Climbing on the Sparrow Branch – CH 027

Chapter 27: Winning

After leaving the Pei’s residence, An Zhi still felt a little embarrassed. She then went to Weiyuan Marquis Mansion to greet Madam An. After making enough preparations, she took a carriage back home.

This time, even Binglu noticed something was wrong.

Because they were still in the carriage, Binglu didn’t dare to speak too loudly, so she asked softly, “Miss, do you feel that Master Pei treats you a little differently?”

“What do you think is different?” An Zhi thought that Binglu had seen it, not to mention Madam Li, and she felt panicked and blocked in her heart. She didn’t want to go around in circles and have anything to do with the men of the Pei family.

“I just feel…” Binglu looked at her young lady’s thoughtful expression and hesitated, not knowing whether she could speak. “Miss, can I speak?”

“Just say it straight.” An Zhi said.

“I feel that Fourth Master Pei likes you, and his relationship with you is rather… ambiguous.” If Binglu hadn’t been serving her young lady every day, she would have really suspected that her young lady and Pei Que were in love with each other, which would have scared her to death.

An Zhi sighed, said “nothing”, looked at the street, and sighed softly.

She was wondering what she should do to dissuade Pei Que from having such thoughts.

If Pei Que continued to pester her like this, not only the Li family, but even the people in the capital would know about it, and she would be wrongly accused and killed.

In fact, Pei Que had never done anything inappropriate towards her before. It all started when she broke off her engagement with Pei Yu.

Looking for another fiancé?

An Zhi was in a dilemma.

Her business plan after rebirth was that she didn’t want to live the life of a caged bird as in her previous life. If she remarried and had children, it would be fine if she was lucky enough to meet a good husband, but if she met someone with bad character, then why did she rebirth.

An Zhi returned to the courtyard with a worried look on her face.

There was a letter from Mengzhou on the table, saying that An Rong had taken the abortion pill herself and had left with the rich businessman.

“Miss, are you saying that An Rong is so sure that the rich businessman will want her if she doesn’t have the child?” Binglu couldn’t understand this behavior. In her opinion, if An Rong followed the rich businessman, she would be a woman who had lost her chastity, and most men would not want such a woman.

“She’s not convinced she has the ability to take down the wealthy businessman,” An Zhi laughed. “She thinks abortion is the only option. After a month of living with Pei Yu on simple meals, she’s tired of this kind of life. If the child is born, she’ll be stuck in this life. So she might as well be cruel and not have the child now and take a gamble.”

“Then I hope she loses the bet.” Binglu was quite happy at the thought of An Rong’s tragic ending, and she didn’t hide her smile. “Then should we take Young Master Pei back? He and the young lady still have a bet?”

“No need.” An Zhi burned the secret letter. “If Pei Yu was a man, he would remember the bet and walk back to the capital to find me. If he doesn’t come back, then such a person will have no future. Withdraw the people from Mengzhou, and we don’t have to worry about what happens next.”

An Zhi knew that Pei Que’s men would definitely protect Pei Yu. As long as Pei Que was there, she would not be able to kill Pei Yu. And An Rong’s end would soon come, because the rich businessman was the one she arranged.

In fact, An Zhi gave choices every time, but Pei Yu and An Rong both chose the wrong one. Pei Yu was too naive to see the dangers of the world, and An Rong was too greedy to eat from the bowl and look at the pot, so they had the current result.

To be fair, if there was a man now who could give up all the wealth and glory for her like Pei Yu did, she might consider whether to give her true heart again.

After all, it was so rare to be able to give up everything for one person.

“By the way, did father go to Mistress Xu’s place yesterday?” An Zhi calculated the days. Mistress Xu’s injury was almost healed, concubine Zhang was pregnant, concubine Cheng was timid and cowardly and was not liked by An Chengye, and a new wife was about to come to the house. An Chengye would not go looking for prostitutes at this time, so she guessed that he went to find Mistress Xu.

Speaking of this, Binglu became angry. “It’s not just yesterday. Ever since Concubine Zhang became pregnant, the master has been staying at Mistress Xu’s place. Miss, we finally suppressed Mistress Xu once, we can’t let her rise again. That vixen is not a good person at heart.”

“No rush.” An Zhi wasn’t worried at all about Mistress Xu’s return to favor. “Father will go to Mistress Xu’s place, and the Meng family will definitely know. For now, let’s just endure it for a few days. After Meng Jie marries, we’ll see how these two fight.”

If Meng Jie couldn’t even deal with Mistress Xu, then everything she had said to Meng Jie before would have been in vain.

Two days before the wedding, An Zhi had arranged everything and finally had time to rest, so she slept in. When she woke up, she saw An Jing sitting at the desk practicing calligraphy. She had forgotten about this when she went to bed last night.

“Good morning, elder sister.” An Jing put down the brush, jumped off the stool, and addressed An Zhi politely.

He had been here for a few days. Although he was not as scared of An Zhi as he was at the beginning, he was still nervous.

“You practice first, I’ll come to find you later.” An Zhi yawned and walked lazily to the living room.

Life this comfortable and secure was only now possible. In her previous life, when she had just married into the Pei family, even though she had a good relationship with the Li family and they didn’t need to wait on her for meals or washing, she still had to greet them every day, smile and talk, and watch out for the aunts from the second and third branch trying to make trouble. Even though the Pei family was well-fed, An Zhi still preferred her current life as a girl.

After washing up and eating, when An Zhi returned to the study, An Jing had already copied two pieces of calligraphy.

Seeing An Zhi come in, An Jing immediately straightened up.

“Jing’er, sister wants you to stand straight, not only for the sake of rules, but also for your health. If you bend over and shrink your neck every day, you will become an old man when you grow up.” An Zhi instructed An Jing for a few days. Although she corrected many of An Jing’s learned rules, the timidity that had been ingrained in his bones since childhood could not be changed in a short time.

“I understand, elder sister.” An Jing’s voice was still as thin as a mosquito.

An Zhi sighed and told An Jing not to copy for now. “Jing’er, tell me what you want to do when you grow up.”

An Jing shook his head. He didn’t know. His aunt had only told him to be careful and not talk too much. They were powerless in the mansion, and if they were harmed, there would be no one to help them. As for what would happen in the future, he had never thought about it.

An Zhi could understand Aunt Cheng’s thoughts, but Aunt Cheng’s advice was too much. If An Jing kept giving in and being timid, it would only make him a coward with no temper, and he would not be able to support a family in the future.

A person who was too timid was like a piece of dough. Even if he was kneaded to death, he dared not complain. Such a person could never achieve anything.

She called An Jing over and said, “What your aunt told you does make sense, but no matter what, you are also the young master of this mansion. As a young master, your life is much better than many people. You will not be beaten or sold at will, and you have some ability to choose what you like. Jing’er, you are a boy. Although you are a concubine’s son and you will get very little family property in the future, you can go out and fight for it on your own. You may not understand this now, but just remember, walk with your back straight, you can show weakness in front of others, but fight hard behind their backs. Do you understand?”

An Jing looked at An Zhi as if he understood, then nodded. He really didn’t understand what his elder sister said, but he remembered one thing: if he wanted to have a good future, he had to study hard.