Chapter 19 Probing

Chen Hui shuddered when she heard Li Youde’s voice. Listen, listen to this anger…It seemed that that Lady Jiang was really super favored. For her own life, she could only try her best to pretend to be weak.

Having made up her mind, Chen Hui panted on purpose and looked at eunuch Li with difficulty, trying to let him see her red eyes and the tears in her eyes.

Li Youde frowned. The originally anger stagnated. His tone lowered unconsciously, “What…what kind of look is this?!”

Chen Hui’s face turned dark. With her face full of self-blame and guilt, she said, “Yes, it’s this Lady Chen who was not good. This Lady Chen wasn’t able to present myself in the best bearing to lord.” She supported the floor with both hands as if she was trying to stand up, but she had the mind but lacked the strength. In the end, she could only lean against the bed and sit on the icy floor. She wasn’t able to move back to the bed.

Li Youde’s lips were pressed tightly and his expression was hardly friendly.

Today, as soon as he had gotten off duty, he heard Xiao Liu report the matter of this afternoon. According to Xiao Liu, the maid of Plum Yard broke Lady Jiang’s hairpin. When Lady Jiang’s maid planned to punish her, she was interrupted by Lady Chen who had rushed over and she refused to let the little maid be punished. One side wanted to protect the little maid, the other side refused to let the matter go due to it being her mother’s relic. They naturally got into a dispute. What surprised him was that Lady Chen volunteered to kneel the whole afternoon!

…What Li Youde didn’t know was that Xiao Liu wanted to put his own safety before the matters of principle. Before Chen Hui lay down, he hid in the side room. When he came out, Chen Hui had returned to the kneeling position. He didn’t know that in between, Chen Hui lay on her stomach for a long time. On Jiang Bihan’s side, it was impossible for Qingshu to tattle like a student and say, “Lady Chen pretended to kneel but had lain the whole afternoon.” Moreover, in the eyes of Qingshu and the others of Rely Bamboo Pavilion, Lady Chen couldn’t be compared to Lady Jiang at all. They, the servants, must have some scruples. However, if it was Li Youde, he would’ve naturally severely punished Lady Chen accordingly.

Li Youde was not surprised that Chen Hui would protect Xiao Tiao. Hasn’t she also repeatedly compromised because of Xiao Tiao?

He stared at Chen Hui for a long time, raised his face, grinned as if he was smiling and asked knowingly, “Lady Chen, what is the matter? Broken leg?”

Chen Hui silently gritted her teeth and snorted once at him fiercely. She didn’t expect him to wish for her well-being, but she didn’t show any signs on her face. She pretended to be a naïve young woman who couldn’t hear the sarcasm in those words. She could only smile gratefully and incomparable shyly, “Thanking lord for your concern? This Lady Chen’s leg didn’t break. It is just that I had knelt for a long time and the flow of the blood had been blocked. I just feel some discomfort.” While she spoke, she touched her knees seemingly inadvertently.

Li Youde frowned. He followed her movement and saw just saw two legs wrapped in a thin coat. They looked slender and fragile and seemed to be broken easily. A strange emotion arose in his heart.  He suddenly returned to his senses and sneered, “Lady Chen, this was what you had asked for. Since it is your maid who had ruined something, she just had to be punished. Do you as a master had to suffer it in hear stead? No one made you kneel!”

His tone became sharper when saying the latter sentences. He seemed to be angry that he wanted to scold her severely.

Chen Hui looked timidly at him. With a pitiful expression, she said, “This Lady Chen also did it to apologize to Lady Jiang. Xiao Tiao is clumsy which is really hateful, but she is still too young. How could she withstand being beaten? I, the master didn’t teach her well. Naturally, I should also receive punishment. Lord, how is Lady Jiang? Earlier, she said that she forgave this Lady Chen and Xiao Tiao, but that was the only thing her mother left behind after all. This Lady Chen is afraid that she had only endured this because of face…It is just that this Lady Chen doesn’t have good things and couldn’t express my apology…”

If Qingshu was present, presumably, she would rush to the front and face Chen Hui heads-on. What forgave? Bullshit!

After Chen Hui finished speaking, she watched the expression of the person in front of her nervously. She knew that he must’ve been to Rely Bamboo Pavilion before he came here. She didn’t know what Lady Jiang had told this exasperating eunuch. According to her guess, presumably, it will be ambiguous, unclear and with a hidden meaning in the words, letting him guess in the direction that she (J) wanted. That would be so great. It gave her (CH) the perfect opportunity to make a show. It was really the fault of people who liked to speak in a roundabout way. She absolutely would never be like this. Look, wasn’t everything said by her now?

Seeing that Chen Hui lowered her eyes guiltily as she spoke, Li Youde’s eyes congealed and for the first time, he felt that the matter was difficult to handle.

He had to take Lady Jiang’s emotions into consideration, but Lady Chen…She had already knelt for the whole afternoon. The legs had already been broken because of the kneeling. How could it be right for him to punish her again? Besides, it was not Lady Chen’s fault.

“Alright, the matter of this time has nothing to do with you.” Li Youde seemed to be uncomfortable looking at Chen Hui. He beckoned with his hand and said, “Hurry and roll back to bed. You are an eyesore!”

Chen Hui was overjoyed. Supported by Xiao Wu, she sat back on the bed. After that, Xiao Wu hurriedly followed Li Youde and left.

However, before Chen Hui could feel truly relieved, she heard Li Youde who had walked to the door say to a servant, “Tie up that maid who had caused trouble…” He paused and intended on sending her to Rely Bamboo Pavilion to let Lady Jiang deal with her however she liked. But when he thought about her temperament, he changed his mind again and said, “Beat ten times!”

Just in the short moment that Chen Hui was stunned, someone already went to catch Xiao Tiao in the side room. She immediately turned over and got out of bed. When she rushed out of the room, Xiao Tiao was sobbing while bring dragged out. Chen Hui’s eyes got red seeing her like that. After remembering her ‘injured’ knee, she staggered on purpose while rushing towards Xiao Tiao.

Chen Hui had calculated well. Her landing point would be right next to Xiao Tiao. She could use Xiao Tiao to stabilize her body and make herself look too weak to even stand up to the wind. However, man proposes, god disposes. When Li Youde heard the movement behind him, he turned his head and happened to see Chen Hui ‘fall’. He subconsciously reached out to stop her from falling. Because the two were not far apart, his arm landed on her waist. Being caught off guard, the force that Chen Hui used when she rushed out, made both stagger.

  • Man proposes, god disposes: one’s plan could be derailed by unforeseen events.

“Lord!”

“Lady!”

After a few exclamations, Chen Hui stared at the man, whose lower half of the body was used as a mat by her. Not only did she not feel grateful, she even scolded him a lot secretly. He lacked a component, could it be that his nervous system also had gone wrong and couldn’t control his conditioned reflex? He would certainly hold her responsible for the pain of falling!

Chen Hui’s eyes reddened and she said moved, “Lord, you are so good to this Lady Chen…” As she spoke, she simply lowered her head and leaned against Li Youde’s chest. She even rubbed her head fondly against his chest and said in a low voice, “This Lady Chen…this Lady Chen…” She deliberately paused here vaguely before continuing, “…Lord…”

In this era, it was rare to see a woman hug a man in public on her own accord. Even Xiao Liu and Xiao Wu who had seen this incident more than once, couldn’t not wonder at the strange sight. They turned their face away with a strange expression.

In this silence, Chen Hui whose ears was close to Li Youde’s chest and waited for him to fly into a rage out of humiliation and push her away, instead, she heard his heartbeat got louder and louder in his chest and the silence of the person being suppressed by her.

…Became dizzy because of being suppressed by her?

Chen Hui slowly raised her head and happened to meet Li Youde’s glare. His face was solemn and the muscles on his face seemed to be tensed to the extent that some coldness appeared. Chen Hui’s sudden raise of her head had awakened him. He suddenly screamed, “Get up!”

Chen Hui blinked and said softly, “Lord treats this Lady Chen so well. Why doesn’t lord spare Xiao Tiao? I’m used to her and don’t want to change her for another maid. If…if Lady Jiang still feels that she couldn’t relieve her anger, then, just beat this Lady Chen. It is just that this Lady Chen’s body isn’t much better than Xiao Tiao’s. Don’t beat so much as ten times, alright? Just…” She seemed to think for a moment. She put on finger up, shook it gently in front of Li Youde’s eyes and said coquettishly, “Just one time to let Lady Jiang hear it, alright?”

The beauty was in the arms and she spoke softly and coquettishly. Few ordinary men could refuse the request made by the other party at this moment, but Li Youde lacked two liang of flesh. Naturally, he was no ordinary man. He grabbed Chen Hui’s shoulder and pushed her to a side. He swept his gaze around once. Xiao Liu hurriedly stepped froward to help him up.

  • One Liang is 37.8 grams.

When Li Youde stood up straight, he adjusted his clothes before looking at Chen Hui. His heart suddenly shrank.

Chen Hui didn’t get up. She just sat on the ground with her legs bent. She kept her body steady with one hand behind her. Her head tilted slightly and her lips were pressed tightly. That pair of clear eyes looked unblinkingly at him. They seemed to be glittering with tears.

Li Youde saw grievance and sadness in her eyes.

After half a moment, Chen Hui withdrew her gaze in disappointment. She turned her head, hugged Xiao Tiao and sobbed softly, “Xiao Tiao, sorry…”

“Lady, Xiao Tiao doesn’t blame Lady. It, it is all Xiao Tiao’s fault…” Compared to Chen Hui’s ‘reserved’ look, Xiao Tiao cried with snot and tears all over.

Chen Hui was at loggerheads in her head. Ai, ai, don’t rub on me…

Aside from Xiao Tiao’s cries, there was no one who spoke in Plum Yard.

After a while, Li Youde humphed once and said, “What are you crying for? Bad luck!”

He seemed unwilling to continue to listen to this unlucky cry, turned around and left. His servants looked at each other in dismay and quickly followed him.

With a click, Plum Yard was locked again.

Chen Hui let go of Xiao Tiao and rubbed her head, “Don’t cry. It’s fine now.”

Xiao Tiao desperately wiped her tears and snot. She nodded repeatedly, “Thank, thank you, lady! Xiao Tiao’s life has been saved by lady. In the, in the future, Xiao Tiao wouldn’t implicate lady again!”

“Don’t say that.” Chen Hui stood up by using Xiao Tiao as support. She smiled very happily, “I discovered something interesting just now.”

It was her miscalculation that she accidentally fell and was caught by that exasperating eunuch just now. However, everything that happened after that was what she displayed on scene after having guessed Lady Jiang’s intentions. Lady Jiang could test her. Why couldn’t she (CH) test that exasperating eunuch? Aiya, this time, Lady Jiang had given away the bride and lost her army on top of it. Thanks to Lady Jiang’s action, she had come to the realization. These days, she caused trouble for that exasperating eunuch from time to time. It seemed that there were some invisible gains. She guessed that that exasperating eunuch’s attitude towards her should be in the stage of ‘woman, you have caught my attention’, right? Even if that exasperating eunuch isn’t a real man, but when there was a woman who was still considered pretty, kept shouting “I’m your woman”, even if he knew that it was not sincere, somewhere in his heart would still be moved, right? Especially, when there was a Lady Jiang around him in comparison, who always doesn’t give him a good expression; the effect would be even more obvious. Think about it, she had been so well-behaved before, he still found something for her to do and deliberately tossed her around. Wasn’t this an indication of a special attitude? Otherwise, he could just lock her up and ignore her. She wouldn’t be able to play any tricks at all. Besides, he obviously said to beat Xiao Tiao ten times. After being interrupted by her, he actually ran away without pursuing the matter…Really interesting.

  • Having given away a bride, to lose one’s army on top of it: to suffer a double loss after trying to trick the enemy.

Xiao Tiao, “…?”

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Haha
67
Love
18
Winkiewinkie
10
???
5
OH
7
Woowoo
3
I'm mad!
12



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