Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Yan Qi told me that the waves were so violent that his head kept knocking against the cabin walls.
“Xiao Ye, I remember now.”
He told me that his name wasn’t Ah Ji; it was Yan Qi.
He was a prince of the current dynasty, the nineteenth in line.
While investigating a case in the Northern Borders, he had been ambushed and separated from his guards during his escape.
After we returned to the Capital City, he told the Emperor that I had saved his life and that he wanted to make me his primary consort.
Movingly, the Emperor replied, “Repaying a debt of gratitude aligns with both ritual propriety and human ethics, while also showcasing the grace of our Imperial Family. It is truly a beautiful story. How could I not grant it?”
After Yan Qi was granted his title as a Prince, I moved into the Prince’s Manor with him.
He personally planted a sprig of golden-and-silver honeysuckle in my courtyard, which he called Zui Xiang Si.
He tailored new clothes for me, bought me pearls and jade, and taught me how to read and write hand-in-hand.
We were as affectionate as the most ordinary couple under heaven.
But as soon as news of Miss arrived, his heart was thrown into turmoil.
That character blurred into an ink blot… it was the name he had given me.
He had said that fallen leaves drift with the water, but the phoenix comes to rest upon the wutong tree.
From then on, I was no longer called Xiao Ye, but Wutong.
The Wutong tree did indeed attract a phoenix.
That phoenix was Miss.
On the day Miss’s carriage arrived, Yan Qi did not go to receive her.
He entrusted all those arrangements to me.
He said, “It is merely to repay a debt; there is no need to meet.”
Miss did not remember me.
She looked at me timidly, bowed to me respectfully, and obediently stayed in the courtyard I had prepared for her, not daring to overstep in the slightest.
Only when she was trapped in nightmares would she call out for Ah Ji, over and over again.
A light drizzle fell, wetting the pot of gardenias by the window.
Miss stared blankly at the raindrops trembling on the white petals.
The person outside the window seemed to sense something, and the corner of his black robe quickly merged into the night.
During the day, Yan Qi held me in his arms while we practiced calligraphy.
I smelled the scent of gardenias on him.
I wanted to ask Yan Qi: what were you thinking when you stood by her window night after night, listening to her sleep-talk?
Do you regret not recovering your memory sooner, or do you regret becoming a wedded couple with me?
I lost myself in thought for a moment.
Yan Qi kissed my ear softly and asked, “What are you thinking about?”
I leaned against his chest, pressing my ear to his heart, and said, “I was thinking of Miss.”
His heart began to beat violently.
“I was thinking that Miss once saved us. I hope Heaven takes pity on her and lets her recover quickly.”
After a long silence, Yan Qi finally said, “Miss Ning has performed many good deeds; she will have her reward.”
Yes, Miss had been kind-hearted since she was a child.
When a stray dog she had picked up died, she was so heartbroken she couldn’t eat or sleep, and her appearance grew haggard.
She couldn’t bear to see me being beaten, nor could she bear to see Yan Qi dying by the roadside.
Miss was kind-hearted, but there was much she didn’t know.
To prevent her from picking up more animals and breaking her heart again, the Master had all the cats and dogs within several miles killed.
As for me…
My father beat me because I stole dried apricots from the old woman next door.
Back then, I cried as I explained to Miss that my father was just disciplining me.
Miss didn’t believe it.
“He said he didn’t want you anymore!”
She insisted on taking me back to the Ning Manor.
My father came chasing after us, only to be stopped and beaten by the Ning Family servants.
After the Master learned the truth, he forcibly bought me. He told me that Miss liked me very much.
“If you want your parents to stay alive, then listen to Miss’s words.”
I once tried to sneak back home.
My mother was dressed in funeral white, her eyes vacant as she pushed the stone mill in the courtyard.
After the beating from the Ning Family, my father became bedridden and ultimately didn’t survive that winter.
I stood by the door, not daring to call out to my mother.
It was I who had brought this disaster upon us.