Her Older Sister issued one prohibition after another, and Shen Chenbi obediently followed them for three whole days. By the fourth day, she could not stand it any longer.
Not for any other reason—she had discovered that her eyebrow pencil was almost used up.
This was no small matter.
Shen Chenbi had no particular hobbies, except that she was unusually devoted to doing her eyebrows. She had naturally arched brows like distant mountains, dark even without makeup, so in theory she had no need to spend effort on them. But she had one particular flaw: whenever she was nervous, she liked to draw her eyebrows. Slowly, stroke by stroke, the unease in her heart would gradually disperse along with the lines.
Her Older Sister had been acting mysterious and peculiar lately, and she was nervous.
She needed to replenish her supplies.
Thus, on this day, while Shen Wenyu went out to check the household accounts, Shen Chenbi slipped out of the residence.
She had learned her lesson. This time, not only did she make no effort to dress up, she had deliberately changed into her plainest moon-white blouse. She loosely wound her hair up with a simple silver hairpin and wore no makeup at all. After looking at herself in the bronze mirror and deciding that she looked as plain as a kitchen maid, she finally felt reassured enough to leave.
Jifang Cosmetics Shop in the southern part of the city was the most famous cosmetics shop in the capital. Shen Chenbi slipped inside as familiarly as if she were returning home, picked out two indigo eyebrow pencils, and asked for a box of jasmine-scented face powder while she was at it. The shopkeeper knew her. He cheerfully wrapped everything up for her and even gave her a small jar of rose flower dew.
“Second Young Miss hasn’t been here in quite some time.” The shopkeeper handed the items over. “The usual arrangement? Shall I put it on the Shen household’s account?”
Shen Chenbi nodded, accepted the paper package, and thanked him.
She turned to leave, but the corner of her eye caught sight of someone standing by the door.
The man stood with his back to the light. He was tall and slender, dressed in a moon-white robe, with an elegant and refined air about him. At the instant she raised her eyes, sunlight slipped over his shoulder and illuminated half his face, sharpening its contours.
Shen Chenbi froze for a moment.
It was only instinctive.
The man seemed to notice her gaze. He turned his head slightly and looked toward her.
Their eyes met.
Shen Chenbi quickly lowered her eyes and silently recited Older Sister’s ironclad rule: no eye contact for more than three breaths. One, two, three—thank goodness, she had not gone over.
Clutching the paper package, she lowered her head and hurried outside. As she passed the man, she faintly caught the scent of pinewood.
Her footsteps did not pause.
Only after she had gone more than a dozen paces did she quietly let out a breath of relief.
She had not dared look closely enough to see what the man actually looked like. She only felt that his entire bearing was refined and gentle, as though he were the son of some scholarly household.
—But what did that have to do with her?
Her Older Sister had said that good-looking men were all no good.
Shen Chenbi thoroughly agreed.
She hugged the paper package tighter and hurried home, completely unaware that the gaze behind her remained fixed on her until she turned around the street corner.
The person standing at the entrance of Jifang Cosmetics Shop tilted his head slightly as he watched that slender, moon-white figure disappear into the crowd. He waited for one breath before finally withdrawing his gaze.
The pageboy beside him leaned over and said in a low voice, “Young Master, that was Second Miss Shen.”
“Mm.”
“I heard that this Second Young Miss…” The pageboy deliberated over his wording. “Her beauty is counted among the finest in the capital. It’s just that—” He pointed to his own head and lowered his voice. “She isn’t quite right in here.”
The man did not respond.
The pageboy continued, “Last month, at Jinyuan while everyone was admiring the flowers, someone saw her from a distance through a waterside pavilion, sitting by the window and peeling lotus seeds. After he went home, he composed poetry for three days straight.”
The man finally spoke, his voice mild and gentle. “What kind of poetry?”
The pageboy hunched his neck. “This subordinate doesn’t remember. It was all that sour stuff about ‘seeming like the moon in heaven’ and ‘clearly an immortal from a painting.’”
The man said nothing more. He turned and walked in the opposite direction.
The pageboy hurried after him, cursing himself inwardly for having said too much.
Shen Chenbi knew nothing of any of this.
She was walking home with light footsteps, considering whether to try the jasmine-scented face powder she had just bought. She had not taken the little incident to heart at all.
When she turned into the Shen household’s lane, she even curved her lips in a rather good mood.
Then she lifted her head and saw Shen Wenyu standing at the entrance, her face dark with anger.
In her hand, she gripped a feather duster.
Shen Chenbi’s smile froze.
“…Older Sister.” She instinctively hid the paper package behind her. “Weren’t you going to check the accounts?”
Shen Wenyu gave a cold laugh. “The accounts can be checked this afternoon. I only have one Younger Sister.”
She tapped the feather duster against the doorframe. The crisp sound rang out with a slap.
“Come inside.”
Shen Chenbi hunched her neck and went through the door.
“What did I tell you before I left?”
“Not to go outside.”
“Then what did you go out for?”
“…To buy eyebrow pencils.”
Shen Chenbi obediently handed over the paper package and opened it for her Older Sister to see. “Really, that’s all it is—eyebrow pencils and a box of scented powder. The shopkeeper even gave me a jar of flower dew.”
Shen Wenyu lowered her head and rummaged through it twice. After confirming that there was indeed nothing she should not have had, her expression eased slightly.
But she still kept her face stern. “I told you not to go out for your own good. Do you know what’s out there—”
She stopped abruptly.
What was out there?
A man who would deceive her sister into becoming his kept woman and ultimately finish her off with a cup of poisoned wine.
She could not say that.
Shen Wenyu drew a deep breath and tossed the paper package back into Shen Chenbi’s arms. “Let this be the last time.”
Shen Chenbi nodded repeatedly and was about to run back to her own room with the package in her arms.
“Stop.”
Her feet halted. She turned around and looked pitifully at her Older Sister.
Shen Wenyu, however, remained silent for a moment. Then she drew something from her sleeve and held it out.
“I had this prayed for.”
Shen Chenbi took it and looked down. It was a peace talisman. Made of yellow paper and cinnabar, it had been folded into a neat square. Several winding characters were written on it, not one of which she could fully make out.
“You haven’t been sleeping well these past two days, have you?” Shen Wenyu’s tone was indifferent. “I happened to pass by White Cloud Temple yesterday, so I had this prayed for you.”
Shen Chenbi stared blankly for a moment.
She truly had not been sleeping well these past two days. It was not that she had been having nightmares; she simply tossed and turned with an inexplicable feeling of anxiety, always sensing that something was about to happen. But she had never mentioned it to her Older Sister.
“How did you know I haven’t been sleeping well?”
“The dark circles under your eyes are practically hanging down to your chin. Do you think I’m blind?”
Shen Chenbi instinctively touched the skin beneath her eyes. When she had looked in the mirror that morning, she had indeed thought the area looked bluish-gray. She had been like that since childhood. Her skin was naturally snow-white, and the slightest lack of sleep made the bluish-gray beneath her eyes stand out terribly. Against those limpid, glistening eyes, she looked just like a painting dampened by rain—delicate and pitiful.
She herself thought it looked unattractive. What she did not know was that the last time she had gone out looking like this, even the flower-selling old woman at the mouth of the lane had forgotten to collect her payment. The old woman had stared at her for quite some time before sighing and saying, “With a face like that, you’re destined to suffer in the future, Young Miss.”
Naturally, Shen Chenbi had not understood what the old woman meant. She had merely assumed that her poor complexion had frightened her.
At that moment, holding the peace talisman, she suddenly felt a sour fullness in her heart.
Her Older Sister might be fierce, might scold her for being foolish, and might frighten her with a feather duster, but her Older Sister had remembered to pray for her safety.
“…Older Sister,” she said softly. “You’re really good to me.”
Shen Wenyu turned her face away, her tone cold. “Stop flattering me. Go back, shut the door, and don’t come out again today.”
“Oh.”
Shen Chenbi walked toward her own courtyard with an armful of things. After a few steps, she turned back. “Older Sister, where am I supposed to put this talisman? Under my pillow or on the door?”
Shen Wenyu paused.
“Keep it with you,” she said. “Put it somewhere close to your body, and don’t lose it.”
“Okay.”
Shen Chenbi obediently agreed. She carefully tucked the peace talisman into her purse, then pressed it to make sure it was safely and securely inside.
She did not know that the talisman had indeed been prayed for by her Older Sister.
It was simply not for peace.
Nor were the words written on the talisman any scripture or incantation.
They were the words her Older Sister had asked, one by one, while kneeling before the images of the Three Pure Ones at White Cloud Temple—
“My sister died in her previous life after drinking poisoned wine.”
“Can the course of her fate in this life be changed?”
The old Daoist priest looked at her for a long while. In the end, he shook his head.
“Fate cannot be changed,” he said. “But you can stop it.”
Stop it?
How?
The old Daoist priest gave no further answer.
Shen Wenyu asked no more questions.
She took the talisman, paid her respects to the Three Pure Ones, rose, and descended the mountain.
The mountain road was long, and her footsteps were heavy.
Behind her, White Cloud Temple’s Daoist bell rang three times. Its lingering echoes reverberated through the mountains like a silent promise.