After dinner, Pei Qingyu caught Yu Tingzheng and made him sit in the courtyard to study. Yu Tingzheng read stumblingly while Pei Qingyu listened with a frown, making him repeat a single page over and over again.
Madam Pei sat under the eaves, applying rouge to a young maidservant to test a look. From time to time, she glanced at the pair; hearing the awkward, stuttered sentences and seeing her son’s expression as he suppressed the urge to scold the boy, she couldn’t help but smile.
As the sun set behind the western mountains, the villagers who had been busy with farmwork returned home one after another. Pei Qingyu was listening to Yu Tingzheng read, and just as he felt the boy was finally gaining some fluency, he looked up to find the boy staring blankly at the road outside.
Pei Qingyu pursed his lips, his face instantly turning cold. I am being so serious, yet he isn’t putting in any effort at all. Preposterous!
Just as he was about to speak, he noticed the little stutterer’s eyes had turned red for some unknown reason. Following his gaze, he saw Mrs. Jiang passing by the gate, carrying a hoe and stepping through the twilight. She didn’t look their way; instead, she quickened her pace.
Ever since Yu Tingzheng had been old enough to work the land, he remembered that Mrs. Jiang never did farmwork. She always claimed her body was unwell and stayed home to recuperate, leaving the field work to him and the earning of money to her husband.
It had been years since Yu Tingzheng had seen her so busy. For some reason, his nose felt sour and his eyes grew hot.
Mrs. Jiang walked hurriedly, and Pei Qingyu only caught a glimpse of her silhouette before she vanished. When he turned back to Yu Tingzheng, he saw the boy’s face was a mess of tears and snot, his eyes already swollen from crying.
“What are you crying for?”
Pei Qingyu panicked for a moment before pulling a handkerchief from his clothes to wipe the boy’s tears. Before he could finish, he saw snot nearly dripping into the boy’s mouth. With an expression of utter disgust mixed with internal conflict, he used the cloth to wipe the boy’s nose.
Across the yard, Madam Pei noticed the commotion and poked her head out to watch.
Once finished, Pei Qingyu stuffed the handkerchief into Yu Tingzheng’s hand and shook his own pale hand, trying to flick away nonexistent filth.
Yu Tingzheng continued to cry incessantly, stammering, “I, I miss home.”
Hearing this, Pei Qingyu’s face darkened. “When has the Pei family ever mistreated you, that you still harbor thoughts of going back?”
Yu Tingzheng froze, forgetting to cry. He opened his mouth to explain, but Pei Qingyu spoke coldly again: “Your parents already sold you for seventy taels. Now, your deed of sale is with the Pei family. Do you really think you can go back?”
“If you don’t want to stay with the Pei family, we can simply sell you to someone else, or throw you away, or abandon you. Do you think you could ever return to the Yu family then?”
Born into a prestigious family, Pei Qingyu had been immersed in etiquette and law since childhood. He usually suppressed the violent and malicious tendencies brought on by his frail health. He had never spoken such harsh words before; having said them, he felt his breathing become labored and began to cough uncontrollably behind his hand.
Madam Pei couldn’t hear what they were saying, only that they were having an argument. She knit her beautiful brows slightly but didn’t move, letting them resolve it themselves.
Yu Tingzheng’s eyes were wide, appearing both incredulous and deeply pained. Yet, seeing Pei Qingyu in such a state, he threw everything else to the back of his mind and rushed forward to pat the boy’s back.
It looked less like patting a back and more like smoothing the fur of a ruffled kitten. He nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes. Yu’er… is right. I was sold to… your family. Even if… I am sold… or abandoned by you… I will have… no complaints.”
Pei Qingyu felt a pang in his chest, as if he had been struck hard by a fist. He gnashed his teeth and glared at the boy.
“My point was not that! Cough, cough, cough” Pei Qingyu was fuming. “I have never seen anyone as stupid as you.”
Yu Tingzheng blinked. How did we shift to calling me stupid?
Seeing that the other boy’s complexion was truly awful, Yu Tingzheng nodded obediently. “Yu’er… is right. I… I am very stupid, mmm—”
Before he could finish, his mouth was covered.
The person before him was flushed red from coughing, his eyes also rimmed with red. He said hatefully, “Shut up. You are not allowed to speak anymore.”
Yu Tingzheng kept his clear, bright eyes open but made no further sound.
Having touched the boy’s lips, Pei Qingyu felt his hand was “dirty” again and abruptly withdrew it, huffing, “Keep reading.”
He turned his head away, but the tips of his ears were stained crimson. Yu Tingzheng saw it and blinked, wanting to ask about it, but because he wasn’t allowed to speak, he could only keep the question in his heart, stealing occasional glances when Pei Qingyu wasn’t looking.
Hearing Yu Tingzheng resume his reading, Madam Pei felt relieved. She dismissed the young maidservant, looking her over one last time, still not quite satisfied with the makeup.
The next day was the annual exam. The first session was essay writing. Yu Tingzheng had a face full of misery, unable to squeeze out a single word. In his meager life, concepts like high courts, temples of state, or the affairs of the nation were completely outside his knowledge. All he truly cared about was not going hungry.
He couldn’t write anything, and his hands were sweating from anxiety. He turned to peek at Pei Qingyu, only to see the boy leaning his head on his hand, lazily staring out the window. His paper was blank; he hadn’t written a single word.
Yu Tingzheng’s tense body suddenly relaxed. A strange joy bubbled in his heart, and he managed to squeeze out one or two words.
When school let out, Yu Tingzheng carried a book box in each hand, trudging along beside Pei Qingyu. Just as he was about to step onto the path through the fields, Pei Qingyu grabbed him and pulled him onto a different road.
Yu Tingzheng was startled. Isn’t this the road to the Yu family home?
He followed nervously. “Yu’er, where..where are we going?”
Could it be that because of yesterday, Pei Qingyu is taking me back to get the seventy taels back? Even if they could get the money, how could his parents ever want him back?
“To the Yu family.”
Yu Tingzheng had cried so hard yesterday that Pei Qingyu had spent half the night thinking about it. He finally convinced himself to take the boy back to the Yu family for a visit today to soothe his homesickness.
When he said this, his tone was slightly elevated. He glanced sideways at Yu Tingzheng, expecting him to be moved to tears of gratitude.
Instead, he saw Yu Tingzheng’s small face was deathly pale. His eyes were filled with dread, and he gripped the book boxes so hard his knuckles turned white.
Why is he this terrified?
Pei Qingyu stopped walking. “What are you so afraid of?”
Tears pooled in Yu Tingzheng’s eyes and fell with a splat. “I… I said yesterday… I missed home… because I saw… my mother. Now… I don’t miss it. Yu’er… please don’t… send me back, okay?”
Fearing Pei Qingyu wouldn’t agree, he hurriedly added, “I… I can work. I can do… anything. I won’t eat… or stay for free. Yu’er, don’t… don’t discard me.”
Pei Qingyu was stunned for a moment, a look of bewilderment appearing on his handsome, sickly face. “What are you talking about? When did I ever say I was sending you back?”
He became a bit flustered. “You… you’re crying again. Why are you so prone to tears? I never said I was sending you away, nor do I have such an intention. Who told you that?”
Hearing this, Yu Tingzheng looked up blankly. He was holding his own book box in one hand and Pei Qingyu’s in the other, leaving him no hand to wipe his eyes. Tears smeared across his entire face.
Pei Qingyu looked at him with renewed disgust. He pulled out a fresh handkerchief to wipe the boy’s eyes, thinking to himself that since this person burst into tears at the slightest provocation, he would have to keep a supply of handkerchiefs ready every day.
With a cold huff, he asked, “Speak. Who did you hear it from, that I was sending you away?”
“No… no one… said it.” Yu Tingzheng felt quite embarrassed now. It was all a misunderstanding; he had made a fool of himself and even cried. His face slowly began to burn with shame.
Pei Qingyu looked at him. “Then how did you…”
“I… I thought wrong.” Yu Tingzheng clutched the boxes and stepped forward. “Yu’er… isn’t going… to the Yu house. Hurry… it’s getting… dark.”
Pei Qingyu narrowed his eyes as he watched the small figure walking ahead. For some reason, the boy’s steps seemed much lighter than before.
Pei Qingyu had figured out the root of the issue. He wanted to call Yu Tingzheng stupid, but then he remembered that this was a child who had been abandoned early on. It was only natural for him to be sensitive and suspicious. He felt he should be more tolerant, so he simply curled his lip, acted as if nothing had happened, and followed after him.