When Madam Liu heard this, it was as if all the strength had been drained from her body. She slowly slid down the pillar and collapsed onto the floor.
She raised her head to look at Shi Yuanzhi. Tears streamed silently down her face. Her lips moved several times before she finally forced out:
“Shi Yuanzhi, you’ll regret this. You will definitely regret this.”
Shi Yuanzhi lowered his head and looked at her.
His eyes were filled with exhaustion. “There are plenty of things I’ve done that I regret. One more won’t make a difference.”
Shi Yuanzhi turned and walked out of Qingzhi Court, his steps much heavier than when he had arrived.
The maids and older servants in the courtyard all kept their heads lowered. Not one of them dared to look at him. The air felt as heavy as lead.
When Shi Yuanzhi reached the entrance, he paused and said to the older servant guarding the gate without turning around:
“Madam is unwell and needs peace and quiet. Without my permission, no one is to enter or leave.”
The servant hurriedly acknowledged him, bending so low that her waist was almost parallel to the ground.
The gate of Qingzhi Court slowly closed behind Shi Yuanzhi with a dull thud.
Madam Liu, still sitting on the floor, heard the sound of the closing gate. Her whole body shuddered violently, as though she had been struck by something. A moment later, she let out a suppressed wail.
The sound was forced from the very depths of her throat, high and shrill, like a tightly stretched string snapping without warning.
The maids stood beneath the covered walkway, looking at one another. None of them dared to step forward.
At last, an older servant sighed and walked over. She helped Madam Liu up from the floor and supported her to the couch.
Madam Liu sat there with tears still running down her face, but she no longer made a sound. She simply stared blankly at the closed door.
The older servant poured her a cup of tea and held it out. Madam Liu did not take it. The servant stood beside her with the cup raised, unsure whether to set it down or continue holding it.
The atmosphere in Qingzhi Court was so oppressive that it was difficult to breathe. Even the parrot beneath the walkway had fallen silent.
It huddled pitifully on its perch, its feathers pressed tightly against its body, as though afraid of being dragged into the trouble.
After leaving Qingzhi Court, Shi Yuanzhi stood in the garden for a long time.
More than half the leaves on the locust tree above him had already turned yellow. Whenever the wind blew, they rustled down onto his shoulders and head, but he could not be bothered to brush them away.
A steward came hurrying from the far end of the walkway, a ledger in his hands. He stopped three paces away, panting.
“Marquis, the accounts from the estate for this month have arrived. Would you like to look them over...?”
Shi Yuanzhi waved a hand. “Take them to the study. I’ll read them later.”
The steward acknowledged him and turned to leave, but Shi Yuanzhi called him back.
“Go and find out how the eldest young lady has been doing at the Shen residence recently. Who has she been associating with? Has anything unusual happened?”
The steward’s steps faltered. He looked up at the Marquis, then quickly lowered his head and answered, “Yes, my lord,” before hurrying away.
Shi Yuanzhi remained standing in the garden, gazing up at the old locust tree.
Its crown was no longer as dense as it had been in summer. Its bare branches stretched toward the sky.
He remembered that his father had planted this tree with his own hands when Shi Yuanzhi was young.
Back then, the tree had been nothing more than a slender branch stuck into the earth, too thin even to block the wind.
Decades had passed. That little branch had grown into a towering tree, while the man who planted it was gone.
Shi Yuanzhi withdrew his gaze and turned toward the study. After a few steps, he suddenly changed direction and headed toward Shou’an Hall instead.
In the courtyard of Shou’an Hall, Shi Huai was sitting at a stone table playing chess with Tangerine.
Or rather, Tangerine was crouched on the chessboard, using its paws to knock the pieces onto the ground one by one.
Shi Huai picked them up one by one.
Tangerine knocked them down again.
The cycle continued.
Qinghe came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of tremella soup. When she saw Shi Yuanzhi standing at the courtyard entrance, she nearly lost her grip on the bowl and hurriedly steadied it.
“Marquis, you’re here. Young Master is... is playing chess with Tangerine.”
The corner of Shi Yuanzhi’s mouth twitched faintly. He stepped into the courtyard.
When Tangerine saw someone enter, its ears perked up. Then they drooped again, and it continued batting at the chess pieces.
It did not treat him as worthy of notice at all.
Shi Huai looked up from the chessboard. When he saw Shi Yuanzhi standing before him, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
“Why has Father come?”
Shi Yuanzhi sat down across from him. He glanced at the orange cat that had turned the chessboard into a complete mess, then at Shi Huai’s calm face. His Adam’s apple bobbed once.
“I’ve finished investigating your mother’s affairs. From today onward, she will no longer come to disturb you. Focus on preparing for the palace examination.”
Shi Huai’s fingers paused on the chessboard, then continued gathering the pieces. One by one, he placed them back into the chess box, his movements unhurried.
“How does Father intend to deal with Madam?”
The words “Madam” pricked Shi Yuanzhi. His brows drew together slightly.
He wanted to say, “She is your legal mother,” but the words reached his lips and then faded away.
Because he knew Shi Huai would not care about the title, just as he had never cared about this so-called family.
“She will remain in Qingzhi Court and will not be allowed to leave. She no longer needs to concern herself with the affairs of the Marquis’s residence.”
Shi Huai picked up the final chess piece and placed it in the box. He closed the lid and set it at the edge of the stone table.
With its toy gone, Tangerine let out an unhappy meow, jumped off the table, and walked gracefully to the corner of the wall. There, it crouched down with its back turned toward the two men.
Shi Huai raised his head and looked at Shi Yuanzhi.
“Has Father ever considered that there may be someone behind the things Madam did?”
Shi Yuanzhi’s fingers paused. “You mean Lingyi?”
Shi Huai neither nodded nor shook his head. He picked up the bowl of tremella soup Qinghe had placed on the table and took a sip. When he set it down, the corner of his mouth moved slightly.
“Father can investigate and find out. If I say anything, Father will think I’m trying to drive a wedge between people. It would be better for Father to see for himself.”
Shi Yuanzhi remained silent for a long while. Then he stood and straightened his collar.
“Prepare properly for the metropolitan examination. Don’t concern yourself with anything else. I know what I’m doing.”
He turned and took two steps, then stopped. Without looking back, he said:
“That woodshed will be torn down tomorrow.”
Shi Huai watched his back disappear beyond the moon gate. Then he picked up the bowl of tremella soup and took another sip.
Tangerine rose from the corner, shook the dust from its fur, and leaped onto the stone table. It rubbed its head against Shi Huai’s arm, purring contentedly.
“Tangerine, how long do you think he can hold out this time? Three days? Five?”
Shi Huai reached out and flicked Tangerine lightly on the head.
Tangerine narrowed its eyes from the impact and let out an indignant meow. Its tail swept across the stone table, knocking the chess box onto the ground.
The chess pieces scattered everywhere with a clatter.
Seeing the pieces rolling across the floor, Qinghe sighed and came over with a cloth. She crouched down to gather them.
As she picked them up, she muttered, “Tangerine, Tangerine, you’re just a little cat. What are you getting angry about?”
The metropolitan examination, commonly known as the Spring Examination, would be held in the second month of the following year.
During this period, nothing much changed in Shi Huai’s life.
Every day, he practiced swordsmanship and studied.
The only difference was that more and more people began bringing congratulatory gifts to the Marquis of Yongning’s residence.
There were not only prominent noble families from the capital, but also officials from other regions who had sent congratulatory gifts through intermediaries. Every visiting card bore the words: “Congratulations to Young Master Shi on winning first place in the provincial examination.”
