Past
The story of the past life begins with an unexpected encounter.
That year, in late spring, the slanting sunlight shone through the gaps in the wisteria, and Wen Zhibai stood in the halo of light in a light pink gauze dress with cloud patterns, the pearls adorning the dress jingling softly.
She rescued a small white snake from a group of spoiled young men led by Gao Zheli.
"What? It was one thing to show kindness to those lowly people in the past, but now you, Miss Wen, have to show mercy to a snake? Don't forget, it's been said all over the capital that a demon is killing people. Such beasts should all be killed."
Wen Zhibai ignored her, opened her palm, and the white snake revealed its light gray vertical pupils, crawling towards her fingertips in the shimmering sunlight.
It slowly wrapped around her snow-white wrist, unseen by anyone, a silver pattern like a vine coiling around her veins, then disappearing into her skin in an instant.
Gao Zheli said, "Wen Zhibai, I'm afraid what you can protect, you can't protect in this lifetime." He took a few steps forward and whispered in her ear, "You, as the young lady of the Minister's mansion, are truly pitiful."
——
As was customary, Wen Zhibai delivered the money that the schoolteacher gave to the poor students to Jingcheng, a place where those classified as lowly resided.
Although it was separated from Shangjing by only a stone manhole cover, it felt like two different worlds.
Above, there are grand mansions and luxurious carriages, while below, even the light is extravagant.
As they passed through the dimly lit underground passage, several teenagers were already waiting. Upon seeing Wen Zhibai, they rushed forward and handed her two small bags of red dates wrapped in kraft paper, which they had been keeping as treasures.
Wen Zhibai thanked him and accepted the money, then handed over the money wrapped in cloth.
Xi Qing tossed the cloth bag, puzzled: "Eh? The master gave you more money this month... By the way, Zhibai, we'll take you out via another route. It'll be shorter for you to take that route in the future."
"good."
Upon returning home, the servants hurried past with their heads down, creating an unexpectedly somber atmosphere.
"Miss," Granny Chen called out to Wen Zhibai, "why don't you go over there first?"
Seeing the complicated expression on Granny Chen's face, Wen Zhibai paused for a moment: "Is Mother in the room?"
No, in the front hall.
She lifted her skirt and jogged away.
"Mother!"
"What kind of behavior is this, all flustered and disorganized?"
Looking in the direction of the sound, she saw her father, who had been away from home for several months.
"Why did Father come back early?"
“Your mother’s health has been deteriorating lately. I will be leaving the capital tomorrow and will be taking your mother with me.”
Wen Zhibai was taken aback for a moment, then stepped forward and knelt at his mother's feet. "Mother, why are you leaving with Father so suddenly? Where are you going?"
Wen's mother smiled and tucked the stray hairs from her forehead behind her ear: "There is a reclusive master healer at Tuoming Temple in Nansu City. Your father and I will go there together. We can pray for blessings and heal illnesses."
"When will Mother return?" She pressed her cheek against her mother's knee.
"When the jasmine flowers in the yard bloom again, Mother will come back."
Wen Zhibai forced back the tears welling up in his eyes and stepped into the shadows of the corridor. He didn't see the handkerchief his mother had dropped when she turned around; it was still stained with blood from coughing up.
Back in her room, she lit the candlestick, placed the little white snake on the cushion, and opened the account book her mother had entrusted to her. It contained all the property her maternal grandparents had left to her mother.
After an unknown amount of time, the white snake opened its eyes and nuzzled her hand with its head.
An hour later, the candlelight in Wen Zhibai's room finally went out. Wen's mother leaned against the door frame, taking in the whole scene.
"Madam, are you really willing to do this?"
"Even if you're reluctant, you have to be willing to part with it." Mother Wen handed something wrapped in a white cloth to Granny Chen: "If I'm not around in the future and there's really no other way, I'll have to ask you to find an opportunity to give it to Zhibai."
"Won't you let the young lady see you off?"
"Years have passed since then, and I know not when I will return. How can I not grieve for the separation of mother and daughter..."
Footsteps sounded outside the door, and Wen's father pushed the door open and came in. "It's time to set off."
“Lingchen.” Mother Wen walked up to Father Wen and straightened his collar. “We have been husband and wife for decades. I have always listened to you and been the most virtuous wife and the most considerate mother. I have never quarreled with you and I do not want to be your enemy in the future.”
Suddenly, Madam Wen grabbed his collar, their eyes meeting: "I can step down, but if you let my daughter suffer even the slightest injustice, even if the Jiang family falls apart, someone will remember this debt!"
Since being forced into marriage, he has often claimed to be too busy with official duties to come home late, but she easily discovered that he was still living with his former lover.
"Be kinder to my daughter." Jiang Xuwan turned around, picked up only a small bundle that she had prepared beforehand, and ultimately did not look back, stepping into the deep night outside the door.
Outside the Wen residence, the streets were deserted. Mother was not there, and even the carriage that usually took students to school was unmanned.
"What's wrong with you all? The madam isn't here, so why aren't you preparing the carriage?" Granny Chen's scolding voice came from behind, as she draped a cloak over Wen Zhibai's shoulders. "It's chilly today, and it's still early. This old servant will send someone to prepare the carriage right away."
"No need, it's fine without preparation. I also want to take a walk."
Without waiting for Granny Chen's reply, she went down the steps and disappeared at the end of the street.
Normally he sits high in a carriage and has never noticed that there are slave sellers at the morning market. Wen Zhibai glanced around and saw a surging crowd, but his eyes met those of the seller.
"Oh dear, why doesn't this young lady have any attendants? What a coincidence! I just got a new recruit here. He's tall, strong, and a very capable worker. Why don't you do me the honor of taking a look?" The boss bowed and scraped, smiling obsequiously.
"No need." She wanted to leave quickly.
The sounds of prices being raised one after another caught Wen Zhibai's attention. Seeing her stop and look around, the shopkeeper, who was already calculating in his mind, enthusiastically pulled her into the crowd.
"Wait, wait, let this young lady have a look too! Hehehe."
The man everyone was scrambling for was a dark-skinned farmer. She replied to the shopkeeper speechlessly, "I don't have any money with me, and I don't need any."
After several rounds of back-and-forth, the boss realized that she really had no intention of hiring anyone, so he went to look for other customers.
She was pushed into a corner by the crowd, but her foot kicked something.
She looked down and saw a slender boy of about seventeen or eighteen years old kneeling on the ground, his hands bound behind his back with rough hemp rope, which had already been worn raw and bloody.
His tattered clothes couldn't hide his disheveled appearance, and his face was crisscrossed with several new and old whip marks.
Beneath his high-bridged nose, his thin lips parted slightly as if he were saying something, but the noise of the crowd made it all unnoticed.
Seeing that he seemed dazed, Wen Zhibai called out "Boss" a few times, but he was too busy with business to pay attention to her. After hesitating for a while, she squatted down and asked, "What do you want to say?"
The boy lowered his head helplessly. She avoided the scars on his face with her hands and cupped his cheeks: "Are you alright?"
A cool breeze stirred, ruffling Wen Zhibai's long hair. The boy seemed to be awakened by the breeze as well, his thick eyelashes trembling slightly as he looked at her with compassionate eyes once again.
"Miss, take me home, I have a home..." His voice was almost blown away by the wind.
The slaves at the stall were quickly chosen, and the place became quiet. When the stall owner saw that Wen Zhibai was still there, he asked, "Oh, is this young lady still here?"
Wen Zhibai did not reply.
The shopkeeper sighed. If it weren't for the boy's good looks, he wouldn't have picked him up and sold him along the way. It would be good to get rid of this troublesome thing as soon as possible.
"This brat is wild, he even bit me, tsk. But if Miss likes it, I'll sell it for this price, whatever you want." The shopkeeper made a "two" gesture, making it impossible to ignore the bloody teeth mark on the back of his hand: "But let me make it clear beforehand, Miss, I can sell it at a low price, but after you buy it, I don't care whether it lives or dies."
"Oh dear, young lady, this one is clearly no good. No matter how beautiful it is, it won't live more than a few days after you buy it. I advise you to take another look." An older woman said to Wen Zhibai, and several passersby chimed in.
Upon hearing this, Wen Zhibai slowly released his face.
The boy's vision blurred: "I've been very obedient, don't leave me..."
Her eyes trembled, and she finally hesitated before getting up. After glancing at the boy, she quickly ran away.
He disappeared into the crowd, and also disappeared from the boy's pleading gaze.
He was completely plunged into an endless abyss of darkness, the sounds of passing cars and people suffocating him in a situation where no one cared: "Don't you want me anymore...?"
The boss ordered someone to grab him by the back of his neck and say, "Find a place and deal with him."
So, he really is as despicable as dust?
Where will fate take his crippled body this time?
A moment later.
Rapid breathing grew louder as it approached him.
"Wait a moment!!"
A familiar voice cut through the crowd, and everyone turned to look. Wen Zhibai's steps were hurried and unsteady, and everyone made way for her.
The boy saw countless departing feet, and at that moment, the mud-stained pink skirt was the only point of light in the darkness.
"I want him!"
Wen Zhibai handed the money bag to the shopkeeper: "The money is yours, the person is mine."
The boss waved his hand, signaling his men to put the boy down, and tossed a knife to Wen Zhibai: "Since he's now Miss's man, then Miss, you should personally end his troubles."
She picked up the knife and personally cut the knot on the boy's wrist.
The rope broke, and his hands fell to his sides, his warm palms opening again in the sunlight:
"I'll take you away, let's go home."
The boy was tall and slender, with a handsome face and strikingly sharp features. His pale skin revealed faint blue veins beneath.
Wen Zhibai had him put one arm on his shoulder, and with difficulty supported his body, they moved step by step into the mansion.
He was more than a head taller than Wen Zhibai, and his entire weight was almost entirely on her.
The two walked for a long time, supporting each other, along the wide ancient road.
The boy looked at her lowered eyelashes. This was the first time he had seen Wen Zhibai clearly. She was slender, and in front of him, she appeared even more petite and delicate.
...
After a few visits, Wen Zhibai sent someone to ask the teacher for a day off, and hurriedly cleaned out a guest room for the boy to lie down first.
Touching his burning forehead and unusually flushed cheeks, she immediately instructed Granny Chen to fetch a doctor.
After feeding the boy the medicine prescribed by the doctor, Wen Zhibai went to the study to look through the account books. The doctor then told her that the boy's pulse was peculiar and he probably wouldn't live much longer.
It's a pity that such a beautiful person didn't live long.
"Squeak—" The door was pushed open a crack.
What came into view was the boy's alluring face, his nose slightly tinged with pink. His white robes fluttered in the cold wind, and he seemed a little unsteady on his feet.
Wen Zhibai quickly went to help him up: "Hey!"
He half-clenched his fist to his lips and coughed twice: "Sorry."
"It's windy outside, come inside and talk."
"Um."
The two sat down on opposite sides of the chessboard.
"I haven't asked you yet, what's your name?"
"Pei Qinzhou".
"Where do you live? Once your injuries have healed in a while, I will send someone to take you home."
“...Actually, I don’t remember the past clearly. I only vaguely remember...that place was not welcoming to me...I was captured as soon as I escaped, and after several transfers, I was sold here as a slave.” As he spoke, he looked at Wen Zhibai, his drooping eyes showing a hint of grievance: “I have nowhere to go.”
His mouth was still bruised, and there wasn't a single good spot on the back of his hand.
Everyone in the world has their own suffering.
Although the reasons are different, the pain is indeed etched into our lives.
"From now on, you will stay by my side and do some work for me. I will pay you your wages as usual, how about that?"
"I only ask to stay by your side, Miss, so that I may have a place where my heart can find peace. That is enough."
"Mmm." Wen Zhibai responded, then used a handkerchief to press against the wound on his cheek: "Does it still hurt?"
His eyes sparkled: "It doesn't hurt anymore."
In the following days, Wen Zhibai often went in and out of the study with Pei Qinzhou.
Late at night, Wen Zhibai would sometimes fall asleep on her desk from exhaustion. Pei Qinzhou would then cover her with a shawl, move the candlestick next to her to his side, and finish the rest of his work.
The girl's soft breathing reached Pei Qinzhou's ears, and the corners of his mouth would turn up slightly.
After an unknown amount of time spent engrossed in reviewing the account books, the wax on the candlestick solidified into an irregular clump before Pei Qinzhou finally blew out the candle.
He picked up the sleeping Wen Zhibai and carried her to the bed. Under the bright moon and sparse stars, he uttered a single sentence in the pitch-black night: "Sweet dreams."
The night is as still as water; may you sleep peacefully.
...
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