Chapter 2

Chapter 2

So in this life, even staying in the same place as Pei Chi felt like torment.

I bowed and spoke softly.

“Elder Brother, what happens here has nothing to do with me anymore. Yinyin will take her leave first.”

After that, I hurried away.

But halfway there, someone tugged at my sleeve.

It was Pei Chi, who should have still been in the hall.

He seemed to have run after me, a fine sheen of sweat covering his forehead.

“Yin… Second Miss Zhu looked pale just now. Are you feeling unwell? Shall I invite an imperial physician to examine you?”

I frowned instinctively and stepped back, pulling my sleeve free.

“Third Prince, you overstate it. Yinyin is fine.”

A desolate autumn wind swept by, and Pei Chi’s hand hung in midair for a long while.

He slowly withdrew it and explained on his own.

“That’s good, then.”

“After all, you’re Yunshao’s younger sister. If you fall ill, she’ll inevitably worry.”

I thought nothing of it and nodded lightly.

But just as I turned to leave,

Pei Chi took a step forward and unobtrusively blocked my way.

“I’ve never heard that Second Miss Zhu has a love interest.”

“May I ask which family’s young master he is?”

I thought for a moment, then answered seriously,

“It has nothing to do with Your Highness.”

A crow flew overhead, and Pei Chi’s smile turned stiff.

“…I was presumptuous.”

“Second Miss Zhu, please don’t take offense.”

Pei Chi left with rigid, slightly unsteady steps.

I turned around, only to meet my brother’s shadowed gaze.

His brows lowered as he asked me,

“Zhu Yinyin, what exactly are you making a fuss about?”

A faint drizzle fell, tapping heavily against the leaves.

The air was damp and stifling.

My brother stood beneath the banana tree, his blue robe billowing in the wind.

He tried to reason with me earnestly.

If Elder Sister hadn’t saved the drowning Crown Prince and Third Prince when they were children, they would never have come to propose marriage, much less would the Third Prince have seen me and chosen me.

He also said that unlike Elder Sister, I wasn’t bright and openhearted. I always stayed shut up inside the residence, so how could I possibly have had the chance to fall for someone? It was nothing more than an excuse I’d made up on the spot to refuse the marriage.

At the end,

my brother let out a helpless sigh and questioned me with weary frustration.

“The year we entered the capital, the three of us siblings ran into bandits. I was injured, and it was your Elder Sister who lured them away alone. She was struck by several arrows and nearly died.”

“Yinyin, all these years, I have favored her a little more.”

“And now you’re sulking with me like this, to the point that you would casually turn down even a matter as important as marriage.”

“How am I supposed to answer to our parents in the underworld?”

The disappointment in my brother’s eyes was deep as he asked softly,

“Do you want Elder Brother to apologize to you?”

The salty wind was like a knife scraping against bone, slashing hard across my face, then cutting through my throat and plunging into my lungs.

I looked into my brother’s eyes.

There was sorrow in them, guilt toward Elder Sister, and faintly, resentment.

But there was no trace of me.

And all at once, I found myself unable to speak.

When I was seven, our parents were killed by local officials because they were investigating a wrongful case.

My brother took Elder Sister and me and fled, heading for the capital to file a complaint.

On the road, whether it was bandits or the local officials’ lackeys, someone was sent to cut us down.

My brother’s leg was broken. He lost a great deal of blood, and his consciousness was fading.

Gritting her teeth, Elder Sister took my brother’s cloak and looked at me with determination.

“Yinyin, take care of Elder Brother.”

Then she shouted sharply at the bandits and drew them away.

That left only my brother and me.

I was terrified-terrified of the clawing trees overhead, terrified of the heavy raindrops, terrified of the wailing wind.

But what I feared even more was Elder Sister returning and seeing that I had failed to do anything.

So I found some vines and dragged my brother down the mountain.

By the time I reached a household at the foot of the mountain, both my hands and knees had been rubbed raw.

All I could do was stubbornly kowtow, begging them to save my brother.

That family was good-hearted.

They saved my brother.

And by chance, they also saved Elder Sister, who had rolled down the mountain.

My injuries were light, and I was the last to be treated, so naturally I was also the last to wake.

When I woke up,

my brother was half-kneeling beside Elder Sister’s bed, his eyes red.

“Yunshao…”

“It’s thanks to you. Elder Brother should thank you.”

I was very happy.

We were all alive, all living well.

But later, that familial affection gradually began to tilt. It came with preference, with favoritism.

So in my previous life, when Elder Sister and I fell from our horses at the same time, my brother ran to Elder Sister.

That was only natural.

It seemed I couldn’t blame anyone.

I wasn’t jealous of Elder Sister, either.

I was only a little sad, a little… angry.

I swallowed the tightness in my throat and looked at my brother, who was holding back his anger.

Then I spoke softly.

“No.”

“I don’t want Elder Brother to apologize.”

“Yinyin only wants to choose her own husband this time.”

The leaves fell and the wind stilled. My brother looked at me deeply for a long while.

Then he forced out a smile.

“Fine. I’ll let you choose.”

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll have Yunshao take you out to meet prospective husbands.”

I stared at the tips of my shoes and quietly agreed.