Gu Liyue asked curiously, "Is Lord Lu... the heir apparent?"
Gu Chengzhi was friends with Lu Jinchen. Normally, he should have been happy, but today he just couldn't cheer up. He replied in a gruff voice. Seeing Gu Liyue looking shy, he felt even worse.
His younger sister had only been back for a few days. In fact, he had only known about her existence for a few days, and now she seemed to belong to someone else. Even when they went out shopping, she was reluctant to buy this or that for herself, but still wanted to buy a gift for her lover.
Just thinking about it made him feel more stifled.
When they went upstairs to the private room, sure enough, they saw Lu Jinchen sitting by the window, calmly making tea. He was usually laid - back, but today he seemed particularly refined. Even the sharpness between his eyebrows had disappeared, and there was more tenderness in his eyes when he looked up.
When Lu Jinchen saw them come in, he stood up and waved to Gu Liyue, asking her to sit in front and pouring her a cup of tea.
Gu Liyue looked at it nervously, feeling a bit sad. She didn't like tea. Back at the Jiang family, she had endured the boredom to learn how to make and drink tea, but he seemed to like it naturally. Even the way he poured tea was so smooth and looked as beautiful as a painting.
She and him always seemed a bit out of place with each other.
Seeing that Gu Liyue didn't drink, Lu Jinchen raised his eyebrows and gave a gentle smile. "How does it feel to be back home?"
Gu Liyue replied in a low voice, "It's... not bad."
Lu Jinchen said, "Chengzhi sent someone to inform me early this morning that he was going to take you out for a stroll. Did you have a good time? Did you take a fancy to anything?"
Gu Liyue bit her lips. She knew that he was kind to her, but... could they really be together? Even though she was now the legitimate daughter of the Marquis Mansion, she was born in the countryside and wasn't used to the rules of a wealthy family. How could she be with such a noble person for a long time?
She said dejectedly, "It's okay."
Lu Jinchen was a bit surprised. She didn't talk much, but today she seemed to be in an extremely bad mood. He looked up at Gu Chengzhi and found that for some reason, his friend also looked unhappy today.
Thinking of the past when Gu Chengzhi and Liyue didn't get along well, he couldn't help but frown. Did Gu Chengzhi still have a grudge against Liyue now?
Lu Jinchen stood up and said gently to Gu Liyue, "You've been strolling for a whole morning. You must be tired. Take a rest first. I'll go with Chengzhi and be back soon."
Gu Chengzhi squinted at Lu Jinchen and followed him outside. Then he asked, "What's up?"
Lu Jinchen regained his former coldness and glanced at him indifferently. "You're not happy about Liyue returning to the family, are you?"
What was he talking about?
Gu Chengzhi shook his head blankly. "No, I'm not."
Lu Jinchen walked to the corner. After making sure that Gu Liyue wouldn't suddenly appear and couldn't hear their conversation, he leaned against the wall leisurely and sneered at him. "Even if you've seen a lot of the world, you'd still feel constrained when you first go to a strange place, let alone you know her past. You didn't like her before. Now, even though you've found out that she's your sister, you still look down on her?"
Gu Chengzhi was an impatient person. He didn't care that the one in front of him was his childhood friend. He immediately frowned. "What are you talking nonsense about? She's my sister. How could I look down on her? She..."
Lu Jinchen didn't say a word and just looked at him silently. His attitude was self - evident, clearly implying that Gu Chengzhi had looked down on her before.
Gu Chengzhi touched his nose aggrievedly. "Even if I wanted to, with my grandparents around, I wouldn't dare..."
Lu Jinchen sneered. "So, you didn't dare at home, but you took the opportunity to bully her when you were out?"
"Absolutely not!" Gu Chengzhi howled. "Lu Jinchen, can you stop putting the blame on me randomly? When did I ever bully her? She could buy whatever she wanted. I really didn't..."
Lu Jinchen asked, "Then why did you both come in with such a gloomy face?"
Gu Chengzhi choked and cast an unwilling glance at his friend. "She's my sister. Humph, you're good at seizing the opportunity and coaxed her away early."
Hearing this, Lu Jinchen knew that his friend was jealous. Thinking about what he said, it was probably because of something Gu Liyue did that made Gu Chengzhi realize that Liyue cared most about him. Lu Jinchen couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth. He squinted his eyes and said, "If you truly treat someone well, you won't care about their status."
After he knew that Gu Chengzhi hadn't bullied Gu Liyue, he didn't say any more. He turned around and went back to the private room, but Gu Liyue wasn't there.
The maid beside explained, "Your Highness, Young Master Gu. Miss has gone downstairs to buy something."
Lu Jinchen walked to the window and saw Gu Liyue leading the maid walking across the street. There was a candy seller there, surrounded by a few children. Gu Liyue seemed hesitant but still walked over and stood aside.
Gu Chengzhi said puzzledly, "What's so good about that hard candy? It's sticky when it gets soft. And if she likes it, she could just ask the maid to buy it. Why does she have to go there herself?"
For some reason, Lu Jinchen remembered the first time he saw Gu Liyue at the beginning of the year. A Jie told him that the candies at Gu Liyue's home were bitter and hard to eat, but Gu Liyue still regarded those two candies as treasures.
His heart softened. He turned to the servant and said, "Go to Miss Gu and buy all the two baskets of hard candies from that peddler. Then send them back to the Gu family."
Gu Chengzhi curled his lips. "If my sister's teeth go bad later, I'll come after you."
Lu Jinchen just smiled and still looked out of the window.
Gu Liyue didn't know what was going on upstairs. When she saw the candy seller, she wanted to come down and buy some. If she bought more, Yunniang would surely like it too.
Back in Yangxin Town, there were only candy sellers during festivals. Miao wouldn't buy any because it was too expensive. Even Liu Zhenghui could only eat candies with little sweetness. At that time, Gu Liyue would eagerly watch the old man selling candy shake the rattle and imagine that one day she could also taste the candy.
Later, in the Feng and Jiang families, she had eaten better - tasting candies, but the hard candy sold by that old man with the rattle was still the thing she missed most in her heart.
"Miss Liyue."
Gu Liyue heard a familiar voice. She looked back and saw Feng Sui standing about half a zhang away from her.
Feng Sui immediately stepped forward and sized Gu Liyue up and down. "Liyue, it's really you. I... I thought I had misrecognized you. You've grown taller and... more beautiful in half a year."
Gu Liyue nodded and took a half - step back imperceptibly. "Thank you for the compliment, Young Master Feng."
Feng Sui was extremely delighted. "I never thought I'd see you here, Liyue. How are you doing now? My mother said that the mistress of the Jiang family treated you very well. I was always a bit worried before, but now seeing you like this, I'm a bit relieved."
The matter of Jiang Yingyue was a private and disgraceful affair. Except for those noble people who couldn't be kept in the dark, others were of course unaware. The Feng family was just a merchant family, so it was normal that they didn't get the news.