34 Lost Soul

◎Her face turned pale as she grabbed Qingxian's wrist.◎

The two looked at each other, thinking hard.

"Maybe she was still breathing at that time, and came back to life after being carried to the charity cemetery? The indenture was burned when the person left the house, so she simply didn't come back?" Lan Zhu guessed.

Lan Zhu's words made some sense, but Chu Yufu thought about it carefully and still felt something was amiss. "Being a maid in the mansion, with free food and shelter and a monthly stipend, is far more comfortable than being outside. I remember Madam Li's family wasn't well off. Why wouldn't she want to come back?"

"I don't know. I'll ask her next time I see her." Lan Zhu leaned over the bed and pouted. "Back then, she and I were the only ones serving in the concubine's courtyard. When she passed away, I cried for days, but my tears were in vain. She didn't even send a message secretly. How could I have sold her?"

After saying that, she shook her head, stood up, put the oil paper bag in her arms on the table, and muttered as she untied the hemp rope, "I don't want to think about it anymore, don't want to think about it anymore. Come and have some snacks, they taste better when they're hot."

The oil-paper package was opened, and the sweet, burnt aroma of almond pastries filled the room. Chu Yufu took a deep breath, suddenly feeling a little hungry. She put on her coat and stood up to get some snacks. She casually said, "They may have their own difficulties. If they don't want to talk about it, don't force it."

Lan Zhu nodded twice in response.

In the backyard of Ma's Tofu Shop.

Mother Li sat alone in a side room, her hands clasped together, rubbing them up and down unconsciously, feeling rather uneasy. She sat there until the sun had completely set, then lit an oil lamp and began to pack her belongings.

Half an hour later, she knocked on the door of the next door and said to her daughter who was coaxing her child.

"Er Ni'er, I have to go back to Qingyuan."

"I can't stay in the capital anymore."

The woman named Erni panicked, put the child down, stepped forward and supported Mother Li: "Mom! At this critical moment, if you leave, what will I do?"

"Xiangbao is seriously ill and needs help. Brother Xiang gets up at midnight every day to grind beans and make tofu. He's already overwhelmed. If you don't lend a hand now, my daughter will have trouble living!"

Mother Li held her daughter's hand and became anxious: "Er Ni'er! Why did I leave the house? How did I leave the house? Others don't know, but you don't know?"

Er Ni'er pleaded in a low voice, "Mother, it's been so long, and you only heard a few random things. In broad daylight, can the official's wife really force you to death? The doctor said that within half a month, Xiangbao's illness will be cured."

"The rent is due next month, and Xiangbao is taking medicine. We don't have the money to hire someone to look after the shop. Please help me for another half a month!"

Seeing her daughter's dark and haggard eyes, Mother Li couldn't bear it. She gritted her teeth and agreed, "Just half a decade!"

-

The Chu family poetry gathering is scheduled for the end of January, which is a good time for early spring when the weather warms up.

There were still six days before the poetry meeting. When preparing the clothes to wear for the meeting, Miss Chu looked at the closet full of spring clothes made last year and felt that none of them looked good. So she hurriedly made an appointment with the tailor from Zhijin Pavilion to buy her new clothes.

A bunch of new fabrics were placed on the table. She picked and chose for a long time before finally settling on a piece of light blue brocade with a vase pattern. She pointed at it and said, "This is it. We're in a hurry this time, so you have to be quick."

The tailor at Zhijin Pavilion had a slightly bitter expression on his face. Four days from cutting to sewing was a bit too rushed, but Miss Chu had already offended him, so he could only sigh and agree, "Don't worry."

After the tailor left, Chu Jinhe sat in front of her dressing table, opened the jewelry box and chose a suitable headpiece. As she was choosing, she suddenly remembered that her grandmother had said two days ago that she would give her and the second girl a pair of hairpins and a pair of bracelets each, so she asked the maid.

"Didn't Grandma say she would give jewelry to me and my second sister? Has it been delivered yet?"

The maid replied, "I was just about to tell you. It was just delivered this morning. The old lady asked you and the second young lady to pick it out together."

Chu Jinhe picked up a jade bracelet and tried it on her hand, then said nonchalantly, "Give it to me and let me see it."

The maid went out of the door and came back in with a tray in her hand, on which were several jade hairpins and jade bracelets.

Chu Jinhe picked up the jade hairpins and placed them on her head a few times. She then picked up the jade bracelets and examined them carefully in the sunlight outside the window. Finally, she picked out a few with the best water content and took them out. She placed the remaining inferior ones back on the tray and waved her hand: "Give the rest to my second sister and tell her that they are a reward from my grandmother."

"Hey." The maid bowed and responded. Just as she was about to leave, she heard Chu Jinhe ask, "Where's Qingxian? He disappeared this morning. Where did he go?"

The maid opened her mouth and was about to reply when she saw Qingxian running towards the main house in a panic through the open window. The next second, the door was pushed open and Qingxian held the door frame with both hands, gasping for breath.

"Miss, something bad has happened! Please, please go to Cishoutang and take a look!"

Chu Jinhe was stunned. She paused holding the bracelet and frowned, "What's wrong?"

"My cousin and her family are here!"

Chu Jinhe curled her lips slightly, lowered her eyes and continued to wear the bracelet: "I don't think it's a big deal. It's nothing strange that someone from my aunt's family is coming."

Qing Xian winked at the maid beside her, signaling her to leave. Then, after catching her breath, she ran to Miss Chu and whispered anxiously, "Madam, you're here to announce the good news!"

"What good news?"

"I heard from the maids in the courtyard over there that the Marquis of Mingxuan Mansion went to the Lu family to propose marriage!"

With a snap, the bracelet in Chu Jinhe's hand fell off. The jade bracelet fell on her knees, then rolled to the ground, and with a crisp sound, it shattered into pieces.

Her face turned pale, she grabbed Qingxian's wrist and squeezed out a sentence from between her teeth: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

Her long nails dug into her flesh, causing her to feel pain. She said, "Miss, how dare I talk nonsense about this?"

Chu Jinhe let go of her hand, took a few deep breaths, raised her chin, and hurried towards Cishoutang, with Qingxian following closely behind.

It rained last night and the stone road was a little slippery. In the past, Miss Chu would walk slowly and avoid the wet places, but today she didn't care. By the time she walked outside Cishou Hall, there were several spots of mud on her skirt.

Standing outside the door, she bent down to wipe the mud spots with a handkerchief, smoothed her hair and put on a smile. Just as she stepped into the door and had not yet turned around the screen, she heard her grandmother say.

"I didn't expect the two children to be so compatible. This is a great thing."

"Who said it wasn't? An An has been a naughty child since she was young and always makes me worry, but I didn't expect that she didn't make me worry about her marriage! My daughter has never thought about a family like Mingxuan Marquis Mansion before!" Aunt Chu Zhenyi said with a smile.

"Have you prepared the dowry and other things?"

"Don't worry, mother. An An is the only daughter in the Lu family. His father and I have already made preparations..."

Chu Jinhe collapsed in Qingxian's arms, feeling dizzy and unable to hear her aunt's next words. The words "Mingxuan Marquis Mansion" echoed in her mind like the sound of a bell.

Could this be a mistake? There's more than one young master in the Marquis of Mingxuan Mansion, isn't there?

Thinking of this, Chu Jinhe gritted her teeth and stood up straight. Through the gap between the two screens, she could just see Lu Jiaan's red cheeks. Lu Jiaan opened his mouth slightly, smiling shyly and happily.

"Brother Chunheng said that the dowry doesn't have to be large, and it doesn't have to be as high as the betrothal gift..."

The little bit of strength Chu Jinhe had just built up was completely gone, her heart skipped a few beats, and then she fell into a dead silence.

She held Qingxian's hand and staggered back, with only three words in her mind - why.

What exactly is wrong with her?

Why was it Lu Jia'an and not Chu Jinhe? Was she more educated than me, or a better pianist? In terms of talent, manners, conversation, and looks, where was she inferior? Why did it have to be her?

On the other side, Chu Yufu heard the good news when she was giving acupuncture to Old Madam Wei in the Marquis' Mansion. After she came back, she heard from the doorman that her cousin and her family came to visit her grandmother, so she went straight to Cishoutang.

She walked into the yard and caught up with Chu Jinhe walking out.

Chu Jinhe was in a daze, walking out in a daze, and unexpectedly bumped into Chu Yufu's arm. She didn't even look up after bumping into her, and just walked away, causing Lan Zhu to ask anxiously, "Miss, how are you? Are you hurt?"

Chu Yufu shook her head and sighed as she looked at her elder sister's back.

She straightened her sleeves and walked into the house, smiling and shouting, "Congratulations to grandma, congratulations to aunt, congratulations to cousin!"

Grandma Wei smiled and waved to her to sit closer.

Chu Zhenyi had heard her daughter praise her niece at home a lot these days. She held Chu Yufu's hand, and the more she looked at her, the happier she became. She smiled and said, "Congratulations, congratulations!"

【Author’s words】

I've had some hard times in my life lately, and I'm not in a good mood, so I haven't been updating much. Please forgive me! Leave a comment on this chapter and I'll give you a random red envelope as a reward. It's been hard work keeping up!