elder brother
Before, she wanted to find evidence to prove the crimes of Shen Pingchang and his ilk, and rescue Shen Yunqiu from the Shen family, a ruthless den of evil. But now, Shen Yunqiu is no longer Shen Yunqiu, and the person she wanted to save, from the beginning to the end, was only the person she knew well.
Shen Yunqiu looked at the distracted girl and almost fell asleep again. In his blurred consciousness, he suddenly felt the wheelchair under him shake. When he came to his senses, he was already sitting in front of a round table. There were several porridge and side dishes neatly placed on the table. Although they were light, they looked delicious.
"Master, let's have dinner."
"If you don't want to eat it, take it away."
Suxi wasn't in the mood to discuss further with the dignified young master. After a long pause, Chen Yunqiu still showed no sign of picking up his chopsticks. However, Suxi glimpsed the food box on the table at the other end of the study through the intricately woven screen. He walked over and opened the lid. Inside, on a jade plate, lay a bowl of plain noodles and several delicately decorated pastries. Clearly, the servant had brought them that morning. Judging from the looks of it, Shen Yunqiu hadn't touched a single bite.
Such exquisite food is beyond the reach of ordinary people. This young master is so picky and really hard to serve.
Su Xi complained in his heart, picked up the bowl of noodles and put it on the table, lifted up his clothes and sat down opposite Shen Yunqiu.
"Master, since you don't like these foods, then I will eat them."
"You are not allowed to eat. If you haven't had your lunch, go to the kitchenette and get it yourself."
Shen Yunqiu said coldly, but the little maid opposite seemed to turn a deaf ear to his light-hearted words, picking up a pair of noodles with chopsticks and about to put it into her mouth.
"You are not allowed to eat, didn't you hear me? Are you tired of living like a slave?"
The table shook violently, and Su Xi was startled. The chopsticks in his hand suddenly fell to the ground, and the slippery knife-cut noodles in the bowl fell along the edge of the table like a fish and hit the hem of his clothes, leaving a long oil stain.
After a while, Su Xi raised his eyes and looked at the furious face of the young man opposite him. He could hardly suppress the disbelief in his eyes.
Because of this very deceptive face, she could not help but subconsciously mistake him for Shen Yunqiu, and she could not tolerate this man speaking harshly and mercilessly to her with Shen Yunqiu's face.
It was not until this moment that Suxi finally convinced himself to accept this fact.
He really wasn't Shen Yunqiu, just a member of the Shen family, a member of the Shen family with the blood of a demon like Shen Pingchang. In his eyes, she was just a lowly concubine, not worthy of eating his food. Even if she was the one he discarded like a rag.
"Master, I have overstepped my bounds. I will collect the food and send it back."
Suxi stood up to pick up the food, but her plate was grabbed by another hand. Following the white sleeve that slipped down from his wrist, she saw a young man's arm, thinner than a woman's. It was pale and bluish-white, with bones and muscles prominent. He looked like a skeleton with only a layer of flesh left. Only the faint throbbing purple veins at his wrist gave him a hint of life.
It seems that he really won't live long.
"No need to clean up, just leave it there, someone will come to pick it up tomorrow. Just wipe the carpet clean and go back, there's nothing for you to do here."
Are you still afraid that she will cheat on you?
"Yes, Master."
Su Xi put down his plate, unwilling to argue with a dying man. He squatted down and picked up the slippery noodles one by one, scooping them up in his handkerchief. Meanwhile, Shen Yunqiu lazily leaned back in his chair, watching the girl squatting on the floor wiping the carpet with boredom.
It was already noon, the sun's shadow shifted, and the warm autumn sunlight shone through the window lattice onto the girl's thin back. The hair hanging down in front of her forehead was coated with a layer of shiny golden light by the sunlight, which barely covered the scars and made her look quiet and elegant.
Lowering his gaze, Shen Yunqiu noticed that the girl's hands were white, tender and flawless, like soft catkins, and she didn't look like someone who had been doing rough labor for years.
"What's your name, little girl?"
"A stream."
Su Xi answered without raising his head, but his heart couldn't help but think of Shen Yunqiu in his previous life.
"Little Creek..."
Chen Yunqiu murmured, "Judging from your appearance, you must have come from a well-off family. How did you get that scar on your face?"
"My family fell into poverty, and I fled here, and fell off a cliff."
He is a poor man.
Shen Yunqiu looked slightly startled and asked again,
"Since you are a girl, you should be able to read."
"I can read, do arithmetic, embroider, and so on."
"Since you have a way to make a living, this young master would like to kindly advise you that this Shen Mansion is not a good place. You should leave as soon as possible and go out to be a tailor, copy books, or something like that. It is a hundred times better than being a maid, let alone being my maid."
After the words fell, Su Xi was silent, thinking that this man still had some conscience, unlike Shen Pingchang who was so evil.
"Okay, Master, I will consider what you said."
Su Xi thought, since she no longer thought about Shen Yunqiu, she had to quickly find evidence that Shen Pingchang had framed her father. Otherwise, once Shen Yunqiu died, she would be buried with him as a concubine. Not only would she not have the chance to find evidence, but she would also be at risk of losing her life.
Crumpling the dough in her handkerchief, Suxi stood up and left, broom in hand, without even a glance at Chen Yunqiu. When the door slammed shut again, the room suddenly darkened, and Chen Yunqiu was lost in thought, a rare moment of reverie. The little girl had clearly been so determined to stay, yet in just one day, she'd changed her mind so easily.
Logically, he should be thankful.
Ever since he became terminally ill, the maids and servants who flattered him and looked down on him were respectful on the surface, but behind his back they were always mocking and ridiculing him, two-faced, and enjoying his miserable state every day. After hearing so much, he could no longer tolerate being treated so humiliated, so he simply drove them all away. Although his life was still hopeless, at least he could have some peace and quiet.
This time, after driving away the ugly little maid, Shen Yunqiu finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, not long after, a vague sense of loss inexplicably arose, making him feel a long-lost loneliness.
Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that this little girl was the first person who had shown him kindness in such a long time. However, he was a prickly person and was unwilling to expose his unbearable side to anyone. And those little kindnesses were ultimately too weak for him.
Shen Yunqiu sneered, reached out and grabbed a flower-shaped pastry from the plate on the table and swallowed it.
After leaving the main house, Suxi immediately took a wooden bucket to the well in the yard to fill it with water, picked a few soapberry fruits from the wild trees, took off his outer jacket and washed it.
The bowl of vegetarian noodles was light, but the noodle soup just happened to spill all over me, with a strong smell of mutton.
Suxi sighed softly, frowning as he shook off his jacket twice and fished in his sleeve pocket for the silver he'd brought with him. When he'd escaped from Youyang, Suxi had pawned all his valuable jewelry for a bag of small change. While it wasn't much, it was enough for his daily needs.
However, as soon as he pulled out the silver, Suxi was stunned. The few pieces of silver in his palm had somehow turned black and gray. Turning them over, they were still their normal silvery white. The discolored side was soaked by the noodle soup, and even a few water droplets were condensed on it.
Suddenly, a few pieces of silver fell to the ground. Although Su Xi tried his best to remain calm, his steps towards the main house still seemed weak and staggering, until he pushed open the door of the main house with a bang. There was silence inside, and the wheelchair was empty. An overly thin boy was lying on the ground with his eyes closed, his face pale, and fine beads of sweat flowed down his forehead one after another, soaking his hair in a few moments.
-
"The young master's condition has worsened again. Master, Madam, I will try my best to prescribe some more medicine, but after all, his energy and blood are exhausted. Now I can only prolong his life for a short time. It is extremely difficult to keep him alive."
At this moment, the usually deserted main house of the West Garden was packed with people for the first time. After the court doctor gave acupuncture, Shen Yunqiu half leaned on the soft pillow of the bed and struggled to open his heavy eyes to scan the people in the room with different expressions.
"Sorry to bother you, Doctor Zhang, but this is my child's fate. We can't force it. Ultimately, there's no other way." Shen Pingchang spoke mournfully, but his eyes remained calm as he beckoned the court physician out of the courtyard. Mrs. Lin sat at the corner of the bed, seemingly concerned, but her eyes were staring blankly into space, as if she were lost in thought. Meanwhile, Shen Wenzhao lazily leaned against the screen, his pipe in his mouth. Thick smoke enveloped him, but one could still vaguely see the smug glee hidden in his slender, fox-like eyes.
Exhaling a large puff of smoke, Shen Wenzhao sighed and said with a faint smile,
"Second brother, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you were already very ill, so why did you go on a hunger strike? Now you're in trouble. You don't even know if you can survive the autumn..."
Standing in the corner, Su Xi looked at the lazy playboy and clenched his fists secretly.
In her previous life, she knew that Shen Yunqiu was disliked by his family, but she had never witnessed it with her own eyes. Today's experience really refreshed her understanding of shamelessness.
Trying his best to hide the indignation in his tone, Su Xi stepped forward.
"Madam, Young Master, in fact, the young master's illness was not caused by fasting, but by..."
"Shut up!"
Shen Yunqiu growled, suddenly felt out of breath, and started coughing repeatedly while holding his chest.
Hearing the sound, Shen Wenzhao turned around and saw the little maid standing in the corner. As if intrigued, Shen Wenzhao stopped smoking and swept Suxi up and down with a venomous, sinister gaze. After a while, he suddenly laughed out loud.
"I heard this morning that my second brother fell in love with the maidservant and spent a night with her. But your taste is really not very good. I wonder what your child would look like if she gave birth to him one day?"
Shen Wenzhao paused.
"Oh, I forgot. With your physique, I'm afraid you won't be able to see what your future child will look like."
"Master, how can you say that! The young master is your..."
With a snap, half of his face felt like it was burning with pain. Su Xi slowly raised his eyes and happened to see Shen Wenzhao's angry eyes.
"You are so bold, girl, you even dare to teach me a lesson! Fine, fine, today I will give you a ride so that I can stay with you and your son for eternity! Someone--"
"Brother, don't stretch your hands too far. It's not your turn to teach my maid a lesson!"
In an instant, Shen Wenzhao's hand, which was pointing outside the door, froze in place. He turned back in surprise, and Lin also turned around, looking at Shen Yunqiu in surprise.
"Okay, okay, very good. Second brother is really affectionate. He even treasures a maid very much..." Shen Wenzhao nodded repeatedly, as if he was very angry. "But the eldest brother is like a father. I am your elder brother. Do I need your permission to deal with a maid?"
"When my elder brother does something, my younger brother naturally dares not interfere."
Su Xi stood aside trembling with fear, and saw Shen Yunqiu with a sneer on his lips, staring at Shen Wenzhao with his eyes, which made the other party lose his arrogance in an instant and dared not look directly at him.
"But brother, I know why my younger brother has become like this today. Even if I lose my life, I don't mind turning the Shen family upside down. I even have the ability to make you be cursed by everyone overnight and your reputation ruined. Do you want to give it a try?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
