Ye Wanqiu's curved lips never fell.
She leaned against Pei Yanzhou. Although she didn't lean in, the corners of her clothes were already close to each other.
Song Jinyin had never seen such closeness from anyone else.
"You are just a maid, and you are so wronged?"
"I don't want to argue with a cheap maid, but brother Yan Zhou wasn't around just now, so where does she stand, just like a master..."
Song Jinyin moved her lips, wanting to defend herself, but she closed her mouth again.
What to say?
His attitude was already clear. Even if she did nothing, as long as she made the Ye family girl unhappy today, this punishment would be inevitable.
Pei Yanzhou has rare patience.
Listening to Ye Wanqiu's complaints, he actually relaxed his frown and chuckled a little: "Grandma still said that I bullied you, and I should let her listen."
"Brother Yan Zhou..."
"Okay, let her kneel here for a day. Can you calm down?"
Song Jinyin lowered her head again, covering up the mist in her eyes.
The knee was getting more and more numb, and the slap from last night still seemed to be heating up.
She suddenly felt that these days were becoming more and more hopeless.
All the money she had saved was used one after another on her body, which was constantly taking medicine. She wanted to go out to find her father, but she didn't know where the flood that year had carried her. .
Her vision was a little blurry, and Song Jinyin clenched her hands tightly in her sleeves, trying to use the pain in her palms to regain some clarity.
If she fell here, the Ye family girl would probably think she was pretending to be sick and take revenge even more harshly.
"Brother Yan Zhou has said so. There is no reason to be unforgiving in late autumn."
Ye Wanqiu looked tender and angry, and stretched out her hand to tug on his sleeve again: "It's just that Wanqiu wants to play chess with brother Yan Zhou, and she's a bit of an eyesore here."
Without any hesitation, Pei Yanzhou asked Butler Wang to get the chessboard. Then, with a cold voice, he looked at the people on the ground and said, "Go to the courtyard and kneel down."
Song Jinyin stood and turned around, not looking at the two people above her. She seemed to be possessed, dragging her laborious steps and moving out step by step.
Bear with me any longer.
Perhaps it won't be long before Pei Yanzhou decides to get married, and she will be able to leave this cold house, as long as her life is still there.
Seeing that she didn't resist at all, and even her usual stubbornness was tinged with dejection, Pei Yanzhou's eyes darkened, and his jaw tensed for a moment, but when he saw the chessboard, he relaxed it and picked up a sunspot.
...
There was some autumn rain today.
The drizzle of rain fell on Song Jinyin's hair and cheeks with a coolness, making her whole body stiff and numb from the cold.
Occasionally, some women's laughter came from the hall, which was clear and sweet. There were maids carrying things in and out of the corridor.
Pastries, tea, and fires and heaters that are replenished from time to time.
Song Jinyin didn't expect that a person like Pei Yanzhou would be willing to make the girl happy in such detail.
She had just arrived at the Duke's Mansion that year. Although the Duke concealed her mother's identity and was brought into the mansion as an ordinary widow, the gentle and virtuous Duke's wife immediately guessed what happened to their mother and daughter.
At that time, the Duke's wife had been lingering on the sickbed for a long time, but she was very gentle to her. She often called her to stay with her, and occasionally taught her the principles of life like comforting a young girl.
As time goes by, I often see Pei Yanzhou visiting his mother.
Pei Yanzhou rarely smiled, so Song Jinyin was a little afraid of him.
Even the princess of the country once said with a smile that her son had a cold temperament and would be difficult to please women in the future.
But now the front hall was full of laughter and laughter, showing the thoughtfulness and patience that Song Jinyin had never seen before.
There was water mist in front of me again.
How could she deliberately harm the Duke's wife, how could she deliberately prevent mother and son from seeing each other, and how could she covet wealth and status, want to get close to him, and even want to be his good friend?
But she didn't admit it, but her mother did.
Song Jinyin remembered that when Pei Yanzhou found her mother with a long sword, she hid behind the Duke and pushed herself out as if she had made up her mind.
"A life is worth a life. If the prince takes it, this girl will be the slave in the prince's courtyard from now on. Whether she is alive or dead, you can vent your anger."
The Duke of Guo spent a lot of effort to suppress the matter.
But because of this, Song Jinyin fell from being a daughter of an official to a slave, which became the biggest absurdity in the Duke's palace.
The two people playing chess finally stopped.
After Song Jinyin was moistened by the drizzle, the woman inside raised her pointed chin and walked slowly with him under Pei Yanzhou's umbrella.
At first glance, the two seemed to be a good match.
"Brother Yan Zhou, I'm back home."
"Well, be careful on the road."
Pei Yanzhou looked at Butler Wang, "Have you delivered the gift to Miss Ye on the carriage?"
"As for the crown prince, the arrangements have been made according to Miss Ye's preferences."
Ye Wanqiu pursed his lips and smiled, and his voice became softer: "Brother Yan Zhou is so kind to me..."
"I know, can you go to my grandmother to apply eye drops next time?"
Ye Wanqiu glanced at the person who was still kneeling on the ground, and said with some embarrassment: "Brother Yan Zhou, don't be angry. From now on, Wan Qiu will be more sensible and don't bother Brother Yan Zhou with other people's things."
It wasn't until Ye Wanqiu left the yard that Pei Yanzhou, who was standing not far away, moved.
Watching someone leave like this in the rain, how can it be justified if it is not a deep-rooted love.
Song Jinyin looked at the ground not far away, her heart seemed to be disturbed by something, and it hurt again and again.
Over the years, she has always remembered how kind Pei Yanzhou was to her when she was first sent to the Duke's Mansion.
Perhaps it was to atone for her sins, or perhaps she felt sorry for the eldest brother who had risked his life to save her. Song Jinyin had always been the humble and cautious one.
Watching him leave is something she does carefully every day.
But now, she felt that she might not be able to do it anymore.
Pei Yanzhou stopped in front of her, and when he knelt down, his eyes were deep and cold again.
The two of them were quite close, so close that Song Jinyin saw her own miserable figure that was wet by the rain in his eyes.
His fingertips traced the lingering red marks on her face, then picked out the broken skin and pressed it hard.
"Does it hurt?"
There is no love, only hatred.
"Since Mrs. Liu asked you to atone for your sins, then in this courtyard of this prince, you will kneel down once when Mrs. Liu comes."
The raindrops fell crisply to the ground.
Song Jinyin didn't dare to nod.
To her, that tiny bit of pain was no longer something worth talking about.
Just mentioning Mrs. Liu and recalling those scenes just now, the red ends of her eyes that had finally gone away suddenly fainted again.
"Why are you crying? Don't you rarely show weakness to me except on the bed?"
Pei Yanzhou exerted more force on his hand, and the surging emotions in his deep eyes made him on the verge of losing control.
