The days were growing colder, and the scent of chrysanthemums in the air grew stronger. Winter was approaching.
Jiang Si remembered that the winter of the 18th year of Jingming was particularly cold.
She wasn’t known for having the best memory, but that year she had entered a loveless marriage and then lost both her elder brother and sister. The string of misfortunes made her recall that year as filled with bone-chilling cold and swirling snow whenever she thought back on it.
Misfortune seemed widespread that year. Many elderly from poor families didn’t survive the winter.
The atmosphere at the East Peace Marquis Manor had been consistently gloomy, with an indescribable oppressiveness permeating the usual calm. Even though it was time to prepare winter clothes, the household showed no signs of activity.
That year, a series of unfortunate events inevitably exposed the weak foundation of the East Peace Marquis Manor, giving it an air of decline.
In the courtyard of Begonia Residence, the begonia trees had already shed most of their leaves. Only bare branches swayed in the wind, with occasional withered yellow leaves fluttering down like butterflies.
Jiang Si caught a falling leaf, silently counting the days.
“Miss—” A-Man pushed open the courtyard gate and ran over quickly.
Jiang Si’s heart skipped a beat.
In these boring and uneventful days, for A-Man to react like this, it was very likely that there was news.
Sure enough, A-Man brought good news: “Young Master Yu’s people say that the First Son-in-law Zhu—”
Meeting Jiang Si’s cold gaze, A-Man suddenly remembered and stuck out her tongue, saying, “Zhu Ziyu’s servant suddenly went sneakily to a remote residential house, and a young lady is living in that house!”
Jiang Si’s heart pounded upon hearing this.
Zhu Ziyu’s servant going secretly to a residence must be on Zhu Ziyu’s orders. Could it be that his lover was living there?
She had to see this woman Zhu Ziyu was hiding away!
Jiang Si quickly made up her mind.
As usual, she disguised herself as a little maid to sneak out of the manor, leaving A-Man full of resentment.
The guard responsible for tailing Zhu Ziyu’s servant was one of Yu Jin’s men. When Jiang Si arrived, Yu Jin ordered him to come forward: “Tell Miss Jiang what you saw.”
The guard didn’t dare to raise his head and spoke respectfully: “Two of us brothers take turns watching that servant. He usually only goes out at two times: in the morning to send Young Master Zhu to the Hanlin Academy, and in the evening to bring Young Master Zhu back to the manor. This morning, after sending Young Master Zhu to work, instead of returning directly, he took a roundabout way to a remote residence. I climbed over the wall and saw a young woman inside, about fifteen or sixteen years old…”
When Jiang Si asked about the woman’s appearance, the guard scratched his head: “She was quite pretty.” After saying this, he looked at his master with a troubled expression.
Yu Jin smiled and said: “Asi, you’re putting him in a difficult position by asking this. In the eyes of these young men, even sows look pretty.”
The guard’s face instantly turned as red as a piece of cloth, angry but not daring to speak.
“Take me to see that young woman.”
With the Hanlin Academy as the center, the residence was in the opposite direction from the Zhu manor. Though described as remote, it had a bustling, mixed atmosphere.
The guard led Yu Jin and Jiang Si to stop in front of an unremarkable house gate, saying softly, “It’s here.”
Jiang Si looked closely, raising her eyebrows slightly.
The door was wooden, its green paint long peeled off, with a lock hanging on it.
Looking around, it was an alley formed by a row of residential houses, and this house was in the corner, standing alone as if long abandoned.
If not for the guard leading them here, Jiang Si wouldn’t have thought anyone lived here even if she passed by.
Staring at the wooden door with its peeling green paint, Jiang Si felt something strange: Locking the door during the day seemed to indicate an unwillingness to interact with neighbors. But if the woman was Zhu Ziyu’s beloved hidden away, wouldn’t living like this be too miserable?
Jiang Si had heard of men keeping mistresses. They usually just found a convenient house to settle the woman in, and while they might not announce their visits with gongs and drums, they were fairly open about it.
It was an accepted rule that men worked outside while women managed the household. Wives stayed in the inner quarters and couldn’t possibly keep track of their husbands’ whereabouts. This way, unless the mistress showed up at the door heavily pregnant, most wives would never know of the mistress’s existence.
Jiang Si imagined Zhu Ziyu’s gentlemanly demeanor, and her heart inexplicably sank.
For a man to be this cautious, what he sought was certainly not as simple as keeping a mistress.
Could it be that in his previous life, after causing her elder sister’s death, he planned to elevate his mistress?
But in the previous life, Zhu Ziyu had married three years after her elder sister’s death, and his wife was the daughter of an ordinary official, not this mistress.
Or perhaps after her elder sister’s death, Zhu Ziyu had secretly brought the mistress into the household?
This made even less sense.
Her elder sister was known for being gentle and virtuous. If Zhu Ziyu had shown any inclination, her elder sister would likely have taken the initiative to bring the woman into the household, even before Zhu Ziyu suggested it. Zhu Ziyu had no reason to harm her elder sister.
These thoughts swirled in Jiang Si’s mind as Yu Jin’s voice reached her ears: “How do you plan to see her?”
Jiang Si came back to her senses, looked at the height of the wall, and said softly, “Let’s not disturb the people inside for now. I’ll take a look first.”
“Alright.” As Yu Jin finished speaking, he wrapped an arm around Jiang Si’s waist and leaped onto the wall, then onto the roof.
The roof was sloped, but it didn’t affect Yu Jin’s movements at all. By the time Jiang Si reacted, they were already lying flat on the roof.
The small courtyard was empty.
Jiang Si shifted slightly, and the young man’s low voice came: “Don’t move. I’ll lure her out.”
After a moment of silence, Jiang Si gritted her teeth and said, “Remove your paw.”
This scoundrel had put his hand on her bottom!
Yu Jin’s eyes slid downward, and his face immediately heated up.
He realized he had inadvertently placed his hand in the wrong spot…
The young woman’s waist was slender, and because of their position, her clothes clung to her body, outlining her small, perky bottom.
But now was not the time for such thoughts.
Yu Jin quickly averted his gaze and said seriously, “I apologize.”
Inwardly, however, he was jubilant.
Hmm, he couldn’t show it on his face, or he’d get slapped.
Suppressing his upturned lips, he picked up a piece of broken tile from the roof and tossed it into the courtyard.
The small piece of tile hit the window, making a considerable noise.
A moment later, the door opened, and a young woman in a simple dress and wooden hairpin walked out, standing in the courtyard and looking around in confusion.
“No one?” the young woman murmured, hurriedly walking to the courtyard gate and trying to push it open.
The gate was locked from the outside, of course, and wouldn’t budge.
The young woman turned back, looking more dejected and disappointed than the initial excitement she had shown when coming out.
Soon, the young woman went back inside, and the door closed again.
Seeing Jiang Si staring intently, Yu Jin asked softly, “Did you see clearly?”
Jiang Si nodded slowly, but then gripped his hand tightly, her voice trembling: “Let me see once more!”
Yu Jin was surprised but used the same trick to lure the young woman out again.
Jiang Si stared at the young woman with a pale face, as if engulfed in a fog of confusion, feeling cold from her heart to her fingertips.
This young woman was Qing’er!
Then… who had her elder sister taken away?