The young servant hurriedly acknowledged the order.
Then he strode outside.
Jiang Yingwan glanced at the young servant’s hurriedly departing back. She was just about to say that she would return first when Old Madam Pei spoke before she could.
“Yanchen has been busy with official business since early this morning, so you didn’t get to see him. As it happens, he has returned now. The two of you should meet.”
“Your grandmother is growing old, and there are many things beyond her strength.”
“Yanchen is the Pei family’s eldest legitimate son. He is exceptionally capable and steady in all that he does.”
“He handles many matters in the residence. If you encounter any difficulties in the future, Wanwan, you can go directly to him…”
While Old Madam Pei was doing her utmost to pave the way for her eldest grandson and future granddaughter-in-law, the young servant arrived at the front courtyard. Halfway there, he happened to run into Pei Yanchen, who was entering from outside.
“Young Master, Old Madam asks you to go to the main hall.”
Pei Yanchen’s brows drew together almost imperceptibly.
He stopped and handed the documents in his hand to his trusted subordinate, Ji Hong. “Take these to the study first.”
Ji Hong accepted them and respectfully acknowledged, “Yes, my lord.”
Pei Yanchen turned and walked in another direction.
After circling around the large Lotus Pond, where the lotuses were in full bloom, and passing a small pavilion with carved railings, he arrived at the main hall.
The servants and young attendants outside all bowed in greeting.
Pei Yanchen climbed the long steps and entered. The first person his gaze fell upon was Jiang Yingwan, seated to one side and speaking softly with his grandmother.
His gaze paused on her for a brief moment before shifting away without a trace. He looked toward Old Madam Pei and said in an even tone, “Your grandson pays his respects to Grandmother.”
Jiang Yingwan rose as well. Her dark lashes lowered slightly as she greeted Pei Yanchen. “Young Master Pei.”
Pei Yanchen gave a faint “Mm.”
He nodded distantly yet politely. “Miss Jiang.”
Old Madam Pei nodded and pointed to the seats on either side, signaling for them both to sit.
After briefly introducing Jiang Yingwan’s identity, Old Madam Pei did not beat around the bush. She said directly to Pei Yanchen, “Wanwan has come from Yecheng to the capital. She is unfamiliar with the place and will inevitably encounter many inconveniences. Yanchen, pay more attention to her and help her where you can.”
Hearing that form of address, Pei Yanchen inexplicably thought of the dream he had been having every day for the past half month.
His gaze unconsciously turned toward the opposite side.
It landed on Jiang Yingwan.
The woman’s beauty was peerless, her features rich and radiant.
At that moment, her lashes were lowered slightly, and obedience and dignity filled every angle of her brows and eyes.
Pei Yanchen’s brows furrowed subtly.
He could not remember the face of the woman in his dream. But it seemed that the woman’s name also contained the character “Wan.”
Old Madam Pei gave him many instructions, but they amounted to little more than those few points. Pei Yanchen responded to each one.
No emotion could be seen on the man’s calm, indifferent face.
After leaving the main hall, Jiang Yingwan quickly returned to Jadewater Pavilion, where she lived.
Seeing her sitting absentmindedly before the window, Ziyan carried over a plate of freshly made pastries and was just about to approach when her mistress rose and came toward her.
“Go fetch paper and a brush.”
Ziyan froze for a moment.
When she came back to herself, she quickly set the pastries aside.
Then she brought over stationery, a brush, ink, and an inkstone.
Jiang Yingwan sat before the writing desk, dipped her brush in ink, lowered her head, and began writing a letter.
Ziyan ground the ink beside her. When she caught sight of the words “Imperial Merchant,” “three years ago,” and “parents” on her mistress’s letter, her brows unconsciously tightened.
“Miss, do you truly intend to investigate the cause of Lord Jiang’s accident?”
Jiang Yingwan gave a soft “Mm.”
The downward curve of her brows and eyes, illuminated by the light outside the window, reflected a trace of coldness.
Three years ago, when her parents met with disaster, everyone had said it was an accident. As time passed, she had forced herself to accept that it had been an unexpected accident.
It was not until a few days ago, when the Jiang family’s second branch had forced her to marry someone as a concubine, that they had inadvertently let slip a single remark about what had happened three years earlier. Only then did Jiang Yingwan sense that something was amiss.
She wanted to uncover the truth behind what had happened to her parents.
But the Jiang family had since fallen into decline. Not to mention that three years had already passed, everyone had accepted the result at the time. Even if she searched blindly, she would not be able to find anything.
But she remembered that the last time her parents had gone to Nanjiang, a tea merchant who was their friend had accompanied them.
Her parents had lost their lives in Nanjiang and never returned. That friend, however, had been gravely injured and barely survived.
He now held a powerless, nominal post in a small place in Yingdu.
Jiang Yingwan had met that friend several times when she was very young.
His relationship with her father had been fairly good.
It was only after her parents died that the Jiang family severed contact with those people. Now, if she wanted to learn the details of what had happened back then, he was the only person she could ask.
After finishing the letter, Jiang Yingwan waited for the ink to dry. She folded it, placed it inside an envelope, and handed it to Ziyan.
“Have someone deliver this to Lord Lin.”
Ziyan accepted it and personally found someone to send the letter to Yingdu.
During the several days Jiang Yingwan waited for a reply, she went nowhere and remained in Jadewater Pavilion the entire time.
It was not until the fifth day that a letter from Yingdu finally reached the capital.
Jiang Yingwan opened it impatiently.
There was only one brief sentence inside—
【Brother Jiang’s status was special. The case from three years ago fell under the jurisdiction of Dali Temple. If Miss Jiang wishes to investigate it thoroughly, she will need to access Dali Temple’s case files.】
After writing that sentence, the other party seemed to hesitate.
Several lines were left blank before, at the bottom of the letter, he added a sentence in small characters:
【I apologize, but Lin is of little influence and has no means of meeting the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple. However, I have heard that the Pei family’s eldest legitimate son holds the lofty position of Grand Chancellor. Perhaps he can help you in some small way.】
After reading it, Jiang Yingwan knitted her brows.
Ziyan leaned over and glanced at it. Her expression grew equally solemn.
After a long while, she asked Jiang Yingwan, “Miss, should we go pay Young Master Pei a visit?”
The case files of Dali Temple were not something an ordinary person could view.
With the Jiang family in decline, meeting with Dali Temple alone was impossible, let alone gaining access to its case files.
Jiang Yingwan clutched the letter and hesitated for a long time.
The thin paper had been crumpled into creases beneath her fingers.
Although she was temporarily staying at Pei Residence, she had no relationship whatsoever with its eldest legitimate son.
Asking him for help out of the blue would truly be inappropriate.
But…
She genuinely had no one else to turn to.
Pei Yanchen was her only choice.
Ever since she had fallen out with the Jiang family’s collateral relatives, she had truly become all alone, with no kin and no one to rely on.
The small debt of gratitude her grandfather had once owed the Pei family was the only support she had left.
Jiang Yingwan hesitated for a long time.
In the end, she decided to ask Pei Yanchen and try her luck.
She would treat it as using this matter to repay the debt of gratitude between their two families.
A few days earlier, when Nanny Fang had gone to Yecheng to fetch her, she had repeatedly told Jiang Yingwan that she could simply remain at Pei Residence from then on, and that Pei Residence would become her second home.
But Jiang Yingwan had never considered actually staying at Pei Residence long-term.
At that time, she had been forced by the Jiang family’s collateral relatives to become someone’s concubine. Nanny Fang’s arrival at the Jiang family residence on orders had been a lifesaving straw that pulled her out of an urgent crisis.
To avoid being sold by those so-called relatives as a concubine to a man in his forties or fifties, she had followed Nanny Fang to the capital.
When she came, she had already planned that once her present predicament had passed, she would take Ziyan and find a quiet town where they could spend the rest of their lives in peace.
As for the Pei family’s earlier promise that she could remain at Pei Residence and that the Pei family would protect her for the rest of her life, she had never truly taken it seriously.
Not to mention that she did not know much about the debt of gratitude between the two families in the past—the debt itself had spanned two generations, and the passage of time had worn it down until little remained.
She could not treat someone else’s polite words as a protective talisman and truly cling to this place for the rest of her life.
But Dali Temple’s case files were something she had no possibility of accessing on her own.
She could not allow her parents to die unjustly.
She wanted to uncover the truth of what had happened back then.
For now, the only thing she could do was use this nearly exhausted debt of gratitude to ask Pei Yanchen for his help.
After a long while, Jiang Yingwan placed the letter on the desk.
She slowly raised her lashes and said softly, “Let’s go and try.”
Ziyan looked up at her.
Then she heard her mistress continue, “We’ll consider the case files payment for the debt of gratitude from back then. Once this matter is over, we’ll leave the Pei family.”
Ziyan nodded.
Within Green Bamboo Court.
After finishing his documents, Pei Yanchen rested his forehead against his hand beside the desk and dozed off. Once again, he dreamed that absurd dream.
This time, however, things were different.
The obedient, gentle girl who had repeatedly sworn that she would never leave his side escaped from the detached residence without hesitation while he was ordered to leave on official business.
He hurriedly advanced the investigation day and night while he was away, solely so that he could return to see her sooner.
But when he rushed back to the detached residence day and night, pushing open the door, all he saw was an empty room.
Not even a trace of her remained.
The hollow agony of having the most important thing in one’s life forcibly carved out of one’s heart caused a viciousness to stain his eyes in an instant.
Rage churned madly within him. Clinging to the last shred of his composure, he ordered his people to pursue her at once.
But when he finally found her, what he saw was her staring at him with wariness and terror, firmly shielding another person behind her.
Pei Yanchen could not describe what he had felt at that moment.
It was clearly only a dream, yet the surging, clamoring fury and viciousness were so intense that he felt an impulse to flay the man behind her alive.
That unfamiliar emotion had come with terrifying force.
It had been so intense that even after he awoke from the dream, that unprecedented sense of losing control deep within him still refused to disappear.
For the first time, he conceived the absurd thought of finding that woman in reality and imprisoning her completely at his side.
The documents still lay spread across the desk.
But Pei Yanchen no longer had the heart to read them.
The restlessness in his dark, indifferent eyes had grown even heavier.
His lips tightly pursed, he rose and walked to the window.
His gaze was dark and unreadable, while the hand hanging at his side slowly tightened inch by inch.
The veins on the back of his hand bulged.
Strangely enough, over the past several days, he had been dreaming this dream with increasing frequency.
The scenes within the dream had also become more numerous.
The only thing that remained the same was that he still could not remember the woman’s face.
Two extremely light knocks on the door—“Knock, knock”—broke through the oppressive stillness and deathly silence filling the room.
Pei Yanchen turned sideways and half raised his cold eyes.
Ji Hong stood outside the door and respectfully said, “My lord, Miss Jiang requests an audience.”