The groom descended from the high seat in the hall, and Pei Huaijin saw Shen Youran holding hands with the Liang Family Ninth Lady, trailing behind the group of guests as they headed toward the backyard.
It was likely they were going to the bridal chamber to join the festivities.
Seventh Brother pulled Liang Liu Lang into the banquet hall, saying he wanted to toast him later.
Huaijin recalled how Shen Yunshu had told him about Shen Youran and Liang Liu Lang’s matchmaking, which had come to nothing due to Seventh Brother’s sudden appearance.
So, the match meeting that day had actually shown that Shen Youran was pleased with Liang Liu Lang.
She had taken a liking to Liang Liu Lang back then.
Could it be that she preferred men like Liang Liu Lang?
Pei Huaijin secretly observed Liang Liu Lang. As a lifelong martial artist, his physique was mostly upright and strong.
His appearance was quite good too—sharp eyebrows, well-defined features—he could be called handsome.
Although Huaijin usually exercised diligently and considered his own figure well-maintained, compared to Liang Liu Lang’s muscular, powerful frame, he suddenly felt a bit too delicate.
His waist and abdomen didn’t seem firm enough; his shoulders weren’t broad enough; his arms lacked that accumulated strength.
No, he was a civil official, known for his broad knowledge and literary reputation—why should he compare his physique to a warrior?
And why feel inferior just because his body was not as strong?
Pei Huaijin smiled to himself quietly and stopped thinking about it.
The guests in the front courtyard chatted and laughed, still waiting for the banquet to begin, when suddenly thick smoke billowed from somewhere in the backyard.
“Not good! There’s a fire in the backyard!”
The front yard instantly erupted into chaos.
Servants rushed to the backyard to put out the fire; some guests fled, while others, concerned for friends and family in the backyard, ran toward the blaze with the servants.
Shen Youran was in the backyard too!
“Seventh Brother, stay here and don’t move…”
Pei Huaijin dropped this command and hurried toward the backyard.
Liang Xu also darted out swiftly.
The thick smoke in the backyard expanded rapidly, enveloping the two courtyards in dense blackness.
When Pei Huaijin arrived, people were streaming out through a moon gate in one courtyard.
The red ribbon tied above the gate marked this as the bride’s courtyard.
Shen Youran was inside.
People inside scrambled to escape, so Huaijin couldn’t get in immediately.
Just as he was about to climb the wall, Seventh Brother’s voice came from behind.
“Big Brother, I, I…”
His breath was unsteady, as if about to faint.
Frowning, Huaijin turned and found Seventh Brother, supporting him: “Didn’t I tell you to stay in the front yard? What are you doing causing trouble here?”
“I…I want to save Sister-in-law…”
With the fire raging so fiercely, there was a chance Shen Youran was trapped; how could he calmly stay in the front yard?
He wanted to help in the backyard, but as the fire neared, a similar scene flashed through his mind: a twisted wall of flames soaked in brown oil, curling and cracking; falling beams; thick, choking smoke; agonizing, desperate cries…
His head pounded as if being torn apart.
Those tragic images merged with the current fire, as if he was immersed in a sea of flames—a living hell.
Each breath intensified the pain in his head, as if something inside his mind was struggling to break free.
His breathing faltered; he was about to faint and instinctively called out, “Big Brother, I, I…”
The moment he collapsed, Huaijin caught him, scolding him for not staying put in the front yard.
“I…I wanted to save Sister-in-law. Sorry…”
Instead of saving anyone, he had fallen ill himself.
Pei Huaian’s eyes darkened, and he fainted in his elder brother’s arms.
The chaos overwhelmed the guests, who lost control out of fright.
Pei Huaijin couldn’t ignore his fainted younger brother.
He had no choice but to carry him to a safe place first, then anxiously rushed back to the burning courtyard.
The servants of the Marquis’s manor and some guests had started fetching water to fight the fire; the local fire brigade arrived in time, quickly bringing most of the blaze under control.
When Huaijin tried to enter the courtyard, someone stopped him: “Young master, there’s no one inside anymore—they’ve all come out.”
All of them had escaped?
Then Shen Youran must have made it out too.
He quickly searched for her figure as the smoke began to clear.
Finally, he found the young girl, her face half-blackened by smoke.
She looked scared, her lips pressed tight, clutching two handfuls of tears, on the verge of crying as she walked toward him.
She must be terrified.
She once got sick from being startled by a small fish, and today’s huge fire…
He should have kept her by his side instead of letting her run about wildly.
Luckily, she was unharmed.
Pei Huaijin strode toward her, thinking to quickly scoop up the frightened girl and comfort her.
But suddenly his sleeve was grabbed, forcing him to stop.
“Cousin, I’m so scared…”
Looking down, he saw it was their cousin from the Meng family, still in wedding clothes, her makeup smudged, phoenix coronet crooked, eyes full of tears as she sought help from him.
He hurriedly reassured her: “It’s fine as long as no one is hurt. We’ll talk about everything else later.”
When he looked back at Shen Youran, she stood frozen in place.
The upper half of her face was smeared black from the smoke, her watery eyes shifting through shock, grievance, disappointment, sadness, and finally glaring at him with anger.
Huaijin pulled his hand free from Meng Wanxin and approached her.
But each step he took forward, she stepped back.
He moved forward again, and she retreated.
Luckily, his strides were long, so he caught up to her before she could turn and flee.
“Don’t run, Youran.”
He grabbed her hand, wanting to pull her into his arms.
She forcefully shook off his hand, stomped her foot, and turned away, clearly unwilling to be embraced.
He tried approaching her from another angle, but she changed directions again.
This went on in a circle for a while, with Huaijin changing positions four times, still failing to hold her.
Several guests who had escaped the fire chuckled at his futile attempts to circle his own wife.
Huaijin finally gave up on hugging her, took out his handkerchief: “Let me wipe your face first…”
“No need.”
Shen Youran’s own handkerchief was unusable now; she still held another one, given by Liang Liu Lang, which she roughly wiped over her face.
Huaijin looked at the green handkerchief in her hand—it was obviously a man’s—and frowned.
He snatched it away and threw it to the ground, then offered her his own: “Use this.”
Shen Youran grew even more annoyed.
There had been such a big fire, and he hadn’t come for her in time—that was one thing.
But Liang Liu Lang not only saved her but kindly gave her a handkerchief to wipe her face.
Who was he to toss aside Liang Liu Lang’s handkerchief?
She glared at Pei Huaijin, refusing to take his handkerchief.
Instead, she crouched to pick up Liang Liu Lang’s, dusted it off, and stood up, heading toward Liang Liu Lang.
She handed the handkerchief back to him and showed him the souvenir ribbon she had torn off at the bridal chamber’s door.
“Little Qingluo wanted to give this to you. I helped grab it for her, but with the fire today, it might not bring good luck. I won’t give it to you now…”
Just as she was about to discard the ribbon, he reached out a broad palm.
“No matter, give it to me.”
Since he wanted it, Shen Youran placed the ribbon in his hand and said, “I don’t know how to thank you for today. Maybe another time…”
“Next time, I, Pei Huaijin, will bring my wife to pay respects at your esteemed manor…”
Huaijin approached, finishing her sentence with a distant, polite look toward Liang Xu.
“Brother Pei, no need for formalities. When I found her, she was protecting her younger sister. If thanks are due, I should be the one thanking Madam Shen first…”
“In that case, my wife and I won’t trouble you at your manor now. Liang brother, I will invite you for a drink another day…”
“Brother Pei is too polite.”
In front of Liang Xu, Pei Huaijin took Shen Youran’s hand again: “The banquet can’t continue today; let’s go home.”
Shen Youran and Liang Xu nodded in farewell, then she was sulkily pulled away by Pei Huaijin.
As they passed by the bride’s side, they heard a faint, helpless call.
What to do?
“Cousin,” Meng Wanxin looked at him with tearful hesitation, “The ceremony isn’t over, but Fifth Brother left me behind. I don’t know what to do…”
She hadn’t even lifted her veil—the veil on her head had fallen off during their escape.
Since she was family and had served their mother for two years, Pei Huaijin couldn’t just ignore her: “Your family who came with the bride shouldn’t have gone far. I will send someone to fetch them back. Whether this marriage continues or not, your family and the Lin family will discuss it. If there are still difficulties, come to the Pei Residence to find my mother; she will help you figure things out.”
Seeing Huaijin was about to leave, Meng Wanxin lowered her head and bit her lip, quietly murmuring, “Yes, cousin.”
Pei Huaijin and Shen Youran found Pei Huaian, who was just regaining consciousness.
Though Shen Youran was still sulking, seeing his pale face made her ask with concern, “What’s wrong?”
Pei Huaian rubbed his head and slowly stood up, puzzled: “I don’t know…my head suddenly hurt—really badly.”
Huaijin helped him up: “Probably just a shock. We’ll have the doctor check you when we get back…”
What was supposed to be a joyful wedding turned into this.
The Lin family didn’t bother apologizing to the guests individually.
Most guests left on their own.
Outside the manor, the many carriages and horses clashed in a chaotic crowd, with no one directing them.
They pushed and jostled for a long while before gradually dispersing.
The horse that Pei Huaian rode was tied behind the carriage.
He sat inside the carriage, dazed and listless, as if his soul had left his body.
What was he thinking about?
Originally, the carriage felt spacious with two people, but with a third, it seemed cramped.
Shen Youran had recovered from her fright but still pouted in anger.
She didn’t even know why she was upset.
During the fire, she and Liang Qingluo had fallen to the back of the crowd, unable to escape.
In desperation, she hoped Pei Huaijin would come to save them.
But he never came.
It was Liang Xu who showed up.
It was fine, she thought—just escaping alive was good enough, and it didn’t matter who saved her.
But she was so terrified she felt shattered inside.
She wanted to cry, just like Liang Qingluo, hugging someone as she wept.
Naturally, she couldn’t cry in Liang Xu’s arms, so she wanted to find Pei Huaijin.
Though he was walking toward her, he stopped midway to comfort someone else.
Though it was the Meng family cousin who had stopped him, Shen Youran saw his sleeve being held by another woman, and the gentle tone he used when speaking to her.
Something inexplicably ignited a fire in her chest, as if a spark from the flames had landed there…
Even when he soon came over and tried to embrace her, she wasn’t interested.
She simply refused.
“What’s wrong with your hand?”
In the chaos earlier, Huaijin had only been focused on her smoke-blackened face.
Now he saw one of her hands was injured—scraped and swollen on the back and knuckles.
He reached out to take her hand to examine it, but she pulled it back into her sleeve: “None of your business.”
He thought she was angry with him for not coming sooner to save her.
He felt guilty and fearful himself: “Sorry, Seventh Brother fainted suddenly, so I was delayed… I was late.”
Pei Huaian heard this and gradually collected himself, looking at Shen Youran guiltily: “Sorry, I wanted to help you with Big Brother, but I fainted while running…”
“I’m not mad at you.”
Since Seventh Brother suddenly fell ill, Huaijin couldn’t just ignore it.
And Shen Youran wasn’t mad that Huaijin hadn’t come in time—she was mad about him talking to the Meng cousin…
But on the other hand, why did seeing him stop in front of Meng Wanxin make her so angry?
She couldn’t figure it out and only felt irritated and resentful.
Talking to Seventh Brother, she could manage a few smiles.
But when she glanced down at Huaijin’s hand reaching out to take her injured hand, she instinctively struck it away.
“Hey, don’t touch me!”
She hit him quite hard; the sharp smack echoed clearly in the narrow carriage.
Huaijin was surprised she hit him.
His hand paused briefly, then silently withdrew without a word.
The pale hand on her lap flushed faintly red.
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