Chapter Fifty-Four: Cousin

Ye Shijie waited for Jiang Li in a small pavilion at the teahouse next door.

Early that morning, he had sent someone to wait outside the Jiang residence, passing a message to Jiang Li’s maid. He invited her to meet him at the teahouse, though even with the invitation delivered, there was no guarantee Jiang Li would come in person.

Yet, she eventually arrived.

It was not yet time to attend the academy, and the teahouse stood not far from Mingyi Hall. A brief conversation with Ye Shijie would not delay her studies. Jiang Li made her preparations carefully before attending the meeting.

Inside, Ye Shijie was dressed in a robe of blue-grey, simple in color, but upon close inspection, the fabric was of exquisite quality and the cuffs bore rare, subtle double-needle embroidery. The young man was handsome, with thick brows and bright eyes, though his gaze upon Jiang Li was tinged with guardedness.

“Cousin Ye,” Jiang Li greeted him as she took a seat opposite Ye Shijie.

He seemed startled by the address, momentarily at a loss for words. After a pause, he spoke stiffly, “Why did you help me yesterday?”

In the urgency of yesterday’s events, Jiang Li had appeared suddenly to assist Ye Shijie, and he was grateful for her intervention. Yet, as he sat beneath the lamplight that evening, a sense of unease crept upon him. The second daughter of the Jiang family in the capital—was she not the child of his deceased aunt, his cousin?

Were it someone else who had offered aid, Ye Shijie might not have thought much of it. But that the benefactor was Jiang Li made him deeply suspicious. He spent a sleepless night, turning the matter over and over, and finally decided to confront Jiang Li to ask her directly.

“I called you cousin—should I have stood by and watched my own kin be extorted in the street, doing nothing?” Jiang Li replied naturally, as if surprised Ye Shijie would ask such a simple question.

Her matter-of-fact tone seemed to catch Ye Shijie off guard again. After a moment, he let out a cold laugh. “Don’t jest. You’ve always looked down on merchants like us. What kinship is there?”

Jiang Li, puzzled, asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Ye Shijie glared at her. “Years ago, when Grandmother traveled to the capital to bring you to Xiangyang, you berated the Ye family in front of everyone for being lowly merchants and declared you would sever all ties with us!” As he spoke, his chest heaved with emotion. “Grandmother fell ill upon her return and spent a whole year recuperating. Now you speak of kinship—are you joking?”

Jiang Li stared at him, blinking in wonder. “Did I truly say such things?”

---

Ye Shijie was silent.

“Perhaps you’ve misremembered, cousin,” Jiang Li shook her head. “I don’t recall ever saying that.”

“You don’t remember?” Ye Shijie scoffed. “But everyone from the Ye family who was present remembers!”

“Well, it seems I did say it, then,” Jiang Li thought to herself, no wonder the Ye family cut ties with the Jiang family. If the second Miss Jiang truly uttered such hurtful words to the Ye family’s matriarch, reconciliation would indeed be a miracle. Still, she had no intention of bearing a guilt that was not hers. She asked, “But I truly can’t recall it now. May I ask, cousin, how old was I when I said this?”

Ye Shijie answered coldly, “Five years old.”

“Five?” Jiang Li frowned. “At that age, one should know right from wrong, yet I remember nothing of this. Don’t you think it odd?”

“What excuse are you trying to make now?” Ye Shijie fixed his gaze on her.

“I’m merely suggesting that, at that age, with my grandmother far away in Xiangyang, my mother gone early, and my father busy with official affairs, it was mostly my stepmother who watched over me. Whatever I said may well have been taught—or threatened—by someone else.”

Ye Shijie was about to make a sarcastic remark, but seeing Jiang Li’s earnest expression, he paused.

In truth, Jiang Li’s words reflected her own suspicions. For a child so young to say such hurtful things—if the second Miss Jiang truly believed merchants were base, it must have been an idea instilled in her. With what Jiang Li had observed of Ji Shuran’s cruelty, it would not be surprising if such malice were applied to a young child.

Whether by coaxing or intimidation, it surely was not the child’s own idea, but someone else’s will at work.

Ye Shijie fell silent, Jiang Li’s reasoning sowing doubt in his heart. Though he still harbored resentment, her demeanor did not seem feigned.

“What do you want now?” After a while, Ye Shijie asked, “Do you wish to reconcile with the Ye family?”

Jiang Li smiled. “All I did was lend a helping hand to save you once, cousin, and you think I seek reconciliation. Let me assure you, if I truly wished to mend relations with the Ye family, I wouldn’t use your predicament as my excuse.”

---

“Hmph.” Ye Shijie snorted, but his expression was less hostile than before. “You speak lightly, acting righteous. But who doesn’t know how shrewd you are beneath it all? Why not turn Liu Zimin over to the authorities—instead, you gave him a way out.”

Yesterday, during the dispute between Liu Zimin and Ye Shijie, Jiang Li intervened, turning the situation around with a few words. Though Liu Zimin was already cornered, she offered him an escape, letting him avoid disaster.

“In Yanjing, all sorts of forces are interwoven, and officials abound. Though the Ye family is wealthy, you hold no official position. Like unprotected prey, anyone can take a bite. Isn’t it because of your wealth, cousin, that Liu Zimin targeted you?”

Ye Shijie frowned.

“The Ye family may be rich, but you’re still commoners. Even low-ranking officials dare not contend with their superiors; how much less can civilians challenge high officials? Sparing Liu Zimin was for your own good. If you refused to let go, the Bureau of Rituals would never relent. The Liu family can afford the loss, but the Ye family cannot,” Jiang Li said.

Ye Shijie noticed that as Jiang Li spoke, her expression grew distant, tinged with a certain bitterness of frustration.

Commoners cannot contend with officials—Jiang Li felt a wry smile in her heart. Was it not true? Even her Xue family was official, but with a low rank, they were mere grass in the eyes of nobility like Princess Yongning, to be trampled at will. Justice and fairness exist in the world, but they depend on who stands behind them. Backed by absolute power, even injustice becomes justice.

“I know, of course. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have spared him,” Ye Shijie replied.

Jiang Li, seeing his response, understood—this heir of the Ye family was no impulsive fool. She asked, “I forgot to ask, cousin, what brings you to Yanjing?”

There must be a reason for him to come from Xiangyang to the capital.

“I’m studying at the Imperial Academy,” Ye Shijie said, with a hint of challenge in his tone. “As you pointed out, the Ye family has no official rank, and cannot protect our estate. So I came to the capital to study and enter government service.”

“You wish to become an official?” Jiang Li realized.