Chapter 21 If you run away and don’t let me out, I’ll starve to death! ...
The light orange morning glow in the sky slowly dissipated. After going through so much trouble early in the morning, less than an hour had actually passed before the sky finally brightened.
When Shen Youran returned to Yunzhiyuan, Danruo had already prepared the fumigation medicine. When she saw her come back, she lit it.
Shen Youran sat over, and the medicinal mist from the incense burner meandered upwards and rushed towards her red eyes. The stinging pain that had tormented her all morning was finally relieved.
"Auntie... Why did the young lady come back alone?" Dan Ruo was still not used to calling her own girl the young lady.
"It's a long story," Shen Youran rubbed his head tiredly, "Forget it, I'll tell you later."
Danruo saw that she looked exhausted and guessed that something bad must have happened. Not wanting to upset her again, he stopped asking.
Shen Youran didn't sleep much last night and was tossed around again this morning. Before the medicine was finished, he fell asleep on the table.
Danruo had no choice but to put away the incense burner and help her to bed.
But she didn't sleep for long and was woken up again.
"You Ran, wake up..."
The eldest sister's slightly anxious voice reached her ears. Shen Youran hummed, not even wanting to open her eyes. She just walked over in a daze: "Sister, why are you here?"
Shen Yunshu held her face in her hands, trying to sober her up: "I heard that you made the eldest lady so angry that she fainted, but is that true?"
She hummed, "I didn't mean to do that. She couldn't argue with me, so she fainted out of anger. It's not my fault."
"Then tell me, what's going on?"
Shen Youran then reluctantly opened her eyes, leaned into her sister's arms, and simply told her what had happened: "The eldest lady doesn't like me. She used a worthless bracelet to fool me, and the old maid beside her also bullied me..."
After Shen Yunshu heard the general outline of the matter, she had anticipated that her younger sister would encounter difficulties after marriage, but she had not expected such a big incident to happen on the first day of the wedding. Although the matter was not initiated by the third younger sister, if it was taken seriously, the third younger sister would also be accused of being disobedient and unfilial.
After all, no matter how much the eldest lady tried to make trouble, she never made it public. The third sister was straightforward, and when others stabbed her in the back, she would just wield a hard knife to fight back. When things got out of hand, it was clearly someone else's fault, but in the end it also became her fault.
"You Ran, this isn't the Shen family. We're newly married brides. We need to think twice before making any decisions, no matter what we say or do. We can't be so impulsive..."
"I can't help it," Shen Youran said, feeling even more aggrieved when she saw her sister lecture her instead of comforting her. "At worst, you can just divorce me. I'd love to have that."
"They even agreed to the marriage swap just to maintain the dignity of both families. How could they divorce so easily?"
"If you won't divorce me even after this, then what should I be afraid of?"
"There are many ways to discipline the bride in the backyard..."
"When the enemy comes, we will fight him with soldiers; when the water comes, we will block it with earth. We will deal with it when the time comes." She would not worry about something that has not happened. Instead of wasting time on this, it would be better to sleep a little longer.
Shen Yunshu was lost in thought, not as optimistic as her sister. She watched her sister close her eyes and fall asleep again, and sighed softly: since she had brought her sister to the Pei Mansion, if her sister did something wrong, it was only right for her, as the elder sister, to take the punishment for her...
She held her sister's face and helped her back to the pillow, then stood up and prepared to go to Chunxuan Hall to apologize to the old lady.
Before leaving Yunzhi Courtyard, he met Pei Huaijin who had just returned from Begonia Courtyard.
Shen Yunshu was now his sister-in-law, so seeing her uncle naturally meant showing respect. She bowed slightly and asked, "Brother, is my aunt feeling better?"
Pei Huaijin looked at his well-educated and well-mannered sister-in-law and couldn't help but think of the unruly girl who threw someone's hairpin even though she was right. He sighed in his heart: How come these two sisters are so different?
"My mother has woken up and is fine," he said.
"I apologize on Youran's behalf." Since the eldest lady had woken up, she must have come back to pick a fight with her third sister. Shen Yunshu twisted the handkerchief in her hand and took the blame for her sister's mistakes. "When Youran was still in the boudoir, I, as her elder sister, didn't discipline her strictly. This led to her developing an impulsive personality, which is why she acts so recklessly..."
Then he revealed his intention to defend her: "You Ran is just a little willful, but she has a kind heart and no evil intentions. I heard that my eldest brother was there when they argued, so I think he sees it more clearly than I do. This matter is not You Ran being unreasonable..."
"I know," he said calmly, calming Shen Yunshu's uneasy heart. "I know it's not her fault."
Just now in his mother's room, he saw clearly that Mother Zhang took back the tray as soon as Shen Youran's hand touched the jade bracelet, causing the jade bracelet to fall to the ground and break.
Then the three of them started arguing with each other, and before he could get a chance to interrupt, his mother fainted from anger at Shen Youran's words.
He had no choice but to ask Shen Youran to come back first, and stay there to wait for his mother to wake up.
After the doctor gave her acupuncture, the mother slowly woke up. The first thing she said when she woke up was to ask him to divorce her.
"Son, you just saw how arrogant she is. With such a temper, she is not worthy of being my eldest son's daughter-in-law. You should divorce her as soon as possible and marry another good wife..."
"Mother," he interrupted her calmly, his voice sinking slightly, "You've gone too far today."
The mother was stunned. "I'm being too much? She threw her bracelets and hairpins in front of me and even spoke rudely to me. She's so disrespectful to her elders, and you say I'm being too much?"
"You and Mother Zhang deliberately made things difficult for her, but in turn put all the blame on her. Mother, I have eyes and can see clearly. It's not that the weaker one is right."
The mother sneered: "Well, well, well, people say that when you marry a wife, you forget your mother. If that's true, then I raised you for nothing."
"As her mother-in-law, if you want to discipline her, you can do it with legitimate reasons instead of deliberately finding faults in her and trying to control her." As a son, he saw through his mother's purpose of doing this today. She just wanted to test the temper of the new bride to see if she was easy to control.
Shen Youran's fuss made his mother realize that she was not a meek person, so his mother naturally wanted him to divorce his wife and marry another.
But although he respected his mother, he was not a foolishly filial person. Although Shen had done something wrong today, it was not to the point of divorcing his wife.
"Mother, as an elder, you should have the grace and magnanimity of an elder. You must know that when elders are virtuous and children are filial, there will be peace in the family, instead of blindly demanding filial piety from the younger generation." Seeing that his mother was breathing unevenly with anger again, he stopped talking and finally made his position clear, "Ms. Shen has done nothing wrong. I will not divorce her. Until mother truly accepts her, I will not let her see you again. You should have a good rest. I will go back to see her..."
He just returned to Yunzhiyuan and met Shen Yunshu. She must have been worried that he would blame her sister, so she was anxious to take responsibility for Shen Youran.
"I know this isn't her fault," he said, changing the subject. "But being too stubborn can lead to failure. She needs to change her temper, or she'll suffer in the future."
Seeing that he was a sensible person, Shen Yunshu felt relieved.
"Yes, I will urge her more in the future."
"As her husband, I will discipline her more. As for you..." After all, she was his former fiancée, and now she is both his sister-in-law and his wife's biological sister. "Seventh Brother is at the stage of settling down his character, so you should also pay more attention to him. Don't let him wander around freely. If he makes friends with bad people and picks up bad habits, you will be the one who suffers in the future..."
Although Shen Yunshu had her own plans, she also sincerely thanked him for his concern for her: "Yes, I understand."
"Go back first and send someone out to look for Seventh Brother. Don't worry about You Ran's situation. I won't make things difficult for her. If this matter gets to Grandmother, I'll handle it myself..."
Shen Yunshu was willing to believe Qinghui Mingyue's gentlemanly words and said, "Then my sister-in-law will go back first."
After seeing Shen Yunshu off, Pei Huaijin went straight to the dormitory.
As soon as I entered, I smelled a faint scent of medicine in the air.
It was different from the smell of medicine in her mother's room, so she probably didn't get it from her mother's room.
He asked the maidservant named Danruo who came with the dowry, "Why does it smell like medicine?"
Dan Ruo had already put away the fumigation medicine furnace and replied, "Young Madam's eyes were uncomfortable, so she fumigated them with medicine before going to bed."
"What happened to her eyes?"
"Young Madam injured her eyes when she was young, and she occasionally suffers from eye problems. Perhaps it's because she slept late last night, and when she woke up this morning, her eye problems recurred."
"Really?" No wonder she kept rubbing her eyes today, and the whites of her eyes were red. He thought it was because she cried too much last night. "What happens when the eye disease flares up?"
"My vision is blurry and my eyes hurt..."
So she tripped over the threshold in the flower hall today, went a few degrees wrong when offering tea to the elders, and failed to retrieve the bracelet when it fell. Perhaps because her eyesight was not clear today, she endured the pain and completed the thank you ceremony with him.
What a stubborn guy! If she had told him earlier that her eyes were hurting, he could have waited until she had applied the medicine before taking her out.
Pei Huaijin pushed aside the low-hanging red curtains with gold weaving. On the eight-foot pearwood landscape bed with a round hole, the girl who had been so arrogant just now was lying with the quilt wrapped around her, looking very well-behaved.
Her long eyelashes suddenly trembled, her thin eyebrows wrinkled, her pale pink lips slightly opened, and she began to mutter.
Pei Huaijin couldn't hear clearly, so he leaned down, moved close to her lips, and listened to her murmurs of grievance.
"I'm not wrong, I'm not wrong..."
Pei Huaijin smiled, stood up, stretched out a finger and smoothed her furrowed eyebrows: Okay, I know you are right.
As expected, what happened today reached the old lady's ears. After noon, someone came to Chunxuan Hall and said that the old lady wanted to talk to the eldest young lady.
At that time, Shen Youran had not woken up yet. Pei Huaijin thought that she had an eye disease today and might recover faster if she slept a little longer, so he did not ask anyone to wake her up and went to Chunxuan Hall by himself.
He explained the right and wrong of today to his grandmother, but although his grandmother knew the right and wrong of the matter, she still had a strong prejudice against Shen Youran's behavior today.
"Nothing is greater than filial piety. Nothing can transcend the word 'filial piety'. No matter how wrong your mother's actions were, Shen, as her daughter-in-law, should have shown some respect to her. If she has been wronged, she can seek justice from you, her husband, or from me, her grandmother. She really shouldn't have crossed the line between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and said such harsh words that she fainted on the spot..."
Although Pei Huaijin did not completely agree with his grandmother's words, he also wanted to teach Shen Youran to change her ways in the future, so he did not refute her: "Yes, my grandson will teach her well in the future."
"Don't talk about the future. Teach your wife the same way as before. From today on, discipline her well."
"Yes, grandson has already agreed with her to copy the "Instructions for Women"..." This was agreed upon with her last night. Originally, he thought that her eyesight was not good today, so he would copy it later. However, seeing that his grandmother seemed to have the intention of punishing her, Pei Huaijin decided to deal with her grandmother with this matter first.
"Just copying the "Instructions for Women" is not enough..." Since ancient times, when the female members of the family made mistakes, they had to kneel in the family ancestral hall and reflect on themselves. Mrs. Pei wanted to do so, but before she could say it, she was interrupted by her grandson.
"Yes, so my grandson plans to hire a female teacher to teach her carefully."
Seeing her grandson interrupting her again and again, Mrs. Pei remembered the little girl's red, watery rabbit eyes in the flower hall this morning.
Her eyes were pure, and her heart couldn't be that bad. When her sisters-in-law bullied her, her retorts were quite clever. It was obvious that she was either stupid or had a perverse personality...
"Well, she's your wife. Since you don't want your grandmother to interfere, then just worry about it yourself."
After Pei Huaijin returned, he ordered Shen Youran to reflect on herself in her room for two days and not to step out of her bedroom during these two days.
Doing this would, firstly, give Grandmother an explanation, and prevent Mother from bothering her with this matter again. Secondly, it might also help her calm down. As for copying the "Instructions for Women," we'd wait until her eyesight was better before discussing it.
***
When Shen Youran woke up, the room was even darker than when she went to bed.
Outside the open window, evening clouds were floating, and the setting sun was blending into the sky. It was already dusk.
I slept soundly, and my eyes became much clearer.
Just a little hungry.
She patted her hungry stomach, opened the door, and wanted to call Danruo to bring her food, but as soon as she opened the door, two unfamiliar maids stopped her.
"Young Madam, please stop. My husband said that you should stay in your room to reflect on yourself and not go out for the next two days. If you need anything, please tell the servants to do it..."
What's the meaning?
Don't let her go out?
Pei Huaijin wants to put her in solitary confinement?
Why? What happened today wasn't her fault, so why did she lock her up?
"Where is Pei Huaijin?" she asked angrily.
"My dear husband is in the study..."
"Let him come to see me!"
"My dear husband has told me that I won't see you for the next two days..."
"Then I'll go see him!"
"My dear husband, you are not allowed to step out of the room."
Shen Youran tried to force her way out, but the two maids were obviously much stronger than her. After stopping her, they immediately closed the door and refused to open it for her even though she shouted several times.
"You won't let me go out, right..." Shen Youran stood there with her hands on her hips, sulking for a while. Then she turned around, moved a stool, and walked to the window. "I'll just climb through the window."
She lifted her skirt and stepped onto the stool, holding onto the edge of the stool with both hands, and half of her body leaned out.
Suddenly, a slender arm crossed in front of her, and she was so startled that she quickly stepped back.
"Young Madam, please go back." It was Pei Huaijin's attendant, Qing Jian.
She hadn't seen his face clearly in the morning, but now she finally saw it clearly. Like his master, he had a dead fish face with cold eyebrows and eyes.
The door and windows were blocked. Shen Youran finally accepted the fact that he was locked up and said with a stern face, "I'm hungry. I need to eat."
Qingmian said expressionlessly, "Young Madam, please tell the maid at the door. I will not be responsible for serving food..."
Shen Youran closed the window with a snap.
She believed that she had done nothing wrong today. In order to express her protest, she decided not to eat or drink, and would never give in to him.
Qing Jian waited outside the window until the moon reached its zenith, but he didn't hear any sound coming from the room. While his master was still asleep, he went to the study to report, "My lord, the young mistress hasn't sent anyone to serve the meal."
In other words, she hasn't had a drop of water since five in the morning.
"She's protesting my injustice to her." She hadn't reflected on it, but she was definitely infuriating. "Tell the maid to bring some soup and rice from the kitchen. If she still doesn't eat, come back and tell me..."
You can't really let her starve.
"Yes, do you still need me to guard by the window?" Qing Jian asked.
"No need." With her simple and stubborn nature, she probably wouldn't climb over the window a second time if she knew there was someone outside.
Qing Jian received the instructions and went out.
***
Late at night, the bedroom was silent, with the occasional "gurgling" sound coming from behind the curtains.
Shen Youran held her stomach, so hungry that she wanted to gnaw on the quilt.
She had never been on a hunger strike before, and she had no idea what extreme hunger felt like: palpitations, shaking hands, stomachaches, dizziness, and numbness in every limb...
I'm so hungry. I really want to eat something.
She rolled around in bed, searching from head to foot. Last night, during the greeting ceremony, the bed had clearly been strewn with red dates, peanuts, and longans. After the bun-tying ceremony, the maids had remade the bed and swept away all that stuff. They were so meticulous that not a single one was left behind.
Shen Youran searched in vain and rested for a while with his limp hands and feet. He could no longer resist the rumbling of hunger in his stomach. Just as he was about to get up and call the maid outside to bring him food, he suddenly heard the sound of a window being opened.
She was about to give in, but she immediately lay back down, her breath weak, but her mouth still hard: "Tell your master, if you don't let me out, I will starve to death!"
"Ah?" A lazy voice came from the window, "Why are you so depressed that you want to starve yourself to death?"
Um?
Shen Youran poked his head out of the tent and looked towards the window: "Pei Huaian? Why is it you?"
"What else?"
"Where's Qing Jian?"
“I didn’t see it…”
Qing Jian is no longer outside the window?
He must have guessed that she would not open the window again, so he slipped away long ago.
Damn it, I don’t know whose heart I take after.
Shen Youran got out of bed, got up a little too quickly, his vision went black and white, and he walked to the window on a pair of soft legs.
"I'm so hungry, do you have anything to eat?"
Pei Huaian took out a small pear from the temple from his arms: "This is the only one."
"Give it to me!" Before he could hand it over, Shen Youran stepped onto the stool and reached out to grab it. After a few mouthfuls, she finally felt less dizzy. "That was a close call. I almost starved myself to death..."
Having eaten all kinds of golden water shield and jade grains, this was the first time she felt that a plain pear could be so delicious.
Pei Huaian burst out laughing, watching her chew the pear clean in a short while, then said, "I heard that you made your aunt faint today, so your elder brother asked you to reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors."
Shen Youran's eyes narrowed: "Are you here to condemn me too?"
"No, I'm here to admire you. You're so brave," he gave a thumbs-up, "You are this!"
Shen Youran was unmoved: “Oh, so you came here to mock me.”
"No, I sincerely think you're amazing," Pei Huaian explained. "To be honest, last night at Chunxuan Hall, my aunt was strongly against the marriage exchange. She felt you weren't worthy of my brother. I thought she would bully you, but I didn't expect you to be so capable and actually made her faint. How did you make her angry? Tell me in detail..."
Shen Youran rubbed his stomach, which was not filled with pears. "This is a long story. I need something delicious before I can tell you in detail."
Pei Huaian shook his head: "Let's go, I'll take you to the kitchen to find something to eat."
"Alright."
With his help, Shen Youran climbed out of the window, stepped on his shoulders and climbed over the courtyard wall, followed him, and sneaked towards the kitchen.
As soon as I walked near the kitchen, I saw a maid coming out from the kitchen carrying a food box.
Pei Huaian asked her to hide behind a tree for a while. He went into the kitchen first and made sure that no one was inside before waving for her to come in.
The kitchen was clearly filled with the aroma of rice, but there was no food in the pot.
"I'm so hungry, so hungry..." She squatted down, holding her stomach, unable to move a step.
Seeing how hungry she was, Pei Huaian scratched his head and took out half a bag of flour from the cupboard: "Hold on a little longer, I'll make you some noodle soup."
Shen Youran looked up at the elegantly dressed young man with jade-like fingers. Thinking that she had also grown up without touching water, she couldn't help but ask, "Can you make noodle soup?"
"I've eaten it before, so it should be easy to make." Isn't it just kneading the dough, rolling it into dough sheets, and then boiling it in water?
The noble young man rolled up his sleeves, scooped out half a ladle of white flour from the bag and poured it into the basin, then scooped out half a ladle of water and began to knead the dough.
Shen Youran watched intently and decided to believe him for once.
A quarter of an hour later, the water was too much and the noodles were added. The dough still did not take shape in the basin with too much noodles and water. Pei Huaian shook the sticky batter on his hands in disgust and asked her: "Um, do you want some noodle soup?"
Tsk, you know he can't even make the simplest noodle soup.
The atmosphere froze for a moment, and Shen Youran asked him: "What is noodle soup...?"
"This is something I researched myself..."
Shen Youran, who was so hungry that he was about to vomit acid, said: "Okay, as long as it's cooked."
Pei Huaian gave up kneading the dough, washed the paste off his hands, and brought firewood to start a fire.
Fortunately, the fire was well lit and the water boiled quickly.
He scooped some paste from the basin, picked up the spoon and stirred it randomly, then wandered around the kitchen again. When he came back, he had an eggplant, half a sweet potato, a piece of yam, and a piece of wild rice stem...
He chopped it all up and threw it into the pot.
Shen Youran looked at his graceful movements, and suddenly remembered a past event, so he spoke about it casually.
"When I was a kid, my dad took me to play in the countryside. I accidentally stumbled into the kitchen and saw the cook chopping vegetables..."
"Um?"
"She cut up so many things, including potatoes, sweet potatoes, radishes, pumpkins, and many other vegetables I didn't recognize, and threw them into the pot while she was cutting..."
"oh?"
"She made a colorful potpourri, just like you did just now..."
"Is it delicious?"
"I don't know. She said it was for feeding pigs..."
Pei Huaian: "..."
The young man, who was cooking for the first time, threw the kitchen knife onto the cutting board and said with a frown, "I cooked for you out of kindness, and you actually said I was cooking pig food?"
"If you don't want to eat, forget it. I won't serve you anymore!"
Pei Huaian pretended to leave, and when he passed by her deliberately, she gently pulled the hem of his robe.
She raised her face, blinked her dark eyes, and pursed her lips into a pair of shallow arcs: "Don't be angry, I was just teasing you."
From Pei Huaian's perspective, her eyes were bright, her smile was ingratiating, her hair was a little messy, and she looked furry, like... like a little rabbit named "Xuetuan" that he had raised before.
Forget it, why should he bother with a little rabbit? He wasn't angry in the first place.
He went back and added some firewood to the stove. When the soup in the pot boiled, he scooped out some and tasted it: it was not cooked and there was no salt.
So he sprinkled some salt, cooked it for a while, scooped out some and tasted it: it was not cooked yet and was too salty.
I added some water and brought it to a boil again. This time it was cooked, but it didn't taste salty, bland, or delicious...
He scooped out a bowl and hesitantly handed it to Shen Youran: "Do you... want to eat it?"
Shen Youran looked at the "hodgepodge" in the bowl that had no color, fragrance or taste, but still praised it flatteringly: "It smells quite fragrant."
"Don't say anything against your will. I don't like to hear lies." The bottom of the bowl was very hot. He turned around and put it on the table where the dishes were being served. Then he handed her a clean spoon and said, "Eat it. It's better than starving to death."
Shen Youran walked over with a spoon in hand, scooped up half a spoonful of soup, blew on it, and began to eat it in small sips.
As he was eating, tears as big as beans fell into the soup.
Pei Huaian saw it, came over, and asked in surprise: "Is it really that unpalatable?"
Is it so unpalatable that it makes you cry?
"No," Shen Youran smiled through her tears, "I'm just touched. You're the second person besides my sister who cares about me today..."
Pei Huaian curled his lips and crossed his arms to tease her: "Do you regret it? Who told you not to choose me last night..."
Shen Youran took a sip of the unpalatable soup: "...I don't really regret it."
Pei Huaian snorted: "Just keep talking tough."
After drinking half a bowl of hot soup, the hunger subsided and the strength in my limbs returned.
Shen Youran also had the energy to talk to him.
After telling him about how she had fainted from anger that morning, she also had something to ask him: "Why didn't you come with my sister to the thank-you ceremony this morning?"
"Me," Pei Huaian leaned lazily on the edge of the table, "I went out to play."
"Going to the temple so early in the morning?" She had smelled the temple's sandalwood scent on him since she'd been by the window. "What's so fun there that would be worth leaving my sister behind to go there?"
"How did you know I went to the temple?" He then lowered his head and sniffed, then understood. Seeing that he couldn't hide it from her, he told the truth, "Actually, I went to the temple to listen to the monks chanting."
"Ah? Are you going to become a monk?"
"What do you mean by becoming a monk?" Pei Huaian looked at her with amusement, "How could I have such an awareness?"
"If you don't want to become a monk, why are you going to listen to the sutra so early in the morning?"
Pei Huaian's expression was a little unnatural, and his eyes flickered: "You are my sister-in-law now, not my wife. I can't tell you anything, so don't ask."
The more he refused to explain the reason, the more Shen Youran suspected that he really wanted to become a monk. After all, she had had such an idea last night.
"Did you decide to become a monk because of the marriage exchange? No, I wanted to become a nun last night too. Look, haven't I accepted the reality now?" Shen Youran anxiously and clumsily comforted him, "Besides, my sister is a very good person. She is smarter and more dignified than me. She is proficient in everything from music, chess, calligraphy and painting. Marrying her is much better than marrying me. You must not become a monk, otherwise my sister will be a widow..."
"What's going on?" Pei Huaian was at a loss for words. "Are you worried that I'll become a monk, or are you worried that your sister will become a widow?"
“Everyone is worried!”
How could Pei Huaian not know what she was really worried about? "Don't worry, your sister won't be a widow."
Shen Youran asked tentatively: "Then you won't become a monk?"
"It has nothing to do with whether I become a monk or not..." The divorce papers had been written long ago. Not to mention becoming a monk, even if something happened to him one day, Shen Yunshu could just take out the divorce papers and she wouldn't have to be a widow.
The reason why he ran to the temple to listen to the sutras early in the morning was because he had another beautiful dream last night.
This time he saw clearly in his dream that the person in the dream was not Shen Youran, but indeed Shen Yunshu.
And this time, when Shen Yunshu in the dream was cuddling with him, she took the initiative to bite his ear.
When he woke up and recalled his dream, he suddenly remembered why he dreamed of Shen Yunshu kissing his ear.
It was because last night in the hall, when she proposed to become a fake couple, she whispered it in his ear.
Thinking back to the first time he had this kind of dream, it was after he met Shen Yunshu. It was in the backyard of Fengle Tower. She came to him for help because she was feeling unwell and fell asleep in his carriage. After he returned, he dreamed of a picture of a beautiful woman sleeping...
But at that time, she was still his future sister-in-law.
He actually had lustful thoughts about the person who was about to become his sister-in-law. He was a beast.
Pei Huaian could not accept that he was such a lewd person, so he asked Qing Wu to sneak out of the house early in the morning and rode to Daxiangguo Temple at full speed, trying to purify himself through scriptures and get rid of evil thoughts.
He had been in the temple for the entire day, his entire body soaked in sandalwood. He couldn't smell it himself, but Shen Youran could smell it all at once.
"You are not allowed to tell anyone else about my visit to the temple, understand?" He threatened her in a fierce manner.
But Shen Youran was not afraid of him: "Then swear that you will not become a monk, and I will not tell anyone else."
Pei Huaian casually raised three fingers: "I promise, I won't become a monk, okay?"
Seeing him being so perfunctory, Shen Youran refused to believe him: "You're not serious at all. Swear again..."
"How childish." Pei Huaian put down his hand and refused to comply with her wish. "Are you full? If you are, I will take you back."
Shen Youran wasn't actually full, but the noodle soup didn't taste very good. She couldn't drink it anymore, so she said, "I'm full, let's go back..."
It was already mid-night, and the moon was hanging high in the sky like a crystal disk. With the help of the moonlight, Pei Huaian led Shen Youran back along the original route. However, when they were halfway there, they saw a few people holding lanterns in the deep night, as if they were looking for something.
They didn't make a sound, and Pei Huaian didn't know whether they were looking for Shen Youran.
But no matter what, it wouldn't be good for them to see him and Shen Youran alone together in the middle of the night.
"Follow me..."
He pulled Shen Youran, making many detours to avoid those people, and then temporarily took shelter in a rockery.
"Are they here to look for me?" Shen Youran speculated quietly, "Doesn't that mean your eldest brother knows about my escape? I was planning a hunger strike to protest, but now that he knows I sneaked out to eat, he'll definitely laugh at me..."
Pei Huaian lowered his head to glance at the person who was mumbling: "Cheating is a small matter. If they found out that we were together, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to explain myself even if I had a mouth all over my body."
"Is it that serious?"
"Yes." Pei Huaian said solemnly, "After all, we were a couple before."
“Then…” Shen Youran panicked, “Then we can’t hide together, you go hide somewhere else.”
"They are nearby. If I go out now, won't they catch me?"
"What shall we do then?"
"Shh, someone is coming..."
Shen Youran quickly covered her mouth and stared at him in the dim night, neither of them daring to breathe.
The surroundings were so quiet that the approaching footsteps could be heard particularly clearly.
Pei Huaian judged from the sound of footsteps that the person coming was a person. The footsteps were not heavy, so he should be a short and thin person.
He calmly turned around and blocked Shen Youran behind him, thinking that if he was found by that person, he would knock him out before the other party could see clearly.
The footsteps were getting closer.
Pei Huaian's auspicious eyes, like a hawk, watched for prey in the night, until a slender figure came into view. He scooped the person up with lightning speed, covered their mouth, and then hugged them, slamming them against the stone wall...
However, his arms were suddenly filled with a soft touch, and the moment he hit the stone wall, he realized: the other person was a woman.
It was too late to retract his strength, so he had to turn sideways and hug the other person as they crashed into the stone wall, finally reducing the damage by half.
The other person hit his head and he also injured his shoulder. Ignoring the pain, he lowered his head to identify the person in his arms.
The small face, the size of a palm, was half covered by his big hand, leaving only a pair of familiar thin eyebrows and bright eyes.
It was Shen Yunshu.
"Why are you here?" He was startled and quickly let go of the person in his arms.
Shen Yunshu was hit hard just now. She endured the dizziness and had to hold on to the stone wall to stand steadily.
Shen Youran came out from behind Pei Huaian and looked at her in panic: "Sister, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
What gave Shen Yunshu even more headaches than the dull pain in her head was that her third sister was actually with Pei Huaian.
"Why are you together so late?"
"Sister, don't get me wrong. It was Pei Huaijin who locked me up. I was so hungry that I couldn't stand it anymore, so I slipped out to eat something in the kitchen..." For now, I could only say the most important things. After I got through this, I would come back and explain it to my sister.
"I also heard from Danruo that you were locked up by my eldest brother, but a maid discovered you sneaking out of the room, so I came out to look for you." Shen Yunshu believed her sister wouldn't do anything inappropriate, but others might not believe it. Just as she was thinking about how to send her third sister back with a clear conscience, she suddenly heard footsteps coming. It must be the noise caused by the collision earlier, which attracted those people.
We must never let outsiders find out that Pei Huaian is involved with my third sister.
Shen Yunshu pushed her sister back behind Pei Huaian, then took his hand and said to him, who was still in a daze, "When they come over later, I will hide in your arms, and you pretend to be angry and tell them to leave, understand?"
-----------------------
The author has something to say:
The next chapter will be at 12 noon, and the red envelopes and updates will be sent out together then!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
