CH 17.1

Chapter 17: Three Cousins (1) Original translation is from tenderflower's blog.

When Shu Zhan and Qin Han ran in one after another, Shu Wan was combing Shu Lan’s hair.

Shu Lan changed into a brand new pink shirt and sat lazily in front of the mirror. Her entire back was almost leaning on Shu Wan. She had already combed her little head with a bun and it was falling little by little, which made Shu Wan confused several times and had to comb it again.

“Sister, is Ah Lan feeling better?” Shu Zhan quickly walked to the dressing mirror and looked down at his younger sister. The young man in a plain blue robe was already half a head taller than Shu Wan.

The fewer people know about Shu Lan’s running away, the better. So Qin Ruhai and others discussed it and said that Shu Lan suddenly had a stomach ache last night, so they came to the town to see a doctor, and then rested with the Qin family. (tenderflower: isn’t her father a doctor…?)

Shu Wan glanced sideways at her younger brother, “It’s much better. She sweated last night, don’t worry.”

Shu Zhan breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing his younger sister still liked to sleep like before, he smiled badly, stretched out his index finger, and rubbed the little girl’s white and tender neck back and forth. He knew his younger sister was covered with itchy skin so she would never be able to bear it if she was so gently caressed somewhere.

Sure enough, almost as soon as his stretched hand touched Shu Lan’s neck, Shu Lan shrank her neck to the left, but unfortunately, Shu Zhan snickered and chased after it. Shu Lan couldn’t hide. She opened her eyes suddenly and pouted, shouting without looking at who it was: “Older brother, you said you will never tickle me again!”

“Ha ha ha, and you said you will never sleep in again!” Shu Zhan laughed without any image. He had long since lost the gentleness and steadiness he had in school.

Shu Lan didn’t comply, reaching out to grab her older brother.

Shu Wan straightened her dishonest head and said softly: “Be obedient and careful, mother will come in a moment!” Looking through the mirror, she saw Qin Han standing foolishly at the door of the room. She couldn’t help but smile: “Cousin why not come in?”

The 12-year-old Qin Han then walked in and stood still in front of Shu Zhan. He only glanced at Shu Lan and a faint blush appeared on his white face, “Ah Lan, so you are here.”

Wasn’t this nonsense? Shu Zhan turned his head and snickered.

“Mm, third cousin.” Shu Lan replied with little interest, sitting obediently and motionless. Her upper and lower eyelids began to fight with each other again.

Qin Han was used to the sleepy appearance of his little cousin. He didn’t think she was unwilling to respond to him but looked at Shu Lan with joy.

In his heart, apart from the eldest cousin, there was no more beautiful girl than the cousin. She had beautifully curved eyebrows, watery black eyes, a thin and white face, red and tender mouth. She only needed to glance at him casually and it could make his heartbeat change uncontrollably. He wanted to surround her all day and watch her sleeping cutely, watching her coquettish appearance.

“Okay, let’s go eat in the front courtyard.” Shu Wan tied a beautiful bow on her younger sister’s bun and said with satisfaction.

Shu Lan turned her head and let her older sister lead her out of the door.

The Qin family was wealthy and the house had three entrances. The first entrance was the hall, where guests were received, in the second one, Qin Ruhai’s old couple resided in the main house, and the two uncles occupied the east and west wings respectively. They usually ate together. The backyard was Qin-shi’s boudoir before she got married, and it was cleaned every day. Once Qin-shi’s husband and wife came, they could stay at any time. Now Shu Zhan was staying there.

When Shu Lan and the others stepped into the front courtyard, they saw two little maids serving food from the kitchen to the dining room.

Shu Lan tilted her head to think of their names. Suddenly a pair of big hands stretched out from the side, and the next moment, she was carried around in the air. Shu Lan hugged the man’s neck in a panic, squinting her eyes and shouting, “Second cousin, let me down!”

Grandfather’s family was annoying. Everyone liked to tease her!

Qin Ming’s laughter was still open and hearty until Shu Lan was clinging to him like an octopus, he stopped spinning her in satisfaction. He faced Shu Wan and called his cousin, and then strode into the dining room.

When Qin Feng, the older brother saw it, he frowned and reprimanded: “You teased Ah Lan again, look at how scared she is, still don’t put her down!”

Qin Ming turned a deaf ear until his mother Zhu-shi also cast an unhappy look at him, then he pouted his lips in disappointment, “Okay, don’t scare you. Each and everyone was helping you!”

With her feet touching the ground again, Shu Lan glared at Qin Ming angrily. She turned her head in a circle, and rushed towards the old madam who was sitting on the side seat, “Grandmother, second cousin bullied me again!”

The old madam had just passed her 55th birthday in the first month. Her hair was faintly white, but her body was very strong. With both hands, she picked up Shu Lan and put her on her lap. She kissed her with a “muah” before pretending to glare at Qin Ming angrily: “Grandmother saw it. She will give him a cane later and see if he dares to bully our Ah Lan again!”

Qin Ming sat down at the men’s table, not forgetting to laugh and joked with the old madam: “Other families value males and attach less importance to females, but my grandmother likes daughters the most. As soon as she saw her granddaughter, she forgot about me, this grandson who looks good in all aspects, and went out of the clouds!”

“Be quiet, the most talkative in our family is only you!” The old madam smiled with her eyebrows raised, lowered her head, and kissed Shu Lan again. The two daughters-in-law gave birth to grandsons. She had always been looking forward to girls in the Qin family, but there was none for more than ten years. Fortunately, her daughter gave birth to two granddaughters. One was more moist and bright than the other, could she not value it as a rarity?