Shen Wenyu took her to a teahouse.
The teahouse stood in the southern part of the city and was one of the Shen household’s properties. It had two floors: loose-leaf tea was sold on the first floor, while the second floor held private rooms. By the time the sisters arrived, it was already afternoon. A few scattered tables of customers occupied the main hall, while a storyteller onstage related some strange tale from the martial world, striking his wooden clapper with sharp, resounding cracks.
Shen Wenyu led Shen Chenbi upstairs and took a seat in a private room by the window. Tea and refreshments had already been prepared on the table: a pot of Biluochun, two plates of pastries, and a pot of asparagus fern on the windowsill. The room was fresh and immaculate.
Shen Chenbi lifted the gauze of her veiled hat and looked around curiously. “Older Sister, what are we doing here?”
“Drinking tea.” Shen Wenyu poured her a cup, her expression as calm as ever. “You’ve been cooped up at home for so many days. I brought you out for some fresh air.”
Shen Chenbi was deeply moved.
Her sister might be fierce, might call her stupid, and might frighten her with a feather duster—but she still remembered that Shen Chenbi had been cooped up, and had brought her out for some fresh air. Her nose began to sting. She hurriedly lowered her head and drank her tea to hide it.
“Drink slowly. It’s hot.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Shen Chenbi held her teacup and took tiny sips, her eyes darting about as she surveyed the street outside and the storyteller downstairs. She rarely ever left the house, so everything looked new to her. She even wanted to examine what sort of curtains hung in the neighboring private room.
Seeing her younger sister looking as though she had not left the house in eight hundred years, Shen Wenyu felt both exasperated and heartsick. She knew that keeping her sister confined at home was not a long-term solution, but every time she let her go out, she became anxious, afraid that someone from her previous life might emerge from some corner.
There were two reasons she had brought her out today. First, she truly could not stand watching her sister grow listless from being stifled at home. Second, she wanted to test the waters.
She wanted to see how deeply Xiao Yu’s influence had already infiltrated things.
By this point in her previous life, Xiao Yu should already have noticed the Shen household. Although the Shen household was not exactly a prestigious family, they had been merchants for generations and possessed substantial wealth. More importantly—her sister’s face would sooner or later reach Xiao Yu’s ears.
That was exactly what had happened in her previous life. Xiao Yu had first used business as an excuse to approach the Shen household, paying a visit under the pretext of discussing a deal. There, he had encountered Shen Chenbi swinging on a swing in the rear courtyard. Shen Wenyu had not been at home that day. By the time she returned, everything was already too late.
At the thought, Shen Wenyu’s hand tightened unconsciously around her teacup.
She had brought her sister to the teahouse today precisely because she wanted to encounter trouble outside first. The teahouse was her own territory, and both the manager and the staff were people she knew well. If anything happened, she would know immediately.
She lifted her teacup, her gaze inconspicuously sweeping across the main hall below, the foot of the stairs, and the corridor on the second floor.
For now, everything was fine.
Just then, Shen Chenbi suddenly set down her teacup and tugged on her sleeve.
“Older Sister.”
“Hmm?”
“That person downstairs has been looking at me the whole time.”
Shen Wenyu’s heart clenched. She followed Shen Chenbi’s gaze downward.
In a corner of the scattered seating on the first floor sat a young man in a blue cloth changshan. He had a long face and narrow eyes, and his gaze was stuck to her sister’s face, a faintly roguish smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
Shen Wenyu’s expression darkened.
She recognized that face. Liu Qi, the nephew of Vice Minister Liu of the Ministry of Revenue. Relying on his uncle’s influence, he ran rampant through the capital and took particular pleasure in harassing respectable women on the streets. In her previous life, Liu Qi had also set his sights on her sister. Fortunately, by then Xiao Yu had already “claimed” Shen Chenbi, and had used a few methods behind the scenes to make Liu Qi suffer. Only then had the matter come to an end.
But in this life, Xiao Yu had not yet appeared, while Liu Qi had already shown up first.
“Put your veiled hat back on,” Shen Wenyu said in a low voice.
Shen Chenbi obediently lowered the veiled hat, the gauze hiding her face. Yet not long afterward, footsteps sounded at the top of the stairs. Liu Qi had actually brought a cup of wine up to the second floor and was walking straight toward them.
There was a knock at the door of the private room.
“Eldest Miss Shen,” Liu Qi said with a smile, “I’m something of an old acquaintance of your honored father. What a coincidence meeting you today. Might I have the honor of sharing a drink with you?”
“My father is not here. It is inconvenient for us to receive guests,” Shen Wenyu replied coldly.
“Ah, Eldest Miss Shen, why be so distant?” Without waiting for an invitation, Liu Qi pushed open the door. His gaze passed over Shen Wenyu and landed directly on Shen Chenbi. “I caught sight of Second Miss Shen from afar just now, and truly—”
He did not finish.
His voice had not been interrupted.
He had simply lost it himself.
After he pushed open the door of the private room, there was nothing obstructing his view. Shen Chenbi sat upright by the window, her face hidden beneath the gauze of her veiled hat. But a breeze blew in from outside and lifted one corner of the thin gauze.
It lasted only an instant.
Liu Qi’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He forgot to lower the winecup in his hand and opened and closed his mouth, as though he wanted to say something but did not know what to say.
It was not as though he had never seen a beauty before. He had even patronized the capital’s celebrated courtesans, and he had seen plenty of daughters from official families. But the person before him was different—the gauze half veiled her face, which was unadorned by cosmetics; she held a cup of tea in her hands, and her expression carried a completely unguarded bewilderment. She had not even looked at him. She merely lowered her head and focused intently on blowing the tea leaves in her cup, as though there were not suddenly one more person in the private room at all.
Shen Wenyu’s patience was completely exhausted.
“Shopkeeper Zhou!” she called.
The shopkeeper downstairs ran up at the sound of her voice. One look at the situation was enough for him to understand. He hurried forward to stop Liu Qi. “Young Master Liu, this is the Shen household’s private room. You cannot—”
Interrupted by the shopkeeper, Liu Qi came back to himself. He was not annoyed, however. He smiled, set down his winecup, and clasped his hands. “I was presumptuous. I shall pay another visit some other day.”
He turned and went downstairs, his footsteps considerably slower than when he had come. When he reached the top of the stairs, he even looked back once.
Shen Chenbi had not looked at him from beginning to end.
She was examining the pot of asparagus fern.
“Older Sister.” She lifted one corner of her veiled hat and pointed at the plant. “Can I take this home? I want to put it on my windowsill and let it keep my kite company.”
Shen Wenyu: “…”
Her younger sister had nearly just been devoured by someone’s eyes, and what she cared about was a pot of asparagus fern.
“Take it back,” Shen Wenyu said, rubbing her brow and waving to the shopkeeper.
Shen Chenbi immediately broke into a radiant smile. She picked up the pot of asparagus fern and contentedly stroked its leaves.
Looking at her younger sister’s utterly carefree appearance, Shen Wenyu did not know whether she ought to feel reassured or sigh.