Xiao Yanshi dressed hastily and was brought back to the Marquis’s estate by Xiao Yanzhi. Before leaving, he did not know what came over him, but he looked toward the person beside him. “Your name?”
“Xue You.”
The clothes the man wore did not fit him; his waist sash was left unfastened, and his disheveled hair, paired with that beautiful face, gave him a naturally untamed air.
“Ashi, it is time to go.” Xiao Yanzhi had been suppressing his anger the entire time. If possible, he wanted to carve the excess person here into pieces, slice by slice.
But he could not. Xue You was the Third Young Master of the Princess’s Estate. He was a thorn in the side that even the Second Prince, Xue Shao, could not easily uproot.
After walking for some distance, Xiao Yanshi suddenly paused. “Brother…”
“The Second Prince will, at most, teach him a lesson; he will not take his life. Regardless of everything, he is still the Third Young Master of the Princess’s Estate.” Xiao Yanzhi deliberately paused before the words “Princess’s Estate,” emphasizing the other’s identity.
Xiao Yanshi understood instantly and nodded lightly.
Snow slowly began to fall in Jiangling again, covering the entire street before long. That night, Xiao Yanshi developed a high fever. When he was found, he was already delirious, muttering phrases that were impossible to make out, save for the single word “Brother.”
The estate staff panicked and knocked on Xiao Yanzhi’s door. He sent someone to fetch a physician and rushed to Xiao Yanshi’s room, wearing only a fur cloak. The dilong (underfloor heating) in the room was burning hot. Xiao Yanshi was flushed red from the fever and subconsciously tried to loosen his collar.
Xiao Yanzhi felt his heart ache for him. He pressed one hand down on Xiao Yanshi’s chest and reached out with the other to undo his collar, but his fingertips trembled the next moment. His neck was densely covered in bruised, purplish marks. Xiao Yanzhi had a son of his own; how could he not understand what these were? He gripped his fists in a rage. “The Xue family truly knows how to ruin people!”
“Master, please watch your tongue!” The housekeeper, Uncle Xiao, who was guarding the other side, hurried to interrupt, fearing he would say something treasonous.
Xiao Yanzhi took a deep breath. “Tell everyone to keep their mouths shut. If anyone asks outside, just say I am unwell and that Ashi is staying at the estate to look after me, and is in no state to see visitors.”
“What about the woman who brought the message?” Uncle Xiao asked. The Young Master was always benevolent and kind; he likely intended to give her some silver and send her far away.
Xiao Yanzhi looked at the person on the couch and said, “Kill her.”
“Master?” Uncle Xiao was startled, thinking he had misheard.
“Kill her. We don’t need to do it ourselves; Xue Shao would never let her live anyway.”
“Yes, Master.” Uncle Xiao went to make arrangements. Shortly after, the physician arrived and ordered hot water and various supplies to be prepared. The sound of hurried footsteps echoed in Xiao Yanshi’s courtyard all night long.
Just when everyone thought last night was nothing more than a fever dream, rumors began to fly across Jiangling before noon the next day.
“Hey, have you heard? The Heir of the Pingbei Marquis Estate and the Third Young Master of the Princess’s Estate were caught in the act at a flower house by the Second Prince. The Marquis’s eldest son, Xiao Yanzhi, was also there, and they say he fell ill from rage the moment he returned to the estate!”
“And that’s not all! The moment the Second Prince and the Heir sat down, that man sniffed them out. Everyone thought he was just trying to curry favor with the Second Prince, but who would have guessed he had such filthy ideas about the Heir!”
“Exactly! The Heir is on good terms with the Second Prince, and the Second Prince is close to the Princess’s Estate; he probably thought he could use that connection to make his future easier…”
“Tsk tsk, a man like that, resorting to such schemes, truly…”
Gossips love to see chaos. Within a few hours, even Xue Shao, who had entered the inner palace last night, heard the rumors. He had just finished dressing and had breakfast laid out, but upon hearing that the matter was known to everyone, he threw his table in a rage.
Connoisseur Consort Xian happened to walk in at that moment, an jade bowl rolling across the floor by her feet. “Xue Shao, you are so angry—who has provoked you?” She was elegant and poised, and she took her seat with the help of her palace attendants.
“Who else could it be, but that bastard who popped out of nowhere in my aunt’s family!” Xue Shao was furious. He took his anger out on an attendant cleaning the debris, kicking the young boy until he spat blood.
“Your Highness…” A large group of people knelt down in a panic.
Consort Xian frowned. “Spilling blood early in the morning—hurry up and clean all this…”
The attendants hurriedly cleared the shards and retreated, carefully closing the door.
Once only Consort Xian and Xue Shao remained, she said, “Xue Shao, interfere less in the affairs of the Princess’s Estate. Even your Imperial Father allows the驸马 (husband of the Princess) to welcome that bastard back into the estate; what can you, a child, do?”
“But my aunt…” Xue Shao had been spoiled by the Princess since he was young. Establishing his own household and dealing with all the complex preparations had been largely overseen by her; he had not forgotten that kindness. Later, when his household exceeded the permissible standards and nearly drew a severe penalty from the Emperor, it was the Princess who stepped in and cleared his name. Xue Shao was not heartless; he remembered her care, and naturally, he could not stand by while she was being slighted.
Consort Xian looked at her son helplessly. “If you want to vent your aunt’s frustrations, you must use proper methods. In a city as vast as Jiangling, there are plenty of knives to borrow… My child, why must you do it yourself and end up dirtying your own hands?”
“Nothing escapes your father’s ears. News of the incident last night reached him not long after it happened. You are a dignified Imperial Prince, yet you are bickering with a bastard of unknown status—in the end, it’s just hurting the enemy by a thousand while losing eight hundred of your own.”
“If it were just that, it would be fine, but you dragged the Heir of the Pingbei Marquis Estate into it. If this reached the Northern Frontier, and the Marquis heard the distorted truths and held a grudge against you…”
Consort Xian’s words made Xue Shao feel a flicker of anxiety. “Mother, what about Father…”
“Don’t worry, your father is naturally on your side… It’s just that the Heir of the Pingbei Marquis is no longer the little page-boy he once was. For him to be innocently implicated, the Marquis Estate certainly will not let this go easily.”
Xue Shao did not think of that. He only remembered the shamed and desperate expression on Xiao Yanshi’s face last night, and his guilt deepened. But he had no need to tell Consort Xian this. She came from an aristocratic family and had always looked down on military generals; furthermore, the Emperor had held a grudge against her since her youth due to the “page-boy” incident. Since then, she had never been fond of those from the Pingbei Marquis Estate.
She just never expected Xue Shao and Xiao Yanshi to be so close.
“Since Father knows and hasn’t punished me yet, then the matter can be lightly brushed aside. At most, he will call me over later for a lecture.” Thinking of this, Xue Shao felt slightly relieved.
Xiao Yanshi generally had a strong constitution; he rarely fell ill even on the Northern Frontier. Yet, this night of fever seemed to have awakened every sickness dormant within his body. Xiao Yanzhi stayed with him all night, his face weary. “When will Ashi wake up?”
The physician checked his pulse again. “The Heir has already improved. He should wake by the afternoon…”
“That is good, that is good…” Xiao Yanzhi set his heart at ease and personally wrung a cloth to help cool Xiao Yanshi’s fever. Before leaving, the physician left behind many medicines, and at Xiao Yanzhi’s request, a tube of ointment for inflammation and swelling. As the physician reached the estate gate, he was still puzzled: Why would someone with a fever need ointment for swelling?
When Xiao Yanshi woke, Xiao Yanzhi had just stepped out. Two attendants had been left to wait on him, but the medicinal soup simmering on the small stove was ready, and while the two were away getting the medicine, the person in the room had already draped clothes over himself and climbed off the couch.
The stove was not far away. As they walked along the corridor carrying the soup, smelling the bitter aroma, one couldn’t help but say, “The Heir really scared everyone last night. He looked so healthy usually, but then he suddenly collapsed and was so weak—the Young Master’s face went white with fright…”
“Who said otherwise? The Young Master stayed all night; he is truly good to the Heir.”
“That’s right. The two brothers don’t have a single quarrel; they are as close as one person.”
“However… I heard rumors outside.”
“What rumors?”
“When I went to purchase supplies with Uncle Zhang from the kitchen today, I heard many people discussing the Heir along the way.”
“Discussing the Heir?” The listener was puzzled. “The Heir only just returned from the Northern Frontier and hasn’t made any enemies why would people be gossiping about him in broad daylight?”
“Sigh, he’s just unlucky…”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t the Heir go to the flower house yesterday? The one three alleys over. People are talking all sorts of nonsense, saying that the Heir and the Third Young Master of the Princess’s Estate were intimate last night, and were caught by the Second Prince and the Young Master right in the act!”
“Really?!” The listener’s face was filled with shock.
“Naturally it is true. You don’t know, but the Second Prince had dozens of men guarding the flower house yesterday it seemed the Third Young Master had offended him, though I don’t know how our Heir got pulled into it.”
“And I don’t know which loose-lipped idiots dragged the Young Lady into it, too, saying that the Pingbei Marquis Estate, big and small, are all rushing to be wives or concubines for the nobility… The Young Lady heard so much filth that the spirit she had just recovered is gone again.”
“Sigh, the Young Lady is a woman after all; how can she withstand such rumors? Plus, the Young Master is afraid she’ll worry, so he hasn’t let her come to see the Heir. Now her thoughts are troubled, and she’s withered away quite a bit.”
“Rumors kill people indeed…”
“Shut your mouth! What ‘kill’ or ‘live’ don’t talk nonsense…” The speaker looked around. “The Young Master specifically ordered that no one in the estate is allowed to talk about this. I’m telling you this, but don’t you dare pass it on. If the Young Master or the Heir hears, neither of us will escape a beating.”
The other nodded repeatedly.
They walked toward Xiao Yanshi’s room carrying the soup. They hadn’t reached the door to push it open, but the door opened from within.
Xiao Yanshi was wearing only a thin inner garment. He was still feverish and lethargic, but as he stood before them, he still radiated an indescribable pressure. “What were you two saying outside just now?”
“H-Heir…” They never imagined they would be caught red-handed by the person they were gossiping about.
“Do many people outside know that I was intimate with the Third Young Master of the Princess’s Estate?”
There are no airtight walls in this world. Although Xiao Yanshi had never hoped that Xue Shao would completely suppress the matter, he hadn’t expected it to cause a storm across all of Jiangling in just a day. The incident happened near the flower house; with so many eyes, a little digging by someone interested would likely lead to the truth.
Xiao Yanshi suddenly grew quiet. He never expected Xiao Yanxun to be dragged into this.
His sister was about to be betrothed.
When this thought popped into his head, Xiao Yanshi felt a moment of blankness. The Pingbei Marquis Estate had resisted barbarians for generations. Though Xiao Yanxun was born into the estate, she was raised in the Northern Frontier. A daughter should have been pampered in Jiangling, taught the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting by governesses, and occasionally whisper girl-secrets to close friends in her room.
But none of this… Xiao Yanxun had none of it.
In the Northern Frontier, everything was scarce. Things like zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting things pampered young ladies were supposed to dabble in were considered useless by the people of the Frontier. Nobody cared about etiquette. Xiao Yanxun had one or two friends, but they weren’t truly close.
Since she was born, she had received as little extra care as Xiao Yanshi. A perfectly good eldest daughter of a Marquis estate, she sometimes even had to do her own laundry. Until the Meng family proposed, Xiao Yanxun was forced to part with her beloved, “willingly” stuffed into a carriage, and followed Xiao Yanshi to Jiangling.
The winds of Jiangling were not as noisy as the Frontier’s, and the silver landscape after the snow was a far cry from the mud one stepped into in the Frontier. Xiao Yanzhi’s wife, Lady Xiao, and their aunt, He Xiao-shi, hired famous governesses from Jiangling to teach her etiquette.
Xiao Yanshi had been blocked outside the door several times when he went to see his sister.
It was always for that one reason.
With the betrothal imminent, if Xiao Yanxun could not learn the demeanor of a high-born lady, she would bring shame to the name of the Pingbei Marquis Estate.
Xiao Yanshi suddenly smiled.
The four words “shaming the name” were like a shackle, locking up his gentle, fragile sister, and they made him clear-headed in an instant.
“Where is my brother?” Xiao Yanshi asked.
“The Young Master is in the front courtyard.”
Xiao Yanshi threw on whatever clothes were at hand, downed the medicinal soup the servants brought, and hurried to the front courtyard.
A stick of incense later.
“No!” Xiao Yanzhi’s voice was cold.
Servants passing through the front courtyard felt their hearts skip a beat; it seemed the Young Master was furious.
Xiao Yanshi’s complexion was somewhat pale. After a night and a morning of fever, not even a body made of iron could handle it. He looked so miserable that Xiao Yanzhi couldn’t bear it, and his tone softened slightly.
“The Marquis Estate has old grudges with the Princess’s Estate; you still want to marry into them? Are you not afraid Father will come back and break your legs?!” Xiao Yanzhi was so angry his face turned red. “And that Third Young Master we don’t even know his background, whether he is the true son or not. You want to marry him so rashly; don’t you find it absurd?!”
Seeing Xiao Yanzhi’s tension, Xiao Yanshi hurriedly poured him water and obediently ran to his side to pat his back. “Brother, don’t be angry. Listen to me.”
“Listen to what? Your mouth is full of nonsense. Others avoid that Xue fellow like the plague, and here you are, eager to rush into his arms… Who’s to say he didn’t use some scheme behind your back for what happened yesterday? That person…”
“Brother, it shouldn’t have been him.” Xiao Yanshi did not want to defy Xiao Yanzhi, but if something wasn’t done by someone, there was no reason to falsely blame them.
His display, in Xiao Yanzhi’s eyes, took on another meaning.
“You and that Xue You… are you acquainted?”