comfort
“You…you you…”
Suxi didn't know what Shen Yunqiu meant by this, but seeing Shen Wenzhao kept saying "you" for a long time without saying a single harsh word, he kicked the screen fiercely as if to vent his anger, but still not satisfied, he spat fiercely.
"You are a dying man, I won't bother with you, mother, it seems that my second brother doesn't welcome us here, let's go--"
Lin sat there motionless, and was finally pulled up by Shen Wenzhao. She walked out in a daze.
"Mother, Grandmother said she had chosen a piece of cloth for me to make new clothes. I asked Grandmother to choose one for you as well. Would you like to take a look?"
"real?"
"Of course, could my son deceive you?"
"My Wen Zhao is still the most filial..."
······
The door was not closed, and the sounds of Lin and Shen Wenzhao talking and laughing could be faintly heard from a distance. Su Xi closed the door angrily, and when he turned around, he saw Shen Yunqiu staring blankly outside the door, with an indescribable complex emotion in his eyes.
"Master, aren't you my wife's child?"
Suxi asked.
"I have no idea."
have no idea?
Su Xi didn't expect him to answer like this.
"What about the poisoning? Why did you stop me from talking about it just now?"
"Because it's useless to say it. The poison was administered by Shen Wenzhao."
After he finished speaking, Shen Yunqiu did not see an expression of shock or astonishment on Suxi's face. Instead, he saw even more sadness. His deer-like eyes were filled with emotions that he had only seen in storybooks in his life, like...
Heartbroken.
"Chen Yunqiu, can you tell me about your story? I want to know."
This little maidservant was so disrespectful as to call him by his name again, and even sat down on the corner of the bed. Unexpectedly, this time he didn't feel the slightest bit of displeasure. He just looked back at her, and the words came out of his mouth uncontrollably: "If I tell you, will you tell others?"
"Won't."
Subconsciously, Shen Yunqiu actually believed it. However, he still didn't dare to look directly into the girl's extremely eager eyes. He turned his head away uncomfortably, staring at the swaying gauze on the bed curtains.
"Ever since I was born, my father and grandmother have always been lukewarm towards me. Although my mother is relatively gentle, she's always been indifferent and hasn't paid much attention to me. Since I was a child, the only one who loved me was my brother. He's a few years older than me, and we've been close since childhood. Whenever I was scolded by my grandmother or beaten by my father, he always protected me. He even protected me from a horse when I was fifteen, and spooked it while riding at the stables. He himself broke his leg while protecting me from injury."
Shen Yunqiu paused as he spoke, as if he was remembering something sad.
"After that day, my father was furious because of my brother's leg injury. In a fit of rage, he broke both of my legs. He hit me so hard that the bones were broken. Afterwards, I saw many doctors but couldn't get better. I could no longer stand up, so I had to give up martial arts and study literature. I worked hard on writing, writing some storybooks and poems, and for a while I had a bit of a reputation. But my brother seemed like a different person after his leg was healed. He always spoke harshly to me. He even ordered the servants to put the poison in the food. My father and mother knew about it, but no one cared. Over time, it became like this."
Shen Yunqiu spoke calmly, as if he was just chatting casually, but Su Xi was frightened and furious, wishing that his anger would burst out of his chest.
"What a beast! How could there be such parents and brothers in this world! They are worse than pigs and dogs!"
"yes······"
Shen Yunqiu leaned his head back on the soft pillow and sighed softly, feeling a sense of comfort that he hadn't felt in a long time. It seemed as if he had been suffering in vain all these years, and finally someone was able to stand by him and tell him that it was not his fault that he was hated by others, but that those people had black hearts and rotten lungs.
"Then..." After pondering for a while, Su Xi spoke carefully again, "Since you knew the food was poisonous, why did you still eat it? You are a young master after all. If you don't eat it, no one will dare to force you."
Hearing this, Shen Yunqiu suddenly laughed bitterly and stared at the slightly innocent look of the little girl in front of him.
"Maybe I'm too cheap," he said. "I just don't want the only person in this world who loves me to disappear. I think he might have some difficulties, maybe he was forced by my father. Maybe when I'm about to die, he will come to his senses and love me again like before, even if it's a little later, even if..."
Finally, Shen Yunqiu could no longer suppress his daily self-loathing and painful mood. His breathing became rapid and he could hardly breathe. But before his tears could fall, he suddenly felt his head sink. When he looked up again, he saw that the girl had moved in front of him without him noticing. Her thin little hands stroked his dry, weed-like hair one by one, carefully and with bated breath, as if she was facing a unique treasure that she couldn't bear to destroy.
The tears welling in his eyes never fell. Shen Yunqiu was somewhat surprised, staring blankly at the girl's rosy, plump lips. He saw them opening and closing, and a childish yet firm voice emanated from within: "It's okay. I will treat you very well in the future and make up for what they owe you."
-
That night, dusk fell. Suxi spread out the bedding and pillow that had been exposed to the sun all day and still smelled of the sun. He turned off the lights and crawled into bed contentedly, but he tossed and turned until the clock struck three in the morning, unable to fall asleep. The bright yellow light from the main house shining through the window disturbed him, and his heart was attracted by the faint light, beating back and forth.
She always felt like she was worried about something.
What are you worried about?
She was afraid that Shen Yunqiu would suddenly fall ill and die in the middle of the night, and she would be nailed into the coffin to be buried with him the next day. She was also worried that Shen Wenzhao would put some sinister poison in her food, making it impossible for her to take revenge in the end. However, she always felt that her worries were not just about this.
The thoughts in his mind were too chaotic, like a ball of wool. Su Xi sat up suddenly, and all his thoughts disappeared. The only thing left in his mind was the tearful eyes of the man in the daytime, which looked as pitiful as a homeless puppy.
Suxi finally knew what he was afraid of.
After gathering up the bedding and pillows, Su Xi tiptoed, closed the door to the side room, and entered the main room. She saw that Shen Yunqiu was fast asleep and hadn't noticed her at all.
After reaching out to check his breath, Su Xi breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, I'm still alive.
Holding his breath, Su Xi walked across the screen and spread the bedding on the small couch in the study. He casually picked up a book and covered his face with it, and finally fell into a deep sleep.
The next day was probably another sunny day. Suxi opened his sleepy eyes to the chirping of birds. He brushed off the book that was weighing down his face and was about to sit up and stretch when he caught a glimpse of a figure beside the bed.
When he took a closer look, Su Xi was shocked and stood up immediately, looking at Shen Yunqiu who was sitting in a wheelchair and examining him with vigilance and caution.
"You...why are you here..."
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you this?" Chen Yunqiu looked up with interest, his tone unmistakable, "Tell me, why are you sleeping in my room? What are you planning?"
"Your house?"
Suxi looked at the furnishings in the house with his head tilted towards the ceiling, and then he remembered what he had done in the middle of the night last night, and felt a little embarrassed for a moment.
"Well, isn't it because I'm afraid you'll get sick again at night that I'm moving in to look after you? If anything happens to you because of my negligence, won't I be implicated as well?"
Su Xi stepped carefully along the edge of the bed and got off, but he seemed to feel that there was a bit of loss in Shen Yunqiu's eyes, and he looked lost.
"What's wrong, Master?"
"Nothing, just stay if you want. Just don't bother me."
Suxi was a little surprised.
She had thought that this arrogant young master would flatly refuse, drive her away, or even drive her out of the Shen Mansion, but who would have thought that he would agree so lightly?
Just as he was thinking, a figure flashed by outside. With a bang, Suxi opened the door and saw that the servant had left. A food box was placed by the door, and there was a faint aroma of food inside.
"How dare you send it here?" Su Xi muttered, turning back to glance at Shen Yunqiu's expression, then angrily picked up the food box and opened the other half of the door: "Master, I'll go throw it away right away!"
"etc--"
Suxi stopped and looked back.
"Give it to me. I haven't eaten anything yesterday and I'm a little hungry."
"You can't eat this! It's poisonous!"
"Are you stupid? We just had an incident yesterday, how could they deliver poisoned food today? Besides, not every meal is poisonous, otherwise I would have died long ago."
Chen Yunqiu beckoned with his hand and signaled with his eyes for Su Xi to bring the food, but the girl not only did not come forward, but instead walked into the study, stepped directly onto the small couch and hung the food box on the golden hook hanging from the ceiling.
"What are you doing?"
"To prevent you from stealing food, hang it here so you can't get it."
"You—" Shen Yunqiu heard the sarcasm in the woman's words, but this time he wasn't angry at all. Instead, he felt like laughing. He looked over and saw the girl jump off the bed, run over, push his wheelchair, and walk out.
"What do you want to do now?"
“The food in this Shen Mansion is not clean, so naturally I’ll take you out to eat!”
Su Xi kicked open the corner door leading to the outside of the West Garden and patted Shen Yunqiu's shoulders, which were stiff with shock.
"Don't worry, I have enough money to eat a few meals. Master, didn't you tell me that I can take any valuable vases in the house. When I run out of money, I can just pawn any one. Don't worry."
Shen Yunqiu: “…”
-
In the early morning, the morning market on Qingzhou East Street was bustling with people. The small vendors displayed a wide variety of breakfast utensils, vegetables and meat on their stalls, and they competed to sell them, fearing that if their voices were weaker, others would snatch away their regular customers.
Being pushed by Su Xi through the streets, Shen Yunqiu lowered his head deeply to isolate himself from people's strange looks. He felt extremely embarrassed and wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
"etc!"
Hearing the voice, Suxi slammed on the brakes and saw the man pointing at a mask stall opposite. He immediately understood.
"You want to buy a mask?"
"Um."
"Let's go pick one."
"No, you go buy it, I'll wait."
Su Xi saw that Shen Yunqiu's face was red as blood, and he couldn't help but want to laugh.
"This young master is really interesting."
She complained to herself and went to a stall to select a nondescript porcelain-white mask for Shen Yunqiu to wear. The young master looked more vivid with the mask on, glancing left and right as he walked, seemingly curious about everything. Noticing Shen Yunqiu's gaze lingering for a long time on a steamed bun stall, Su Xi understood and pushed the wheelchair into the stall. She then moved a bench aside and pushed the wheelchair to the table.
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