Chapter 9 Concealment
Shen Yu's eyes felt sore and she stared at Shen Zhao.
Chen Zhao looked at her and read the reluctance in her eyes. He comforted her, "It'll be okay. I'm your brother and I'm invincible. Come on, smile."
Chen Yu pursed her lips and pulled the corners of her mouth hard, but she could only squeeze out a smile that was uglier than crying.
"Forget it, stop laughing. It's so ugly." Chen Zhao reached out to pull her. "Just kneel for a while and then stand up. Dad doesn't know anyway."
Shen Yu shook her head, broke free from his arms and continued to kneel, "When do we leave?"
"Wait a couple of days," Shen Zhao said with a smile, "Who told you to drug me? My legs are still weak now, how can I ride a horse?"
Shen Yu sniffed, "You are so weak, no wonder you haven't found a wife yet."
"Tsk." Shen Zhao pretended to hit her, but he only pinched her face. "Is it because I can't find it? I was too busy to look for it."
"Nonsense," Chen Yu pulled his hand away, "The third lady of Master Yu's family likes you, I know."
Shen Zhao scolded: "Don't ruin the girl's reputation."
Chen Yu moved her knees. The floor was hard and there was no cushion, so it was quite painful to kneel down.
"That's right. Don't think I don't know. She sent some snacks over and you just returned them. Then you went back to peek at her. Don't you feel awkward?"
"You don't understand."
Chen Zhao simply sat on the ground and pulled her to sit on the ground. "Look, Dad doesn't come back once a year. Do you think mother has no complaints? I don't want to delay other girls."
"Maybe she'd be happy to be delayed by you."
Chen Yu turned her head to look at him, unable to explain how she felt at the moment, she just felt as if her heart and eyes were tightly blocked by something, with nowhere to breathe.
She remembered that the third daughter of Master Yu was named Yu Wanqiu. When she got married, Yu Wanqiu came to help her with her makeup and even shed tears at her wedding banquet.
They understood each other tacitly, without saying much to each other, but they both knew for whom the tears were shed.
At least before her death, Yu Wanqiu had not married, and she was one year older than Chen Yu.
"Miss Yu is a very nice person. I want her to be my sister-in-law."
"I know." Shen Zhao said.
Chen Yu grabbed Chen Zhao's hand and said, "We will go to the battle together this time, come back together, and then you can go find her."
Shen Zhao's eyes moved slightly, and he turned his head to look at her, with a gentle smile on his lips, "Okay."
Shen Zhao stood up and left.
Chen Yu: “Brother.”
Shen Zhao looked back, "What's wrong?"
Shen Yu mustered up her courage and asked, "Do you believe that people can be reborn?"
Shen Zhao frowned, "Rebirth?"
"Yeah," Chen Yu nodded, "I just feel like I've lived my life again, and I still have time to make up for all the regrets from my previous life."
Chen Zhao came over and squatted in front of her, touching her forehead, "You were feverish a few days ago, weren't you? What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Don't you believe it?" Chen Yu asked expectantly.
"I believe it," Chen Zhao said with a smile, "Why not? Okay, okay, stop imagining it."
Shen Yu's heart sank. As expected, no one would believe such an incredible thing. Shen Zhao said he believed it, but his eyes said it all.
Chen Yu knelt until the sun set and the rays of light gradually faded away. Then the maid came in to light the lamp, brought in the food, and placed it on a small table in front of her.
"The general said that if the young lady kneels in the dark at night, the ancestors probably won't be able to see it, so you don't have to kneel, but you still have to kneel tomorrow in the daytime."
These were indeed the words that Shen Zhongan could say. He was obviously worried that the child would get sick from kneeling in the cold at night, but he had to find some irrelevant excuses.
Shen Yu sat on the ground and slowly stretched her legs. A tingling and stinging sensation spread from her knees, making her afraid to move for a long time.
"Are my father and brother feeling better?"
The maid replied, "It's better now, but I still need to rest for two days."
Shen Yu nodded, took the chopsticks and ate.
She stayed overnight in the ancestral hall and was not released until dark the next day.
Lu Yao and Hong Qiao came to pick her up. Chen Yu couldn't stand up at all, and her legs couldn't even be straightened. The two of them carried her back on the left and right, and boiled some medicine soup to apply hot compress on her.
When I lifted up my trouser legs, I saw my knees were red and swollen, with some bruises in some places.
Lu Yao felt distressed when she saw this, and couldn't help complaining with red eyes, "The general is really cruel.
You are kneeling like this, your legs will be broken if you keep kneeling."
Chen Yu grimaced in pain, "Can you please stop cursing me? I can't be disabled."
Hong Qiao complained, "Who do you blame? Miss, you knocked three people down with one medicine, and you even knocked yourself down, and you were also beaten to your knees."
"You are so brave, ah——"
Hongqiao pressed the hot towel on her, and Chen Yu didn't have time to say anything except screaming.
Applying the hot towel soaked in medicine on my legs felt terrible, numb, itchy and stinging.
Chen Yu clutched the quilt and endured it for a long time before speaking, "At least you should have informed me in advance."
"It still hurts."
She had chosen the two maids herself and had them by her side for many years, but she had never treated them as servants, and they had become disrespectful to their parents.
"My father and the others are scheduled to leave tomorrow morning, right?"
"The day after tomorrow." said Hongqiao.
Shen Yu wondered, "So late?"
Hongqiao took the handkerchief handed over by Luyao and said, "The emperor has allocated another 20,000 elite cavalry. The general has ordered the army to break camp and march ahead. They will have enough time to catch up later."
Shen Yu nodded, "That's true."
After applying the massage to her legs, Chen Yu instructed the two to collect her clothes while she sat on the couch and gave instructions.
"You don't need to bring that. It's almost snowing outside Yanliang Pass in October."
"I don't want this either. The material is expensive. Just take a cloak that is hard-wearing and dirt-resistant."
Two little maids took care of things for her, put away her things, and helped her to go to bed before leaving.
Walking out of the room, Lu Yao lowered her voice and said, "I didn't dare to say a word just now, for fear that if I let it slip, would the young lady beat me to death if she knew?"
Lu Yao is a straightforward person and stutters when he lies.
Hong Qiao said, "Please delay it for now. If you dare to tell her, the general will kill you when he comes back."
Lu Yao shrank his neck, "Then I'd better save my life."
Chen Yu lay in bed for a whole day and was barely able to get out of bed and walk around the next afternoon.
They are leaving Beijing tomorrow. She cannot hold them back due to her disabled legs, so she needs to get up and move around to recover.
As I was walking in the house, I suddenly heard a commotion outside the yard.
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