A Taste of Rose and Lychee Sushan - Chapter 2

It had been so long.

I announced who I was and, holding the brothel keeper captive, came face-to-face with eighteen-year-old Chongdie.

He had not yet been worn down to skin stretched over bones.

He was beautiful in a way that blurred the line between man and woman. Even more enticing to the lechers than his slightly upturned eyes were the red, petal-soft lips against his fair face.

My brother was not the only man who had come for him that night.

Afraid Chongdie would kill himself, the keeper had promised he would only be an entertainer and would not have to sell his body. Then he had brought in powerful men to threaten and tempt him, forcing him to choose one himself.

Chongdie was facing off against my brother.

Certain of victory, my brother looked at him with naked lust.

“I am a son of Prince Rui.”

“I know all about your family’s troubles. Be obedient, and I can buy your freedom.”

“I can save your family too.”

Chongdie slowly raised his cold, lifeless eyes. A glimmer of hope seemed to enter them.

“You are Chong Jingheng?”

Behind the screen, I paused.

The capital was three thousand li from Jiangnan, yet he knew my name.

But at the sound of that name, the eagerness in my brother’s eyes turned dark and vicious.

Through gritted teeth, he claimed it.

“That’s right.”

He took out my missing private seal.

“This seal is proof. I am Chong Jingheng.”

“You know my reputation as an official, and you know I am of the imperial family. Come with me, and I will overturn the case and restore your family’s innocence.”

He shot a savage glare toward the screen.

He was warning the brothel keeper to keep his mouth shut. He was also gambling on the fact that Chongdie had only just been sold to the capital from Jiangnan.

Gambling that he knew nothing of the imperial family’s secrets—only its celebrated eldest young master, and nothing of this son born to a woman kept outside the household.

My brother pressed him with a sneer.

“I’ll give you half a cup of tea’s time to think it over.”

“Beauty, if I can give you a way to live, I can also send your entire family to its death.”

Chongdie slowly loosened his grip on the jade cup he had been clutching.

He lowered his head and offered my brother the wine.

Laughing triumphantly, my brother gripped that slender, fair hand and drained the cup.

Behind the screen, the keeper and several servants withdrew without a sound.

My brother patted his knee.

“Master Chongdie, if you want your family’s conviction overturned, you must first learn to please me.”

“And your first lesson…”

“Is how to get on your knees and put that pretty mouth to use.”

Under his feverish, clinging gaze, I lifted my foot and kicked the screen over with a crash.

Amid flying splinters and dust, my brother nearly tumbled off his stool in terror.

“E-Elder Brother!”

I tore down a narrow gauze curtain and wound it around him until he looked like a caterpillar.

“Chong Jingheng! You have no right to punish me yourself!”

He was still struggling for his life.

“Don’t you pride yourself on being upright and honorable? I only came to the Southern Breeze House! I haven’t done anything yet! What right have you to arrest me? I’ll lodge a complaint against you with the Censorate!”

Upright?

Honorable?

I thought I was being quite calm.

I had not put out those shrimp-sized eyes on the spot.

In my previous life, I had hired the best cooks and physicians to prepare medicinal meals for Chongdie.

Yet he only grew thinner.

One day, he fainted in the corridor. Only then did the maid who attended him come to me in tears.

“He vomits whenever he eats. He doesn’t want to make more work for the kitchen, so he endures it alone.”

“The winter clothes we had made just last month are already hanging loose again.”

“He was afraid you would worry and forbade me to tell you. I’ve failed to care for him properly.”

In my fury, I could hardly keep from taking it out on the servants.

But Chongdie stopped me, his voice calm.

“My lord, it isn’t their fault.”

“Whenever I swallow, I feel as though something is lodged in my throat. It makes me sick.”

His eyes were dead, yet he forced himself to comfort me.

“Don’t worry.”

“As long as I eat more than I throw up, I can still live.”

That night, I leaned against the study door and sat on the floor until dawn.

It had happened in my last life.

Why did I remember it so clearly?

I gagged my brother, raised my foot, and broke the wrist of the hand that had just gripped Chongdie.

Then I ground it under my heel, again and again.

Snot and tears streamed down his face. He was so terrified that he wet himself.

But it still did not feel like enough.

Until someone gently caught the hem of my robe.

“My lord,” he called.

“If someone dies, it will harm your career.”

My reason slowly returned.

I had forgotten Chongdie was watching.

Had I been too fierce?

I immediately kicked my brother aside, brushed down my robe, and drew back my foot.

A moment earlier, behind the screen, I had watched Chongdie’s every movement with an almost greedy hunger.

Now I lowered my head, afraid to look at his face or the body covered by nothing but purple gauze.

I only took out a handkerchief, wiped the spilled wine from his hands, and wrapped my cloak around him.

“My foolish younger brother impersonated me today and caused you offense.”

I took a deep breath and slowly released his jade-fair hand.

“To make amends, I will buy your freedom.”

“If there is anything else troubling you, you may tell me that too.”

“I will see justice done for you.”

I waited for him to tell me of his family’s wrongs.

This time, there was still time to save everything.

I had already sent Zhou Shu to the Office of Court Entertainment outside the capital to find his young sister. I had also sent someone riding hard to Jiangnan to find his parents and keep them alive.

News of Chongdie’s identity had already been placed before His Majesty.

With the emperor involved, the truth behind his family’s false conviction would come to light even sooner than in my last life.

And as he returned to the life in which he should have topped all six successive examinations and seen his name high on the honors list, I ought to step back to my proper place.

Benefactor. Friend.

As long as he was alive and well, that would be enough.

But why had he still not spoken?

Had my voice been too harsh? Had I frightened him?

I softened it further and ventured, “Your position is precarious. Someone may try to kill you to silence you. Stay at the prince’s residence with me for now.”

At last, I found the courage to look up, into those slightly tilted, foxlike eyes.

Chongdie’s brow was faintly furrowed.

There seemed to be a thousand feelings in his eyes that I could not understand, twisted into threads and tied around my heart.

Should an eighteen-year-old Chongdie have eyes like those?

Before I could think it through, he smiled.

His petal-red lips parted softly.

“Then I shall trust you to see justice done for me, my lord.”