Nanny Li sighed slightly and said, “Young master, the Second Miss has lived in the backyard with the maids since she was a child.”
Su Qingtan looked angrier. How many such dark secrets had his mother and second mother kept from him all these years?
The second mother was the second sister’s biological mother. How could she force the second sister to live such a hard life? The second sister had been so thin because of malnutrition.
“Does my father know about these things?”
“I don’t know, young master.”
Su Qingtan snorted coldly and walked directly to the eastern courtyard with Su Erya in his arms. “From now on, my second sister will live in the eastern courtyard. Nanny Li, don’t go back to the western courtyard either. Just stay and take care of my sister.”
Hearing this, Nanny Li was immediately relieved. She was full of joy. “Thank you, young master. I will take good care of the Second Miss and restore her health.”
Su Qingtan nodded slightly. He knew that Nanny Li was very kind and he felt relieved that she would help him.
There were a lot of empty rooms in the eastern courtyard. Su Qingtan asked Nanny Li to clean up a room, and he walked to his room with Su Erya in his arms.
Looking at the girl in his arms curled up like a kitten, there was deep love in his heart. He unconsciously quickened his pace. But before he entered the courtyard, he was stopped by a cry.
“Qingtan, wait for your first mother!”
Su Qingtan turned around and saw the First Madam Zhu in a mink cloak coming in a hurry. Su Zipei followed her silently with red eyes.
First Madam Zhu saw Su Erya in Su Qingtan’s arms, and her eyes changed slightly. She immediately pretended to care about her and said, “Qingtan, listen to me. It’s all a misunderstanding! Let me take Erya back to the western courtyard.”
A misunderstanding?
Su Qingtan flashed an angry look in his eyes and said coldly, “Please explain the misunderstanding to my father, first mother. My sister is weak and can’t stand the cold. I need to get into the room.”
Without waiting for the First Madam to react, he turned around and stepped into the room.
When the Madam Zhu realized what he had done, her face flushed with anger.
Although Su Qingtan was the son of the Second Madam, he was always very filial to her. Now he contradicted her like this for that bitch!
“Mother, what shall we do?”
As soon as Su Zipei heard that Su Qingtan wanted to tell her father, she burst into tears.
Madam Zhu was so upset that she could not stand her temper and scolded in a low voice. “You’re so useless. How could you accidentally say such things? Let’s talk about it when we get back!”
Su Zipei felt very aggrieved. She had never been scolded by her mother. When she thought of this, she hated Su Li even more.
Madam Zhu looked at the courtyard a few times without hearing any sounds. Then she left with peace of mind. That bitch, she should know what to say and what not to say.
Su Qingtan let the servant girls bathe and change clothes for Su Erya first, and then ordered the kitchen to brew medicine herbs and make some light dishes. He fed the medicine and food to Su Erya before he left the bedroom.
In the middle of the night, Su Erya opened her eyes. She saw that the light in the study was still on. She occupied the oldest brother’s bed. It looked like he didn’t plan to sleep that night.
She was half asleep and alert all the way into the day. She didn’t fall asleep until the oldest brother had refused to hand her over. Though she still had a fever, she didn’t feel so bad anymore.
Now in the dead of night, for the first time since she was reborn, she had time to think.
It was much easier to return to Su’s mansion in this life than in her previous life.
She came back as a sinner in her previous life. But in this life, she was not a sinner, at least in her oldest brother’s mind. As for the others, she didn’t care.
Dasu Town, where the Su family was located, was under the jurisdiction of Qinghe Province that was one of the twenty provinces of the Dahan Dynasty, which had a large territory. The emperor ruled the country well and had not had a war for decades.
The local rulers of the counties would recommend talents to the Dynasty every year. Then through the capital selection test, they would promote the best into nobility and had a great future.
This unique system of selecting talents was the key to the prosperity of the Dahan Dynasty. A man of both ability and virtue dreamt of becoming a young talent in the eyes of the local rulers all the time.
As was the oldest brother Su Qingtan, and as was Cousin Yang Wei.
Last year, the Su family had done many things for Su Qingtan and his name was on the local ruler’s recommendation list. It was already a certainty. But Su Zipei stole the most precious night-luminescent pearl of the Su family and sent it to the county magistrate, Li Shanbao, who loved jewelry, in the name of Cousin Yang who was a relative of the Su family.
Then the magistrate thought the Su had done all these things for Yang Wei, so he recommended Yang Wei directly to the provincial office.
After the results came out, the Su family realized that they had made a mistake and wanted to fall out with Yang family when Su Zipei came out suddenly and said that she saw Su Erya gave the pearl to Yang Wei personally and implied that Su Erya fell in love with Yang Wei secretly, which was the reason she had done it.
There was no need to talk about what happened after that. Su Erya was accused of wasting half of the Su family’s fortune and having ruined the first young master’s prospect. She became the sinner of the Su family.
She was cheated in the previous life, and she knew that Su Zipei stole the night-luminescent pearl later when Su Zipei boasted and told her the truth.
Today she just wanted to pretend to be poor and let her eldest brother pick her up. Only when she returned to the Su’s mansion could she continue her path of vengeance. But she didn’t expect that Su Zipei would appear suddenly, not to mention that she would be so cooperative.
Su’s eyes were dark and cold. No one could know what she was thinking about.
After a while, she wrapped herself in the quilt and fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Su Qingtan went to the main courtyard. Before he entered the door, he saw his father having breakfast with the first mother and second mother.When the First Madam saw him coming, she gave a slight cough and smiled affectionately and said, “Tan, come and sit down. Today I ordered the kitchen to specially cook bird’s nest syrup.”The Second Madam was a little confused. Usually, her son never came to the main courtyard for breakfast. How did Zhu Yan know that her son would come today?Su Qingtan snorted coldly, sat down and said, “Father, I’m coming for—” “Your first mother has told me why you are here.”Su Huanli put down his chopsticks, looked up with a pair of dignified eyes, and continued, “This matter will not be announced. It’s ok to take Erya back and I will deal with Zipei. That’s all.” His father’s words made Su Qingtan incredulous. “Even if my sister comes back, she’s had such horrid accusations launched at her. How is
“Eldest brother, second sister!!”There was a childish voice calling from outside the room. Su Erya was a little puzzled.Su Qingtan was not the only boy in the family. Su Qinghao was the fourth child in the Su family.Su Qingtan and Su Qinghao were both the Second Madam’s sons. She and Su Zipei were the First Madam’s daughters. Because of that, although the Second Madam didn’t come from high status family, she still had a lot of rights.Su Erya couldn’t help but feel strange about Su Qinghao. When she had made a mistake in her previous life, she never saw Su Qinghao again. She didn’t hear the news about him until after she married that poor young master. Su Qinghao was poisoned and died when he was 15 years old. The killer was never found.“Second sister, I knew you were wrongly accused!”Su Qinghao, who looked very much like Su Qingtan, ran in with a smile. He had a snow-white leather hat on his head, which made his handsome little face look ext
Ink was very expensive, so Su Erya could not use it. There was a sand table for setting up war games in the study. Su Qingtan used that to teach her to write.Su Qingtan was surprised to find that the second sister was very smart. She could understand simple words after he taught her once. It took him less than an hour to teach her all the basic rhymes.So Su Qingtan let Su Erya practice basic calligraphy in the study. One of them read books in front of the table, and the other drew on the sand table. It was very quiet in the study. Instead of being distracted, the rustles of the sand allowed him to concentrate more.The servant girl, Zhu’er, who had been serving Su Qingtan, saw Su Erya go into the study of the first young master every day. She stamped her feet in anger and muttered: “How dare she disturb the young master’s reading! I’ll go and tell the Second Madam!”When the Second Madam heard Zhu’er’s words, she rushed to the Eastern Courtyard at on
When Mammy Li heard the footsteps outside, she immediately came out of the kitchen into the yard and asked with a shocked face, “Miss, why are you back so early today?”Su Erya smiled sheepishly and explained, “Nothing, the Second Mother came to see eldest brother. It was not wise to stay there. So, I came back first. Nanny Mammy, is there anything good for lunch today?”Mammy Li was surprised. She wiped her hands, took off her apron, hurried over and held Su Erya’s hands, looked at her and asked nervously, “Second Madam didn’t make trouble for you, did she?”“No, eldest brother was there,” Su Erya said, giggling foolishly.“Alas...”Mammy Li sighed. No matter how well-intentioned the young master was, he was still the son of the Second Madam. Once the young master better understood the ways of the world, he might not care so much about Second Miss.These thoughts had long hovered in the heart of Mammy Li. It was just that Su Erya was so happy rig
“You’re Erya?”Su Huanli looked shocked. He did not seem to be able to associate the beautiful girl in front of him with the ugly little doll who used to be as thin as bean sprouts. After three months of recuperation, Su Erya had changed her ugly demeanor. The warm red velvet clothes helped highlight her oval rosy face. Her nose was tall and small, and her pink lips glowed like honey. Long black hair spread behind her as if it were dyed by ink . Her eyes were like the stars, rippling with the purest colors in the world.The old housekeeper could not help exclaiming, “I didn’t expect that after the recuperation, Second Miss would look as if she had been reborn. You are really a beautiful girl! In a few years, you might be the most beautiful girl in Dasu Town!” Su Huanli now regretted his previous attitude. If he had known that Erya would look like this, he would never have let Erya take the blame for Zipei. But it was too late to say anything.When Su
“Housekeeper, give Erya some pocket money every month. Erya, you need to concentrate on cooking. There is no need for you to do anything else. By the way, housekeeper, get Erya some Caiyun Silk, which was transported from the Silk Shop in the province this year, and make her a good set of clothes.”“Thank you, father!”After that, Su Huanli left in a hurry. Nanny Li was very excited. She had been unhappy when Second Miss told her to find these leaves. She didn’t know they would be rewarded.“Nanny Nanny, come and help me to clean the kitchen. I’m feeling weak.”“Okay, I’m coming. Second Miss, don’t hurt yourself.”Su Erya was laughing as if she was really very happy. But when you looked carefully, you would find that her eyes were calm and cold.Su Huanli returned to the study and wrote a letter at once. He gave it to the housekeeper.“Now you go to the County and make sure to give the letter to Li Wei.”The housekeeper was surprised,
“My lord, my lord! Good news!” said the housekeeper when he returned.Su Huanli looked happy and asked, “Is it done?”“Yes!”The housekeeper clapped. “Squire Li really liked the delicacies, and he agreed at once.”But Su Huanli sneered and whispered, “This dish will definitely be a huge profit in the restaurant. He is raised by Li Shanbao. If he didn’t agree, there would be something wrong!”Su Huanli couldn’t help but sigh. “If the Su family didn’t focus on the cloth business, I wouldn’t give Li Wei the chance to make money on this. What a pity.”The housekeeper suddenly understood Su Huanli’s words. No wonder Li Wei made his decision without hesitation.“My lord, that recipe...”“You take the pen, ink, paper and inkstone and go to Erya,” Su Huanli said, then frowned. “It’s a huge matter… Just find a good excuse and take her to the study.”In a small courtyard, Su Erya sat quietly in the sunshine with her eyes closed, as if she
“In the past few years, I have found that this jade might be produced in Yunjing. I should be quick, since time is limited.”If Zipei were admitted to the large family, though she might become her “adoptive mother”, her position would rise. After that, Su Huanli wouldn’t dare offend her!Zhu Yan smiled, as if she saw the beautiful future.Thinking of this, Zhu Yan took out all the jewels that she had stored for many years, and rushed to the pawnshop in the town.In the study, the old butler wrote down the recipe for zongzi that Su Erya told him.Su Huanli, sitting to the side and listening, was surprised. He never expected that a small zongzi was made in so many exquisite steps. His second daughter was really a genius for cooking.Unfortunately, the Su family did not have a restaurant. That’s why he allowed Li Wei the chance to make so much money!After dictating the recipe, Su Erya put the rest of the zongzi in a neat line, took a bow and l