The air around was still filled with the smell of dust, and the surroundings were still empty. This night was supposed to be extremely unbearable, but because of this quilt and a pot of charcoal fire, it seemed to be less unbearable.
When I woke up in the morning, the snow had stopped outside and the brazier in the house had finally gone out after burning all night.
Jiang Yi wrapped himself in the quilt and was in a daze for a long time, which was rare.
He knew that he would suffer such humiliation when he returned here, but he came anyway. He hated the Jiang family for forcing his mother to death, but Master Jiang Wu raised him as his own son, and before he died, he insisted that he come to the Jiang Mansion to fulfill his filial duties for ten years.
He didn't like it here. After standing in the snow for more than an hour, he had already seen clearly the fickleness of the people in the Jiang Mansion. However, he still had to stay here for ten years.
Yan Yiming was busy all night yesterday and got up much later than usual in the morning. However, she was not feeling well, so she did not have to pay her respects to Old Madam Jiang like other young masters and young ladies in the mansion. Old Madam Jiang also did not like to see her looking sick.
After dressing up, she sat at the small table to have breakfast. There was a lot of noise outside. The maids pouted and wondered how unlucky they were to have to let that guy live next to them. Didn't they know that their young lady always liked quietness?
Yan Yiming drank the medicine in the bowl slowly and gave the maid a cold look, "Since you know that I like quietness, why are you so talkative?"
The maid suddenly choked. The young lady was in poor health and had a bad temper, so she always lost her temper for no reason. So she didn't dare to talk back. She could only pack up the medicine bowl and retreat quietly. She stood at the entrance of the yard with the maid who was sweeping the yard outside and watched the servants move things to the yard not far away.
But there wasn't much after all, just the simplest bed, table, and chairs, and a few pieces of clothes.
After coming back, she couldn't help but talk too much in front of Yan Yiming, saying that the lady gave too little to the young master. She thought she would be scolded again, but she didn't expect that the lady who seemed cold and indifferent actually asked her and asked her to go to the next door to take a closer look before coming back.
The girl didn't understand what Yan Yiming meant, but she went over in a hurry out of curiosity. When she entered the room, she saw the young master standing silently beside a dead tree in the yard. He was incredibly thin, but his facial features, which were not yet open, were already very handsome.
I had thought that his background was too bad and that people looked down upon him, but now seeing him standing there alone, I suddenly felt a little bit sorry for him.
After all, no matter how bad the young master's mother is, what does she have to do with a child?
"The things in the yard have been moved almost completely, and the house has been lit, but it's still a little cold, and the smoke from the charcoal is quite heavy," the maid chattered to Yan Yiming, "The young master just changed his clothes and went to pay his respects to the old lady."
Yan Yiming was worried that Old Lady Jiang would find a way to bully Jiang Yi again, so he asked someone to prepare ginger soup and got up to go to Old Lady Jiang's room.
"What about the ginger soup?" The maid was unsure of Yan Yiming's thoughts.
Yan Yiming put on the thick cloak and said, "Keep it."
The maids didn't know what to do with it, but they still obediently cut the ginger into shreds and slowly simmered it on the small stove.
It is winter now, and there is little movement in the mansion. Old Madam Jiang and her daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law have nothing to do. Especially in the past two days, because of Jiang Yi's arrival, everyone crowded around Old Madam Jiang, waiting to see Jiang Yi make a fool of himself.
Yesterday, before he was seen, he was taken back by Mr. Jiang. This morning, when he came to pay his respects to Old Madam Jiang, the room was crowded with people, big and small.
Old Mrs. Jiang was a little unhappy because her son suddenly called Jiang Yi away yesterday. She heard from the gatekeeper that the fifth young lady came yesterday but did not come in. She always felt that this matter was related to Yan Yiming. After looking at Mrs. Jiang, she asked her whether Yan Yiming had gone to see Mr. Jiang yesterday.
Mrs. Jiang knew that Mrs. Jiang wanted to find fault with her daughter again. She also knew that it was her little daughter who begged the master to bring the child over yesterday. However, in order to prevent Mrs. Jiang from taking the opportunity to punish Ah Ming, she acted as if she knew nothing and said, "Ah Ming is not feeling well and doesn't like to move around. It snowed so heavily yesterday that he must have stayed in the house. How could he come out?"
No one knew whether what Mrs. Jiang said was true or not. Old Mrs. Jiang snorted coldly, looked at the faces of all her grandchildren, and continued to make trouble without giving up. "It's okay if you don't come at other times, but you don't know the etiquette to meet guests today."
Just now she was calling Jiang Yi a bastard, and now she's calling him a guest. In short, she's just looking for an excuse to bully Yan Yiming. As soon as Mrs. Jiang said this, the narrow-eyed Mrs. Jiang II who was sitting below echoed her and said that Yan Yiming was too spoiled and undisciplined.
Old Madam Jiang has been dissatisfied with Yan Yiming's sickly body for many years. The Jiang family is not very wealthy, but the precious bird's nests sent to Yan Yiming are never-ending. He is more valuable than her, an old lady. How can she be happy?
As for the second wife, A Ming is so good-looking. Last autumn, when Yan Yiming went out of the house, many young men from Luoyang came to propose marriage. How could the second wife be happy? That's why the second branch told everyone that Yan Yiming was sick. Now everyone in Luoyang knows that Yan Yiming has congenital heart disease. The people who came to propose marriage were so scared after hearing the news that they never dared to come again.
Mrs. Jiang cried several times out of anger, and the two elder brothers of the Jiang family were so furious that they went to the second room and made a big fuss. After that, there became more and more unrest between the first and second rooms. Now Yan Yiming has reached the age of 15 and is about to turn sixteen. The other girls in the family have started to get engaged one by one, but Ah Ming has become the one that no one wants.
When Jiang Yi came in, Madam Jiang had been arguing with Madam Jiang II for most of the day. The younger generation did not dare to interrupt and could only watch. Madam Jiang was watching with great interest until she heard that the young master had arrived, then she stopped smiling.
He spat, "What kind of young master?", and let people in without even trying to stop the sneer on his face.
It was the dead of winter now and everyone was wearing thick cotton-padded jackets, but Jiang Yi was still wearing thin clothes.
He was still young and not very tall, wearing a light blue straight suit. There was no trace of timidity or reluctance in his dark eyes. He looked clean and tidy. He stood in front of everyone, bowed simply and said nothing else.
Old Madam Jiang wanted to embarrass him, and Second Madam Jiang looked down on this little thing that couldn't even be included in the family tree. But Madam Jiang couldn't bear it because of her daughter's words yesterday. Seeing that he was wearing thin clothes and being looked down upon, she asked him a few questions with concern. She was resentful of Old Madam Jiang and Second Madam Jiang in her heart, and made him sit down like the other young masters in the mansion as if she was deliberately making trouble for them.
Perhaps because he was too taciturn, or perhaps because Mrs. Jiang had diverted Old Mrs. Jiang's attention, Mrs. Jiang suddenly forgot all the sarcastic words she had prepared to say, and immediately glared at Mrs. Jiang. Second Mrs. Jiang sneered and couldn't help but say a few more sarcastic words to Mrs. Jiang.
Jiang Yi couldn't help but glance at Madam Jian a little more.
This meeting was even more dramatic than Jiang Yi had imagined. The two ladies exchanged glances and words, with Jiang Yi's face expressionless as he listened to the Second Madam Jiang mockingly saying that Madam Jiang had given birth to a sickly child and that no one wanted her and yet they still blamed her for letting the cat out of the bag.
The children present dared not say anything, but Jiang Yi was somewhat surprised to find that, except for the two women sitting below Madam Jiang, all the unmarried women present who had not tied their hair up had a look of gloating as if they were watching the fun.
Therefore, the Fifth Miss who was always mentioned by Mrs. Jiang, did not seem to be very popular among the people present. Of course, she was not here either.
Although Master Jiang Wu had never returned to the Jiang family many times, he often talked to him about the Jiang family, especially his brother Master Jiang. It is said that he looks serious but is actually soft-hearted, and that he has two legitimate sons and one legitimate daughter. It is said that the two legitimate sons are actually not much younger than Master Jiang Wu, and now they have married and have children. It is said that the legitimate daughter was born to Madam Jiang when she was older, and she has a very good appearance but was sick since her mother's womb.
"Those two nephews are much older than you, and you don't have much to say to them," Jiang Wuye once said to him with a smile, "But my niece is only three years older than you, and my brother and sister-in-law treat her like a treasure. If you go to the Jiang Mansion, you can play with her."
Jiang Yi suddenly thought of Master Jiang Wu again, and was a little dazed. When he looked up, the maid outside reported that the Fifth Miss was coming.
Mrs. Jiang and Mrs. Jiang II fell silent at once, and the girls who had been laughing so happily just now all looked towards the door.
The woman who came in had a slender figure like a flying swallow. Her blindingly white hands untied the cloak and handed it to the maid beside her. Her eyebrows and eyes were clearly the most delicate, but her light eyes and transparent white skin added a bit of coldness to her whole person.
Jiang Yi had been in the Jiang family for only one day when he heard from the maidservant beside him that the person living next to him was the fifth young lady of the mansion. She said that the fifth young lady had a cold personality and was not at all human. She said that when she stood there she was like a lump of ice and people dared not look directly at her.
But it was this person who stayed with her and took care of him half the night yesterday.
She would personally use her hands to test his fever from time to time, and said with a smile that if she came too late, he would be burned into a fool. She would take the quilt and the brazier over and over again, tirelessly teasing him and making him laugh.
Jiang Yi was stunned when he saw her familiar features. Suddenly, he felt warmed up in this place without a trace of human touch.
At this moment, she greeted Old Madam Jiang and others with no smile on her cold face. Only when she looked at Madam Jiang did a hint of warmth appear on her face. She turned around and glanced coldly at the woman of the same age as her who was sitting below Madam Jiang and told her to sit at the back.
The woman's cheeks turned red with anger, but she didn't dare to talk back and sat in the back obediently.
Everyone present seemed to be used to it and said nothing. Jiang Yi looked at Yan Yiming, whose behavior was very different from yesterday, but suddenly met Yan Yiming's face that turned towards him abruptly.
She looked at him and smiled.
It was like all the ice melted in an instant.
That was the year after Master Jiang Wu died. It was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen after experiencing so many cold stares.
"I'm your fifth sister," Yan Yiming looked at him and said with a smile, "I'm no longer the youngest anymore."
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