During the New Year’s festival, the entire household was bustling with activity. The Wutong Courtyard had always operated as its own world, exchanging no news with the main courtyard and not even celebrating the New Year together. The only exception was the New Year’s Eve dinner — out of respect for Old Madam Ye’s face, they would share one meal with Master Ye and Concubine Pan. Ye Qinglan handled this tolerably well and would even offer New Year’s greetings to Master Ye. As for Ye Lingbo, she would not call him “Father” even once. Yanyan followed her lead in this, infuriating Master Ye to the point of beard-bristling and eye-bulging, yet he could do nothing about them.
This year was no different. With Pan Yurong managing the household, Ye Lingbo simply refused to speak with her, and even the New Year’s arrangements were handled by going directly to the steward. Word had come from the old family estate, so Ye Lingbo brought her maids and matrons to the front courtyard to inquire. She was eminently practical — looking down on the main courtyard was one thing, but the three legitimate daughters must receive everything that was rightfully theirs. Even Yang Niangzi was rubbing her hands together eagerly, saying, “This is exactly right — Second Young Miss is truly capable.”
A’Cuo had been combing her hair by the window when she heard this and said, “I want to go too. Second Sister, take me along.”
Ye Lingbo’s expression shifted slightly, but she said nothing. Xiao Liu’er, however, seemed to want to speak but stopped herself, murmuring, “Miss…”
“It’s fine.” Ye Lingbo cut Xiao Liu’er off and smiled, waving A’Cuo over. “If A’Cuo wants to come, then come along. It’s a good chance to learn the rules of household management.”
A’Cuo was young after all, and after following Ye Lingbo on the errand, she noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Ye Lingbo had simply asked the Ye family’s old steward about the harvest from the old family’s estate and some clan matters — a few casual words that hardly seemed worth making a special trip for.
It was on the way back that they encountered something unexpected. During the New Year’s season, it was also the time when the officials in the capital received visits from their students and old friends. Although Master Ye held only the modest rank of a Deputy Minister, his years of service in the Hanlin Academy had earned him no shortage of students. As it happened, many had returned to the capital this year for their official reports, and a group of old classmates and friends had arranged to visit together — about ten or so in total, all young men. The few leading them were outstanding young talents, refined and scholarly in bearing.
Ye Lingbo was making her way back along the covered corridor with her cluster of maids and matrons when they came face to face with the visitors. Being a young lady from a respectable family, she naturally stepped aside to stand behind Yang Niangzi. Yang Niangzi recognized them and said, “Master Zou, Master Qi — have you come to pay your respects to Master Ye? My greetings to you both.”
She bowed, and the two young men returned the gesture. The one in the green robe was particularly amiable: “My greetings to you, Yang Niangzi. When the Madam passed away, I was stuck in Yangzhou and could not return. I am truly ashamed. Please convey my apologies to the young ladies on my behalf.”
The one in the crimson robe was much quieter, simply offering a bow in return.
“Not at all,” came Ye Lingbo’s mild voice from behind Yang Niangzi. “Yang Niangzi, please convey my thanks to these two elder brothers for me. Without a senior member of the family at home, it would not be proper for me to keep them for a meal. I ask that they forgive my rudeness.”
Only then did the young men raise their heads. Their intent had been to get a look at Ye Lingbo, but standing behind her was A’Cuo — dressed in a silver-red jacket and a pomegranate-red skirt, the white fox fur cape framing a face like a tree peony in bloom. Though only half her face was visible, it left them all so stunned that they could not find their words.
Xiao Liu’er, seeing this, could only sigh inwardly.
All the trouble the young miss had taken to arrange things, and in the end she had sewn the wedding clothes for someone else.
A’Cuo noticed nothing, and Ye Lingbo said nothing either, simply carrying on as usual. She brought A’Cuo back to the Wutong Courtyard and, fearing she might grow bored, arranged for the younger maids to join her in the flower-token verse game. The Four Banquets for young men were all held after spring, and A’Cuo was still young — there was no time left to practice horsemanship, but practicing poetry was worthwhile. Beauty was certainly an advantage, but paired with talent and literary grace, it would be truly unstoppable. She was a good elder sister, and naturally she planned for A’Cuo’s long-term future.
Lunch was set in the warm inner chamber. Ye Lingbo had genuinely caught a chill and ate simply. In the afternoon, she had intended to go over the accounts when Xiao Liu’er came in with a hesitant, halting manner — speaking and stopping, clearly wanting to say something. Ye Lingbo saw through it at a glance and said, “That scoundrel is here again?”
In truth, there was nothing particularly scoundrel-like about Pei Zhao, but Ye Lingbo simply had an inexplicable fondness for cursing at him — often before she had even laid eyes on him, she would feel an itch in her teeth.
This time was no different. It was a heavy snow day, and Ye Lingbo was too lazy to go meet him in the alley again. She simply called him in directly. After all, there were plenty of people coming and going to report on matters — including the old estate steward who had come to give his account. Having Pei Zhao mixed in among them was no different from having Liu Ji there.
But Pei Zhao was also his own kind of hopeless — he had shown up in his usual dingy, grey clothing again. He got away with it by virtue of his face, which looked good no matter what he wore. The old battle tunic from the Fire Character Battalion was a deep teal color, hanging loose and baggy on him, and yet on him it looked beautiful as brocade. It was genuinely aggravating.
Xiao Liu’er shared Ye Lingbo’s opinion and wrinkled her nose at him: “You’ve come dressed like this again. The young miss is going to scold you.”
Pei Zhao was not the least bit bothered. He simply lifted his head and gave her a smile, looking entirely unconcerned. Xiao Liu’er’s cheeks promptly turned a little red, and she held the curtain aside and went in.
Ye Lingbo was going over the accounts, reclining against the heater by the bed frame. She wore a small jacket in the color of autumn grass, her hair loosely gathered into a simple knot. In her hand she held a vermillion brush, circling and annotating. Her features were unremarkable, but her hair was abundant — it cascaded down her back in waves, like a cloud. Her face was finely drawn, and the light falling on it gave it the warm, translucent quality of porcelain.
Pei Zhao deliberately crept over without a sound and leaned in to look at her account book. Ye Lingbo had known perfectly well he was there all along, but she played along and pretended otherwise — and the moment he leaned close enough, she swung her hand back and drew a line across his face with the brush.
Pei Zhao tilted back and dodged it smoothly, grinning. “Ha — missed.”
He truly did have a remarkable waist — like the famed generals of poetry who excelled in both horsemanship and archery, or the swift Hu people youths who moved like the wind. Ever since the day at the lookout tower, when he had fired three arrows and bested Cui Jingyu, the young ladies of prominent families who had witnessed that contest likely still could not forget the sight of him firing backward from horseback.
But Ye Lingbo cared nothing for all that. She had long since made her peace with being the practical Second Young Miss who managed the household — she was no girl whose heart fluttered at such things. Romantic indulgence was no longer any concern of hers, just as the lesson she had taught A’Cuo: only when you can govern your own fate can you protect yourself and those you care for.
“Shameless,” said Ye Lingbo with undisguised disdain, drawing her brush back. She said impatiently, “Is there news to report?”
“Does there need to be news for me to come?” Pei Zhao said with a teasing smile. Ye Lingbo’s response was to fix him immediately with a sharp glare. Her anger was quite formidable — even Old Madam Ye did not dare provoke her, to say nothing of the Lu Wenyin sisters, who had just suffered a fresh defeat. But Pei Zhao was genuinely thick-skinned, and he actually dared to fold his arms and smile lazily back at her: “Is Ye Young Miss now fully satisfied?”
On this point, Ye Lingbo’s conscience was a little uneasy. After all, Shen Biwei had only guessed at the broad strokes, but Pei Zhao had been there for the whole thing, watching how she had schemed against the Lu sisters. Yet she had always been someone who grew more fierce the more uneasy she felt. “What do you know?” she said. “I was only playing the hand I was dealt. You didn’t see it when the Lu sisters were bullying people in this household — you only noticed when I fought back. So now I’m the vicious one, is that it?”
“I never said so,” said Pei Zhao, the picture of innocence.
“You said it with your eyes,” Ye Lingbo raised an eyebrow at him.
“Fine, fine. I said it,” Pei Zhao said with a laugh.
“There, you’ve finally admitted it — which proves that is exactly what you thought,” Ye Lingbo said at once.
Pei Zhao was amused enough to laugh, and raised his hand: “I surrender. The fault is entirely mine. I judged the young miss’s noble heart with my own petty mind.”
“That’s more like it,” Ye Lingbo said, finally letting it go. “Out with it then — what are you here for?”
“I’ve come to bring the young miss something.”
“What sort of thing?” Ye Lingbo asked indifferently.
Pei Zhao said nothing, and instead produced a key. The moment Ye Lingbo saw it, her expression changed drastically. She lunged for it, but Pei Zhao sidestepped with ease, putting his hand behind his back. Ye Lingbo went around to his back to grab for it, but Pei Zhao raised the key high above his head. He stood a full head taller than she did.
Ye Lingbo, after all, was a sheltered young lady — though she was frantic, she would not truly grapple with him. She demanded furiously, “Are you going to give it to me or not?”
Pei Zhao looked down at her with a lazy grin. “And if I don’t?”
“Then you are not walking out that door today,” Ye Lingbo shot back with a ferocity that made even Pei Zhao’s expression dim for a moment. There was genuine authority in him when he chose to summon it — he had been to war, had taken more lives than anyone could count, and when his expression went cold, it sent a chill through the heart. Ye Lingbo was not afraid of him, but even she instinctively stepped back. Pei Zhao caught it immediately, and at once reined in his expression, curling his lips back into an easy smile.
“Alright, I’ll give it to you.” He reverted to his usual languid self, and gave the key a toss — it landed neatly in Ye Lingbo’s arms. She picked it up and looked at it, and her fury only intensified.
“This is not the key to our lock!” Her eyebrows practically stood upright with rage.
“I never said it was our lock’s key,” Pei Zhao grinned.
Xiao Liu’er happened to enter just then, carrying tea. When she heard them mention a key, she knew — ever since the incident with Er Ya — that there was no need to hide anything from Pei Zhao where the young miss’s affairs were concerned. So she said openly with a smile, “Young miss, what key is this? The key to our copper lock is still with me. Is this the one the young miss wants?”
This time Ye Lingbo truly lost her temper, wishing she could pick up the tea and throw it at him. Pei Zhao immediately and wisely cried, “Mercy, young miss.”
Ye Lingbo looked at him the way one looks at someone too hopeless for words.
“Pei Zhao, honestly — with all those schemes of yours, why do you spend them all sparring with me? If you’d actually walk a straight path, with your skills and your battle merits, you’d have been enfeoffed long ago. Why should Cui Jingyu be the one throwing his weight around?”
“Not interested. Too dull,” Pei Zhao said, dropping into the nearby armchair and picking up a teacup to examine with leisurely ease.
“Then what is interesting?”
“Teasing you is interesting,” Pei Zhao said with a smile, his peach-blossom eyes curving into crescents.
If not for propriety — for the sake of a young miss’s dignity — Ye Lingbo would not have known how many times she would have beaten him already.
“Enough,” said Ye Lingbo, whose patience had been ground into something formidable by Shen Biwei’s company. “I can’t be bothered to manage either of you anymore. People like you are simply this way.”
“What kind of people?”
“People like you and Biwei,” said Ye Lingbo, setting down her brush and studying him seriously. “Tell me — what is it with the two of you? You’re both of decent birth, talented, capable, and with striking looks to boot. Why won’t either of you strive to rise? Isn’t it good to be above others? Power, wealth, status — these are what everyone in the world pursues. Why do the two of you insist on refusing them? Even if not for yourselves, shouldn’t you try for the sake of your families?”
“If everyone in the world is above others,” Pei Zhao drawled, slumping sideways in his chair, “then who is there to be below?”
Ye Lingbo nearly laughed despite herself from sheer irritation.
“So you’ve appointed yourself to fill the vacancy of those who are below,” she said, rolling her eyes at him. Seeing his utterly shameless expression, she laughed with a touch of self-mockery and said, “Perhaps you’re laughing at me in your hearts — laughing at me for scheming and calculating…”
“No,” said Pei Zhao, toying with his teacup.
“What?” Ye Lingbo had not quite caught it. It was also instinct — she expected him to be making some joke at her expense, and she was already bracing herself.
Pei Zhao drew his gaze from the teacup and looked at her.
“I said I would never laugh at you in my heart. I know you always have your reasons for what you do. And you’re very capable — with just a floor plan of Deputy Minister Huang’s residence, you managed to set so many things in motion. If you were a man, you’d certainly be a strategist without equal.”