After the Cold Clothing Festival came the Lower Yuan Festival without pause.
As an ordinary office drone from the 21st century, Xin Yi had never properly celebrated such ancient festivals. The ones she heard about most were Mid-Autumn and New Year’s Eve, or otherwise Valentine’s Day and Christmas.
Before this, she had not even heard much of the Lower Yuan Festival. She only knew that on the night of the Mid-Yuan Festival, one should stay home and avoid going out.
A Ying combed her hair while happily saying, “Tonight, there will be a family banquet in the residence. The Marquis will also invite an opera troupe to perform excerpts, so it will surely be very lively.”
“Madam looks so beautiful with this pink hairpin. It makes your complexion even better. Not only would the Marquis be unable to look away, even this servant feels overjoyed just seeing it.”
Xin Yi was thinking about other things and only half-listened to her three sentences, responding perfunctorily with a couple of sounds at the end.
She did not care at all about any family banquet.
What troubled her most now was that she had not seen Shen Ru Jie for several days straight.
She had thought that with a favorability of 80 as foundation, their relationship would at least grow warmer, if not leap forward dramatically.
Who knew he seemed to be deliberately avoiding her? For these past few days, she had dressed up meticulously every day and gone to the pavilion rain or shine to pretend to read, yet she had not even caught a glimpse of him.
It infuriated Xin Yi so much that she wanted to storm up to him, grab his collar, and demand, “What’s wrong with you? Am I not your favorite little darling anymore?”
“Don’t just do things to me in dreams—have the guts to do them again in reality!”
Of course, she only dared to think such things. If she actually did that, her current persona would shatter into pieces.
Shen Ru Jie would probably think she was possessed by a ghost, spouting nonsense.
Xin Yi let out a heavy sigh.
The Melodramatic Transmigration System comforted her. “Host, don’t be too anxious. Give him some time to adjust. After all, he just… ahem, did that in the dream, so he might feel too embarrassed to face you.”
Xin Yi grew even more annoyed. She had already prepared herself—what did he have to be embarrassed about?
It made all her early mornings and late nights of primping go to waste. She had not slept a single lazy morning; it was all flirtatious glances thrown to a blind man.
What she did not know was that someone had indeed seen her—and had quietly watched for several days without a word.
But that person was not Shen Ru Jie; it was Shen Gui.
For some reason, he could not stop thinking of her.
At first, it was once or twice, then three or five times, and the frequency only increased.
In the end, he complexly realized that lately, the number of times he thought of Xin Yi surpassed even the times he thought of A Wu.
A faint resistance stirred in his heart, but his feet were honest, always unconsciously carrying him to places where her figure appeared.
Each time, he only realized it after snapping back to his senses—he had already watched silently for a long time.
This belated concern startled him.
It also inexplicably pricked at him when he noticed Xin Yi growing close to his illegitimate younger brother.
Especially this day, as the entire Marquis Residence bustled in preparation for the evening family banquet.
He came out of the study and passed through the courtyard, where he saw a servant holding a large wooden box. It was said to be several outfits personally delivered by the cloth shop’s manager—fine, exquisite fabrics—and he was to carefully deliver them to the residence’s Second Young Master.
Shen Gui’s face darkened as he took it. He lowered his gaze to open it and saw Xin Yi’s name signed on the banknote.
His expression worsened immediately, the knuckles gripping the box edge turning white with anger.
Though the servant did not understand, he knew to read the room.
Seeing the Marquis’s terrible expression, his heart skipped a beat. He knelt at once. “This lowly one… this lowly one thinks the manager must have made a mistake. These outfits might not be for the Second Young Master! Please don’t be angry, Marquis. This lowly one will return them to the cloth shop’s manager right away and tell him not to send wrongly again!”
Shen Gui showed no reaction upon hearing this. He only crumpled and tore up the banknote with a gloomy face.
His tone carried a cold laugh. “No need to return them. Give these outfits to the beggars on the street. Winter is coming soon; let them have some thick robes to stay warm.”
The weather had turned cold lately. Days already darkened early, and by the hour of Xu, night had fallen completely.
Fortunately, palace lamps lit the Marquis Residence everywhere, giving it a warm, glowing appearance.
A Ying supported Xin Yi as they arrived at the corridor pavilion and took their seats.
Her seat was right next to Shen Gui’s, with Shen Xianxian and several of the old Marquis’s former concubines not far away.
Xin Yi looked around but saw no sign of Shen Ru Jie.
The Melodramatic Transmigration System spoke up cheekily. “Host, stop looking. For a grand family banquet like this, Shen Ru Jie has no qualification to attend. No matter the reunion festival, he is always automatically excluded.”
So every year at such times, he spent the festival alone in his courtyard, eating by himself.
Perhaps for him, festivals held no meaning at all. He would not receive extra care or kindness on those days, nor would anything joyful happen.
Though Xin Yi had guessed as much early on, at this moment, an indescribable feeling still welled up in her.
Shen Ru Jie seemed to live even worse off than she had imagined.
It was his own home, yet he lived like a guest under someone else’s roof.
He had brothers, but no true siblings. He had a place to stay, but no one who truly treated or accepted him with sincerity.
On the shimmering lake shore, palace lamps glowed warmly.
The banquet soon began, and the opera excerpts started. Everyone seemed quite happy.
Only Xin Yi lacked interest.
The dishes before her did not suit her taste, and she did not enjoy the opera.
After a short while, she felt weary.
Shen Gui was entirely different. He had planned to stay only a moment before leaving the residence for the Suburban Manor to see Zheng Wu.
But after glimpsing the slightly lowered, elegant profile of the person beside him, he could not bring himself to leave. Instead, he added two more opera excerpts and settled in to stay.
Xin Yi knew nothing of his thoughts; her mind was on other matters.
After enduring for about half a quarter-hour, she weakly clutched her chest and leaned on A Ying, softly saying she felt unwell and wanted to return to her courtyard to rest.
Shen Gui naturally could not force her to stay and could only frown as he watched her leave, supported by the maid.
Only after the banquet fully ended did he head toward Xin Yi’s separate courtyard, intending to check if she was alright.
Unexpectedly, just as he entered the courtyard, a little maidservant who came to greet him hurriedly blocked his way.
The maidservant was poor at lying. Under his questioning, she stammered, panic and fear plain on her face. “Madam… Madam has already retired for the night.”
Shen Gui found it increasingly odd, his tone growing colder. “It doesn’t matter if she’s retired. I just want to take a quick look; I won’t disturb Madam’s rest.”
But no sooner had he spoken than the maidservant, already pale with fright, dropped to her knees with a thud. “This servant deserves death! Please spare me, Marquis. Madam… Madam is not in her room.”
“Earlier, Madam said the Second Young Master looked so pitifully alone, so she wanted to send him some pastries and sweet porridge. But this is only repaying the Second Young Master’s grace for seeking medicine in You Province. Please, Marquis, do not be angry with Madam!”
Moonlight shone brightly, wind rustled the bamboo grove.
Xin Yi carried a small glazed painted lamp as she passed through the dim courtyard to Shen Ru Jie’s door.
Seeing the light on inside the room, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Good thing someone was there; otherwise, her excuse to slip away from the banquet would have been for nothing. With a smile in her eyes, she pushed open the door.
The youth inside seemed to have heard her footsteps long ago. When he turned and clearly saw her face, he showed no great surprise.
But he still paused briefly, for perhaps two or three seconds.
“Sister-in-law… why have you come?”
Xin Yi placed the glazed lamp and food box on the table, then naturally drew close to him. She noticed the damp tips of his ink-black hair.
And the collar of his inner robe, damp at the neck.
Xin Yi reached out to touch his cheek, then his hand. As expected, they were cold.
He had apparently just taken a cold bath.
The moment she drew near, the youth’s raven-black lashes trembled lightly.
At the instant of her touch, he could not help narrowing his phoenix eyes and shuddering. He restrained himself by pressing his pale thin lips together.
Xin Yi had originally meant to say: I came to bring you some pastries.
But as she lifted her gaze to his handsome face, full of tension and allure, her mind shifted.
The words rolled on her tongue and changed to, “Second Young Master, let us leave the residence.”
She tilted her lovely little face up at him with a gentle smile. “Take me out. Let us go see the Lower Yuan Festival lanterns.”