Chapter 30 Now I don't even want to see them, but why...
On the eve of the heavy snow, a snowfall did indeed fall in the capital. At first, it came fiercely, keeping people at home for two whole days.
Fortunately, Yu'an had taken precautions early, so there was no need to worry that the snowstorm would delay the journey.
Yu An and Bao Zhu got off the carriage carrying two large bags of winter clothes, while Pei Chengyu was already waiting by the city gate.
After returning home that day, Yu'an thought of many ways to help, but in the end she decided to trouble Pei Chengyu. It just so happened that Pei Chengyu was going to send someone back to Jiangling, and her sense of guilt lessened a bit.
"If you had told me it was cold, I wouldn't have needed to come. I could have just sent a servant to find someone."
Upon seeing what she was carrying, Pei Chengyu immediately reached out, took it, and handed it to a servant standing nearby.
Yu An smiled faintly: "I didn't have anything important to do at home, so I just came to check on you so I could feel more at ease."
As she spoke, she took out a letter from her bosom. “My younger brother is stubborn. Show him the letter I wrote after he gets there, and he should feel at ease getting on the train.”
Things are different now than before; you have to be careful around people to get by.
She handed the letter to the servant in charge of the carriages. Pei Chengyu noticed the guards near her carriage not far away and casually joked, "You've learned your lesson this time, now you know to wait for guards when you go out?"
Yu An paused upon hearing the voice, followed the gaze to look behind her, gave an awkward laugh, and did not reply.
I hadn't seen her for more than half a month, and her face looked a little rounder, so it seemed that she was doing better than before.
Pei Chengyu thought to himself, a smile lingering on his lips, until he saw the package handed to him by Yu An, which made him even happier.
"These are a pair of knee braces I made for you. Please keep them."
Pei Chengyu froze, and before he could react or speak, Yu An stuffed the package into his hand. "Take it. Keep it safe this time so I can trouble you again in the future."
"Did you do this?" he asked.
Yu An nodded: "My younger brother also loves martial arts. Almost all of his knee pads are made by me. I just modified them to be a bit bigger than his size and made a pair for you."
This was the first time he had received a gift from a woman. He was both surprised and delighted, and had mixed feelings. He didn't know if these feelings were solely because of her.
He chuckled and changed the subject, saying, "They probably won't be back for another month. There will be many problems on the way, but you don't need to worry. When they arrive, they'll just deliver them to your door."
Yu An agreed, his smile undiminished. Only after everything was settled and the carriages and horses had left the city gates did he feel completely relieved and return home.
With a huge worry finally put to rest, Baozhu put away Yu'an's needlework and account books, telling her to take a good rest, even if it was just to lean on the couch and read a book.
"Checking accounts is hard on the eyes, young lady. You should rest well and worry about it in the afternoon."
As Baozhu cleaned the furnishings in the room, she kept nagging.
Yu An has been busy with both jobs lately. She has made some money, but her eyes have also been ruined. If she hadn't stopped her, she would sometimes stay up all night because she was busy.
Respectfully obeying was better than being respectful. Feeling relieved, Yu An took a good nap. When she opened her eyes again, it was already dark outside.
Hurried footsteps came from the corridor, which didn't sound like Baozhu's. She lit the candlestick by the bedside, and a moment later, she heard a noise outside the door.
"Young Madam, Master bought some things for you outside, and I've come to deliver them to you."
It is a bluebird.
They actually came back?
Yu An hurriedly got out of bed, called out "Come in," and then lit the remaining candlesticks in the room one by one.
Upon seeing Qingque enter, her face still betrayed her surprise. "When did you return, sir? How come I had no idea?"
According to Ji Shu, Ji Jinghe would not have returned until five days at the earliest. Why did he suddenly arrive so early without informing anyone? This would only give her something to gossip about.
"The original time was already a bit late, and since the journey didn't cause any major delays, I came back a few days earlier."
Qingque bowed and said, "Young Madam, please don't worry. After returning to the capital, Master went straight to the palace and did not go home. I came back specifically to settle his luggage."
"Is everything alright?"
Qingque paused for a moment, then immediately replied with a smile, "It's fine."
Yu'an asked Ji Jinghe if he would be back tonight, but Qingque couldn't answer and didn't know what was going on.
Ji Jinghe entered the palace injured, carrying two impeachment memorials. If he didn't turn the Qianqing Palace upside down tonight, his month would have been wasted.
Furthermore, he couldn't bring himself to say it during the day.
"If anything important happens, be sure to send someone to deliver a message," Yu'an said again.
They already lived in the same house, and she really didn't want to be judged by others because of these things. Besides, her aunt from the Li family would be coming over with her niece soon, and she really didn't want to cause any more trouble.
Qingque readily agreed and withdrew.
Yu An looked at the fabrics and a box of jewelry on the table and sighed softly. They were all simple satin and jewelry, and compared with her dressing case and wardrobe, they were indeed like what she wore.
Baozhu came in after hearing the commotion and was immediately taken aback when she saw the table full of things.
"Did the son-in-law send someone to deliver it?"
Yu An remained silent, turned around and poured herself a cup of tea to clear her throat.
"Go down and inquire. If the young lady and madam don't have any, then give them all, and don't keep a single piece for themselves."
Baozhu was taken aback. "You mean jewelry, young lady?"
"The same goes for those satins; have them made into garments and then send them over."
Having seen fine things, Baozhu naturally recognized these materials.
Let alone Yuzhou City, even in the capital, these materials would cost a lot of money to find. How could you be willing to give them away?
"Miss, why not take it? It was sent by the young master anyway, so please keep it..."
Baozhu was truly reluctant, but as soon as she finished speaking, Yu'an cast a glance at her, instantly making her lose all interest and leaving her no choice but to obediently listen.
Yu An frowned, her tone slightly admonishing: "If you keep taking things back and forth like this, how will you leave later?"
For her, the Ji family was simply about making her live a good life, managing the household affairs, serving her elders, and treating her sisters-in-law with respect... all so that she wouldn't be bullied, so that she could have a chance to breathe and clear her father's name.
There was nothing here for her to miss; all those she missed were dead.
Seeing Baozhu's gloomy face, Yu'an immediately comforted her: "Pack up and keep an eye on the master's movements. I still have some things to discuss with him."
Baozhu reluctantly hummed in agreement and dragged her feet as she asked someone to put the things away properly.
The night was silent, so quiet it was unsettling.
She stood by the couch, her fingertips only able to feel the coldness of the teacup. There was clearly a charcoal fire burning in the room, but she rarely felt warm. Thinking about it, it seemed that she had never felt warm since Chu Xingjian died.
I slept for a long time, and then I couldn't fall asleep again at night. So I washed up and then lit a lamp to make a sachet. The next day at noon, I heard from Baozhu that Ji Jinghe had returned.
Yu'an didn't bring Baozhu with her. She went to the study in the front yard by herself and saw Qingque coming out when she arrived.
Looking up slightly, Qingque recognized her and quickly stepped forward to greet her, "Young Madam, are you here to see Master?"
She nodded. "Could you please pass on a message for me?"
He was about to say, "Young Madam, you can go in directly," but then he thought about it again and swallowed the words back. He agreed and turned to go.
Yu An stood at the door waiting. After a long while, she saw Qing Que come out with Ji Jinghe's old clothes. She saw a faint bitter smile on his face: "Young Madam, Master is changing clothes now. Why don't you wait a little longer and go in after he's finished?"
"OK."
She knew her place. Ji Jinghe had said before that the study was not a place she could just go in casually, and she wouldn't make a fool of herself. If he hadn't personally told her to go in, she would never have done so without permission.
A heavy snowfall in early winter drove away the last bit of warmth left in late autumn. Yu An hadn't expected to be waiting outside, so she hadn't changed her coat. Her old, thin coat couldn't keep out the cold wind, and in no time, she was shivering with cold, feeling as if her lungs were about to freeze.
The draft blowing through the room made her even more uncomfortable. She was so cold that she couldn't stand up any longer, so she had no choice but to reach out and knock on the door herself.
Once, and again, until the third time, there was finally movement from inside.
A young servant, whose face was unfamiliar, opened the door and bowed, saying, "Young Madam, Master said that he has official business to attend to today. Please come another day if there is anything else." Her heart began to freeze, and Yu'an hurriedly said, "It's nothing important. Master just needs to nod his head. Could you ask him one more time for me?"
The servant said in a tight voice, "Please, young mistress, go back first. The master will not see you."
Yu An couldn't figure out where she had offended this ancestor. Could it be because of the farewell a month ago?
If you were going to be so particular, why send her a gift separately?
Baozhu just said that even she sometimes finds it hard to believe.
She couldn't understand it.
The partition door completely sealed off the interior, preventing her from seeing anything.
If that's the case, then I won't ask for it anymore.
The person inside listened intently to the sounds outside the door, and as the footsteps faded into the distance, their eyes darkened slightly.
Yesterday, he endured his pain to enter the city. As soon as the carriage passed through the city gate, he saw her laughing and talking with that person from the Pei family.
She delivered things to others but didn't even send a letter home. He felt she was heartless, yet he also remembered the kindness she showed him by mending his clothes late at night...
He couldn't understand what she really thought of him.
When the servant came in to report, his dark appearance was perfectly concealed, showing no difference whatsoever, as if he had always looked the same and had never changed.
A faint smell of blood lingered in the room, and a muffled sound slowly rose.
"Get rid of the food; there's no need for dinner tonight."
Ji Jinghe slowly stood up, enduring the dull pain in his shoulder blade, and asked the servant to help him put on his outer robe before going to Wanfang Courtyard.
He hasn't rested since he got back. If it weren't for the pain in his body constantly reminding him, he would feel like he was about to close his eyes and fall asleep any second.
Wanfang Courtyard was still the same as before. When Shen Qiulan saw her son whom she hadn't seen for a long time, the previous estrangement quickly disappeared. She hurriedly stepped forward to pull him aside and asked him how he was doing.
"How is everything at home? Your son has been away for a month. I wonder if you are doing well."
Fang Huan was all smiles, but upon hearing Ji Jinghe's question, Shen Qiulan's face immediately fell. "You just want to know about me and her, right? There's no need to beat around the bush. With you and your grandmother protecting me, how dare I touch her..."
“A few days ago, she was making a fuss about sending servants to Jiangling to pick someone up, but I stopped her.”
Shen Qiulan spoke frankly, without feeling she was wrong at all, "The Chu family are sinners after all, it's best to have less contact with them. It's just for the New Year, why bring them here? Can't we wait until next year?"
Picking someone up in Jiangling?
However, in an instant, Ji Jinghe's heart couldn't help but hang in the air.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Yu An: A man's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea [helpless]
Ji Jinghe: A woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea [question mark]
Some readers said the pacing was slow, I'll adjust it later. Of course, it's a delay because I have some drafts saved up. [Please][Please][Heart] Thank you for your support!
If the anti-theft ratio is changed later, I will emphasize it in the announcement [kiss emoji].
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com