The door lock clicked. The door opened. It was none other than Song Pingping, the one who had heard Puppy’s bark from the tower.
Wasn’t its mouth tied? How did it make a sound?
She ran back, pushed the door open, and saw that the rope tied around Puppy had indeed come loose.
That was secondary. The main concern was that Puppy might spit out the Demon Spirit Pill again. The pill was valuable, not “dog food”, and could not be wasted. Otherwise, why would someone have been left here to keep watch?
She immediately picked up the iron cage to check. Finding nothing inside, her eyes swept the room.
Fortunately, this quiet room only had a few tables and chairs, simple and clear, with no extra furnishings. Bending down and looking back and forth a few times, she examined the floor thoroughly.
Seeing no Demon Spirit Pill, Song Pingping breathed a sigh of relief, guessing that since it had been swallowed for some time, it had not been vomited out.
Whatever the case, she still needed to tie Puppy’s mouth again. What if it simply hadn’t vomited it out yet?
She grabbed Puppy from the cage and picked up the rope to tie it again. This time, experienced, she tied the end of the rope around Puppy’s neck to prevent it from pawing it off again.
Puppy, thrown back into the cage, began to whine and struggle again, soon crying with wet eyes again.
Struggling desperately was useless. Song Pingping would not give it freedom…
A solitary lamp, arms as a pillow. Yu Qing lay on his bed in the pavilion, unable to sleep. Outside, a melodious zither sound drifted in.
He knew it was Wen Xin playing. That woman was skilled in all the arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
Big Head, which had crawled out from the bracket hole, flew back and landed. Yu Qing glanced at it, somewhat surprised, feeling that Big Head had returned a bit early today.
Soon, he noticed that Big Head had flown back with a big belly, and he couldn’t help sitting up.
Big Head flew directly to a corner of the table and then lay there motionless.
What was going on? Curious, Yu Qing got up to observe, not knowing what Big Head had gone out to eat.
The point was, he had never seen Big Head fly with a big belly before. It digested food very quickly, extraordinarily fast. Its stomach was like an incinerator. One fart and its belly would be normal again.
Flying back with a big belly, had it eaten something hard to digest?
He stared at Big Head and observed carefully for a while, even picking it up and examining it repeatedly. He found Big Head quite normal, showing no signs of discomfort.
He put Big Head back on the table to observe. It just seemed unwilling to move.
“Big Head, you can’t eat random things when you go out!” Yu Qing muttered, expressing his concern.
That night, he did not sleep, almost constantly paying attention. Big Head was already his most valuable possession. If something went wrong, his loss would be great.
He stayed up until dawn. Big Head still had a big belly and still couldn’t fart. It lay in a corner of the table, motionless. Sometimes it made one wonder if it was dead. Reaching out to touch it, one would find it was still alive.
The sky was already bright. He still had things to do and couldn’t keep watching Big Head. He hurried to wash up, then began his patrol of Jade Garden.
Where it was unclean, he called people to clean again. Where something was amiss, he called people to rearrange. There were quite a few miscellaneous matters, inside and out, bits and pieces.
His current duties were already similar to a steward of Jade Garden. This was also what he wanted. When Wen Xin married later, the Yuwen family certainly wouldn’t use someone from the Wen household as a steward. Then he could only go help Wen Xin supervise her own properties.
By the time Wen Xin appeared for breakfast, Yu Qing had already handled most of the miscellaneous matters.
After returning from breakfast, the sun was bright and lovely. As usual, Wen Xin walked a few rounds in the garden alone, without anyone accompanying her, including Little Red.
Yu Qing could only stand in the garden and watch from afar.
After spending time with her, one would discover that this seemed to be one of Wen Xin’s habits. One didn’t know what she was thinking about. Sometimes she would do this in the evening too.
After walking a few rounds, Wen Xin sat down in the pavilion again. On the stone table was tea brewed by Little Red.
As for Little Red herself, one didn’t know what she was chatting about with people from the main courtyard.
Not long after, Little Red ran over looking incredibly excited, rushing into the pavilion with joyful news. “Miss, miss, he’s here. Young Master Yuwen is here.”
Yu Qing, not far away, also heard this. He turned his head in surprise.
Wen Xin was stunned for a moment, then her face flushed red instantly. “Lower your voice. What are you shouting about?”
Little Red: “Young Master Yuwen is chatting with the clan elder right now. Miss, shall we go take a peek?”
Wen Xin spat, “Shameless, what are you talking about?”
Little Red: “No, it’s the main courtyard’s idea, to put miss at ease.”
Wen Xin, with embarrassment hidden even in her eyes, quickly glanced at Yu Qing who was looking this way, then spat again, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
With that, she quickly got up and walked away briskly. A faint fragrance passed by Yu Qing as she hurried into the study. The door creaked shut.
Little Red also walked over and sighed, “Done for. I’m afraid miss won’t even come out for lunch.”
Yu Qing tried asking, “Has miss and Young Master Yuwen never met?”
Little Red shook her head. “It’s not proper to meet before marriage, right?”
Yu Qing thought that made sense. Big families had many rules. Back then, the Zhong family in the capital had been like that at first too. He had never seen what Zhong Ruochen looked like to this day. He was still somewhat puzzled. “She’s not married yet, so why can they meet now?”
Little Red sighed, “When the clan elder first arranged the betrothal with the Yuwen family, the Yuwen family agreed that Young Master Yuwen would first attain scholarly honour before taking a wife. After his name appeared on the golden list, they would marry. That was the wedding date. Miss was supposed to enter the Yuwen family’s door this year. Who knew that before going to the capital for the exams last year, Young Master Yuwen suddenly fell ill and missed that examination. Now the wedding date has been postponed along with it. It’ll be at least another two years until the next examination. Another two or three years of delay. Perhaps the clan elder means to let the two meet to put their minds at ease.”
Yu Qing raised an eyebrow. “What peace of mind can one meeting bring?”
Little Red retorted, “Is our miss not beautiful? Talented and beautiful! Once Young Master Yuwen sees her, he’ll naturally be at ease and naturally won’t easily have other thoughts. I heard Young Master Yuwen also looks quite good. Once miss sees the person, she’ll naturally feel settled in her heart.”
Yu Qing chuckled twice. “Going to the capital for the imperial exams isn’t that easy. He missed the last one. He might not pass the next one either.”
Little Red: “How could that be? Old Master Yuwen is a veteran of the literary world. How could his grandson fail to pass? As long as he takes the exam, he’ll definitely pass.”
Yu Qing laughed drily, “Not necessarily. Some people just can’t perform on the proper stage. Some did quite well in the exams before entering the capital, but once they take the metropolitan examination, some fail five, six, seven, or eight times. If he never passes, would miss have to wait forever?”
“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!” Little Red spat several times in a row, poking Yu Qing’s chest. “A Qing, your mouth stinks. Are you cursing our miss to never marry?”
“Uh…” Yu Qing realised he had spoken too harshly and hurriedly explained, “I didn’t mean that. I just feel that the Yuwen family is wasting miss’s youth for nothing. That wedding date they set is simply bullying. The illustrious Wen clan, a thousand-year family, why should they fawn over them?”
Little Red hmphed, but then muttered a few complaints, “Waiting another two or three years, miss’s age for marriage will be a bit old. I’m afraid people will laugh.” She shook her head, sighed, and also ran off toward the study.
Yu Qing stood silently in place, secretly reflecting. What was wrong with him just now? That pile of nonsense, he shouldn’t have said that!
Despite knowing he should reflect, he found his emotions were still difficult to calm.
Before, he only knew Wen Xin had a fiance, and his mentality was fine. Just now, suddenly hearing that the fiance had arrived and was going to meet Wen Xin, his emotions inexplicably spiralled out of control. In short, he just felt stifled and frustrated in his heart.
He had repeatedly told himself before that he was here for Wen Xin’s dowry. Only now did he discover that some things were so hard to let go.
He had already convinced himself. Daydreams weren’t realistic. He was here for money. Nothing was more important than the responsibility he bore as sect leader. But why did he still feel heartache?
He stared blankly in a daze. Little Red, however, came out of the study again, holding a chessboard in her hands.
After meeting, Little Red shrugged. “Miss is probably also unsettled in her heart. She won’t be coming out for a while. We’re idle anyway. Come, here’s another chance to practice and improve.”
Yu Qing certainly knew what so-called practice meant. Wasn’t it just chess? He immediately waved his hand. “Forget it, forget it. I’ll just do my own job well. I really don’t need to improve anymore.”
These days, the two had played several times. Yu Qing knew too well what level this maid was at. Compared to himself, the difference was truly heaven and earth. What fun was there in playing chess with this kind of person? Moreover, he didn’t dare to show that he was very skilled. He still had to exhaust his mind to let the other win subtly, to let the other crush him without a trace. This was much harder than winning himself.
Yet this stinking chess basket Little Red had become addicted to beating him and would frequently want to teach him how to be a proper person.
Little Red glared. “What do you mean no need to improve? People around miss need to know a bit of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. When you go out, you can’t embarrass miss. Understand? Hurry over.” With that, she went directly to the pavilion to set up the board.
Yu Qing was speechless. He had long grown tired of playing chess. Chess was one of the things he hated most. How to describe that feeling? It was like when everyone played with mud and house as children. Later, he grew up and was already an adult, then was dragged to play house and mud with a group of children. How could there still be interest? He really couldn’t even be bothered to perfunctory.
Put him anywhere else, he would certainly be too lazy to care. But here, he still needed to cling to Little Red’s thigh. He could only force a smile and go.
Man and woman sat facing each other, reaching out back and forth, placing pieces one after another.
After playing for a while, Yu Qing was already starting to play the coward, calculating to let Little Red gain the upper hand and crush him. Yet Little Red was still chatting and laughing casually, instructing him, while he still had to cooperate and act along.
Just when he felt disgusted, nauseated, and about to be poisoned to death, his gaze shifted slightly. On the road they usually took to the main courtyard for meals, two people emerged, strolling leisurely.
One he recognised, the number two figure of the Wen clan, the steward Wen Kui.
There was also a young man he had never seen before, refined and cultured, with fair skin and delicate features, eye-catching in a green robe, graceful as a jade tree in the wind at first glance. Every gesture carried a kind of upbringing soaked into the bones. One look told you he was not a child raised by an ordinary family.