Chapter 15 Returning Home 4 He wasn't arrogant; he was clearly mean-spirited…
"Shuangshuang?" Cui Ying asked tentatively.
A garnet-red agate beaded necklace swayed and dangled in the summer sunlight as a young woman adorned with jewels entered.
The young woman wore a jade-colored silk skirt over a lotus-colored robe embroidered with butterflies. Her hair was styled in a cloud-like bun, adorned with hairpins and precious stones. She possessed a dignified demeanor, her oval face radiating gentleness, yet her eyes held the liveliness of a young girl. Her cheeks sank into dimples as she smiled, revealing a pair of adorable dimples.
Cui Ying stared blankly at the woman's face, her still-sleepy expression filled with disorientation. Coming to her senses, she immediately got up from the bed, her face a mixture of surprise and delight as she greeted her, "It really is you! What brings you here?"
Chen Shuangshuang quickly stepped forward, grabbed Cui Ying's outstretched hand, and said excitedly, "Why can't I come? I came to ask you how you got involved with Xiao Qiyu. Tell me quickly, this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event!"
Cui Ying felt both amused and angry. She was amused to finally see her good friend whom she hadn't seen in a long time, but angry that after so long, her friend had come specifically to find out about her embarrassing moments.
"How could you not know about such a big commotion as the Empress Dowager's bestowal of a marriage?"
The two sat down hand in hand. Cui Ying personally poured Chen Shuangshuang a cup of sweet and sour plum drink, with two crystal-clear crushed ice cubes in it. As she spoke, she glanced at her and said reproachfully, "Still asking questions you already know the answer to."
Chen Shuangshuang's cheeks were flushed, her eyes shining with excitement and curiosity. The beautiful tassels of her hair ornaments, which should have swayed gracefully, now shook violently with her nods.
"Of course I know about the Empress Dowager's decree of marriage, but do you think I don't know you? There's no way you'd just obediently accept the decree, so I think there's definitely something fishy going on here!"
Cui Ying sighed softly, feeling helpless even as she brought it up: "There was no trickery involved. I just never expected that the Empress Dowager would betroth me to Xiao Qiyu, so I accepted the decree without hesitation. I was originally planning to threaten that unlucky guy to break off the engagement, since I wouldn't be the bad guy anyway."
Chen Shuangshuang nodded upon hearing this, picked up the plum drink, and enjoyed the coolness by pressing her palm against the cup, but did not take a sip: "This is something you would do, but who did you originally think would be the unlucky one to be married off by the Empress Dowager?"
When Cui Ying met Chen Shuangshuang's curious gaze, the name "Chen Che" lingered on her tongue for a moment before she swallowed it back down.
She couldn't very well say: "To be honest, that unfortunate fellow is none other than the second son of the Duke of Huguo's family, your brother-in-law, Chen Che."
Perhaps trying to change the subject, Cui Ying suddenly narrowed her almond-shaped eyes, her expression meaningful as she looked at Chen Shuangshuang's face and clicked her tongue.
Chen Shuangshuang: "What's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly looking at me like that?"
Cui Ying looked inscrutable and deliberately lowered her voice, saying, "You keep asking me questions, could it be that you still have feelings for Xiao Qiyu and are resentful?"
Chen Shuangshuang's eyes widened immediately, and she stood up excitedly: "Pah! I'm about to become a mother, and I'm still so resentful! I, Chen Shuangshuang, swear to heaven that if I still harbor even the slightest thought for Xiao Qiyu, I... I will—"
Afraid that she would swear on her own, Cui Ying quickly got up and covered her mouth, spitting out a "pui pui pui" sound: "I was just joking with you, why are you in such a hurry? And what did you just say?"
Cui Ying's gaze involuntarily moved downwards, landing on Chen Shuangshuang's lower abdomen. She forgot to blink: "You...you're going to be a mother?"
Chen Shuangshuang lowered her eyes, her face showing shyness, placed her hand on her lower abdomen, and nodded gently.
"My God!" Cui Ying exclaimed in shock, her legs trembling as she slumped back into her chair. "When did this happen?"
It feels like just yesterday that we played shuttlecock and flew kites together. How could it be that in the blink of an eye, my sister and I are about to become mothers?
Cui Ying always felt that she was still young, and having children was something far away from her, something that would never be related to her or her peers.
Chen Shuangshuang sat down and said, "I was pregnant back in May, but my mother-in-law said that we shouldn't make a big fuss about it during the first three months, as it would frighten the baby. So we have to wait until the first three months are over and the pregnancy is stable before we can tell anyone."
Cui Ying wiped the fine sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief and couldn't help but sigh, "Don't even mention me, if we went back two years, who would have thought you would marry Shen Lian and have a child?"
Shen Lian is the eldest son of the Duke of Huguo's family, six years older than Chen Shuangshuang. Back then, when the Duke of Wei's family ran a private school, Shen Lian also studied there for a few days.
Because he was a big kid back then, he couldn't play with those noisy little kids. He spent most of his time discussing academic matters with his teacher. Even when he did talk, he would only say a few words to Xiao Qiyu. He was too lazy to even talk to his own younger brother, Shen Che. The only time he would talk to him was when Shen Che got into trouble with Cui Ying, and Shen Lian would scold his brother and then take him home to his father for punishment.
In short, in Cui Ying's eyes, Shen Lian was not like an older brother of the same generation, but rather like a stern and unsmiling elder.
She could think of a few instances where Shen Lian and Chen Shuangshuang had crossed paths. One was when they were children, Chen Shuangshuang climbed a tree with her, but she was too scared to come down and sat on the tree crying. In the end, Shen Lian carried Chen Shuangshuang down.
Secondly, when Chen Shuangshuang was publicly humiliated by Xiao Qiyu, she ran away and disappeared for a while. In the end, it was Shen Lian who carried Chen Shuangshuang, who had fainted from crying in the depths of the Imperial Garden, out of the garden.
And then that was it.
God knows how those two ended up together.
It is said that Shen Lian took the initiative to ask his parents to propose marriage at the Chen family residence.
"Fate is something that is predetermined."
Upon hearing her husband's name, Chen Shuangshuang blushed and said in a tender tone, "Just like Shen Lang and I, you and Xiao Qi, it seems that it is all destined and cannot be avoided."
Cui Ying chuckled, holding her forehead, and took a sip of the plum drink: "What a joke! You want me to believe that Xiao Qiyu and I are destined for each other? You might as well say that the plum drink and I are destined for each other. At least the plum drink can cool you down, while Xiao Qiyu only makes me feel hot."
Chen Shuangshuang gently comforted him: "Third Sister, don't think like that. Seventh Brother is really a very, very good young man. Putting aside his family background and appearance, just in terms of his character, even a hundred of these playboys in the capital combined cannot compare to him."
“Character?” Cui Ying scoffed as if she had heard the biggest joke. “He could have refused the sword tassel you gave him, or even ignored it, but he shouldn’t have thrown it on the ground in front of so many people. Before that, I thought he was just arrogant. After that, I realized that he was not arrogant at all, but clearly mean-spirited.”
Chen Shuangshuang remained silent.
Cui Ying removed the plum drink with crushed ice that had been placed on Chen Shuangshuang's side, and instead ordered a maid to bring over a cup of warm honey tea. She continued, "What use is a person like that, no matter how good their character is? They don't even have the most basic humanity. They're not even as good as a stone."
Hearing Cui Ying's words, Chen Shuangshuang's eyes were filled with complicated emotions, as if she was recalling something. Finally, she spoke: "So many years have passed, and I don't care. Why should Third Sister care? Besides, when I thought about it carefully later, the sword tassel didn't seem like he deliberately threw it on the ground. It seemed like he handed it back to me, but I didn't take it, so he just handed it to me and it fell to the ground."
Cui Ying added two dried rose petals to the honey tea to enhance the aroma: "Alright, you don't need to try to make amends for him just because he married me. As you just said, fate is predetermined, so I suppose bad relationships are also predetermined. I don't like Xiao Qiyu because I was born with him, and I can never reconcile with him in this lifetime."
Chen Shuangshuang sighed, "You're still so young. You have a long life ahead of you. There's no need to speak so soon."
Cui Ying stirred the flower tea with a small silver spoon, letting the petals unfurl, and the fragrance of roses immediately filled the air, permeating the skin on her hands.
"What I say is always accurate. Just you wait and see." Cui Ying's tone was light, as if she wasn't talking about something heavy, and she didn't seem to care at all.
Chen Shuangshuang stopped talking, only sighed, picked up the flower tea and took a sip. Then, as if remembering something, she took a small porcelain jar from her waist, removed the soft stopper, and used a hairpin to pick out a dark, damp substance from it, adding it to the tea.
Cui Ying stared at it curiously: "What is this?"
Chen Shuangshuang smiled and said, "It's a specialty that Shen Lang asked a friend to transport from the Lingnan area. It's called salted citron. It's made by cutting fresh citron into pieces and pickling it in salt water. It's the best for the throat, and it can also relieve summer heat and stop coughing. Drinking a cup of it occasionally is better than taking medicine, and it won't harm your body."
Cui Ying knew about citron; it was even more sour than vinegar, and if you pickled it with salt, it would taste absolutely awful.
"Will it taste good?" Cui Ying was very skeptical.
Chen Shuangshuang smiled radiantly, her face innocent and harmless, and handed her a teacup, saying, "It's not bad, you'll know once you try it."
Cui Ying took the teacup with some skepticism, glanced at the tea that had been stained black, and took a sip with great curiosity.
The moment the mouthful went down, Cui Ying froze.
"vomit!"
Cui Ying was bent over, feeling nauseous, and tears streamed down her face.
"It's sour, salty, and bitter! Is this something a human should drink?!" Cui Ying rinsed her mouth several times with water, but still felt a sour and salty taste in her throat, and her head felt heavy and swollen. "No, water can't relieve the sourness and bitterness. Quickly bring me something sweet!"
As soon as she finished giving her instructions, a slender hand reached out to her, holding an exquisite mutton fat porcelain bowl filled with milky white sweet cheese, garnished with fresh fruit pieces, making it very beautiful.
Cui Ying didn't have time to appreciate it. She picked up the sweet cheese and drank it all in one gulp. The strong sweet and milky aroma slid over her lips and teeth, finally neutralizing the heavy sourness and bitterness in her throat.
She was panting heavily, clutching her chest, and it took her a long time to recover.
Then she looked up, wanting to see which maid had such a keen eye.
My gaze met a pair of beautiful phoenix eyes.
Xiao Qiyu changed his outer garments, replacing the wide-sleeved robe with a straight-sleeved long gown, which fit his body better and made him appear taller and more elegant.
Cui Ying was stunned.
She didn't come to her senses until Chen Shuangshuang called her.
Cui Ying first looked at the agate beaded curtain at the door. Seeing the curtain swaying and the red beads jumping around, she knew that Xiao Qiyu had suddenly barged in.
But if he came in suddenly, it proves that he had obviously been standing outside the door for a long time before that.
"How long have you been here?" Cui Ying swallowed, the aroma of sweet cheese still lingering on her lips and teeth, but suddenly it tasted bland.
Talking behind someone's back is not a very honorable thing to do, let alone being caught by the person in question.
She just wanted to know when Xiao Qiyu arrived and how much of what she said he had overheard.
The air was filled with the rich scent of roses. Looking at Cui Ying's flushed cheeks from gagging, Xiao Qiyu remained expressionless, except for a slight twitch of his eyebrows, making it difficult to discern his emotions.
"Not long," he said casually.
"That's when you said I was heartless and not even as good as a stone."
A note from the author:
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I'm here, and I'd like to set a regular update time. What time do you all think would be best?
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