She wanted to make up her mind and tell him to move back in, but…
When she thought of the old lady’s eyes, she could not control herself but shiver.
That nightmare. She could not remember what the dream was about every time she woke up. But she was very scared every time she woke up. All she could remember were the eyes, the eyes that were staring right at her!
When he saw her shivering, he frowned. He put his arms around her and asked. “Manman, what are you afraid of?”
“I do not know. I am just… scared.” She did not know what she was feared of or why.
“I am here for you. You do not need to be scared.” He hugged her tightly.
His hug helped a lot to calm herself down.
Not long after they went back to the house, the old lady called Pei Xiuyuan to the study to discuss some matters. They were all about their business. Pei Xiuyuan’s marriage was irreversible, so the old lady did not plan to do anything about it anymore for now. She had other plans.
It did not take long after the two of them entered the room, they heard the sound of a porcelain breaking coming from the living room!
Lu Man looked at the broken pieces of the smashed porcelain vase around her feet. She was stunned. She had only lifted the vase a little when she was trying to get the ball under it, and now it had fallen and shattered into pieces!
The butler heard the sound and rushed to the room. When he saw the broken vase, his face changed dramatically!
“Young Mistress… You…” Have caused huge trouble!
When Lu Man saw the changes on his face, she knew she was in big trouble!
Right then, Wang Yunxi came downstairs, she screamed her lungs out when she saw the broken vase. “Lu Man, how dare you break Grandmother’s favorite vase?”
Lu Man frowned. She had a feeling something was not right somewhere, but she just could not see what had gone wrong.
Pei Zichen came forward. “You are so clumsy! You even knocked down a vase just by picking up a ball! Do you know that this vase is Great-grandmother’s favorite? You are dead this time!”
The butler nearly burst into tears. This was not just her favorite, it was her life!
This vase was an antique from the Tang Dynasty. It was the old master’s favorite. He loved it very much that he must see it every day. The old lady came to like it because of the old master. After he passed away, the old lady saw the vase as her old companion.
He had put the vase here and worshipped it like a god. He dusted it every day himself. He even set a rule that no other maids apart from him could go near the vase.
Now the young mistress had smashed it!
What was going to happen?
Being a butler in this household for forty years, even he could not imagine how the old lady would react after knowing this!
Right then…
“What was all the fuss about?” Her majestic voice was heard.
Lu Man turned into stone. Her palms were sweaty and clammy.
When Wang Yunxi and Pei Zichen heard the sound, they instinctively shivered.
“Yunxi, why were you screaming so loud in the middle of the night…” The old lady wanted to scold her for screaming so loud that she could even hear her from the room. But when she saw the broken pieces on the floor, she paused. They looked very familiar, they were…
She immediately turned to the direction of the vase. Nothing was there. Her precious vase was no longer there.
Suddenly, everything went dark and she fainted.
Luckily, Pei Xiuyuan was standing by her side. He quickly caught his grandmother.
Seeing the shattered pieces on the floor and Lu Man standing there blankly, he guessed it must be her who broke the vase. He knitted his brows. He rarely put on this kind of expression.
He helped his grandmother to sit down.
The old lady remained silent for a long time. Pei Xiuyuan was worried that she could not withstand the shock because of her old age so he called for a doctor. She stopped him.
“It is not necessary.” A doctor could not cure her pain!
She calmed herself down and looked at everyone at the scene coldly. When she saw the broken pieces again, she felt as if her heart was like the vase, broken into pieces. She could almost kill that clumsy person, the person who broke her precious treasure!
“Who did it?” She directed the question to Lu Man.
“It’s her, Grandmother! She broke it!” Wang Yunxi pointed out it was Lu Man immediately. It was only natural for her to make good use of the chance.
The old lady’s eyes got even more horrifying. Lu Man felt that her eyes were almost killing her.
Lu Man tried hard to suppress her fear towards her. She lowered her head and apologized. “I am sorry, Grandmother. It was an accident.”
She knew that her apology would not reverse what had already happened. But that was the only thing she was capable of doing.
She could not understand why the vase was so fragile and broke so easily. She lifted it very gently and it fell to pieces. All in all, she was the one who broke it.
“You are sorry? It was an accident?” The old lady sneered. Her apology was useless! It could not change anything! Did she know what she had done?
“Grandmother…” Pei Xiuyuan spoke.
“Do not try to speak up for her!” The old lady snapped.
Pei Xiuyuan knew the value of the vase to his grandmother. But nothing could be done to it now. Nothing would change no matter how angry she was. “Grandmother, I know there was another one that looks just the same as ours with an antique collector, I can…”
“They may look the same but they are not the same one. It was the only relic left by your grandfather…” The old lady was heartbroken. When her husband passed away, the Pei family faced the greatest crisis they had ever faced. Her son was not a good businessman and nearly drove the family to bankruptcy. The only way she could save the family was to sell the valuables to save the family. But this! This was the only left! His favorite collection that she refused to sell no matter what!
But now… she broke it!
It was unforgivable!
Nothing could substitute it!
“Grandmother…” He knew nothing would be the same as this one. But it had already happened.
The old lady closed her eyes, thinking of thousands of ways to make Lu Man suffer. But she knew it was not the right time. “Let her kneel at the shrine. She could only get up when your grandfather forgives her.”
“Grandmother!” Pei Xiuyuan was begging for pardon.
“If you do not want to die out of anger in front of you, you can plead for her. You have grown up, aren’t you? You do not need me anymore, don’t you?” the old lady closed her eyes again. Her words were bitter.
What could he say now?
Lu Man thought it was unbelievable! There was still a punishment like that in this modern era?
She had a feeling she had gone back into the ancient time.
Still, she accepted the punishment. It was her fault for breaking the vase. Even an outsider would know the importance of the vase to the old lady. She knew she had to take the blame and make up for her mistake.
Since any apology and compensation would not ease her pain, she would kneel if she wanted to.
Pei Xiuyuan could not accept the punishment. He frowned. He was thinking hard about how to change his grandmother’s mind.