Chapter 5

Chapter 5

At that moment, however, my attention was on something else.

I asked, “Brother Ji, do you have any long-cherished wishes?”

He answered without hesitation, neither servile nor overbearing, “As long as I have enough to eat and drink, that is enough.”

Was that so?

I had thought he must have wanted very badly to achieve glory and make a name for himself.

But when I thought of how he had risked his life on the battlefield for nothing more than a little food, my heart softened despite myself.

All at once, I realized that after only half a day since my rebirth, the late husband I had yearned for day and night in my previous life seemed not to compare to the man standing before me now.

Was I truly so fickle?

I suggested, “Since you are unwilling to marry, the Shen family will not force you. However, the Shen family could employ you.”

Ji Ningsheng smiled, showing a mouthful of neat white teeth. “Miss Shen, you need not pity me.”

So he was stubborn, too.

I said again, “You do not need pity, but what about your family? Do they not need money?”

Ji Ningsheng was finally moved, but he still did not agree at once to stay with the Shen family. “Thank you, Miss Shen. If I ever have need of it, I will come to your door and ask for work.”

I smiled. “Very well. I will wait for you.”

Ji Ningsheng froze for a moment, then turned his face slightly away, as if he did not dare look at me.

The tall man looked a little bashful. He scratched his head and answered, “Mm.”

Ji Ningsheng left.

I had thought the matter of the embroidered ball would come to an end there. Unexpectedly, in less than two days, rumors were flying everywhere outside. People said the Shen family had gone back on its word, refused to acknowledge the marriage, and looked down on a rough brute…

When I went out, people even pointed at me and whispered.

“The Shen family’s young lady dreams of clinging to the top scholar. How could she possibly take a fancy to some rough brute?”

“That brute who caught the embroidered ball must have been dismissed by the Shen family with a few casual words. How could he not want such a marriage? He must have been forced to leave.”

In short, I was branded as someone who despised the poor and fawned over power.

Even the Shen family’s business was affected.

After thinking it over again and again, I still paid a visit to Ji Ningsheng’s home.

After asking around several times, the carriage finally stopped outside a small farmhouse courtyard.

There were three thatched cottages, all terribly simple. Yet the courtyard was arranged in perfect order and was not filthy at all. A ring of mint had been planted along the earthen wall, lush and green. When the wind blew, the cool scent refreshed the mind.

In the courtyard, two children of about six or seven were practicing characters.

The moment they saw me, they blinked their dark, shining eyes, their faces full of curiosity.

“I am here to look for your elder brother.”

After briefly explaining why I had come, I noticed several lines of writing on the wall, written in charcoal. The handwriting was vigorous and powerful, the strokes connected and flowing, clean and decisive to the eye.

The two children were copying the characters on the wall stroke by stroke onto the ground.

I asked, “Who wrote the characters on the wall?”

Younger Brother Ji said proudly, “They are my elder brother’s characters. My elder brother is very good at studying. If he did not have to support me and my little sister, he would have taken the imperial examinations long ago.”

I could not help sighing with emotion. I had gained yet another new understanding of the future General Ji.

I had the old maidservant bring out the pastries I had prepared.

The Ji siblings were so tempted that they were practically drooling, yet they shook their heads and said, “Elder Brother said we cannot accept rewards without merit. We cannot eat them.”

No wonder Ji Ningsheng had refused to marry me. His character truly was upright and noble, and even the younger brother and sister he had raised were the same.

My resolve grew even firmer. I said, “I am the young lady of the Shen family in the capital. Your elder brother caught my embroidered ball, so I count as your sister-in-law. A sister-in-law is not an outsider, so of course you may eat these pastries.”

The two children blinked at me, then looked at the pastries, then back at me again-until a figure behind me cast its shadow over me.

Younger Brother Ji shouted, “Elder Brother, when did you marry Sister-in-law?”

I turned around and found myself looking straight into Ji Ningsheng’s handsome face.

His wheat-colored face flushed almost instantly, the red spreading all the way down to his neck. Even the tips of his ears did not escape it.

What shocked me even more was that he was bare-chested at the moment, his firm upper body completely exposed. Perhaps the sunlight was too fierce and had dazzled my eyes, but I actually saw the muscles of his chest twitch.