Chapter 22: Playing Hard to Get
Yun Yao moved into Xiangzhangyuan, but the reunion with Xing Yu had a great impact on him. Ever since he heard Xing Yu's advice, Yun Yao's heart has been in a state of turmoil.
What he is doing now is against his conscience and his values, but he has already promised his father in prison that he would give it a try. Yun Yao is now at a loss as to what to do, and he has begun to hesitate.
But in front of his wife, he simply became more cautious.
Since entering the prestigious Camphor Garden, he has been careful and attentive in every aspect, just as Xing Yu said, diligently acting as an ordinary assistant.
He would never appear in front of his wife unless she asked him to.
One day, the lady, who was reading a book, suddenly called out to Yunyao, who was helping the nurse move equipment.
"Yun'er, come here." The lady looked at her book and spoke softly.
The attendant beside Yun Yao immediately took the work from Yun Yao's hands and gestured for Yun Yao to go over.
Yun Yao sighed inwardly. He lowered his voice and walked quickly to the lady, but this time, he consciously kept a distance between them.
Yun Yao respectfully greeted her, "Madam."
The lady put down her book, glanced at him, and, with her usual gentle demeanor, asked in a calm voice, "Yun'er, is there anything you're finding difficult to adjust to in the garden?"
"Madam, I'm fine with everything, nothing's bothering me," Yun Yao replied respectfully.
The lady looked at him intently for a while, then said softly, "If you have any questions, you can tell me."
Seeing that Yun Yao remained respectful and silent, she glanced at the wisps of incense smoke behind Yun Yao, smiled slightly, but the smile did not reach her eyes, "Yun'er, you've become much more reserved since you came into this camphor garden, and you don't even talk to me anymore."
Yun Yao's heart skipped a beat. He looked at his wife and recalled the scene when they discussed poetry and songs. He couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic.
Moreover, over these many days, he had witnessed the loneliness and isolation that came with being at the top. In this camphor garden, or rather, in the entire Cuiwei Villa, no one dared to speak to the lady without permission. Everyone surrounded her, yet they all seemed so distant from her.
Yun Yao's gaze unconsciously betrayed some of his emotions; he felt more and more that everyone had their own suffering.
He had nowhere to confide his pain, and his wife probably felt the same way. Even though everyone's suffering was different, he couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow.
“Madam, I’m always here. You can talk to me anytime you feel bored.” Yun Yao looked at the lady and said sincerely from the bottom of her heart, “Everyone here hopes that you can recover soon.”
The lady gazed at the exceptionally innocent yet genuinely sincere and handsome young man, and smiled gently, as if she found it quite amusing.
She had a mischievous thought: "Yun'er, I don't care what others think, I only care what you think?"
Faced with his wife's sudden and blunt words, Yun Yao was stunned. He said in a low voice, somewhat at a loss, "I... of course I care about your health too."
The lady put down her book and beckoned Yunyao over. After Yunyao squatted down to meet her gaze, the lady gently stroked the boy's soft, dark hair and said softly, "I see that you've been learning very well from the nurses these past few days. From now on, you will replace Nurse An and stay in the room next to mine to take care of me personally."
Yun Yao's eyes widened, and a sense of panic welled up inside him. He quickly said, "Madam, how can someone as unskilled as me replace a professional caregiver? Please, please reconsider."
The lady lowered her hand, glanced at the boy, and calmly sat back down, saying nonchalantly, "That's fine. I have plenty of professionals around me, so Yun'er, you don't need to worry."
And so, not long after being personally asked by the Madam to move into the Camphor Garden, Yun Yao replaced An Hu, who had always been by the Madam's side to take care of her, and moved into the place closest to the Madam in the entire Cuiwei Villa.
The entire Cuiwei Villa was shocked.
Butler Cheng, who was secretly observing the situation, felt that this Yun Yao was quite shrewd. This young man had entered the camphor garden and dared to play hard to get with the madam, not even afraid of being kicked out and ruining all his efforts.
However, things took an unexpected turn for the better. Madam showed Yun Yao exceptional favor and even made an exception by allowing Yun Yao to live next door, something that had never happened before.
As for Yun Yao, he couldn't care less about what others thought; he only felt the pressure increasing dramatically. His sense of responsibility wouldn't allow him to neglect his duties, but his short and novice-like learning experience made him very uncertain. He was well aware that he couldn't handle this heavy responsibility of close care, so he could only study even more diligently with the nurses on his shift.
His diligence shocked even An Hu, who had initially harbored some reservations. She could only sigh inwardly, no wonder this young man had won the lady's favor.
...
Yun Yao moved into the room next to Madam's. In his spare time from studying, he would sometimes think of Xing Yu outside the garden. He imagined Xing Yu would be furious if he knew his current situation. Yun Yao could vividly picture that scene.
He couldn't help but smile wryly; this turn of events had caught him completely off guard.
Fortunately, Yun Yao discovered that although she had moved into a room under the care of nanny An, the lady of the house actually had professional staff accompanying her day and night. Yun Yao didn't know where they usually stayed, but whenever needed, they would appear promptly and efficiently by the lady's side, like divine intervention. This greatly reduced Yun Yao's stress.
Moreover, although the lady had previously said that Yun Yao would take care of her personally, in reality, the lady didn't often call Yun Yao over. Generally, Yun Yao would only see the lady at a few fixed times during the day, along with other nursing assistants.
The only exception was that the lady would occasionally have Yunyao accompany her to talk about poetry and play chess, and when they talked about something interesting, the two would smile at each other.
On one occasion, when the lady was in high spirits, she even played the zither herself despite her illness, and had Yun Yao dance a classical dance from the Book of Songs.
Yun Yao gradually felt that although there was a big gap in age, experience and status between him and his wife, their shared hobbies made him feel like they were getting closer.
However, the lady's health did not seem to improve much, and in fact, it even became more serious.
In the past two days, Yun Yao has frequently seen other authoritative figures in the medical field visiting Madam, including several foreigners. Afterwards, Madam and her closest secretarial team would disappear for a few days. According to Butler Cheng, Madam is still hesitating about whether to choose radical treatment methods from abroad.
As the lady's condition changed, the atmosphere in the camphor garden became increasingly oppressive and cautious. Everyone became more careful and silent, and even the sound of footsteps seemed to disappear.
One quiet afternoon, Yun Yao heard a loud bang from next door. Soon after, several pale-faced housekeepers and a team of medical staff came out.
Butler Cheng walked at the back, his eyes filled with worry and dejection as he looked back.
Yun Yao didn't know if something had happened to Madam, and he was also a little worried about her, so he couldn't help but walk to the door to take a look, but accidentally made eye contact with Butler Cheng.
When Butler Cheng saw Yun Yao, his eyes lit up. As if he had thought of something, he beckoned Yun Yao over and whispered to him, "Madam is not in a good mood. We can't go in right now. Could you take these documents in later?" He looked Yun Yao up and down. "I think the only thing that might cheer Madam up right now is seeing you."
Yun Yao didn't take the documents, but asked, "Butler Cheng, what happened just now? You didn't tell me anything. What if I accidentally messed things up when I went in?"
Butler Cheng glared at him, not directly answering Yun Yao's question, but reluctantly revealing some of the reasons: "Madam originally wanted to use domestic methods to treat the illness, but it really didn't work. The process was too exhausting, and Madam waited too long, but the result was..." Butler Cheng didn't dare to say more, but said worriedly, "Although there are foreign methods, and those people have flown here from abroad to wait, Madam has been unable to make up her mind. Although foreign treatments can restore her to her pre-illness condition with a high probability, they are too radical and not good for her lifespan."
Upon hearing these details, Yun Yao fell silent. He could roughly understand the despair of someone tormented by illness for a long time with no end in sight.
For the lady, the two paths she now chooses seem to be dead ends. One is to continue using the domestic methods, but this is a slow and insidious process with no hope, and there is a possibility that the situation could worsen. The other path, however, may offer short-term relief, but it is clearly not a long-term solution.
The matter concerned the lady's health, which was originally a top secret. Yun Yao knew that Butler Cheng could reveal this to him because he knew that Yun Yao had no powerful backing. In other words, in Butler Cheng's eyes, Yun Yao was someone he could easily manipulate and control, and that Butler Cheng needed Yun Yao to help him please the lady, which was why he told him these inside details.
Yun Yao had no choice. Since he entered Cuiwei Manor, he had rarely been able to access any information from the outside world, because it was not allowed to use mobile phones or other communication devices brought in from outside. The manor had its own independent communication and security system.
Yun Yao hadn't even asked for leave once; there was no one he wanted to see outside. This was probably one of the reasons why Butler Cheng had told him all this.
...
As dusk settled, Yun Yao, as arranged by Butler Cheng, stepped into the lady's bedroom.
The lady was sitting behind the ebony desk by the window in the bedroom. A Duan inkstone with a missing corner and a Huzhou brush were scattered on the desk, and there were still wet ink marks on the Xuan paper.
The bronze lion-shaped incense burner on the desk was emitting wisps of smoke, the aroma of top-grade agarwood filling the entire space, calming the mind and spirit. The lady's face, however, was veiled by the rising incense smoke, making it impossible to discern her emotions.
"Madam." Yun Yao gently placed the documents that Butler Cheng had brought in on the table beside him. He spoke softly, but did not mention the documents. He simply said, "I just ran into the gardener downstairs. He said the epiphyllum flowers in the garden will be in bloom soon. Madam, would you like to come down with me to admire the flowers?"
There was a moment of silence, then the lady's soft laughter drifted over, though her tone still carried a hint of weariness: "How could I possibly miss Yun'er's invitation?"
Despite saying this, the lady did not get up.
She coughed slightly, her sickly face showing a complex expression. She murmured, "Epiphyllum... Epiphyllum blooms only for a fleeting moment, like snow in a glass cup, melting in an instant..." She smiled bitterly, looked at Yun Yao, and asked, "Yun'er, between the fleeting yet eternal epiphyllum and the ugly but long-lived wildflower, if it were you, which would you choose?"
Yun Yao took a deep breath. He understood what the lady was implying, which made it even harder for him to speak.
He could only lower his eyes and say softly, "Madam, I can't choose either. But nothing in this world is perfect, so we can only choose according to our own heart at the moment. Besides, who can be sure about the future? Maybe a gardener will cultivate a long-lived epiphyllum, or an ugly wildflower will sprout beautiful new buds."
Upon hearing his words, the lady sighed deeply and said wistfully, "It's a pity that time waits for no one..."
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