Chapter 44 If Aunt Bai could be born in the mistress's belly
"No, it's okay, thank you." Chu Yufu's voice trembled slightly, and she supported herself on his chest with both hands to stand firm.
A few strands of black hair broke free from the hairpin and scattered on the side of her slender neck, dyed light gold by the sunlight. Far from looking disheveled, it made her face look more charming with the future and fading panic.
Just then, a young man in blue came galloping over, practically falling off his saddle. He came up panting, his face filled with panic, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I was just trying out a new pole, and I didn't take it very seriously! Are you hurt anywhere?"
The perpetrator's attitude was quite good, and Chu Yufu's frightened anger dissipated a lot. She covered her still pounding heart and shook her head: "Nothing, just a little weak in the legs."
The young man's eyes swept across her eyebrows, landing on her lips that had lost their color from shock. His Adam's apple rolled, and a thin layer of red quietly spread around his ears. His voice became softer, and he spoke again, "I'm so sorry to have startled you, young lady. My tent is just up ahead. Why don't you go and rest for a while? I'll send for a doctor..."
Chu Yufu was just about to say that it was not necessary when a strong forearm wrapped in a black sleeve suddenly appeared between her and the boy. She was slightly startled and looked up.
Pei Yue was looking down at her, his dark eyes were bottomless, and his voice was cold: "Are your legs not weak?"
Chu Yufu blinked, her fingertips slowly resting on the man's arm. Pei Yue didn't look at her again, but steadily carried her towards the tent, though his pace was noticeably slower than before.
His tall, upright figure shielded her from the sunlight and the young man's gaze. The young mare, left to the side, was led back to the stable by a servant who had just arrived from a distance.
The person was carried out safely, and after a short while, he was brought back with a pale face.
Mrs. Huang was startled and glanced at her nephew. After hearing that Chu Yufu was almost hit by a polo ball and was frightened, and confirming again and again that Chu Yufu was fine, she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she couldn't help but glare at Pei Yue, blaming him for taking care of her like this.
In front of Mrs. Huang, Mrs. Wu was naturally concerned. She held Chu Yufu's hand and asked her a lot of questions. Finally, she put on a loving smile and said that she was glad that she was okay.
Seeing this, Chu Jinhe, who had always been uninterested in polo, said directly, "Mother, my sister has been so frightened that her face has turned pale. Why don't we go back home first and let her rest well?"
Mrs. Wu thought to herself that the purpose of letting the two young people get along together today had been achieved. Now that the second girl was frightened, it would be useless to force her to stay. On the contrary, it would appear that she, as a stepmother, was inconsiderate. So she simply agreed and ordered people to find Chu Linglan. She also apologized to Mrs. Huang and said goodbye.
A moment later, the group walked out of the tent and found the carriage waiting outside.
Before getting on the carriage, Chu Yufu paused, turned around and looked back at the man in front of the tent. A smile spread across her lips, and her voice was clear and sincere: "Master Pei, I wish you a triumphant return."
The driver whipped the carriage and it headed back home.
Chu Linglan had just chosen her horses with Lu Jiaan in the stables, and before she could even saddle them, someone sent by the Wu family had found them. After learning what had happened in the carriage, her face visibly darkened as she muttered, "That guy was so annoying! How could he hit so poorly? If Master Pei hadn't intervened in time, I don't know what would have happened!"
After saying that, she pulled aside the car curtain, rested her chin on the window frame, and looked at the polo field gradually disappearing into the distance, feeling a little sad. "Oh, I haven't even ridden a horse yet! I don't know when I can go out and play again."
Chu Yufu stroked her hair and said comfortingly, "There will always be a chance."
Chu Linglan shook her head silently, lowered the curtain and stopped talking.
The sound of wheels rolling over the cobblestones stopped, and the blue-tiled, whitewashed walls of the Chu family came into view. As soon as they entered the Zhuyu Courtyard, Lan Zhu pulled Chu Yufu inside and loudly ordered the people inside to boil water.
"Quickly boil some bath water and add some Acorus calamus! Soak well to get rid of this bad luck!"
When the girl got into trouble, she and Mr. Pei's servant were following far behind, watching the ball whizzing towards the girl. If Mr. Pei had not intervened in time, the girl didn't know whether she could still be standing here safely now!
She was scared every time she thought about it! If the girl was gone, she would not be able to survive!
"Hey, I just washed yesterday!" Chu Yufu tried to struggle, but couldn't persuade Lan Zhu. She could only watch them boil water and pour it into the wooden barrel behind the screen in the house.
Soon the room was filled with steam, and the slightly spicy scent unique to Acorus calamus was floating in the air.
Chu Yufu stepped onto the wooden pedal and entered the tub, slowly submerging her entire body in the water. It must be said that the moment the hot water flowed over her shoulders and neck, it did soothe her slightly tense nerves.
"Girl, you soak in the bath and I'll give you a massage. If the water gets cold, tell me and I'll ask someone to add more water." Lan Zhu stretched out her hand and kneaded her neck and shoulder blades with a little force.
Chu Yufu half-closed her eyes, rested her head on the wall of the barrel, stared at the white mist floating in the air, exhaled gently, and her thoughts drifted away.
I never expected that the person who saved him on the night of the Lantern Festival was Pei Yue.
In line with the principle of less trouble is worse than more, she did not tell anyone about the accident that night. Later, she thought carefully about who saved her, but she could not guess.
After all, she had too little information—
All I knew was that it was a man, a tall and strong man with a faint scent of pine.
Because her eyes were blurred by tears, and it was too chaotic and the light was very dim, she really couldn't understand more, and didn't even know how old the man was.
In the end, we can only speculate that the other party is a kind-hearted person, perhaps a kind-hearted person who saw that she was beautiful and couldn't bear to see her being crushed to death in the crowd?
But if this person is Pei Yue, then everything makes sense.
During the Lantern Festival, she had learned from her father that she would meet Pei Yue. Pei Yue must have felt the same way. Pei Yue had seen her before and knew what she looked like, so he came to her rescue.
In order to avoid suspicion, he quickly slipped away.
Thinking of the hug on the polo field not long ago and the other party's deliberately slow pace on the way back, Chu Yufu couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth slightly. She didn't expect that General Pei, who seemed cold on the surface, was actually a gentle person.
Indeed, if you think about it carefully, how could someone not be gentle and considerate say that life is not easy for women in this era?
Taking a bath was very relaxing. After being scalded by the hot water, she felt completely relaxed. In the afternoon, she read some leisure books and embroidered half a wedding veil. After dinner, she could no longer hold on and fell asleep, sleeping until dawn the next day.
Greeting each other every day was an unshakable routine. In the early morning, the Yunxi Hall was filled with the scent of incense. Wu sat at the top with a cup of hot tea in her hand and gave a lecture. Chu Yufu sat at the bottom with her eyes lowered, her hands folded on her knees, pretending to listen respectfully and absorbed in thought.
When I was in school, I didn't have to get up so early, and I had five days off, and the same thing happened at work. Although it was hard, there was always time to rest. Once I traveled back to ancient times, I had to get up at dawn every day, dress, and listen to lectures in the morning dew. It was like this every day, it was really annoying.
She raised her head slightly and glanced at the maid behind Wu who looked a little tired.
Even for a young lady like her, it was like this, and the maids under her had it even harder, with only one day off a month. This kind of endurance wasn't good for one's physical or mental health. I could make a rule in the courtyard and have everyone take turns getting up later. Actually, waking up so early to clean wasn't necessary. Now that there were more people in Zhuyu Courtyard, taking turns was enough.
"Alright, that's it." Wu's voice finally fell, like a pardon, "Let's all go and have dinner."
Chu Yufu regained her composure, stood up smoothly, and bowed in Wu's direction: "Yes."
She had just stood up and hadn't turned around when a figure, carrying a fragrant breeze, passed by her side nimbly.
It’s Chu Jinhe.
The other person walked over with her maid without looking around, the fluttering hem of her skirt showing a deliberate alienation. In just a few breaths, she had stepped over the threshold, leaving behind a straight and cold back.
Ever since that rainy night, Chu Jinhe didn't pay much attention to her. In the past, their relationship was pretty good, and they would call each other sister and younger sister affectionately when they met. But now, unless it was necessary, they would not even make eye contact, and each treated the other as air.
Chu Jinhe ignored her, and Chu Yufu was happy to be alone. She withdrew her gaze and walked out slowly.
After leaving the main hall, Chu Linglan, who was a step behind, stepped forward and said, "Second sister, are you free today? I'd like you to take a look at my mother. She hasn't been feeling well lately."
In the Yunxi Hall flower garden, several clusters of bright yellow forsythia flowers were in full bloom. Chu Yufu reached out and plucked two, then pinned them on Fourth Sister's head with a smile, saying, "Okay, can we go now? It's on our way."
"Why not?" Chu Linglan smiled and took her arm, saying as they walked out.
"Sister, you know, my mother's skin has turned a little yellow. Actually, according to my mother, she wasn't like this before. She was very fair more than ten years ago. But in recent years, she has not left the house, and her skin has become more yellow. I didn't notice it before, but when I slept with my mother yesterday and she changed her clothes, I found that not only her face has turned yellow, but her body is also very yellow."
She sighed: "So I want my sister to help me take a look."
After hearing what she said, Chu Yufu thought for a moment and said, "It sounds like a liver problem."
When they arrived, Aunt Bai was waiting for her daughter to come back for dinner. When she saw Chu Yufu, she was stunned for a moment, then she stroked her long hair off her shoulders a little embarrassedly: "Girl, I told you it's nothing, why did you bother to come here..."
Chu Yufu waved her hand and said with a smile that it was only a few steps away and no trouble. Then she asked Aunt Bai to stretch out her hand and feel her pulse.
Sure enough, it was a liver problem, damp-heat in the liver and gallbladder.
The maid brought paper and pen at the right time, and she wrote a prescription for Yinchenhao Decoction with Bupleurum, Centella asiatica, Polygonum cuspidatum, and Curcuma aromatica.
Holding the prescription, Aunt Bai frowned and said with some embarrassment, "Second Miss, with so many herbs, are they expensive? How long will it take to get better?"
Chu Yufu glanced at the old furnishings in the room and said with a smile, "It's not expensive. It's not a valuable herbal medicine. It just takes a long time to drink."
Hearing her say this, Aunt Bai felt relieved a little. She called the maid to add a set of bowls and chopsticks and invited Chu Yufu to have breakfast before leaving. Since Aunt Bai invited her and she was really hungry, she decided to stay.
At the dinner table, Chu Linglan told Aunt Bai about what she saw and heard at the polo match yesterday, her eyes sparkling. Aunt Bai just listened and occasionally picked up some side dishes for her with her chopsticks.
Finally, she lowered her voice and said, "I don't know when my stepmother will be able to take me there again."
Aunt Bai's smile faded, and she forced a smile on her lips: "There's always a chance."
After dinner, Chu Linglan went out to see her second sister off.
Aunt Bai sat at the table, clutching her handkerchief, and sighed softly, "It's a shame for Lan'er to follow me. It would be so wonderful if she could be reborn in the mistress's womb."
The old woman who had been with her for ten years heard her say this and hurriedly said, "What are you talking about, madam? Don't let the young lady hear it!"
"Besides, is it really okay to be born in the mistress's place? I haven't seen the eldest girl very happy! Everyone has their own worries."
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