Chapter 78 Reconciliation, Shanshan Discovers
Xi Qingtong meticulously traced her eyebrows in front of the diamond-shaped mirror, her fingertips gripping the black ink a little harder than usual. The face in the mirror, identical to Qingwu's, held a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
I don’t know how Song Yunhe dared to do that. He was just a servant, but he treated me coldly.
However, Xi Qingtong was still rational. Although Song Yunhe had no power and influence now, he held her most fatal handle. The two of them were in a desperate situation, so she had to think about how to ease the relationship.
Looking at the thickly made-up eyebrows, Xi Qingtong's eyes shifted. She suddenly reached out to wipe away the remaining makeup on her face, then washed her cheeks with clean water, leaving no makeup on. She also deliberately let her hair down, only loosely tied it up, letting it fall freely over her shoulders. Her plain nightgown deliberately revealed half of her snow-white neck - this look was extremely pure and pitiful.
But a disdainful smile appeared on that pure and pitiful face. She naturally knew what kind of appearance Song Yunhe liked most about her: gentle, dignified and versatile. As long as she pretended a little, he would definitely look back. As a scholar, he could not escape the gentle land of the lingering piano music.
When the moonlight climbed up the window lattice, Xi Qingtong deliberately sat by the window. When she heard the sound of the study door opening, her fingers moved, and the desolate and mournful sound of the piano flowed out from her fingertips.
She deliberately lowered the key to a very low note, the melancholic sound echoing faintly in the moonlight. Her delicate fingers fluttered across the strings, sometimes like butterflies flitting among flowers, sometimes like raindrops hitting banana leaves, each note precisely landing on the softest part of the human heart.
Song Yunhe couldn't help but recall the Spring Banquet that year, when she, dressed in a moon-white skirt, had stunned the audience with her rendition of "Rainbow Skirt" in front of the Linshui Pavilion. From then on, she became a renowned talent in the capital, with countless young men admiring her. If he hadn't been her cousin then, he wouldn't even have been qualified to meet her.
Thinking of her extraordinary talent and how she had once been an unattainable girl for him, Song Yunhe's dissatisfaction with Xi Qingtong gradually faded away.
"Qingtong." Song Yunhe couldn't help but call her, but Xi Qingtong seemed not to hear him. She changed the tune and played "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix" which he had borrowed from her piano. At that time, he used this song to express his feelings.
Hearing the piece again, Song Yunhe recalled those days even more, remembering how cautious he had been back then. Unable to resist any longer, he walked over and saw the woman playing the zither by the window. Her hair was loose, a few strands cascading down her shoulders, and her face was bare. In the moonlight, the traces of tears were visible beneath her downcast eyes.
She seemed to just realize that he was in front of her. She raised her eyes like a deer, her fingertips trembled instantly, and the wrong sound broke the silence.
"Yunhe?"
She seemed to have not expected him to come, and there was disbelief in her tearful eyes. Seeing her like this, Song Yunhe could no longer hold back. He immediately entered the room, held her in his arms, and gently wiped her tears.
"I'm sorry... I'm so useless..." Song Yunhe sighed and stroked her back, feeling the delicate body in his arms trembling slightly.
Hearing this apology, Xi Qingtong's eyes instantly flashed with pride, but her voice trembled as she spoke, "I'm sorry for you. I'm too extravagant and too inconsiderate of you..."
But the more she said this, the more Song Yunhe thought about the life she had lived, and the guilt grew stronger in his heart.
Xi Qingtong buried her face in Song Yunhe's shoulder, with a triumphant smile on the corner of her lips. Sure enough, she couldn't escape her control.
"Don't you want to make new clothes? Go and do it tomorrow."
Hearing this, Xi Qingtong could no longer hold back and immediately offered her red lips...
The next day, Xi Qingtong went to the brocade workshop with a bag of silver.
Coincidentally, Lin Shanshan was also planning to make some summer clothes that day. As soon as she entered the brocade workshop, her eyes were involuntarily attracted by a bright crimson color.
She saw her friend whom she had not seen for many days sitting on a chair in the shop. The newly arrived silks and satins were piled up like a gorgeous mountain beside her. Several embroiderers stood by with their hands hanging down, not daring to even breathe.
Shanshan subconsciously wanted to call "Qingwu", but the embarrassment of being rejected that day stopped her when the words came to her lips.
It was during this moment that she watched her friend's fingertips run across a piece of silk and suddenly sneered, "Is this all you have in your shop? Or are you worried that I can't afford it?"
"Bring us your newly arrived brocade."
This domineering look made Shanshan shut up completely, with confusion between her brows. With this temper? How could this be like the friend she knew?
At this moment, Xi Qingtong, who was sitting on a chair, also noticed Shanshan's gaze, but in her eyes, Shanshan was just an ordinary guest, so she just glanced at her and then looked away.
When Xi Qingtong glanced at her casually, Shanshan instinctively smiled and tried to say hello.
However, that gaze only stayed on her for a moment, and then moved away like an insignificant speck of dust. Needless to say, there was contempt in it. Shanshan's eyes suddenly turned red, and her fingers trembled slightly. Why would Qingwu suddenly treat her like this?
She couldn't help but take a step forward, "Hey, even if you... why do this?"
Xi Qingtong was carefully examining the brocade brought by the embroiderer. Hearing this, he paused and glanced at the plainly dressed girl with impatience between his brows. "Who are you talking to?"
What was even more of a coincidence was that Jinzhu, who had seen Shanshan that day, had gone out to buy other things for Xi Qingtong, and now it was Yinzhu who was standing beside her serving her. Neither of them knew that Shanshan knew Qingwu.
Upon hearing this, Shanshan’s face froze instantly. What does this mean... ?
She suddenly remembered something, raised her eyes and looked at the person in front of her from head to toe. After a careful look, she found that the person in front of her was different from Qingwu in every way except for his facial features, which gave her an even more...
Shanshan is simple, but her simplicity also gives her a sharp quality. Thinking that Qingwu has a twin sister, what is there not to understand?
Her face immediately flushed and she took a few steps back, "I, I..."
She wanted to explain, but Xi Qingtong no longer looked at her, and the explanation Shanshan was about to say was stuck in her throat. Fortunately, she knew that the person in front of her was not Qingwu, and her unhappiness disappeared instantly.
Thinking that the person in front of her was the former prince's concubine, her arrogance seemed to be explained. Being looked down upon by her like this, Shanshan didn't want to stay here anymore, so she turned around and went out with her maid. Who would have thought that as soon as she got on the carriage, she casually lifted the curtain and saw Jinzhu coming back with snacks.
Shanshan's grape-like pupils widened instantly.
Isn’t this the little maid who opened the door for her when she went to the Song family that day?
The girl's fingers clutched the carriage curtain tightly, her mind a turmoil. That day at the Song residence, Jinzhu had clearly called her "Madam," clearly a servant of the Song family, serving Qingwu. So why was she now with Qingwu's twin sisters?
Qingwu is not here either?
Then, Shanshan suddenly remembered that Jinzhu was not the two maids she had seen around Qingwu...
As the wife of the top scholar, she naturally knew that the prince had been deposed and moved to the temporary palace. Shouldn't the prince's concubine be in the temporary palace now?
Is this familiar little maid from the Song family or someone close to the Qingwu twin sisters?
If it belonged to the Qingwu sisters, why was it at the Song family that day?
Her big grape-like eyes suddenly turned around in panic. She hurriedly lowered the curtain and said to the coachman, "Hurry, hurry home."
Her husband is smarter than her, so she wants to ask him what is going on.
But even without asking, Shanshan already had a bad feeling in her heart.
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