Chapter 8

Qingyan said coolly, “First, I am not your sister.”

“Second, we have no friendship to speak of. Why are you looking for me?”

Xianghe wore a plain dress today, without a single piece of jewelry, as though she were in mourning.

She knelt in a limp heap, as if her bones had been taken away.

“Miss Mu, I was wrong before. I overstepped the proper bounds with my cousin.”

“Please be generous and forgive him this once. Don’t break off the engagement.”

Qingyan glanced at the figure on the floor. “Who sent you?”

Xianghe shuddered and knocked her forehead hard against the floor twice more.

“No one sent me. I know I’ve wronged you and his lordship, and I want to make amends.”

Qingyan turned to me with a smile. “There’s no need to concern ourselves with people who don’t matter. Would you please show me upstairs?”

Panic-stricken, Xianghe lunged forward and caught her skirt.

“It was Her Grace! She blames me for ruining your marriage to my cousin. She wants to send me back home.”

“Please give him one more chance. I promise I’ll behave myself in the duke’s household. I’ll never have anything to do with my cousin again.”

Qingyan looked puzzled. “As far as I know, the duchess’s family is well established in its home region. Why are you so unwilling to go back?”

Fear rose in Xianghe’s eyes, and she shook her head nervously.

Suddenly, an arm reached out and hauled her to her feet.

“Xianghe! I don’t want to marry into the Mu family anymore either. Don’t beg her!”

The heir had followed her here.

The scene became exceedingly awkward. I raised my round silk fan to hide half my face, leaving only my eyes visible as I quietly watched them.

There was no trace of affection in Xianghe’s manner now. She shoved him away hard, her voice full of reproach. “You can’t protect me. Why won’t you leave me alone?”

He froze. After a long while, he explained hoarsely,

“Mother is angry, and we’re about to arrange a marriage for my younger sister. It really isn’t suitable for you to stay in our house now.”

“Go back for the time being. Once the scandal dies down, I promise I’ll come and fetch you myself.”

Xianghe gave a cold laugh, nothing like the soft, fragile girl who had nestled in his arms.

“You know perfectly well that if I go back, the clan head will force me to marry that decrepit old man from the Chen family!”

“I risked my life to escape. I went through every hardship to come to the capital and seek refuge with my aunt.”

“You pitied me. You said that even after you took a proper wife, you’d give me a place beside you and keep me safe for the rest of my life.”

“And now? My aunt wants to drive me out of the capital, and you don’t dare let out so much as a fart! Yet you have the nerve to tell me not to beg Miss Mu. If I don’t beg her, should I beg you? What use are you?”

Qingyan and I turned at the same time and exchanged a startled look.

He said helplessly, “After yesterday, our family’s reputation has plummeted. Ask yourself honestly: were you entirely blameless? I gave you jewelry because I cared about you, not so you could flaunt it everywhere and stir up trouble.”

“Of course I love you and want to protect you, but I must think of the whole household too!”

I couldn’t listen anymore. I waved a hand in front of my nose, my brows drawing together.

“Mind your words, my lord. This is a jewelry shop, not a brothel. Speaking such cloying words in public is hardly decent.”

He was about to flare up when Qingyan rose and stepped in front of me.

“Mistress Su is my close friend. Her words are mine. Lu Chong’an, have some self-respect.”

Just then, the young ladies she had brought finished choosing their hairpins and came downstairs, chatting and laughing.

He had already disgraced himself thoroughly yesterday. If he were caught entangled with Xianghe again, the duke might truly break his legs.

He made no attempt to lift Xianghe, who was kneeling on the floor. He simply turned his back and hurried away.

Qingyan looked back at her. “Get up. You’ve seen what he is. Even if every other man in the world died, I wouldn’t marry that.”

Xianghe’s face was ashen. A clear tear slipped from the corner of her eye.

I didn’t like her, but I had a business to run. A woman dressed all in plain clothes, kneeling and weeping in my shop, was hardly a fitting sight.

So I got up and helped her to her feet. “Go home, miss. Don’t make a spectacle of yourself.”

Like a drowning person clutching a piece of driftwood, she suddenly seized my hand.

“Mistress Su, tell me. What should I do?”

I was taken aback.

Qingyan, who had fallen silent, suddenly spoke.

“There are so many women in this world who make a life for themselves. You are neither simple-minded nor disabled. Why can’t you leave the duke’s household and earn a living with your own hands?”

The words were addressed to Xianghe, but she was looking at me.

Suddenly I remembered my own impoverished beginnings, and how hard I had struggled when I was young.

I had taken work wherever I could find it and saved my first little sum of silver. That was how I had reached where I was today.

Xianghe stared blankly. I couldn’t tell how much she had taken in.