Chapter 23: Xiao Bojian (1)
The moment Chu Lian turned around, she saw the Eighth Miss, Miss Yuan, standing at the entrance to the courtyard, looking both flustered and exasperated.
However, Chu Lian’s expression wasn’t the calm mask hiding a trace of anger that Miss Yuan had expected. Not only that, but Chu Lian was even smiling generously at her. Actually, upon remembering how Miss Yuan was to marry a bastard of a husband in the future, Chu Lian was full of sympathy for her.
“Since Eighth Sister likes this courtyard so much, it must be fated for you. There are a few spots in this courtyard where it’s nice to admire the scenery alone; I’ll get Xiyan to point them out to you later.”
Miss Yuan stared at her with an incredulous look, eyes wide, trying to see into Chu Lian’s thoughts. What was going on? That calm person before her was Sixth Miss? The same Sixth Miss who would start a fight with her over the smallest little things in the past?
All Sixth Miss had done in the few days they hadn’t met was leave the House to get married. But in those past few days, it was like her entire aura had changed!
Miss Yuan glared hard. They were both legitimate daughters of the second branch. Back when they were both still living in their maiden home, it was this Eighth Miss who had interacted the most with ‘Chu Lian’. The two of them had often quarreled over minor matters. However, Eighth Miss had Second Madam to support her, so it was ‘Chu Lian’, of course, who lost every time.
During those years, the only thing that ‘Chu Lian’ had to show off in front of Miss Yuan was this residence. For the sake of frustrating Chu Lian, the moment she had left the estate, Miss Yuan had begged her mother to let her have this residence. She wanted to see Chu Lian holding back her sadness as she returned to her maiden home, only to see that her place here had been taken already. However, Chu Lian didn’t look the slightest bit moved right now, let alone upset over it. This was completely not what Miss Yuan had expected. How could she be happy with this outcome?
It was as if she had punched cotton; even though she had put all her might into the blow, even though she had struck so hard that she had broken out into a sweat, the person she was trying to provoke didn’t care about what she had done at all.
“You! You!!” Miss Yuan pointed at Chu Lian with an ugly expression, but she couldn’t seem to finish her sentence.
Madam Rong, who had rushed over just in time to see this, heaved a sigh of relief and glared fiercely at Eighth Miss. She then walked towards Chu Lian with a smile on her face. “Sixth Sister, come over to my residence instead. It’s not too far from here. If Sixth Sister thinks it’s too tiring, we can rest at the pavilion near He Court. I’ll let the servants retrieve the cream.”
Chu Lian thanked Madam Rong and brought Xiyan along with her as she followed Madam Rong to He Court.
The main branch of the Ying House lived in the east compound, and it was quite far away from the west compound. Chu Lian was afraid that she would encounter some unwanted trouble along the way, so she politely declined Madam Rong’s offer to go to her own courtyard, and instead, they stopped at He Court.
He Court wasn’t too far from Anxiang Court, and there was no one living there right now. It had been the previous residence of the matriarch of House Ying. After she had passed away, it had been left empty.
There was a pavilion in the begonia forest within He Court. The scenery here was beautiful, and the Ying ladies liked to take walks here and have a peaceful break.
Madam Rong seemed to be afraid that the ladies of the House would cause more trouble, so she didn’t dare to let them follow along. Using the excuse of having a heart-to-heart talk with Sixth Miss, Madam Rong brought Chu Lian away and personally accompanied her as they walked and chatted.