“Liu’er, why are you out at this hour?” Old Lady Wang’s silhouette was shrouded in darkness. She was carrying a wooden basin, looking like she was about to throw out some water.
Yan Liu’er held onto Old Lady Wang’s arm immediately. Making a shushing gesture, she whispered while panting, “I, I think there’s someone chasing after me.”
“Then get in here quickly, you can hide for a while,” Old Lady Wang said calmly as she pulled Yan Liu’er through the door.
Yan Liu’er had no doubts and stepped in right away, even closing the door behind her. She leaned against the door and sighed, the shock still lingered in her heart. “That’s too dangerous, good thing you appeared just in time.”
Old Lady Wang shook her head, still standing in the dark. In a hesitant tone, she spoke, “I think that person outside won’t be leaving anytime soon, why don’t you follow me into my house, and I’ll ask my son Ling to send you back later.”
“Sorry to trouble you.” Yan Liu’er was greatly terrified, beads of sweat had covered her forehead.
She followed Old Lady Wang toward her yard. Unsure whether it was because she was sweating, Yan Liu’er felt the air around her was freezing cold.
It was the same even in the house. All of the Wang family’s savings went toward supporting their son’s education, and since Old Lady Wang was a widow, she was usually very frugal. Hence, they did not light any fires for warmth.
Yan Liu’er rubbed her arms. She then realized that Old Lady Wang was wearing only a thin shirt in such a frigid winter, did she not feel cold?
“Have some tea.” Her low voice passed over Yan Liu’er’s head.
Yan Liu’er shivered in the cold. Initially, she wanted to hold the teacup in her palms to warm herself up, but when she took it, she noticed that even the tea in the cup was cold.
How strange, maybe Old Lady Wang was reluctant to boil any water.
Yan Liu’er held the teacup and thought about it, she really did not want to drink the cold tea. In such a cold winter, even her breath was frosty, who would want to drink cold tea?
What she did not expect was that Old Lady Wang actually drank it.
Furthermore, she downed it very naturally, as though the temperature of the liquid did not bother her at all.
The atmosphere froze for a split second.
Old Lady Wang sat on her rocking chair as she stared at Yan Liu’er, the expression on her face unreadable.
Without knowing why, Yan Liu’er felt a sense of unease that could not be described. Maybe the shock that she felt just now had yet to dissipate, causing her to fear everything she saw.
The quieter the room was, the more terrified she felt.
Yan Liu’er tried to start a conversation. “Old Lady Wang, I still have some unused charcoal at home, I’ll send some over to you tomorrow. I have outerwear of cotton robes too, if you don’t mind, I can bring them to you as well.”
Old Lady Wang did not reply.
Just when Yan Liu’er thought that she had fallen asleep, Old Lady Wang’s voice rang out huskily. “In this alley, you have the kindest heart, you don’t hate the poor nor fancy the rich. You take such good care of both of us as well. Liu’er, whoever marries you, he will be a lucky guy.”
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“I’m not as good as you think.” Yan Liu’er smiled shyly. “You’ve helped me a lot in the past as well, and we’re all living in the same alley, these are things that I should do, other people would have done the same as well.”
Old Lady Wang huffed in disagreement. “They won’t, not those girls from the Zhang and Li family. Whenever they see my son, Ling, they mock and jeer at him, always saying that he would never make it in this life. What do they know? My son, Ling will be the top student one day, it’s just a matter of time.”
“I bet they’re anxious as well, don’t take it to heart,” Yan Liu’er said in a rather awkward manner.
Old Lady Wang’s voice was emotionless. “You don’t need to speak up for them. They have no decency, going out on dates in the middle of the night. If I had daughters like these, I would just strangle them to death, what a shame to our ancestors.”
To be honest, Yan Liu’er was not good at topics like these, so she just said quietly, “No, I’m not defending them, some of the things they’ve said is true after all. You see, Brother Ling is getting older now, he couldn’t possibly let you go out and work all the time, it would be nice if he could work while studying.”
“Your Brother Ling’s hands should be used to write edicts for the Emperor! How could they be used to labour for other people!” Old Lady Wang raised her voice all of a sudden. It was quite shocking to hear such a loud noise in the middle of the night.
Yan Liu’er was frightened, she then replied instantly, “No, I didn’t mean that, I just…”
“Enough,” Old Lady Wang cut her off. “You’re still young, you don’t understand these things. Not many people from our alley can write, your Brother Ling is the first, people like this must only aim higher.”
Yan Liu’er smiled uncomfortably. “Old Lady Wang is right.” Then she looked at the sky outside. “That person would have probably left already, I’ll go outside and check.”
“There’s no hurry.” Old Lady Wang had no intention to stand up. Taking another sip of tea, she continued, “Since you’re here today, then I’ll tell you something.”
Yan Liu’er asked with a smile, “What is it? You can just tell me.”
“Liu’er, I watched you grow up, you’ve always been close to your Brother Ling. I didn’t like that Zhang’s daughter in the first place, but their marriage was set by your Uncle Wang when he was still alive. Now that this marriage is not happening, it also meant that your Brother Ling is free. I want to ask you, would you like to be the daughter-in-law of our Wang family?” Old Lady Wang’s tone finally had a hint of warmth in it.
But the girl who was listening turned pale. Yan Liu’er never expected that Old Lady Wang would say such things to her, thus she had no idea how to reply.
The main issue was that she had no feelings toward Wang Ling.
Besides, Wang Ling was eight years older than her, this…
“What’s wrong? Was that too out of the blue?” Old Lady Wang continued to smile. “Although you’ve never been properly schooled, you’ve always had a gentle personality. I can be at ease if Brother Ling could have somebody like you to take care of him and stay by his side. Don’t you worry, even if one day your Brother Ling succeeds and becomes an official, there would be a place for you in his manor. After all, he is a generous person, he would never mistreat his wife.”
The more Yan Liu’er listened, the more she felt the urge to say something. “It’s not what you think, I…I have always treated Brother Ling as a big brother, the two of us can’t be together.”
In an instant!
The temperature inside the house dropped to the coldest point.
Yan Liu’er could clearly sense that the elderly person on the rocking chair had stopped smiling. Her voice sounded low in a demonic way when she spoke, “You mean to say that you refuse to marry your Brother Ling?”
“I…” Yan Liu’er wanted her to listen to her explanation, so she approached her. However, as she stepped closer, she noticed that under the candlelight, Old Lady Wang’s fingers looked abnormal. Hidden beneath her worn out sleeves, they were long, black, and weirdly unnerving…