Exhausted from the long journey, Su Niao slept soundly despite being in a new place, waking up long past breakfast time. But now she was the boss in Su Garden; naturally, she could eat whenever she pleased.
After breakfast, she stepped outside and saw Xie Chenyan already waiting in the courtyard for her orders.
After racking her brains all night, Su Niao devised a temporary plan she was eager to test. She told Xie Chenyan that she wanted to make a fox fur cloak herself and ordered him to go into the mountains to hunt foxes: “If you manage to catch any prey, I will purchase it from you at market price.”
Since their original agreement was for him to serve as her household servant rather than a hunter, Su Niao provided a reasonable solution.
Knowing he had remarkable martial skills, Chen Yan naturally wasn’t afraid to go into the mountains. He had assumed the noble lady would keep him by her side to deliberately torment him, and hadn’t expected her to dispatch him elsewhere.
Thus, Chen Yan retrieved a set of bow and arrows from the storeroom. Glancing at the tattered weapons in his hands, he said nothing, took the gear, and headed out toward the mountains. The noble young lady certainly harbored a deep grudge. Then again, given that she had dared to draw a blade against him even after being subdued in the carriage earlier, she was never docile to begin with.
Ping’an Lane was situated at the edge of the county town. Crossing the small river via the stone bridge at the end of the lane led to a dirt path. Following the road forward, stretches of agricultural manors extended all the way to the foot of the mountain, reachable in less than an hour’s walk.
Su Niao watched Xie Chenyan’s figure disappear into the distance, praying in her heart that wild beasts or wolves would devour him in the mountains.
She asked the housekeeper, “Are you sure there were no issues with the weapons provided?”
The housekeeper, Uncle Jing, hurriedly replied, “They are all tattered, broken, and completely unusable.”
Su Niao nodded in satisfaction.
After breakfast, Su Niao went out to get some fresh air. The scenery here was truly lovely, saving her from long carriage rides out of the grand manor gates, as she used to in the capital, just to go sightseeing.
As she stepped outside, she noticed people along the lane casting subtle, curious glances her way.
After all, Su Garden was an estate of extraordinary nobility, and word had spread that the newly arrived young lady was an absolute stunner. Everyone was eager to steal a glance and see for themselves what kind of beauty could truly be called peerless.
Thus, as Su Niao walked out toward the stone bridge and the small river, more and more eyes turned to follow her. She wore no veiled hat this time; now that she had arrived at her own residence, keeping herself constantly veiled felt impractical and somewhat pretentious.
Since she was born with such breathtaking beauty, why should she skulk around hiding her face?
A large crowd had gathered around the stone bridge. With breakfast just over and the summer heat yet to kick in, it was a relaxed hour of the day. Walking along, Su Niao caught the onlookers’ whispers—the usual praises she had long grown tired of hearing.
As she drew closer to the stone bridge, she finally realized why everyone was crowding around it: someone was painting a portrait, and the subject was a young lady in lavish attire seated beneath a willow tree by the bridge.
The lavishly dressed girl was named Jin Mingzhu, the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Jining County, long renowned as the “Number One Beauty of Jining.”
Everyone nearby knew that Miss Jin had set her heart on the second son of the Chen family, Chen Xu. Since the Jin family residence was close to Ping’an Lane, Jin Mingzhu frequented the area. Today, she had paid Chen Xu one tael of silver to paint her portrait.
For one, painting required the artist to keep his gaze fixed on her, and dressed to the nines as she was, Jin Mingzhu desperately wanted Chen Xu’s eyes on her. For another, she had heard rumors that a new Miss Su had arrived in Ping’an Lane—one supposedly far more beautiful than Jining’s undisputed top beauty.
Refusing to believe it, Jin Mingzhu had charged straight over. Yet the moment she spotted the nonchalant maiden approaching amidst the crowd’s hushed whispers and staring eyes, her own eyes widened in shock. Disbelief came first, swiftly followed by uncontrollable fury.
Though loathsome to admit, Jin Mingzhu had to acknowledge the bitter truth… she had been completely outshone! Yet she was hardly lacking either! She had no idea where this little hussy had come from before moving into Ping’an Lane. What if she took a liking to Chen Xu?
At the thought, Jin Mingzhu felt her fighting spirit surge once more, and she shot Su Niao a venomous glare.
Su Niao: ?
She paid no mind to the inexplicably hostile girl in lavish clothes; after all, they weren’t even in the same league, and the girl was hardly worth her notice.
Su Niao’s attention was fixed on the painter—or, more accurately, his artwork.
If Su Niao possessed any artistic talent, it was painting. She was remarkably gifted in the craft, though in the past she had been too busy gallivanting with Xie Qinglan to ever settle down and paint properly. Still, there was no denying that she genuinely loved painting. Naturally, she knew good art when she saw it.
This man was surprisingly skilled; with artistry like this, he could easily make a name for himself even in the capital.
Engrossed in observing the painting, Su Niao unconsciously stepped closer, completely oblivious to the wide-eyed, furious glare of the girl sitting across from her. *Oh no, she really is after Chen Xu!*
Just then, Su Niao saw the painter’s brush jerk violently, leaving a jagged streak of ink right across the pristine canvas. Before she could even register her surprise, the man collapsed straight sideways. Beside him lay the stone bridge, beneath which rested a riverbed scattered with sharp, jagged rocks; a fall like that would leave his head bleeding and battered.
More importantly, she stood right beside him, and he was falling straight toward her.
Su Niao gave him a sharp shove back. “Hey, what are you doing?”
Chen Xu had expected to smash his head open against the rocks, but the anticipated pain never came. As his falling body was pushed back, he hurriedly grabbed the easel to steady himself, only to hear a voice that was anything but friendly.
At the same time, the dizziness before his eyes cleared. Chen Xu stared blankly at the face that seemed to emerge as if parting the clouds and mist, his mind going utterly blank for a moment before bursting into a bloom of a thousand flowers.
Jin Mingzhu charged over immediately, shoving herself right between Chen Xu and that vixen, her eyes brimming with worry as she looked at Chen Xu.
“Chen Xu, how are you? Are you alright? It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have made you paint when I knew you had just recovered from an illness. You paint so well; I love it so much! Here is your artist’s fee.”
Chen Xu subtly stepped back half a pace, declining her offer with his usual polite yet distant tone. “The painting is incomplete; I should not accept payment.”
Jin Mingzhu grew anxious. “It’s almost finished! Why are you so stubborn…”
Watching the two of them fussing and pulling back and forth, Su Niao averted her eyes. Picking up the paintbrush from the ground, she swished it in water, dabbed it in pigment, and without a second thought, flicked her wrist back and forth briskly.
“There, done!”
Su Niao tossed aside the tattered brush that had nearly ruined her touch and stepped back. “The painting is complete. Whoever needs to take the painting, take it; whoever needs to pay, pay. Now could you clear the way? I need to cross the bridge.”
Jin Mingzhu stared in utter disbelief at the portrait, rendered flawlessly in mere moments. Beside her, Chen Xu dazedly pulled his gaze away from the canvas and instinctively took two steps back, only to watch the young lady who had just saved him casually lift her skirt, step onto the stone bridge, and walk off into the distance with her maid.
Su Niao had not intended to save anyone; pushing him back was driven far more by disgust. Yet, to her surprise, during lunchtime, a tiny kid knocked on her door, claiming to come offer thanks.
The little girl wore old, patched clothes, though they were fairly clean. She carefully held a porcelain bowl filled with a dark red dish dotted with chopped green scallions—a dish of stir-fried fish?
Finally snapping back from the shock of seeing a celestial fairy, the tiny girl spoke in a soft, gentle voice: “Miss Su saved my second older brother. My mother said this is the stir-fried fish she made—it tastes delicious tucked into a mantou bun—so she had me bring it over to thank Miss Su.”
After a moment’s thought, the little girl added, “My eldest brother isn’t home, my mother is blind, and my second brother felt it wasn’t proper as a man to deliver it himself, so he sent me instead.”
So the guy she shoved today was actually Xie Chenyan’s current younger brother? *Tsk!*
Su Niao would normally look down on food from a humble household, but this wild veg and small-fry stir-fry smelled so savory, spicy, and fragrant that it tempted her to try it. She waved her hand, signaling Lichun to take the big porcelain bowl. Moments later, the young girl headed back to her own yard carrying a large plate of exquisite pastries.
Chen Xu stepped forward anxiously to greet her. The moment he caught sight of those refined pastries—a rare treat in Jining County—he froze. “Ah Ning, what is this?”
Chen Ning spoke in her usual soft, delicate voice: “Miss Su said thank you for the small fry, and that she liked it very much. She said ‘you come, I go’* and sent us these pastries.”
Chen Xu knew Miss Su must have meant *courtesy calls for reciprocity*. Looking at the delicate pastries on the plate and recalling the maiden he saw bathed in sunlight after his bout of dizziness that morning, his heart fluttered with a sudden surge of emotion. He clenched his fists slightly, forcing the feeling down.
On the other side, Su Niao had Lichun stuff the stir-fried small fry into a freshly steamed mantou bun to try. Sure enough, it was savory, spicy, and delicious. However, she rarely ate spicy food and couldn’t handle much heat. Before long, she found herself slurping iced plum juice while unable to stop taking bite after bite. Lichun watched with a deep frown, terrified the spice would upset her young lady’s stomach.
When Su Niao offered her a taste, Lichun refused. Yet just as Lichun tried to move the dish away, she accidentally knocked it to the ground.
Su Niao snapped angrily, “You did that on purpose!”
Lichun put on a face of pure innocence: “Your servant is wrongly accused…”
Su Niao shot her a glare, while Lichun grinned cheekily and set to work cleaning it up.
By the time Chen Yan walked into the courtyard carrying a white fox, his eyes caught the stir-fried small fry sitting in the trash basket. Since his family often made this dish whenever they had extra food, it looked familiar, so he gave it a second glance.
After handing the fox over to the guards and learning that Miss Su was resting and wanted him to report back later, Chen Yan turned around and headed home.
His aunt had poor eyesight and was gravely ill, while Chen Xu had just recovered from a sickness himself; he couldn’t help but feel worried about them. Stepping through his front gate, he saw little Ah Ning running over, holding up a piece of pastry. “Eldest Brother, eat! It’s so delicious!”
The exquisite pastry didn’t look like something a neighbor would give. Chen Yan asked casually, and his little sister explained that after their mother had her deliver a bowl of stir-fried small fry to Miss Su, Miss Su had sent these as a return gift.
Beside them, Chen Xu explained, ears flushed, how Miss Su had saved his life.
Chen Yan said nothing, his mind flashing back to the stir-fried small fry sitting in the Su family’s trash basket.
That was something his family had been reluctant to eat themselves, sending it over purely to express their gratitude. Yet, just like the preserved fruits offered by the friendly neighbors, it had gone straight into the Su family’s trash basket.
He patted his little sister’s head, then stood up, walked into the room, and gently urged, “The Su family is wealthy and lacks for nothing. Aunt, please don’t send food over again in the future; it is a plain waste.”
Aunt Chen felt a bit self-conscious. “Did Aunt embarrass you?”
Chen Yan shook his head. “How could you?”
A moment later, Chen Yan was summoned back to Su Garden.
Su Niao looked him up and down. Not only had he escaped being torn apart by wild beasts, but he was also completely uninjured. Even though she already knew how formidable his skills were, seeing him return safe and sound still left her deeply disappointed!
She waved her hand listlessly. “Fine. Head out again tomorrow. As for today’s fox…”
Before she could finish, Xie Chenyan spoke up in a calm, flat voice: “The fox will serve as payment for the pastries Miss Su sent over today. In the future, I must ask Young Lady to refrain from sending items to my home again—a humble household like ours cannot bear such generosity.”
Su Niao paused, turning back to look at him with a curl of her lips. “What, did a few pastries bruise your fragile ego?”
Seeing Xie Chenyan displeased instantly restored Su Niao’s good mood, and she intentionally sought to humiliate him: “Your family was the one eager to send things to me in the first place; giving gifts in return is simply a matter of my good upbringing. You really don’t need to be so overly sensitive and insecure.”
Yet Xie Chenyan showed not the slightest trace of insecurity. Instead, he raised his eyes and looked straight at her: “If you truly possessed a good upbringing, you would not so openly trample on the sincere intentions of others and discard them like trash.”
Su Niao was taken aback for a second, only then recalling the stir-fried small fry that had spilled onto the floor and been swept into the trash basket.
Of course, she had no intention of explaining herself to Xie Chenyan. Besides, she had every intention of humiliating him before taking his life anyway, so her lips curved into a slow smile: “That depends on what kind of intention it is. Some things are simply too shabby to be worthy of my notice.”
As expected, the moment the words left her mouth, she caught the icy chill in Xie Chenyan’s eyes at the thought of his family’s goodwill being trampled.
Su Niao’s mood brightened even further. Enjoying the sight, she leisurely peeled a grape for herself.
Chen Yan looked up, meeting the noble young lady’s condescending, malicious, and contemptuous smile.
Sarcastic humiliation seemed to bring this highborn lady immense joy. Unhurriedly, she popped the grape into her mouth, her lips painted with a glistening, translucent sheen from its juice.