Pei Lian is sixteen this year.
When she was fourteen, Pei Ze chose He Lian Xiang Yun from his eight adopted sons to be his son-in-law.
Pei Dingxi is still young, and Pei Ze is afraid that if something happens to him, there would be someone to protect his son. Although the adopted sons can also be used, when it comes to intimacy, they are still not as close as the son-in-law.
Pei Lian was originally supposed to get married last year when she reached the age for hairpinning. But because of Pei Lian's own reasons, it was delayed until this year.
He Lian Xiang Yun is seventeen this year. Pei Ze also felt bad about delaying it further, so he decided to marry them off this year. Preparations have been in full swing these days, but Pei Lian ran away.
In order to escape the marriage, she actually wanted to run to the capital to find her maternal relatives whom she had lost contact with for many years.
It was wishful thinking.
The guards reported to Pei Ze. Pei Ze just sighed and said to He Lian Xiang Yun, "Go bring her back."
He Lian said, "If I go alone, she will surely get angry."
Pei Ze sighed even more. "Dingxi, you go with him."
The fiancé and the brother went together to fetch Pei Lian.
They just didn't expect Pei Lian to run into trouble on the way and get saved by someone.
It wasn't a big deal. With the ability of Pei's guards, they could have protected Pei Lian. It was just bound to lead to casualties.
With someone's help, many casualties were avoided. Pei Dingxi and He Lian were both grateful to Zhao Jingwen.
Pei Dingxi sighed.
He sighed like a little old man despite his young age.
"Sister, let's go back," he said. "You've seen how chaotic it is outside. We don't know what the situation with maternal grandfather's family is after losing contact for so many years. Father would never let you go to the capital."
Pei Ze didn't remarry. Pei Dingxi's mother was just a concubine. His maternal family was his maternal grandfather's family.
Pei Lian also knew it was impossible to go to the capital.
She cried for a while. Pei Dingxi didn't know what to do and comforted her gently for a long time.
From the time he became aware, his father had always told him that his sister had suffered a lot and that he owed her. As father and son, they had to compensate his sister well.
Pei Dingxi was used to it.
After tidying up, Pei Dingxi accompanied Pei Lian to the front.
The captain of the guards was accompanying He Lian Xiang Yun and Zhao Jingwen in conversation. Hearing the sound, they all stood up.
The two of them stood side by side. Pei Lian looked over and felt the contrast was stark.
One was a military man.
The other was as handsome as her father.
The room was full of grown men.
A young lady's thoughts were hard to hide. Especially matters between men and women. Except for Pei Dingxi who was still too young to understand, everyone saw it.
The captain of the guards kept his eyes down.
He Lian Xiang Yun's eyebrows knitted slightly.
Zhao Jingwen knew the young lady had run away from home because of a quarrel with her family. He didn't know she was actually running from an arranged marriage, let alone that He Lian Xiang Yun next to him was Pei Lian's fiancé.
But he enjoyed the way the girl looked at him, and smiled even more charmingly.
When Pei Lian came over to bid him farewell and thank him, he said gently, "Talk it out properly with your family if there are any issues. It is very chaotic outside, do not wander around recklessly."
Tears welled up in Pei Lian's eyes as she looked up at him.
In her childhood, she had lived a hard few years, drifting and losing her way, suffering from major illnesses several times. Her health was somewhat weak, and she looked perpetually sickly.
But she was also born very delicate and beautiful, which made people feel pity for her when looking at her.
Zhao Jingwen pitied the beautiful and delicate girl, and his gaze naturally became as gentle as water.
This was unlike how her father always sighed when looking at her, or how He Lian looked at her no differently from others.
Meeting Zhao Jingwen's gentle eyes, Pei Lian felt her mind go blank.
In a daze, she followed her brother and fiancé and left, got on the carriage, and halfway through the journey, she suddenly came to her senses.
Lifting the carriage curtain, she saw her brother and He Lian riding side by side.
He Lian's physique was too intimidating, like some kind of beast. She had always been very afraid of him.
Was she to share a bed with a man like this for the rest of her life?
Pei Lian's eyes welled up with tears.
No.
She bit her lip.
No way.
She must fight for herself. She must make her father compromise.
This was what he owed her.
Upon returning to Fangling, when facing Pei Ze, Pei Ze did not reprimand her. Instead, after learning what had happened, he asked with concern, "You weren't too frightened, were you?"
Pei Lian just kept her head down without making a sound.
Pei Ze was used to this and didn't know what to do with her, so he could only call for someone, "Attend to the young mistress to rest."
The maids came to support Pei Lian back to the inner residence.
Pei Dingxi and He Lian stayed behind to talk to Pei Ze.
Pei Dingxi asked about the band of bandits.
"Young Master Zhao said he would go back and take care of them later," Pei Dingxi smiled. "But brother-in-law had already detoured to wipe them out cleanly on the way."
Pei Ze nodded. He Lian Xiang Yun was very satisfactory in getting things done.
How could he leave any survivors after they had frightened his daughter?
He also asked about Zhao Jingwen.
He Lian Xiang Yun said, "The location is quite good, suitable for stationing troops. He has good judgement."
Pei Ze asked, "What is his background?"
The captain of the guards told Pei Ze the information they had gathered on Zhao Jingwen.
Pei Ze said, "The Ye family of Deng Prefecture? Are they trying to expand into Xiang Prefecture? Are the Ye family in control of Deng Prefecture?"
The captain of the guards said, "Yes, he said his family elder has received an imperial edict from the Emperor and is now the military governor of Deng Prefecture."
Calling oneself a military governor even for just a small prefecture.
Some random self-styled military governor.
Pei Ze's father was a proper Military Governor of Jiannan. He commanded forty thousand fierce soldiers. He held control over a territory and was like a local emperor.
In his eyes, he looked down on these random pedigreed ones.
But on second thought, he sighed again. Those were all in the past. Now he only had two to three thousand men himself, controlling just one province. What right did he have to look down on others?
"I don't know how the harvest was in Deng Prefecture last year," he said.
The situation here was very bad last year. It poured rain heavily for days just as it was time to collect the grain.
The commoners went crazy trying to harvest, but the losses were still tremendous.
Farming really depended on the heavens for food.
"What kind of person is this Young Master Zhao?" Pei Ze asked.
The captain of the guards said, "He is originally from Taiyuan Prefecture. Due to the turmoil of war, he fled to Deng Prefecture and is now under the Ye family's command there. His martial arts skills are quite good, he is well-spoken, and seems to be from a prestigious family."
In fact, Xiang Da and Ye Mancang were both present at that time.
Zhao Jingwen claimed to be under the Ye family. He also didn't explain that the military governor of the Ye family was actually a woman.
Being a son-in-law was a status that invited disdain. Xiang Da and Ye Mancang were not fools either. They would not jump out and grab a stranger's ears to tell him that Young Master Zhao was actually the Ye family's son-in-law.
Men could easily empathize with other men and were loyal to their own kind.
They could understand why Zhao Jingwen did not mention his status as a son-in-law.
Since he didn't bring it up, no one else did either. To mention it to his face was hitting him in the face. To mention it behind his back was gossiping. Neither were good things to do.
Pei Ze knocked on the table with his knuckles and said, "Prepare some gifts later, you two go over to express thanks. We can't be impolite."
Pei Dingxi and He Lian Xiang Yun both acknowledged.
One was the younger brother, the other was the fiancé. Expressing gratitude to Zhao Jingwen was only proper.
Only the captain of the guards felt very awkward, and stole glances at He Lian.
But He Lian's expression was very calm.
He and Pei Lian were not in love to begin with. It was normal for Pei Lian as a young maiden to be attracted to a handsome gentleman. He was not angry about it either.
But that Zhao Jingwen did seem to be too flirtatious. Putting other things aside, when it came to matters between men and women, he did not look like a good man.
Fortunately Pei Lian would have no more contact with this man in the future.
They were to be married this month.
"Young Master Zhao is quite outstanding," Pei Dingxi really liked Zhao Jingwen.
He liked treating him like an adult who was treated as an adult by his father.
It was rare to see his son take such a liking to someone, so Pei Ze asked, "Oh?"
Pei Dingxi praised Zhao Jingwen's bearing and speech, and also said, "At first, we thought it was just another local bandit gang. But when we arrived at the river mouth, we realized the military is the military, and bandits are bandits. They are simply different."
"The villages and towns all seemed to live in peace."
"The commoners also seem to love and respect him a lot."
He described it so vividly that Pei Ze became rather interested in Zhao Jingwen as well, and asked He Lian, "Is it really as he described?"
Pei Dingxi wrinkled his nose.
Look, he already stated it so clearly, yet his father still had to ask He Lian. He still treated him like a child in his heart.
The captain of the guards broke into a slight sweat.
Kids will be kids. They can't comprehend anything clearly.
He stole another glance at He Lian Xiang Yun.
He Lian nodded and was about to speak, when a maid suddenly rushed in with a pale face, stumbling, "Sir! My lord! The young mistress, she—!"
Pei Ze only had two children. Regardless of gender, the two children were called young mistress and young master according to their birth order.
When they heard "Mistress is unwell", several people jumped up at once: "What happened?"
The maid said in a fluster: "Mistress, Mistress she... tried to hang herself!"
Pei Ze was shocked!
Pei Lian was lying in bed, with a strangulation mark around her neck.
With so many maids and servants around her, she could not have succeeded in committing suicide. And everyone was wary of this young mistress.
As soon as they heard the sound of a stool falling over in the room, they knew something was wrong and rushed in immediately to save her.
Pei Lian heard the sound of footsteps, very soon, her father Pei Ze and brother Pei Dingxi came in.
One called out: "Lian'er!"
The other called out: "Sister!"
One had abandoned her and her mother to escape alone, the other enjoyed their father's love alone while she was suffering from cold and hunger.
These two men in the world, who owed her so much.
"Let me die," she said, "If I don't die this year, next year, or the year after, I will definitely die in front of you, just like my mother at the same age."
Pei Dingxi was stunned, and looked towards Pei Ze.
Hearing this, Pei Ze felt a sharp pain in his heart!
The beautiful, gentle smile of his wife flashed before his eyes.
She was a noblewoman of the capital, highly sought after by the Pei family of Jiannan Road.
Phoenixes singing harmoniously, a young married couple.
Pei Ze still remembered what happened that day.
He was riding his horse at full gallop.
Behind him were all the pursuing troops, looking back, there was a fire in the distance.
The horse's hooves beat violently, he knew he was getting farther and farther away from her, but he had no choice.
The crossbow bolts flew like shooting stars.
His loyal guards leapt over abandoning their horses, using their bodies to block the fatal crossbow bolts for him.
They were all young guards who had grown up by his side since childhood, loyal and devoted.
Bodies rolled to the ground, trampled under the horses' hooves.
Pei Ze could no longer think of his wife, he could only flee for his life first.
In his heart he knew, once he left, it would likely be an eternal separation from her.
Sure enough, his wife entrusted their daughter to the loyal servant, and then took her own life.
That year, she was only eighteen years old!
