Chapter 41 Provoking me is like a leaky cotton-padded jacket.
*
Even after being reborn, Shen Qinglu still remembers the day she left the orphanage.
The sky was so blue and the sun was so bright that it made her want to cry.
The woman holding her hand was beautiful and gentle. She half-squatted down and asked her softly, "Would you like to take my surname, Chen?"
She nodded almost without hesitation.
She really likes the surname Chen.
"I am a child of the Shen family," she murmured.
It was in my past life, and it is in this life too.
Seeing the tears in her eyes and the emotion on her face, Gu Ruxu couldn't help but feel pity for her.
The only time I saw her many years ago, it was clear that this child had been mistreated. Now she was dressed in a grayish-blue outfit, an old-fashioned style, and clothes of medium quality. Her hair was simply styled, with only a silk flower as an accessory; clearly, her sister-in-law hadn't taken care of it.
He then whispered something to the old woman beside him, who immediately obeyed and left.
“Good child, you are a child of the Shen family. If anyone dares to bully you again, tell your aunt, and your aunt will stand up for you.”
"aunt……"
"Aunt, Ali!"
She and Yu Jingliang, who had just returned, spoke almost simultaneously.
Yu Jingliang saw them from afar and ran up to them without being out of breath. His handsome face was clearly filled with worry as he looked at her and then at Gu Ruxu.
He grew up in the general's mansion. Gu Ruxu was his aunt, but she was more like his mother, and he couldn't help but nag her a bit.
"Look at you, why are you running so fast? You're a grown man, yet you still act so rashly. If your uncle sees you like this, he'll make you squat on the horse post to temper your temper."
"I'm worried about Ali." He grinned, full of youthful energy.
“My Shen family’s children are handled by your uncle and me. What are you worried about?”
As soon as Gu Ruxu said this, his eyes lit up immediately. "Aunt, I knew you would like Ali. Ali is so wonderful, she's just like a member of the Shen family in every way, don't you think?"
Shen Qinglu knew his good intentions perfectly well. It must be because her face didn't resemble any of the Shen family members, but rather looked like Yu Qingxue's, that he was worried about her being disliked and despised.
This second brother...
He looked over with a grin, his eyes so bright, like the purest stars untouched by the world's grime. "I knew it, your aunt would definitely like you."
Gu Ruxu laughed, then became serious, "Your mother is busy and may not be able to take care of Ali for a while. Your aunt only trusts you in this family, so you must protect her well."
"Don't worry, Auntie," he solemnly replied.
"I'm just not at ease," Gu Ruxu said, looking around at the layout of the house, her expression growing colder and colder.
The brother and sister could tell that she was worried about something, but they couldn't say anything more. They saw her off to the door and watched her get into the carriage.
This was the first time Shen Qinglu had ever seen the world outside the Jade Mansion.
The alley is not narrow, and it is long.
As dusk fell, the ancient walls and stone paths represented to her not only a thousand-year-long river of time, but also another time and space from which she could not trace her origins.
She stands in this time and space, longing for her loved ones. Perhaps the sun and moon she sees will never appear in the place where she lived in the future, and she will never be able to share the same world with them.
"Second brother, thank you."
This thank you wasn't just because Yu Jingliang had spoken up for her earlier; it was also because she sensed from Yu Jingliang's words that this second brother had met her aunt beforehand and had said many good things about her.
Yu Jingliang scratched his head awkwardly, "There's nothing to thank me for, I'm your brother."
The phrase "I'm your brother" stunned her.
She once asked another person why they were so good to her.
The man's answer was the same: "I'm your brother."
She felt dazed, as if those words had transported her to another time and space, placing her in a scene from her past life.
The bamboo grove outside the window has turned a vibrant green again, a scene of life where everything is thriving and competing for existence, while some people are withering away day by day.
Because her kidney disease had reached its late stage, she could not survive without a kidney transplant. She was extremely thin and pale, with a yellowish tinge to her skin. She needed help even to stand up.
The kidney transplant was delayed, and the fear of death gripped her. She continued to pretend, pretending not to be afraid of death, pretending to be indifferent to life and death, yet she clung to the kindness of others and couldn't bear to let go.
She leaned close to the person beside her, who was slender and fair-skinned, gentle and refined, like the bamboo swaying in the breeze by the window.
"Brother, if there is an afterlife, we will definitely meet again. But I will no longer be myself, and I will not remember you. Will you still be good to me then?"
"meeting."
*
The main house in the courtyard was locked, and Yu Jingxian stood outside, his face gloomy. When he saw Shen Qinglu and Yu Jingliang coming over together, he subconsciously frowned.
From inside the door came Yu Zhiheng's voice, barely containing his anger, "Mother said that Qingxue knew nothing about it. No matter how angry she is, she shouldn't have beaten Qingxue like that."
The thought of his sister's swollen face and the blood at the corner of her lips filled him with indescribable rage. In his eyes, Gu Ruxu wasn't cursing Xie Shi or hitting Yu Qingxue; she was cursing him and slapping him in the face!
He had never spoken so harshly before, and Shen Linlang found it hard to accept. "My sister-in-law wouldn't hit someone for no reason. I've said it before, Qingxue couldn't possibly be unaware of it. My mother was covering for her."
"You don't believe what your mother says?" He looked disappointed. Perhaps realizing that he had raised his voice a bit earlier, his tone softened and became almost hoarse. "Linlang, I know you're angry, angry that the child was switched. But think about it carefully. Your own mentally challenged child was switched with someone else's perfectly fine child. You are the one who benefits, and Qingxue is the one who suffers."
In the past, Shen Linlang would have found his voice most appealing, but now it sounded incredibly painful to hear. "Ali has been drugged into stupidity by her!"
"Don't listen to the child's nonsense, Qingxue would never do such a thing." He sighed, as if looking at an unreasonable child, his voice even more somber. "Linlang, things have come to this, can we just let it go? Go and persuade your brother and sister-in-law, to be forgiving, okay?"
Shen Linlang did not answer.
A moment of silence followed, extending outside.
Yu Jingxian glanced at Shen Qinglu with displeasure, thinking to himself how harmonious and happy their family would be if it weren't for this suddenly appearing younger sister.
"Big brother, what kind of look is that? Remember this, Ali is our real sister." Yu Jingliang glared back and rolled his eyes at him.
He retorted angrily, "So what if we're family?"
“Their relationship is indeed not very good,” Shen Qinglu said coldly. “For example, you.”
At that moment, Shen Linlang's sorrowful yet resolute voice came from inside the room, "No, I can't do it!"
Immediately afterwards, the door opened from the inside, and Yu Zhiheng came out with an angry expression.
Yu Jingxian instinctively stepped aside, already standing behind Yu Jingliang. Yu Jingliang scoffed, "You're usually closest to Father, why aren't you with him now?"
"Our father is in a bad mood. How can we, as his sons, provoke him? Let him have some peace and quiet."
Seeing that Shen Qinglu had already entered the house, Yu Jingliang immediately followed.
Yu Jingxian hesitated for a moment, then followed them inside.
Shen Linlang had her back to them, one hand supporting herself on the table, and from that posture, she could tell that she was in great discomfort.
Upon hearing the noise, she seemed to wipe her face, and when she turned around, her slightly red eyes and the discomfort in her expression made it all in vain, even if she tried her best to pretend that nothing was wrong.
"Mother is fine, you can all go back."
Yu Jingxian left first, Yu Jingliang was urged to leave first, and Shen Qinglu stayed behind.
She helped Chen Linlang sit down, asking nothing and saying nothing, just sitting quietly beside her.
After an unknown amount of time, Shen Linlang calmed down and said shyly, "Ali, it's all my fault for making you all worry. Your father is the most filial, and with something like this happening, he's the one who's in the most difficult position, inevitably ending up pleasing neither side."
The room's opulence couldn't conceal the disappointment in her eyes.
Shen Qinglu did not respond to her words, but got up and poured her a cup of tea.
She took the tea, held it in her palm, and then took a small sip.
"Mother, can you tell me about what happened between you and Father back then?" After her expression calmed down a bit, Shen Qinglu finally spoke, but the question was completely unrelated to the present situation.
Upon hearing this, she was slightly taken aback at first. Then, her eyes gradually softened, and she became lost in memories, recounting sweet recollections to her daughter.
After nearly colliding with Yu Zhiheng, she dismounted and apologized to him.
Yu Zhiheng looked shaken, but his handsome and refined appearance was still evident. Even though his voice was trembling and he stammered when she apologized, he kept saying that he was fine.
Because she had practiced martial arts since childhood, she naturally came into contact with more men than ordinary young ladies. She was not only bolder, but also less reserved and shy like a typical young woman.
When she stares at someone because she has developed feelings for them, Yu Zhiheng blushes and her ears turn red, looking very shy and bashful.
"I thought to myself, he's not a girl, how can he blush like that? It's really quite amusing."
Her eyes lit up as she spoke.
In contrast to her, Shen Qinglu's eyes were filled with darkness.
"And then what happened? Did Mother and Father ever see each other again?"
"It's quite a coincidence that we actually met again. I have a good friend, Mu Lin's aunt Mu Miaohua, who loves to join in the fun. She insisted on dragging me to some elegant gathering, saying she wanted to watch the excitement. That's how I ran into your father again."
The candidates arrived in the capital in advance not only to familiarize themselves with the environment and prepare for their studies nearby, but also, more importantly, to gain something, make friends, or showcase their talents.
As a result, numerous elegant poetry gatherings and poetry parties of all sizes emerged. Many families who wanted to recruit talented individuals or find a son-in-law through the imperial examinations would also use these gatherings to select the people they wanted.
She and Mu Miaohua were daughters of high-ranking families, so naturally they couldn't choose husbands like that; they were just there to join in the fun.
Unexpectedly, among the group of students, she spotted Yu Zhiheng, who clearly didn't fit in and stood quietly to the side. Yu Zhiheng had a superior figure and handsome appearance, and quickly attracted the attention of many people.
"Your father is really foolish. When those girls surrounded him, he thought they wanted to ask him for advice on poetry and prose. He kept humbly saying that his knowledge was shallow and recommended some of the most talented scholars among the candidates to them."
"Were all the people Father recommended young talents?"
"That's why he's called a fool. He's so clueless about romance. The people he recommended are all very talented, but they're either married or too old to be married." She chuckled, her previous gloom vanishing, replaced by a bright and spirited look like that of a young girl in the prime of her life.
Shen Qinglu couldn't laugh. The fool wasn't Yu Zhiheng, but her.
From her account, she saw a good man who was upright, disdained forming cliques, and was clueless about romance. But Shen Qinglu heard a man who was quite scheming and cunning.
"Mother, so you're saying that if a young lady likes a man, she can openly express her affection in public, right?"
She straightened her expression, afraid of misleading her daughter, "A girl of her status would certainly not do that. Those are either daughters of merchants or daughters of concubines, so they don't have many scruples."
Shen Qinglu understood.
Yu Zhiheng wasn't oblivious to the girls who showed interest in him; he simply wasn't interested in them.
"Your father was an upright man who did not seek favors from others. After he passed the imperial examination, many people who were not as good as him got jobs one after another because they had a place to rely on, or because of their own good family background, or because they became the son-in-law of someone. Only he stayed alone in the inn and even fell ill."
When she arrived, Yu Zhiheng was running a fever and was feeling dizzy and unsteady on his feet, collapsing onto her. Fortunately, she had practiced martial arts since childhood and was quite strong, so she managed to catch him.
During those days, she went to take care of him every day, and their feelings for each other deepened. She took the initiative to express her feelings.
After Yu Zhiheng learned that she was the legitimate daughter of the General's Mansion, he desperately insisted that he was not worthy of her and even tried to drive her away, which made Yu Zhiheng even more convinced that he had not chosen the wrong person.
"Everyone says your father is marrying above his station, but I know how difficult it is for him to accept my status as the legitimate daughter of the General's family. He made it clear beforehand that he did not want the Shen family to help him. He once said that he hoped I would be a girl from an ordinary family, so that no one would gossip about our marriage."
The sky had darkened, and the indoor light had become dim, but even so, the radiance on her face was clearly visible, so moving, so joyful.
Unfortunately, Shen Qinglu couldn't feel her joy at all, and could only feel sorry for her.
“Mother, I don’t agree with what Father said. You are you. Just because you married someone from a humble background, does that mean you have to act like an ordinary girl?”
“That wasn’t your father’s intention. He just didn’t want people to talk about me. You don’t know how many people have openly or secretly ostracized me since I married your father. He was just worried about me.”
"He cares about you, so he shouldn't want you to suffer, and he should also care about the child you gave birth to. Why doesn't he understand you or care about me in this matter?"
Is it because she feels sorry for her own flesh and blood that her child was switched and she doesn't even get angry, and even wants to keep the peace?
Shen Linlang was stumped by the question and couldn't speak for a moment. The light on her face gradually dimmed and sank into gloom.
*
The lights were on in the study in the front yard.
White Xuan paper was laid out on the table, and the ink in the fine inkstone was already ground. The fragrance of paper and ink filled the air, but the person holding the wolf-hair brush was extremely irritable and put down the brush after writing only two characters.
"Father."
Upon hearing Shen Qinglu's voice, Yu Zhiheng's already furrowed brows deepened even further.
After a moment's thought, he said in a deep voice, "Come in."
The door was pushed open from the outside, and Shen Qinglu came in carrying a soup bowl.
“I heard that my father didn’t eat dinner, and my mother was very worried, so she asked me to bring some chicken soup over.”
Yu Zhiheng had mixed feelings about his newly reunited biological daughter. "Your mother... isn't angry with me?"
"Of course Mother is angry. Asking her to persuade Uncle and Aunt is like asking her to throw the Shen family's face on the ground and let others trample on it. Of course she would never agree to that."
“Ali, I have no other choice. Your aunt was just trying to get revenge for you and beat your aunt badly. This whole thing started because of you. Why don’t you go and try to talk to them?”
The two characters on the white Xuan paper read "Family Harmony".
Obviously, it should be followed by the phrase "万事兴" (meaning "everything prospers").
Shen Qinglu really wanted to laugh.
She never imagined that in her previous life, she was abandoned by her biological parents at birth and still had a father-daughter relationship, but in this life, despite having a biological father, she had no father-daughter relationship at all.
What more could you want from a family like this!
"The one who tied the knot must untie it. If Father really wants to settle this matter, it is up to Grandmother to take her daughter to apologize in person."
"What do you mean 'her daughter'? That's your aunt, she raised you for over ten years..."
"Father has probably forgotten where the money she used to raise me came from."
Yu Zhiheng was stunned, looking at her in disbelief, "You..."
Even if they only uttered a single word, their tone was full of displeasure, as if someone had stabbed them in the heart or stepped on their tail.
“Father,” she interrupted, tears welling in her dark eyes, looking as if she was about to cry, “Mother told me that after this happened, you are the one in the most difficult position. On one side are your own mother and sister, and on the other side are your wife and daughter. You are caught in the middle, and it is really hard for you.”
"Since your mother already knows, why is she making things difficult for me?"
She pressed her eyes and sniffed softly. “Father, you’ve known Uncle for many years, you should know what kind of temper he has. And Aunt’s temperament, if Mother and I plead for them, it will only backfire and make them angrier. Mother may seem to be making things difficult for you, but she is actually helping you, so you can’t blame her.”
Yu Zhiheng's heart immediately tightened, realizing that he had almost made a mistake in his haste. His aunt's wife came from a good family and had a strong sense of self-confidence; she was the most difficult person to please and not to be trifled with. And his brother-in-law, with his decisive and ruthless methods, was even more someone he couldn't easily offend.
If he were to send his wife and daughter to plead for him, it would likely backfire, given the protective nature of his brother-in-law and his wife.
Thinking of this, I broke out in a cold sweat, but at the same time, I felt very fortunate.
He couldn't help but take a closer look at his own daughter. "Then, in your opinion, what should your father do?"
Shen Qinglu had been waiting for him to say those words.
“Father is a filial son, and I imagine he wouldn’t want Grandmother to suffer. From what my aunt said, she clearly suspects that what happened back then was your sister’s idea, forcing Grandmother to do it. If that’s the case, why not just have her admit to it and clear Grandmother of the blame?”
If things cannot be perfect, there must be sacrifices. A wise person should know best how to weigh the pros and cons.
Yu Zhiheng had a sudden thought, and repeatedly rubbed his hands behind his back.
To him, Madam Xie was the best mother in the world, raising him with such hardship and scrimping and saving to send him to school. Without his mother, he wouldn't be who he is today. So, choosing between his mother and his sister wasn't difficult.
After a long silence, he waved his hand and said, "Let your father think about it carefully."
Shen Qinglu pretended to be sensible and immediately left obediently, but as she turned around, she curled her lips into a smile, her cold eyes full of sarcasm.
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