Chapter 5

Chapter 5

We lived in a tiny place like Qingshan Village, where news traveled slowly and the outside world felt far away.

But Wang Songhua had to know the situation in Capital City very well. He had no reason to lie about something so trivial.

He said my mother despised Lin Jiaoyue for disgracing Marquis Manor, and had even punished her severely.

I didn’t believe it.

My mother wasn’t that kind of person.

She was dignified, steady, gentle, and gracious-a noble lady praised by everyone in Capital City.

Even if Lin Jiaoyue had grown up in the countryside and didn’t understand etiquette, my mother would never treat her harshly.

I was only afraid that after hearing the county magistrate’s words, the Lin Family would resent my mother.

To my surprise, Mother spoke first. “Yanyan, it is true that I am worried about Jiaoyue, but I would not make wild assumptions. The Marquis’s Wife raised you so well. I am sure she would never mistreat Jiaoyue.”

Hearing that, I was moved beyond words and held her hand tightly.

As for how Lin Jiaoyue was truly doing in Capital City, hearsay was unreliable. Only seeing it with my own eyes would tell me the truth.

And I was very worried about my mother, too.

She ran the household strictly, but the news that she had confined Lin Jiaoyue had somehow spread through the entire city.

What on earth had happened?

After thinking it over and over, I made up my mind. “I have to go back to Capital City.”

Qingshan Village was a long way from Capital City.

When I came here, the carriage journey had taken a full half month.

Naturally, Father and Mother were not at ease with me traveling back alone.

But it was the busy farming season, and the fields could not be left unattended.

For a while, the only option was to ask Xiao Tingyun to accompany me.

This time, Xiao Tingyun agreed readily.

I thought to myself, he didn’t want to accompany me to Capital City at all. Clearly, he wanted to see Lin Jiaoyue.

I had met Lin Jiaoyue briefly.

She had a pair of calm, water-like eyes, beautiful and vivid.

According to my younger brother and sister, when she was at home, she did not like to talk and only enjoyed painting.

Though she had a quiet temperament, she was very decisive inside.

For all matters big and small at home, Father and Mother liked to ask for her opinion.

Sigh. I was different.

I had been pampered by my mother since I was young and had never had to lift a finger.

Every day, I could not even decide which dress to wear and would tug on my mother, asking her for half the day.

In short, Lin Jiaoyue and I were two completely different people.

After I finished packing, Xiao Tingyun rented a carriage and came to pick me up.

I did not want to owe him, so I paid him back the silver.

Xiao Tingyun looked at the silver in my hand and raised an eyebrow. “That’s too much.”

I shoved it into his hand and said bluntly, “The extra is your wages for being hired.”

Xiao Tingyun said meaningfully, “Oh, so it’s money to keep you alive. Then it’s not enough. If we run into a wolf den on the road, you’ll be the first one I throw out.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

In all the time I had known him, he had rarely spoken to me.

And now, out of nowhere, he was telling terrible jokes.

Seeing that I did not laugh, Xiao Tingyun rubbed his nose, gave a dry cough, and continued driving.

I sat beside him and sighed again and again.

Suddenly, he stuffed a piece of candy into my hand.

I ate the candy, then kept sighing.

Xiao Tingyun turned to look at me.

I snapped, “What are you looking at?”

In a leisurely tone, Xiao Tingyun said, “A Fairy Maiden sighing.”

That almost made me laugh out of sheer anger.

Those dark, grubby little children in the village spent all day gathered outside our doorway gawking at me.

“Wow! The Fairy Maiden is crying!”

“Wow, the Fairy Maiden is smiling!”

“Wow, so Fairy Maidens have to eat too!”

Xiao Tingyun was obviously teasing me.

I had too many things weighing on my heart, and nowhere to say them.

Father and Mother were honest, simple farmers.

My younger brother and sister were still little.

To be honest, during my days in Qingshan Town…

I had been somewhat lonely.

And that loneliness was something I could not tell Father, Mother, or the others.

Who would have thought that on the road to Capital City, I would get caught in the rain and fall ill?

Xiao Tingyun brought me to an inn and got us rooms.

I looked at the filthy guest room and the bedding that had been slept in by who knew how many people.

Grief welled up in my heart. For a moment, I forgot all propriety, sat down right on the floor, and burst into tears.