The Phoenix is Back - Chapter 26

Chapter 026 Stepsister Provocation
In the blink of an eye, the weather became hot, and Zhi from the tree cried out endlessly. Because she was afraid that Xiao Xiwei’s wound would become infected, the Matriarch ordered people to carry three or four ice kettles in her room early in the morning. It was as hot as a stove outside, but it was indescribably cool inside her room.

On this day, Xiao Xiwei was sitting in front of the imperial concubine’s couch embroidered with paintings when she saw Bi Yun happily walk in with a few sets of summer clothes in her arms.

“Miss, Xia Chang is done. This servant chose these. Are you satisfied with it?”

Xiao Xiwei did not raise her head and casually gave a’hmm ‘sound before lowering her head to embroider the painting.

“Miss, you didn’t even look.” Bi Yun put her clothes aside and moved her head closer to Xiao Xiwei. “Yi, Miss, what are you embroidered with? Why isn’t it green thread or black thread?”

“You’ll see.” Xiao Xi raised his eyebrows slightly, and a bright smile curved at the corner of his mouth.

Bi Yun reached out and took the needle from Xiao Xiwei’s hand. She stared at Xiao Xiwei and said seriously, “Miss, Huang Imperial doctor told you to rest well. Have you forgotten? Don’t embroider any more!”

“However, I was scratched by a wild cat. How could it be so serious? Quickly return the needle to me!” Xiao Xiwei looked at Bi Yun helplessly.

“No!” Bi Yun knitted her brows and shook her head seriously.

“Miss, Bi Yun is right. It’s better for you not to worry too much.” Granny Cui advised from the side.

The corner of Xiao Xiwei’s eyes flashed across Nanny Cui’s face. Although there was a smile on her face, there was an indescribable sense of embarrassment and apprehension.

Xiao Xiwei withdrew his gaze without a trace and looked at Bi Yun helplessly, “Alright, I won’t embroider it anymore!”

Seeing her compromise, Bi Yun smiled and put away all the needlework and embroidery.

Seeing Bi Yun’s joyful expression, Xiao Xi smiled and teased, “Why are you so happy today? Did you go out to pick up the money?”

Bi Yun raised his eyebrows and smiled until his eyes went numb. “This is even happier than picking up money.”

“Oh?” Xiao Xiwei was also interested.

Bi Yun smiled again and moved her head closer to Xiao Xiwei. “Miss, do you know what A Liang said to me when he sent Xia Chang into the manor?” She smiled.

The brocade shop used to specialize in silk brocade shipped from Jiangnan, but only after they had established themselves in the capital for the past two years did they hire a tailor to make clothes for them. In the past, every year, Marquis Mansion took brocade from the Silk Fairyland and handed it over to another cloth manor called the Auspicious Fairyland. But this time, the Matriarch personally opened her mouth and handed the work over to the Silk Fairyland.

Whether the clothes in Marquis Mansion were made in the Silken Workshop or the Auspicious Workshop, they were just trivial matters. The Matriarch suddenly cared about these trivial matters, so she couldn’t help but make people think too much about it. According to Xiao Xiwei, it was probably what she said that day that made Old Lady Jun suspicious. During the banquet, Madam Qi praised Haikou for buying Cloud Brocade for the madams. As long as he inquired about it, he would know. If he took the opportunity to investigate, it would not be difficult to find out that this Auspicious District was actually the private property of the Li family. Mrs. Li’s empty-handed white wolf played very beautifully, but once it was found out, the old lady’s last bit of trust in her would be completely wiped out. In the future, even if she lifted her grounding, the matriarch would not hand over the power of stewardship to her anymore!

“What?”

Bi Yun laughed with a puff, “He said that Madam Li came to buy Cloud Brocade with a bitter face.”

Mrs. Li was naturally referring to Madam Qi.

Xiao Xi raised his eyebrows slightly, but he did not feel that he was laughing.

It seemed that Madam Qi had smashed herself heavily with a stone this time! Presumably, when those madams saw that she could really buy Cloud Silk at such a low price, they all took silver and asked her to buy more!

Just as the master and servant were laughing, a charming figure suddenly walked in from outside the door. “What is Second Sister laughing about? It would be better to say that she is happy to come out!”

Xiao Xiwei raised his head and saw that the person was wearing a light pink embroidered dress with a unique Bu Sheng Lotus crystal fringe hairpin inserted on his head. Following her footsteps, the fringe lightly swayed, reflecting the complacent smile on the corner of her lips. It was the Xiao Xile that he had not seen for a long time.

“I heard Nanny Liu say that my younger sister is calm in the ancestral hall. She has studied the rules very carefully. I still want to see my younger sister, but I didn’t expect that she has already come out.” Xiao Xi smiled faintly.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Xile wasn’t angry. Instead, he smiled and said, “No, I heard that my sister was scratched by a wild cat and came to see her. It’s strange that you said that. I’ve never heard of a cat scratching a person. Sister, do you think that wild cat is hungry and thinks that you’re … that?” Xiao Xile blinked innocently at Xiao Xiwei.

“Third Miss, what did you say!” Bi Yun wasn’t as calm as Hong Yu, and immediately became angry when she heard Xiao Xile’s words.

“Don’t worry, little sister. I’ve already ordered someone to skin that wild cat and stew a pot of soup. I think it won’t have the chance to treat little sister like that anymore.” Xiao Xiwei stared into Xiao Xile’s eyes, and the smile on his lips was still beautiful.

“You … you put that cat …”

“That cat tastes really good. If my sister likes it, I’ll have someone catch another stew for her later. How about it?”

“You” Xiao Xile stared at Xiwei as if she was looking at a monster. After saying one word, her stomach rolled with disgust. She’vomited ‘and couldn’t help but cover her mouth and rush out of the room with her two little heads.

Xiao Xiwei tugged at the corner of his mouth and picked up a cup of hot tea as if nothing had happened. He gently blew the steam in the cup and slowly took a sip.

“Miss … Then, that cat really …” Nanny Cui looked at Xiao Xiwei and felt a little anxious in her heart.

Ever since she admitted her identity in front of Xiao Xiwei, she had been peacefully staying in her room these days. She had also heard the news of Xiao Xiwei being scratched by a cat from someone else.

Xiao Xiwei glanced sideways at Nurse Cui and raised the corner of his lips. “I just said that casually. What? Did Nurse really think I drank the cat stew?”

Granny Cui’s heart skipped a beat as her face turned ashen. Before she could say anything, Bi Yun, who was standing beside her, began to laugh out loud.

“Young miss originally wanted to scare Third Young Miss, but I didn’t expect that even Nurse would be scared!”

Biyun was no more stable than Hongyu, so Xiao Xiwei did not tell her about Nanny Cui’s betrayal. Seeing Nanny Cui’s face full of fear, she couldn’t help but find it funny.

Granny Cui smiled awkwardly, then lowered her head and didn’t dare to reply.

Xiao Xiwei held the corner of his mouth as if he hadn’t seen it. He lowered his head and took a sip of tea.

A few days later, the wound on Xiao Xiwei’s forehead started to scab. She sat in front of the bronze mirror and looked at the scars on her forehead. The resentment in her heart could not be suppressed.

“Miss, what kind of bun do you want to wear today?” Sensing that Xiao Xiwei’s expression was not right, Zi Yan stepped forward and said. .

“Whatever.” Xiao Xi closed his eyes slightly.

Zi Yan gritted her teeth and turned around to grab a pair of scissors and cut off a lot of Xiao Xiwei’s hair with a’cracking ‘sound.

“Zi Yan, what are you doing!” Granny Cui’s face turned pale from fright. She hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Zi Yan’s hand. She hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, “Why don’t you apologize to Miss?”

The so-called parents who suffered from the skin and hair on their bodies were unable to move easily. However, she did not expect Zi Yan to have such courage to cut Miss’s hair.

Xiao Xiwei opened his eyes and looked at the cut green silk in the mirror, which covered the scar on his forehead.

Seeing that Xiao Xiwei hadn’t spoken for a long time, Zi Yan finally felt a little nervous. She hurriedly bent down and said, “Miss, forgive me, this servant … this servant …”

Before she could decide what to say, Xiao Xiwei’s cold voice rang out, “Why are you kneeling there? Why aren’t you combing my hair?”

The tense string in Zi Yan’s heart immediately loosened. She panicked and got up. The fear on her face hadn’t completely dissipated. She only replied embarrassedly, “Yes.” After saying that, he hurriedly ran behind Xiao Xiwei and tidily tied a Suiyun bun for her. Then, he picked out a pink jade magnolia tassel from the jewelry box and inserted it into his temples.

Xiao Xi looked at herself in the mirror. Because of the bangs cut, his eyes became even brighter, and when he saw Zi Yan’s uneasy expression behind the mirror, he couldn’t help but smile, “According to the rules, there should be four first-class girls in my room, but now there are only Biyun and Hongyu. Now that Hongyu’s injuries are still not healed, you should upgrade to first-class girls from today onwards.”

“This servant, this servant thanks Miss for your kindness.” Zi Yan hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to Xiao Xiwei.

A layer of sweat was already dripping down her palms, but it didn’t matter, because she knew that she had won the bet this time.

Nurse Cui looked at the delighted Zi Yan and opened his mouth to say something, but after thinking for a while, he didn’t say anything in the end.

It was different now. Although the young miss did not seem to care about her on the surface, she always felt that the young miss had some grudge towards her and did not trust her as much as before.

After finishing his grooming, Xiao Xiwei had someone bring a lotus colored loose flower dress and prepared to go to the Tranquil Garden to greet the Old Lady.

Before he could step into the room, he heard the old lady’s hearty laughter.

“What makes grandmother so happy!” Xiao Xiwei said to the matriarch as she bowed.

Seeing that Xiao Xiwei was here, Matriarch hurriedly gestured for Nurse Liu to help her up. “Didn’t I tell you to recover well? Why did you come all the way here? Is the injury on your head better?”

Xiao Xi smiled and said, “However, how could a cat scratch his paw so badly? Besides, Grand Doctor Huang said that as long as you apply medicine on time, there won’t be any scars left in the future!” After saying that, the corner of her eyes glanced at Xiao Xile. Indeed, a trace of unwillingness flashed in her eyes.

“Then you have to pay more attention!” The matriarch stretched out her hand and pulled Xiao Xiwei’s hand to sit on the Arhat bed.

Xiao Xi, who had come early in the morning to pay his respects to the Matriarch, couldn’t help but feel a little tasted in her heart when she saw how close the Matriarch was to Xiao Xi Wei. However, she didn’t dare to reveal it on her face. She only smiled and said to Xiao Xi Wei, “Grandmother is right. Sister should listen to the doctor and rest more.”

Xiao Xiwei pursed his lips and didn’t comment on Xiao Xile’s words, “Oh right, what just made grandmother so happy!”

When she mentioned this, the matriarch quickly smiled and picked up a letter from the table and handed it to Xiao Xiwei. “It’s not someone else, but your brother! This brat has followed his grandfather to Wu City for so long, and there hasn’t been any news of him all year. He remembered to send a letter to me, this old woman.”

“Big brother!” Xiao Xiwei’s eyes lit up.

“Yes! He said that he would come back to congratulate me on my birthday this time!” The Matriarch couldn’t hide the smile in her eyes when she mentioned her eldest grandson.

“Is that so?” Xiao Xiwei was also overjoyed. She hurriedly took the letter from the Matriarch and looked at it with one eye and three lines.

“No!” The matriarch smiled so hard that her eyes became dumbfounded, and even the depression she had accumulated every day was swept away in one fell swoop.

“Then when will big brother arrive at the manor?” Xiao Xi asked impatiently as he raised his eyes to look at the matriarch.

The matriarch patted Xiao Xiwei’s hand and smiled. “Look at how anxious this child is. It’s so far from Wu City to the capital. Even if he rides a horse without sleeping, it will take him seven to eight days.”

Xiao Xiwei smiled embarrassedly, but his heart was filled with anticipation for the returnee who had returned from Wu City.