Wish You All the Best - Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Jiafu kept her head bowed, not daring to let a single strand of hair tremble. In her heart, she felt a mixture of shame, lingering fear, and profound regret.
Pei You’an was willing to help her, and he had the capability to do so. Jiafu was certain of this. Beyond the promises he had made to her, this certainty stemmed from intuition—a woman’s natural, cunning intuition regarding men.
To feign a death in front of him to exert pressure—the moment she had made that decision, Jiafu had despised herself, but even that self-loathing could not stop her from deciding to be shameless just this once.
She needed a sense of security too desperately. Only Pei You’an could provide it, and what could bind a man and a woman so tightly together that they would never part?
It was not the relationship of cousins, nor was it a verbal promise; it was a relationship between a man and a woman that transcended their kinship.
Since she had already decided to cast away her shame, she should have seen it through to the end without faltering, even unto death. Now, looking back, she realized that when she had tumbled over the edge, Pei You’an would have saved her in time even if she hadn't screamed that "help me"—a cry that now made her regretful enough to bite off her own tongue.
Unfortunately, in that moment between life and death, her subconscious reaction had utterly betrayed her.
He knew she had been putting on an act, exploiting his kindness and sympathy.
The air felt suffocatingly dense, and Pei You’an’s anger was even more terrifying.
"If I had been half a step slower just now, you would have already lost your life. Take care of yourself. I am leaving."
Just as Jiafu, trembling in fear, prepared to face his thundering wrath, this sentence suddenly drifted into her ears.
There was no anger. His voice held only cold indifference.
Jiafu’s heart sank abruptly. Gathering her courage, she looked up and saw him shoot her a cold glance before turning to walk toward the door.
In these recent days, the two had gradually grown familiar. Because of her deliberate—and genuinely heartfelt—attempts to get close to him and please him, she had been able to wait for him to return and dine with her on seven or eight nights out of ten. He would smile at her, his brows and eyes softened; at times, regarding her gestures—whether intentional or accidental, half-true or half-false, resembling coquetry but serving as probes—Jiafu could even sense a certain indulgence from him, as if he, too, enjoyed watching her behave this way.
It was precisely because of this that she had found the confidence to play the "seek death" charade in front of him.
But at this very moment, that gradually softening, tolerant Pei You’an had vanished. He had turned back into the person he was when they first met, or perhaps even colder than he was then.
Jiafu stared wide-eyed at that distant, indifferent back retreating before her, dumbfounded.
"Big Cousin—"
She called out softly, her eyes reddening as a "plop" sounded, and tears began to fall.
"I was wrong... please don't be angry..."
Her voice choked with sobs. She lowered her head, kneeling at the corner of the bed, and raised the back of her hand to wipe away her tears. Yet the more she wiped, the more they flowed, unstoppable, until even a bubble of mucus emerged from her nose.
Suddenly, a hand appeared before her, holding a snow-white handkerchief.
Jiafu sobbed, looked up, and stared with wide, red-rimmed eyes at the person standing before her.
Pei You’an had returned; he stood there, frowning as he looked at her disheveled state.
Jiafu hurriedly took it, lowering her head to wipe her tears and her nose. Gradually, she stopped. She felt a deep sense of shame, clenching the two corners of the handkerchief tightly and subconsciously winding it around her fingers, sitting silently with her head bowed.
He stood to the side, watching coldly. His gaze shifted from her hands, which were twisting the handkerchief, up to her face, and he said, "Are you finished crying?"
Jiafu let out a "Mn," faint as a mosquito's hum. The few stray strands of hair that had escaped from her forehead trembled as she did.
"Do you know what you did wrong?" His voice was very stiff.
"Big Cousin, you treated me so well, yet I pretended to be desperate to threaten you..."
Jiafu’s snowy-white teeth bit down on her soft, red lips, which were still moist from crying. She hung her head, speaking in a weak, spiritless voice.
Because she had been found out, she felt doubly ashamed. As she finished speaking, her ears turned a deep shade of red.
"And not only that! You actually treated your own life as child's play! ‘To be a concubine or a servant is fine, even in name only’? Absurd!"
Jiafu’s heart leaped. Not daring to make a sound, she bowed her head even lower.
Her posture clearly did not appease him; his voice was laden with the anger of someone trying their best to restrain himself.
"Do you know that for a man, such a matter might be trivial, but for you, it is a matter of the utmost importance? You are a girl! How could you rashly gamble your entire life away because of groundless fantasies? Today, you said this in front of me, and I will treat it as a slip of the tongue; if this had been someone else, do you know what the consequences might have been? Are you so certain that person would treat you with kindness? It is too absurd!"
Jiafu was stunned. She had not expected that this, too, would irritate him.
As far as she was concerned, she had never once imagined saying such a thing to any man other than Pei You’an.
Even if another man were able to help her escape the nightmare of her previous life like Pei You’an could, she believed she would not have uttered those words.
Pei You’an, however, was different.
She trusted him.
She secretly raised her eyes and saw his brows tightly knit, his gaze fixed upon her. Summoning her courage to meet his eyes, she said softly, "Big Cousin is right to scold me... Afu knows she was wrong... but Afu would only beg Big Cousin for this; I wouldn't do it with anyone else..."
Pei You’an fell silent, and the room grew quiet again. Jiafu could almost hear the sound of her own heart beating.
"Rest assured. Since I have promised you, I will protect you. You have no need to gamble your life, even for me."
After a moment, he said this, his expression finally softening slightly.
Jiafu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly nodded, "Afu understands. I will never dare to bring this up with Big Cousin ever again..."
Before the words had even died away, her stomach let out a series of slight, grumbling growls. Though the sound was soft, it did not escape Pei You’an’s ears.
He glanced at her stomach.
Although the Zhen family were merchants, Madame Meng had taught her daughter very strict rules of etiquette. In the past, such a display of poor manners would have been unthinkable to Jiafu. It seemed that ever since she had concocted the plan to use a rooftop fall as a threat, everything had spiraled into a mess.
Jiafu closed her mouth, embarrassed.
In order to successfully pretend to be weak enough to faint in front of him, she had not only deliberately worn only a thin layer of spring clothing in the chilly wind atop the terrace, but she had also not eaten or drunk a single thing all day since Zhang Fengtong left.
Pei You’an said coldly, "Go and eat!"
After he finished speaking, he turned and went out. Jiafu felt as if she had been granted amnesty; she hurriedly went to the mirror, quickly tidied her hair and makeup, and then rushed to follow him.