Chapter 75:
Pei Yuqing did not speak, merely tightening his arm around her.
The wedding date was already tight; they were about to marry, and him constantly visiting the door like that—what would that look like.
“Not coming?” Xie Wanning lightly raised her brow: “You wouldn’t be afraid my elder brother will chase you out, would you?”
That day, Xie Yanyu returned to the estate after duty and learned that his younger sister’s engagement had been set to his good friend just like that; he left the city overnight for the farmhouse.
His face gloomy, looking extremely unpleasant, Xie Wanning dared not provoke him and directly pushed Pei Yuqing out, claiming full of accusations that this man had seduced her.
She was just an innocent young lady ignorant of the world, yet seduced by a man much older than her.
What more could Xie Yanyu say? He turned and went next door to find the man who had seduced his little sister.
The two men were even more patient than each other; Xie Wanning did not know what they talked about—she dared not ask her elder brother, and Pei Yuqing refused to say more.
When pressed hard, he looked at her gently and said, “Gentleman’s agreement,” then refused to say more.
Now teased by the young lady, he was calm as ever, saying, “Not afraid of that.”
His serious demeanor was truly amusing.
Xie Wanning reached out to touch his face, saying, “Even without such a face, just your temperament alone would make people adore you.”
Pei Yuqing smiled upon hearing this, lowered his head to kiss her forehead, and asked, “How much adoration?”
His smile was gentle and slow, his eyes warm and bright; Xie Wanning felt her heart’s tip itch at the sight, as if gently tickled by a soft brush tip. Maintaining her pose of stroking his face, she lifted her head and brought her own face close.
Kissing his chin once more.
This time, however, Pei Yuqing did not let her go so easily.
In the instant she pulled back, the man’s broad palm cupped the back of her neck, gripping lightly; Xie Wanning felt her vision go dark, followed immediately by a warm touch on her lips.
She blinked instinctively, soon reacting, and with both hands cupping his face, pushed him away a bit, urgently saying, “No!”
The kiss missing, Pei Yuqing opened his eyes, pursed his lips, and said, “You kissed first.”
The usually bright and gentle depths of his eyes were now tinged with an indescribable darkness.
Xie Wanning huffed angrily: “I only kissed your face, not like that.”
She pointed at her own lips, accusing, “Kissing here will make it swell; last time you kissed it swollen, and I forgot to tell you off.”
That day she woke up to find her lips all swollen; who knew how much force he had used—fortunately, when they later returned to the capital, her parents did not notice, or else…
Now they were about to reach the capital; if he kissed her lips swollen again, it might not be concealable.
She was still in his arms, the two very close; the young lady looked up, her eyes full of grievance, but Pei Yuqing’s gaze was fixed straight on her lips.
The lips just kissed were rosy and glistening.
Pei Yuqing stared fixedly for a moment, then hoarsely said, “You’re right to remind me; fortunately, they haven’t swollen yet.”
…They were a bit redder.
Xie Wanning relaxed, then pointed at her own face, saying, “If you want to kiss me, then kiss here.”
The carriage was somewhat quiet, each other’s breathing clearly audible; Pei Yuqing pinched the back of her neck, lowered his head to kiss her nose tip, soft and lingering.
He released the young lady in his arms, sighing softly.
“I will come see you.”
In the end, he followed his own feelings.
After all, how could he endure ten days without seeing this young lady.
………..
After returning to the estate, Xie Wanning began to get busy, staying by her mother’s side daily to learn; since age ten, she had followed her mother in managing the household, able to understand even the most complex ledgers, ensuring no servants could deceive her.
The dowry list—she had been familiar with it all when preparing to marry Lu Ziyan before—but after the broken engagement and remarriage, Xie Shu and Madam Zheng pitied their daughter’s tumultuous marriage and added two more layers to the dowry.
The accompanying servants, important gold and silver wares, fields, shops, paintings, and ornaments all needed to be checked and memorized one by one, to avoid being blind after marriage and not even knowing her own dowry.
Once busy, she had no time for romantic thoughts or matters of love; these days, Xie Wanning did not think of Pei Yuqing at all—rising each day to go to Jinxiu Hall, and upon returning, falling asleep as soon as she touched the pillow.
Pei Yuqing came twice instead; each time he came, Madam Zheng gave her daughter half a day off to show her future husband around the manor.
Once away from the elders, Xie Wanning led him straight back to her Jianxia Courtyard.
As soon as they entered, she revealed her true nature, turning to grasp the man’s hand, teasing with a smile, “Coming so frequently—truly missing me like three years apart after just one day?”
Pei Yuqing was speechless.
Xie Wanning’s smile deepened, about to say more, when her peripheral vision caught the maidservant standing rigidly outside the door.
It was clear she had tried extremely hard to suppress her inner anxiety, yet some still showed.
Seeing her master look her way was like a shot of stimulant; Er Xia’s eyes reddened, tears immediately rolling down.
Xie Wanning frowned, released the man’s hand beside her, and after sitting down, asked, “What is it?”
Hearing this, Er Xia quickly entered the room with red eyes, heedless of the future son-in-law nearby; her knees hit the ground with a thud as she knelt and prostrated, sobbing, “Young Lady, are you abandoning this maidservant?”
With those words, Xie Wanning knew what it was about; she lowered her eyes to look at her sobbing personal maidservant, saying nothing for a moment.
Sensing her master’s coldness, Er Xia crawled forward on her knees two steps, hugging her leg tightly, her cries sincere: “These days, this maidservant has been terrified and uneasy daily, truly not knowing what offended you. You know, this maidservant has served you since childhood, always putting you first—a heart of complete loyalty, heaven can witness!”
She had been her master’s most trusted personal chief maidservant, an absolute confidant, yet Er Xia had inexplicably been sidelined.
During the period when Xie Wanning experienced the broken engagement and then another marriage proposal, this chief maidservant Er Xia got news slower than the second-rank maidservants in the courtyard; though Xie Wanning did not cut her monthly silver, she had marginalized her.
No longer needed for personal service, not consulted on matters, and no longer confided troubling things to her.
Er Xia lived in constant fear; as the wedding date approached day by day, she grew increasingly worried her confidant position would be replaced, trying several times to plead with her master.
But Xie Wanning had not brought her to the farmhouse, and upon return was busy without touching the ground—where was the time to attend to a maidservant’s feelings.
Until this morning, when the steward mama from the main courtyard came with Madam’s list of selected accompanying servants and maidservants for the Young Lady; Er Xia listened from start to finish without hearing her own name.
No matter how favored a maidservant, being discarded by her master was no different from the sky collapsing.
Clearly, last time during the marriage proposal with Wuyuan Marquis’s Estate, Er Xia’s name was listed alongside Er Qing as one of the two accompanying chief maidservants, yet now, she was unlisted.
