Chapter 67
Chapter 67
Chengde walked beside Pei Xianjing carrying a lantern.
“Eldest Young Master, you already declined to pursue the Empress’s maternal family over the Qizhou military defenses case.
“You suppressed the infected-refugee case as well.
“Not only is the princess ungrateful, she even came to the Duke’s estate and did such a thing.
“Is the princess simply not clever enough, or did the Empress instruct her?”
Pei Xianjing clasped his hands behind his back. “Thoroughly reforming Qizhou will require a major war.
“At present, armor, weapons, supplies, and horses are all lacking. If I pursue the matter to the end, the entire court will panic.
“Then everyone will think only of protecting themselves. Who will still step forward to work?”
“Now that I have spared the families of the Empress and Consort Chu, the timid ones should restrain themselves and voluntarily send supplies to Qizhou.
“The bold ones will surely consider themselves lucky and commit even greater crimes. It will then be much easier for the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice to collect evidence.”
After listening attentively, Chengde said, “The Eldest Young Master’s considerations are as thorough as ever.”
“Third Uncle must pay closer attention to the Ministry of Justice. Go to the ancestral hall and release Guofei.” Pei Xianjing stopped and glanced toward Qiansheng Pavilion.
He knew Pei Guofei was hiding something and was not innocent in the infected-refugee affair.
He was not letting the matter pass lightly. For now, he merely needed them to lower their guard.
Chengde asked, “Should the Eldest Young Lady be released as well?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Pei Xianjing said, “Yes.”
Chengde acknowledged the order and turned toward the ancestral hall.
Incense burned without cease in the brightly lit hall.
Pei Guofei and Pei Xuanfei knelt directly on the floor without even cushions beneath their knees.
Pei Congxian had ordered that they be taught a lasting lesson, forbidding anyone from giving them kneeling cushions.
Pei Xuanfei had already cried from the pain.
“Eldest Young Lady, Fourth Young Master, this subordinate has come on the Eldest Young Master’s orders to escort you out,” Chengde said politely.
Pei Xuanfei braced both hands against the floor and struggled for a long time before standing. “I knew Eldest Brother was the most reasonable person in the family and the best at distinguishing right from wrong.
“That wretch Xing Shuwei was the one running around. What did it have to do with me? She got us punished and forced the household fund to spend silver settling the matter.
“That silver cannot be wasted. She must repay every bit of it. Where is she?”
Over these many days, not only had Pei Xuanfei’s knees swollen from kneeling, even her skirt had worn through.
How could she swallow this anger?
She would make Xing Shuwei repay her twice over!
Chengde’s expression did not change. “The Eldest Young Master intends to take Miss Xing as a concubine. The Eldest Young Lady should address her differently.
“The Eldest Young Master said that all silver spent in Miss Xing’s name is to be charged to his account.
“This way, Eldest Young Lady.”
Chengde turned and gestured toward the door.
“What?” Pei Xuanfei looked as though she had been struck on the head. “She is worthy of that? Has Eldest Brother lost his mind? She is…”
Chengde looked at her in confusion.
Realizing she had misspoken, Pei Xuanfei hurriedly amended, “It’s nothing. I only think her birth is too lowly for Eldest Brother.”
With that, she pulled Pei Guofei along as she left.
On the way back to Biyu Court, after confirming no one was nearby, she warned Pei Guofei, “You had better bury what happened before in your stomach. Otherwise, the good days of our third branch will end.
“Xing Shuwei isn’t a fool. What you did that day was so obvious that she must have noticed.
“She has bewitched Eldest Brother completely. If he favors a concubine over his wife in the future, our Pei family will fall into her hands.
“No. Xing Shuwei must die. If she lives, sooner or later she will take revenge on us.”
Pei Xuanfei hurried along, seemingly muttering to herself. “I must ask the princess to devise another plan. You should think of something too.”
Pei Guofei kept his head lowered and did not answer.
He remembered all the kindness Xing Shuwei had shown him.
When the young nobles of the capital looked down on him, she had comforted him. She said he possessed a useful skill and was of the Duke’s legitimate line; those who insulted him should be the ones ashamed of themselves.
He did poorly in his studies and lacked ambition. His elders constantly rebuked him, saying he could not compare with his three elder brothers.
Xing Shuwei had comforted him. “Nothing in the world is inherently noble or base. Fourth Brother earns money through his own skill and pays taxes to the court. Those taxes strengthen the nation and benefit its people. Fourth Brother is doing a great deed that shows love to all beneath heaven.”
There was much more-so much that Pei Guofei could neither remember nor count it all.
Xing Shuwei had treated him with genuine kindness and truly regarded him as family.
* * *
At Qiansheng Pavilion, every door and window of the bedchamber was shut.
Pei Xianjing sat at the desk handling official business, with Xing Shuwei at his side.
He finished writing a memorial and handed it to Chengde to deliver to Pei Congxian.
“I will break off the engagement.” His clear voice sounded in the silent room.
Xing Shuwei froze.
Unbidden ripples spread across the heart she thought calm as still water.
“What?” she asked, whether because she was uncertain or had been distracted and failed to hear clearly.
Pei Xianjing stopped everything and looked up at her. “I said I will break off my engagement to Princess Jin’an.”
Xing Shuwei’s hand trembled slightly. Ink stained her fingertips, cold and damp against her skin.
She wanted to ask why, but ultimately remained silent.
It was merely a coincidence.
Who was Pei Xianjing? How could he propose breaking an engagement merely because Princess Jin’an had bullied her repeatedly?
Besides, he had only told her. He had not truly gone to Princess Jin’an’s residence to end the engagement.
It was a match favored by both the Emperor and Empress. A subject must obey his sovereign; Pei Xianjing could not simply do as he pleased.
As Xing Shuwei considered this, the ripples in her heart gradually calmed again.
“Don’t you have anything you want to ask?” Pei Xianjing was displeased by her reaction.
He caught her arm, drew her into his embrace, and seated her on his lap.
Then he took ointment from a drawer, rolled up her sleeve, and applied it to the scratches on her wrist and arm.
“Were you frightened?” Pei Xianjing asked gently.
The ointment was cool and comfortable against her skin.
Beneath the light strokes of his fingertips, her skin gradually warmed. “Wasn’t this marriage arranged by the Emperor? Can it truly go as Brother Jing wishes?”
Instead of answering, Pei Xianjing asked, “Shouldn’t you be happy to hear that I will break the engagement?”
Xing Shuwei forced a smile and gazed at him with limpid eyes. “Of course I am happy. I fear Princess Jin’an too.
“Will Brother Jing choose a gentle and amiable wife in the future?”
Pei Xianjing carefully examined the injuries the elderly palace matrons had left on her.
Suddenly, he thought of his father.
Before his father married his mother, he had already taken a high-ranking concubine, reportedly someone favored by the Empress Dowager.
Within a year of his mother’s marriage into the family, that high-ranking concubine and the child in her womb both died.
They said she fell ill and could not be saved, but the timing was far too convenient.
Pei Xianjing’s gaze darkened.
Even if another woman became his wife, would Weiwei truly be safe in the future?
He had Xing Shuwei raise her neck so he could apply ointment there.
Xing Shuwei obeyed, resting her hand on his shoulder and lifting her chin.
Pei Xianjing said, “Those are matters for the future. For now, I will take you into my household first.
“What you should concern yourself with is not my marriage but your own.
“To me, it may be taking a concubine. To you, it will be no different from marriage.”