CH 34

The day after the flower banquet, Ruan Xi’s energy levels were not the best because she had dreamt through the night.

The dream featured Wen Ting Zhou and her.

Ruan Xi wore a slightly bitter smile, it was just a hug and forehead kiss that could not count for a kiss, and yet she was showing such a large reaction to it.

This was bad, she had to stay calm.

Owing to her heart condition in her last life, Ruan Xi had never thought about being in a relationship or getting married. Towards romantic love and deep affection, she merely had a theoretical understanding which was useless in practice, and she did not know what it was like to be in a relationship.

But now she understood.

Ruan Xi felt like she was losing too much of her composure and she needed to strengthen it and practice her deep breathing exercises.

After consuming her breakfast, Ruan Xi could not help but ask Mama Lin for her opinion.

“Mama Lin, I would like to delve into several Buddhist scriptures that can quieten one’s mind, do you have any suggestions?”

Mama Lin paused, giving her Fourth Young Lady a strange look. “Fourth Young Lady, yõu have a solemn personality, studying Buddhist scriptures is not necessary. Yõu can practice more calligraphy or polish yõur painting skills instead.”

Ruan Xi pursed her lips, displaying a perfectly composed smile, “I prefer Buddhist scriptures.”

“Study the Avatamsaka Sutra of the Huayan school then, Lao Furen is usually fond of studying that Buddhist scripture.” Mama Lin replied after a brief though.

At the side, a peculiar smear flashed past Mama Yang’s eyes as she suddenly interrupted with one line, “If the Fourth Young Lady wishes to study Buddhist scriptures, apart from the Avatamsaka Sutra, she can consider studying the Diamond Sutra.”

Ruan Xi did not expect that Mama Yang, who had been taciturn and scarce with words, would suddenly choose to speak out.

When Mama Lin heard Mama Yang suggest that the Fourth Young Lady could study the Diamond Sutra, she felt that it was doable.

“Fourth Young Lady, the Diamond Sutra teaches a person how to cultivate happiness and wisdom while liberating oneself from attachment, you can attempt to study the Sutra.”

Once Ruan Xi heard Mama Yang bring up the Diamond Sutra, she went silent for a long moment. If her memory did not fail her, the female protagonist Mu Qing Ci had started to delve into and copy the Diamond Sutra under Mama Yang’s suggestion.

When the female protagonist met Mu taifei afterwards, Mu taifei had learned of the fact that Mu Qing Ci was fond of copying the Diamond Sutra from a young age, and after seeing her hand-copied Buddhist scripture, the good feelings she had towards the female protagonist increased.

Truth to be told, everything was part of Mama Yang’s meticulous planning.

Although there were young ladies who adapted their tastes later on, they were not the first; they had no way of entering Mu taifei’s eyes and their efforts were fruitless.

Mu taifei pursued beauty like it was a disease, to the extent where she was unwilling to become pregnant and give birth to a child. For the sake of the Mu Family, for the sake of cementing her position and imperial favour, she could only borrow a surrogate, secretly getting rid of the mother later and leaving behind the child.

When it came to the women in the palace, who didn’t have their hands stained with a few lives? Mu taifei was not an exception either.

However, Mu taifei was different from the rest. She believed that having lives on her hands would affect her beauty, so Mu taifei studied and transcribed the Diamond Sutra to remove karmic consequences under a Great Master’s suggestion.

As long as her hands were stained with a life, Mu taifei would have the tendency to copy the Diamond Sutra.

Upon recalling the backstory of the Diamond Sutra in the novel, and Mama Yang’s other intentions, she quickly said: “I prefer the Avatamsaka Sutra more.”

When all was said and done, Mu taifei was one of the female protagonist’s golden fingers, she was not keen on having a day where Mu taifei started looking at her in a favourable light because of Mama Yang’s machinations.

Although Mama Yang was disappointed, she only smiled, not minding as much because she assumed that her Young Lady wanted to please Wen lao-furen.

Whereas Mama Lin was ecstatic.

Ruan Xi proceeded to hand the matter of sourcing for the Avatamsaka Sutra to Mama Lin before she headed over to the needlework room like she usually would.

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All of a sudden, a mournful and blood-curdling screech came from a certain direction in the Earl Residence.

Feeling her heart tighten, Ruan Xi raised her hand to cover her chest reflexively, but she abruptly remembered that she no longer had a heart condition, so her taut expression relaxed.

Su Yu and Su Zhu were also frightened by the noise, and their complexions were quite ugly.

“Young Lady, should nubi go over and take a look at what has occurred?” After Su Yu recovered from her fright, she quickly asked if she should go and make inquiries.

“Mn, go quickly.”

Ruan Xi frowned, merely finding that the mournful and blood-curdling screech sounded familiar, which made her want to know what had transpired.

Once Su Yu departed, Ruan Xi continued towards the needlework room. After a few days’ work, she could not be more familiar with the management of the needlework room.

Since her legitimate mother had not spoken, she would continue to manage the needlework room and it was unknown when she could switch places.

When the steward of the needlework room saw Ruan Xi coming over, he quickly poured some tea and water, then stood at the side respectfully to give his report.

Ruan Xi did not notice any problems so she did not prolong her visit, directly bringing Su Zhu away with her. On the road, she encountered a few servants who were coming and going in a hurry, and those servants were all bearing expressions that could only be described as odd.

Ruan Xi guessed that it was probably related to that mournful and blood-curdling screech. Knowing that Su Yu should have inquired about the situation, she immediately returned to Limpid Heart Garden.

As expected, Su Yu was waiting there with an expression filled with schadenfreude, which made Su Zhu impatient. “Su Yu, hurry up and tell us what’s going on, don’t make Young Lady wait anxiously.”

“Tarry a moment.” Su Yu steeped the tea and poured it for Ruan Xi, then placed down the fruits and pastries before she started retelling the news she had heard.

“Young Lady, the shriek we heard just now was the Third Young Lady’s voice. It’s unknown what the Third Young Lady was doing but she was climbing the wall when she was frightened by a black cat, which made her fall down from a great height. There is hearsay that not only did she pull on her waist, she even broke her legs. It’s particularly tragic.”

“……”

Ruan Xi had just raised her tea bowl to take a sip of the tea when she was startled by the shocking news, which made her spit out the mouthful of tea.

Her waist was pulled and her bones was fractured; that would explain why her scream was so blood-curdling. In all likelihood, Ruan san niang had never encountered such great hardships.

“There is a proper main entrance for her to walk through, why did she have to be so narrow-minded and choose to flip over the wall?”

Su Yu replied quickly: “After the Third Young Lady returned yesterday, her confinement continued. Without the Furen’s or the Earl’s command, no one dares to let the Third Young Lady go out.

“The Third Young Lady wanted to attend the Third Day Bath Banquet at the Marquis Huaiyang Residence today, but the Earl disagreed. The Furen had no way of allowing the Third Young Lady to go out, so the Third Young Lady chose to climb the wall in secret.”

Ruan Xi’s following expression was hard to describe in a few words. Ruan san niang’s motive for going to the Marquis Huaiyang Residence to attend the Third Day Bath Banquet was not hard to guess, she probably wanted to meet Qi Yue An.

She genuinely did not understand what Ruan san niang was thinking.

Then she recalled the fact that Ruan san niang was a person who played crazy without any inclination to stop in the novel. She was afraid that this personality would never be corrected.

“Su Zhu, go and prepare a gift, I will be visiting san jie later.”

Ruan Xi placed down her tea bowl as she instructed.

“Yes, Young Lady.”

Su Zhu went to the storehouse as ordered, and the gift was prepared not long after.

Ruan Xi told Su Yu to inform Mama Lin about the general situation. Subsequently, she brought her two maidservants Su Yu and Su Zhu to visit Ruan san niang’s courtyard.

Mama Yang stood under the corridor eaves as she watched the Fourth Young Lady’s fading back figure, frowning slightly.

The treatment she received in the Limpid Heart Garden was incredibly good. However, it was precisely because her treatment was this good that it made her feel like she was being raised up.

If it was another Mama, perhaps they would be happy, but Mama Yang was different. She was a person with ambition; she had a feud with the Mu Family, and if this situation were to continue, trying to get her revenge would be hopeless.

Having to face a smart individual was not a good thing either, it seems like she could only bring out some of her real capabilities, or else, if she had to watch the Fourth Young Lady learn from Mama Lin for the entire day, wholly reliant on Mama Lin, her heart would feel rather uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Mama Lin, who was standing beside her wing-room window, smiled slightly. The Fourth Young Lady’s method was quite useful; in just three to four days, Mama Yang could no longer sit still.

However, she still had to write a letter to tell Lao Furen and Wen gongzi about the news of the Fourth Young Lady wanting to delve into the Avatamsaka Sutra.

……

When Ruan Xi arrived at Ruan san niang’s courtyard and witnessed the clamorous courtyard where the servants were in a disorderly and chaotic mess, her eyebrows knitted together.

“Young Lady, the servants in this courtyard have been changed to a different batch.” Su Yu sensibly explained in a low voice.

Ruan Xi: “……”

Without requiring much thought, it was easy to perceive that this should be Zhang shi’s handwriting. At a glance, the gazes of the servant here were mostly dubious and dishonourable, and they looked like people who had the proclivity to steal, betray, evade work, or had other thoughts.

“When was it changed?” asked Ruan Xi.

“The second day after yõu returned from Yunhua Temple.” Su Yu replied.

Ruan Xi was genuinely at a loss for words right then and there. To have a courtyard full of servants that had their own respective thoughts, Ruan san niang was truly big-hearted.

When a servant saw Ruan Xi’s group of three, he swiftly welcomed them, wearing a flattering smile on his face: “Is the Fourth Young Lady here to visit the Third Young Lady? Nucai will lead yõu over to the Third Young Lady’s room.”

The corners of Ruan Xi’s lips twitched. A male servant directly telling her that he would lead her to Ruan san niang’s room…

Where were the rules and protocols?

Did Lao Taitai not express any opinions with regards to her legitimate mother’s actions?

Alas, under the male servant’s guidance, Ruan Xi arrived at Ruan san niang’s room.

Upon seeing the male servant walk in directly, Ruan Xi was reduced into a string of ellipsis. Behind her, Su Yu’s and Su Zhu’s expressions were subtle.

Once she entered the room, she saw an old physician propping Ruan san niang’s leg with a board while Ruan san niang laid on her bed with a pale-white complexion. Occasionally, she would issue pained shrieks, to which Zhang shi would wipe her tears by the side of the bed, incessantly shouting: “My pitiful san niang!”

Ruan Xi: “……”

She went forward to pay her respects to her legitimate mother.

It was only then that Zhang shi and the rest realised that Ruan Xi had arrived. Ruan san niang looked ashamed and resentful, under the belief that Ruan Xi had come over to laugh at her, and she glared at her viciously.

“Mother, chase away the rest of the people in the room quickly, I don’t want to see them.”

In her moment of agitation, Ruan san niang accidentally moved her injured waist, causing tears to flow out from the pain.

“Ah, it hurts!”

Perhaps because it was hurting too much, Ruan san niang had secretly used her ability to heal it a little, but she did not go overboard.

The lessons from her previous lifetime were still vivid in her mind.

Presently, she hated the fact that she could not make all the people in the room disappear so she could use her system ability to treat and alleviate the pain.

“San niang, san niang don’t get agitated, your mother will make them leave right now.”

Although Zhang shi was revelling internally, she was appeasing Ruan san niang in a flurry on her surface. She turned her head and looked at the old physician anxiously, “Old Physician, look over san niang quickly.”

The old physician nodded his head.

Zhang shi promptly chased out all the people inside the room, including Ruan Xi.

Just as Ruan Xi stepped out, Mama Sun rushed over to apologise with due haste: “Fourth Young Lady, the Third Young Lady’s emotions are in a bad state and she has suffered greatly, and the Furen is also worrying for the Third Young Lady. Please do not take it to heart.”

Ruan Xi smiled slightly. “Mama Sun can set her heart at ease, I understand Furen and san jie’s feelings.” Having said that, she allowed Su Yu to hand the gift to Mama Sun. “This is a little kindness from me. May Mama Sun pass this to san jie and wish her a quick recovery.”

Mama Sun accepted it quickly. “Fourth Young Lady has the heart.”

Despite that, she was inwardly sighing about how the Fourth Young Lady knew how to conduct herself properly because not a single flaw could be picked out from her actions.

Ruan Xi smiled, not making another utterance. She brought Su Yu and Su Zhu away.

Upon reaching Limpid Heart Garden, Ruan Xi heard the runner maidservant report the arrival of Mama Xu’s family member.

Ruan Xi stiffened. After so many days, she had nearly forgotten the Mama Xu who had treated the original owner extraordinarily well. She quickly asked her servant to bring them in.

A short while later, Mama Xu’s family member entered. It was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy with a wan and sallow complexion.

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Once he stepped in, he knelt down in an overcautious manner: “Xu Jin has seen the Fourth Young Lady.”

Ruan Xi noticed a small white cloth fastened on the young man’s arm, which caused her heart to sink.

“Xu Jin, you’re Mama Xu’s son?”

Xu Jin quickly nodded and said yes with a trace of grief emerging on his expression.

“What of Mama Xu?”

“My mother, she… she was murdered by bandits on the road. Once my father and I were done with the funeral arrangements, we rushed over to Earl Residence to inform the Fourth Young Lady.” As the young man was speaking, he could not restrain himself from crying out loud.

Su Yu and Su Zhu appeared stricken, unable to believe the fact that Mama Xu was gone just like this.

Ruan Xi did not feel comfortable in her heart either. The original owner was gone, and the original owner’s Mama Xu was also robbed of her life by bandits.

She closed her eyes, thousands of words amalgamating into three words.

“Restrain your grief.”

Xu Jin cried even louder.

“Su Yu, take out five hundred silver banknotes and bring it over.” Ruan Xi felt like she should do something for the deceased Mama Xu.

Especially for the young man in front of her eyes. He was Mama Xu’s only son, who was around the same age as the original owner. She was not clear about the situation in Mama Xu’s husband’s family, and only knew that their family was running a small store that sold miscellaneous goods. Mama Xu was the wetnurse that the original owner’s mother had found before childbirth, and it could be said that the original owner was raised by Mama Xu, and the mutual affection they had for each other ran deep.

This time around, Mama Xu had returned to her family for a few days because something had cropped up. She did not expect that she would not return after leaving.

Su Yu gave the silver banknotes that she brought over to Xu Jin. In response, Xu Jin hastily rejected it, not wanting it no matter what.

The Fourth Young Lady was a good person. He heard his mother say that the Fourth Young Lady was not highly valued in the residence, and she did not have a lot of silvers in her hands.

He feared that taking out five hundred silvers would be hollowing out her foundation.

Ruan Xi did not accept his rejection, directly asking Su Yu to stuff the banknotes into his hands.

“Xu Jin, you don’t have to insist on rejecting it. Mama Xu has served me with her utmost effort for more than a decade. Now that she’s gone, I would like to do something for her too. Prior to this, I didn’t really possess the strength to help Mama Xu, but it’s different now. Although five hundred silvers is quite a huge sum, I’m still capable of taking it out.

“With this sum of money, you can buy farmland, and allow the lives of your family to become more plentiful, and you can go to an academy to study.”

When Xu Jin heard the Fourth Young Lady utter those words, he struggled in his heart for a long moment before he finally stopped rejecting. Ruan Xi heaved out a sigh of relief inwardly, before she took out a keepsake and handed it to him.

“If there’s anything you need in the future, you can bring this keepsake and look for me.”

Xu Jin held onto the keepsake in his hand tightly, so emotionally touched that he did not know what to do and he could only thank her continuously.

Following, Ruan Xi carefully asked for the details regarding Mama Xu’s misfortune, countless thoughts flashing through her brain in one instant. She kept getting the sense that Mama Xu’s encounter with danger was not simple. After all, when she calculated the time frame, Mama Xu was harmed the day after the original owner became engaged, and Ruan Xi could not control her doubts. Of course, it might be a case of her being overly suspicious, because it was entirely possible that it was just an accident.

When Xu Jin left, Ruan Xi did not send him any conspicuous items. She had no businesses; apart from the five hundred silver banknotes, she could only send him a few bolts of new but common cloth, and some common jewels.

On the other end, when Marquis Huaiyang learnt of the news that the Earl Chengyi Residence’s Third Young Lady had broken her legs from a fall, he immediately called his second son Qi Yue An to tell him about the situation. With a strict tone, he instructed:

“An’er, go to the Earl Chengyi Residence tomorrow to visit the Third Young Lady. You’re not allowed to randomly mix around, do you hear me?”

Qi Yue An nodded his head indolently, covering his mouth to let out a huge yawn.

“Heard you. Father, can I go back and sleep now?”

Marquis Huaiyang: “……”

Stinky brat, the skies have yet to darken, what do you mean by sleep!