Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Family Dinner (2)

It was time for the much-awaited family dinner and Old Madam Lu personally asked Ye Zhen to sit beside her; the same seat where Lu Lingzhi was supposed to sit if not for his sudden summons. This invitation, more like an order, didn’t sit well with Lu Jing. She shot a fleeting glare towards the timid Ye Zhen.

As expected, the Lu Family, even with their advancement in society, had no regard for table etiquette. They were no nobility and Ye Zhen saw it quite easily. As a member of a noble family, she was honed on the standard requirements of an aristocratic woman and she was always forbidden from conversing at the dinner table.

But Old Madam Lu was persistent in asking her about her life in the border town even if it was clear that she was unwilling to speak. Finally, she simply forgot all the rules she had learned through years of discipline and talked rigorously with the old madam, coaxing her into liking her all the more.

“Border town is fun. Fourth Brother taught me how to catch sparrows. We roasted sparrows in the mountains and ate them fresh from the grill.” Ye Zhen looked mischievously at Lu Xiangzhi and continued to speak. “There was one time that he stole Father’s wine, but he only let me drink a small amount.”

This snippet of information earned gasps from everyone on the table, some shook heads towards the beet-red Lu Xiangzhi.

“-and in summer we went to the river fishing. This Miss didn’t know what had gotten into him, but Fourth Brother stayed underwater for far too long that I thought he was in trouble! So, I desperately cried for help. I couldn’t save him myself, I cannot swim. The next thing that happened was something I shall never forget.” Ye Zhen looked at the people around her with her hand on her chest. Every one of them hung onto her every word.

“He jumped from underneath the water and scared me, I lost my balance and fell hard into the river and went home drenched and freezing that day!”

Old Madam Lu listened to Ye Zhen’s story with delight. She laughed and looked at Lu Xiangzhi sitting on the other side of her and scolded him in jest. “Such a naughty boy! Bullying his sister!”

“Grandmother, these are all things of the past. Don’t you know this girl is also very unruly?” Lu Xiangzhi begged for mercy and there was laughter at the dinner table afterwards.

Ye Zhen saw that Old Madam Lu turned her attention to Lu Xiangzhi, putting a faint smile on her face, glad that she could now enjoy her wine in peace.

As the night progressed, Ye Zhen felt her energy slowly slipping out her body. She had just recovered her health and had spent most of the day trying to please the old madam. But now, she couldn’t stand it any longer.

Seeing that her daughter was tired, Pei Shi approached Ye Zhen and sat down to examine her face before whispering, “You should retire to your chambers now.”

Ye Zhen looked at Pei Shi’s loving eyes and felt awkward. She had no affection for all the Lu Family. But her sister was raised with tremendous love. She should not condemn and hurt the people to whom she owed her sister’s great life. Nonetheless, she deeply knew that this was futile, a pointless whim, for once she asked for the price of the vile deeds against her and her family, there would be no sparing them.

Old Madam Lu also noticed the tiredness in Ye Zhen’s eyes and asked her to retire and rest early. “It has been only a few days since she recovered from her illness. She must have a good rest now.”

Ye Zhen could not bear it any longer so she went to the courtyard to catch some breath of fresh air.

Several brothers also withdrew from the hall and drank wine in the warm pavilion on the east side of the mansion.

Wine glasses clinked as Lu Tingzhi touched his glass with his cousin, Lu Xiangzhi.

“How have you been in the border town, Fourth Brother?”

“Well, at first, I was not used to the simple life at the border town but I gradually fell in love with it,” Lu Xiangzhi said with a smile. “Elder Brother must go to the border town when he has the chance. I’ll show you around.”

“It’s your disposition that has corrupted Third Sister.” Lu Tingzhi laughed. “You have always had a heart for adventures. No wonder she was dragged into it.”

“Haha. You are wrong. Second Brother must know that Yaoyao has been a restless girl since she was little. She beat other girls on her first day of school without me teaching her.” Lu Xiangzhi shook his head with a smile.

Lu Tingzhi laughed at the news. “Didn’t you go to the border town when your sister was born?”

He remembered that he had never heard of Pei Shi’s pregnancy. How could she have a daughter as soon as she arrived in the border town?

Lu Xiangzhi went to the border town with his parents when he was three years old. Lu Shiming ran a pharmacy business with Pei Shi as his aid in the border town. But how perplexing it was for Pei Shi bore a daughter after just a few months of leaving the capital.

“From what I can remember, mother gave birth to my sister earlier than she expected. As a result, Yaoyao was not healthy when she was born and Mother took care of her for a long time. Father said that the bumpy road at that time left a bad root in my mother’s womb… Fortunately, Mother survived the delivery,” Lu Xiangzhi said with a smile, he did not want others to know that Yaoyao was adopted.

Lu Xiangzhi knew that the revelation had affected Yaoyao even if she tried to not show it. That was why, he was afraid that Yaoyao would think too much of this and feel inferior, an outcast even, now that she was in the Lu Mansion.

Lu Tingzhi nodded, there was no doubt in his mind.