Chapter 43 Ji'er
Luo Zhaohan watched his downcast brows through the veil. The cold and aloof Dali Temple official of his past life, now with his eyelashes casting a faint shadow under his eyes, revealed a rare gentleness.
She suddenly noticed that his left wrist was wrapped in a bandage and faintly bleeding - was it the injury he suffered when he saved Lady Changning?
"Pei Ji!" Xie Wuqi suddenly attacked, "Who allowed you to touch her?"
Before Luo Zhaohan could scream in surprise, he saw Pei Ji grab Xie Wuqi's wrist with his backhand.
Two men faced each other in a narrow alley, their shadows stretched out by the moonlight.
"According to the laws of the Western Wei Dynasty, a marriage cancellation certificate becomes effective upon presentation to the government office." Pei Ji pulled a scroll of documents from his sleeve. "This is the certificate annulling the marriage certificate that Miss Luo filed with the government office three days ago. Deputy Envoy Xie, if you continue to pester Miss Luo..." He tapped his fingertips lightly on the hilt of the black gold sword at his waist. "I wouldn't mind inviting your father to the Dali Temple for a cup of tea."
Luo Zhaohan suddenly smelled a faint smell of blood.
Only then did she notice blood seeping from the back of Pei Ji's robe. He must have been burned by the flames when he saved his mother. Her heart tightened inexplicably, and she suddenly reached out and grabbed the corner of Pei Ji's sleeve: "Master Pei, I..."
The sound of horse hooves suddenly interrupted the conversation. Chunxi rubbed her eyes and lifted the carriage curtain: "Miss, are we going back home?" The little girl suddenly widened her eyes, "Pei, why is Master Pei here?"
Pei Ji took a half step back to create some distance. When he turned around, the wide sleeves of his long robe brushed against the back of Luo Zhaohan's hand. "The carriage is ready. Please come in, Miss Luo."
Xie Wuqi suddenly leaped up, the cold light from his sleeve piercing Pei Ji's back! Without a second thought, Luo Zhaohan grabbed the horse whip and swung it at him. The moment the whip entangled the dagger, Pei Ji spun around, raised his leg, and slammed his brocade boot into Xie Wuqi's knee.
"The Dali Temple case file records that Deputy Envoy Xie accepted a large sum of gold from a Southern Xinjiang merchant last month." Pei Ji bent down to pick up the dagger, tapping Xie Wuqi's pale face with the back of the blade. "Whose desk do you think this case file is on right now?"
Luo Zhaohan's knuckles turned white as he gripped the whip.
In her previous life, she was unaware of these scandals until the Xie family fell. It turned out Pei Ji had long held evidence of Xie Wuqi's crimes, but had kept it hidden due to the close relationship between the Changning Marquis' Mansion and the Wuwei General's Mansion.
The cold wind blew dead leaves across the bluestone steps. The veins on Xie Wuqi's hands bulged beneath his python-patterned sleeves. "Master Pei, are you trying to get revenge?"
Pei Ji stood in the corridor with his hands behind his back. The silver python on his dark official robe shone coldly in the twilight. "Thank you, Deputy Envoy, for your cautious words. If I wanted to impeach your father, I have all the witnesses and evidence. How could there be any personal grudge?"
"You!" Xie Wuqi's throat tasted sweet. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of the slight movement of Luo Zhaohan's veil. Jealousy mixed with memories of his past life surged, "Could it be that Lord Pei has truly fallen for a vulgar warrior girl?"
The copper bell on the eaves suddenly rang, and Pei Ji's eyes suddenly became as cold as a pond: "Get out."
The cold rebuke startled the cold birds on the plum branches, and Xie Wuqi staggered back half a step.
In his past and present lives, has anyone ever dared to humiliate him like this? He stared at the goldfish bag bestowed by the emperor on Pei Ji's waist and suddenly grinned: "Master Pei, do you know that the higher you fly, the harder you fall——"
"Thank you, Deputy Envoy." Chu Qirui's voice came from the moon cave gate, shocking Xie Wuqi so much that cold sweat broke out on his palms.
Chu Qirui, the commander-in-chief of the Five Cities Military Command, played with his badge and said with a half-smile, "The emperor has summoned you for questioning. He has been waiting for half an hour."
Xie Wuqi's face turned ashen and his knuckles turned white from being pinched.
He looked deeply in the direction of Luo Zhaohan, but the veil of his hat did not move at all, as if even looking at him was unnecessary.
"Lord Pei, please take care of yourself." He flicked his sleeves and turned around, his python-patterned cloak sweeping away the fallen plum blossoms on the ground.
When Pei Ji turned around, Luo Zhaohan was quietly lifting the veil of his hat.
The moment their eyes met, she hurriedly lowered her head, revealing half of her red ear tips.
"Miss Luo was frightened." Pei Ji handed over the heater, avoiding the junction of the patterns with his fingertips.
"Thank you, Lord Pei, for helping me out today." Luo Zhaohan took the heater and when he touched the cloud pattern embroidered on his cuffs, he suddenly remembered the words "vulgar warrior girl" and his fingertips trembled slightly.
The dead branch suddenly broke, and Pei Ji raised his hand to brush away the fallen plum blossoms from her hair: "Don't worry about what Xie Wuqi said."
Luo Zhaohan looked up in surprise.
In the twilight, his features were picturesque, yet his eyes were clearer than the sky after a snowfall. She suddenly remembered the day of the flower-viewing banquet, when she had shot down a startled bird. All the noble ladies in the room covered their faces and exclaimed in surprise, but Pei Ji was the only one who clapped his hands and praised her, "Excellent archery."
"Master Pei..." She pinched the pattern on the heater tightly, "The admiration I just mentioned..."
"It's purely a temporary measure." Pei Ji interrupted, "The rash left by the cold pond the other day should be treated with a new medicine."
Luo Zhaohan's ears felt even hotter. After giving acupuncture to save someone that day, she developed an unbearable itchy rash on the back of her neck. It turned out to be the ointment Pei Ji had sent her overnight.
The porcelain box was warm at this moment, as if it had been held in his arms for a long time.
The sound of horse hooves could be heard in the distance, and Chu Qirui's personal guards came galloping over with torches in hand.
Pei Ji moved sideways to block the firelight and whispered, "Miss Luo's carriage is waiting at the corner gate."
Luo Zhaohan bowed and was about to leave, but suddenly stopped and said, "Master Pei, do you know why I trust you to save the wife of the Earl of Changning today?"
Pei Ji stroked the silver thread of his official robe with his fingertips, waiting for her to continue.
"Because that day on Suzaku Street, when the startled horse crushed the candy figurine stall..." She turned, her voice lingering in the wind, "You were the only one who rode your horse to stop the child."
The sound of the night watchman's drum came from afar. Pei Ji looked at her back and stood there for a moment.
The night was as dark as ink. Luo Zhaohan was about to get into the carriage when he suddenly heard a clear voice behind him: "Miss Luo."
"Um?"
She subconsciously responded and turned around. A corner of her yellow gauze hat was lifted up by the night wind, revealing half of her white jade-like chin.
Pei Ji's fingers hanging at his sides curled slightly, his Adam's apple slid up and down twice, and finally he said only one sentence: "It's cold and the dew is heavy, go home early."
"Don't worry, Master Pei!" Luo Zhaohan leaned on the shaft and turned over swiftly, her skirt fluttering to reveal her half-wet deerskin boots. "Xie Wuqi was right. I've practiced martial arts since I was a child, so I have a strong body."
Before he finished speaking, Pei Ji suddenly took off his cloak and covered his head.
The warm black brocade wrapped around her body, and the silver fox fur at the collar tickled her nose. Luo Zhaohan hurriedly tried to remove it, but a bony hand held it down, "Put it on."
Pei Ji took a half step back and bowed solemnly: "My mother was saved by the young lady, and I am deeply grateful for this favor."
"I'm the one who should be thanking you!" Luo Zhaohan hurriedly leaned forward to help. Just then, the night wind lifted the veil, and the warm yellow gauze brushed against Pei Ji's brow, making the smile in her eyes shine brightly. "If it weren't for your timely help, I would have frozen into a lump of ice long ago."
The carriage rumbled across the bluestone road, and the lanterns at the corner cast tiny spots of light in Pei Ji's eyes.
He watched the car gradually recede, the damp robe in his arms seeping with coldness—just now, when she returned the clothes, her fingertips were icy, but she still smiled and joked, "If my father saw men's clothes, I'm afraid he would break my legs."
"Everyone's gone, and you're still standing there like a wife-watching rock?"
Old Chu came out from behind the door with a cane, his gray beard trembling in the night wind.
Seeing Pei Ji turning around to leave, the old man stamped his feet anxiously: "You blockhead! The girl jumped into the water to save others and helped you out, and you couldn't even leave a lantern for her?"
"Teacher, please be careful with your words." Pei Ji supported the staggering old man, "I cannot destroy Miss Luo's reputation."
"Pure reputation is bullshit!" Old Chu blew his beard and glared, "When I was your age, I would have coaxed your master's wife back home long ago!"
He suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Just now in the palace, His Majesty asked about your marriage."
Pei Ji's fingertips suddenly tightened. The wet fabric clung to his palms, and the chill seeped deep into his bones.
He recalled the emperor's words "Pei Qing should get married" amid the scent of ambergris in the imperial study, and a bitter taste welled up in his throat: "I am in my current situation, why should I involve others?"
"Bullshit!" Mr. Chu suddenly stopped talking in the middle of his curse.
At the far end of the long street, a few sparks flickered, and the faint sound of a clapper could be heard. The old man sighed deeply, and with his withered hand patted the young man's shoulder: "Go back, your mother should wake up soon."
Pei Ji helped the old man onto the carriage, and when he bowed, he suddenly felt his sleeves become slightly heavier.
Mr. Chu leaned against the car window and winked, "There's osmanthus candy from Xu Ji in the south city in your purse. Remember to send it to Miss Luo!"
The carriage had gone halfway down the street when the old man suddenly leaned out half his body and said, "Pei Ji! If I can't repay you, I'll give you my body! Do you hear me?"
The night wind brought Chu Qirui's helpless dissuasion. Pei Ji looked at the light that disappeared around the corner, and the corners of his lips unconsciously raised slightly.
"Sir!" the concierge came running in, holding a lantern. "The lady has woken up and is looking for you!"
Pei Ji walked quickly through the corridor, but stopped in front of the moon cave door.
He suddenly remembered that when the girl wrapped in a cloak got into the carriage, the water dripping from her hair formed small puddles on the bluestone slabs.
Just like the Lantern Festival that year, she also rushed into his arms wetly, just to save a kitten that fell into the water.
"I am very satisfied with Mr. Pei."
Luo Zhaohan's words were still ringing in his ears. The usually cold-hearted Dali Temple Minister now knew for the first time what it felt like to have his ears burning.
The sound of porcelain cups clinking came from the side room. Pei Ji closed his eyes and suppressed all the surging emotions in his heart.
As dusk shone through the window lattices, Pei Ji's black boots had just crossed the threshold of the east courtyard. The copper bells under the eaves swayed wildly in the draft. Lai Cai, wiping his tears, ran after him, "Young Master, go check on the Madam. She..."
Pei Ji suddenly pinched his palm with his fingertips and walked quickly through the hanging flower gate.
The sound of porcelain breaking could be heard from inside the house, and the sobbing voice of Lord Changning mixed with the smell of medicine drifted out: "Madam, be careful!"
"Jier...where is my Jier?" The woman's voice was as weak as cotton.
Pei Ji stopped dead in his tracks before the beaded curtain. Through the swaying glass curtain, he saw Lord Changning clutching a handkerchief to wipe the tears of the person on the couch, the broken pieces of the medicine bowl gleaming coldly on the blue bricks.
"Madam, please take a closer look." Lord Changning led him forward with trembling hands. "This is our Ji'er, now a third-rank official."
The candlelight flickered, and Lady Changning looked up blankly.
The silver threads in her hair overlapped with the black hair in Pei Ji's memory, and the whip marks from ten years ago seemed to burn her back again.
"Nine years old." The woman suddenly reached out, her fingertips touching the silver python on his official robe. "On Ji'er's birthday, he said he wanted to hunt a white fox for his mother to make a collar..."
Pei Ji's throat tightened.
"Ji'er?" A warm palm suddenly covered the back of his hand. Pei Ji pulled his hand away abruptly, only to see the sparkle in his mother's eyes, a stark contrast to her previous madness.
The Earl of Changning anxiously tugged at his sleeve, "The Imperial Physician said that Madam has forgotten these past ten years. Now... now she only thinks it was the twenty-third year of Chengping."
The twenty-third year of Chengping was the year when Pei Ji's original owner died.
"Ji'er..." the woman called again, her fingertips hooked around the jade belt around his waist. She had tied it herself on his ninth birthday, and the gold thread had faded.
Pei Ji stared at the copper clock beside the bed. The ticking sound of the midnight hour coincided with his memory. He cursed through the mansion: "Why didn't you die?"
"Please..." Earl Changning suddenly knelt down, the hem of his official robe stained with the medicine, "Just give her the answer this time..."
There were blood marks on Pei Ji's sleeves from the tips of his fingers.
He remembered that when he was twelve years old, he had a high fever that wouldn't go away, and his mother had people lock him in the ancestral hall, saying that it was to atone for the unjust death of her youngest son.
"Ji'er..." A calloused hand touched his cheek, startling him so much that he took a step back. Lady Changning rushed over, and the scent of jasmine mixed with the salty taste of tears filled his nostrils.
"My dear..." She cried, her voice breaking. "How could you become so thin..."
Pei Ji stood there like a wooden statue. Ten years ago, the same hands that had strangled his neck now gently patted his back, just like they had lulled him to sleep when he was a child.
"Mother sewed you some rabbit fur knee pads..." She pulled out a faded purse from under her pillow. "The northern frontier is bitterly cold..."
"mother!"
Chang Ningbo suddenly shouted, "Ji'er answered your call!"
Pei Ji was surprised to find himself nodding. His mother burst into laughter, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes like crumpled rice paper: "Call me again..."
"Mother." He heard his own hoarse voice. A copper bell rang suddenly under the eaves, startling the crows.
The wife of the Earl of Changning held his face and examined it carefully. Suddenly, she frowned, "Why is it so cold?" She took his hands in her arms and breathed on them. "I'll have the kitchen make ginseng chicken soup tomorrow."
Pei Ji looked at his mother's folded hands. Scars crisscrossed his palms. He suddenly pulled away, and the purse fell to the ground with a "pa".
"Ji'er?"
"Mother, it's time to take the medicine." Pei Ji retreated to the shadows, and the silver python in his official robe flickered in the candlelight.
The maid stepped forward tremblingly, holding the medicine bowl, but he took it: "I'll do it."
Lady Changning sipped the medicine from his hand, and the liquid flowed down the corners of her lips.
Pei Ji subconsciously wiped it with his sleeve, leaving brown stains on the embroidery of his official uniform.
"It's bitter." The woman frowned and stuck out her tongue, then took out a piece of osmanthus candy from under her pillow, "Eat it, Ji'er..."
The candy was stuck to the oil paper, clearly an old item.
The night watchman sounded, and Lady Changning finally couldn't resist her sleepiness.
She clutched Pei Ji's sleeve tightly and refused to let go, murmuring in a fainter voice: "Mother will make you roasted venison tomorrow..."
Pei Jijing stood in front of the couch and did not pull out his sleeves until she fell completely asleep.
The candle wax dripped onto the purse, melting the white rabbit's eyes into tears of blood.
"Young Master." Laicai held the new medicine in his hand and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Pei Ji looked at the crescent moon outside the window and suddenly put his purse into his arms: "Go to the storehouse to get the Tianshan Snow Lotus. Tomorrow..."
His voice stopped abruptly. He touched the medicine stain on his official uniform and finally changed his tone: "Tomorrow, ask the people from Jinxiufang to come and make some winter clothes for Madam."
Earl Changning stood silently guarding the bed for a long time until he observed that his wife was gradually falling asleep with steady and even breathing.
He then signaled the maids around him to pay attention and ensure that his wife was properly taken care of.
He quietly pulled Pei Ji up and walked out of the inner room carefully together.
As the two left, the room gradually fell into silence, with only the faint sound of breathing gently echoing in the air.
The candle flame in the glass cover burst into sparks, startling the night watchwoman so much that she shuddered.
Behind the bed curtains, Lady Changning's eyelashes trembled slightly, and her tears silently soaked through the pillowcase embroidered with twin lotus flowers.
She lay on the carved wooden bed with clear eyes, no trace of the confused look she had just had.
He originally wanted to die, but was pulled back from the gates of hell.
In the chaos, she heard her husband's heart-wrenching cries and the gentle voice of Old Chu.
This wise old man was Pei Ji's mentor, and he was whispering in her ear: "If Madam passes away, do you know what kind of situation Pei Ji will be in? That child has a kind heart and will definitely take all the blame."
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