“Besides, I was the one who asked you to come treat Jingzhao’s injuries in the first place. How could I let anything happen to you?” Pei Lianyi added calmly.
Under the twilight, his figure was like a swaying magnolia outside the main hall—graceful, dignified, and noble, making it impossible to look away.
Unsure if it was an illusion, Li Man’er always felt Master Pei seemed especially haggard today. Thinking it might be because he was overworked with manor affairs, she quickly responded: “Family Head Pei is too polite.”
After a moment of silence, she tugged at the corner of her mouth helplessly: “For people like us, from the moment we’re born, besides matters of the family, we shouldn’t hope for anything else.”
Hearing this, Pei Lianyi, who was applying medicine, darkened his eyes. He accidentally touched the deep part of the wound. The searing pain shot through him, nearly making him faint.
“Hss— Ah…!”
“Family Head Pei—! Are you alright?!” Li Man’er was startled.
Pei Lianyi was born noble. From head to toe, even the strands of his hair seemed molded from fine gold and jade in minute, exquisite detail. It was said his manor was paved entirely with priceless dark-green gold bricks—warm in winter, cool in summer, smooth and soft underfoot, designed not to abrade his skin.
But now, for the sake of a bedridden live-in son-in-law, he had run to the wilderness to dig up herbs and injured himself this badly. If word got out, anyone would be utterly flabbergasted!
Pei Lianyi, drenched in cold sweat, replied: “I-It’s… fine…”
Seeing the bone-deep wound on his thigh, Li Man’er paced in anxious circles.
Pei Lianyi’s legs were long and straight, usually wrapped by their owner in precious fabrics. But no matter how fine and light the material, it could hardly conceal their mature, firm lines.
Those legs moved with unhurried grace, steady and powerful, never once losing composure.
Now, exposed to the air, they looked as flawlessly smooth as finely polished jade. Even the deepest part behind the knee was fair and pristine, bearing no traces of the passing years.
How could a man have such beautiful legs? What a pity it would be if they scarred…
“Shall we head back, Family Head Li?”
“Ah—? Oh! Coming.” Just as Li Man’er was lost in thought, the man’s cool, detached voice sounded by her ear. She suddenly came back to her senses to find Pei Lianyi had already straightened his clothes and was waiting for her by the Ferghana Horses.
Li Man’er’s face flushed red, and she hurriedly followed.
Pei Lianyi was injured and no longer fit to ride. She had wanted to persuade him to go slower but was blocked by a single phrase from him: “Jingzhao is still waiting.”
Thus, in less than a shichen, the two returned to the Pei Manor.
When dismounting, Pei Lianyi’s leg had nearly lost all sensation, and his face was deathly pale.
Seeing his staggering figure, Li Man’er disregarded all propriety and distance, immediately stepping forward to support his arm.
Watching Pei Lianyi enter the gate, leaning on her for support, Cao Xian, who came to greet them, cried out in alarm: “Family Head! Family Head, what happened to you?!”
“Quickly, go find something to stabilize your Family Head’s…”
Li Man’er was about to order a servant to fetch a wooden board to splint the leg bone. But Pei Lianyi cut her off, saying mildly: “It’s nothing. Just twisted my ankle.”
“Family Head Pei, you…!” She was so anxious she bit her lip.
Pei Lianyi averted his captivating autumn-water pupils, his expression composed: “Let Ziying and the others not know about this. Treating Jingzhao’s injuries is the priority.”
He’d bled so much, and yet he called it “this little thing”?!
Li Man’er was truly choked with frustration at his stubbornness. After a few stammering “You—! I…! Bah!”, she could only help him to the bedchamber first.
Night fell. The brightly lit room was filled with a heavy atmosphere.
After pouring a bowl of medicinal decoction down the throat of the young man on the bed, seeing some color return to his face, Li Man’er wiped the sweat from her brow and said to the person beside her: “The medicine to invigorate the blood has been given, and the acupuncture to disperse the stasis is done. Based on Young Master Huo’s constitution, he should wake within seven days.”
“Thank you for your efforts.” Pei Lianyi nodded to her, studying Huo Jingzhao’s face intently.
Observing his gaze, Li Man’er felt an inexplicable sense that something was off.
She suddenly recalled, back when they were sitting by the stream, Pei Lianyi’s forlorn expression had looked exactly like someone suffering from lovesickness or a broken heart…
“Family Head, it’s time for your medicine.” At that moment, Cao Xian entered with a bowl of medicine.
Pei Lianyi immediately put some distance between himself and Huo Jingzhao, asking about Pei Ziying’s and Madam Huo’s conditions.
Cao Xian placed the medicine on the table and replied: “The Little Young Master is sulking and sleeping in the guest room. Madam Huo is also out of danger.”
“…” Pei Lianyi’s grim face relaxed slightly.
“Medicine? What medicine are you taking?” Li Man’er walked to the table and asked curiously.
Cao Xian smiled at her and said: “It’s a medicine to calm the spirit and aid sleep.”
Calm the spirit? This clearly smelled like medicine to induce… arousal, nourish the body, and stabilize pregnancy… Smelling that rare, unusual fragrance in the air, Li Man’er hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.
“Family Head Li, is something wrong?” Cao Xian looked at her with confusion.
“Ah, it’s nothing…!” Li Man’er waved him off.
While the two were talking, Pei Lianyi had already finished the medicine.
Facing his face, which had turned rosy after taking the medicine, and the eyes that had taken on a hint of seduction, Li Man’er’s expression flickered. She suddenly said: “It’s already late today, and I have to brew medicine for Young Master Huo early tomorrow morning. To not delay the patient’s treatment, I wonder if Family Head Pei could let me stay overnight tonight?”
Given Pei Lianyi’s rules and style, he would absolutely never let an unmarried woman stay overnight in the manor—even if she were a fellow clan head.
“Family Head Li, that might be…” …inappropriate!
Just as Cao Xian was about to decline on his master’s behalf, he heard Pei Lianyi say: “Family Head Li has been busy for most of the day and should indeed rest well. Cao Xian, escort her to the guest room.”
Looking at his master’s noble, indifferent profile, Cao Xian was immensely surprised.
Earlier today, seeing Pei Lianyi and Li Man’er go out together, plenty of idle gossip had already sprung up in the manor. If she stayed the night, who knew what rumors would fly tomorrow!
But right now, Pei Lianyi’s heart was restless and agitated, his eyes full only of the person on the bed. How could he care about anything else? He urged: “Hurry up.”
“Yes…!” Cao Xian stiffened his neck, then asked him: “Where will the Family Head rest tonight? Hot water is prepared in the Main Courtyard.”
Pei Lianyi’s face froze, momentarily unsure how to answer.
This was Ziying’s bedchamber. Lying on the bed was his future husband. And he himself, as Ziying’s father and Jingzhao’s father-in-law, didn’t even have the standing or qualification to stay the night here.
Seeing this, Li Man’er coughed lightly a couple of times and said: “Although the medicine has been administered, Young Master Huo might have a resistance to it. Why doesn’t Family Head Pei stay here to observe?”
With her words, Pei Lianyi naturally had a reason to stay.
After Cao Xian and Li Man’er left, he picked up the cloth nearby and started wiping Huo Jingzhao’s face.
At first, it was nothing. But when his eyes inadvertently skimmed the man’s lean tendons and Adam’s apple at the neck, Pei Lianyi felt the surrounding temperature rise significantly.
This heat wave came on fiercely, causing him to sweat.
Pei Lianyi frowned, habitually wanting to take off his riding clothes. But remembering where he was, he stopped himself.
As a father, how could he undress for the live-in son-in-law in his son’s bedchamber?
Even though Huo Jingzhao was unconscious right now, the usually conservative man couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Left with no choice, Pei Lianyi could only rest his hands on his knees and try to ease the heat by sitting still.
But before long, he was defeated by the stickiness all over his body.
Opening his eyes, looking at the man behind him lying sprawled on his back, Pei Lianyi blushed. His hands slowly moved toward the buttons on his collar.
“Forget it. It’s the last night anyway. Why worry so much?”
As his low, mellow voice sounded, the magnolia-colored riding clothes slowly fell to the floor. To be discreet, Pei Lianyi purposely didn’t take off the thin inner garment outside his sleeping robe, completely unaware that this shy image of himself was even more arousing.
After taking off the clothes, he lay down beside Huo Jingzhao.
Perhaps due to blood loss, the man’s body was somewhat cool. Pei Lianyi pressed close as if clutching a life-saving straw, resting his head against the other’s chest.
From this angle, if Huo Jingzhao opened his eyes, he would see his waterfall-like long hair, his profile, and his smooth shoulders.
Pei Lianyi felt like he was sleeping on a cold rock face. Not thinking much, he just sighed comfortably.
Right then, Huo Jingzhao’s arm suddenly twitched.
“Jingzhao…! Are you awake?!” Afraid the man would see his infatuated state, Pei Lianyi tensed, almost jumping up.
After waiting a moment and discovering it was just an involuntary spasm, he struck Huo Jingzhao in embarrassed anger.
“You wretched brat, always scaring me.”
“…” The unconscious man furrowed his brow, as if protesting silently.
Pei Lianyi curved his lips, once again lowering his head to lie against Huo Jingzhao’s body, and said hoarsely:
“It’s a good thing you’re lying here now, unable to move, unable to hear. Only then do I dare say these words to you…”
Looking at that handsome face, pale from blood loss, he gently held Huo Jingzhao’s palm: “Ever since I was small, my father and mother told me there are only two kinds of things in this world—things you should do, and things you shouldn’t… They would say, Pei Minrou, you are the Family Head. You shouldn’t speak with servants. You shouldn’t be playful. You shouldn’t break the rules. So, I was always learning, always learning—learning to be a qualified Family Head, a lofty Master. Later on, learning how to be a father.”
Speaking to this point, as if recalling somewhat pleasant memories, a flicker of light flashed in his eyes, spreading a faint luster: “It’s not that I never tried to fight for something. Only in the end… I accepted my fate.”
“But… ever since you appeared, I suddenly discovered that many things I ‘shouldn’t do’ are also very good. So good they make my heart race, make me feel I’m still alive, make it hard for me to let go… But… it can only end here.”
He patted the calloused hand, leaning close to Huo Jingzhao’s ear: “From now on, I won’t come looking for you anymore. But every day, I’ll be thinking of you, missing you, praying for your swift recovery. Then… watching you from afar.”
“Don’t be angry with me, please.”
Saying this, Pei Lianyi took off the Pearl Necklace around his neck and placed it beside Huo Jingzhao.
“Ziying, your mother, even Li Man’er and the others—they’re all right. This little trinket… perhaps I shouldn’t have accepted it from the very beginning.”
Having said what he wanted to say, he let go of his hands, leaned alone against the bed edge, and wearily closed his eyes.
The next morning, the Kitchen was already bustling with cooking smoke.
Li Man’er had said she’d stay for just one night. But now that it was daylight, without any word from the Master, no one dared to send her away, right?
So after brewing the medicine, Li Man’er began strolling around the Pei Manor.
On the road, she bumped into a servant walking the Snow Deer. Her eyes lit up, and she immediately ran to find Pei Lianyi, saying she wanted to use deer blood to make medicine for him.
“Using deer blood as an ingredient not only relieves pain but prevents scarring! How could Family Head Pei not mention you have such a treasure sooner…!”
She spoke with gusto, but Pei Lianyi blocked her with three words: “No need.”
“Why?!” Li Man’er was greatly puzzled.
Pei Lianyi told her Pei Ziying cherished that deer very much and wouldn’t let anyone near it. Besides, drawing blood would alert the household, exposing his injury. Better to forget it.
Hearing the origins of the Snow Deer, Li Man’er sat down and sighed repeatedly: “You, ah. When your son is injured, you rush around busily. But when you’re injured yourself, you bear it alone.”
Pei Lianyi wrapped the bandage and said deeply: “That’s what being a father is like. You have to consider more for them.”
“You treat your son and son-in-law better than you treat yourself…” Li Man’er shrugged, making a comment.
“A few days of rest and it will recover,” the injured man replied calmly.
Those were his words. But after leaving Huo Jingzhao, on the very first night, Pei Lianyi couldn’t sleep because the wound hurt so much. Born and raised in luxury, the noble body that brought him power and status also meant that when injured, the pain he felt was far worse than that of an ordinary person.
In just half a shichen, he was in so much pain his vision went black, and cold sweat poured off him. He could only bite the cloth and endure it grimly until daybreak.
Seeing him go a whole night without sleep, Li Man’er couldn’t possibly let it go.
If she couldn’t draw blood in the daytime, she went to the Snow Deer’s pen at night and secretly collected a bit.
“Although it’s not quite enough, it’s better than you toughing it out… Haha.” Having nearly been kicked to death by the deer, the disheveled Li Man’er laughed awkwardly.
Looking at the tiny bowl in her hand and the minuscule amount of deer blood in it, Pei Lianyi nodded slightly, signifying his acceptance.
To avoid being discovered, the two of them cooked the medicine in the room with pots and bowls.
Over the next few days, the servants of the Pei Manor saw Family Head Li swagger into the Master’s Main Courtyard every day. The door would close, and they would be inside for several shichen.
Apart from treating the injury, the two Family Heads also discussed business matters, played chess, arranged flowers, and played dominoes.
Having someone to chat with and relieve boredom lifted Pei Lianyi’s mood considerably.
The morals of the world are declining. The Master has changed.
How could the once aloof, chaste ‘Pearl of Rongchu’ be like this? It seems anyone can get lonely. Maybe in a little while, the Master will take a second wife!
Just as people were murmuring like this, one morning, a loud shout came from the Little Young Master’s room.
“Young… Young Master Huo is awake—! Quick, come quickly!”
The one who first discovered he was awake was the maid, Pei Lan.
That day, she was sweeping up dust as usual when a hoarse male voice suddenly sounded by her ear.
“Sang, water…”
Pei Lan, who was cleaning, froze. She thought she’d misheard.
Just as she was about to ask, “Who is Sang?”, Huo Jingzhao clenched his fist and slammed it heavily against the bed frame.
“Are you deaf? Bring water…!” With a loud “thud,” the man on the bed—his eyes still closed—had a face as cold and oppressive as heavy snow.
“Young… Young Master Huo?” Seeing the man, who was completely different from before, Pei Lan felt a little afraid.
She didn’t yet know that had this been the Nine Blossoms Sect, everyone would have dodged far away.
The Young Sect Master’s temper upon waking was always terrifyingly violent. It could erupt regardless of time or place. Since childhood, no one knew how many beds he had destroyed.
Later, someone discovered that if you placed a bowl of water and a sugar cube by the bedside while the Young Sect Master slept, and quietly waited for him to wake up, he wouldn’t get angry.
Over time, an unwritten rule formed in the Nine Blossoms Sect: prepare water and sugar for the Young Sect Master. Even the Sect Master had to strictly follow this…
And indeed, this move saved the sect quite a bit of money on bed purchases.
Hearing the address “Young Master,” Huo Jingzhao abruptly opened his eyes. Seeing the unfamiliar bed canopy, his gaze paused for an instant. Only then did he turn his head towards Pei Lan and reveal a smile.
“I’m sorry, Miss Pei Lan. It was rude of me.”
Pei Lan clutched her pounding chest, thinking: The gentle, respectful Young Master is back.
“Cough, ah! My body is a bit sore. I failed to control my temper for a moment. I hope Miss Pei Lan won’t mind.” Grimacing, Huo Jingzhao sat up and gave her a slight bow.
“Don’t, Young Master, you mustn’t move!” Not daring to look at his solid chest, Pei Lan lowered her head with a red face: “It’s good that you’re awake. I’ll go call the Little Young Master and the doctor right away.”
“Wait.” Catching an anomaly in her words, Huo Jingzhao stopped her and asked: “Where is Master Pei?”
“This…” Thinking of the laughter that had come from the Master’s room this afternoon, Pei Lan bit her lip, said, “You’d better ask the Little Young Master!” and hurriedly ran away.
Watching her hastily retreating back, the smile on Huo Jingzhao’s lips suddenly vanished.
