After changing their clothes, Mrs. Mo made Su Yuanyuan sit on a chair and brought the decocted herbal medicine in front of her.
The medicine in the white porcelain bowl was pitch - black and smelled extremely unpleasant. Mrs. Mo thought her daughter would make a fuss before drinking it. However, Su Yuanyuan picked up the porcelain bowl and gulped it down in one go.
Mrs. Mo was pleasantly surprised. She thought her daughter had become more sensible. Just as she was about to praise her, Su Yuanyuan put down the porcelain bowl, leaned over, hugged her waist, and said pitifully:
"It's bitter... It tastes awful."
Mrs. Mo laughed. She pinched her daughter's chubby cheeks and said, "I thought you weren't afraid of bitterness anymore."
Saying so, she stuffed a preserved fruit into her daughter's mouth. The sweet taste spread on the tip of her tongue, suppressing all the bitterness.
How could she not be afraid of bitterness? In her previous life, Su Yuanyuan was extremely delicate. She was afraid of pain and bitterness, and always needed to be coaxed for several rounds before she would cooperate obediently.
But who would have thought that the girl who was once most afraid of bitterness and most reluctant to take medicine would end up not even being able to get a dose of medicine for typhoid fever, and instead be severely tortured by Mrs. Qin with the insidious means of the inner courtyard.
Oh, could any bitter medicine be as bitter as the pain of being disowned by her biological mother, being forced by her biological father to marry into the Lu Mansion as a concubine, being pushed into hell by her elder brother, and being devoured by wild dogs?
She had to firmly remember this kind of pain to remind herself that in this life, she would never let others lead her around again.
The days were long. She had plenty of time to settle accounts with them slowly.
Tonight was just the beginning...
The emperor's arrival indicated that this Thousand Autumn Banquet would not end early.
After changing their clothes, Mrs. Mo still had to take Su Yuanyuan back to the main hall to continue participating in the banquet.
Just as they were about to leave, Su Yuanyuan's eldest sister - in - law, Wei Linlang, walked out from behind the screen with a wet purple outer robe in her arms and said to Mrs. Mo:
"Mother, this robe is completely soaked. What should I do with it?"
Mrs. Mo's eyes fell on the outer robe, and she squinted slightly.
When she saw this outer robe before, she only felt a bit familiar. It was not until Cang Xuan appeared behind the emperor and testified that she realized whose clothes they were.
Although Cang Xuan had helped their Yuanyuan twice tonight, just thinking about how their Duke Yong's Mansion had come from Mobei to Shengjing, she couldn't help but give a heavy "humph".
"Throw away this thing of unknown origin."
Did they think the Duke Yong's Mansion would owe this scoundrel a favor? Dream on!
When Su Yuanyuan heard that Mrs. Mo intended to throw the robe away, she quickly stepped forward, snatched it from Wei Linlang's hands, and hugged it tightly. She looked at Mrs. Mo pitifully:
"Mother, Yuanyuan wants it..."
Mrs. Mo smiled and stroked her little head. "If Yuanyuan likes it, mother will buy you seventeen or eighteen pieces tomorrow. This robe is dirty and can't be kept. Give it back to your sister - in - law, okay?"
Unexpectedly, Su Yuanyuan hugged it even tighter. "Mother..."
Mrs. Mo rubbed her temples in distress. It was Wei Linlang who came up with an idea. She stepped forward and said to Su Yuanyuan:
"Good girl Yuanyuan, sister - in - law won't throw it away. Sister - in - law will find someone to wash it clean for you and then put it away properly. How about that?"
In front of the two of them, Su Yuanyuan was still the silly Yuanyuan. She couldn't clearly tell them her purpose, so she had no choice but to return the robe in her arms to Wei Linlang.
However, she blinked her extremely innocent eyes and said to Wei Linlang, "Yuanyuan still wants it. It's warm."
Wei Linlang, who had planned to secretly dispose of the robe behind Su Yuanyuan's back: "..." Why was her little sister - in - law suddenly so hard to fool?
"Okay, okay, okay. Sister - in - law will return it to Yuanyuan after we get back." She could only say with a smile.
She looked up and exchanged a helpless look with Mrs. Mo. Neither of them had expected that Su Yuanyuan would be so insistent on this outer robe.
After everything was sorted out, the people from the Duke Yong's Mansion returned to the main hall again.
Although they had tried their best to slow down their steps, they still inevitably caught people's attention. Even most of them showed looks of amazement in their eyes.
The young girl led by Mrs. Mo had changed into a clean peach - colored dress. Although her figure was plump compared with the slender noble ladies in Shengjing who regarded thinness as beauty, she had delicate and beautiful facial features and fair, rosy skin. Set off by the peach - colored like a hibiscus, she looked even more delicate and lovely.
It could be seen that in the future, when she came of age, she would grow into an astonishing beauty.
It was a pity...
Everyone withdrew their amazed looks and lowered their heads with a sigh. It was a pity that such a charming and lovely girl was actually a fool.
Coincidentally, when the people from the Duke Yong's Mansion came back, Su Qingyu was standing in the middle of the main hall again, holding her guqin and planning to offer a musical performance to the queen.
After Mrs. Mo led her family to take their seats, she looked at Su Qingyu who was tuning the strings below and let out a "tsk". She said:
"This Su Qingyu has such a thick skin. I don't know what kind of means she used to get the chance to offer a musical performance again. She still refuses to give up at this point. Does she want to make a sensational debut and offset her mistakes with merits?"
A certain official's wife sitting near them on one side said, "Mrs. Mo doesn't know. After you left, the heir of the Marquis of Pingyang and the Prince Huai jointly performed a set of boxing for the queen, which earned Su Qingyu the chance to offer a musical performance."
Mrs. Mo couldn't help but say, "The heir of the Marquis of Pingyang is really hopeless. With his younger sister's evil deeds so clearly proven, instead of covering up for her and pleading for mercy, he even fought for a chance for her. He is really unable to distinguish right from wrong."
Wei Linlang also said, "Mother, don't be angry. That woman is just showing off her slight skills. A false and vicious person like her will surely reap what she sows one day."
Su Yuanyuan was sitting between the two of them. Hearing this conversation, she nodded secretly.
Her mother and sister - in - law in this life were really discerning. They could see the essence of these two people at a glance.
Wasn't Su Qingyu just false and selfish? Wasn't Su Zeqian just unable to distinguish right from wrong? As a family, they were really a perfect match.
But, was she just going to let Su Qingyu perform smoothly?
"Mother, I heard that there was once a second young lady in the Marquis of Pingyang's Mansion. Her name sounds exactly the same as our Yuanyuan. It's just that her 'yuan' is the one from 'the fragrant orchids in the Li River and the Yuan River'." Wei Linlang suddenly lowered her voice and said to Mrs. Mo.
Just as Su Yuanyuan was thinking about how to disrupt Su Qingyu's musical performance, she was caught off guard to hear information related to her previous life from her sister - in - law in this life. Her heart skipped a beat, and she nervously grasped the cuffs of her clothes.
Mrs. Mo was really surprised. She also lowered her voice and discussed with her:
"Oh? Is there such a coincidence? Is the second young lady of the Marquis of Pingyang's Mansion at the banquet today? Why didn't I see her show up just now?"
Wei Linlang shook her head. "She's gone."
These five words fell on Su Yuanyuan's ears, making her eyes red.
Not wanting others to notice her abnormality, she turned her face away unnaturally. Unexpectedly, she met a pair of casual but extremely aggressive eyes again.
Cang Xuan was propping his cheek with one hand and playing with the black jade fan in the other. His robe was spread on the chair behind him. He looked wanton and casual, with an indescribable elegance, making people involuntarily want to submit at his feet.
But why was he looking at her again? Was there something wrong with her?
She clearly remembered that in the side hall, her mother had helped her tidy up her appearance and confirmed that there was no problem before they came back.
She quietly lowered her head to look at herself but found nothing wrong.
Unable to figure it out, she had no choice but to turn her body slightly to avoid that unignorable gaze and then focused her attention on her mother and sister - in - law behind her.