"Hiss... Mom, what's wrong?" Lost in the juicy gossip of the book, Du Anrao suddenly felt a sharp pain in her hand. Looking up, she saw that Mother Du had grabbed her wrist at some point.
"Did Mom grab you too hard? I'm so sorry, let Mom rub it for you."
"It's fine, it's fine, it doesn't hurt much."
Suspecting nothing, Du Anrao assumed Mother Du had momentarily lost her composure out of anger over Du Yuxi being harassed, thus missing the chill Mother Du was hiding beneath her heartache.
No one knew better than she that those understated words were all too real. It was just that the Du Anrao in reality had been luckier, meeting the compassionate old master who brought her up the mountain to cultivate, otherwise...
For a moment, alongside the heartache and lingering fear, boundless hatred surged in Mother Du's heart toward those main culprits.
[At this point in the plot, that Miss Li's biological father should have been released from prison after serving his full sentence a year ago. What is that saying about birds of a feather? Wang Xuehe and her husband are definitely true love; one gets caught and doesn't forget to tell her husband to run, while the other gets caught and, on the verge of death, still remembers to tell her husband where their biological daughter is.]
[So, Miss Li found out the truth a year ago and started secretly keeping an eye on Fourth Sister.]
Hearing this, Du Yuxi broke out in goosebumps. She didn't even have to guess to know why that Miss Li was keeping an eye on her.
[Oh? This Ye Mengzhen actually has a crush on our Third Brother, and even secretly stuffed a love letter meant for Third Brother into Fourth Sister's locker.]
"Pfft..." Mother Du choked on her juice, startling Du Anrao so much she almost jumped up to get her a tissue.
Equally startled was Du Yuxi not far away. She widened her eyes in rare loss of composure, asking in disbelief, "You like my Third Brother?"
Ye Mengzhen, who had been on a continuous offensive ever since being accused, suddenly choked. Dropping her previous arrogance and overbearing attitude, she awkwardly stammered, "So what if I do?"
Then, as if remembering something, her face darkened. "Didn't you already know? Why pretend?"
Du Yuxi was dazed—it was actually true!
[Huh? Fourth Sister actually knew? That's not right, wasn't the love letter Ye Mengzhen wrote to Third Brother stolen and thrown away by Li Qianxi's people? Afterward, she even deliberately brought it up in front of Ye Mengzhen to sow discord between them, otherwise Ye Mengzhen wouldn't have harbored such deep hostility toward Fourth Sister.]
Du Yuxi's heart hammered like a drum, her hands at her sides instinctively tightening.
Li Qianxi—was that girl's name Li Qianxi? Was it because her existence meant indebtedness and hope to the Li Family? Yet this was supposed to be her own name!
On the other side, Xi Jingyue, who had been forced to overhear an anecdote about high society, shifted slightly. Li Qianxi? Was it a coincidence or...
The man opposite him noticed his change in expression and his heart skipped a beat, worrying he had said something wrong again.
"Did you write a love letter to my Third Brother?"
"I... You..."
"My locker was tampered with. I only found out a few days ago that you put something in it, but I never saw that thing in my locker."
Ye Mengzhen froze. "You mean, you didn't throw away the love letter I wrote to your Third Brother?"
"Why would I randomly throw away your love letter?"
"Who knows if you were just jealous?"
Du Yuxi twitched her brow, completely unable to understand. "Why on earth would I be jealous that my brother has women chasing him? I'm not a pervert."
Ye Mengzhen choked, stubbornly insisting, "How am I supposed to know if what you're saying is true or false?"
"Actually, I'm quite curious..."
"What?"
"What on earth do you see in my brother?"
Ye Mengzhen: "..."
Du Yuxi's question was far too blunt. Ye Mengzhen was completely dumbfounded, stuttering for ages without managing to spit out a single coherent reason.
It was Du Anrao, perking up her ears to listen from the other side, who had a hasty temperament and provided the answer first.
[She's obviously taken with our Third Brother's face.]
Mother Du and Du Yuxi: "???" It was that superficial?
[Ye Mengzhen is a severe visual addict. At the start of the semester, she happened to run into Third Brother dropping Fourth Sister off for registration. From afar, she saw Third Brother standing tall and straight amidst the mottled shadows of the trees. The autumn wind was crisp, the tree shadows swayed, and the atmosphere was maxed out—how could she not fall for him?]
Du Yuxi: Oh!
Ye Mengzhen had no idea her background was about to be completely exposed. After hesitating for ages, she still couldn't bring herself to tell the truth: "Why should I tell you what I like about him? Stop changing the subject! If you didn't throw away my love letter, then who did?"
"You'll have to ask yourself that."
"Ask me?"
Knowing the truth, Du Yuxi's mind worked quickly. "Who told you that I threw away the love letter you put in my locker?"
Ye Mengzhen was stunned. It took her a good while to react. "You mean... No way, it couldn't be her!"
"Who is it?"
"You think I'll tell you just because you ask? Anyway, it definitely couldn't be her! I'm betting it was someone close to you!"
Despite saying that, Ye Mengzhen didn't even dare to meet Du Yuxi's eyes when she shouted, showing that she wasn't entirely free of suspicion herself.
[Why is this little girl so foolish? She gets sold and still helps count the money.]
Mother Du and Du Yuxi: "..." You're younger than her, how do you have the nerve to call someone a little girl with such an old-fashioned tone?
However, both of them could also hear the exasperation mixed with affection in Du Anrao's words, figuring that Ye Mengzhen was likely mostly being used and wasn't a bad person at heart.
"Pardon me, allow me to interrupt. It's hard to say who's right and who's wrong here, but I think this young lady's taste in people definitely isn't as good as my sister's."
Du Anrao's sudden appearance startled the group. Ye Mengzhen's expression changed drastically, and she demanded angrily, "Who do you think you are? Don't you know eavesdropping on other people's conversations is very impolite?"
"Me?" Du Anrao grinned, flashing eight pearly-white teeth. "Humble as I am, this Taoist practitioner is precisely that uncultured bumpkin from a remote place you were just talking about."
Ye Mengzhen: "..."
What is more embarrassing than speaking ill of someone behind their back only to be overheard by the person herself?
Of course, there is one thing: not only being overheard directly by the person, but also being called out to your face.
"You... You..." Ye Mengzhen's face turned beet red. She stammered "you" for a long time without managing to say a single thing, then sheepishly shut her mouth and sat back down.
Du Yuxi glanced at Mother Du hiding behind the potted plant in the partition, then stared at Du Anrao for a good while before tentatively calling out, "Anrao?"
"It's me. Hello, Fourth Sister! Mom and I just finished shopping and came here to eat. The pastries at this place are so delicious—could you help me ask later if we can buy them separately or have a few extra plates on the house? Please, please~"
How could Du Yuxi not see that Du Anrao wanting pastries was just an excuse? Her expression softened even further.
"Eat as much as you like if you love them, I'll bring some over to you personally in a moment."
"Thanks, Fourth Sister!"
[Fourth Sister is so gentle, has a great temper, and is pretty, too. Come to think of it, the reason Li Qianxi is so nervous about Fourth Sister seems to be because Fourth Sister has a face almost identical to Madam Li's when she was young. It's just that the two families live in different cities far apart; if anyone from the Li Family had ever laid eyes on Fourth Sister even once, this matter wouldn't have been kept under wraps for so long.]