Yining nodded, and Luo Shenyuan stood up to say goodbye to Mrs. Luo.
Yi Ning was lying on the chaise longue in the study. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her third brother leave the corridor. She smiled and said goodbye to Luo Shenyuan.
Xuezhi came in with a colorful tea set and said with a smile, "Please take a rest. I asked Cuizhi to make you some rose cake."
As expected, Songzhi arrived with pastries. A few translucent rose cakes rested on a white jade plate. These were the special creations of Cuizhi, the pastry girl from Xiaoyining. Rose juice was mashed, kneaded with glutinous rice flour and cooked red beans, and then molded into tiny leaf shapes. After steaming, they were cooled with well water, placed on a jade plate, and dusted with icing sugar. They were exquisitely crafted.
Yi Ning ate two pieces and thought about the pig's trotter soup. He said to Xue Zhi, "Let the kitchen send nourishing soup to our third brother as a midnight snack. He's been studying hard."
Xuezhi smiled and poured her a cup of tea: "Don't worry, I won't have to worry about it."
Yining took a sip of tea to moisten her throat.
She gazed at a pot of dendrobium on a high table and suddenly asked, "Xuezhi, I last heard Grandma talk about Mother Zheng, who took care of Mother. I heard she left the Luo family after Mother died." Xuezhi was fanning her. Yining, sprawled on the chaise longue, looked at her and continued, "Why did she leave?"
Xuezhi was stunned, her fanning hand stiffening. She looked at the young Yining and sighed, "I was still young then, just a little maid in the young lady's house. I only heard that it was Madam Zheng who asked to leave."
"The old lady tried to persuade her to stay, but Mother Zheng insisted on leaving. You were only six months old at the time, crying in the old lady's arms. The old lady was heartbroken and angry, so she told Mother Zheng, 'Since you're leaving, don't come back.'"
Yining frowned. She remembered her grandmother saying that Mother Zheng left because she had a grudge against the Luo family.
She continued to ask, "Xuezhi, how did Mother die? Was it really because she was injured during childbirth?"
Xuezhi didn't know either. She looked at little Yining, leaning obediently on the chaise longue. Her childish face bore a striking resemblance to the old lady's. She softened her voice and said, "I don't know either, but the old lady was deeply reluctant to part with me. When she left, she asked the old lady to take good care of you. The young lady knelt beside the bed, weeping so hard she couldn't breathe..."
Yining felt something strange in her heart. She nodded and took another sip of tea.
Xuezhi coaxed her into a nap, and Yining, tired from reading, lay down on the Luohan bed. But she kept her eyes open, thinking of Cheng Lang's little face, then of her older sister, whom she had never met. Then she slowly closed them.
Xuezhi lowered the tent and told the little girl who had just arrived to walk quietly so as not to disturb Yining's nap.
Yining wasn't actually asleep, but half asleep. She could still hear the maid outside, softly scolding her for something she'd done wrong. She could even hear the sound of a turtle tumbling in its ceramic jar. One turn, then another. And the wind rustled the trees outside.
Suddenly, someone hurried into the room and asked in a low voice, "Is the young lady asleep?"
Yining recognized the sound as pine branches.
Xuezhi replied, "She's sleeping right now. You should be quieter too. She's been reading with the Third Young Master for a long time and it's rare for her to get some sleep."
Songzhi's voice was filled with an uncontrollable nervousness: "Hurry up and wake up my sister, something happened."
Xuezhi didn't speak for a moment, and when she heard it again, her voice was tense: "What's going on? You're in such a hurry. But the old lady is here, what's the point of calling me sister?"
"It's the Fourth Young Lady..." Songzhi continued, "The Fourth Young Lady's affair has been exposed! I don't know who told the old lady about it, but she has already called the Fourth Young Lady and the First Young Lady over. My sister also knows about this, so we have to wake her up quickly!"
When Yining heard this, he was startled.
She opened her eyes.
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