With Pei Yanzhou present, Song Jinyin finished her greeting and retreated to the side.
But now that Pei Yanzhou was no longer shielding her from the front, the cold wind seemed to go mad, relentlessly rushing toward her.
She glanced at the long corridor, and a thought suddenly surfaced in her mind.
If she didn’t take this path, the wind wouldn’t blow entirely onto Pei Yanzhou. Blown back along this way, given her current physical condition, she would surely collapse within two hours.
This thought startled Song Jinyin, but the next moment, the image of Pei Yanzhou holding an umbrella for Ye Wanqiu followed.
She smiled self-deprecatingly, completely dismissing this tender notion.
If he weren’t drunk, Pei Yanzhou would never soften toward her.
Before her, Pei Jinzhi was politely exchanging pleasantries.
As the legitimate son of the second branch, he was Old Madame’s most beloved grandson after Pei Yanzhou.
When people in Guogongfu spoke of him, they always described him as an elegant and gentle young master, neither scheming like Second Master of the Pei family nor tainted by the snobbery of the second madame. Instead, he carried some of the grace of the Duke in his youth.
He was a fine young man praised by many.
Yet all of this still failed to catch Pei Yanzhou’s eye.
“I heard Miss Ye was frightened last night and only recovered after you personally stayed with her for a long time. It seems I won’t have to wait long before I can ask my elder brother for a celebratory drink?”
“Why bother asking me for a drink, Second Brother?”
Pei Yanzhou raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at him with a faint, ambiguous smile. “The wind last night was bitterly cold. I merely went to check on her, thinking her courtyard was too remote. It doesn’t count for much.”
“It was indeed quite cold. I’m just curious—when you accompanied the beauty last night, was our dear sister Jinyin still by your side?”
“The maids in my courtyard are coarse and unrefined, unworthy of being called ‘sister’ by you, Second Brother.”
Pei Yanzhou placed one hand behind his back, his gaze sweeping over with an innate air of aloof authority.
Pei Jinzhi, who had been smiling and inquiring, gradually grew hoarse after several rounds of exchange.
He subtly glanced at Song Jinyin, who stood behind with lowered eyes and remained silent. Seeing no reaction from her, his suspicions eased slightly.
It wasn’t until she returned to Shizi Yuan that Song Jinyin realized her back was damp with sweat in this chilly autumn.
A dog that bites doesn’t bark.
Pei Jinzhi might not be a vicious dog, but his probing just now was far too obvious.
So, the man and woman last night…
Song Jinyin pressed her lips tightly together, not wanting to uncover anything related to Guogongfu.
“If you don’t want to serve here, you can go back outside and kneel.”
Pei Yanzhou removed his outer robe, noticing Song Jinyin standing to the side lost in thought, her face still devoid of color. Only the wound on her lips, which should have healed, was once again stained crimson.
He felt irritated and spoke roughly, “Thinking about Pei Jinzhi?”
“This servant wouldn’t dare.”
Song Jinyin snapped back to attention and stepped forward to take the outer robe he had removed.
There were many maids in Pei Yanzhou’s courtyard, but they were only allowed to work outside. Besides her, the only one who could enter the inner courtyard was Xueyu, who occasionally delivered items.
Thus, Steward Wang always assigned such intimate tasks only to her.
“This servant will help Shizi change.”
“Wouldn’t dare? What wouldn’t you dare?”
Pei Yanzhou grabbed her wrist. “He was the man behind the rockery last night. Should I send you directly to his courtyard and see whether he’ll kill you or raise you as a sister?”
Song Jinyin instinctively looked up, her dark eyes flashing with disbelief before settling back into calmness.
The idea of giving her away to someone else—Pei Yanzhou might truly be capable of such a thing.
All these years, his composure and restraint had only ever appeared in the eyes of others.
To her, Pei Yanzhou was no different from a madman.
The grip on her wrist tightened, leaving increasingly clear red marks against her fair skin.
Song Jinyin recalled the events of the day.
From Ye Wanqiu’s provocations after she woke, to Liu Shi severing their mother-daughter ties and watching her humiliation with indifference, and finally to Pei Yanzhou’s public retaliation against her.
Each incident was like one soaked handkerchief after another, pressed relentlessly over her mouth and nose, making it harder and harder to breathe.
Suddenly, her spirit deflated, and a wave of desolation spread through her heart.
After a moment’s thought, Song Jinyin relaxed entirely and spoke recklessly, “If the Shizi wishes to give me away, then so be it. But when the time comes, please send my Maishen Qi along as well.”
The man gripping her wrist stiffened, his expression terrifyingly dark.
After a long pause, his other hand covered Song Jinyin’s neck, his rough fingertips stroking back and forth, his gaze shadowed and restrained.
“So eager to leave me?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Have you forgotten how Liu Shi sent you here all those years ago?”
Pei Yanzhou smiled, a cold gleam rising in his eyes. “What do you and your mother take me for? Someone you can push around as you please, coming and going as you wish, hmm?”
His slender fingers curled slightly, gently grazing a pulsing spot on Song Jinyin’s neck.
“I’ve raised you all these years, and this is how you repay me? My dear little sister.”
The word “sister” stunned them both.
Aside from the first year, when he had reluctantly addressed her as such a few times in front of the Duchess, that title had rarely been spoken since.
In the end, it was Pei Yanzhou who regained his composure first.
One hand remained on Song Jinyin’s neck, the other encircled her waist as he leaned down and bit her delicate earlobe.
His warm breath brushed her ear, but the words that spilled out were icy.
“I can give you to anyone, but unless I die, you will never take that Maishen Qi from me.”
“Pei Yanzhou.”
Song Jinyin’s heart sank, and tears suddenly streamed from the corners of her eyes.
She had once believed that with time, or once Pei Yanzhou uncovered the truth, the hatred between them would not be all that remained.
If even that failed, she thought she could wait a few more years quietly, reclaim her Maishen Qi, and erase her slave status.
Song Jinyin felt there had to be some hope—otherwise, every day in this mansion would be unbearable.
But she never imagined that Pei Yanzhou had no intention of letting her leave at all.
“Pei Yanzhou, if you hate me so much, why keep me by your side?”
Pei Yanzhou’s grip tightened, feeling the fire within him grow harder to quench as she spoke his name.
“Don’t want to stay by my side? Fine.”
Song Jinyin froze, her slightly reddened eyes fixed on him just as a large teardrop fell, clearing the mist and leaving her gaze bright and clear.
In the next instant, her body was lifted into the air and thrown onto the bed inside.
The tall man pressed down on her, pinning her hands, his thin lips moving from her earlobe down her neck, stopping at the collar of her robe.
“I’ve spared Liu Shi’s life for eight years. Before you leave, remember to collect her corpse.”
"And that girl you've been training for years, though she doesn't match your beauty and grace, she must take your place eventually."
"As for Anyangxian…"
Pei Yanzhou looked into her eyes, once again veiled with mist, desperately suppressing the turmoil within him that threatened to consume him entirely. His words turned icy.
"If those people knew that the magistrate's wife they once praised so highly, while her husband's bones were still cold, turned around and…"
"Pei Yanzhou, have you gone mad?"
"Yes, I have. From the moment I pulled you onto this bed, you should have known—I've been mad for a long time."