“Seventh sister,” said Liu Ruoyu softly, handing a cup of tea to Mrs. Liu.

Mrs. Liu treated her younger sister as carefully as her daughter. Now, when she looked at Liu Ruoyu, whose pale face filled with fear and concern, she could not help sighing. She took the tea and drank it off. She tried to be poised and said, “It doesn’t matter. I did not expect that this bitch could be so malicious. Also, it occurred to me something in the past.”

“It is my fault. I am so incompetent that you are concerned over me,” said Liu Ruoyu in a low voice, biting her lip.

Staring at her sister with sympathy, Mrs. Liu said, “No, it is not your fault. You are as kind as fifth aunt, so it is normal that you failed to be vicious at one.” However, Mrs. Liu still felt sorry for her loss today. Moreover, her alliance with Wei Changying was ruined by Liu Ruoye. She went on, “This time, we missed a good chance. In the future, Ruoye might not be deceived by us anymore. The imperial edict will be issued several days later. After returning home, you must be cautious about everything. I will tell Mrs. Lu something should be careful about.”

Mrs. Lu was Liu Ruoyu’s wet nurse. She was originally a dowry maid of Liu Ruoyu’s mother. After Mrs. Zhang came to the Liu Family, there were few servants who were still loyal to Liu Ruoyu. Mrs. Lu was one of them, so she could be trusted.

However, Liu Ruoyu knew that Mrs. Liu was still worried about her. In the view of Mrs. Liu, it was useless to only tell important things to her sister, so she also told Mrs. Lu something should be alert.

Liu Ruoyu unconsciously bit her lip. Liu Ruoye was two years younger than her. Today, Mrs. Liu and Wei Changying originally plotted to deceive Liu Ruoye, but failed. Liu Ruoye even ruined the alliance of Wei Changying and Mrs. Liu with a few words. She finally left with satisfaction. Liu Ruoyu wondered whether she was really worse than Liu Ruoye, her half-sister.

When Liu Ruoyu was absent, outside suddenly came the noise. Mrs. Liu frowned but the door was kicked open before she asked servants to see what had happened. Two sisters were shocked to see Shen Cangli rushing into the room in rage. He angrily asked, “Why do you have a feast at home today? Don’t you know that grandmother is ill?”

Mrs. Liu become concerned and quickly said to Liu Ruoyu, “Tenth sister, go back to your room now. I am going to talk with your brother-in-law.”

Liu Ruoyu got to her feet nervously. Shen Cangli was so angry that she feared that he would do something bad to her sister. Therefore, Liu Ruoyu did not want to leave this room immediately. She was finally urged by Mrs. Liu to leave. She saluted and then staggered out of the room. In usual, as a timid young lady, she would tell Mrs. Lu how sad she was after returning to her room.

However, at this time, as she came out of the room, she found it empty around the corridor. Servants were ordered to leave away by Shen Cangli. So, Liu Ruoyu gingerly walked behind the house and pierced the paper window with her hairpin, quietly overhearing.

She thought in mind, “But for me, seventh sister would not have held a feast to invite Liu Ruoye in order to frame Sister Wei. In the feast, Liu Ruoye did not drink a toast to Sister Wei. On the contrary, people knew that seventh sister had held a feast. If brother-in-law blames sister for this, I will….”

Her thought was stopped by conversation in the room. Their tone was not violent as Liu Ruoyu imagined.

Shen Cangli calmly said, “Why are you not sensible? Grandmother is being ill. It would not have been serious if you had invited your sisters with a delicious meal, but why did you have a drink? Do you know that on my way home just now, I was stopped by a carriage? Your eleventh sister in the carriage thanked me for your nice Baijiu behind the curtain.”

Mrs. Liu said with a bitter smile, “To be honest, I have invited her to have a drink on purpose. Tenth sister is physically weaker and weaker. I thought that she was overly gloomy. However, two days ago, I asked Mrs. Huang, the maid of third sister-in-law, to diagnose tenth miss, she found that tenth miss had been poisoned by Mrs. Zhang.”

“So, do you want to revenge Mrs. Zhang in the same way?” Shen Cangli seemed to be shocked, but then said unhappily, “Why did you put the poison into the drinks? You know, you don’t get along with your eleventh sister. Don’t you expect that she would gossip you?”

With a cold smile, Mrs. Liu confidently said, “She only dares to tell it to you. She and her mother, Mrs. Zhang, now plot to have tenth sister marry the Crown Prince. At this key period, if there were a rumor that I was not virtuous, how could tenth miss be the Crown Princess? She expects that you would scold at me if she told it to you. Moreover, she would be more satisfied if you quarreled with me. However, she would not acknowledge what she had done if another people asked her. After all, she is a daughter of the Liu Family. If I were discussed by people as not virtuous, it would not be good to her. Although she is young, she knows what matters to her.”

Shen Cangli snorted and said, “How could she be so tricky as a young girl? Don’t let her come to our home in the future anymore in case she would teach our daughter something bad.”

“How could I allow her to get close to Jing?” Mrs. Liu explained, “Today, when she came here, I had asked Jing to play in the garden with her sisters.”

“Mrs. Zhang is unkind to her stepdaughter. Moreover, her own daughter is malicious,” said Shen Cangli. “They are pretty tricky. It would be a terrible result for them if she and her daughter were still so vicious. We had better seldom get along with your fifth uncle’s family unless we would get into troubles even if we were prepared in advance.”

Outside the window, Liu Ruoyu blushed for seventh brother-in-law’s dislike. When she hesitated whether she should continue to overhear their conversation, Mrs. Liu said, “I used to think that Ruoye was a little crafty like her mother, but not that she liked discussing others. Since now, we should prevent her and her mother from entering our home. But Ruoyu is different from them. You have witnessed her from her childhood to now, she is not as unkind as them. She is kind, but unfortunately….”

Shen Cangli stopped her with contempt, “Is she kind? It is an excuse. The girl is actually incompetent. You nearly cared for her as carefully as Jing. During the past years, does she look a little competent like Jing? She is your sister, so I don’t discuss her. On the contrary, if Cangning were incompetent like her, I would beat her to make her powerful. In your view, but for your fifth aunt who had saved you, tenth sister would have not suffered so much. However, even if your fifth aunt were still alive, her daughter would not be competent.”

Mrs. Liu had to say something for her sister, “If he had not been bullied by Mrs. Zhang, she would have not been so timid. If her mother had been alive, she would have been loved. If so, how wouldn’t she behave like a young lady?”

“Third sister-in-law is totally different.” Shen Cangli said with a cold smile, “Last year, our family was so frightened by the overwhelmed rumor in the Capital City that we dared not walk out of our house. I heard that in Fengzhou, Wei Changying’s cousin aunt even gave a white silk to her. Now, she is still alive. As she came here, she always greeted people with a smile. Have you ever seen her upset? Back then, you even felt shame to be her first sister-in-law. Now, when she calls you, dare you not to answer her? If you didn’t do so, shouldn’t mother and third brother argue with you? If someone is strong enough, those who dislike him could not bully him; while if he is weak, he will still be insulted in spite of support from others. I should remind you if your tenth miss were still weak, your attention to her would be in vain.”

Mrs. Liu was silent for a while.

Tightly covering her mouth with one hand, Liu Ruoyu held the golden hairpin with another hand. She even did not notice the blood dripping from her hand. Totally out of mind, she staggered to the room arranged by Mrs. Liu, her eyes teeming with tears. In the doorway, Mrs. Lu was weaving clothes alone. As she saw Liu Ruoyu come back, she quickly put down the needle and came up to ask, “Miss....”

Unexpectedly, Liu Ruoyu who was all the time weak, swiftly entered the room and then slammed the door with a bang. Mrs. Lu was almost hit on the face by the door.

She was pretty shocked. Pressing against the door, she found that the door had been locked. Tenth miss’s suppressed but sorrowful sob came out of the room. Mrs. Lu doubted, “Tenth miss has come to talk with seventh miss, but why did she go back like this? Was she criticized by seventh miss?”

Mrs. Lu became nervous and thought in mind, “Tenth miss is always alone, without any help from siblings. Moreover, Mrs. Zhang dislikes her at all. Master only believes in Mrs. Zhang but does not care for his daughter. Only seventh miss does a favor to tenth miss because of kindness of her mother. Now, seventh miss is annoyed by tenth miss, and what should we do?”

Mrs. Lu originally wanted to knock the door to ask Liu Ruoyu what had happened to her. However, she knew that Liu Ruoyu was bullied by her stepmother since her childhood, so she was pretty weak. She could not withstand the suffering if she recalled something miserable. Mrs. Lu unconsciously shed tears and murmured, “How poor tenth miss is!”

Mrs. Lu neither left away nor inquired any questions. Standing in front of the door for half an hour, she still heard tenth miss sobbing in the room. She was anxious but did not know how to deal with it, so she walked up and down in the doorway.

When she was about to seek help from Mrs. Liu, the cry in the room stopped. A few seconds later, Liu Ruoyu opened the door and hoarsely said, “Granny, please fetch a pot of water for me to have a wash.”

“Yes.” Mrs. Lu let out a long sigh of relief. She silently thanked god and then fetched water.

When Mrs. Lu entered the room with a pot of water, she saw Liu Ruoyu sitting beside the bed with red eyes. Her hair was a little messy. However, her clothes were neat, so it was obvious that she had arranged them. The handkerchief casually tied on her right hand was seemingly stained by blood. Her cold face surprised Mrs. Lu, because she never saw this expression on tenth miss’s face before. In the view of Mrs. Lu, Liu Ruoyu was always not only weak and pale, but also silent and dull. She wondered what had happened between seventh miss and tenth miss. Why did tenth miss change so much after a loud cry?

With doubt, Mrs. Lu wrung out the wet handkerchief and then passed it to Liu Ruoyu. She wondered whether she should first ask why tenth miss looked so strange or what had happened to her wounded hand. Before she made a decision, Liu Ruoyu took the handkerchief and then placed it on her face for a moment. As she put down the handkerchief, she suddenly asked, “Where are Guiwa and Yuewa?”

Guiwa and Yuewa were maids ordered by Mrs. Zhang to serve Liu Ruoyu. Because these two maids were supported by Mrs. Zhang and Liu Ruoyu was weak, they were pretty lazy. As maids of Liu Ruoyu, they didn’t do anything. Everything was nearly done by Mrs. Lu. Besides, they not only stole Liu Ruoyu’s things but also spoke ill of her in front of Mrs. Zhang from time to time. Therefore, Mrs. Zhang often had excuses to bully her stepdaughter.

Even though Guiwa and Yuewa followed Liu Ruoyu to come to the Shen Family, they still did nothing. However, they would only pretend to do something before Mrs. Liu. When she was not here, they did not work again. Today, only Mrs. Lu was here, so they must hide at a certain corner to stay idle.

Mrs. Lu and Liu Ruoyu knew that these two maids didn’t do anything. But Liu Ruoyu feared Mrs. Zhang, so she neither scolded at them nor controlled them. Now, Liu Ruoyu suddenly asked where they were, which made Mrs. Lu surprised. “They...” Mrs. Lu considered how to indirectly answer her question without hurting her face. However, Liu Ruoyu coldly said, “They are my maids, but why do they disappear every day? Perhaps they are reluctant to stay here. After all, they are not young. They are appointed by mother, so I shouldn’t delay their marriage. A few days ago, I heard that Manager Lin wants to pick up a wife for his son. As an old manger of our family, he has contributed a lot to us, so it is a good idea to have these two maids marry his son.”

Stunned for a while, Mrs. Lu said, “Manager Lin’s son is… is a fool.” He was more than a fool. Manager Lin had served fifth master, Liu Ruoyu’s father, since he was a child. After marriage, he became a manager and now was trusted by fifth master. Even Mrs. Zhang was polite to him.

Manager Lin had four children, including three daughters and a son. When his youngest son was born, his wife died. Because it was not easy for him to have a son, Manager Lin carefully looked after his son. However, when his son was three years old, he had a fever. Kneeling down in front of fifth master, Manager Lin begged him to cure his son. Therefore, fifth master invited the imperial doctor to diagnose this boy. Although he was alive, his intelligence remained the level of a three-year-old child.

Fool as Manager Lin’s son was, he was robust with great strength. Awfully, he was addicted to violence. Two years ago, he continuously beat three wives to death. Parents of the three women were so greedy that they forced their own daughter to marry the fool in exchange for the bride price. Therefore, after they received money, they did not care about their own daughter any longer. Now, when Manager Lin wanted to find another woman to be his daughter-in-law to have a grandchild, no one answered him. Although parents did not care about their own daughter’s life, a woman would hang herself at home rather than being beaten to death after marriage.

Now, Liu Ruoyu planned to have Guiwa and Yuewa marry Manager Lin’s son, so her purpose was to murder them. Mrs. Lu did not know why tenth miss suddenly became so malicious, but she still feared Mrs. Zhang. So, she said, “It is not proper to let them marry Manager Lin’s son.”

Liu Ruoyu said with a sneer, “Why is it not proper? His fool son could not be well looked after with only one wife, but two are enough. If so, Manager Lin would spend more time helping father. Moreover, Guiwa and Yuewa are unwilling to stay here anymore, so they go out of the house for fun every day. If I forced them to serve me, it would be unkind to them, right?”

Mrs. Lu bitterly smiled and thought in mind, “What does tenth miss mean? Why do two wives make Manager Lin less worried? His son would break a wooden stake as wide as a bowl with a fist if he were to go crazy. Mrs. Lu witnessed that he had broken seven or eight wooden stakes without any gasp. If tenth miss did so, she might think that only Guiwa or Yuewa was not enough for his son to beat.”

“Their marriage is decided. Granny, you don’t tell them in advance. We will directly send them to Manager Lin’s home before we come back home.” Liu Ruoyu threw the handkerchief to the water pot and coldly said, “Why cannot I do something that others could do? Granny, am I right?”

Mrs. Lu gazed at her with shock. When she was about to speak out, Liu Ruoyu pulled the tent to hide half of the bed and faintly said, “I want to rest. Granny, you can leave now.”