"I want to make you happy."
What Jiang Weiyao held in her hand was a jade pendant.
His jade pendant.
This matter traced back to the day they fell off the cliff.
Her tears had not moved Pei Yunheng.
Apart from a moment of astonishment, he gave a cold laugh, clearly dismissing Jiang Weiyao's words with contempt.
What interrupted their standoff was the mountain shaking once more.
Having escaped from the jagged depths of the mountains by the narrowest of margins, the two followed the winding mountain road westward. Along the way there was only one inhabited place—Chunhe Pharmacy—
Which was also Jiang Weiyao's foothold in Wuming County.
A Touch of Red's influence was vast, extending not only into the imperial court but threading deep roots through the countryside as well. When Jiang Weiyao infiltrated the Liu residence to carry out the assassination, she naturally needed a place to hide and people to provide support and surveillance.
When the agreed-upon day passed and Jiang Weiyao still had not returned, Wang Mingke was so anxious he gnawed frantically on a chair. When he looked up again, she came staggering through the door gripping the frame, and behind her followed a mysterious creature drenched in blood.
A closer look—oh, it was a person.
Another closer look—the Imperial Guard Commander.
In that moment, he truly despaired.
Jiang Weiyao, you delicate thing, sure enough, the moment you fall into the Imperial Guard's hands you insist on selling out the organization!
His second thought was how he could outdo Jiang Weiyao in selling out the organization to buy his own survival.
Fortunately, years of tacit coordination with Jiang Weiyao overcame his resolve to betray the organization. After a brief exchange of glances, Wang Mingke donned his physician's skin.
Jiang Weiyao, reassured, fainted dead away.
When she woke, her wounds had already been treated and bandaged.
And Wang Mingke, having learned the full story, let out a sharp shriek.
"Then what do we do?" Jiang Weiyao asked calmly. "Kill him? He's the Imperial Guard Commander. If we kill him, the court will never let it go."
Wang Mingke stopped screaming.
Jiang Weiyao looked at him. "Why is it that the Imperial Guard can disrupt our plans time and again? Is it coincidence, or were our secret letters intercepted—or is there a mole?"
Wang Mingke clutched his head in both hands.
Jiang Weiyao delivered the final blow: "He has already seen our undisguised faces. Do you want to wait until he recovers his memory and the two of us end up on wanted posters across the land?"
Two streams of tears rolled down. Wang Mingke's heart turned to ash.
At this point, he had no choice but to play along.
The two of them put on a show for Pei Yunheng—
"Prescriptions, decocting medicine, lodging, care, meals… one hundred and twenty-five taels of silver in total." Wang Mingke clicked his abacus, smiling at Pei Yunheng, whose injuries had greatly improved. "A physician's heart is benevolent—I'll only charge you one hundred and thirty taels."
Pei Yunheng: "…"
He finally understood why a remote medical clinic could afford nanmu chairs.
Jiang Weiyao wept silently, as if wanting to speak but holding back. After a moment she finally steeled herself, and with trembling hands touched her earlobes.
After the fall from the cliff, she had few possessions left. Pei Yunheng had only a single white jade pendant at his waist; she had only this pair of green jade earrings.
"This is… a keepsake left to me by my birth mother."
Jiang Weiyao wept as though her heart would break.
Pei Yunheng was unmoved.
Jiang Weiyao wiped her tears. "Mother passed early. She didn't leave me many things to remember her by…"
Pei Yunheng said nothing.
Jiang Weiyao: "…"
She cried even louder. "I am truly unfilial. Now I cannot even keep my mother's keepsake…"
Pei Yunheng looked out the window at the fine drizzle.
Jiang Weiyao: "…"
Wang Mingke: "…"
Jiang Weiyao gritted her teeth. "Husband, I…"
Perhaps it was because she had finally come to her senses, or perhaps because she was startled by Jiang Weiyao's sudden call of "husband," Pei Yunheng suddenly seemed to regain some humanity.
He took the jade pendant from his waist and said in a tone that betrayed no emotion: "Use this as payment."
This jade pendant appeared ordinary at first glance, but it was left behind by the previous commander of the Imperial Guard, and it was said to be able to mobilize the hidden agents of the Imperial Guard.
More importantly, while in the capital, Jiang Weiyao had personally witnessed Pei Yunheng use this jade pendant to withdraw over a hundred taels of silver notes from a money house.
Jiang Weiyao had an extremely strong sense of possessiveness, and for such fine items, she always tried every means to claim them as her own.
"I remember using it as payment for medical fees, pawning it to the medicine hall."
Pei Yunheng's fingertips traced over the jade pendant.
Jiang Weiyao lowered her eyelids: "Today, Doctor Wang came to check on you, but you weren't here. I took the opportunity to exchange it back using my earrings."
His gaze swept over Jiang Weiyao's bare earlobes, and Pei Yunheng asked: "Why?"
Of course, it was because the jade pendant she returned was a replica crafted by skilled artisans—a fake.
Jiang Weiyao turned her face away, as if unwilling to speak.
"Speak."
His sword-like brows pressed down, revealing a hint of impatience. Pei Yunheng clamped onto Jiang Weiyao's chin, his voice cold and low, carrying an unyielding pressure.
Jiang Weiyao seemed frightened, and tears unconsciously spilled from her eyes.
She glared at Pei Yunheng, but her voice trembled: "…Because I wanted to make you happy."
Though she was glaring, the unshed tears and reddened corners of her eyes looked more like the shame and annoyance of offering a sincere heart only to have it spurned.
This was an unexpected answer.
Pei Yunheng's eyes narrowed slightly, as if caught off guard.
Jiang Weiyao, having abandoned all pretense, continued: "You've been cold-faced this whole time, not even paying attention to me. I thought you were feeling down…"
"I don't want you to be troubled. I just… I just wanted to make you happy…"
Her voice grew softer and softer, until in the end, only a stream of tears remained.
The room suddenly fell silent.
Only the patter of tears hitting the ground and faint breathing could be heard.
"This is… a keepsake left to me by my birth mother."
"…Because I wanted to make you happy."
The woman's cries from that day still echoed in his ears, gradually intertwining and merging with her current sobbing.
Pei Yunheng lowered his gaze, looking at the teardrop that had fallen on his fingertip.
Beneath his fingertips was the woman's fair, delicate skin, flawless like a piece of warm, lustrous mutton-fat jade.
Forced to tilt her head back, she exposed her fragile, slender neck, crying so pitifully. Her thick, curled lashes were adorned with broken dampness, and even the tip of her nose was tinged with peach-pink.
Pei Yunheng suddenly withdrew his hand and took a step back.
Jiang Weiyao seized the opportunity to press on relentlessly.
She raised her head, the shimmering sunlight making even the fine down on her face clearly visible. Her watery almond-shaped eyes were rimmed with red: "…It hurts."
Pei Yunheng was silent for a moment, then turned around and poured a bowl of hot water, handing it to her.
Jiang Weiyao: "?"
She didn't understand but took a sip anyway, and nearly scalded her tongue off.
This time, she truly wanted to cry.
Pei Yunheng spoke again: "If it was to make me happy, then why did you secretly hide the jade pendant in the wooden box?"
"Where was I being secretive?" Jiang Weiyao retorted, then paused and continued in a muffled voice: "Although I wanted to make you happy, I was also angry. I planned to hide it in my robes first, and after a couple of days when my anger subsided, I would give it to you."
Pei Yunheng raised an eyebrow: "What are you angry about?"
At this question, the person before him seemed even angrier.
Jiang Weiyao twisted the handkerchief in her hands and accused, "Ever since you fell off the cliff, you haven't been the same toward me!"
"I know you lost your memory, but you've never been this cold to me before. Naturally, I have resentment in my heart."
Jiang Weiyao revealed her true intent: "Even when I call you husband, you no longer respond…"
Pei Yunheng furrowed his brow. "We are not yet married, so it is only natural that we should not address each other that way. Is it wrong for me not to respond?"
His tone was cold. "You are overstepping."
"But… but you used to love hearing me call you husband." Jiang Weiyao's voice was low.
Pei Yunheng: "…"
He turned his face away.
Stealing a glance at him, Jiang Weiyao muttered as if under her breath, "If not for your identical appearance, you truly seem like a different person…"
She was even questioning him now.
Pei Yunheng said no more.
But then Jiang Weiyao's tone shifted. "Besides, I am also somewhat afraid…"
"Whether or not we are married, the neighbors have all taken us for husband and wife. If we address each other by name all day long, it would be hard to keep others from growing suspicious. If they guess that we eloped without a matchmaker or betrothal gifts…"
"Words are like knives, each one cutting at the throat. When that time comes, how would I be able to keep living…"
She covered her face with both hands, and her body began to tremble.
Lowering his eyes, Pei Yunheng's brow furrowed even more tightly. He was just about to say something when Jiang Weiyao began to whimper and cry again.
After thinking for a moment, he stood up and poured Jiang Weiyao another bowl of hot water.
Jiang Weiyao: "…"
This time she had learned her lesson and did not touch it.
When Jiang Weiyao's crying gradually subsided, Pei Yunheng took the brocade garment from her lap. "Do not touch my things carelessly in the future. In front of others, I will respond."
Jiang Weiyao was stunned and raised her head.
He had already left and gone back to the kitchen. His tall, upright figure made the kitchen seem even more cramped.
The firelight reflected off his cold, hard-featured face, no different from before.
"Interesting."
Jiang Weiyao slowly smiled, but there was no mirth in her eyes.
Pei Yunheng's cooking was unusually good.
The fine bones had already been removed. The simmered chicken soup was clear and golden, with a thin layer of oil droplets floating on top. The chicken was stewed until tender, fresh without being gamey. With a gentle bite, the fragrance of the meat mixed with the rich broth slid down the throat.
But during the meal, Jiang Weiyao was unlike her usual smiling, cheerful self. Her mood still seemed somewhat low and listless.
All the way until nightfall, when the lamps were extinguished, the two of them did not exchange another word.
At the hour of zi, two faint rooster crows came from the distance, and Jiang Weiyao sat up.
When they had first rented this courtyard, the two of them had not rested in the same room.
This courtyard was too small. Apart from the main room, there was only the kitchen and the outhouse. Pei Yunheng had always slept in the kitchen.
But perhaps because strangers rarely came to the village, the neighbors always kept an eye on the two of them. Before two days had passed, someone came to the door to inquire, asking why the two of them did not sleep together.
To avoid trouble, Jiang Weiyao discussed it with Pei Yunheng and hung a curtain on the other side of the main room. He slept on the floor inside the curtain.
The moment Jiang Weiyao rose, Pei Yunheng woke.
He was always alert, sleeping facing the window and never deeply. Even if she merely turned over, he would immediately become fully awake.
Jiang Weiyao said softly, "I am going to use the outhouse."
Pei Yunheng said nothing, as if he had closed his eyes.
But Jiang Weiyao knew he would not sleep.
Only when she returned and had fallen into a deep sleep would he go to sleep.
Tonight the clouds were heavy, and the moonlight was not very bright.
Crawling out of the latrine on all fours, the courtyard was pitch black as well. Jiang Weiyao was just regretting not bringing a lamp when light suddenly appeared before her eyes.
Candlelight flickered to life inside the house, its glow spilling quietly through the window into the courtyard.
Jiang Weiyao frowned.
Entering the house, Pei Yunheng was already fully dressed, seated by the table.
Unhurried, he invited her into his trap: "Would you tell me about the past—about you and me?"