“Do you know how his leg was broken…”
Perhaps the “Artemisia Tiger Calamus Sword” hung above the doorframe had taken effect, warding off evil and dispelling misfortune—or perhaps the fragrance of the Orchid Bath had truly dissolved the stagnant malevolence around him. Lately, Pei Zhaoxue felt the oppressive weight in his chest lift, and even his breathing had become much lighter.
Under the bright, clear sun, Pei Zhaoxue took the initiative to summon the servants of the courtyard and walked to the wall adjoining the Chu residence. The pear blossoms atop the wall had long since withered into the dust, leaving only verdant branches and leaves swaying in the sunlight.
“Open a small door right here.” Pei Zhaoxue pointed at the wall and gave the soft instruction.
He had already discussed it with Uncle Chu and Aunt He—opening a small door in the adjoining wall would make visits between the two families more convenient, with the key kept in the hands of him and Sese. That way, whenever Sese came to the residence, she wouldn’t have to trouble others to open the door for her; she could simply carry little Li Zi over to play in the Pei family’s courtyard anytime she wished.
The servants responded promptly, beginning to measure and mark lines in preparation for the opening.
Pei Zhaoxue looked up at the sky. Sese would be arriving shortly, and he would tell her about this then.
She had prepared so many surprises for him, yet he had never once given anything in return. He wondered—would she be pleased?
Suddenly, a clatter of chaotic footsteps came from beyond the wall, shattering the tranquility of the afternoon.
“Sese, wait a moment!”
Outside the wall, Chu Mingse, carrying little Li Zi, had barely reached the Pei residence’s main gate when Lin Ergou, Ah Hua, and Xiao Shitou blocked her path.
The three of them were panting heavily, looking tense and anxious.
“Why are you here?” Chu Mingse blinked, both surprised and a little troubled. “Are you coming with me to find Brother Xuetuan? But if I bring you along without telling him in advance, it might disturb him. How about you go back first, and after I ask Brother Xuetuan, we can play together next time?”
The crisp, childish voice filtered through the mottled brick wall, landing clearly in Pei Zhaoxue’s ears. A gentle smile unconsciously rippled in his eyes—Sese was always so considerate of his feelings.
The next moment, Lin Ergou’s urgent voice rang out: “Sese! You can’t go see him anymore!”
Pei Zhaoxue’s hand, just about to push the Plain Sedan Chair, paused. He raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Why not?” Chu Mingse’s voice was full of confusion. “Didn’t we have a great time playing together last time? Brother Xuetuan even taught us the tricks for the grass-fighting game…”
“He’s a bad person!” Lin Ergou nearly shouted, cutting her off urgently.
“Lin Ergou!” Chu Mingse was angry now, her voice tinged with indignation. “Why are you spouting nonsense about Brother Xuetuan again!”
Ah Hua timidly tugged at Chu Mingse’s sleeve and whispered, “Sese, don’t be mad at Brother Ergou. What he said is true…”
Xiao Shitou also chimed in with a muffled voice: “My second uncle and my dad both said I’m not allowed to play with Pei…” He paused, awkwardly correcting himself, “Not allowed to play with him. Sese, if you still play with him… then… then I can’t play with you anymore either.”
A light breeze swept through the alley, rustling the leaves. Chu Mingse stood still, and little Li Zi in her arms shifted restlessly. She furrowed her soft, downy brows, looking from one to the other, her small face full of confusion.
“What’s wrong with all of you?” Chu Mingse grew even more bewildered. “Did someone say something bad about Brother Xuetuan?”
She hugged Xiao Li Zi even tighter, straightened her small back, and said clearly, word by word: “If you don’t explain clearly what’s going on, I absolutely won’t listen.”
Lin Ergou let out a sigh and clenched his fists as he asked her, “Sese, do you know how his leg was broken?”
Inside the wall, Pei Zhaoxue’s knotted fingers on the armrest of the Plain Sedan Chair suddenly tightened. His gaze grew colder by the inch, and the sunlight filtering through the pear tree’s leaves fell on his pale knuckles, casting a cold, jade-like hardness.
The servants by the wall all stopped their movements, even their breathing became slow and soft, afraid that a single sound might disturb him.
“Xiao Shitou’s second uncle came back from the capital, and he said it’s spread everywhere—Pei family’s eldest son, Pei Zhaoxue, nearly chopped his own younger brother to death with his own hands!” Lin Ergou’s voice carried a hint of fear.
Chu Mingse was stunned for a moment, then immediately retorted, “That’s just a rumor. Did he see it with his own eyes?”
“Someone did see it with their own eyes!” Lin Ergou gestured excitedly with his hands, as if the horrifying scene were right before him. “He was holding a sword that long! Standing there covered in blood, and if Old Master Pei hadn’t arrived with his men in time, that second young master would have been dead by now!”
“Everyone who saw it said that at that moment, the eldest young master of the Pei family looked like a ferocious demon!”
Ah Hua heard the description again and still let out a startled gasp, tightly covering her mouth.
Lin Ergou continued, “Later, the Pei family invited every famous doctor in the capital and spent three days and three nights barely saving his life. I heard that second young master still can’t get out of bed even now.”
“Old Master Pei, in a fit of rage, broke his leg!” Lin Ergou picked up a branch from the wall and, as he spoke, snapped it in two with a crack.
The sharp sound made Chu Mingse flinch, blinking rapidly as her gaze fell on the broken branch. To have both legs broken like that… how painful must it be…
“His leg was broken by his own father!” Lin Ergou tossed the broken branch aside and continued to persuade her, “If he hadn’t truly tried to kill his own younger brother, how could his father bear to break his leg? Do you still think he’s been wronged?”
Xiao Shitou shuddered and said timidly, “That’s right. If he dares to kill his own brother, then if we say something that displeases him, wouldn’t we die too?”
Lin Ergou added, “I heard some doctor said he has… Chest Full of Hostile Qi, and he might lose his mind at any moment and go into a frenzy!”
Ah Hua tugged at Chu Mingse’s sleeve, tears of fear already welling in her eyes. “Sese, just listen to us, don’t have anything more to do with him. You’re so close to him—what if, what if one day he has another episode and hurts you? What would you do?”
Seeing that Chu Mingse was still frozen in place, Lin Ergou reached out to grab her wrist. “Let’s go.”
A patch of dark clouds covered the sun, and the clear sky turned overcast in an instant.
Steward Wang stood with a worried expression before Pei Zhaoxue’s tightly shut door, leaning in to listen for any sound inside, but all he heard was dead silence. He kept wringing his hands and sighing, pacing back and forth.
Just then, light footsteps sounded from behind him.
“Uncle Wang!”
Steward Wang turned around in surprise. “Oh! Young Miss Chu!”
“I’ve come to see Brother Xuetuan!” She broke into a run toward the door.
“Wait!” Steward Wang hastily stopped her, his face falling as he said against his own wishes, “The young master is feeling unwell today and has already retired. Young miss, you should come back… tomorrow…”
He glanced at the tightly shut door, his voice growing weak, “Perhaps come again in a few days…”
“What’s wrong with Xuetuan gege? Has a doctor been called to see him?” Chu Mingse immediately grew worried, standing on her tiptoes to call out “Xuetuan gege” twice toward the door, but there was no response from within.
Steward Wang said awkwardly, “The young master has taken his medicine and gone to rest…”
Chu Mingse pressed her lips together, then suddenly grabbed Steward Wang’s sleeve and pulled him away, only stopping once they were out of sight of Pei Zhaoxue’s room.
“Uncle Wang, please tell me the truth.” Chu Mingse looked up with a smile, but her eyes were full of worry. “What’s really wrong with Xuetuan gege? Why has he suddenly stopped paying attention to me again?”
Steward Wang craned his neck to confirm that the young master couldn’t see them from his room, then hurriedly recounted in detail how the young master had eagerly planned to open the small door, how he had overheard those heart-piercing words from behind the wall, and how his expression had instantly turned cold as he dismissed his servants.
“Before returning to his room, the young master specifically instructed…” Steward Wang sighed softly, “That if the young miss came, she must be stopped.”
“Xuetuan gege must think I left with Er’gou and the others, which is why he doesn’t want to see me.” Chu Mingse furrowed her brow. “In that case, I definitely can’t be persuaded to leave!”
“But Uncle Wang, you still need to tell me more.” Chu Mingse’s gaze was intense. “What exactly happened to Xuetuan gege in the capital?”
Steward Wang’s face showed signs of inner struggle. He looked around, then finally bent down slightly and said in a very low voice, “…This concerns the master’s family’s private matters, and I shouldn’t normally speak of it. But I’ve watched the young master grow up, and after what happened, he’s become like a different person… I’ve seen how well you’ve treated the young master these past days. For his sake, I won’t hide anything from you, young miss.”
“That so-called ‘younger brother’ is actually the master’s son by a mistress!” He let out a heavy sigh, his voice full of bitterness. “The master and my lady were childhood sweethearts who married young, and for years they were deeply devoted to each other, with my lady as the only mistress of the household. Who could have imagined… the master had long kept a mistress outside, and even had a child who was only two years younger than the young master!”
“At that time, the young master had just placed first in the imperial examinations, and that mistress came to the door with her child, kneeling before my lady and weeping, begging to be taken in. My lady couldn’t bear the shock and fell ill on the spot. The young master was furious and naturally refused to let them in, driving them out—only to be harshly scolded by the master for it.
“Later…” Steward Wang continued with difficulty, “Later, the young master went to find them privately, wanting to make them leave the capital. But that’s when something went wrong. The neighbors all said they saw the young master storming up to their door, and heard arguing, fighting, and screams. By the time the master led people in, they happened to see the young master standing in a pool of blood, holding a bloodstained long blade… With all the witnesses and evidence against him at once, he couldn’t defend himself no matter what he said!”
“The matter caused an uproar in the capital, even reaching the emperor’s ears. My lady had no other choice but to send him here to this estate to lie low for a while…”
“But… but no one actually saw him do it, right?” Chu Mingse thought hard, her small hands clenched tightly into fists. “Could someone be framing him? Didn’t the authorities investigate?”
She refused to believe this was the truth. The time she had spent with Brother Xuetuan these past days was what felt real—he was always expressionless, with barely any emotional fluctuation, but he would gently teach her to write, carefully remember her preferences, and even when angry, he would never lose control and hurt anyone!
“There are witnesses, there is physical evidence—the wounds matched the knife marks on the young master’s blade. What else could the authorities say? Considering the young master’s youth, and that the master had already severely punished him with family discipline, and with the mistress coming forward to say she would not press charges against him, the authorities did not intervene further.”
“She—why wouldn’t she press charges? Isn’t she worried about her son? Isn’t she angry?” Chu Mingse couldn’t understand.
“…The madam agreed to let her enter the household, and her son could also be added to the Pei family genealogy.” Steward Wang’s voice was strained.
Chu Mingse suddenly remembered that whenever her mother was mentioned, Brother Xuetuan’s demeanor always seemed somewhat strange, so she pressed on: “Does Brother Xuetuan’s mother believe him?”
Steward Wang hesitated, opening his mouth before speaking. “Whether the madam believes him or not, what does it matter? No one in the world believes him. All she could do was try her best to protect the young master…”
So Brother Xuetuan must think even his own mother didn’t believe him, and only wanted to send him far away—that was why he was so upset!
Chu Mingse turned and ran toward that tightly shut door, patting the door panel. “Brother Xuetuan! Open the door! Your mother, and me, and my father and mother—we all believe you!”
“Ergou and the others just don’t know you well enough yet. If they did, they’d definitely believe you too!”
“Given time, they’ll surely come to know what kind of person you are. If they won’t play with us for now, that’s fine—we can play together. Don’t shut yourself away. Let’s go back to how things were before, okay?”
No lamp was lit inside the room, and the dim light cast everything in shadow. Pei Zhaoxue sat with his back to the door, his expression shrouded in darkness, unreadable.
Rumors could kill. He couldn’t let Sese and the Chu family be condemned by a thousand pointing fingers along with him.
His own father thought he was a demon and personally broke his leg. His own mother said she wanted to protect him, yet she abandoned him first, sending him here to fend for himself.
Sese should stay far away from him too.
He could barely protect himself, let alone her.
Author’s Note:
None