Remembering You - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Pei Qichen and I were siblings, but our temperaments could not have been more different.

He was noble and aloof. I was spoiled and naive.

So it seemed only natural that he did not like me.

When I was ten, he took first place in all three levels of the imperial examinations and became famous throughout the realm.

Even Father had to tread carefully around his brilliance. After mulling it over for days, he finally brought me before Pei Qichen to make a request.

“Qichen, your sister is mischievous and does poorly in her studies. You are so learned-could you teach her?”

His reputation was sterling. If I could receive his guidance, everyone would think more highly of me.

Pei Qichen refused.

He lowered his head and swept a scrutinizing gaze over my face. After a long moment, he gave a soft laugh.

Then he said to me,

“I do not teach stupid girls.”

Somehow, those words spread.

Everyone came to know that Pei Qichen thought I was stupid.

Yet not long after, he entered the palace and became Princess Rong’an’s Grand Tutor.

The day I found out, I cried alone in my room.

I asked Nanny Wang, who had been by my side since I was little, “Why doesn’t he like me? I’m clearly his real sister.”

“At the flower-viewing banquet last month, Rong’an and I wrote poems together. Her calligraphy was complete nonsense. She isn’t even as good as I am.”

For as long as I could remember, I had known Pei Qichen was remarkable. I admired him and tried to please him.

I trailed after him, calling him “Brother” with every other breath.

But he had never thought much of me.

When he went boating on the lake with the young gentlemen, I followed behind and fell into the water, choking on lake water. Everyone panicked and shouted, “Pei Qichen! Your sister fell in! Aren’t you going to help her?”

Only he glanced at me unhurriedly, amusement in his eyes.

“She isn’t dead yet, is she?”

They were siblings born of the same mother, too, but Prince Duan doted on Rong’an. He took her to see lanterns and admire the stars.

I could not understand it. Why?

Nanny Wang looked at me for a long time, pity in her eyes. In the end, she said, “Don’t provoke the Eldest Young Master anymore.”

I wiped away my tears. From then on, I rarely went to Pei Qichen of my own accord.

Until two months later, on his birthday.

Long before that, I had copied out a Buddhist scripture to give him as a birthday gift.

My brushwork was clumsy, but on closer inspection, it did bear some resemblance to his handwriting.

I had practiced for a very long time to make it look even slightly like his.

After thinking it over and over, I still had someone deliver it to him.

I even thought, with a trace of spite, that since it was his birthday, I would let everything before this go.

As long as he accepted my gift, I would keep trying to please him and continue treating him as the elder brother I admired most.

That same day, I heard that Rong’an had personally carved a jade pendant for Pei Qichen.

It was both a birthday gift and a formal gift for her new teacher.

He treasured it dearly. After putting it on, he almost never took it off again.

By the time I saw that Buddhist scripture again, half a year had already passed.

Rong’an had taken it and used it to prop up a table leg in the study.

The once neat cover had become filthy and disheveled.

After that, I rarely accepted Rong’an’s invitations, and I no longer followed Pei Qichen around.

One could not keep making a joke of oneself forever.