The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, after dinner, Gong Xiaohua went to the pharmacy. The antibiotics had been fermenting for a week and could be purified soon.
"Madam, Miss Qin is here to see you." Spring Cloud said from outside the room.
"Okay." Gong Xiaohua covered the culture medium and decided to come back later to extract the antibiotics.
In the front hall of Bi Chao Courtyard, the maids were standing guard outside while only Qin Chuqin and Qin Chuyuan were sitting inside.
"Haven't you been coming to my Bi Chao Courtyard quite often recently?"
"What's wrong? You don't like it?"
"It affects me from handling government affairs."
Qin Chuqin chuckled. At this time right after dinner, how could he shamelessly claim that. He was obviously being pretentious.
She decided to tease him, "It affects your alone time with Xiaohua? I'm very curious, with your temperament, how do you usually get along privately with Xiaohua? Tell your sister!"
"Boring." Qin Chuyuan knew his sister was deliberately messing with him. He glanced at her disdainfully.
Seeing her younger brother's reaction, Qin Chuqin found it very amusing. She kept staring at her brother until his face involuntarily turned red at a visible rate.
"Sister~" He rarely acted like when he was young to get his way.
"Haha. Okay, from now on, sister will take action when appropriate, alright?"
"Whatever you want." To stop his sister from continuing to tease, Qin Chuyuan changed the subject.
"Zhou Wenxuan is infertile. I've kept it from Mother. Only the three of us know. If you want to be with Li Zichen, this will be a good opportunity."
Qin Chuqin fell silent. Given the relationship between Xiaohua and Li Zichen, if Xiaohua did not marry Qin Chuyuan, she might choose to be with Li Zichen without hesitation.
However, Qin Chuyuan and Xiaohua were already engaged. Although their engagement was only an agreement in private, given Qin Chuyuan’s feelings for Xiaohua, he would not let Xiaohua leave. Her fate with Li Zichen was over.
"Let's talk about it later." Qin Chuqin pretended to be indifferent.
"Why?" Qin Chuyuan looked at Qin Chuqin puzzled. Of course he did not know Qin Chuqin's worries, as he did not care about those boring rumors at all.
"Madam."
The maid's voice came from outside. The two people inside immediately stopped talking.
When Gong Xiaohua walked in from the outside, Qin Chuqin immediately stood up, smiled, and led her by the hand to the left side of the hall until they stopped in front of a table. She smiled and said, "Look, these are all new clothes made for you. Take a look, there are several styles, each with multiple sets. Try them on and see if you like them and if they fit. If you don't like them, we can redo them. If they don't fit, we’ll have Xiuniang alter them."
Gong Xiaohua saw that not only the table in front of her but also the chairs were piled high with clothes of various colors and styles. She did not expect so many clothes just for making new ones. So she asked Qin Chuqin puzzled, "Isn't this a bit much?"
"Not at all. There are many banquets between prestigious families. Clothing and dressing up are very particular. I will slowly teach you more later. And these are just the autumn clothes. When the next season comes, Sister will have Xiuniang make more. And after a while, have Qin Chuyuan give you some good furs to make some cloaks that will definitely look good."
Although Qin Chuqin was speaking to Gong Xiaohua, she was actually looking at Qin Chuyuan, giving him tips on how to please the young lady.
Although Qin Chuyuan still had his usual poker face, his slow tea drinking action showed that he had already made a mental note.
Qin Chuqin secretly thought: Fortunately he's not a hopeless case.
"No need to go through so much trouble. I may not have so much time to participate in banquets in the future. You should make more sets for Qin Chuyuan later since he has more social engagements."
"He has plenty of clothes already and doesn’t need us to worry about him, right Qin Chuyuan?"
"Yes." Sitting to the side, Qin Chuyuan nodded with amusement. In his sister’s heart, he had to take a backseat now. But he was happy to see things going well.
Then Qin Chuqin took out a jewelry box from under the pile of clothes on the table. She opened it in front of Gong Xiaohua, revealing a variety of luxurious and exquisite gold and jade jewelry.
"And these are some jewelry I bought when I was shopping with Mother. I specially picked out some popular styles to bring over. I’ve never worn these before. Take them and dress up nicely tomorrow for the Mid-Autumn Festival. You will definitely look good."
Looking at the valuable jewelry in front of her, Gong Xiaohua said, "I know you're trying to thank me for helping you before, but those were just small things to me and I didn't actually help much at all."
"Xiaohua, it may have been trivial to you, but to me, it's the matter of a lifetime. These things are nothing." After speaking, she looked at Qin Chuyuan, hoping he could help persuade Xiaohua.
"This is my sister's sincere intentions." Qin Chuyuan said to Gong Xiaohua.
Hearing Qin Chuyuan say this and looking at the luxurious clothes and exquisite jewelry in front of her, Gong Xiaohua knew that continuing to decline would disappoint their good intentions. But she could not change her principles.
"I can accept the clothes, but the jewelry is too valuable and I cannot accept them." Gong Xiaohua said firmly to Qin Chuqin.
Qin Chuqin knew that no matter how much more she said, the other party would not change her mind, so she gave up.
She turned her head to look at Qin Chuyuan and saw a hint of disappointment on her brother's face. It seemed like there had been no progress at all. This guy still had a long way to go.
Sensing his sister's gaze, Qin Chuyuan immediately tidied up his emotions and said, "Sister, the Crown Prince made plans with us to go boating on the lake tomorrow night and said he would bring the ladies along. Will you come with us?"
"I won't go." Qin Chuqin directly refused. With her current status, if she went out, it would definitely attract unwanted gossip from others. She did not want to cause more trouble for the family.
"Don't be afraid. Others’ gazes are not worth it." Gong Xiaohua immediately saw Qin Chuqin's concerns and comforted her.
It was just this simple sentence that almost made Qin Chuqin lose her composure. For so many years, she had been subjected to all kinds of ridicule and criticism from the outside world. Today there was finally someone telling her that those things were not worth it, igniting her courage and hope for a new life.
"Okay."
After Qin Chuqin left, Gong Xiaohua asked Spring Cloud to come in and tidy up the clothes she had brought. She now knew the extravagance of prestigious families firsthand.
"My sister really enjoys spending time with you. She listens to your words. I hope you can advise her more in the future." Qin Chuyuan asked Gong Xiaohua.
"Okay."
The room became quiet again.
"I'm going to the pharmacy now. I plan to go home tomorrow." Since tomorrow was the Mid-Autumn festival and there was a day off from the military, she was going to visit the Gong family first to perform bone fusion surgery on Xiao Nan. Whether it would ultimately succeed or fail depended on fate.
"Alright. I have nothing to do right now so I will go to the pharmacy with you." He immediately stood up, preparing to go with her.
When he reached Gong Xiaohua, he inexplicably added, "I also have nothing to do tomorrow."
Gong Xiaohua? She didn't know what was going on. She always felt that ever since coming to the Qin family, Qin Chuyuan had been acting strangely in front of her from time to time. He’s so free?
