Chapter 56 This younger sister is a bit immature
"Are there many kinds of things that can deceive people?" Lin Sui asked.
Achan nodded: "There are several kinds. There are beautiful jades that need to be worn on the body at all times, and there are herbs that can be eaten. As long as you use one of them, you can make others like you without them even realizing it."
“Such a powerful thing, if used on a king or noble, wouldn’t it cause chaos in the court?” Chen Hui couldn’t help but ask.
Lin Sui nodded in agreement, feeling that using such a thing in the Lin family seemed like making a mountain out of a molehill. Her father was only a second-rank general, which sounded impressive, but he wasn't even considered a top-ranking military officer.
“These things have a weaker effect on cultivators, and it takes a long time to affect them, which requires the user to use them continuously.” Achan smiled. “Here we have to mention their fatal flaw: they drain a person’s life force, that is, their lifespan.”
Lin Sui was startled: "If Lin Ting really used her, wouldn't that mean..."
“She was sent to your family right after she was born and was favored by your mother. If she really used those things, it’s been more than ten years already. She doesn’t have more than ten years left to live,” Achan asserted.
Chen Hui pondered and said, "It seems that Lin Ting's biological parents are playing a very big game. They are even willing to sacrifice their own daughter. I guess Lin Ting is unaware of the consequences of overusing that thing."
Thinking of Lin Ting's arrogant demeanor in front of him before, Lin Sui suddenly stopped caring. He originally thought it was a case of the cuckoo taking over the nest, but he didn't expect it to be a case of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
I don’t know what the Lin family has that they’ve been plotting against for over a decade.
In the evening, Gao Luo woke up again, this time for a longer period of time than before. The siblings talked about their recent situations before he fell asleep again.
Since Gao Luo's current condition is not suitable for moving, A Chan and the others could not leave him alone in the Lotus Garden, so she wanted to talk to Bai Xiuming and ask to borrow his courtyard for two days.
To everyone's surprise, they couldn't find him anywhere. Finally, the guards at the gate told them that Bai Xiuming had already left Heyuan with his men, and before leaving, he had instructed them to leave the courtyard for her to stay in.
Back in the courtyard, Achan thought to herself, "Lord Bai is such a good person."
As dusk fell, Hui Niang went to fetch food, Lin Sui looked after Gao Luo, and A Chan, having nothing to do, strolled around the courtyard. A moment later, she witnessed the lotus flowers in the courtyard blooming one after another, illuminating the entire pond with their fluorescent glow.
She stared at the lotus flowers filling the pond, lost in thought for a long time.
These are the flowers that Bai Xiuming came to see especially; they're so beautiful.
The group stayed in the courtyard for another night. The next morning, the doctor came to check on Gao Luo again and said that he was recovering quickly and his wounds were healing well. He could go home to recuperate after staying for another day.
Lin Sui and the others breathed a sigh of relief. They were still discussing tomorrow's itinerary when they heard a guard outside announce that someone was looking for Lin Sui.
Lin Sui went outside and found that it was Lin Ting who had come to find her.
Lin Ting and her maid were stopped outside the courtyard, both of them showing obvious displeasure.
Seeing Lin Sui come out, the maid said sarcastically, "It's getting harder and harder to see the eldest young lady. Anyone who didn't know better would think she was someone very precious. Even when our young lady came in person, we wouldn't let her into the courtyard."
Lin Sui glanced at the two tall and upright guards beside her: "If you are dissatisfied, you can go and question the Princess about why she sent them to guard this courtyard."
"Alright, shut up." Lin Ting glared at the maid, who immediately dared not speak again.
“We are going home today. My father asked me to ask you if you want to come with us. If you do, please wait outside the Lotus Garden at 3:45 AM.”
"Okay, I'll be there on time."
"Don't be late." After saying that, Lin Ting left with her maid.
After they had walked away, Lin Sui said to the guard beside her, "Brother, could you do me a favor?"
"Please speak, young lady," the guard said politely.
Although none of the women in the courtyard were from noble families, they were not to be easily offended simply because they were allowed to live in Lord Bai's courtyard.
"Please ask my elder brother to find General Anxi and inquire when and where he will depart for the capital."
The guard didn't ask any further questions and immediately replied, "Please wait a moment, young lady."
A moment later, the guard returned and said to Lin Sui, "Miss, General Anxi said that the carriage will be waiting outside the Lotus Garden at the beginning of the 9-11 AM."
"Thank you, brother."
Lin Sui wasn't surprised to hear that the departure time was completely different from what Lin Ting had told her.
This wasn't the first time she'd been disgusted like this. She'd even argued with Yao before, but no one thought Lin Ting was wrong; they just said Lin Ting was childish. On the contrary, she was accused by her mother of maliciously speculating about her sister and was punished by kneeling for an hour.
Lin Sui quickly stopped thinking about these unpleasant things. When she turned around and went back into the courtyard, she found that Gao Luo had left the room at some point.
Startled, she rushed forward to support Gao Luo: "Xiao Luo, why did you come out?"
Gao Luo waved to her, "It's nothing, I'm just a little dizzy. I came out to take a break and stretch my legs a bit. I've been lying down for the past few days and my whole body aches."
Seeing that he was standing steadily, Lin Sui breathed a sigh of relief, but did not let go of him: "Wait until you are better before you come out for a walk. Go back and rest, be careful not to aggravate your wound."
"I understand," Gao Luo replied, but his gaze was fixed on the doorway.
"Sis, who were those two people who came looking for you just now?"
"Oh, it's Lin Ting and her maid." Lin Sui replied casually, helping him slowly into the room.
“She is Lin Ting…” Gao Luo seemed to have thought of something. “Sister, I think I’ve seen her before.”
"Who, Lin Ting?" Lin Sui asked with surprise. "Where have you seen her before?"
Gao Luo racked his brains: "I remember... she seems to have bought something from me. Sister, do you remember three years ago, I dug up a ginseng on the mountain, and when I came to the city to sell the ginseng, I happened to run into her in the pharmacy."
Lin Sui nodded. At that time, her grandmother had recently passed away, and although the family had some money, they had no income. Gao Luo often went up the mountain with the adults in the village. Once, they were lucky enough to dig up a ginseng root, which relieved a lot of their stress.
"She bought your ginseng?"
"No, she bought a blade of grass from me. I originally wanted the shopkeeper to appraise it to see if it was valuable, but the shopkeeper had never seen it before. She called me out and bought the grass for two taels of silver."
It's no wonder Gao Luo remembered it for so long, since he sold a single blade of grass for two taels of silver.
"When did you ever sell grass, and at such a high price? Why didn't you tell me?"
Gao Luo immediately looked guilty: "Actually... actually, the place where I found that grass was quite far away. I was afraid that if you knew I went deep into the mountains and would nag, I wouldn't dare tell you."
"What does that grass look like?" Ah Chan finally asked after listening to the siblings talk for a long time.
Gao Luo recalled for a moment: "The grass was about the length of my palm. It was emerald green with many leaves on it, and I remember it had yellow flowers. When I found the grass, there was a snake around it. I chased the snake away, and I thought that the old people in the village said that if a wild animal guarded it, it was probably a spiritual herb, so I dug it up and brought it back."
"Achan, do you recognize this kind of grass?" Lin Sui asked.
Achan pondered for a moment: "If nothing unexpected happens, it should be Zhancao. It's the kind of thing I told you about that has special effects. Since Lin Ting bought it, she should be very familiar with it."
"It really is... so easy to get it." Lin Sui couldn't hide his surprise.
Chen Hui reminded her from the side, "Haven't you ever thought about why she repeatedly uses Lin Heng to harm your brother?"
Lin Sui immediately realized: "You mean she knew Xiao Luo was my brother, and because she was afraid he would tell me, she decided to use someone else to do her dirty work?"
When the Lin family came to pick her up before, it was the steward of the manor who came, so the Lin family members had never actually seen Xiao Luo before.
Lin Sui hurriedly asked Gao Luo, "Xiao Luo, have you been to the capital recently?"
Gao Luo hesitated for a moment before nodding: "Some people in the village heard about you in the capital before, saying that you stole someone's fiancé or something. I was a little worried about you, so I went to the capital. I was thinking of seeing you, but you didn't leave the house for the past two days. I did see the steward who came to the house before."
Chen Hui shook her head: "It's better to be safe than sorry. Lin Ting is quite meticulous; she even thought of killing someone to cover it up. She's just too greedy. She wanted all the benefits and ended up getting nothing."
Gao Luo's words finally made them understand the whole story.
Although it's still just speculation, it's clear that there's a greater than 90% chance it will come true.
Lin Sui felt increasingly frightened as she thought about it. If Lin Ting had discovered earlier that Xiao Luo was her brother, she probably would have attacked him without him even realizing it.
Just as Hui Niang said, if Lin Ting hadn't been greedy and wanted to kill two birds with one stone, using Lin Heng to get rid of Xiao Luo and also wanting her to turn against the Lin family, none of this would have happened.
Chen Hui patted Lin Sui on the shoulder: "Those who survive a great calamity are bound to have good fortune in the future. Don't worry."
Lin Sui relaxed, then asked A Chan hesitantly, "A Chan, since you recognize this herb, do you have a way to..."
She only said half of it before realizing she was being unreasonable.
Ah Chan laughed and said, "Yes."
"Yes?" Lin Sui asked in astonishment.
"There are things that can counteract the effects of Zhan Cao. When we get back to the city, I'll prepare some incense powder for you. You can find someone who has been affected by Zhan Cao and use the incense to fumigate them for two days. That will temporarily help them resist the effects of Zhan Cao."
"Really? Then could you please prepare some face powder for me?"
"Alright, come to my residence to pick it up the day after tomorrow." After saying that, Achan asked with some curiosity, "Have you figured out how to deal with Lin Ting?"
"I've thought it through." Seeing Lin Sui's confident demeanor, A Chan became even more curious.
However, Lin Sui didn't want to talk about it for the time being, so she didn't press the matter. She had a feeling that, given Lin Sui's personality, she might give her a huge surprise.
The day after Lin Sui and the Lin family left, A Chan and the others took Gao Luo away.
Before Lin Sui left, they had already discussed it and decided to leave Gao Luo at A Chan's manor to recover from his injuries, and then let him leave once he was fully recovered.
In this matter, Gao Luo had no say whatsoever and could only let the three people arrange things for him clearly.
After settling Gao Luo in, Chen Hui took A Chan, a cartload of vegetables and grain, and two hens back to the city.
The bustling scene inside the city contrasted sharply with the quiet and leisurely atmosphere outside. It felt like a long time had passed since I left, even though it had only been a few days.
On their way back, they first took a detour to the West Market.
Achan went to the hunting shop and bought two jade bones. Luckily, the shop had them in stock, so she paid 180 taels of silver and took them away directly.
When Chen Hui saw the jade bone, she was quite surprised and asked, "Is this thing made of jade? It looks really beautiful."
The two bones were only the size of a palm, crystal clear, comparable to the finest jade, and shone brightly in the sunlight.
After wrapping the bones up, Achan said to Chen Hui, "These are the leg bones of female corpses. Zhancao grows from their corpses."
"A female corpse?"
"Legend has it that the female corpses are the transformations of the daughters of ancient emperors after their deaths. Whether this is true or not, no one knows anymore. They are short in stature, human-like in appearance, and feed on grass, trees, and dew. After death, their bones do not decay and will turn into beautiful jade."
"Wouldn't that allow it to be sold as high-quality jade?"
Ah Chan said with a bitter smile, "Yes, but they are more expensive than jade."
Although she is not short of money now, she still feels like she is being robbed every time she comes to the hunting shop.
Having acquired the jade bone, the two returned home and began grinding it.
Fortunately, with Chen Hui's help, A Chan obtained a pile of jade bone powder in a short time.
Then she mixed several strong-smelling fragrances together to make a scented powder. This fragrance could perfectly mask the slightly fishy smell of the jade bone, and it wouldn't be noticed when it burned.
The day after the fragrance powder was mixed, Lin Sui came to the house early in the morning.
Achan was woken up by Chen Hui. She yawned as she walked out of the room, took the honey water Chen Hui handed her, and drank a couple of sips. She finally felt a little more awake.
"Why did you come so early?"
"I had nothing to do after dinner, so I came over. I have some news to tell you," Lin Sui said mysteriously.
"What news?"
“Yesterday I heard that Lin Ting’s biological father has been transferred back to the capital from Yongzhou. It is said that he performed well when he was sent out to the capital, and he will be at least a fourth-rank official upon his return. In three days, his whole family will come to the General’s Mansion to visit my father.”
"The whole family? How many children does their family have?"
Lin Sui said, "I have two sons. The eldest son is the top scholar in the provincial examination in Qingzhou, and the second son also passed the county-level examination."
This surprised Achan: "The son is well raised; it seems the father and son will soon be serving as officials in the same court."
"Yes, I heard that Lin Ting's biological father was just an unsuccessful seventh-rank official in his early years, but now his family has returned to the capital in wealth and honor."
Achan handed the perfume powder she had prepared the night before to Lin Sui, saying meaningfully, "Whether they can continue to be wealthy depends on you."
Lin Sui took the incense from A Chan, took out three silver notes, and said with a slightly embarrassed expression, "I know making incense powder must be difficult. I only have three hundred taels on hand right now. Wait for me..."
Achan raised her hand to stop her from speaking, and picked out two hundred taels: "With our friendship, this is enough."
Lin Suiwei paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Okay."
Then Achan instructed, "You can use these fragrance powders in two applications. They will take effect after you finish using them all and will last for two to three days."
"That's enough."
Achan added, "The fragrance is a bit strong, please bear with it."
"good."
Not long after receiving the perfume powder from Achan, Lin Sui returned to the general's mansion across the street.
On her way back to her own courtyard, she ran into her older brother, Lin Yi, who was coming out of the main courtyard. Lin Yi greeted her warmly, "Sui Sui, did you go out to play?"
Lin Sui was stunned. She was less familiar with this older brother than with her own father.
The main reason is that he is currently on duty in the Imperial Guard and is often not in the mansion, so they don't usually have much to talk about.
The reason Lin Sui treated him relatively well was the same as Lin Cheng's. After learning about what happened on the mountain, Lin Yi did not blame her. Instead, he comforted her privately and gave her a hundred taels of silver to buy some good food to calm her nerves.
Of the three hundred taels of silver she gave to Achan just now, one hundred taels belonged to Lin Yi.
Actually, putting aside the bad impressions Lin Ting had of him, Lin Yi was already a very good older brother.
“Yes, my friend lives across the street, and I went to sit with her for a while.” After a brief pause, Lin Sui finally answered.
Seeing that Lin Yi was dressed in casual clothes, she asked, "Brother, don't you have to work today?"
"I switched shifts with a friend and got two days off," Lin Yi patiently told Lin Sui.
"Oh..." Lin Sui wanted to find an excuse to leave, but when her gaze fell on the face powder in her hand, she suddenly had another idea. She looked up at Lin Yi and asked him, "I heard from Father that Big Brother is very good at chess?"
Lin Yi was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, "He is a little better than my father."
"Brother, do you have time later? Could you teach me how to play chess?"
"sure."
Lin Sui had never played chess before, so Lin Yi had to teach her step by step. Unfortunately, after playing two games, he realized that his younger sister, like their father, had absolutely no talent in this game.
If the younger sister had only lost the game, that would have been one thing, but she also had the maid light incense in the room that gave people headaches, seemingly intending to use external forces to win the game.
He didn't know if it was just his imagination, but when the incense was burning, he felt a headache, but when the incense went out, he felt unusually clear-headed.
The two played ten games of chess, and Lin Yi won all ten. Lin Sui was still not convinced and made an appointment with him to play again the next day. Only then was Lin Yi finally allowed to leave the courtyard.
Lin Sui watched Lin Yi leave, not noticing anything unusual about him, and wondered if the incense had actually worked.
However, I always felt that my older brother was a bit nagging, and he even made her memorize the chess scores. I wonder if it was a side effect of burning incense.
On his way back to the front yard, Lin Yi ran into Lin Ting again. Lin Ting was carrying a food box, and her eyes lit up when she saw him.
"Big brother, where have you been? I haven't been able to find you." As she got closer, Lin Ting suddenly frowned and stopped.
"Brother, why do you smell so bad?"
She seemed to genuinely find the smell unpleasant and gagged twice.
Lin Yi brought his sleeve closer and smelled it. The incense he had burned at his younger sister's place actually smelled quite nice after the scent faded.
He didn't answer Lin Ting's question, but instead asked her, "What are you doing here?"
Lin Ting covered her nose with a look of disgust, so the maidservant next to her had to speak up for her: "Young master, our young lady just made some desserts and would like you to try them, wouldn't you like to?"
She tugged at Lin Ting's sleeve, and Lin Ting quickly nodded and handed the food box to Lin Yi.
Lin Yi doesn't usually eat snacks, but Lin Ting seemed to really enjoy giving him these treats. Not wanting to upset his sister, he didn't refuse.
"Thank you, Second Sister." Lin Yi took the food box and was about to leave when he saw Lin Ting looking at him with a hesitant expression.
His expression was so obvious that he couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to.
"Is there anything else, Second Sister?"
Lin Ting looked down at the jade pendant on Lin Yi's waist and said, "Brother, this jade pendant on your waist is really beautiful. Can you give it to me?"
Lin Yi glanced down at the jade pendant at his waist and refused, saying, "This was a gift from my grandfather when I was born, I can't give it to you."
The jade pendant was not of the best quality. When he was born, his father was only a fourth-rank general, and his grandfather's official position was not high either. The family's situation was not as good as it is now.
His jade pendant was not as good as the jade pendant Lin Ting was wearing. Lin Yi didn't understand why she had taken a liking to his jade pendant. Moreover, it was a men's style. What would a woman want with it?
This was the first time Lin Yi had rejected Lin Ting, and she looked on incredulously.
"But...but I want it." Lin Ting looked aggrieved. She didn't know what was wrong with Lin Yi. Didn't he never refuse her before?
Lin Yi frowned, realizing for the first time that her second younger sister was rather immature.
Compared to her, the younger sister who insisted on playing chess and secretly did little tricks was much cuter, but unfortunately she didn't smile much.
But that's definitely not the older sister's problem. It must be that our father is too serious, which makes the older sister always have a tense face.
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