Chapter 383 One Layer Within a Layer
My stepbrother left?
Lin Yuesha stared blankly, throwing away the cloth in her hand, thinking she had misheard.
"Bai Cha, let's find a carriage and hurry after my elder brother. I must see him off."
Lin Yuesha felt a void in her heart. She hastily wiped her face and was about to run outside.
The family only had one carriage. Liu Quan and Fang Dazhuang drove the carriage to take Xiao Qi to the capital. If Lin Yuesha wanted to catch up with him, she had to go to the carriage shop to rent a carriage first.
"Miss, the young master has been gone for several hours. The caravan is traveling fast, and we are afraid we won't be able to catch up."
Heading south from the prefectural city, the road conditions are complicated, and the caravans like to take shortcuts. Our side has no idea about their route. Qingxing brought in food and advised them.
"Yes, Miss, the young master must have his reasons for not letting me wake you. Since he doesn't want to cause you any more sadness, please don't..."
Longjing then entered and joined in the persuasion.
"All right."
Lin Yuesha felt a pang of sadness. It wasn't a matter of life and death; at the latest, the brother and sister would meet again next year. If her elder brother failed the imperial examination, perhaps the two of them could even spend the New Year together.
His parents saw him off without feeling sad, so why couldn't she be the only one to accept it?
Lin Yuesha's eyes were red, and she sniffed. Her relationship with her eldest brother was different from that of her elder brother. Just as she respected and loved her elders, she had a deep brotherly bond with Xiao Qi.
Even though her stepbrother was such a pedantic person, he would shamelessly write Spring Festival couplets and copy books to earn money, and accompany her to the market to sell melon seeds and peanuts, even though he knew he would be ridiculed by his classmates.
"This is what the young master left for you."
Qi'er held the box, thinking to herself that her master was too clever. Look at how he had tricked the young lady into believing in the deep affection between the siblings. She just wondered how things would change in the future.
As an observer, she realized the problem was somewhat tricky.
Anyway, she and Qingxing were just there to watch the show. The master was so good at controlling people's hearts, but in the end, he lost his own heart first. Why did she think he deserved it?
"Did my older brother give it to me?"
Lin Yuesha wiped away her tears with her handkerchief. She should be happy for her stepbrother. Things would be different in the capital. Once her family bought a courtyard, they could settle down in the capital and wouldn't have to live a nomadic life renting a simple house.
If her stepbrother stayed in the capital, that courtyard would become his residence. Lin Yuesha thought about it and realized that although she was a bit stingy, she was willing to spend money on her family, no matter how much it cost.
Thinking of this, Lin Yuesha said in a relaxed tone, "Could it be a calligraphy copybook left to me by my elder brother?"
Before leaving, Xiao Qi reminded her to learn the rules well and practice her calligraphy, saying that Lin Yuesha had made great progress compared to her previous spider-like writing.
Lin Yuesha opened the box; inside was a red silk package. She unwrapped the red silk, and there was another layer...
Lin Yuesha: ...
After dismantling seven or eight floors, we finally found something.
Lin Yuesha's heart pounded as she opened the red silk package. Inside was a kingfisher feather inlaid butterfly hairpin, the butterfly looking incredibly lifelike.
There is a letter in the bottom compartment of the box.
"My older brother is so good; he thinks of everything for me."
Lin Yuesha's emotions, which she had suppressed, surged up again. Xiao Qi had said in his letter that he would work hard to pass the exam and become her support; this was his promise.
For some reason, while feeling joyful, Lin Yuesha also felt quite guilty. If the original owner were still alive, this genuine sibling affection would belong to the original owner, not to her, an outsider.
What can she do? She can only take the place of the original owner and try even harder to be good to her family.
Lin Yuesha gently stroked the kingfisher feather butterfly hairpin with her hand, and then carefully put it away. She had just finished breakfast when Bai Youran arrived.
If it weren't for the involvement of interests, Bai Youran would be a good person to confide in, but now, the two have become much more estranged and there is a distance between them.
“Sister Yue Sha, I was unaware of my mother’s intentions beforehand.”
Lin Yuesha and Xiao Qi came to visit the mansion without Bai Youran receiving any prior notice. She was even unaware that her parents wanted her to marry Xiao Qi.
She only found out when a maid in the courtyard let it slip while she went to pay her respects to her mother, Madam Yan.
Shame, anger, disappointment—all sorts of emotions filled Bai Youran. Her mother loved her, but Bai Dingfeng was her mother's hope, and she had known that for a long time.
"It's nothing, I understand your mother's good intentions."
Facing Bai Youran, Lin Yuesha didn't hide anything. The matter at the girls' school was over, and she didn't want to mention it again.
Now that the matter is resolved, and Li Ruoxue is dead, everyone is happy.
"yes."
Bai Youran curled her lips in a mocking smile. Didn't she have her reasons for her mother's predicament? In the end, it was all for her elder brother's future. Yan Shi was threatened by the Li family and had no power to fight back.
Replacing Li Ruoxue with Li Ruoshuang makes no difference to the Bai family.
She was forced to take the blame for her elder brother Bai Dingfeng's mistakes, which implicated her, and she was even forced to marry a poor scholar as a compromise.
Lin Yuesha didn't like what Bai Youran said. What did he mean by compromise? He clearly looked down on her stepson. Was it just because of class differences?
The daughter of an official is too cunning and good at scheming. Xiao Qi is an honest man and is not worthy of such a noble wife. In the future, her elder brother is destined to marry a woman he truly loves and will not use marriage as a bargaining chip. Who cares!
Whether Bai Youran meant it or not, her words implied a disdain for Xiao Qi, and Lin Yuesha didn't want to be her sister; she was very protective of her own.
“My elder brother has already set off and left this morning, so you don’t need to worry about any rumors spreading.”
Lin Yuesha spoke very seriously, and at the same time hoped that the servants of the Bai family would also keep their mouths shut and stop talking nonsense, as Xiao Qi and Bai Youran had no relation whatsoever.
"I know."
Bai Youran's eyes darkened. It was only after learning that Xiao Qi had already set off that she felt at ease coming to find Lin Yuesha.
"Has Young Master Bai not yet set off?"
The atmosphere was very silent, so silent it was awkward. To ease the tension, Lin Yuesha casually asked a question.
Sometimes it's hard to be a person. Although I don't want to have anything to do with the Bai family, my family does business in the prefectural city, so I can't afford to offend them too much and make them resentful. I can only maintain a superficially harmonious relationship.
"Yes, my eldest brother is getting married the day after tomorrow."
Bai Youran shrugged, not knowing what Lord Li had said to her father, but the two families hastily arranged the marriage. After Bai Dingfeng married Li Ruoshuang, he would go to the capital to take the imperial examination.
Bai Youran came to deliver a message: she wanted to find Lin Yuesha to go to a jewelry shop and choose a hairpin as a gift for her new sister-in-law. Even though her opinion of Li Ruoshuang wasn't as good as her opinion of Li Ruoxue, she had already decided on something that couldn't be changed, so she could only accept it.
Li Ruoshuang married into the Bai family, and her eldest brother Bai Dingfeng accepted it. Why should she, as the younger sister, be in such a hurry? She couldn't interfere in her brother's private affairs anyway.
"If only my older brother could marry the woman he loves."
Bai Youran sighed, what she really wanted to say was how wonderful it would be if she could marry the man she loved.
Because of a medical dispute, she took a liking to Liao, a doctor at Jishetang, but her parents probably wouldn't approve of his identity.
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