Chapter 8

I don’t like crowded and chaotic places, so I always avoid the gatherings of ladies and madams in Jing City whenever I can.

Zhier saw that I was feeling troubled, and now that her pregnancy was stable, she coaxed me to go to Fangqi Restaurant to try some of the new dishes.

Maybe it really was just bad timing.

I sat by the window, and when I lowered my head, I saw Pei Huai.

The beaded curtain of the carriage was lifted, and a lively child jumped down first, calling out “Daddy.”

Pei Huai smiled and picked him up, not minding at all that the child’s kicking dirtied his robe. It was hard to imagine that this was the same person who would insist on bathing and changing clothes just because his brother dirtied the hem of his robe at the training ground.

Then a woman got out of the carriage, her gaze gentle as she watched the scene.

A loving father and a filial son.

They truly looked like a family.

And I was nothing more than a thief who had briefly stolen Pei Huai away.

My heart suddenly clenched.

“Madam, madam, are you alright, miss!”

It wasn’t until Zhier’s anxious call that I snapped back to myself.

I turned to look at her, only to see her face covered in tears.

“Miss, don’t cry, don’t cry…”

Cry?

Why would I cry.

I haven’t done anything wrong, why would I cry…

But when I reached up to touch my cheek, my fingertips were icy cold.

“Miss, let’s go back to the Shen Family, shall we? Let’s go tell the old madam-”

“No!”

I refused without a moment’s hesitation.

Though my elder sister is the Empress, she is beset on all sides; my mother is already weary from worry. At a time like this, I cannot trouble her further with my own matters-how could her health bear it?

This is my affair.

This is the path I chose.

How I walk it, I will decide for myself.

I watched the three of them leave, my gaze forlorn.

“I need to think, I need to think carefully.”