Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Aside from his habit of boasting, Xue Shan was a remarkably sincere man.

After a year together, I had developed some affection for him.

When I saw him going out for yet another day laborer’s job, working all month without saving more than a few coins, I made him sit in the courtyard.

“From today onward, you will learn to read and write with me.”

After I left Jiangnan, I would find him proper employment.

It would not make him wealthy, but at least he could support himself.

Xue Shan resisted. “Are you planning to abandon me, my lady?”

I picked up a brush, wrote his name, and replied coolly, “What lies between us is only a fleeting affair, without love or attachment. How could it be called abandonment?”

Xue Shan shouted, “I love you! My lady, I love you!”

He said those words countless times every day.

Usually I let them wash over me, but today they sparked an inexplicable anger.

I sneered. “You are an illiterate brute without a coin to your name. What do you have with which to love me?”

Refusing to yield, Xue Shan pointed at the house. “My family has jewels and gold and paintings like these. I only left in a hurry and brought none of them. Weiwei, come home with me and I’ll give them all to you.”

I was born into a distinguished family and had been betrothed to the Crown Prince since childhood.

Everything I used was a priceless treasure.

Yet this brute claimed his family owned them all.

He would never cure himself of boasting.

And here I was, devoting all my thoughts to his future.

I flung the brush into his face. “Get out. I do not want to see you again.”

Xue Shan refused to leave.

His eyes reddened with panic as he pleaded, “I was wrong, my lady. Don’t send me away. If you don’t want my love, I simply won’t speak of it.”

I answered him with cold silence.

Qingxiao moved to drive him out, only for us to discover that Xue Shan was a trained fighter.

They exchanged more than a dozen moves, and she still could not subdue him.

When it seemed he might injure her, I cried, “Xue Shan, stop!”

He faltered at my voice. Qingxiao seized him, bound him with rope, and had him thrown out.

I watched tears cover his face and tightened my grip on my handkerchief.

Qingxiao said softly, “If you cannot bear to part with him, my lady, you could keep him a little longer.”

I shook my head. “If I do not cut this off now, it will only bring greater trouble.”

Crown Prince Pei Zhao was coming to Jiangnan for me.

My return to the capital was near. Whatever lay between Xue Shan and me had to end.