Chapter 33: Purity lowered her eyes guiltily: He has long ceased to be pure...
The morning breeze blew through the treetops, carrying the moisture left by last night's rain and fog, making the wind chimes under the eaves ring softly.
The knock on the door woke Pei Huaian up. He sat up dazedly, and the first thing he did was to lift the quilt to look under himself.
The underwear he had changed last night was still clean and fresh. He was stunned and realized that he didn't have that kind of dream last night.
How could that be?
He had had that kind of dream when Shen Yunshu held his hand before, but he didn't have any dreams the whole night when he was so close to her when she changed the dressing yesterday?
What's going on?
His eyes caught sight of the handkerchief and underwear he had thrown under the bed last night, both stained with indescribable stains, and he seemed to suddenly understand something.
Could it be that if he had relieved his stress in advance, he wouldn't have had such a dream?
If that were true, then wouldn't he have to be afraid of being in the same room with her at night?
Pei Huaian was delighted, and all his sleepiness disappeared. He got out of bed and quickly put on his clothes. He was about to kick his underwear and handkerchief under the bed, but suddenly he remembered that the clothes he had stuffed under the bed had been taken out by the maid who was in charge of cleaning. It seemed that under the bed was not safe either.
He picked up the pants and handkerchief, crumpled them into a ball, and paced around the room. He felt that there was no suitable place to hide them, so he put them in his arms, opened the door, and handed them to Qingwu.
"I'll give you an extra five taels of silver every month if you help me wash my pants." He said with an unnatural look on his face.
Qing Wu immediately understood what was going on, and couldn't suppress the smile on his face as he readily agreed, "Okay."
After finishing breakfast in the side hall, Pei Huaian was about to tell Shen Yunshu that he was moving back to the main house when Tinglan came in and announced, "Sir, Madam, the Master is here."
Shen Yunshu hurriedly pulled him out of the side hall: "Let's go and welcome the teacher in person."
Pei Huaian had no choice but to swallow his words for the time being and went with her to the courtyard gate to welcome the teacher in.
The teacher was not happy with him because he skipped classes repeatedly.
Shen Yunshu gave him a look, and he put up his sleeves to apologize to the teacher and said that he would never skip class again.
The master gave him a support, his expression calm, "I hope that the Seventh Young Master will keep his word and go into class."
There was a new desk in the study, placed behind Pei Huaian's desk. Shen Yunshu took a book and sat behind him, so that if he was not concentrating, she could remind him in time.
Pei Huaian was stared at by her and indeed became much more obedient. Although he made some small movements out of boredom during the two-hour class in the morning, he would immediately straighten up when Shen Yunshu poked him with a pen from behind.
After the morning class ended, Shen Yunshu asked someone to take the teacher to the guest room to have a meal and rest. Pei Huaian finally had the opportunity to say what he had been holding back all morning.
"Sister Shu, I thought about it last night. Why don't I just listen to grandma? Starting tonight, I'll move back to the main room to sleep."
Unexpectedly, Shen Yunshu had already let it go. "I've thought about it carefully. This matter really doesn't benefit you much except to deal with Grandmother. As long as you can sit quietly in the study and read like you did today, Grandmother will naturally not force you. After we get divorced, you will still be a pure virgin. I think with this, you can find a better girl..."
It is true that one should be as pure as a virgin, but a pure body...
Thinking of the unspeakable outburst last night, Pei Huaian couldn't help but lower his eyes guiltily: he was no longer pure.
"You really don't want me to go back to sleep? What if Grandma urges you again..."
"It's okay. I should be able to handle Grandma."
Pei Huaian regretted it so much that she wanted to slap herself in the face for rejecting her yesterday.
*
Three days passed in a flash. After Shen Youran finished drinking the medicine to warm the palace and dispel the cold, she still had to drink Danggui Sini Decoction for four days.
The pain in her lower abdomen had completely gone. These past few days, Pei Huaijin had been asking her to recuperate in her room, with three meals a day brought to her room, as if he was treating her like a seriously ill person.
However, the food tasted quite good these days. She asked Danruo if there was a new cook in the kitchen. Danruo shook her head and said that the food these days was delivered by Qingjian. She had never been to the kitchen in the mansion and didn't know whether the cook had been changed.
Speaking of Qing Jian, as Pei Huaijin's attendant, he should have gone out with Pei Huaijin after he finished his rest, but he stayed in the mansion, guarding under the eaves of the main house with his arms folded, staring at everyone entering and leaving the yard like a hawk.
Shen Youran needed to take medicine these days, so she asked Qinghe to go out and buy some candied fruits, but they were all confiscated by Qingjian.
Qing He was so angry that she came in to complain to her. She went out to ask for it herself, but Qing Jian refused to give it to her: "My Lord has instructed that in the next few days, anything that the Young Madam eats must be delivered by me personally, and she cannot eat anything else.
"Qinghe is my personal maid, why can't I eat what she buys?"
"My dear husband has ordered that anything the young lady takes must be taken by me personally..."
"Okay, stop talking. If you don't want to eat, then don't eat..." She didn't want to hear the repeated words for the second time.
She knew that the reason Pei Huaijin gave him this instruction was because he suspected that someone had tampered with her food, which caused her to suffer from a cold. She also wanted to know who was secretly doing something bad to her.
In the evening, when Pei Huaijin returned, he placed the bag of preserves that Qing Jian had taken away on the table and said to her, "The person who harmed you has been caught. My grandmother asked me to go to Chunxuan Hall. How are you feeling? Do you want to go with me?"
Is there really someone in this mansion who wants to harm her?
And now the matter has been brought to the old lady's attention. Isn't it going to be a good show?
Shen Youran naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity to watch the fun. He opened the candied fruit on the table, grabbed two handfuls, and couldn't wait to walk out: "I'm not in any serious condition, let's go."
Pei Huaijin called her: "You've just recovered. It's cold outside. Put on a cloak before going out..."
Shen Youran paused, clutching two handfuls of candied fruit and turned around.
Pei Huaijin glanced at the two clenched hands, then walked to the wardrobe, took out a cloak and put it on her.
The collar of the cloak was trimmed with a circle of snow-white fox fur, which made the little face look even whiter and cuter. Her pair of black eyes were clear and innocent. She looked at him with a slightly curved smile and said "thank you" to him.
"Would you like some?" She held up a handful of preserves.
"No." These were snacks that little girls loved to eat, but he didn't like them.
Shen Youran immediately stuffed the candied fruit into his mouth and slurped it.
They came out of the room and met Qing Jian who was guarding outside. Shen Youran walked up to him and ate another one in front of him, then looked at him triumphantly.
Qingmian turned his head expressionlessly and looked at Pei Huaijin beside him: "My dear, the young lady is teasing me again..."
These words scared Shen Youran, and she almost bit her tongue: "Shut up, shut up..."
What do you mean by teasing? Where did the word "again" come from? How dare you say such a lewd thing?
Pei Huaijin's mouth twitched slightly: one is a girl who acts on impulse, and the other is a servant who is so righteous that he is evil. He doesn't know who to favor.
He had no choice but to grab her wrist and pull her away: "Okay, let's go."
After a light rain a few days ago, the weather suddenly turned cold and it is almost the winter solstice.
In front of Chunxuan Hall, the two met Shen Yunshu and Pei Huaian who were also called over by the old lady.
These days, Shen Yunshu watched Pei Huaian study without leaving his side, but she did not forget her sister. She sent Tinglan to Yunzhiyuan every day to ask about her health.
My sister looks pretty good today, so I think she's getting much better now.
"Sister," Shen Youran was naturally happy to see her sister. She quickened her pace and ran over to her sister, acting coquettishly, "You haven't come to Yunzhiyuan to see me these few days..."
"I have no choice but to watch Qilang study."
Shen Youran looked at Pei Huaian with dissatisfaction: "How old are you? Do you still need someone to supervise you when you study?"
"Then go talk to Big Brother. Who told me to hire such a strict teacher for me? If you were me, you would also want to run away..."
"That's because your foundation is too poor."
"It's easy to talk without any pain in the waist. If you hadn't fainted from a stomachache that day, making me mistakenly think that I hurt you, I wouldn't have agreed to let you come back to school and suffer in vain..."
When Pei Huaijin came over, he happened to hear these words and raised his eyebrows slightly: I originally thought that it was Shen Yunshu who persuaded the seventh brother to come back, but I didn’t expect that the seventh brother was willing to come back to study because of her...
It seems that the seventh brother is still thinking about someone he shouldn't be thinking about.
Shen Youran was about to argue with Pei Huaian when the back of his neck suddenly tightened and he was pulled back.
Pei Huaijin said calmly, "Go in, don't keep grandma and the others waiting."
In the hall of Chunxuan Hall, the elders had already taken their seats. Old Madam Pei sat at the head of the hall, the master and his wife of the first house sat on the east side, and the master and his wife of the second house sat on the west side, with their children and daughters-in-law sitting behind them. There were four stools behind the armchairs on the east side. The four younger generations arrived late, and after paying their respects, they sat behind the east side.
Pei Huaijin was the first one in the group and naturally sat on the stool at the front. Shen Youran sat next to him, Pei Huaian sat on the other side, and Shen Yunshu sat at the last seat.
Everyone in the hall had a serious expression. The Second Lady opposite was unable to conceal her panic, and Old Lady Pei, who was sitting at the head of the hall, had an even more stern expression.
Before coming in, Shen Youran thought that this matter was not a big deal. After all, he just had a stomachache for a few days, and the doctor also said that he just accidentally ate something very cold, and it was not poisonous, so it should not cause too much trouble.
But he didn't expect that everyone in the mansion would be alarmed.
Shen Youran stuffed a candied fruit into his mouth, waiting to see the next big show.
Pei Huaian caught a glimpse of her movements, raised his elbow and nudged her, asking with his eyes what she was eating.
Shen Youran motioned for him to stretch out his hand and generously shared half of the candied fruit with him.
Pei Huaian threw one into his mouth.
Pei Huaijin's brows sank even more.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Madam Pei ordered them to be brought up.
"Our Pei family, although not a family with strict etiquette and morals, can be considered to have a strict family tradition. What did the old man teach you when he was still sick? Integrity, righteousness, and integrity. Only by adhering to these three words can our family prosper. In the past, you had some small thoughts and minor quarrels, but as long as they were not excessive, I turned a blind eye and pretended not to know. We could still get by with our lives. But I never imagined that someone would dare to do such a dirty thing..."
At this time, two people had been brought into the hall. One of them looked familiar. Shen Youran squinted her eyes to see clearly that it was a maid from Yunzhiyuan.
Judging from the other person's clothes, he should be from the kitchen.
The old lady was clearly furious. She slammed the table and asked, "Tell me, who instructed you to drug the eldest young master and the eldest young mistress's breakfast?"
Faced with the old lady's stern questioning, the two people kneeling in the hall initially trembled and cried out that they were innocent. Later, Nanny Jiang beside the old lady called in witnesses and threw a bag of confiscated medicine powder in front of them. The maid in the kitchen kowtowed and told the truth.
"Madam, please spare me. The medicine was given to me by Miss Caiwei..."
Nanny Jiang then ordered someone to capture Caiwei.
"Who is Caiwei?" Shen Youran asked Pei Huaian in a low voice while holding the candied fruit in his mouth.
"The daughter of the head chef..." Pei Huaian's mouth was full of candied fruit, and he reached out to ask her for a few more.
Shen Youran didn't have many left and was reluctant to give them away, but he was still holding out his hands for more. When he was hesitating, his hands were suddenly empty...
Turning her head, she saw Pei Huaijin taking away all the candied fruits from her hands.
Didn’t he say he didn’t want to eat this?
Caiwei was quickly brought in. Seeing that she couldn't hide the truth, she could only confess with regret: "It was Sister Chunlan who asked me to do this..."
Second Madam Feng stood up immediately and pointed at Caiwei angrily: "You bastard, how dare you make such random accusations?"
Chunlan is the most capable maidservant of the Second Madam.
Who would have thought that it was the Second Madam who was behind this?
Shen Youran opened her mouth in surprise, and the next moment, Pei Huaijin stuffed a candied fruit into her mouth.
Shen Youran: “…” I’m expressing my surprise, not asking for candied fruit!
Although the Second Lady refused to admit it, she had no chance to argue in the face of witnesses and evidence. The Old Lady scolded her and took back her power as the head of the household on the grounds of her poor personal ethics. She was ordered to reflect on herself in the ancestral hall tonight, and to be confined to her house for fifteen days starting tomorrow, and to be fined three months' monthly salary.
As for the maids and servants who were involved in this incident, they were each given twenty strokes of the cane and then sold off.
Shen Youran admired the old lady's decisiveness while calmly looking for the handkerchief.
She ate several candied fruits. After biting off the flesh of the candied green plums, the remaining core was still in her mouth, and she planned to spit it into her handkerchief.
Strange, where is her handkerchief?
Did I forget to bring it with me because I was in a hurry to go out?
Just as I was about to ask my sister for a handkerchief, a big hand suddenly came across in front of me.
Shen Youran followed the hand and saw that it was Pei Huaijin.
What does he mean?
Shen Youran opened his eyes wide in confusion.
The big hand then touched her face, the base of the palm of his hand was stuck on her jaw, and his thumb and index finger fell on both sides of her cheeks, pinching them lightly...
Shen Youran's mouth moved, and he almost couldn't hold the fruit core in his mouth.
It turned out that he wanted her to spit the core into his hand.
Isn’t this a bit bad?
She pursed her lips, hesitating and refusing to spit.
The force on both sides of her cheeks suddenly increased a lot, pinching her so hard that it hurt. She simply held his hand and spit out all the fruit cores in her mouth.
One, two, three, four, five...
Just after she spit out the last pill, she suddenly heard the old lady calling her: "Brother Jin, your daughter-in-law..."
Shen Youran, whose name was called, stood up hurriedly, feeling somewhat flustered and bewildered, yet also extremely grateful in her heart: Fortunately, she had just spit out the fruit core, otherwise she would not be able to speak later.
"You've just been married and you've suffered so much injustice. As compensation, I'll transfer the three months' salary that Feng confiscated to you, okay?" Although the old lady still had no smile on her face, her tone when she spoke to her was much kinder.
Shen Youran bowed lightly: "All right, granddaughter-in-law always listens to grandmother..."
On the one hand, Mrs. Pei was satisfied with her obedience, but on the other hand, she felt that she was still too immature and could not handle the responsibility of managing the household.
She gestured for Shen Youran to sit down and looked at the eldest daughter-in-law, Zhu. "Someone has to take over the management of the household. Logically, it should have been handed over to you, but you are weak and cannot bear the burden. If it were handed over to Jin's daughter-in-law, I'm afraid she would not be able to handle it now. In my opinion, it would be better to let An's daughter-in-law take charge of the household temporarily, and Jin's daughter-in-law would learn from her. With Aunt Xiao's guidance, I believe she will be able to stand on her own feet soon..."
Zhu had always wanted to take back the power of managing the family from the second wife, but unfortunately her health was not good enough, and the daughter-in-law she had been waiting for was replaced by a young girl. The old lady was unwilling to hand over the power of managing the family to her. Although she felt uncomfortable, she could not say anything to refute.
He could only force a smile and said, "Yes, it is very good that Mother arranged it this way."
"In that case, let's stop here for today. You all can go back. Xiaoqi, Yunshu, you stay..."
Except for Pei Huaian and Shen Yunshu, everyone else stood up and left.
Feng, who had lost all face today, left Chunxuan Hall in shame with the help of her daughter and daughter-in-law.
Pei Huaijin threw the fruit core in his hand into the rose bushes next to him. Shen Youran was about to thank him for what happened just now, but when she saw her mother-in-law Zhu standing next to her with a bad look on her face, she didn't say anything for the time being.
Zhu first expressed concern for her son: "I just heard from your grandmother that you ate the drugged breakfast. Are you feeling unwell?"
"I'm fine. I asked someone to check the medicine. It's a cold medicine made from thunder god vine. It has a strong cold property and will harm women, but it won't cause any harm to men..."
Zhu finally breathed a sigh of relief: Fortunately, the second sister-in-law had some sense and didn't dare to hurt the eldest grandson of the family, otherwise the old lady would not let her off so easily today...
After confirming that her son was fine, Zhu turned her attention to the person beside him.
This was the second meeting between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law since the bride entered the family.
After the unpleasant first meeting, Zhu had never wanted to see her, but now more than a month had passed, and even if she disliked this daughter-in-law, she had to try to accept her.
"Brother Jin, daughter-in-law, are you feeling well?"
Shen Youran was surprised that she would take the initiative to care about him, but he still said honestly: "Thank you for your concern, mother. My daughter-in-law is fine now."
Zhu looked at her: If she hadn't seen with her own eyes how she threw the jade pendant and bullied the old servant, she would have been deceived by her well-behaved and lovely appearance.
"Since you are no longer seriously injured, starting tomorrow morning, come to Haitangyuan to greet you. Let me see how you are doing with Aunt Xiao."
Shen Youran wanted to take back what she had just said, but visiting her father every morning and evening was a courtesy that a daughter-in-law should have, and she really couldn't refuse, so she had to bite the bullet and agree.
As soon as Zhu left, Shen Youran looked at Pei Huaijin pitifully: "I'll pay my respects tomorrow morning. Can you accompany me?"
Pei Huaijin was naturally worried about her going to her mother's yard alone. If there was another quarrel like last time, he would be in a difficult position being caught in the middle.
He wanted to agree to her, but when he thought about how she and her seventh brother shared candied fruit and whispered to each other in Chunxuan Hall just now, Pei Huaijin felt inexplicably annoyed.
So he gave her an ambiguous answer: "Let's talk about it later."
"Stop talking, can you please go with me?"
Pei Huaijin walked forward with his hands behind his back: "Let's talk later."
Shen Youran chased after him and said, "What if I do something wrong and make your mother angry again..."
He turned his head and glanced at the little face full of pleading, and all the annoyance in his heart disappeared.
The corners of his lips curled slightly, and he said the same thing: "Let's talk about it later..."
Shen Youran stamped her feet in anger, pushed him away, and walked away angrily.
***
In Chunxuan Hall, Shen Yunshu and Pei Huaian were called by the old lady to sit in front of her.
The old lady's expression became even more kind when she saw the dignified and elegant Shen Yunshu: "I heard that Xiaoqi has been studying very hard these past two days. Yunshu, this is all thanks to you..."
Shen Yunshu lowered her head slightly and smiled: "Granddaughter-in-law dare not take credit for it, it is my husband who knows how to make progress."
"If it weren't for you, I would never have imagined that there would be a day when this little monkey would sit in the study and read obediently." Old Madam Pei teased her youngest grandson, and then asked him, "Xiaoqi, you should be happy to have such a good wife, but are you still angry about the marriage exchange?" "No, grandma, I haven't been angry for a long time..." He was a little resentful at first, but since he confirmed that the person he dreamed of was Shen Yunshu, he dared not think about Shen Youran anymore. Now when he sees her, he doesn't feel much in his heart. Although he still can't accept having a sister-in-law of the same age as him, he only regards her as a good friend with similar interests.
Seeing her youngest grandson's calm expression, the old lady smiled and said, "Since you're no longer angry, why do you still sleep in a separate room from Yunshu?"
As early as when the old lady left the two of them alone, Shen Yunshu guessed that the old lady would definitely take the opportunity to force Pei Huaian to go back to the main room to sleep. Sure enough, before she said a few words, the old lady brought up the topic.
Fortunately, she had taught Pei Huaian how to deal with it in advance. As long as he used reading as an excuse and said he wanted to study without distraction, the old lady would not force him to go back to his room to sleep.
So she looked at Pei Huaian calmly, waiting for him to say those words.
Pei Huaian also turned his head to look at her, but immediately looked away the next moment, as if he didn't dare to look her in the eye.
The old lady was still waiting for his reply, but his eyes flickered and he spoke vaguely: "Grandma, I...that..."
Shen Yunshu had no choice but to reply for him: "Grandmother, my husband told me before that my eldest brother wants him to enter the Imperial College in a year. If he fails, he will be sent to study at an academy outside. My husband is feeling quite stressed and wants to concentrate on his studies. He doesn't want to be distracted by other things for the time being..."
The words were well-reasoned and even mentioned Pei Huaijin. After hearing them, Mrs. Pei really hesitated.
"If Xiao Qi really has such an awareness, I would naturally be very pleased. However, I have now bypassed the eldest wife and handed over the power of the household to you, and you and Xiao Qi are not yet a real couple. I am worried that the people in the mansion will look down on you and then be unwilling to listen to your instructions..."
There is some truth to this.
Everyone in the mansion knew that she had exchanged marriages with her third sister. She and Pei Huaian had not slept together for a long time, and there was no guarantee that there would not be people laughing at her behind her back.
But even so, Pei Huaian had clearly rejected her before. Although he tried to make amends afterwards and said that it was okay to go back to the room to sleep, it must have been out of kindness and sympathy, not true willingness.
"Don't worry, grandma. I will do my best to manage the affairs of the mansion..."
Mrs. Pei thought that she would rather struggle alone than embarrass Xiao Qi, so she couldn't help but feel pity for her. She looked at her youngest grandson with a hint of reproach: "Look, such a good wife, and you don't even feel sorry for her..."
"Grandma," Pei Huaian, who had been silent all this time, suddenly stood up, "I'm going back to the main room to sleep tonight!"
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