Chapter 25 - Bunny
The light dimmed and the surrounding darkness closed in. Cui Dai sat on the cold bench in the Agarwood Courtyard, fury shooting up to her crown. She glared coldly at the chime Hao Zhong, who looked back innocently, having only said that her lord and lady were taking an afternoon nap without promising when they would wake up.
It was understandable for a newly wedded couple to indulge in amorous activities in broad daylight. Her lord was a gentleman indeed, but a gentleman also needed to take a wife and have children. He was still a normal man after all. Her lady's beauty was breathtaking, so it was reasonable for the couple to occasionally let loose.
On the contrary, this Cui lady really had thick skin, lingering here refusing to leave. Could it be that she was hoping her lord would come out from the bedchamber to receive her?
Cui Dai gritted her teeth. She refused to believe the leisurely couple would make her wait like this today: "I'm hungry. I want something to eat."
Hao Zhong and Rao Liang looked at each other helplessly. Eventually Rao Liang ordered the servants to bring up the fresh meals prepared in the kitchen and lavishly entertain the shameless lady.
The maids cursed Cui Dai's shamelessness inwardly. Coincidentally, Cui Dai was also scolding Cui Ti for her lack of integrity in her heart. Sleeping from noon till now, what a vixen, keeping the man by her side. When she thought about Pei Xuan's handsome grace, even the food before her mouth lost its flavor.
The best gentleman in Xi Jing entered that blind girl's chamber. Who knows what kind of husband her mother would find for her? No matter how good the husband was, how could he compare to the Pei Manor?
The tip of her tongue turned bitter and her heart sour. She was so envious and jealous of Cui Ti she could die.
At this time, Cui Ti was faring no better, frightened like a startled deer, body trembling slightly. She felt as if she was on fire, reminded untimely of the whispered words of Dou Qingyue from her past life.
Dou Qingyue said Pei Xuan was clumsy with her hands. Do not be fooled by her gentle scholarly appearance, she was good with literary grace but useless with mundane trifles.
She also said that having been born in a prestigious household, Pei Xuan looked approachable on the surface but deep down she still carried the arrogance and superiority of the legitimate daughter of Pei Manor. All her life people had always fawned over her, the moon amidst the stars. She had never lowered herself before anyone.
Chaotic, intertwined thoughts occupied Cui Ti's mind. She was so frightened she dare not move, her mind alternating between Dou Qingyue's secret words and Pei Xuan's "unable to restrain myself, mired in deep sin". Her scalp felt like it would burst into flames.
She thought: Dou Qingyue must not know this person well. What clumsiness? If you ask me, her hands are very skillful. She peeled the shrimp faster than Bai Tang the first time. And this time, this time she also...
Her throat involuntarily let out a moan. Cui Ti was so ashamed she felt her whole body would turn into a puddle of water. How could she, how could she...
Pei Xuan acted unscrupulously, using all her flirtatious skills to express her fondness and ardor for her lady, her usual limpid eyes now clouded with worldly desire. Her brows knitted as she softly and gently called Cui Ti's name in her ear.
"Xing Guang..." She yelped in surprise, tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. She shut her eyes and bit her lips to stop those embarrassing mewls from escaping.
Her body seemed to no longer belong to herself, unfamiliar reactions knocking at her heart. Cui Ti did not dislike this feeling, she was just afraid because she could not see the person behind her.
"My lady..." Pei Xuan tenderly called her.
Even the spring breeze could coax open the waiting buds.
Courtyard. Night descended quietly and the dim lights of the lanterns illuminated the elegant Agarwood Courtyard. Cui Dai sat at the stone table eating. She bit through chicken bones with a crunching noise full of gritting teeth fury.
Bai Tang carefully lifted her eyelids to see Cui Dai using her chopsticks to pick up a round, plump candy-coated meatball. She took a huge bite, and Bai Tang strongly suspected the lady was imagining that meatball to be the head of her family's miss.
This thought came alive and when Bai Tang looked again at Cui Dai eating, she had an eerie, horrifying feeling of witnessing a bloody murder scene.
The angrier Cui Dai ate, the more the stifled anger clogged her throat. She could barely swallow the rice entering her mouth. She chewed forcefully and washed it down, drinking a few mouthfuls of sweet soup, but even the sweetest soup could not save her from her urge to go mad right now.
"Is there anyone alive left here!"
The porcelain bowl clinked sharply on the marble surface. Still unsatisfied, Cui Dai slammed it down.
She was used to lording over this household. When had she ever waited this long, a full half a shichen!
Her lungs were about to explode from anger.
She picked up the sea bowl filled with sweet soup, staring unblinkingly as she smashed it on the ground not far away, ringing sharply and faintly startling the young lady behind the inner chamber bed curtain whose bare legs were unconsciously tangled together.
Half of Cui Ti's soul had been stroked away by the person behind her, the remaining half still struggling to maintain a moment of clarity.
She did not want to give herself away in this place devoid of human touch.
Anywhere was fine, just not here.
Sensing her slight resistance, Pei Xuan's reckless heart was reined back in. The two remained unmoving in their original position. She buried her face in Cui Ti's neck and deeply inhaled her soft fragrance: "I was too licentious."
"No... not at all..."
Cui Ti was very afraid she would withdraw back into her 'righteous gentleman' shell again, panicking as she grabbed her hand, stumbling over her words: "I... my heart is responding to you too."
In that moment, Pei Xuan's self-reproach and guilt blossomed into a flower in her heart. Her heart held a sunny sky, the wind gentle, the sunlight gentle. The flower faced the wind spreading open. Her eyes brimmed with joy: "My lady, you're so good."
She didn't understand what constituted as "good" by her words. Cui Ti shyly lowered her head, happening to see the hand resting idly on her that had long left its high mountain abode. She stole a couple more glances at Pei Xuan's slender, exquisite fingers. Truly beautiful.
The fabric on her chest had long been crumpled and her nose moist with faint fragrance and sweat. She used her finger to poke at her husband's fair hand. Pei Xuan sighed, satisfied, and let go to tidy up her disheveled clothes.
"Don't wrongly accuse me again in the future."
Reminded by her, red clouds appeared on Cui Ti's cheeks. She mulishly thought to herself, when had she falsely accused anyone? Pei Xuan from her past life tried every means to avoid consummating their marriage. She was just afraid of repeating the same mistake, of harbouring feelings that would ultimately be futile.
Cui Dai had lost her temper in front, smashing bowls, so angry her eyes rolled back. Looking again at the silent maids behind her, she was furious. She must be out of her mind to keep waiting here like an idiot!
She should have charged over, slapped the door, and screamed at the adulterous couple!
Having figured it out, she immediately acted, standing up fiercely. The elderly matron beside her sensed trouble, stopping her to prevent her from doing something reckless to make matters worse.
Waiting a bit more was no big deal.
Who told her the Agarwood Courtyard was Cui Ti's territory now?
Barging in uninvited, catching the married couple being intimate and sleeping, if she caused a disturbance again, who knows what unpleasantness might occur.
Moreover, for the younger sister to openly intrude on her elder sister and brother-in-law's bedchamber, what face would the Earl of Xining's household have left? Whose side would others take if this got out? They would only say the Earl and his wife had failed to teach their daughter proper manners.
At such a crucial point for arranging a marriage, the matron could not let the young miss be rash and reckless.
"Get out of my way!"
"I cannot let you..."
"Good, you dare to defy your mistress too?" Cui Dai pulled out the soft whip hanging at her waist. She swung the whip, hitting the matron blocking her path.
Hao Zhong and Rao Liang were shocked, while Bai Tang was unsurprised - sneering. Trying to show off before Lord Pei, heh, fool.
Cursing, pleading, and persuasion entered the ears. Pei Xuan was already displeased before even arriving.
"What's with all the noise?"
Cui Dai's whip-wielding hand halted. Hearing the voice, she looked up: "Brother-in-law?"
She did not acknowledge Cui Ti as the elder sister, yet was willing to recognize this promising brother-in-law.
Pei Xuan supported her new bride unhurriedly to the front. By now Cui Dai had already put away the whip for hitting people. She respectfully greeted her sister and brother-in-law. The shattered porcelain pieces on the ground had been cleaned up by the servants, only the spilled sweet soup remained, leaving a puddle on the floor.
She was clever enough to realize upon seeing Pei Xuan's slightly knitted brows. She quickly fawned: "Sister, I have a gift for you too."
Eating together as a family, yet she hid away in the White Peony Courtyard and did not come. She was brought here by the madams under the Earl of Xining's orders. Even in front of others she only said she was here to give Cui Ti gifts.
Cui Ti's heart was still fluttering from Pei Xuan. Hearing this, she turned her head towards the voice.
Cui Dai clapped: "Bring it here."
Strictly speaking, she was here today on her father's orders to deliver gifts in his stead.
The Earl of Xining somehow learned Cui Ti liked raising lop-eared rabbits. He spent great efforts searching for a nest of white, soft, lively jumping baby animals, strictly ordering Cui Dai to be sure to present the gifts in front of Lord Pei.
Unable to see, Cui Ti could only ask Pei Xuan: "What is it?"
An exquisite cage held at least seven or eight baby bunnies. Pei Xuan was delighted to see them. A servant from the Cui household ingratiatingly brought one over: "Young master, look."
As a man, it was inappropriate for the Earl to personally deliver gifts, so he passed it to his youngest daughter to curry favor with his eldest. Going round and round, his intention was still to curry favor with his son-in-law.
People had their own preferences. Having obtained this rabbit and confirmed it was a docile, non-biting baby bunny in her grasp, Pei Xuan joyfully picked it up for Cui Ti: "My lady, hold out your hands."
The spiritual eye was born for Pei Xuan. Through Pei Xuan, Cui Ti saw a little baby bunny with long droopy ears and red eyes.
Small enough to fit in one hand, furry and soft.
"My lord, you hold it."
Pei Xuan smiled and took it back, placing it in her palm once more. Cui Ti could see the pudgy white fat bunny again: "Thank you, sister."
Cui Dai did not like animals and could not understand the fondness for fluff. She only saw Cui Ti take the bunny and pass it back to Pei Xuan. Thinking she was merely polite on the surface but deep down did not appreciate this gift, Cui Dai grew even more angry.
To think she had wasted time and suffered grievances just to deliver a nest of bunnies. Her anger flared up with nowhere to vent.
"Sister is too kind."
She said some more perfunctory polite words. Pei Xuan barely reacted upon hearing them, while Bai Tang, who knew her true colors, continuously rolled her eyes.
Not to mention Cui Dai went to tattle to her mother immediately after leaving, she had just been gone for a short while when Hao Zhong nudged Bai Tang's arm: "Alright, aren't you tired?"
Her eyes had almost rolled to heaven.
They were all trusted confidantes serving Cui Ti. In terms of feelings, Bai Tang was naturally closer to Cui Ti. In status, Hao Zhong and Rao Liang were people sent by Madam Pei, far above an uneducated little maid like Bai Tang.
Everyone entertaining a guest together this time, Hao Zhong and Rao Liang were considerate towards Bai Tang's difficult years serving the young mistress. The subtle estrangement disappeared naturally.
Loyalty was the top criteria when the Pei family chose servants.
There were no perfect people. Despite Bai Tang's vulgarity at times making her unfit for elegant company, her devotion to Cui Ti was admirable.
Over a decade of unwavering loyalty and protection, no wonder even the young lord favored this little maid.
Bai Tang pouted: "You don't know how hard the young miss and I suffered in this household, extremely hard, for over half of it..."
"Tang Tang."
Cui Ti tilted her head and gently called out.
Without her permission, Bai Tang did not dare say any more, like a well-behaved little nun with her mouth shut.
A wisp of an inscrutable smile tugged at Pei Xuan's lips. The Earl of Xining was really naive, thinking over ten years of cold treatment could be negated by a nest of bunnies. What was he thinking?
She did not want this to evoke Cui Ti's past disappointment and sorrow. Holding the baby bunny, she diverted her lady's attention.
This method was indeed effective.
Cui Ti's heart immediately grew cheerful. Watching her clearly holding the bunny in her palm, slender fingers brushing over the bunny ears, her face suddenly flushed crimson as she snatched the bunny away to secretly fawn over it herself.
"Tang Tang, help me back to my room."
Bai Tang bounced over nimbly. She darted a glance at the young lord, surreptitiously peeking at the snowy jade neck of Cui Ti, unable to guess why the atmosphere between them had become subtly strange without notice.
Once she returned to the room, Hao Zhong and Rao Liang could not remain idle either, following along to wait upon the young mistress on both sides.
The spacious Agarwood Courtyard was ironically abandoned by Pei Xuan now. She spread her hands innocently, looking over her palms and the backs of her hands but unable to discern what was wrong.
What was her lady embarrassed about?
Why did she take away the bunny and ignore her?
She repeated her previous actions of stroking the bunny's body and flicking its ears, blinking in realization as her mind caught on. Her fair, tender face unexpectedly flushed crimson.
She...
Pei Xuan endured the heat in her lower abdomen, slowly adjusting her hurried breathing. She raised her face to look at the stars filling the sky.
She really did not do it on purpose!