Chapter 47 Framed

Xie Wuchen looked at the fine lines at the corners of his aunt's eyes, and thought of how she had been running around among the various rooms in the Xie Mansion all these years, trying hard to earn the opportunity for him and his sister to study.

When his classmates at the Imperial College were discussing his illegitimate status in private, it was his concubine who embroidered thirty handkerchiefs overnight in exchange for the headmaster's wife to speak for him.

"Mom——" The name that had been suppressed in my heart for many years came out of my mouth.

Aunt Zhang suddenly pressed her finger against his lips, tears welling up in her eyes. "Even in private, you have to follow the rules." She turned her back and pressed the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. "It's all your fault for being born in my belly."

Xie Wuchen gazed at her frail figure, remembering the time he caught a cold at age ten. His aunt knelt outside the main courtyard for three hours before begging a doctor to come and treat him. It was a snowy day, and when his aunt returned, her skirts frosted with ice, she still smiled and thrust the heater into his arms.

"Chen'er, Auntie is strict with you because she hopes you can earn a good future with your real ability." She had calmed down when she turned around, and stood up straight as usual, "Take Yu'er out of this world."

Xie Wuchen nodded with red eyes. He knew that his aunt was the most powerful. That year, when the second wife withheld her monthly allowance, his aunt quietly sold her embroidery to Jiangnan and then bought him the finest four treasures of the study.

Everyone in the mansion said that Concubine Zhang was dull, but only they, brother and sister, knew how tough she was hidden under her humble and pleasing appearance.

"Go ahead." Aunt Zhang pinched his cheek like she did when they were little. "You still don't trust my ability?"

Only after watching her son disappear behind the Moon Gate did Aunt Zhang stop smiling.

She raised her hand to tidy her hair, and walked steadily towards the west wing. Her skirt swept across the bluestone bricks without making any sound.

Inside the room, Xie Wu Yu was staring at the flickering candlelight in a daze.

She had kept the fact that she had sent a knee-length coat to her brother Jin Ce a secret from everyone. Her brother had just suddenly returned to retrieve the book, and his panicked look had made her heart flutter.

"Squeak--" The sound of the door hinge turning startled her and made her jump.

"Auntie?" Xie Wuyu hurriedly tried to help, but was avoided. The moment the door closed, she heard a cold voice: "Kneel down!"

His knees banged heavily on the blue bricks, and the moon-white knee-length gown fell to the ground in front of him.

The twin lotus flowers embroidered with silk thread were covered in dust and turned into a pale mass in her blurred vision.

"Do you know what this is?" Aunt Zhang's voice sounded as if it was soaked in ice.

Xie Wuyu was trembling with fear, speechless. She remembered last year's Qiqiao Festival, when her aunt held her hand and helped her thread the needle, saying, "A girl's things are most taboo to give rise to gossip." But that day, when her brother Jin Ce praised her handkerchief embroidery, she was completely overwhelmed...

"Do you think those maids in the back garden are blind?" Aunt Zhang's fingers, gripping the back of the chair, turned white. "The Second House has been watching our mistakes for ten years!"

The candle flame burst into a spark, reflecting Xie Wu Yu's tear-stained face.

She suddenly remembered her coming-of-age ceremony last month. Despite the cold stare of the first wife, her aunt had managed to prepare twelve golden hairpins for her. On the night of the ceremony, her aunt rubbed her swollen knees and smiled, "Our Yu'er is a grown-up girl now."

"You think it's okay to give him a knee-length gown?" Aunt Zhang squatted down, her voice trembling. "If someone saw you giving it to him privately, would your brother still be able to hold his head up high in the Imperial College?"

Xie Wuyu raised her head suddenly, and only then did she see the bloodshot in her aunt's eyes. She remembered that every time her brother came back from vacation, he would secretly give her a new pearl flower.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, her brother carried her on his back to watch the lanterns, saying that he would buy her a phoenix crown and a bridal robe in the future.

"It's my daughter who is confused." She fell to the ground and cried.

Aunt Zhang turned away, gazing out the window at the dark sky. She had been this age herself, forced by her stepmother to become Master Xie's concubine. As the sedan chair was carried through the corner gate, she gritted her teeth and swallowed back tears—she had to find a way to save her future child.

"From today on, you will copy the 'Instructions for Women' ten times a day." She staggered as she stood up and steadied herself by holding onto the table. "Move the embroidery frame to my yard. I'll personally oversee it."

Xie Wu Yu looked at a strand of white hair on his aunt's temples, and suddenly realized that his always straight back had become slightly hunched without him noticing.

She remembered that her aunt had always worn half-worn clothes over the years, but had made new clothes for them and their siblings for each season; during every sacrifice, her aunt would quietly retreat to a corner, but insisted that they and their siblings stand in the front row.

On the candlestick, the three-inch red candles popped and burst into flames. Aunt Zhang's skirt, embroidered with lotus flowers, swept across the blue bricks, casting a shadow in front of Xie Wuyu.

"You are going to ruin your brother's ten years of hard work, and ruin your aunt's twenty years of planning. You are pushing yourself into the fire pit!"

She clutched her daughter's thin shoulders, the jade bracelet knocking against her collarbone, leaving a bruise. "Xie Wuyu, are you tired of living?"

The last half of the sentence was squeezed out from between her teeth, startling the night watchman's lantern outside the window so much that it shook.

Xie Wuyu crawled on her knees and threw herself into her mother's arms, tears falling on the brocade quilt on the ground: "Yu'er knows she was wrong...I won't dare to do it again..."

Aunt Zhang looked at the pearl tassel hairpin on her daughter's head and suddenly remembered the day when she came of age.

At that time, the best craftsman in the capital was specially invited to make the hairpin, and the pearls were tribute from the East China Sea, so that she would not be inferior to the legitimate daughter.

"Pa!" A slap landed on Xie Wuyu's shoulder. Aunt Zhang's eyes were red first. "Your elder brother and Liu's previous experience is a lesson. Liu Yueli is now trapped in the other courtyard like a living dead. You are rushing to follow in their footsteps!"

Xie Wu Yu was trembling all over, and the jade on his wrist was jingling.

It was sent by Luo Jince on his birthday last year, saying that Luo Zhaohan had prepared gifts for the girls from various families. Now that I think about it, how could the jadeite be so rich and full of water just a casual gift?

"Last Mid-Autumn Festival..." she began, choking back tears, her eyes blurred as she gazed at the old osmanthus tree outside the window. At this time last year, Luo Jince had stood amidst the osmanthus fragrance, his moon-white brocade robe speckled with golden stamens.

That night, thirty-six lotus lanterns were floating on the lake. She lifted her skirt to reach the farthest one. The pebbles and moss were slippery.

When Luo Jince helped her up, the warmth of his palm came through the gauze, startling her so much that she quickly retracted her hand, but she left her embroidered shoes in the reeds.

In the past years, Luo Jince, along with his elder sister Luo Zhaohan and sworn sister Liu Yueli, had set foot in the vast courtyard of the Wuwei General's Mansion several times.

At that time, during their conversation in the mansion, she was deeply impressed by the young master of the Luo family.

He was born with outstanding appearance, like an orchid and a jade tree. His manners were gentle and elegant, and he treated everyone with courtesy, which was admirable.

However, she knew in her heart that the difference in status between her and Luo Jince was as great as the difference between heaven and earth, so she never had any improper thoughts. She had always kept her admiration for this young man deep in her heart and had never revealed it to anyone.

Unexpectedly, recently, she unexpectedly received a secret letter secretly delivered by a servant.

She was well aware of her situation in the mansion and did not dare to make any mistakes. She wanted to hand the letter to her aunt immediately.

But when she turned over the envelope, she found that the letter was signed by Luo Jince himself.

At that moment, her heart beat faster and waves of emotions surged in her heart.

After a fierce ideological struggle, she finally couldn't suppress her curiosity and secretly opened the letter.

The contents of the letter made her even more fascinated and unable to control herself. It turned out that Luo Jince had long been in love with her. In the past, every time Miss Luo Zhaohan of the Luo family brought him to the Xie Mansion, he always looked forward to seeing her more.

However, as the relationship between Miss Luo Zhaohan and her brother Xie Wuqi broke down due to Liu Yueli's intervention, Luo Jince no longer had a reasonable reason to set foot in the Xie Mansion, and his longing for her became increasingly difficult to suppress.

So he went through a lot of trouble and used various channels to secretly deliver the letter to her.

"The letter said...that the embroidery on my shoes that day was of twin lotus flowers..." Xie Wuyu grabbed the white jade pendant on her belt, "but I clearly remember that we were the only two holding the lanterns at that time."

Aunt Zhang suddenly grabbed the copper scissors on the table. A cold light flashed, and a lock of Xie Wuyu's hair fell to the ground. "Fool! If he could bribe the maid in my courtyard to pass the message, how could we know that he didn't have spies that night?"

The sound of the night watch pierced through the raindrops hitting the banana leaves, and Xie Wuyu recalled the time three days prior at 11:00. She had hidden in the rockery cave, clutching the reply letter. The half-broken gold bracelet peeking out from the sleeve of the woman who delivered the letter was clearly the share only given to second-class maids in her mother's family's courtyard.

"He said...that after my eldest sister and eldest brother had a falling out, it would be difficult to find a reason for them to meet again..." Xie Wu Yu suddenly shuddered.

Aunt Zhang suddenly pushed open the lattice window, and the night wind rushed in with the remaining rain.

"Tomorrow we'll go to the family temple to pray for blessings." She tucked her daughter's messy hair behind her ear, letting the gold-emerald armor scrape across her earlobe. "Tell everyone you've caught a cold. Mother will dispose of that knee-length gown."

"Auntie, Yu'er knows she was wrong, but there's really not a single word in that letter that violates the rules." Xie Wuyu knelt on the blue brick floor, her slender white fingers tightly grasping the corner of her clothes. "Young Master Luo sent me ointment to treat my burns the other day, so I wrote back to thank him and asked about my brother's situation in the Imperial College."

The candlelight flickered in the carved copper lamp, casting the girl's frail figure on the pink wall.

Aunt Zhang sat upright in a huanghuali armchair, the jade bracelet on her wrist making a crisp sound against the armrest. "If it's not beyond the rules, why did you ask your brother to deliver that knee-length gown?"

These words were like a silver needle piercing his heart, and Xie Wu Yu trembled all over.

The day before yesterday, when Young Master Luo sent someone to deliver the ointment from the Western Regions, she had somehow managed to stay up all night embroidering the pair of cloud-patterned kneepads. Now that her aunt had exposed her, she was so embarrassed that blood was about to drip from the tips of her ears.

"Yu'er is confused..." Tears fell like broken strings. She suddenly remembered that last month, Master Luo caught her in the garden when she almost fell off the rockery. His hands, a martial artist's, were obviously rough, but when they held her waist, they were as light as a cloud.

Aunt Zhang looked at her daughter crying and hiccuping, and her heart felt like it was being rubbed back and forth by a blunt knife.

How could she not understand the feelings of a young girl in love? Back then, she had stared at General Xie in this same way, until he was carried through a side door in a sedan chair. But Yu'er was the flesh and blood she had carried for ten months, so how could she bear to let her repeat the same mistake?

"Do you really think the eldest son of the Luo family would be interested in a concubine's daughter?" She sneered, "Even if you become a concubine, you can't even enter the general's mansion!"

These words were like ice water poured over his head, and Xie Wu Yu suddenly looked up.

The silver hair on her aunt's temples was particularly eye-catching in the candlelight. She suddenly remembered that after the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet last year, her aunt knelt for two hours in the corridor of the main house to ask for a decent piece of clothing for her.

"It's Yu'er who has high aspirations..." She fell to the ground and sobbed, "I shouldn't have coveted Young Master Luo's kindness to me, and I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have had such delusional thoughts..."

The last few words were shattered by sobs.

Aunt Zhang couldn't hold back any longer and rushed over to hug her. The girl's thin back made her heart ache. How could the little pink ball who smiled at her in her cradle grow up to be a big girl who would cry for a man?

"My silly Yu'er..." She stroked her daughter's dark hair, the scent of jasmine hair oil filling her nose. She had personally blended the scent, saying it would match the pearl hairpin Yu'er wore on her coming-of-age day.

The night watchman's drum sounded three times outside the window, and Aunt Zhang suddenly remembered the secret letter that Miss Luo had handed her the day before.

On that thin piece of gold-sprinkled paper was written "Liu and the Madam had three secret meetings." Now that I think about it, the root of the disaster was probably sown on the day Yu'er sprained her ankle on the rockery.

Liu Yueli keenly captured Yu'er's subtle emotions, so she carefully designed this plan, hoping to win the favor of Mrs. Xie.

After all, the entanglement between Liu Yueli and Xie Wuqi started from the secret correspondence between the lines. Such means were commonplace for her.

This plan had been brewing in secret for a long four months. Fortunately, Yu'er always maintained her sense of propriety. She was very cautious in her letters and did not reveal any rash words. This made it difficult for Mrs. Xie to find an excuse to make trouble.

But just a few days ago, it was rumored that General Xie was impeached because of the scandal of Xie Wuqi's regretful engagement, and Mrs. Xie was severely reprimanded by the general for this.

Mrs. Xie's patience had run out at this point, and she was probably already impatient to take action...

"Do you think those letters were really written by Young Master Luo?" She wiped her daughter's tears with a handkerchief. "Liu Yueli is good at imitating other people's handwriting. The love poems in your eldest brother Wuqi's study were written by her."

Before he could finish his words, Xie Wu Yu suddenly began to tremble violently.

Yes, the servant sent by Young Master Luo that day looked very unfamiliar. He said that he was afraid of being seen, so he went around to the back corner door.

Now that I think about it, how could the Luo family servants not recognize the main gate of the general's mansion?

"They want to harm Auntie!" The girl grabbed Auntie Zhang's sleeve fiercely, pinching her fingertips until they turned white. "If those fake letters were to be found out, my brother's future in the Imperial College would be ruined!"

Having said this, Xie Wu Yu couldn't help but burst into tears. The feeling of regret made her raise her hand and slap herself hard.

"Yu'er!" Aunt Zhang's heart tightened when she saw her daughter blaming herself so much. She held Xie Wuyu's slender hand lovingly and soothed her gently, "It's okay. There's still room for recovery."

She gently embraced Xie Wuyu in her arms, stroking her back again and again, a resolute glint in her eyes. The general had always disliked disputes in the harem, so she had never resorted to those dark and treacherous tactics.

However, just because she doesn't participate doesn't mean she doesn't have the ability to do so!

Since the Madam has extended her evil hand to Wu Yu, if I don’t take action this time, then it’s fine; but if I do, I will make sure that the Madam has no chance of recovery!

Having made up her mind, Aunt Zhang pulled Xie Wu Yu tightly to her feet, wiped her tears with her own hands, then walked to the desk, ground the ink, and picked up the pen.

Xie Wu Yu stood beside his mother, feeling uneasy. The pain of regret was like a needle piercing his heart, and he didn't know if there would be any turning point in this predicament.

I saw Aunt Zhang writing with her brush, and in a blink of an eye, the letter paper was filled with beautiful handwriting. Then she wrote an inscription on the envelope.

Xie Wu Yu couldn't help but lean over to take a peek. When she saw the handwriting on the envelope clearly, her face suddenly changed drastically.

"A letter from Miss Luo herself?" Her heart was in turmoil. It turned out that her aunt knew Luo Zhaohan?

This letter undoubtedly became the key to turning the tide!