I felt calm, relieved, suddenly feeling my right palm was burning hot. Opening my hand and lifting the blanket, I was instantly mortified and curled up, turning away to escape reality. “I didn’t mean to…”
“I know,” An Jin’s voice was slightly hoarse. “Just a habit.”
An Jin rustled while getting dressed. I decided to be shameless once more, pulling out the handkerchief my mother embroidered from my outer garment, stuffing it into his arms without looking, then diving under the covers, blocking out everything.
After a long silence, I thought he had left and poked out my head to breathe fresh air, but found his face inches from mine, with a strange expression.
“Did you embroider this?”
I was about to nod but inexplicably shook my head. “It was my mother. You know I can’t embroider such things…”
He stared at the handkerchief’s flowers for a long time.
“Don’t embroider anymore.”
Chapter Seven: Old Acquaintance Duan Chang
Before coming to Yanfeng, my parents lived in a small town in the southern part of Qi Kingdom, bordering South Rui Kingdom. I was born when the distant flowers were blooming, filling the garden with intoxicating fragrance. My mother named me “Yao”. Privately, I thought this was highly suspicious. Given her personality, it was unlikely she would be moved by seasonal sentiments.
Although I didn’t care much about the connection between the distant flowers and myself, An Jin’s words were somewhat disheartening, making me feel low-spirited. Seeing my poor mood, An Jin seemed to want to explain but didn’t know where to start. Finally, he suggested we go to East Street for breakfast after morning court, which cheered me up, and I went back to sleep.
This one slept soundly, not waking until after the hour of chen. Mother-in-law lived a secluded life, rarely leaving her room. During the early days of marriage, I followed the custom of morning and evening greetings but was coldly rejected and admonished never to enter her space without permission.
Father-in-law would rise at dawn and go to his study to open it, so the house was quiet, with only a few maids and servants doing chores and occasionally whispering to each other.
