Pei You had not expected that the first time her father visited her courtyard, it would be for the purpose of slapping her. Having been raised in the countryside and pampered since childhood, the girl had never suffered such an injustice.
She struggled to keep her eyes wide to prevent tears from falling, biting her lip in silence.
To Chen Boyuan, her demeanor was tantamount to an admission of guilt. His accusations grew even more self-righteous: "You were unwilling to enter the palace, so the kind-hearted Xiner offered to go in your stead to seek forgiveness from Minister Jiang, yet you slander her for seizing your chance to enter the palace! How could I have such a vicious daughter!"
Pei You recoiled two steps, startled by his roar—a gesture that, in Chen Boyuan’s eyes, was merely proof of her pettiness.
"Pei You is jealous of her elder sister and behaves disgracefully. She is to be grounded for one month." After issuing this cold order, Chen Boyuan flicked his sleeves and stormed out of Feihua Courtyard.
Nanny Xu rushed forward, her mouth agape, not knowing where to begin to offer comfort.
Pei You had already walked to the table and sat down. Her sharp hearing caught the distinct sound of the main gate to Feihua Courtyard being locked and bolted. She picked up a piece of pastry from the table, took a bite, and shoved it into her mouth.
"Miss..."
The tears she had held back earlier now rolled down in strings. The bitter taste of her sorrow made the sweet pastry impossible to swallow.
Nanny Xu looked at the girl before her—her cheeks flushed red, her eyes equally inflamed. She could not comprehend how that vicious slap had been delivered so indiscriminately against Pei You's cheek.
Pei You lifted her gaze and offered Nanny Xu a smile. "Nanny, why are you standing? Sit and have some. Whatever I eat now... it has no taste. Don't let this box of pastries go to waste."
The broken look in her eyes shattered Nanny Xu's heart. "This is not your fault, Miss," the nanny said, stroking Pei You’s back. In her heart, she had long treated Pei You as her own granddaughter, and she could not bear to see her bullied like this. "Nanny will help you, Miss."
Pei You did not grasp the deeper meaning behind her words, taking them as simple comfort. She curled up in the nanny’s warm embrace, closed her eyes, and eventually drifted into a hazy sleep.
***
In her dream, everything was a void of white mist. Pei You felt a cool sensation soothing her swollen cheek, and the scent of fine tea—a fragrance she knew well—lingered at the tip of her nose. In her delirium, she felt as if she had returned to her grandfather’s small courtyard, sleeping soundly on that lounge chair while Jiang Sinian fanned the cool air from the ice basin onto her.
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye, only to be wiped away gently.
The visitor sighed softly, tirelessly wiping away Pei You's tears time and again. Her clear eyes were tightly shut in distress, yet the tears seemed endless, tugging at the heartstrings.
"Little Youzi, you’ll be miserable if you keep crying." A slightly raspy voice sounded. A hand with distinct knuckles covered Pei You's eyes, using internal energy to slowly soothe the pain caused by her weeping.
Her long lashes fluttered against his palm. Pei You opened her eyes and saw a familiar face in the cold, thin moonlight. Beneath the striking brow bone, his eyes were focused and intense. This refined, noble man was incredibly gentle, terrified of startling her as she wept. The malice and injustice she had suffered during the day surged in her heart, and she suddenly broke down.
Pei You leaned against Jiang Sinian, her hands clutching the lapels of his chest tightly. Her cold tears soaked through the thin spring garment, yet Jiang Sinian seemed as if he had been seared by fire.
One hand stroked the girl’s long, silk-like hair, while the other held her waist firmly, offering whatever sense of safety he could.
His thin lips touched her slightly cool ear as he coaxed her softly, "Little Youzi has been wronged. Do you want to go home with Brother?"
The small head in his arms merely shook. Her voice, hoarse and soft, was still laden with the sweetness of her grievance: "Brother, I earned money. I earned money from the Ninth Prince, and I earned money from Minister Jiang. I can afford to take care of you now."
Jiang Sinian’s hand paused in her hair. His tone remained gentle, laced with persuasion. "But they are not good to you, Youzi..."
Pei You leaned against the crook of his neck, her voice nasal and heavy with fatigue. "Perhaps it is because I haven’t done enough, so they don’t like me... Brother, I just received a gift from my second brother. I don't want to leave yet..." Moreover, this was the family she had yearned to see for over a decade. Perhaps if she were more capable, she could win their approval.
Jiang Sinian sighed, gently lulling the girl in his arms to sleep. Pei You only heard the man’s concession as she drifted off: "Very well, Brother will help you..."
After laying the sleeping girl on the bed and wiping the last of the tear tracks from her face, Jiang Sinian stood up and went to the outer room.
It was deep in the night, the frost heavy. Nanny Xu, fully dressed, bowed when she saw Jiang Sinian emerge. "Young Master."
Jiang Sinian nodded slightly, half of his face hidden in the shadows. "Tomorrow, Cheng Yunyin will be at Feiyi Workshop. You go there and pawn some jewelry."
Nanny Xu pondered for a moment. "Young Master, the Ninth Prince is a gloomy and treacherous man with a very meticulous mind. I fear it will be easy for him to recognize—"
Jiang Sinian curled his lips into a smile, his phoenix eyes cold and devoid of warmth. "And what of it? If he wants to stand on his own two feet, he must do something." The hem of his cold, moon-white robe arched as he walked; the gentle, refined image he maintained for Pei You was shattered. "To be treated by the successor of a divine physician for a mere hundred taels of gold—it is far too cheap for him."
Nanny Xu lowered her head and bowed in acknowledgement. Only after the moon-white figure had left the courtyard did she slowly exhale and straighten her back.
The Young Master grew more like the Eldest Princess with every passing day; even when those deep phoenix eyes smiled, they were enough to make one tremble with fear. Remembering how the Marquis Manor wanted the young miss to be a substitute bride for the Ninth Prince, Nanny Xu offered a silent moment of mourning for the Wangyuan Marquis Manor. The Princess and the Young Master cherished and protected this girl like the apple of their eye; for the people of the manor to dare lay a hand on her—how many lives did they think they had?
Nanny Xu checked that the doors and windows were properly secured before returning to her own room to sleep.
***
The next morning, Pei You slowly rose from bed. She sat on the edge of the bed for a moment with a blank expression before remembering the events of the previous day. The heavy, stagnant feeling in her heart had inexplicably dissipated, and she realized with hindsight that she must have dreamt of Jiang Sinian last night. She pressed her soft, pale palms to her cheeks—they were no longer painful.
Turning to see the faint tear stains on her pillow, Pei You raised her hand to rub her eyes. A familiar, faint scent of medicinal herbs drifted to her nose—the smell of Hualing Paste.
After putting on her shoes and standing up, Pei You spotted the familiar blue porcelain bottle on the table. As she stood there in confusion, Nanny Xu pushed the door open and entered.
The midday sun was already brilliantly blinding. Pei You hadn't noticed it inside, but now she squinted instinctively at the light outside, realizing she had slept until this hour.
Seeing the girl shrink back like a kitten, Nanny Xu quickly turned to close the door and brought a thin cape to drape over Pei You's shoulders.
"Miss is awake. Why wear so little? Don’t be careless with the chill even at this hour."
Pei You smiled obediently and held up the porcelain bottle. "Nanny, where did this come from?"
Nanny Xu’s eyes lingered on the bottle for two seconds. "Isn't this yours, Miss? I saw that you had a full parcel in your room with the uses labeled on notes. There were no other medicines in the courtyard to use, so I took the liberty of using it for you."
Pei You blinked in bewilderment. Her parcel? She remembered that she hadn't brought the medicines her grandfather prepared because she found them too heavy. But when her gaze landed on the neatly arranged rows of bottles on the rosewood cabinet, she began to wonder if her memory had failed her.
She walked over and picked up the bottles—Hualing Paste, complexion-nourishing cream... even the strange, eccentric medicinal powders she had concocted for fun had appeared. Looking at the "itching powder" in her hand, Pei You gave an awkward laugh.
"Ah, I suppose I forgot. Thank you, Nanny."
Nanny Xu told the lie without changing her expression and proceeded to help Pei You wash and dress as usual. These bottles and jars had indeed been brought over by the Young Master the night before, but to protect the Young Master's image as a gentleman, Nanny Xu decided to keep her mouth shut.
"You are too kind, Miss." With a deft movement, she pinned up a hair bun, her smile gentle and kind.
However, when she saw the complexion-nourishing cream Pei You handed to her, Nanny Xu’s expression stiffened.
"This is a cream for the complexion that my grandfather formulated himself. It’s not worth much, Nanny, take it and use it."
Looking at Pei You’s small, sweet, smiling face, Nanny Xu didn’t know what to say. How could she explain the reality that the item in her hand was worth its weight in gold and impossible to buy? It was urgent!