That couldn’t be right!
Even dull-witted Youran had thought of several ways to force Huaian back—soft, hard, or stern.
How could her sister not think of a single one?
Huaian was equally surprised.
“Ah…so you’re giving up?”
No more urging?
“Yes. If grandmother or eldest brother blames me, I’ll bear it alone. When we get back, I’ll go to Chunxuan Hall to apologize.”
Youran was shocked.
“Sister, you’ve…become so meek?”
What about all the times she endured the ruler?
When she didn’t want to study, sister brought out the ruler.
When her calligraphy was careless, sister brought out the ruler.
When she played the wrong note on the zither, sister brought out the ruler…
But with Huaian, sister didn’t even dare say a harsh word, let alone bring out the ruler.
Was sister retreating to advance?
Using softness to overcome hardness?
Huaian hadn’t expected this kindness and hesitated, but still said, “You don’t have to apologize to grandmother. I’ll see her another day.”
Youran’s gaze shifted from her sister to Huaian: this tactic wasn’t working.
“All right, then let’s go.”
Yunshu stopped pressing and took Youran’s hand to leave.
She’d come to find him mostly as a show.
If she could convince him, great.
If not, she’d done all she could, and no one at Pei Fu could blame her.
Besides, it wouldn’t be long before the Dali Temple arrested Lu Yi.
Then she could leave the Pei family.
With Xiao Gugu teaching their third sister, she didn’t have to worry much.
She could finally do what she liked.
But all this, Youran had no idea about.
Seeing her sister so gentle with Huaian made her furious.
The more she thought, the angrier she got.
No!
They couldn’t just leave like this.
She had to help sister bring Huaian home.
Youran let go of Yunshu’s hand, ran back to Huaian, who had picked up his polo mallet, ready to rejoin the game, and snatched it away, putting on the authority of a “Chang Sao.”
“Chang Sao is like a mother; you have to listen to me. No more polo—come back with us!”
Huaian had been wavering after hearing Yunshu but felt pressured by friends’ teasing, so he’d picked up the mallet, intending to save face today and return tomorrow.
He never imagined Youran would come back with that fresh face and say “Chang Sao is like a mother,” without even considering whether her barely five-foot frame could carry such authority.
His friends heard this and burst out laughing.
Feeling his pride wounded, Huaian frowned, tried to grab his mallet back, and said quietly, “If you want to talk about ‘Chang Sao,’ then you should call me ‘Jiefu’—listen and give me the mallet…”
Youran hugged the mallet tight.
“No.”
Her strength was nothing to Huaian.
“Stop messing around. I don’t want to hurt you.”
At that moment, Youran’s lower abdomen suddenly ached again.
She frowned, enduring it stubbornly as she looked at Huaian.
“Come back with us…”
“Blind,” Huaian sighed helplessly, taking advantage of her distraction to snatch the mallet away.
“Give it here.”
At that instant, the pain worsened sharply, and Youran swayed, squatting on the ground in agony.
Huaian turned to mount his horse, but she grabbed his clothing.
Squatting, her pale face set stubbornly, she clutched his coat corner.
“Don’t leave…”
Yunshu had caught up and saw her pale face.
She knelt anxiously.
“Youran, what’s wrong?”
Youran clenched Huaian’s coat with one hand, pressed the other deep into her abdomen.
“Sister, my stomach hurts so much…”
“Huaian!”
Yunshu’s eyes hardened, no longer gentle.
“Why did you hurt her?”
“It’s not my fault!”
Huaian protested, thinking Youran was faking.
“I only took back the mallet. How could I have hurt her?”
Her pain?
He hadn’t even swung the mallet near her belly.
If she’s acting, she needs to be more convincing.
“Are you trying to trick me with a pity act? I’m not buying it…”
He tried to pull his coat corner back, but before he could, her hand loosened, and she collapsed into Yunshu’s arms.
“Youran, Youran…”
Yunshu called desperately, but the girl showed no response.
Huaian noticed her pale face, the sweat on her forehead and nose—this wasn’t acting.
Could it be that he’d accidentally hurt her?
He quickly threw the mallet aside, bent down, and lifted her up.
“There’s a clinic nearby. Come with me.”
Yunshu and Huaian brought her to the clinic.
On the way, Youran woke from the pain briefly but still clung to Huaian’s coat and asked, “Are you coming back with us?”
“At a time like this, you’re still thinking about that…”
“You…will you come back?”
“Yes, yes, I’ll come back, okay?”
Having gotten his answer, Youran fainted again.
At the clinic, after describing symptoms, the young Langzhong took her pulse and said, “She’s having her period and experiencing menstrual cramps. It’s nothing serious.”
In other words, Huaian was cleared.
“See? I told you it wasn’t me who hurt her.”
Yunshu, however, felt something was off.
Their third sister had her first period at fourteen.
At that time, she knew nothing, and Yunshu had to teach her how to deal with it.
Youran was always healthy, never having much pain during her period—only slight discomfort in the waist and abdomen.
Today wasn’t even her scheduled time.
How could the period have come early and hurt this badly?
“Sir, please examine her carefully. She usually doesn’t hurt like this. Why is it so bad this time?”
The young doctor, inexperienced, found no other cause.
“If you don’t trust me, you can try another clinic.”
Luckily, an elderly Langzhong passed by, heard this, and stopped.
Feeling her pulse, his white beard moved.
“She has cold qi invading her body, causing blood deficiency and cold congealing. The womb isn’t warm enough, which causes this.”
“Cold qi?”
Yunshu asked, shocked.
“What does that mean?”
“Probably ingested something very cold in nature.”
“Is it serious?”
“Not much. For now, give her Huoluo Xiaoling Dan to stop pain, then prescribe Wengong Sanhan Powder for three days, and Danggui Si Ni Tang for seven days to dispel cold and toxins…”
“Yes, Teacher.”
The young Langzhong, the old man’s disciple, immediately prepared the medicine and had Yunshu give Youran the painkiller first, then wrote out the prescriptions.
After getting the medicine, Huaian saw Youran awake, her pain much relieved.
But as she moved, she felt warmth flowing down her legs, realizing her period had come early.
Yunshu couldn’t remove her own outer robe, so she asked Huaijin to take off his outer robe and wrap it around Youran before helping her out of the clinic.
Huaijin helped them into a carriage and sat quietly to one side.
Yunshu looked at her weak sister in his arms, then glanced at Huaijin.
She had come looking for him with little hope of bringing him home, but after Youran’s outburst, he actually obeyed and came along.
It seemed he still cared for Youran.
Yunshu sighed quietly and asked the sister in her arms, “The doctor said you took something cold, which caused this. Have you eaten anything strange these past few days?”
“No, everything I ate came from the household kitchen.”
“Did you have any abdominal pain before?”
“A little, starting two days ago, but not this bad.”
“You’ve been hurting for two days. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I had two doctors come to see me. Both said it was nothing serious…”
Yunshu suspected: such a secret method of causing illness would have been hard to detect without the older Langzhong’s expertise.
Could someone in the household be harming her in secret?
The carriage rumbled over the bluestone pavement and turned into an alley, stopping in front of Pei Fu’s gate.
Pei Huaijin stepped down and walked straight inside.
He had just returned from Xiao Fu, where he apologized to Xiao Gugu on Youran’s behalf and drank a few cups of tea with Xiao Ci, who also had the day off.
Xiao Ci told him that based on Huaijin’s information about Lu Yi, they had investigated suspicious locations.
Lu Yi was indeed suspected of colluding with bandits outside the city.
They were gathering evidence to arrest him soon.
Huaijin thanked him and chatted a bit more.
After nearly an hour, as noon approached, Xiao Ci invited him to stay for lunch, but he declined and left.
Returning to Pei Fu, Huaijin wanted to see if Youran was still in pain.
Just as he took a step toward the mansion, he heard the jingling of a carriage bell behind him.
Looking back, he saw Qing Wu, the attendant to their seventh brother, driving.
It looked like seventh brother was back.
Sure enough, when the carriage stopped, the seventh brother leapt down, carrying many medicines.
Seeing Huaijin, he called out, “Eldest brother!”
Before Huaijin could ask what the medicine was for, Shen Yunshu stepped out, standing beside their brother, and slightly bowed to him.
“Eldest brother, we just came from the clinic. Your sister Youran isn’t feeling well…”
“Still abdominal pain?”
Huaijin walked over.
The carriage curtain was pulled aside by Qing Wu.
Inside, their brother wore a man’s outer robe.
Judging by the style, it was the seventh brother’s robe.
Youran had taken the painkillers and was feeling better, but her early period made movement difficult.
She slowly climbed down from the carriage, a hot wave suddenly pinning her to the spot.
“Still painful?”
Huaijin had seen her faint earlier and felt guilty for misunderstanding her.
She nodded awkwardly.
“A little…”
Though it was mostly gone, she couldn’t say so in front of everyone.
Huaijin scratched his head.
“I’ll find someone to carry you inside…”
Carrying her to the clinic was urgent, but now it would be harder to explain.
“No need. I’ll carry her in.”
Huaijin raised his hand to take off her outer robe, but she clutched it tightly.
“Can’t take it off…”
She was embarrassed.
Huaijin’s gaze darkened, but in the end, he lifted her up with the robe still on and carried her into the mansion.