Chapter 96

 Pei Yuan came in carrying two large bags and set one on the table. He asked Bao Ning, “She came to see you again?”

Bao Ning nodded. “Didn’t you say yesterday that you were going to warn her?”

She looked a bit frustrated. “Doesn’t seem like it worked.”

“Don’t think too much about it.” Pei Yuan didn’t seem surprised at all that Su Mingyou had come again. Instead, he asked, “Have you eaten?”

“No, I was waiting for you.” Bao Ning was distracted by his question and glanced out the window. “It’s still light out. Why are you back so early?”

“Came back to feed you,” Pei Yuan said as he tossed the other bag into Bao Ning’s arms. “Wei Meng made a trip to the capital and brought back a lot of good stuff. That guy’s a foodie—he said it’s all delicious, so I figured it must be. Take a look.”

As he spoke, he opened the front of his coat and pulled out a hot, fragrant spiced duck. “Bought this on the street in Lihu, from a newly opened duck shop next to the Ruyi Restaurant. Perfect timing since we haven’t cooked—come, let’s eat.”

The smell of the duck made Bao Ning’s mouth water; she had been hungry for a while. Now her cravings were stirred up, and she instantly pushed aside her worries about Su Mingyou.

She opened the bag from Wei Meng first. Inside were several wax paper-wrapped buns and flatbreads, half a pound of beef, half a pound of donkey meat, and a variety of overly sweet pastries, all colorful and ornate. Wei Meng and Pei Yuan both disliked sweets, so these were clearly brought for her.

“General Wei is so thoughtful. I’ll treat him to a meal sometime!” Bao Ning said happily. She moved closer to the table to watch Pei Yuan tear off a duck leg.

The juicy, tender leg meat glistened with oil and looked delicious. Since Pei Yuan had been holding it close to his chest, it was still warm. Bao Ning asked, “How much was the duck?”

“No idea,” Pei Yuan said, half-lidding his eyes as he looked at her. “Do I look like the type to ask prices? I just tossed a silver ingot and didn’t even take the change.”

Bao Ning laughed. “Showing off! What a bragger.”

“Just eat,” Pei Yuan grunted, wrapping the bone in wax paper and handing it to her. “Hold your neck out and eat—don’t mess up the bed.”

He tore off the other leg and handed it to her too, then took the duck’s tail and half the breast and went outside. With a sharp whistle, two dogs came running.

Pei Yuan threw the meat on the ground and watched them for a moment before heading back inside.

“Jixiang is a female dog. She’s so rough, who’d think she was female?” Pei Yuan asked Bao Ning. “Do you think, living with Ah Huang day and night, she might fall in love with him eventually?”

Bao Ning said, “Why not? Better to keep the blessings in the family. If they fall in love, that’s great.”

Pei Yuan chuckled softly.

He sat down and began eating too. After a while, he said, “I didn’t warn Su Mingyou. I want to see what else she’s capable of doing.”

At the mention of her, Bao Ning frowned. “It’s just… she’s acting strange. Her words seem to imply things, but I can’t say she’s done anything truly wrong. If I lose my temper, I come off as petty. And besides, pregnant women often have unstable emotions…”

She remembered the dog tooth bracelet. After swallowing her bite, she wiped her hands and took it out to show Pei Yuan. “Look, she gave me this today.”

“I know,” Pei Yuan replied. “I instructed Chen Jia to report back to me earlier.”

Bao Ning noticed something unusual about Pei Yuan. He was speaking very calmly today, not as arrogant as usual. He even had the mood to chat about home life and wonder whether Jixiang was male or female. Bao Ning chewed on the bone and studied him for a moment before quietly asking, “Did something happen?”

“I just remembered some things.” Pei Yuan turned the bracelet in his fingers a few times, then suddenly tossed it to the floor and asked Bao Ning, “Do you believe in fate?”

Bao Ning hesitated. “Hmm… kind of.”

“What does ‘kind of’ mean?” Pei Yuan laughed. “I used to not believe in it. My father had a court diviner named Gong who specialized in spirit writing—he was pretty accurate. I didn’t like him. Others said he looked like an immortal, but I called him a white-haired monkey behind his back. Once, Pei Xiao tattled on me, and Father had me whipped. That little sneak, tattling at seven or eight years old. But later, he stopped doing those petty things—probably because his mother warned him it would make him look lowly… So he’s always worked hard to present himself as noble.”

Bao Ning smiled, listening to the story.

Pei Yuan continued, “Later I found out my mother’s palace walls and jewelry were full of strange things—peach wood, dog teeth, even a hidden portrait of Zhong Kui. Only after she died did I learn that the court diviner said her fate was cursed. Not only was she missing the Five Blessings, but she drained others’ life force and would bring ruin to the state if she became a concubine. But Father was young and proud, insisted on bringing her into the palace. Guess what happened?”

“What?”

“The year she entered the palace, the Yangtze River overflowed. Water flooded far and wide, destroying countless farmlands. People said her cursed fate had come true.”

Bao Ning shivered. “But that’s not fair. The Yangtze has floods every few years, and so many other concubines entered the palace that year too—why blame it all on her?”

Pei Yuan said, “She was the favorite. So the blame landed on her. And emperors—they’re always supposed to care more about the state. Any little sign that threatens their rule will make them panic. Can’t really blame them. The worst part is, he was an emperor who loved beauty. He believed her fate was bad, but he couldn’t bear to let her go. So he followed the court diviner’s suggestions—renamed her palace, made her wear strange talismans, and forced her to secretly drink charm water on the 15th of every month to offset her fate’s misfortune.”

Bao Ning found it bizarre, but at the same time, it somehow made sense.

She slowly took his hand, trying to offer comfort.

“I don’t know if Father was good to her,” Pei Yuan said, “but he was good to me. If my mother hadn’t died, and I hadn’t investigated, he would’ve never told me any of this. I’m grateful.”

He paused. “But my mother is dead.”

“I don’t even know how she died.”

“I remember I was around eight or nine. I was shooting birds and broke the string on my jade pendant.” Pei Yuan gestured to Bao Ning, closing one eye like aiming an arrow. He laughed twice. “She had clumsy hands. Honestly, I never understood what Father saw in her aside from her face—she couldn’t even sew a robe properly… Anyway, she went to Noble Consort Gao to fix the strap. That’s Pei Xiao’s mother. Back then, she was just a ‘Meiren’—they were close like sisters. Funny, right? Sisters in the palace? She was too naive.”

“And then she never came back,” Pei Yuan said. “Three days later, they found her body in the lake—so bloated you couldn’t recognize her face. Only identified her by her clothes. Father had it investigated. Said it was a fellow court lady who pushed her in out of jealousy. That lady was executed. My mother was buried, given the posthumous title Duanping.”

Bao Ning looked into Pei Yuan’s eyes. He was eerily calm, with none of the sorrow one would expect.

Bao Ning felt her heart ache. She didn’t want to hear more, but she had to face the past with him.

“If that were all, it would’ve been enough.” Pei Yuan narrowed his eyes. “But later, when I was twelve, I wandered into a rock garden and found a skeleton deep in a cave. In its hand was my broken jade pendant.”

“So how did she really die? Which one was her?” he said. “I begged Father to investigate. He told me the dead should rest. Don’t disturb the tomb. Let her sleep in peace.”

“Is she really at peace?”

Bao Ning didn’t know what expression to make, nor how to comfort him. He seemed like he had let go, speaking like an outsider. But that’s what scared her—she feared he was suppressing everything and hiding behind a calm facade. She would rather he cry in her arms now. Strong things break easily—she didn’t want him to be too strong, at least not in front of her.

A creeping thought emerged in Bao Ning’s heart: if the Emperor had really killed Consort Xian, would Pei Yuan collapse again when the truth came out?

“Let’s not think about it anymore!” Bao Ning suddenly hugged him. “Not now.”

Pei Yuan chuckled. “I should thank Sister-in-law. If she hadn’t kept scheming to provoke you, I wouldn’t have found the chance to talk about this.”

Bao Ning lifted her head and kissed his chin.

Pei Yuan hugged her and asked, “Was the duck good? You’ve got quite the appetite—ate both legs and didn’t leave me a single bit of skin.”

He changed the subject. Bao Ning still felt heavy, but she didn’t bring it up again. She followed along, saying, “It was okay, but the duck wasn’t fatty enough. I heard ducks that are fed only bamboo or lotus leaves taste even better—light and naturally fragrant.”

The mood in the room instantly shifted.

Pei Yuan grunted in response and asked, “Ducks eat bamboo? Isn’t that too hard? Won’t it scratch their throats?”

Bao Ning paused. “I’ve never been a duck—how would I know…”

Pei Yuan said, “Let’s raise one someday and find out.”

He picked Bao Ning up and let her stand barefoot on the bed while he straightened her clothes, frowning. “Do you have any black or white outfits? Don’t wear red.”

Bao Ning blinked in confusion. “Where are we going?”

Pei Yuan replied, “Today’s your mother-in-law’s death anniversary. I’m taking you to burn offerings for her. We can’t get into the ancestral temple, so we’ll just go to the corner by the courtyard wall. Wear something plain. No flashy red or green.”

It was already dark outside. Bao Ning hurried to her wardrobe and scolded him, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? If you gave me a heads-up, I could’ve prepared something!”

“There’s nothing to prepare,” Pei Yuan said, tidying up the leftover food on the table without looking up. “It’s just a formality. Just bringing you along to pay your respects. Dress warmly—it’s cold at night.”

…

Zhao Qian finished dressing, checked himself in the mirror to make sure everything was in place, and applied some lip balm before heading out.

The whole way there, he was thinking about what to say to Pei Yuan, how to subtly leave a lipstick mark on his collar, and then retreat gracefully.

Don’t blame him for choosing such a tacky move—sometimes the more cliché the method, the better it works. Whatever gets the job done, who cares how.

Bao Ning’s courtyard was pitch black. Even the main room didn’t have lights on. Zhao Qian was puzzled when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a strange flickering light by the wall.

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