Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Yu Huaiqian slept in the study that night.
Early the next morning, he came to the main room to see me.
In his hand was a small paper-wrapped parcel.
It was rice cake from that pastry shop in the south of the city.
I liked it very much.
In the past, when he came back from court and passed by, he would bring some home for me.
I sat by the window, sorting rice.
The newly delivered rice had some old grains mixed in.
Not many.
But if they were cooked into congee, they would leave a sour taste.
Yu Huaiqian walked closer and saw the little sieve in front of me.
His voice softened a little.
“Still angry?”
I picked out another grain of old rice.
“No.”
He said, “I was too harsh last night.”
I didn’t look up.
“Mm.”
He opened the paper parcel.
“Fresh from the oven.”
I took a piece.
The rice cake was still warm.
I bit into it. The sweetness was faint.
Yu Huaiqian sat down across from me.
“Qingxiu broke off her engagement and returned to the capital. Life hasn’t been easy for her.”
I swallowed the rice cake.
“You’ve already said that.”
“She doesn’t have many people by her side.”
“Is the Fu Family gone?”
Yu Huaiqian paused.
“That’s not what I meant.”
I set down the rice cake.
“She has parents.”
“She has an elder brother.”
“She has the Fu Family residence.”
“When you say she doesn’t have many people, do you mean because she doesn’t have you?”
Yu Huaiqian’s expression changed.
“Jiang Tang, don’t make it sound so ugly.”
I continued sorting the rice.
“If you don’t like hearing it, you can leave.”
He looked at me.
As if this was the first time he had realized I could drive someone away too.
After a moment, he lowered his voice.
“I only hope you can be more forgiving toward her.”
I looked up.
“She brought you sobering soup in the middle of the night.”
“And you ask me to be forgiving.”
“You wrote poems about her in the study.”
“And you told me not to look.”
“I asked one question.”
“And you said I didn’t understand.”
I pushed the sieve in front of him.
“Yu Huaiqian, exactly how forgiving do you think I should be?”
He stared at the rice in the sieve.
He had nothing to say.
Just then, a maid came to report from outside.
“Madam, Miss Fu is here.”
Yu Huaiqian immediately frowned.
“What is she doing here?”
I looked at him.
“Why are you so nervous?”
He avoided my eyes.
When Fu Qingxiu came in, she was holding a book.
She stood in the doorway and first bowed to me.
“Sister-in-law.”
I said, “Come in.”
Her gaze landed on the sieve.
The smile on her face faltered.
“Sister-in-law is sorting rice?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
She walked closer, her tone gentle and soft.
“Sister-in-law is so meticulous.”
“I used to envy people who knew how to run a household.”
I heard the condescension in her words.
But Yu Huaiqian sat beside us as if he hadn’t heard a thing.
Fu Qingxiu handed the book to him.
“At the banquet yesterday, someone asked me about that line of verse.”
“I thought it over, and I still think the way you taught me back then was best.”
Yu Huaiqian’s hand paused as he reached for the book.
I watched him.
He knew full well I was watching.
Still, he took it.
Fu Qingxiu said quietly, “If you have time, could you revise it for me?”
Yu Huaiqian said, “I’ve been busy lately.”
Fu Qingxiu’s eyes reddened.
“I know.”
“My reputation is poor now.”
“It’s only right that you avoid suspicion.”
She reached out to take the book back.
Yu Huaiqian instinctively pressed it down.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Fu Qingxiu looked at him.
Between the two of them sat a sieve.
Inside it was the old rice I had picked out.
All of a sudden, I found it funny.
I picked up the sieve and stood.
“You two talk.”
Yu Huaiqian immediately looked at me.
“Jiang Tang.”
I said, “Don’t call me.”
“I still have to go to the rice shop.”
Fu Qingxiu said softly, “Sister-in-law, you don’t need to leave.”
I glanced at her.
“Miss Fu, if I don’t leave, you two won’t be able to pass that book back and forth.”
Her face paled.
Yu Huaiqian’s face darkened.
“You’re far too sharp today.”
I nodded.
“And you’re quite blind today.”