Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My elder sister was brought back by Mother herself two days later.

She had only been away from the manor for a little over a month, yet she seemed like a completely different person.

She had lost a great deal of weight. Her face was pale and drawn, her clothes plain, her hair adorned with nothing but a simple wooden pin, yet it only gave her the air of a frail, sickly beauty.

Mother’s heart ached for her all the more. She held her close, tears streaming down her face, and called her Bao’er.

Zhou Huaixu soon came to visit again.

At last, he saw my elder sister.

He had found the Fairy Meilan who had haunted his dreams.

The two of them were soon engaged.

Zhou Huaixu also became a frequent guest at Cui Manor.

He often came to the manor and brought my elder sister all kinds of novel little trinkets.

Even I benefited from it.

Pointing at a begonia pearl hair ornament, Mother smiled at my elder sister and said, “Huaixu truly has you in his heart. He specially picked out a whole set of hair ornaments for you and still remembered to bring something for Ah Li as well.”

My elder sister covered her mouth and smiled shyly. “He is very good.”

I stared at the pearl hair ornament, momentarily dazed.

It was the same as the one he had given me in my previous life.

He had said he happened to see it and thought of me, certain it would look lovely on me.

Back then, I had been overjoyed.

He was the first person who had ever kept me in his heart.

But now I finally understood.

That pearl hair ornament was the most ordinary style.

It could not compare in the slightest to the headpiece he had so carefully chosen for my elder sister.

In my previous life, he had already been dissatisfied when he found me.

That was why he had been so perfunctory.

And that was why, when he saw the blood on the sheets, he had been so vexed.

My elder sister blushed under Mother’s teasing and quickly turned the conversation to me.

“Ah Ning, this hair ornament suits you. Come, try it on.”

She made as if to place the pearl ornament into my hair.

I turned my head away. “I don’t like begonias.”

My elder sister’s hand froze in midair, and a trace of embarrassment crossed her face.

Tears shimmered in her eyes, as if they would fall at any moment.

Mother shot me an impatient glance. “You don’t know what’s good for you. Mingzhu was only being kind.”

She put her arm around my elder sister and comforted her, never sparing me another look.

Perhaps I truly could not stand the sight of such tender affection between mother and daughter.

So I opened my mouth and ruined the mood again. “In a few more days, it will have been a full month.”

The room fell silent for an instant.

Mother looked a little stunned, as if she had truly forgotten.

Tears gathered in my elder sister’s eyes, clinging there without falling.

When the True Daughter left, she had made her stance clear.

She would give them only one month to consider.

One month later, she would come to the door again. If the false daughter had not left by then, she would never set foot in the Cui Family again for the rest of her life.

And the matters of Cui Mingzhu returning to the manor and becoming engaged to Zhou Huaixu had all been kept from her.