Chapter 1
Mother smiled faintly. “If you aren’t suited now, you will be in time.”
“The third Xie son is devoted to you, and so easygoing and amusing. He would make an excellent husband.”
I raised my head and looked into her untroubled eyes.
But that was plainly not what she was thinking.
She wanted me to marry into the Xie family alongside my sister, to help secure my sister’s position in the marquis’s household.
I bowed again and said quietly,
“But Mother, you know Ah Shi has always been distant by nature. I have hardly any close friends.”
“In time, I fear I would only displease the young master.”
Mother studied me for a long while.
Then she gave a slight sigh and said nothing more.
My sister, silent beside her until then, spoke instead.
She looked at me with some surprise. “It’s good that you’ve thought this through.”
“You and the third Xie son are not suited.”
She was blunt. “Everyone in that household is open and lively. The old madam herself was a woman general who fought her way through battlefields. She’s as warm and generous as anyone could be.”
“Little sister, if you married into their family with me, I’m afraid you would never fit in.”
I lowered my eyes and agreed.
And so my marriage was put aside for the time being.
Just then, a maid came to announce, “The marquis’s heir is here.”
Xie Guanchao, my sister’s betrothed.
Their engagement had been settled long ago. A figure in black lifted the curtain and came inside.
Smiling, Xie Guanchao first bent to murmur a few words to my sister.
Only then did he turn to greet Mother.
His gaze paused briefly on me.
“The third young lady is here too.”
“How are the discussions about her marriage to my younger brother progressing?”
Mother smiled and shook her head.
“The girl is unwilling.”
“Then we shall leave it at that.”
Xie Guanchao looked thoughtful. “My brother will be disappointed.”
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll take Ruyue out.”
“Third young lady… would you care to join us for a boat ride?”
He took my sister’s hand and asked me almost as an afterthought.
I lowered my head to drink my tea, my face showing no particular feeling.
“No, thank you. Enjoy yourselves.”
After they left,
Mother sighed too and beckoned me closer.
“You and the heir grew up together. No one thought that when he finally came to propose, he would choose Ruyue.”
“Ah Shi, have you ever resented it?”
I had not.
“I never expected anything,” I said evenly. “Naturally, I don’t mind.”
“I never hoped for any of it.”
Just as I had never hoped that, when my sister and I chose husbands, Mother would put my sister at a disadvantage for my sake.
Mother studied my still face. As ever, she could discern no trace of feeling.
She sighed. “I didn’t think it through.”
“With your temperament, you really aren’t suited to the Xie family.”
“Your father and I will look for someone else over the next few days.”