Yu Zhi's frame was limp, her hair disheveled, and she lay limply in the Fourth Miss's arms, exhausted to the point that she fainted without regard for the occasion.
At the gate of the Wei family, the gatekeeper saw with his own eyes the fourth young lady carrying her favorite concubine down from the carriage. The snow-white cloak tightly wrapped around her delicate beauty. Without waiting for a second glance, he hurriedly knelt down to greet her.
The Fourth Miss is not what she used to be. With the Yan family and the Emperor and Empress backing her up, even the old masters in the mansion have to avoid her and keep their eyes off her.
Yu Zhi wrapped her arms around the Fourth Miss's neck, sleeping soundly like a kitten. Her flushed face was buried in Wei Pingxi's neck, her breath warm, making her look incredibly endearing.
As they walked through the winding corridor, the Fourth Miss and Young Master Wei met unexpectedly.
Three years ago, Wei Pingxi and he could still be drinking together peacefully.
Alas, people's hearts are fickle. She was a lonely soul from a previous life, and she knew who was good and who was bad in this mansion. Her eldest brother was sanctimonious but the most untrustworthy.
She didn't even call him "elder brother" when she saw him, which made Young Master Wei dissatisfied. He then noticed the newly taken concubine in the Jingzhe Courtyard, who was wearing only snow-white socks and no boots.
Knowing his fourth sister as he did, he figured that under the cloak, this concubine might be naked.
"Brother, please have some self-respect."
"You want me to have some self-respect?" Young Master Wei scoffed. "Your unrestrained and dissolute behavior will only bring shame to the Wei family if word gets out!"
Wei Pingxi calmly concealed Yu Zhi's small feet and white socks that were peeking out, and said with a slight smile, "Brother, you should read more books. You can't even curse properly. You keep repeating the same old lines. You may not get tired of saying them, but I'm tired of hearing them."
Her smile froze, then her expression suddenly changed: "My woman, I can do whatever I want with her, it's none of your business! Get out of my way!"
Young Master Wei was so angry that his hands trembled: "You...you..."
A chilling aura pressed in, forcing him to take two steps back. Wei Pingxi walked past him, humming a familiar children's song from Lingnan Prefecture: "If you dare to look at my woman again, I'll gouge out your eyes."
Yu Zhi was disturbed by the scent in her sleep, and curled up slightly. The Fourth Miss immediately smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, I didn't say this to you."
Swallowing his anger, he returned to Xingning Courtyard. Upon entering, the young master Wei's carefully cultivated composure vanished instantly; his face contorted, his eyes blazing with fury: "Wei, Ping, Xi! How dare you?!"
"Why wouldn't I dare?"
In the Jingzhe Courtyard, Wei Pingxi put down the exhausted beauty: "Let them think I'm an incurable madman for now. Don't mess with me. If you mess with me, you can't just walk away. That's not how dreams work."
"That's the eldest young master..."
"It's the eldest young master who's angry."
She opened her hands, and Jade respectfully presented the wet towel.
"Go down now, and don't forget to accept your punishment."
Her jade-like face turned sour: "You haven't forgotten?"
"Do I have such a bad memory? Ten Staffs, Agate, you do it."
Agate covered her mouth and laughed: "Yes, Miss."
The two sisters quietly left. Wei Pingxi calmed herself down, untied the sash of her cloak, revealing her fair and delicate body underneath. She chuckled, "You slept so soundly, but in the end, I still have to serve you."
She parted the beauty's slender legs and used a towel to wipe away the remaining flower dew.
Yu Zhi woke up late at night.
Under the candlelight, Wei Pingxi played with a jade seal about two inches long without looking up: "Have you had enough sleep? There's some congee and side dishes on the table, eat by yourself."
"Xi Xi?"
"Shout again?"
Yu Zhi was shy and pretended to be deaf and dumb.
As soon as the quilt was lifted, she exclaimed in surprise and quickly shrank back onto the small couch, her skin quite delicate.
Wei Pingxi took out a carving knife and began to carve the seal: "What's there to be shy about? What haven't I seen of you? While you were sleeping soundly, I helped you wipe yourself down. How did it feel?"
A surge of heat rushed to her face; no wonder she felt refreshed upon waking. Yu Zhi thanked her softly, her delicate charm as gentle as water.
"Alright, go ahead and eat. I won't be sleeping here tonight, so you can get a good night's sleep."
"Are you leaving?"
"You can't bear to part with it?"
Yu Zhi opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. The quilt slipped from her chest, and she got up barefoot.
Looking at the beauty under the lamplight, as fair as jade and as white as snow, Wei Pingxi noticed her standing there somewhat awkwardly and suddenly changed his mind: "Can you dance?"
"Yes." Yu Zhi blushed: "Only the 'Dream Lover' that all unmarried women in Lingnan Prefecture know."
“My love, it’s alright. I don’t know how to do it anyway. I think this dance is too seductive, so I refused to learn it back then.”
The fourth young lady smiled and said, "Are you going to dance for me? If you dance for me, I'll stay here tonight and not leave."
Bai Rijinshi Yinding's words finally touched her heart. Yu Zhi was worried that she would be abandoned sooner, so she wanted to try her best to keep her heart. She nodded and said, "I'll jump for you, don't go."
Wei Pingxi's eyes darkened: "You're dancing like this without a costume?"
"..."
Yu Zhi bit her lip: "Even if I don't wear a dance costume, I still have to eat, right?"
"use!"
Wei Pingxi turned and went out: "Go get my zither, and have the kitchen prepare some fruits and snacks."
She turned her head: "Zhizhi, what else would you like to eat?"
Yu Zhi shook her head from behind the screen.
"That's all then, go and prepare."
"Yes, Miss."
Lanterns hang high in the courtyard of the Awakening of Insects, the moonlight is reflected in the pond, the autumn night is cool, a sudden breeze rises, and withered leaves swirl, creating a unique charm.
The rice porridge was warm and fragrant as it entered her mouth. Yu Zhi sat on a round stool, holding a porcelain spoon and eating in small bites. Wei Pingxi walked around the screen and looked at her with a smile: "Actually, you look best without clothes on."
"..."
If she were even slightly ugly, saying such things would surely disgust people.
However, the person who said this was a fairy that could not be found anywhere else in the world. Just looking at her face, Yu Zhi couldn't bear to say anything bad about her.
She kept her legs together, but fortunately the inner room was much warmer than the autumn chill outside. Her long hair, like brocade, draped over her bare jade back. The beauty had a small appetite, and since the noble family had many rules for their evening meals, she was content with being only six-tenths full.
Are you tired?
"Not tired."
Wei Pingxi took the empty bowl from her: "Before I got tired, you cried your eyes out. People who didn't know the situation would have thought I did something to you."
Yu Zhi's heart raced as she recalled her experiences inside the carriage, and she swallowed hard, saying, "I've always been a crybaby."
"Does it feel sore? Can I still jump?"
Yu Zhi shifted her waist and legs, her face flushed: "It's alright."
"Miss, your order has been brought."
Without his master's orders, Agate dared not step forward and waited quietly outside the door.
After taking the zither and a few plates of fruits and snacks, Wei Pingxi closed the door behind him, put the zither on his lap, and started plucking the strings to test a few timbres.
She laughed and said, "It's been a long time since I've played, I don't know if I've gotten rusty. You've just eaten, so you can play again later. Come and give me a shoulder massage."
Yu Zhi stepped behind her, working tirelessly without complaint.
"There aren't many good people in this mansion. The old man is so old, yet he still frequents brothels. The brothel is a filthy place. You're one of my people, so I doubt he'd dare to touch you. But you should be more vigilant in all things. Avoid him from now on."
"yes."
"My father, Marquis Yiyang, was deeply in love with my mother and lived like a dog in front of her."
"But he was, after all, a marquis. People treated women harshly, and there were seven grounds for divorce. Jealousy was a major taboo. So, besides worshipping Buddha, my mother would also add people to his backyard when she had nothing else to do."
"I am the fourth child, with three older sisters, all of whom are married."
"Below, there are countless younger sisters. The daughters of concubines have no status in the mansion and rarely appear in public. They are all tools used for marriage alliances."
"When you see my half-sisters in the future, please be kinder to them. The servants fawn over the powerful and bully the weak. Your attitude is my attitude. If you treat them well, their lives will be easier."
"Why should I treat them better?" Yu Zhi didn't understand.
"Because they are afraid of me, they avoid me like the plague."
She didn't care at all, raising an eyebrow: "Let them think what they want, I'll live my life."
The legitimate daughter of a noble family is despised and regarded as a monster by everyone in her own household.
Yu Zhi didn't know how she was laughing, but she seemed genuinely unconcerned.
"As for my three elder brothers, Wei Da, don't be fooled by his respectable appearance. He is the most cunning of them all. As the eldest son of the Marquis's family, he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve."
"He may not openly confront you, but he hates me. He hates that I have ruined the family's reputation, that I have taken away all of my mother's love, and that I have obtained what he so desperately wants without lifting a finger."
"He won't harm you, but his wives and concubines will inevitably make sarcastic remarks about you."
“I’m not afraid,” Yu Zhi said earnestly.
"Yeah, what are you afraid of with me here? What I'm saying is, if they try to sabotage you, you have to sabotage them back! Don't embarrass me."
"ah?"
"What do you mean 'huh'? You can't even swear, can't you at least be a veiled person?"
"What 'hermaphrodite'? That sounds awful." Yu Zhi poked her shoulder with her little finger.
Wei Pingxi couldn't keep a serious face after being poked by her: "Do I hurt you or not?"
Yu Zhi's heart pounded like a deer's: "Hmm?"
"I love you so much, are you going to keep it a secret from outsiders?"
“My elder brother has been keeping many mistresses in secret. In the past six months, he has only made a scene in his wife’s room twice. When his wife first came into the family, she mocked me, saying that I have a mother who loves me but no father who loves me. She said that if necessary, I should help her get revenge.”
"good!"
She whispered, "How come you knew everything about your older brother going into the wife's room?"
"This?" Wei Pingxi smiled with narrowed eyes, "Before you entered Jingzhe Courtyard, I would 'patrol' the mansion a few times at night when I couldn't sleep."
"You were spying on them?"
Yu Zhi was shocked.