Love Advice, Mass Chaos, and the Fourth Miss

"What do you mean, Senior Brother?" Yujia paused, looking at him with hesitation in her eyes. She didn't expect for this to be the topic. Surely, her master wouldn't be that concerned with the love life of Yunhe?

He seemed to take a long time to think his answer through too. "There's— this person, except they will never return my feelings, no matter what."

"How so?" She tilted his head, sighing, "With Senior Brother having a good family background, good looks, and such talent, if you devote your time to chasing after somebody, why would she not fall for you?"

He groaned, combing his fingers through his hair. "Well, it's not that simple. It's— not even a 'she' in the first place—"

Oh. 

Yujia blinked twice. 

So that was the case?

She knew that back in her modern society, Yunhe's sexuality would not have been too welcomed by the majority, especially amongst the older generations. That was just how things were. Yujia, on the other hand, didn't really have a stance on these matters, but she knew that this was a much more open topic in ancient times. The thing she didn't know, though, was if it applied to this world, since the time period she lived in seemed to not exist in the timeline she was used to. 

Based on what she had seen so far, she thought that there wouldn't be any problems for Yunhe. It seemed like many things in this other world were the same as the things in her universe. 

Regardless of society's attitude, Yujia decided she would support her Senior Brother. After all, it was only right for a Junior Sister like her to do so, right? If it weren't for Yunhe's downcast expression, she would even feel a little bit in the mood for gossip just to take her mind off of the marriage ceremony that was surely falling apart at the Yang Villa. 

Giving him an encouraging expression, Yujia stated, "I don't think it matters even so. Who is it, Senior Brother? Maybe if we talk things out, I can give you some advice from my perspective?"

"It's—" Yunhe kept his eyes cast to the side, his hands wringing. He clearly was going through a thorough inner debate about whether he should tell her or not. Finally, he settled on an answer. "It's Jiang Muyun."

Jiang Muyun? Wasn't that his Junior Brother, Yujia's Senior Brother, and the disciple under Yunhe's father? Yujia's impression of him was fairly well, and she knew that he came from a very highly esteemed family too…

Oh. 

That was when she realized what Yunhe meant by never being able to be with Jiang Muyun. Surely, taking in male concubines wasn't that big of a deal, but which elite family would be alright with having their son become a male concubine for another? She could understand the causes of Yunhe's dilemma now. 

Yujia blinked twice again. 

…

Meanwhile, in the Yang Villa, mass chaos was occuring. 

It started with a middle-aged maid going into the Fourth Miss's room to see if she could help her with getting dressed and preparing her hair, or carrying out some of the beginning good-luck rites. She walked into an empty room. 

A few moments later, Madam Zhang caught news about what had happened. Her face immediately paled as she stormed towards the direction of the South Courtyard to see if things were truly as the servants reported. At there, her face only paled even more. 

Swiftly, she yelled at a servant, "Go call the Old Master up! Hurry!"

Her fingers dug into her palms and her knuckles turned white.

…

"Do you see now?" Yunhe exhaled deeply. "His father is the first rank Minister of Rites. My father is prestiged, but much lower. He already has his wife and concubines. There is no way that anything serious can ever happen— Master and Father want to engage me to a lady from the Rong Family— it's all hopeless. Completely hopeless."

It must've been matters of engagement that infuriated her master. Yujia could connect the dots.

"When did you start liking him?" she asked. 

"I— I don't know." He flushed red. "For a long time, I guess. But I'm not delusional— I know it's never going to be a happy ending for me— so I've been trying to push down these feelings, to tell myself that all he will ever be to me is my Junior Brother, and I to him as Senior Brother. Except the human heart doesn't work that way. It always wants things that it can never have."

Yujia suddenly recalled the words Yunhe told her in the past, when she had a conversation with him about his romantic life. Back then, he said that "someone who doesn't care about how our relationship is perceived by the public, even if by other's standards, we are not supposed to be together" would be his ideal person. 

Was this what he meant all along? 

…

The Old Master of the Yang Villa woke up groggily, but his senses immediately cleared after he heard the news from the servant sent by the Madam. 

The servant hadn't even finished her words when he leapt out of bed, hastily rushing out of his room and in the direction of the South Courtyard without even bothering to put on proper robes. Upon seeing Madam Zhang standing, waiting for him, he gripped her shoulders and demanded, "This is a joke. It has to be a joke."

"It's not," she flatly replied. She attempted to conceal her emotions from her face, but he could tell from the way that color was completely drained from her cheeks that she was panicking on the inside too. 

"What do we do?" He let go of her and began to pace. "Yu Jianhui isn't the type to bear this type of shame on his face. If he hears about this— that we were even incapable of stopping a daughter from escaping— then our business deal is over."

"I know." She grabbed his hand. "But now is not the time for panic. We must act fast. How far do you think she can run to? We must send people to look for her right now."

"Right, right." He smacked his forehead. 

Madam Zhang waved her hand at the group of servants who were guarding the doors of the Fourth Miss's room "What are you fools still standing there for? Guard the room, guard the room— you couldn't even stop her from escaping, so what's the point of guarding the room now, when she's gone? If you all still value your lives, go collect all the servants in the household to go out and search for the Fourth Miss!" she barked, seething. 

…

Yunhe confessed, "I don't know what to do. I really don't know what to do. On one side, my heart is telling me one thing, but on the other side, I have my duty as my father's son to continue the Ye Family." 

"Why don't you just settle with a wife right now, and find other people in the future? Jiang Muyun can't be the only one." Yujia tightened her eyebrows.

"I tried— I thought I told you— I had an engagement in the past. It didn't work out at all. I don't feel anything towards women. I don't want to ruin the future of any girl who marries me just because of my own personal feelings. It would be selfish for me to do so, to marry someone just for the sake of having a wife under my name, knowing that I can never give her the marriage, the relationship, that she deserves."

He looked up, and his eyes filled with deep sorrow met with hers. It seemed like the thoughts that he had all related back to his previous engagement, that was still cancelled for a reason that Yujia wasn't sure about, but had hinted ideas of. 

All of sudden, Xiaoyi's blushing face surfaced in Yujia's mind, as she talked about the feelings she had for Ye Yunhe. Xiaoyi… what would she think if she knew about this? 

It was complicated. Far too complicated. 

Yujia was about to say something else, but seeing that Yunhe's head was down again, she really couldn't bring herself to utter any words.