Someone with a robust constitution can fall ill and stay sick for days on end. Tang Shen thought to herself that this saying was indeed true.
At first, it was just an itchy throat, which she brushed off as nothing. She woke up early as usual and ran with Cheng Kejia as usual. Kejia noticed that she was running slower than usual, turned around, and jogged in place waiting for her. Tang Shen stopped, gasping for breath. Cheng Kejia stepped forward and pressed the back of his hand against her forehead.
“Teacher Tang, you have a fever!”
“It doesn’t matter. You keep running. I’ll wait for you here.”
Cheng Kejia didn’t move, looking at her with the rare, serious expression of a young man: “Teacher Tang, go back and rest right now.”
Unable to win against him, she had no choice but to head back. Once back, she ended up bedridden for days. At the beginning, Cheng Baoyi and Cheng Kejia ran over several times a day to bring her white congee and dried fruit. By the second day, only Cheng Baoyi came. With a hint of apology on her face, she explained that Kejia was busy. Tang Shen guessed what it was right away: “Is Mrs. Cheng afraid I’ll infect him?”
“……Yes.”
“You should come less often too.”
“Why?” Cheng Baoyi rolled up her sleeves to show off her muscle definition, insisting that her health was fantastic. Tang Shen laughed and said that wasn’t the reason at all. “The people in this house are divided into all sorts of social strata. If you’re constantly seen coming and going with me, it won’t do you any good.”
What Cheng Baoyi detested most was this class-conscious mindset. To spite it, she made her coming and going from Tang Shen’s room even more high-profile, personally bringing her meals and collecting her empty bowls. Tang Shen often fell asleep in a haze, and by the time she woke up, Cheng Baoyi was already gone. Reaching for her phone, she sent her a message telling her to stop “waiting on her hand and foot.” After forcing down half a bowl of congee, she lay back down.
This sleep was deep and long. When she finally woke up, the sky outside the window was turning to dusk. Lying there listening to the birds chirping in the courtyard, her thoughts slowly drifted back. Sweating under the heavy quilt, she finally felt lighter and more energetic. Tossing a coat over her shoulders, she noticed several folded paper origami animals sitting on her desk. Thinking it over, she guessed it was Cheng Baoyi and couldn’t help smiling.
Putting down the origami puppy, she noticed a small paper bag right beside it. Reaching inside, Tang Shen pulled out a goose-yellow, ultra-soft plush blanket, from which a small card fluttered down. The card contained wishes for a speedy recovery and was signed with the name “Keqi.”
She was somewhat surprised, not expecting Cheng Keqi to have visited her as well without disturbing her, leaving behind only a gift.
Tang Shen left the door cracked open just a bit to air out the room. As she lowered her head to look at the card, footsteps halted outside her door. Wen Yizhuang’s voice drifted in: “Are you feeling better?”
“Hmm?” She set the card down, feeling that being caught by someone from the First Household in contact with another member of the First Household was a dangerous business—even though Wen Yizhuang couldn’t possibly barge in uninvited. She replied, “Much better.”
“Take care of your health.” His voice filtered in through the crack.
“Thank you.”
That evening, the family gathered for dinner on the grand terrace once again. A breeze suddenly whipped up, and Old Mrs. Cheng let out several loud sneezes. Cheng Baoyun and Tan Meiqi stood up immediately, one offering to fetch an extra layer of clothing for her, the other offering to help her back inside.
With a warm smile, the old lady waved a hand, saying she was already full. “Where on earth is the need for so many people to keep me company?” Glancing around and noticing Hao Jie was absent, she nodded toward Cheng Baoxin. “Ah-Xin can accompany me back.”
In an imperial court, every word spoken by the emperor carried an ulterior purpose. Whose name was called out and who received a smile were both worthy of the ministers’ deepest speculation. To the members of the First Household, the old lady’s meaning was crystal clear: her heart still lay with the First Household. But the First Household was also a little jianghu of its own; the hearts of the people within it did not grow in the same direction, and each had their own agenda.
The eldest sister thought: Don’t let grandma’s apparent fondness for Cheng Baoxin fool you; she’s nothing more than a pretty piece of waste, a living mascot. Her business ventures are the least important thing here—she doesn’t hold a candle to my husband, Huang Jiahao. By the way, where did Jiahao get off to?
Cheng Kewei thought: Baoxin is the cleverest of them all. If she weren’t just a playful younger sister, she might actually turn out to be my fiercest competitor.
Watching Cheng Baoxin help the old lady back inside, Cheng Keqi lowered his head to take a sip of tea.
After seeing the old lady back to her room, Baoxin walked back along the corridor. Feeling her overstuffed stomach, she decided against taking the elevator and instead headed down the stairs on foot. Looking down, she spotted her brother-in-law standing on the stairs making a phone call, with his back to her, speaking in a very low voice.
Baoxin stopped in her tracks for a few seconds. She heard her brother-in-law let out a laugh—very soft and clinging, as if coaxing someone. Then she heard him say, “It’s not convenient for me right now, be a good girl.”
She thought to herself: Oh.
Finding it amusing, she almost burst out laughing, but she pretended not to hear anything at all and slowly walked down the stairs with heavy footsteps. Hearing her, her brother-in-law turned around with a look of utter dismay, the phone still pressed to his ear.
Baoxin deliberately raised her voice: “Brother-in-law!”
With a face ashen as ash, her brother-in-law nodded at her and spoke rapidly into the phone, “Alright, that’s it,” before hanging up.
“Talking business?” Baoxin asked with an affected, teasing smile.
“Mm.”
This man was quite good-looking; otherwise, her eldest sister never would have fallen for him. Back then, he was a moderately well-known fitness coach in Hong Kong, drinking buddies with quite a few celebrities. Later on, he met the eldest sister, and they rushed into a lightning-fast marriage, leading the two of them to split their time living between Hong Kong and Macau ever since. The eldest sister had always wanted a child, and they hadn’t spared any of Cheng Yongtang’s fertility-boosting pills. While those pills worked wonders for everyone else, they produced no results at all in her case. Yet, outwardly, her brother-in-law played the part of a devoted husband, carrying on without a single word of complaint.
Was he really such a good husband? Watching the man before her put on a facade of calm composure, Baoxin sidled up to him with a cheeky grin, closing the distance. “Doing business on a Saturday night? So dedicated.”
Her brother-in-law smiled, giving a very, very slight shake of his head. “Baoxin, you really…”
Playing dumb and acting cute was her specialty. “Which client?”
“You don’t know them.” He didn’t avoid her gaze. In her eyes, that hypocritical, soft-spoken brother-in-law suddenly seemed to gain a bit of three-dimensional depth.
At that moment, the eldest sister’s voice drifted up from downstairs: “Jiahao—”
The man who had been called out quickly adjusted his expression into a smile. “Coming.” He walked right past Baoxin. As they brushed past each other, he paused for a fraction of a second, his voice dropping an octave lower: “Oh right, I discovered something just the other day…”
Baoxin said nothing, waiting for him to finish his sentence.
“Your hair,” he said, “is naturally curly, right?”
Baoxin still said nothing, nor did she move a muscle.
“Everyone in the Cheng family has straight hair. Grandma, Baoyun, Kewei, Keqi, Baoyi, Kejia… It seems only you, whenever you get busy, forget to go straighten your hair…” He reached out and very intimately stroked the curled ends of her hair. “Just like now.”
Downstairs, the eldest sister called his name once more.
“Coming,” her brother-in-law replied, withdrawing his hand and heading downstairs as if nothing had happened.
Cheng Baoxin stood in place, staying quietly by herself for a moment before returning to the terrace.
The old lady had retired to her room, so the rest of the family at the table grew much more relaxed. It seemed second aunt had just made some remark, and Kejia had snapped back a few sentences, causing her to flare up in displeasure. Baoxin happened to return just in time to run into her storming off in a huff. The eldest sister had never liked second aunt, and thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, she poured herself another glass of wine. Her husband had already returned and sat down beside her, reaching out with concern to take the glass from her hand. “Drink a little less, will you?”
Cheng Keqi asked, “Why did you take so long to come back? Was grandma in trouble?”
“No.”
Noticing her closely, he said, “Your complexion doesn’t look too good.”
“Probably drank too much last night.” For once, she didn’t reply to Cheng Keqi with a smile. He stared at her, completely unaware.
Raising her eyes, she saw her brother-in-law serving food to Baoyun, carefully picking out the fish bones for her with meticulous precision.
After finishing her glass of wine, the eldest sister leaned half-intoxicated against her husband, smiling faintly as she said, “Jiahao is the best to me.” Her brother-in-law smiled back, and as he raised his eyes, he locked gazes with Cheng Baoxin. The smile remained firmly on his face.
After keeping Kejia company by playing some video games at the Cheng residence, Cheng Keqi was called into the study by Cheng Kewei for a brief chat before driving back home. Pushing open his front door, the first thing that hit him was the smell of alcohol.
Fingers groping along the wall, he flicked on the light. A ghost materialized in the brightness—a beautiful ghost. His younger sister Baoxin was sitting on the sofa, her coat draped to the side, with half a bottle of red wine sitting near her feet.
“Why are you so slow?” Her cheeks flushed red, she giggled softly. “Still playing games with Kejia even after dinner?”
He unbuttoned his coat, took it off, and hung it up, keeping his back to her. “Don’t come over at night next time.”
“Big brother—”
“I’ve said it before. I hope there won’t be a next time.”
He walked over to the kitchen to pour a glass of water. She padded after him, wearing only a pair of white socks on her bare feet. There were certainly no guest slippers prepared for anyone else in his apartment. Stepping across the hardwood floor like a silent cat, she moved with the stealth of a feline, soundlessly extending white hands from behind him to wrap them around his waist. He was tall, and she barely reached the level of his shoulder blades.