38 Toss

◎What a shame!◎

In the Hefeng Courtyard, the maids dared not utter a word. They squatted on the ground with their heads down to pick up the broken celadon brush washer. The whole house was silent, and the only sound was the sound of rain hitting the eaves.

Chu Jinhe sat on the bed, half of her face buried in the shadow of the bed curtains, her eyes were sharp and almost burning.

What a shame and humiliation!

What a shame!

She had never suffered such humiliation since she was born. The man she had her eye on, unexpectedly, didn't like her, but instead fell for her half-sister! The half-sister who was inferior to her in every way, who had always fawned over her! How could she possibly be so worthy as to climb over her head and snatch her away?

Lu Jia'an was fine, after all. She was the legitimate daughter of the Lu family, and Prince Zhao hadn't interacted with her much. If it wasn't meant to be, then it was meant to be. But what was Li Younian's reasoning? They'd just met at a poetry gathering, so why would he fall for that idiot Er Yatou? Could it be that they'd had some other private interactions?

Damn it! What kind of bad luck has happened to me recently? Why is everything going wrong? Everyone is against me! She reached out and grabbed the pillow, throwing it to the ground.

Qingxian carefully brought a cup of tea and advised, "What happened? Why are you so angry?"

After dinner, the eldest girl was called away by the mistress alone and stayed in Yunxi Hall for a long time. When she came out, her face looked very bad. She forced herself to go back to Hefeng Courtyard and swept over the desk as soon as she entered the room.

Chu Jinhe didn't take the tea and scolded the maids, "How long will it take to pick up a few broken porcelain pieces? Hurry up!" Then she raised her eyelids and looked at Qingxian, "Where's the second girl? Why hasn't she come yet?"

Qingxian replied, "I've asked Hongying to urge them, please wait a little longer, young lady."

"Take off your clothes." Chu Jinhe kicked off her shoes.

"Yes." Qing Xian hurriedly put down the teacup, changed her into pajamas, and covered her with a quilt.

Chu Yufu walked in the rain to reach Hefeng Courtyard. A maid had been waiting at the door. Seeing her coming, she led her into the house. On the way, Chu Yufu asked the maid what was wrong with the eldest lady. The maid hesitated and couldn't say anything. She just said that the second lady would know when she got there.

The candlelight in the eldest girl's room was bright, and the light and shadows filtered through the watery gauze curtains and flowed toward the window wall. Chu Yufu stepped into the room, her eyes locked on the bulging figure on the bed. She walked over and asked, "What's wrong, sister? Are you feeling unwell?"

Chu Jinhe said in a low voice, "It's nothing serious. I just have been having insomnia for the past few days. The medicine hasn't helped. The maids are worried. They also said that your medical skills are better than those of other doctors. So I thought of troubling you. I'm sorry for taking the trouble to come this way at night."

She said it was hard work and trouble, but there was no apology in her tone. Chu Yufu sneered in her heart, but her face was still smiling gently: "How can it compare to the doctors outside? Let me feel your pulse."

Her shoes and socks were soaked through by the rain, and her skirt was also wet. She just wanted to see the doctor quickly and get it over with. She walked to the edge of the bed, put her hand on Chu Jinhe's wrist and began to feel her pulse.

While she closed her eyes to take her pulse, Chu Jinhe opened his eyes and looked at Chu Yufu carefully, as if he was seeing her for the first time, from her hair to the corners of her clothes.

I still remember that my second sister was like an inconspicuous shadow when she was a child. She always hid in the corner and was only occasionally noticed by others.

The second sister, who was older, was like a copycat. She would try to imitate whatever style of clothes she wore, whatever jewelry she wore, and whatever hairstyle she had. She would often laugh at her for imitating others and make fun of her.

But I don't know when she changed, it seems like I haven't learned from her for a long time.

After a few breaths, Chu Yufu withdrew her hand and opened her eyes. "I think there's nothing wrong with your sister's body. It's just that her liver fire is a little strong. I'll ask the servants to make some lotus seed tea tomorrow to clear her heat."

"Liver fire?" Chu Jinhe snorted and laughed, but did not say anything else.

Some things cannot be brought up and questioned face to face. If you get angry, you lose. If you say it out loud, you appear jealous and petty. But if you don't say it out loud, it's like having a fishbone stuck in your throat, unable to spit it out or swallow it, and it causes a slight pain.

She listened to the increasingly heavy rain and said, "I see... Now that you know there's nothing wrong, you can go back."

Just let me go back like this? Chu Yufu was a little surprised, but she said nothing. She stood up, gathered her cloak and said goodbye: "Okay, sister, go to bed early." From the time she stepped into the house to the time she left, the whole process took less than half an incense stick of time.

As they walked out of Hefengyuan, a cold wind blew. Lanzhu shivered while holding an umbrella: "Girl, it's so cold, let's go for a run." Anyway, all the wet places were wet, so she might as well go back and change into dry clothes.

Chu Yufu agreed: "Okay."

But even if he was running, he couldn't really run very fast. After all, he was holding a lantern in his hand and had to carefully protect the candlelight inside.

After running for a while, they saw Yunsui waiting at the door. Yunsui came over to greet them into the house. Yinsuo had already found some clean clothes to prepare.

Chu Yufu changed her clothes and squatted beside the charcoal stove to warm her hands, while Yunsui wiped the ends of her hair with a cotton handkerchief.

Yinsuo brought two bowls of ginger soup from the small kitchen and placed them on the table, asking curiously, "Miss, what happened to the eldest girl?"

Without waiting for Chu Yufu to answer, Lan Zhu came out of the side room, wiping her hair and rolling her eyes: "Young lady, you are very healthy and have no disease at all!"

Why did you ask the girl to come over then? Yinsuo scratched his head, not understanding.

The warm fire made people drowsy. Chu Yufu waved her hand to signal Yunsui not to wipe it anymore, and turned over to bed to prepare for sleep.

Yunsui and Lanzhu cleaned up the house, turned off the lights and were about to leave when the puppy Chuyi, who was sleeping in the corner, suddenly raised his head, looked towards the gate, and made a "wulu wulu" sound.

The next moment, the gate was knocked again.

A voice came from outside the courtyard: "Second Miss! Second Miss! The eldest girl is not feeling well again, go and see her!"

Chu Yufu opened her eyes quickly and became angry.

No wonder she was allowed back so easily. She was a little surprised. She was waiting here! Want to make a fuss, right? Okay, then let's talk it out. It's true that kind people are often bullied and good horses are often ridden!

"Lanzhu! Change your clothes and let's go take a look!"