Jici Hospital had been founded by the British, and it combined medicine with religion. A church stood on one side of the hospital, the hospital director was also a pastor there, and most of the nurses were educated nuns. The medical equipment was excellent, and the surroundings were pleasant.
Ever since Ye Pingjun's mother had been brought here, she had been placed in a first-class ward under the care of first-rate doctors. Mrs. Ye improved day by day. Within half a month she could get out of bed and walk about, and Pingjun finally let herself relax. Gu Ruitong came every few days with several guards to ask after the patient, and he was unfailingly respectful to mother and daughter. Pingjun asked him again and again who had arranged all this, but he would never say.
That morning, Pingjun fed her mother some porridge and helped her lie back down. Her mother's color was much better than the day before, and Pingjun smiled, feeling a good deal easier in her heart. A breath of perfume drifted in from outside the ward. She looked up and saw Bai Liyuan coming in with a bunch of flowers, all smiles.
"What are you doing here?" Pingjun laughed.
"Visiting your mother, of course." Liyuan handed the flowers to a nurse to put in water, glanced around the ward, and said to Pingjun, "So this is the kind of room you two have. The girls in our class have been saying all week that you've met a benefactor. It seems they were right."
Pingjun had gone to pour Liyuan some water. Her mother, sitting up in bed, said with a soft laugh, "What a carefree young lady you are. Who praises a hospital room? Come and sit down."
Liyuan sat down beside her. "Auntie, I have a favor to ask. Lend me Pingjun. It's my cousin's birthday today, and I'm going to his house this afternoon to see him and my cousin's wife. Will you let Pingjun come along and have some fun?"
Pingjun had just come back with the water. "I can't go," she said. "I have to look after my mother."
"Go," Mrs. Ye said, smiling. "I'm much better now, and the nurses are here at night. Liyuan has asked so nicely. Are you going to refuse her in front of everyone?"
Pingjun was about to protest, but Liyuan threw herself on her and held her fast. "Don't refuse. I'll stay here with you, and this afternoon my cousin will send someone to fetch you. We'll be driven there and back, a round trip, so it's convenient and fun too."
Seeing Liyuan like this, Pingjun had nothing more to say. Her mother asked casually, "What does your cousin do?"
Liyuan, still tugging at Pingjun and chattering about something, turned around with a grin. "My cousin is Li Boren, a staff officer in the Ninth Army."
That afternoon a car sent by the Li residence did come for them. Mrs. Ye was in good spirits, so she did Pingjun's hair for her, in the same pretty double bun, with two glossy black braids hanging down. Pingjun wore a spotless moon-white long gown, and Liyuan, beaming, led her to the car. They drove all the way to the Li mansion, where a good many people were gathered in the main hall. Liyuan ignored them all and called out to a man in a Western suit standing by the piano, "Cousin, cousin, mission accomplished! I've brought her. This is my classmate Pingjun. How could she possibly be worse than those society ladies you know?"
Pingjun was startled. Liyuan turned back to explain, laughing. "I'll be honest with you. Yesterday my cousin got some idea into his head and insisted that none of my classmates could compare with the society ladies he knows. I couldn't stand it, so I told him about you."
As she spoke, Li Boren turned from the piano. His eyes fell on Pingjun first, and he held out his hand with a smile. "Miss Ye, how do you do."
Seeing that the household followed Western manners, Pingjun shook his hand. A beautiful woman who had been sitting at the piano stood up too and smiled at her, then looked her over from head to foot so closely that Pingjun grew embarrassed. Liyuan called out, "Cousin-in-law, what are you looking at?"
Mrs. Li took Pingjun's small hand warmly in hers and said, beaming, "A beauty, of course. She's a perfect stunner, and she puts our Liyuan quite in the shade. No wonder someone has been thinking of her all day long!"
Pingjun was taken aback. Mrs. Li spoke in a soft, coaxing Suzhou accent that made one want to be close to her. She took Liyuan's hand as well. "It's stuffy in here. Come, let's talk in the little garden at the back." Then she turned to Li Boren. "We'll be in the garden. When your honored guest arrives, bring him over too."
Mrs. Li led Pingjun and Liyuan to the garden at the back. Flowers and shrubs lined the covered walkway, with rockeries piled here and there, and farther off stood golden osmanthus, pomegranates, and ginkgo, dense with shade. Red flowers and green willows, blossoms plump and slender alike, roses and peonies in full bloom, and beyond them a wide stretch of tender green double-flowered pomegranates.
"Pingjun, look at my cousin's garden," Liyuan said blithely. "Isn't it pretty?"
Pingjun nodded. "It really is."
"This used to be one of the Lin family's gardens in Jinling," Mrs. Li said. "After Lin Tangsheng was convicted, it was confiscated. Because Boren had been commended for his work on the case, the garden was given to him. We did have to put some money in, but all the same we came out ahead."
"The Lin family?" said Pingjun. "Is that the former finance minister who embezzled public funds?"
Mrs. Li led her and Liyuan to a table and chairs set out in the open. There were a few books on the table, which she moved aside before she smiled and said, "There's a tangle in that business. The Lin family's property had been built up over generations. They could produce mountains of gold and silver. Never mind the rest. Think only of the one daughter Lin Tangsheng had, raised as precious as gold and jade, far beyond what any ordinary respectable family could manage. In the end he was charged with embezzling public funds. When you come down to it, a pack of people had their eyes on his fortune, and the Lin family had few men to stand up for it. It was like a child walking through a market holding a luminous pearl. Someone was bound to snatch it."
"My cousin was an accomplice," Liyuan said. "How else did he come by a garden like this?" Liyuan was family, so Mrs. Li didn't scold her. She only turned to Pingjun with a smile. "Miss Ye, you're so clever and pretty. Do you have someone you care for?"
Before Pingjun could answer, Liyuan cut in. "Of course she does. You know them, cousin-in-law, the Jiang family of Shenghui Bank. Jiang Xueting, the younger brother of the bank's owner, Jiang Xueyong, is Pingjun's sweetheart. They grew up together as childhood friends, a handsome pair, and they're wonderfully good together."
Pingjun blushed and reached to cover Liyuan's mouth. Mrs. Li was startled for a moment, then said lightly to Liyuan, "You do know a lot. How can promises between youngsters count for anything?" Pingjun was a little taken aback. She looked up at Mrs. Li's smiling face and didn't know what to say. A servant came up with plum blossom cakes, honey-stamped sweets, and other refreshments, and said to Mrs. Li, "Madam, the film man has come."
"Now you've got your wish," Mrs. Li said to Liyuan. "Your cousin knew you don't care for opera, so he hired a reel of film just to show you." Liyuan clapped her hands and cheered, and stood up, clamoring to go and see it at once. "They'll only show it tonight," Mrs. Li said. "But since you're so eager, I'll take you to see what the film is." She turned to Pingjun. "Miss Ye, please sit a while. I'll take this naughty cousin to look and come straight back."
Pingjun nodded. Mrs. Li had taken only a few steps when she looked back and said with a smile, "Miss Ye, we have a distinguished guest coming today, and we mustn't neglect him. If he arrives before we're back, have him sit here a while. Boren and I will be over shortly."
Since she had made a point of saying so, Pingjun quickly agreed, and only then did Mrs. Li pull Bai Liyuan away. The garden was beautiful, full of the scent of flowers and lush with fragrant grass. As Pingjun sat there, a pair of lovely colored butterflies circled past her and settled together on a pink hibiscus bud, their wings swaying soundlessly. A playful urge rose in her. Seeing no one about, she boldly stood up and went over, and as she reached out to catch them, they flew up and landed in the heart of another hibiscus.
She held her breath and crept up on tiptoe, and cupped her hands over them again. The pair of butterflies slipped away once more, fluttering off through the flowers. A soft laugh came from the covered walkway. "Those two are plainly Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Why must you catch them and break up their dream of flying side by side?"
Pingjun started and looked up. Several men in crisp iron-gray uniforms and leather boots stood in the walkway. At the center, ringed by the others, was a young officer, tall and elegant, with deep, dark eyes. When he smiled his brows lifted, with a touch of innate pride and openness. This was Yu Changxuan. He took off his cap and handed it to Gu Ruitong, then nodded to Ye Pingjun. "Miss Ye, I've heard much about you."
The words made it sound as though he knew her. Pingjun looked him over from head to foot. Gu Ruitong, cap in hand, was about to turn away with the aides, but when he saw Pingjun looking in his direction he lowered his head slightly and walked straight out.
She studied the man for a moment, her clear eyes full of doubt, and the first thing she said was, "Who are you?"
Changxuan had watched her chase butterflies among the flowers, her clothes stirring in the breeze, as lovely as a fairy drifting down. Now that she asked, he smiled and answered without holding anything back. "My surname is Yu, my given name is Qing, and my courtesy name is Changxuan."
Pingjun knit her brows slightly. She was from an ordinary family, but she knew that in Jinling anyone who gave the surname Yu was no ordinary person. She pointed toward the other end of the walkway. "You must be Mr. Li's honored guest. Mr. and Mrs. Li are in the front hall receiving guests. There's a nice private opera too."
"Oh," said Changxuan, his deep gaze resting on her. "There's no need to trouble yourself with going to the front. I think this is very good right here." Pingjun felt flustered under his gaze and turned to leave, but he stepped forward. "Miss Ye, please wait a moment."
Pingjun turned back and hesitated, but asked anyway, "How do you know my surname is Ye?"
The corner of his mouth lifted. "Mrs. Li was rushed off her feet in front, and told me to look for a Miss Ye in the garden. She said Miss Ye is very close to the Li family and could look after me for a while. I guessed it was you. I wasn't wrong, was I?"
He spoke so convincingly that Pingjun thought Mrs. Li was strange, to hand a male guest over to her for no reason at all. But she didn't want to put him in an awkward position, so she nodded. "Then please sit here a while. I'll bring you a cup of tea."
"No need," Changxuan said. "Isn't there some right here?" Pingjun had meant to use the tea as an excuse to step away, but he easily turned and poured from the teapot on the round table, and not one cup but two. He set one on the far side of the table and said politely, "I've disturbed you, Miss Ye, so allow me to offer you a cup of tea first."
Seeing how courteous he was, Pingjun couldn't well refuse. She came over and sat, picked up the cup, said nothing, and only touched it to her lips, which was enough to accept his courtesy. He didn't say much either, only smiled at her. The garden's flowers and trees were lush and thick. It was evening, and the sunset glow lay on clusters of hibiscus, lovely to see, with a faint fragrance hanging in the air. The drums and gongs of the private opera sounded faintly from far off, which made their corner seem all the quieter, like another world.
Sitting alone with a strange man for no reason left her uneasy. She set the cup on the table and was about to stand when she heard him say with a laugh, "Is this your book, Miss Ye?" She turned and saw him pick up a copy of the Book of Songs that had been lying at the corner of the table. She shook her head. "It isn't mine."
"Oh," he said. He took up the book and leafed through a few pages at random, then suddenly smiled. "I have a little sister who's terribly spoiled. The family hired a classics teacher for her, and after a few days of lessons she made up a verse to test me with. Can you guess what she said?"
He made it sound so mysterious that Pingjun asked, "What did she say?"
"She loves to make things hard for people. She said, 'Xiao Shi rode his dragon and called forth the phoenix's song, sung out the fourth line of Guanju.' Name a line from the Book of Songs." Pingjun smiled the moment he finished and answered without thinking, "That's easy. I've read it in a book. The fourth line of Guanju is, of course, 'a fine gentleman is her fit match.'"
He looked at her, his black eyes filled with little sparks of laughter. "Ah, thank you for the lesson, Miss Ye. So it is 'a fine gentleman is her fit match.' But what is it that this gentleman seeks?"
Pingjun paused, then stood up from her chair and turned to look at him. Her clear, bright eyes held a coolness. Just then Bai Liyuan's excited voice came from the walkway. "Pingjun, Pingjun! Someone in front is playing 'Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute.' Do you want to listen?"
Pingjun turned and saw Liyuan running toward her, with Mrs. Li and Li Boren behind, looking helpless. Mrs. Li was calling, "Liyuan, stop right there, you really are..." Liyuan had already run up and caught Pingjun's hand, grinning. Mrs. Li could do nothing. Seeing Changxuan sitting there, Li Boren gave an awkward laugh. "I wondered why I'd waited so long without seeing you. So Fifth Young Master is here."
Mrs. Li laughed too. "Our Boren has such standing that he's even managed to invite the Fifth Young Master. This birthday has not been wasted." Changxuan said, "I've come at a bad time. I didn't realize you were already entertaining a guest here."
"We're all family here. There's no such thing as a guest," Li Boren said quickly. "The garden is quite pleasant, Fifth Young Master. Look around here for a while, and then come to the front for the banquet. My wife and I will go and see how the preparations are coming." Mrs. Li nodded with a smile, then said to Liyuan, "Liyuan, you've been here all this time and haven't phoned your father yet. Go and call him, or the old gentleman will worry."
Liyuan said "Oh." But Pingjun spoke first, smiling. "I've just remembered I left something in the car I came in. I'll go and look for it." Her words stunned Li Boren and Mrs. Li. Mrs. Li recovered first. "What did you forget? I'll send someone to fetch it. There's no need for you to go yourself."
Changxuan raised his eyes to Pingjun and smiled. "Am I some flood or wild beast? The moment I arrive, you all rush to leave. Since when does Big Brother's house treat guests like this?"
"That's right," said Pingjun, smiling. "Mr. and Mrs. Li, do look after your guest. Liyuan and I will go together and come back together." Liyuan, who wanted nothing better, took Pingjun's hand. "Then off we go. I've been bored stiff here for ages and I've been longing to go play."
Li Boren watched Bai Liyuan and Ye Pingjun go off hand in hand along the walkway, helpless, and could only stare. He turned back to Changxuan and rubbed his hands awkwardly. Changxuan, drinking his tea, looked at Li Boren's face and couldn't help roaring with laughter, which made Mrs. Li furious. "Fifth Young Master, you've got our whole household running around in circles for you, and you still have the nerve to laugh! No wonder everyone says you're no good!"
Pingjun and Liyuan left the garden. She watched Liyuan go to make her phone call, then went out of the hall herself and stood on the steps looking around. Several guards stood in the front courtyard walkway. Pingjun walked toward them, and a sharp voice rang out: "Halt!" Two guards blocked her path.
Pingjun looked up and saw a refined, scholarly officer coming over. He was the very man who had sent her mother to the hospital and had been visiting every few days. She came straight to the point. "Who exactly are you?"
The young officer saw there was no more need to hide it. He waved the guards back and said, "I am Gu Ruitong, head of the Attendants' Office at the Yu residence."
Pingjun kept her eyes on him and thought for a moment before she said slowly, "Then the person who helped my mother and me is the one upstairs they call the Fifth Young Master?"
"Yes," Gu Ruitong said with a nod. Pingjun asked at once, "Why would he do this?"
Gu Ruitong looked at her. Her gaze was as clear and clean as ice and snow. He was silent for a moment, then said, "You are an intelligent person, Miss Ye. I don't need to tell you. You understand."
Pingjun lowered her eyes. She did understand at once, and there was nothing more to ask. She turned to go, but heard "Miss Ye" behind her. She looked back. Gu Ruitong was still standing there stiffly upright. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but in the end he said, "Miss Ye, get out while you still can."
Pingjun was startled. She looked at him, but his face was as calm as ever. She smiled quietly and nodded. "Thank you. I'll remember that."
Pingjun went back into the hall, where the banquet had already begun. As soon as she entered, Mrs. Li came forward, beaming, and led her to the head table. Pingjun sat down beside Liyuan. "What did you lose, exactly?" Liyuan asked. "Did you find it?"
Pingjun smiled, lips pressed together, and said softly, "I found it. It's the little thing Xueting gave me. Luckily I didn't lose it, or else..."
Liyuan giggled. "Or else you'd have been heartbroken." As they laughed and whispered together at the table, Mrs. Li noticed and asked, "What secrets are you two whispering about, looking so happy? Say it out loud and let us all have a laugh."
Her question made the others at the table look over. Changxuan raised his eyes and glanced at Ye Pingjun, a smile at the corner of his lips. Pingjun held Liyuan back. "It's nothing. Liyuan, stop laughing."
Liyuan could never keep anything in, and seeing Pingjun try to stop her only made her more determined to say it. "She rushed out in a panic all because of something Jiang Xueting gave her, and now I'm not even allowed to laugh? What kind of person are you!"
The smile on Mrs. Li's face stiffened at once. Then she saw Changxuan slowly set his wine cup down on the table. Seeing this, Li Boren quickly shot a look at his wife. Mrs. Li immediately took Pingjun's hand and said in a soft, gentle voice, "Miss Pingjun, I was so taken with you the moment I saw you that I've been thinking I'd like to make you my little sister. Would you do me the honor of accepting me as your elder sister?"
"How could I presume to climb so high?" Pingjun said with a smile.
"Not at all, not at all." Mrs. Li, beaming with joy, slipped a gold bracelet off her own arm and, paying no mind to Pingjun's protests, put it on her wrist. "When you rise high in the world, just don't forget us." She pulled Pingjun to her feet, put a cup of wine in her hand, and said warmly, "Everyone, listen. From now on Pingjun is my and Boren's sister. If any of you dares to bully her, I won't let you off!"
"Since she is our sister-in-law's sister, we would cherish her all the more," said Changxuan, smiling. "How would we dare bully her?" Mrs. Li, holding on to Pingjun, said to Changxuan with a smile, "I can't believe a word you say, Fifth Young Master. Everything else aside, from the moment you walked in, your eyes haven't left my sister Pingjun. If you have any designs on her, you can't get past me."
"That's true," Li Boren joined in. "Now that my wife and I stand behind our sister, if the Fifth Young Master hopes to cherish her without first treating us to winter melon soup, my wife and I won't agree." To drink winter melon soup was an old saying, meaning to thank the matchmaker. Li Boren had put it very bluntly, and everyone at the table laughed knowingly.
Amid the cheering laughter, Changxuan simply stood up, his dark eyes brimming with amusement, and raised his cup to Ye Pingjun. "Sister Pingjun, let me drink to you." Someone nearby called out, "Why just one cup? Make it a cup-linking toast!"
That set the whole table roaring with laughter. Mrs. Li pointed a finger at the people around the table. "So that's how it is! You're all bullying my sister today. Well, I won't let my sister drink that toast with the Fifth Young Master." Her words were like pouring oil on a fire. But Pingjun smiled easily, raised her cup to Changxuan, and said, "When Big Brother offers wine, your little sister dares not refuse!"
Changxuan paused. He looked at her. "What did you call me?"
"Big Brother, of course," said Pingjun, smiling. "I've just become Mr. Li's newly acknowledged sister, and the Fifth Young Master is like a brother to Mr. Li. So by extension I call you Big Brother too. That isn't wrong."
As soon as she finished speaking, nearly every smile in the room froze. The mood at the table went cold in an instant. Mrs. Li was awkward, unable to smile at all. Only Pingjun kept smiling, her cup raised to Changxuan. Changxuan's gaze rested for a moment on her smiling face. The corner of his mouth curved. "Well said!" He lifted his cup and clinked it against hers, drained it in one swallow, and tipped it to show her the bottom. The smile on his face was still faint.
Pingjun drank hers too, set the cup down steadily on the table, and turned to Mrs. Li. "I should go. My mother is still in the hospital, and I don't dare stay out too long." Mrs. Li had been staring at her in a daze and only now heard her. Glancing at Changxuan, she said hesitantly, "Oh, well, this..." But Changxuan had already stood up. He smiled at Pingjun. "I happen to be leaving as well. I'll see you home on the way."
Pingjun stopped short. Changxuan raised his brows and smiled, perfectly at ease. "You called me Big Brother. A big brother seeing his little sister home should be no problem, surely!" Beside her, Bai Liyuan looked at Pingjun and was about to speak. She had barely opened her mouth when she cried "Ouch!" and ducked her head. Mrs. Li had pinched her hard. Changxuan smiled and gestured to Pingjun. "Sister Pingjun, after you."
The Yu family's car was parked outside the Li residence. Pingjun got in. Changxuan politely let her take the forward-facing seat while he sat on the jump seat directly opposite her. He casually switched on the ceiling light, and the compartment lit up brilliantly. The car started moving. Pingjun turned her head to watch the street. Changxuan kept his eyes on her. Sitting face to face like that, they felt like two sides locked in a standoff, and neither said a word.
Pingjun could feel his burning gaze. She pretended to be calm and looked out the window, but her heart was pounding. Without noticing, she gripped a small handkerchief in her hand and wound it tightly around her fingers again and again. Changxuan saw a flush slowly rise in her face, and her quiet, unworldly beauty set his heart fluttering. He gazed at her, then suddenly said with a faint smile, "That gold bracelet is vulgar. It doesn't deserve such lovely hands as yours, Sister Pingjun."
Pingjun turned back and said with a smile, "You have it backwards. The gold bracelet is precious, and I'm the one who doesn't deserve it. There were so many people there that I was embarrassed to refuse, but one of these days I'll return it to Mrs. Li."
"Returning it is fine," said Changxuan, smiling. "Wear this one instead." As he spoke he took out a brocade box. When it opened, inside lay a jade bracelet, smooth and clear, with a warm green glow. One look told her it was a very precious piece.
Changxuan said nothing more. He picked up the bracelet and slid it onto Pingjun's wrist, as quickly as if he were putting handcuffs on a prisoner. Pingjun was startled and tried to pull it off, but Changxuan reached out and caught her hand. "Don't take it off. This is for you, and only you deserve to wear it."
Pingjun panicked and struggled to pull her hand free. "I don't want this."
"What are you afraid of?" he said, laughing. "Will the bracelet bite your hand?" He paused and looked at her, the smile in his eyes growing deeper, and said gently, "Miss Ye, let me tell you the truth. If you just nod, I can give you much more. I promise you'll have whatever you want."
His meaning was already plain. Pingjun raised her eyes to his. Her bright eyes were like fresh snow under the moon, with a clear coldness in them. "Fifth Young Master, I'm the daughter of a poor family. I'm not fortunate enough to wear a bracelet like this."
Changxuan only smiled, looking at her. Pingjun went on, "People like us, ordinary folk, all remember the great kindness of the Yu family. Everyone knows that without the Yu army the Japanese would have come long ago. And if it weren't for your generosity, Fifth Young Master, my mother might not have survived. I respect you from the bottom of my heart. If I speak to you like this today, it isn't because I don't know what's good for me. My fortune is thin, and I simply can't accept it."
Her speech was courteous and humble, and it pinned Changxuan down so completely that he was left speechless. He slowly released her hand. After a while he said with a smile, "You've put one tall hat after another on me, and you've almost made me out to be a saint of benevolence and righteousness. It must have taken real effort, being so clever."
As soon as he finished, Pingjun took off the bracelet and put it back into his hand. In the instant of the exchange the car suddenly braked. Pingjun, caught off guard, pitched forward and was caught against Changxuan's chest, warm and soft. She struggled in alarm to get away. He didn't stop her and let her pull back with perfect ease, and only said coolly to the driver in front, "Xiao He, what kind of driving is that?"
"Sorry, Fifth Young Master," the driver answered. "I didn't see the pothole ahead."
Pingjun said nothing. She turned her head and gazed silently out the window. Changxuan saw her calm, as though she had put the whole matter behind her. He only smiled. The car went on a little farther and reached the hospital. Pingjun got out, and a moment later Changxuan got out too. "This is as far as I need to go," she said, turning back with a smile. "I won't trouble you any further, Fifth Young Master."
Changxuan had gotten out anyway. "So now you call me Fifth Young Master again?"
"What happened at the banquet was only for fun," said Pingjun. "If I kept calling you Big Brother now, I'd be truly ungrateful."
He fixed his gaze on her, his eyes deep. After a while he smiled slightly and said softly, "Call me anything you like. I don't care what anyone else calls me, but whatever you call me, I'll be glad to hear it."
His words carried a hint of tender feeling. Pingjun raised her head and looked at him. He gazed back and said, "Pingjun." He reached out to take her hand. She flinched and stepped back in alarm. "What is it?" he said with a soft laugh. "Are you that afraid of me?"
"It isn't fear," said Pingjun with a smile. "It's respect."
He looked at her for a while, then smiled too, and said lightly, "Which kind of respect? If it's the respect of husband and wife treating each other as honored guests, I'd be very glad of it."
Pingjun's mind was in turmoil, and her face burned as though on fire. Fine beads of sweat had broken out on her forehead. Fortunately the night was dim and the wind blew in gusts, covering her embarrassment. She said in a low voice, "Fifth Young Master, I have a boyfriend."
He smiled in a way she couldn't read. "Oh. I see." His tone was as mild as if he were humoring a child.
She nodded, a farewell of sorts, then turned and walked off along the small path beside the road. He watched until she had gone through the hospital gate, then got back into the car. The jade bracelet still lay on the sofa seat. He picked it up. In the front seat, Gu Ruitong turned and saw Changxuan staring at the bracelet in a daze. "It's the first time I've seen you take such pains over anyone, Fifth Young Master," he said with a smile. "Do you really mean to marry this Miss Ye as your wife?"
Only then did Changxuan come back to himself. He was startled by Gu Ruitong's words, then laughed carelessly. "What kind of family are we? If a girl with no status or standing became the Yu family's Fifth Young Madam, it would be a joke. I only wanted..." He didn't finish. He looked at the jade bracelet again and said with a faint smile, "Still, she is very clever."
The car drove all the way back to the Yu residence, where Gu Ruitong took several aides back to the guard office. Changxuan was heading upstairs when he saw the chief maid Qiuluo coming out of the dining room. Her lips were painted a bright, pretty red. He smiled and walked toward her. Qiuluo giggled and slipped around behind the marble screen, beckoning to him. "Fifth Young Master, come here, come here."
At that beckoning he could hardly refuse. "You little imp," he said, laughing. "You tease me and then think you can run? Just see what I do to you!" As soon as he rounded the screen, he felt something warm on his cheek. Qiuluo had held up two fingers and pressed them mischievously to his face. She turned and ran laughing back into the dining room. He watched her go, and then heard a voice behind him. "Fifth Brother, you're finally here. Father just got back from the government offices and has been asking for you."
At the word "Father," Changxuan's heart tightened and all his good humor vanished. He turned and saw his sixth sister, Qixuan, standing there smiling with her hands behind her back. "How long has Father been home?" he asked.
Qixuan pointed upstairs. "Hurry up. He's been waiting a while."
Changxuan hurried to the stairs, but Qixuan called out softly, "Fifth Brother, wait." She ran up, took his arm, looked at his face, and burst out laughing. "It's fine now. Go on up."
Changxuan went upstairs and headed straight for the north hall. Hearing his mother's voice, he felt somewhat relieved. When he walked in, his father, Yu Zhongquan, was sitting on the sofa drinking tea, and his mother sat beside him with a string of jade prayer beads in her hands, saying something. As soon as he entered, Madam Yu looked up. One glance at Changxuan and the smile on her face froze. She quickly said, "Changxuan, go out for now."
Changxuan was startled. His father had already looked up. He took one look at him, and his stern face turned red as though flushed with blood. He was clearly furious to the extreme. Without a word he snatched up the gilt-edged enamel chrysanthemum-petal teacup in front of him and threw it at Changxuan's face. It struck his forehead. "You wretch!" he roared. "What is that on your face?!"
Changxuan wiped his hand across his cheek. A smear of red rouge came away on his fingers. He thought, This is bad, and dropped to his knees. Yu Zhongquan was shaking with rage. He shouted again and again for the family discipline rod to be brought, and, unable to wait, grabbed the horsehair whisk from the shelf beside him and went at his son, striking hard. Madam Yu couldn't stop him. Changxuan took several blows and let out a half-real, half-feigned cry, which brought tears to his mother's eyes. She threw her arms around Yu Zhongquan and said, weeping, "Stop, my lord. You don't know your own strength. If you hurt him badly I won't go on living either."
Yu Zhongquan was in a towering rage. "A doting mother ruins her children! I raised this animal who does nothing but eat, drink, and play, and does nothing proper. All he's good for is disgracing the Yu family. I may as well beat him to death and be done with it!"
Seeing how savagely Yu Zhongquan was swinging, Madam Yu simply let go and wailed aloud. "Go on, beat him to death! Poor me, I had only three sons in my life. You sent Mingxuan and Yaoxuan to the battlefield when they were barely grown, and both were killed. Now there's only this one shoot left. I won't stop you. Beat him to death. Either way it ends the Yu family line, and then you'll have your Yu family of loyal martyrs."
Her words struck exactly where Yu Zhongquan hurt most. In that instant he found he couldn't bring himself to strike again, and dropped heavily onto the sofa. Second Miss Jinxuan had been standing outside the hall all along, not daring to enter, her own eyes red. Her husband, Kuang Bingwen, had been a senior staff officer of the Seventh War Zone, and he had died two years earlier on the battlefield in southern Yunnan. Bingwen had been an orphan, so Jinxuan had taken her son, Kuang Zening, back to live in her parents' home. A widow and a fatherless child, she knew her own sorrow well.
Now, listening to her mother's lament, she shared the grief, but she reminded herself not to add fuel to the fire. She hurriedly wiped away her tears, and when the scene inside eased a little, she told the servants to go in and help Changxuan out. Madam Yu followed, wiping her tears, and kept ordering the aides downstairs to fetch the medical officer. Jinxuan bustled about with them for a good while before returning, and found her old father sitting alone in the hall. Yu Zhongquan looked at his second daughter as she came in and asked, "How is your fifth brother?"
"It's nothing serious," said Jinxuan. "Only a little scraped skin."
Yu Zhongquan was silent for a while. In the end he still ached for this son. He sighed deeply and said, "Go to my study and take the bruise salve from the cabinet. Put it on him." Jinxuan agreed at once, turned to fetch the salve, and took it to Changxuan's room herself, saying specifically that it was from their father. It was clear that this lesson, too, had gone for nothing.
Changxuan had hardly been hurt at all, only a little scraped skin on his forehead. He lay on a short couch while Madam Yu sat beside him shedding tears. His eldest sister-in-law, Jun Minru, was busy directing the servants to bring medicine and water. Seeing Madam Yu's tear-stained face, she came over to comfort her. "Mother, please don't grieve anymore. Thankfully Father does care about Fifth Brother. See, it's only an external wound, and a little salve will take care of it."
Madam Yu nodded and said tearfully, "I have such a bitter fate. I worked so hard to raise three sons, and now only my youngest is left..." As she got that far, Minru's eyes reddened as well. When Minru had married into the Yu family, it had been less than two months before Yu Mingxuan was killed in the defense of Sichuan and Chongqing.
Thinking of this, Madam Yu felt the ache in her heart and nodded to Minru with a sigh. "Our Yu family owes you a debt. I know that in my heart." "We're all family," Minru said. "What debt is there to speak of? As for Fifth Brother being like this, it isn't only us who are heartsick. There's Daiti too. You know how close she and Fifth Brother have been since they were small. If she hears, there's no telling how worried she'll be."
Madam Yu nodded again and said, "Yes, you're right." Just then quick footsteps came from outside, and Sixth Sister Qixuan ran in. She saw Changxuan's state, and her mother and sister-in-law weeping over him, and said loudly, "Mother, stop crying. Honestly, Fifth Brother deserves a lesson. That Xiao Beichen of the Xiao family is only a year or two older than Fifth Brother, and look what he manages in politics, turning everything upside down. Now look at Fifth Brother, and see what he's like!"
Changxuan had been listening to all this pointless talk around him for ages and was thoroughly irritated. He glared at Qixuan and said sharply, "Can you get out? I get a headache just looking at you!"
Seeing him displeased, Madam Yu turned at once to her youngest daughter and said, neither harshly nor gently, "Qixuan, why must you keep comparing those old-fashioned northern families to our civilized household? Be quiet for a while. Didn't you hear your fifth brother say he has a headache? Out with you."
Changxuan closed his eyes and said impatiently, "I want to sleep a while. It's late. Mother, go and rest too." Seeing how tired he looked, Madam Yu didn't want to disturb his rest. She pulled Qixuan and Minru out with her, and as they left the room she told Zhu Ma, who looked after things on this side, "Take good care of Fifth Young Master. If he's the slightest bit unwell, come and call me at once."
Zhu Ma quickly agreed. Qixuan pouted beside them. "Playing favorites." Madam Yu turned. "Can you say a little less? Don't come disturbing your fifth brother for the next few days." Qixuan turned her head away. "Who cares about him? Mother spoils him like this, and sooner or later she'll ruin him." With that she ran downstairs in a huff.
Ye Pingjun saw her mother getting better day by day. There was no longer any need for her to stay in the hospital, and the daily charges were considerable, so she discussed it with her mother. They decided to take some medicine home and let her recover there, and she arranged with the doctor to leave the next day. The next day she went to the hospital accounts office to settle the bill. It came to nearly four hundred yuan. Pingjun silently committed the figure to memory. When she came back from the accounts office, several guards stood outside the ward, rifles on their shoulders, perfectly straight.
Gu Ruitong, standing at the corridor window, heard her footsteps and slowly turned his head. Seeing Pingjun, he nodded to her politely.
Kuiguang Pavilion stood in front of the West Gate, and it was always bustling and crowded. That day it was much quieter, because a whole row of military police stood at the entrance, an impressive sight, and some of the Yu residence attendants stood outside the private room, their faces silent and cold.
When she walked into the private room, Gu Ruitong closed the door behind her from outside. The sound of the door shutting made her heart clench. In the middle of the room stood a large table laid with all kinds of delicacies, and Changxuan sat at the head. He had just come back from the parade ground and still wore boots with spurs and his uniform trousers. He had taken off his jacket and wore only a white shirt. He looked up and saw Pingjun standing there, and smiled. "Why are you standing there? Come and sit."
Pingjun didn't move. Seeing this, Changxuan smiled. "Very well. I'll invite you to the table myself." He actually stood and walked toward her. Pingjun quickly stepped forward and sat down silently at the table. Seeing her seated, Changxuan smiled, took an empty bowl, ladled soup for her with great attentiveness, and set it before her. "This ham and bamboo shoot soup is excellent. Try it."
He sat down beside her. His eyes were black as obsidian. She wore a lotus-colored dress with a small standing collar embroidered with delicate carved flowers, which set off the white, soft line of her neck. It struck him that a neck so lovely would be perfect with a string of pearls.
He looked at her and said warmly, "I heard your mother is being discharged, so I came specially to fetch you both."
"I wouldn't dare trouble the Fifth Young Master," said Pingjun. "My mother is waiting for me downstairs. Once I've finished speaking with you, I'll go home with her."
"Don't go back to that crowded courtyard," Changxuan said with a smile. "That's no place for people to live. I've set up a new place for you and your mother, a clean little courtyard house. Would you like it? I'll also find some people to wait on you and your mother."
"I wouldn't dare accept that either," Pingjun said calmly. "I'm still thinking about how to repay you even for the hospital fees."
Changxuan studied her face, his handsome features full of satisfaction. "It would be too distant to talk of repaying money. You are an intelligent person, Miss Ye. Why insist on playing dumb? Surely you know how I feel about you?"
Pingjun raised her clear eyes to him and answered distinctly, "Fifth Young Master, my boyfriend Jiang Xueting is coming home soon."
Changxuan only smiled, saying nothing. He took the foreign liquor beside him and poured a glass, and he had barely taken a sip when Pingjun said, "Fifth Young Master, if there's nothing else, I should go back..." She hadn't finished when he set down his glass, lifted his palm and sniffed it, and said, quite unruffled, "How annoying. There's still a bloody smell. I can't seem to wash it off."
He turned to Pingjun and said gently, "I fired a shot at the parade ground just now. A fine thoroughbred, and I liked it very much. But I couldn't break it. What use is it to keep it?"
Pingjun looked into his black eyes. His handsome face was still calm. She said only, "Everything has its own fate. It was never meant to be yours. Even if you took its life, it still wouldn't be yours. In the end it was wasted effort, nothing more than emptiness."
Changxuan laughed. "There's some sense in that. If I'd heard you say it earlier, perhaps that horse would still be alive. Pity that I'm unreasonable by nature, born with the fault of not listening to anyone."
Pingjun lowered her head, took a handful of money from her pocket, and laid it on the table together with several silver dollars. "You paid for my mother's medical expenses. Here is some money, and I'll pay back this much first. Please let me find a way to repay the rest slowly. I'll pay it all back." She looked toward the door. "My mother is waiting downstairs. I should go, or she'll worry." She started to rise, but Changxuan set his glass down on the table and said lightly, "Sit."
The word was neither loud nor soft, but it carried heavy pressure. Pingjun looked at him. His face was very dark. She smiled slightly and said, "I've just remembered something you once said to me, Fifth Young Master." Seeing her smile, he smiled too. "Is that so?" he said softly. "I'm glad. So you remember everything I say to you."
"What you said was very wise," said Pingjun, smiling. "I was foolish and chased after two butterflies, and you said then, 'Those two are plainly Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Why must you catch them and break up their dream of flying side by side?' Thinking of it now, it really was a word that woke me from a dream."
The smile on Changxuan's face vanished without a sound. He only looked at her, his gaze carrying a deep, cold chill. "You remember it very clearly indeed!"
His gaze made Pingjun's heart shudder. For an instant her fingers stiffened with tension, but she forced herself to go on. "Fifth Young Master, girls from small families like mine only hope to be good wives and mothers, and to live our lives honestly and cleanly. That's all we want. Please be merciful and let me go!"
He stared at her. Her face was still very calm. She only lowered her head a little. A few wisps of fine black hair lay along one snow-white cheek, her chin curved softly, and her soft lips were moist and rosy. His throat suddenly tightened with a feeling like thirst. Without thinking, he snatched up the glass and downed a mouthful, then said in a low voice, "What is so good about that man Jiang?!"
"He can give me a proper, honorable status," Pingjun answered distinctly.
Even without raising her head she could feel his burning gaze. She had said enough and didn't dare say more. She stood up and walked toward the door. Her legs went soft beneath her and her heart raced. The few short steps from the table to the door felt so far, but at last she reached it.
As she pushed open the door and went out, she heard a crack behind her. He had smashed a wine glass.
She didn't dare look back. She just left.
The early summer sun turned to brilliant gold over the street at the West Gate. On one side of the street stood a tall ginkgo, its green fan-shaped leaves tossing in the wind. Changxuan stood at the bright window and watched Ye Pingjun help her mother forward step by step. She walked with her head slightly lowered, careful of her mother, and her black hair loosened in the wind, a thousand silken threads that seemed to tangle around one's heart.
Changxuan slowly turned around and leaned against the window. He took a cigarette from his case, and a guard stepped forward to light it. White smoke rose and hid his eyes and brows. Gu Ruitong, standing nearby, saw how dark his face was and stepped closer. "Fifth Young Master, forgive me for speaking out of turn. The Tao sisters and Miss Jun Daiti are all first-rate women. Why trouble yourself over Miss Ye, a girl from such a humble family?"
Changxuan's face stayed gloomy. He flung the cigarette to the floor and ground it out under his foot. Then he saw the small cabinet beside him and kicked it with his leather military boot. The cabinet crashed over, and a teapot that had been standing on it fell to the floor and shattered to pieces.