Chapter 232: Chapter 232: For This, I Owe You
Cui Yun lowered her eyelids, a sense of irritation suddenly arising.
The girl who usually seemed so understanding had been acting awkwardly for five days.
"Hey!"
"Miss Shen, aren’t you going to have a meal?"
"Be careful, don’t fall."
Nanny Fang suppressed her confusion and promptly spoke up when she saw Shen Hua stumble. She glanced at the unflappable Cui Yun and then at Shen Hua disappearing around the corner.
"Marquis, this—"
"Nanny, go back and convey the message first, I’ll accompany her to Mama’s courtyard."
Nanny Fang immediately beamed with joy, curtsied, and left after making her obeisance.
It was still some distance from the West Garden back to the East Courtyard. Shen Hua clutched at her chest, gasping for breath. After a while, she stood at the corner but did not see Yicui come back with the wheelchair.
Finally, steady footsteps came from behind. Shen Hua turned her head, took a glance, and then sulkily faced forwards again. The girl pursed her lips, her head bobbing slowly as she trudged towards the East Courtyard.
Displaying an attitude that refused to engage in conversation, entirely exposed.
It was clear that she could run no more.
The girl was downcast, her head drooping, with even her silhouette radiating loneliness.
A dark shade crossed Cui Yun’s eyes. It was as if he could discern what Shen Hua was seeing, yet also as if he was trying to absurdly transpose memories he couldn’t let go of onto her.
The man’s silhouette was as cool as water, his moving shadow danced with life amongst the trees.
"Miss Shen, do you know that I once kept a cat?"
Shen Hua blinked: "I heard about it from Ji Xin."
"It resembles you quite a bit."
Shen Hua calmly met Cui Yun’s gaze: "Who in the world makes comparisons between people and cats?"
"Is Cousin being kind to me just because of a cat?"
Shen Hua thought, if so, she had truly succeeded!
Cui Yun did not miss any expression on the girl’s face, but Shen Hua’s every word and action were without flaws.
He closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, there was a fresh clarity.
"Do you not have anything to say to me?" The man’s voice was filled with aloofness and chill, not at all approachable.
If he had confronted Shen Hua with this, the girl’s temper might have flared up in embarrassment and rage. But instead, he had nonchalantly dropped such a line.
Shen Hua was taken aback.
Cui Yun gazed intently: "That night, I tried to stop you."
"Sadly, I failed."
That was indeed the naked truth.
With this brought up, the scenes replayed in her mind as if they were bubbling up again. And indeed, as Cui Yun said, it was her own doing, misguided by drunkenness.
"Then you can’t just watch and then say, I—"
The words circled her lips before Shen Hua, out of shame, bit her lower lip and said, "That was... pea green."
Cui Yun slightly raised his eyelids, his tone flat, without any inflection, just like his demeanor: "Correcting your mistakes, I believe I did no wrong."
It’s impossible to reason with a girl like Shen Hua; one could only follow her bizarre train of thoughts.
As expected, Shen Hua choked up.
It seemed, indeed, to be the case.
The reason was far-fetched, but... Shen Hua understood. After all, she was someone like that too. She still remembered when she had knocked out the front tooth of Zhou Zhizhi’s elder brother.
Shen Wei took her to apologize in person.
— "My daughter has acted too rashly in this matter, and I am really very sorry."
The Zhou Family, of course, did not dare to offend the Shen Family. However, Zhou Zhizhi’s elder brother was livid, and his speech was difficult and whistling.
—"Just a sorry and that’s it? Why? Just because you are the Shen Family, you think you’re above everything!"
Shen Hua, cradling her small face, was arrogantly giggling.
Mr. Zhou’s eyelids twitched as he pressed down on his son’s mouth, humbly saying,
"It’s common for children to roughhouse, and bumps and bruises are inevitable. How can we blame Miss Shen? Furthermore, we are particularly grateful that Old Master Shen himself has taken the trouble to come here."
"The trouble started because of my boy’s fault. He said something he should not have, which Miss Shen overheard. The Zhou Family will certainly discipline him properly in the future."
Shen Hua nodded.
— "Exactly, it’s all because he was so rude."
— "I’ve already said that I can’t be blamed. It’s his own teeth that are as fragile as pottery, breaking as soon as spoken through."
— "How could Yangyang be at fault? This should serve as a warning to him; perhaps after learning his lesson, his teeth will grow back stronger."
Putting everything else aside, she simply could not cause Cui Yun to blind himself over her own mistakes.
Shen Hua pressed her lips together and said nothing.
"Shen Hua." He called her name.
"Do you really intend to keep a distance of three feet from me even after you continue living in the Marquis Mansion?"
Cui Yun sighed, showing a patience of sorts.
"Or tell me, how many more days do you plan to avoid me?"
Shen Hua continued to press her lips together.
She thought that Cui Yun was actually quite innocent. Forced to see what he should not have seen, he had to provide her with a way out.
With some difficulty, she said: "Let’s just turn the page on that night’s incident, and you are not allowed to bring it up again."
Cui Yun did not add fuel to the fire, as if he was always adept at handling Shen Hua’s temper.
"Sure."
Shen Hua was also a girl who always spoke reason. Seeing Cui Yun nod his head, she held her head high.
"Cousin, please repeat the question you just asked, once more."
Cui Yun, unusually cooperative, played along with her ruffled mood: "... Keep a distance of three feet from me?"
"The sentence before that."
Cui Yun: "Don’t you have anything to say to me?"
"Yes."
"I have given it some thought. With the kind of friendship we have, cousin, there’s no need to dwell on such trivial matters. One should be magnanimous. There’s no need for me to fuss over it. It would seem rather petty."
The girl composedly said: "In this matter, I owe you an apology."
The Miss Shen of Shen Family was indeed easy to please.
A flash of astonishment crossed Cui Yun’s eyes.
His long-absent laugh sounded, its tone carrying ripples of a lazy drawl at the tip of his tongue.
"Alright, I’ll accept that."
Shen Hua nodded earnestly: "Being cooped up these past days has nearly driven me mad."
Cui Yun looked at her.
Shen Hua choked up: "My fault, I admit it."
Arriving at Cui Xuan’s courtyard. Qiao Si and Cui Rong were also there. After exchanging pleasantries and barely sitting down without even starting to eat, they heard Cui Xuan say.
"In three days, there will be a Cuju Banquet. The palace has sent two invitations."
One was for Cui Yun, and naturally, the other was for Cui Rong.
With her noble status, even if Cui Rong couldn’t play football, at her age she was most active and could find the excitement at the event. The Empress was willing to give the Cui family this favor.
As expected, Cui Rong’s lips curled: "I’ll go, I’ll go!"
"Uncle will accompany me!"
Cui Rong, in triumphant oblivion: "There are only two invitations, so Sister Shen won’t be included."
Shen Hua nonchalantly: "Are you that thrilled?"
"Yes!"
"Well, it’s a legitimate chance to skip out on learning under the guise of attending a banquet. Who wouldn’t be happy about that?"
Cui Rong glared: !!!
Cui Yun coldly stated: "If I permit you to go, you’ll have to make up for it on your next day off."
"Then I won’t go."
Cui Rong, in a whiny voice: "Actually, it’s pretty boring. The last time at the Cuju Banquet, a bunch of girls kept asking me questions, and they were all about Uncle."
She grumbled resentfully: "My uncle isn’t someone they can covet!"
Qiao Si scolded: "Eat your food."
Just then, Cui Yun suddenly turned to look at Shen Hua.
"Would you like to go?"
"Huh?"
"Didn’t you say you were going stir-crazy?"
Shen Hua slowly replied: "But I don’t have an invitation."
Cui Yun maintained a solemn demeanor, restrained and proper: "If you want to go, naturally, you can."
Upon hearing this, Cui Xuan, after some contemplation, nodded in agreement. After all, Shen Hua would be one of the Cui family wives and couldn’t avoid all sorts of social engagements.
She and Qiao Si were widows and ultimately there were some matters they could not appear in person for.
Seeing this, Cui Rong murmured softly: "Why invite her? Is she going to bring disaster to the Princess?"
Wait a minute! Bring disaster to the Princess!