diskusbooks Chapter 216 A Trip to the School!
Chapter 216 A Trip to the School!
Three years ago, Mu Xin Nuan no longer needed to go to the clan school every day, but she would go a few days each month. Most of the time, it was just to get to know her relatives and strengthen their bonds. Otherwise, if she hadn't set foot here for a single day in these three years, she feared she wouldn't recognize many of her own family members in the future.
Of course, there was an even more important reason: she needed to maintain good relations with her relatives and couldn't afford to be careless. After all, her younger brother was still in school. And besides, she always had to be wary of her half-sister, didn't she?
Mu Xin Nuan didn't have much concern about Mu Qing Yuan. Perhaps because he was no longer influenced by the Song family's biased teachings, Mu Qing Yuan in this life was less radical and his temperament had improved a lot, as if he had become a completely different person.
That's for the best. After all, he has the blood of the Mu family. As long as he is wholeheartedly good, or at least as long as he doesn't cause trouble for the Mu family, she, as his older sister, doesn't mind spoiling him forever, preferably for the rest of his life. That way, Ah Xuan will be the safest in the future, and the Mu family will be the most peaceful.
As for Mu Xinyao, Mu Xinnuan couldn't help but feel a headache whenever she thought of this younger sister!
She couldn't say she particularly disliked Mu Xinyao. At least in recent years, she had behaved herself a lot. Thinking back to Mu Xinyao's behavior in her previous life, such as cross-stitch and some strange business ideas, she felt that Mu Xinyao was no ordinary person.
Because she is not yet married and has no opportunity to showcase her talents, Mu Xinyao has become shrewd and has no choice but to humble herself. Since Madam Song is dead, she has lost all the shops Madam Song had given her. As for her other private assets, they have all been left to Mu Qingyuan, so naturally, there is no way she will receive anything!
Mu Xinyao knew that her position in the Mu family was somewhat awkward, because Song Shi was, after all, an unlikable woman. Apart from the old lady, no one in the family valued that Song Aunt from back then!
However, Mu Xinyao was smarter than Song Shi. She lived cautiously, and it was almost impossible to hear any news about her in the mansion. But in the school, she got along very well with all the relatives!
Mu Xinyao stopped trying to gain sympathy by using her status as an illegitimate child and did not deliberately express that the legitimate sister was bullying the illegitimate sister. However, in recent days, Mu Xinnuan had heard some rumors that were detrimental to her.
If she wasn't mistaken, it must have been the work of her half-sister, right?
Mu Xin Nuan finished preparing the last ingredient and handed it to the servant in the medicine shop. Looking up at the sunlight outside, she realized it was getting late and she should return home.
“Miss, it’s been a long time since you’ve come here in person. Why did you decide to come today?” Rongyue helped her mistress wash her hands, then took a small incense burner and smothered her with it, trying her best to mask the smell of medicine on her.
"This medicine is extraordinary. I'm not even sure I can prepare it myself, let alone these apprentice doctors?"
After everything was tidied up, Mu Xin Nuan stood in the courtyard for a while, arms outstretched, head tilted back slightly, eyes gently closed, basking in the sunlight with a look of enjoyment.
The smell of medicine in the courtyard had faded considerably. Rongyue knew that her young mistress would do this every time she came to the medicine shop. In her opinion, her young mistress did this to make the smell of medicine on her body dissipate.
Seeing this, Rongyue went out of the courtyard first and lit incense in the carriage. By the time she took the carriage back, the medicinal scent on her mistress should have mostly dissipated.
Inside the carriage, Mu Xin Nuan's brows furrowed slightly as she rested her hand on her temple and lazily asked, "At this hour, it seems the school hasn't let out yet, has it?"
Rongyue lifted a small curtain and glanced outside. "Miss, it might be a bit too early for us to go there now."
"Yes, have someone go to Hsu Kum Kee and buy some pastries, two jin of each kind, and have them labeled with the categories."
"Yes, Miss." Rongyue knew that her mistress was going to pick up the two young masters. After giving the order to the person outside, she asked, "Why did you buy so much today, Miss?"
Mu Xin Nuan smiled faintly, "You'll know when we arrive."
After buying the snacks, Mu Xin Nuan got out of the car at the school gate but didn't go in. She just waited at the gatehouse.
"Miss, would you like to go inside and wait?" the servant at the door asked.
"No need. The teachers are giving a lesson right now, and it would be inappropriate for me to go in at this time."
Mu Xin Nuan had the pastries brought down. "I'll take these to my younger cousins who live at the school later. They live far away and don't go home for lunch. Especially my cousin Qing Ye, I heard he stays here tonight too, so I'll send him double the pastries."
"Yes, ma'am."
Mu Qingye and Mu Qingxuan are the same age, both turning twelve this year.
However, Mu Qingye's family was poor and he was a collateral branch of the Mu family. In his early years, his father was a bad man who indulged in drinking, gambling, and whoring, squandering the family fortune. Fortunately, his wife, Liu, was virtuous. Not long after her husband died, she took her two children and moved to the countryside outside the city.
Perhaps because she felt she had disgraced the Mu family, and because their branch was considered the most impoverished, she rarely interacted with these relatives. She only met Mu Qingye for the first time after her father decided to move the clan's school here.
Mu Xin Nuan knew that Mu Qing Ye's family was not well-off, but his talent and character were exceptional. His father often praised him, saying that among the collateral branches of the Mu family, this nephew was the one he liked the most!
Others in the clan might not know, but Mu Xin Nuan did: all of Mu Qing Ye's tuition and other expenses were covered by her father.
"Eldest sister!" As soon as Mu Qingyuan rounded the screen wall, he saw Mu Xinnuan and ran over happily.
"Slow down. How old are you? How can you still be so careless?" Mu Xinnuan scolded softly.
Hearing this gentle reproach, Mu Qingyuan felt as sweet as if he had eaten honey. He felt that his elder sister's concern for him was even more gratifying than receiving praise from his teacher!
Immediately after, Mu Qingxuan also came out, followed not far behind by several of his cousins.
After Mu Xin Nuan greeted them one by one and called out their names clearly and accurately, it was not hard to see the surprise that flashed across their faces.
Mu Xinyao saw this scene from afar. Her face was still smiling, but the jealousy in her eyes could not be dispelled no matter what!
She hated it! She didn't understand! They were both daughters of the Mu family, so why was Mu Xin Nuan the center of attention the moment she appeared, while she herself was so ignored? Was it simply because she was born out of wedlock?