Yao Chenzi had long seen how wicked she was. One was a naive and innocent girl who could be seen through at a glance, while the other was a cunning and unpredictable womanizer. It was hard to say who was bewitching whom.
In terms of cultivation, Miss Yu is no match for the Fourth Miss, but matters of love and affection have always been mysterious and unpredictable.
What if? If something goes wrong, the Fourth Miss might have played with and messed with someone before, and then she'll be crying later.
He held back his words, but a hint of schadenfreude crept into his mind.
Author's Note:
Yao Chenzi: Eating melon seeds.jpg
Chapter 12 Plum Blossom in the Heart
Yu Zhi helped her mother into the room. The two were so close that the woman could smell the fresh and elegant scent of agarwood emanating from her daughter's sleeves.
It was the scent that Pingxi always wore.
However, unlike her 'good son-in-law,' the agarwood on Zhizhi's body had a softer feel, just like her personality.
Yu's mother was worried that her daughter would be bullied when she married for the first time. But the fragrance calmed her uneasy heart.
Her daughter, Zhizhi, was used to being simple and plain. She never wore makeup or had any particular manners.
The newlyweds must be very close, sleeping in each other's arms at night; otherwise, how can you explain them sharing the same fragrance?
Yu Zhi had no idea that her mother's thoughts could travel so far with just a flick of her nose.
However, Yu's mother's guess was correct; for several nights in a row, the fourth young lady slept in her arms.
Miss Wei, who changes her attitude faster than turning the pages of a book, becomes domineering and clingy in bed. Although she doesn't actually do those things to him, it's common for her to hug his waist and touch his breasts.
Whenever Yuzhi woke up, she could see the fourth young lady's jade-white hands, with slender fingers that were so beautiful that it was impossible to look away.
I didn't have any nightmares, so I controlled the force perfectly, which caused her to have strange reactions a few times, and then she avoided the matter like the plague.
The mother and daughter each had their own thoughts. Yuzhi helped her sit down on the round stool and noticed that there was freshly brewed fragrant tea on the table. She thoughtfully poured a cup for her mother.
The aroma of tea slowly wafted out.
Remembering her mother's instructions the night before her 'wedding,' Yuzhi blushed and her heart pounded.
Just what I feared most came to pass.
Yu's mother rubbed the cup with her fingertips, hesitated for a while, and then the mother and daughter began to talk intimately.
Half an hour later, Yu Zhi blushed with embarrassment.
Her mother asked questions she didn't want to answer but couldn't avoid.
She twisted her fingers and nodded, then, remembering that her mother was blind, she softened her voice and said, "Xi Xi treats me very well, and...that thing doesn't hurt."
Heaven knows the Fourth Miss didn't want her body.
Yuzhi is not good at lying. In order to take care of her mother's feelings and make her feel at ease while getting treatment for her eyes, she started to lie. In order to gain the woman's trust, she shyly said a lot of nice things about someone.
Upon learning that her 'son-in-law' treated her daughter well, Yu's mother smiled with relief: "That's good, that's good. I'm at ease knowing she treats you well."
After saying "good" three times in a row, Yu Zhi lowered her head in shame.
"But women are not much different from men. As long as they are human, they are controlled by the seven emotions and six desires."
As someone with experience, Yu's mother generously shared her wisdom with her daughter: "Women liking women and men liking women are all the same thing. There are good men and bad men, good women and bad women in the world... Zhizhi, once you're married, you'll have to walk your own path from now on."
"Mother!"
The blind woman's eyes were filled with faint tears, as if she was reluctant to part with her daughter after she got married. She earnestly advised her: "Since you have chosen her, if you want to have a good life in the future, you must win her heart."
"But how can my daughter win her heart?"
The thought of returning to the Wei family with the Fourth Miss soon filled Yu Zhi with apprehension.
Having left her mother, she could only rely on the fourth young lady; the fourth young lady was her 'branch'.
"I want to win her heart..."
Yu's mother put down her teacup and gently patted her daughter's hand: "Men with money can go astray, and so can women. She has no worries about power and wealth, but what she worries about is the emptiness in her heart, having no confidant. If you want to win her heart, you must first guard your own heart."
"Guard your own heart?"
"Yes. Don't take everything to heart, but you can't completely ignore it either. Knowing which things to care about and which things to turn a blind eye to, Zhizhi, is something you need to learn."
This sounds simple, but it's hard to do. How can one balance caring and not caring to protect one's own heart and control the Fourth Miss's heart? Yu Zhi's eyes were blank.
"You'll understand. My Zhizhi may seem dull, but she's actually quite clever."
Yu Zhi was speechless, both amused and exasperated by her mother's words.
Why was she stunned? She simply had never been involved in romance before and didn't understand the intricacies of the situation.
"It's harder for women to be together than for women to be together with men. Why is that?" Yu's mother asked herself and answered, "It's harder because you have to focus on the person in front of you."
"This road has both flowers and thorns. If you are attracted to her delicate and gentle nature as a woman, you will have to bear the condemnation of everyone."
People are used to praising the high and belittling the low; otherwise, where would the saying "a beautiful woman is a source of trouble" come from?
"To put it bluntly, throughout history, when emperors ruined the legacy of their ancestors, wasn't it always the women who were blamed?"
“Pingxi comes from a good family. If others don’t like her, they’ll just call her unconventional. Zhizhi, do you understand what your mother means?”
Yu Zhi pondered for a moment, and couldn't help but recall the rumors about the Fourth Miss from her previous life: "Mother, I understand."
"So, my dear daughter, don't be foolish and bear all the blame by yourself. Smart women are always loved, not scolded."
"You two can weather the storms together, but if you can't get through them, you have to let Pingxi be the one to go first and protect you."
Yu's mother sighed earnestly, "This is the way of life that your mother taught you. Remember it."
"Um!"
The mother who said these words was different from the one Yuzhi had seen before; their auras were completely different.
"Mother." Yu Zhi nestled close to her like a little girl, hugging her arm. "How does Mother know all this?"
He knows everything about women and their affairs.
Yu's mother smiled, a smile that revealed the delicate charm of her youth.
"That happened many years ago. It's not that I can't tell you."
There was a story to hear, and it was her mother's story. Yuzhi listened intently.
"When I was fifteen, I met a woman who was incredibly beautiful and straightforward. She helped me a lot."
"We had arranged to fly kites in the Western Hills on Grain Rain Day, but before we even left, the imperial decree came down, and your maternal grandfather's family was expelled from the capital. I didn't even get to see her one last time."
"After many twists and turns, I was the only one left in my family to survive."
“Your father was a frail scholar, and people praised him for his handsome appearance. He saved me when I was at my lowest point and even dug and repaired the graves of your maternal grandparents, things he didn’t have to do.”
"To repay his kindness, he proposed to me, and I said yes."
"I spent several years with him, and only after he died and his body was buried did I realize that I had always respected him as an elder brother."
I don't love him.
"The girl I love is the one who stood under the willow tree that year and praised my eyes for being bright and intelligent."
"It's a pity, it's all in the past..."
The woman sighed deeply, "I never imagined that my daughter would like women just like me."
She gently stroked Yu Zhi's slender wrist: "Fortunately, my daughter is luckier than me; she realized her feelings much earlier."
"Mother..."
Hearing these old stories made Yu Zhi feel a lump in her throat.
Her mother never mentioned her maternal grandparents' family to her before. What's more, she only knew that her mother's surname was Liu, and knew nothing else.
Upon suddenly learning that her mother did not love her father, but loved an unknown woman, Yuzhi couldn't help but feel sorry for her deceased father and saddened for her living mother.
"Cherish the hard-won relationship. It is already a blessing to know that you love the one you love. Since you have taken this step, you should strive for a good ending."
A happy ending?
Yu Zhi thought of the Fourth Miss and the promise she made to her, and felt ashamed to face her mother.
After a conversation between mother and daughter, the woman returned home with a heavy heart.
Inside the room tidied by the servants, Wei Pingxi leisurely played with the jade between his fingers: "Come here."
She called out, but Yu Zhi didn't hear her.
Wei Pingxi raised his voice: "I called you over, didn't you hear me?"
Yu Zhi snapped out of her daze and met the Fourth Miss's slightly displeased gaze. She strode over to her side.
"sit."
She slapped her thigh.
Yu Zhi treated the Fourth Miss as her cushion and obediently sat down.
With a hand on her waist, Wei Pingxi smiled gracefully and swiftly pulled open the beauty's collar, allowing the jade stone the size of a pigeon egg to fall smoothly.
"Keep it warm."
The jade stone got stuck there by sheer coincidence, and for some reason, Yu Zhi felt a deep sense of grievance.
The mother believed that she had married the love of her life, so she taught her how to win the heart of the fourth young lady and how to conduct herself in the world, treating the fourth young lady as her 'son-in-law'.
But it was all fake.
Now is the real time.
With tears welling up in his eyes, Wei Pingxi was pondering what kind of design to carve for the beauty in the jade when he unexpectedly made her cry in just a few breaths.
Tears welled up but wouldn't fall. She subconsciously reached out and took the jade back, only to be misunderstood as having something bad to do.
Wei Pingxi laughed in exasperation, her tone indulgent: "Do you want me to take it or not? If you don't like it warm, and you won't let me do it, then take it back yourself? What are you crying about?"
He raised his finger to wipe away the tear stains at the corners of Yu Zhi's eyes.