In the garden of the Shen household, Shen Chenbi finally plucked off that withered leaf.
Contentedly hugging the kite, she started back. Halfway there, she suddenly stopped.
Something was wrong.
Who had that person been again?
She thought about it, but could not remember. Forget it. He probably was not anyone important.
Humming an off-key little tune, she returned to her small courtyard. She carefully hung the kite beside the window, then took two steps back to examine it. Deciding that it was not quite straight, she stepped forward and shifted it a little.
Just then, Qingzao came out of the room. She saw that several streaks of dust had rubbed onto the moon-white tunic Shen Chenbi was wearing. Her hair bun was crooked, and her hairpin was practically falling out. She looked as if she had rolled all the way through a tree.
“Miss!” Qingzao cried in alarm. “What happened to you?”
“I got the kite down.” Shen Chenbi pointed toward the window.
Qingzao followed her finger and saw the crooked swallow kite. She became even more confused. “What kite? Where did it come from?”
“Mother made it. It was hanging in the pomegranate tree, but I couldn’t reach it, and then…” She paused. “Someone helped me get it down.”
“Who?”
Shen Chenbi opened and closed her mouth.
“…I don’t know.”
Qingzao: “…”
“You didn’t ask his name?” Qingzao pressed. “You didn’t thank him?”
“I did, I did. I said thank you.” Shen Chenbi was perfectly self-righteous. “Then I looked at the kite. There was a withered leaf stuck to it, and I couldn’t pull it off.”
Qingzao took a deep breath.
Sometimes, she truly had no idea how her young lady’s mind worked. If it had been any other young lady, and a young man had suddenly appeared in her own backyard and even helped steady her, she would at least have asked, “Who are you?”
But her own young lady was something else. Her attention had been fixed on the kite and the withered leaf the entire time.
She did not know what the man was called.
She had not asked why he had come.
She had no idea what his status was.
Qingzao suddenly felt that Eldest Miss Shen’s habit of guarding against the men outside as though they were thieves might be somewhat unnecessary.
With her young lady’s mind—
Even if ten men lined up in front of her to court her favor, she would probably only lower her head and count ants.
Qingzao sighed helplessly. “Miss, if something like this happens again, at least ask the person what his name is.”
“Why?”
“What if he was a guest?”
“If he was a guest…” Shen Chenbi tilted her head and thought about it. “Older Sister will remember him. I can’t remember things like that.”
Qingzao was rendered speechless.
She realized that although her young lady was foolish, she did possess a great deal of self-awareness.
Shen Chenbi dusted off her hands and headed inside. After two steps, she turned back. “Oh, right, Qingzao. The smell on that person was so familiar. I feel as though I’ve smelled it somewhere before.”
“What smell?”
“Pinewood fragrance.”
Qingzao froze.
Pinewood fragrance?
She was just about to say that there were plenty of people in the capital who used pinewood fragrance when Shen Chenbi had already forgotten all about it and sat down at the table to open the packet of jasmine-scented powder.
Qingzao opened her mouth, then swallowed her words.
Forget it.
As long as her young lady’s mind had room for floral fragrances, that was enough.
Toward evening, Shen Wenyu returned to the residence.
Her investigation of the accounts had not gone smoothly today. The accounts for the shop on West Street did not add up, and the manager had been evasive, clearly having taken kickbacks. She had patiently spent two hours wrangling with him. By the time she returned home, she was utterly exhausted.
Yet as soon as she entered the residence, she saw Steward Zhou standing before the screen wall, wearing an expression that said, “I have something to report, but I don’t know how to say it.”
“What happened?” Shen Wenyu asked warily. “What has Shen Chenbi done this time?”
Steward Zhou hurriedly shook his head. “Second Miss Shen was very well-behaved today. She only walked around the garden.”
Shen Wenyu let out a breath of relief. “Then what is that expression for?”
Steward Zhou considered his wording before lowering his voice. “Someone from the Pei Residence came.”
Shen Wenyu stopped dead.
“Who?”
“Lord Pei, the Minister of the Dali Temple, sent his personal page to deliver a message.” Steward Zhou lowered his voice even further. “He said that Lord Pei has been busy with official matters recently. As for the matter he arranged with Eldest Miss Shen, he will come another day to discuss it.”
Shen Wenyu pressed her lips together.
She had indeed arranged something with Pei Zhuo.
It had been the first proper thing she did after being reborn. She had found Pei Zhuo, the Minister of the Dali Temple, and exchanged a clue about an old case she knew of from her previous life for a favor from him.
That favor had originally been meant to save a life.
Her sister’s life.
But judging from Steward Zhou’s tone, Pei Zhuo did not seem to be in any hurry to repay the favor.
“I understand.” Shen Wenyu suppressed the irritation in her heart and continued toward the inner courtyard.
Halfway there, she turned back and asked, “When the page from the Pei Residence came, Bier wasn’t there, was she?”
The corner of Steward Zhou’s mouth twitched.
“When the page from the Pei Residence arrived, Second Miss Shen was in her room opening a packet of scented powder, so they did not encounter each other. However…” He paused. “Second Miss Shen met a young gentleman in the garden today.”
Shen Wenyu’s gaze sharpened. “What young gentleman?”
“It was…” Steward Zhou struggled to choose his words. “A young gentleman wearing a moon-white straight gown. He came to the residence to visit you, Eldest Miss. As you happened not to be here, he passed through the garden and helped Second Miss Shen get a kite down.”
Shen Wenyu’s brows drew tightly together. “What was his name? Which family was he from?”
Steward Zhou was silent for a moment.
“This old servant does not know.”
“You don’t know?”
“That gentleman did not give his name. He only said that he would come visit another day.” Steward Zhou’s expression turned somewhat peculiar. “However… this old servant noticed that he arrived at the same time as the page from the Pei Residence.”
Shen Wenyu’s heart gave a jolt.
“You mean—”
“This old servant did not say anything,” Steward Zhou said, lowering his head. “This old servant merely thought that the pinewood fragrance on that gentleman was the same scent that had rubbed off onto the page from the Pei Residence.”
Shen Wenyu suddenly clenched her sleeve.
Pinewood fragrance.
Pei Zhuo smelled of pinewood fragrance.
In her previous life, she had seen that Minister of the Dali Temple from a distance several times at palace banquets. She remembered him sitting upright among the guests, his entire presence cold and forbidding. Even his fragrance seemed to carry an air that warned others to keep their distance.
That was why she had deliberately chosen him.
Because she knew that Pei Zhuo had no interest in beauty. He kept away from women and never bent the law for personal feelings. In the entire capital, there was no man less likely to take an interest in her sister.
But judging from what Steward Zhou was implying—
Today, she had barely left before Pei Zhuo came to the residence.
Coming to the residence was one thing, but he had “passed through” the garden?
Passing through the garden was one thing, but he had helped her sister get her kite down?
Did getting a kite down really require the Minister of the Dali Temple to do it himself?!
And after getting it down, he had not even given his name—
Shen Wenyu drew in a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
No. She could not overthink it. Perhaps it was merely a coincidence. Perhaps Pei Zhuo really had only stopped by while passing through, and encountering her sister had been entirely accidental. Getting a kite down was simply a small favor. It did not mean anything.
That man kept away from women.
Everyone in the capital knew that the Minister of the Dali Temple, Pei Zhuo, kept away from women.
There was not even a maidservant in his residence.
Even the watchdog he kept was male.
Shen Wenyu repeated this to herself three times. At last, she managed to suppress the unease in her heart.
She entered the inner courtyard, pushed open Shen Chenbi’s door, and planned to see what trouble the girl had gotten into today.
The moment she pushed the door open, the fragrance of jasmine filling the room rushed toward her.
Shen Chenbi was sitting at the table with a row of eyebrow pencils laid out before her. She was bending over a sheet of paper, drawing eyebrows.
Not her own eyebrows.
She was drawing them on paper.
An entire row of them.
Thick ones and thin ones, long ones and short ones, willow-leaf brows, distant-mountain brows, straight brows, and little mountain-shaped brows—she had filled an entire sheet of paper. Beside them, she had carefully labeled each one: “Use this one on a clear Monday,” and “Use that one on a rainy Tuesday.”
Shen Wenyu stood in the doorway. Looking at the eyebrow pencils covering the table and the back of that extremely earnest head, she suddenly felt the unease in her heart scatter.
This?
With this sort of disposition, what man could she possibly provoke?
Shen Chenbi raised her head. When she saw her sister standing in the doorway, she immediately put on an ingratiating smile. “Older Sister, you’re back! Look at what I drew—”
“That’s enough.” Shen Wenyu cut her off, her tone as cold as ever. “Put everything away and come eat.”
“Oh.”
Shen Chenbi obediently set down the eyebrow pencil and began tidying the things on the table.
Shen Wenyu turned to leave, but when she reached the doorway, she glanced back once more.
Her sister had her head lowered. A wisp of loose hair hung beside her cheek. Beneath the candlelight, that face was so still it seemed painted. Her peach-blossom eyes were lowered, and her eyelashes cast a small shadow above the faint mole on her cheekbone, visible only when one drew close.
Shen Wenyu suddenly thought that perhaps this was precisely the problem.
Her sister’s beauty was the kind that made it impossible to look away.
Yet she herself was completely unaware of it. She was like a three-year-old child running wildly through a crowded marketplace with a gold ingot in her arms, utterly ignorant of how many pairs of eyes were following behind her.
Shen Wenyu closed her eyes.
She could not overthink it.
Although her sister was foolish, she was not blind. The man who had helped her get the kite down today—she had not even asked his name. That proved she had not regarded him as anything worth noticing.
That was good.
She needed to keep it that way.
Satisfied, Shen Wenyu turned around, intending to return to her own courtyard, change her clothes, and then eat.
She had taken only two steps when she suddenly heard Shen Chenbi mutter from inside the room.
“Oh, right, Qingzao. I remember the smell on that person today.”
Qingzao asked, “What smell?”
“I smelled it outside Jifang Cosmetics Shop last time too. It was the same pinewood fragrance.” Shen Chenbi’s voice was filled with innocent delight. “What a coincidence.”
Shen Wenyu stopped in her tracks.
She turned around and stared at the half-closed door.
Jifang Cosmetics Shop.
That was where her sister had gone a few days ago after sneaking out.
Shen Wenyu slowly clenched her fists.
So it had not been a chance encounter.
This was the second time.
She drew in a deep breath and looked up at the sky.
Dusk had settled over everything. The last streak of sunset on the horizon was slowly going out, like a lamp being blown out.
Then she turned and strode back to her own courtyard. She pushed open the door to her study and rummaged through a drawer until she found a sheet of paper.
There was only one line on it, written by her after she had been reborn.
“Pei Zhuo. Usable.”
She picked up her brush and heavily added two characters beside that line.
“Beware.”
She set down the brush and stared at the sheet of paper for a long time.
Outside the window, darkness fully descended.
From the distance came Shen Chenbi’s call. “Older Sister—come eat—there’s braised pork tonight—”
Her voice was cheerful and entirely free of worry.
Shen Wenyu was silent for a moment. Then she folded the paper, tucked it deep into the drawer, and pushed open the door.
In the courtyard, her sister was already sitting at the stone table. Two sets of bowls and chopsticks had been placed before her, and she was tapping the edge of her bowl with her chopsticks while humming a little tune. When she saw Shen Wenyu come out, she waved at her with a bright smile.
“Come quickly, come quickly! The meat smells so good today!”
Shen Wenyu walked over and sat down opposite her.
“Bier.”
“Mm?”
“Stay out of the garden more often from now on.”
Shen Chenbi’s hand stopped in midair as she was picking up a piece of meat. She blinked in confusion. “Why?”
Without changing expression, Shen Wenyu said, “There have been a lot of insects lately. Even the pomegranate tree is infested.”
“Oh.” Shen Chenbi nodded, stuffed the meat into her mouth, and answered indistinctly, “Then I won’t go.”
Looking at that completely unguarded face, Shen Wenyu sighed softly to herself.
There was no end to the things one had to guard against.
But she still had to guard against them.