Chapter 129 – Secret Ingredient
When Ye Zhen returned, she immediately took a bottle of her concocted medicine and added a drop of her miraculous liquid to it. Then, she asked Dai Mei to take it to Lu Lingzhi.
“As soon as you see him.” was her solid instruction.
She now wished for Lu Lingzhi’s fast recovery, so that he’d be able to leave the capital the soonest. With him around, she always felt his vigilant eyes watching her and thus, had to guard herself against him.
As instructed, Lu Lingzhi received the medicine sent by Ye Zhen through Dai Mei. Looking at it, he shook his head and smiled lightly. It looked no different from what he had used before, but he thought it must still be different for his third sister to specially recommend it.
The next day, to his surprise, Lu Lingzhi woke up and found that his injured leg was not only not painful anymore, but it looked much better than yesterday!
Yao Yao’s medicine actually has such a miraculous effect!
***
It was a bright morning, a perfect time for farmers to harvest their crops—and Ye Zhen decided to do the same. She woke up early, intending to collect the silvers she won from the aggravating Princess Liu Hua.
When her plan reached the ears of Lu Xiangzhi and Lu Zan, the two quickly kept her from leaving the mansion. After a thorough discussion, they had agreed to fetch her silvers for her. Her showing up to the princess’ doorsteps might cause trouble, they said.
This arrangement was fine with Ye Zhen as she didn’t want to go out too much. She willingly handed the documents bearing the princess’s signature, with the Little Prince Mo Rongyi as the prime witness.
Without delay, the men went out with the documents.
Ye Zhen finished her exams and now she was left with nothing to do. Mister Shan has moved away thus, she didn’t have to pretend to study hard anymore. At the moment, she was surrounded by medical books from which she picked up one and opened.
She had never studied medicine before, but when she became Lu Yaoyao, some knowledge of medical skills and knowledge on herbs came into her mind inexplicably, and right away, she perceived that these were her sister’s memory.
What Lu Yaoyao learned before had naturally appeared in Ye Zhen’s mind.
It was also because of Lu Yaoyao’s memory that she knew they were twin sisters. Lu Xiangzhi always thought that Lu Yaoyao knew her life story only by eavesdropping on hushed conversations between Lu Shiming and Pei Shi. But in fact, this was not the case.
Lu Yaoyao knew it as early as a year ago. It was Old Madam Ye—Ye Zhen’s grandma, who secretly slipped a baby Lu Yaoyao to the Border town to protect her. In one of her visits before she died, she told Lu Yaoyao the truth—that she is a daughter of the Ye family and that she has a twin sister named Ye Zhen in the capital.
The moment Ye Zhen woke up in her twin sister’s body, only then did she know that Lu Yaoyao was her twin sister. Her family fell to complete ruin and now she could only do revenge through her sister’s identity and knowledge.
“Third miss.”
Ye Zhen quickly tore her gaze from the medical book and looked up at the door, finding Dai Mei standing with her head bowed down. “The Second and Fourth Miss Lu are coming.”
With this, a finely painted brow instantly shot up. What are they doing here? Since she took four A’s from the college yesterday, her sisters have taken a different attitude towards her. More affectionate, you can say.
Ye Zhen felt no such thing as sisterhood towards them and naturally didn’t care about what they thought of her. “Please invite them to the tea hall.” Ye Zhen ordered casually as she does not allow others to come to her study—especially these misses.
There are many things she does not want them to know. Ye Zhen didn’t like the two sisters very much, but she still had to brace herself to deal with them.
“Third Sister, have you received the admission letter?” Lu Fang had just sat down in the tea hall when he saw Ye Zhen coming in from the outside. She showed a smile so bright it could momentarily blind anyone in a heartbeat.
“Not yet.” she dutifully answered and finally sat opposite the two miss.
Right beside Lu Fang, Lu Jing bore a sour expression. She wouldn’t have come to Lu Yaoyao if her sister didn’t force her.
It irked her more seeing Ye Zhen accept them in the tea hall instead of in her study. She genuinely thought that their visit would flatter her.
“Third Sister, look at my face.” Lu Fang took Ye Zhen’s hand and raised her head to let her see her face clearly. “Look, I used the ointment you gave us. Although my face turned white, somehow, red bumps appeared today and I feel pain pressing it!”
With calm in her voice, Ye Zhen looked for a moment then nodded head in understanding. “Is my second sister having her monthly visit soon and has been eating spicy foods recently?”
Lu Fang looked at Ye Zhen in bewilderment. “How did you know?”
“It doesn’t matter. It will disappear in a few days.” Ye Zhen said that she had read published medicine books of the one notable empress who built the Women’s College, Empress Duan Hui who was commonly known in her maiden name as Qi Yanling.
Her books contained treatments to several diseases which were previously considered incurable.
Ever since she before she entered the college in her previous life, Ye Zhen already adored Qi Yanling very much. Now she reads her books and admires them in her heart. Her father once said that Qi Yanling came from the same place as him. However, Ye Zhen was very young at that time and didn’t understand any of it.
Looking back now, she felt that her father knew the Empress Qi well.
“Yao Yao! Do you have any medicine that can make these things disappear immediately?” Lu Fang didn’t feel relieved even after Ye Zhen’s assurance.
“Uhm…I have a medicine but unfortunately, it could only relieve the pain and itchiness. And as you are having your monthly visit, I wouldn’t advise it.” Ye Zhen knew what Lu Fang was talking about. The Second Miss Lu believed that she has an immediate cure which was true—but the miraculous liquid, Ye Zhen decided to not use them anymore.
She just didn’t want to make people doubt the reason why she suddenly changed physically.
“Isn’t there something like those salves that…you smear on your face?” Cleverly, Lu Fang tried to trick Ye Zhen into admitting that she must have something that she applies to her face for her to have such remarkable change.
“I haven’t tried those salves but you can ask the eldest brother for it. There should be many of those inside the imperial palace. Maybe he knows!”
“Second sister.” Lu Jing called her sister in a venomous voice all of a sudden. “You are wasting your energy. Do you really think that third sister just wiped something on her face for her to become like this? There must be some secret ingredient that she put on her face and body that we don’t know. Since, it’s a secret, why would she tell us?” she finished bitterly.
Yesterday, Lu Yaoyao has been in the college for only half a day, but she had already amazed the whole capital. Not only that, but she also caught the eyes of aristocrats. Her dancing made the little prince marvel at her and—Lu Jing felt a stab of pain and envy—Marquis Tang was also there watching her.
Lu Jing remembered Tang Zhen’s gaze at that time—full of admiration which she had never seen in his eyes when he looked at her.
Why did this woman have to appear in our lives?! Lu Jing spat in her mind.
Originally, she thought she was the most talented person in the Lu family. Even if she could not compare with her Wang Fei sister, she was outstanding in the college and have even performed better than Lu Fang, her older sister.
Now, here comes Lu Yaoyao who seemed to be taking everything away from her! How can she be content with this?
“Yao Yao, do you really have a secret ingredient?” Lu Fang looked at Ye Zhen with bright eyes.
“I don’t know whether it should be called a secret ingredient, but when I was in Zhuangzi, I always asked Dai Mei to help me get some hot spring water and milk to pour into my bath, which whitened my skin.”
In a pleasant surprise, Lu Fang almost jumped from her seat. “I have heard that the former Empress Xiao likes to wash her face with milk best. Maybe it is really effective!”
Her eyes squinted and her mouth lifted, Ye Zhen said with delight, “There’s no harm in trying it.”