Chapter 169 - A Tree To Lean On
Chapter 169 – A Tree To Lean On
"Is young miss alright?" Su Tang immediately approached her as soon as she saw that her young lady was safe and sound.
With what happened that day, it would be quite a miracle for her to get out without being implicated. After all, the news that the most favored concubine of the Fourth Prince was punished by a young lady from a prestigious family should have been heard by the prince already.
The fourth prince might even demand their young miss to be punished for doing this inside his home. Su Tang paled at the thought of her young miss being punished for touching something that the royal prince owned and determinedly said, "Young miss, don't worry about anything else. If something bad happens, I'll take all the blame!"
The young maid proudly said and beat her chest once like a good soldier. She was thinking that if her young miss were to face any kind of punishment, she'll just have to say that it was her that did everything.
Of course, Su Tang's plan was full of loopholes but Lin Xiaofei can't really dampen the young maid's determination to protect her. Besides, Lin Xiaofei doesn't even have a clue that Su Tang was actually feeling this way and thus, when she heard her maid saying this, she threw her a silent glance.
Lin Xiaofei wordlessly walked to Attendant Tan who was nervously standing on his ground.. He was wondering what she had done inside the receiving hall and to concubine Shang but upon remembering that there were still other maids inside the hall, he slightly felt relieved.
"Miss Lin, thank you for taking the time to visit the Fourth Prince's residence." Attendant Tan had no reason to thank her but still, as someone who served Yu Fangzhu, he still had to smile no matter what. "His highness should've arrived by now but it seems that he had an important thing to do. Please pardon us for the sloppy preparation." He told her.
"Attendant Tan need not to thank me." She shook her head and sincerely said this. "The preparation was also not sloppy. I had a lot of fun coming here. Maybe next time, I'll come by and meet the prince." After speaking, she didn't wait for the attendant to share a few words with her and left the place with traces of doubts and beginnings.
As Lin Xiaofei and the others left the Fourth Prince's residence, no one said a thing. The deadly silence that continued even after the gate to the prince's residence was closed behind them was beginning to suffocate Liu Shishi.
And so, the young girl decided to break it with a giggle.
"What is it?" Lin Xiaofei frowned when she saw her giggling like a child.
"Oh, come on now! You can't possibly keep that straight face going after what you just did there!" Liu Shishi's smiling face turned serious as she imitated her friend, "Fifteen blows. I want fifteen blows from a whip. My God, Lin Xiaofei! Where in the world did you learn to say that?!"
Liu Shishi continued, "How long did you practice that? And who's your master! I'd love to see them and let them teach me so I can teach my cousins some lessons!"
"Your cousins bullied you?" Replied Lin Xiaofei, completely ignoring the other parts of what Liu Shishi said.
Liu Shishi was slightly startled at her reply and the smile that twinkled in her eyes dimmed faintly before it resumed its twinkle, "Silly! Why would my cousins bully me? I'm their favorite!"
"You probably are." Lin Xiaofei agreed before she added, "If I were them, I'll also bully you for being able to smile even after the bad things that happened around you."
Liu Shishi stared at Lin Xiaofei's eyes and asked, "Why would you say that?"
A smile broke on Lin Xiaofei's lips as she taunted her, "Being able to laugh and be happy despite everything. That is quite enough for anybody to envy you. Liu Shishi, do you also smile and laugh when your cousin bullies you?"
Liu Shishi parted her lips to say something but her lips only trembled before she looked away. She stayed quiet for a long while before she finally said, "If I don't smile and laugh. I would break. I don't want my parents and grandfather to see me sad…"
"Then, tell them the truth. Make them see the reality that they can't see with their eyes." Said Lin Xiaofei and patted Liu Shishi's head after she finally said the truth.
"They will never understand and just telling them won't be enough." Liu Shishi's shoulders shook as if she was about to cry.
She tried once to tell them but they brushed it off like it was a joke. Maybe it was her fault that she was always seen happy that no one will believe that she also experienced something bad in her life.
"What did they do to you?" Asked Lin Xiaofei as she leaned back to her seat and dragged her friend along with her to rest Liu Shishi's head on her lap.
Liu Shishi bit her lips but she still parted it to say the words that she kept inside her, "They pushed me once to a pond and I almost drowned. No one was there and the elders never heard about it. I was playing with my cat but after that day, I never saw my cat again." Her voice broke when she remembered her cat.
The things that her cousins did to her were countless that she can't even remember most of it. They were boldly bullying her even in front of her parents but it was so discreetly done that no one found out until now.
The only time she was able to rest from the bullying was when she was with Lin Xiaofei who was always so cruel and unrestrained. Her cousins couldn't get closer to her because they knew that Lin Xiaofei would pick them as her next target to humiliate once they approach Liu Shishi. Hence, Liu Shishi would always attach herself to Lin Xiaofei like a leech.
And when Lin Xiaofei was gone for three years, the only tree she could lean on was gone. But thankfully, she returned and that support has returned.
Liu Shishi continued, "But the worst was that my food was once replaced with my cousin which contained laxatives and some prawns. They knew I was allergic to prawns but they still served it to me."
Liu Shishi's cousin's method to bully her might be a child's play. People would even consider it as a joke or a mistake. But Lin Xiaofei would never call it a joke or a child's play as Liu Shishi's life was at risk.
"Did you eat it?" Lin Xiaofei asked her to which Liu Shishi nodded her head. "You could've died, you know that right?"
Liu Shishi nodded her head again before she said, "After we ate, I threw up what I ate that day and fell asleep. I had some rashes as well but my parents didn't know that it was the prawns that I ate and not because I got some cold."
So it seems that Liu Shishi's parents aren't only blinded fools but are also quite not as loving as she thought towards their daughter, thought Lin Xiaofei. Any parents would know what their children could and couldn't eat. And even if they could eat it, most parents tend to be so careful that they wouldn't even let their children eat the food they want to not harm their bodies.
They will be the first people who would know who caused their children to cry. And yet, Liu Shishi's parents didn't even have a clue.
In Liu Shishi's situation, it seems like not only her parents ignored her pleas to notice what was wrong, they decided to be ignorant of their daughter's condition because they always see that smile on her face.
What kind of parents could actually not see behind their own children's masks?
Lin Xiaofei sighed. It was possible that this was Liu Shishi's first time telling someone about her real situation with how she wanted to hide her discomfort even in front of her.
"What do you want to do with them?" Lin Xiaofei asked and Liu Shishi had to shift from where she laid to look up at her.
"I don't know. Do you have an idea?" Liu Shishi was still so innocent to think of some way to get back to her cousins so she let her friend decide.
Lin Xiaofei slowly nodded and her eyes brightly sparkled as she replied, "A whip for disobedient children wouldn't be enough to teach them. Why not let me handle this and just watch?"
"Perhaps, the violent Lin Xiaofei you know in the past might return." She softly whispered that even Liu Shishi who was so close to her couldn't hear it.