“Since you brought him back, why did you dump him in the side courtyard and then leave him to fend for himself? Do you take my marquisate for a charity? You brought home a child just to let him starve to death and call it accumulating merit?”
The Grand Madam’s voice was not loud, but every word struck like a knife.
The Marquis was so embarrassed that his face flushed crimson. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
The Grand Madam hobbled over to him with her cane and raised it, striking him squarely on the leg.
“You good-for-nothing! This is your own flesh and blood, not some stray cat or dog you found in the street! You abandoned him in the side courtyard for four months. If this little girl hadn’t fed him every day, he would have starved to death long ago!”
The Marquis grimaced from the blow, but he did not dare dodge. He could only mumble an excuse.
“Mother, it’s just that…the Madam…”
“The Madam?” The Grand Madam gave a cold laugh.
“Are you the marquis, or is she? Do you think I don’t know about the sordid business between the two of you? She couldn’t tolerate the child, so you threw him away? Do you have even the slightest sense of responsibility as a father?”
The entire side courtyard fell silent. Everyone lowered their heads, too afraid to make a sound.
After finishing her tirade at the Marquis, the Grand Madam turned to Shi Huai. She stared at him silently for several seconds, then suddenly reached out and took him from Qinghe’s arms.
Shi Huai was supported by a pair of old yet powerful hands. He looked up at the silver-haired old woman. He neither cried nor fussed, simply gazing at her in silence.
The Grand Madam lowered her head and studied him. The coldness in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by a complicated expression that was difficult to put into words.
“I’m taking this child with me.”
Holding Shi Huai, the Grand Madam walked away without looking back.
“From today onward, he will live with me. His monthly allowance will be the same as that of the other young masters of the household. He is to have maids and servants attending him, and he is not to lack for food, clothing, or anything else.”
The Marquis panicked. “Mother, how can you do that? The Madam…”
The Grand Madam stopped and turned around. Her voice was as still and cold as a stagnant pool.
“Go back and tell your Madam that I said the affairs of this household are not hers to decide. If she is dissatisfied, she may come and discuss it with this old woman herself.”
The Marquis’s face turned white, then green, then white again. In the end, he lowered his head and did not dare say another word.
Carried in the Grand Madam’s arms, Shi Huai passed through courtyard after courtyard. Along the way, every maid and servant they passed stared in astonishment, their mouths wide enough to fit an egg.
Nestled against the Grand Madam’s chest, he breathed in the faint sandalwood scent clinging to her clothes, while all sorts of thoughts churned in his mind.
Why had this old woman suddenly appeared?
Had she really saved him out of pity, or did she have some other purpose?
The Grand Madam’s residence was called Shou’an Hall, the largest and most magnificent courtyard in the entire marquisate.
There were seven or eight side rooms alone.
An old locust tree stood in the courtyard, its branches casting shade over half the sky.
Shi Huai was settled in a heated room beside the Grand Madam’s bedchamber. The bed was made up with brand-new brocade quilts, and a corner of the room held a burner filled with agarwood incense meant to calm the mind.
Compared with the drafty wooden bed in the side courtyard, it was the difference between heaven and hell.
A woman in her fifties entered carrying warm water and a piece of white cotton cloth. She efficiently wiped Shi Huai’s face and changed his clothes, muttering as she worked.
“The Grand Madam is kind to have saved your life. You’d better make an effort and stay alive. Don’t make yourself impossible to raise.”
Shi Huai kept his eyes open as he studied the woman. Her movements were quick and practiced, but hardly gentle. Nor did her eyes hold the heartfelt tenderness Qinghe showed him.
There was more of a businesslike air to her, as though she were merely carrying out an order.
He soon learned that the woman’s surname was Zhou. She was the Grand Madam’s most trusted old servant and had served in the marquisate for thirty years.
Even the Marquis treated her with respect and addressed her as Nanny Zhou.
After getting Shi Huai cleaned up, Nanny Zhou carried him to the Grand Madam’s bedchamber.
The old lady was sitting on a couch, drinking tea. When she saw him enter, she set down her cup and held out her arms.
“Let me have a look.”
The Grand Madam placed Shi Huai on the couch and undid his swaddling clothes, examining him carefully from head to toe.
Shi Huai was turned this way and that as she inspected him thoroughly.
“The birthmark really has faded,” the Grand Madam murmured, her brows drawing together.
“When the eldest son brought him back, I saw him from a distance. His face was so dark it was almost blue. It has faded this much in only four months. That isn’t normal.”
Nanny Zhou leaned closer and lowered her voice.
“Grand Madam, could it be…that thing?”
“Enough.”
The Grand Madam cut her off coldly. Her gaze remained fixed on Shi Huai’s face. Only after a long silence did she slowly speak again.
“There is indeed a resemblance to the eldest son in his brows and eyes, but the shape of his face…Don’t you think he looks like someone?”
Nanny Zhou studied Shi Huai carefully for a moment. Her expression suddenly changed, and even her voice began to tremble.
“Grand Madam, do you mean…he looks like…like…”
“Second Brother.”
The Grand Madam uttered those two words, her eyes filled with a complexity as dense as ink stirred into water.
Shi Huai’s heart gave a jolt.
Second Brother?
The Marquis’s younger brother?
His uncle, at least by name?
The Grand Madam said nothing more. She set Shi Huai down beside the couch, picked up her teacup, and took a sip. Her tone returned to its usual detached calm.
“No matter whom he resembles, now that he has been brought back, he is still a son of the marquisate. Go over the household rules with him. He’s only a baby and cannot understand, but you should still say what needs to be said.”
Nanny Zhou acknowledged her and carried Shi Huai back to the heated room. Her expression remained unpleasant all the way there, and she muttered under her breath about something he could not make out.
Lying in the heated room, Shi Huai’s mind kept circling back to what the Grand Madam had said.
“He looks like Second Brother.”
Those words carried far too much meaning. Even a four-month-old baby like him could sense that something was wrong.
The Yongning Marquisate had two sons. The eldest was the current Marquis, Shi Yuanzhi, while the younger was Shi Yuanping.
It was said that Shi Yuanping had moved out and established his own household many years ago. He owned an estate on the outskirts of the capital and rarely returned to the marquisate.
If Shi Huai looked like Second Brother, what did that mean?
Did it mean that his mother had once been closer to Second Brother than to the eldest?
Or was there more to his origins than the Marquis believed?
Those questions were far too complicated for a four-month-old baby.
Shi Huai decided not to think about them for now.
For the moment, the most important thing was to stay alive—to live until the day he could speak and walk.
Early the next morning, Qinghe was transferred to Shou’an Hall.
The little girl stood at the door of the heated room with a tattered bundle on her back. Her eyes were red, and she looked at Shi Huai helplessly. Her lips trembled for a long while before she finally managed to say:
“The Grand Madam said I’m to look after you from now on.”
Shi Huai looked at the scabbed-over wound on her forehead. His heart felt both sour and warm, and he broke into a wide grin.
Qinghe froze for a moment, then smiled as well. But as she smiled, tears began to fall.
She hurriedly wiped them away with her sleeve, then crouched down and squeezed Shi Huai’s tiny hand.
“You’d better stay alive and well. I’ve already spent three months’ wages on you. If anything happens to you, who am I supposed to get compensation from?”
Shi Huai naturally could not answer her.
He merely tightened his grip around her finger, letting her know that he had heard her.
