Don't be tempted, sir

It had been windy for several days, and the leaves in the garden were rustling, with some yellow leaves falling to the ground. There was a sense of desolation, and the weather was getting colder with the wind.

Shen Yining got up early and looked out the window. At this moment, the bright sunlight shone into the house through the window. The orange-yellow light indicated that today would be a good day. He only hoped that Shen Changqing would have the same weather in Tongzhou.

The situation in Tongzhou was just the opposite at the moment. The sky was covered with gloomy haze, and the vast land was littered with corpses. Broken swords and spears were half-buried in the blood and mud. The heavy rain washed everything away, as if clearing the battlefield in preparation for the next fierce fight.

The gatekeeper announced, "There's a letter, ma'am," and brought the person who brought the letter in.

Mrs. Shen gave some silver as a reward and happily took the letter.

One letter was to Mrs. Shen and the other was to Shen Yining.

After dinner, I didn't rush to open the letter until it got darker. The twilight outside the window showed the only dark blue color in the evening. Looking through the garden, I saw that lights were turned on in every house. Under the starlight, I was thinking about a lot of things, reading the letters sent from the distant battlefield by lamplight.

[From Yining

My sister Yining:

I haven't seen this place for a long time, and I miss it so much.

The solitary lamp is shining, and it has been four months since we last saw each other. Under the night sky in the camp, the stars are like the endless particles of the Milky Way. I hope my sister Yining is well in Beijing. It is a stormy night in Tongzhou today. Fortunately, I have time to write to you.

My father and I are doing well in Tongzhou, but the war is still not over, and it will take more than a month for us to return home. The Qiang people have fought many times, but they have always been saved. Yining, don't worry. The war is raging tonight, and I don't think I can see the moon clearly...

Suddenly I remembered the sunny days in Beijing, the days when the whole family was in the orange orchard, the peaceful and warm afternoons when my mother and father were enjoying the coolness under the eaves, Changsi insisted on climbing the tree to pick oranges, and then he didn't dare to come down and stayed on the tree for a day, you found him and fell on his leg when he came down from the tree, and it hurt every rainy season. Winter is coming slowly, the weather is cool with the wind, when the letter arrives, Yining remembers to prepare some soup and medicine in advance for warming. I think Yining should have passed the age of marriage, and it is a pity to miss it this time.

Yining, I am lucky to be your brother in this life. What I said the night before we parted, I... take back. We want to be brother and sister in this life, nothing else.

Take care my sister, Yining!

Shen Changqing's own handwriting]

At this point in the letter, the last characters were shaking violently and were a bit messy, without any of the vigorous strokes of the past.

Shen Yining couldn't understand, and couldn't understand why...

She covered her face and cried, remembering that her mother had left a letter. She didn't know what it said, and what had happened that made her say that they were just siblings. Then, in the dark, she ran through the corridor to Mrs. Shen's room in thin clothes, crying weakly and asking why it was so.

"Mother, mother...what did father write in the letter? Not even a single word about my second brother!"

When Mrs. Shen heard the voice, she quickly wiped her face with a handkerchief and handed the letter to the old servant, asking him to keep it. Then she walked out quickly as if nothing had happened, and saw Shen Yining, who had collapsed on the ground, and she hurriedly helped him up.

"Yining..." Mrs. Shen opened her mouth but didn't know what to say to comfort her.

He helped her into the room and made her sit down in front of the bed. He signaled the maid to leave and hugged the sobbing Shen Yining.

"Yining, your father said in the letter that Changqing... Changqing met the girl he loved and will come back to marry her soon. Mother knows that you are sincere to Changqing, but... Yining, you will meet the man of your dreams."

Shen Yining was lying in her mother's arms crying, "Mother, why... He said he wanted me to wait for him... Did he mean in his letter that he only treated me as his sister?"

Madam Shen comforted Shen Yining and said, "Let it go! Yining!"

Shen's mother wanted to keep her in the room to sleep together, but Shen Yining said she wanted to go back. In the middle of the night, she lay in bed thinking about what her mother said: "I met the girl I love and married her."

The next morning, Shen Yining looked ashen, looking at the camellia tree that was full of buds on the day of her coming of age, now withered all over the ground. She murmured to herself, "Who planted the camellia flowers? I am alone in the drizzle."

Love but cannot get it, let go but cannot give up, give up but unwillingly, it is all regret in the end.

Madam Shen was also unhappy these days, but she pretended to be fine in front of Shen Yining. Madam Shen also fell ill after listening to Madam Shen's letter. The whole house could only be managed by Shen Changjun's first wife Wang. She couldn't bear to see everyone like this, especially Shen Yining. Wang hurriedly asked Meng Qiu, the maidservant beside Shen Yining, to go to Zhao's house to invite Qizhu to accompany her and comfort her a little.

A few days later, Qizhu learned about this and went to visit.

"Yining, I brought a lot of your favorite food, including the assorted lychee soup from East Lane, osmanthus cake, fried willow leaf fish from West Street, lotus root box..."

Shen Yining has not left his room these days, lying on a recliner in front of the window all day, watching the camellia tree in the garden that is in full bloom, the flowers falling, withering, and blooming again.

"Get up and eat something! Yining, I ran around to find this."

Shen Yining said slowly, "He said that he only treated me as a brother and sister."

"Yining, I don't know how to advise you, but you seem to be trapped in a maze. It's not right to torture yourself day and night."

"Sister...he said he met a girl he liked in Tongzhou and will come back to marry her soon." Tears unknowingly slid down the corners of his eyes.

Qizhu looked at her with concern and walked forward, touching her head and said softly, "Yining, get up and eat something... Everyone is very worried about you."

At this moment, Wang also came in and said, "Yining, this is the bird's nest soup I made. I saw you didn't eat much for breakfast." Seeing Qizhu was there too, she whispered a few words to Qizhu and left.

"Come, Yining, I'll feed you." Qizhu picked up the bird's nest soup and walked over.

“I don’t want to eat”

"You, cheer up. If you keep on being so lost, your second brother will be even more displeased when he comes back and sees you. You should wait for your second brother to come back and ask him in person what the girl he said he loved looks like."

"Will he...answer?"

"Yes! You should ask him in person what he really means. On one hand, he asked you to wait for him, and on the other hand, he said that you were just brother and sister. Now he wants to bring a woman back and say that they are getting married."

"Yes, I don't understand why? He was obviously not like that before he left."

"If you don't understand, don't think about it. It will come back and make you clear eventually."

In the next few days, Qizhu came to see Shen Yining, accompanied her for dinner and took her out for a walk.

Princess Rong'an sent someone to deliver a lot of ugly clothes, saying that she could wear them at the next banquet!

Qizhu looked at the pile of ugly clothes and laughed angrily, "Tell me, how did you offend her? These... red, green, brown, purple, plum red! You can try it now!"

Shen Yining: "..."