moreover, with Madam Cui and Pei Tong constantly finding ways to curry favor with Madam Wang and basking in the glory of the Main Branch, the Second Branch’s standing slightly overshadowed that of the Third.
Third Master’s wife, Madam Cheng, was also the daughter of a scholarly official’s family. Like her mother-in-law, she bore the hauteur of the learned.
Both mother- and daughter-in-law disdained the Second Branch’s sycophantic ways. In private, whenever they spoke of the Second Branch, they could not conceal their contempt: “Born of a servant girl, no wonder they have such a knack for flattering their masters.”
Now that the Second Branch had made such a blunder, when Third Master Pei returned to his rooms and told his wife behind closed doors, he was nearly bursting with laughter. “You should have seen Second Brother’s face—ah, it was green with rage, simply hilarious!”
Madam Cheng, however, was aghast, never having imagined that the misfortune of the Main Branch’s young mistress was actually the doing of Pei Tong of the Second Branch.
“That Third Girl dared such a thing—has she gone mad?” Madam Cheng pressed a hand to her chest, only feeling dread.
Third Master Pei gave a cold snort: “If she were my daughter, I’d have broken her legs!”
The couple sat opposite each other, sighing and lamenting. Then Third Master Pei told his wife of the “meat pie fallen from the sky”: “That Third Girl can no longer possibly marry into the Wang family. Just now Shouzhen asked about our Fifth Daughter. He told me to come back and consult with you. If Madam Wang is still willing to form a marriage tie with our household, should we have Fifth Daughter marry over? This is truly an excellent match!”
Madam Cheng froze, not showing much joy on her face.
Third Master Pei waved a hand before her: “What’s wrong? Didn’t you always complain that Second Sister-in-law flaunted this marriage before you? Now her daughter cannot wed, and instead it’s fallen to benefit our Fifth Daughter! Aren’t you happy?”
That Wang Huanwen, though a second son, was still a legitimate scion of the prestigious Wang clan of Langya. At such a young age, he already held a sixth-rank official post, and had once even been the Second Prince’s study companion… his future prospects were boundless. He might even earn a noble title for their daughter one day!
“Happy, yes, but such a great fortune falling on us so suddenly—my heart… somehow feels uneasy.” Madam Cheng touched her chest, her heart pounding wildly.
“You are simply too timid! Look at the families you’ve considered for Fifth Daughter—the best was no more than a son of a fifth-rank official. How could that compare to the Wang family?”
Third Master Pei’s face glowed red with excitement. Just thinking that his son-in-law would one day serve as an official in Chang’an, and his daughter would marry into such a lofty house, filled his heart with satisfaction. “Had I known such a match was possible, I should have kept Second Daughter at home for two more years. Otherwise this marriage would have gone to her; once she got used to life in Chang’an, wouldn’t she also have secured fine matches for her younger sisters?”
But then he thought of his most beloved eldest daughter, following her husband to a distant posting, perhaps not seeing her again for three or five years. His heart filled with regret.
Seeing her husband wander off into digressions, Madam Cheng couldn’t be bothered to respond, sitting quietly in thought.
The marriage was indeed a splendid one, except…
After pondering, she asked, “Did Shouzhen only say she was to be sent to the estate, nothing more?”
Third Master Pei understood his wife’s meaning and lowered his voice: “He said it was to ‘recuperate’.”
Madam Cheng’s eyes flickered. She was silent a long while before sighing lightly: “If the Second Branch’s trouble can be cleaned away thoroughly, then I will agree to this marriage. If it cannot, then our Fifth Daughter will not wade into such muddy waters.”
Her Fifth Daughter was always obedient and gentle. She could not bear to let her daughter take such risks. If they could not seize the benefit, and instead drew scandal upon themselves, then better to marry her to some minor official’s family in Luoyang and live a steady life.
Third Master Pei knew his wife’s concern. He patted her hand. “Don’t worry. Though my Second Brother is thick-headed, when it comes to great matters, he knows where the line is.”
Madam Cheng lowered her eyes: “We shall see.”
The Third Branch’s courtyard grew quiet. But in the Second Branch’s courtyard, it was chaos, with cries and wails unending.
“Langjun, how could you be so cruel? Tong’er is our daughter—she’s still so young! How can you send her to the estate?”
Madam Cui clutched Pei Tong in her arms, her face streaked with tears, looking at Second Master Pei. “How could you agree to this? Where is Eldest Sister-in-law? I want to see her—she has always cherished Tong’er most!”
“Eldest Sister-in-law can hardly manage her own troubles. You think she has time for you? You’d best not stir up any more trouble for me!”
Second Master Pei glared furiously at his wife. Then looking at his dazed and stunned daughter, his heart ached with grief and fury. “You unfilial girl! I only thought you a little spoiled, but never did I imagine you could be so vicious! Our Pei clan’s hundred years of clean reputation nearly ruined in your hands!”
He wanted to curse her more, but the words died on his lips, leaving him deflated.
At this point, what use was there in scolding? In the end… she had but a few days left anyway.
Looking again, seeing Madam Cui clutching Pei Tong tightly, refusing to let go, Second Master Pei gave a signal with his eyes to the stout, broad-shouldered Momo at his side:
“The madam is tired. Hurry and take her back to her room to rest.”
The Momo received the order and quickly stepped forward: “Madam, please, let’s go.”
“Mother! Mother!” Pei Tong shrieked like a cat with its tail stepped on, clinging to Madam Cui like a lifeline: “Mother, don’t leave! You can’t abandon your daughter!”
“Rest easy, Mother will surely protect you.”
Madam Cui shoved aside the rough-handed servant woman, her eyes red, like a mother beast guarding her young: “Today, no one is taking my daughter away!”
The Momo was at a loss and looked toward Second Master Pei.
His heart, too, felt unbearably heavy—but then he recalled the icy, piercing gaze his nephew had cast at him earlier in the study, cold as ten thousand acres of frost. It had seized his entire body and chilled his back, leaving him unable to utter even a single plea—
This time, the bottom line of the main branch had truly been crossed.
If they didn’t give a decisive explanation, their second branch would never rise again.
Second Master Pei drew in a deep breath, lifted his gaze once more, and glared at Madam Cui:
“You foolish woman, even now you still want to indulge this wretched girl! Have you thought of Dalang and Silang? Is what this creature did anything human? Out of selfishness, she plotted against the main branch’s proper wife—such wickedness defies both heaven and law! If word spreads that Dalang and Silang’s full-blooded sister is such a venomous woman, how could they ever lift their heads in public again? What future would they have in their official careers? If Dalang’s wife learns her husband’s younger sister is this malicious, what will she think? And Silang has yet to marry—what family would dare give their daughter into a household with such a sister-in-law?”
“These other arguments I won’t waste on you. I’ll say only this: as my rightful wife, you should put the greater good above all else. If you are still this muddle-headed at such a time, then I may as well write you a divorce letter and send you back to your maiden home!”
“I…I…” Madam Cui was frightened pale, tears streaming down her face. “Husband, is there truly no way? Tong’er is also your own flesh and blood.”
Pei Tong, too, was seized with terror, crying out over and over: “Father, Tong’er knows she was wrong, and truly knows her mistake. Please speak for me! I can kowtow to Sixth Brother and Sister-in-law, let them beat me, scold me, anything—just don’t send me to the manor! I won’t go, I won’t go anywhere!”
Among the great families, daughters-in-law sent to the manors either died quietly, unnoticed, or were abused by wicked servants with no one to intervene. If she was sent there, what hope would be left in her life? She might as well dash herself to death on the spot.
Second Master Pei looked at the terrified mother and daughter clinging to each other, grief welling in his chest—but he knew the great wrong was done and beyond salvation.
“Take Madam away,” he ordered the servant women, then turned a cold glare on Madam Cui: “I’ll give you one last chance. If you still refuse to let go, I’ll divorce you, and from now on Dalang and Silang will no longer have a muddle-headed mother who cannot tell right from wrong!”
Seeing his words were sharp and in deadly earnest, Madam Cui’s heart trembled. Though she could hardly bear to part with her daughter, she thought of her diligent eldest son, her second son still studying at the academy…
Both palm and back of the hand are flesh—her mother’s heart felt as though it would split apart.
“Tong’er, my poor Tong’er…” she wept, but no longer resisted the hand of the servant woman.
Another Momo stepped forward and seized Pei Tong, forcibly prying the mother and daughter apart.
“Mother! Mother, do you mean to let your daughter die?”
Pei Tong lost her balance, fell to the ground, her hairpiece disheveled. With a face full of unwillingness, she glared at Second Master Pei: “Father! How can you be so cruel! That Shen woman didn’t even die—why can’t she forgive me once? To fuss over every little thing, is she not afraid it will harm the blessing of the child in her womb?”
Seeing that instead of repentance she was spouting such vile words, Second Master Pei’s face turned green. He could not restrain himself and kicked her: “You wretched creature, what nonsense are you spouting!”
Pei Tong was knocked aside, clutching herself in pain, staring wide-eyed in disbelief: “Father, you…kicked me?!”
“Not only would I kick you, I’d like to thrash you! You unfilial girl, still not done harming others, and now spewing such words…”
His fingers trembled as he pointed, then turned on the two servant women in the room, face dark: “What was just said— not a single word is to leave this room, understand?”
The two servant women immediately answered in the affirmative.
Seeing Madam Cui had been pulled away, Second Master Pei had no wish to linger—lest this rebellious daughter spout more nonsense and bring disaster on the second branch.
“Go,” he waved Madam Cui out.
Then to the two women: “Tie her up.”
“Mother! Mother—!”
Pei Tong screamed, her voice tearing at the heart. Madam Cui bit her lip, tears streaming, unable to bear hearing it, and cried sorrowfully: “Don’t resent your mother. If there is a next life, don’t be born from my womb again…”
With that, she covered her face and staggered out of the room.
Second Master Pei, seeing this, finally breathed easier. Looking back inside, one servant had pinned Pei Tong to the ground while the other fetched rope.
“You wretched slaves, unhand me! I am the Third Niangzi of the Pei family! How dare you treat me this way!”
Pressed to the ground, Pei Tong still struggled, her eyes red as she stared straight at Second Master Pei: “Father, I beg you, don’t send your daughter away, I beg you…”
“Stop calling me father. I have no daughter like you.”
Second Master Pei turned and walked out of the room.
“Father, Father—!”
The door closed softly behind him. Inside, the cries and pleas still rang out; when she saw begging was useless, they turned into shrill, hysterical curses—
“That sl*t Shen! Off alone for so long, coming back with a big belly—who knows which b*stard man’s spawn it is!”
“Sixth Brother, you’ve been wise all your life only to be foolish this once—passing over noble-born ladies and marrying the daughter of a traitor, even treasuring her! How many green hats have you been wearing without knowing it, and yet you’d even harm your own kin for such a wh*re! Pei Shouzhen, how do you still have the face to remain head of the Pei clan? You’ll drag all the family’s honor into the dirt!”
“Let me go, let me go! Why punish only me? What about Aunt? She had a hand in this too! Pei Xia, you hypocrite, if you’ve got the guts, punish your own mother as well! Even your mother looks down on that wife of yours! You unfilial, rebellious son—you’ll die without peace!”
Even through the wooden door, those poisonous words pierced straight into Second Master Pei’s back like needles.
He had lived for pleasure, yes, but never done anything truly against heaven or reason. Madam Cui, for all her greed, was timid and cautious. How had the two of them raised such a creature?
As the abuse inside grew fouler by the moment, Second Master Pei beckoned a trusted servant close, lifted his tear-streaked face toward the sky, and said, “Find some mute medicine. Force it down her.”
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