RRP: (4)

When Cui Jiang Qing, who was behind him, scurried over and pulled out a handkerchief from her sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead, he could no longer maintain his stony expression in front of her honest and naive demeanor.

In his heart, Cui Ping'er was more like his real sister. Although she was devious and often fought for the best of everything in the family, no matter how much she made tantrums, the familial affection of fifteen years for her could not just be replaced.

However, what made his blood run cold was that Cui Ping'er, who had grown up with him day and night, bickering and playing together, boarded on a luxurious carriage without wavering to cross the threshold of a prestigious family upon hearing about the truth of her identity, showing no signs of attachment. Meanwhile, his parents were saddened, and he felt equally awful. Furthermore, the sister they had exchanged for, Cui Jiang Qing, bawled and lamented all day, grumbling about the poverty of their family. The young man felt even more suppressed indignation, thinking that Cui Jiang Qing, who was brought back halfway, was not truly his family. What's more, no matter how he looked at her, he could not feel intimate.

But now, this sister of his had reined in her grievance and indifference of the past few days, looking at him with a beam on her face. Her eyes roughly resembled their Mother Cui when she was young... For once, he felt that the young lady before him was undeniably his biological sister.

His steps involuntarily slowed down slightly as he strode forward.

When the siblings entered the courtyard together, Mother Cui was steaming osmanthus cakes on the stove. Seeing Cui Jiang Qing arrive home through the rising steam, she directly called out, "The freshly steamed cakes are for Jiang Qing to eat first. Chuan Bao, fill the water jar and come eat too."

Cui Jiang Qing heard Mother Cui's call and brought over a wooden basin. After undergoing several days of hardship, Mother Cui had further figured out the habits of her pampered daughter, who had just returned home. Perhaps it was a rule among the young ladies in the nobility, but they had to cleanse their hands with warm water for a long time before meals; even a slight chill in the water was unacceptable!

Mother Cui quickly took a ladle, scooped two ladles of hot water from the large iron pot, and casually grabbed a handful of dried osmanthus flowers left over from the steamed cake, scattering them into the wooden basin. With a somewhat appeasing tone, she said, "You complained earlier that the water in the iron pot had a foul smell, but it is still early in the morning, and there is really no time to boil more in the small clay pot. I have used the osmanthus petals to mask the smell. Can you please make do with it and rinse?"

Cui Jiang Qing's heart warmed at her cautious demeanor. What kind of spoiled brat had she become to make this usually tough and capable woman act towards her so attentively?

It was laughable that she had such harsh demands on her own mother, yet in her previous life, she had served the stringent and vicious mother-in-law, Madam Lu, and the adoptive mother, Madam Yao, with utmost care. Whereas she had never fulfilled a single day of filial duty towards this woman before her, Mother Cui, her biological mother.

It was a shame that, despite serving so carefully, she received not a shred of compassion from Madam Lu or Madam Yao. In the end, they did not even make the effort to seek her and instead deliberated among themselves elevating Cui Ping'er to the status of an equal wife.

Looking back now, she was truly worthy of scorn and pathetic back then.

"Mother, there is no need to sprinkle flower petals in the future. This water is meant for steaming cakes and already carries the sweet fragrance of osmanthus. Besides, this water is the most nourishing. My hands have become much lighter these past few days. This water is brought to wash hands for Father and Brother. If you sprinkle flower petals, what if they find it too fragrant?"

Mother Cui listened to Cui Jiang Qing's soft words and could not help but be dumbfounded. When she saw the young girl's saccharine smile directed at her, she could not help but break into a smile too, the wrinkles on her forehead smoothing out: "Why did you not say so earlier? If I had known it was for them, I would not have used flower petals. Just a handful of sand would be enough to scrub their rough hands clean!"

Cui Zhong, who had just chopped the firewood, saw Cui Jiang Qing's slender hands delicately bringing a large wooden basin towards him. He hurriedly reached out to take it and placed it on the wooden table used for drying the cakes.

Cui Jiang Qing tugged a handkerchief from her shoulder and handed it to Father Cui after he washed his hand. She initially planned to pour out the water and fill a new basin for her brother to wash, but dismissed it when she recalled how Mother Cui scolded Cui Chuan Bao yesterday for using too much hot water. For a humble and ordinary family, she understood that it was naturally wasteful for them; firewood and hot water were things to be conserved.

So, she held back and awaited for her father and brother to finish cleansing their hands before preparing to make do with that basin of water.

Mother Cui spotted this and quickly spoke, "Mother will get you some more water." After saying this, she poured some water into another basin and even sprinkled some flower petals into it.

Her daughter's delicate and slender hands made one feel a sense of pity just by looking at them; they needed to be well cared for. Fortunately, their family had a strong father and elder brother, who took on the hefty work. Her daughter only had to be slowly nurtured and slowly adapt to the life of a humble household. Otherwise, with such a frail body, it would break their hearts if she fell ill like she did just a few days ago.

However, by the time it was to eat breakfast, only the siblings were at the table to eat. The Cui couple did not bother to join them as they had no time and had gone out to set up their stall to sell food instead.

Cui Chuan Bao was eating the leftover edges of the osmanthus cakes. The Cui family's osmanthus cakes were filled, but the edges that were cut off had no filling.

In Cuii Jiang Qing's bowl, however, was a large, perfectly square piece that Mother Cui had specially left for her. Taking a bite of the filling, the honey filling was sweet, fragrant, and left a lingering taste on the tongue.

She took a small bite, glanced at her brother's own bowl, then turned and went into the kitchen. She came back with a knife on her, cut her cake in half, and gave the larger piece to him.

But Chuan Bao did not want it, insisting he usually eats it all the time and was already sick of it. He wanted Cui Jiang Qing to eat it all. However, she knew he was bluffing. To make steamed cakes, the ingredients needed naturally cost money, and the Cui couple, who were very frugal, would not spare some leftover bits!

After a bit of siblings giving the cake back-and-forth to each other, she finally forced it into Cui Chuan Bao's mouth. His cheeks were puffed up as he glared at the smiling Cui Jiang Qing.

They were young, after all. The distance between them as siblings became small through their polite pushing and shoving, making them quite close.

When they finished their breakfast, Cui Chuan Bao asked Cui Jiang Qing to rest while he washed the bowls and chopsticks clean. When he turned around, he found her standing on a wooden stool and rummaging through the wardrobe.

It turned out that when she was forced to depart from the Liu Residence that day, she was wearing a silk attire and a few hairpins, and each one of them was a finely crafted piece from a famous shop in the Imperial Capital. These luxurious things became her last connection to the past after she finally returned to the Cui family and wore them every day.

But after she was reborn and awakened, she got rid of all them and had Mother Cui pack them into a trunk. She then conformed to local customs and wore Cui Ping'er clothes that had not been brought with her.

These clothes actually did not have any patches, and the stitches were fine, though they were old and worn. The collar had been embroidered with patterns by the beauty-loving Cui Ping'er. They fit Cui Jiang Qing so well.

Recently, Cui Jiang Qing had been hearing her parents sighing and chatting about missing Cui Ping'er. They were puzzled about where that shabby and patched-up skirt came from that Cui Ping'er had worn when she went to the Liu residence. Those patches were piled on top of each other that it made her look so neglected, and Madam Yao naturally directly criticized the Cui couple for being cruel on Cui Ping'er.

Perhaps for this reason, the Liu residence sent over a lot of clothes to Cui Jiang Qing after she returned to the Cui family, which was considered a final gesture of maternal affection from Madam Yao to her.

Yet, when the clothes were delivered, Cui Jiang Qing bawled to the woman who delivered them while demanding that she must go back and see Madam Yao. She cried so hard that the woman almost could not get out, and from that day on, no one from the Liu residence had sent clothes again.

At that time, the 'her' was mad when no one from the Liu residence came to fetch her, so mad that she threw the few bundles of clothes into the kitchen and incinerated them all.

Of course, this was something she only heard from Mother Cui later. Afraid that Cui Jiang Qing would be upset, Mother Cui gently coaxed her, saying that she would buy her pretty clothes for the New Year and they would be no worse than the ones sent by the Liu residence.

Cui Jiang Qing truly felt frustrated for a while when she discovered the reckless things she had done in the past. It was not that she was devastated over the clothes, but rather that she was vexed at her fifteen-year-old self for being so ignorant! If she could have packed them up and pawned them at the pawnshop, would not that have helped with the household expenses?

When she was in charge of Shang residence's financial affairs back then, she had the dowry from the Liu residence as her backing. Now that she had returned to the Cui family, everything was arduous at the start, so she obviously had to be frugal.

Although the Cui family is currently living in poverty, they are not destitute. They just do not have any fine grains for each meal, and when they occasionally would have half a jin of pork, they would only choose the thick, fatty parts. They would take it home, refine the oil, and make a crispy fried pork with stir-fry green garlic, then give it to Cui Jiang Qing for her to eat with rice.

She knew that this dish was considered a luxury in the Cui family upon seeing her brother staring at her bowl while swallowing his saliva. However, after several meals of plain food, her spoiled taste buds craved meat more than ever.

Even after surviving life-and-death trials and being reborn, with a faint sense of having seen through the worldly dust, she could not help but nibble on her fingers in the middle of the night when her stomach growled in hunger.

She believed that the urgent matter was to make the Cui family earn some money to buy meat. Of course, they also needed to save some money for the future; otherwise, when Father Cui fell seriously ill again, their family would have to face the very same misfortune as in the previous life.

Thinking of this, she chose a gilded hairpin and spun to Cui Chuan Bao "Brother, do you know if there is a pawnshop nearby?"

Initially, Cui Chuan Bao thought that his sister was up to her old tricks again, such as taking out pretty clothes to dress up, but he did not expect her to mention going to a pawnshop at all.

Briefly surprised, he did not respond, and Cui Jiang Qing stood still on the wooden stool and continued, "I want to buy some things, and it is not good to ask Mother for some money. I will pawn this hairpin and buy you some candy. Alright?"

Cui Chuan Bao looked at her petite yet graceful frame. She was clearly only a little girl, but she spoke to him using a tone meant for coaxing children. Feeling both irked and amused, he reached out to hold her arm to steady her swaying body, then told her to get down before saying, "What do you want to buy? I still have some copper coins saved up. I will buy it for you, and you can keep that hairpin."

He actually pulled out an old cloth bag from his bed and poured out five copper coins from it.

In her previous life, although Cui Jiang Qing had an elder brother in the Liu residence, Liu Jiang Lu was deeply enamored with martial arts and chivalry from a young age. He was rarely seen, and his group of friends were from the martial arts world. Eventually, he joined the military; hence, his relationship with her was not very close.

Then there was Cui Chuan Bao who always had a stony face towards her but truly acted like the elder brother he is. His generosity and inclination to give everything he had made her feel fond.

In her previous life of living in a prestigious noble family, her heart had grown cold over time, devoid of any warmth.

No amount of fine clothes and delicacies could compare to the five copper coins laid out before her.

She pursed her lips and nodded, declaring, "I will use this money for now, but in the future I will absolutely return it to Brother in double."

Cui Chuan Bao was once again amused by her solemn manner and said, "If you need it, then use it. Why would you need to repay me?" Then he took her out.

Originally, he thought she was going to buy some small items like candied beans. Unexpectedly, she went straight to the calligraphy and painting shop at the corner. The shopkeeper had just removed the door panel when a graceful young lady arrived and straight away asked if they had any extremely fine crab-claw brushes.

Crab-claw brushes are used for meticulous paintings, such as adding extremely fine details to a painting like hair strands. Still, though this young lady was lovely, she was garbed in a simple blue cloth attire that did not seem like the clothes of someone from a wealthy family who would learn painting. After confirming that she wanted to use it, the shopkeeper playfully said, "This brush is too fine for you to handle; did you perhaps buy the wrong one?"

Cui Jiang Qing glanced at him lightly and stated, "The crab-claw brush from Weixian is a top-quality item, but it is a bit pricey. Instead, shopkeeper can take the Mikasa brush from Maoxian." Next, she took out four copper coins from her pocket.

This kind of knowledge was not something a young and inexperienced lady could simply say, thus the shopkeeper was momentarily stunned in response. Wow, a connoisseur! The crab-claw brush from Weixian is known for its delicate strokes but costs five taels of silver each, so only renowned scholars and gentlemen would buy it. Even if this young lady before him could afford it, he would not sell such expensive goods in his small county's calligraphy and painting shop!

At that moment, he felt a bit less contemptuous and did not haggle with her, accepting to sell her the crab-claw brush for four copper coins.

Cui Jiang Qing hesitated for a moment, then, feeling a bit awkward, asked the shopkeeper if she could buy a small piece of red yeast rice for one copper coin.

Seeing her face flush and her teeth sink in her lip, the shopkeeper felt pity. Since the red yeast rice was mostly used for making patterns on steamed buns during festivals and was not worth much, he wrapped a small piece in yellow straw paper and gave it to her for free.

Cui Chuan Bao who had thought his sister was craving snacks and wanted to buy some treats, unexpectedly only bought a fine brush with hardly any bristles. Instantly, he felt pain about the private savings he had worked so hard to accumulate, thinking that this young girl from a wealthy and noble family spent money too indiscriminately by buying all sorts of useless things.

But he was not very familiar with her to begin with, and since the money had already been given, it would not be right to blame her. So, he could only sulkily walk behind.

T/N: Someone annoying will appear in the next chapter. Guess who? <3 

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