2
Pretending to Be Crazy and Foolish
The Bai family had sent Jingchu to Chief Eunuch Li’s private residence, selling their daughter for glory. This matter had long been leaked by those with ulterior motives.
Upon hearing this, the Marchioness’s face turned ashen. She rose to her feet with a furious glare: “How dare the Bai family! To send a girl who served a filthy eunuch for the trial marriage! Get out of my sight at once! The trial marriage is out of the question! This engagement needs to be reconsidered!”
Bai Jingchu’s scheme to sow discord had succeeded. Her heart eased, and she wished she could slip away immediately from the prestigious Marquis Manor.
“Wait!”
Granny Bai spoke unhurriedly, as if she had everything under control: “My lady, please calm your anger. It is true that this girl served by Chief Eunuch Li’s side for three years, but she did so as a medical attendant. Her body remains absolutely pure.
Moreover, our Madam sent this foolish girl here with sincere intentions. Please allow this old servant to step forward and speak.”
The Marchioness snapped sharply: “What more do you have to say? This is simply beyond insulting!”
Granny Bai approached with lowered eyes and deliberately softened her voice. With her silver tongue, she coaxed the Marchioness’s face through shades of pale and green.
Bai Jingchu, with her sharp ears, caught only fragments:
“…Several physicians in the city say Young Master Yan has contracted an unclean disease, with festering below, beyond cure. This is common knowledge now.”
“…If you send her back today, wouldn’t that confirm these rumors?”
“…Our Madam also said that after questioning her tomorrow, she will be sent away from the capital immediately, quietly, without any chance for her to spread wild rumors.”
“Even if she does contract some unclean disease, we can simply blame it on that dead man. Wouldn’t that preserve the Young Master’s reputation?…”
Indeed! Just as she had suspected.
Bai Jingchu gritted her teeth until they nearly shattered, the corners of her eyes reddening.
No wonder, when such a supposedly fortunate event like the trial marriage at the Marquis Manor arose, all the maids in the residence avoided it, and it ultimately fell to her.
All talk of mutual support was empty—they would never allow her to serve the same husband as Bai Jingshu in the future, nor would they tolerate any scandal about her contracting a venereal disease tarnishing the Bai family’s name!
After weighing the pros and cons, the Marchioness finally relented, her expression softening:
“Someone, take Miss Bai to the Young Master’s separate residence for now. Then summon Young Master here. I have questions for him.”
Granny Bai stepped forward and, without another word, half-supported and half-dragged Bai Jingchu, ignoring her struggles, and escorted her directly to the residence of the Marquis Heir, Chi Yanqing.
With the effects of the muscle-softening powder still lingering, Bai Jingchu was like fish on a chopping block, entirely at others’ mercy.
After the initial panic, she gradually calmed down.
She had weathered countless storms over the past three years.
If there was no path to survival, she would carve one out herself.
Granny Bai stayed by her side without leaving a step. As dusk began to fall, Chi Yanqing was urged by the Marchioness and returned to his courtyard with a face as dark as storm clouds.
The servants who had been chattering excitedly under the eaves fell silent at once. They stepped forward to open the door and lift the curtain, attending to him before tactfully withdrawing from the room.
A flicker of light, and the hem of his vermillion Hangzhou silk brocade robe swayed. Chi Yanqing seated himself at the rosewood carved table, poured a cup of tea, drank it in one gulp, and set it down heavily, as if expelling a stifling breath of resentment.
Bai Jingchu nervously peeked out. In the lamplight, the man appeared radiant and handsome, with bright eyes and well-defined brows, like a piece of refined white jade.
She couldn’t help stealing a second glance.
His eyes shimmered with a galaxy of stars, yet his gaze was filled with a wild, fierce intensity, as if carrying blades meant to kill.
A knife?
Bai Jingchu suddenly snapped back to reality, realizing that Chi Yanqing was glaring at her with utter disgust, as if he wanted to tear her apart.
She immediately shrank back in panic, hiding her face behind the Shu brocade curtain embroidered with cloud patterns, her heart pounding wildly.
Chi Yanqing turned his face away, idly stroking the teacup in his hand as he sneered mockingly, “Not bad-looking, but what a pity—she’s an idiot.”
The undisguised contempt and loathing in the corner of his eyes made Bai Jingchu’s heart ease slightly.
Someone as noble as him would surely disdain to lay a hand on a fool, right?
She immediately retorted, “You’re not bad-looking either, but what a pity—you’re a madman.”
“You can tell good from bad and even talk back—seems you’re not completely stupid.”
Bai Jingchu puffed up her cheeks indignantly, “I’m not stupid!”
“If you’re not stupid, then we can talk.”
Chi Yanqing set down his teacup, his lips curling coldly. “Do you know why the Bai family sent you here?”
He was asking the obvious.
Bai Jingchu hunched her shoulders and continued playing dumb. “To sleep.”
Chi Yanqing stood up and walked toward her, leisurely unfastening the jade buttons on his arrow sleeves, then the jade belt at his waist.
“So, will you take them off yourself, or shall I do it for you?”
Bai Jingchu instantly tensed up, her hands clenching weakly inside her sleeves, her toes secretly gathering strength.
As she watched, Chi Yanqing continued undressing without pause, removing his outer robe and draping it over a nearby stool, then slowly began loosening his trouser belt.
The well-defined lines of his waist were already faintly visible.
Bai Jingchu nervously swallowed, her heart pounding like a drum.
Chi Yanqing’s eyes filled with undisguised disgust, yet a faint, ambiguous smile played on his lips. Right in front of Bai Jingchu, he fumbled at his waist for a moment and, as if performing a magic trick, produced a small yellow-and-green budgerigar from his waistband.
The parrot was tiny, clutched in his palm, flapping its wings and squawking in a hoarse voice, “You’re suffocating me!”
Bai Jingchu stared, dumbfounded.
Chi Yanqing raised an eyebrow, his gaze brimming with cunning and malice.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to see the bird I was hiding in my pants? Want to touch it?”
Bai Jingchu’s lips twitched, only then realizing that her back was drenched in cold sweat from the tension.
She cautiously reached out a small hand, but the parrot flew away.
Chi Yanqing asked, “When you return to the Bai family tomorrow and people ask you about it, what will you say?”
“Of course, I’ll tell the truth—Young Master Yan’s bird is quite beautiful, it can even talk, and its beak is hooked…”
Chi Yanqing’s face instantly darkened.
Hooked… let’s not go there.
He said with a serious expression, “You absolutely must not say that.”
“Why not?”
“Because… what if others don’t believe you and all want to come see it?”
Bai Jingchu put on an expression of pure innocence. “Then you could charge them silver and make a fortune.”
Chi Yanqing was taken aback, his jaw tightening. “No, what if someone gets envious and tries to steal it?”
“Tsk,” Bai Jingchu scoffed disdainfully. “It’s just a bird—who would bother stealing it? I’ll just ask my wet nurse to catch a couple for me, tie them to my belt, and strut around with them swaying. How impressive! Not like you, hiding it in your pants—so stingy.”
Chi Yanqing studied the young woman before him, his earlier annoyance fading, replaced by a cold yet intrigued interest.
“I am stingy.”
He added, “When you return to your family, if anyone asks, just say… I wouldn’t let you see it, and that it was red and swollen, with blisters and sores.”
Bai Jingchu froze. What did Chi Yanqing mean by that?
Wasn’t it obvious? He wanted the Bai family to misunderstand and think he had a venereal disease.
Could it be that he also wanted to take this chance to break off the engagement with the Bai family?
Bai Jingchu shook her head seriously. “No, my grandfather said I mustn’t lie, or he won’t give me money to buy snacks.”
Chi Yanqing sneered, “If you listen to me, I’ll give you money. Is fifty taels enough?”
His smile was as refreshing as a clear moon and a gentle breeze—truly captivating.
For some reason, Bai Jingchu felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation. Even her judgment seemed clouded by his charm, and in a moment of weakness, she retracted one finger from the hand she had raised to state her price.
“At least four hundred taels.”
Chi Yanqing was taken aback. “Do you even know how much four hundred taels is?”
“I do. It’s enough to buy all the pastries at Zhenxiu Zhai.”
“Glutton! With a name like Bai Jingchu, you truly live up to the ‘Bai’ in it—utterly foolish.Bai Jingchu shot back, “And you, with the surname Chi, named Yanqing, are no better—your name suits you perfectly.””
Chi Yanqing looked at her leisurely. “Are you really this foolish, or are you just pretending?”
Bai Jingchu frowned. “You’re the fool! Your whole family is foolish!”
Daring to curse in the Marquis’s residence—she must truly be out of her mind.
Chi Yanqing took out a five-hundred-tael banknote and waved it in front of Bai Jingchu, flashing a wicked and mischievous grin.
“The extra hundred is for a drop of your blood. That way, we can both settle this matter.”
Without waiting for her reply, he swept her slender waist into his arms, tore open her collar, and bit down on her snow-white shoulder.
“Ah!”
Mad dog!