Chapter 490: Extra 6: Wei Family Story, All Fired Up

Chapter 490: Chapter 487: Extra 6: Wei Family Story, All Fired Up

There wasn’t a hint of amorousness in his eyes—only pure appreciation and praise.

Wei Liru snatched the handkerchief back and walked away, her head held high.

In truth, Wei Liru didn’t care for auspicious birds like phoenixes or mandarin ducks at all. She just liked ducks.

Chi Rui’s compliment went straight to her heart.

When she was a child, Madam Wei and her teachers had all taught her to be poised and virtuous. She became a paragon among the noblewomen of the Lin’an families, but this also meant she had to abandon her “inferior” tastes—like secretly embroidering her beloved ducks away from prying eyes.

But just as Wei Liru reached the doorway, she ran into a drunken Wei Tongyou. Her fourteenth sister clung to her, sobbing and complaining for some time.

From Wei Tongyou’s fragmented words, she pieced together what had happened. Wei Liru called a few maids to get Wei Tongyou settled before returning to her own courtyard.

‘Everyone has desires they can’t fulfill. You just have to learn to make peace with it.’

That night, Wei Liru had a dream. She dreamed she had become a little duck, foraging and frolicking freely in the water. She didn’t have to pretend to be some noble bird; she could just be herself.

「In the month that followed.」

Someone kept having Wei Ting deliver all sorts of odd little things to Wei Liru. Wei Ting didn’t stop them, happy to play the middleman.

A golden bell from a gilt-bronze duck, a whistling arrow shaped like a duck’s beak, a duck-shaped hand warmer, a Yue-ware water dropper in the form of a mallard…

In public, when Wei Ting’s servant presented the items, Wei Liru would nonchalantly tell him to set them down.

In private, Wei Liru would stroke them a thousand times over, wishing she could display them all by her bedside to look at every day.

「One day.」

Wei Liru discovered a new mirror on her dressing table.

The back of the lobed mirror featured a relief carving of two ducks with entwined necks swimming in a pond. Five-colored silk tassels were tied to the knob, adorned with seven azure beads carved in the shape of ducklings.

Wei Liru’s eyes were glued to it. She picked up the mirror, admiring it from every angle, unable to put it down.

Even more cleverly, when she used the mirror for her toilette, the clinking of the swinging beads sounded just like the chirping of ducklings.

Wei Liru gently shook the lobed mirror and began to laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so freely.

‘Perhaps when I was named a concubine? No, that wasn’t it. Back then, I was triumphant; it was more the satisfaction of a wish granted.’

‘It wasn’t like this effortless, simple joy I’m feeling now for no reason at all.’

“I made this. Do you like it?”

A hopeful male voice spoke up.

Wei Liru was so relaxed that she hadn’t even noticed someone appear in the doorway.

She quickly wiped the smile from her face, turning her head to say, “I don’t.”

Chi Rui pointed to the mirror in her hand and chuckled. “I saw you. You were grinning from ear to ear.”

Wei Liru said coldly, “I’ll laugh if I want to. What’s it to you?”

Chi Rui gazed at her. “You’re beautiful when you smile. I love seeing it. Could you smile more often?”

Wei Liru picked up the mirror and walked over to him. “So I have to smile for you just because I accepted your mirror? What do you take me for, some kind of performer? I don’t want it. Take it back!”

Chi Rui quickly shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.”

Wei Liru said, “Don’t think that just because you had my brother deliver a few gifts, we have to have some kind of relationship.”

“No, no, you’ve misunderstood me,” Chi Rui said.

Wei Liru stared at him, her eyes full of disbelief.

Chi Rui said, “I just like you, and I like seeing you smile. I’m not thinking about anything else. Besides, whether I can make you truly smile… well, that depends on my own abilities.”

If it had been anyone else, Wei Liru would have dismissed him as a smooth talker. But Chi Rui’s gaze was so sincere that she felt almost ashamed to doubt him further.

‘Besides, who could say no to seeing all sorts of adorable little ducks every day?’

‘Wei Liru certainly couldn’t. These ducks gave her something to look forward to.’

Eventually, Madam Wei found out. At first, the old woman thought her grandson had finally come to his senses, only to realize he was just doing all the work for someone else to reap the reward.

Madam Wei chased Wei Ting with her cane. “You little rascal! Are you trying to be the death of me?!”

Wei Ting jogged backward unhurriedly. “Grandmother, at your age, you can still run this fast. You’ll surely live another fifty years.”

In a fit of rage, Madam Wei flung her cane at Wei Ting’s face, forcing Marshal Wei to attend court the next day with a black eye.

Seeing Wei Ting’s condition, all the civil and military officials at court were secretly snickering.

Only Emperor Wu Su dared to laugh openly. He even teased Wei Ting, asking if he should grant him a few days off.

Wei Ting politely declined.

If he stayed home, his grandmother would inevitably invite some of her old friends over to introduce him to eligible young ladies.

Madam Wei was so desperate she was grasping at straws. She even put the word out that since Wei Ting had previously taken a fancy to Ji Qingwu, and the Ji Family still had Ji Qingyuan—and sisters often resemble each other—if he wanted to marry her, she would swallow her pride and go speak to Old Madam Ji herself.

After court, Wei Ting deliberately took a secluded path to avoid being stared at like some rare curiosity, only to unexpectedly collide with two female officials.

The impact was surprisingly forceful. An object flew from one of their hands and struck him right on his bruise.

Wei Ting hissed in pain.

He waited for the sharp pain to subside before he could see the two female officials clearly. One was Wei Tongyou; the other was a stranger in a bright blue official’s uniform, who was frantically picking a stone up from the ground.

It was her stone that had just hit him.

“My lord, please calm—oh! It’s my brother. It’s all right,” Wei Tongyou said, her initial shock turning to relief.

But when she got a clear look at the bruise on Wei Ting’s face, Wei Tongyou asked nervously, “Brother, your eye…”

The young woman beside Wei Tongyou turned deathly pale at the sight of Wei Ting, clutching the treasured stone in her hand.

Wei Ting had no desire to make an issue of it with the young women. Seeing their fear, he said gently, “It’s nothing. Just be more careful. Someone else might not be as forgiving as I am.”

With that, he strode away.

Wei Tongyou grabbed the female official beside her. “Wan Bai, that’s my brother. Is he like you remember?”

This female official, Wang Wanbai, was from a branch of the Langya Wang Family. She whispered, “He’s different.”

Wei Tongyou nodded. “Well, it has been ten years. Of course he’s different.”

Ever the loyal friend, she said, “Didn’t you say you wanted a chance to thank my brother for saving you all those years ago? I’ll book a private room at Tianxiang Restaurant so we can all sit down and talk. Once you know each other, you’ll have some backing at court, and people won’t dare to bully you anymore.”

Wei Tongyou asked, “What do you think, Wan Bai?”

Wang Wanbai summoned her courage and asked, “Tong You, what do you think of me?”

Wei Tongyou said, “I think you’re wonderful! You clawed your way out of a home that would eat a person alive, with an unkind father and an unloving mother. You came to the Imperial City, passed the examinations to become a female official, and you’ve stayed resilient without losing your true self. You’re truly amazing.”

Wang Wanbai tightened her grip on the stone in her hand and said, “Alright.”

At the time, Wei Tongyou had no idea what a shocking implication lay behind that single word.

She thought she had found a best friend, but that friend was gearing up to become her sister-in-law.