Chapter 4

For that argument, my sister was sent to kneel in the ancestral hall the moment we reached home.

That night, I slipped inside with a food basket.

She was sitting cross-legged on a cushion, staring at our ancestors’ spirit tablets and muttering to herself.

Her eyes lit up when she saw me. She immediately sprang over to take the basket.

“Qingyao, at last! I’m starving.”

She wolfed down the food while complaining indignantly.

“Xiao Chengxiao is a walking disaster! Nothing good ever happens when he’s around. Isn’t he mad? Whoever he falls for must have earned eight lifetimes of bad luck!”

I watched her with a tangle of feelings and ventured,

“Sister, what if… just suppose Prince Su’s heir meant the opposite of what he said today? What if he found you interesting and came to propose in a few days? What would you do?”

She stopped eating.

As though something had caught in her throat, she stared at me with wide, horrified eyes.

“Propose? To me?”

She shuddered and shook her head like a rattle-drum.

“If he dares come, I’ll cut off my hair right in front of him! I’d rather go to a temple and become a nun than marry a man like that!”

Her vow was emphatic and utterly firm.

But things seldom go as we wish.

Seven days later, Xiao Chengxiao came anyway.

The long procession of gift bearers stretched from one end of the street to the other. Bright red silk dazzled the eye.

I was tending the injured rabbit in my courtyard when Mother’s attendant, Nanny Zhang, summoned me to the front hall.

“Second Miss, your mother asks you to come.”

Suspecting nothing, I put down the medicinal herbs and followed her through the corridors.

Yet the moment I stepped inside, I sensed something was wrong.

Father sat in the seat of honor, holding a cup of tea he hadn’t touched.

Mother was all smiles, talking to Xiao Chengxiao.

When she saw me, she pointed me out to him.

“There’s something you don’t know, my lord. Qingyao foolishly exchanged masks with her sister before the spring hunt. The girl wearing the white deer mask who sheltered with you in the cave was actually her.”

Her words struck me like a basin of icy water poured over my head.

I turned sharply toward her and met the warning in her eyes.

Xiao Chengxiao studied me for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

“So it was you.”

Amusement colored his voice.

“Such a sharp tongue in that cave, and such a demure appearance. You really aren’t what you seem, Second Miss Shen.”

Mother pinched my back hard, signaling me to agree with her.

But I couldn’t.

That mistaken marriage had already ruined one lifetime.

I drew a deep breath, pulled away from Mother, and curtsied to Xiao Chengxiao.

“You have the wrong person, my lord.”

My voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough to silence the laughter in the hall.

“I wasn’t the one wearing the red fox mask that day. The person who spent four hours with you in the cave was my elder sister, Shen Mingyi.”

Both my parents’ expressions changed.

“Qingyao!”

Mother snapped at me.

“What nonsense are you talking? Mind your manners before his lordship!”

She turned to Xiao Chengxiao and forced a smile.

“Don’t listen to her, my lord. She’s only shy. She’s afraid you’ll laugh at her for being so fierce that day, so she won’t admit it.”

The smile faded from his face.

He frowned, his voice cooling.

“Lady Shen, I have come in good faith. I hope your family will show the same sincerity. If anyone imagines they can deceive me over this, Prince Su’s household will not let it pass.”

Father set his teacup down hard on the table.

“You must be joking, my lord. We would never dare.”

“If you wouldn’t dare,”

I raised my head and looked straight at them.

“Why not ask my sister to come and tell us herself?”

Mother trembled with rage. She raised her hand and slapped me.

“You defiant girl! Talking back with a guest present! Have I been too lenient with you?”

The sharp crack rang through the hall.

My cheek burned, my ears buzzed, and for a moment I didn’t know how to react.

A hand reached out and pulled me behind him.

It was Xiao Chengxiao.

He stood in front of me, shielding me from Mother’s furious gaze.

“We can discuss this calmly, Lady Shen. There’s no need to strike her.”

Mother’s chest heaved. Pointing at me, she said,

“You don’t understand, my lord. She looks obedient, but she’s full of schemes and utterly unruly! As her parents, all we want is a good future for her. That’s why… why…”

For once, she couldn’t find an excuse.

I listened quietly, cold to the core.