“You’ve spent quite a bit of Lord Wei’s money.”
“We can earn more.”
Satisfied, Jiang Yinyue skipped ahead, letting Wei Qin hold the umbrella in one hand and carry the various packages in the other.
Unexpectedly, at the height of her enjoyment, they ran into an aunt and nephew walking side by side.
The imperial aunt and nephew crossed paths with them on an arched bridge over a babbling stream.
Their outing was not ostentatious, trailed only by a few attendants.
The night cloaked their sharpness.
The Eldest Princess, who had originally brought her nephew out to distract him, spotted the young couple weaving between stalls from afar. She wanted to turn and take another street but could not dissuade her nephew, who insisted on approaching them.
“Your Highness, why bother!”
Wei Xichen said nothing and slowly descended the bridge. His moon-white robes gleamed as purely as frost, lingering in the gazes of passersby.
What a handsome man.
Passersby sighed.
Yet the man’s lightly pursed lips were slightly tense, lacking the softness moonlight should have.
The Eldest Princess approached gracefully. When they met the young couple head-on, she smiled brightly. “What a coincidence.”
Seeing they were in plain clothes, Wei Qin merely nodded faintly.
Out of the respect due from juniors to elders, Jiang Yinyue did not pull Wei Qin away. She nodded and tossed out a single word. “Coincidence.”
The Eldest Princess had rarely suffered such a cold reception, but one who had weathered great storms would not show displeasure over such a minor slight. “What did you buy?”
“Just some little things.”
“Highborn ladies seldom fancy these. Niannian is growing more grounded in everyday life.”
“Money cannot buy what one loves.” Jiang Yinyue linked her arm with Wei Qin’s, nodded to the Eldest Princess, and from start to finish spared not a single glance for Wei Xichen.
She passed by Wei Xichen, who held the umbrella for his imperial aunt, with her own husband.
The two oil-paper umbrellas crossed on the long street and parted. One remained steadily over Jiang Yinyue’s head; the other was handed to the Eldest Princess.
“Xichen…”
Wei Xichen walked into the continuous fine rain.
The rain that nourished all things could not soothe his bitter heart.
His pristine robes hem grew muddy in the potholes.
He turned back in the rain, his fringe plastered to his forehead, obscuring his view.
The departing woman was a bright pearl lost among the myriad raindrops.
His hands at his sides suddenly clenched tight.
His vacant gaze found focus.
In a pitch-dark secret chamber, Yan Zhuyu, who had barely managed a mouthful of thin soup and rice, was startled by approaching footsteps. She looked toward the entrance in terror.
Manager Xie, guarding nearby, squinted against the torchlight and raised a hand to shield his eyes.
A burly man entered, lit the wall lamp, and brought light along with an icy command.
“The Young Master’s meaning is that there’s no need to send her to the Capital City anymore.”
Xie Jingcheng stood. “Ah?”
“She has no value left.”
Yan Zhuyu’s heart jolted; she looked at the two in horror.
The burly man was none other than Mo Hao, who had escorted Mr. Gong to Jiangning.
After hearing Mo Hao’s explanation, Xie Jingcheng pondered. Yan Zhuyu had two values: first, to clear Jiang Yinyue’s name; second, to let the Shunren Emperor know that the Crown Prince he had personally groomed would also deceive him.
Now that the first value was lost, the second remained—yet the Young Master said she had none.
Mo Hao’s face was masked, his eyes stagnant as dead water. “All city gates are tightly guarded. Sending her out is harder than ascending to heaven. She’s a hot potato now. Better to use her to test the Heir Apparent’s bottom line.”
Would the provoked Heir Apparent tear off his gentle facade…
Xie Jingcheng paced a few steps, somewhat regretting his current identity as a wealthy merchant. Once he handed Yan Zhuyu to the Crown Prince, he could no longer roam the world as “Manager Xie.”
“Understood.”
The fine rain pattered, insects chirped noisily. Xie Jingcheng looked up amid the jostling crowd. On the outer gallery of a building across the street, dancing girls twirled long sleeves, and singers’ lingering notes echoed.
“Hmph.”
The hunched man strode on without stopping. Who did not know that Manager Xie was immensely wealthy, styling himself a playboy? Old as he was, without wife or child—but who knew that this rich libertine had never squandered a single coin in drunken revelry.
All that self-proclaimed romantic flair for nothing.
“Heh.”
Xie Jingcheng sneered and sauntered back to his shop. After giving some instructions, he sauntered to the Zhao Family Clinic. “Old Zhao, it’s time to pack up…”
“Manager Xie.”
Wei Ying, accompanied by her maid for treatment, stood and smiled radiantly, habitually offering a piece of candy.
Frail as she was, her smile blazed brilliantly.
Xie Jingcheng swallowed the words on his tongue, took the candy from her hand, peeled it, and popped it into his mouth.
It was sweet and sticky, the only bit of sweetness tasted amid the hardships of the journey.
“Thank you.”
“No need to stand on ceremony.”
“Before parting, may my lady have no regrets about the past, no worries about the future, be filled with joy and satisfaction, and enjoy peace year after year.”
Wei Ying was stunned. “Is the shopkeeper leaving?”
Xie Jingcheng stood under the bright moon and laughed heartily. That smile was as warm as a spring breeze, softening the signs of age. He did not seem like a middle-aged man but more like a youth in the prime of his life.
Wei Ying walked to the door, leaned against the frame, and gazed into the distance. She had a quiet and reserved personality and rarely interacted with outsiders. She greatly envied Xie Jingcheng’s witty and unrestrained nature.
Doctor Zhao wrote out a prescription at the consultation desk and instructed Wei Ying that she could visit the Zhouji Pharmacy on the main street for her next consultation.
“You are leaving too?”
Doctor Zhao stroked his beard and nodded meaningfully.
Wei Ying, who had never experienced parting before, felt a deep sense of loss. She returned to the residence and shared her inexplicable low mood with Jiang Yinyue under the eaves.
Jiang Yinyue, who had a bit more life experience than her younger sister-in-law, comforted her. “In truth, people mostly encounter each other in passing and part just as quickly. If someone leaves a deep mark on your heart, that memory will outlast the time spent together. From the moment we could remember things, we have been meeting, parting, missing, and letting go. The only one who can accompany you forever is yourself.”
“What about husband and wife?”
“The parting of life and death in old age, or severing ties midway through life.”
“In sister-in-law’s view, what would lead a husband and wife to sever ties?”
“Deception.”
Wei Ying suddenly felt extremely proud. “Brother would never deceive sister-in-law.”
“Mm, I believe him.”
“What if he did?”
Jiang Yinyue laughed. “Then we would sever ties and become strangers to the end of the world.”
Just like with Wei Xichen, but she believed Wei Qin would not deceive her.
Jiang Yinyue returned to the East Wing Room and changed out of her damp dress. She looked at herself through the bronze mirror.
The ups and downs of intense emotions had added a touch of weary pallor to her complexion. She cupped her cheeks with both hands and examined them from side to side, only to be startled by another face that suddenly appeared in the bronze mirror.
The lamplight was a dim blue-green, and that person looked as ethereally beautiful as a ghost or demon.
“Why did you sneak up without a sound?”
“What are you looking at?”
Jiang Yinyue pointed at herself. “I look a bit haggard.”
Wei Qin stepped forward and pressed her to sit at the vanity.
The two of them looked into the mirror together.
Their stunningly beautiful faces looked perfectly matched.
But Jiang Yinyue’s complexion was indeed somewhat pale.
Wei Qin took a box of rouge from inside his collar and placed it on the vanity. He saw his little wife glance down at the rouge box, then look up at him.
“You bought it for me?”
“Mm.”
Jiang Yinyue puffed out her cheeks. Her pink and moist little mouth pursed to one side, her delight plain to see.
She opened the rouge box and examined it carefully. She selected the brightest cherry red, scooped out a dab the size of a yellow bean, and dotted it on her lips, spreading it carefully.
The woman in the bronze mirror now had lips as red as cherries and teeth as white as pearls, radiantly beautiful.
Wei Qin watched quietly, only to have the woman suddenly swipe his face.
A streak of cherry red appeared on his left cheek.
The woman in the bronze mirror laughed merrily.
Wei Qin leaned down, gripped her neck from the side, and pulled her close.
“No, no, I was wrong…”
Jiang Yinyue, whose face was forcibly pressed against his, felt itchy. She squinted her right eye and shrank her neck like a kitten.
Cherry red bloomed across her cheek.
Wei Qin did not stop there. He moved to her other side, embraced the slightly panicked woman who tried to flee, and pressed his other cheek against hers.
He rubbed gently.
“I was wrong, Lord Wei.”
“Brother Wei.”
“Wei Qin!”
Deep into the pitch-black night, in the dimly lit room, two figures tangled and played, accompanied by the woman’s soft pleas for mercy.
Two uneven smears of rouge remained on the woman’s tender cheeks.
Jiang Yinyue looked at herself in the bronze mirror, then at Wei Qin, whose chin now bore a ring of teeth marks and lip prints. She proudly raised her brow.
She had not come out at a loss.
The usually silent Lord Wei touched his chin without a word and did not pursue it further. As he turned away, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
He himself did not notice.
A person who did not like to smile had unconsciously smiled.