Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next day, I was confined at home.

At noon, Mother took the contract and went to the Yu family on my behalf. Sure enough, she returned with a gold disk.

It was perfectly round and full, dazzling with a golden gleam, and bore no markings whatsoever.

It was enough to cover everything Yu Hebai had owed my family over the years.

Along with Mother came back the contract we had originally given to the Yu family.

Mother burned it right in front of me.

“Wangyue, stop thinking about that Yu family boy.” Her expression was grave. “The woman beside him is no kind soul.”

Last night, if a gust of clear wind had not swept me aside…

I would be a lump of mangled flesh by now.

If that truly was the “minor punishment” the woman spoke of, then her methods were so vicious she could be no ordinary person.

“Mother, you shouldn’t go to the Yu family anymore either.”

After last night’s fright, fear still lingered in me, and my face was pale.

I clung tightly to Mother. “I know you and Madam Yu are very close, but I… I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Mother patted my head. “Mother knows.”

“But since that person dared to lay such a heavy hand on Shi Qing’s daughter, she shouldn’t think she can walk away unscathed either.”

I looked at Mother, my eyes bright.

“You also think she isn’t a Goddess, don’t you?”

Mother smiled faintly.

We were determined to avoid the Yu family.

But some trouble could not be avoided no matter how hard one tried.

When Yu Hebai heard I had fallen ill, he actually came to visit in person.

I was sitting behind the inn counter, focused on painting, when I suddenly heard him call me. “Wangyue.”

Yu Hebai stood tall and elegant as jade, his bearing as cool and refined as ever.

Seeing my pale face, his tone softened in a rare moment. “After this incident, you should have learned your lesson.”

“The Goddess descending to the mortal world is a blessing for all. That she was willing to punish you lightly as a warning is also your good fortune.”

I looked at the person before me, someone who should have been so very familiar, and felt only strangeness.

Although the roof had been repaired, the huge stone that had fallen through it was still in the hall.

My uncles had wanted to carry it away, but Mother had stopped them.

Such terrifying malice sat right before our eyes, yet Yu Hebai could still call it a light punishment and a stern warning.

He truly was no longer the Brother Yu I once knew.

I had been mischievous since childhood. Bumps, falls, and scrapes were part of daily life for me.

Once, some naughty neighborhood children mocked Yu Hebai to his face, calling him a fatherless bastard.

I charged over and got into a fight with them.

Mother had always disliked me fighting.

It was Yu Hebai who treated my wounds and helped me cover it up.

Back then, he said, “Don’t argue with them.”

“In my heart, Wangyue is a priceless treasure. I don’t want to see you get hurt because of such baseless malice.”

Yu Hebai had always been restrained and reserved by nature.

Hearing him speak his heart so honestly had made me happier than eating a hundred pieces of dried tangerine.

But today, his words made the dried tangerine in my mouth taste so sour it turned bitter.

I lowered my head and continued painting on my own, unwilling to pay him any attention.

Yu Hebai paused. The gentleness on his face vanished, and his expression turned cold and stern.

“Even if our engagement has been canceled, you and I have known each other for many years. I can still act as your elder brother. Do you realize how improper your rudeness is?”

“I have told you before that these paintings are not the proper path. If you refuse to change after repeated instruction…”

I calmly finished the final stroke and set down my brush. “What I choose to paint is my own business. It has nothing to do with you.”

“My mother and father loved each other all their lives, and they had only one daughter: me. I have never had any elder brother. Nor do I need one.”

“Since our engagement has already been canceled, there is no need for us to have any dealings in the future.”