Chapter 20

(7.4)

Her concubine mother was pregnant and liked to eat sour food. Before, she used to make plum cakes in that small courtyard, but now that she was in the residence, she didn’t make them much. Xi Xian washed her hands, mixed the rice flour with sugar, and some plum juice. She cut the dried plums and put them in the steamer, before wrapping the filling and spreading some fine powder on it.

When the steam came out, Xi Xian already had some fine beads of sweat on her face. She took a piece of cake and put it in her mouth to have a taste, but she was a bit baffled.

Her concubine mother liked sweet pastries, but she had not added a lot of sugar to the ones she just made.

It wasn’t a misgiving, it was just a habit.

In her past life, someone loved to force her to cook and force her to do needlework and sew pouches and shoes, and she had to do it even though she didn’t know how to. This person did not like sweet food, and would very rarely eat sweet food, but that person loved the pastries she did with her own hands.

Xi Xian smiled somewhat self-mockingly, in fact, there was no point in thinking about this, she didn’t want to go back to that time.

She forced herself to gather her spirits and filled a box with pastries for her legitimate sister by the same occasion.

(8.1)

As the autumn breeze rose, Xi Xian carried the food box all the way to the main courtyard. She heard the maidservant Qing Yu respectfully say: “Sixth miss, our mistress is not feeling well, you can just copy the sutras outside.”

Xi Xian nodded, sighed a breath of relief, and handed the food box to Qing Yu, saying softly, “I made some plum cakes in the morning, if sister doesn’t mind, she can eat some as a morning snack.”

Qing Yu bowed with a smile, before taking the food box and turning around, lifting the curtain and going inside.

Xi Xian looked at Qing Yu’s back and then began to copy the words while pondering. She slowly traced one stroke at a time, as her thoughts gradually floated around.

But then she saw a person standing silently in front of her, Xi Xian’s heart tightened, and she looked up immediately, only to find that it was Qing Yu who had just returned.

Qing Yu said softly to her, “Sixth miss, the mistress wants you to come in.”

Xi Xian was a bit puzzled, but did not ask any question.

The inside of her legitimate sister’s courtyard and the outside of it were two different kinds of scenery, once the beaded curtains fell down, on the side of the long window was a vast and deserted courtyard, it wasn’t exquisite nor beautiful like the courtyards in the palace, but it carried a natural orderly and solemn feeling.

Xi Heng was sitting in front of the dressing table, with the plum cakes beside her. Xi Heng took an aqua-blue jade hairpin, which she turned between her fingers, smooth and glowing. She slightly raised her long eyebrows, her thin lips lightly opened, and she said, “Put it on for me.”

Xi Xian: “……”

She immediately felt that her legitimate sister was speaking in a strange tone, but she couldn’t say what was strange about it.

Xi Xian thought about it and felt that this tone of voice was like ordering someone to put back a sword back in its sheath, the eagerness and tenderness that young girls naturally had for hairpins wasn’t there.

Because of the previous several warnings, Xi Xian heart was not without any apprehension, although she was cursing her legitimate sister in her mind, cursing that she had eaten the wrong medicine, but she still silently and obediently walked forward.

She extended her hand out and touched the jade hairpin on her legitimate sister’s fingertips, but was first unable to pull it out, and her legitimate sister’s slightly cold fingers touched hers, they were so cold that her heart lightly trembled.

Xi Xian pulled out the jade hairpin out of her hand, and when she lowered her eyes to pin it on her legitimate sister’s hair bun, her eyes inadvertently met her legitimate sister’s raised eyes in the bronze mirror. Sharp and deep, her eyes carried a bit of a smile that didn’t look like a smile but mockery, as if she knew what she was muttering in her mind.

Xi Xian immediately lowered her head and said, “Do you need me to do anything else for you?”

Her legitimate sister inclined her head and asked Qing Yu to set up a table for Xi Xian, so that she could sit in front of her while copying the Buddhist sutras.

Xi Xian felt it was inappropriate as well as very uncomfortable.

Her legitimate sister said, “Unwilling?”

Xi Xian said, “I’m not ……”

Xi Xian moved slowly, and while she was sitting there copying sutras, her legitimate sister was on the other side writing essays.

The body, that was separated from her by a beaded curtain, was thin, tall and straight, and it was hard to conceal the nobility of even her vague shadow, as if she had received a very harsh noble education from birth, that made a difference that could be distinguished down to the bones.

Xi Xian thought, both were from the same Xi family, yet how were they so different?

Alright, her legitimate sister was not from the Xi family, so of course she was different.

As for what her legitimate sister was writing and reading, Xi Xian never knew.

In her last life, when she was young, she secretly took two glances, but Xi Heng grabbed her by the neck, and carried her back to her place, and she tilted her head, not understanding.

Translator : Laura

Other novels : His One Love  & Ancient Eden & After Being Kidnapped by the Crown Prince

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