Chapter 6 Sister, can they see you?

"May my students pass the imperial examinations, and may I find someone who loves me." Zhu Xuanning answered with a wish that could be stated openly.

A clear, melodious voice rang out. The girl, her head slightly bowed, raised her eyes, and her stunning face finally emerged from the mist.

The surrounding noise receded like the tide in his world until the stunning face disappeared, and only then did the boy who had been called come back to his senses.

"Junior brother, what's wrong with you? You said you were praying for your senior brothers, but you ran off here to find some peace and quiet." The person who ran over patted his shoulder and complained unhappily.

The boy lowered his head and apologized. After the blessing ceremony, he returned home from the academy.

"Has the young master not come to eat yet?"

“My lord, that child went straight to the study after returning from the academy. I reckon he’s still studying there.”

Madam Zhu spoke softly, and Zhu Yuli frowned upon hearing this, but still ordered a servant to bring some dishes to Zhu Xiyue.

Zhu Xuanning understood that her younger brother had returned, but as long as he didn't bother her, it had nothing to do with her.

Zhu Xuanning didn't pay attention. After finishing her meal in the main courtyard, she slowly walked back to her own courtyard.

In early spring, the sky darkens early. The Zhu family mansion was lit up, but the road was still somewhat dim. So, Po Mo carried a small lamp ahead to illuminate the path for Zhu Xuanning.

Footsteps faintly approached from the waterside pavilion and corridors. Zhu Xuanning looked up and saw several servants carrying lanterns to clear the way, the bright light illuminating a youthful and innocent boy.

The two groups of people traveling in opposite directions stopped.

Caught off guard, the boy saw the person in the fluorescent light, the one who made him feel that the world had lost its color.

"Sister, go first." The boy snapped out of his daze; his voice, still going through puberty, wasn't very pleasant.

His servants, both in front of and around him, quickly made way for him.

Zhu Xuanning glanced at him, and that single glance made Zhu Xiyue lower her eyes in bewilderment.

Zhu Xuanning bowed respectfully, then left with Po Mo.

Only after the person left did Zhu Xiyue dare to ask the person beside her, "Was that the cousin that Father picked up from the manor?"

The servants should be respectful.

Zhu Xiyue paused, recalling the breathtaking beauty of the Bodhisattva with lowered brows amidst the light and shadow, and her voice gradually softened: "She should be the Fairy of the Milky Way, how could she have fallen into this world?"

Zhu Xuanning was completely unaware of Zhu Xiyue's sighs. She sat in front of the dressing table and used ink to slowly remove the hairpins from Zhu Xiyue's hair.

"My younger brother doesn't look like Lord Zhu at all."

As Zhu Xuanning spoke, she felt a particular aversion to that clean aura.

Po Mo was startled: "Miss, you can say this to me, but don't let others hear it."

Although Young Master Zhu looks like Madam Zhu, one can still vaguely see the resemblance of Lord Zhu in his features. It's not as dissimilar as Miss Zhu claims.

Zhu Xuanning laughed so hard her shoulders shook, but there was no warmth in her eyes: "What are you thinking? What I mean is, my younger brother is clearly raised to be a young master, and he doesn't resemble my aunt and uncle at all."

One is a cunning and sarcastic person who loves to be sarcastic, and the other is a heartless old fox. These two actually produced the purest child, even raising the thoughtless Zhu Baoyue to be innocent and naive. It truly disgusts her.

During the days of the imperial examination, Zhu Xuanning observed a vegetarian diet, offered incense, and worshipped Buddha, and even her clothes were covered with a faint sandalwood scent.

Zhu Xiyue's carriage was also parked at the temple. After each prayer, he would sneak out and take a look from afar.

On the last day, he was caught by several classmates.

A mischievous classmate grabbed his shoulder, feigning anger: "Well, you little rascal, you've been sneaking out time and time again just because you think you're favored by your master!"

"Let me see what is it about these large Buddha statues that's attracting you!"

His classmates, who were taller than him, squeezed next to Zhu Xiyue and stood on tiptoe to look ahead.

Zhu Xiyue suddenly realized what was happening and angrily shoved her classmate.

Caught off guard, the classmate stumbled to the side, but fortunately someone caught him and he didn't fall to the ground.

"Zhu Xiyue! What do you mean! Do you want to fight?!" The classmate was furious, her face turning red with anger.

"Don't look." Zhu Xiyue's back teeth pressed together on the ground, her unpleasant, hoarse voice like an angry little hen, blocking her classmate's way.

Realizing that both of them were angry, several young students immediately began to mediate.

Such a commotion attracted the attention of a few worshippers. Zhu Xuanning happened to glance over there as she closed her slender fingers.

"It seems to be the young master," Po Mo reminded him from the side.

Po Mo noticed that among the two people surrounded by students was Zhu Xiyue, and she was somewhat worried.

"Who cares what he does?"

"There's nothing we can do to help."

Zhu Xuanning spoke calmly, bowing deeply as she made a wish.

May all the gods above protect the believer and those she hates, so that they may be condemned to eternal damnation in the deepest hell, tormented day and night without ever being able to escape; and may the believer's future be broad and boundless, and that she may have all her wishes fulfilled.

Zhu Xiyue returned home disheveled, her black hair loose.

When Madam Zhu saw Zhu Xiyue's appearance, she felt heartbroken and burst into tears. She then severely punished the servants who were with Zhu Xiyue.

“Mother, I had a conflict with some of my classmates during the prayer ceremony. None of the servants and pageboys were allowed to enter the prayer area. How could we stop them? Please don’t punish them.” Zhu Xiyue pleaded for the kneeling servants.

Madam Zhu coaxed him to agree, sparing the servants from physical punishment, but after fining them several months' wages, her attention was diverted by the first half of Zhu Xiyue's sentence, and she pressed for details: "Who was the conflict with, and what was the cause?"

When Madam Zhu asked again, Zhu Xiyue remained silent, like a mute gourd.

He knew that if he said it was because he didn't want his classmate to see his cousin's face, his mother would definitely hold a grudge against his cousin. But if it was for his cousin's sake, his mother would only scold the classmate.

Madam Zhu couldn't get anything out of Zhu Xiyue, and the servants didn't provide any useful information either, so she had to give up.

Zhu Xiyue had already applied medicated oil to the broken skin. When he came out of Yixin Residence and took a shortcut back to his courtyard, he saw a light coming from afar.

At first, Zhu Xiyue thought they were just patrolling servants and didn't pay any attention.

When the evening breeze carried a faint scent of sandalwood, Zhu Xiyue slowly stopped in her tracks.

He recognized the scent; it was the incense that the temple always burned.

Zhu Xiyue was surprised that his cousin was out for a walk at this hour, but he didn't ask any questions. He simply avoided her as before, saying, "Sister, go ahead."

The sound made Zhu Xuanning feel really uncomfortable, but she only frowned and then returned to normal.

Zhu Xiyue thought Zhu Xuanning would curtsy and leave as before, but unexpectedly, Zhu Xuanning stopped in front of him.

Upon seeing this, the servant took a few steps back, stopping at a distance where he wouldn't hear his masters' conversation.

"Sister?" Zhu Xiyue looked down, somewhat puzzled, at the embroidered shoes that had stopped in front of him.

"Look up." This was the first time Zhu Xuanning had spoken to Zhu Xiyue since he returned to the manor.

He hesitated for a moment, gently covered his bruised forehead, and didn't immediately raise his head.

“You always peek at me in the Buddhist temple, and today you even got into a fight with your classmate in a quiet place.”

"I thought you were quite bold, but now that I'm standing right in front of you, you don't dare to look at me."

Zhu Xiyue started to stutter, desperately trying to explain that she had no other intentions.

But when Zhu Xuanning gently tucked a corner of silk gauze around the wound on his face, Zhu Xiyue's thoughts suddenly stalled.

"Does it hurt?"

Zhu Xiyue froze, looking like a dumbfounded goose.

"Did your aunt scold your page?"

“No, I said the conflict happened at the prayer site. No one was physically punished. Sister, please don’t say that.”

Zhu Xiyue snapped out of her daze and finished speaking haltingly.

Zhu Xuanning was satisfied with getting the information she most wanted to know, and then began to wrap things up, pretending to be angry as she pressed on his wound, causing Zhu Xiyue to gasp.

"It hurts." He dared not resist and could only speak weakly.

But her pitiful appearance and unpleasant voice only disgusted Zhu Xuanning.

"You stupid fool, you don't even bother to cover your face when you fight. How can you become an official with a flawed face?" she scolded, her tone becoming somewhat angry.

Zhu Xiyue gently grasped the silk gauze hanging down in Zhu Xuanning's hand, her voice muffled: "I didn't want to either, but they were looking at you."

Zhu Xuanning's fingers paused, her surging emotions faltering for a moment, yet she felt an even stronger urge to lash out, turning the tables on him and mocking him: "What kind of reason is that? You can see it, but they can't?"

“That’s different. They are men. If it were my sister, I would have done the same,” Zhu Xiyue said hastily.

The silk gauze tucked under his face was suddenly flung away, and Zhu Xuanning sneered: "If being seen by an outsider would cost me a piece of flesh, I would have died long before I came to the Zhu family."

After saying that, Zhu Xuanning took a few steps back and left the path without looking back.

Zhu Xiyue froze, watching Zhu Xuanning leave in a daze, then her lips curved into a slightly aggrieved smile.

He didn't understand why he had angered people.

"Young Master." The personal servant carefully moved over and called out to him.

Zhu Xiyue gave a muffled "hmm," then slowly squatted down and picked up the silk gauze that Zhu Xuanning had thrown at his face.

After standing in the cold wind for a while, Zhu Xiyue returned to the courtyard. He placed the silk gauze next to the desk and kept reading, but he still felt wronged.

He figured out why Zhu Xuanning was angry; he clearly hadn't done it on purpose.

But thinking of Zhu Xuanning's loss of her parents, Zhu Xiyue comforted herself again.

His sister is pitiful, but he isn't. So he'll just have to endure it for a little while!

Zhu Xiyue understood, and her complexion improved.

The pageboy took the opportunity to have hot soup brought to him.

"Does the young master really like Miss Zhu?" the page asked in a low voice while washing Zhu Xiyue's face.

"I like it," Zhu Xiyue replied.

The pageboy immediately became worried.

Zhu Xiyue asked curiously, "I like my older sister, what's troubling you?"

Zhu Xiyue was puzzled at first, but when she realized what he meant, her face turned red, and she suddenly grabbed the handkerchief covering his face: "What are you saying! My feelings for my elder sister are the same as my feelings for my elder sister!"

The pageboy was shocked, realizing that he had misunderstood his young master.

"You're not allowed to say things like that again! If it gets back to my sister, how am I supposed to face her?" Zhu Xiyue threw the washcloth into the basin and turned away angrily.

When Zhu Xuanning returned, Po Mo had not yet gone back to the courtyard.

By the time they returned from splashing ink, it was much darker.

"Miss." Po Mo's face lit up with joy as he strode in carrying a bag of milk.

"Why are you so happy?" Zhu Xuanning asked curiously.

He splashed ink and placed the milk on the table, then pulled out a red invitation card with gold lettering from his sleeve.

"This is an invitation to the Rongguo Mansion banquet that Young Master Biao sent through someone. You can attend with Young Master and the others then." Po Mo happily stuffed the invitation into Zhu Xuanning's hand.

Zhu Xuanning clutched the invitation card, which felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. Her long, dark eyelashes concealed her emotions. Her breathing was slightly disordered, but finally, a captivating smile bloomed on her face: "My cousin is so kind."

"PoMo, could you take some of the desserts I made to my cousin tomorrow?"

The ink should be splashed down.

The following day, a box of white jade pastries was delivered to the Mei residence by Splashed Ink.

Mei Jiashan doesn't like sweets, and usually he would only give them to his servants as a reward when he received sweets. But this was different; it was made by A Ning.

Mei Jiashan felt a sweet warmth in his heart when he thought of this. He ate the white jade cake with a gentle expression and felt that the taste of the cake was indeed as sweet as he had imagined.

He knew his cousin had never forgotten him; the reason she hadn't contacted him recently was simply because it was inconvenient for her to live under someone else's roof.

Mei Jiashan wiped his mouth and thought to himself.

Ah Ning, wait a little longer. Once I've taken over all the properties in Kyoto, I can bring you out. After that, you won't have to suffer the hardship of living under someone else's roof and having to act according to your aunt's wishes anymore.