The sky gradually turned from light to dark as wisps of misty rain drifted through the air. Even the usually arid northwest region was finally blessed by the spring rain.
The reddish-brown spirited steed shook its damp mane and halted its steps in front of the Jiang family's front gate.
Before the carriage driver could remind him, Jiang Chengyuan leapt down from the shaft bow in one smooth motion and rushed into the increasingly dense rain curtain.
Jiang Chengfeng held up an oil paper umbrella and called out several times but failed to stop him. He could only hurry to catch up.
Passing through the Jiang family's front gate, walking over the bluestone-paved main road, and treading on the pebble path, they finally stopped in front of the half-closed door of Yunzhi Pavilion.
The ink words personally written by their late grandfather still hung preciously over the horizontal inscribed board, but his familiar burly figure could no longer be found.
It is said that when one draws near his hometown, he grows timid, and when one approaches his kin, he grows weak.
Jiang Chengyuan did not want to admit it, but his hesitant footsteps exposed what was truly in his heart.
His slender fingers caressed the front door before he finally gritted his teeth and pushed it open.
The sound of raindrops falling on the window sill muffled the noise of the opening door. Candle flames flickered inside the room as if someone was moving about.
Jiang Chengyuan pictured his younger sister's mischievous and lovable appearance in his mind. She did not behave like a proper young lady from a prestigious household, yet was charming in her unrestrained liveliness.
He closed his eyes and spoke solemnly word for word, "Little Jiang Kua, I was wrong. I shouldn't have neglected searching for you earnestly just because I was vexed with Grandmother. I shouldn't have thought about glossing over mistakes. I shouldn't have always tried to appease both sides. I shouldn't have forgotten that I still have a sister suffering outside."
"I always felt everything was accidental. I always thought Jiang Chenghua's situation was not easy either, having seen her living cautiously. So I felt pity for her and tended to favor her a little. I always believed she was innocent. It never occurred to me that she had replaced all that was yours. I always thought the Jiang family could raise two daughters and that I could have two younger sisters."
"I didn't know... it turned out everything of yours was deliberately schemed away and snatched from you. What fairness is there when no one is fair to my sister? Who could be fair?"
The heavy rain poured down, drenching Jiang Chengyuan's clothes and washing his face. It carried streams of hot tears and merged into the earth.
It is said that men do not easily shed tears unless extremely grieved. It turned out tears only flowed unrestrained once the heart was truly broken.
The most bitter tears in this world still cannot escape two words: regret and remorse.
But who could stand still day after day waiting?
"Jiang Sheng, I really know my mistakes now. Can you forgive your brother? Can you...not ignore me?" Jiang Chengyuan choked with sobs several times.
Behind him, Jiang Chengfeng gaped, dumbfounded, not even realizing when his oil paper umbrella had been blown away.
In this moment, the two proud young masters from a prestigious household were like two pitiful drowned rats.
Someone in the room heaved a long sigh. Then the door opened, revealing Tan Yue's graceful figure.
"Eldest Young Master, the young lady has left," she said softly with a sigh. "As a son of the Jiang family, kindness is a virtue, but as a man one should be more resolute and farsighted."
Some matters could not be forgiven simply with an apology. And some futures could not be mended by merely calling each other elder brother and younger sister.
Jiang Chengyuan seemed to understand and yet did not. "Sister Tan Yue, where did my sister go?"
"To a place she feels at ease and to a sky where she can freely soar," Tan Yue replied lightly before closing the doors and windows.
The world turned tranquil again with only the pattering rain striking the skin, stinging a little yet strangely comforting.
Jiang Chengyuan finally understood that this half hour was worth more than his seventeen years.
Growth is always swift and soundless, painful and obscure.
Staggering, he turned and left Yunzhi Pavilion with the still dazed Jiang Chengfeng.
Hurried footsteps sounded from afar. Someone appeared holding an oil paper umbrella, followed closely by an anxious head maid. "Young Lady, slow down, slow down."
But the slender figure seemed not to hear, disregarding her soaked dress to block the rain for Jiang Chengyuan. She called out affectionately, "Elder brother."
It was Jiang Chenghua who had been bedridden with illness for months.
"Why did you come?" Jiang Chengyuan retreated two steps. "Shield yourself from the rain."
"Where has elder brother been these three days? Have you been eating and drinking well?" Jiang Chenghua asked worriedly, also feeling guilty. "Mother privately kept the land deeds and gold, and I've brought them. But Jiang Sheng did not want them."
Jiang Chengyuan was silent.
When the babies were switched those years ago, Jiang Chenghua was still an infant and had no control. But that she had replaced Jiang Sheng's life was indisputable.
Over a decade of sibling affection genuinely existed between them. He could not bring himself to detest this sister, yet he also could no longer feel close to her.
In fact, matters had developed to this point that Jiang Chengyuan could have glossed over everything, feigned ignorance, and continued the pretense. After all, Jiang Sheng was not intimate with him either. It would be better than ruining everything and leaving two sides burned.
But he was a Jiang family son.
His ancestors taught not only kindness but also responsibility and duty. When one makes a mistake, one must admit it. When one hurts another, one must make amends.
To Jiang Sheng, he had not been a good elder brother.
To Jiang Chenghua, he would no longer be a good elder brother.
"You can keep the land deeds and gold. I will make amends to her myself," Jiang Chengyuan said indifferently. Before he turned to leave, he did not forget to take back what belonged to him, the land deeds and gold.
Jiang Chengfeng followed closely behind with sighs.
They left without looking back, cold and detached.
Jiang Chenghua's eyes turned red again, and her heart ached as if something had been wrenched away, something she had desperately tried to cling onto.
The status of the legitimate daughter, sibling bonds, a mother's love, prestige, propriety, future, life...
"Why?" She murmured blankly, "What did I do wrong? Shouldn't I have existed? Should I die?"
Xiao Qiang at her side wiped tears. "Young Lady, don't speak nonsense. You did nothing wrong and never bullied Lady Jiang Sheng. You even quarreled fiercely with your mother and rushed over in the heavy rain to pass the land deeds to the Young Master. You truly did nothing wrong."
No, she was wrong.
Perhaps her existence itself was the mistake.
When Grandmother was cold, elder brother avoided her, and outsiders mocked her, in the end she only had Mother left.
That maternal love was all she had left.
In a daze, Jiang Chenghua turned and stumbled away with faltering steps like an old decrepit woman.
While some grieved and worried that rainy night, others reminisced and lamented.
Still others slept with their butts in the air until dawn.
To tell the truth, Jiang Sheng did not care much where she slept. Over the years, what wretched places had she not slept in? As long as there was straw, it was considered fine. Curled up in a corner was most comfortable. Occasionally she could find some tattered clothes to pad the ground, but most times she could only curl up on the bare earth, needing to stay alert lest someone came to kick her.
These past years following her elder brothers traveling all over, she had stayed everywhere from inns to bunk beds and remained unaffected.
But truly lying again in her own small room, nestled in Zhang Auntie's arms, that sense of security was something no one else could provide.
Rainwater tapped rhythmically against the window. Jiang Sheng wandered freely in her dreams, traversing heaven and earth, omnipotent. She even rode in a strange iron box, blinking across the grasslands in an instant to find her Third Brother tending sheep.
Eh, why was Third Brother herding sheep? Wasn't he off at war?
