CHAPTER 26

Upon seeing Qin Yi, Chu Jinyao felt inexplicably guilty. Today, he had warned her despite the dangers, but she insisted on doing it her way. She did not feel that she was wrong but felt that she had let down Qin Yi’s intentions.

Qin Yi’s eyes seemed to be covered with thousand miles of ice. He sat across and said to Chu Jinyao, “Give me your hand.”

His voice did not fluctuate when he said those words but it was like tens of thousands of bows were pulled, there was immense pressure. Chu Jinyao heard it and obediently stretched her hand out.

Qin Yi held Chu Jinyao’s fingertips with his almost transparent hands and carefully checked her injuries. Chu Jinyao had a thin layer of calluses on her hands originally, but upon returning to the residence of the Marquis of Changxing, they had faded a lot as she took great care. Even her skin had become much fairer. As such, after being beaten, her palm was very much swollen, making it look particularly terrifying.

Qin Yi grew up in the Palace and all the females that he came into contact with were all pampered and had soft skin and tender flesh. He almost subconsciously felt that females were like these delicate porcelains. When he was in the residence of the Marquis of Changxing, even though he was not happy at first, he still gradually taught Chu Jinyao etiquettes, taught her to write, and afterwards gave her careful guidance towards the schemes of the inner courtyard. As long as he was present, no one would dare to deal with the maids, especially those from the Eastern Palace. Moreover, Chu Jinyao was someone that he took utmost care of, but she was beaten to such a state.

Qin Yi kept his face calm and did not speak. Chu Jinyao gradually became somewhat uneasy and said to him softly, “I am fine. It just looks serious, but it doesn’t really hurt that much. I was raised freely and am not as delicate as those noble young ladies. These things are actually nothing to me.”

Qin Yi lightly touched Chu Jinyao’s palm and she immediately gasped uncontrollably. Qin Yi knew that he still used too much strength. He withdrew his hands and looked at Chu Jinyao before sighing, “It is already like this and you still say that it is not serious?”

Chu Jinyao could not reply. Qin Yi looked at it again for a while and said, “I remember that there is a type of ointment that is very effective. After applying it, even welts are healed quickly without leaving any scars. I remember that it is called… Jade Soothing Cream. Instruct your maid to search for it in the storeroom.”

“Jade Soothing Cream?” Chu Jinyao was surprised, “I remember hearing it from Younger Sister of the Lin family that Jade Soothing Cream was the best medicine for wounds, and it has always been offered as tribute. Even the Prince Huailing residence might not have it, so how would this be found in the Marquis of Changxing’s storeroom?”

Qin Yi’s brows pinched, “It is a tribute? I cannot remember. Then it is better for me to do it.”

When Chu Jinyao heard it, she was scared to death and quickly said, “You better not suddenly become interested in robbing the tributes. This is a matter where one can be beheaded! I find that these medications are all the same. It is fine to just use Eldest Sister’s. I can see you, so logically, others can also see you. You must not act rashly!”

Qin Yi did not say anything else, “You do not have to worry about this. Give me the medicine. The cream has to be applied thickly only then its effectiveness would be seen when you wake up tomorrow morning.”

“I only injured one hand so I can do it myself.” Chu Jinyao picked the medicine bottle up and intended to apply the medication herself. Qin Yi was after all a male, even though he was a spirit, she felt that it was inappropriate.

Qin Yi reached out and said lightly, “Give it to me.”

Chu Jinyao felt an inexplicable pressure. She seldom saw Qin Yi like this. He was obviously calm but made others not dare to look at him. Her hand movements paused as she lifted her head up to glance at him and was startled by the undercurrent in the other’s eyes. She dared not go against him and obediently placed the medicine bottle in his hands.

Qin Yi unscrewed the medicine bottle and put the medication on Chu Jinyao in a familiar and light manner. His hands were originally rather illusory and in addition to his light movements, it did not hurt Chu Jinyao at all, and instead, she was more comfortable than when Dingxiang did it.

Chu Jinyao watched as Qin Yi meticulously applied the medicine on her and was a little dazed for a while. When she recovered herself, she saw him putting the medication away. His long slender fingers held the neck of the porcelain bottle as he placed it aside gently. The elegant white porcelain bottle lined with his delicate sleeves, making him look particularly beautiful. Qin Yi was wearing narrow-sleeved clothes and one could vaguely see the fine lines on the sleeves. If it were a few days earlier, Chu Jinyao would have recognised that it was a four-clawed dragon pattern.

After Qin Yi applied the medicine on Chu Jinyao and put away the items, He looked up and said to her, “You are tired after today. Go and sleep first.”

Chu Jinyao felt that it was wrong after hearing it, “I sleep first? How about you?”

Qin Yi paused. He was already seventeen and at an age to marry a consort. Although in the eyes of the old cabinet ministers he was still a young Crown Prince that needed to be taken care of, to Qin Yi, he had been independently working the court for years and had long been an adult. Upon hearing Chu Jinyao’s words, Qin Yi naturally thought of the other meaning that all men under Heavens would have thought. He then forcibly pulled his thoughts back and said to Chu Jinyao with some resentment for failing to meet expectations, “The words you speak… Have to go through your brains!”

Chu Jinyao was unable to make head or tail of it, “What is the matter?” Because Qin Yi was required to stay in the jade pendant, she always placed the jade pendant in the side room when she slept in the inner room. At times when Qin Yi was in a good mood, she would say good night to him before sleeping. Thus, when Chu Jinyao asked that question, it was made in passing and she was unable to figure out what was wrong with it.

Chu Jinyao did not expect such simple words would make someone think deviously.

The tips of Qin Yi’s ears turned a little red, but because he was a spirit, one was barely able to see it. He did not want to explain and rushed over to chase Chu Jinyao, “Go and sleep and don’t worry about it!”

Chu Jinyao was forced to sleep in a daze. She was thinking in her heart… what is going on with this person. Why is he speaking out of context?

Chu Jinyao was about to rest and Qin Yi had returned to the jade pendant, so she instructed Dingxiang and Jiegeng to enter to wait upon herself in undressing and changing clothes. When the lights of the inner room were extinguished and movements ceased, Qin Yi materialised from the jade pendant. He avoided Dingxiang and the rest and headed towards the dark and quiet Marquis Changxing residence.

Chu Zhu, Lin Xiyuan, and the others would be leaving the next day. Even though there was a lot of commotion the previous day, the set date for returning to the Prince residence could not be changed. Chu Zhu woke up early in the morning and after she finished dressing up, she instructed her servants to carry the things into the carriages. Chu Jinmiao knew that Chu Zhu would be leaving and had come over early on. When she entered, she spoke softly to Chu Zhu, “Aunt.”

When Chu Zhu saw Chu Jinmiao, she quickly pulled her over to take a closer look. She instructed the maids to continue moving things, but she pulled Chu Jinmiao into the inner courtyard before sitting down to comfort, “Miao-er, yesterday your grandmother was very angry and I had no way of pleading for you. You will not blame Aunt right?”

“Of course not.” Chu Jinmiao smiled shyly, “I understand how well Aunt treats me.”

“That is good.” Chu Zhu smiled reassuringly. She looked at Chu Jinmiao’s hand and said in distress, “Since young, you would hurt for a long time when a needle pricks you. To be actually hit yesterday is a big matter. Mother is indeed as such. It was clearly not you at fault, why do you need to be beaten together!”

Chu Jinmiao also felt aggrieved about it. When Chu Zhu spoke as such, she almost burst into tears. She said in tears, “Aunt, don’t talk about it. It is not grandmother’s fault.”

Then who was to be blamed? Chu Jinmiao did not go on but Chu Zhu understood. Chu Zhu started getting angry and patted Chu Jinmiao’s hand lightly, “Miao-er, rest assured. After returning to the Prince residence, I will definitely tell the Prince Consort and my Mother-in-law about these family matters. They have high and honourable positions and enlightened people. They will definitely know who the true unpolished jade is.”

Chu Jinmiao raised her brows with joy and quickly said, “Thanking Aunt.”

Chu Jinmiao was secretly pleased with herself. She had persuaded Momo Deng and now had Aunt help to speak for her. This position of a study companion was in her bag! Chu Jinmiao did not expect that the trick of injuring oneself would be so effective that one palm beating would enable her to gain the position of a study companion. Since that was so, she no longer felt bitter about yesterday’s beating or Old Madam Chu’s order. She would let them go for the time being and when she becomes the study companion of the County Princess and afterwards gains the appreciation from the Crown Prince, then Old Madam Chu would naturally realise her mistake and take the initiative to speak to her well.

Chu Jinmiao kept Chu Zhu company by chatting. When the sun got higher, she then accompanied her to Old Madam’s courtyard to sit. When Chu Jinmiao entered, she happened to see Chu Jinxian sitting by the side. When Chu Jinxian saw them, she got up to perform a greeting before looking away. Chu Jinmiao snorted in her heart as she accompanied Chu Zhu to sit at the other side, secretly viewing Chu Jinxian as peer competition.

Chu Jinyao arrived shortly after. She greeted Old Madam, Chu Zhu, and the rest before standing quietly at the side. She had a very calm demeanour and if her hands were not wrapped in gauze, everybody would have thought that nothing had happened yesterday.

When Old Madam Chu saw her daughter, she became increasingly emotional and kept on telling them to be careful on the road. There were more and more people in Rongning Hall as Chu Zhu was leaving today, so everyone came over to send her off. Chu Zhu and Old Madam Chu were reluctantly saying their goodbyes when they saw a young servant running in and nodding to Chu Zhu, “Second Madam, Shizi said that the preparations are almost completed and it is time to leave.”

Chu Zhu had no choice but to get up. Old Madam Chu could not help but tear up as she did not know when they would be able to see each other again after this goodbye. Chu Zhu also cried, “Mother, I am leaving. Take care!”

Old Madam’s and Chu Zhu’s tears were falling and when the others saw it, they comforted both of them. Lin Xiyuan walked in to bid farewell to Old Madam Chu. Upon seeing the teary goodbyes of the mother and daughter, he said, “Old Madam Chu do not have to be like this. In a few days time, it will be grandmother’s birthday and one hopes that Old Madam would honour with your presence. As such, you will be able to see Second Shen again.”

Old Madam Chu wiped her tears away and turned her tears into laughter, “Shizi is right. Why the need to cry like this? There will be many more opportunities to meet in the future.”

Chu Zhu also wiped her tears away. Chu Zhu then took Lin Xining, Lin Baohuan, and Lin Baoying to give farewell greetings to Old Madam Chu before walking out. The rest of the people around also followed. Old Madam Chu was an elder so there was no reason for her to go out to send her daughter off, thus she could only stay in Rongning Hall. The others, like Madam Zhao, naturally had to personally send Eldest Aunt off.

Lin Xiyuan took two steps and suddenly said, “Old Madam Chu, I suddenly remembered that I could not find one of my collection of articles. Perhaps it was left in the rear room. Can you please allow me to look for it there?”

Old Madam Chu quickly replied, “Shizi’s collection of articles has been lost? Why not mention it earlier? This is a big deal, just go and find it!”

Chu Jinxian stayed by Old Madam Chu’s side and had planned to send off Chu Zhu and the others, but upon hearing Lin Xiyuan’s words, she inexplicably stopped.

Lin Xiyuan went to the rear room and after a while, he returned. Old Madam Chu saw the book in his hands and breathed a sigh of relief, “It is good that it is found. Shizi is being too polite. If something is dropped, just look for it, why the need to wait for a night?” As Old Madam was speaking, her eyes landed on the stuff in Lin Xiyuan’s hands. She paused before asking, “Shizi, you lost two books?”

“No.” Lin Xiyuan lifted the other thread-bound book up and looked at Old Madam Chu calmly, “This seemed to be Fourth Young Lady’s collection of poems.”

Old Madam Chu’s expression changed immediately. Chu Jinxian raised her eyebrows slightly and said, “Didn’t Fourth Young Lady say that she only had one copy of the collection of poems and it was torn up yesterday?”

Chu Jinmiao was standing by the doors and when she heard her name, she hurried in to look, “grandmother, are you calling for me?”

She came in with a smile and as soon as she walked to the partition and saw the thing in Lin Xiyuan’s hand, her expression changed immediately, “This…”

She wanted to say how could this be here! This was a handwritten copy of her collection of poems and it had been hidden in her room. She had secretly used the copy to throw some confusion. Her original copy of the collection of poems was torn up by that screwed Third Young Lady. Chu Jinmiao was heartbroken but turned the matter into her own and went back to retrieve a handwritten copy to give others a look before keeping it, so as to not let others recognise it. Then she deliberately called everyone out and left Chu Jinyao behind. Upon returning, she then instructed the maid to take the torn copy from their sleeves and pretended that they just found it, so as to frame everything onto Chu Jinyao.

That was the reason why she was that panicky when Chu Jinyao questioned her if she had a copy of it yesterday. Of course, she did have a copy. Chu Jinyao had unintentionally guessed the truth.

Yesterday, Chu Jinmiao refused to admit to it and actually fooled Madam Zhao and Old Madam Chu. She had succeeded in making everyone believe in her and making everyone believe that it was Chu Jinyao that was jealous of Chu Jinmiao and thus tore up the collection of poems. Chu Jinmiao secretly brought the intact copy back to her room and intended to gift it to Momo Deng, after working on it the entire night and let her bring it back to the Prince residence. With this move, not only would it show the Prince Huailing Consort her talent, she could also completely eliminate the evidence, thus killing two birds with one stone.

Chu Jinmiao had arranged it very well and even kept the handwritten copy properly, waiting to gift it to Momo Deng at dawn. However, she did not expect that when she woke up in the morning, she was unable to find the handwritten copy. She had instructed people to look for it and even threw a tantrum in her room, but it could not be found. She had no other choice but to tell Momo Deng that her collection of poems had been torn by Chu Jinyao and because her hand was injured, she was unable to copy and could only give it a miss. Yesterday’s event had already reached Momo Deng’s ears and thus she understood, taking it that Chu Jinmiao’s effort was ruined. Thus, she comforted Chu Jinyao and no longer mentioned it again.

Afterwards, things went on so smoothly. It was so smooth that Chu Jinmiao got carried away and actually ignored the abnormality of this inexplicably disappeared collection of poems. Upon seeing it in Lin Xiyuan’s hands without warning, Chu Jinmiao felt as if lightning had struck her on a clear day and she could not move or speak.

Old Madam Chu looked at the collection of poems in Lin Xiyuan’s hands before looking at Chu Jinmiao’s expression and there was nothing that she could not understand. It would seem that Lin Xiyuan’s sudden mention of going to the rear room to search for something was fishy. Was it really a coincidence that Lin Xiyuan happened to lose something and when he was searching for it in the rear room, he happened to find the collection of poems that Chu Jinmiao claimed to be torn up?

In a short moment, Old Madam Chu was unable to think of the reason behind it, but at least she was sure that Chu Jinmiao lied. Old Madam sneered in her heart multiple times. What a good actor Chu Jinmiao is. Not to mention about framing their Chu family’s daughters, she even dared to include her in her schemes! She was Old Madam Chu. How could she be so easy to be schemed upon?

Old Madam Chu took a glance at Chu Jinmiao silently and immediately Chu Jinmiao started sweating and almost knelt down. All the masters of the Chu family were standing outside as they were all bustling with noise and excitement in sending Chu Zhu home and were ignorant of what was happening inside the room. There were only three masters standing in the room now, namely Lin Xiyuan, Chu Jinxian, and Old Madam Chu. If Old Madam were to slightly raise her voice and alarm others, Chu Jinmiao would be thoroughly finished!

Tears welled up in Chu Jinmiao’s eyes. She shivered and said softly to Old Madam Chu, “grandmother, I too really do not know what is going on. You have to believe me! I really do not have any knowledge!”

Old Madam Chu’s face was sullen. She did not speak and the lines beside her lips were dropping deeply. Chu Jinyao was standing at the doors and upon seeing that Chu Jinmiao had gone in for a long time, she felt that something was not right and turned around to enter. When Chu Jinyao walked into the inner room, she discovered that the atmosphere was not right. She did not know what was going one so she could only slow down her steps and ask carefully, “grandmother, Eldest Sister. What is wrong?”

Chu Jinxian swept a glance at Chu Jinmiao, with a sarcastic smile in her eyes. Old Madam Chu seemed to have finally made her mind up and said to Lin Xiyuan, “Since Shizi has found the book, it is to everyone’s delight. Our family’s daughter is not mature and you have seen a joke. Someone come and take the thing from Shizi’s hands.”

Old Madam’s maids stepped forward and took the collection of poems from Lin Xiyuan. Using this opportunity, Chu Jinyao could see clearly what Lin Xiyuan was holding in his hands.

Chu Jinyao opened her mouth slightly in surprise. She seemed to have thought of something and immediately exercised restraint on her expression, bowing her head quickly. Lin Xiyuan saw that Old Madam Chu took the collection of poems and knew in his heart that she did not intend to make a big deal out of this matter. It was the right thing as a young lady that was raised for thirteen years framed the newly returned genuine daughter. It was indeed not a glorious thing. However, Old Madam Chu was the master of the Inner Courtyard, as long as she knew who was right and wrong in her heart, that was enough.

Lin Xiyuan let the maid put the evidence away and let Old Madam take care of the matters herself. He smiled at Old Madam and bowed. “Old Madam Chu, I will take my leave first. In the near future when the Prince residence holds a banquet, one hopes that you will not hesitate to attend.”

Old Madam Chu smiled lightly and nodded in agreement. Lin Xiyuan let his servants keep his things and went out. Just when he passed Chu Jinyao, he stopped and said, “One heard that Fifth Younger Sister has suffered hardship. Fifth Younger Sister has a lofty and unyielding character that lets one admire. This is the Jade Soothing Cream from the Palace. It was bestowed to me by the Eastern Palace when I was in the capital last year. These things only collect dust with me so it would be better to be gifted to Fifth Younger Sister.”

How could Chu Jinyao accept it? She immediately declined. Old Madam Chu drew closer to take a look and said, “Jinyao, since Shizi gave it to you, then you can accept it.”

To actually let her accept it? Chu Jinyao’s head was starting to ache. However, since Old Madam had said as such, she could only bow towards Lin Xiyuan and complied, “Thanking Shizi.”

Old Madam then said again, “Momo Gu, send Shizi off for me.”

“Yes.” Momo Gu’s face was filled with smiles as she walked towards Lin Xiyuan and personally sent him out. Chu Jinyao turned sideways to avoid them and waited until both Lin Xiyuan and Momo Gu left before she raised her head up and secretly inquired with Chu Jinxian with her eyes.

What’s going on here?

Chu Jinxian just shook her head and motioned her to watch what would follow.

After Lin Xiyuan went out, Chu Zhu’s carriage could finally start moving. The womenfolk stood at the second door and sent Chu Zhu off. However, in Rongning Hall, Old Madam Chu slammed the table loudly and shouted, “You still won’t kneel!”

Chu Jinmiao’s legs weakened and she could no longer stand as she fell onto the ground with a thud. Thinking about the inexplicable appearance of the collection of poems, she was frightened. Her entire body felt cold and she could not figure out why.