Chapter 204

Chapter 204: He Lost His Sister

Although she no longer felt anything for the people of the Yu Clan, whenever Yu Zhi Yi thought of the suffocating years she had spent in that household, anger still rose in her chest. Her tone turned cold as she warned them: “Before I really get angry, get out of Yiluan Charity. Otherwise, do not blame me for giving you no face.”

Yu Ming Yu walked away in a daze.

His mind was a mess, a total mess. [Why does my life feel like a pot of porridge? Why are so many details fuzzy?]

Yet the moment he shut his eyes, he could see that afternoon seven years ago.

After the peasant woman who claimed to be Yu Zhi Yi’s birth mother was struck and killed, Yu Zhi Yi went silently to the back courtyard. Soon she came out carrying a bundle.

Not long after, a middle-aged woman in a ragged Daoist robe arrived outside the gate of Yu Manor and said: “Yi’er was innocent back then. Now that your true daughter has returned, I will take Yi’er away.”

Yu Ming Yu suddenly remembered that, among the Yu Clan brothers, he had been the one who opposed this most fiercely.

He had treasured Yu Zhi Yi as a sister. [When did everything change?]

A splitting pain hit his head, and he collapsed in a faint.

Yu Zhi Yi looked at him, puzzled: [What now, trying to fake it for sympathy?]

She first thought to have someone send Yu Ming Yu back to Yu Manor, but then she reconsidered. The people at Yu Manor would surely blame her for his fainting and stir up new trouble.

Forget it.

She gave a crisp order: “Someone, throw him into the inn across the street.”

When Yu Ming Yu woke up, his head was foggy, as if his mind was still stuck years in the past.

Yu Zhi Yi had been a well-behaved, sweet girl. She was filial to their parents, respectful to her older brothers, and always thought of them first. Though not yet ten, she had the heart of a little housekeeper and always tried to take care of her older brothers.

He had once greatly enjoyed his sister’s care and the way she doted on him in return.

Later, the true sister came home.

He secretly swore that even after the true sister returned, he would still treat his foster sister well, because the foster sister was innocent. Besides, the feelings built over more than ten years were not fake.

But then, Yu Jiao Jiao kept spinning stories that defined everything Yu Zhi Yi did in the worst way.

When Yu Zhi Yi reminded him to dress warmer in the cold, Yu Jiao Jiao said: “Second Brother is a grown man. Does he still need a sister to remind him? In her eyes, is Second Brother a useless person who cannot take care of himself?”

In rebellion, he refused to put on more clothes and collapsed that night with a chill. Then Yu Jiao Jiao said: “It is all Sister’s fault. If she had not angered Brother, he would not have thrown aside his cloak and fallen ill.”

There were many things like that.

Over time, in his mind, whatever Yu Jiao Jiao did was right, and whatever Yu Zhi Yi did must have a hidden motive.

Suddenly the waiter pushed the door open. Seeing him awake, the man spoke in excitement: “Young master, you are finally awake!”

Then he complained: “The First Miss went too far. You fainted from her anger, and instead of calling a physician, she tossed you into this shabby inn.”

Yu Ming Yu froze and asked: “Isn’t this a room at Yiluan Charity?”

“It is not!” the waiter said angrily. “That is why I say the First Miss is excessive. How could she do this?”

Yu Ming Yu gave a bitter smile and said: “Did you not just give the reason yourself?”

The waiter blinked, at a loss.

Yu Ming Yu, when not acting foolish, could think clearly. At once he understood why Yu Zhi Yi would not accept him and would not send him back to Yu Manor. She refused because she disliked him. She would not send him home to avoid trouble.

Just from his servant’s attitude, it was easy to guess that if she brought him back to the Yu Clan while he was unconscious, the family would rain down nasty words on her again.

He finally saw the place he held in Yu Zhi Yi’s heart.

Perhaps once he had mattered. But after he hurt her again and again, she withdrew both her kindness and her patience.

As this thought settled, he could not help feeling empty and lost.

He had lost that sister whose eyes and heart had once been full of him.

Yu Zhi Yi did not know what Yu Ming Yu was thinking, nor did she care. Right then she was facing a group of people.

At the front stood a girl of seventeen or eighteen, her hair in a matron’s bun. Two maids stood beside her. A few other girls of similar age clustered near them, most of them young married women, with only one unmarried girl among them.

Two faces were familiar.

Yu Jiao Jiao and Miss Su.

After some time apart, Yu Jiao Jiao looked much more haggard. Even thick powder could not hide the dark circles under her eyes. Miss Su’s complexion was just as poor. Both looked at Yu Zhi Yi with the same hate.

Yu Zhi Yi’s pretty face was distant and cold as she said: “Yiluan Charity only helps the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled. You do not fall within our aid.”

Yu Jiao Jiao smoothed the hatred from her eyes, stepped forward with a meek and gentle face, and said: “Sister, Princess Consort Ping is not old, weak, sick, or disabled, but she really has a small problem that needs you to solve.”

Miss Su’s pale face twisted with a mocking smile as she said: “Yu Zhi Yi, do you not claim to be very capable? Then help Princess Consort Ping fix her problem. Otherwise, your so-called skills are just self-praise.”

Yu Zhi Yi’s expression turned hard to read as she said: “Before you belittle me, could you use your brain?”

She added, calm and blunt: “The yin energy on you will make your body hurt, but it does not damage your brain. Or is it that you never had a brain?”

Miss Su’s eyes widened as she blurted: “You dare insult me?”

Yu Zhi Yi shook her head with a helpless look and said: “There you go again, saying something brainless. I am just stating facts. How is that an insult?”

Miss Su fell silent, stung even worse.

Yu Jiao Jiao put on a disapproving face and said: “Sister, Miss Su is advising you out of kindness. How can you shame her like this?”

She added with a wronged look: “I know you dislike me, but you should not take it out on others, right?”

Hearing this, the other noble ladies exchanged looks with complicated expressions.

A fake who had taken the real girl’s place, and she dared to put on airs in front of the true daughter?

Miss Su stepped out with her hands on her hips and said: “Yu Zhi Yi, do not be shameless.”

She snapped: “You are only a fake. What right do you have to be loud in front of Jiao Jiao?”

She pushed further as she said: “You made Jiao Jiao suffer ten hard years. You should be her servant for life.”

Yu Jiao Jiao sighed gently, a picture of understanding, and said: “Do not say that. Sister was still a baby back then. None of it was her choice.”

She added: “Although some unpleasant things happened after I returned home, I believe Sister did not do them on purpose.”

Miss Su fumed and said: “Can you stop being so spineless? She is bullying you, and you still defend her?”

Yu Zhi Yi looked at the two of them with a half-smile, then suddenly raised her hand and slapped a talisman onto Yu Jiao Jiao’s forehead.