Su Jinli suddenly realized that her elder sister's visit wasn't just a whim. She looked at Su Qingyao's slightly reddened ears, and suddenly her mind flashed back to the pair of warm jade earrings her elder sister had secretly given her when she got married in her previous life. The touch of those earrings seemed to still linger on her fingertips, and a surge of warmth suddenly surged through her heart. She stopped struggling and whispered, "Then, elder sister, be gentle. I'm afraid of pain..."
"Got it!" Su Qingyao hummed softly. Though her tone remained somewhat arrogant, her movements had subconsciously softened. She first picked up a box of peach blossom honey, gently scooped out a spoonful, and evenly spread it across Su Jinli's face, her movements as gentle as a breeze blowing across a lake, creating ripples. Then, she fetched a box of pearl powder and meticulously applied it to Su Jinli's face. Her fingertips gently pressed against Su Jinli's face, as if she were handling an inestimably precious, fragile piece of porcelain, each movement filled with care and concentration.
When drawing her eyebrows, Su Qingyao deliberately chose a darker shade than her own. Holding an eyebrow pencil, she gently traced a crescent-like shape between Su Jinli's brows with the tip. As she did so, she said, "You have beautiful eyebrows and eyes, naturally suited to distant mountain brows. Unlike me, I need eyebrow pencil to support them." Her voice was filled with admiration for her sister's beauty, mixed with a subtle hint of envy.
Su Jinli quietly watched her elder sister's focused expression. Her eyelashes cast fan-shaped shadows under her eyelids, like two delicate little fans. At this moment, Su Jinli suddenly discovered that her elder sister also had a tiny teardrop mole at the corner of her eye, but it was usually cleverly covered by rouge. "Elder sister, your rouge..."
"Stop talking!" Su Qingyao interrupted her again, picked up the "Zui Liuxia" in her hand, and gently touched Su Jinli's lips. "Take a sip." She said softly, with a hint of anticipation in her eyes.
Su Jinli pursed her lips as she was told and looked up at the bronze mirror. The girl in the mirror had beautiful eyebrows and eyes, skin as delicate and white as cream, and lips as rosy as peach blossoms in full bloom in March. The teardrop mole at the corner of her eye was like a delicate cranberry that quietly fell, adding a unique charm to this delicate face. Su Jinli couldn't help but smile softly, revealing two shallow dimples at the corners of her mouth, like flowers blooming in spring, sweet and charming. "Eldest sister, your craftsmanship is really good, even better than the dresser in the mansion."
"That's right!" Su Qingyao raised her chin triumphantly, her expression filled with pride. However, the moment she saw Su Jinli's brilliant smile, her ears turned even redder, like ripe apples. She quickly turned around to put away her makeup, and said in a muffled voice, "Remember, you must dress like this every day from now on! Otherwise, don't even mention being my sister, you'll embarrass me!"
At this moment, a loud "clang" suddenly rang out from outside the courtyard gate, like thunderclaps from the sky. Immediately afterwards, Young Marquis Su rushed in like a gust of wind, carrying a wooden sword. The red tassel on the scabbard danced in the wind, sweeping over the orchids placed under the window. The orchids swayed gently in the wind, as if telling of this sudden change. "Sister! Eldest sister! I just heard that bastard Wang Erlang saying bad things about you on the street. I'm going to kill him!" Young Marquis Su said angrily, his face full of anger, waving the wooden sword in his hand.
Su Qingyao quickly turned around and glared at him, the rouge box in her hand shaking slightly as she moved: "What are you chopping? Look at your sister's makeup, isn't it beautiful?"
Young Marquis Su was stunned. He stared at Su Jinli for a long while, scratched his head, and said with a puzzled look, "Sister, you seem... easier to bully?"
"Get out!" Su Qingyao and Su Jinli shouted in unison. One of them threw away the rouge box in her hand, and the other quickly picked up the abacus beads and threw them in the direction of Young Marquis Su.
Young Marquis Su quickly hid away with his head in his hands, but he still grinned: "Sister, then I'll go to the street to buy you some sweet cakes? The osmanthus sweet cakes from Zhang Ji in the south of the city are your favorite!" After saying that, he turned around and ran out without waiting for the two to respond. The wooden sword on his shoulder drew a half arc of light in the sunlight, like a golden lightning.
Watching her brother running away, Su Qingyao sighed helplessly and gently picked up the rouge box on the ground: "This kid, he only knows how to eat."
Su Jinli gazed at her eldest sister's proud profile. The sunlight filtered through the cracks in the rose trellis, casting subtle shadows on the hem of her pomegranate-red skirt, resembling a beautiful painting. Her thoughts drifted back to a past life, to the letter her eldest sister had secretly slipped into her bridal sedan before marrying into the Chen family. In it, her sister's elegant handwriting read, "Take care, my sister. Be careful." At that moment, her sister's seemingly clumsy yet incredibly sincere concern, like the color of the "Drunken Flowing Clouds," was bright and warm, flowing like a warm current through Su Jinli's heart.
"Eldest sister," Su Jinli said softly, her voice as gentle as the breeze, yet filled with deep gratitude, "Thank you."
Su Qingyao's hands trembled, and the rouge box in her hand almost fell to the ground again. She didn't look back, but said sullenly, "What are you thanking me for? Hurry up and do your math. Don't embarrass me!" After that, she hurried out the door.
The roses at Suiyuxuan were in full bloom. A gentle breeze blew by, sending petals cascading down like snow. One petal landed right in Su Qingyao's hair, like the teardrop mole she had secretly daubed on the corner of Su Jinli's eye, beautiful and moving. Su Jinli quietly watched her elder sister's hurried departure, the warmth of "Drunken Flowing Clouds" still lingering on her fingertips. A sudden wave of emotion welled up in her heart: could the family ties of this deep and vast courtyard be like this peach blossom makeup, inadvertently tinged with the world's most moving colors, warming each other's hearts and becoming the most precious existence in life?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
