Yuan Yingti shut herself in her room. Aside from turning things over and over in her mind, trying to figure out what to write in her letter, she forced herself to cry.
Losing a father was a matter of tremendous magnitude. She felt she ought to weep her heart out, be so overcome with grief she could barely live, feel herself shatter into pieces—only then would she be worthy of her father. Yet she lay on the bed, squeezing her eyes shut again and again, and could not produce a single tear.
It seemed she did not feel much grief.
How could that be?
Yuan Yingti was seized with alarm, her heart pounding with panic and guilt. Surely she wasn't an ungrateful wretch?
But she hadn't always been like this. When her mother passed away, she had grieved for three whole years. During those three years, her pillow had never dried. Even now, she still dreamed of her mother often.
How strange.
No—she still had to cry a few more days for her father.
Yuan Yingti kept herself shut in, until a full three days had passed. Counting on her fingers, day by day, she felt she had fulfilled her duty as a filial daughter, and only then did she come out of her room.
Xie Zhi was washing dishes by the stove. Hearing the door creak softly, he turned his head and saw her walk out and stop in the main hall. He couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
These past few days, apart from necessary daily needs like eating and bathing, she had never come out to linger.
It seemed she had finished her period of mourning.
Xie Zhi sized her up.
Having shut herself in for three days, she seemed a little paler, but her figure had not grown thin. He looked her over inch by inch, his expression growing more satisfied by the moment.
That night he had thought it over carefully and made the decision to keep her. Now, looking at her again, it was like examining his future wife.
His mood could not help but be excellent, and his gaze upon her grew more penetrating and direct.
Yuan Yingti, however, was completely unaware. She stood in place and called softly, "A-Nu."
"I'm here, young miss."
Yuan Yingti followed the sound of his voice to his side, tilted her head up, and said earnestly, "These past few days have been hard on you, A-Nu. I couldn't have managed without your care."
Her voice was soft and sticky-sweet. Xie Zhi watched her face from up close.
"If the young miss is well, then I am not troubled."
Yuan Yingti's heart went soft.
A-Nu was so good. If she could successfully marry into the Pei family, she would surely have her husband promote him well.
At that thought, she thought of writing to Pei Shuyu.
Her eyes were bad; she could not write the letter herself. She needed A-Nu's help for this.
So she tilted her head slightly and asked, "A-Nu, is there brush and ink at home?"
"I bought some a while back. What does the young miss wish to write?"
"I want to write a letter."
"Who does the young miss wish to write to?" Xie Zhi asked with an casual smile.
Yuan Yingti clasped her hands in front of her and lowered her eyes demurely.
"To my fiancé."
The air stilled for a moment.
Xie Zhi's smile froze on his face.
The bowl in his hand let out a harsh screech. Water dripped from his fingertips, drop by drop.
He took a clean cloth and slowly wiped his fingers.
His voice came out oddly distorted. "Fiancé?"
"The young miss has a fiancé?"
Yuan Yingti nodded. "Yes."
"I want to send him a letter, asking him to come fetch me." She added this.
"Is that so."
Yuan Yingti could see nothing.
A moment later, she heard the man beside her ask with a gentle smile, "Who is the young miss's fiancé?"
She answered truthfully, "His name is Pei Shuyu. He is from the Pei clan of Hedong."
"Very well. I'll go fetch the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone right away."
Yuan Yingti heard him go into a room and soon come back out.
The paper rustled as it was spread flat on the dining table. She smelled the scent of ink.
"A-Nu, do you know how to write?"
"Yes."
"Wonderful." Yuan Yingti's brows and eyes curved upward. "I'll dictate, and you write it for me, all right?"
"All right."
Yuan Yingti had shut herself in her room for three days and had long since worked out the draft in her head. The moment he agreed, she spoke smoothly:
"To my brother Shuyu, opened personally." She paused briefly, afraid he might not know the characters, and explained specifically, "Shu as in 'washing stones and rinsing in the stream,' Yu as in 'a fragment of jade from Mount Kun.'"
The room was quiet. Yuan Yingti waited a while, then asked him, "Are you done writing?"
"Mm. Young miss, please continue."
Yuan Yingti cleared her throat and continued reciting her prepared draft: "Letters have been long delayed—not because I have forgotten, but truly because misfortunes have come one after another, and I feared to burden you with worry. When our household met with disaster, I was fortunate that a loyal servant risked death to come to my aid, and only then escaped grave danger. Now I am temporarily sheltered in a safe place."
She paused again and waited a while, guessing he had probably finished writing, before continuing: "Last night I embraced my shadow and could not sleep, and I thought I saw you treading the moonlight to come to me. But when I reached out, I caught only half a bed of clear radiance…"
Yuan Yingti's face slowly turned red.
These past few days she had been thinking about how to persuade Pei Shuyu to honor the marriage contract. But after much agonizing, she realized she had nothing at all and could offer Pei Shuyu no substantive advantage. In order to win Pei Shuyu's pity, she decided to profess deep affection for him.
Even though she had no idea what affection actually was.
But she had heard many storybooks and knew that if she said such things, Pei Shuyu might, for the sake of her devoted heart, marry her and bring her home.
So Yuan Yingti had thought up all these numbing, cloying sweet nothings.
But thinking was one thing; when she actually said them aloud, she found them unspeakably embarrassing.
Fortunately, A-Nu had remained quiet the whole time and had not mocked her. Yuan Yingti took a deep breath and continued in her lilting, hesitant way: "Every inch of longing lies upon my heart…"
After she finished reciting awkwardly, she told him where she was currently staying, and ended with the three words "I await your coming."
"Sign it Yuan Yingti," she said.
"Yuan, Ying, Ti." She heard A-Nu repeat each character one by one. "Which Ying, which Ti?"
"Ying as in yingluo, Ti as in the color ti."
After a while, Yuan Yingti heard the sound of the brush being set down.
She was not quite at ease and asked him, "Is it done? Was I speaking too fast just now? Do you need me to say it again?"
"No need."
Yuan Yingti heard the rustle of paper being folded.
A-Nu's voice was still gentle: "Young miss, where should this letter be sent?"
Yuan Yingti was not certain where Pei Shuyu was. When the marquis estate fell into trouble, he had still been studying away in Suzhou.
"Send it to Suzhou first." Yuan Yingti vaguely remembered Mama Fang telling her the name of the academy in Suzhou where Pei Shuyu was studying. She told him the academy's name, then added, "If there is no reply from Suzhou, send it to the Pei estate in the capital."
"A-Nu, I leave this matter to you."
By her ear was the sound of the letter paper being put away. A-Nu's voice seemed to hold a smile, the amusement low, as if pressed under the root of his tongue.
He said, "Young miss, rest assured."
…
Qing Shao had settled into an inn in Peach Blossom Town. Xie Zhi sent someone to deliver a message there, while he himself waited at the wonton stall.
At this hour there were few diners. Xie Zhi sat at the table in the farthest corner and took from his bosom the letter he had written for Yuan Yingti.
The letter paper was folded into a neat square. He unfolded it little by little. The large sheet was completely blank, with only three big characters written in the center.
Yuan Yingti.
The name rolled once across the tip of his tongue. Xie Zhi stared at it, his gaze burning, as if he wanted to scorch three holes into it.
The eldest young lady actually had a fiancé.
No wonder—she was a golden branch and jade leaf. Even if she fell from the clouds, a golden nest would catch her. She would never fall into his mud.
No matter how far she fell, it would never be his turn.
Xie Zhi gave a light scoff. He was a toad dreaming of eating swan meat.
"Boss!" Qing Shao came trotting over with a grin just then.
Xie Zhi folded the paper and tucked it back into the clothes at his chest. He casually picked up a pair of chopsticks and toyed with them in his hand.
Qing Shao sat down across from him.
"Boss, what did you call me for?"
Xie Zhi: "Help me look into someone."
Looking into people was Qing Shao's specialty. He asked happily, "Who? Just say the word, Boss!"
"Pei Shuyu of the Pei clan of Hedong."
The Pei clan of Hedong—one of the four great families, renowned and wealthy beyond measure, known to all.
Qing Shao noted it down: "Leave it to me! Boss, why do you want to look into this person?"
"He is the eldest young lady's fiancé."
Qing Shao was surprised: "So the eldest young lady really does have a fiancé. The Marquis Yong'an estate matched with the Pei clan of Hedong—truly a wealthy nest marrying into a wealthy nest."
Xie Zhi lowered his eyes slightly, a cold smile flickering at the corner of his lips.
"Are they a match?"
"They are! The marquis estate's eldest young lady marrying a noble young master of a great clan—a golden boy and jade girl, a match made in heaven. They are perfectly suited!" Qing Shao answered with a smile.
The chopsticks in Xie Zhi's hand snapped with a crack.
Qing Shao fell silent instantly, stealing a glance at his expression.
But Xie Zhi said, "Small place—even the chopsticks are useless." He unhurriedly swapped them for a new pair.
Qing Shao could see nothing unusual in his face and truly believed the chopsticks were just poorly made. He hurried to agree: "Boss is right."
He grinned foolishly for a moment, then asked again: "Boss, are you thinking of handing the eldest young lady over to this noble young master of the Pei family?"
Xie Zhi's lips curved into a faint, noncommittal smile: "If this Young Master Pei pays enough silver, I could indeed consider it."
"How much counts as enough?" At the mention of silver, Qing Shao's eyes lit up at once.
"At the very least…" Xie Zhi tapped the chopsticks lightly on the table twice, "a hundred thousand taels of gold."
A hundred thousand taels of gold! Qing Shao gasped. That price was a full ten times higher than the black market! Boss was worthy of being Boss. He had thought Boss was reluctant to part with that delicate young lady—turns out Boss was casting a long line to catch a big fish!
Qing Shao's gaze was full of admiration. He patted his chest and answered loudly: "Boss, leave this to me! I'll go look into this Pei what's-his-name right away."
"Mm." Xie Zhi raised his eyes. "Anything about him—every detail, no matter how small—do not let it slip. Remember not to alert him. First see whether this person can produce a hundred thousand taels of gold."
Qing Shao committed it to memory: "Got it. Then I'll leave Taohua Town today and go back to investigate."
Qing Shao, fixated on the hundred thousand taels of gold, soon could not sit still. But before leaving, he had to confirm with Xie Zhi: "Boss, that person is called Pei what? What Shu? What Yu?"
"Shu as in gargle, Yu as in 'jade and stone burned together.'"
"Understood!" Qing Shao noted each character down.
…
Deep in the night, Xie Zhi lay in bed, his eyes gazing into the void.
There was no moonlight tonight. Dark clouds blocked the white moonlight, and the room was pitch black. His eyes were hidden in the night, like two deep, dark holes.
Xie Zhi could not sleep. That soft, lingering voice from the daytime still swirled in his ears.
"This concubine embraces shadows, sleepless, as if seeing you tread the moon to come. Yet when I reach out, I grasp only half a bed of clear radiance…"
"Inch by inch, my longing, upon my heart…"
"I await your coming…"
Xie Zhi did not want to listen, but his memory was too good—even without writing it down, her words were etched word for word into his mind.
The voice at his ear continued without cease; he could not forget it, nor could he turn it off.
Xie Zhi felt annoyed. He rose from the bed.
The voice seemed to continue still—
"I embrace my shadow, sleepless, as if I see you treading the moonlight to come to me; yet when I reach out, I grasp but half a bed of clear radiance…"
He sneered, got out of bed, and walked out of the room.
He would go to her room right now and see for himself whether this lovesick young miss was, as she claimed, catching someone in the middle of the night.