Dusk was deepening. Inside the capital’s Jiaofangsi, red lanterns lit one after another, their glow outshining the crescent moon on the horizon.
Gauze curtains danced lightly amid the crimson, the sound of strings and song, of laughter and teasing, drifting faintly through the air. The pavilions and towers, dead all day, came alive again, a fine scene of a flourishing age, singing and dancing in peace.
Meng Qianzi forced her sick body along the corridor toward that stretch of splendor. Behind her, a few young maids passed her, running eagerly toward the front courtyard.
The girls chattered as they called out, “Hurry over, everyone! Young Master Pei has double happiness today, today’s rewards are sure to be generous…”
Young Master Pei has double happiness…
“Heh.” Meng Qianzi gave a low laugh, her eyes aching unbearably.
Young Master Pei, Pei Yanci, the man who as a boy had nearly starved to death in the street before her father took him in, her childhood sweetheart, had finally realized his dream: entering court as an official, marrying a lady of high birth.
Only, the lady he was now to marry was no longer her.
Only, the betrothal gifts he used to court that other woman were her money, her jewels.
Her body began to shake uncontrollably, a suffocating pain rising in her chest, as though a string were wound around her heart, tightening bit by bit.
How much she had once trusted him. On the day he swore he would raise the money to buy her out and take her as his wife, she had given him her entire savings.
All these years it was she who had funded his studies, planned strategies for him, smoothed his way with antiques and paintings and calligraphy, so that he could rise step by step from an unranked ninth-rank-below official all the way to the fifth rank.
But now, when everyone knew Lord Pei was about to marry, he could not even be bothered to give her an explanation.
The clamor of sparrows sounded in her ears, as if they too were mocking her foolishness.
“Cough, cough—”
A sharp pain tore through her lungs again. She coughed so hard she could not straighten her back, and had to lean against a corridor pillar to rest.
She looked around at the desolation on every side. Her father had been executed on a false charge, and of the whole Meng family only she remained. In this world, in the end, she had no one to depend on…
After a long while, she straightened her spine with effort and walked toward the front courtyard.
She had to ask Pei Yanci whether his promise still stood, the one he had made, that once he rose in rank he would clear her father’s name.
That he had to marry someone else might not be his own choice. He should… not have forgotten the debt of gratitude he owed her father, who had raised him and saved his life.
She passed through the archway into the front courtyard. Pei Yanci’s familiar voice came from Hongque Hall.
The man, usually so reserved outside, was laughing with such spirited ease that he seemed a different person.
In the hall sat a group of young talents on good terms with Pei Yanci. Meng Qianzi’s sudden appearance startled them for a moment.
Pei Yanci looked up and saw her. A flicker of discomfort crossed his face, his brows drawing tightly together, and he said, displeased, “Why has Miss Qianzi come?”
Miss Qianzi?
Heh…
He used to call her Azi, or her personal name.
Meng Qianzi met his cold, distant gaze and could not bring herself to believe this was the same man who had once looked at her with eyes full of tender concern.
Enduring the dense pain in her heart, she said in a low voice, “This humble woman has a few words she wishes to say to Lord Pei…”
Everyone in the room knew of the relationship between the two of them, and could not help teasing with laughter:
“Miss Qianzi, don’t go turning jealous just because Qinghuan is about to marry. Qinghuan was just saying that once he’s married, he’ll buy out your contract and take you in as a concubine.”
Take her in as a concubine?
How could he have the face… to say such a thing?
Meng Qianzi went cold all over, her pain turning into a chest full of rage, and she stared straight at Pei Yanci.
He understood her so well. He knew how much she longed for freedom, that only by leaving the Jiaofangsi could she have any chance to clear her father’s name. Did he really think that even as a concubine, she would be content?
Seeing her expression turn ugly, Pei Yanci hesitated a moment, but in the end, afraid she would say something to embarrass him, he put on an air of calm and walked over.
He reached out and took hold of Meng Qianzi’s arm, and only then realized with a shock that in the space of a single month she had grown thin as a skeleton.
A flash of heartache crossed his face and was gone. He lowered his voice to soothe her. “Go back for now. I’ll come see you later.”
Meng Qianzi closed her eyes and pressed down the violence rising in her heart, gently brushing off his hand, and said softly, eyes lowered:
“There’s no need. I only want to ask Lord Pei one question. I’ll leave once I’ve asked it.”
Seeing her still as gentle and mild as always, Pei Yanci could not help but relax, a smile pulling across his face.
“What does Miss Qianzi want to ask?”
Meng Qianzi slowly raised her eyes, looking straight into the depths of Pei Yanci’s gaze, and said, word by word:
“I want to ask Lord Pei, the other thing you promised me, does it still count?”
Pei Yanci abruptly pulled her outside the door and shoved the sliding door shut behind them, his face filled with fear, and said harshly:
“Have you gone mad?”
Meng Qianzi’s gaze fell on Pei Yanci’s handsome face. So this face, always so gentle and refined, could also hold so many expressions she had never seen before.
So, from childhood to now, she had never truly understood him at all.
Pei Yanci looked away guiltily and gave a light cough. “That matter… I don’t have the ability to handle it right now. You don’t understand the affairs of the court…”
Meng Qianzi lifted her chin slightly, and in an instant her eyes filled with a sharp edge, as if for a moment she were once again that eldest daughter of the general’s household.
“My grandfather was Grand General Pingding, my father was Grand General Weiwu, my maternal grandfather was the former Grand Preceptor. I am not ignorant of the affairs of the court. You are now a Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, quietly looking into the case file back then wouldn’t be difficult. Isn’t it that Lord Pei simply doesn’t want to take the risk?”
Pei Yanci froze for a moment. He could not remember how long it had been since he had seen her like this.
But having his excuses exposed to his face left him deeply humiliated, and his tone turned cold.
“If you’ve come to make trouble, I can only tell you, as compensation, I will take you in as a concubine. As for that other matter…”
His face suddenly turned harsh. “You’d best keep your mouth shut from now on, or don’t blame me for showing no mercy!”
Now that she had no more use to him, he no longer wished to keep up the pretense.
Her last thread of hope broke like a bubble, and Meng Qianzi’s heart went hollow…
The pillar of will that had kept her clinging to life in this pit of fire came crashing down!
A crack of thunder suddenly tore open the sky, and a downpour of rain fell without warning, drifting in under the eaves and striking Meng Qianzi’s face, pale even under her powder and rouge.
She raised her head and gazed at the sky, gone black in an instant, and murmured, “How dark this sky is…”
She suddenly swung her hand and struck Pei Yanci across the face, with such force that the meridians in her arm convulsed violently, a piercing pain.
But all she felt was regret, if her martial skill had not been crippled, that slap alone would have been enough to deafen him and drive him out of the court for good.
These past years Pei Yanci had grown used to her gentleness and obedience, and had long forgotten that the woman before him had once ridden into battle, fought on the front lines, killed enemies. He was stunned for a moment by the blow.
He wiped away the trace of blood at the corner of his mouth and glared at her in fury, his face full of disbelief.
Had she forgotten what her own status was now?
How dared she!
A surge of violent fury rose in him. He seized her arm and flung her viciously away, spitting through clenched teeth: “Striking a court official, you’re courting death!”
Meng Qianzi fell to the ground in the courtyard, her light purple skirt spreading out in the rainwater, blending into the pond full of withered lotuses. Beneath her messy hair, half of her small face showed, whiter than paper, and the great red lanterns around her could not lend it a trace of warmth.
But she felt no cold. It was as if all the blood in her body were burning, her ears rang and buzzed, and mouthful after mouthful of fresh blood welled up.
The sky was dark enough to smother her, and a wind rose from nowhere, sweeping up withered locust leaves and peony petals to fall upon her.
Her slender fingers twitched faintly, as if she were struggling against something, yet powerless to do anything…
Leaves scattered, blossoms fell.
Those who had come out at the commotion could not help but show pity in their eyes at the sight.
Meng Qianzi slowly turned her eyes to look at Pei Yanci, who had fallen into fear and helplessness.
She would carve this face into her very soul!
Her empty eyes suddenly blazed with a startling light, yet turned cold to the bone. “Pei Yanci, if there is a next life, I will send you down to hell with my own hands!”
Every word wept blood!
Pei Yanci finally came to his senses, crying out her personal name as he rushed toward her in panic. “Yunxian…”
Meng Qianzi could no longer hear him. The light in her eyes slowly went out, and in a blur she saw her father’s tall figure walking toward her…