Chapter 99: A Copper Coin.
Li Yue'er now has a little tail.
The mistress followed behind her, unhurried and not busy with her own affairs, but going wherever she went.
You know, it used to be Li Yue'er who followed the mistress so closely, but now it seems like the roles have been reversed.
Li Yue'er was still angry, but she pretended not to see the person following behind her and continued with her work as usual.
She is still learning from Sister Su, but her housekeeping lessons ended the day she became the matriarch of the Qu family.
Although she is still learning how to manage the household accounts and estate, she no longer needs to study from morning till night like before. Instead, she can take an hour each day, take out the accounts she has made, and have Sister Su give her some pointers and help her fill in any gaps.
After bringing the mistress home, Li Yue'er went to the main hall to find Sister Su.
Seeing her approach, Su Rou was clearly surprised, "Qu Rong, she..."
Wasn't I supposed to be back today?
Before she could finish speaking, Su Rou saw Qu Rong enter with two steps from Wan Li Yue'er and fell silent, her gaze shifting between the two.
It was immediately obvious that something was wrong between the couple.
Qu Rong, who was so particular about cleanliness, didn't bother to wash or change after returning to the Qu residence. She was still wearing her light, narrow-sleeved winter clothes, carrying Li Yue'er's light gauze hood, and following behind Li Yue'er with a composed demeanor.
No matter how relaxed and casual she appeared on the surface, her gaze remained fixed on Li Yue'er, observing Li Yue'er's every move.
It was one thing for her to act strangely, but Li Yue'er was also acting very oddly today.
Ever since learning that Qu Rong was coming back three days ago, Li Yue'er has been distracted in class. Yesterday, she spent the whole day watching the servants clean and sweep Songlan Hall. Before leaving today, she asked the maid to prepare hot water for a bath and to change the bed curtains, sheets and quilts, because Qu Rong is clean and picky.
So the room was spotless, and she herself got up early to wash and choose new clothes, and even put on a hood.
Before she left, she came over with a blush and asked for leave, saying that Qu Rong was back today and she wanted to spend more time with her, and asked her to help her with the accounts and housework for the day.
Su Rou thought she probably wouldn't see Li Yue'er today, but to her surprise, not only did she see Li Yue'er, but Qu Rong also came along.
Logically speaking, the two separated not long after their marriage, and Qu Rong left for another three months. Now they should be enjoying a period of separation that makes them feel like newlyweds. But to her, the couple not only don't seem to be in love, but they are also cold and distant.
Su Rou looked at Li Yue'er and raised her hand to push the account book in her hand to her.
Li Yue'er snorted lightly, glancing behind her out of the corner of her eye, "Don't worry about her. Let her go wherever she wants, and let her write as many words as she wants in the letter."
Su Rou, "..."
She didn't care, nor did she ask.
She wasn't interested in the conflict between Li Yue'er and Qu Rong; she just didn't want Qu Rong sitting in the main hall and interfering with her teaching.
Qu Rong ignored Li Yue'er's angry words, letting them go in one ear and out the other, and found a chair to sit down in the main hall.
While Li Yue'er and Su Rou were looking at the accounts, she quietly watched Li Yue'er. When Li Yue'er noticed and turned around to look at her, she changed her head to study the hood.
An hour passed quickly, and almost immediately after the hour was up, Su Rou packed her things, picked up her suitcase, and left.
As she was about to leave, she heard Qu Rong say behind her, "I met a woman on this trip. If I'm not mistaken, she is the eldest princess of the new dynasty. She said that the court should overturn the case of an old minister who had a very good reputation in the previous dynasty but was wrongfully imprisoned. At that time, the Su family will be involved."
Qu Rong said, "You should prepare yourself mentally in advance."
When the old and new dynasties merged, the new emperor, in order to win over the former dynasty's officials, would select a few wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice handed down by the former emperor, overturn them, and then posthumously confer titles upon them, thus demonstrating the new dynasty's integrity.
At the same time, this was used to appease the old ministers of the former dynasty, letting them know that the new emperor accepted and valued them, so as to prevent instability in the newly established court.
Su Rou's father was an official with an excellent reputation. If the case were overturned, Su Rou could be freed from her status as a slave and regain her identity as the legitimate daughter of the Minister's family, and might even be more noble.
Su Rou paused upon hearing this.
Li Yue'er, judging others by her own standards, felt that Sister Su should be happy!
With her family's injustice cleared and her father's case overturned, transforming him from a criminal into a high-ranking official posthumously honored by the new emperor, she would finally return to her former life—something she had longed for for years.
Moreover, Sister Su's gentle nature is inherently tinged with aloofness and pride. Her current situation and life are certainly not what she envisioned in her youth. Now that things have been set right and everything is back on track, it's a good thing.
Upon hearing this, even Li Yue'er, who was having a disagreement with the mistress, wanted to ask her if it was true. However, Sister Su didn't turn her head or say a word. She simply carried the bamboo box quietly and walked slowly out of the main hall, just as usual.
Li Yue'er sat there blankly, staring at Sister Su's thin back, not quite understanding her reaction.
Li Yue'er subconsciously turned her head to look at the mistress, her eyes questioning.
When she turned her head, she met the mistress's calm and collected gaze, as if she were just waiting for her to ask a question.
Li Yue'er, "..."
Li Yue'er belatedly realized that she had been so preoccupied with Su Jie's matter that she had forgotten that it was also related to her.
Whether it was the woman the mistress had recently met or Su Rou's affairs, she was extremely curious, so curious that her heart itched like ants were crawling on it.
But when she turned around and saw her mistress like this, sitting there waiting for her to take the initiative to make up, Li Yue'er immediately remembered that one-word letter.
In the letter, the mistress not only made no mention of missing her, but also never brought up these things.
Li Yue'er was about to calm down, but now she felt a tightness in her chest, so she took a deep breath, forced a smile, and stopped asking.
She stopped asking questions and continued calculating the accounts.
The more patient Li Yue'er was, the more puzzled Qu Rong became, and her fingers, which had been caressing the light gauze, unconsciously tightened.
If this had happened three months ago, Li Yue'er would have been jealous and pleading with her to pry into her arms after hearing that she had met a new woman outside. She would have insisted on finding out every little detail about her. She would never have been as calm and composed as she is now.
Only those who care will ask so urgently.
So she won't ask now...
For as long as Li Yue'er was going through the accounts, the mistress watched her quietly.
If eyes could speak, the two would already be embracing. But the mistress's eyes cannot speak, and her mouth, which can speak, is like a saw-mouthed gourd, offering no explanation whatsoever.
Li Yue'er's heart had already softened under her gaze. The reason she put on such a cold attitude was simply to get a response from the mistress.
If she had simply downplayed the matter, the mistress wouldn't have realized how angry she was. And the next time the mistress went out, she might not have even sent a single letter.
If she were by his side every day, it would be fine if she were quiet and reserved. After all, these are the kinds of things that happen around her, and she can see them even if her mistress doesn't tell her.
But this time the mistress was gone for several months. She didn't know what happened or what people she met on the way. The mistress was completely different from what she said. If she hadn't reminded Sister Su to be prepared for the case overturning, would she have not told her these things?
It wasn't mentioned in the letter, nor in the carriage.
They were going to live together for the rest of their lives. Their relationship was no longer that of a mistress and a concubine, where she had to take the initiative and please her as before, and she didn't even dare to show her anger.
They are now a proper married couple, and it won't do for the mistress to be so cold.
Besides, he missed her so much while he was at home, but she didn't express the slightest bit of longing for him. After they met, she only cared about her body.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Li Yue'er also imitated the mistress, not saying a word and deliberately keeping her cold.
At lunchtime, the mistress had already washed up and changed into a light blue spring dress. When Li Yue'er saw this, she deliberately went into the inner room, changed out of her pink dress, and put on a rather dark purple dress.
The mistress glanced at her, then looked at her again, but lowered her eyes and said nothing.
Teng Huang followed Li Yue'er, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of them, and asked in a low voice, "You two haven't made up yet?"
She and Dansha have made up.
Li Yue'er said, "If she doesn't speak to me properly today, I won't make up with her."
Fujiki had always seen the head of the family this way since childhood, and didn't think there was anything wrong with what she was doing. He blurted out, "The head of the family has always been aloof and doesn't like to gossip with anyone. If there's anything you want to know, you can ask Tansha, or you can ask me. Tansha has told me everything—"
At this point, Teng Huang suddenly realized what was happening, his eyes darting around as he quickly covered his mouth with his hand.
Dansha had told her everything, but the head of the family hadn't told the mistress.
That's where things are wrong.
Li Yue'er glanced at Teng Huang, puffed out her cheeks, and poked the soft flesh on Teng Huang's side. "I was already unhappy, and you're making me even angrier."
Garcinia smiled apologetically, clasped his hands in a gesture of respect, and dared not offer any further advice.
The couple needs to communicate about their own issues.
After changing her clothes, Li Yue'er returned, sat down, and started eating with chopsticks.
There were six dishes on the table today, four of which were spicy, her favorites. The dark, oily sauce was clearly not to the mistress's liking, so only two sweet dishes were left for her.
The maid may have been careless when arranging the dishes, resulting in the dishes in front of the mistress being spicy, while those in front of Li Yue'er were sweet.
If they accidentally put the wrong dish in the dish, the two of them wouldn't deliberately ask the maids to change it. Instead, they would each take a bite of the dish and then give each other two bites.
Qu Rong paused, lowered her eyes to hide the light in them, picked up the serving chopsticks, and slowly and methodically served food to Li Yue'er, placing it on the small plate in front of her as before, and then waiting for Li Yue'er to serve it back to her.
Li Yue'er put down her chopsticks and gestured to Teng Huang, "Put the dishes that the head of the household likes in front of her, and bring back the one I like."
Under the gaze of the head of the household, Teng Huang braced herself, lowered her head, and returned the two dishes. After all, she was now the head maidservant by the mistress's side.
Li Yue'er sat and waited until all the dishes were changed before she picked up some food to eat. As for the piece of meat that the mistress had picked up, it was left alone on the small plate and Li Yue'er didn't even glance at it until it got cold.
Qu Rong felt she couldn't eat a single bite of the meal.
She put down her chopsticks, glanced at Li Yue'er, and got up to go back to the inner room.
Once her figure disappeared behind the curtain, Li Yue'er lowered her eyes and silently picked up the already cold meat from the plate and put it in her mouth.
Meat becomes tough when it cools down, and even the originally spicy and delicious sauce on top becomes cold and greasy.
Li Yue'er usually had a good appetite, but today it tasted like nothing at all. She lowered her eyes, gripped her chopsticks tightly, took a deep breath, looked at the rice in her own bowl that she had barely eaten, and then looked at the rice in her mistress's bowl that had hardly been touched. Suddenly, she didn't want to argue with her anymore.
After all, if things continued like this, the mistress wouldn't be able to eat properly, and she wouldn't be in the mood to eat either. This was not the outcome that Li Yue'er had originally envisioned.
Well then, just as Fujiwara said, the mistress has always been like this, why should she make things difficult for her?
She hasn't felt anything wrong these past two years, and she'll just continue living like this from now on.
Li Yue'er, holding the chopsticks, used the act of looking down to eat as a cover to silently wipe away the tears that had been rolling around in her eyes for a long time, and finished her meal as if nothing had happened.
When she finished rinsing her mouth and went into the inner room, the mistress was already sitting on the hard pillow at the head of the bed as usual, with the quilt covering her lower abdomen, holding "The Art of War" in her hand and flipping through it.
Li Yue'er didn't know what was so interesting about this book. When she first met the mistress, the mistress was already reading it. Even if it was good content, she should have had enough of it in two years, but she insisted on taking it with her everywhere she went.
I brought it with me when I first went to the village for the New Year, and I think I brought it with me this time too, because Li Yue'er paid special attention when she was packing her things, but she couldn't find the book anywhere.
Li Yue'er felt that Qu Rong was more interested in "The Art of War" than in her.
...I can't think about it too much, otherwise it'll be hard for her to take the initiative to make up.
Li Yue'er sat in front of the dressing table, removed her headdress and untied her hair bun, preparing for an afternoon nap.
When she wasn't speaking, the mistress also remained silent, and the inner room was eerily quiet.
Li Yue'er walked to the bedside and sat down. As she took off her soft-soled shoes, she caught a glimpse of her mistress holding her hand tightly and never letting go.
Earlier in the carriage, she had carefully examined the mistress's hands several times, turning them over and over, and found no marks whatsoever. So, she wasn't clenching them in pain, but rather holding something.
Li Yue'er broke the silence, glancing at her with the corner of her eye, and asked in a low voice, "What are you holding in your hand?"
The mistress looked at her quietly, then slowly opened her palm, revealing a copper coin lying flat in her hand.
Qu Rong asked in a low voice, "Do you want it?"
Li Yue'er was stunned for a moment, and by the time she reacted, her eyes were already full of tears. She pouted aggrievedly, reached out and snatched the coin from the mistress's palm, stuffed it under her pillow, and said in a tearful voice, "Why don't you want it?"
Before she could finish speaking, she was pulled into the mistress's arms in a crooked posture as she leaned forward to stuff a coin into her mouth, where the mistress held her tightly.
The mistress rested her chin on her shoulder and gently stroked it. After a long while, she asked, half-coaxing and half-aggrieved, "What are you angry about?"
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Patriarch: If we don't ask soon, we'll probably have to get a divorce. [crying emoji]
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