After the Pitiful Little One Seduced the Feudal Big Daddy - Chapter 11

Pei Xuan and Cui Ji were also stunned.

But soon, Pei Xuan jumped up with a start. He took a large stride forward and stammered an explanation toward Pei Yanzhi: “Brother, don’t be angry! I was the one who asked Yunqing to play; it has nothing to do with him.” He had the look of someone prepared to face death for a cause.

Cui Ji also stood up. Steeling himself, he said, “I am also responsible. I didn’t stop Pei Xuan.”

A pale purple wisteria petal drifted down before Xie Yunqing’s eyes, briefly obscuring his vision. It lasted only an instant, but that tiny moment was enough to snap him out of his strange daze. Though he was still somewhat lightheaded and confused by the situation, he also rose quickly to his feet. Once standing, however, he didn’t know what to say, so he could only lower his head in a posture of obediently admitting fault.

The three of them happened to be standing side-by-side, arranged from tallest to shortest. All of them looked somewhat trembling and fearful, exactly like three little quails.

The scene was truly quite comical, and Cui Xuan couldn’t help but laugh out loud. After he stopped laughing, Cui Xuan glanced at Pei Yanzhi. “I didn’t expect Chancellor Pei to be so formidably renowned even within his own home,” he teased.

Xie Yunqing’s heart leaped. A chill suddenly shot up his spine and spread throughout his body. It really was Chancellor Pei who had arrived.

Then, just now…

“Hey, Chancellor Pei, don’t leave!” Cui Xuan suddenly raised his voice, interrupting the after-fear that Xie Yunqing hadn’t yet had time to fully process.

Immediately following that, a relaxed sigh sounded beside him.

“Thank goodness! My brother didn’t care!” Pei Xuan immediately sat back down and pulled at Cui Ji and Xie Yunqing respectively. “My brother has already walked far away; everyone sit down.”

For some reason, after sitting back down, Xie Yunqing took a quick glance in the direction Pei Yanzhi had departed. The wind rose again, and pale purple petals drifted and swirled, blurring his vision. But when he saw that figure again even if it was just a back his vision suddenly became clear.

However, in just a short moment, the figure disappeared around the bend. It was so fast that Xie Yunqing couldn’t catch what that strange reaction he’d had earlier was supposed to be.

“Yunqing! Yunqing!” A pair of large hands waved in front of his eyes. It was Pei Xuan’s hand. “You weren’t scared silly, were you?” Pei Xuan’s face showed worry. “It’s really fine now. My brother definitely won’t get angry over this. Just now was simply…”

A kind of instinctive reaction,” Pei Xuan scratched his head. “You can understand, right?”

“Like a mouse seeing a cat,” Cui Ji said coolly.

“Right, right, right!” Pei Xuan surprisingly didn’t argue this time and nodded in agreement. “While you can’t put it exactly like that, the logic is indeed the same.” After a pause, Pei Xuan suddenly glanced left and right. Once he was sure the servant had already left with the qin, he leaned into Xie Yunqing’s ear and spoke very deliberately and softly: “You have no idea. When I was little, my biggest wish was to trade brothers with Cui Ji.”

Cui Ji let out a cold snort from the side.

Pei Xuan pretended not to hear and continued his story: “According to my grandmother, when I was five or six, I would start crying the moment I saw my brother. No matter how people tried to coax me, I wouldn’t stop until finally my brother would give me a single look, and then I’d stop crying.”

“Ahem…” Pei Xuan looked somewhat embarrassed. “But that was only because I was too scared to cry anymore.”

Cui Ji snorted coldly twice more.

“What are you laughing at!” Pei Xuan glared at him. “It’s not like you aren’t afraid. This is completely a case of the pot calling the kettle black!”

Cui Ji rolled his eyes at him, stopped laughing, but also stopped talking.

Perhaps feeling the topic had become a bit “heavy,” Pei Xuan quickly switched subjects. He asked Xie Yunqing, “Yunqing, when did you start learning the qin? You play so well. It sounds like even the musicians in the palace can’t compare to you. Did you start when you were very, very young?”

Xie Yunqing was already in a state of fuzzy consciousness. Having Pei Xuan chatter into his ear only made his brain feel more like a jumbled mess of paste. Hearing the question, he struggled to react for a long while before realizing what was being asked—and then he froze.

When did I start learning the qin?

The question itself wasn’t hard to answer. It was the year he turned ten. The reason he couldn’t answer was because of the events that had occurred behind that learning.

His mind flashed back to when he was ten. His father had gone elsewhere on official business, and he had been taken by his stepmother to “visit” an old nanny. That was the first and only time his stepmother had ever taken him out. Xie Yunqing had been profoundly flattered; throughout the journey and even after arriving at the old nanny’s place, he had behaved even more quietly and obediently than usual, fearing he might cause his stepmother even a sliver of annoyance.

His performance ultimately earned praise from his stepmother and the old nanny. But it was a very strange kind of praise.

He remembered that old nanny; greed flashed in her eyes as she used those wrinkled hands to feel nearly every inch of his body. He was terrified. During the process, he instinctively tried to shrink away several times, but he was held firmly by his stepmother, who forbade him from moving an inch. Finally, the old nanny gave a satisfied smile, whispered a few words to his stepmother, and let them leave.

After returning home, his stepmother’s attitude toward him suddenly improved significantly. Not only did she stop making him do dirty or heavy labor, but she even hired a teacher specifically to teach him the qin. He didn’t understand why she wanted him to learn, but he practiced more diligently than anyone.

In just one month, the teacher declared there was nothing left to teach him.

It was on that very day that the old nanny appeared again. She came to his house, and after listening to him play a piece, she nodded repeatedly and said to his stepmother: “He will do.”

Three days after the old nanny left, several women dressed in very elegant and expensive clothes arrived at his home. They likewise inspected his entire body and listened to him play a piece, after which they showered his stepmother with praise for him. Then, they brought out a large, heavy chest and handed it over.

That was the happiest he had ever seen his stepmother smile. Then, those women said they were taking him to a place to be a “guest” and told him to follow them obediently. His stepmother also told him that once he went to that place, he could always eat well and wear fine clothes, and wouldn’t have to live such a poor and bitter life anymore.

Though Xie Yunqing was young, he was not a fool. At that moment, he realized his stepmother had sold him.

So, he began to run for his life. It was a stormy evening filled with thunder and torrential rain. He was soaked through, running until his nose and mouth bled and his bones ached, but they still caught him.

He was dragged by his collar under the eaves by his stepmother and struck hard across the face. She called him ungrateful and said he would only ruin her good fortune. He wanted to beg her not to sell him. He promised he would be even more obedient in the future, eat less, and do more work. But he could no longer speak.

In that moment, tears were like rain: redundant, useless, and equally annoying.

Just as he was about to fall into despair, his father returned. Upon seeing the scene, his father fell into a rare, terrifying rage. He held Xie Yunqing in his arms and had a massive row with his stepmother. In truth, it didn’t do much; the stepmother didn’t change her mind because of it. It only bought enough time for the neighbor’s brother whom Xie Yunqing had sent for help while running to bring the local elders.

The matter became public. He would never be sold again. But in his memory, that rain never seemed to stop.

As for why his stepmother made him learn the qin… It wasn’t until last year, after he arrived at the Imperial Academy and happened to hear some classmates discussing romantic affairs, that he understood: it was to make him sell for a higher price.

“Yunqing…” Pei Xuan called out to him. “Your face has become so pale. Does your shoulder hurt?”

Xie Yunqing snapped back to reality. Lifting his head, he saw Pei Xuan’s eyes filled with worry.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let you play the qin just now.” Pei Xuan struck his own head hard and turned to scold Cui Ji, “It’s your fault too! Why didn’t you stop me more?”

Cui Ji was speechless and couldn’t be bothered to argue. He stood up, walked to Xie Yunqing’s side, and asked in a lowered voice, “If the pain is severe, don’t move. I’ll go get Physician Liu.”

For some reason, Xie Yunqing’s eyes suddenly grew hot and his throat tightened. He found himself unable to speak and could only shake his head vigorously. After stopping, he looked at Pei Xuan and Cui Ji and suddenly felt like smiling and so he did.

In 그 moment, it was as if ice and snow had melted and a warm spring had suddenly arrived. Pei Xuan and Cui Ji were once again stunned into silence.

On the pavilion across the lake, Cui Xuan stood by the railing with his hands behind his back, taking in the scene beneath the wisteria. Then, he turned slightly toward Pei Yanzhi, who stood on the other side. Although Pei Yanzhi’s gaze was indifferent, he was also watching the three youths.

Cui Xuan raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak. After a while, he said, “I forgot to mention yesterday—during the three months you were in Wu Commandery, there weren’t many people in the Imperial Court who remained peaceful.”

Pei Yanzhi did not respond.

Cui Xuan smiled. “Do you plan to just keep letting them cause trouble in Yongjia like this? I’ve heard that that person and the Yu clan have already established ties with the Xianbei in the north. There’s no telling what kind of chaos they might stir up later.”

Pei Yanzhi retracted his gaze and looked at Cui Xuan, saying only flatly, “It is not yet time.”

Cui Xuan didn’t press further, saying instead, “Before I returned from Kuaiji, your eldest sister repeatedly urged me to make sure I looked after you.”

“Well then, I suppose I should show some concern now.” Cui Xuan looked back toward the wisteria trellis, his voice carrying a hint of a smile. “Since you’ve already returned…”

“Why not go and talk to that child?”