A deed of sale? Mei Jinshu looked over, thinking to himself that for Meng Xueran to go to such lengths just to secure a domestic bondservant from the Duke of Yi’s estate was somewhat amusing, yet for him, it could be considered a positive development.
He hadn’t expected this kid to finally see the light and pull off such a dramatic, fiery act of saving a damsel in distress.
He ought to make some plans. Once the matter was settled, he might as well welcome the young woman named Bai Tang directly into the Prime Minister’s estate. The mere thought brought a smile to his lips.
Ye Ting muttered, “Young Master, you, you’ve actually angered Your Lordship to the point of laughter!”
Mei Jinshu responded, “Hmm? What laughter?” To have exhausted all efforts and finally pulled this high-risk threat back from the brink of a same-sex deviation onto the proper path, this was clearly a laugh of joy. As expected, not a single person around could truly share or understand his current frame of mind!
“Hahaha!” Bu Jian sneered aloud. “I never would have guessed! Your adopted son is quite the daring and devoted romantic!”
Knowing they had misunderstood yet again, Meng Xueran hurriedly opened his mouth to explain, “Bai Tang and I are merely good friends who have known each other at the academy for years; there is no mutual affection between us! I simply did not want her to be worn down by the Princess, and wished to return her freedom to her.”
Upon hearing this, Bu Jian flew into a towering rage. “What did you say! When has my daughter ever worn down a servant!”
Meng Xueran stated, “The Duke of Yi may not be aware, but who within the academy does not steer clear of the Princess by a wide margin? Even I have been subjected to the Princess’s bullying for years, let alone her personal attendants. Naturally, the Duke will lean toward the Princess, but one only needs to ask around outside to find out the truth.”
“You, you brat!” Bu Jian pointed a trembling finger at him as he cursed, “Sharp-tongued and utterly devoid of upbringing! Prime Minister, do you truly intend to do nothing?”
Regaining his composure, Mei Jinshu cleared his throat and said, “While Mei Jiu was indeed in the wrong here, the Princess is not entirely blameless either. Since Mei Jiu is willing to bear all consequences of calling off the marriage, shoulder the ill reputation alone, and offer an apology and atonement to the Princess, what more is there to argue about? Isn’t the Duke of Yi’s estate coming out ahead in this deal?”
“After creating such a scene today, both the Prime Minister’s estate and the Duke of Yi’s estate have become the laughingstock of the capital’s teahouses. Did the Duke never stop to think about the root cause? Exactly who is it that spoiled the Princess to such an extent?”
“Mei Jinshu!” Bu Jian cut him off, shouting, “How I choose to raise my daughter is not your place to point fingers!”
Mei Jinshu retorted, “Hoh, no need to roar so loudly.”
Bu Jian snapped, “She is merely a domestic slave; take her if you want her. As for making His Majesty cancel the marriage, you had better make sure you follow through on your words!”
The grand convoy of carriages from the Duke of Yi’s estate departed noisily. Bu Jingyu sat in the same carriage as Bu Chengyang, feeling suddenly plagued by a guilty conscience; with the matter blowing up to this scale, her father was bound to be furious.
The thought brought a wave of inexplicable grievance. In truth, she was no longer all that angry, nor did she harbor such intense hatred toward Mei Jiu.
Bu Chengyang grumbled, “Stop putting on an act, crying and crying. Your older brother here got punched several times because of this!”
Bu Jingyu asked, “Then, how was this matter resolved?”
Bu Chengyang replied, “How else could it be resolved? The marriage naturally fell through! Isn’t this the exact outcome you wanted? That fellow called Mei Jiu agreed to bear the consequences of rejecting the marriage all by himself, and even offered to apologize and make amends to you, all just to secure a deed of sale for a domestic servant.”
“Tch, doesn’t seem all that stupid, so why would he pull a stunt like this?”
“Quite ridiculous, isn’t it, all for a mere servant.”
“Mei Jiu!” Bu Jingyu was so angry she actually burst into tears, because she knew full well who the servant her brother mentioned was, that lowly, cheap maid whom she had never once deigned to look at and had beaten and scolded at will!
Jealousy threatened to drown her. She wished she could personally crush those two mutual sympathizers to death. A marriage she had cast aside like worn-out shoes had actually been picked up by the most humble servant beside her, where on earth was her face supposed to go?
Gritting her teeth, Bu Jingyu asked, “Brother, did Father agree to it?”
Bu Chengyang answered, “He agreed. Just a cheap maid, what harm is there in giving her away? Our Duke of Yi’s estate isn’t short of people.”
“Good, very good.” Bu Jingyu clenched her skirt tightly, her entire body trembling with rage.
With this absurd farce finally resolved, the Prime Minister’s estate at last returned to peace.
Mei Jinshu welcomed the young woman who had been huddled in the corner of the carriage into the estate. She appeared to be around the same age as Meng Xueran, with tear-filled eyes and a forlorn expression, showing she had suffered quite a fright.
This girl named Bai Tang appeared very restrained, possessing delicate features and a scholarly aura. If not for knowing her background, she truly looked no different from the young daughter of a learned family.
“This humble girl greets the Prime Minister!” Instinctively dropping to her knees, Bai Tang offered a deep, formal bow.
“There is no need for that.” Mei Jinshu helped her up and said, “Since you and Mei Jiu are good friends, you can rest assured and stay at the Prime Minister’s estate. Come to think of it, the two of you make a rather good match.”
“Ah?” Bai Tang hurriedly clarified, “Lord, you misunderstand. This humble girl knows her status is lowly and has never harbored any desire to climb high into the Prime Minister’s estate. Mei Jiu and I are truly just friends.”
Mei Jinshu felt a slight pang of disappointment. How could they be just friends?
Over all these years, wasn’t there a single person who could spark something in Meng Xueran? He truly wondered if the boy had read books until his brains turned to mush; you couldn’t force a donkey to drink water, but he could at least try to play matchmaker.
“Bai Tang, you should first stay in this place.”
“She can stay in the southwest guest room; it is closer to Mei Jiu’s quarters.”
Catching the matchmaking intent behind those words, Meng Xueran felt a trace of displeasure swell in his chest. Even after everything had been explained clearly, why did his adoptive father still insist on acting on his own accord? He lowered his head gloomily, his gaze darting toward that flash of purple robes.
By nightfall, the lights throughout the estate gradually dimmed.
The lamps in Mei Jinshu’s main courtyard had been extinguished long ago. Lying fully clothed on his bed, he dragged his exhausted energy to check his point refund status, only to find that a hundred points had actually been refunded today!
Why was that? Had he done something today that displeased Meng Xueran? He was completely baffled!
If he recalled correctly, he had personally stepped in to block the venomous woman’s scorpions just in time, yet the kid showed no gratitude and instead bred rebellious thoughts; he had truly underestimated Meng Xueran.
“Adoptive father.” Suddenly, someone tapped softly at the door.
“What are you doing here so late?”
“I, I…”
“Stammering away, get in here.”
Pushing open the door and entering, Meng Xueran saw Mei Jinshu getting up to light a lamp. Dressed in a white inner tunic draped with a light-purple outer robe, his long hair cascading loosely down his back, the Prime Minister looked as though he had just been disturbed from his sleep.
Lighting two candles to make the room slightly brighter, Mei Jinshu leaned against the desk, resting his chin in his hand as he lazily drawled, “Coming here this late, you had better actually have a matter of consequence.”
“There is indeed a matter.” Pointing to his own chest, Meng Xueran spoke in a faint voice, “It hurts here.”
Mei Jinshu asked, “Did the venom woman touch you during the fight?”
Meng Xueran shook his head. “No.”
Suddenly sitting upright with a solemn expression, Mei Jinshu pulled the boy in front of him and yanked open his upper garment. Sure enough, his snow-white skin was covered in a web of blue-purple veins alongside stagnant, congested blood.
He was truly incorrigibly foolish; having sustained internal injuries without even realizing it, and enduring until now before finally coming to tell him. When the fellow was clever, he could run rings around even him, but when he was foolish, he was both pitiful and exasperated.
“Don’t move around, I’ll go find some medicine.”
“Yes.” Under the dim, flickering candlelight, Meng Xueran gazed in a daze as the Prime Minister busied himself running back and forth.
Moving the medicine chest directly to the bedside, Mei Jinshu instructed, “What are you standing there stunned for? Lie down.”
“Ah? Right!” Walking over to the bed, Meng Xueran lay down. In an instant, it felt as though he had traveled back to that year when he was ten years old; the soft mattress still retained a lingering, faint scent of cold plum blossoms, such a comforting fragrance, and it had been a very, very long time since he had been this close.
Lying on this bed, he truly did not wish to return to the Plum Quarters. He wished so badly that he could stay, just like in the past.
“What are you thinking about?” Mei Jinshu asked him.
“Nothing.” Snapping out of it, Meng Xueran felt his cheeks burning slightly as he asked, “Adoptive father, what is wrong with me?”
Twirling a silver needle between his fingers, Mei Jinshu popped a blood-circulating and bruise-dissolving pill into the boy’s mouth and said with a huff, “You’re not dead yet. Just internal injuries; they’ll clear up once I needle you and disperse the stagnant blood.”
“You really don’t fear death, either. You actually had the nerve to take that assassin’s heavy iron hammer head-on. Getting hit with internal injuries is already getting off lightly; an ordinary person would have been smashed into a bloody pulp.”
“I won’t be so reckless next time.” Meng Xueran promised him.
Mei Jinshu felt thoroughly uncomfortable under that gaze, yet unable to lash out, he could only use the acupuncture session to make the boy grimace and bare his teeth in pain. Covered in cold sweat while still staring at him with those infatuated eyes, the kid was truly…
Unable to hold it in any longer, he demanded, “Why do you keep staring at me!”
Meng Xueran answered, “Because right here, there is only you and me, adoptive father.”
“Tch, truly impossible to argue with that.” Driving in the final needle, Mei Jinshu stood up, poured a cup of tea, and sat quietly by the window to admire the moonlight. Since the one in pain wasn’t him, all he needed to do was guard his original intention and walk step by step along the destined path.
How agonizing. Meng Xueran’s chest heaved violently, burning with a piercing pain. Enduring the torment, he turned his head to look at the beauty by the window, who looked like an immortal stepping out of a painting, sitting there in tranquil stillness.
Even just a profile view was enough to captivate someone down to their very soul. Meng Xueran often wondered why the world contained someone so cold and detached, yet so utterly mesmerizing to him. He worshipped Mei Jinshu, admired Mei Jinshu, and even longed to become someone who could stand proudly shoulder to shoulder with him.
Even sitting side profile to side, Mei Jinshu could sense through his peripheral vision the gaze Meng Xueran had plastered all over him, staring without a single blink. What on earth was he looking at?
He couldn’t help letting out a silent sigh, forced to pretend as though he knew nothing at all.
Suddenly, a terrifying thought crossed his mind. If the Mei Jinshu of the previous life had loved the Mei Jiu he raised with his own hands, rather than the Meng Xueran who had gone completely mad from jealousy and resentment, then the origin of all those tragic events suddenly made sense.
Who could ever fall in love with a madman who had completely lost his reason? The torture and humiliation were merely outlets to vent the hatred burning within.
Surely the Meng Xueran who ascended the throne in the past life had never known happiness either, right? To personally destroy the person, he loved and cared for most was an indescribable, agonizing pain, which was why, after Mei Jinshu took his own life, the Emperor drank poisoned wine to follow him in death.
Why did his own chest ache in sympathy? Was he afraid?
Turning his head, he met those gazing eyes through wisps of moonlight. For a split second, Meng Xueran flinched and hurriedly averted his line of sight, feeling the guilt of a peeping Tom. He raised an arm to block his eyes, begging himself not to look anymore, knowing it would only make it harder to ever let go.
“Finally done staring?”
“Adoptive father, has truly no one ever praised you for being exceedingly handsome?”
A cold glint flashed in Mei Jinshu’s eyes. “The young are all superficial.”