Two figures, one large and one small, came into view. Madam Pei, draped in a crimson cloak embroidered with gold thread and trimmed with feathers, looked like a valiant female general as she walked in slowly, holding Pei Du's hand.
Pei Du was still catching his breath from walking quickly. He cast a guilty glance at Ye Jinghe before bowing to Old Madam Pei alongside his mother.
"It's so cold out—quite a trouble for the two of you to make such a trip. Since you're here, have a seat."
Old Madam Pei opened her eyes and spoke in a flat tone, then beckoned to Pei Du:
"Du'er, come to Grandmother."
Pei Du took a step back and shook his head:
"I… I want to sit by Mother."
Though he had lived in his grandmother's courtyard until age three, he was never close to her. And today, when she had taken Changfeng away without reason, this small act of defiance was all he could manage.
Old Madam Pei lowered her gaze slightly and took a sip of tea before speaking unhurriedly:
"Du'er can stand on his own now. That's a good thing."
Madam Pei's face was taut. Upon hearing this, she said coldly:
"Du'er moved into his own courtyard at three. If he didn't learn to stand on his own, and one day those wicked servants turned everyone against him until he was left utterly alone, Mother would never even see it happen!"
"How dare you!"
Old Madam Pei slammed down her teacup with a sharp rebuke, but Madam Pei stood her ground, refusing to yield:
"Mother says I'm being insolent, then insolent I shall be today! When Du'er was born, you took him to Songhe Hall. At three, he moved into his own courtyard. I trusted you, Mother, and let you arrange his attendants.
But this wicked servant—whether on someone's orders or not—saw fit to frighten Du'er, painting me as some kind of she-demon, and drove a wedge between me and my son for five years!
Now that Du'er has finally had a couple of days of peace, this man comes to make trouble for him again. I wonder—is Du'er the young master of the Pei household, or is this servant?"
"Is what you say true?"
Old Madam Pei sat up straight at once, her sharp gaze fixed on An Xin. Madam Pei raised a hand to wipe the tears from the corner of her eye and said coldly:
"If the mistress of the Pei household has sunk so low as to frame a servant, then Mother might as well have the Master write me a letter of divorce, rather than humiliate me like this! I've had enough of life in this household!"
After her outburst, Madam Pei took Pei Du and left, not forgetting to have the matron she'd brought carry Ye Jinghe away.
The matron had brought a cloak and wrapped Ye Jinghe up tightly, covering his head and face completely. The energy Ye Jinghe had mustered quickly faded with the matron's jostling steps, and he drifted into sleep like a small boat rocking on a river.
Unsurprisingly, Ye Jinghe developed a high fever. Pei Du looked at his mother with pleading eyes, and Madam Pei didn't hesitate to send for a physician. After the medicine was decocted and fed to Ye Jinghe, Pei Du finally let out a breath of relief and sat down on the footstool.
"Changfeng… Changfeng won't die, right? He won't die like Xiao Bai did, will he?"
Madam Pei didn't know why Pei Du was trembling so violently. She simply held him tightly in her arms:
"No, he won't. Don't be afraid, Du'er. The physician said Changfeng's fever will break within the hour. Mother will stay with you and watch over him, alright?"
Pei Du nodded quietly. Madam Pei had always thought her son was cold by nature, but after these past two days together, she realized he was often sensitive and prone to overthinking. Yet she couldn't imagine what could make a five-year-old child so terrified.
"Du'er, can you tell Mother about Xiao Bai?"
Pei Du was silent for a long time, and Madam Pei waited patiently. After a quarter of an hour, Pei Du finally spoke in a soft voice:
"Xiao Bai was a little white cat I found in the garden. He had no mother, just like… just like Du'er in Grandmother's courtyard.
But when he met Du'er, things were different. Du'er was his family. He was very obedient. When Du'er had nightmares, he would sleep by Du'er's pillow. His fur was so soft, so nice to touch, and it smelled of sunshine…"
The innocent, childish description brought an involuntary smile to Madam Pei's face, but soon she recalled what Pei Du had just said:
"And then…"
"He died. Grandmother sneezed because of the cat fur on my clothes, so An Xin took him from beside my pillow and drowned him in the water vat in the courtyard."
Pei Du said this in such a calm tone, yet his eyes were filled with sorrow. Madam Pei couldn't help but pull him into her arms. She didn't ask why he hadn't told Old Madam Pei about Xiao Bai.
Just as today, when Old Madam Pei had taken Changfeng away and made him kneel for no reason—even if she knew about Xiao Bai, she would only believe An Xin's one-sided account.
"It's over now. It's all over. From now on, Mother will protect you. Whatever happens, Du'er can come to Mother, just like this time, alright?"
Madam Pei released Pei Du and looked at him seriously. Pei Du nodded gently.
In the many days and nights after Xiao Bai died, he had kept thinking—if only he had cried out then, if only he had let everyone see An Xin's cruelty, maybe Xiao Bai wouldn't have died.
But back then, his throat felt as if it were stuffed with paste—he couldn't make a single sound. His mouth, his lips, his tongue—all were blocked by his own cowardice, causing him to lose the most precious thing in his life.
And today, Changfeng had nearly left him as well.
Fortunately, this time, he finally found the courage to step forward.
But unfortunately, in the end, he was still a bad child who didn't keep his word.
In Songhe Hall, Madam Pei had a fit and took the person away without explanation. Old Madam Pei's face twitched, and only then did she slam her palm onto the table:
"Rebellion! Rebellion! I think this Jiang Wenyue is staging a revolt!"
In her youth, Old Madam Pei had been one to have her way in the household. Master Pei had treated her like the bright moon, but unfortunately, he passed away early. Old Madam Pei single-handedly raised three children into fine talents—each one outstanding, none of them going astray—which showed she was no ordinary woman.
Now advanced in years, though she only ate vegetarian and chanted Buddhist prayers in Songhe Hall, her domineering temper had not changed one bit. With anger rising now, Old Madam Pei directly issued a cold order:
"Go summon the First Master to see me!"
Yuping gave a subtle signal, and Yu Ying went trembling on her way. After the room quieted down, Yuping then looked at An Xin, who was kneeling on the ground like a stone statue:
"Old Madam, how should An Xin be dealt with?"
An Xin wished he could cast an Invisibility Spell at this moment. He had only wanted to drive Changfeng away—how had he somehow provoked the Madam and landed himself in such a mess of filthy trouble?
Old Madam Pei finally turned her attention to An Xin. In that instant of silence in the room, An Xin's heart nearly leaped out of his mouth, and then he heard Old Madam Pei's cold voice:
"Go investigate whether what the Madam said is true. If false, send him and his parents to live at the estate. If true, hmph, give him fifty strokes of the board, and sell his whole family to the matchmaker!"
Regardless, because a servant like him had caused the Madam of the Pei household to be hurt, Old Madam Pei would not keep him in the residence.
Sending his whole family to the estate was, in a way, a form of gracious provision.
But how would An Xin know Old Madam Pei's intentions? He simply couldn't bear to part with the wealth and status of the Pei household, so he kowtowed repeatedly:
"Old Madam! Old Madam, show mercy! I beg you, consider that I've served in this household since I was ten years old—please let me stay!
Do you remember? That winter when you married the Master, I caught butterflies for you for three days and three nights, so that you and the Old Master could be in harmony. When you were in difficult labor giving birth to the Second Master, I rode a horse to death to fetch the Old Master back! Old Madam, you said you would let me serve you for a lifetime!"
An Xin knocked his head with a thudding sound, but Old Madam Pei's room was covered with thick carpets, so though he knocked himself dizzy, no blood appeared to win his mistress's pity.
"Take him away."
Yuping directly had someone gag An Xin and drag him out. Old Madam Pei slowly drank a cup of tea before saying:
"The Jiang family's daughters are all excellently raised. For her to put on that look of a mother wolf protecting her cub in front of me today, what she said is likely not false.
But the stars at Du'er's birth showed that he and she were incompatible as fire and water. I took Du'er away and gave her and Qinghe five years, yet she never bore another child."
Old Madam Pei rubbed the edges of her eight-treasure bead bracelet and murmured:
"Truly useless."
Yuping listened quietly without offering any opinion. Fortunately, this was precisely what Old Madam Pei valued about Yuping, so she did not take offense.
Old Madam Pei then set her teacup aside and gave a faint order:
"Clear it away."
The First Master of the Pei family, Pei Qinghe, arrived hurriedly only two quarters of an hour later. He wore a gray squirrel-fur lining beneath a dark blue jacquard fur robe, his expression cold and stern—he cut quite an imposing figure.
After Yu Ying took his fur robe and withdrew, Pei Qinghe plopped himself down in a nearby armchair, habitually reaching for a cup of tea to warm his hands, only to grasp at nothing:
"Mother, is there no water to drink in your room either?"
"Drink too much tea and you'll pee too much. You should drink less as well."
The moment Old Madam Pei said this, Pei Qinghe's originally lazy posture changed at once:
"Now, Mother, who provoked you? You're taking your anger out on me?"
Old Madam Pei gave a light snort:
"This anger, you deserve to bear."
"Uh, is it Yuenuang? That shouldn't be—she's always had a good temper, wouldn't even speak loudly on ordinary days…"
"She came today to speak up for Du'er. When a mother is protecting her child, she becomes strong—what wouldn't she do?"
Upon hearing this, Pei Qinghe looked at his toes and said nothing. After Old Madam Pei jabbed at him a few more times, he finally said in a muffled voice:
"…This matter, I can't manage. You took Du'er away the moment he was born. Now that Yuenuang has finally reconciled with Du'er as mother and son, Mother, you don't want your son to have no peace day after day, do you?"
"Then why haven't you given her another child in these five years?"
Pei Qinghe fell silent again. Old Madam Pei couldn't help but frown and scold him:
"Du'er and your wife have a shallow mother-son bond. The two of them are incompatible as fire and water—fire meets water and is extinguished, water meets fire and dries up; one of them is bound to be harmed! I gave you five years to let her move past it, but you—neither of you is of any use!"
Pei Qinghe couldn't hold it in any longer upon hearing this:
"That's exactly the hurdle I can't get past! These five years, she's been careful in every way, serving attentively, but the kinder she is to me, the more I recall the despair in her eyes when Du'er was taken away back then!
What if this child has some astrological sign that clashes with hers? Am I supposed to let her despair a second time?!"
"When has my astrology ever been wrong?"
Old Madam Pei's brows and eyes were cold and sharp. Pei Qinghe leaned back in his chair with his hands spread:
"Mother's astrology has never missed, so I choose not to have children—why gamble on that fifty percent chance and cut her heart out?"
"You—"
"It seems Mother has no other matters today, so your son will take his leave now!"
"Stop right there. The book boy by Du'er's side has an extraordinary countenance. Since the child has suffered this undeserved calamity, you should go and show him proper favor!"