“I don’t know. The young master didn’t say. Maybe he’ll be back around dusk.”
Qinghe placed the book in her hands back on the shelf and turned to look at Shi Youlan.
“Second Miss, did you need to see the young master? Would you like me to pass on a message?”
“No, it’s nothing important.”
Shi Youlan shook her head and left Shou’an Hall, walking much faster than she had on the way there.
She returned to her own courtyard, closed the door, and sat before her dressing table, staring at her reflection in the bronze mirror.
The face in the mirror was pale, with faint dark circles beneath the eyes. Her lips were cracked and peeling, and she looked utterly haggard.
She raised a hand to touch her face. The moment her fingertips brushed her cheek, she felt a deep chill—as if she were touching a lifeless stone.
She remembered Shi Huai’s face when he was little, covered in blue-green birthmarks. Everyone in the residence had called him a monster and an ill omen, saying he wouldn’t live past three days.
Back then, she had joined her mother in despising him. Whenever she saw him, she would roll her eyes and call him a bastard.
But later, the birthmarks on Shi Huai’s face gradually faded, and his features slowly grew more refined.
He had gone from an ugly baby no one could bear to look at to a handsome young man so striking that people scarcely dared meet his eyes.
Her attitude toward him had changed as well—from dislike to curiosity, from curiosity to affection, and from affection to…
Shi Youlan didn’t dare think any further.
She sprawled across the dressing table and buried her face in her arms. Her shoulders trembled again and again, though she made not a sound.
Outside the window, the setting sun streamed through the carved lattice and fell upon her dark hair, bathing her in a warm glow.
But she couldn’t feel any warmth. All she felt was cold—a chill that rose from the depths of her heart and spread outward until her entire body shook.
By the time Shi Huai returned from the Imperial Academy, night had already begun to fall.
Dusk surged in from every direction, dyeing the entire street a dusky blue-gray. Lamps had been lit in the shops along the roadside, their orange-yellow glow appearing especially warm against the twilight.
As he entered the gates of the marquis’s residence, the gatekeeper, Old Liu, hurried over with a smile plastered across his face.
“The young master is back. Second Miss has been waiting for you for quite some time. She’s in Shou’an Hall.”
Shi Huai paused, his brows drawing together slightly.
“Second Sister? How long has she been waiting?”
“Over half an hour. She’s come by several times.”
Shi Huai quickened his pace toward Shou’an Hall. As he crossed the garden, he saw Shi Youlan crouching beside the swing, using a foxtail grass stem to draw circles on the ground.
Tangerine was crouched by her feet, its round eyes fixed on the swaying blade of grass. Its whiskers twitched as it prepared to pounce at any moment.
“Second Sister,” Shi Huai called.
Shi Youlan looked up, and the foxtail grass slipped from her hand.
Tangerine immediately pounced on it, pinned it down with one paw, and took a bite. A moment later, it spat the grass out in disgust.
“Little Brother, you’re back.”
Shi Youlan rose from the ground and dusted off her skirt. A somewhat forced smile curved her lips.
“You’ve been waiting long? Why didn’t you wait inside? It’s chilly out here.”
“It was stuffy indoors, so I came out for some air.”
Shi Youlan bent down and scooped Tangerine up into her arms. Tangerine struggled for a moment, but when it realized escape was impossible, it resigned itself to curling up against her.
“What did you want to see me about, Second Sister?”
Shi Youlan fell silent for a while, stroking Tangerine’s back in slow, steady motions. The cat purred contentedly in her arms.
“Little Brother, does the princess like you?”
Shi Huai was untying the ribbons of his cloak. At those words, his fingers stopped, and he looked up at Shi Youlan.
“Why are you suddenly asking that, Second Sister?”
“Just answer me. Does she or doesn’t she?”
Shi Huai removed his cloak and draped it over his arm. Then he walked to the swing and sat down, taking Tangerine from Shi Youlan’s arms and placing the cat on his lap.
“Second Sister, whether the princess likes me or not—what does it have to do with you?”
Shi Youlan froze at his question. Her face immediately flushed all the way to her neck. Her lips trembled several times before she finally forced out a reply.
“I was just asking. You only need to answer me. Why are you asking so many questions?”
The corners of Shi Huai’s lips lifted slightly. He reached out and flicked Tangerine lightly on the head.
Tangerine narrowed its eyes at the tap. Rather than run away, it pushed its head into his palm.
“The princess probably likes me a little.”
His voice was soft, but his words were like a stone tossed into the lake of Shi Youlan’s heart.
She stood rooted to the spot, as though someone had cast a spell of immobilization on her.
Her mind went completely blank.
The princess really did like Shi Huai. She had guessed correctly.
“Second Sister?” Shi Huai tilted his head as he looked at her.
Shi Youlan looked back at him.
In the dusk, her little brother was so beautiful that he hardly seemed real.
Like a painting…
A painting she could never step into.
“Little Brother, if the princess married someone else one day, would you be sad?”
Shi Huai thought carefully before answering with complete sincerity.
“I don’t know.”
After saying that, he added with a complicated expression, “Besides, Second Sister, I think you may have misunderstood. When I say she likes me, I mean it in the way one likes a playmate. After all, no one would like a twelve-year-old boy, right?”
Unless they were a pervert…
Shi Huai swallowed the last thought. He didn’t want to use such crude language in front of his innocent Second Sister.
When Shi Youlan heard this, she suddenly felt relieved, as though the heavy stone pressing on her chest had been lifted away.
She couldn’t explain why she felt relieved, and she didn’t want to think about it.
“Little Brother, I’ll be going back now. Get some rest early.”
Tangerine jumped down from Shi Huai’s lap and followed Shi Youlan with elegant steps. After walking a few paces, it stopped and looked back at Shi Huai, letting out a soft meow.
Shi Huai waved at it.
Only then did Tangerine turn around and trot after Shi Youlan.
Its little tail stood high in the air, the tip curling upward.
It was delighted. Night was approaching, which meant it was almost time for Shi Youlan to sneak it an extra meal.
On the day of the flower-viewing gathering, the heavens were unusually kind. After a spring rain during the night, most of the flowers in the Imperial Garden had bloomed.
Shi Youlan wore a pale-pink beizi and a few velvet flowers in her hair. Holding a round silk fan, she stood outside the gates of the Marquis’s residence, waiting for the carriage.
Behind her, Madam Liu reached out to straighten one of the slightly crooked velvet flowers in her daughter’s hair, then smoothed the loose strands beside her ear. Her voice was filled with unmistakable satisfaction.
“Don’t be nervous once you arrive at the palace. Do whatever the princess arranges, and don’t make decisions on your own.”
Shi Youlan nodded. Her fingers slowly tightened around the handle of her fan until her knuckles turned faintly white.
The carriage stopped at the palace gates. Shi Youlan took the maid’s hand and jumped down, then raised her head to look at the vermilion gates before her.
The passage beyond was deep and endlessly long, stretching out of sight.
“Miss Shi, you’ve arrived.”
A palace maid wearing a blue-green vest approached her with a perfectly measured smile and curtsied.
“The princess sent me to escort you. Please follow me.”
Shi Youlan followed the maid through one palace gate after another and along corridor after corridor.
The flagstones beneath her feet had been worn smooth as mirrors by the passage of time, reflecting her blurred shadow.
Quite a few young ladies had already gathered in the imperial garden.
They stood among the flowers in groups of two or three, chatting and laughing together.
But the moment they saw Shi Youlan, they all stopped talking in unison and became exceptionally friendly toward her.
Some were even so friendly that they bordered on fawning.
In fact, if there had been any statistics, they would have shown that over the past two years, very few well-born young ladies in the capital had married.
Apart from those who had no say in the matter and were forced into marriage, the pampered young ladies from respectable families all kept dragging their feet and refusing to marry.
After all, who wouldn’t lose their heart forever after meeting Huai?
At most, they were only one, two, three, four, or five years older than Huai.
They could afford to wait!!!
As for why they treated Shi Youlan so warmly and gave her lavish gifts on her birthday and other occasions, it was entirely because they loved the person she loved—and because each of them had her own little ulterior motive.
They wanted Shi Youlan to put in a good word for them.
After all, she was Huai’s older sister!
