Not long after, Ziming brought over a small medicine box.
Yu Luo leaned against a soft pillow. “What medicines are these?”
“This bottle of white jade ointment is the most effective for dispersing bruises and relieving pain,” Ziming explained to Yu Luo one by one. “And this bottle here was presented to the palace as tribute…”
After finishing her explanations, Ziming carefully took one of the ointments, intending to apply the medicine for Yu Luo.
Yu Luo’s fingertips paused slightly. “I understand. You may go down first. I’ll apply the medicine myself.”
After Ziming left, Yu Luo immediately threw away the dignified and arrogant mask of the Eldest Miss and instantly clutched her waist.
Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain!
That collision had hurt so much she almost burst into tears!
Yu Luo had always been very sensitive to pain by nature and had always been someone who feared pain greatly.
So whenever she thought about her future fate, she could not help but have nightmares in advance.
In order to make the male lead forget this hatred, she could only sacrifice herself temporarily.
Yu Luo sighed faintly. With her slender, pale fingers, she picked up a bottle of white jade ointment, took a dab about the size of a red bean, warmed it in her palm, and applied it to her waist.
The scent of the white jade ointment was very special. It did not have the usual strong medicinal smell that assaulted the nose. Perhaps some flower petals had been mixed into it, because it carried a faint fragrance of plum blossoms.
The medicine truly worked. Once it was warmed and applied, the intense pain in her waist immediately lessened a great deal.
She arranged her clothes properly again and then picked up another ointment contained in a black bottle.
This bottle of lingzhen ointment was said to stop bleeding and heal wounds. Yu Luo was extremely afraid of pain, so there was no way she would cut her own hand just to test it.
After thinking for a moment, she wrapped the lingzhen ointment in a handkerchief and tucked it into her sleeve.
There were two bottles of lingzhen ointment in total. According to Ziming, these two bottles had been bestowed by Madam Yu. They were very valuable and normally could only be used when Yu Luo was injured.
Yu Luo picked up the other bottle of lingzhen ointment and idly played with it on the table.
In truth, when she was quiet, her entire temperament was completely different from Eldest Miss Yu.
If they were compared to animals, Eldest Miss Yu was like a snake, while Yu Luo was like a rabbit.
Even if two people with completely different temperaments and personalities occupied the exact same shell, the feeling they gave others would be entirely different.
This made Yu Luo very troubled.
If someone discovered the truth and accused her of possessing the body or being a wandering ghost that had borrowed Eldest Miss Yu’s body to return to life, her fate would probably be extremely miserable.
She placed the bottle of lingzhen ointment into her sleeve.
At that moment, Ziming came in and said, “Eldest Miss, Biao Xiaojie and the two young masters are flying kites at Yanzi Islet.”
All the maids who served Eldest Miss Yu knew that ever since Biao Xiaojie Liu Yanran came to stay in the residence, Eldest Miss Yu had not looked upon Liu Yanran favorably. She insisted that Liu Yanran had stolen the affection their father and brothers had once given her.
Therefore, whenever anything happened on Biao Xiaojie’s side—especially matters involving the two young masters—Eldest Miss Yu always had to know.
If these maids failed to report such matters to Eldest Miss Yu, they would surely suffer endless hardships later.
After hearing this, Yu Luo remained silent for a moment.
She was not interested in flying kites, nor did she want to cling to those two cheap older brothers and play with them.
Yu Luo had been an only child since she was young. After her mother passed away and her father remarried, the older sister brought by her stepmother often secretly made things difficult for her.
Later, her stepmother gave birth to another younger sister, and Yu Luo became even more unhappy at home.
All those experiences had left Yu Luo with no longing for sibling affection.
Eldest Miss Yu yearned for these two brothers to protect her and value her. Yu Luo did not.
After being alone for so long, Yu Luo only believed that she herself could protect herself.
But if she did not go, it would not match her usual character of interfering in matters between Biao Xiaojie and the two brothers.
Yu Luo said, “Is there a kite here? I’ll go to Yanzi Islet and join the fun as well. I am the Eldest Miss of the Yu Family Residence. If they are playing together, why shouldn’t they call me?”
Ziming had already thought that Eldest Miss seemed a little strange today, somewhat different from usual, and had been planning to mention it privately to Madam.
Now that she heard Yu Luo say this, she quickly replied, “There is one. The kite we bought at the night market during last year’s Lantern Festival has never been used. It’s still stored in the storeroom.”
When Ziming brought the kite over, Yu Luo glanced at it and felt slightly speechless.
She had seen eagle kites, butterfly kites, and dragonfly kites before, but this was the first time she had ever seen a kite shaped like a big white rabbit.
Even rabbits could fly into the sky. The people of this era really had quite imaginative ideas.
No matter how she looked at it, she felt that this rabbit was not domineering enough.
Logically speaking, she was going to cause trouble. She should at least take a flamboyant and overbearing eagle kite to match her character.
Yu Luo frowned. “Why is it a rabbit kite?”
Ziming said, “Last year was the Year of the Rabbit…”
A rabbit it was, then. Rabbits could bite people too.
Yu Luo did not nitpick anymore and walked out with the kite.
Enemies truly met on narrow roads. She encountered the male lead again.
The male lead truly lived up to his reputation as someone capable of overthrowing the big boss Emperor and possessing a character setting even darker than the villain.
After being drenched in the torrential rain all night and beaten until covered in wounds by the willful Eldest Miss, he had simply changed into a clean set of clothes and returned to stand guard on duty.
Yu Luo was puzzled. Hadn’t she told Boss Brother Xiao to rest for a day before returning to duty?
Then she immediately realized the reason.
Eldest Miss Yu’s words had never been trustworthy.
If Li Xiao had really gone to rest, then according to Eldest Miss Yu’s character, she would definitely drag him back out and whip him another hundred times.
Li Xiao stood outside the courtyard wearing a dark robe. Even though his disguised face looked completely ordinary, he still carried a cold and powerful aura.
It was said that the male lead possessed extremely handsome features. In the entire book, not a single man’s appearance could compare to his.
Yu Luo was truly curious about what Li Xiao’s real face looked like.
But it was only curiosity!
She cherished her life. If the male lead did not want people to see it, she would absolutely not court death by insisting on looking!
At that moment, Yu Luo suddenly thought of a good idea.
“There’s wind right now. Give me the kite,” Yu Luo said. “I want to fly it here for a while.”
Ziming quickly handed the kite to Yu Luo.
Taking advantage of the wind, Yu Luo released the kite into the sky. Just to the southwest stood a rather tall magnolia tree. The kite became caught on one of its branches. No matter how much she pulled, it would not come down, and instead the string snapped.
Yu Luo looked at Li Xiao. “You—come here!”
Li Xiao’s expression remained indifferent as he walked over. “Eldest Miss.”
Yu Luo knew she was only acting, but when facing the man who would one day kill her, she still could not help taking two steps back.
“Go retrieve my kite. If both the kite and the tree branch remain completely undamaged, this young lady will reward you generously. Otherwise, I will punish you heavily.”
Several of the other maids looked at Li Xiao with sympathy.
The trunk of the magnolia tree was not easy to climb, and the branch holding the kite was slender. Retrieving the kite without damaging the branch was truly making things difficult for someone.
Li Xiao looked at Yu Luo.
For some reason, Yu Luo felt that within his usually indifferent gaze there was a trace of another emotion—perhaps he found something interesting or amusing.
Yu Luo froze for a moment. When she looked again, Li Xiao had already moved his gaze away.
He leaped lightly upward, using his qinggong to climb the tree. In the blink of an eye, he retrieved the kite.
“Eldest Miss.” Li Xiao’s voice was naturally deep and magnetic, stirring the heart when heard. “Your kite.”