The next day, morning lessons had just ended. Although Pei Peng still looked at Ye Jinghe with a sour expression—his nose not being a nose, his eyes not being eyes—when he saw Ye Jinghe heading toward the side room where the servants ate, he still called out to stop him:
"Where are you going? Third Uncle already lets you study with us. What's the meaning of going off to squeeze in with the servants for meals?"
Hmph, wasn't he just trying to show off that he was clever, that he could eat worse food and still outscore them?
Before Ye Jinghe could speak, Pei Peng put on a look of sudden realization, his eyes rolling around slyly:
"Oh! I get it now. You're trying to isolate us! Pei Du, you're pretty useless too—even Changfeng won't eat with you!"
Pei Du had originally wanted Ye Jinghe to eat with him anyway, so he just looked at Ye Jinghe now:
"Changfeng, let's eat together."
Ye Jinghe paused mid-step. At these words, he could only give a helpless smile and say in a low voice:
"Young Master, there is a distinction between master and servant. The rules cannot be broken."
Pei Du pressed his lips together, saying nothing, only tugging at Ye Jinghe's sleeve and refusing to let go. Pei Feng, meanwhile, shot Pei Peng a wary look:
"What trick are you trying to pull now? You humiliated him yesterday, and today you want him to eat with you? This isn't some Hongmen Banquet, is it?"
"Tsk, what's it to you?"
Pei Peng stared straight at Ye Jinghe:
"Changfeng, if this were a Hongmen Banquet, would you dare to come?"
Pei Peng had just handed Ye Jinghe a difficult problem. If he went, given his current status, he would be seen as someone who didn't know the rules or respect hierarchy. But if he didn't go, he'd have labels like cowardly, timid, and contemptuous of others slapped on him.
Ye Jinghe narrowed his eyes slightly and said calmly:
"Is this an invitation from Young Master Pei Peng?"
Pei Peng gave a slight nod:
"You can think of it that way!"
Ye Jinghe smiled at this:
"If it's an invitation from Young Master Pei Peng, then Changfeng naturally cannot refuse. But the master is still standing right here. If I agreed, that would be doing you a disservice!"
Pei Peng barely needed to think before he understood what Ye Jinghe meant. He immediately grew angry:
"You're saying I don't have the authority? I—"
Just then, Ali hurried over:
"Changfeng! Something's wrong! Your family just sent word—your eldest uncle is gravely ill. They're asking if you can go back to see him."
"What?"
Ye Jinghe's expression changed drastically. He immediately looked at Pei Du:
"Young Master, I'd like to return for a visit. Please ask the Madam—"
"You go on back."
Pei Du agreed directly. Ye Jinghe was quite surprised. Pei Du looked at him, his voice soft but firm:
"Changfeng, since you said I'm the master, this matter is something I have the authority to decide."
As he said this, Pei Du's heart pounded wildly. He didn't know if he actually had the right to do this, but Changfeng's face looked terrible, and there was no time to delay.
He was the young master. He had to be brave!
Ye Jinghe's eyes trembled. He lowered his head and bowed deeply:
"Thank you, Young Master. I'll be going then!"
Ye Jinghe hadn't expected that the young master—who was usually gentle and timid, who wouldn't even dare to order a dish—would make this decision and let him go home!
But with his eldest uncle gravely ill and so many mysteries weighing on his mind, he had to make this trip. When he came back, he would be sure to praise the young master properly!
"Hey! Changfeng!"
Ye Jinghe turned around, and a somewhat heavy pouch landed against his chest. He instinctively caught it, and a metallic clinking sound came from within.
"When you go see a sick person, it's better to have silver on hand!"
Pei Peng just stood there arrogantly, chin slightly raised:
"Take care of your business quickly. That silver counts as a loan! You'll have to pay it back!"
Ye Jinghe held the pouch of silver, his fingers tightening slightly around it. Looking at Pei Peng's careless, nonchalant demeanor, he bowed at the waist in genuine sincerity for the first time:
"Thank you, Young Master Pei Peng."
Watching Ye Jinghe walk away, Pei Peng finally clicked his tongue at Pei Du:
"Hmph, all talk and no action. Changfeng being your book boy is a waste of him!"
"You—you're out of line!"
Pei Du's voice still lacked some strength, but Pei Peng couldn't be bothered to argue with him. He just rolled his eyes:
"I'm out of line and out of everything else! What a waste of a mouth. You barely managed to show a bit of the main branch's young master's spirit just now, and now you've gone limp again?"
"You—the loser!"
Pei Du glared fiercely at Pei Peng, jabbing straight at his sore spot. Pei Peng laughed in exasperation:
"So you do have a temper after all!"
Pei Du's beautiful almond-shaped eyes went wide with anger. He didn't know what to say, only feeling that among the most detestable people in this world, An Xin ranked first, and Pei Peng ranked second!
Pei Peng paid no mind to Pei Du's glaring. Instead, he sidled up next to him and nudged his arm:
"Stop glaring. If your eyes dry out and start watering, people will think I bullied you! Say, your book boy left in such a hurry—aren't you worried? Don't you want to go check on him?"
Pei Du took a step back, looking at Pei Peng with confusion:
"You—what do you mean?"
"Just, leaving the estate to go see Changfeng. The teacher said we have self-study this afternoon. You're so smart, do you really need self-study?"
Pei Peng spoke with a grin. Having narrowly escaped trouble yesterday, he was itching for some mischief today. If he brought Pei Du along, his father wouldn't dare punish him!
"…Then what exactly are you all doing?"
Pei Du looked at the eager group behind Pei Peng and couldn't help but frown:
"We'd all have to ask for leave—the teacher won't agree."
"Who said we're telling the teacher? Skipping class, get it?"
"How can you—"
"Alright then, you stay for class! I'm going to check it out! Pei Cheng, let's go!"
With that, Pei Peng turned and strode toward the door. His exaggeratedly casual steps would have been obvious to anyone—except Pei Du, who was too young to notice.
"Wait, I… I'll come too."
Pei Du vaguely remembered that Changfeng's only family was his uncle. If his uncle passed away, Changfeng… would be so pitiful.
"But I don't know where Changfeng's home is."
"Idiot! Just ask the gatekeeper! Whoever delivered the message would have stated their household!"
"Then how do we get there?"
"…Carriage! Our family's carriage is right outside the estate!"
After the carriage was stuffed full of little heads, Pei Peng poked his own head out:
"Let's go, Uncle Dashan!"
"Young Master, if Third Master finds out about this, I'm afraid I'll be in for a beating."
"Just say… say Pei Du insisted on going!"
Pei Peng's quick mind turned, and he looked at Pei Du, who started in alarm:
"What? No, no—"
"No what? These adults care too much about face to hit anyone else's kid. I'll say you wanted to go, and you tell Third Uncle it was me! Then you just act cute and play nice, and nothing happens! My father always brags that you knew a thousand characters at three and mastered the classics at five—useless! Wooden head!"
Pei Peng's tongue was sharp, and he let loose a satisfying string of insults. Pei Du, listening, found it made perfect sense and just shrank into a corner of the carriage.
A gentle breeze lifted the carriage curtain, and the group of children who had never gone out alone let out a chorus of "oohs."
Ye Jinghe, having received Pei Du's instructions, was led out of the estate by Ali. He'd expected to need some kind of token or pass, but Ali simply slung an arm around the gatekeeper's shoulder, exchanged a few words, and the gatekeeper nodded to let him go.
After leaving the Pei estate, Ye Jinghe followed the faint memories of his predecessor's body and hired an oxcart at the city gate to rush home, not forgetting to bring a physician along.
Throughout the journey, the physician chatted away with Ye Jinghe about this and that. Ye Jinghe responded while his heart clenched again and again—as if the original owner's lingering emotions were stirring, leaving him unsettled.
The oxcart ambled along for an hour before reaching Little Stone Village. His uncle's home was at the village entrance—two tilting thatched cottages. Ye Jinghe felt a pang of dread, certain the structures were on the verge of collapse at any moment.
Before he could dwell on it further, the moment he stepped off the oxcart, a young woman came rushing out. Her eyes were red and swollen, she wore a patched gray homespun dress, and the straw stalk stuck in her hair bobbed as she ran.
As she ran, she turned back to shout:
"My father isn't going to die! Selling me will buy him medicine!"
"Sister Fangfang, what are you doing?"
Ye Jinghe called out the address from his memory. Ye Yufang froze at the sight of him, then covered her mouth and sobbed:
"Jing, Jinghe, you're finally back! Father, Father was still saying your name yesterday!"
"Is Uncle alright? I brought a physician—let him take a look at Uncle first!"
Ye Jinghe said quickly, and Ye Yufang hurriedly invited them inside. Once in, she wept silently by the bedside.
In the daylight, Ye Jinghe finally got a clear look at the figure on the sickbed. Uncle Ye's face was sallow and withered, his whole body like a breathing husk.
At the sight, Ye Jinghe felt his eyes burn, tears surging uncontrollably.
"Ye Yufang! If you dare step out that door today, I'll tear you apart—"
Aunt Ye burst in carrying a stick, but the moment she spotted the physician by the bedside, the stick clattered to the ground. Then she noticed Ye Jinghe standing there, and tears spilled from her eyes:
"Jinghe, Jinghe, you're back! Your uncle never stopped thinking about you!"
Ye Jinghe wasn't good at comforting people, so he could only manage stiffly:
"Aunt, what exactly happened to Uncle? A month ago he was fine—how did he become like this so suddenly?"
Aunt Ye just shook her head:
"I don't know either. But I reckon your uncle was worrying over you, and he got himself stuck in a dark place, and that's how, that's how…"
Aunt Ye was overcome with grief:
"Husband, you stubborn fool! The nephew you kept talking about is here—open your eyes and look at him!"
Uncle Ye remained unconscious, his eyelids trembling but unable to open. After a moment, the physician shook his head with a sigh:
"The patient is suffering from excessive worry and refused to let go of his burdens, until he burned himself to the last ember. This is an ailment of the heart—no medicine can cure it. At this point, you'd best prepare for the worst."
"No! No! This can't be! My man is just a farmer—what sorrows could he possibly have?"
The physician said nothing, only turning his gaze to Ye Jinghe.
"Young man, the patient doesn't have much time left. If you wish to save him, there is only one method worth trying."
"How?"
Ye Jinghe's face was pale. He was beginning to believe it—that his uncle had come to this state because of him. Whether it was guilt from the original owner of this body or his own, it pressed down on his heart like a mountain. Was a living, breathing life really going to end before his eyes?
"We would need a century-old ginseng to boost the patient's vital energy. I would then supplement it with acupuncture. Perhaps we could wake him—and if he wakes, half the illness would already be cured.
However, a century-old ginseng costs eighty taels of silver. And even then, this method only has a two to three in ten chance of bringing him back. Discuss it among yourselves."
The physician looked at Ye Jinghe and shook his head. Ye Jinghe curled his fingers slightly.
"A century-old ginseng…"
Eighty taels of silver—based on his monthly wages, he would need to save every single coin for sixty-six and a half years to accumulate that much.
And would the Pei family be willing to advance him that much silver?
"Mother, sell me. Sell me to Red Sleeve Tower—I'm sure it would wake Father…"
"Smack!"
Aunt Ye's slap sent Ye Yufang's face turning to the side, her own face flushing red.
"If you dare go, your father wouldn't use medicine bought with such filthy money!"
Ye Yufang burst into loud sobs. Ye Jinghe pressed his lips together, then clasped his hands toward the physician.
"Please, stabilize my uncle's condition for now. I'll find a way to get the ginseng."
Ye Jinghe knew in his heart that if the master was willing to sign a contract with him, there must be something about him that the master valued.
Using that as leverage, he could convert the living contract into a death contract, and if he pleaded earnestly with the master, perhaps he could obtain those eighty taels of silver after all.
Ye Jinghe's face was far too pale. Aunt Ye couldn't help but step forward, her voice filled with grief yet resolute.
"Child, you mustn't do anything foolish! We won't treat it—we won't treat it anymore! Physician, don't listen to my nephew's nonsense. He's still a child. We're not treating this illness!"