chapter 3

chapter 3

I would not be moved.

Zheng Fuchen remained suspicious, convinced my refusal was merely a game to make myself more desirable. His contempt did not fade.

I did not care.

When I returned to the estate, laughter spilled from the front hall. Guo Mingyi had come to visit with her twins.

She and Mother chatted happily. The children were exquisitely pretty, like the golden boy and jade girl beside the Goddess of Mercy, and they delighted Mother with their company.

Guo Mingyi looked uncomfortable when she saw me, but she still took my hand with practiced warmth and made conversation for a long while. Then she told the twins to call me Aunt.

Mentioning the Moonlight Brocade Mother had given her, she smiled. “It truly is comfortable. I had a long dress made for myself and a little shirt for each child. It was perfect. Thank you, Mother.”

Mother beamed. “Moonlight Brocade is exceedingly rare. The Empress awarded me one bolt as a welcome gift for Zhen’er, since she is Zhen’er’s cousin once removed. But you are pregnant and delicate now, so you need it more. Even if Zhen’er wore it, she could hardly do justice to its elegance.”

Mother’s reasoning sounded impeccable. Guo Mingyi’s smile slowly vanished, and silence fell over the hall.

Mother suddenly realized what she had said and glanced at me helplessly.

Guo Mingyi apologized again and again, then hurried away with the children.

When my brother returned, he looked puzzled. “I just passed Mingyi. Her eyes were red and full of tears. Has someone wronged her?”

His assessing gaze settled on me.

Mother explained what had happened.

My brother relaxed. “Mother was right. Even if Zhen’er had been given the brocade, she could never have embodied the Empress’s intentions.”

That night, perhaps remembering my humiliation, he brought me a fine robe.

“Zhen’er,” he said consolingly, “Mother and Mingyi have been mother and daughter for twenty years. That bond cannot easily be shaken.”

I understood.

I could only accept it.

Affection could not be commanded.

But that same night, Guo Mingyi sent me the dress made from the Moonlight Brocade, together with the twins’ two little shirts.

The older maid who delivered them said, “My lady is beside herself with guilt. She says she has already taken twenty years of Miss Zhen’er’s life and cannot bear to owe you more.”

Before I could refuse, the maid hurried away.

The commotion drew my brother’s attention. The moment he saw the brocade, his face darkened.

“Must you take everything?” he demanded. “How can you be so selfish? Compensation wasn’t enough—you had to drive Mingyi to return even the clothes off her back!”

“She sent them herself. I never wanted them.”

“Still making excuses!” His voice cut like a blade. “Mingyi is sensitive and thoughtful. If you hadn’t made a show of your unhappiness, why would she do this? You truly are an ill-mannered country girl!”

He snatched back the robe he had brought me only moments before and cut it apart with scissors until nothing remained but a tangle of useless threads.

Under the moonlight, my brother left me only the sight of his merciless back.

The estate was large, but news traveled quickly. Father and Mother both learned what had happened.

Neither asked me about it.

The maids silently cleared away the ruin.

I stood alone in the courtyard, surrounded by the fragrance of osmanthus.

It was a little cold.