Remembering You - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After Father passed away, the distance between us only grew.

I had thought Pei Qichen would never meddle in my affairs for the rest of his life.

But the year I came of age, Xu Zhen, the second son of Duke Anguo and my childhood sweetheart, came to our door to ask for my hand. Pei Qichen sent him away with a casual, cutting remark.

“You have no achievements to your name. What right do you have to marry a daughter of the Pei Family?”

Over the years, I had become far more quiet, chaste, and proper, but hearing those words, I still could not help thinking:

Perhaps, for one fleeting instant, he had truly been considering my future, truly protecting me as his younger sister.

But before long, I learned the real reason.

As it turned out, half a month earlier, at the spring banquet, Princess Rong’an had caught sight of the spirited, dashing Xu Zhen and taken a liking to him.

She was sixteen that year, in the bloom of youth, beautiful and haughty. Seated high upon the dais, no one knew what she was thinking as she pointed at Xu Zhen and said to Pei Qichen, “Grand Tutor, what do you think of me choosing him as my prince consort?”

The princess was delicate as jade and flowers, and the cherished daughter of Heaven besides.

What sort of prince consort could she not choose?

But Pei Qichen probably had not expected her to set her eyes on someone who shared such deep affection with me.

His lips curved faintly. He did not look at the princess, but his expression cooled as he answered, “You may.”

And so, later, came that question: what right did Xu Zhen have to marry a daughter of the Pei Family?

No. Perhaps what he truly wanted to ask was this:

What right did Xu Zhen have to win the princess’s favor?

Xu Zhen was at a loss too. In private, he climbed over the wall to find me, his handsome face tinged with confusion. He nearly swore on his own future to prove himself.

“There really is nothing between me and Rong’an.

“Anyone with eyes can tell who she actually likes! Heaven and earth can bear witness, Wanwan-didn’t your brother say I had no achievements?

“I’ve already spoken with my father. Tomorrow, I’ll head north and join the army.

“Princesses and the like can stay far away from me. Once I come back, I’ll be able to marry you.”

Then, as if embarrassed, he added awkwardly,

“Don’t try to talk me out of it. You know I’ve wanted to go for ages. I’m only fulfilling my own wish now. It’s not because of you.”

I met Xu Zhen when I was eight.

At the age when other young masters from noble families were taking chambermaids to learn the ways of men and women, he was fighting on my behalf and catching fireflies for me.

During all those years when everyone fawned over Princess Rong’an, only he still remembered me. He found me copybooks by the great scholars of the age and sought out the finest guqin for me.

From a foolish, clumsy girl to Wan Niang of the Pei Family, whose name shone across the capital, every step I took along the way, Xu Zhen was there beside me.

That year, he was eighteen, and he said he would take up a spear and ride into battle for me.

After Xu Zhen left, the princess never mentioned him again.

As if she had already forgotten she had once said she wanted him as her prince consort.