Chapter 8

  Days go by, I start to feel that life is incredibly dull, turning over and over again with only a few things to do. My sister is still cold and distant. The entire Belle Estate has been visited countless times. I start to miss the paper-thin glamour of Shenzhen, the friends who are like brothers, the red lights and green wine. But here, only men can enjoy those things. I sit on a rock, facing the lake:

  ………

  "Alas!"

  "Alas!"

  "Alas!"

  ………

  I suddenly heard the voice of Fourteenth Brother behind me, "I won!", turned around to see Ninth, Tenth and Fourteenth Brothers standing behind me, hurriedly got up to pay respects. Tenth Brother said loudly: "How can you sigh endlessly? You sighed away twenty taels of silver for me." Ninth Brother added: "And my twenty taels too." I looked at Fourteenth Brother in confusion, who was laughing with his mouth wide open. He laughed and said: "We made a bet on how many times you could sigh, Ninth Brother bet you wouldn't exceed twenty times, Tenth Brother bet you wouldn't exceed forty times, and I bet you would exceed forty times." I thought for a moment, asked: "Did I really sigh that many times?" The three of them said in unison: "How could you not have?" I pursed my lips, didn't say anything.

  "Ten Brother asked, 'What's with the sigh?' I was about to respond when Fourteen said, 'Don't say anything yet, let's guess again. It must be twenty taels.' I laughed and said, 'You're addicted to gambling!' Fourteen urged, 'Nine Brother, you guess first!' Nine Brother waved his hand and said, 'I won't guess, you two go ahead!' Ten Brother carefully examined my face and said, 'Boredom.' Fourteen smiled and said, 'Looks like we can only make forty taels today. I also think it's boredom.' I kept a straight face and shook my head, saying, 'It's not boredom!' The two of them were taken aback, looking at me with doubt. Ten Brother asked, 'What is it then?' I said seriously, 'It's extremely, extremely, extremely boring!' As soon as I finished speaking, all four of us burst out laughing."

  "Stop being so bored, the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up soon and there's a banquet in the palace!" I counted the days and said, "It's really going to be Mid-Autumn soon!" He asked again, "Are you guys going to see Prince Beile?" Tenth Brother replied, "Yes! But Yao Shilang is currently in the study. I don't want to see that noisy old man, so let's take a stroll around the garden first." I thought for a moment and said, "Later, I'll go with you guys to pay respects to Prince Beile, okay?" Fourteenth raised an eyebrow and said, "No reason to be overly enthusiastic, either deceitful or thieving!" I glared at him without saying a word.

  When I entered the study with Third Brother, Eighth Brother looked at us and smiled, gesturing for me to sit. I smiled back and said, "My words are brief, I'll leave after I'm done, standing is fine." He leaned back in his chair, fiddling with a jade ring, a smile on his lips: "Your matter, I can't help with. The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it." I was taken aback, made a disappointed bow and said, "Ruoxi takes her leave!" He chuckled and said, "Go ahead!" I turned around and left the study.

  As I walked, I thought about how the reinforcements hadn't arrived yet, and it seemed like we had to rely on ourselves. When I returned to the house, my sister was still in the main room reciting scriptures. In the room, I paced around in circles, thinking about what to say. Just as I was thinking, my sister came into the room, saw me pacing around on the floor, and ignored me, going to lean against the bed instead. I quickly followed her over. After a long silence, she spoke softly: "When Mother passed away, I had just been born. From young to old, all I knew was that Father said I was a 'troublemaker', my stepmother disliked my mischievousness, and although some of my siblings were still somewhat close to me, they weren't born from the same mother as me. Only you, sister, we came from the same womb. You've always been kind to me. Whatever mistakes I made, whether you scolded or hit me, I listened. But now that you're ignoring me...I..." As I spoke, I thought about how I might never see my parents again, and also felt sad about sister's coldness towards me these past few days. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I cried so hard I couldn't speak. Sister listened, her tears falling straight down, and she got up to hug me tightly. The two of us hugged each other and cried for a while longer. Only with the persuasion of Cui Hui and Dong Yun did we slowly calm down our tears.

  Sister wiped away her tears with a handkerchief, saying: "You must change your violent temper from now on, or else you won't know how to lose your own life." After a pause, she said again: "Do you think Mingyu Gege of the Guo Luoluo family is easy to bully? If it weren't for Beile Ye covering for you this time, neither Di Furen nor A Fu would let you off." I listened and saw how distressed my sister was, so I just nodded in agreement.

  From that day on, after my sister and I cried together, her anger finally dissipated, and she was even more gentle and considerate towards me. As the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, the mistress of the house was not feeling well, so it was still my sister who took charge of all the festive preparations in the mansion. She was busy every day without a break. The knot in my heart had untangled, and my mood had improved significantly, and I resumed my life as a wealthy idle person. The most delightful thing was that since the last time I made a fuss in front of the tenth prince and the fourteenth prince, they would occasionally send over some new and curious toys through someone. It relieved me of a lot of boredom, and I would constantly guess what they would send next. This got all the maids in the house excited and laughing together, with non-stop joyful noises.