He reminded, "Your surna will always be Pei. If the Pei family falls, you can’t escape it."
Pei Yunng laughed lightly, "I don’t care."
Pei Di was taken aback.
"I don’t care whether others can tolerate or not, even if I die, that’s a matter for the future. From the first day I entered the Palace Front Office, I had already vowed that I and the Pei family would have nothing to do with each other."
He stared at Pei Di, the smile at the corner of his lips scornful, "Lord Pei, since you’ve made a choice, you have to be prepared to lose."
"When you made your choice that year, you enjoyed wealth and honor for twenty years, now that you’ve found you chose wrong, don’t act out of desperation. That would only make you look even more contemptible."
"You taught to accept the consequences of my bets."
Pei Di stared at him, speechless.
It seed that at this mont, he finally realized with clarity that this son had completely escaped his control, and with the death of his mother and Pei Yunshu’s divorce, there was no longer anyone in this world to hold him back.
He truly had nothing to fear.
"Do you know, when His Majesty ascended the throne, there were suggestions not to spare your life?"
After a long while, Pei Di spoke.
"His Majesty always had his suspicions about you. It was I who insisted on saving your life. Otherwise, you wouldn’t exist in this world today."
Pei Yunng feigned surprise, "Really?"
"Then the trust I’ve now gained from His Majesty is all the more precious." He smiled uncaringly, "Besides, how does Lord Pei know that there was nobody back then who wanted my life?"
"Your illegitimate children, your concubines, your step wife, your enemies..."
"I am alive because I have striven, not because of your futile attempts at protection, Lord Pei."
Pei Di frowned, "What are you saying?"
Pei Yunng said calmly, "Any blood relation and family affection I had with the Pei family dissipated when my mother died. Lord Pei, there’s no use trying to bind with it. It’s pointless."
"As for the future, Lord Pei, you’d best save yourself."
"After all," he curled the corner of his lips, "that’s what I did back then."
Having said this, he nodded his head, turned around, and left the ancestral hall. Just as he stepped out, he bumped into soone—it was his younger half-brother, Pei Yunxiao.
Pei Yunxiao didn’t know what had happened, but seeing Pei Di’s grim expression and having faintly heard about past events, he spoke in a gentle tone.
"Big brother, you and father are blood relatives. Now that the Pei family is in trouble, you should join hands..."
"Second Young Master Pei," Pei Yunng interrupted him, "it’s you who need help now. Instead of lecturing , you’d be better off reading more books and improving your skills."
Pei Yunng looked at him mockingly: "After all, without the Pei family, you, Second Young Master Pei, are nothing. But without the Pei family, Pei Yunng is still Pei Yunng."
Pei Yunxiao stood there, petrified, as Pei Yunng turned and walked away.
He left without a trace of reluctance. In the courtyard, the palace lanterns under the eaves were swayed by the wind and rain, their tassels soaked, no longer fluttering, but sticking together limply.
The young man glanced at them, his expression briefly startled.
He still rembered how he was his father’s favorite when he was young. He was the eldest son and legitimate. Pei Yunxiao was reticent and weak, whereas he was cheerful and outgoing, his father’s favorite.
The lamps at Jingde Gate were always lively. His mother, fearing the danger of the crowd outside, would not allow him to go, but i Yinang had promised to take Pei Yunxiao. That evening, seeing Pei Yunxiao returning ho with his lantern, he refused to eat out of spite and cried alone in the night, feeling aggrieved.
Pei Di ca in from outside and handed him a rabbit-shaped lantern, lifting him onto his knee, and whispered, "Shush, next ti Dad will take you, but don’t tell your mother."
The young Pei Yunng hugged the rabbit lantern, his tears turning to laughter.
The rain blurred the surroundings, and the patterns on the soaked lanterns started to rge into obscurity.
Pei Yunng didn’t look at the lantern again, passing by indifferently.
After all, those were events from a very long ti ago.
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