The Favorite of the Sick and Weak Lady - Chapter 35

“A’Yu, I need your help with something.” Chen Ziyi’s tone was urgent. “Xiao Yu wants to break off our engagement for some reason. How can a marriage be treated so frivolously? This time, Xiao Yu is being too willful. Can you please help me?” Chen Ziyi grabbed Xiao Yu’s hand with a pained expression.

Xiao Yu frowned. His tone felt both familiar and repulsive. She stared at him, pulling her hand away and turning her back. After a moment of silence, she decided to speak clearly: “It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but I can’t get involved in matters of the heart. I’m an outsider. You should try to talk to her.”

Chen Ziyi couldn’t hear the advice. He immediately concluded that Xiao Yu didn’t want to help him. He raised his voice and questioned her repeatedly: “Even you won’t help me? Have you forgotten how I’ve always helped you whenever you had a problem? Even the house you’re living in now was built with my help. Could you have what you have today without me?”

Xiao Yu’s face immediately fell. She didn’t want to get involved in his past with the original owner. She was grateful he had helped her find someone to build the house, but that didn’t mean she would abandon her principles.

Xiao Yu said in a low voice, “I keep your help in mind. If you ever need me in the future, I will do my best to help you. But there are some things I can’t help with. I won’t get involved in your and Chen Yu’s relationship. Marriage is about mutual consent. Even if I force her to marry you, can you guarantee that you won’t become a resentful couple? You should take this time to think about what went wrong and how to solve your problems.”

“If you don’t help, how do you know it won’t work?” Chen Ziyi was emotionally volatile. He wouldn’t let go, grabbing the sleeve of Xiao Yu’s coat and trying to pull her toward the Xiao family home.

Xiao Yu tried to pull away, but he held her sleeve tightly. A flicker of anger rose in her. “Let go!”

Chen Ziyi wouldn’t listen. He dragged Xiao Yu all the way to the Xiao family’s gate, pointing at it. “Go knock on the door.”

Xiao Yu glanced at him, warning him, “I hope you can stay rational. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite.”

Chen Ziyi rubbed his hands back and forth, pacing nervously. “You knock on the door. Xiao Yu must have misunderstood me. I won’t do anything reckless. I just want to clear things up.”

Xiao Yu frowned. “It better be as you say.” She walked up to the gate and knocked.

Soon after, the gate opened. A young girl peeked out, a surprised smile on her face. “Young master, why are you here? Do we get rabbit meat today?”

Xiao Yu smiled. One rabbit was all it took to win her over. “If you want rabbit, I’ll catch one for you next time. Is your sister Yu home?”

Xiao Yu turned her head to look at Chen Ziyi behind her. “Please ask her to come out for a moment.”

At this point, the young girl noticed the other person. She pouted and mumbled, “Why is he here?”

Sister Yu already broke off her engagement with him, and he still shows up here every other day. Why did the young master bring him along? I thought he’d changed for the better, even bringing us a plump rabbit. The girl huffed and blocked the door, refusing to announce their arrival.

Xiao Yu sighed, knowing the girl was worried for Chen Yu. She tried to console her: “Don’t worry, just go get her. I’m here. He won’t hurt her.”

“It’s precisely because you’re here that I’m worried.” The young girl snorted, turned, and slammed the door shut.

Xiao Yu was speechless. No wonder the original owner used to bully her. What kind of servant dares to treat their master this way?

Seeing the girl go back inside, Chen Ziyi hurried forward. “Did she go to announce us?”

“Yes,” Xiao Yu replied indifferently.

A moment later, the gate creaked open again. The young girl came out with a wooden stick in her hand. Xiao Yu immediately recognized it as the one her cheap mother used to beat her with. Chen Yu also came out, looking a little haggard, quite different from how Xiao Yu usually saw her. She was quiet and lacked energy.

As soon as Chen Yu appeared, Chen Ziyi rushed forward to grab her wrist. Xiao Yu frowned and quickly stepped in front of her. She said in a low, firm voice, “Watch your behavior.”

Xiao Yu wasn’t afraid of a fight, but she remembered how much Chen Ziyi had helped her recently. She wasn’t an ungrateful person.

Chen Ziyi was emotional and impatient, reaching out to push Xiao Yu, who dodged out of the way.

He wasn’t giving up. He yelled at Chen Yu, “Your whole family is ungrateful. If I hadn’t taken care of your family these past few years, do you think you could have lived in this village in peace?” He pointed at Xiao Yu. “You changed as soon as she came back. I think she’s a bad influence on you.”

Xiao Yu frowned and looked at Chen Ziyi. She hadn’t been involved in their relationship at all, yet now he was blaming her.

Xiao Yu’s face turned cold. She slightly moved to the side, revealing Chen Yu behind her. She said unhappily, “Solve your own problems. Don’t drag me into this.”

She pulled the young girl with her and stood to the side. They weren’t far away, but they could see them without hearing their conversation.

When they were gone, Chen Yu clenched her fingers and looked into the distance. “I didn’t want to say anything for the sake of our families’ honor, but you keep forcing me. Let’s make this clear today. Don’t think I don’t know about you and Li Mei.”

Chen Ziyi was stunned. His expression was panicked. He wanted to grab Chen Yu again, but when he saw Xiao Yu’s cold gaze and felt guilty, he didn’t dare to. He put his hands down awkwardly, trying to cover up. “Don’t talk nonsense. Li Mei and I are innocent. Who has been slandering me in front of you? I’ll go confront them.”

He was certain that since his father was the village leader and he was the only scholar in the village, no one who saw them would dare to confront him. As long as there was no one to point fingers, he wasn’t afraid.

Chen Yu hadn’t expected the man she had always known to be gentle to have such a side. She felt a profound sadness. They had grown up together, yet she didn’t know him at all.

She said, “No one told me.”

Chen Ziyi immediately relaxed. He changed his expression, scolding her with a hint of tolerance. “Xiao Yu, you can’t just accuse me based on your own speculation. I’ll let it slide this time, but you can’t do this again. Marriage is no small matter. What you did was very willful. If it were anyone else, your reputation would be ruined by now.”

Chen Yu was annoyed by his words. She couldn’t believe he had the audacity to say these things. A trace of disappointment flashed in her eyes as she looked at him. “No one told me. I saw it myself. I don’t want others to know. Stop bothering me, and…” She looked at Xiao Yu. “…stop bothering my family, too.”

With that, she turned and walked back into the courtyard without looking back.

Seeing Chen Yu leave, the young girl glared at Chen Ziyi, shaking the stick in her hand. Her eyes were full of warning. She snorted, turned to Xiao Yu, and said, “Young master, let’s go home.” She puffed out her chest like a rooster that had won a fight.

Xiao Yu glanced at the stunned Chen Ziyi and shook her head, following the girl into the Xiao family home.

The young girl closed the gate.

“Young master, why did you come today?” The young girl was wary, a completely different attitude from before.

Xiao Yu chuckled, unable to resist teasing her. “You’re a pragmatic one. You change your tune as soon as you hear there’s no rabbit. I’ll have to tell my mother about you.”

“Ah!” The young girl didn’t expect Xiao Yu to say that. Her face flushed. After thinking about it, she couldn’t help but say, “Are you really going to complain? Madam won’t listen to you.”

“Oh?” Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow, more amused now.

“In any case, you should behave yourself later.” At this, the girl’s eyes filled with a trace of sadness. The atmosphere at home had been heavy these past few days. With Chen Ziyi causing a ruckus a few times, she didn’t even dare to speak loudly.

She looked at Xiao Yu with sympathy. “The old madam is already annoyed with Chen Ziyi, and you went and brought him here. You’re in for it later.”

With that, she ignored Xiao Yu and walked quickly toward the main hall with her stick.

After passing through a covered gate, they reached the main hall. Jiang Wanrou and Chen Yu were both sitting inside. The young girl quickly walked forward, curtsied, and poured a cup of tea for all three after Xiao Yu sat down. She stood obediently behind Jiang Wanrou.

Jiang Wanrou looked at her son and daughter, took a sip of tea, and sighed slightly. “You saw what happened today. That boy is not a simple person. I was wrong about him before. You should both stay away from him from now on. Of course, our Xiao family is not to be trifled with. If he dares to bother you again, we won’t let it go.”

Chen Yu replied softly, “I understand, aunt.”

After all, she was the child she had raised. Jiang Wanrou couldn’t bring herself to scold her too much. After saying a few words, she changed the subject and looked at Xiao Yu. “I heard people are saying you’ve been busy harvesting rice recently. Making money isn’t easy. Be careful outside. How’s your wife doing?” As long as his identity wasn’t revealed, everything was fine.

“I know what I’m doing. She’s fine,” Xiao Yu replied. Seeing the atmosphere had calmed down, she added, “We moved into the new house today. Luoning asked me to invite mother to dinner with us.”

“Is there rabbit meat?” As soon as the girl heard “dinner,” her eyes lit up. She was too candid, and Jiang Wanrou glared at her, scolding, “You, when will you ever get rid of your greedy habit?”

The atmosphere immediately became lively.

The young girl stuck out her tongue, not daring to speak again. She tilted her head and looked at Xiao Yu with anticipation.

“Yes, there’s rabbit meat,” Xiao Yu said.

“Alright, we’ll go. Moving into a new house is a lot of work, so why don’t you take this girl with you to help?” Jiang Wanrou said.

The girl pouted. Now, she wasn’t afraid of the young master at all. It was as if he had returned to how he was long ago, or even better now.

Xiao Yu got up to say goodbye. The young girl trotted behind her.

After leaving the Xiao family home, Xiao Yu went to the village entrance to buy vegetables and meat before heading home.

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