Chu Yi followed the others into the Lin family home.
The figure in green he had just seen felt familiar, but by the time he could get a clear look at the woman's features, she had already entered the Lin residence.
Sunlight streamed into the Lin family courtyard, making the stone railings of the long corridor gleam.
The lush greenery is like clouds, and the pavilions and towers are shrouded in mist amidst the fluttering willow catkins, gradually blurring one's vision.
Su Wan sighed, "As expected of the wealthy and powerful Lin family."
The Lin family amassed enormous wealth through trade routes connecting the east and west sides of the Great Jin Dynasty, becoming as rich as the wealthy gentry of Jiangnan.
No wonder the Lin family's daughter was able to marry into the Duke's mansion.
The Lin family appears to be a merchant family, but they have intricate connections with the imperial court.
As soon as I stepped into the garden, led by a servant, I heard the laughter of women.
Upon closer inspection, one could see a group of young women surrounding a beautiful woman.
The woman was beautiful, dressed in a moon-white brocade dress, with flowing hair that cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall. Her butterfly-shaped hairpins seemed to fly out of her hair as she moved, eliciting gasps of admiration from the women present.
Bai Zhiyi's lips curved into a smile.
Upon seeing Zhao Xiyue arrive, she hurried over from the crowd, took Zhao Xiyue's hand, and said softly, "Are you Xiyue, my little sister? I've long heard that the General has a beautiful granddaughter, and I never expected to see her today and find her to be just as charming and lovely as the rumors say."
As she spoke, her gaze frequently fell on Su Wan.
Seeing that Su Wan was only pretty, he withdrew his gaze and assumed she was just a maidservant of Zhao Xiyue.
However, this maid did not seem to have the demeanor one would expect from a maid; her mannerisms lacked the restraint and submissiveness expected of one.
Even in the woman's eyes, she saw no intention of currying favor with her, and no one else showed an expression of amazement upon first seeing her.
The key is that she exudes a free and unrestrained spirit that is not bound by these social norms.
Although there was nothing wrong with her behavior, she wanted to ask Zhao Xiyue who this person was, but she couldn't ask immediately.
She had no choice but to turn around and exchange pleasantries with Zhao Xiyue.
This was also the first time Zhao Xiyue had seen the rumored number one beauty in the capital. She had been looking forward to it, but now that she had seen Su Wan's true face, she felt that the seemingly delicate woman in front of her was somewhat bland.
When Bai Zhiyi came to greet them personally, some of the others followed.
"Sister Xiyue," someone asked, "who is this?"
The Northwest region is inherently barren, and there are no famous noble families or noble ladies; the people there are mostly wealthy gentry and merchants.
The girls who came were also from these families. In the past, they would always fawn over Zhao Xiyue, but now that they had met a true noble lady, they naturally looked up to Bai Zhiyi.
Su Wan noticed that everyone's attention, which had been focused on Zhao Xiyue and the most beautiful woman in the capital, suddenly turned to look at her.
Fortunately, she had made some changes to her appearance in the carriage, so she only looked rather delicate.
Su Wan quietly served as Zhao Xiyue's maid.
“She is my maid,” Zhao Xiyue said, not wanting to say too much. “Miss Bai is truly the most beautiful woman in the capital. I’ve also heard that Miss Bai is skilled in medicine, is that right?”
She knew that Su Wan most wanted to see the pills in Bai Zhiyi's hand, so following Su Wan's instructions, she tentatively asked Bai Zhiyi.
Bai Zhiyi smiled gently: "I was never in good health and often took medicine. Over time, I became quite the doctor myself."
She didn't mention that she knew medicine, but instead used her weak health as an excuse, and didn't directly respond to the other person's words.
But these words were interpreted differently by the others: "Miss Bai is really amazing. No wonder she can make such good pills."
The reason we've come to the Lin family today is twofold: firstly, we want to befriend the eldest daughter of the Duke's family; and secondly, we've taken a liking to the medicine she possesses.
The elders in the family had instructed them to obtain the miraculous medicine from Bai Zhiyi.
Moreover, according to the elders, Bai Zhiyi is that mysterious goddess.
Someone smiled and flattered, "A goddess is a goddess, how can we, such uncouth people, compare to her?"
"That's right, who in our Northwest region doesn't know Miss Bai these days?"
"Everyone's saying Miss Bai is the goddess. Miss Bai, is what they're saying true? Do you really know magic?"
Su Wan's lips twitched when she heard this. She hadn't expected that her rambling would lead people to believe that there really were immortals in the world.
Bai Zhiyi was still happy about her status as a goddess when she heard these people's words, and the smile on her face immediately froze.
She looked frail and said with a wry smile, "What kind of immortal techniques are these? That's just something people spread around. I only made some medicine, and people spread rumors about me. How could I possibly know any immortal techniques?"
Originally, everyone found this kind of thing quite strange, but news from Suiyang County said that someone had actually seen the goddess casting a spell.
Those who have heard it say that the light in the goddess's hand can reach straight to the sky.
What else could that be but immortal magic?
But seeing Bai Zhiyi's hesitant expression, one might suspect that someone was spreading rumors that there was no goddess in the world.
Su Wan hadn't come here to listen to these people's nonsense. She gave Zhao Xiyue a look, and Zhao Xiyue nodded.
She tugged at Bai Zhiyi's sleeve and asked, "Miss Bai, do you still have that medicine? As you know, my grandfather is bedridden, and we've searched for doctors all over the manor, but none of them can cure him. I heard that Miss Bai has some medicine here, so I came here specifically to ask Miss Bai for some."
The medicine is said to be extremely difficult to obtain. After receiving the news, the people from the General's Mansion set off for Suiyang County to buy it, but they failed to get any each time. It is said that the medicine is now being sold for thousands of taels of silver.
The general's mansion simply couldn't afford that much silver, and could only watch helplessly as the general's health deteriorated day by day.
If Su Wan hadn't come to the mansion, her grandfather would still be bedridden.
Bai Zhiyi had prepared some medicine for Zhao Xiyue in order to bring the two of them closer.
She said softly, "I happen to have some medicine with me. I'll go and have someone fetch it right away."
After saying this, she sighed softly.
Zhao Xiyue asked her, "Sister Bai, what's wrong?"
Bai Zhiyi hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.
Seeing her like this, Zhao Xiyue, who was naturally impatient, wanted to urge Bai Zhiyi to speak quickly, but Su Wan gave her a look that stopped her.
She immediately shut up.
Bai Zhiyi was still waiting for her to ask questions, but she didn't hear Zhao Xiyue's voice for a long time.
She choked, swallowing back the words she had prepared.
In the past, whenever she showed this troubled expression, someone would always come up to her to ask if she was alright.
She glanced at Zhao Xiyue, who was feeding the maid behind her a plate of osmanthus cake.
The two didn't look like master and servant at all; it was more like Zhao Xiyue was a maid.
The more I look at it, the more eerie it seems.
She clutched the silk handkerchief tightly in her hand, biting her lip, looking as if she had been bullied.
She had hoped that Zhao Xiyue would follow her lead and ask if she had anything to do, so that she could use the excuse of delivering medicine to go to the General's Mansion.
Then she can personally investigate whether the Crown Prince is in the General's Mansion.
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