Yan Yiming, who had always been cold to everyone, actually took the initiative to talk to Jiang Yi. Everyone present was extremely surprised. Old Mrs. Jiang, who was sitting in the uppermost seat, had always disliked Jiang Yi and Yan Yiming. Now, when she saw them, she suddenly felt that the two of them were even more annoying.
Now that Yan Yiming was here, Second Mrs. Jiang couldn't say bad things about her in front of Yan Yiming. The farce-like meeting finally came to an end. Old Mrs. Jiang twisted her neck and said that she was tired, and impatiently asked all the younger generations to leave quickly.
The crowd then slowly dispersed, and Jiang Yi walked out of the suffocating room. The cool air that hit him sobered him up. Walking out of the yard, all I could see was white snow. A bright red figure stood on the snow not far away in the silver sky. She turned around when she heard his footsteps. Her skin color was even whiter than the white snow on the ground, and she chuckled.
"It's finally out."
It was clearly only their second meeting, but she looked so familiar, as if they had known each other for a long time, but Jiang Yi knew clearly that they had never met before.
She was three years older than him, so he should have called her "Fifth Sister", but for some reason Jiang Yi was always reluctant to call her that, so he respectfully called her "Fifth Miss."
Boys always develop later than girls, not to mention that Jiang Yi is three years younger than her.
Yan Yiming looked at Jiang Yi, who was a head smaller than him and had a slightly wrinkled face, with a half-smile and said, "You are so disrespectful. You should call me sister."
Jiang Yi was silent for a moment, "I haven't officially joined the clan yet, so I can't be considered a sister."
"Then will he be able to shout after joining the clan?" Yan Yiming said as he stepped on the snow.
Jiang Yi and Yan Yiming walked side by side. Jiang Yi pursed his lips, perhaps not wanting to answer the question, and asked her in a low voice why she came yesterday.
"Because I'm your elder sister," Yan Yiming turned the subject around and glanced at him with a smile, "If you don't call me elder sister, I won't treat you so well."
Jiang Yi felt inexplicably panicked, but when he looked up, he saw the smile in her eyes, and immediately realized that she was teasing him again. If she really didn't treat him so well, she wouldn't say such words.
Jiang Yi suddenly felt a little helpless, "Then let's talk about it after we join the clan."
Mrs. Jiang Er, who was standing in the distance and watching the two people go away, really couldn't understand why Yan Yiming, who was usually cold and silent, was so familiar with this new little bastard. Next to her was Miss Jiang San, who had just been pushed back by Yan Yiming. Her pair of slender eyes, which looked very much like Mrs. Jiang Er's, were full of anger.
Because Mr. Jiang's official position is higher than Mr. Jiang II, the second branch is always lower than the first branch. In fact, she is afraid of Yan Yiming not because of Mr. Jiang, but because of Yan Yiming himself.
Those eyes were always without a trace of emotion, which made people tremble with fear just by looking at them. Moreover, because he knew that he would not live for long, he seemed a little extremely crazy.
She accidentally overheard people talking about her behind her back, and before she could even explain herself, the crazy girl held a pointed hairpin she had pulled out from somewhere against her and asked her to say it again.
The girl looked at her expressionlessly and said that she wouldn't live past a few years, and if she was provoked, she would be careful to drag someone else down with her.
After Miss Jiang San came back that day, she was so scared that she didn't dare go out for three days. Mrs. Jiang Er was so angry that she went to find Mrs. Jiang to argue, and it happened that Yan Yiming fell ill.
Normally, Master Jiang would not interfere in the affairs of the inner house, but when it came to his precious daughter, Master Jiang got angry on the spot. He called the Second Master Jiang and gave him a severe scolding, saying that he did not discipline his wife and daughter well, and he wanted to anger A Ming to death.
Master Jiang Er was scolded by his eldest brother, and looking at his niece's pale face, he was also very angry. He turned around and gathered Mrs. Jiang Er and his daughter to do some ideological work. After that, Mrs. Jiang Er and Miss Jiang San never dared to say anything bad about her in front of Yan Yiming again.
"It's going to be short-lived anyway," Mrs. Jiang consoled her daughter. "If it dies one day out of anger, it will be our fault."
Yan Yiming had a short life to begin with, and now he couldn't get married. Mrs. Jiang II and Miss Jiang III finally felt at peace with themselves. They dared not provoke Yan Yiming openly again, but secretly told outsiders that Yan Yiming was so sick that he couldn't even get out of bed.
Now looking at her and Jiang Yi's receding backs, Mrs. Jiang sneered. A sickly girl and a little bastard, the former was not as good as her daughter who had already been engaged, and the latter was even less comparable to her son who was praised by the teachers.
She didn't have the time to care why they were so close.
They are all useless stuff.
Jiang Yi and Yan Yiming walked all the way. On the way, they might meet servants or illegitimate children of the Jiang family. Yan Yiming's smile would disappear in an instant, just like the cold look she had when she first met her today.
Jiang Yi didn't know why she treated him differently, but he liked this feeling very much.
When he returned to the courtyard, it was quiet again. Jiang Yi sat by the brazier and coughed twice. He caught a cold yesterday and he didn't recover well today.
The little maidservant came in happily. Jiang Yi looked at the small sand pot in her hand which was still steaming and asked casually what it was.
"The Fifth Miss said that you caught a cold yesterday, so she specially asked someone to make ginger soup and send it over. Did you catch a cold, Master?"
Jiang Yi hummed, a faint smile on his lips.
He slowly drank the ginger soup, took out the book he had brought with him, sat by the brazier and began to read it carefully.
He knew that these ten years would be difficult, but now, he felt that they were not that difficult.
It's the end of the year in a blink of an eye.
The New Year is approaching, and the Jiang family is in a festive mood. Red lanterns have been hung up early in the house, and the house is decorated with lights and colorful decorations, making it very lively.
Jiang Yi has been in the Jiang Mansion for half a month.
He lived far away and had a rather aloof personality, so not many people bothered him. It was just that they knew he was unpopular in their homes, so the things they sent him were either missing something or were junk that no one else had any use for.
The girls who served Jiang Yi always had red eyes from anger, but Jiang Yi remained expressionless.
If there was less charcoal, he would wear more clothes; if there were fewer candles, he would sit closer. The daily meals were not very good, but it was enough to fill his stomach. He was clearly only thirteen years old, but he was calm and steady like a thirteen-year-old child.
He was always reading. When he came to the Jiang Mansion, he only had two pieces of clothing, but he brought two whole boxes of books. The maids flipped through them out of curiosity, but found that they could only recognize a few words and could not understand anything at all.
Lan Xiu, the maid who served Yan Yiming, once told Yan Yiming that although this young master looked calm and composed, he actually had some skills.
The servants in this mansion are accustomed to doing things according to the master's wishes. The concubine that the master likes, along with the concubine and the young masters and young ladies born to her, all have status. However, those that the master or the old lady does not like are usually timid and afraid of trouble, and even the servants sometimes dare to insult them.
However, the least favored young master and young lady in the mansion had a much better background than Jiang Yi. But after so many days, Lan Xiu found that the maids serving Jiang Yi did not dare to say a harsh word to Jiang Yi, and were even a little afraid.
Yan Yiming just smiled faintly when he heard it. Some people are born with certain abilities. Seven years later, Jiang Yi can thrive in the huge officialdom, not to mention the small Jiang Mansion.
But even if the maids couldn't bully Jiang Yi, the things provided to him by the mansion were indeed too little.
Jiang Yi could accept Yan Yiming helping him once or twice, but after too many times, the child was no longer happy. Yan Yiming still remembered that little Jiang Yi looked at her, and after a long time, he hesitated and said, "...Do you feel pity for me?"
Poor ghost, Yan Yiming cursed in his heart the first time.
No one will pity you no matter how pitiful they are.
After Yan Yiming saw through the arrogance in the young boy's bones, he never helped him openly as he had before.
Yan Yiming just wanted to find a way to prevent him from knowing so sensitively, but Jiang Yi thought she was angry because of her sudden departure. A hint of anxiety finally appeared on her face, which seemed a little delicate because she had not grown up yet, and her dark eyes were finally not as silent as usual.
That was the first time Jiang Yi came to Yan Yiming's place. The young boy in simple clothes sat opposite Yan Yiming. After a trace of struggle appeared on his face, he looked up at her and said slowly, "Fifth sister, are you angry?"
The boy's voice was clean and cold, but perhaps it was too difficult for him to speak, so the word "Fifth Sister" sounded a little shy.
Yan Yiming was stunned for a moment, then looked at Jiang Yi, whose ears were already red, and laughed without disguising himself.
"No." Seeing Jiang Yi's face suddenly turned stern because of her smile, Yan Yiming said hurriedly, "I'm not angry. I understand what you mean."
The two of them would talk a lot since they got to know each other. Yan Yiming said that she treated him well because since he came, she was no longer the youngest in the house, but had become an elder sister, so she treated him like this.
But Jiang Yi always felt that this was not the case. He still had the illusion that Yan Yiming seemed to have known him for a long time.
Yan Yiming said that she was not angry, and Jiang Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Without him noticing, Yan Yiming's words had already made him so concerned.
It was snowing outside again. Lan Xiu and other maids were making red lanterns for the New Year. After a while, they came over and told Yan Yiming that when the young master returned home, he should bring two lanterns back to avoid the New Year looking lonely.
Perhaps he remembered the scene when his mother and Master Jiang Wu were still alive, or perhaps he realized that he was now alone even on New Year's Eve. Something flashed across Jiang Yi's eyes, and he nodded lightly and said thank you.
Lan Xiu meant well, but what she said still didn't sound nice. Yan Yiming noticed with sharp eyes that even though Jiang Yi didn't show any clues on his face, his hand on the table moved slightly.
No matter how indifferent you pretend to be, how can you really not care?
On New Year's Eve, the Jiang Mansion was brightly lit and bustling with activity. Even the maids took the opportunity to go out to play. Only Jiang Yi was left alone, still sitting in front of the lamp reading a book as usual.
Perhaps because the sound of firecrackers outside was too loud, Jiang Yi was not so absorbed in watching. He stared blankly at the candle flame burning out bit by bit, until he heard the sound of footsteps on the snow.
Jiang Yi thought it was just the maids making a fuss and ignored it, but when the sound got closer, he raised his eyes and met Yan Yiming's delicate eyebrows.
She held up the lantern in her hand and smiled beautifully.
"Let's stay up together."
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