Chapter 33

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

Before she could display a girl’s shyness, her blanket was suddenly lifted by Xiao Yi.

He threw her dress at her and it covered her face.

Xiao Yi got up and got dressed with his back facing her, “Get up and study.”

Nan Baoyi hugged her dress feeling annoyed, “Men and women should be separated, Second Brother should abstain a little!”

“We are siblings, what can I do to you?” Xiao Yi turned around, his narrowed eyes filled with fussiness, “Or you’re trying to say that you don’t see me as a big brother?”

His robes opened wide, revealing strong and muscular pecs.

In the past and present life, this was the first time Nan Baoyi saw such a stimulating sight.

She blushed and quickly closed her eyes, “Of course I see you as a big brother!”

Xiao Yi sneered, “I give you fifteen minutes to get dressed and have breakfast and then go to the study.”

Nan Baoyi panicked.

She watched him walk away and shouted while she dressed up, “How are fifteen minutes enough?! I-I-I-I still need to put on my make up and dress up ―”

“Seven and a half minutes.”

“…”

She wanted to cry!

Nan Baoyi liked to appear beautiful.

In order to comb a beautiful double bun, she sacrificed her breakfast time and hurried to the study.

She picked up The Analects of Confucius and stood by the west window, glancing back at Xiao Yi quietly. He was practicing calligraphy.

She was curious, “Second Brother is not going to the clan academy today?”

The other party ignored her.

“What an attitude…” She said softly.

“Study.”

A fierce rebuke sounded. Nan Baoyi shivered, flipped the book open, and read aloud.

After reading for half an hour, she looked back again quietly.

The chair was empty. Xiao Yi was definitely eating on his own behind her back.

She leaned against the window weakly and touched her deflated belly grievously when she suddenly saw a pot of peonies on the window sill.

The peonies were very well-grown. Short clusters and yet there were dozens of unopened flower buds. There were two different colors of purple and light pink on the same flower bud, extremely strange and rare.

“When did the residence have this type of peonies, so beautiful.”

She put down the book and plucked all the flower buds. She found a needle and thread and earnestly stringed the buds carefully.

She made a beautiful long flower bud bracelet and wore it on her wrist.

“Hey, Jiaojiao!”

There was a whisper suddenly from outside the window.

Nan Baoyi looked down the window sill and saw her Cousin Sister squatting under the window like a thief, her apricot eyes widened, “I heard you are very hardworking recently so I came to see you. Look, I even brought you some desserts!”

Nan Baoyi was touched, “Zhuzhu, you came at the right time.”

Nan Baozhu looked at her eating and said softly, “Yesterday, something happened at Third Uncle’s place.”

“What happened to my father?”

“We severed ties with those nasty relatives, didn’t we? I heard they harbored hard feelings and under Nan Xiaoqian’s instigation, they went to find Nan Yan for an explanation. They even messed up Third Uncle’s rented yard!”

“Really?”

Nan Baoyi’s eyes shone brightly.

“Why do I need to lie to you? I even heard that Nan Yan went out to buy some needle and thread and was beaten up badly by Nan Xiaoqian and a group of girls. Now she is lying at home with a bruised face! Jiaojiao, I have no sympathy for her at all, she deserved it!”

“Then do you know how my father is now?”

Nan Baozhu shook her head.

She saw the corner of Nan Baoyi’s mouth was covered with cake crumbs and took out her handkerchief to wipe for her, “Jiaojiao, you are eating so hastily, are you very hungry? Xiao Yi is too cruel to you!”

“Hmm…”

Nan Baoyi saw Xiao Yi had his hands behind his back, appearing behind Nan Baozhu.

She panicked and blinked a few times at Nan Baozhu

Nan Baozhu put away her handkerchief and kept talking, “I remember you used to scold him last time, saying he is cold like a poisonous snake lurking in a corner, and you are the cat that catches the snake, teaching the snake a lesson sooner or later. But Jiaojiao, why are you listening to him now? Eh, why do you keep blinking, is there sand in your eyes, I help you to blow, okay?”

Nan Baoyi was close to tears!

Nan Baozhu finally felt a chill behind her.

She turned around subconsciously and was immediately afraid!

She coughed guiltily, “Then, Jiaojiao, you should study properly and listen to Second Brother! I-I-I-I still have something to do, I’ll go first!”

The troublemaker ran far away.

Nan Baoyi dared not look at Xiao Yi’s face. She quickly picked up The Analects of Confucius and read out aloud.

Xiao Yi entered through the window.

He stood behind the little girl, his tall figure towering over her.

He looked down at her arrogantly, “Poisonous snake? Cat?”

“Second Brother, I’m wrong!” Nan Baoyi was in tears, “You are a noble person who won’t be calculative with a lowly person, don’t be mad at me! I’ve already finished memorizing one-tenth of The Analects of Confucius, do you want to check…”

She respectfully presented the book.

The little girl was respectful and flattering, Xiao Yi rather enjoyed it.

He took the book and randomly checked a few. The little girl recited very well and did not miss out or recite any words wrongly.

He couldn’t help but raised an eyebrow.

She was clearly smart and quick to memorize things. Why does she behave like an idiot on normal days…

He gave the book back to Nan Baoyi.

He was about to reward her by letting her rest for seven and a half minutes when he suddenly saw the pot of peonies by the window sill.

The entire pot was plucked clean. The little girl’s wrist had an exquisite flower bud bracelet…

Nan Baoyi noticed his look and so she proudly raised her wrist, “Second Brother, this is a flower bud bracelet that I made for myself, not only it looks beautiful and tender on my wrist, it also smelled nice! You smell it, it’s very fragrant!”

Xiao Yi’s heart was bleeding.

His flower, his Luoyang peonies!

He paid a high price to ship these Luoyang peonies from Yinli Garden!

But this girl did not know and still kept telling him to smell it, asking him if it’s fragrant or not. How can flowers that cost tens of thousands of silver not be fragrant?!

They have yet to bloom and was pitifully plucked clean by her!

“Second Brother, what’s wrong?” Nan Baoyi did not understand, “You don’t think my peony bracelet is nice?”

Tens of thousands of silver, you could still hear it clinking when throwing it into the water, how could it not look good on her wrist?

Xiao Yi exhaled deeply and nearly gritted his teeth, “Continue studying. Today if you can’t finish memorizing The Analects of Confucius, you are not allowed to eat.”

Nan Baoyi watched him leave in surprise.

She clearly coaxed him nicely, why did he suddenly get angry?

They said accompanying a man is like accompanying a tiger. She felt that this powerful minister was really temperamental…

To have such a big brother was really awful!

Nan Baoyi relied on the desserts that her Cousin Sister brought over and managed to pull through in the morning.

She memorized as if her life depended on it. Sometimes she leaned against the window, sometimes she sat cross-legged on the study table, other times she squatted at a corner, her small mouth mumbled incomprehensibly to herself.

Her stomach was rumbling with such hunger that she could not bear it. She drank all the tea in the teapot and even chewed some tea leaves to fill her tummy.

“Ji Wen thought three times and then acted. When the Master was informed of it, he said, “Think twice is enough.”

[Translation note: Ji Wen was a historical figure]

She was anxiously memorizing and suddenly there was pushing and shoving noises outside of the study.

Nan Baoyi looked out the window.

Two servants carried a stretcher and Nan Yan was actually lying on it. She had bruises on her face and nose, looking very pitiful.

Presumably, she was beaten up like this by Nan Xiaoqian and her friends.

Her father led seven or eight servants carrying sticks and said angrily, “Hand over that unfilial daughter of mine! Tell her to see what she has done to her sister, such sin!

As Yu Wei was Chaowen Yard’s first rank maid, she stood under the eave, neither servile nor overbearing, and smiled, “Third Master has returned to the residence? You should go to Songhe Yard and greet Old Madam.”

“When a master is talking, you should not interrupt as a maid!” Nan Guang said sharply, “Tell Nan Baoyi to come out here, I have something to ask her!”

“If Third Uncle has something to say, just ask me.”

The cold and indifferent voice sounded slow.

Nan Baoyi looked over. A young man in black robes was coming from the end of the corridor.

His posture was tall and straight, walking with a distinguished aura.

He walked out of the study and sat on a rosewood circular chair, holding a fan and looking smart.