"No!"
Jiang Ningsui sprang to her feet as if startled. She didn't dare look into Pei Duo's ink-black eyes and hurriedly explained to Mu Hua, "Sister Mu, you've mistaken us. This is Young Master Pei, a fellow classmate of my husband's."
Ah?
They looked so well-matched, yet they weren't actually a couple.
Mu Hua thought of the other Xiucai scholar—he was handsome enough, but compared to this young gentleman, he was like a red flower next to a green leaf. She smiled sheepishly and said, "My eyesight must be failing. I mistook you two."
She exchanged a few pleasantries with Jiang Ningsui and then led her son back home.
The moment Mu Hua and her son left, the small courtyard fell so quiet that only the gentle rustle of the wind could be heard.
Jiang Ningsui stood awkwardly beneath the pear tree, at a loss for how to address Pei Duo.
"Sister-in-law."
The young man's cool voice came from a few steps away: "I've come back to fetch some rice paper."
Jiang Ningsui: "Alright."
She pointed toward the kitchen: "I'll go prepare lunch. I'll have it ready when you and my husband return at noon."
The young man nodded. "I'll trouble you then, sister-in-law."
Jiang Ningsui: "It's no trouble."
She turned and hurried into the kitchen. Out of embarrassment, she had bitten a clear row of teeth marks into her lower lip.
Hearing the sound of footsteps gradually fading outside, Jiang Ningsui finally let out a sigh of relief.
She finished the remaining chores before preparing lunch. She had started some dough early in the morning and planned to make steamed buns along with two dishes and a bowl of soup. Jiang Ningsui had grown up around the stove, cooking quickly and cleanly, and had honed her culinary skills since childhood.
At noon, Zhao Zhixue and Pei Duo returned just past the second quarter of the midday hour.
After lunch, the two rested for a while before heading back to the academy.
In the afternoon, Mu Hua came to find Jiang Ningsui and asked if she wanted to take a stroll down the street to buy some household necessities. Jiang Ningsui remembered they were almost out of oil. When she had come from home this time, her mother-in-law had only given her a small amount of oil and forty wen in cash.
Her mother-in-law had specifically instructed that this money was meant solely for buying food and provisions for her husband.
This was Jiang Ningsui's first time wandering around the town. She wasn't familiar with Qingping Zhen, so she followed Sister Mu through two streets, taking in the shops on both sides and the passersby, finding everything novel.
Mu Hua bought some vegetables and put them into the basket she carried, then bought a candied hawthorn stick for her child. Jiang Ningsui bought some vegetables and two jin of oil, packing it up.
Jiang Ningsui asked, "Sister Mu, do you know where the town's academy is?"
Mu Hua smiled. "Of course I do. Come, I'll show you the way."
Jiang Ningsui's brows curved into a smile. "Thank you, Sister Mu."
Mu Hua: "Why be so polite with me?"
Jiang Ningsui followed Mu Hua around two streets, mentally calculating the distance—from home to the academy would take roughly a quarter of an hour or a bit more.
"Little miss, it's right there. See it?"
Mu Hua raised her hand and pointed to a red-lacquered wooden door on the north side, flanked by two imposing stone lions. Above hung a plaque. Jiang Ningsui couldn't read, so she didn't know what was written on it, but she memorized the place. Just as she was about to leave with Sister Mu, a teasing voice suddenly came from not far away.
"Whose little miss is this? Quite lovely to look at."
The speaker was a young man, idly tapping a folding fan against his palm.
Sister Mu glanced at the man and snorted coldly. "What business is it of yours whose little miss she is?"
With that, she grabbed Jiang Ningsui's wrist and pulled her along. "Let's go. Don't mind him."
The man let out a "Hey!" and called after them, "Sister Hu, with a temper like that, you'd better watch out—your man might not want you anymore!"
Mu Hua turned her head and spat out a curse: "Scram!"
This wasn't Jiang Ningsui's first encounter with such frivolous types. Before she married, she had met people like this too, and after that, her parents kept her at home and rarely let her go out.
They walked the entire length of the street before Mu Hua released Jiang Ningsui's hand and said to her, "That bastard back there is the son of the town's small tavern owner. He relies on his family's money to do whatever he pleases—a complete scoundrel. If you ever see him in the future, avoid him as much as you can."
Jiang Ningsui: "Thank you, Sister Mu. I'll remember that."
.
At the Qingping Zhen academy, Zhao Zhixue carefully pondered over what the master had taught that morning.
He closed his book and glanced at Pei Duo, who sat by the window.
The young man propped his elbow on the desk, his knuckles resting against his temple, seemingly meditating with his eyes closed.
Zhao Zhixue sighed silently. Truly, comparing people only makes one furious.
He studied diligently day after day, nearly tying his hair to the beam and stabbing his thigh with an awl, yet he failed the first Yuanshi. Meanwhile, Brother Pei remained relaxed and composed every day, and at such a young age, he had actually placed first in the Yuanshi.
"I just saw a beautiful young lady outside our academy. That figure, that waist—so slender it makes you want to cherish her. Her skin is like a peeled egg—pinch it and water would practically come out."
Hearing this, Zhao Zhixue looked up at Liang Wentao ahead of him.
This man appeared to be a scholar, but he was actually useless and unlearned. It was only because his father had a bit of money that he was sent to the academy to learn a few more characters. Zhao Zhixue had always looked down on people like him.
The person beside Liang Wentao pressed further upon hearing this: "Brother Wentao, do you know whose young lady that is? Take me to see her another day?"
Liang Wentao tapped his palm with his fan: "I don't know either, but that young lady was with Sister Hu. Sister Hu definitely knows who she is. Another day, we'll sound out Sister Hu and we're sure to find out who that young lady is."
When the young man by the window heard "Sister Hu," his closed eyes snapped open, and his dark, deep gaze fell on Liang Wentao.
A flash of white slipping frantically into his quilt surfaced from his memory. Pei Duo pressed his knuckles lightly against his temple. As Liang Wentao passed by his side, the young man's fingers, brimming with formidable strength, seized Liang Wentao's wrist and yanked it downward.
Caught off guard, Liang Wentao was dragged down by the terrifying force, his knees slamming hard into the ground and his wrist crashing heavily against the desk.
The pain from both ends made Liang Wentao's face turn pale. He frowned tightly in agony and glared at Pei Duo, who had suddenly attacked him.
This man always kept to himself, with a cold and indifferent temperament, rarely interacting with others.
Others didn't know this man's background, but he had heard a few things from his father.
The Pei family had connections with the Longchang Zhifu—a formidable force not to be trifled with. His father had specifically warned him that he didn't care what he did at the academy, but he must not provoke the Xiucai surnamed Pei.
The problem was, he hadn't provoked him at all.
"Pei Duo! I didn't provoke you or offend you—why are you hitting me?!"
Liang Wentao angrily tried to pull his hand back—it wouldn't budge, and his face flushed purple in an instant.
The young man's pitch-black pupils looked down at him with utter indifference, and his clear, cool voice carried undisguised mockery: "Is this what the academy teaches you? To raise something of low character, crude and vile, spewing filthy words?"
Liang Wentao's face turned extremely ugly: "I'll do whatever I want. Who are you to tell me what to do?!"
As he spoke, he grabbed his own arm and yanked outward with all his strength. But Pei Duo's fingers suddenly loosened, and combined with his own forceful pull, he stumbled backward and landed flat on his back, limbs flailing in the air.
Liang Wentao leaped up in fury, grabbing a stool and raising it to hurl at Pei Duo.
The young man neither dodged nor flinched, only lifting his gaze to stare coldly at him. "Go ahead and try."
His tone was calm, betraying neither anger nor pleasure, yet it inexplicably sent a chill creeping up Liang Wentao's spine.
"If you dare provoke that Xiucai surnamed Pei, I'll disown you as my son!"
His father's words rolled through Liang Wentao's mind again and again.
Liang Wentao was so furious his chest felt like it might explode.
He hurled the stool down in frustration and jabbed a finger at Pei Duo. "Just you wait!"
If he couldn't openly cross the man surnamed Pei, he could always do it behind his back, right? Throw a sack over his head and beat him half to death—who would ever know it was him?
Liang Wentao stormed off without even attending his afternoon classes. The others merely cast a few extra glances at Pei Duo, but not a single one dared to step forward and stand up for Liang Wentao.
They weren't fools. If even Liang Wentao didn't dare provoke the man, they certainly wouldn't.
Liang Wentao got along well at the academy because he was generous with his money. His family ran a small tavern, and he would often invite his classmates there for a meal. Why not make friends with someone who offered free food and drink?
Zhao Zhixue walked over to Pei Duo's side and crouched down, asking, "Brother Pei, why would you provoke someone like that for no reason? Let him say whatever he wants—it has nothing to do with us. Now that you've angered him, he'll surely come after you in the future."
Pei Duo lifted his eyes and glanced at Zhao Zhixue, a look that left Zhao Zhixue feeling somewhat bewildered.
And he felt that Brother Pei was a bit off today.
In the past, Liang Wentao had spoken about other women in front of others too, and Brother Pei had never meddled. Why the sudden interest today?
The last rays of the setting sun lingered, and dusk was approaching.
Jiang Ningsui had finished preparing dinner, but her husband and Young Master Pei had yet to return.
She opened the door and waited outside the courtyard, gazing at the alley beneath the twilight. The late September night had already brought a hint of chill. A figure appeared at the mouth of the dark, narrow alley—too far away for Jiang Ningsui to make out clearly. Only when the person drew closer did she see it was Pei Duo.
Jiang Ningsui glanced behind Pei Duo. "Young Master Pei, did my husband not return with you?"
Pei Duo looked at those autumn-water eyes beneath the dusk and said in a low voice, "He was kept behind by the master. He'll be back in about two quarters of an hour."
Jiang Ningsui understood. "Young Master Pei, dinner is ready. Let me serve you a bowl first."
With that, she turned and went back into the kitchen.
Pei Duo entered the courtyard, leaving the gate wide open. Noticing that the quilt hung out to dry that morning was no longer there, he returned to his room and saw the quilt and bed mat neatly folded on the bed. The young man walked to the bedside, his fingertips gently rubbing the edge of the bed mat, as if trying to grind away the traces of the woman's scent that clung to it.
"Young Master Pei, your meal is served. Come eat while it's hot."
Hearing this, Pei Duo washed his hands and went to the kitchen.
On the table by the window sat a single set of chopsticks and a bowl, the bowl filled with steaming noodles in soup, topped with a few thin slices of meat, accompanied by a small dish of pickled vegetables. He glanced at Jiang Ningsui, who was tending the fire at the stove mouth. The flickering orange flames danced across her porcelain-white face.
The young man lifted his robes and sat down, his clear, magnetic voice gaining a certain depth in the quiet kitchen. "Thank you, Sister-in-law."
Jiang Ningsui pressed her lips together. "You don't need to be so polite with me."
Pei Duo glanced at the noodles set aside on the cutting board, realizing she was waiting to eat with Brother Zhao when he returned.
Jiang Ningsui buried the fire in the stove with ash to keep the water in the pot from boiling over continuously.
Just as she was about to rise and leave, she suddenly heard Pei Duo ask, "Sister-in-law, did you go to the street with Sister Mu this afternoon?"
Jiang Ningsui paused, turned to look at Pei Duo sitting by the window, and nodded. "Mm, I bought some vegetables and oil."
Pei Duo's long lashes lowered as he stirred the steaming noodles.
So it really was her.
————————!!————————
This chapter has red envelopes~
Zhao Zhixue: Brother Pei, what's with that look in your eyes?
Pei Duo: They were talking about your wife, my sister-in-law.
Zhao Zhixue: ??