Chapter 7 Teasing the Young Master
February 17th is an auspicious day for hosting banquets.
When the ink was splashed onto Zhu Xuanning's face with hot soup, she was still somewhat dazed.
It's too early; it's not even dawn yet.
"There's no need to dress up deliberately. Just dress like you always do, but with a touch more festive cheer," Zhu Xuanning emphasized.
Po Mo naturally understood that the young lady dared not stand out. She pulled out a drawer and took out a few water-red cloisonné jade bead flowers and Qingshan dotted velvet flowers. After Zhu Xuanning cleaned her face, she began to style her hair and do her makeup.
"Miss." Even though they spend every day together, Po Mo still gets distracted when Zhu Xuanning is wearing makeup.
Zhu Xuanning raised her fingertip and gently pressed her lipstick, her eyes sparkling as she looked at her with a smile.
"How is it?" She lifted Po Mo's chin somewhat flirtatiously, causing the hairpin in Po Mo's hand to slip and fall onto the dressing table with a "clatter," her face turning bright red.
Sigh, it must be quite troublesome for a girl to look like this. Even though she has simplified the process, she is still so stunning.
Zhu Xuanning burst into laughter, stood up, and tapped her ink-stained forehead: "What are you staring at? Come and help me get dressed. These beautiful clothes are too complicated to put on. I don't know how."
Po Mo snapped out of his daze, patted his cheeks, and suddenly felt that his status as a young master was not worthy of the young lady.
When Zhu Xuanning and Po Mo arrived at the main courtyard to pay their respects, everyone in the Zhu family was momentarily dazed, even Zhu Yuli was distracted.
Madam Zhu's vision went black, and she nearly tore the handkerchief in her hand to shreds, but she could only manage a smile at Zhu Xuanning.
If her Baoyue walks with this down-and-out guy later, who will even look at her Baoyue anymore!
For a time, Madam Zhu even harbored resentment towards her own nephew.
After waiting for most of the hour, Zhu Baoyue finally arrived late. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she saw Zhu Xuanning standing on the far side.
Even though he was in the corner, he was so captivating that once you saw him there, you couldn't take your eyes off him.
Zhu Baoyue was stunned, forgetting even to greet her parents. Instead, she turned to her maid and said blankly, "I think it makes a lot of sense that my cousin likes her more than me."
Put yourself in her shoes. If a young man who looked like Zhu Xuanning were standing next to her cousin, she wouldn't prefer her cousin!
Zhu Baoyue's voice was quite loud, and when Madam Zhu heard it, she felt even more angry.
What's wrong with her two children? They've both fallen for this down-on-his-luck family!
"Since you're all here, let's go," Zhu Yuli said with a smile.
Zhu Baoyue and Zhu Xuanning were riding in the same carriage.
Because she was her cousin, Zhu Xuanning got into the carriage first, followed by Zhu Baoyue.
Zhu Baoyue, who always travels alone in a carriage, found the atmosphere inside the carriage this time very uncomfortable.
In fact, Zhu Xuanning had not offended her. On the contrary, she had misunderstood the situation and made a mistake by speaking carelessly. Her cousin's anger and her father's punishment were both justified.
"Cousin, you're so beautiful," Zhu Baoyue blurted out.
Oh, what is she saying?! She wants to apologize!
Zhu Xuanning, her gaze lowered, clenched her fist and looked at Zhu Baoyue: "You look good too."
Zhu Xuanning's voice was as soft as a cloud, leaving Zhu Baoyue, who was prepared to be criticized, stunned.
"Cousin, your voice is so nice too." She became even more silly, saying it based on her intuition.
She had completely forgotten about apologizing.
Zhu Baoyue's personal maid, Yanzhu, was so embarrassed by her mistress's silly antics that she almost covered her face in embarrassment.
"Your voice is beautiful too," Zhu Xuanning replied with a smile, though no one knew the complexities of her inner thoughts.
After Zhu Baoyue realized what was happening, her eyes suddenly lit up. She took small steps closer to Zhu Xuanning and started chatting with her as if a floodgate had been opened.
But in reality, it was mostly Zhu Baoyue who did the talking, with Zhu Xuanning only occasionally replying a few words.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhu Xuanning subtly followed up on Zhu Baoyue's words by asking a few questions, including the love story between Madam Zhu and Zhu Yuli.
Yeonjoo really wanted to go up and cover up Zhu Baoyue, telling this troublemaker not to empty her pockets.
"I heard that my aunt fell in love with my cousin at first sight when he was riding a horse through the streets?" Zhu Xuanning asked curiously.
The love story between Zhu Yuli and Madam Zhu was so beautiful that even a child in the capital could tell it fluently. She asked Po Mo to inquire about it out of curiosity, and that was the version she heard.
But Zhu Xuanning didn't believe it.
Zhu Baoyue smiled mysteriously and whispered in Zhu Xuanning's ear.
"Those were all just excuses to save face for my father. In reality, my father had known my mother before he went to the capital for the imperial examination!"
When I was young, I got my uncle drunk and heard him talking nonsense, saying that my father missed out on passing the imperial examination because he didn't listen to them. But I didn't take those words to heart.
My father's knowledge was exceptional; my mother said that his failure to achieve the highest rank in the imperial examinations was simply due to bad luck.
Zhu Xuanning froze, and fine beads of cold sweat seeped from her back.
"Cousin, you were also surprised to find that this is so different from what's being circulated outside, right?" Zhu Baoyue smiled and nudged Zhu Xuanning when she saw her stunned expression.
Zhu Xuanning snapped out of her daze, wiped the sweat from her palms, and pulled Zhu Baoyue aside: "You can't tell anyone else about this, after all, your uncle cares about his reputation."
Zhu Baoyue nodded, a hint of coquettishness appearing on her face: "I wouldn't, I haven't even mentioned it to my mother and brother. If they knew I was eavesdropping on my uncle's nonsense, they would definitely scold me! It's only with my cousin that I'm willing to say a few words."
Zhu Xuanning breathed a sigh of relief, hesitated for a moment, then gently stroked the little fluffy flower in Zhu Baoyue's hair, a hint of envy rising in her heart that she herself was unaware of: "You're so good."
Zhu Xuanning's voice was low.
Actually, if Zhu Baoyue could stay this foolish, she would be willing to play the role of a good older sister.
After all, an idiot is the most useful knife.
Zhu Baoyue was even happier after being praised. She found herself feeling a natural affinity for Zhu Xuanning and snuggled into her arms, saying sweetly, "Of course! Mother always says that I'm not well-behaved now that I'm older, but you're so good, sister! You know I'm good!"
Zhu Xuanning hugged her and laughed. By the time they arrived at the Rongguo Mansion, the two had become inseparable.
Yeonjoo led Zhu Baoyue out of the car, and when she looked at Hua's mother, her eyes were filled with exhaustion and helplessness.
The lady had repeatedly instructed her to keep an eye on her young mistress and never let her and her cousin enter the Rongguo Mansion together. Now look what happened! Her young mistress abandoned her and went in intimately with her cousin, making her nothing more than a foil to her cousin.
When Madam Zhu led Zhu Baoyue and Zhu Xuanning into the women's section of the Rongguo Mansion, the women who had been chatting fell silent for a moment.
"This is my cousin, who recently arrived in Kyoto," Madam Zhu said with a smile as she introduced Zhu Xuanning to the other ladies.
"What a beautiful and charming girl! I'm almost unable to walk away from her." A lady who was acquainted with Madam Zhu immediately smiled and praised her, making the originally quiet scene a bit more lively.
Madam Zhu introduced Zhu Xuanning to everyone, and then asked Zhu Baoyue to take Zhu Xuanning away. Zhu Baoyue then led Zhu Xuanning into the circle of daughters of officials.
Among Zhu Baoyue's girlfriends, there was a rather exclusive girl who subtly steered Zhu Baoyue into the conversation. Zhu Baoyue chatted enthusiastically and soon forgot to include Zhu Xuanning in the topic.
The girl smiled smugly at Zhu Xuanning, who pretended not to see the malice in her smile.
She had nothing in common with these young ladies; Zhu Xuanning knew nothing about their discussions, whether it was about fashionable clothes or bedroom gossip.
She listened quietly, carefully discerning the useful information from the conversation.
When the conversation became less and less interesting to her, Zhu Xuanning said something to Zhu Baoyue and then left with Po Mo.
Zhu Baoyue responded absentmindedly, letting the words go in one ear and out the other, completely absorbed in the gossip, and didn't hear who was calling her at all.
Seeing that Zhu Xuanning had been ostracized and left, the girl stopped, took a sip of tea, and glanced behind her.
A glimpse of a garment, hidden far away in the crowd, flashed by and then quickly disappeared.
She smiled, racking her brains to continue attracting Zhu Baoyue's attention with different gossip, hoping to keep her from going to find Zhu Xuanning so quickly.
Zhu Baoyue smiled and turned around, but her expression suddenly froze. She then asked Yanzhu, "Where's my sister?"
The young ladies around her looked at her strangely: "Cousin Zhu told you she went out for some fresh air. She was accompanied by a maid from the Rongguo Mansion. What could possibly happen?"
Yeon-joo looked at her bewildered mistress with a complicated expression, thinking to herself that it was fortunate she had noticed that her mistress hadn't come for a long time and had already secretly sent someone to look for her.
If the young lady doesn't realize something's wrong, and something really bad happens, then it'll be too late.
"Baoyue, what are you afraid of? Rongguo Mansion is so big. Your cousin from far away has never been around before. It's normal that she forgot the time for a moment." The mischievous girl blinked and said matter-of-factly.
“Exactly, exactly. At most she’ll be a little late. She’s not an important person. Besides, I’ve been wanting to teach her a lesson for you for a while now,” one of the girls said angrily.
"What are you going to teach her a lesson for?" Zhu Baoyue was already quite unhappy. "She's my cousin. I brought her here so you could play with her, not so you could bully her!"
"Pfft." One of the ladies laughed. She pouted and looked in one direction: "Look, have you forgotten? Qingyun's mistress has the same temperament as your cousin. We hate that kind of person the most."
The following words were just something she added randomly because she disliked Zhu Xuanning. She had never met Zhu Baoyue's father, but she knew that Zhu Baoyue was a brainless person who was easy to fool.
Zhu Baoyue was indeed stunned.
She opened her mouth, wanting to refute, but Zhu Xuanning's face and Zhu Yuli's features gradually overlapped in front of her.
Her lips trembled slightly as she suddenly realized why she had been so close to Zhu Xuanning in the carriage.
"Ladies, please shut up! Don't act like those filthy women and spread empty rumors that tarnish the reputation of the Zhu family!" Seeing that their speculations were getting more and more outrageous, Yanzhu coldly rebuked them.
She bowed, strode forward, and without waiting for the other young ladies to object, half-supported and half-pulled Zhu Baoyue out: "My young lady is not feeling well, so I will take her away first."
After saying that, Yeon-joo half-carried and pulled the pale-faced Zhu Baoyue away first.
"Please don't associate with those young ladies in the future. Last time you were punished for your filthy words. If you listen to these unfounded speculations this time and cause a scene in the manor, what punishment will you receive?"
"Does it mean that only when Madam and Master become estranged, and Miss suffers an undeserved calamity, will Miss understand the instigation of these wicked people!" Yanzhu gritted her teeth and slapped Zhu Baoyue's arm.
Zhu Baoyue's gaze cleared somewhat.
Yeon-joo continued, "Miss! You should know best what kind of person the master is!"
Zhu Baoyue finally listened. She lowered her eyes, recalling her father's teachings and her parents' deep love. Finally, she clenched her hands and said, "Yes! You're right! They're so mean, trying to sow discord between us. I fell for their tricks last time, but I won't fall for them this time!"
"Where's our sister? Let's go find her!"
Seeing that she had persuaded Zhu Baoyue, Yanzhu breathed a sigh of relief, but then she became worried again when she thought of her cousin who had not yet returned.
She could only pray that Miss Biao was just seeing things and that something had happened to her.
Unfortunately, Yeonjoo's prayers were in vain; Joo Hyun-ning was indeed in trouble.
One of the reasons Zhu Xuanning left midway was that she sensed the malice of those young ladies from Kyoto.
Not everyone likes someone whose appearance is dull. If she had a noble status, those young ladies would be a different story.
Unfortunately, she wasn't. She was just a "fallen woman" who came to seek refuge, possessing beauty but low status, which always stirred up malice in people's hearts.
She assumed the person was bad, but she never imagined that their intentions were even worse than she thought.
Although Zhu Yuli was only a minor fourth-rank official, he had the opportunity to directly meet the emperor!
The person who framed her didn't even care about Zhu Yuli.
The ink splash was lured away, and Zhu Xuanning stumbled upon a couple having an affair. Her fingertips clenched so tightly they turned white, and she didn't dare to utter a sound, only trying to shrink herself into a small ball.
She heard it; the woman called the other man "Young Master".
Zhu Xuanning cursed the person who plotted against her a thousand times in her heart, as if only in this way could she draw the courage to hide here.
Only after all the sounds had stopped did Zhu Xuanning dare to rub her numb calves and slowly stand up.
She needed to escape this place as soon as possible.
But when Zhu Xuanning slowly stood up and saw the part that overlapped with her own shadow, she froze.
"A little flower hiding in the corner eavesdropping?" A flippant laugh came from above Zhu Xuanning's head.
Zhu Xuanning dared not move. Tears of fear welled up in her beautiful eyes. She pushed away the person who was leaning against her from behind, lifted her skirt and tried to escape, but her fair wrist was easily grabbed.
The girl's delicate back bumped against the cold artificial hill, and the boy, who was a head taller than her, flirtatiously grabbed her chin.
He saw the tears welling up in those eyes, like a clear flower in water, about to fall and bloom.
Zhu Xuanning was forced to see the arrogant man's face clearly; his features were so striking they were almost blinding.
"So beautiful." The young master suddenly smiled, the murderous intent in his eyes fading, but there was no warmth in them. However, the fingertips that were pinching her lips were full of lustful desire.
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