Although Yining didn’t recognize the two men, Luo Shengyuan’s expression suggested he knew them.
Following Luo Shengyuan, Yining could see Cheng Lang through the bamboo leaves. She heard Cheng Lang’s soft, meaningful voice: “Fourth Uncle said we must bring that person back. Yet you tell me he’s gone?”
A guard replied quietly: “Young Master, it’s our fault. You said you were playing chess with that monk in the alley. But when we went there, the place was deserted…”
Before he could finish, Cheng Lang suddenly slapped him hard across the face.
The sound echoed loudly, causing the guard’s head to turn and his cheek to swell quickly.
Cheng Lang coldly said: “Who taught you to make excuses? If someone’s missing, shouldn’t you search for them?”
Yining was startled by the slap.
She looked at the tall, elegant Cheng Lang, remembering the pleading look in Luo Yiyu’s eyes, and felt a sense of breathlessness.
One guard apologized and stepped back. Cheng Lang turned, his face cold.
Seeing his expression, Yining thought of the words on the lotus bud note and Cheng Lang’s ambiguous attitude towards Luo Yiyu.
She felt a strange, dull pain spreading in her heart. How had that child… become like this? Was this unfamiliar Cheng Lang the same boy who used to rest his head on her shoulder and catch dragonflies for her?
Why didn’t she recognize him at all now?
A breeze rustled the bamboo shadows on the ground, stirring the sash at Yining’s waist.
The other guard immediately looked up alertly towards the bamboo grove: “Who’s there?”
Yining instinctively looked down, noticing her sash’s shadow moving. It was obvious someone was hiding there. She whispered, “Third Brother, I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”
Luo Shengyuan glanced at Yining’s sash and sighed. “It’s alright. This is the Luo estate; they won’t dare act rashly. Stay here and don’t come out.” He then walked out, smiling at Cheng Lang, “Isn’t Young Master Cheng usually refined and cultured? I’m surprised to see you slapping servants.”
Cheng Lang first looked towards the bamboo grove.
There was still someone there, but Luo Shengyuan was hiding her.
Cheng Lang was curious about Luo Shengyuan, knowing he harbored many secrets. Strangely, no one in the Luo family seemed aware of his peculiarities. Even his father and grandmother didn’t pay him much attention. His two legitimate elder brothers spoke of him dismissively.
He shifted his gaze back and smiled faintly: “I didn’t know Third Young Master Luo had a habit of eavesdropping. If you wanted to listen, you could have just asked. I would have told you everything.”
“I don’t have such habits,” Luo Shengyuan replied smoothly, with a gentle tone and slight smile. “I merely saw Young Master Cheng disciplining his servants and didn’t want to interrupt. Besides, doesn’t Young Master Cheng have a penchant for following others? We’re even.”
Cheng Lang looked at him without speaking.
“Pardon the interruption, Young Master Cheng. Please continue,” Luo Shengyuan bowed slightly and retreated.
Cheng Lang instructed a guard to follow discreetly: “Don’t get too close. Just see who he’s with.”
He waited under the tree shade, hands behind his back. When the guard returned, he reported: “Young Master Luo was with his sister, the Seventh Young Miss of the Luo family. Do you want to…”
Cheng Lang remembered this Seventh Young Miss, also named Yining.
He gazed at the lotus flowers on the lake, seemingly lost in thought, then said: “Since it’s just a child, let it be. Pack up; we’ll leave tomorrow.”
He fingered the jade pendant in his palm, suddenly recalling a summer day from his childhood at the Ningyuan Marquis’s mansion. The latticed windows were open, letting in cool breezes. The room was filled with the sweet scent of osmanthus incense. He sat on her lap, straining to raise his little head, watching Yining’s slender white fingers point at the characters in the book, teaching him to read: “…I love only the lotus, which rises from the mud yet remains unstained, bathed in clear streams without seduction. Straight within and straight without, not sprawling or branching, its fragrance growing purer with distance, standing tall and clean. Lang’er, do you remember these lines? You should strive to be a gentleman like the lotus in the future.”
The young him had obediently replied: “Lang’er understands. I’ll remember everything Aunt says.”
She smiled and patted his head.
He had promised her back then. Perhaps she had foreseen the absurdities of the Lu and Cheng families before her death… But being in the midst of power, how could he remain unstained like a lotus rising from the mud?
Cheng Lang clutched the jade pendant tightly, then closed his eyes for a moment.
As Luo Shengyuan escorted Yining back to Old Madam Luo, Yining continued to ponder Cheng Lang’s situation.
Yining knew she shouldn’t have further contact with him, even if it pained her to see the child she raised become like this. But what could she do? He was grown now, and she was no longer the Luo Yining of the Ningyuan Marquis’s mansion.
No matter how absurd he became, it was his affair now.
Seeing Luo Shengyuan bring Yining back, Old Madam Luo invited him to stay for lunch.
The old lady didn’t seem concerned about Luo Shengyuan’s studies. Instead, she said: “With only a month until the autumn imperial examinations, your eldest and second brothers are studying intensely, as if facing a great enemy. I fear they’ll make themselves ill. Today, why don’t you stay here and read with Yining? It’s good to relax a bit.”
Luo Shengyuan had no objections and agreed. He truly took a book and sat beside her to read, without speaking.
Yining accompanied Luo Shengyuan in reading for the entire afternoon, until he noticed her pained expression, staring at the book pages with intense discomfort. Only then did he close the book and ask her: “Had enough?”
Yining nodded, and Luo Shengyuan got up to bid farewell to Old Madam Luo.
Yining lay on the chaise lounge in the study, watching her third brother walk out of the corridor. She exhaled softly and said goodbye to Luo Shengyuan with a smile.
Xuezhi entered with a set of colorful tea utensils, smiling as she said: “Rest a while, Young Miss. I’ve had Cuizhi make some rose cakes for you.”
Sure enough, Songzhi brought in the pastries on a white jade plate: several translucent rose cakes. This was a specialty of Cuizhi, Little Yining’s pastry maid. She would mash rose juice, knead it with glutinous rice flour and cooked red beans, then mold it into small leaf shapes. After steaming, they were chilled with well water, placed on a jade plate, and dusted with powdered sugar, creating an exquisite treat.
Yining ate two pieces and, remembering the pork knuckle soup told Xuezhi: “From now on, have the kitchen send some nourishing soup to Third Brother as a night snack. His studies are taxing.”
Xuezhi smiled and poured her a cup of tea: “Don’t worry, I understand.”
Yining took a sip of tea to moisten her throat.
Gazing at a pot of dendrobium on the high table, she suddenly asked: “Xuezhi, I heard Grandmother mention Nanny Zheng, who used to serve Mother. They say she left the Luo family after Mother died.” Xuezhi was fanning her as Yining lay on the chaise lounge, looking up at her as she continued, “Why did she leave?”
Xuezhi paused, her hand freezing mid-fan. She looked at the young Yining and sighed: “I was still little then, just a small maid in the Eldest Young Miss’s household. I only heard that Nanny Zheng asked to leave herself.”
“Old Madam tried to persuade her to stay, but Nanny Zheng insisted on leaving. You were just over six months old then, crying in Old Madam’s arms. Old Madam was both heartbroken and angry, and told Nanny Zheng, ‘If you leave now, don’t come back.'”
Yining frowned. She remembered her grandmother saying that Nanny Zheng left because she harbored resentment towards the Luo family.
She pressed further: “Xuezhi, how did Mother die? Was it truly due to complications from my birth?”
Xuezhi didn’t know either. She looked at the small Yining lying obediently on the chaise lounge, her young face indeed bearing a five-point resemblance to the late madam. She softened her voice and said: “I don’t know, but the madam was very reluctant to leave you. When she was dying, she made Old Madam promise to take good care of you. The Eldest Young Miss knelt by the bed, crying so hard she could barely breathe…”
Yining felt a subtle sensation in her heart. She nodded and took another sip of tea.
Xuezhi encouraged her to take a nap. Tired from reading, Yining lay down on the couch but kept her eyes open, alternating between thoughts of Cheng Lang’s young face and her unseen eldest sister. Gradually, her eyes closed.
Xuezhi lowered the curtains and instructed a newly arrived young maid to walk softly so as not to disturb Yining’s nap.
Yining wasn’t asleep. In her half-awake state, she could still hear an old woman outside gently scolding a young maid who had made a mistake. She even heard the turtle moving in its ceramic tank. She tossed and turned, hearing the rustle of trees outside in the wind.
Suddenly, someone rushed into the room, speaking in a hushed voice: “Is the Young Miss asleep?”
Yining recognized Songzhi’s voice.
Xuezhi replied: “She just fell asleep. Keep your voice down. She spent a long time reading with the Third Young Master and rarely gets to nap.”
Songzhi’s voice was filled with barely contained urgency: “Wake her up quickly! Something’s happened.”
Xuezhi was silent for a moment, then her voice also tightened: “What’s going on? Why are you so flustered? With Old Madam here, what use is there in waking the Young Miss?”
“It’s about the Fourth Young Miss…” Songzhi continued, “Her secret has been exposed! Someone reported it to Old Madam. She’s already summoned the Fourth Young Miss and the First Madam. Our Young Miss knows about this too. We need to wake her up quickly!”
Hearing this, Yining felt a jolt in her heart.
She opened her eyes.