Shen Yunshu steadied her nerves and asked Shen Youran, “How did you meet Lu Yi? What did he say to you? Tell me every detail, don’t leave out a single word.”
“It was a chance encounter. He mistook me for you by accident…”
She hadn’t spoken much with that young master from the Lu family, but the few words exchanged, she remembered clearly and recounted them all to her elder sister.
After hearing this, Shen Yunshu’s face remained expressionless, but inwardly, she was already flustered.
Shen Youran noticed the change in her sister’s expression.
“Sister, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
Shen Yunshu didn’t want her younger sister to know about Lu Yi’s unsavory intentions, so she forced a smile and said, “Your hand still needs to practice the zither tomorrow. Have Qing He fetch some ice for you to apply. I’m a bit tired today, so I’ll go rest first…”
“Then go rest well.”
Shen Youran watched her sister leave, feeling a bit puzzled.
Mother will be arriving in Jingcheng soon, so why does Sister seem unhappy?
And Sister’s attitude toward that Lu family stepbrother was also strange.
Shen Youran couldn’t figure it out and decided to just ask her directly tomorrow.
Early the next morning, Danruo arrived with Tinglan, who served at Da Guniang’s side, to wake her.
Tinglan was holding an unsealed letter, saying it was from Da Guniang for her.
Shen Youran rubbed her eyes and took the envelope, confused as to why her sister would write her a letter when they lived in the same residence.
But as soon as she pulled out the letter and read it, her sleepiness faded by half.
“Da Guniang said she’s going to the Pei Family Villa outside the city to accompany Pei Laofuren for the summer. She doesn’t know when she’ll return. This letter contains the assignments Da Guniang arranged for San Guniang. While Da Guniang is away, it’s up to us maids to supervise San Guniang’s daily practice…”
Shen Youran was so exasperated that she fell back, “Elder Sister goes off to enjoy a quiet summer retreat, but leaves me with so much work to do. I won’t stand for this…”
In truth, Shen Yunshu had considered taking her third sister along to the Pei Family Villa for the summer.
Although it would take some effort to persuade Pei Laofuren, she would probably agree.
However, knowing that the ne’er-do-well Pei Huaian would also be there, Shen Yunshu dismissed the idea.
Originally, Pei Laofuren hadn’t invited her to the villa for the summer.
She’d only learned about it from Pei Huaian the day before.
If not for the need to avoid Lu Yi, she wouldn’t have shamelessly moved into the Pei Family Villa as a future granddaughter-in-law who hadn’t even married in yet.
She’d kept her engagement to Pei Huaijin a secret from her mother and the Lu family.
Now that Lu Yi had arrived in Jingcheng, he’d soon find out.
With his obsessive nature, he would surely come for her and use all means to force her to break off the engagement…
She couldn’t afford to provoke that madman Lu Yi, so she had no choice but to hide.
At this moment, the safest place was her future husband’s home.
No matter what tricks Lu Yi tried, he couldn’t reach into the Pei Family.
In two months, when Pei Huaijin returned to Jingcheng for his new post and she married into the Pei Family as planned, there would be nothing left to worry about.
Shen Yunshu hadn’t slept at all the previous night.
She spent the first half thinking about how to avoid Lu Yi, and the second half planning her third sister’s studies during her absence.
She wrote out all the assignments for the next two months, packed them into a thick bundle, and slipped them into an envelope.
At dawn, she handed the letter to her trusted maid Tinglan, then went to see her father before he left for court to tell him she’d be away for two months…
Her father knew she was strong-willed and didn’t say much, just told her to take care of herself and promised to pay more attention to her third sister.
But her father was busy with official duties and couldn’t look after her sister as closely as she could.
With no other choice, Shen Yunshu left with a heavy heart, taking her other personal maid Qiongzhi, and rode a carriage out of the residence, heading for the city gates.
The Pei Family Villa outside the city wasn’t hard to find.
Asking along the way, she soon arrived at the foot of the mountain where the villa was located.
The Pei Family Villa sat halfway up the mountain, its green-tiled white walls nestled among lush greenery, exuding a poetic charm like an ink painting.
Shen Yunshu admired the scenery at the foot of the mountain for a while.
Near noon, she and her maid got off the carriage, carrying a purse with five taels of silver, and started up the mountain.
She needed a reason to visit the Pei Family Villa.
The five taels of silver she owed from the game of mohele that Pei Huaian mentioned yesterday made for a convenient excuse.
Though it was a bit of a stretch, it was better than nothing.
So, when Pei Huaian saw her, his phoenix eyes widened in surprise, his handsome face full of shock.
“You really came all the way here just to repay those five taels of silver?”
“You’re the one who said if I wanted to repay you, I should bring it to the villa.”
She knew he was just speaking offhand yesterday, but to achieve her goal, she had no choice but to use her future Xiao Shuzi as an excuse.
Pei Huaian had never met such a serious woman before.
He wanted to say, “Was that really necessary?” but seeing her pale face, a sheen of sweat on her forehead, looking as if she was about to faint from the heat, he swallowed his words and instead instructed the maid beside him, “Go fetch a cup of sweet water to cool her down…”
It was the height of noon, and Shen Yunshu had walked up from the foot of the mountain, so she was inevitably overheated.
Even after drinking a cup of sweet water, she didn’t feel much better.
News of her arrival soon reached Pei Laofuren, who came to see her.
After learning the reason for her visit, Pei Laofuren scolded her youngest grandson, then called for a Langzhong to check Shen Yunshu’s pulse…
Having not slept all night and now suffering from heatstroke, Shen Yunshu was extremely weak.
The Langzhong advised her to rest quietly for a few days, and Pei Laofuren immediately invited her to recuperate at the villa.
Everything was going according to her plan, so Shen Yunshu accepted with reserved gratitude.
Though she would only be staying for a few days at first, if she could win Pei Laofuren’s favor, she could naturally stay longer in the future.
On the second day after Shen Yunshu left home, the Lu family arrived in Jingcheng and sent a formal letter to Shen Fu.
The next day, Lu Yi, entrusted by his parents, brought gifts to visit and intended to take Shen Yunshu back to the Lu Manor.
Shen Tingyu did not wish to meet his ex-wife’s stepson, so he used the excuse of being busy with official duties and left the task of receiving Lu Yi to Weishi.
Weishi, learning that the other party wanted to take Shen Yunshu back, replied truthfully, “Unfortunately, Da Guniang went with Pei Laofuren to the villa for the summer a few days ago. We don’t know when she’ll return.”
Lu Yi wasn’t surprised she had run off again, but still…
“May I ask, Pei Laofuren is…?”
Weishi found it odd, “You don’t know? Da Guniang is engaged to the eldest legitimate grandson of the Grand Preceptor’s Residence. Pei Laofuren is her future grandmother.”
Lu Yi’s face changed dramatically.
“She’s engaged? When did this happen?”
Weishi fanned herself and observed him calmly.
Unlike his sudden change in expression, she spoke unhurriedly, “The engagement was set in early spring. She’ll be married in another two months. What, you didn’t know?”
Normally?
In matters as important as marriage, Da Guniang should have written to inform her birth mother long ago.
How could this young master from the Lu family still be in the dark?
“Heh…”
Clenching his fist, Lu Yi pounded his knee, a flash of coldness in his eyes.
She actually kept this from him and promised herself to someone else.
Did she really think hiding at her future husband’s home would make her untouchable?
Lu Yi curled his lips into a smile, his face returning to normal.
“Since Ah Shu isn’t here, I’ll come again when she returns to take her home.”
After a pause, he asked, “By the way, is Third Sister at home? Mother has some words she’d like me to pass on to her in person…”
He called her “Third Sister” with such familiarity, but Weishi couldn’t decide on Shen Youran’s matters, so she sent a maid named Green E to the back courtyard to inquire.
At that moment, Shen Youran was being supervised by Tinglan, practicing her calligraphy in her room.
The ink she used was scented with flowers, leaving a fragrant mark on the paper, but her handwriting was much worse than in previous days.
Tinglan sighed to herself: Ever since Da Guniang left, San Guniang had become lazy.
No matter how strict she was as a maid, there was a difference between master and servant.
If San Guniang was unwilling, there was nothing she could do.
In fact, Shen Youran wanted to focus on her studies, but her elder sister had left in a hurry and she couldn’t get used to it.
Now that her mother should have arrived in Jingcheng, she missed her even more.
With her mind pulled in three directions, she couldn’t write well at all.
So she gave up.
Shen Youran propped her face on her hand, nibbling the end of her brush, gazing blankly out the window.
Tinglan watched the delicate, fragrant beauty of San Guniang’s face bathed in the golden sunlight streaming through the window, so lovely it was hard to look away.
Just as she was about to remind her to continue practicing, she saw those sunlit eyes suddenly light up.
“Eh? Isn’t that Green E, who serves Mother, coming this way?”
Green E hurried along the veranda, spotting San Guniang leaning against the window watching her from afar.
She quickened her pace, bowed and saluted.
“San Guniang, the eldest young master of Lu Manor has come. He said he’s here at the request of Lu Furen, with a message to pass on to you…”
Shen Youran had been thinking of her mother these past two days. Upon hearing this, she couldn’t sit still and ran out at once.
In the flower hall at the front of the residence, Lu Yi had just finished half a cup of tea when he saw the girl he’d met on the street the other day come running in, lifting the hem of her green skirt.
Her slender, graceful figure swayed with each step.
Weishi, unaware that the two had already met, introduced Shen Youran to Lu Yi and then tactfully withdrew, leaving a few servants to attend them.
“What does Mother want to say to me?”
Those eyes, so similar to Ah Shu’s, sparkled with anticipation, clear as morning dew, revealing her pure heart at a glance.
Lu Yi concealed his thoughts, tugged the corners of his lips, and gave a gentle, harmless smile.
“Mother says she misses you and wants to see you, but it’s inconvenient for her to come here, so she asked me to see if you’d be willing to come to our Lu Manor and meet her?”
Of course Shen Youran was willing.
Although she hadn’t seen her mother in twelve years, her father had never spoken ill of her.
In fact, when her father insisted on taking one child away, it was to use the child as leverage to make her mother return.
But her mother hadn’t come back, and instead remarried with her elder sister.
Her father had no choice but to give up and soon married again.
There was no portrait of her mother in the house, and Shen Youran could no longer remember her mother’s face.
Now that she finally had the chance to see her, she agreed without hesitation.
“I want to see her. I can go right now!”
“Don’t be anxious, Third Sister. Since you’re willing, I’ll go back and inform Mother. In a few days, I’ll come to take you there…”
Lu Yi looked down at the eager girl before him, secretly sneering: Ah Shu, do you really think you can be safe just by hiding?
Don’t you know you still have a sister who misses her mother, just waiting for me to use as leverage?
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.