By the time Shi Huai arrived at the Shen residence, it was already afternoon.
The carriage stopped in the alley behind the Shen residence. Qinghe jumped down first and reached out to help Shi Huai, her eyes darting constantly from side to side like a wary little cat.
“Elder Sister Qinghe, stop looking around. We’re here as guests, not to steal anything.”
Shi Huai sighed helplessly, straightened his collar, and headed toward the side gate.
A maid in a green vest was already waiting by the entrance. When she saw Shi Huai approaching, she froze for a moment. Then her face flushed bright red, and she began to stammer.
“Y-You’re the young master of the Marquis of Yongning’s residence?”
“That’s me. Eldest Sister asked me to come.”
Shi Huai’s voice was clear and gentle, carrying the warm, smooth quality unique to a young man, like jade polished by a mountain stream.
The maid hurriedly led him inside. Along the way, she secretly glanced back at him seventeen or eighteen times. Each time she did, her ears grew a little redder.
The Shen residence was much larger than the Marquis of Yongning’s, but it was also far messier.
Its pavilions and towers were grandly built, yet everywhere one could sense the vulgarity of a nouveau riche household.
The painted decorations beneath the corridors had clearly been freshly redone, and far too much gold powder had been used, dazzling the eyes. The artificial rockeries in the courtyard were piled so densely that there was hardly any room left to walk.
Shi Lingyi lived in a small courtyard on the eastern side. It was not large, but it was kept reasonably tidy.
When Shi Huai entered, she was sitting by the window doing needlework. She wore a lotus-colored jacket that was neither new nor old, and only a plain silver hairpin adorned her hair. She looked exceedingly drab.
“Eldest Sister.” Shi Huai stopped at the doorway and called softly.
Shi Lingyi raised her head. The moment her eyes fell upon his face, the needle in her hand pricked her fingertip, drawing a bead of blood. She did not seem to notice.
“Little Brother, you’ve come.”
Shi Lingyi set down her needlework and rose, a gentle smile appearing on her face.
The smile was flawless, but Shi Huai noticed that it never reached her eyes.
“Eldest Sister, your hand.” Shi Huai pointed at her fingertip.
Shi Lingyi lowered her head and glanced at it. With a smile, she wiped it with a handkerchief.
“It’s nothing. I only pricked myself. It doesn’t hurt.”
Qinghe placed the gifts they had brought on the table, then retreated behind Shi Huai with her head lowered, avoiding Shi Lingyi’s gaze.
Shi Lingyi did not even spare Qinghe a glance. Instead, she took Shi Huai by the hand and led him to sit on the couch, looking him up and down.
“Little Brother, you’ve grown taller, and even more handsome.”
There was an indescribable note in Shi Lingyi’s voice.
“I can hardly recognize you anymore.”
Shi Huai smiled with gentle warmth, like moonlight spilling across a lake, carrying a reassuring kind of magic.
“But you’ve grown much thinner, Eldest Sister. Is the food at the Shen residence not to your liking?”
Shi Lingyi’s smile stiffened for an instant before returning to normal.
“It isn’t the food. I haven’t been feeling well lately, so I haven’t had much of an appetite.”
“Eldest Sister, you wrote to ask me here. Is there something you need?”
Shi Huai picked up the tea brought by the maid and took a sip.
It was last year’s stale tea, bland and tasteless.
Shi Lingyi fell silent for a while, lowering her head as her fingers twisted the edge of her clothing.
The gesture made her look like a helpless young wife pouring out her troubles to her family.
“Little Brother, I’m not doing well here at the Shen residence.”
Her voice was choked with tears. They shimmered in her eyes before sliding down her cheeks.
“Your brother-in-law... he doesn’t care for me. He keeps several concubines in the residence, and even has a woman outside. He’s hardly ever home, yet Mother-in-law blames me for being unable to keep my husband’s heart.”
As Shi Huai listened, the expression on his face shifted from calm to concern, then from concern to indignation.
He displayed, at precisely the right moments, all the concern a younger brother ought to show his elder sister.
“Eldest Sister, please don’t cry. It isn’t worth harming your health over.”
Shi Huai took a handkerchief from his sleeve and offered it to her. The concern in his voice was so sincere that he almost believed it himself.
Shi Lingyi accepted the handkerchief, dabbed at her tears, and sniffed.
“Little Brother, what do you think I should do? I’m already married. I can’t exactly seek a divorce, can I? If word got out, where would that leave the Marquis’s family’s reputation?”
Shi Huai was silent for a moment, as if giving the question serious thought.
“Eldest Sister, do Father and Second Uncle know about your husband’s behavior?”
“What good would that do?”
Tears welled up in Shi Lingyi’s eyes again.
“Father can’t interfere in the Shen family’s affairs, and Second Uncle certainly won’t bother. I can only bear it all by myself.”
Shi Huai nodded and said nothing more. He simply sat there quietly, listening as Shi Lingyi listed Shen Zhixing’s offenses one after another.
She said he was unfaithful, heartless, idle, and forever drinking and carousing with a pack of wastrels...
As Shi Huai listened, a vague outline gradually took shape in his mind.
Shi Lingyi had not summoned him merely to complain.
The complaints were only a means. Her true purpose was to let Shi Huai know how badly she was suffering at the Shen residence, so that he would feel sympathy for her—and guilt.
Only then could she make her real request.
Sure enough, after crying and complaining for quite some time, Shi Lingyi dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief and spoke weakly.
“Little Brother, I’d like to ask you for a favor.”
“Please, Eldest Sister.” Shi Huai sat up straighter, looking as though he were all ears.
Shi Lingyi drew a deep breath, as if she had finally made up her mind. Even her voice trembled.
“Little Brother, could you... speak to Father on my behalf and ask him to let me return to the Marquis’s residence more often? I truly can’t bear staying here any longer. If I could go home for a few days every month, at least I might feel a little better.”
Shi Huai looked at her reddened eyes and faintly trembling lips. He let out a cold laugh inwardly, but his face filled with sympathy.
“Eldest Sister, that won’t be difficult. I’ll speak to Father when I return and have him talk to the Shen family. You can come back to the Marquis’s residence for a few days every month.”
Tears slipped down Shi Lingyi’s cheeks once more. She grasped Shi Huai’s hand, her voice thick with emotion.
“Thank you, Little Brother. I knew you would help me.”
Her hand was cold, and her fingertips trembled faintly. The pressure of her grip was just right, perfectly conveying the fragility and gratitude of a helpless young wife.
Shi Huai lowered his gaze to the hand holding his. Yet inwardly, he thought that Shi Lingyi certainly wanted more than simply returning to the Marquis’s residence for a few days.
There had to be another purpose behind her return.
Shi Huai lifted his teacup and took another sip. The bitterness of the stale tea spread across his tongue.
After returning from the Shen residence, Shi Huai repeated Shi Lingyi’s words to Shi Yuanzhi exactly as she had said them.
Shi Yuanzhi remained silent for a long while. The expression on his face shifted from anger to helplessness, then from helplessness to numb resignation.
“If she wants to come home, then let her. It’s her home, after all.”
Shi Yuanzhi waved a hand, his tone carrying the air of someone who had simply given up resisting.
When Madam Liu heard the news, she was delighted.
That very day, she had the courtyard Shi Lingyi had lived in before her marriage cleaned and prepared. The bedding was replaced with new quilts, and even the window screens were newly papered.
Shi Youlan was even more thrilled. She grabbed Shi Huai’s hand and bounced up and down with excitement.
“Little Brother, you really spoke up for Sister? You’re the best!”
Shi Huai’s head began to spin from being shaken around, and he quickly pulled his hand free.
“Second Sister, stop shaking me. Any more and I’m going to throw up.”
Shi Youlan stuck out her tongue and obediently let go, but she still couldn’t help smiling, her eyes curving into two crescent moons.
