He put the paper bag on the small table.

Mrs. Luo glanced at it and said calmly, "A little snack, I have made some in my room, so you don't have to bother with it. Just take it back."

Luo Shenyuan sat there without moving.

Yining was drinking water and almost choked on it. Looking up at Luo Shenyuan's silent and calm expression, her heart felt like a kitten scratching, and she really wanted to take the things away on behalf of Mrs. Luo.

Luo Shenyuan smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "My grandson is overthinking it." He put the paper bag back into his arms and stood up to say goodbye.

Finally unable to hold back any longer, Yi Ning coughed and said, "Um, Grandma, I suddenly want to eat peach cake. Let Third Brother leave the food here."

Old Mrs. Luo scratched her granddaughter's nose and said lovingly, "You just ate half a braised pork elbow and drank some rice porridge. How can you still eat cakes? Be careful not to indigest."

Yining blinked and said, "I just want to eat."

Mrs. Luo was silent for a moment, then sighed and said, "Forget it, forget it. If your seventh sister wants to eat, just leave the food here."

Luo Shenyuan put the pastries on the small table again, bowed and left.

Mrs. Luo opened the paper package and broke off a small piece of snow-white cake to feed Yi Ning: "Eat it, don't you want to eat it? What a useless thing! We can't make such a small cake, and you insisted that your third brother keep it."

Yi Ning smiled sheepishly and took a bite of the cake from Mrs. Luo's hand. Then Mrs. Luo offered her a second piece, a third piece, and several more. Only then did she hug Mrs. Luo's arm and say, "Grandma, I've already eaten half of the braised pork elbow. I can't eat any more cakes."

"I've known for a long time that there's something fishy going on with you." Old Mrs. Luo tapped her granddaughter's eyebrows. "You're having trouble digesting your food, aren't you? Xuezhi, go make some sour plum soup for Meijie."

Outside the west room, Luo Shenyuan stood under a crabapple tree that had just begun to bloom and heard the voices of Old Lady Luo and Yining talking inside.

The servant who followed him whispered, "Third Young Master, I just don't understand. If you know that the old lady doesn't get along with you and won't accept your things, why did you still give them to her?"

Luo Shenyuan looked up at the clusters of blooming crabapple blossoms and said slowly, "What do you know?" The girl in the room laughed brightly, as if she were truly childish and without a trace of worry. After a moment, he looked away and said, "Let's go."

There was a candle lit in Chen's second room.

After returning from Mrs. Luo's visit, she discussed studying with her two sons. Luo Yixiu felt sleepy and fell asleep in her mother's arms. A little later, the maid came over and said that the third young lady was feeling aggrieved in her room and refused to eat dinner.

It would have been fine if she hadn't said anything, but once she did, Chen became unhappy. She sent for Luo Yiyu, and seeing her scowl, she began to lecture her: "You're already a girl about to come of age, yet you're even more out of tune with Xiujie. Have you lost your temper? Arguing with a child is not a laughing matter. Your seventh sister is younger and is favored by your grandmother, so why should you be more accommodating to her?"

Luo Yiyu was scolded and said aggrievedly, "I'm just angry at my eldest brother. Why does he treat my seventh sister better than me?"

Chen was so disappointed that she said coldly, "Luo Yining didn't have a mother to teach her, so she's spoiled. But I raised you well, and now you've developed a bad temper too. Why don't you think about the fact that you're more beautiful and talented than her, your father holds a higher official position than your third uncle, and your two brothers are good students. If you can pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi in the future, how can Luo Yining compare to you? Look, Yixiu never said anything."

Luo Yixiu, who was suddenly called, raised her head from Chen's arms in confusion.

Luo Yiyu just couldn't get angry about this.

They were clearly her siblings, so why did Luo Yixiu prefer Yining? Even her two brothers treated Yining better. She was also arrogant and always felt that Yining was inferior to her in every way. How could she tolerate her letting her get the upper hand?

"All three of them like Yining and treat Yining as their sibling." Luo Yiyu was so angry that tears welled up in her eyes.

Luo Huaiyuan comforted her softly, "Sister, what are you talking about? After all, Yining and I are from different rooms, but you and I are siblings, so naturally I'm closer to you. Not to mention Luo Yining, even in our second room, we're the closest siblings, so I'm definitely the one who protects you the most. Giving her some gifts is nothing, sister, think carefully about why I gave her such nice things."

Luo Yiyu just looked at him with tearful eyes.

Luo Huaiyuan sighed heavily: "Do you know which marquisate Yining's sister Hui Jie'er is marrying into?"

Luo Yiyu said: "Of course I know, it's the Dingbei Marquis Fu family."

"Well, do you know who the Fu family is close to?" Luo Huaiyuan asked again. Of course, he didn't expect his sister to understand, so he said directly, "The Fu family of Dingbei Marquis and the Lu family of Ningyuan Marquis are old friends. Marquis Fu Shao and Lu Jiaxue are even more personal friends. Lu Jiaxue is so powerful that it is because of him that the status of the Dingbei Marquis in the court has risen. Otherwise, why do you think everyone indulges Seventh Sister? It's because Hui Jie'er married the Dingbei Marquis's son..."

Luo Yiyu felt that this relationship was complicated and tangled, but she was smart and managed to figure it out. Anyway, the relationship was very complicated and related to her brothers' careers, so she just had to stay out of it.

Luo Yiyu nodded with tears in her eyes and whispered that she understood.

Chen sighed, "I've been indulging you lately. Well, you won't have to go to school with Yixiu and the others from now on. Since you're getting married soon, I'll teach you well."