Font Size:
“Ladies, today’s lessons end here. You may dismiss.”
In the study hall of the Pei manor, as the female instructor left, the maids seated at the very back hurried forward to stand beside their mistresses, helping them tidy away brushes and inkstones.
Only one girl remained seated in silence.
Her brows were lowered, her posture careful, not daring to make a single superfluous movement, doing everything she could to lessen her presence.
Only when the hall emptied and quiet returned did she finally rise to her feet, cautiously gathering the discarded drafts left on the desks.
These waste sheets from others’ practice were, to Xie Zhi, the most precious of treasures.
“Buffeted by wind and drenched by rain… so this is how it’s written…”
Murmuring softly, Xie Zhi picked up one of the sheets.
But the next moment, a sharp voice pierced the silence:
“Ha! Lichun, how dare you steal the county princess’s and the young ladies’ drafts! If not for our county princess losing an earring, who would’ve known you were so brazen!”
Xie Zhi immediately looked up, only to see Yuyang County Princess striding in with a group of maids clustered around her.
One maid snatched the sheet from Xie Zhi’s hands and, as if offering a tribute, presented it to Yuyang.
“Your Highness, I only thought it was a pity that the drafts written in class were discarded, so I…”
Flustered, Xie Zhi dropped to her knees and explained quickly.
“Hmph! Even if they’re no longer wanted, there are people assigned to burn them. When was it ever your place to handle them? Should you copy the handwriting and forge some letter, the consequences would be disastrous!”
The maid gave her a cold glance and pressed on relentlessly.
The summer heat weighed heavy, yet cold sweat beaded Xie Zhi’s face.
“I had no such intent. I own no books, I only wished to see how the characters the teacher explained were written. I truly bore no malice toward the county princess.”
Yuyang’s temper flared. Hearing this, she flung the stack of drafts straight at Xie Zhi’s head.
The papers scattered around her, with a few sheets drifting to Yuyang’s feet.
“Lichun, have you no shame! First you clung to my third brother to enter the marquis manor. When he left for his post, you nestled yourself into Grandmother’s courtyard. What was Grandmother thinking, allowing a maid who’s lost her virtue to sit in on her mistresses’ lessons? Who do you think you disgust?!”
Xie Zhi stayed prostrate, silent at those words, her face burning hot with humiliation.
She wanted to explain—that she was innocent, that she still possessed her virtue. But no one would believe her.
“You love sneaking lessons, do you? Then I’ll be merciful today and teach you how to learn! Someone—make her swallow every single sheet of these drafts!”
At Yuyang’s command, two maids pressed Xie Zhi down, while another grabbed the fallen papers and stuffed them toward her mouth.
Startled, Xie Zhi struggled desperately, gasping out:
“County Princess, I admit my fault! But I belong to Chunhui Garden. You may report to Old Madam and let her decide my punishment. For you to use private punishment like this—it is against all reason!”
Though held down, her gaze remained unwavering.
So disheveled—who would imagine that just half a year ago, she had still been a prefect’s daughter—
She was none other than Xie Zhi, daughter of the former Prefect of Yangzhou, Xie Jinhuai.
Though her mother died early, her father cold and neglectful, and often subjected her to her stepmother and sisters’ bullying, she had at least safely passed her coming-of-age ceremony.
But half a year ago, case after case of corruption broke out in Yangzhou, the sums enormous, arousing suspicion.
When the report reached the capital, His Majesty flew into a rage.
Three days later, Assistant Minister of Justice, Lord Pei, personally traveled to Yangzhou under imperial command to investigate.
Pei Du was young yet accomplished, his methods thunderous. Even though the local powers had long entrenched themselves and colluded to put on a grand charade, he swiftly saw through their tricks and dragged the mastermind to light.
That mastermind turned out to be none other than her father, Prefect Xie Jinhuai.
Xie Jinhuai was sentenced to beheading, all male members exiled, and the female members demoted to slave status, forbidden from ever erasing the stigma.
Had she not maneuvered desperately to follow the chief judge—Assistant Minister Pei Du—into his manor at that time, her innocence might truly have been lost.
But as for Pei Du…
Best not to speak of him.
At this moment, Yuyang, hearing her words, grew all the more enraged:
“You still dare to talk back? See if I don’t teach you a lesson today!”
She strode forward—but her foot landed on one of the scattered drafts.
The paper was smooth, and Yuyang slipped, falling straight in front of Xie Zhi!
Her wide sleeves knocked over the inkstone on the nearby desk. Black ink poured down her neck, staining half her robes, with a few drops splattering onto Xie Zhi’s sleeve.
For a moment, all the maids stood dumbstruck, not knowing how to react.
“What are you staring at—help me up!”
Yuyang snapped out of it first, staring at her ink-blackened reflection, screaming in horror.
The maids came to their senses, rushing forward to support her.
“Hurry! Take me to change clothes at once!”
Panicked and flustered, Yuyang screamed again, yanking a maid’s outer robe to cover herself.
Thinking she would no longer have the time to bother with her, Xie Zhi finally felt a faint relief.
But just as she stepped under the corridor, Yuyang’s cold voice called after her:
“Kneel here until sunset. Do you understand?”
“…Yes, County Princess.”
She had not knelt long before Granny Zhou’s voice sounded from afar:
“Girl, how did you end up in such a state?”
“Granny, I…”
At the sight of the familiar figure, Xie Zhi’s eyes stung, her voice trembling.
“You’ve made me search everywhere for you! Quickly, the heir has returned from Yingzhou. Old Madam orders you to see him.”
What?
Pei Du had returned?
In an instant, those unbearable memories from half a year ago surged up, filling Xie Zhi’s heart with hesitation.
“But…”
“No buts. The heir has just returned from reporting at court, and I hear he will head to the Ministry of Justice later.”
Seeing her still motionless, Granny Zhou simply pulled her back toward Chunhui Garden.
Chunhui Garden was Old Madam Pei’s residence. Half a year ago, when Pei Du had brought Xie Zhi into the manor, he had placed her there.
The bathhouse had already been prepared with fragrant water. After bathing, Xie Zhi changed into a flowing aquamarine gown that swept the floor, adjusted her face before the mirror, and stepping past the carved nanmu screen, said:
“Granny, let us go.”
At one glance, Granny Zhou’s heart skipped a beat.
Tender and graceful, pitiful and delicate, she looked like a painting of a lotus after the rain.
No wonder, then, even the heir, who was famed for avoiding women, had been bewitched by her.
…
The Marquis of Changping’s manor had held high office for generations, and this generation was no exception, blessed with many descendants.
Old Madam Pei and the late marquis had borne three sons and one daughter. The eldest, Pei Xun, was the current Marquis of Changping, Pei Du’s father.
Adding in each branch’s households, cousins and nephews, and the countless servants, the manor easily numbered over a thousand souls.
It went without saying the Changping Marquis Manor occupied vast grounds.
Indeed, it took up nearly half of Yongxing Ward. When Xie Zhi had first entered, she had been utterly stunned.
What’s more, because eighteen years ago Princess of Deng had married Pei Xun as his second wife, the former princess’s residence was joined directly to the marquis’s estate.
With the walls torn down between them, one could truthfully say the entire Yongxing Ward belonged to the Pei family.
…
Yet the grandeur of the manor was nothing but suffering for Xie Zhi.
In the blazing summer heat, it took an incense stick’s time of walking before they finally reached Pei Du’s residence at Mount-Viewing Terrace.
The terrace stood at great height, with dozens of steps leading up from below. Stone paths crisscrossed, trees shaded the way, and the pavilion was hidden amid lush greenery.
At last they climbed up, Xie Zhi holding back her breath, while Granny Zhou leaned against the stone gate, panting.
“Ah! This old woman is exhausted.”
Gazing at the tranquil waterside pavilions within, Xie Zhi’s heart wavered again.
“Granny, perhaps I should help you rest at the rear pavilion first…”
But Granny Zhou knocked her lightly on the head, her face stern.
“Stop dawdling. Go on in.”
Then, casting aside her fatigue, she strode briskly forward.
“Chang An, is the heir inside?”
She called toward the young man standing with a sword beneath the veranda.
Recognizing her, Chang An bowed.
“The young lord is inside. Does Old Madam have orders?”
“The weather is scorching, and Old Madam, mindful of the heir, has ordered Lichun to bring some chilled lychee jelly and candied jade melon.”
At those words, Chang An’s eyes flicked past Granny Zhou to the young girl behind her holding the food box.
This young lady, once rescued half a year ago battered and terrified, now appeared gentle and refined, her presence serene.
No longer could she be recognized as the wounded girl she once was.
Thinking so, Chang An dared not look again, stepping aside to open the way.
“Miss Lichun, please come with me.”