Chapter 2

Chapter 2

On the way back to the manor, I didn’t say a word, and Pei Guanli didn’t ask.

Not until the carriage turned onto the long avenue and someone outside began hawking sugar-roasted chestnuts.

Without thinking, I lifted the curtain and glanced out.

When Pei Guanli saw, he immediately told the coachman to stop.

I froze. “What is it?”

He looked out the carriage window. “Chestnuts.”

I quickly waved him off. “No need. I was just looking.”

He had already gotten out.

He stood before the chestnut stall and carefully picked out the hottest bag.

Sitting in the carriage, I watched the Director in the Ministry of Rites, rumored to be so cold he was nearly inhuman, lower his head and ask the vendor, “Which bag is the sweetest?”

The vendor grinned. “Buying them for your wife, my lord?”

Pei Guanli paused, then answered, “Mm.”

His voice wasn’t loud, yet somehow I heard it anyway.

After we returned to the manor, he peeled the chestnuts and pushed them toward me in a small dish.

I ate one. It was still warm.

Pei Guanli asked, “Do you still feel wronged?”

I shook my head.

He looked at me. “Tell the truth.”

I ate another chestnut and mumbled, “A little.”

Pei Guanli paused. Then he took a small booklet from his sleeve and handed it to me.

I opened it and saw a line written inside.

[On Song Zhining’s return visit to her maiden home, she was slighted by her father’s words.]

There was another line below it.

[Handling: In the future, when the Song Family holds a banquet, if Madam does not wish to attend, she need not go. If the Song Family asks, her husband will answer on her behalf.]

I paused, then kept flipping back.

[Song Zhining dislikes bitter tea.]

[Song Zhining is afraid of the dark. The corridor lamps must not be extinguished at night.]

[Song Zhining does not like the white pith on tangerines.]

[Song Zhining lowers her head when she hears others call her a merchant’s daughter. Next time, she must not be allowed to lower her head.]

My fingertips stilled. Pei Guanli reached out, as if he wanted to take the booklet back.

I immediately hugged it to my chest.

I called him, “Pei Guanli.”

He looked at me.

This was the first time I had called him by his full name.

I asked, “Is this what you’re doing every day when you keep that stern face on? Writing all this down?”

Pei Guanli paused, then looked away. “Just in passing.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “You noted down that I’m afraid of the dark just in passing?

“And that I don’t like tangerine pith, also just in passing?”

I leaned a little closer and deliberately asked, “Then did you note down that today, I think you’re especially good to me?”

Pei Guanli raised his eyes to mine and said softly, “I’ll note it now.”

He truly picked up his brush and added another line to the booklet.

[Today, Song Zhining praised me for being good to her.]

After he finished writing, he paused, then added four more words.

[Must not forget.]