Chapter 326

The two characters 'fragrant herbs' come from Wang Bo's Fu on Qixi: 'Fragrant herbs waft scent, wind and mist hold their bearing.'

Here, both Heng and Zhi are fragrant herbs; Heng is Du Heng, Zhi is Bai Zhi; the two characters placed together mean double fragrance and beauty, graceful bearing.

Wang Bo's Fu on Qixi tells the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting on Qixi.

Qixi is a long‑standing lover's festival since ancient times, and 'Fragrant herbs waft scent, wind and mist hold their bearing' describes the beautiful scenery of the Qixi night……

Fragrant herbs waft scent in the wind; the wind and mist drift softly; postures are myriad.

Baichai applied these two characters to the jade tablet; their meaning is already self‑evident.

This is already the utmost she can express subtly under present propriety without overstepping!

For a young lady in the inner chambers, even the most ardent feeling cannot be spoken outright like men today reciting the plain verse 'Guan Guan ju jiu'; she can only allude to her feelings, hinting but not revealing.

Meanwhile, 'Zhi' sounds like 'know'. 'Hengzhi' can be read as 'Heng knows'.

Jia Jing conjectures that there may be another layer of meaning here: namely, 'Heng' refers to Baichai, and 'Zhi' means to know, to understand.

Baichai might also be saying tactfully: 'I wish to be someone who understands you.'

The word 'understand' sometimes weighs more than 'love' and is deeper than 'affection'.

Understanding his aspirations, his ambitions, his everything—no matter what he wants to do, she is willing to stand behind him, comprehending and supporting.

Faced with Baichai's sudden confession of feeling, Jia Jing fell silent for a moment; in fact, his options at this time are not many.

Either he politely returns the jade pendant, in which case Baichai would likely not call it out, nor would she continue to pester.

Given her nature and the present world, even if she loved him more and was unwilling, she could only sever the love‑thread.

From then on they would likely be strangers meeting in passing, keeping distance, and as time passes they would grow ever farther apart!

Then she would obey Xue Auntie's arrangement and marry another; well, Jia Baoyu would also become unlikely.

Or if Jia Jing accepts the jade pendant, it would mean his relationship with Baichai moves from ambiguous to romantic—a major breakthrough!

Or he could neither accept nor refuse, pretend not to understand, keep her at arm's length, and string her along!

Of course, Jia Jing would not choose the third option; given his current status, doing so would be too beneath him!

Actually, by now there's really nothing left to hesitate over.

If he had no intention, he would not have given Baichai the Yan Family Precepts in the first place.

He simply didn't expect Baichai to confess so eagerly—remember, this is his first day back home!

But upon reflection, it can also be understood.

After all, as his status rises and more suitors come to discuss marriage these days, Baichai inevitably feels pressure.

She no longer has time to test the waters or deepen contact; if she doesn't take the initiative to express her feelings, she fears being a step too late, and her future status will become a major problem.

Of course,

It must be said that in Jia Jing's heart, feelings belong to feelings, career to career, and status to status.

Even if he now accepts Baichai and confirms the relationship, it does not mean he must marry her as his principal wife!

One could even say that Baichai's background makes her chances of becoming the principal wife extremely slim!

Still, the same saying: his marriage is no longer a private matter but a political event concerning the court situation!

Specifically, how to arrange things later still depends on the development of the court situation and on how they get along and feel after further contact.

Moreover, since he chooses to accept Baichai, he must also deal with the Xue Family's problems.

Xue Auntie is all right; although she has many little thoughts, as a lady of the inner quarters she cannot cause any major trouble!

But Xue Pan, this 'daft tyrant', is different—not only is his temperament coarse and he easily invites disaster, he also carries a homicide case on his back.

Initially, Xue Pan in Jiangnan, in order to seize Xiangling, once had his manservant accidentally kill Feng Yuan.

The reason he escaped judgment was that Jia Yucun 'bent the law for personal favor, arbitrarily judging this case'.

His verdict read: 'Xue Pan had contracted a nameless illness and was pursued to death by Feng Yuan's spirit'; the authorities thus closed the case as 'Xue Pan died suddenly'.

Xue Pan changed his name and surname, continuing his life as usual, which legally amounts to being a 'dead person'.

Thus the case is indeed closed, but it was closed in a most unclean way, leaving a hidden danger.

In the future, Jia Yucun or others might exploit this matter; we must guard against it!

According to Jia Jing's intention, naturally he would look for an opportunity to proactively defuse this thunder, and incidentally send Xue Pan to prison for a few years.

First, it eliminates future worries; second, it denies Xue Pan the chance to stir up trouble outside, and incidentally it can give him some labor reform to temper his nature.

Only, exactly how to carry this out still requires careful thought.

He himself must play an active role in this matter, but not toil in vain and invite resentment.

And just as Jia Jing was pondering how to send Xue Pan to prison,

Baichai saw him silent, his face solemn, and her fragrant heart gradually sank to the bottom!

Could it be that I am being sentimental? Third Brother has no other feeling toward me at all?

Baichai's lush, beautiful face gradually turned pale; her pearly teeth bit her cherry lips, forcing a laugh.

In her watery almond eyes lay a hint of sorrow, loneliness, and despair; her delicate frame trembled, her jade nose grew sore, her eye sockets reddened, and she spoke with a hint of choking:

"Third Brother, if you don't like it, just give it back to me; don't make things difficult—I only thought the name Hengzhi sounded nice, and I didn't mean……"

Baichai's words, inside and out, were already trying to make amends, but before she finished speaking, her heart felt sour, tears rolled down, and she was pear‑blossom with rain.

No sound, no sobbing, even her breath undisturbed; those tears seemed to seep from a dead pool, soundlessly tracing slowly down her cheeks.

One drop, then another.

Moonlight shone on the tear tracks, bright and sparkling, like two fine silver threads extending from the corners of her eyes to her chin, hanging there, trembling.

Then they fell, landing on her collar, spreading a small dark stain.

Watching her turn her head slightly, silently shedding tears, a flicker of something else passed through Jia Jing's calm gaze.

Even the usually unfeeling yet moving Baichai, at this moment shedding silent tears, made his heart of stone inevitably feel a stir.

Just as a modern saying goes: when a woman sheds tears for you, she already belongs to you!

At this moment, Baichai's calm and rationality seemed to have completely vanished before him!

He certainly knew very well what this meant!

Jia Jing fell silent for a moment, then slowly extended his right hand and gently brushed it against Baichai's smooth, snow‑white cheek.

That hand had distinct knuckles, calluses on the fingertips, bearing the roughness left by the battlefield and wind and frost.

His thumb brushed Baichai's eye corner, a tear clinging to his fingertip—cool—and then traced over her cheekbone and cheek.

He didn't wipe it away directly, but instead gently erased the tear trace bit by bit; as his fingertip passed, their skin touched,

Warmth flowed from that hand over to her, and Baichai's eyelashes twitched violently, like a startled butterfly's wings.

She neither dodged nor closed her eyes, merely lifting her face to gaze at Jia Jing, her eyes filled with inquiry.

Tears still hung on her lashes, bright and sparkling, like dew on morning grass.

"Third Brother..."