The Night Before the Wedding, My Fiance Asked Me to Comfort His White Moonlight - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I didn’t sleep well all night.

It wasn’t because of nightmares.

It was because Pei Shu’s words-“it wasn’t a misunderstanding”-were far too loud in my head.

At daybreak, news arrived from outside.

Madam Lu had been imprisoned. The Lu Family’s account books had been presented before the emperor, implicating a long string of people.

Lu Jingci had been temporarily detained at Dali Temple for questioning.

Shen Jiaojiao had gone as well.

Before she left, she had someone deliver a letter to me.

There were only a few lines inside.

She said she was going to explain everything that needed explaining.

She also said she was sorry.

The final line was written with the heaviest strokes.

Miss Song, don’t look back.

I put the letter away in a box.

When Pei Shu entered, he happened to see it.

“A letter from Miss Shen?”

I nodded.

“She told you not to look back?”

I raised my eyes.

“How did you know?”

Pei Shu set the bowl of medicine on the table.

“She seems like the sort of person who would say that.”

I was a little surprised.

“You understand her that well?”

Pei Shu glanced at me.

“I only understand the people involved in a case.”

He answered too quickly.

I couldn’t help laughing.

He pushed the bowl toward me.

“A calming tonic. No Sleep Herb.”

I picked it up and sniffed it.

There was indeed no pear blossom scent.

Seeing that I wasn’t drinking it, Pei Shu didn’t urge me.

He only took out a small packet of candied fruit and set it beside the bowl.

“Have some after it gets too bitter.”

I took a sip, and the bitterness made my brows knit together.

He nudged the candied fruit a little closer.

The gesture was very natural.

So natural it seemed like he had practiced it countless times.

I asked, “When did you find out I was afraid of bitter things?”

Pei Shu paused.

“Three years ago.”

Three years ago again.

I set the bowl down.

“The spring hunt?”

He nodded.

“After you sprained your ankle, the physician applied medicine for you.”

“You didn’t cry out in pain. You only asked if there was anything sweet.”

My face heated.

It was so embarrassing I had nearly forgotten it myself.

Yet Pei Shu had remembered for three years.

I asked, “So you already knew me back then?”

He said softly, “Even earlier than that.”

I froze.

Pei Shu took an old sachet from his sleeve.

Its corners had been worn pale, and the stitches were crooked and uneven.

I recognized it at a glance.

It was one I had casually given away at Huguo Temple when I was fourteen.

At the time, it had been pouring rain outside the temple. A young man had been kneeling outside a side hall, his clothes soaked through.

I thought he was being punished, so I had casually given him a sachet filled with medicinal herbs.

I had sewn that sachet so badly my maids laughed at me for days.

I looked at Pei Shu.

“That person was you?”

Pei Shu gave a quiet hum of confirmation.

“My mother was gravely ill that year. I went to the temple to pray for a protection talisman.”

“You gave me the sachet and told me the herbs could ward off the cold.”

I said dryly, “I was making that up back then.”

There was a trace of a smile in Pei Shu’s eyes.

“It worked rather well.”

For a moment, I had no idea how to answer.

That old sachet rested in his palm, its corners frayed from wear.

I lowered my head and stared at it for a long while. Slowly, the tips of my ears grew hot.

In the afternoon, someone from Song Mansion came to escort me home for my first visit after marriage.

According to custom, a new bride was supposed to return to her maiden home on the third day.

But my marriage had happened in such an absurd fashion that my father had been unable to sit still since morning.

Pei Shu accompanied me back.

When the carriage arrived at the gates of Song Mansion, my mother was already waiting at the entrance.

The moment she saw me, her eyes reddened.

I called, “Mother.”

She pulled me into her arms.

“Were you frightened last night?”

I had meant to say no.

But when the words reached my lips, I suddenly couldn’t get them out.

Buried against her shoulder, my nose stung.

“A little.”

My mother patted my back.

“Then cry for a little while.”

I didn’t cry for long.

Pei Shu was still standing beside us, and I had my pride.

After we entered the main hall, Father summoned Pei Shu to the study.

My mother held my hand and asked me many questions.

She asked whether the Pei family had slighted me in any way.

She asked whether Pei Shu had forced me.

She asked whether I still felt suffocated in my heart.

I answered each question one by one.

When I mentioned that Pei Shu slept in the outer room, Mother’s expression turned a little subtle.

“He does know propriety.”

I coughed.

Mother glanced at me.

“If you don’t like him, the Song Family can afford to support you.”

I lowered my head and fiddled with my cuff.

Mother smiled.

“There you go, touching your cuff again.”

My hand stiffened.

She said softly, “Zhining, don’t be in such a hurry to judge yourself good or bad.”

“Yesterday’s marriage wasn’t something you chose. But as for how you live from now on, you can choose slowly.”

I nodded.

Suddenly, Father’s furious voice rang out from the direction of the study.

“You’ve been thinking about my daughter for all these years, and you’re only telling me now?”

Mother and I looked over at the same time.

Pei Shu’s voice came through the door.

“She had an engagement before.”

Father grew even angrier.

“So you just watched her marry into the Lu Family?”

Pei Shu was silent for a moment.

“That is why I spent three years investigating the Lu Family.”

Standing beneath the corridor, I suddenly could no longer smile.

Mother gently touched my hand beside me.

Only then did I realize I had been clutching my cuff the entire time, my fingertips gone white.